Zoo Fun

So the day after Thanksgiving, John and I took Charlie to the zoo. Yes, Chattanooga has a Zoo. I haven't been there in a while. For those of you who are familiar with the zoo here, I'm sure you'd agree with me that it used to be a little ghetto. Okay, a lot ghetto. It was pretty much a parking lot with a few raccoons and deer in makeshift cages. No kidding. But they've revamped it and it actually looks like a legitimate zoo. They even have snow leopards now. It's a great little zoo. It's really cheap to get in and you can be out in an hour. But I must admit, the zoo could use a little more work! We thought Charlie would be a little more enthusiastic . . . although he did fall asleep on the way down. I think I had more fun than anyone. It was a cool day. My favorite was the chimp named Hank. He literally got up and walked to us when he saw us behind the glass. I got weirdly teary-eyed for some reason. He was just so big and dignified . . . I didn't cry on my own wedding day but I get emotional over a monkey. I never said I was balanced.

The petting zoo was neat. Although, I almost didn't go in because I feared for my LIFE. I was terrified something was going to jump on me or eat my clothes. Those goats were giving me the stink-eye. It doesn't help that a goat at that zoo once swallowed Mari's bag. She yanked it out of its throat and it was covered in goat yack. Needless to say, she had to throw it out. But we walked out yack-free and it was all good.

November 2008

Before I start, I've just got to share this. This skit was on SNL recently and it made me laugh so hard. See, I'm a huge fan of "Dateline" and any other "murder shows" (as my mom lovingly calls them). So this skit definitely hit home for me. Who knew Bill Hader could do a spot-on Keith Morrison? Hilarious. (And yes, it's clean!)

I know November isn't quite over, but close enough. Let me just start with a miracle. I'm not exaggerating. Charlie learned how to sleep through the night. If you knew what we have been through with this kid, believe me, you'd agree it's a total miracle. After tons of people telling us crying it out was the way to go, we decided we had no other choice. I was getting hardly any sleep which only made my IBS problems worse. If I don't get enough sleep, I automatically have stomach cramps the next day. So, my parents went out of town for a week and a half and we knew it was now or never. It took only 3 nights . . . which is amazing, because that is how long everyone told us it would take. Now mind you, things aren't perfect. We still struggle with him getting up too early. But at least he'll sleep 7-8 hours at a time on his worst days. Before this, he was only getting 7 hours of sleep collectively. So thanks to all you guys for that advice . . . I never thought this day would come!

Fall is my favorite season and no, the irony isn't lost on me, okay? The leaves were gorgeous this year. We took Charlie to this little playground down the road (his first playground experience ever) and got some great shots of leaves. I only wish I had put him in something other than his Space Invaders jacket! The one of him in the swing is one of my favorite pictures ever--and yes, I took it. Me, not John. I'm proud, can you tell? Although . . . I also took the other two out-of-focus ones. I thought they were cute, anyway . . .

November also saw two new arrivals in my family. I'm an aunt twice over this month! Mari (my brother's wife) had a baby girl named Eloise Ruth Evans. Then, Scott (John's brother) and Katie had a boy. I don't know the name yet, so I'll call him Chongo Flynn for now. I know Katie will love that.

Anyway, we had a good Thanksgiving. I was feeling kind of sick (stomach and allergy issues), but it could've been worse I guess. It's just hard to not eat all those good things . . . this is the first year that I've been truly serious about avoiding foods that will trigger my IBS. So I stuck with a few bites of ham, peas, carrots and bread. It wasn't as fun as usual, but at least I got to spend it with all my side of the family. Most people can't say that, so that was a blessing.

This was Charlie's first "real" Thanksgiving since he actually got to eat the food. He liked the Watergate Salad the best. For those of you not familiar, it has nothing to do with salad. It's made of pistachio pudding, Cool Whip and marshmallows. He wouldn't eat anything else after he had that. I told myself he got protein from the pistachios and the hydrogenated oil in the Cool Whip.

This year, my favorite tradition didn't happen. Sigh. For the past few years, my sister-in-law Mari and I have gone down to Calhoun to go shopping in the outlets on Black Friday. We always find crazy deals. It's always great because we have the same shopping style. We try on clothes over and over again until we can make up our minds! Mari is the best shopping partner ever. Well, since she had a baby only two weeks ago, she was out. And as I mentioned earlier, I was feeling pretty sick all week. I didn't feel like driving an hour both ways, especially if I was going alone. So Wednesday, I decided to forget tradition and I went to Ross. Now before you judge me for shopping at a place with a sub-title like "Dress for Less," here's the facts. I got three shirts (nice shirts--blouses, if I actually used the word "blouse") and a skirt for $40. The time before I got a Nine West (didn't know they made shirts, but hey, it's designer) shirt for $6. All together, I got that shirt, a jacket, shoes (patent flats), jeans, a skirt and a dress for under $75. Who's laughin' now?

