I was on such a roll

Whew.

The past three weeks have been doozies.

We have succesfully opened and closed the Wizard of Oz at the school where BH teaches and directs.

#2 got to be a munchkin and flying monkey in the show.

For those of you not in the theatre know, Wizard of Oz is a huge undertaking as far as shows go.
I believe there were 90 cast, crew, and orchestra members when it was all said and done.

Nearly every performance sold out so that was a good thing.

Getting that bad boy done took up two of the last 3 weeks. Last week was taken up by holiday travel.

I am still trying to figure out why preparing an entire meal for 11 people in a kitchen that I am unfamiliar with was so much more relaxing than hosting the dinner at my own home, where I usually only make a couple of dishes at most.

Could have something to do with having 25+ people converging on my home, all of whom have 10,000 questions about where things are and where should things go.

Just a guess.

In fact Thanksgiving was SO low key this year that I almost, ALMOST want to suggest that going to BH's grandparents become our new Thanksgiving tradition. If it wasn't for the 13 hour drive....

I made a new dessert this year that I think will be part of my contribution from here on out. Chocolate Pecan Pie. Oh my heavens. I think it may have reached the ranks as my #1 favorite pie. I had to leave almost a whole pie at BH's grandparents house and I might have almost shed a tear about that.

So November is ending. I didn't have quite as many blog posts as I had hoped, but a girl only has so much time.

I hope to have many posts in the next month about having a 13 year old in da house. (Oy. Oy.)
I also hope to do much sharing about yummy Christmas food I will be preparing. It has finally gotten cold and jump started my desire to be in the kitchen.

602!

Hey I just noticed that this post will be #602.

That is a big number.

Only 398 more to go until 1000.

Yes I used a calculator to do that math. Because I am lazy, and I don't trust my horrid math skillz. Rather...... lack of math skillz to be perfectly honest.

I believe in full disclosure of my deficits here at Babble On.

Maybe that topic will be for post # 603.

Hell that could probably be posts 603-703.

I got lots of deficits.

Yes I do.

I got lots of deficits.

How 'bout YOU!!?!

(insert flippy high kicks, hoots, and hollers here.)

Oh Come ON.

The family and I went to see Megamind 3D today.

The kids have been excited about the movie for a long time, and we really were overdue for a fun family outing.

Also BH thought it would be fun to see a movie on it's opening day.

My issue is with the extra $3.50 you must pay every time you see a 3-D movie. This is presumably to pay for the special glasses required for the movie. Glasses that we don't keep, but instead put in a giant bin to be recycled.

What we at Chez Babble propose is that if you choose to keep the glasses and bring them with you the next time you see a 3-D movie, and not have to pay the $3.50 again. Of course if you have no glasses then of course you pay the $3.50 extra.

This is what seems fair in our world.

So get with it movie theatre people! I know you are raking it in, so give a family a break willya!?

Trippin'

As a general rule I avoid travel at the holidays like it is the most heinous disease in existence.

I just like to be home at that time.

The last time BH and I traveled over a holiday was about 13+ years ago when we lived in California where we had no family and only a few friends. We came home for one of the major holidays each of the two years we lived there.

Since we came back to Kansas and subsequently had children we have not left the state on any holiday.

This year though, the times they are a changin'.

We are hitting the road to visit BH's grandparents.

Now that someone else in my family has a home large enough to accomodate our masses, we no longer have to host all holiday family gatherings. This is allowing us to take a trip this year.

Sadly BH's grandma has not been doing well, so an extra visit this year seemed like a good idea.

So I am sucking it up and coping with my disdain for looong ass road trips and holiday travel.

Cuz that is how this wifey rolls.

What are your feelings about holiday travel?

One Year

Today marks one year since I started my private therapy practice.

All in all I would say that it has been a pretty good year.

All of my worst fears did not come true.

I am still in business.

I have not put us in the poor house.

All good things.

So what have I learned over the past year?

I think one of the biggest surprises has been how difficult it has been for me to lose what I call the "Mental Health Center Mentality." Meaning that my schedule must be completely filled with appointments all available working hours of the day.

Ummm...a big reason I left the MHC was due to my not wanting to have clients 8+ hours a day five days a week. I have had a difficult time letting go of that feeling of pressure to make sure all my working hours are filled with client appointments.

It is getting a little better, but I still have a ways to go.

I also have decided to be a bit more focused in the types of clients I agree to see. I am also considering some marketing as well.

I don't always wake up raring to go to work, but I don't start dreading Monday on Friday as I am leaving work like I used to.

I have said it before, I think my issue is that in reality I just don't want to work.

But if I have to, this seems to be a good fit for me for the time being.

That, as Martha Stewart would say is, "A good thing."

Crazy Excited

Have I ever mentioned my family's strong and abiding love for Rockband?

Well...we here at Chez Babble have a strong and abiding love for Rockband.

We have recruited many many followers through our totally rockin' Rockband parties.

To date, after each party we have thrown (and there have been several) someone who attended has gone out and bought the game.

Harmonix should absolutely sign us up as spokespeople.

So Rockband 3 is out.

It has a KEYBOARD and cooler drums, and a supposedly cooler guitar that has not received great reviews.

Tonight we looked at the playlist.

So SO many lovely songs.

BUT we are making ourselves wait until Christmas.

Things are very busy between now and then, and once a new Rockband game gets in da house, that tends to be how we spend all of our time.

And we gots lots of other things we gots to do.

So we will covet and dream until December.

Then we will. ROCK. the. F. out!

I gotta start warming up the vocal chords.

Because my best instrument believe it or not...

My SINGING VOICE.

No one was more surprised by this than me.

But I apparently can rock the f out with my voice.

Can't WAIT!!!

I was in no way compensated by Harmonix or any other company associated with Rockband for this post. However, if they want a rabid fan and recruiter to write some testimonial or something I will jump on it.