Boo

Tonight was a bad night for the Blue Bubble. It started off with me trying to re-rent my library books, but one had a waiting list so I had to go all the way to the library just to drop off books. We were supposed to be at our friend's house at 7 pm to watch the Missouri/Northwestern game at 7, so this means I had to hurry. So I make it up to the library just fine and come back. Well, Justin had parked his car in the driveway so I thought that I would pull into his normal spot since I can't get my car in on my normal side with him parked in the driveway like that. So, I pull in to the garage thinking that I had plenty of room and I hear this SCRAAAPPE!! I thought I just hit the cooler or something - no big deal. I get out of my car once I realign my car in the garage (first hint), go look at the right side and this is what I see:

My poor car!!!!!! I was NOT a happy camper. Luckily Justin had patience and scrubbed it with water and the majority came off. I was so mad that I just had to laugh.

Then we went to the Condicts house to watch the game and as we were leaving, my purse strap broke. Stupid Target clearance. *Sigh* I need another vacation.

Christmas Re-cap

Justin and all his loot.

My special surprise!! This is the first piece of jewelry Justin has gotten me since my engagement ring!

Somebody had a good Elmo Christmas!

Look what Emily made me!! Mom got one that said "Peterson." I LOVE IT!!!!

My gangsta gingerbread man.

Mom's googley-eyed man.

Emily's 1 of 2 gingerbread men.

Ice skating at the devon rink with family and Tina - a girl from Rwanda. She was actually a very good ice skater!

Aunt Barbara and Steve. I love my family!!!

What is everyone doing for New Years??

Merry Christmas!

"God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love...the belief in Christmas, which is truth; the all of Christmas, which is Christ."

~Wilda English

Dear SW Sweepers

Dear Southwest Sweepers,

Next time you put a flyer on my front door on a Friday night, please make sure your phone number works. You had my hubby and I so excited to get our chimney swept out and inspected for your low price of $40, but when we tried to call you less than 24 hours later, your phone number has been disconnected. Why, oh why, do you mess with our heart so?

Love, The Cornells

Date Night

Friday night was an unusual night - we had no plans! This was pretty amazing all in itself being that it's 6 days before Christmas and we are completely done with parties, shopping, etc. This has been the best year ever.

So, we decided to go see lights in Yukon. We thought we would try a new place for dinner, so we went to Primo's in Yukon. It was very good, but it was the busiest place I've ever been to. Not as in a wait time, but the staff is numerous and they are running all over the place. We literally were in and out in probably 30 minutes! We were thankful for that though since we were sitting next to a table full of high school guys and we kept overhearing words like "erectile dysfunction" and other classy topics. And to top it off, there was carpet on the underside of the tables!! It kept freaking me out - this hairy stuff that kept touching my hand during dinner. Gross.

After dinner we made our way over to the Yukon City Park to see the lights. We had fun, but it was freezing so we drove through most and got out to walk through the rest.

Week in Review

When I started a blog, I vowed to blog at least every other day, if not every day. Well, sorry friends. Life in the Cornell household has just not been that interesting lately, even with Christmas just around the corner! Here is a little review.

Tuesday - my cousin Stephani came over for a visit!! It was nice to catch up with her.

Wednesday - Happy Birthday to my mom!!! We went to Zorba's on May for dinner and then back to my parents for presents and dessert. I made my grandmother's angel food cake from scratch as a practice round for Christmas day, and it didn't turn out too bad! We'll just have to see what Nana says on Christmas...She will be my main critic. Review on Zorba's - it was a different experience and I think everyone survived their entree's except for Clint. We are still not sure what he ordered...

Thursday - babysat Eli. We watched Elmo video's and went through the phone book to see how many AT&T's we could find. I know. Coolest aunt ever.

Friday - date night with my hubby! It's been forever since we have been anywhere by ourselves and this was long overdue. This will be another post with pictures.

Saturday - had lunch with the famous Nathan Pope at Ted's with the Eudeys, and then we went to see the Nutcracker with friends Jason and Meredith. I've never been to a ballet and this was my first...and last...time to go. The first part of the ballet was not too bad. It had a story line and moved fairly quickly. The second half, well, let's just say that I was a head bobber, trying very hard to stay awake. I'm loving the music, but I'm not loving how the sugar plum fairies each have three of their own solos, in between everyone else. We were so ready to leave that we didn't even stay to meet the dancers and have free milk and cookies...darn.

