Sunday is my mom's birthday so I should maybe wish her a happy birthday also. Her name is Carol and she was born on Christmas, yet when I ask my Grandma if she named her Carol because of the Christmas connotations she says she doesn't know. Maybe that's because she doesn't want to put any singing-related pressure on my mom. And rightly so, with our voices like angels- my family.

p.s. I know my drawings are awfully sophisticated today due to the great software that I have at my disposal right now. You're welcome.

So, today is Christmas Eve Eve, and I am one of the few lone soldiers here today. Due to this and the fact that no one should be conducting any sort of business on a quasi-holiday like today my excitement so far has been pretty limited. And by limited I mean spilling part of my latte on my keyboard and trying to clean it up has been the extent of the excitement. So, I figured, since not much is going on and we didn't send out a Christmas card/letter that I would post one even though I have absolutely nothing interesting to say.

We're not married nor anywhere near getting married so nothing interesting there, we don't have any kids so no cute kiddie anecdotes to add, we got a dog whom I think Jason might like more than me, we moved into the new house and now the fun there is taking bets on how long it will take Jason's brother to clean up after himself which is just an absolute hoot. We are at the midway point in the basketball season and at holiday break time, so Jason and I have actually seen each other for at least a good 5 hours this week. The season has gone by pretty quickly this year, which I am grateful for, because the quicker basketball is done the quicker I get my boyfriend back and the quicker we can get to golf and camping season. This previous summer I prided myself on turning Jason into a camper. He, for some reason, thought it wasn't much fun, but when I showed him the Schaaf style of camping which is comprised of eating, napping, and sitting around reading books he warmed up to the idea. As far as golf has gone he has made huge strides there too. He is slowly being molded into an acceptable match for yours truly. Now if he could only snowboard without incident. :)

That's it in a nutshell. Merry Christmas. Peace, joy, presents, cookies...

Our little trip to SD this weekend ended up being a lot more exciting than expected in some capacities and a lot less than expected in others. Let's start with the a lot less part- we didn't see any ghosts. Boo. The Bullock let me down. Although, I didn't really get to explore as much as I would have liked because someone kept whining to go back to the room. We heard a few pretty interesting stories and saw some pictures, but didn't see anything paranormal for ourselves (well, besides the paranormal activity that is Jason's behavior.) So staying at the Bullock was not too terribly eventful, just kind of nice- darn it.

Now let me regress a bit to earlier that day. We made our way down to Terry Peak and everything started out fine. Jason had his lesson right away so I made a few runs, then he got done with his lesson and I convinced him to venture away from the beginner area. He fell quite a bit at first, but then started looking like he was catching on. Well, he might have been catching on a little bit too well on the going fast part and not catching on quite well enough on the stopping part. At the very end of our third run in the big kids area he was going pretty fast, caught his toe edge and then launched himself headfirst and landed squarely on his noggin. Luckily I had made him wear a helmet. I came over to him and asked if he was okay- he didn't answer right away so I figured I'd give him a minute and then tell him to get up so we could give it another go. Not so much. We ended up taking a little break and finally, after he wasn't able to just shake it off, we went to visit the ski patrol who told us to go to the hospital. So, next step on our adventure: the Deadwood-Lead Emergency Room. Yippee! Now, this may very well all be my fault. First of all, I was the one who made him go snowboarding. Second I might have jinxed him with my "pretty decent odds" comment. Anyway, he ended up with a mild concussion and a very sore shoulder. The important thing, ...

Jason and I are heading down to South Dakota this weekend. We are going to visit his friends who live in Rapid City and we'll also spend a night in Deadwood, staying at the haunted Bullock. I have wanted to stay there for years and now that I am in charge (that's right, I'm in charge.) that's where we're staying. Its former owner who died in the hotel supposedly still hangs out there, so why wouldn't we want to stay there!? So, if Jason survives his first snowboarding attempt, that's where we'll stay. That's right, I have finally convinced Jason to attempt to learn how to snowboard. I have helped quite a few people learn how and only one of them has broken any bones. And it was only an arm that time, so I figure he's got decent odds. I hope to convince him to just suck it up and take a lesson right away. I sure wish I had- it probably would've saved me from a few of those wipe-out-so-hard-you-get-the-wind-knocked-out-of-you and those tear-your-gloves-off-and-throw-them-as-far-down-the-mountain-as-you-can-because-you're-so-mad-that-you're-a-good-skier-but-learning-to-snowboard-is-kicking-your-butt moments. Ah, good times.

Oh, the friends that we're staying with are Anne & Fruitcake. You know how many people I know who that nickname would be so completely fitting for? Way too many. It's really too bad that he has already claimed it.

It is my pleasure to introduce the newest addition to the Schaaf-Horner household: Romes (as in "gust of wind, Romes" a la Tin Cup)

He could possibly be the most adorable thing I have ever seen (okay, he and Kosmo tie). He looks pretty much like Kosmo did when he was little except much less furry. He also might be a genius like his big bro Kos only minus the evil part. I am going to let Jason post some of the other pictures of him- so check out his site. Maybe Jason can explain what a softie he is and how we only went to look at puppies but he just couldn't leave without bringing Romey home.

"somewhat scary" he says. PSHAH! Putting up the Christmas lights scared the crap out of me! And I am not one to be scared easily by those kinds of things. Sitting up on that roof was way worse than waiting to drop from the top of the Power Tower at Valleyfair. At least  then I was strapped in. It took all I had not to just turn back around, make my way down the ladder, and go back inside and put lights up around the window- from the inside of our nice safe, flat living room. But I am such a nice girlfriend, I knew there was no way I'd get Jason up there to do it, plus I thought it would be nice for him to come back from his long trip to WY and see the house all Christmasy. As soon as started my trek toward the edge of the house, though, all I could think of was plummeting the 60 feet to my untimely death (60, 25, whatever. It was high.)  I know I now have plenty of newfound respect for those other fools who climbed around on their own really steep, really high roofs just so that their houses could look pretty. I just have one thing to say about that whole experience:  those lights are staying up there until they disintegrate.

But anyway. I somehow managed to have a good time this weekend even though Jason was out of town. In addition to escaping death, I went to the Wizards games both nights and might have had a Bud Light or two. My substitute date did a great job, I think he might have to give Jason some pointers. I don't remember having an empty beer all night.

http://www.ianhaig.net/men/

Just click on the link. Insert your own joke.

All I'm going to say is derpty derp DERP!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE BOYFRIEND SO FAR!

It's Jason's birthday today. It would take forever to list all the ways in which he is so great, so that will have to be postponed to a later date when I have more time. I might even post some very flattering pics but for right now I just want to make sure to wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Just kidding about the so far part. He's MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER! :)