I'm a sucker for the Muppets

Tonight there was a new Muppets Christmas special on, and it was fantastic. I had forgotten how much I love the little guys. I tried to keep Corbin up to watch it with me, but he crashed halfway through (amateur!). He seemed to like them, though. Here's my favorite guy, Pepe....


Is he not the cutest thing? He left his life as a chef in Madrid to become a star in Hollywood. According to Pepe, "There were one too many close calls in the kitchen. I was mistaken for an appetizer, okay." Love him.

The movie was pretty simple. The Muppets had a pile of letters to Santa that needed to be delivered, it was Christmas Eve and the post office was closed, so they had to take them to the North Pole themselves. There were a few songs, a few guest stars. The bear (I forgot his name and wikipedia keeps showing me Fozzie. It's not Fozzie) was airport security and Nathan Lane was his cohort. At one point the Muppets were at the North Pole, and snow started falling, things started moving, and there was Santa in his sleigh!!! (Um, I hope I didn't ruin that for any of you. :P) I'm such a dork, I was watching from the kitchen while loading the dishwasher, and I just get this huge silly grin on my face. Santa!!!! Even at 28 (8??!?!?), I still love the fat man.

I've been trying to teach Corbin who Santa is. Relax, I talk about the Jesus part too, but at 17 months old a fat guy in a red suit carrying presents is way easier to understand. Anyhow, for Christmas this year "Santa" (Granddad) will be visiting the children, so my mom sent me a picture to try to get Corbin used to the idea. I show him that picture, as well as a video on Youtube about finding Santa. Now the kid is obsessed. On the video, when Santa comes up into view he starts pointing and shouting. When we are in Walmart he points at every Santa blow up, Santa book, Santa ornament, and Santa candy he can see. I can only imagine that when he meets Santa on Christmas day, he will be terrified. :P

Here's a couple of shots from today. He refused to smile for either of them, so you'll have to take what you can get. In the first one he's wearing a hat and messenger bag that cousin Carmen sent us yesterday. He's so metrosexual, right? In the second one he's showing his belly to the fish. It's good cause that involves two of his favorite things.... fish and showing his belly to things. He's a strange duck, sometimes.

Snow, Trees and Sniffles

So it's been snowing here. Quite a bit, actually. We have 12-18" inches on the ground, and snowbanks almost as tall as I am, as seen here...


See behind me there? Those are our mailboxes. The front parts are dug out, so they can still deliver our mail. The rest is a huge mound of snow. Anyhow, there's finally been a snow break for the last couple of days, but we have more coming. And coming, and coming, and coming. It seems this is pretty normal here. I'm not such a fan. We have snow mobiles that drive down our street. That's kinda weird. Sometimes this place is kinda weird.

Last weekend we went to Christmas in the Village with Amy, Michelle and Frank (that's my Sis-in-law, niece and nephew for those who don't know). To be more specific, we went to a craft show and watched a parade in sub-zero temperatures. The craft show was interesting. We were expecting a lot of doilies and toilet paper cozies, and we really weren't far off. The Cookie walk was no where to be seen (and damn, we were not happy about it. By we, I mean the adults. I'm sure the kids weren't happy either). We hobbled our cold, cold bones back to our house and decorated the place for Christmas.

In the evening we ventured out (bundled up like crazy!) to watch the electrical parade. It was actually pretty good, for such a tiny, tiny town. One truck was pulling a flatbed trailer with a bunch of people sitting around a real bonfire. Cool. Corbin enjoyed it, I think.... it was hard to tell as all you could see of him in the stroller was his nose and eyes. He must've enjoyed it, he was way warmer than the rest of us. I think it was about 6* with windchill. We weren't able to go see Santa afterwards, as it was just too damn cold. I was disappointed, but I'm sure we'll find another opportunity for Corbin to visit with him.

We found ourselves a tree at St. Vinnie's and promptly broke one of the legs while we were putting it in the car. It's now held at a slight angle with the help of fishing line. The soft/unbreakable/less important ornaments are on the bottom half, where most have been removed at some point by Corb-monster. It's all a little sad looking, really. Most of our Christmas village is out on our 2 little shelves, our stockings are hung above our TV with care, and Corbin has claimed the dancing, singing mouse as his own. We're all ready for Santa.

Corbin has been sniffley for a while here, I think the change in weather is getting too him. Nate and I have been on and off sickies too, as has the rest of the Roscommon clan. I hope this starts to go away soon, but I have a feeling that having a husband who works with old/sick people all day won't help.