October 2008: Part III

There was one more event in October worth mentioning . . . our anniversary! We have officially made it SEVEN YEARS! I can honestly say that I love John even more now than when we were first married. Awwww . . . weren't we cute?

John planned our anniversary and it was perfect. I wasn't feeling well, so we decided to stay home. We dropped Charlie off with my sister and stayed home and watched a movie. What movie, pray tell?

John bought it for me and we got to watch it on the big screen TV with surround sound! We don't get to watch movies in there often . . . there are too many breakable things in there for Charlie. But it was a great treat. It was John's first time seeing it, since he was kind enough to stay with Charlie so I could go to the midnight showing of Indy. It may not be the best movie ever (or even the best Indy), but that midnight showing was definitely the most fun movie watching experience in my life. It was the most excited I've ever been (and will be) about seeing a movie. And all the fat middle-aged guys dressed up as Harrison Ford made the experience all the more special. And stinky--that theater was packed and smelled sweaty. Ugh. But watching that movie again made me so happy. Way to go, Hubby-O!

October 2008: Part II

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. I've always loved monsters and scary movies, so of course, this is my favorite time of year. My favorite thing about Halloween is pumpkin carving. Call me a geek, but I love it. I take it very seriously. I never use templates. It's cheating. Not to mention artistically cheap! I look on the internet for a picture of "my subject" and then I freehand the design on the pumpkin with a red Sharpie. Then, I just carve away.


This year, I think I really outdid myself. There was no question of who I was going to carve this year. It had to be the Joker. If you have not seen The Dark Knight yet, repent. It comes out on DVD in December. Anyway, I used a new technique this year. I usually do it all by hand, using various sharp things to carve out what I want. But this year (heh, heh) John let me use his Dremel tool! It was so crazy awesome. I used to shape his hair, which would have taken literally, an hour to do with a normal scraper or knife. I also used it to smooth out bumps, so it looks way better than my other pumpkins. It's not a perfect pumpkin, but I'm so happy with it. Whatdya' think?

Some people who came to the house to trick or treat actually took a picture of the pumpkin! I won scariest pumpkin at our Trunk or Treat. Some little twit accused me of using a template behind my back. It's a good thing I didn't hear it. I'd have to show him the disappearing pencil magic trick. If you didn't get that reference, repent. Watch The Dark Knight.

Okay, enough bragging. For our Trunk or Treat, I dressed up as the Cat in the Hat. I should've taken a picture, but I was too busy trying to set up our trunk. (We won funniest btw: it was a zombie bride and groom with a sign that said, "Just Buried." Awwww.)

Charlie had the best costume ever. Have you seen a cuter Sith in your life?

We even taught him to breathe heavy like Vader. My sister started to sing the Darth Vader theme (you know, "duh duh duh duh-duh-duh") and he sang it right back! Too bad I didn't get it on video. Dangit! He loved the Trunk or Treat. He was literally running all over the parking lot screaming because he was so excited. He kicked and screamed when we had to go home.

On the actual Halloween, we just stayed at home. We dressed Charlie up again for fun. He's a little too little to get candy.

That night, I did my brother and his friend's hair for a party. They were going as Ron Burgandy and Rebecca Corningstone from Anchorman. I should've taken a "before" picture just so you can see all the work I put into it. They looked so hilarious.

I really enjoyed making them up. It gave me an idea. For most of my childhood, I wanted to be a special effects makeup artist. You know, those people that glue latex pieces on actors' faces? Weird, I know, but anyway . . . then I found out you had to be good at chemistry. Yeah, that dream died real quick. Anyway, how cool would it be to start a business where people would pay me to do their makeup for Halloween parties? I would love to do that. Although, I probably couldn't do that many people in one day . . . and most people would want to be made up on Halloween. And then I wouldn't get to enjoy my favorite holiday. Hmmm . . . maybe that idea needs tweaking . . .

October 2008: Part I

October was an awesome month. One of my b-day gifts from John was one of the most amazing gifts ever. He got us tickets to go see "Sweeney Todd" at the Tivoli (an old theater here in town). John is the best gift giver. He remembers random things I said months before and so it's always something I want AND I'm surprised. In fact, I had seen an ad for this show and I was whining about how bad I wanted to go. So, you'd think I'd be jumping up and down when I got the tickets, right? No. I'm a total idiot. I didn't want to go because the tickets were pretty expensive and our babysitting situation. Let me explain.

