Made Over

I got off of work at noon. Joy! Went to Ulta where I needed to find some new make up. Now you must understand that before my wedding I never went out of the Cover Girl section. I have always been a Plain Jane, No Fuss kind of a girl when it comes to make up. So when I walk into places like Ulta or Sephora I am intimidated. Bottom line: I needed help. When she first came over I was kneeling in front of the kiosk aimlessly looking at all the little jars that varied ever so slightly in shade and I didn't quite get a look at her when she asked if I needed any help. I just said "Oh yes, I have no idea what I'm doing!". And then I turned around and EEK! Not so sure she knew what she was doing either at that point. I was a little unsure if I should take her advice considering that her make up had more of an elderly drag queen look going on. And then she grabbed my hand and said, let me do a facial so you can see how it looks. I felt like I was being led to the guillotine. The whole time I'm thinking everybody must be walking around, taking a look at this lady's own make up job and looking at me saying "Sucker!". But, she did a pretty good job. Maybe she usually puts her make up on in the car like I do and just didn't catch enough red lights to get accuracy on the lip liner. Who knows. Just goes to show that looks can be deceiving!

Couch Potatoes

Joey and I are now the proud owners of one couch, one loveseat, one coffee table, two end tables, and two lamps - all courtesy of Rooms To Go. I cannot believe I was able to make all those decisions in one day. I just repeated Philippians 4:13 over and over. For someone who takes several months to pick out a shower curtain, I figured we would be shopping for a couch well into the next millenium. Luby's lines stress me out, if you know what I mean. All those decisions to be made, so many options, and all topped off with a lady in a hairnet holding a mash potato-covered spoon saying "Come on lady, whadda ya want?". Oh the pressure.

Needless to say, Rooms To Go was almost painless. At least for me, I felt like the process went quite smoothly. Joey might not say the same. This is what happens when Results Oriented Marries Process Oriented. This is how Joey works: he decides he will buy a truck and an hour and half later - he buys one. This is mind boggling to me! He indulged me in my three trips around the store to pick out the couch. Sitting down, laying down, imagining the couch with our floors, imagining it in 8 years after kids, asking rhetorical questions, too trendy?, too boring? too patterny?, etc. And after 7 more trips around, we had tables and lamps. He wanted these to be my decisions and was incredibly patient with me. But, I do think I exasperated George, the guy who had to walk around with us 10 times.

I have officially met my quota this year in decision making - husband, weddings 1 & 2 (pls. see earlier post for an explanation if this is confusing), house, dogs, and now major furniture. What's the next major decision? Oh, the obvious one. A potted plant is logically the next step... :)

Important Information about Damaging your Psyche

So this morning on the radio I heard that they are now discouraging teachers from using red ink to grade papers because red is a negative color and it hurts a child's psyche. What?! I mean really, what is the world coming to? My papers were graded in red and my psyche seems to be intact. What's next? Will stop signs become Praisingly Pink and red lights become Positive Purple? So what color will be the new standard for grading? Blue ink? No, that might cause depressed moods. The old faithful, maybe black? Death by ink! Heaven knows what that could do to one's psyche! And I'm just curious, what if it's a red smiley? Does that still cause damage or does the positive connotation of the smiley face balance out the negative effects of the red? I'm just wondering.

Regular or Extra Strength?

Question of the day. Why do they make pain reliever medicine that is regular strength and those that are extra strength? Is there a market for regular strength pain meds? I mean, do some people say, ehhhh I think my headaches only so-so so I think I'll take a chance and regular it today. You would think it would be priced higher or something, but no. Do they sell more in general if there's a bottle of regular strength Tylenol next to the extra strength? For the record, if I am in bad enough shape to be at the store looking for pain meds, chances are I will not wing it on regular strength. Just a thought...

O Christmas Tree

My family has a tradition that each year we go to Mill Hollow Christmas Tree Farm to pick out our Christmas tree. The picking out of the tree is usually done in October or early November and is a family event. Mill Hollow is about 45 minutes away from Livingston and is basically in the middle of no where. "City Folk" (meaning mostly Houstonians) bring their families to spend a day in the "country". Give them a taste of Living Life on the Edge, meaning there are no Starbucks and McDonalds a block away. There are however, hayrides, pumpkin patches, hot dogs and marshmallows for roasting, $.50 Cokes, hot chocolate, animals for petting, treehouses, walking trails in the woods, etc. It is a kid's paradise! And then you search through acres of trees to find the The Tree. This year, The Tree, for Joey and I was picked out by my family. Unfortunately, we were unable to be there for the Tree Hunt so they tagged one for us. But, we were able to be there to pick up our tree. Joey and I met my family yesterday to cut the trees down and pack 'em up. They give you a saw and a rope to drag the tree to the loading area. We walked a few trails and then headed back to civilization with Our First Christmas Tree. Next year we may try a spruce, although I'm skeptical as to whether it can hold its weight in ornaments. We've generally been pine people. Joey and I were coveting this couples' springy spruce tree in front of us in line. I guess the tree is always greener on the other side. Anyway, we love our tree very much. Our house smells like evergreen and there are little pine needles that seem to show up no matter how many times we sweep the floor. Oh well. It's worth it.

www.millhollowtexas.com

Our First Thanksgiving

Technically, we started Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago. Joey's Grandmother traveled to Arizona this Thanksgiving so she decided she would make the traditional meal a few weeks early so we could celebrate with her and the family would not have to miss a season of her wonderful cooking. So I guess that was the beginning. For the official holiday you could say that we were well-traveled. We loaded the dogs up and left our house about 6am on Turkey Day to begin our trip to Louisiana. We had Thanksgiving lunch (tummy full at this point) with Joey's parents and friends. Then we traveled to another part of Louisiana for Thanksgiving dinner (now ridiculously stuffed) with Joey's Dad's family. The next day we traveled late Friday afternoon to Livingston and had Thanksgiving with my huge family on Saturday (cannot move I'm so full). And Mom had enchiladas on Sunday. Needless to say, after this weekend, I vowed to never eat or want to eat again. Alright, so I didn't keep the vow, but I am eating no more than the dietary recommended portion size.

An aside. My parents have a three bedroom house. They have four kids all home for Thanksgiving. One of them newly married. That's me. They have three twin beds for three kids and then there's the just married kid and kid-in-law. You do the math. We were going to have to sleep in separate beds for the first time since we have been married. This made me kind of sad. BUT fortunately I have a creatively cool Mom. She pulled the two couches together in the living room to make a bed big enough for two! So, it was definitely different. Kind of like sleeping in a playpen. I got so tickeled with the fact that we were sleeping on a Couch Conglomeration. It takes couch bed to another level, but I was happy because I got to sleep next to my husband. :)