Tropical Storm Debbie, Trick or Treaters and Tofu Turkey

Well kids, its me and Officer's first married Thanksgiving.  I know the question that keeps you from sleeping at night, tossing and turning in your bed that you're unable to shake is... what am I making?! (yes, I as in A Rookie's Wife, not what are you making - ha). Not a darn thing.  Some domesticated wife I am.  And it's not because I don't like to cook, I do (as long as it's blue box macaroni and cheese, frozen pizza, or my new favorite - chili cheese fries).  But, I want Officer to actually enjoy this holiday with the proper food.  So, with me NOT cooking any of the food, this should be a holiday without any commotion, disasters, etc - right?  Well, according to our track record, probably not.

Let's start with our wedding day (okay, I know it's not a holiday, but it's a monumental event).  Months and months of planning a destination wedding - my mother BEGGED me to push back the date when I originally set it just in case I couldn't get everything (like the dress) in on time.  But, I wanted to be married in the state where I spent all of my summers visiting my grandparents - Florida.  And everyone knows that you can't be in Florida past June or you have the risk of hurricanes.  So it HAD to be June.  We had beautiful weather leading up to the big day OUTSIDE (disclaimer: not a beach wedding).  On the wedding day, the weather is overcast, but that's wonderful - it's not too hot and I hear it's great for pictures!  The wedding was at 6:30... tropical storm Debbie hits at 6:25, but she only DOWNPOURS for about 15 minutes before being finished for the remainder of the wedding.  Yes, every single entire guest was soaked from the tip of their head to their toes (including the groom).  Other than my sister and me (we stayed in the limo) there wasn't a dry soul at our wedding.  I'm not talking about the wipe-down-with-a-napkin and you'll be fine kind of wet, I'm talking your undergarments are soaked, your body will be wrinkly when you get home, it's the just-jumped-into-a-lake-with-you-clothes-on kind of wet.  And the next day, guests were stranded on the island they stayed on because of the winds, our bed and breakfast became just a bed because they didn't have electricity to make breakfast, etc.  (:  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change it for the world, but it definitely didn't go as planned. (One good joke came out of it though - my aunt said to me "now you can always say that Debbie almost ruined your wedding!"  You should see people's reactions when I do say that -ha.  Always a good laugh)

Then, our first big holiday - Halloween.  I loved Halloween as a teen.  My parents and I would turn on one of the old Halloween movies and we would be THE house that gave out the good candy - you know the name brand candy bars.  So, you can only imagine my anticipation of this holiday in my new house with Officer.  We shouldn't have, but we splurged on buying the good candy.  And we even discussed what we would say when kids would come back for a second handful of it since it was that good.  (Really, it wasn't, but we felt like it was).  We debated what Halloween movie we would watch (we didn't have any of the actual Halloween's) so we watched Van Helsing.  20 minutes in.. no trick-or-treaters - is our light on?  check.  An hour in, no trick-or-treaters - are our clocks wrong? no.  By the end of the night, we had a total of 12, yep count them, 12 trick-or-treaters.  And we had hundreds of pieces of candy left over.  Which ended up being delicious over the next few days - I have no self-discipline.  But again the holiday turned out not as we planned it.

So I'm eagerly awaiting Thanksgiving to see what will not go as planned.  Grammy will have made a tofu turkey instead of a real one, to try to be healthy, or something.  Or maybe, because I don't have a hand in it, things will be marvelous.  We'll just have to wait and see.  And I look forward to sharing with you whatever happens. (:

With that, safe travels and happy eats to all! 

And thanks to all the LEO's out there working this holiday season!  Officer will be right there with you on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Count your blessings

Tis’ the season to be... THANKFUL!  I’m so thankful for Officer, my AMAZING family, Scout dog, my WONDERFUL in-laws, my life, our Creator, and my friends!  And, of course, I’m thankful to those of you who read my blog! (:  I’m also really thankful for food (therefore, I’m thankful for Thanksgiving)!  I could (and do) eat until my stomach bursts. What’s my favorite Thanksgiving food, you ask?  Bread, rolls… carbs.  My mother-in-law makes the best bread, pretty much ever.  It’s so delicious. That’s another thing I’m thankful for – her bread.  

