Is this the reason?

I haven't been sleeping well lately. I don't know why. My grandmother is worried that I've got too much on my mind. I admit that I do think a lot about things but I don't think that that is the reason.

This might be though -

There's not enough room! {Yes, that's Storm squashed over in the background!}. Both boys on my side of the bed and I know that they have no inclination of moving. Should I put the covers over Oscar? He's practically in the right position for a good night's sleep.

And don't forget that when the girls wake in the morning they usually come and hop in with us as well.

Two adults, two kiddies and two furbabies - that's a lot for a queen size bed! There are times when Storm and I end up in either corner going "What the?" {We've got to get a king once the house is built! That's a no-brainer..}

So cute though.

Note: Two things. 1) Rudy opened his eyes briefly when I came in with the camera but I had no response from Oscar. So nice to be noticed. Sigh.
2) The dogs are kicked off before lights out but somehow get back on during the night. Sneaky buggars. Mind you it only happens in winter with Rudy - he gets cold on the carpeted floor {poor buggar - {read sarcasm please}}

So sad...

Knowing that we have Gymboree in the morning {Monday} and a conference for the next three days to attend it becaome obvious that I had to take the dogs out today. So I took the dogs in the car up to the park {I know...so lazy and somewhat defeating of the walking process in the first place but in my defence it was late and the sun had already gone behind the mountains}. I wore my fleece lined windbreaker as there was a cool breeze thinking that it was a bit of overkill but hey, I could always leave it unzipped if I got too hot.

Well.

It was cold. My wearing of the fleece-lined windbreaker wasn't overkill at all. The wind was biting and oh, so nasty. I did my jacket up all the way, wrapped my scarf as many times around my neck as was humanly possible and pulled the hood over my head. I was still so cold! Another lady who was at the dog park running her dogs as well started slurring her words because her lips got so cold. It's just not right for it to be that cold and the worst thing is that we're not even into winter and definitely not in the coldest part of the US! Goodness knows how people survive in those places.

So, I've got a question. A dilemma if you will. Is it right to wish that your dog will poop so that when you pick it in up your hand it will become temporarily warmer?

I wished that today.
And it was. Oh so delightfully warm.
I'll admit it.
Oscar made my hand warmer. Thanks mate. That's what true friends will do for you. Love you dog.

Is it right? I know it's so sad...
{perhaps I should just wear gloves next time and bypass this dilemma?}

Thinking

So, with Thanksgiving tomorrow I've been doing some thinking.

Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia {I know it still surprises some people that it's not celebrated all over the world!} I still want the girls to have Thanksgiving traditions in their lives. After all, they are Australian Americans.

So, how do I start traditions such as this in our lives when I don't really understand the holiday itself? I mean, on The Next Iron Chef finale the other night the chefs were tasked with creating a Thanksgiving meal. One of the chefs did not use turkey at all stating that turkey was not a part of the first Thanksgiving! Who knew?

Not me! {Not that I mind as I am not a big fan of turkey - it's just not that popular in Aus}.

I've been trawling the blogs tonight {yep, the legs are up} and reading some wonderful posts about how thankful people are. I've also seen some great crafts they've created for themselves and their kids to do that help in perpetuating that thankfulness. The girls are too young to appreciate the stuff that's out there so I'm going to have to wait perhaps another year before we can do some crafts together. I think it'll be a while before I'm going to have to learn about the history behind Thanksgiving though and even longer before they will get turkey served at the table.

Yes, I don't do turkey. It's just not something that I care for. We're doing brisket - cooked in the smoker. So tasty. As for marshmallow yams...I like yams...I like marshmallows but just not together. Mashed taters? Who can say no to mashed taters but I prefer potatoes au gratin. Pumpkin pie...No. Pumpkin is best roasted and that's all I have to say on that matter. Green bean casserole? While I'm not a fan of this sidedish I'm going to give it another shot tomorrow. Kendall is such a fan of green beans and peas that I cannot ignore this dish just on that alone. Maybe I can jazz it up and make it work for my tastebuds that way. Mac and cheese? As much as the thought of mac and cheese used to make me go uhhh.. when I was in Aus...I absolutely adore it now. The more the better! {I love it so much that when I give it to the girls for lunch or dinner I secfretly hope that they're not that hungry and I can finish it for them! I'm a bad mummy!}

Now, in the spirit of thankfulness here is what I am thankful for-
- My hubby. The man who rocks my world and lets me know every day how much I am loved. It's a wonderful feeling to have someone as fantastic as him in my life.
- Our girls. Every day I am in awe of these two incredible souls. My life is so much more complete now that these two are running it. I am in the best plave and that makes me happy.
- My family. Even though we're continents apart we can still have conversations as if we've seen eachother the day before. That rocks.
- Our friends. Goes without saying I know. It's great to have someone to vent to when I need to vent {Kerri}. I am going to miss the adult interaction that I get on a semi-regular basis when we move to TX next year. Fingers crossed life will suck in Vegas without us! they will realize how much more opportunities there are in TX and move there with us! {Just run with it ok?}
-Our business. It provides us with a lifestyle that we love and it's only a matter of time before we can provide it more time in the near future. It's our baby too.
- Our fur babies. I didn't mean to put them so far down the list but it just happened. These boys are cool and despite the hair, tooting and the roughousing, it is refreshing to be demanded to provide love (i.e. brushing, patting etc).

