Twas the day after Christmas

and all was quite through out Ma & Pa's house.  I have really been blessed this holiday season.  This year marks the first time since 2007 that I spent the holiday's with my family!  I forgot how much I missed all the traditions.  While some of them have stayed the same, some have changed. 

So, Christmas Eve included mom and I baking some of Grandma Meedel's yummy rolls and mom preparing the traditional Christmas Eve chili.  Kim, Maddox and Shane all came out to the house so we could attend 4 pm Mass at St. Michael's.  Unfortunately, Travis was stuck on a train some where and it did not appear he would make the Christmas Eve celebration.  I will say that my nephew did quite well for not being two and being in Church for two hours!  After Church it was back to the house for Chili and Grandma's rolls.  Shortly after supper, we received news of a Christmas miracle and that Travis' train had tied down in Waco and he would be at my parents house before 8 to open presents!  All of the Schmidt Kid's made Christmas!

On Christmas morning, mom, dad and I headed to Trav & Kim's to watch Maddox open his presents from Santa.  Kim's mom also joined us and then we had breakfast afterwards. It was definitely a blast watching Maddox opening all of his presents this year!  On Christmas eve, he quickly figured out that a lot of the gifts that had Sesame Street on the paper were his.  Of course, he also tried to share presents so everyone had some!  By Christmas day, it was not necessarily about what was in the package as much as opening it.  He would rip off the paper, open the box and then throw that box to the side not caring what was in it, just wanting to open something else. 

Christmas evening, everyone came back out to the Schmidt Casa for dinner and laughs!  I am definitely blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Merry Christmas to all!

The Schmidt Clan - December 2011

Just what the doctor ordered....

Some much needed R&R.  I gave myself a mini-vacation, wasn't necessarily a "stay" vacation, but it was a nice one in which I didn't leave to travel back to Nebraska which is how 90% of the vacations go.

So, the stay vacation started Wednesday night.  I was granted an early leave at 10 pm from Lowe's.  Okay - it was a 1/2 hour early - but yeah! me!

Thursday was actually an exhausting day.  I met my friend Skinny-Biotch at the gym.  Yes, I said the nasty three letter word - GYM.  I haven't blogged about Skinny-Biotch before but she is a partner in crime at Lowe's.  Actually reminds me of myself in that she is early 30s, just bought her first house, and is holding her own in life without help!  Of course, I call her the Biotch  only because I was so afraid of her when she first came to our store, she seemed so mean.  :)  But now she is helping my inner skinny-bitch come out and making me be accountable at the gym.

After the gym workout and tour, I headed home for a quick shower.  I was suppose to meet Vanilla Horndog for lunch just to catch up.  It is funny because he was one of the guys that I posted back in my "Being" post.  He knows that unless his life changes, he and I will be friends and nothing more until he has time to date.  That said, he was on the north side of town this week for work and contacted me about meeting up just to catch up.  Needless to say that he got caught on a Sales Call and lunch was not to be had.  Of course, that is how things roll with Vanilla Horndog.  The rest of the day, was doing errands, oil change for the car, hair cut, dentist and finally hit the road for Houston at 8 pm to visit Big Country.

Friday, the most important and only agenda for the day....Da Beach!  Big Country & family, myself and some friends of theirs loaded up the vehicles and headed to Galvaston for the day.  Even Finnegus was invited to come!  A relaxing day was had playing in the surf, enjoying the sun and of course, nothing says beach like Captain Morgan. 

Saturday, as they say plans change and when they change to your favor, whose going to complain?  Not I.  We ended up spending the day chilling at Big Country's house, sitting poolside and enjoying some fine beverages.  In the pm, well it isn't a trip without Big Country whipping up something special and special it was.  Don't get me wrong, the ribs were delicious....but that mushroom puff, yummmy for my tummy!

Sunday, well it was Easter Sunday and church was on the agenda.  Rather than being different and finding a Catholic Church to go to, I opted to go to Church with Big Country, his family, my aunt and another cousin.  I am not sure what affiliation the church was, but when you grew up a structured Catholic, wow different is all that comes to mind.  I can see how it works for them but at the same time, I think I enjoy my structure.  The afternoon was spent with Easter Egg hunts and relaxing!  Unfortunately it also meant the end of my stay and it was time for Finnegus' and I to head back home.

