Glad I'm No Toad

Here's JR before he left for school this morning...looks like a National Champion to me! I was keeping up with the Big 12 game on my BB at Jason's Christmas party. Sadly, I was in a room with my Aggie husband, New Mexicans, and Coloradoans. None of whom seemed to share my enthusiasm as I was showing off the score. Oh well. My mom was certainly excited. She told me, "I knew that Colt McCoy was praying when he put his head down, and I walked into Sunday School and said, 'the end of that game was The Lord answering Colt McCoy's prayers.' "
And speaking of the game, TCU, I'm putting you on "my list" (which is not a place you want to be). You've also upset my mom (not something you want to do) who said, "I couldn't believe TCU sitting up there cheering for Nebraska. They should be ashamed of themselves! Who'd want to be an ol' horned frog anyway?!" Um, not me. Hook 'Em!

My Feet Still Hurt from My Party Shoes

Durango isn't known for its fashion forwardness. Unlike Houston, you'll never (and I mean never, ever, ever) see a stay-at-home mom pushing a grocery cart in heels. I was even overdressed on JR's first day of school in work-out wear. (I saw two moms wearing pajama bottoms.) But, as you can see, Jason and I did get all duded up last night for the Exterran Christmas Party. I told JR at lunch that he was supposed to tell me I looked pretty when he would see me all dressed up later.

JR's response: What if I don't?
Me: Well, you're always supposed to tell girls they look pretty when they're dressed up; it's good manners.

I figure we need every kind of head start we can get turning these boys into gentleman. Sigh....

And now a section of the blog just for my mom. The rest of you may talk amongst yourselves.
Yes, I wore my hair up. And yes, I wore lots of make-up. Like a whole face-full!

This Wasn't Supposed to be a Family Portrait

I figured one of us would have to be in the Santa Claus picture, but I never dreamed we both would. I was counting on one of the babies to take a liking to the Man in Red, but as you can see, neither were having any part of him. Especially Reed. Just look at that "thumb in mouth, I'm not even going to look at you" face. JR has always been a big fan of Santa. He was never scared to sit in his lap, and today he marched right up and started reading off his list. (This year's most unexpected request: A gift certificate to Rocky Mt. Chocolate Factory.) At least he's buying local. Right, Durangoans? And by the way, how depressed am I that Santa is way skinner than any of us?

Alright! You Win...

My jealous nature has been kicking in all day. If you don't live in Texas, have relatives in Texas, or have Facebook friends from Texas then you might not know: IT'S SNOWING. I, for one, am quite aware that is snowing in and around Houston since I've received 2 phone calls and an email with photographic proof from Granny Sherry, a call from my mom, and seen that every single Facebook update from anyone living even close to Houston has been about the snow. Okay, Okay, Y'all win. It's snowing in Texas and not here in Colorado. My yard is brown and yucky. And Houston, well, you're just a gorgeous Christmas wonderland of snow and magicalness. I'm even big enough to post a picture of Granny Sherry's "snow covered" yard. (And yes, even though I'm a native Texan, I'm allowed to put snow covered in quotes since I live in Colorado now.) So, a tip of the hat to you, Texas snow. Toche'.

But truth be told, I'm way too competitive to just let you win and walk away.

Beat this, Houston!

That's right. 7:00 AM, 5 degrees, Baby!

Buyer Beware!

I made our Christmas cards on Snapfish earlier this week and went to pick them up today. Now I'm not going to say where I was, but y'all know what stores you can pick Snapfish up from, and you also know I live in a town with very minimal "chain" stores.
So, I rolled my cart full of babies, who were laughing and waving at passersby, back to the photo section and started to check out.
The cashier rang up $158.00.
Excuse me?!
Me: $158.00?! These were supposed to be $80.00.
Snarky Cashier: Um, they're $158.00. You ordered the 5x7 cards.
Me: I know I did, but Snapfish said they should be $80.00
Nice Random lady: Ma'am, You're boys are throwing things out of your purse onto the floor.
Me: Oh, Thank you.
I'm now picking up purse items off the floor and shoving them back in.
Me: I can't believe this. These are supposed to be $80.00.
A manager happens to walk up.
Manager: Did you pay for them on Snapfish?
Me: No. But they emailed me a receipt showing me how much they would cost. I even used an online coupon.
Manager: Well, I guess you should have paid for them on Snapfish.
Me: Can I fill out some kind of price dispute?
Snarky Cashier: You don't have to take them.
(So your store's just going to eat the cost?)
Me: No, I want them. I just don't want to pay $158.00 for them.
At this point I look at the package and see they've charged me $1.47 per Christmas card. Now, if I'm spending $1.47 per card, I'd better look like Heidi Klum walking the Victoria's Secret fashion show. (And I can assure you, I do not.)
Snarky Cashier then goes and plays around with her scanner/pricer and says: Oh. Somebody priced this wrong. They charged you for 5x7 photos, not cards.
Another Lady Standing Next To Me: Oh, I'm so glad you got those for $80.00! I was hoping you were right!

