FOOD....nom nom nom

Bud and I like to try new recipes from time to time and last night we tried a couple that turned out DELISH. They are healthier than most of the recipes we typically try out and were very easy to make….even on a week night….when KB was running around like a mad man….taking every utensil out of the kitchen drawers….along with every piece of Tupperware…..and banging his juice cup on our glass table…..and shaking lamps….I digress. I found them both on Pinterest, my go-to for new recipes. The recipes are a cheesy zucchini bake and creamy mushroom chicken. Here is how my evening went down….

First, I got my ingredients ready for the cheesy zucchini bake. Here is the list of the ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized zucchinis
• 2 medium-sized yellow squash (side note: I typically don’t like squash)
• 2-4 TBSP of fresh basil (our grocery store is bush-league so they didn’t have any fresh basil. I just used a crap ton of dried basil that we had at home and it was still good)
• 2 TBSP of thinly sliced green onion
• 1/2 tsp of dried thyme (I’ve got too much thyme on my hands….no, you don’t like?)
• 3/4 tsp of garlic powder (to ward off vampires)
• 1 cup of mozzarella/romano/white cheese (I used a blend of white cheeses)
• 1/2 cup of coarsely grated parmesan cheese (I used the stuff you put on pizza instead)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Now, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with some Pam (did you say your name is Pan?). Wash the zucchini and yellow squash (not with soap Amelia Bedelia) and cut them into 1 inch, half-moon pieces. If you have fresh basil, wash that up and cut it.

Combine the squash, zucchini, basil (if you have dried basil instead of fresh basil just sprinkle as much as you like in the mixture…I think I put in about 3 TBSPish), thyme, garlic powder, 1/2 cup of the white cheese, and parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly until everything is evenly distributed. Add the mixture to the baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Open your oven and stand back for a few so you don’t burn your eyelashes and eyebrows off. Put that baby in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until squash and zucchini are tender.

Add the rest of the white cheese over the top and put it back into the oven for an additional 15 minutes or until its golden brown on top. YUMMO!

In the midst of making this dish, as if I wasn't already multi-tasking enough, I started the creamy mushroom chickens. The chickens took about 15-20 minutes total to make, so time it out accordingly if you want everything to be ready at the same time. For the chicken dish you will need:

• 2 chicken breasts, about 5 oz each (I had 3 chicken breasts that were probably a bit bigger than 5 oz and it was still good)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp of canola oil
• 1 shallot, chopped (since we have a bush-league grocery store, I couldn’t find shallots and substituted with a small yellow onion)
• 1 cup of shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly (mine were pre-sliced and felt I could have added more than a cup)
• 2 TBSP of white, dry wine (I bought some pinot grigio and pretended I didn’t only need 2 TBSP and got the jumbo bottle….booyah)
• 2 TBSP of heavy cream
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth
• 2 TBSP of thinly sliced green onion

Cut off the gross fat from the chickens and season both sides with salt and pepper (SHOOP!!). Heat the canola oil on medium in a frying pan and add the chickens. Cook for 12-14 minutes, only flipping the birds one time. Transfer the chickens to a plate and cover so they don’t get chilly. Add the shallot/yellow onion to the pan and heat for about a minute. Add mushrooms and cook until tender, 2-4 minutes. Add white wine and stir until reduced and scrape up those brown bits in the pan, adds to the flavor. Pour in the chicken broth and reduce by half, about 2 minutes. Add the green onion and heavy cream and return the pan to a simmer. Add the chickens back to the pan and coat with mushroom mixture until everything is heated up and ready to shove down your hatch.

And there is our dinner from last night. Add a glass of wine and the meal with be complete! :)

If you want to read a recipe that is not written by an immature adult, click here for the chickens and here for the zucchini bake.

Bud and I both liked this meal and I even took some leftovers for lunch today. Still delish.

Welp, that should do it for today.

PEACE OUT!

La Update

We’ll we’ll we’ll…look what we have here. Damn autocorrect!!!! (I totally stole that from some meme I saw on FB or IG or Pinterest or…I am crazy. Probably the last one.) Anyhoo, I am just popping in for an update since I have finally been spared some free time at work.  HALLELUJIAH!

In my last post I told the internet that I was going to put myself through 14 days of hell. I made it through those 14 days and worked out 12 of them.  I was pretty proud that I consistently worked out and only skipped a couple days; however, my weight didn’t budge at all!! Annoying.