P.S. More of my infatuation with local news anchors, I saw Paul Folger from KOCO 5 at church today!!!!!! I am fascinated with these TV people. I am even friends with one of them!!!!

Work Awkwardness

This is for Krystal :)

This past weekend we went to TWO Chesapeake work parties for Justin. Justin is currently on one team but will be moving teams in January, so therefore, we had to go celebrate with each one. It's kind of weird though because some of the same people were at each party (why have two??? Oh yes, to torture the spouses). Anyway, the first one was on Saturday night and it was the team that he will be on...that's code for neither one of us knew anyone. So, we awkwardly go and stand around for about 2 hours. I am way past my good attitude for the evening about 30 minutes after we get there. The entertainment was watching the Heisman trophy winner (yay Sam Bradford!) and a digital short by Justin's new boss that he made on JibJab. The movie was kind of funny, but only if you knew the people in it. I guess I'm being a jerk about it, but I have a hard time with these parties that I know no one at!! I hate feeling awkward.

The second one on Sunday night was with the group of people Justin works with now. This one was a lot better because we actually knew people! It was nice to see the ones I met last year and to not feel like a total loser. The bad news is that he won't be on that team in about oh, 2 weeks, so I doubt we'll be Christmas-ing with the familiar group next year.

Here is an awkward work question for you: what do you do when you walk into a co-workers office that has just passed some awful smelling gas? This happened to me today and luckily I got to leave as quickly as I came in...is it rude to just leave with no reason at all? Or do you have to act like you don't even smell anything when it's obviously about to make you pass out?

ELF & Gingerbread

Friday night a few of us met at Katie's house to make gingerbread houses and to watch Elf. Watching Elf has become a tradition for us and each year we try to make it different. Last year we had hot chocolate and had a graduation party for Jen Lair. This year Katie thought it would be fun to make gingerbread houses! It was tons of fun - and messy. I of course was the only one who had to actually MAKE her icing and of course it got EVERYWHERE. (Sorry about your pretty tablecloth KT.) Thankfully Erin Condict helped me decorate mine and it wasn't a total disaster. :) And my new Christmas wish is for Shannon to finally have time to watch Elf (and anyone else who hasn't seen this classic). You are really missing out.

Allison's sleigh didn't really survive the ride back to her car, but I hope she was able to fix it at her house.

Until next year, Elf lovers...

More Christmas Parties!!

Thursday night, Brad and Terra Myers had our JSO Small Group over for a little dirty santa and fellowship. I absolutely love this group of people. It was so fun to all get together and talk, laugh and enjoy each other's company. For dirty santa, we were supposed to bring a guy gift and a girl gift, but when it came to drawing a gift, you had no idea which one you were going to get! Brad started out with a lovely scarf and Olsi thought he got a good gift with the Victora's Secret box. He actually got a guys gift though since Justin thought he would wrap the guy's gift we brought in a "man" box.

This is probably the best picture we took as a group. There was one that we took that absolutely mortified me in the middle of taking it. I was setting up the camera for self-timer to get the group shot so I was the last to run in. Well, my knee is still a little unsteady so I put my hand back to brace myself so I wouldn't topple over on to Tracy...little did I know that my hand was on Zann's thigh and I realized this in the middle of the picture!! I about peed my pants when I realized what was going on and especially when I saw the picture after!

Thanks Zann for being such a good sport about my flub. And thanks Tracy for not punching me in the face for putting my hand on your hubby's thigh. All in all, the night was terrific and I think everyone was pretty happy with their end result of a gift.

12 Days

Finally

The top of our Christmas tree came in the mail today!!!!! Hopefully now I can get the top 1/3 decorated before Christmas. Not sure if that will happen with our schedule lately!

Cocoa & Carols

Blake and Kacee invited Justin and I to go see Cocoa and Carols at OC Monday night. It was fun - the first half was the choir completely in Latin so that was a little ...long, but the second half was great with the symphonic band, jazz band, chamber singers and orchestra. It brought back so many memories of my three years in the OC Symphonic Band. I remember playing the two songs they played too!! I must admit, my first year at OC, Dr. Fletcher kept talking about Cocoa and Carols and I could have sworn they were people coming to perform that night with us as the back up! Only until that night did I figure out that it was Hot Cocoa and Christmas Carols. I am a little slow sometimes...



After we were going to look at Nichols Hills Christmas lights, but the program was a bit longer than we thought so we just went to 33rd & Bryant. Blake kept talking about this amazing house and was really prepping us and we turned the corner and saw this house that was pretty but wasn't anything AWESOME and then 2 seconds later we saw THIS:


Hellloooooo Griswolds in technicolor!!! Can you imagine the electricity bill? This picture just doesn't even do it justice.

Would You Rather...

Attend a bible study Christmas party or cut 20 acres of grass with your teeth? Yes, me too. Definitely the Christmas Party.

We had our 2nd Annual Ugly Sweater Christmas party this past Friday at the Ison's. We had lots of fun wearing ugly sweaters, playing Dirty Santa, eating homemade cookies by Chellie and playing a fun game called "Would You Rather..." That game has some crazy "Challenges" - Justin and Nate had to hold their tongues with their fingers for two player rounds (which lasted about a half an hour), Katie and Ryan had to wear Justin's sweaty soccer socks, Matt and Shannon had to wear drawn on mustaches and glasses and Erin and Tarren had to make animal noises for 90 seconds. It was pretty hilarious!! Luckily, the Williams' and Chellie and I didn't have to do anything crazy.

Christmas Card Photo - op!

Congrats to Erin Condict who won the ugly sweater contest! There were quite a gathering of ugly sweaters. Justin and Nate actually wore theirs to church on Sunday, so if you saw it and were questioning their taste in clothes - there was a reason!

I can't wait for next year - if anyone has an ugly sweater for next year, let me know! :)

Tag #2

8 shows I watch:
1. Wheel of Fortune (all time fav!!)
2. Private Practive
3. Pushing Daisies
4. Oprah (only on Fridays)
5. The Bachelor
6. Dancing with the Stars
7. The Office
8. 30 Rock

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. New Great Wall
2. Panera Bread
3. Chick-fil-A
4. The Melting Pot
5. Zio's
6. Poblano Grill
7. Falcone's
8. Elephant Bar

8 Things that happened Sunday: (My day has been boring so far so I'm going to tell you about Sunday)
1. Went to church
2. Taught for the first time in the babies class with Chellie
3. Went to Walmart
4. Decorated our the bottom 2/3rd's of our Christmas tree - hoping the top comes soon!
5. Cleaned our entire house
6. Made an angel food cake - yum!
7. Had our FPU group over for dinner
8. Went to Clint and Emily's house to babysit Eli (real hard, he was sleeping!)

8 Things I look forward to:
1. Having kids
2. Christmas/Birthdays
3. Spending time with family
4. Spending time with friends
5. The work day to be over!
6. Going to church
7. Girl Night Outs
8. Sleep!

8 Things I wish for:
1. To be more outspoken in my love for Christ
2. For everyone to always get along
3. To be less awkward :)
4. Better decorating skills
5. To have a better memory
6. To love Justin to the best of my ability
7. To have more time!!!!

8 People I tag:
I'm just going to say, that if you want to be tagged and haven't been, then tag you're it!

Tag #1

Katie tagged me with this fun Christmas survey, so here it goes!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
I sit them under the tree UNTIL I'm ready to wrap them :)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Whatever we have - I think it looks nicer for white lights, but I don't care really.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No - I thought I heard that it was bad to have in your house??

5. When do you put your decorations up?
As SOON as possible after Thanksgiving. I love decorating for Christmas!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)
Mashed potatoes!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Spending the night with Emily in one of our rooms and waking up real early and trying to send the cat downstairs to see if she would "tell" us if Santa came! (uhh we were REALLY little) Then Mom and Dad would make us wait anxiously at the top of the stairs until they went down and started coffee and put on Christmas music. We absolutely could not have Christmas without Christmas music!!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I honestly don't remember - I don't think I was upset though - just as long as SOMEONE brought me presents!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
If I am lucky!! Sometimes we just do stockings and then do presents all the next day.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Random childhood ornaments and others that I've picked up here and there. One day I will have a theme tree!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I like it if I can stay home and look at it. But I don't like to be out in it unless I'm skiing. I hate being cold.