Here' s a couple of random shots from the last few days...

Such a big boy!


Goofball :P


This is the infamous Elephant move. Arm up, raspberry noise. That's an elephant for ya, folks.


Mom, let's go!!!


Ready for Christmas in the Village


Enjoy the snow, ladies and gents.

This one's for my mom...

It's Corbin in a sweatshirt Mom made for me, many, many years ago. For some reason it wouldn't send in her email, so I'm posting it here for her. Now you all may enjoy it as well. You're welcome.

Just a Quickie...

As I'm sick and really should be laying down. I hope all of you had very Happy Thanksgivings and are enjoying this, the beginning of December. Here, it is cold. And snowy. There are no signs of stopping. This is the scene out of my front window; snow, railroad tracks, and the parking lot of a Verizon store.

Isn't it lovely? See those rails there? In between those are the railroad tracks. Yes, the train comes by. Yes, it is very, very loud. No, things do not fall off of our shelves and walls. Between the closest rail and me is the alleyway we drive down. it's all quite beautiful and serene, isn't it? :P

Anyhow, we had a lovely Thanksgiving. Andrea (Nate's Mom) came down to visit and we had many mornings of coffee with Andrea, Amy and the kids. Thanksgiving proper was at Uncle Mark and Aunt Diane's house and was full of yummy goodness. We had a shark steak, beef jerky, cheese curds and egg nog (brought down by Andrea) throughout the weekend, and we opened our Christmas presents with her before she headed back home. Wouldn't ya know, I forgot to take a single picture! That's not like me, I know. I blame it on still unpacking. How long do I get to use that an excuse? Until I move away? Works for me. I do have this pic of Corbin and Cousin Frankie, showing a little of their family resemblance. Ya think?



I don't remember if I've mentioned that we bought a couch. Well, we bought a couch. It's from St. Vincent De Paul, because we are trying to reduce, reuse, or recycle. Ok, the couch really probably should be recycled, but we are reusing it for now. It was cheap, nearby, and not falling apart. Those were our three requirements, so we got it. Here's a pic, to show you it's beauty.

Yes, those are little orange and green flowers all over it. It also feels as though someone wrapped cinder blocks and plywood with sandpaper. Eh, it was cheap and it will do. Nate actually likes it a lot. Corbin does too, as it's easy for him to climb on and chase the cats when they attempt to lay on the back. Please notice that in this picture Corb is wearing a cardigan and sweat pants. Nate commented on how he reminded him of his residents at the nursing home... cardigan (at that point it was mis-snapped), sweats, he mumbles, and poops his pants. Poor Nate, he just can't escape.

Ok, seriously, I've got to lay down. If you'd like to visit and see the couch in person, feel free to call. It would love to have a new person to give rugburn to.

Thank You

This morning I was watching "Good Morning America". First of all, don't be concerned, I am still an avid "Today Show" viewer. GMA just happened to be on and I was too lazy to find the remote. Anyhow, they had a bit about giving thanks. Being as it is getting close to Thanksgiving and all, it seemed appropriate.

I try to give thanks often. I say a prayer of thanks every night as I rock Corbin to sleep. I thank God for my family, our health, our friends, our home, our food, our car, etc. The problem is, I'm not very open with my emotions any more. I don't tell people I love them as much as I should. I don't tell them how much I appreciate them. I don't thank them as often as they deserve. I hope my friends and family understand that although I may not say it often, I love each of them and thank God for allowing me to have them in my life.

However, this little bit on GMA was specifically about thanking someone who has made a difference in your life, but you have not thanked appropriately. I sat for a moment and thought, who would this be for me? My parents? Obviously they have done so much for me. They molded me into who I am today. They have taken me in, far too many times. They have helped financially, they've babysat Corbin, they've taken care of me my whole life and continue to do so. Of course I wouldn't be me without them. I do appreciate all they have given me, and I hope they know this.

Who else? My husband, of course. He has provided me with the security of knowing he will always be there for me. He has made me laugh harder than anyone ever has, and tries his hardest to make me see the positive in everything. He and I have made it through some difficult times, times that would've easily torn apart two people who loved each other less. He reminds me that love should be easy, not full of wondering and suspicions and distrust. He's my best friend and I am thankful for every morning I wake up next to him...even if he is snoring like a truck.

Anyhow, the person I finally settled on is a friend. I have a few close friends who have done so much for me, and I love them dearly. This friend, however, made a huge impact in my life. Her name is Chris, and she honestly changed my life.

