Midweek Confessions: The Link-Up

Hi friends!  I got myself a fancy little banner and button for this week's official Midweek Confessions Link-up.  (Thanks to the amazing Tricia Nae - my "go to" design girl!)  That's the good news.

The bad news is: I'm home today with a sick baby.  We had hoped that the Stomach Bug 2011 had escaped his little breastfed self; but... no.  I swear, at 6:15 this morning as we wiped poop off the FLOOR, Jeff and I were convinced there was a hidden camera in our house filming some new comedy about parenthood.  'Tis life.

Anyway, here we go...

- We had our house cleaned REALLY well last Thursday.   But today? You would have NO idea.  Honestly, it resembles a frat house (substitute milk instead of beer in the surplus of dirty bottles) right now.  (Look, I realize if I say this every week it stops being a confession.  But, really, it gets worse every week, and every week I'm amazed.  Plus, this is the first week where we actually paid someone to come in and try to salvage our disasters, but to no avail.  Of course, the stomach flu and not being able to use our kitchen sink may have something to do with the problem.)

- The night before we had our house cleaned, I had an absolute freak-out because we had "so much to do to get ready for the cleaning lady." Then, on the day of, I rushed home from work (leaving Sam at the babysitter's an extra hour) to "pre-clean" before she arrived. I realize that this is irrational, but I had no other choice - I don't expect her to know the difference between what is clean and what is dirty on our floor.

- I actually got MAD at Jeff on Friday night for throwing up in my freshly cleaned bathroom.  (I know already mentioned this, but it was too good to leave off the list.)

- I'm slightly obsessed with italics.

- I miss being neurotic.  I used to be "that" girl that didn't go to bed until everything on her to-do list was checked off and was always five steps ahead of everyone else.  Now, I'm the girl wearing two different shoes running five minutes late with 37 bags and a milk stained shirt.  Most days, I like myself more now.  But some days, I really miss my neurotic self.

- Speaking of that, I'm a little jealous of bitter about all the bloggers who have time to decorate their houses perfectly (all DIY, at that), bake delicious meals, make crafts, and blog about it.  I've had to take a little break from my blog-reading these last few days for my mental health.  (Um... But, for full disclosure, I'm REALLY hoping to do at least one link-up this week with all my Christmas decorations.  That is, of course, IF I remove the dog hair and dust first.)

- Yesterday I ate a XL Honeybun out of a vending machine for breakfast.   You know it's bad when you feel the need to hide said breakfast under your shirt until you are safely behind closed doors in your office.  But, oh, it was good.

 

- I regift.  Sometimes.  There.

Ok, that's all for me... If you wrote your own list today, please (for the love) grab this button and link-up below. I can't wait to read your confessions and feel better about myself. ;)

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Bah Hum Bug!

I'm just gonna be real here for a minute (when am I not?)...

My life is kind-of like one big commercial for Murphy's Law right now.  What I want to be doing is Christmas shopping and wrapping and baking and blogging... Like the rest of the world. 

But instead... Well, it's just been one thing after the other the last few days.

First, Jeff got the stomach flu on Friday night.

I'm terrible with this kind of thing.  I wasn't all that nice to him (in fact, I may have been upset that he dirtied the freshly cleaned house) and, I made him get up Saturday morning to take our family photos. (What kind-of wife does this?)

On the way into town, our photographer got a flat tire and her professional flash broke.  (Sorry girl for bringing you down too!)

Then, nothing cooperated for my photo idea for Christmas card 2011... And, even though the pictures still turned out awesome - our card doesn't beat 2009... Not by a long shot. (Consider this your warning.)

 By Saturday night, I was paying for my behavior when Jeff was sick with... my own 24 hour stomach bug.  (i.e. Cancelled plans for a wedding, a reading at church, a Junior League volunteer opportunity, and dinner with friends. BUT... I did lose a few pounds for Jeff's office Christmas party tonight.  Silver lining?)

And, just when we thought we were on the upward swing, we woke up this morning to a leak from our kitchen into the basement. #whathasmylifecometo?  (I don't really know what that little symbol means, but a lot of people do it, so it must be cool.)

UGG.  Where's the Christmas spirit?

I'm working on it.  And, I know I'll find it somewhere... Probably around Friday when I get out of school for two weeks.

Until then, here's a little sneak peak of our photo-shoot.  Even I can't look at this and not smile. ;)



From Merry Studios... This kind-of summarizes our weekend.  How funny does Sam look in the background?

Happy(?) Monday folks!

Ghosts of Christmas (Cards) Past

Thanks guys for joining in on the "Midweek Confessions" fun yesterday.  I'll have a link-up ready to go next Wednesday.  Get ready for it!

On Saturday, our friend Mary is going to take pictures for our annual Christmas card.  I realize I'm, like, super behind on this... But, I say - why send your cards a month in advance?  I'll do pre-printed address labels and they'll be in the mail in PLENTY of time to arrive by 12/24.  No sweat.

What is a big deal to me, however, is having the cutest card EVER known to man. Especially with the addition of someone squishy and adorable this year, there is a lot of pressure.  So, I've been scouring the internet and exhausting my creative brain-power trying to think of an awesome (but not overused) "theme" for the Chapman Christmas Card 2011.

Obviously, since we haven't even had the pictures taken yet, you'll have to hold your horses to see what I come up with.  But, in the meantime, I thought we'd take a little trip down memory lane and look at a few cards from Christmas' past:

We didn't send a card our first year of marriage (2007).  Biggest regret of my life.  (Ok, not really, but I do wish we had one.)

2008 - Photo by Sam Dean Photography. You can see who stole the show that year!  (We had a cute little polka-dot border and memo printed at Walmart Photo, but I can't find the digital file anymore.  You get the idea.)

2009 - Photo & design by Howard Chen (This photo of Addy won us $1500 that spring!)

2010 - Photo & design by Howard Chen. I was about 11 weeks pregnant when we mailed this out, so we also used it as our little "announcement."  So fun. (I definitely recommend getting pregnant in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas food, by the way.  I'm not sure what I will blame the 10 pounds I inevitably gain on this year.)

I sure do love having talented friends! :)  If you've posted your Christmas card this year, put a link in the comments below.  I'd love to see it!

P.S. A good friend of ours is participating in a contest from the same company that hosted the pet photo contest a few years ago... All you have to do to help her out is click on this link: http://bit.ly/s8jddn.  That's it. Just do it right now.  Thanks.  (There's also a link on my sidebar, just in case you want to be extra generous with your clicks this holiday season!)