To tell you this breaking news: Zack and I are spending our first night in our NEW HOUSE. And, I gotta say, it is pretty crazy cool.
Also, moving is exhausting, so we are going to bed super early. Good night.
(!)
I believe it was this day, four years ago, (ish?) That my brother-in-law met my sister-in-law, Jennifer, at The Anti-Valentine’s Day Party, (or, Valentine’s Day Recovery Party) Zack and I hosted.
Am I right? Was that (just/only*) four years ago? If so, happy meet-a-versary Jenn & Jared. Aaannnddd, I’m not saying Zack and I are trying take all the credit or anything, but, uh, you’re welcome.
(love you both.)
(*Isn’t it weird how time can seem like forever and no time at all, all at the same time? Dad was saying that it felt like just the other day that Zack and I got married, and at the same time, it feels like we’ve been married forever. I totally know what he means. It feels like Zack and I have only been married for a minute, but it also feels like we’ve never not been married. When I express that sentiment to my dad all he said was all, “Yeah, just wait until you’ve been married for 30-something years. I’m talking, like, more years married then not married. Then we can talk about the tricks that time likes to play.” He’s right, but I couldn’t admit it. I just told him to stop bragging.)
PREPWORK.
1. Get together with a bunch of friends. Any number will do. The more, the better. Divide said bunch of friends into two teams.
2. Get a bunch of blank pieces of paper. 3×5 cards ripped in half work nicely.
3. Distribute a number of blank papers to each person playing the game. Anywhere between 5 and 7 papers per player is a good number.
4. Have each player write a different “clue” (noun) on each piece of paper. Examples of nouns I’ve seen played: Tuba, Crabs, Ron Swanson, Michael Jackson, 4th Degree Laceration, Pi (3.14).
5. Fold all of the papers in half, and throw them into a large bowl. Mix’em up real good.
GAMETIME.
ROUND ONE: CATCH PHRASE
Set a timer for 1 minute. Each player has one minute to “Catch Phrase” as many of the clues/nouns as he/she can. After his/her one minute is up, a player from the other team takes a turn. Continue alternating teams until all of the clues from the bowl are used. Each team scores 1 point for each correctly guessed clue. (Note: In each round, when the last clue is answered, have the player yell “TIME!” so the timer can be stopped. That player will begin the next round, and will use only the time remaining. So, for example, if they used 30 seconds to finish the Catch Phrase round, they will have 30 seconds to play the first turn of Round #2).
Examples: (Clue: Crabs) “This is an STD! And also, SEAFOOD!”
ROUND TWO: CHARADES
Put all of the clues back into the bowl*. (*Using the same words again creates a ‘word bank’ which helps make the next three rounds possible.) Set a timer for 1 minute. Each player has one minute to silently act out as many clues as he/she can. Classic charades rules apply. No noise allowed. Continue to alternate turns between teams until all the clues are gone. Each team scores 1 point for each correctly guessed clue.
ROUND THREE: ONE WORD
Put all of the clues back into the bowl. Set a timer for 1 minute. Each player has one minute to elicit as many correct guesses as he/she can from his/her teammates by saying ONLY ONE word. Any “uh”s or “um”s count as the one word, and the players team must just guess by recalling as many of the words in the wordbank as they can. No gesturing of any kind allowed. Just the one word.
Examples: STD! (crabs); MUSTACHE! (Ron Swanson); BRASS! (Tuba); THRILLER! (Michael Jackson)
ROUND FOUR: SOUND EFFECTS
Put all of the clues back into the bowl. Set a timer for 1 minute. Each player has one minute to elicit as many correct guesses as he/she can from his/her teammates by only making noises. No words allowed. This round is undoubtedly the most difficult, because the OTHER rule for this round is that all of the player’s teammates have to close their eyes, so that they can’t see any gestures that the player is making. If the player is smart, he/she will not make any gestures, because the other team will most certainly be watching, and they will have an advantage if you get stuck on a noise that your teammates can’t figure out because they can’t see you riding your imaginary bucking bronco. (But, just so you know, not gesturing at all during this round? That’s almost impossible.)
Examples: Scampering noise (CRABS!); Tuba sound (TUBA!); Humming Thriller (MICHAEL JACKSON!) Humming Africa* by Todo (SARAH HOOD! [A girl on the ski trip who's about to move to Africa])
The team with the most number of correctly guessed clues at the end of Round 4 wins.
Y’all. Go play this game. Then come back, and tell me how much you loved it. It’s pretty outrageously fun. It should be noted, by the way, that I recommend using double entendres for all your nouns, (BUSH!), because that’s just how I roll. It makes the sound effect part way, way more fun.
*That was my brilliant move, by the way. Not an easy clue, but they toooootally got it. Booyah.
Tonight’s blog is brought to you by my brother-in-law’s latest Facebook status:
“Abbie’s prayer before bed tonight:
‘Dear God, thank you that we have Jesus, Bepaw (my dad), and God.’
Damn. Dad ranks up there with Jesus and God.”
I waited a record 5 days to give Zack his Christmas present this year. That’s about 4 days longer than I’ve ever been able to wait before. I was going to wait all the way until Christmas, but when he bought my present he wanted to give it to me straight-away, and, so, you know. Tit for tat. I had to give him his. I had no choice.
Anyway. He got me a battery grip for my camera and now all I want to do in this world is take some pictures. Someone, quick. Gimme something to shoot.
P.S. If you’re looking for something to give your husband/lover/significant other for Christmas, I’m no stranger to boudoir photography. He’d love it, and you’d be surprised how hot you’ll look. Everyone always is.
You decide to watch a movie. And then you both go get in your pajamas and show back up on the couch wearing plaid pajamas and a cozy green shirt. Matchy-matchy.
Zack and I decided to give up on our crazy Black Friday lark when we saw that the line to get into Best Buy at midnight extended all the way around the back of the building. Well beyond the back of the building, in fact. There were a lot of people there. Thousands of people.
We have wanted a new TV for years now, and somehow we decided that this night was going to be the best night to buy one. We were fooling ourselves. The internet is the best place to buy one. In fact, the internet is kind of the best place to buy almost everything.
After we gave up our Best Buy Black Friday mission, Zack suggested that we go check out what was happening at Garden Ridge, which is right next door to Best Buy. “Seriously?” I asked, “Garden Ridge?” Zack defended himself by insisting that they have chimineas there, and that was the reason he wanted to go. I laughed at him and refused. Plus, I told him, I was pretty sure it wasn’t open.
As we drove past Garden Ridge on the way out, it became obvious that the store was, indeed, closed. I told Zack I was super glad we didn’t go check it out just to make sure, because I didn’t want to be the only person yanking on the locked doors of Garden Ridge while in the same parking lot as thousands of other people waiting to get into Best Buy.
“They’re all waiting to buy big items like TVs and computers,” I said, “and we’d be down there yanking on the doors, screaming, ‘LET US IN! I MUST CREATE A SILK FLORAL ARRANGEMENT!’”
Tomorrow is the first time I will be required to work on a major holiday. So far, my impression is that working on a major holiday mostly just means that you feel like that major holiday doesn’t really exist. Thanksgiving doesn’t feel like it’s here. Until about two hours ago, it just felt like another tomorrow was going to be another Thursday on The Unit.
We’re having a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner at work. I signed up to bring cornbread dressing. I signed up for that particular item because, every year, I very much look forward to eating my Mom’s cornbread dressing. She is the most awesome cornbread dressing maker of all time, and it’s a cryin’ shame that I only get to eat that deliciousness once a year. Because I have a mother who makes the best cornbread dressing of all time, I am very particular about other people’s dressings. I couldn’t risk letting someone else be responsible for that item, because they could have messed it up.Therefore, I had no choice but to sign up for the dressing, and hope that I would be able to, with my mother’s help, re-create her Thanksgiving Deliciousness.
So two hours ago, I was wrist deep in cornbread and I had to call my mom to see if I was really supposed to follow the recipe. It didn’t seem right to me — too soupy or something. She assured me that I was doing it right. I just had to do what the recipe said. I could tell she had me on speaker phone, which is not uncommon for my mother; my mom’s hands are never still. The woman is always making something. I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she was just finishing up her dressing, too.
As it turns out, she and my dad are going to spend tomorrow with my brother and his family. As soon as I found that out, it felt like Thanksgiving. And then it struck me. Tomorrow is REALLY Thanksgiving. She and dad are going to go eat turkey and hang out with their oldest son and a handful of grandkids. Tomorrow is a holiday.
I almost felt conflicted about this whole scenario, like I was going to turn all sad because I wasn’t going to be spending the day with my family. But I had a realization that helped me not feel conflicted at all. The fact that I’m working this Thursday means that I am finally working the job that I have known I’ve wanted for years. The job where I knew that I’d have to work some weekend and holiday shifts. The very fact that I’m not celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with my family is, indeed, a part of the thing that I have to be thankful for this year. I’ve survived nursing school. I passed boards. I got the job that I wanted, and I love it. And as a bonus, I even like the people I work with.
I have so much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving.
Well, the reunion has come and gone, and I must say, it was a pretty good time.
Andy Moon, (above) one of my favorite people in this world, is the person who put the whole party together. He did a fantastic job, but I expected that much would be true. Andy does a fantastic job at everything he ever does. It’s kind of his shtick.
I attended the reunion with Betsy (right), who has been one of my best friends since we were in high school together. I unknowingly wore basically the same outfit as the only other girl in my class named Sarah (left). All Sarahs attending the reunion were sporting sexy black lace, and sporting it well, if I do say so myself. 
Also attending the reunion was our class’s unofficial Homecoming/Prom Queen, Kari. In this picture, we are discussing how outrageous it is that Kari looks 100% awesome even though she had a baby 5 weeks ago. FIVE WEEKS. And that girl was totally wearing her pre-pregnancy jeans with no residual baby-belly to be found. Left to right, our expressions read: Me: “Uh, are you kidding me with this?”; Jason (Kari’s husband): “Not bad, right?! I’m so proud of my smokin’ hot wife!”; Kari: “Yeaaaah, Boi! (Also, check out my cool hand bag!)”
We finished off the night with a group photo. I had a bossy photographer moment and directed everyone on where to stand, then handed off the camera to one of the spouses to snap the shot. Unfortunately, I didn’t put a lot of thought into where I was going to stand, so I did what any shy, quiet person who hates to be the center of attention would have done. I stood right in front and went with a full-bore jazz hands pose.
Thanks, Andy Moon, for letting me use your pictures!
Every day I have worked as a nurse, there has come a moment when I have had to stand back and tell my preceptor (trainer) to please take the reigns because I am in new territory and I need guidance. This is expected of me; it’s why I have a preceptor. They know I have a lot left to learn before I can operate independently.
But, today was the first day that I made it a whole 12 hours on the floor without having to step out of the way and let some else take over. Sure, I still needed help. And I still asked a thousand questions. But I never felt lost today. I never felt terror or panic or had the sensation of drowning. And any day I can survive without drowning is a really, really good day.