Oh, and, Officers patience, one more thing I’m thankful for.  We spent the weekend apart- I had a much needed girl’s weekend in my old college town and he spent the weekend entertaining at our home.  On Sunday evening, we both had plans to get things done.  Unfortunately for him, I needed him for my plans.  I wanted to hang a new light fixture in the entry way (I bought a super cute antique fixture that my grandma is giving me for Christmas, but who can wait that long?).  Anyways, I tell my sweet husband that it will only take 5 minutes (but he should have known better).  The lights hang like 5 feet down on chains (our ceilings aren’t that tall) and so we had to shorten all of the wires and the chains.  Then, we only have a small step stool ladder so Officer had to work on the entire fixture with his arms locked straight above his head and where he couldn’t really see ANYTHING he was doing.  Disclaimer: Officer used to work at the university’s physical plant while he was in school in the electrical area so he knows what he’s up to.  Next, the light fixtures wires aren’t marked as positive and negative so we’re guessing while I’m holding this massive thing and he’s standing on this little stool with his arms extended as far as they will go… anyways, I think you get the picture.  It was HYSTERICAL and I died laughing.  And I couldn’t stop.

Do you know what happens when you start hysterically laughing?  You lose all your strength (I know you guys thought I was going to say I wet myself, not the case!) I couldn’t hold the fixture any longer, I let go.  Luckily (for me) he had already attached one of the wires.  It was hanging on by a thread.  Now, remember I said we only had one step stool ladder thingy?  Well, I was standing on a bar stool.  So I had to get back up on it, but I still wasn’t stable.  What did I put my weight on?  That one little wire, whoops!  No worries, nothing (other than me) ended up falling. We did successfully get it, but it took much longer than the 5 minutes I had promised Officer. 

Good news- the fixture looks awesome.  And Officer didn’t mind I wasted his only free time this weekend. ... Just wait until we have to hang the Christmas lights. (:

What things are you thankful for?

He's Back!

I have to be honest, I have been so uninspired lately to blog.  That's probably why I haven't posted anything in what seems like FOREVER (to me).  I know I could come out here and force posts, but I personally appreciate authenticity, and so I want to hold myself to that standard.  To all you out there who blog for a living, you completely have my props (ha, sorry that's not much) because this would be a tough job!

Anyways, that being said - I'm inspired today.  And it's because... Officer is finally back to work!  What a huge blessing - and for far more than one reason!  Let's start with the fact that Officer hasn't been working the past 3 months due to back surgery.  Now he is finally patched up enough to be back in the office (because, of course, he was released for light duty and not full patrol).  To put it simply though - he's healing and I'm rejoicing!  Also, I think he will be so happy to be back in the station around all the guys and not just sitting at home all day with Scout.  (side bar:  Scout was not happy about this today.  She wouldn't go outside this morning and use the restroom because she knew Officer was leaving.  She pouted.)  Officer wasn't too thrilled about waking up earlier, either.  But, I know deep down he was pretty stoked to be back.

And, probably the best part - OFFICER FINALLY SHAVED!  He hadn't shaved or cut his hair since his surgery.  I reckon this is probably because he has to be baby-faced the rest of his life, but it was starting to look like I was with a homeless man!  So, we had fun with how we should cut his hair.  We did the "old man" look, the mullet, rat tail and then finally normal (phew!).  Then came his beard, I contemplated putting pictures up, but struggled with the fact that this is an anonymous blog... BUT, these are too good to pass up I'd be doing a disservice to you guys if I didn't post them.  I'll just crop out his eyeballs! (:  (side note: does that even work?  Would he be unrecognizable without his eyeballs?  I should probably get his opinion on the pictures before I post.)

I feel like I owe the blogging world a disclaimer.  I don't think Officer has ever gone more than 2-3 days without shaving.  Once, he attempted to grow a mustache, but he couldn't stand it after 3 days.  So, for him to be this.. ahem, skanky, if you will, is not his norm.  He's actually a big time hunk.

Gosh, I feel like I should do the disclaimer again after posting these photos!  (:   Since it's Movember around here (mustache November), he decided to just keep a mustache.  I don't have a picture of that one, but he totally looks like a stereotypical cop.  And, when I look at him, I'm not even sure I recognize him.  It's really strange. 

Officers comments while shaving - "We should have done this sooner, so I could wear some of these looks around for awhile", "my face is freezing!", "will you clean up all of this hair for me?"

Oh boy.

But, I'm so happy that I was finally inspired to blog and that I'm getting my man back! (: