Fell off the face of the earth....

...wow. I didn't realize my last post was November 17!! Sorry for the long delay!

As a quick catch-up of sorts....

-Matt installed the crown molding and it looks wonderful. We have some things to fix here and there, being first time DIY-ers for such a big undertaking. For now, the room is getting back together and we'll revisit some of the "trouble" spots after New Year's. We want to enjoy it and get the house back in order for the holidays!

-We went to Melbourne, FL, for Thanksgiving and celebrated with Matt's parents, sister, uncle & aunt, and cousin (and his sister's friend who came over from Tampa). It was good to see everyone again! I think one of the highlights for me was being included in what is obviously a "Kubo thing." If you know Matt's dad, you know he LOVES hunting and FISHING in particular. Fishing will cure what ails you for him, I think. :) Most of us went fishing off a bridge over a cause-way in Melbourne. I haven't fished since we lived in Hollymead (preschool-2nd grade)... so let's round that to say 7 years old. That means I haven't fished in almost 20 years!! But... I caught 3 fish!!! They were all "fisherman's choice" (whatever that is). Matt's uncle said he thought it was in the carp family (?). All I know is, I'm an official Kubo or something now, because I went fishing and not only that, it wasn't abysmal! My personal favorite part of the fishing, much to the chagrin of the Real Fishermen, was the dolphin that danced around in the water and toyed with any fish that happened to take a bite and get caught on your line. On two occasions, the dolphin jumped out of the water and snatched the fish (hook, line, and sinker) right off the line in MID-AIR!!! And on many occasions it snatched the fish underwater before you could reel it in. I thought it was fabulously entertaining.... the Real Fishermen were probably wondering who brought the crazy, obviously-not-a-Real-Fisherman girl with them. :)

-We're back in the swing of things at school. Two and a half week to go until Christmas break (eek)!

-I lost a contact lens (rubbed my eyes, thought I just rubbed it off of "suctioning," but then couldn't find it when I went to go stick it back on). Went to the eye doctor to get new lenses and found out I have infections in both my eyes. My increased eye strain and ocular migraines might not just be stressed related--my eyes are apparently swollen and irritated enough (unbeknownst to me... I didn't notice anything) to completely change my prescription... by a lot. So now I get to use these stinging eye drops 3 times a day and go back on Friday. Moral of the story: when you get married and start staying up late on Fridays and falling asleep with your contacts in and nothing bad seems to happen so then you start working and being exhausted and think you're "getting away" with not taking your contacts out every night.... think again. Take them out! (I know, I know... taking your contacts out is a cardinal rule of contact lens wearing, I have learned my lesson).

-I have tried to add some Christmas cheer to the house. Pictures to come soon.

-Matt added some Christmas cheer himself today when he put up the Christmas tree we chose. A Douglas Fir won AGAIN this year! 3 in a row for us.... I named him "Big Boy" because Matt kept saying he wanted a tall tree, but he also wanted a Fraser, and I was trying to persuade him into the big Douglas that I found vs. the smaller Fraser I found (our top contender from each category). He now says he loves how big Big Boy is. :) It was his year to pick the tree (we alternate who has the final say.... we're both youngests, so we had to come up with a compromise). Pictures of Big Boy coming soon as well. The only sad thing.... we were wearing short sleeves while we looked, and I saw at least one person wearing a tank top and shorts.... that's just wrong. It's hard to feel Christmas-y down here sometimes! But we're trying!

-Matt is absolutely, positively in love with Sammy. It's the cutest thing. Today he was patting on her and made up a little ditty about, "Whoever said small dogs are no fun should be shot" (see, there's that hunting thing again :) ). You see, when I would show him dogs I liked, he always said, "No, we need a big dog. Small dogs are not fun." We showed HIM wrong, huh Sam? :) She will be making the trip north with us for Christmas. She is excited!

-Lastly, we bought Sammy's Christmas presents today. We just put a couple things in her stocking. I picked one toy, and Matt picked one toy. We took her with us to the store to test out what she would like. We found some winners!! I'm really excited about them. :)

-Now, I need to go work on my Super Duper Top Secret Handmade Christmas Present for Someone Special while Matt plays a little more Xbox. :)

We love you and can't wait to see everyone at Christmas!!! Three weeks, three weeks!!

P.S. Oh yeah, and I am DETERMINED that we really will go to WDW this year while it's decorated for Christmas.... Here's hoping!!