Merry Christmas to All

Christmas Morning Bedhead and all

Kicking off the Christmas festivities in my church best.

The Wiggles drive me to drink, too.

On another note, notice the Christmas decorations in the background? I may have stayed up until Midnight (or later) every night this week, but damnit, there will be Christmas spirit in the Delanty house - kitchen or not!

PS - I totally photoshopped that fire in the background since I took this picture this morning. I just couldn't take the empty fireplace, but it makes you all warm and fuzzy doesn't it?

PPS - Check back later as I may have to kick off the weather off for this year tonight. Remember this and this and this? Yes, I need help (not to mention the time I used to have last year...geez).

Apparently Norman Rockwell moments can't be captured with a 15 month old

The setting was perfect - mom and dad have decked out the lakehouse into a truly homey - we could be on a sitcom if only there was softly falling snow outside - kind of way. I, in my little Christmas tree shirt and goofy little country lake house hat, Tim...well, at least he had green on even if it was his "always" shirt with a mug of beer on it... we were holiday color coordinated. Bridget in her adorable little reindeer pajamas - what else did we need to create the perfect holiday card...well, other than the boys, but they didn't come this weekend (big doggy holiday party they didn't want to miss) so they will be subject to photoshop perfection. Anyway, what else did we need or should I say what did we NOT need? Oh yeah - a 15 month old with a mind of her own...

Mom - your hat is really much more interesting than sitting still.

Aunt Kim tries to help bring her slowly into the picture with the good old
"hang the ornament over the baby's head trick".

Nope - I'm not going to sit on this sled ANYMORE....

Unless, I can get on it myself...Backwards.

I doubt you'll hear much more from me before Christmas (2 weeks from tonight - aah!) due to trying desperately to pull together a kitchen redo before the family holiday party HERE on the 22nd, the fact that I only have bought two, yes two Christmas presents - one which is for my future niece or nephew who won't even be in the world yet this Christmas, two websites due to go live before Christmas and much more... SO, since I'm sure you're all in the same holiday crunch - I'll just say, Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

No BCS Bowl for Mizzou

By the way, Kansas, have I told you lately that I HATE you?

Oh, yeah and BCS whoever you are in that magical BCS sky of yours, you suck too.

I'm not bitter or anything, though.

In Mourning...

I feel like the weather outside today. Gray, windy, cloudy and getting colder and colder... it was a rough night last night. While it was great to get together with friends and kick back and have a few tasty better than nothing O'Doul's it was painful to watch my Tigers lose and lose big. Even a close, down the wire game, as stressful and intense as they are, would have been better than to just flat out lose. I was sad for the players, for the students, for the Alumni and for any St. Louis sports fan. I was sad for Tim, Dad, Mark and myself as we have all walked that campus as students and can identify with what current students must be feeling today and next week as they go back to class and await the news of what bowl game Mizzou will get and keep thinking of what might have been...

I know, it's just sports, it's just a football game, but it is still painful. No, it is not even on the richter scale of truly important things in life, but it is one of those things that make life... well, life, and for today, just today, I will hang my head a little lower and feel sad for all those young players and their crushed spirits as they are for today... very real and very important.

To a great season and for making our lives a little more exciting the past couple of weeks - Congratulations Tigers!

Fight, Tiger, fight for old Mizzou,
Right behind you, everyone is with you.
Break the line and follow down the field,
And, you'll be, on the top, upon the top.
Fight, Tiger, you will always win,
Proudly keep the colors flying skyward.
In the end, we'll win the victory,
So Tiger, fight for Old Mizzou!


PS - On a much happier, lighter note and for Liggy - I have posted the pics from Thanksgiving.

MU vs. OU: A future cap as portrayed by Brogan and Riley

Chase Daniels stares down his somewhat formidable opponent, the Sooners

The faceoff: Tigers vs. Sooners, MU wins the toss

A battle ensues

At times, Oklahoma shows signs of not going down without a fierce fight
(Daniels and the tigers, however, are not intimidated)

Ultimately, the Tigers are just too much
and the Sooners roll over and beg for mercy.

