So…close…

I found these online and thought a few little girls’ mommas would be interested….

I shouldn’t even post this. You know how they say if you’re trying to do something, like say, diet, that you should tell as many people as possible and it’ll keep you motivated? I don’t think that works with me. It’s like if I tell anyone anything I end up spazzing out on it and not doing anything. =) So I think I’m jinxing myself by even posting this.

So I’ve always wanted to quilt. I thought there was some mystical method to it that I just couldn’t figure out. I mean, batting? Binding? What? Too hard. But still. My MIL quilts (and does all sorts of crafty things) and I just think it’s so cool.

I’m a diehard Oh-dee-doh reader, meaning I have them in my feedreader, and they mentioned a website that’s doing a quilt-a-long. So I could learn to quilt via the internet? Step by step easy peasy? Count me in. =) They linked to Oh Fransson! and the quilt at the top of the page is the one they’re quilting a long.

So I bought my supplies and a few basics and I’m giving it a go. Apparently in this quilt-a-long she’s not going into great detail about how to use the tools because she did in their last quilt a long, but I’m just going to look it up and figure it out as I go. I’ll let you know if I make any progress whatsoever, which since I posted about it here, I won’t. =)

The Dixon’s have been competing for the sickest family in Alabama and we’ve been putting up a pretty good fight for the title. Dash came down with RSV Thursday (of last week) and was starting to get over it when I came down with a 24 hour stomach flu Monday at 3PM followed by John at 9PM. Kate came down with RSV Tuesday. Then John and I joined in on the RSV fun Wednesday. We’re FINALLY feeling human again.

RSV sucks. Not that the stomach flu was any kind of picnic.

Bad things happen when your toddler is the only healthy member of the family. I’m not exactly sure what Dash got away with the past few days but I’m pretty sure it’s just shy of murder.

BLAH. Dash has it. He developed a crappy cough two days ago and we decided to call the doc today and he asked us to bring him in. Sure enough, he tested positive for RSV. I have no idea how he got it, we haven’t been to little gym in a few weeks and he hasn’t been around other kids for a while. Maybe he licked a shopping cart when I wasn’t looking. He’s 2, after all. =)

I’m sure Kate will get it too and she’s out of the age where it’s super serious if she gets it but it’ll still suck. I’m trying to keep him from loving on her too much.

We were planning on going to Houston to visit a friend of mine and her spankin’ new baby, but of course that’s not looking possible right now either.

=(

1. We had a lovely Christmas. Did you?

2. Dash and Kate with their loot from our house.

3. Dash sweetly gave his sister both of her presents. He didn’t even try to keep them for himself. =)

4. We played around with the camera the day after Christmas…

These are my favorites.

5. John got a fry daddy for Christmas from me, we’ve already Christened it with onion rings and chicken fingers. Yum.

6. Did you know Big Bob BBQ sauce mixed with white sauce is delicious?

7. The radiator is acting up on the truck so I drove the car today and John was going to look at the truck while I was at work. I also accidentally took the truck keys with me to work. Whoops.

8. I’m looking forward to Krispy Kreme on New Year’s Eve. =)

9. I’m also looking forward to 2010. Surely it will be better than 2009, right?

10. We got our nooks at work and I’m on the fence about keeping it and downloading every free book known to man or selling it on ebay and buying something else.

11. (Bonus!) We’re tearing up some new Super Mario Brothers for Wii at our house. =) I bought the Mario and Sonic olympics game, too, we’re checking that out tonight.

I had to bribe Dash with a Christmas present to get him to sit and smile with his sister, but in the meantime I took a few of Miss Kate.

1. Biggest Loser Finale is tonight! Yay!! I’m pulling for Amanda and Daniel. I doubt Amanda has a chance but Daniel might with the at home competition…

2. Kate is officially sitting up. At 4.5 months. That’s a full month and a half sooner than Dash.

3. Christmas shopping is done save a Super Mario Brothers game for John’s brother’s kids.

4. We committed to not junking up our house with stuff that won’t get played with for long and I think we did a pretty good job. Mostly Melissa and Doug wooden food, a few Thomas sets and a marble run game. Kate’s getting some cute fisher price blocks that Dash likes, too.

5. We had our office Christmas party the other day and we all got Nooks, Barnes and Noble’s version of the Kindle. Still not sure how I feel about that, I like paper books but I also like gadgety techy things. =)

6. All of us were super sick for the past few weeks with a cold that would.not.die. We’re all better now, thank goodness. My parents caught it too and they’re better as well.

7. I think we’re starting baby food in the next few weeks. I’m going to try making my own again. So far I have a ton of sweet potato frozen, ready to go. =)

8. Seven (and now eight) is going to have to do it! I have to get back to work!!

Please someone tell time to slow down. What the heck? She’s going to be crawling WAY too soon.

There was just too much to post about it all at once. It was a whirlwind trip but we tried to cram in as much as we could.

So, the regular route is I-65N to Nashville, then I-24W. Well, we forgot about that turn. We didn’t miss it, we didn’t even look for it. The only way we knew we were going the wrong was is John started telling me what his GPS said and it sounded super wrong. We could either go back 30 miles to Nashville and get on the right road or we could take the back way. We opted for the back way.

Am I the only one to realize that the middle of Kentucky has quite a large Shaker community? No? Good. It does. Lots and lots of Shakers. We saw four or five horse and buggies, a Shaker Museum and a Shaker Bed and Breakfast. We also saw a TON of tobacco fields. And zero bathrooms. We turned off on a little two lane highway and it was 45 minutes before we saw a gas station. Not a good thing.

We’re podunking along, not really paying attention, and all of a sudden we see this:

In the middle of NO WHERE. Seriously. That thing was huge. It’s a marker for the birthplace of Jefferson Davis.

It was also in the middle of a park with a playground so we stopped and took pictures and let Dash run some steam off. Turns out our detour cost us an extra three hours on an already seven hour trip. With a two and a half year old and a four month old.

We FINALLY got to St. Louis. And saw this.

That crazy little structure will forever do funny things to me. It’s such a symbol of my hometown.

New Busch was right behind it, and it’s just not.the.same.

It’s just a regular ol’ stadium now; nothing special. Old Busch was something special.

We quickly checked into our hotel room (anyone ever stay at a Drury Inn? Holy moly, what a great hotel for the price. Free hot breakfast, adult beverages and snacks every night (three free per person!), indoor pool, great staff… And I think it was 65 bucks a night.) and headed out to meet my best friend from the fourth grade! It had been all of 16 years since I’ve seen her.

We had so much fun. Sarah is as sweet as she ever was and found herself an equally sweet husband. We picked up where we left off like we never skipped a beat. She took us to The Hill, the Italian district in St. Louis, to an awesome little restaurant called Rigazzi’s

And this crazy little thing was sitting out front. =)

After dinner we headed off to Ted Drewe’s, one of my all-time favorite St. Louis places.

and filled up on Chocolate and Oreo concretes. Oh-so-good. More to come tomorrow… (do you believe that? You know what kind of blogger I am, right? I’ll try for tomorrow though. Seriously. =) )