Christmas week in pictures.

After attempting to leave Hometown for several days, we finally escaped yesterday. We had to drive to Dallas (4 hours) and catch a flight from there. It was worth it. Someone was very happy to see us.

One of my bffs got her kids a baby bulldog for Christmas and we got to meet her on Christmas night. Theirs died a couple of years ago and the kids wanted another one sooo bad. So, meet Duchess.

Bob was smitten.

Every other year my entire extended family does a massive Christmas Eve function at my g'rents house. This year, Bob was tasked with carving the turkeys. As you can see, Pa trusted Bob with the electric knife, but stood at the ready just in case Bob couldn't handle it. Of course, he did just fine.

Since we were all together on Christmas Eve, we celebrated what would have been my 

Great Grandpa's 100th birthday.

Once all the peeps left, we exchanged gifts as our little family unit. Bob and I are starting a matching Christmas pj's tradition. This year I bought them. Next year he will.

Our stocking haul. We both got tons of crap. We're excellent crap givers. 

Bob got golf sleeves, peanut butter go cups and jelly, hand warmers, a nose hair trimmer, a red solo cup coozie, shaving cream, chapstick, mini tooth brusher things, a "Hot Stuff" spatula, a Pez dispenser (to add to his collection), candy, a "Rules for Husbands" mini book, 

and a mini inflatable unicorn horn.

I got Golf for Dummies, candy, a leg lamp, and the movie "Ted."

But this isn't crap. The leg lamp night light in my stocking... it rocks.

Now that we're back home, we decided we've had enough travel to last us a few days. Its so nice to be all snuggly and warm at home with our favorite kitty!

End o' the world.

As I read Bob's facebook post tonight, I remembered the world is supposed to end tomorrow. I had forgotten. Bob didn't forget though, but he's not having as good a night as he hoped.

"Couldn't find hookers and blow in Maine, so back to the hotel and see if I wake up after the world ends tonight."

He wanted to go out with a bang. Poor guy. Hope ya'll have more better access to hookers and blow tonight. Enjoy, peeps.

So long, fare well, old friends. Forever. Or until my next blog post. Either way.

Merry Christmas to ME!

Since Bob and I will be traveling for Christmas, we exchanged gifts last night. We'll be together Christmas Eve and Christmas morning (in between his work trips), but we won't be here. Shipping all our gifts was just too much. We're still doing stockings on Christmas morning, but we did our big gifts Tuesday before Bob left for work again.

So. Bob did good this Christmas. Very good. I guess because I've been so good this year? As I mentioned before, I already got a Kate Spade (the New Bond Street Hadley), which is way more massive than I thought when I ordered it, and a set of World Markets dishes. Bob also got me a pretty sweet new vacuum, which I've already used and it rocks.

My big surprise gift was a diamond necklace. I mean, I put one on my list, but I never thought he'd actually buy one, especially considering all the other stuff he got me. I'm obsessed with my grandmothers every day necklace and I've been looking for one similar for years. Turns out, they don't make them like that anymore. So Bob, being so unbelievably awesome, had a duplicate one made for me! It's a baby version of my grandmothers and exactly what I wanted. I absolutely adore this new jewelry! He did so good. I'm entirely too spoiled.

Cousin's Christmas

This past weekend, we went to Bob's family's "Cousin's Christmas" in Louisiana. Since their grandmother passed away a few years ago, the first cousins get together and continue this family function she started. This is the first time Bob has been since 2008 because of deployments. We had a great time with everyone. 

Our Christmas tree at home. It's a HUGE improvement from Bob's 4.5ft tree. 

Please excuse our crooked star.

Sweet snuggles with SJ. She's just so damn cute. Her little personality is really coming out. 

She's a sassy, cute, sweet little thing!

This is the gift Carly and family gave us this year. She had a friend go by the house where Bob and I had neighboring apartments in college and take a picture. I absolutely love it! It's already on our bookshelf now, but I'm thinking it needs to go somewhere else more prominent. 

It's such a super cool, thoughtful, sentimental gift!

Bob did NOT pack for the Louisiana weather changes. Yes, he lived there for years, but failed to properly plan for the 40 degree temperature changes. We drove over to Hometown to visit with my G'rents for a few minutes and my Gpa INSISTED that Bob take some of his clothes back to Monroe with us. Here's Bob in Pa's pleated pants and pearl snap button down. Stylin'.

For Cousin's Christmas, we were responsible for a dessert. Since we flew in, I didn't exactly have a chance or opportunity to make a ton of stuff. So I quickly made some peanut butter rice crispies and we bought a massive gigantor cookie cake. So yeah. Here's Santa.

Upcoming Fight.

My Charlotte bff, Jess, recently married one of Bob's friends. Jess, Chris, and Bob have all been friends for a few years now. Jess is one of those people you just instantly love. The first time I met her I knew we'd be good friends. And we are. Her husband, Chris, is also a pilot and is gone a lot too. He and Bob have similar schedules, which means Jess and I are usually "single" at the same time.

And what do we do when we're "single" together? We go to the bar and watch football games. No lie. It's so sad, but we both love football. Usually we end up shopping or baking afterward, so it all works out. This past Sunday after the game, we spend 3+ hours in Target. At least 30 minutes of that was spent on the baking aisle and another 30 picking out wrapping paper. I don't know why. We just ended up parking on an aisle and talking about random stuff. Which apparently we did all over the store since we were in there for so long. By the time we left, security was tailing us. I assume they thought we had sticky fingers. We did not. Hmpf.

