What Came First? The Chicken Or The Meat

Let me start this tale by saying Dan/Daddy is a very smart guy. He knows a lot about a lot of things. I like to pretend I know more than him, and I like to tell him I know more than him. But, truthfully.... he's pretty sharp.
In the many years we've been married, I've learned he is clueless about
1. current Hollywood happenings
2. reality TV
3. the stuff in People magazine
4. popular music
In other words, all the important things.

If I have to go through life married to a man who doesn't know Adele's latest song or what a Kardashian is.... then I suppose that's ok. That's why I have girlfriends.

But I may have to add to that sort list. We had a little family incident that has me worried.

Last weekend, we were playing the game "Catch Phrase." It's a great game where you shout out clues to help your partner guess a particular phrase or word within a time limit. Dan/Daddy was on my team and was trying to give me clues to guess the phrase "bacon and eggs."
Not too difficult, right? I can think of lots of clues to give someone so they would guess "bacon and eggs." Like...

"One comes from a pig and one comes from a chicken."

Or...

"Long and skinny strips of salty goodness and a roundish oval thing in a shell."

But, no. This is what my smart husband says to me...

"Two breakfast meats."

Huh? I guessed "bacon and ham" and "bacon and sausage" and "sausage and Canadian bacon" and "ham and sausage" and about a hundred other meat combinations.

Well. As you can imagine, the buzzer went off, and our time was up.
After the other team had a guess, he was able to reveal the phrase.

When he said "bacon and eggs" I had to ask him to repeat himself.
Then after we all fell over laughing, I said,
"Why did you say TWO meats?"
His answer?
"An egg is a meat."

Oh. My.
Yes, he did.

And so began the first family feud of 2012. No matter what I say about eggs being proteins or eggs not being meat (yet), he has continued to stand firm.
I took the war to Facebook and asked everyone to offer their vote. I also shamelessly asked them to agree with me because I had to win.

35 comments later and the count stands at:
Me: 32
Dan/Daddy: 2
Tie: 1

The only 2 people who voted for Dan/Daddy were his close friend and my cousin... who felt like people were just siding with me because they like me.
I told Dan/Daddy's friend that HE could be Dan/Daddy's partner in games from now on.
I told my cousin he was wrong... People agreed with me because I was RIGHT. (And I am a nice person.)

When I read all the comments to Mr. Eggs Are A Meat, he just laughed.
So I immediately jumped on Facebook again to ask people if he was being stubborn.

Behold the power of social media.

PS... Eggs are not meat.

Halfway Through January

How is everyone doing with those New Year's Resolutions?
I didn't make any, so I'm doing great. Thanks for asking.
At the risk of sounding like Granny...
Y'all, we just passed the halfway mark on the month of January. Time is a-flying.

Because it has been over a week since I blogged, there are a lot of things to tell you.

1. I finally went to the salon. I have needed to have my hair "done" for too long now. I told my cute hair girl that the hair police were going to arrest me. The other big hair event in my life? I decided I'm ready to grow my hair out again. For the first time in over 10 years, I want it longer. I also told my hair girl that if she hears of a crazy woman ripping somebody's arms off at the Sonic Drive-In, it's probably me. I asked her to bail me out of jail and cut my hair. Fighting with my hair makes me irritable. Maybe I need to rethink this "growing out" idea.

2. I watched a little Food Network recently, and I have some thoughts about Giada:
a. I like her cooking.
b. Her shirts show a lot of boobage.
c. There is no way in the world she eats what she cooks. Fried doughnuts is what I watched her make. Yeah, right, Ms. Skinny Pants... You are not fooling me.

3. Paula Deen was on the Today show this morning to talk about being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Hmmmm.
Now I am a fan of Ms. Deen, so I am rooting for her to stay well. But I am also hoping she continues to cook the same way she always has. Paula, listen to me... Keep on bringing the butter. Just don't eat it all.

4. We had my mom and dad here with us this past weekend. It is wonderful to see my almost 13 year-old loving on his grandparents. He has the best relationship with all 4 of them, and he's not "too cool" (YET) to show them how much he loves them. It makes my heart happy.

5. The Duggars and their 37 children are in my hometown. My high school friend posted on Facebook about them being in a local restaurant. She suggested that no one go there for lunch because the restaurant had no more food. Hot tea almost came out of my nose when I read that. I adore the Duggars, but that cracked me up! And I complain about my grocery budget.

6. I have ordered an obscene amount of Girl Scout cookies. I love how those cookies appear just as I get rid of all the Christmas junk food. Just in time to wreck my weight loss resolution. Oh wait, I didn't make that resolution. Bring me more Thin Mints, girls!