I'm sure there's more things to be thankful for but it's getting late and my brain is a little fried. Happy thanksgiving to all our American friends!

What the..?

RV re-do update:

Painting: The cabinets have been done. The walls are on their third colour choice. Why? I don't know why but each colour has either been too light or too yellow. We just cannot seem to get it right. Hopefully third time is a charm...

Bathroom: Not been touched due to carpet being stubborn and not coming up as easily as it did in the main cabin. Sigh...

Floor: Not been started and won't be until we finish the painting

Dinette: Tabletop has been resurfaced and back in our little hands. The dinette seats (and the captain's seat) are currently at the upholsterers.

Speaking of which....It appears that Storm and I have expensive taste when it comes to picking out fabric. Yes, (not that I had any real experience with selecting upholstery fabric though) that the one that we have chosen is $45 per yard. What the? This fabric had better call me momma when it's done!

{By the way, I've not posted any pics of the progress as it really looks like a mess in there and the colour on the walls is so funky/creamy/blah that it's almost embarrassing! Cannot wait until it is done as Stormy will be happy and less stressed and I can finally get to drive it! Yes, I haven't driven it yet and won't until all the little things are fixed on it. Also Storm took it for a drive the other and learned quickly about how important it is to put all things away securely. Otherwise the damage can be fun to clean up!}

Guess what I'm wearing?

And no, this isn't one of those dirty posts.

I am wearing a snuggie! Not just any snuggie, it's the snuggie that I won at Bloggy Boot Camp on Saturday. Yes, I won a snuggie and it's actually quite warm and soft and even has pockets for tissues and stuff. In fact I feel snuggled hence, the snuggie name... If it was pink it would rock more!

So the bloggy conference wrap up is as follows:

We are on PST. The conference was MST so we were an hour behind to start with and didn't realize until we were about 65 minutes into the 90 minute trip. Luckily we had left a little early {so we could stop and have coffee beforehand - didn't happen of course!} and arrived 20 minutes into the day's events. We had a good laugh and so did the hubs when we called them. Sigh...

So, walking into an already started conference full of ladies was intimidating enough but being allocated to the front table for assigned seating just wasn't happening. Yes, we had assigned seating which actually didn't turn out too bad. We got to meet some really nice ladies that way and even the owners of some blogs that I follow. {Almost like meeting Oz!}

Did I learn something? Well, yes I did. Will I implement my knowledge soon? Possible. Do I have thoughts about what I definitely need to learn? Can I get  "Hell Yes"? There is so much out there that I need to learn to be able to get BC going the social media way we want to and not pay someone to do it.

It was fun.

Oh and did I mention that the conference was in St George, UT? The place with some really cool outlet stores? Yes, it had to be done. I got a bargain that I am so happy with that it deserves a separate post. Soon...

New hat!

This is how we amused ourselves on Tuesday night.

Go figure...Sydney loved the diaper on the head concept and happily wore it back and forth all night. She had a ball!

 {Yes, daddy's drinking wine in the background.}

 Love the hair at the front.

 And why wouldn't Kendall get in on the action? We had to get another diaper just for her and she managed to get it on her head all by herself. She was so proud!

 Ta-da!

 Didn't last for long though and of course, in came the thumb...

 So much fun!

I told you!

I told you it was coming.
Again, I cannot help it.
It's an addiction that I'm unable to overcome.

Yes, apart from being a Sons-of-Anarchy-aholic {yes, it's Tuesday night and I'm posting again - tonight's episode was so good! Oops off track again!},

I'm also a Christmas-aholic.

It's a double-edged sword of joy and pain that makes me oh, so, extremely happy.

I've been exchanging my normal decor for Christmas deccies and it's been taking me longer than I thought {between packing all the normal decor properly - it's going to TX that way - and putting the legs up at night, I get a limited amount of time to spend actually getting into the garage and fishing out my totes!}. I'll take pics once I'm done.

But the tree is up! And the girls are seriously loving it.

What's not to love? The lights...

The tree skirt - so spotty!



The ornaments {in this case...bells that ring-a-ling!}

 Oh the bells, the bells! Oh so tasty...

 The tinsel {Note: tinsel doesn't actually go on the tree but it was in the box so they rocked it out only as 16-month olds can!}

 The coloured, plastic garlands. Not the tastiest thing but they were put up high in the tree so they couldn't be put in the mouth again...

So, the challenge is/was - how to get the girls to look but not destroy! I've put all my keepsake ornaments back in the box for this year and only hung the ones that don't have as much sentimental value. We'll see how it goes and hopefully won't need to say "No...don't touch/put that in your mouth/pull on the tree/pull at the pine cones" etc 35 million times throughout the day.

It's a learning opportunity in my very own home!