Anyway, a couple of weekends ago we ended up at the mall, where we each purchased the most amazing blankets ever. She had already received one as a wedding gift, but they were on a pretty massive sale, so she bought another (as a "gift" that she'll never actually get around to giving to anyone, but Chris doesn't need to know that).

I'm telling you... This is the blanket to end all blankets. We bought them during a $25 flash sale in store, but the full price is worth every penny. I have snuggled up to it every single day since the day I brought it home. And even better, Jack hasn't found it yet. He still molests his old regular blanket. I'm dreading the day when he realizes what I've got. It's going to be an all out fight to the death to see who will win. It's that good. Pinky promise.

Christmas Surprise?

So every year, I pay attention. I listen all throughout the year. I keep notes in my phone. I pin to a gifts board. When Christmas comes, I give people things they have mentioned all year long. I LOVE doing this, because nine times out of ten, the people forgot they said they wanted it. Or forgot they said it to me. Either way, it's a good surprise.

However, this backfired with Bob's gifts. So very often, he says, "You can get me that." And I did. Get him that. Lots of thats. So now he's getting lots of small gifts and a couple of big ones. I've relegated a lot of them (the smaller boxed ones) to stocking stuffers. This means, though, that his stocking will NOT be held up by a measly little stocking holder. It's going to be damn heavy and damn full. And the things he isn't getting for Christmas, he's getting next month for his birthday.

I gave him my present list a few weeks ago. Just about every week, he's asked me to resend it to him because he "lost" it. So each time I've sent it, I added to it, mainly just to see if he was paying attention. He was. And so far, I've already gotten most of it (because I bought the damn stuff). I (using Bob's credit card) purchased my new Kate Spade (earlier this year during a sample sale) and bought (washed and put away) my new set of dishes last weekend (when World Market had a secret 50% off dining flash sale... woo hoo for being a "World Market Explorer"). There's a rather large vacuum cleaner shaped box beside our tree (chill, feminists... I asked for a new one). Overall, I'm reeeally excited about these gifts. No, they aren't surprises, but they're totes amazeballs!

I hope he's as excited about his gifts as I am about mine! I have a feeling he will be.

Baby free zone.

There's been a lot of baby talk in and around our house lately.

I have a serious aversion to poop. Any kind of poop really. People. Animal. Doesn't matter. The other night I had a dream that I gave birth to a monster sized baby, like a 25lb baby. She was huge. And her poop looked and smelled like chocolate oatmeal (if that's even a thing). So in my dream, I was so proud of myself for being able to handle her poop. I remember thinking, "This isn't so bad! I can do this!" And then I woke up.

I had this dream after reading CNN.com and seeing the top 100 baby names list for 2012. I always like to look. I like to see the name trends. My middle name, for example, is still in the top 40. It was my Great Aunt's name too. So it's been popular for going on 70 years solid. I like that. Names that mean something and last for a long time.

Anyway, it seems like every day Bob and I are faced with more baby conversations from very different people. Everyone is ready for our baby, except for us. That's a problem, right?

For the record, it will be a while before we have a baby Guy. A loooooong while if we have anything to do with it.

Bleed Tech Blue.

So I went to Louisiana Tech and they've an amazing football season, with the #1 offense in the nation. Unless you've been under a rock tonight, you've heard that Tech turned down a bowl game, which would basically have been a home game. If they'd accepted the game, they would have played ULM, our neighbor just down the interstate. It would have brought back the I20 rivalry, which went on for years and years. Independence Stadium in Shreveport would have been packed to the gills.

Instead of accepting this game and giving the incredible seniors an awesome end to their near perfect season, Tech declined the Independence Bowl in hopes of being offered a "better" bowl option (which they did NOT get). Another rumor is that they didn't want to play ULM out of fear of being embarrassed by being classed with them. There are talks of it being too expensive for Tech to participate. Whatevs.

On top of all this, we're going to lose our coach after this season. Tech has always been a stepping stone school. We get mediocre coaches, they turn the team and themselves into super stars, and then they leave. Tech's coach is currently being courted by some pretty impressive universities and football programs. I will put money (or rice crispies) on him leaving before the 2013 season, especially after all this bullshit.

I've been a Tech fan my whole entire life. I grew up in Joe Aillet Stadium, the Thomas Assembly Center, and Love Field. I'll always be a Tech fan, no matter what the kids on the fields and the courts do or how well they play. However, if that asshat of an Athletic Director doesn't pull his head out of his ass, there will be hell to pay. Not hell from me, but hell from thousands of Tech alums and students.

We're a small, proud school. Our alums can be fiercely loyal. We take care of our own, especially a group of football players who played their hearts out all season, only to be shit on by the administration.

NBA legend Karl Malone ripped his alma mater on Twitter.
"I am Bulldog to the core, I am heart broken and embarrassed that our university would do this to Tech Nation. To our football and staff, this is exactly what is wrong with our university. Now it's time to get former athletes to run our program. I'm (6-foot-9) and not hard to find," Malone wrote.