Duh

I need to start a category of just DUH posts...

This morning on my way to work I stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get a bagel... Too lazy to actually get out of the car - decide drive through. Almost to the window to pick up my order and realize - I drove right by the speaker without placing an order!?

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Christmas Highlights

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It was a great Christmas! To keep it short - here are the highlights (in the order they occurred not in order of importance)

Christmas Eve with the Blackstones: blueberry martinis, scallops (a.k.a. chicken of the sea), JD & I being told to get a room - without even touching each other! (too funny not to mention), the boys in their Christmas jammies, hide and seek/scream with the boys, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, watching Caleb clean up for Santa so "he doesn't trip", putting out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, Connor telling me "I wuv you"

Christmas Day: Morning with JD, Stone's Annual Christmas Party: opening presents with the St.Jeans while having a bloody mary - it's tradition! Seeing all the St.Jean Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and babies of the cousins, fabulous food, LOTS of laughs. Talking to: Donee & Grandpa Rick, Meagan, Lauren and Dad (for about 2 seconds). Having The Mother come up, her meeting JD for the first time, cooking dinner at my house (group effort), talking to mom while I washed dishes, JD being a good sport and watching my favorite Christmas movie: Love Actually

Yeah!

Happy Winter Solstice!

I am so happy the days start to get longer starting tomorrow... Maine winters are long, dark and cold, it's nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel

Hmm...

Amy, a woman I work with brought in a present for me this morning... She wanted to watch me open it and had a HUGE smile on her face - and at the same time was slightly concerned that I might be offended. I knew we were off to a good start! hahaha

The good news is, it's microwaveable! Whatever the hell IT is... does anyone know? We are guessing some sort of cake with raisins... Has anyone had it? Amy found it at the grocery store in the "Ethnic Food" section and after a double take decided she had to buy it for SOMEONE... I'm so glad she thought of me! :)

R.I.P. Rico Tubbs

Rico just passed away... godspeed big buddy.

Steve posted a tribute to the Fatty on his blog and does a very good job describing His Bigness.

Thank you for all the phone calls and e-mails.

New Bedding

A couple weeks ago I ordered new bedding from Overstock.com... LOVE IT!

I like the fact that I could make a pretty major purchase like that and not have to ask the opinion of anyone else :) This picture doesn't do it justice because the colors aren't right... The spread is a brown velvety type of fabric and the sheets are blush pink! So cute! I am tempted to paint the bedroom blush pink to match, but somehow I don't think my landlord would be overly thrilled with my color choice, hehe

Rico Update

Steve called last night to let me know that Rico has made significant improvement since the morning. His kidneys were failing, but now he is on medication and an IV... hopefully this will help the big buddy get better.

What an emotional roller coaster...

Oh no! SNOW!

On Sunday we got a lot of snow - almost a foot! The snow then turned to sleet/freezing rain... what joy. The ice barrier at the end of my driveway was daunting to say the least. I had to hack at the ice layer before I could shovel the powder underneath! I was a little over 1/2 way done shoveling when my girlfriend Gail's husband Dougie drove by and said "We have a plow" I responded with, "why yes you do and it's lovely" he said, "scoot over - we'll finish" and he did! He even took a big swipe in front of the steps where the snow/ice was even taller! What a doll :) I should have taken a picture of what it looked like when it was done - but it was dark!

Rico Tubbs

Steve called me this morning to tell me his big buddy is being put down today. We've had this cat for almost 10 years... Rico Tubbs made the trek with us from Utah to Maine in the back of a pickup truck (there was a cap on it). What an adventure that was for him - and us! While en route we stopped in Philly to see Cory. We were driving on back roads that were very curvy and at some point during that portion of the trip his bigness (Rico) decides to do his business but partially misses the box! When we got to Cory's house Steve had to cut some of the fat stuff's hair and hose him off in the shower because of the mess!! So gross! Taking care of the cat's business was always Steve's job and he did it well.

My heart breaks for Steve, he loves that cat so much. Putting Boots down a couple years ago was traumatic enough, but at least we had each other and got to say good-bye to her... Even though I haven't lived with the fatty fatty 2 x 4 for several months, knowing he is gone and I didn't get to say good-bye is harder than I thought it would be... Thank you, to Diane (Steve's friend who has been taking care of Rico) for looking after the big guy and for doing what has to be done... that job sucks.

I love you, Rico Tubbs a.ka. 20 lbs of hairy love, his bigness, Bikos, the Fat Effer, Fatty Fatty 2 x 4, Biko Bikofski the Russian kitty, Chinese cook and many others that I am sure will come to me later today... You'll be missed.

Oh Deer!

To really appreciate this story you probably need to know JD (that would be the guy with the codename DD - we've moved beyond code names :D). JD lives in a somewhat rural area that has a lot of deer. He's hit 1 deer with his truck and has had 3 deer hit his truck... how does that happen? I didn't think it was possible until we were driving one night and out from a field comes a deer... it's running next to the truck then THUMP - it turned INTO the truck putting a good size dent in the rear diver's side panel. I've never seen anything like it.

Saturday night on our way to dinner JD was driving my car. Out of nowhere there's a loud thump on the passenger's side in the back... I didn't see anything but JD said he thought he saw a deer come from the woods... super. We get to dinner, I look at the car and don't see anything. Sunday while we were out and about JD looks at the car and says, "um, Adrienne... I thought you said we didn't hit anything?" I answered "I didn't see anything - why is there a big dent?" "Not really a dent..."

Yeah, that's deer fur. Apparently I am officially a redneck (thank you, Nicki!) because I left the hair there until I could take a picture of it. :) No new dents in Blue Dart! She's little tank, I tell ya!

Sweet Victory

I am not a good bowler - in fact I am quite proud of the fact that I am not. There is no shame in admitting it.

For many years the St.Jean clan would go bowling on Thanksgiving. It was always SO much fun! And without fail every year I would have the lowest score... again, nothing I was ashamed of. One year Cousin Jeff mentioned how happy he was that Steve and I were married because now there was a bowler that was even worse than him - Thanks Cousin Jeff! ;-) Another year Jack (who was 4 at the time) was bragging about how he beat Adrienne! In my defense he had bumpers... The most recent bowling humiliation was suffered at the hands of the nephew Alex who kicked my butt! I don't think I broke 50 on that game! He beat Steve too, hehe.

So imagine how shocked I was when we went bowling last night and I actually WON!! Not only did I break my previous high score of 48 - I bowled a 125!! And I wasn't with bad bowlers! One of the guys we were with bowls so often he has his own shoes and balls!? Granted he hasn't bowled in over six months while he was on deployment, but still! I tried to take pictures of the score board, but it was too far away... I have a print out if anyone wants to see it, I would be happy to make copies and mail it to you.

The sweet taste of victory lingers on...

Big Duh

This morning as I was headed to the gym I started having a little asthma attack. I usually get flare-ups when it gets cold (I think the teens/single digits qualifies as cold). I pulled out my huffer (inhaler) and took a big ol' pull off it and SUCKED THE CAP INTO MY MOUTH! Those things should have warning labels! Just kidding - they probably do. The inhaler I had in my purse didn't have a cap and that's the one I was used to using. The replacement DID have a cap - and I wasn't used to it. I had to pull over I was so freaked out. The thoughts rushing through my head - the headline in the paper "Dumbass Woman Chokes to Death on Inhaler Cap" or "Big Dope Inhales Inhaler Cap" and the like... It was 4:45am - I was on a back road and should that thing have stuck I can't imagine how/if I would have gotten it out! I'm I won't do it again - however I have tossed the cap - just in case.

My JD

I'm 34 years old...

boyfriend sounds silly

I refer to him as my JD

THE GREEN KNIGHT RULES!

The Friday after Thanksgiving we had family pictures taken... and it was relatively painless - pretty amazing considering how many of us there were!

After pictures we went to Corinne's house for lunch and a little birthday party for Xavier. From there we went to Medieval Times. What a riot! I had no idea what I was in for when we arrived... The stadium is broken down into sections, each section has a knight to cheer for. We were given paper crowns and being the sucker I am, I bought a little plastic green flag to help me cheer even louder. Lauren and I sat next to each other and created quite a scene. We yelled so loud we were horse! The (wicked handsome) Green Knight kissed a flower and tossed it to me - although it fell a little short and the lady in front of me picked it up - as if she didn't know it was meant for ME! hehe Our knight won but was attacked at the very end by the bad guy. It was all very dramatic. It was fun to be a place where you eat with your hands (there is no silverware) and are encouraged to be as loud as you can!

It's fun to be part of a huge family... especially one that gets along and likes spending time together. Sometimes it's hard to be so far away - but it makes the times I visit that much better.

Thanksgiving in Maryland

This year I had Thanksgiving with my Dad, Sue and siblings for the first time in 17 years! We were all together - Tom was home (safely, thank God) from Iraq, Jordan was home from her mission, I was home from Maine, Sarah from Vegas and Lauren from BYU! Meagan, Corinne & Chris are local :)

This is the first Thanksgiving I (we) haven't hosted in 5 or 6 years... It was a good transition considering the circumstances... although I missed my St. Jean family and the good times we've had. It was weird not to have the stress... staying up late the night before making place cards, washing the serving dishes, etc., making a plan with Steve of who was going to do what the next day. Arguing about who was doing more, who was going to make coffee Thanksgiving morning to get the ball rolling, hehe - good times, huh Wasband? ;-)

It has been quite a year, a lot has changed... most of all - me.

I am thankful for a loving family and amazing friends who support me and stand by me. I am thankful to have a job and a home. I am grateful for the challenges I have been given that have made me a stronger person... I am truly blessed.