Real Housewife of Oak Hill

What'd you get?!

I got:

a copy of Scrooged! 

the new Miranda Lambert CD , Revolution (which is AWESOME by the way!)

a Julia Child DVD

earrings, a ring and two bracelets

yoga gift certificates

maternity yoga clothes

a coaster that says "I was never meant to work"

the book "Things Good Mothers Know"

a Cole Hahn handbag (traded with my sister!)

a Scentsy candle, but not a candle thing

A mug with my mug on it

real Spanish olive oil, as in brought from Spain

2 "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments (guess they don't make "Baby's First In utero Christmas" ornaments)

Copy of the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and a Max the Dog doll that our child may never see because I'm keeping it

a milk+honey gift card for a "medi"

a collection of crazy, fun wall art sea creatures that will probably go in the nursery

a James Avery horseshoe charm

a Container Store gift card

a Bed, Bath & Beyond gift card

a pig dressed as a reindeer piggy bank (white elephant! not bad!))

Idole d' Armani fragrance

a Harry & David gift box

and cash!!!

 

P.S. - Hubby was afraid he'd be run out of town if he got his pregnant wife the Vac-then-Steam.  I said, "I'm a housewife... it's not like you took all my shoes too."  So guess what I'm buying with the cash?!?!

 

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that the new year brings you peace, prosperity, health and happiness.

Love to you and yours, from me and mine.

 

A Conversation With My Husband

Me: "Ugh.  I need to do laundry then go to bed."

Him: "It's 11:30."

Me: "I know, but I need underwear."

Him: "Yeah and I need socks.  Why don't you sort it and I'll do it?"

Me: " But it's my job!"

Him: " You're fired."

P.S. -

I knew I'd think of more!

If Santa is like the photog that asked Oprah for a gift idea for his mom and she was surprised that it was too expensive, I thought I'd ask for a few affordable things.

1. Scrooged on DVD (or Blu-ray if they have it)

My dad doesn't like Bill Murray.  Is that weird?  I thought everybody liked Bill Murray!  And I love this movie!  I need another Christmas movie in my collection.  I could watch Elf everyday for the rest of my life, but... sometimes you gotta mix it up.

 

2. A new Miranda Lambert CD

I have this one and I love it.  I looked on iTunes for a new one and got overwhelmed and couldn't decide on one.  (Side note - I've recently come to the conclusion that although I like country music, I HATE country radio.  It's insipid.  Hence, CDs.)

 

3.  Santas

 

I have a small collection of Santa figures (that does not include this one, it's expensive, but isn't it fun?!) and would love to add to it.  Who doesn't like Santas?!

 

4. A cookie jar

This one could be hard.  It is for me, that's why I don't have one yet.  I can't decide on a theme. But then I thought I could have a different one for every occasion or holiday!  (I just heard my husband groan and wonder where we're gonna put them all.)  Not too commercial or mass-produced though, preferably vintage if you find a cool one.  Being pregnant has made me crave cookies. Which reminds me of the cookie jar at my grandmother's house growing up - it's a big dark brown rabbit - she still has it on her counter and that makes me happy.

 

5. Crosses

I love their simplicity.  They are calming to me.  Hubby got me this one for me for our ten year anniversary (which is tin, get it?!).  He's so good.

 

OK.  Brain's empty again.  And I need to go find lights for our first-ever-as-a-married-couple-real-live-tree.  Target by my house was out.  How can you be out of lights a week before Christmas?!  They have enough wrapping paper to wrap a house though.  Oh, and I need garland or big red ribbon for the front porch.  And I need to wrap presents.  And I need to clean for company this weekend. And... I gotta go.  I have shit to do.

Dear Santa,

We used to do Christmas lists a lot.  We don't much anymore, don't know why.  Maybe because now if there is a CD I want, I just go buy it.  But after watching Glee's Christmas episode (again), I'm inspired to ask Santa for the following:

1. A Shark Vac-Then-Steam (who thinks of these names?!)

I watched a whole infomercial on it and I'm in love.  And if it came with the Free Portable Steamer, I wouldn't also need this:

 

2. A Shark Portable Steam Pocket

Who am I kidding?!  I need both.  I need all three things.  All three magical steam-powered things.

 

3. A body pillow

But not one of these weird anime ones that Japanese men take on dates:

 

And not one of these... whatever they are ones that look vaguely like the alien baby in Alien. (Although there is something fitting about that since I think being pregnant is like having an alien living in your stomach.)

I just want a regular body pillow that supports you all the way around - not just a wedge or roll.  They make them U-shaped, C-shaped, candy-cane-shaped, edamame-shaped and one that I can't figure out what it's shaped like.  Not sure which one I want.  I'll let Santa stress about that.

