U.S. Postal Service

No the postal worker did not deliver packages to my house Sunday morning!!!

I feel so bad for the postal workers during the holiday seasons....but I'm sure they are happy they have jobs especially when people don't write letters any more.

This is what we found ourselves doing Sunday morning when the mail man came anyway:

My IQ

Sometimes I wonder if my IQ is above 70. I stopped by a drive through Dunkin Donuts on my way home after Baby C's swim class and got a small light and sweet coffee...so now here I sit at 1:40 am one finger typing a blog entry on an iPod touch, watching the movie 'My Life in Ruins', drinking seltzer water and praying dawn and I aren't up at the same time.

And yet as I sit here dazed and confused I'm still wishing the Starbucks drive through had been en route instead of Dunkin Donuts and I would have requested the 'Caramel Brulee Latte' instead.

And I wonder why I can't loose weight... hmmm maybe that IQ is lower than 60!

OK I hear that 1500 piece puzzle calling me...maybe after staring at all the dumb blue sky pieces my eyes will just collapse. Who puts a sky in a 1500 piece puzzle anyway that's just mean and wrong, it's just trial and error at that point.

Pasta from scratch.....are you crazy!

A while ago a friend of mine came over and we set out to make homemade pasta.

I'd never done it before but Esther had done it numerous times with her mother, so she brought over the pasta contraption and she even pre made the dough...now that's what I call a friend!!!

I was startled at how good it came out but I was also surprised how much hard work it was. I think we worked for 3 hours straight and had made enough for maybe 3 people.

We stuffed these with spinach and ricotta cheese. They were soooooo darn good we nearly ate them all as we cooked them!

We also made those twisty tortellini things and stuffed those with seasoned ground chicken. They were so tiny and dainty even Baby C popped those as they came out of the boiling water!!

 

 My friend Esther was 4 months pregnant when we made the pasta she'd kill me for posting this picture, but I doubt she reads my blog anyway...some friend she is huh! LOL

 

There's something full filling about making things from scratch. I'd still like to make bread using a bread maker of course, mostly so I can control the amount of sugar going into the bread. I have no idea what's wrong with you Americans putting so much sugar in bread!!

I've been waiting for months for the Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine to reduce in price. It doesn't seem to be going down much at all.

I'd like to try my hand at ice cream as well....any recommendations of a good ice cream maker anyone?

Starbucks Cup

I bought yet another peppermint white chocolate mocha yesterday and as I sipped it with glee...I started to swirl the cup and actually read the messages on it.

"I wish grown ups could remember being a kid"
"I every day was a holiday"
"I wish for extra whipped cream"
"I wish everyone could see how much we all have in common"
"When you wish the world becomes brighter so wish its what makes the holidays the holidays"
"I wish for a snow day"

Either it's the fact that it's holiday time and these all spoke to me or they put an extra shot of something else in my drink.

Cleaning up or cleaning out

I'm going through my list of blogs that I read and just cleaning up....delete...delete...delete...

• I started with blogs I just don't read.
• Then I moved to blogs that don't update at least once a year. Come on we all have our limits.
• Then I deleted blogs where the design just erks me and I always have a hard time navigating or there's just too much going on that I can't stay focused.
• Next to go were the blogs that honestly I should have cut loose a while ago!
• I have to be honest I definitely kept all the blogs of people that follow me like I'm a hemorrhoid...I mean why wouldn't I keep those on my list!

I started faithfully using google reader as well. The blogger "blog list" widget was just too much work to maintain plus this way I can read blogs in google reader at work and no one knows what I'm doing.

Before I had to go to the front page of my blog every time I wanted to read someone on my blog list. I do wish there was a way to show your dashboard managed list on your front page without doing a separate blog list.

So even though you don't see your name on a list some place you might still find my signature AND "devils advocate" comments on your blog...and if you don't...well you know what happened! LOL

I'm down from over 100 to 70 which is still ludicrous....but you all have such interesting things to say it's just sooooo hard....one persons blog I just clicked on said "Happy New Year"!....erm yeah about that blog....sorry...delete

I'm missing the boat or something

I think either I didn't get a ticket for the next boat leaving town or I never knew there was a boat....

If you're lost it was my stupid metaphor for the fact that everyone and their grandma seems to be making quilts and I'm not!!!