After those 14 days were up I took a mini break from working out mostly because we were busy, but also because I was just over it. After my week hiatus, I decided I needed to do something to bust through this damn plateau I have been stuck in so I coaxed my family into a diet bet.  Muahahahahahahahahaha. I honestly think that is exactly what I needed.  Friendly competition and fresh doll hairs dangling in the distance. We are mirroring the actual website with our bet (dietbetter.com) and are all competing to lose 4% of our bodyweight in a month.  We decided that the person who loses the highest percentage will get 25% of the pot, and those who reach a 4% loss will split the remaining 75%. We started our bet on February 12^th and will end on March 12^th.  Within the first 4 days I miraculously lost 5 pounds by saying “no” to chips, treats, grease (all the delicious stuff) and saying “yes” to fruits and lots of water. Pee City. That put me at 1.2 pounds away from reaching a 4% loss.  Since then, I have gone up a couple pounds and lost them again (damn female cycle), but am still sitting a couple pounds lower than my pre-pregnancy weight. BOOYAH! Honestly, I haven’t worked out as much as I planned, but I am eating a gazillion times better than I normally do, and have cut way back on the vino intake. Sad times.

All in all, I haven’t made any huge changes, but I really think my little swaps are making a difference and are helping me break through my plateau. I definitely need to pick it up in the work out department though, so I can coast into victory at the end of our bet. J I am sure I will do another update in a week or so with some more progress (hopefully).

In other news, my son is still a huge daddy’s boy and while that’s cute in all, it kind of hurts my beat maker. I mean, I BIRTHED HIM, after all. Hoping it’s just a phase (for my sake and sanity) and that he will want to cuddle with his mama again soon.

Dear Winter aka Polar Vortex aka Hell on Earth,

            Are you serious? 40 degrees BELOW zero? It’s almost MARCH!!!! WTF!!??? I would love to blame Canada for this one, but I am sure they are pissed off too. You suck! Go away and don’t bother showing your face again……EVER!!!!!!

Not Sincerely,

Disgruntled Wisconsin Resident

This last weekend our family decided to take the kiddos to Monkey Joe’s in Appleton and they all loved it! If you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically a cross between Chuckie Cheese and Discovery Zone. It’s a place full of inflatable slides and bounce houses. I was really looking forward to getting KB out of the house since we have been pretty much on lockdown all winter long with this DAMN COLD WEATHER!!! (See above) He did really well on all the slides - even the big ones! This kid has no fear so far and I am glad he is just up for anything. I look forward to taking him back when he is a little older so he can run around like the big boys. J

 

On the way home

Speaking of kiddos, Kamden is starting to get a little naughty streak and I find it kind of funny. I know I will be “that parent” that laughs when I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it! He doesn’t really understand that what he is doing is wrong yet, so in the meantime I will be giggling under my breath.  Like for instance, we have this tall floor lamp right by our couch. We (my husband) are constantly doing laundry so our hampers are in our living room about 99% of time because that’s where we (my husband) fold it. Well, our wicker hamper usually also serves as a side table right by the floor lamp at the end of our couch since we haven’t purchased an actual table to put there yet. Don’t judge. Kamden is obsessed with shaking the floor lamp and it scares the bejesus out of me every time because I don’t want him to knock it over and have it fall on him. Well, yesterday he was also all about getting into the back room where the elliptical and treadmill are, but we have a little barricade we made out of a little cubby, a plastic slide, and some pillows, that has previously kept him out. Real classy up in this B. KB figured out how to crawl over our very high-tech barricade so all day yesterday we were chasing him from crawling over it. Once KB was tired of us pulling him away from the barricade he somehow came up with a diversion. I am sitting in the living room, playing with KB, until I notice him starting to slowly back-up towards the hamper and floor lamp. He waits for me to notice him, makes eye contact, gets a little grin on his face, and then whips around to knock over the hamper. Then he starts scurrying towards the lamp as if he is going to start shaking it, but his hand barely grazes it before he bolts in the other direction down the hall and towards the barricade. It was as if he was trying to slow me down from catching him before he made it to the back room. This went on a few more rounds until we could distract him with snacks and cartoons. Yikes. 