A few added comments from this experience:
1. Had I not kept pressuring these people, I would have had to pay $78 more than I was supposed to.
2. I never got an apology for the pricing mistake. Not from Snarky Cashier or the manager.
3. It's hard to look intimidating and haggle over prices when I've got a shopping cart full of babies tossing personal items out of my purse.

Fashion Emergency

I've done a "craft" post, and now I'm doing a "fashion" post. I'm telling ya, next thing you know I'm going to be posting a recipe and pictures of food!
JR has never cared what he wears. I pick things out for him and he puts them on (although, as of late, he doesn't like bluejeans anymore). So what happened yesterday morning was a first. I dressed Kyle in an Elmo shirt. So of course, Reed wanted an Elmo shirt. For some reason I couldn't find the other Elmo shirt, so I was showing him other shirts to choose from. One of the shirts I showed him was Brobee (from Yo Gabba Gabba), they hadn't seen this particular shirt before, but Reed picked Blue Clue's over Brobee and I thought we were finished getting dressed. A few minutes later I heard Kyle hysterics coming from their room. Not "JR's riding my Big Wheel hysterics", but they were pretty pitiful. I went in their room to find Kyle kneeling on the floor with arms outstretched to his closet. I couldn't imagine what he wanted until I pulled out the Brobee shirt. By this time, Reed, who's always up in Kyle's business, was investigating what was going on. Needless to say, both decided they needed a Brobee shirt. So, even though I live in a house full of boys, I finally got to experience a fashion meltdown! How FABULOUS!


Kyle pointing to Brobee.


Reed pointing to Brobee.


Reed happy to model the latest in Yo Gabba Gabba wear (and orange juice).


Kyle still obsessed that Brobee's on his shirt.

JR Vs Food

One of JR's highlights of the Texas trip was going to the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Ever since JR saw the Man Vs Food episode of his favorite TV personality, Adam Richmond, eating the 72 oz steak, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, dinner salad, and a roll in about 28 minutes he's been dying to go there. (He also wants to go to the restaurant in Seattle that serves the 12 egg omelet, but that'll have to be another trip.) In preparation for our visit to the Big Texan, JR watched the Amarillo episode 3 or 4 times (Thanks, Netflix) and was a bit confused thinking the restaurant was also called "Amarillo", which explained his repeated question of "when are we going to Amarillo?" Not something many people ask. None of us tried the 72oz steak challenge (if you eat everything in an hour you get the $72 meal for free), but I'm still convinced Harry could have done it.

It's obvious this place is a huge tourist trap. But it's actually a fun and tasty tourist trap. The best way I know to describe it (and only my Houstonian readers will get this) it's like the Gallery Furniture of restaurants. It's huge! It has also expanded to include a hotel and a "horse hotel". Bonus for me...it was decorated for Christmas!

JR was beyond excited when we sat down and discovered this on the menu.

Harry and Jason decided to go with the Man Vs Food tribute (JR would have had a conniption fit if they hadn't) which is the same as the challenge except the steak is only 1/4 the size.

And what does all this food look like?

Salad.

"Shrimp Cocktail". (Yes, I'm very much aware those are fried shrimp, but on the episode Adam refers to them as 'shrimp cocktail', and if Adam says they're shrimp cocktail, then JR says they're shrimp cocktail!)

Steak (but only 18 oz.)

Baked potato (oops, not pictured.)

Also included, dinner rolls almost as big as Kyle's head. (They were delicious!)

JR wanted to have his own Man Vs Food challenge and ordered the kid's steak. He was so excited he didn't even mind that there was a piece of garnish on his plate. (And you know that means he was beyond excited since under normal circumstances any sort of green colored food on or near his plate would render the rest of the food inedible.)

Reed was too busy with his artwork and skillet o' fries to help cheer JR on...

And with a celebratory jump and squeal, JR finished off his steak. In this battle of JR vs Food, JR won!

He then enjoyed another dinner roll (3 total). Check out that clean plate...with the garnish still there...He didn't even make us take it off! Do you think Adam Richmond would mind joining us for dinner every night? Sigh...

And how do you end the evening after a big steak? Rocking in a Texas size rocker, of course!