Oops, I spelled that wrong. It’s auf Wiedersehen, not “I’ll be the same.” Eh, they’re close.

So, anyone out there have any exciting New Year’s Eve plans? We’re doing the same thing we’ve done on several other NYEs. We’re staying home and having my brother and sister-in-law over. Woo-hoo! I know you’re insanely jealous of my big party plans! You should be. We’ll kick back and relax. We’ll play lots of games. We’ll enjoy not having to fight the drunks and crazy people on the road at 1:00 a.m. My brother and I used to fight like cats and dogs as kids. Well, mostly he picked on me, but he’ll try to convince you that I was an annoying little sister and I deserved it. Whatever! But now we actually can say we enjoy each other’s company.

So while I’m gone prepping lots of food and straightening this place up, I leave you with this fun blog post:

Click here to step into your time machine!

And let’s all hope that 2008 is a better year, fashion-wise, than 1977.

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Deb from Mom of 3 Girls tagged me for this meme. Since I just celebrated a milestone a couple of days ago, I thought this was a good time to complete this!

Here are the rules for this tag:
1. Mention the person who tagged you and create a link back to them.
2. Copy-paste the traits for all the twelve months (see below).
3. Pick your month of birth (see below).
4. Highlight the traits that apply to you.
5. Tag 12 people and let them know by visiting their blogs and leaving a comment for them.
6. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve done it!

THE MONTHLY FLAVORS, WHICH ARE YOU?

JANUARY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people’s flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

FEBRUARY: Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizes dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

MARCH: Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves attention. Hasty decisions in choosing partners. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Loves special things. Moody.

APRIL: Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people’s problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving. Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest. Sexy in a way that only their lover can see.

MAY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

JUNE: Thinks far with vision. Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating, tends to delay. Choosy and always wants the best. Temperamental. Funny and humorous. Loves to joke. Good debating skills. Talkative. Daydreamer. Friendly. Knows how to make friends. Able to show character. Easily hurt. Prone to getting colds. Loves to dress up. Easily bored. Fussy. Seldom shows emotions. Takes time to recover when hurt. Brand conscious. Executive. Stubborn.

JULY: Fun to be with. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people’s feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional temperamental and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats others equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Loves to be alone. Always broods about the past and the old friends. Likes to be quiet. Homely person. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Prone to having stomach and dieting problems. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt but takes long to recover.

AUGUST: Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

SEPTEMBER: Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people’s mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

OCTOBER: Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn’t pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

NOVEMBER: Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

DECEMBER: Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

**********************************************************************************************

My birthday month is December:
Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

I’m supposed to tag 12 bloggers. Hmmm, tell ya what, if you read my blog and your blog title begins with the first 12 letters of the alphabet (A-L) then consider yourself tagged.

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This week’s theme is “Messy.” I could go the messy house route, or the messy kid face route, or even the messy wet and muddy dog route. But I opted to go for the “messy home improvement” route. And this one actually has a two part story.

First part is that a few years ago, Mike’s cousin re-did our master bathroom. He removed the old shower enclosure and tiled it. In the process a plumber came and fitted the shower pan. That turned out to be a problem because he didn’t do it right and he had to keep coming back and coming back to problem solve. Eventually it involved cutting a hole in our foyer ceiling and installing an access panel. Whatever he did eventually stopped the daily leaking, but after returning from each vacation, it was sure to leak for a few days before “self-fixing.”

Here’s a picture of the shower area as it was being renovated. It was a very messy process!

Well, that’d be a messy story on its own, but it became messier. Our neighbor does handyman work, and we recently hired him to figure out why the shower kept leaking. He took one look in it and said, “The plumber didn’t install the shower base correctly.” I guess it would have been a fairly easy fix if the plumber hadn’t broken parts of the shower pan in his attempts to “fix” it. Now the only way to fix it was to remove two rows of tile and take out the broken shower pan. I thought putting tile IN was messy. But apparently grinding tile OUT is even messier! Everything on the second floor ended up covered in gritty dust.

But now the shower is put back together and it doesn’t leak……yet. The moment of truth will come after our next vacation.

To see more Photo Hunt pictures, click here: PhotoHunt

Technorati Tags: photohunt

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…..that I’m doing it again! Yes, today I am celebrating the 1st anniversary of my 39th birthday!

Actually, I’m doing it this way for my mom. I mean, I don’t want her to have to say, “My baby is 40 years old.” That will make her feel old.

Actually, I’m also doing it for the kids. So they can save money and don’t have to buy me black balloons today.