And because my post is all over today, here is an interval treadmill work out that I will be doing to switch things up a bit. I did this yesterday and was sweating buckets (nothing new). So if you are like me and like running (psychos), but need to switch things up a bit, give this a try: 

I found this on Pinterest but modified it a bit. A lot of times with running routines I go as fast and as long as I can that day. It doesn’t mean I follow the routine to a “T” but I try to.  Some days I do more, some days I do less, and some days I just do it la du it. J

And now I am cutting myself off from rambling even more.

PEACE OUT BIZZOS!  

14 Days of Hell

January so far has been pretty good for me when it comes to working out.  I have exercised about 4-5 days per week, and am feeling pretty good in that area of my life.  Eating, well that’s a whole other story.  Eating is always my downfall because I love food, and think I can eat like a 17 year old boy and not gain weight.  WRONG!!  I cannot do that.  Maybe I could at one point in my life (not really) but I can’t anymore.  I need to figure it out.  Some days I am great, and others are a downward spiral of chicken wings and cheese dip.  Not together, but now that I think of it that sounds delish….mind out of the gutter in 3…2….1….

I don’t eat straight crap all the time, and when I do it’s not like I am shoveling it down my hatch, but still.  I need to chill out.  Case and point à Reese’s peanut butter cookies.

*drool

I made those bad boys last night and they were sooooo good.  Why did I make them?  No freaking reason.  Just because they looked good.  STOP IT!!!

Those cookies lying around, looking all good and stuff, are not going to help my cause at all.  So, I am really going to try and make some better choices food-wise, and I am kicking it up a notch and introducing 14 days of hell to my life.  I totally made that up, but it’s what I am calling the plan below.  I found it on Pinterest.  I would link it but my work computer won’t let me, and my phone might blow up if I try to do it on there. (iPhone 3 probs - don’t act like you’re not impressed)   According to the pin, you can lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks by doing this routine every day.  The pin could be a complete liar, but I know that if I do this plan for 14 days it will be a good thing, either way.  I have been running on the treadmill this month for my work-outs, which I love to do (I know, punch me in the face), but I know that I need to start adding in some strength training, says EVERYONE these days.  I guess I will listen and see what happens.  Here’s to hopefully looking a little leaner in 2 weeks, and for getting a little closer to my ultimate goal (before getting knocked up again…)

14 Days of Hell aka the Drop 10 Workout

100 Crunches

90 Jumping Jacks

80 Lunges

70 Squats

60 seconds - Run in place

50-second plank

40 Jumping Jacks

30 Squats

20 High Knees

10 Push-Ups

That right there is what I am going to add to my work out, every day, for 14 days.  Currently, I run for 50-60 minutes (5-6 miles) on the treadmill, 4-5 days a week.  I am weird and like running on the treadmill, so I could keep this up for the winter, but I need to do something to keep my body guessing.  As of now I am going to drop my cardio down to 3 miles-ish along with the routine above.  I think it will be very challenging, but I also think I can tough it out for 14 days.  I should probably track my measurements before and after instead of relying on the scale (since that bizz can be a filthy, lying, pirate hooker), but I probably won’t.  I don’t have a tape measure (one that can be used for this kind of thing) and I am going to bank on the fact that I will forget to pick one up at the store tonight.  #aintnoshameinmombrain

I am also going to really try and eat healthier not just during the week, but on the weekends too.  I know I am not alone when I say weekends are the hardest.  It’s just so fun to have adult beverages and veg out after a long work week!  I will probably still do that, but when it comes to “vegging out” I might actually just eat veggies!!??? I dunno -  I will just take that part of it day by day. 

Anyone else feel like today just kept dragging along? BOOF!!!  Let’s get this work day over with so I can cuddle buddy boy, do that damn routine above, and try to convince the hubs that I need a back massage ASAP. J

Word

Updates and I suck at blogging

Wow, I am really slacking on this whole blogging thing lately.  It’s not like I have been sitting in an empty, dark room with nothing going on in my life.  It’s not like I am so crazy-busy that I don’t have time.  I am just not doing it.  So because I have been slacking as of late, I am just going to piece together some thoughts and call it a blog post.  Pretty much what I do every time I post something, so nothing new here. J

First, I am going to do a little update on Kamden.  He is really the main reason I started to blog in the first place.  I just want to make sure I am documenting his milestones and little things he does so I can look back and remember just how little, cute, and fun he is.  That won’t change right??......RIGHT!!!??  Just kidding, I am totally aware he will turn into a big, smelly boy at some point.  Anyway, here is Kamden right now, just about 16 months….

·         Opens every door and shuts it about a million times a day

·         Says “this” repeatedly, all day long

·         Can say juice, dada, mama, fish, this, no, yes, beep beep….and a bunch of gibberish

·         Loves dogs

·         Throws his hands in the air when he is done eating

·         Loves fruit and grilled cheese

·         Just tried chocolate milk and loves it

·         Sleeps great still (thank God)

·         Is getting 3 molars at once at this very moment (drool city)

·         Loves trucks and cars

·         Gave his daddy a hug last night and it melted my face off

·         Has been walking backwards a lot lately

·         Loves cartoons - Little Einstein’s, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates…pretty much any cartoon

·         Has an obsession with climbing on the couch so he can mess with the thermostat.  The temp was set at 50 degrees the other day….

·         Loves to be outside

  

·         Loves the snow.  I was walking with him outside and he bent over to eat snow right off the ground

·         Thinks he can walk up and down stairs like a big boy (he cannot)

·         Puts all his food in his hair every time he eats

·         Can feed himself with a spoon

·         Blows kisses J

·         Licks my face when I ask him for a kiss

  

·         Starting to only take 1 nap a day

·         Knows where his eyes, nose, and mouth are

·         Loves dry cereal and goldfish crackers

·         Won’t eat vegetables unless they are pureed

·         Likes when people talk to him on the phone

·         Grabs his pacifier and blanket when he is tired

I could list out a million more things but these are what popped into my head.  Can he please just stay this age forever??

In other news, I was asked to be in a wedding!  Our friends, Tim and Amy are getting hitched in May of 2015! I am pumped!  With that said, I am kind of in a baby-making dilemma.  We are going to try for #2 at some point here in the next 6 months, hopefully.  I do not want to be pregnant or about to give birth during the wedding, but that means I would have to get knocked up by no later than June/July.  Initially, I wanted to “plan” it out so I would have maternity leave over next summer, but now I am not so sure what to do.  The hubs is freaked out that we are talking baby #2 and I have been secretly calming the baby fever for a few months.  So stay tuned….



Am I really ready for this again??



My friend Erin is expecting #2 and found out she is having a GIRL!!  I see lots of pretty dresses and bows in her future. J  So excited!

My mom got a new job and loves it!!  I am so, so, so, SOOOOOO happy for her!  She definitely deserves it!

My brother is competing in the district spelling bee on the 24^th!  Last year he made it all the way to state and placed 9^th.  That is just incredible to me because he was in 4^th grade and competing against 8^th graders.  He is smart as a whip and I can’t wait to hear how he does in a couple weeks!

I didn’t really make any new year’s resolutions this year, other than to be healthier.  I usually try to do a 180 and eat clean, workout every day, etc. but realistically, I just set myself up for failure every time.  So, I am just taking it day by day and trying to make better choices, one decision at a time.  Like for example, to balance out my red wine addiction I had a salad for lunch today. J #winning ß that’s douchey 

Random, but I found this funny:



'Tis the season!



Congratulations!!!  You made it through the rambling!! Welp, I am off to make it look like I am doing some work around here.  TGIF!

Dumb things I’ve done this week….

Let me get this out there: I am a complete moron at times.  Throughout my day, I usually make an ass of myself 5-10 times.  AT LEAST.  That doesn’t count the other times no one has noticed what I have done or said, so really that number should be higher.  But whatever, it’s me and that’s how I roll.  I roll like a moron.  Anyway, here is a small list of dumb stuff I have done this week…and it’s only Wednesday....

1) I found a recipe on Pinterest for the most perfect sugar cookies a while back, and pinned it knowing it would come in handy someday.  Well, that day was last Sunday when I decided that I would make them for Christmas this year and be all Betty Crocker on my family’s ass.  I have never made cut-out sugar cookies before, but figured it can’t be that hard and would just go with it. I bought all the ingredients, came home, and went about my business.  For one, I don’t even own a dough roller so I had to improvise and use a water bottle.  Clever, I know.  Anyway, since I have never made these cookies I had no idea what I was doing and made half the batch too thin.  Awesome.  The recipe seriously made like a million cookies and half were too thin.  So after I was done frosting them all with homemade frosting (yeah, I did that), I tried one.  My first though was “meh”…  Could have been because I ate enough cookie dough to put me in a salmonella coma, I messed up the recipe, or the recipe was really not “the most perfect sugar cookie.”  Either way, I was not pleased.  They weren’t awful, but they were not what I was hoping for especially when the reviews on the recipe said they were “bakery quality.”  The next day at work I told a couple co-workers about my cookie making the night before, and was telling them how I didn’t care for them, how I am pretty sure I got salmonella poisoning, etc.  That night while making Kamden dinner I decided to try another cookie.  Much to my surprise they were pretty good!  I don’t know if it was because my stomach had recovered from all the cookie dough and sugar, or if this is the first time in the history of the world where fresh cookies are not better than day old cookies, but they were good.  So, with that said I brought those cookies to work today for our holiday feast after telling people that they were awful.  Merry Christmas!!!!

2) Speaking of our holiday feast, yesterday I convinced everyone that it would be funny if we all wore ugly Christmas sweaters to work today.  I even sent out an email to our department:

Hello Everyone!

For tomorrow’s holiday feast we are also welcomed to wear holiday attire.  Talking with a few people today, we thought it might be fun to wear ugly Christmas sweaters tomorrow to join in the spirit!  Hopefully we all have a sweater we can dig out of the back of the closet that will fit the part!

See you all tomorrow….hopefully looking a little something like this:

I sent this email thinking I still had an ugly sweater I wore a few years ago, but when I got home last night I couldn’t find it.  I could not show up today without wearing a sweater after I convinced my team to all wear one.  I would definitely look like a douche showing up all normal looking.  So, on my way to work this morning I took a pit-stop at Kohl’s and roamed around until I found something I could wear.  Here she is:

Yup, yours eyes are not tricking you.  That is a sweater with a picture of a dog wearing a sweater.  Apparently this is in fashion because I found it in the junior department at Kohl’s.  Also, I am pretty sure I still look like a douche wearing this damn sweater.

3) On Monday when I left work I stopped at the post office to mail off a present.  The post office is not on my normal route to pick up Kamden, so I took a different route to the sitter’s house.  A couple miles before the sitter’s house you can get on the highway to our house and without thinking I started turning on to the on-ramp to go home, without my son.  I realized what I was doing as I was jamming away to my music after it was too late to turn around.  There is not really a close exit I could take to turn around so I basically drove home and immediately turned around to pick up KB, and then drove home again.  Seriously, am I a robot?  Do I “bee-bop-boo-beep (explosion)” if I take a different path in my day? 

I am sure there are more moron moments for me this week I could list, but I think my mind is blocking them out in my favor.

Happy Hump Day!

 

Timmy the Elf

A couple years ago my dad sent me an elf as part of my Christmas present from him.  I am pretty sure the elf has been handed down a couple times, possibly from my Great Grandma Nana.  At the time, I really had no idea what to do with it and had not really heard of “elf on a shelf” so I just put it out as a funny decoration.  This was pre-kid, so we would have friends over after a night out and we would take pictures with said elf and just laugh at how ridiculous it was.  It would end up in our refrigerator, holding a knife in the knife block, watching us play baseball (quarters), riding a chicken, and so on. 

Enjoying a nice game of baseball

Fast forward to today.  This last year when my dad, stepmom, and brother came to visit from Arizona they saw the elf and we started a little game.  When my dad was here he hid the elf under my husband’s pillow with a note, in hopes to freak him out.  This turned into my husband sending the elf home with my dad, and my dad sending the elf back, etc.  As I was putting my brother’s birthday and Christmas gift together to send to him I figured it would be a good opportunity to send the elf back, with a note to Jack……

Day 21 - My Escape

Dear Jack,

I don’t know where to start… When I arrived back in Wisconsin I was really excited to see my family even though my previous experience wasn’t what most elves call a “merry time.”  I thought to myself, “Timmy, give them another shot.  Let’s make the most of this time we have together,” and to my disappointment that is not what happened.  As they opened the box I traveled in and first laid eyes on me I was expecting a warm welcome, but instead they threw me to the side like I was chopped liver.  Gross.  Have you ever seen chopped liver?  Here is a picture: 

Looks like dog food if you ask me.  Or, a pile of Rudolph’s turds.  As I lay on their kitchen counter, feeling helpless, all I could think about was my buddy Jack back in the warm state of Arizona.  I really missed you and knew that I had to make my way back to see you.  I played it cool the first couple days as these “humans” just went about their business, as if I didn’t exist.  Then the horror began….

One night, I heard the loudest screech and cries I have ever heard.  Louder than Santa’s snoring for sure and that is pretty loud.  I could see in the distance one of the human’s carrying a smaller version of a human, I think they are called a baaaaay-beeeeee?  I don’t know for sure, but these humans seem to always be giving this little mini human a lot of attention.  Anyway, this mini human, or baby, was so loud and water was shooting out if its eyes like crazy.  I am going to be honest here, Jack, when I tell you I was scared.  The loud screech almost made my ears explode.  I knew at this time I had to get out of there.  I could not imagine myself having to live the rest of my life wondering when this mini human baby would make these noises again.  It was like walking on broken candy canes, or should I say “pins and needles”…... This is when I began to devise a plan for escape. 

The next couple weeks were the longest in my entire life.  It was torture, Jack.  These humans would just come and go as if they had no idea who I was…minding their own business, making food for the “baby”, and ignoring me as my stomach growled in hunger with my throat as dry as cotton balls. Sometimes if I was desperate, I would lick the countertops in hopes there were leftover crumbs I could eat.  Sometimes I was lucky, and other times I was not so lucky.  Meanwhile, this mini human baby was always getting food and he would barely even eat it!!  He would throw the food on the ground, rub it in his hair, try to hide it in his chair, etc.  Then the big humans would just clean it up and throw it all away.  RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!  I often thought about throwing myself off the kitchen counter into the food on the floor from the mini human baby, but couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I am very afraid of heights.  Speaking of things I am afraid of, have you seen these pictures people keep posting on this computer-thingy???  The big humans would always look at these pictures in front of me.  It was if they were taunting me.  See below:

When have you ever seen such a tiny, beautiful, elf be put in such a horrible situation?  Since when does the elf have to clean the floor? I feel bad for this guy - his owners must be friends of my owners. 

And it gets even worse.  Everyone knows elves have a hard time looking at computers with their tiny eyes.  The above picture gave me migraines just looking at it!

This is what humans call a creative idea for elves!!!???  How about a nice stroll in the park, or a lovely spaghetti dinner?  Now that’s creative.  Not, “hey, let’s plan a pirate attack on the elf and really scare the crap out of him!!”

Now this is just silly.  We are elves people, not Santa Clause.  We don’t grow beards nor do we want to pretend we can.  Plus, mocking Santa is against the Elf policy put in place by Santa III, and going against that policy could lead to an elf being put on shoe making duty for at least 6 months.  Stinky!

Now this w0uldn’t be so bad for most elves, but not for me.  I am allergic to sugar.  If my skin even touches sugar I will swell up and look something like this:

This is not a good look for me.

This was my last straw.  I had to get out.  So, I waited for the right opportunity and days later, it finally came.  I heard one of the humans talking about your birthday and Christmas presents and how they would be sending you a package.  DING DING - there is my way out.  I knew I had to get in that package and that is what I did.  I watched the human put all your gifts and candy into the box and noticed there was an extra spot just big enough for me to creep in.  As the human turned away to grab something, I hopped into the box, and the human closed the box, not noticing a thing.  I bet at this point they don’t even know I am gone.  Unless they are bored again and try to make me ride the egg-laying chicken like a pony.  Sounds hilarious, but I am allergic to chickens.  This is what I looked like after that experience:

I feel like those guys with the green hair and I would get a long great.  We seem to have a lot in common…. I guess I will keep that in mind if things don’t work out staying with you.  I sure hope they do, though. 

Now that I am here, Jack, I really hope I can stay a while.  I think we will get along great if you can at least follow these simple rules: 1) Never feed me sugar or make me ride a chicken (allergic), 2) I must have at least 1 meal and unlimited amounts of eggnog and hot chocolate every day, 3) If you give me a bath, you must use marshmallow-scented soap bubbles - it’s the best for elf skin, 4) I can stay up as late as you want but I cannot be expected to wake up early.  I need at least 12 hours of sleep per night, and 5) In the evening, I like to practice my vocals for Christmas caroling so I ask that you do not interrupt me from the hours of 6pm to 8pm.

Merry Birthmas Jack!!!  I am so glad I am here to celebrate your month with you!  Oh, and congratulations on winning your school’s spelling bee!!  We are going to have so much fun!!!

 Love,

Timmy

TGIF!  Have a great weekend! :)