 

4. To have this poor chair recovered

Most of our furniture is hand-me-downs, most of it antique and it was all in mint-condition when we received it. But time, full-time use and cats have taken their toll (you should see the back of this chair!).  This chair was in my grandparent's house while I was growing up and the fabric is at least as old as I am. I'd like it recovered in something very similar, preferably vintage.  They have classes where you can learn to recover things by doing your own project.  That'd be fun!

 

5. Four of these:

Attached to another one of these:

I'm crazy.  I know.

 

6. A fancy mani/pedi from milk+honey downtown

I actually don't like saying mani/pedi; it sounds pretentious.  But saying "man-i-cure, ped-i-cure" just takes too damn long.  My nephew called it a "medi" which I think is brilliant.  And I want one.

 

7. Any of the Cooking with Julia series from PBS

I've been intrigued by these since Julie & Julia.  I remember watching them growing up even though I didn't understand a single thing she was doing.  I figure now since I have a working knowledge of cooking I'll really be embarrassed by how little I actually know!

 

That's all I can think of right now, kids!  I could throw in jewelry, music, movies, yadda yadda yadda, but I'd just be making stuff up.  That being said, as soon as I post this I'll think of ten more things.

 

Happy Holidays, ya'll!

Oxymoron?

Somehow these words don't go together for me...

 

Celebration Lentil Loaf

Not a Paid Advertisement

As a housewife, I have decided that it is my civic duty to tell you about products that I can't live without.

If we're Facebook friends, you heard when I fell in love with the Shark Steam Pocket Mop.

I hate to mop.  Just ask my husband.  But aside from just hating it, nothing ever worked!  Ropey mops, sponge mops, scrubby brushes - I've tried them.  They just push dirty water around.  Enter this hot little purple number.  Quick, easy, clean, fast drying - I love it!  I will never go back to a regular mop of any kind.  I just saw there is a "new & improved" one!  Christmas present?  Oooh! And now there is one that vacuums too... and I hate to vacuum.  Say what you will about the zen-like back and forth, I call bullshit.  But that's for another time.

I'm here to talk about my new favorite thing.  Mattress Pads.

I've never been a mattress pad kind of person.  If I had one, great.  If I didn't, no biggie.  When we moved into our new house, we bought a new mattress with a gorgeous ivory jacquard fabric... that our dog loved to climb all over when I changed the sheets simultaneously barking at me like a crazy person.  Two years and hundreds of muddy paw prints later, I'm off to look for a mattress pad.  I start where I always start looking for things - I won't name names, but it starts with a "T" and rhymes with "arget".  They had poly, poly/cotton, foam, feather, heated, waterproof, down alternative - good lord!  I only had two requirements - cotton (my husband is so hot natured that if it didn't breathe, he would literally melt) and not too thick (I have trouble finding sheets that fit even when they say "fits deep mattresses".  Liars.)  I settled on a Fieldcrest Luxury Supreme King Pillowtop Mattress Pad (no link available).

Middle of the road in price, middle of the road in bells and whistles.  Cotton top - they all have polyester backing (did you know this?) and a generous, but not too fluffy pad.  Got home, laid it out, Febreezed it (too lazy to wash it, don't judge.), slept on it that night.

Oh. My. God.

When I pull back the sheets at night, I sigh and wonder what took me so long to get back in bed. When my husband wakes up in the morning, he sighs, rolls over and goes back to sleep because he can't/won't/doesn't want to get out of bed.

It's just perfect.  It does have that square pattern that shows through the sheets in case that freaks you out.  I think of it as sleeping on giant homemade marshmallows.  I love giant homemade marshmallows.

I'm a convert.  Maybe I don't love it for it's intended purpose of protecting your mattress, but I love it just the same.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to mop the floor and go take a nap.

 

Well, that explains it

For those of you who don't know (and it's not many, I realize), I guess I should explain why I have been incommunicado.  I've been distracted... but with good reason.

See, some where after the Hartman Foundation concert and before Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, but definitely not at the Round Rock Express game, I got pregnant!!        

Holy moly, that's a big thing to add to The List.

While things are going very well, I spend all day trying to remember to drink enough water, get enough calcium, add a couple hundred extra calories, take my vitamin and... well... not make a mutant.  It's sort of overwhelming.

Bear with me.  I'm totally self absorbed right now... which I know is not much different from any other time, but hey, I like me!

We're off on a new adventure!

Can you see its little hand holding a pretend microphone and singing along to Glee! with me?!  Hee hee...