Pop Quiz to the Driver Behind Me Last Night

1. Why couldn't I see your headlights in my rearview mirror?

A. I was basically driving a sled on wheels, or my car is so low to the ground that
your Ford Taurus was so far above me my headlights don't even register in your rearview mirror.

B. I needed you to reach back and scratch my nose, so I decided to drive really close so you could reach. The nose of my car was probably underneath your car.

C. My friend and I think we are really cool. We wanted to show you how cool we are. How could you see if we were too far back?

D. All of the Above.



(Correct Answer: D)

Good Christmas...Bad Cold

Hello readers...I'm not sure I have a whole lot of readers, but oh well...I do this more as a journal anyways.

Our first Christmas married was GREAT! We went to my sister's house on the Mexico border (I won't mention the town name for safety reasons).

We had an amazing time! Here's the timeline:

-I had Christmas Eve off. Jereld did not, but he got to leave work early. We left our house at 1:40ish. SO EXCITED!

-The puppies did really well on the road trip. We stopped about 2 times to let them go to the bathroom, but they were so well behaved I almost forgot they were in their little carrier in the back seat.

-We arrived at my sister's house. It was COLD (compared to our home anyways!). The kids were excited to see us.

-We ate dinner (yummy ham, potatoes, Asian salad, cookies).

-We had the traditional Christmas story (the kids acted out the nativity...I guess I did too...I was the angel--very fitting don't you think).

-We drank egg nog milkshakes (mix 7-Up, egg nog, and vanilla ice cream...YUMMY...and thanks to Breyer's lactose free ice cream and Lactaid egg nog, I can enjoy it again!)

-We each opened one Christmas Eve gift. (Jereld and I were surprised that my sister's family had gotten us small gifts).
*Jereld got funny glasses and a funny clown nose (pictures to
come...hopefully).
*I got a puzzle.
*Our puppies even got gifts--little doggie rain coats.

-The kids went to bed.

-Santa came. And, he was really noisy with a hammer! Geez! Jereld and Jason...I mean Santa!

-We went to bed. Jereld and I slept on the double bed portion of a bunk bed set. Mike, my brother, slept on the single bed above us and told us Christmas stories from his mission.

-Zzzzzzzzzz....Zzzzzzzzz

-I woke up at about 4:30am (I didn't have a clock, so this is more of a guess). I tossed and turned until 5:00am.

-I climbed over Jereld and took the puppies out on a short potty walk. Jason and my parents were awake, too.

-When I came back inside, my niece had woken up. Others were waking up, too.

-Finally, everyone was awake (it didn't take long).

-The kids ripped into their toys from Santa and their stockings.

-I looked in my stocking. Santa brought me broadheads for my arrows, so I can kill some animals. He usually brings me an orange in the toe of my stocking. I told Jereld this. I told Jereld how funny it is when Santa gives you an orange and you have a whole box of oranges in the kitchen. So this year, Santa brought me a chocolate orange. Very yummy. Oh, and lots of candy.

-Jereld gave me a car stereo (YES! I can use my iPod now!), and a hummingbird feeder (I've been wanting one since we have hummingbirds at our house).

-I bought Jereld a camoflauge watch/digital compass. A bird dog training video. A shirt from Aeropostale. Oh, and in his stocking, Santa gave him a Maglite key chain, finger bowling, Uno, a tie...and lots of candy.

-Cam and Jason bought us cookbooks.

-Mike gave us a gift card to iTunes.

-Mom and Dad wrote us a check, gave us some church DVDs and a book...and continually help us throughout the year. Thanks guys!

-After opening gifts, we ate breakfast. MONKEY BREAD! Family tradition. Basically the yummiest treat ever. AKA Carmel Rolls. Biscuits and gravy (jam for me) and hashbrowns.

-We set up gifts (the men set up a swing set) and played with gifts for a long time.

-Jason and Jereld, and Mike and Dad, played with the bows.

-Jereld could have shot a deer, but didn't have his bow with him on that 4wheeler ride.

-4wheeler rides for everyone .

-Time to go home :(

Today is Christmas Adam

I said Happy Christmas Adam to my husband this morning. I got a weird look and a "What!?!?!?!" Then I had to explain myself. Then it didn't seem like it was all that fun of a thing to say. Oh well.

I wish you all a Happy Christmas Adam.

I am sitting at work. My phone is not beeping (when my phone beeps it means I have a call...and I'm live on that call right after the beep). So, here I sit typing this post.

I found out today that I get a RAISE! YAY! It makes me like Vanguard more and more!

Tomorrow around 2-ish, we will be leaving for my sister's house. I can't wait to see my new nephew (born December 15th). He looks so cute in his pictures. We were supposed to leave around 12-ish, but my husband's employer decided that the employees can't leave until 2...bummer. My response? HA! You can't ruin Christmas!

I can't wait for Christmas! Jereld got me something good...I'm sure of it and I'm excited...but that's not why I'm SO excited! I'm SO excited because I can't WAIT for Jereld to open his gifts from me. I think he's going to like them (I hope...crossing my fingers...scratch that...he'll love them I know he'll like them). I have this feeling that he got me something better than I got him, but I haven't had so much fun buying presents for someone in a long time.