I met Chris at Grand Valley, my sophomore year. We had an English class together (was it two?) and she started talking to me because she liked my coat (I've got to admit, it was a pretty kick ass coat. Bright blue. Vinyl. What more could you want?). We had a lot in common, Chris and I. We went to a lot of lunches, and talked a lot about boys, school, and friends. We both eventually moved back to the east side, and kept in contact. We saw each other occasionally, I met her now husband Brandon, we chatted on the phone. Chris has always made me laugh, and just sort of "got me" in a way not too many others have. It has been awesome having her as a friend, and I really miss seeing her as often as I used to.

But the biggest difference Chris has made in my life is introducing me to Nate. One day she tells me she has a guy she wants me to meet. He's Brandon's friend, lives 8 hours away, and he's engaged. Sounds perfect, right? Obviously, I brush off her suggestion the first, oh, million times. Then one day she tells me he's coming down to visit them, he's broken up with his fiance, and I AM going to go out with him. If you know me and my resistance to doing new things, you will understand how difficult it was to talk me into this. But, I relented and one afternoon all four of us went to TGIFridays and Chuck E. Cheese. The rest, as they say, is history.

So Chris, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for knowing what I wanted, even when I didn't. I want to thank you for pushing me to do something I was nervous about. I want to thank you for being a good friend all of these years, for understanding me and my weirdness, and for making me feel not weird at all. Without you and your insistence, I would not have met and married my best friend. Without you, I would not have my beautiful Corbin. Thank you for pushing me, as you've made my dreams come true.

In Our New Place and (mostly) Settled

So here we are, somewhat set up in our new apartment, living in our new town, surrounded by our new neighbors. It's cold here, and snowy. There is still no Target. But, all in all, it's not that bad. We have a lot of family around, there is a Walmart (which is FAR nicer than the Muskegon Walmart!) to visit, our apartment is a good size and right in the middle of the town. It's right next to the stoplight. Yes, I said THE stoplight. Actually, there is one on the outskirts of town. That makes two. In the city. Yikes! Anyhow, I digress. It's not so bad. The best part is, Nate's working. That makes him feel better, it makes me feel better, and it makes life easier. He really (mostly) enjoys his job, and it sounds like his residents really enjoy having him there. It's nice for him to know that he's making a difference in their lives.
Corbin is happy to be around his daddy again, and is enjoying the new apartment. He even will hang out with Amy without crying or screaming at all. A major improvement, truly. Things are going well. We are doing well. Just cold. And missing Target. I hope you all are doing well too, and are enjoying Target for me. Just walk around the Dollar Spot a couple of times, tell me what it's like. Maybe take a couple pictures. Maybe just get a little jar and capture a bit of Target air for me. I'd appreciate it. Thanks. ;)

Cowboys and Candy and Mustaches, oh my!

Happy November to all of you.
This should be a big month for us. Starting with, of course, the election. I have sent in my absentee ballot and am proud to have voted for Obama! I will be watching anxiously on Tuesday to see history take place.
Other things are happening this month as well. After much searching, calling, and recalling, Nate found (and rented) an apartment for us in Roscommon. He has some chutzpah, signing a lease for an apartment his wife hasn't even seen! ;) He sent some photos, and assures me that it's pretty big, in a good location, and most importantly, is a place for all three of us to live together as a family. We are excited to be back together again, three weeks apart is a long time! Corbin and I should (hopefully!) be moving up sometime early this week. Nate's dear, dear family have helped him move in almost everything already, as well as put away all of the dishes and clothes. Isn't that fantastic? I'm so grateful for them all. What an easy move this will be...for me, at least. :)
Corbin and I have been having a good time with my folks. There have been a lot of Halloween activities to attend, a lot of friends to say goodbye to, and a lot of Grandma and Granddad's things for Corbin to climb and/or destroy. We were able to spend a day with my Grandma, which I was so glad to be able to do. We went trick or treating at a farm, then a nature center, then a church parking lot.
Corbin wore almost all of the cowboy outfit my mom made him (we had to force him into the hat!) and mostly kept on his drawn-on mustache. He seemed to really like all of the trick or treating. The biggest night was Halloween itself, we went to a Trunk or Treat at a church. There were thousands of trick or treaters and 94 cars giving out candy. It was a lot of waiting in line, but Corbin and I enjoyed watching all of the kids... except for when they were pushing into us and hanging on Corbin's wagon. Dang kids. Get off my lawn!!
Anyhow, here are a few Halloween pictures for you all to enjoy. I'll update you all once we get up to our new place and get settled. Till then, here's Corbin eating some pumpkin.