Actually, it’s really not that big of a deal. There really isn’t a huge difference between 39 years 364 days and 40 years. I don’t feel any older.

Then again, I wasn’t born until 7:30 p.m., so maybe the full impact hasn’t hit me yet.

I’ll go ahead and share my baby picture though. Wasn’t I a cutie???

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Today has been beautiful. I’ve had a little time to catch up on a few blogs and read about everyone’s Christmas celebrations. It sounds like good times were had by all most. Seems like those celebrations that involved “in-laws” were the ones that didn’t go as perfectly.

So I know you’re all wondering….how was Christmas in the Patrick household? Well, so far, so good! Here’s how things went down….

Sunday, December 23rd…we had plans to babysit for the High School Musical director’s 17 month old. The kids and I would have had a bit more fun if he hadn’t slept the entire time. Seriously, he was asleep when we got there and his parents came home just as I was getting him up from his nap. Nick, especially, was very disappointed. In fact, he thinks we should babysit EVERY Sunday so maybe we’ll actually get a chance to play with Noah!

Then, somehow KT convinced us to open our presents early. See, we usually exchange our things on Christmas Eve and we save Christmas Day for the Santa stuff. But she argued that she and Nick would have much more time to play if we opened them a full day early! She was very persuasive and didn’t whine, so we fell for it agreed.

Nick and KT were pretty happy with their Playmobil stuff. KT loved her new Cricut. Nick was excited to give KT a make up bag (that we got for free at a Mary Kay party) even though KT doesn’t wear a lick of make up. Mike was ecstatic with his new chair for his Pediacast studio and his iTunes gift card (shhhhhh, I only bought that so I could get the bonus of cheaper gas at Kroger).

And me? I got several nice things. The most interesting thing was the Smart Shopper. Mike learned about this from Cat Schwartz during his interview with her in Pediacast episode 60. This gadget is basically a voice activated shopping list. What you do is speak into it as you find you are low on something, then on shopping day you print the list. The great thing is that the list is categorized according to the aisles in the grocery store. This just may save me from going back and forth in the grocery store when I get down my list and realize I needed something that was 4 aisles back. So far it’s working well recognizing the items we speak into it. Unfortunately, it’s a new gadget so everyone is playing. Right now my list consists of milk, mozzarella cheese, and about 15 different types of candy and snack foods.

Christmas Eve brought more playing with the new toys (and adding candy to the Smart Shopper list). Late afternoon we headed to Mike’s dad and step-mom’s house. And although they are “in-laws” we get along quite well. I just act like myself (crazy and quick-witted) and I’m just one of the family. We had exchanged names this year and that worked out well. I ended up getting a beautiful Vera Bradley bag and a gift certificate to the local cross stitch store! Yippie! With all of Nick’s rehearsals (and potentially for KT’s if she’s cast in Antigone), I’ll have lots of time to stitch!

Oh, and there was time for fun. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for the “Round Hair Episode” that was mentioned here. Have no fear, that was recorded by KT with a very special guest. It is hysterical and I’ll have to work on getting that posted on YouTube.

We got home and did the obligatory cookies for Santa and magic reindeer food and shuttled the kids to bed. As I wrote about here, Santa came and only left two gifts and a stocking for the kids. Both Nick and KT got what they asked Santa for….KT got the Playmobil Roman Arena*, and Nick got Heartworm**. And yes, the cheesy, lazy man in the red suit did not wrap any of it. In the end, that didn’t matter. The kids played all day and didn’t even get out of their PJ’s! It was a beautiful, quiet, peaceful Christmas Day!

We still have one more Christmas to celebrate. This weekend we head up to my parent’s house and we’ll eat more food, have more fun, and create more memories. In the meantime I’m working hard to sit back and relax and basically do nothing! We did all spend about 3 hours yesterday tackling the housework that has been let go for so long. But even that was wonderful as I was reminded of the real color of my floors and I realized that my bathroom sinks were not actually “toothpaste blue.”

I’m going to try to get back into the blogging habit now that the rush is over. But seriously, my life is so boring and quiet now, it doesn’t create much blog fodder. And for now, I like it that way!

*Yes, on Christmas morning, one of the most holy of Christian holidays, I realized how ironic it was that Santa brought KT a Roman Colosseum in which the early Christians were persecuted and killed.

**Yes, Nick sat on Santa’s lap and asked for “heartworm.” I’m sure that was the first time Santa ever heard that request. Leave it to Nick.

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