Monday was my final partial vacation day!  I headed to the gym at 8, made the most of the day with a nap, some yard work and cleaning all before I headed into Lowe's at 5:30 to return to the normal grind.  However, what this vacation showed me was how much I need and want to be focused so Lowe's goes away!  I forgot what lawn mowers in a neighborhood sounded like on a Saturday morning because I am never there....how great will that be!?!?

Ahhh, yes I am also going to steal from Runner her 30 days of blogging project...so look out for that!

57 out of 62

Yup, that was the official count of days worked in a span of 62 days. So, needless to say, when I called in Friday morning and said I wasn't going to be in Friday night and Saturday morning for my shifts, I did NOT feel guilty in the slightest.


I have a master plan and I really want to be debt free as quickly as possible. So, in the big scheme of things, I don’t really notice that I work that many days. But, when I do take a day off, boy oh boy – I forgot how nice it is. I suppose it makes one appreciate it more.

We had an early roll out on Friday for the holiday weekend. That translated to me hitting the road at 1:30. I love it. I promptly headed home and enjoyed some quality nap time on the couch. Friday evening was spent working on the yard. Mowing, pulling weeds, edging, sweeping, watering, etc.

Saturday morning, well I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in. Of course – having dogs that understand I might be sleeping in would have been even better. I honestly forgot what normal people do on Saturday mornings, little things like watering the yard, running errands, etc.

In the afternoon, it was time to head to Lake Limestone and Camp Curtis! For whatever reason, Finnegan was pacing the entire time but we did get there and even when we were getting close to Camp Curtis, Guinness started freaking out, like she remembered where we were. All and all it was a GREAT weekend. I got some reading in, some drinking in and a lot of sun time. Finnegan loved the water as much as Guinness and after the weekend, they will both now be called Finnegus. My Country Cuz can’t tell Guinness & Finn apart so he called them Finnegus the entire weekend.

Unfortunately the weekend came to an end much too quickly and I was greeted with a 15 hour work day on Tuesday.

Reality

Reality hasn't set back in and I am still continuing to live in the world of denial.  I am still on vaction in my own mind.  Maybe it is the peace that I had with 9 days off from both jobs that has me in a new mindset.  Whatever it is, I am enjoying it.

I will post later with details of the cruise and of course...pictures, pictures, pictures!

Can next year get here soon?!?!  Costa Rica is our destination!

The Plus Size Suits are downstairs....

I, like I think every other woman in the world, hates shopping for a swimsuit.  For me, it isn't just how one looks in them.  I am okay with my body, I embrace it.  My challenge is finding something that supports the boys.  Something that supports them and actually covers them. 

Yes I already have a swimsuit.  I have probably 20 suits.  But only one that I want to take on this cruise in a few days.  I am going to be gone for seven days, I can't possibly wear the same suit EVERY day.  So, I started shopping for suits.

I spent three hours on Sunday finding a whole lot of nothing.  I don't have the patience for Marshall's or other stores like that hunting through the racks to find something.  I looked and looked and found a whole lot of nothing.  Dallas and I hit Old Navy after she got off work and well I found one that was really cute....but it looked like cats fighting to get out of the potato sack.  I don't think the boys are meant to hang at my belly button.  By the time I felt I had a size that supported, I was then stuck with spillage out the sides.  Of course Dallas informs me she would take some of mine.  Gladly.

So, Monday it was off to the mall over lunch to see what I could find on the south side of town.  I hit JC Penny's first.  I couldn't find the suits and asked the sales lady where I could find them.  She was like - "just straight ahead by the elevator you will find all the swim suits.  Well, the Plus size suits are downstairs".  Seriously - WTF - REALLY?  Did she just say that to me?  Honestly I ignorned it and went.  I still think that some of my guy friends had the best suggestions...take her out, sweep the legs.  LOL

But at the end of the day - I found the suit and a cocktail dress for formal night.

My suit:

Here is the cocktail dress I got:

One of these days I will get to have my Pretty Woman moment and tell the sales lady to pound sand!