Well I know you are all feeling more informed and enlightened.
Haircolor, Food Network chefs, a giant family, grandparents, Facebook, and cookies. My range of topics is mind-blowing, and my life is terribly exciting.

I can't wait to tell you all about how my husband and I have been arguing over whether or not an egg is a meat.

I Love A Good Link

And I LOOOOVE this one.
It makes me feel "not so alone" in this nutty journey we're on.

The blog "Kelly's Korner" is one I've read for years now, and she is such a fun gal. She often hosts "link up" posts, and this time I joined in. It is for military families! Thanks, Kelly.
It is so cool to click on over and meet other bloggers who share your story.

Being a military family is challenging, rewarding, and nothing like I would have imagined. It definitely stretches you to do more than you may have thought you were capable of.
And I like that.

Happy MLK weekend, friends.

If We Could All Be That Positive

I was looking at my little boy's cute face today when I noticed a reddish spot near his nose.
I said, "Is that a pimple by your nose?"
(He IS a pre-teen nowadays, and being a pre-teen comes with all that fun stuff.)

He said, "I prefer to think of it as my sexy mole."

I wish I had an ounce of that boy's self confidence.

PS... For those who think I am embarrassing the hang out of my child, I asked his permission to post this. He laughed when he read it and said,
"It IS pretty funny."

I rest my case.

Tiki Idols and Dave Ramsey

At the risk of exposing my old age, I am about to reference the Brady Bunch. Remember the episode where they go to Hawaii and the tiki idol necklace causes all those problems? If you do, then you know where I'm going with this.
And you have to live in a hole in the woods to not know who Dave Ramsey is. He is a smart guy with some wonderful financial advice. He and his minions also makes me feel like a complete failure on a weekly basis.
The connection between Mr. Ramsey and the Brady family? Hold on.

I think somebody stuffed a tiki idol in my luggage while we were on vacation, because the "luck" around here has not been good.

In the course of about 72 hours, I broke 3 can openers and the mixer.
Have you ever hacked into a can with a butter knife? Do you know it is almost impossible to make sugar cookies on Christmas Eve without a mixer? I honestly don't know how the Ingalls family made sugar cookies.

On the day after Christmas, I came home to Dan/Daddy telling me he'd broken a new Christmas platter.
Then he says,
"Oh and the computer died."

Joy.
Nothing is better than having to buy kitchen necessities and a computer within a few hours of spending entirely too much money on a vacation and Christmas.
With our New Year's goals of "spending less and saving more" fresh in our minds, we have started to replace things.
We determined the computer was truly dead and that no amount of geeks in a squad can help us. The fate of our old files and pictures is yet to be determined. I have an external hard drive, but everything wasn't on it... Lesson learned.
I did want a new laptop, but I didn't want it this way.

The mixer and the can opener were a little less expensive, but who wants to spend money on small appliances? The only thing I can think of that would be worse would be buying an iron. Have mercy.

Dave Ramsey would remind me of that $100,000 I am supposed to have in savings in these "emergency" situations. I would be tempted to throw my old mixer at him.

So... I am tearing my house apart looking for that dumb tiki idol. Whoever stashed it in my stuff wile I was away is in big trouble. By the way, whatever happened to that tiki idol in the TV show? Did the Brady Bunch get rid of it? Did they have to throw it in a volcano to destroy it?

If I find a volcano, I think I'll toss in one of our Dave Ramsey books.

And To All A Good Night

This elf is done. I wish I meant done shopping, baking, wrapping, and fixin'.
I mean "done" as in "stick a fork in me" done.
Pooped.
Spent.
Worn slap out.

In the past 12 days, we have been to Hogwarts and the Happiest Place on Earth. To finish things off, we went over the river and through the woods to Nana's house, too.
We had a blast. A hoot of a good time. One of the best vacations ever. (If not the best.)
I'm planning on boring you all later with retelling and pictures, but for now I am keeping it simple.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.
Merry Christmas, friends.

Is Anybody Cryin' Yet?

I know some of you have heard this phrase:

"Christmas Isn't Christmas Until _______ "
Then you fill in the blank with whatever signifies the start of the holiday season to you.

I've heard: "Christmas Isn't Christmas Until..."
... Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer plays on TV.
... I have a cup of hot chocolate.
... The tree is up.
... I buy the first present.
... The first Christmas card comes in the mail.


I have a few favorites of my own, but it requires changing up the wording a bit.
"Christmas Ain't Christmas Until..."
... Somebody cries.
... The cat eats and poops some tinsel.
... I start stressing about what to buy the "hard-to-buy-for" people.
... Starbucks hauls out the red cups.
... I say 2 bad words while hanging up the outdoor lights. (Or tell my husband where he can put those lights.)

What "officially" starts the Christmas season for you?