I should tell you what I got him! But, I'm not going to! Are you serious?! He might read this. You'll just have to wait until after Christmas...just like everyone else.

Merry Christmas!

Looking back

Do you remember those girls in junior high? You know...the ones that everyone followed around like lemmings? The ones that could do no wrong in the eyes of their following? The ones that could be absolutely vicious and mean to a girl and that girl would feel like she was the one that needed to apologize?

Well, I know those girls. Or, maybe I should say that I KNEW those girls. But, as time has passed, today is the first day that they have crossed my mind in a long, long time.

I don't know why I just thought of it, but a particular situation from junior high came to mind just now and I had the sudden urge to use facebook to look up the two girls who made my life a living....well...let's just say it wasn't anything close to heaven--a sort of "where are they now" check-up.

One particular day, a group of us were playing "Wall Ball." I will try to explain the rules as best as I can remember. In the game, you can have as many players as you would like. Each player takes a turn bouncing a ball (we played with a tennis ball) against a wall (we played against the wall of the elementary gym at Duncan Elementary) in order. The next player had to catch the bounce back from the previous player, otherwise they were subjected to standing against the wall (face to the wall). While they were standing against the wall, all of the other players took a turn throwing the ball at them attempting to hit them with the ball.

(I in no way recommend this game to anyone...it's a dumb game.)

Back to my story. So, on this particular day as we were playing, I noticed that when the two "popular" girls (I will call them BB & BD) were subjected to the pegging ritual that the rest of the girls would miss them on purpose. I also noticed that when an "unpopular" girl was sent to the wall to meet her fate that BB & BD would hurl the ball as fast as their 7th grade arms would let them and show no mercy with their aim. They would also encourage the rest of the girls in the group to hit the other girls for missing. Let's be honest, tennis balls hurt!

I figured that since they were showing no mercy to anyone else, I would give them a taste of their own medicine. Why I didn't stop playing, I don't know! I tend to have this "save the world" attitude where I want to help others get out of bad situations even if they are content in said situation.

So, when BB didn't catch the ball and went up to the wall for her punishment. I decided to let her have it. Sadly, I missed by about 1 inch when it was my turn to attempt to peg her. After seeing my throw, BD exclaimed, "She TRIED to hit you!" The whole group eyed me.

"Well, isn't that what you're supposed to do?" I stammered.

"I can't believe you tried to hit her!" BD continued the tongue lashing. "You threw that really hard! Why don't you take a turn! When it's your turn, we will hit you hard and see how you feel."

I mustered up all my courage and said, "I need to use the restroom before recess is over."

"Yeah right!" BD shot back.

"I do! I've been holding it this whole time!" I said defensively.

So much for my courage I suppose.

Point is: I thought my life was over. I thought BD & BB would pound me for sure. BUT...drum roll please...I am still alive. BD & BB both had less than desirable home lives which I didn't take into consideration at the time.

I hope they are both doing well these days. And, I hope that if we ever play Wall Ball again, it will be a bit friendlier.

Hope you enjoyed a look into my junior high days. If you don't already know...there is life after junior high...and if the BB & BD don't beat you to a bloody pulp you'll see that it's much better when it's all over!

I didn't tell you...(sorry you're so out of the loop)

1) I didn't tell you that Jereld and I got our main Christmas gifts early...

2) I also didn't tell you that Jereld and I have been mopping and cleaning my floors a lot lately...

3) I failed to mention that #1 is causing #2.

Aren't they cute?





The Jack Russell is my puppy (it's the little one in case you don't know breeds). Her name is Rally.

The German Shorthaired Pointer is Jereld's puppy. Her name is Seek. She told me she wants to be a bird hunting dog when she grows up!

UGH! He deserves coal in his stocking!

This conversation has been paraphrased (because I can't remember word for word...but it's close):

Scene 1-Jereld has just finished studying for his MRI class in the office. He is getting ready for bed in the bathroom with the door open. Allison has already finished getting ready for bed and is waiting for Jereld to finish.

Jereld (matter-of-factly): So, you really need to be more careful when you're wrapping presents that you throw away the tags and the store bags.

Allison (surprised): Why?!?!? Were you snooping?

Jereld (annoyed): NO! I was cleaning up the wrapping paper mess you left in the office, and I noticed that you left some price tags and bags.

Allison (annoyed): I told you I wasn't done with the wrapping paper and to just leave it down!

Jereld: Sorry! I didn't know you weren't finished.

Allison: What did you see? Did you ruin your surprise? I'm going to be so mad if you ruined your surprise!

Jereld: I know that you bought something at Kohl's because you left the bag, and I know you bought something camoflauge because you left a tag that says "APG Camo."

Allison: First of all, the tag is from your stocking. Remember the camo stockings we bought?!?!?!? I took the tag off yours. So, no surprise there! Second, the Kohl's bag is from the tie I bought your brother. Ana and I went to Kohl's on our lunch break and while she looked around I got ties.

Jereld: Ooooooohhhhhhh...you got tieS. I thought you just bought one tie for Austin.

Allison: I did!

Jereld: But you said tieS...not tie. Plural.

Allison (jokingly...but kind of serious): UGH! I hate you!