I'm not a follower I'm really not...but all these quilts look sooo darn good and if I read just one more blog about quilts I swear I'm going to be convinced to hurry up and finish my 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle and start quilting:

• Chrissy made a beautiful christmas quilt
• Lisa made a beautiful fall quilt
• Kims made so many exquisite quilts I've lost count
• I love the colors in Adrienne's first quilt

I swear the list really felt like everyone and their grandma when I first started this post, but then I went hunted for links and came up short....I'm sure more will come to me as roam around blog land.

Maybe quilting would be a perfect hobby to whittle away the hours while Big C is gone.

Hurt Feelings

The morning was about to start...I turned to the phone to call Big C to see how his day was going now that he's back.

As I reached to dial the numbers the phone rang, it was Big C calling me. This is not the first time this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last.

He was calling with bad news that they plan on sending guys back up to Buffalo starting Nov 30th....and they don't even plan on rotating the guys they plan on sending the same guys back up!!!

I don't even know who calls the shots for his company but sometimes big companies SUCK more than the mom and pop companies. Sometimes their logic is unfathomable.....

So basically they pulled them back in time for Thanksgiving only to send them back probably until Christmas.....and then they'll probably drag them back two days before Christmas only to send them back right after New Years.

Don't get me wrong...I KNOW there are people out there with NO job right now and would beg to get sent to the ends of the earth if it meant they had a job and benefits.

Just sometimes, when it happens to you, you just want a moment to have your own pity party then turn around and put your big girl panties back on and roll with the punches.

Big C called me while he was very mad, and I felt that I kept putting my foot in my mouth with every comment I made. I should have just stayed quiet, let him rant and rave and thought about what I "Should say" vs what I "Wanted to say". I always ask way to many questions when I'm perplexed by a situation and it just seems to make the other person mad, when all they want me to do is commiserate with them and not try and find the logic in a situation that usually has no logic.

We'll try and enjoy the holidays but I know I'll be able to tell by Big C's face that it's constantly on his mind...and it really doesn't help that the arthritis is making his feet and toes swell and throb from pain.

I'll just have to say a little prayer tonight and know that God ALWAYS has a master plan and sometimes we are not privy to the plan until it's put into action.

Home at last

Big C finally came home Friday night......enough said.

Sometimes they just make you laugh

ME: Hello stranger
CO-WORKER: Hi you
COURTNEY: That's her name stranger?

LMAO

Breaking up is hard to do....

One of my friends husbands cheated on her and they're breaking up. I feel so badly for her and there's no way in my mind that they could and should reconcile....not even for the kid. It makes me sad but I'll cherish the memories that we had as a four some with our two kids in tow. Now it will be a different dichotomy it will be just me and her with our two kids in two.

I can't be judgmental at all but I look at her husband in such a different light now. It will be hard for me to smile at him, or even accept whatever new girlfriend comes along into our home. I'll constantly wonder if she was the one.

My other friend is in a trial separation from her husband and she told me the other night that if there were any doubts about how "trial" the separation was those doubts are now gone and she'd tell me why later. Normally I'd love a bit of juicy gossip but it's not like that when it's this close to home. When the "juicy gossip" will affect so many lives....I'm not even eager to know what it is...I just know it's over and that's enough to know.

I didn't know her husband that well, I was just aware that he knew and still knows how to put on that winning smile no matter what's crumbling around him. And it's not that I expected him to walk around in doom and gloom but....I guess I don't know what i wanted him to do.

It's so strange that all of this is happening while Big C is away. It's like a double entendre not really used in the proper sense...but what is that...one word with two interpretations? Well on the one hand it makes Big C and I look like the Cosby show and on the other hand it makes the problems between Big C and I not worth arguing about unless we want the same fait.

What I appreciate the most is with Big C being gone I don't feel guilty having so much girl time with both of these friends. I feel like I'm able to dedicate real listening, advice, arm chair counseling time to both of them. What good it's done I don't know, but I feel that during this time what woman want most is for someone to merely listen, and every once in a while acknowledge their feelings as legitimate. At least that's what I'd want....someone to let me know I wasn't crazy and that my decisions on the rest of my life were sound and reasonable.

After reading Adrienne's blog I really wanted to do a fish fry when Big C got back with both couples but the longer Big C stayed in Buffalo the more fragmented both relationships got. I joked with both women and said by the time Big C gets back we'll be frying fish alone!!

At the end of the day I know I'll be friends with both woman for life and all I can hope for is the best.

Starbucks White Chocolate Peppermint

What I wouldn't give for a white chocolate peppermint drink right now: