Today felt like a big party.

I slept in till 9am.

I was showered and dressed before noon. Hooray!

I did a little house hunting (I'm desiring a basement daily). The house was a piece of junk, but it was still fun to get out.

I checked in at the shop where I sell my American Girl knock-off doll clothes and discovered I've sold about five more items. Yippee!

I stopped in at the consignment store in town and was the first customer to arrive after a drop-off of Disney VHS movies which were being sold for a quarter each! That's cheaper than a redbox. I bought nine of them plus a couple $2.00 sun dresses for the new baby girl, a $0.25 pair of jeans for Claire to grow into and a $2.00 running shirt for me when I'm trying to lose my baby fat.

Did you know I'm gaining weight? It's true. So far I'm up to 17 pounds technically. I say technically, because I lost some weight in the beginning of my pregnancy and so those 7 pounds I gained back apparently don't count in my total weight gain. ???? I switched from my OB to a midwife recently and I am LOVING my visits and how I feel taken care of at each visit. Now, I'm just hoping for the best at delivery.

Back to my day. I made it back home with the movies, ate lunch, read to the kiddos, put Wally down for his nap and then Jane and I went back for more quarter movies. They are addicting, ya know? Let's just say we bought a lot, but they were really inexpensive so we felt justified.

We headed over to WalMart to return her Christmas Moon Dough which she was sorely disappointed with because it flaked all over the place and shopped and shopped for something to buy, but she couldn't decide on anything. I returned the grinder William got me because I had bought him the same one and got myself some yummy Aveeno body wash. Mmmmmm! I can't wait to use it tomorrow. I feel pampered already.

Jane and I also hit Hobby Lobby, Pet Warehouse and Goodwill. I found several things to purchase, but she kept her $10 safe and made it home without a single item. Wow, has she come a LONG way. It used to be she would buy anything just to spend some money. I'm excited to see she is showing some restraint and maturity.

After making it home, loving on the kiddos, paying Claire for keeping the house tidy and clean as well as the kids alive, I set out dinner gave a few instructions and was off for a girls' night out.

My sister-in-law Amy is leaving tomorrow to drive back to VA, so she wanted to go out with a few of us friends. We at Mexican at a little hole in the wall, did some WalMart shopping (I didn't get anything this time), ate some Andy's (best EVER custard) and bought milk at Braum's (best milk i town). I loved visiting, laughing and enjoying each other's company. It's good to have friends.

I made it home and found the house in order, kids tucked in bed, though not asleep yet, and felt blessed to have such wonderful children who are responsible, helpful and such fun too. I'm excited to hop in bed and get a good night's rest before my busy tomorrow. William's parents got us an electric blanket for Christmas and it feels like Heaven!

California Time

No, I'm not heading back to California silly. It's just that I'd like to blame my late nights on the idea that maybe I'm still running on California time. They are two hours behind us there, so really I'm getting into bed at a reasonable hour....in California. Maybe I should just blame it on the fact that I love to stay up late and chat with the gals. Maybe I'm still catching up on the bazillion things to do since I went on vacation (like post pictures on here). Okay, so maybe I'm just a night owl.

How about you. Are you a morning person...like I wish I was....or a night owl....like I am?

Guess what????

You will never believe it! It's so exciting...well if you are a Survivor fan it is. If you are not a fan, you might want to skip this post. OR....you could go to cbs.com and watch the latest season of Survivor, then come back and read this post and then you would truly appreciate what I am about to tell you. You might not even believe me because I don't have a picture to prove it, but I promise it's true. Unbelievably true!

Okay, so my sister-in-law Amy is in town from Washington and we decided it was time for a girl's night out. We talked cousin-in-law Kristie into joining us and hit the downtown for some fun. After parking we strolled to the corner with the freedom that comes with having no children hanging on your legs. We were giddy with excitement. A few yards ahead I noticed a man with longish hair pulled back into a half pony tail.

Me~ "Amy, is that Coach?"
"What?" asks Krystie.
Me~ "Do you watch Survivor Kristie?"
"What???"
Me~ "Do you watch Survivor?"
"Oh, yeah, sometimes."
Me~ "I think that's Coach." "Amy, is that Coach?" "It cant' be Coach."
Amy~ "I think it is Coach."
At this point we were standing on the SAME CORNER as said mystery man whispering like 6th grade school girls. The light turned and Amy took one brave look back as we walked across the street and said, "It IS Coach."
Me~ "No way! It's really Coach? Should I say something?"
The distance between us was growing as we approached opposite corners and I knew it was now or never.
"Hey Coach!" I yelled.
Would he turn? Would he answer? He did! He hesitated for just a split second and then his upper body turned toward us as he lifted his arm up for a friendly wave.
"Hey!" he called. I giddily waved back.
Me~ "Oh my gosh. I can't believe that was Coach!!!!"

As we walked into Jimmy John's for a delicious beach club I realized my adrenaline was pumping and I was nearly trembling with excitement. What is it with seeing a celebrity? (If you could even call him that.) I didn't even like him on Survivor. I mean, I liked him because he was truly entertaining with all his stories and dragon slaying and "integrity", but I surely hoped he wouldn't win. I actually vividly remember telling William one night while watching an episode, "I would be scared if I ran into him on the street. He's pretty creepy. Do you realize we have a pretty good chance of bumping into him?" And now looky here. I just saw Coach Benjamin Wade! We would have gone after him for a picture once we got our senses about us and recovered from the initial shock, but he went into a bar and I don't really want to go in there, plus I had left my ID in the car and people still don't believe I'm 21 sometimes. I think I'm still in a bit of shock. Maybe I dreamed the whole thing...but I'm sure it happened because Amy and I were still talking about it when she left my house at 1:45 in the morning.

What did we do all night you ask? Well we certainly were not stalking Coach I tell ya. What we did was head over to an awesome 80's arcade and played Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, tetris, frogger, donkey kong, pinball and much more. Kristie enjoyed the 80's magazines and my hand is just a tad sore from trying to beat Amy in Tetris. I think we'll be going back before she goes home. After the arcade we headed to Andy's...of course. The straw-ana with hot fudge is delicous every time. Mmmmmmmm!

Krystie dropped us off at my house and Amy I spent the next two hours laughing till we cried (well I did anyways) watching YouTube videos of funny dancing sobriety tests, laughing babies, American Idol auditions of Mary and British cops wearing no pants pulling over women for a candid camera show. Then Amy drooled over my new sewing machine I still don't know how to use it all that well, but tonight I mad up my mind to follow Amy's amazing example by making a couple quilts, learning to knit and becoming crafty. Anything is possible folks. Man, I'm going to miss Amy all over again when she goes back home, dangit.

Can you believe I saw Coach? I was seriously on the SAME CORNER as him. What would you have done? I should have freaked out and gotten a picture with him right there on the spot. He would have loved it, don't ya think?

P.S. Sorry I hyped it up so much. It wasn't all that amazing was it?

Well maybe just a little.
For me.
You know.

P.P.S. No, it's not really 11:58...it's after 2am! (I changed the time so it wouldn't appear that I had been out on the Sabbath partying it up...wow I need to go to bed.) But I had to share. I could never sleep without getting this exciting news off my chest. Nighty, night!