Proud Aunt :)

Got these pics today from my sister by email and this proud Aunt would like to share :) As most of you know, this cute little man is my 14 mos old nephew Tanner! Isn't he a little ham?

Bubba turns 4 years old

Today we celebrated Bentley's 4th birthday. Yes, we are one of those kinds of people - people who celebrate their dogs birthdays. Give us a break - we have no kids of our own so we make the pets b-days a big deal around here.

We started off the day by wishing him Happy Birthday and giving him lots of extra lovins. He had no clue what was going on but was sure enjoying all the extra attention. Later that afternoon, we took him to Petsmart so he could pick out a new toy and birthday treats. He got lots of birthday hugs from all the little kids and even gave out a few smooches!

"Are we there yet?"

Birthday boy smiling for the camera!

Bentley managed to pick out his new toy and some yummy peanut butter birthday cookies (which looked & smelled good enough for a human to eat). Once we got home, we sat him up in the chair at the kitchen table & let him eat a few cookies. He was even kind enough to share with Millie & Neo.

"Can't...reach...the...cookies..."

Mmm-mmm good! Can I have more please?

You can never have too many toys...

I was cleaning the house today & rounded up all the dog toys that I could find. The dogs love to pull them out of the toy basket & leave them laying all around the house like children! This is the pile of dog toys I made - all 22 of them - & there were still more in their toy basket! Do you think they have enough toys?

My morning at the Courthouse...

This morning I made my way down to the Spring Hill City Hall to pay my "failure to stop" ticket. I knew it wasn't going to be a quick in & out once I saw all the cars there. I walk in, talk to the secretary about where to go & she directed me into a room with about 50 of Spring Hill's finest waiting to either speak to the judge or pay their tickets. I gave my name to the bailiff & he told me to sit & wait until my name was called.

I take a seat & as I'm looking around the room, I notice that 95% of the people in there were teenage boys (who had girlfriends w/babies) & men who had more tattoos than they had teeth - like I said, Spring Hill's finest! There was only 1 other girl in there besides me who had a ticket & she didn't speak any English. I could sense everyone staring at me as I sat there looking very "Johnson County" in my Ugg boots and Coach purse :)

I watched as each person went up to the Judge & gave every excuse they could as to why they didn't have insurance, why they illegally parked, why they didn't have a drivers license & each time the Judge was a total ass to these people. After listening to a few, I was becoming intrigued by all the excuses one can come up with to get out of a ticket. I could only imagine how irritated the Judge was getting! It was finally my turn so I hand the judge my ticket & he looks at it & says ever so rudely "what do you want me to do with this?" I tried to be sweet and bat my brown eyes at him but this didn't work - pretty sure I wasn't the first one to try it! I told him I wanted to ammend the ticket & pay a double fine to keep it off my record. He scribbled something on it, handed it to the gal sitting next to him & said "sit back down until your name is called"! 5 minutes later a cop is calling me out into the hall & I'm a bit nervous at this point because I don't know what is going on. All I wanted to do was pay my fine & get the hell out of there! I make my way over to the cop, he directs me back to the secretary & tells me that she will collect my money there. I write my check, get my receipt & out the door I went on my way to work - FINALLY!

What a frickin' ordeal! I went through all that just so it would be off my driving record & so that my insurance wouldn't go up! I guess it was all worth it in the end!

A Holiday?

Today I left work early so I could head down to the Spring Hill Courthouse to pay my "failure to stop" ticket that I received last month. I could have sent it in the mail, but I wanted to ammend it and pay the double fine so it wouldn't go on my driving record which I had to do in person. It is due tomorrow, but I am on call so I had to take care of it today - leave it to me to procrastinate and do things last minute!

As I pull up to the courthouse, there are no cars in the parking lot so I'm thinking sweet - I will get right in, pay the ticket and get right out without waiting! I get to the door, try to open it and it is locked. I'm quite confused at this point as the sign clearly says that they are open until 5pm and it was only 4pm!?! I make my way home and am irritated by the whole situation because not only did I leave work early today, but now I have to go in first thing tomorrow morning and be late for work :(

I call Shane to tell him my whole ordeal and he ever so kindly points out that it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which is a Federal holiday - so of course the courthouse would be closed! DUH!

Silly me - I'm just not one to keep track of holidays that don't have something to do with summer-time, food or presents :)

Breakfast + Shopping = good times

This morning Shane & I met a couple of my girlfriends out for breakfast at one of our most favorite restaurants - First Watch. He was such a good sport about joining us and he managed to make it through all the girl-talk, laughter and medical-talk created by three chatty women :) What a good husband he is!

Once we arrived home, I made my way over to my girlfriend Jilly's house whom I haven't seen since before Thanksgiving. It was SO nice to see her and finally get to catch up and exchange our X-mas gifts with each other! We also ventured out and made a trip to Costco which is always dangerous as I can never escape those kind of places w/out spending at least $100! I did manage to save $10 in coupons though that Jilly so graciously gave me so hey...it was worth the money spent. Once I got home & Shane saw all that I bought he told me that Jilly was a horrible influence on me and that I was grounded from shopping at Costco with her in the near future. Hmmm - maybe I did get carried away?!? :)

*Just kidding Jill - I'm sure with a little sweet talk he will let me come over to "play" again soon :)

A Happy Period?

Since it has been a slow week & I really don't have any exciting news to share with you all, I thought I would post this funny email that I received last week! It is definitely worth the chuckle since we can ALL relate. From what I understand, this is an actual letter from an Austin, TX woman sent to the company Proctor & Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets on a roll after the first paragraph :) Enjoy...

Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years & I truly appreciate many of their features. Without the Leak Guard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, & I'd certainly steer clear of running up & down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite all-time feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe & secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my panties.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from 'the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type this, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust & I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'a bitch on wheels with knife skills.'

Isn't the human body amazing? As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, the puffiness, & the cramping we endure, & about our intense mood swings, crying & out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy!

The point is, Sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants - which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramps so painful that I wanted to reach inside my body & yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, & there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'

Are you fu**ing kidding me? Does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness, is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable Mr. Thatcher? Well, did it?

FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua & lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God - if you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bull sh*t. And that's a promise I will keep - Always!

Sincerely,
Wendi Aarons
Austin, TX

HT don't feel good :(

Nothing much to report this week due to the fact that I have been sick since last Sunday :( The day I left SD I started not to feel well and then it just spiraled downhill from there. I ended up staying home from work Tues & Wed and feeling yucky the next few days. I went to the Walgreen's Take-Care Clinic Tuesday (which I think is an awesome concept) & was told I have sinusitis, an upper respiratory infection & an ear infection. Nothing a little dose of Amoxicillin can't cure :) It is day 7 and the first day I have felt good in a week. Looks like I am on the road to recovery - which is a good thing because it is Jan 11th & I have yet to take down the X-mas decorations :) That is on my "to-do" list today!

Domestic Diva

This morning my husband requested I make pancakes for breakfast. Being the Domestic Diva & wonderful wife that I am, I decided to grant him his request - besides, it did sound tasty! I got out one of my many cookbooks to look for a recipe for pancakes & unfortunately, all the pancake recipes called for buttermilk which I didn't have so I looked at the waffle recipes. Lucky for him, I had all the ingredients & proceeded to whip up a batch of homemade waffles - from SCRATCH! They were super easy to make & they turned out awesome! Shane even said they tasted better than the waffles at I-Hop....hmmm, either he truly meant that or he is buttering me up for something he wants later :) Regardless, I would have to agree that they were quite delicious - if I do say so myself!

Freier Family X-mas in SD

THURSDAY: I awoke at 5am - after only 4 hours of sleep - to make my way to South Dakota for the annual Freier Family Christmas. It was a rough go the first couple of hours but nothing a large cup of coffee and a QT donut couldn't fix! Once the sun came up and I had gotten some caffeine in my system, I was fine and the 7 hour trip up there went surprisingly quick!

My sister and nephew Tanner had flown in from Wisconsin the day before so they were already there. My brother Steve, Meghan & her son Caleb were right behind me the entire way and my other brother Chris, his wife Rachel, & nieces Kyra & Joslyn would arrive later that evening. It was great having the entire family together - minus my brother-in-law Ben & Shane - but we managed to have a wonderful weekend together.L to R: me, my sister Jen & nephew Tanner

FRIDAY: Today was actually our family "Christmas"! Once everyone woke up, we all gathered in the living room around the tree and opened gifts from each other. It was a lot of fun watching the kids open their gifts and watching the babies have fun playing with the wrapping paper. *My sister, Tanner & Joslyn

*My nephew Tanner & niece Joslyn

*My brother Chris & Joslyn

The rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed playing Guitar Hero together and then we all went to the movie Marley & Me. Later that evening mom made a wonderful dinner for the family and for dessert I had brought a strawberry cheesecake from none other than "Stetson' Famous Cheesecakes"!

SATURDAY: We spent the morning/afternoon running errands and enjoyed lunch at our favorite place in Mitchell - Taco John's. We grew up with the restaurant Taco John's our entire life and those of us that live in KC never get to go there because only 1 restaurant exists in the entire KC metro area. So it is a nice treat that we enjoy when we are home!

Later that day, we headed to our Aunt & Uncles' house for our White Elephant Christmas with relatives. It was snowing out earlier in the day and during our drive there the winds had picked up and we drove 15 miles in almost 0 visibility. It was kind of scary at times be we all made it there safely and enjoyed the evening with our grandparents, aunt, uncles and cousins. The highlight of the evening was watching my nephew Tanner play in the box and my niece Joslyn trying to steal my uncles' Corona Light :)

SUNDAY: I woke up early, packed up my things, said goodbye to my family and as I started to make my way back to KC I look up at my temperature gauge in the car and that pic on the left is what it said: -4 degrees. I never thought I would be glad to be leaving the frozen tundra and looking forward to heading back to 30 degree temps. As I was getting ready, my mom was looking out the window to their front yard and we noticed a couple of deer in the field. As we stood there watching them, soon we counted a total of 7 deer just wandering through the field as the sun was coming up. It was quite a serene and beautiful sight to see and it made me remember how peaceful living on the farm can be - I actually kind of miss it! And so, another Freier Family Christmas comes to a close. Back to the hubby, furry kidz and unfortunately work :(