The End

Tigers and Chase Daniels as portrayed by Brogan Delanty
Stinky Sooners portrayed (albeit unwillingly) by Riley Delanty

Wish I would have thought of this...

I've never seen this before, so please forgive if it's been circulating the internet for months or years.

Thanks Allison - truly hilarious and what good dancers to boot!

Tigers Rule, Jayhawks Drool

Oklahoma, Bring it on!

Disaster at Lunch (brought to you with lots of INTERNET YELLING)

I'm on(well, was) on a tight deadline today. Had much to get finished before taking off for the rest of the holiday week. Plus, I have to make sure I'm outta here to pick up a certain family member from the airport by 3:30...doesn't fit very well with the tight deadline (but obviously I got it done early since I'm blogging about it now).

ANYWAY, I had to make a quick lunch decision. I was starving, my creativity was flailing, something had to be done... IMMEDIATELY.

Now, internet, I usually would just run down (okay, okay I'd drive) to the Subway less than a mile from the SC offices, however, that would involve 2 stoplights AND getting out of the car - obviously taking up too much of my precious time. In fact, it would take up so much more time (probably a whole 7 minutes more) that I rationalized that the Hardees/Red Burrito (the one that is only 2 doors down WITH a drive thru) was the only option. I mean, really, how bad could one, yes ONE bean and cheese burrito be? I mean at Taco Bell it's only 7 WW points, so I'm willing to blow up to 10 or even 12, after all this is a food/work deadline emergency.

Well, it's only after enjoying my delicious burrito and completing my deadline that I find time to look up nutritional info online. Imagine my HORROR when I discover that it is not 7, 10, 12, 15, or even 18 points. No, friends, it's 22 points - for ONE, (did I mention that?) ONE burrito = 22 points.

Guess this means I won't be able to eat the rest of the week.. such a pity with Thanksgiving in two days and all...

PS - To clarify, this was not a burrito the size of your head. It was only a little bigger than a 7 point Taco Bell gem.

PPS. - THIS IS NOT FAIR HARDEES.

Happy Birthday Grady Ellis!

A little Sheryl or Ronnie? Maybe I see some Sheryl?
I'm terrible at this, I just think he's cute, but what do you guys think?

Isn't he adorable? I love this pic - and it's from a cell phone!

Born at 12:54 am - 9lbs 15oz (do you think this baby was ready to come out?!) 21.5 inches!

I haven't actually talked to them yet - thank god for text messaging - but it appears everyone is very happy, excited and doing great! She did call me exactly 5 minutes after giving birth according to my phone and his birth time so Sheryl gets a big EEJ award (I'll be implementing them soon) for updating while in labor *they were all from her!* and gets major extra credit for calling so soon after the big event! I think I have more received and sent text messages on my phone in the last 24-36 hours than I have in the last month. We all know how torturous it is to await news of a good friend/family member in the hospital especially when you're not even in the same city! Kudos!

Congratulations to new Mommy and Daddy (Sheryl and Ronnie!)
Will post more details as I get them!

A typical morning...waiting on Dad to find something.

What are you looking at?
I'm just waiting on you guys...


Thanks for the kisses Bro-Bro

This backpack is almost as big as me, but I'm not taking it off!

Seriously, where is Dad? I am ready TO GO.

Tuesday's Attempt to Make you Smile..

Seriously, if you don't smile at this, you might not have a pulse. It's called "The Patience of a Golden Retriever"....hmmm.. I wonder if Bogey would have this much patience??

Halloween Festivities

I'm ready to go to school today, mom.

Getting ready to go trick or treating for the first time

I like this candy thing, if I could only see

Hanging out with my friend Matthew at Trainwreck

Sneaking in for a kiss!

Oh, I'm so embarrassed!

What have we done?
Want to go play some Golden Tee?

Dad's would be proud.

Coming this May...

No kidding.

Chew this EXTRA! mint gum to help curb your appetite.

For the love of cheesy endorsement haters everywhere, will you PLEASE stop them? I love the show the Biggest Loser, but lately I get physically nauseous every time one of those awful trainer endorsed products pops up.

I don't need EXTRA gum, Milk, Reynolds Steam and Seal or whatever the hell, let's just stick to the good motivation and quality stuff rather than the cheesy product endorsements and stretched out drama.

That's all for tonight - imagine that, a quick tv rant.

Happy Hallows Eve everyone. Hope you enjoy the new look. It's about time!

Halloween Flashback

Doesn't her hair (the little that she has) look red here?

Of course, I squeezed myself into a picture.

Our pumpkin family. Amazing how better Bridget did than TPD

The Tiger family last year... what will this year bring?

Happy Halloween Preparations!

Embassy Beets, The Radish Inn

Probably one of my favorite office clips ever. Not sure why, but I could not stop laughing at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlhGAY3NZ_g

Sorry, stupid NBC must have pulled embed rights, I can only link to, but totally worth the 30 seconds of your life!

Who's your daddy?

I know I owe you all a LOT of information, but as that mound of information grows and becomes more daunting, it's easy to just stop writing period. In an effort to avoid letting my blog grow cold, I'm going to stay current with a funny story from today and worry about catch up later.

While walking babygirl this evening (yes, off and on in the rain, but we also got to see TWO rainbows - unfortunately, I don't think she appreciated them yet, but I sure did!) anyway, while walking, Bridget has started really noticing things, not like she didn't point and oh and ah before, but now there are real words and meaning associated with things and people.

For instance, "aaaoooh - oggy" said with extreme enthusiasm, means someone walking a dog is approaching. This is usually followed by serious acrobatic maneuvers to ensure a clear visual path of the "oggy" for as long as caninely possible.

Next thing of interest are men. I should clarify - just one man, not men plural, not a man and a woman, not a man and a dog (then we're back at the previous paragraph) not a man and a baby, a man on a bicycle, a man with a tricycle, a man on a unicycle... okay, focus... you get the idea. It has to be a man by himself, one single solitary man. Once we have spotted one single man, her hand immediately points and with sheer delight she calls out, "da da? da da?" over and over again until the object of her affection finally looks, laughs or is out of her line of sight.

The best part about this today was the fine looking young mid-20ish nicely built man with dark hair who suddenly became daddy. I just looked at her and told her not quite, to which the man give a half hearted gruffy laugh. Moments later we pass an older distinguished, balding, heavy set man who also immediately became daddy, too. Dad II thought it was more humorous than the first Dad, but I somehow doubt Tim would.

As we finished walking home, she didn't spot any more dads, but probably about 14 different oggys. Can't wait to see who we encounter tomorrow.

Glad to be back, internet friends, I'll try and post some pics of the cruise as soon as Tim gets back in town and brings back the computer with all the pics. It was a great time and it has definitely been hard to adjust to being back to real life, client demands, a ripped up kitchen and mostly no towel animal waiting for me every night on my fluffed pillows and turned down bed... sigh... but then again, there are no oggys, fake daddys or baby girl on the cruise, so it's good to be home, too.

Happy Thursday night tv friends!

Three nights to Tampa!

Things have been so busy and crazy, I've barely had time to think about the fact that I'll be dipping my toes in cool Caribbean waters in just a matter of days. Just tonight, I began looking up pictures of Belize, Costa Maya, Grand Caymen and more and it finally felt awesome. I can't wait. Sure, we haven't packed anything, haven't thought about what to bring exactly and haven't even started to begin to pack up babygirl, but that will all work it's way out. Hey, we have passports and for us that's a victory in and of itself (remember the great birth certificate incident of 2001 - oh, to be that young and stupid again).

Well, back to work - clients don't always understand that a week on a cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean ocean doesn't make for good website service.

Just to make you a little jealous (yes, I am that mean...) here is one of our stops - Belize.

7 hours, 40 minutes PEOPLE

7 hours, 40 minutes...

Bad Blogger + Reminder

I've been so bad about blogging lately. I hate using the "i'm so busy" line because in reality I do have time to blog, I just don't choose to spend the time I do have blogging. I pick much more important things like watching the biggest loser stretched out over a ridiculously long 2 hours when it could easily be condensed into an hour or going for a nice long run/walk with babygirl or reading my US weekly to find out the real truth on Britney's parenting as told exclusively by a bodyguard that surely knows all since he worked for her for a whole two months.

I'm just kind of lazy-busy right now. Sure, we ripped out our kitchen, bought a piece of t-shirt equipment that cost more than my first car, I run two businesses out of my home and I've been a single parent while Tim's been traveling a lot the past couple of weeks, but even with all that stuff, I could find time to tell the little stories that run through my head all day long, I just don't. I get much more selfish with my "me" time. It's all about priorities when it comes to time crunches and right now blogging is just a little lower on the priority level - somewhere between US weekly and painting toe nails.

I'm sure you've all been devastated (insert sarcasm) by my lack of posting initiative, but tune in soon - I've had the following blog titles running through my head for the past week or so:

HAIR (no not the Musical)
Puggle Man works his Magic
Mixphoria meets my MP3 player
4 Cities in 5 weeks: the Recap

Lastly, the reason why I started this post in the first place, was to remind everyone to get a good night's sleep. You might even want to set out your stapler and 20lb white stock before going to bed tonight. It is as you know, Office Eve, the most magical night of the Fall Season. The night before Michael, Dwight, Pam, Jim, Oscar, Ryan, Kelly, Angela and all our office friends come back to make us laugh and look forward to Thursday nights again.

Michael Scott: Attention everyone, hello! Yes, I just want you to know that this is not my decision but from here on out, we can no longer be friends. And when we talk about things here, we must only discuss work associated things. And uh, you can consider this my retirement from comedy. And in the future if I want to say something funny, or witty, or do an impression I will no longer, ever, do any of those things.

Jim Halpert: Does that include "That's what she said?"

Michael Scott: Mmm hmm, yes.

Jim Halpert: Wow. That is really hard. You really think you can go all day long? Well, you always left me satisfied and smiling.

Michael Scott: That's what she said!

PS - I'll also be checking out Earl. I agree that it went up and down last season, but I thought it ended pretty strong, so I'm going to give it a good chance this season and see if it can reel me back in. Oh, and unfortunately, we have to wait until NEXT Thursday for my rapidly-becoming-my-number-2-go-to-show 30 Rock. It doesn't premiere until Oct. 4th!

Must See if you Missed it...

I love TV, TOO!

A-Le just wrote a great post about TV and how absolutely awesome it is this time of year and I couldn't agree more! For me, this night is the kick off to the fall TV season and something I look forward to as much as all the previews of my fav shows themselves. Yes, tonight, my friends, is the Emmy's - a true couch potato's dream. I get to see all my favorite TV stars dressed to the nines all on tv at once.

I've watched the Emmy's year after year, since I was a kid watching with my mom (usually in her room since dad and Mark had kicked us out of the family room for some baseball game or something), to holding Emmy parties in college, to now making my reluctant husband watch year after year as he constantly bitches about how stupid it is and asks over and over again, "who is that and who cares what they think" (he obviously doesn't get *it*).

Last year at this time, I watched the Emmy's from my cozy room at St. John's just 37 hours after Bridget was born and, actually, had a bigger Emmy party last year than this year, but nonetheless, I can't wait to see who wins, who performs and all the great things about TV I love so much.

I finally know what DROP SHIP means..Aka - you might as well just skip this post it's so boring.

I've been working at Sydney's Closet as a consultant for almost two years now - no wait, over two years now and everyone throws around that term so much and with such obviousness that I never wanted to ask exactly what it meant. Plus, when they would use it, the context was always different so I was having a hard time pinpointing exactly what that meant, I had my theories, but I always thought there was more to that term. Keep in mind, though, I didn't care enough to oh, say... google it and find out what it was... so it really didn't bother me that much.

Well, just today, as I was fixing an order for my own site, I called Cafepress and asked if they could "drop ship" the items. Ding! I knew what drop ship meant. It was like it secretly snuck into my brain and burrowed a little home there without my recognition.

Anyway, that's my exciting Thursday update for you all - big day here at CWC - stressing about drop shipping and watching the new women on "the view".

Drop ship: An arrangement whereby a mail-order or Internet merchant accepts orders for products, and then pays a manufacturer or distributor to ship the product to the customer.

Now, if my brain could only learn that "snuck" is not a word, we'd be in good shape.

Remembering

When I am complaining about certain TV personalities or angry at that mini-van who cut me off in traffic this morning, I sometimes need to put it in perspective. I know these are "life" things and that it's okay and normal to feel irritated about little things, but days like today really help keep things in perspective and help me remember how lucky we are that every day for the past six years we've had the ability to live, laugh and even complain.

mmmm....consequences....

Maybe the consequences should be that the Today show boots your rear end from doing interviews.

Yup, I've got a new Anne Curry clip coming soon. Just gotta wait for the today show to put it up. Stick to Dateline Anne, STOP the interview madness, please.

Anybody see this clip I'm referring to? If you did, you are probably still sick to your stomach and not reading blogs yet, I understand.

Try this link if you are a glutton for punishment.

Did we mention how much we love Chris Porter? Oh, and Happy Birthday Big D!

I'm doing back to back birthday posts - Bridget's 1st Birthday and now Big D's 30th birthday... I tried to think of a way to compare the two, but while Bridget actually opened presents, was sang happy birthday to, and ATE her cake, her Aunt Molly didn't really partake in any of those usual birthday events - well, at least we made them both wear a lot of goofy birthday paraphernalia. That's gotta count for something, right?

When all was said and done, though, a very wise man (or at least one that had perhaps imbibed in a few too many red bull and vodka's) had this to sum up the 30th Birthday experience:

We came, we saw and we kicked some serious KC ass...

OR, maybe, just maybe, it kicked ours - I'm not really sure, but either way, I believe Molly-Big D-Midget-MeMe-Delanty had a good time celebrating her big 3-0!

Warning - Long drawn out recap of the day ahead.

We kicked the day off at Charlie Hoopers for a little lunch, a lot of pitchers and the Mizzou vs. Illini game. There was some *friendly* natured competition between the Mizzou Alum (Mark, Tim and I) and Jim, the lone Illinois Alumni. Really, he didn't have much of a chance up against us, but Mizzou did almost fold and shut all of us up at the end, luckily the Tigers squeaked out the victory.

Next, we headed to the Falloon on the plaza where Sara and Paul helped us get the location festive with 30th decor. We had surprise guests John Quigley, Dave Shomin, Adam Watkins and even Mr. Quigley make an appearace - plus a few others that I can't remember right now (see previous paragraph about pre-party again). It was a fun time and I would write more about it but mostly I just remember talking a LOT to a bunch of people about the same things....or maybe I was talking to the same people about the same things, I do that sometimes.

Then some of us girls headed to O'Dowds for a little dancing. This is where I first spotted Chris Porter. I made Libby ask the guy in the band if it was him and he confirmed, but our attempts to seek him out proved fruitless after he disappeared into the crowd. I was so bummed and I knew Tim would be, too, but it was back to dancing to some good Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson. Not the typical Nelly or Murphy Lee that I prefer to really get my hip hoping groove on, but it was still fun and the guy had an amazing voice. Of course, I think had Pee Wee Herman been singing "Crash", at that point in the evening, I might have thought he had an awesome voice, too.

Finally, while leaving the Falloon - the most amazing thing happened (no, we didn't run into Oprah, Ghandi, Ellen, The Queen of England, Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett AND Bono on the sidewalk - but you would have thought we did) we ran smack dab into ...wait for it... Chris Porter...

Like, did I mention we saw Chris Porter? Well, we did you know. We saw Chris Porter. Do you know who that is? What? You don't know Chris Porter? Well, Tim and I, we LOVE Chris Porter and he does this joke about a grandpa and a casket that they bought at Costco and oh my god - it's a cosket and... you put grandpa in a cosket??! It is so funny. Doesn't that sound funny? Isn't that just hilarious? Haven't you ever seen Last Comic Standing? and Chris Porter? He lost to Josh Blue? I mean, seriously, THAT was Chris Porter! It was Chris Porter! Is anyone listening to me? Oh my god we just got our picture taken with Chris Porter. Do you know who he is??? That's Chris Porter...

... and that's mostly what I remember at the end of the evening, but I'm pretty sure to many of you there Tim and my's Chris Porter love fest was even worse than that!


Happy Birthday Big D!
Love,
Tim, Chris & Erin

View all the pictures here.

Should we be worried about how much she liked the cake?

Neither Tim nor I are big big desert people. Not that I don't like sweet stuff, I just wouldn't crave it, I wouldn't seek it out most of the time. Well, unless we're at a wedding, then I would seek out the cake - not like Kim might seek it out, wrap it in whatever is closest by and store it throughout her home like a squirrel hides nuts for the winter - but I do enjoy the wedding cake. Most of you have heard me say this, but give me a big plate of cheese fries (preferably like those ones in Dallas that were the BOMB) vs. chocolate cake and I'll take the cheese fries every time. So, when Bridget started, albeit slowly and daintily (also not sure where she got that from) to really get into the chocolate cake, I was surprised. At some point, I even heard a couple party goers question when we should cut her off.... I'm pretty sure Aunt Kim and Aunt Aimee were pretty proud of their little cake lover.

All in all, the big ONE was a BIG success. There were too many presents (but in my world there can never really be too many presents) and every single one was great. She got some too cute fall clothes, fun noise making toys, educational toys, a thoughtful Piggy Bank from the Muldrows with a really cute note and idea inside (yes, A-le, of course I opened it...that night...!) and some great books just in time since she is finally starting to get into looking at them. There was good food (courtesy of Viviano's fabulous catering which I highly recommend for events and appetizers courtesy of Mom D) and we all had a fun time celebrating our little Bridgey's first year.

It actually was perfect. Sure I forgot an appetizer, didn't have the best plan for how to cook the food and needed some help from family and friends, but all in all it was perfect. The babygirl was surrounded by family and friends that love her and have been there for her throughout her first year of getting acquainted to this world and I'm pretty sure she knew it!

I worked and stressed and made about 18 different batches of icing to make the perfect buttercream icing (note to future Erin: confectioners sugar is different from granulated sugar) for her cupcake tower, but when it comes right down to it, the only thing that really matters is that tpd, Bridgey and I are so lucky to have all of you in our lives, just as we are all lucky to have her!

So, here's to a great first year of trials and tribulations, and, as surprising as it was, this wasn't that overly emotional to me. I was prepared to feel sad or longing for her babyhood, and, sure it was nostalgic thinking about her birth and the emotions of finally having her after 9 long months, but mostly it was just exciting. Exciting that she is growing and learning and understanding who her family is and, selfishly, exciting that we've made it relatively unscathed. I kinda feel like, yeah, we did this and if we can do this, we can do about anything. We've been through colic (or at least something that caused her to scream for hours on end for the first few months), we've been through late nights, early mornings, being tired to the bone, an overnight emergency room visit and all the way, in between, we've seen the funniest, most entertaining little person emerging day by day. I can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

Of course, I took way too many pictures. Here you go, those of you who don't mind 25 pictures of baby cake eating... click here!

ps - Thanks for the nice birthday tribute Blogging Mommy A-le. It was really sweet!