As many of you know, we live with my parents. When we go out on dates, my mom usually watches Charlie because he's used to her. The one time we had John's parents watch him . . . he got violently sick. Turns out he had a fever virus and we didn't even know. John's poor parents had to deal with a sick, scared, screaming baby for three hours. He literally screamed for three hours! I felt so horrible about that for months.

So, the show just happened to be on the week when my parents were in El Paso visting my grandma. Hoo boy. Now, John's parents raised eight kids: seven boys and one girl. They are not easily fazed and told us everything would be fine. I was seriously nervous for a week leading up to that night. But as soon as we dropped Charlie off at their house, I just tried to enjoy the evening.

The show was crazy amazing. It wasn't the traditional telling of "Sweeney Todd." It was actually from a fairly recent adaptation where the cast are all mental patients in an asylum, retelling the story. There were only 10 people in the cast and all of them not only sang and acted . . . they friggin' played their own instruments! There were literally moments when someone was playing the cello (on a five-foot narrow platform--more on that in a second) and singing, or when someone was playing the trumpet with one hand and beating a drum with the other. It was crazy! And if you closed your eyes you were swear there was a full orchestra there. They were that good at everything. The other cool part was the staging. It was on a tiny stage, so instead of blocking out the staged, they blocked up. Meaning, they had these set pieces (most of them shaped like different sized coffins) that they would arrange to be a barber's chair, a pulpit, etc. Plus, there was this huge wall in the back that was at least eighteen feet high. The guy who played Sweeney Todd would climb up the ladder (while singing!) and then jump off (from like, ten feet in the air). It was so crazy. I seriously loved it and it made me crazy all over again about how I have to wait for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd to come on TV! I swear, not watching rated R movies is the hardest LDS standard to keep!

Well, we got to John's parents to find Charlie happily climbing on everything. He didn't cry once. I could've collapsed in relief right then and there! He did trash their house, but bless them, they didn't seem to mind.

All in all, it was one of the best birthday presents ever!

Well, it was football time in Georgia again (even though we live in Tennessee). John and his family are devoted Georgia Bulldog fans and I sort of dread every football season. It just seems to take over everything. But this year it turned out okay because John, being the BHE (Best Hubby Ever), took Charlie down to his parents' house to watch every game. That gave me ALONE TIME. I love ALONE TIME. I was able to write, scrapbook and nap. Soooo nice.

Birthdays are a big deal in my family. We all get together for everyone's birthday. Mine was on the 12th. Normally, my mom makes me a coconut cream pie. But alas, my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) has been in overdrive the past few months, so I'm on an insanely restrictive diet. So I chose yellow cake (still a bad choice, I'll tell more later) instead. Originally, I wanted a cake shaped like a vampire with a stake through his heart (Edward Cullen! Take that, Twilighters! Just kidding . . .). But, I thought that might be too much work. After all, my mom had to make 4 birthday cakes that month. So I asked for a "ghost in the graveyard" cake, which is basically a dirt cake with cookies stuck in it ("tombstones") and dollops of Cool Whip ("ghosts"). But of course, my mom had to do something awesome and over the top. Check it out.

So I realize a graveyard cake isn't traditional for a 26th birthday. It's not a martyrdom thing, like I think I'm "over the hill" or something lame like that. It's simply a celebration of my love of monster movies and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." (The TV show. Yes, I realize it's been off the air for five years. Gimme a break.) Instead of hats, we all got vampire teeth. Here's Charlie enjoying his.

The coolest thing is what John said to me that day. I'm sure most men would be totally wigged out by a chick who wants a graveyard cake and fangs for her birthday. But John came up to me and said, "You are so fun." Gotta love that guy.

Next was . . . Charlie's first birthday! It was on the 18th . . . which is cool, because our anniversary is Oct. 18th and John's b-day is June 18th. Very nice. Anyway, we just had a family party but we have a lot of family here. It is such a blessing to have both sets of grandparents here. Of course, my mom had to make him the most adorable "cake." We were shocked at how neat he was about eating his cupcake. He got tons of presents, most of which we had to open for him because he got bored. There was one really cute moment when Charlie "accidentally" untied the helium balloon from his high chair. We were outside. The balloon went floating in the air and Charlie waved "bye-bye" to it. It was pretty hilarious. Here are some pics: