Friday, December 30, 2005

Happy New Year!

I may not get a chance to update this blog until 2006. Just in case, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, and I hope you have fun celebrating!

We've had quite a year in our little Anderson world.

1) We bought a house!!! We've "staked our claim" here and made a big step together. It is such a warm and cozy house, and I love everything about it. We even have great neighbors--all the little kids on our block come over every day to ask John to come out and play football! We're so proud and happy to have a place to call our own and it makes coming home each day that much better.

2) John graduated! Finally, after 4 institutes of higher education and 10 years he has a degree. He worked so hard for it, sacraficed a lot of time, and I'm so proud of him. It's already paying off for him which brings me to our next 2005 blessing....

3) Promotions! John and I both enjoyed promotions this year at work. It never hurts to be thankful for being promoted. We're gainfully employed and both (for the most part) really enjoy what we do. John will even be getting a company car in February, which means we can get a new car for me!

4) We added to our family! I know you all think I must be cat-obsessed, since I post pictures of them all the time, but that is what home is for us. We adopted our little cat, Faith in September and she's been so much fun. I think she's even mellowed Max out quite a bit, and she makes us very happy.

5) Our families are healthy! We have two awesome nephews, 3 great sisters, a great brother-in-law, 4 awesome parents, 4 grandparents (who are great, but are not great-grandparents), wonderful aunts and uncles, and each other. You've heard me say many times how blessed we are to have most of our family so close by and how wonderful it is to have them all so close. Having a happy, healthy family that we love and are connected to is amazing.

6) The Sooners had a winning season! I know, it wasn't an undefeated, National Title season, but it was still a lot of fun to watch. And it ended up a lot better than it could have. We love football. I wish every day was a football day, except March Madness because it's pretty fun to watch basketball during March!

7) We have each other. Recently, we've had some friends who have experienced serious tragedy in their lives, most notably John's friend, Andy who lost his wife at age 27. He's now spending his time at the hospital nursing their brand new, premature daughter to health and fighting his own battle with cancer. It's experiences like this that make me shutter in horror at the thought, and makes me value John beyond comprehension. It shouldn't take a tragedy to realize that, but we are so fortunate to have each other every day.

Which brings me to resolutions:
1) Spend more time laughing, less time getting angry
2) Get in shape!
3) Learn something new (anything!!)

Happy New Year!

Boomer Sooner!

Boomer Sooner everyone! Looks like the holidays were pretty good to the Sooners this year! It was a VERY close game last night, but we came out on top and beat the #6 team in the nation! Not too shabby....we improve our win record to 8-4 (Should be 9-3, and all you Texas Tech fans know it!). Not a stellar year, but it obviously could have been a lot worse. I love college football. I know, I know--I said last night that I hated it, but I get emotional when we're losing.

Speaking of college football, I'm sure many of you are wondering who to root for in the Rose Bowl, since both the teams playing are stupid. My answer to the problem every true Sooner fan is facing? Don't cheer for either one. If I was strong enough, I wouldn't even watch the game. But I will and I won't root for anyone. I hate USC, and who wouldn't? And Texas--let's be honest. No matter who it is, no true Sooner fan in their right mind should EVER root for Texas. For OU fans, this National Championship Game brings little but frustration and hatred. There are no two worse teams that could be playing right now.

I've had a pretty good week back at work. Next week I'm sure I'll be paying for having a breezy couple of weeks, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I've been playing with the iPod some. Guess what, I figred out how to download my Outlook calendar and all my contacts--say goodbye to the palm pilot! I'm amazed at technology.

Our friends from Norman, Jason and Kristen came over last night to watch the game. Which was a good thing, because we won so our new house isn't cursed! Kristen is also in the advertising business, so we spend a lot of time talking shop and sharing client war stories. It's fun to have someone to talk to about it who understands everything!

I had to make a really difficult decision this week to cancel a vacation I was planning over Martin Luther King Day weekend. I had planned to go to Minneapolis to visit with my dad, but with the timing being right before I leave for Dallas for so long, it just was not right. I didn't want to stress myself out or shortchange my dad. I wouldn't be myself that weekend, I'm sure. Hopefully we can reschedule for later in the year--it was not an easy decision and just adds to my feeling of dread about the whole thing. But I'm sure it will all be fine, and I'll have a great time!

This weekend will be very busy--it includes sleeping in on Saturday, a rousing night of board games and movie for New Year's Eve (maybe even some poker!) and leading Children's Bible Hour on Sunday. I know, I know....we're just too exciting for words.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005


And here we are, Christmas morning at my mom's before Church. Aren't we a good looking couple?! We had a great Christmas again this year. Spent the morning with my mom's family, the afternoon and evening at John's parents. I think everyone made out pretty well, but it's really about being with the family. We're so fortunate that we get to spend Christmas with both our families! Posted by Picasa

John took this GREAT shot of my mom's family Christmas morning before church. We just don't take enough pictures, so I was so glad to capture it! Posted by Picasa

John got a new football for Christmas and Easton helped him test it out. Easton is getting sooooo tall. Also, check out his new shoes...black Chuck Taylor hightops. Very cool (again!). Posted by Picasa

We got Mason and Easton sleeping bags for Christmas (Easton is a big-time camper with his Boy Scout troop, and of course Mason wants to be). Here's Mason, testing his out! Posted by Picasa

A regular Billy Joel...Mason jammed all day on his new keyboard and microphone set from Mimi and Papa, as well as his sweet new guitar from Santa! Posted by Picasa

Look closely...we have a couple of presents under the tree! I took the ornaments off the tree today because they were all on the ground anyway...but now it's Max and Faith's favorite place to hang out! Posted by Picasa

Thursday, December 22, 2005


I talk a lot about Faith and post a lot of pictures (mostly cause she's so friendly and fun!) but we do still have Max, and he is still the king. While Faith likes to be in the middle of all the Christmas stuff and "help", Max likes to sit here and watch. Here is he under the coffee table getting comfy....he's just King Max! Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Cry-Baby

So I've had a difficult couple of days, and it's really stupid why. On Friday I got a call with a really great opportunity to work with a couple of different clients with the agency for 3 weeks in January. 3 measly weeks for really great experience. The catch: I'd need to spend much of that time working in the Dallas office. The second catch: it just happens to fall in the 3 weeks before John leaves for 3 weeks for training in California. You do the math.

Oftentimes, I tend to overthink, overanalyze, overreact in many situations. I'm sure this is not a shock to any of you! I like to feel in control, I like things to fall into place and I'm big on things "feeling" right. I had to make a decision yesterday whether I wanted to take this opportunity or not. Feeling like professionally it was not something I could pass on, I said yes. And it still doesn't feel right.

I'm struggling with why my head is screaming one thing, my heart screaming another. A friend of mine said "if it was any other time than right before John left, it wouldn't even be a second thought. You would just do it". And she's probably right. This is what I went to school for, what I've trained to do is work in PR, and here's a 3-week window to work on something other than my restaurant client for the first time since I graduated.

I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do my best to think positively about the whole experience. Then John and I can celebrate and take some time together when he gets home in late February and we'll laugh at how worried, stressed, anxious and sad I was. How we made it through with flying colors, both better off professionally.

Maybe part of it is there's a tremendous amount of pressure, being that these projects would actually be pitching new business. I'm sure it's not a shock to many of you that often my confidence level is lacking. My head knows I can do it, but I can't convince the rest of me that I have the skills or savvy to do it.

I've been way too upset over this, I know. It's so stupid--it's only 3 weeks. And it's only 5 1/2 weeks away from John. People send their spouses away to war for a year or more! I need to keep this in perspective. Can't help it...I'm just tired of stewing over it and crying over it.

Please pray for me to be at peace with this decision. Please pray for John and I, as it will be hard. And hopefully I'll not think about it over the holidays. I know that we're both presented with these opportunities because we're smart and successful and people (not to mention God) believe in us and our abilities.

Still need a little more peace with it...

Sunday, December 18, 2005


What a CUTE picture! Faith has done a lot of sleeping the past few days, and she's loved to cuddle. Plus, John looks so cute in this pic! Posted by Picasa

At long last, here is the poor little thing in her alien "Satellite" collar. But it's really kept her calm and kept her from hurting herself. We think we're going to leave it off her tonight and see how she does. Poor thing--she can hardly hold her head up! Posted by Picasa

Friday, December 16, 2005

Poor Faith!

I can't wait to post pictures of Faith, hopefully tonight. Poor little thing....she got "fixed" on Wednesday. She's been pretty sore, but the pain medicine she's on has made her CRAZY! She's jumping and running and doing all the things the vet said not to.

So, I had yesterday off work and I noticed her stitches were coming out. So I took her back in, and it turns out she's chewed the knot off because she's been licking at the incision so much. So, in order to keep her from doing that through the weekend, she has to wear one of those big satellite collars! She is so, so sad and I feel so terrible for her. She keeps running into things, and the collar is too big for her, so it weighs her head down. But she looks so silly in it!

Anyway, hopefully we'll be able to take it off by Sunday! She is very depressed, but it makes her very clingy and cuddly....she wants to be right next to me and John and she's enjoying the babying, I can tell.

Well, Matt and Robin and the boys plus Arni and Nina are headed to Disney World! They will be gone for a week, and the collest part about it is that they've managed to keep it a secret from Easton and Mason for a year! They're telling the boys about the trip on the way to the airport Saturday. I can't believe they don't know about it. John and I were invited, but we bought a house this year....so Merry Christmas to us! I'm sure they will have a great time and I wish I could be there to see Easton and Mason's faces when they find out where they're going.

I got a really awesome gift the other night from our Tulsa clients. They gave each of us from the agency team a 30G video iPod! We were blown away and now we're trying to figure out how to use them. Luckily, Jeanna in my office is an iPod expert--I even downloaded a couple hundred songs from her today. I also downloaded an episode of "The Office" just because I wanted to see what it looked like on the tiny screen--pretty nice!

The only downside is that John had bought me an iPod for Christmas, because he's such a great husband and knew that I wanted and iPod more than anything! But, we decided to keep the free iPod and he could get me something equally as wonderful. Hey--you can't pass up a free $350 gift, right? Anyway, I think he should put that money toward a trip or a car, hint hint Honey!

Speaking of Christmas gifts. I've had a hard time deciding anything I want, other than the iPod. I think I have frustrated a few people with it, but there is nothing that I really want or need that I don't already have. That's a good thing, right? Our life is very full and I'm very happy with the things that we have. Looks like gift cards are the way to go!

Any ideas on what to get John for Christmas? He's like me--doesn't have very many items on his wish list.

I'll post pictures of ou poor alien kitty very soon!

Monday, December 12, 2005


You'll notice that the bottom of the tree in this picture does not have any ornaments on it. The whole tree is like that for a reason. Faith really likes to play with the ornaments. Not that taking them off the bottom helps, since she climbs to the top of the tree. The other night, John heard what he described as a "squeaky noise" in the living room (after we went to bed). He came out, flipped the light on, and Faith flew out of the tree. I didn't see it, but I had visions of the squirrel from "Christmas Vacation" in my head! All around, Faith is a very "helpful" cat. She likes to help with the tree, wrapping presents, cooking, typing on the computer, etc..... Posted by Picasa

The other day, I told John I thought Max was losing weight....heehee! Posted by Picasa

I'm bragging on myself....look at how good my cookies look! Posted by Picasa

Don't be frightened by her eyes, it's just the flash! Look at how big Faith is getting! She used to fit in the palm of John's hand! Posted by Picasa

Cameron and me...he's 7 years old now! Posted by Picasa

Christmas Baking

Crazy baking lady is back....for a moment. I got in the mood last night to bake, and boy did I ever!

I baked 3 loaves of pumpkin bread (from scratch) last night, and made the dough for my Grandma's sugar cookies to refrigerate overnight (from scratch). I also made my favorite holiday treat, chocolate-dipped peanut butter ritz crackers. My grandma makes them every year. I did all of that last night, and tonight I'll actually be baking the cookies.

When I was in college, I had a dear friend, Stacey, who loved to cook and bake. I used to go over to her house and she would teach me how to make all kinds of things, and my favorite thing to make was chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I haven't done much of that since Stacey and her husband moved away, but last night I thought about her as I was mixing and making a mess! I also thought a lot about my grandma--luckily she was home when I called her twice to ask advice!

This weekend, my friend Melissa's son turned 7. I couldn't believe it! Melissa and I have been friends since high school, when Cameron was born. I was with her through all the hard times she went through being 16 and pregnant, and I went to see Cameron the night he was born. He feels like my own kid and now he's in first grade. He's tall and gorgeous, a great reader and he wants to be an artist when he grows up. I don't have kids of my own, but it must be overwhelming to a parent how fast they grow up. Of course, it doesn't feel like it's been 7 years since high school either! Anyway, Happy Birthday Cameron--it's so much fun watching you grow up!

It's going to be a busy week. Love the holidays! Stop by my house anytime--it smells like yummy baked goods.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Let it Snow!

You know what snow in Oklahoma means: 1) we get very excited over very little and 2) no one knows how to drive.

Yes, the ground is blanketed in white, and it is still falling huge flakes. And it is freezing....currently we're sitting at a bitter 14 degrees with winds gusting at 20 mph. It is COLD!

But, winter has come....and we love it! For a little while. It really is just too cold for me to even pretend to torture Max and Faith. If it wasn't so cold, I'd let them out to see what they think of the snow. What great pictures that would make!

Pray for me tomorrow....big day with work, VIP coming to town and it looks as though his plane will be delayed and our event may be canceled! Why is it bad weather NEVER happens on a day when it would be ok to stay at home in bed??

Here is the backyard in the snow. Not A LOT of snow, but snow nonetheless. And it's still going! Posted by Picasa

It's snowing! Here are my poor, already-dead flowers braving the first snowfall! Posted by Picasa

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Random Thoughts

Ok, so apparently I went a little melancholy on the last blog, so I just deleted it. Sorry to anyone who suffered through it! Sometimes your mind just wanders....

It's been such a nice, laid-back week at work. I'm usually out of the office a lot traveling to Tulsa or in meetings and this week I've been in the office every day. Now, obviously, I would not like to do that all the time and I admire anyone who does! But, it's been kind of nice to have time to get e-mails caught up and even to do a little mindless surfing on the internet (not a lot, but you all know you do it!).

My mom has a friend, Bill, that she's been hanging out with a lot. Really nice guy, huge OU fan, fits right in with John's sense of humor. And, on top of that he has an absolutely gorgeous 6-month-old grandson, Donovan. I ate dinner with them last night, and got lucky enough to introduce Donovan to one of the pleasures of life: pancakes. Boy, he liked that. He even traded me his pacifier for more bites of pancake! He is a lot of fun, and seriously gorgeous. I should put a picture on the blog of him. Anyway, I have a lot of babies in my life, and it maks me realize how much...I like to play with them! No, you're not going to get me to say anything. With all these babies around, who needs one of their own?!

John is on his second night of working with his Dad and Matt in the evenings for the holiday season. John's dad does an awesome job of creating the sets for a church here in town and their Christmas show, and he gets John and Matt to help. It's great for some extra present money, and they do a great job. But, he'll be gone A LOT in the evenings til Christmas.

I think the worst part about Christmas (which also might be the best part) is not the shopping for presents. It's AFTER you've shopped and wrapped, the waiting for Christmas day to arrive is the hardest thing. We got some really good presents this year (Still lacking for three people) and I can't wait for everyone to get their presents and open them! It's killing me not to tell everyone what we got! The worst part is I keep buying John little things here and there, and then I can't wait to give them to him, so I end up just handing them over. Plus, all three presents under the tree for him so far he has already seen. I am no good at surprises.

Well, I'm going to head out and watch "Lost" from last night. Or maybe "CSI:" from last week. Or "Desperate Housewives". Sigh....I'm such a TV hog!

Monday, November 28, 2005


You're all going to hate me, I know. But we have almost ALL our Christmas shopping done! Plus, while OU was kicking OSU's butt on Saturday, I decorated the house, our tree, and wrapped presents. It was so exciting to have a new house to decorate. The tree looks perfect in our front windows. Only 3 more people to shop for! Posted by Picasa

Here we are, looking full and thankful on Thanksgiving! We were lucky to spend the day at Arni and Nina's, with all of John's family. It was so nice! Posted by Picasa

This is what Max likes to do when we're wrapping presents....sleep in the other room! Posted by Picasa

Faith REALLY liked to help me wrap presents this weekend. Her favorite part was the bows. She was helping me pick the very best bow from the bottom of the bag. Don't worry--we got her out of there before she suffocated! Posted by Picasa

There was a lot of THIS going on--sitting and digesting our very full stomachs! We all watched "Christmas Vacation" together (after the Cowboys game, of course!). Here's Matt and Robin... Posted by Picasa

Mason had a little accident the night before Thanksgiving, and came to lunch with a new trophy--a sling to help heal his broken collarbone! Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The Children Are Alive!

Yes, we spent a whole weekend with Easton and Mason and they are still alive. In fact, they were GREAT! They were very well-behaved and entertaining. Easton and I went on Friday night to a Boy Scout chess tournament (he won all the games he played--pretty impressive), then we went to the late showing of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". He thought it was pretty cool because it was late, it was Harry Potter, and we didn't take Mason. Anyway, I hate to admit it (and my sister won't let me forget) but the movie was pretty good! It made me want to see the other ones.

We got up Saturday morning and the boys played while we watched OU get robbed by a couple of stupid refs. Have I mentioned that Texas and every school in it sucks? That morning, John started feeling pretty lousy. So I took both boys to the movies to see Chicken Little. By the time we got home, John was even sicker and had been throwing up all afternoon.

So, John was in bed most of the weekend. But that's ok--the boys were great! We had a good time just the three of us--I think they like me!

I'm off work until Monday! Tomorrow my agenda consists of staying in my PJ's for as long as possible, then catching up on my shows while John puts Christmas lights up on the house (he's feeling better).

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few things I am thankful for:
1) My loving husband (who puts up with more than anyone will ever know)
2) Having almost our whole family in the same town
3) All four grandparents still alive and well
4) My kitties (Yes, Faith AND Max)
5) An awesome church family
6) An amazing family who gave me and John amazing childhoods
7) OU Football
8) A cozy, warm home of my own
9) Melissa
10) Being healthy
11) Gilmore Girls and Grey's Anatomy
12) Weight Watchers ice cream sandwiches
13) Old Navy jeans
14) TGI Friday's
15) Laura Marie, who is always there when I need her

What can I say--I am so, so, so blessed. There is so much love in my life. John and I are so wealthy in ways we could never imagine. There are seriously days I sit back and wonder what more I could ask for. I am thankful for my life, and for those who make it a joy every day (even when it doesn't seem like it)! I hope you are as blessed as we are, and that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Nothing Spells November like Food, Family, and Football

Well, we've got an exciting weekend ahead for us. We will have children for the weekend--Easton and Mason to be exact! Matt and Robin are headed on a little anniversary trip to Branson and the boys are staying at our house. But it will be fun! We have lots of fun stuff planned. We're going to see "Chicken Little" tomorrow and we're ordering pizza and watching movies tonight. They might scare the cats, but other than that we should be fine!!

We went to our class Thanskgiving dinner last night at church. I love it--two Thanksgiving dinners in one week! We had turkey and mashed potatoes, and rolls, and so many desserts you can't even imagine. There are three recipes I want now--broccoli/rice/cheese casserole, gingerbread cake, and this amazing peppermint/chocolate "bark" that Kristin Gates made. It was unreal....however, none of those items are Weight Watchers-friendly. Maybe they can be tweaked, since John and I are doing so well right now. Oh well, we'll see!

Well, how about my Sooners?! They are making a comeback. No, we won't see a BCS Bowl or anything this year, but when we beat the Red Raiders this weekend we'll be headed to the Cotton Bowl. Not too shabby for a year that started out with a home loss. I love football, I love Rufus Alexander, I love Malcolm Kelly...and I still hate Texas. I don't think I'm even going to watch the Rose Bowl ths year, because who can I really root for? The only good thing about USC is that they're keeping Texas from being #1, but I have no love or like for them either. Have you seen the ESPN commercial with the little kid trick-or-treating as a Trojan and he knocks on the door of a UCLA fan? It's funny.

Make sure and say a quick prayer for Julia, my sister, this week. She left about an hour ago to fly to France for 10 days. She's headed out there by herself and is meeting up with a friend. Sounds like a fun trip--they're headed to London as soon as she lands and then they'll spend the rest of the time in France where her friend lives. Anyway, you obviously know my fears of flying, and I've never flown across an ocean! So just pray that she lands safely, and that she doesn't run into any problems with the rioting over there.

All right, back to working hard. I only work Monday and Tuesday of next week and then I'm off! I cannot wait...I have about 2 weeks of all my shows (yes, "Lost" included) that I haven't watched. Pray for John and I this weekend, and call out patience. We'll need it, I'm sure! Or maybe just pray for Easton and Mason....

Sunday, November 06, 2005


John and I went to the "Red Shoe Gala" Friday night for the Ronald McDonald House. It was pretty fancy! Doesn't he look great in a tux? When we stopped by Matt and Robin's for a picture, Mason said "Uncle John, you look funny in that wedding stuff".  Posted by Picasa

Mason the Pirate for Halloween--check out that hook! Posted by Picasa

Easton as a Grim Reaper for Halloween... Posted by Picasa