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes- we used to have a pond next door in PA that we could ice skate on sometimes. There was one year where the top snow layer was so icy I went skating on the snow down to the pond!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
From last year - she wasn't a gift but it was the day after Christmas we got Caramel! I'm counting it.

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Parties - kidding. Spending time with family and remembering the REAL reason for the season.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses on top.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
We don't necessarily have a tradition - but when we are in OKC, I like to go ice skating on Christmas with Justin.

17. What tops your tree?
Right now - nothing. We don't have the top part of our tree - hopefully it comes soon!!

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
GIVING!!!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Silent Night - close second is O Holy Night - worst rendition ever! It's hilarious!

20. Candy Canes​!​ Yuck or Yum?
YUCK - I don't like peppermint.

21. What do you want for Christmas?
Light jacket, decor for our house, CD's, etc.

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas Party?
Bible Study Christmas Party, Elf Party, any of Justin's work parties

23. Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJs?
PJ's in the morning opening gifts, but then my new clothes if I got them

24. Do you own a Santa hat?
Nope!

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?
Depending on the year - Cornells or Petersons. Either one I love them!!!!!!

Last time I did this it didn't work so here it goes again. I tag:

Krystal
Kayla
Amy C.
Candice

Hooray!

I had my follow up visit with Dr. Hines this morning (which, he is an excellent doctor if you need anything for your knees/ankles) and he said that my knee is looking FANTASTIC and I'm probably a month AHEAD of schedule. This makes me so happy!! AND I get to stop going to physical therapy and do the home program...which is great because we got the bill for my last round of therapy before surgery and it is awful. And pretty much the best part of my visit to Dr. Hines is that I don't have to wear my cool tight that helps with circulation anymore. That is fantastic because it wasn't staying up so well anymore.

This makes my day so great! And we get to go celebrate birthdays tonight with Clint, Emily, ELI and my parents! Hooray for great Fridays!!!

You Have What?!

That's the question I have been getting a lot lately :) I recently found out that there is a reason for being tired all the time, among other things! I have officially been diagnosed with Hashimoto Thyroiditis. According to a website, the definition is:

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is a type of autoimmune thyroid disease in which the immune system attacks and destroys the thyroid gland. The thyroid helps set the rate of metabolism, which is the rate at which the body uses energy. Hashimoto’s stops the gland from making enough thyroid hormones for the body to work the way it should. It is the most common thyroid disease in the U.S.

So, I get to take a small little pill every day for the rest of my life to help regulate my thyroid. If I don't, it will lead to hypothyroidism and if it gets really bad, it will lead to hyperthyroidism...which both cause pretty bad things. I guess if I had to have a "disease", then I'm glad it's called Hashimoto.

Happy Birthday to my sister, Emily!! She is 28 today!!

Thanksgiving Festivities

For Thanksgiving we went to Columbia, Missouri to spend time with Justin's family. We had about 24 of us on Thanksgiving Day! It was quite a gathering, but we still had a great time. Justin and I went shopping on Black Friday - but went a lot later than the crazy people who get up at 3:30 am!! It was great to spend time with the family and especially to see Jagger and Cash! They are getting so big - I wish we could see them more often.

Jagger and his new friend, his cousin-in-law Logan

Cash's funny faces...he makes them and then looks around to make sure everyone is watching him.

Men in the kitchen cooking - ladies snacking. How it should always be!

First snow of the winter!

Thanks so much...

AT&T - why did you dig up our yard?

This was the lovely site I saw when I drove into my driveway at 6 pm. Isn't this something everyone wants to see after a long day? Our side yard has been completely dug up...with no notice to us. Please put our yard back together AT&T. Dead weeds and all.

It's That Time!!

We got home tonight from a wonderful trip to Columbia, Missouri seeing Justin's family (pics to come later). As soon as we walked in the door, I pretty much started decorating for Christmas. Who needs to put luggage away and sort through mail after being gone almost a week? Christmas decorating just can't wait.

This is the nativity scene my mother in law got for me. It's from Haiti and is made of clay. I absolutely love it - especially the coconut hut!!! But do you see the little figure on the far right? Why does he have a knife in his hand?!?!

And to top of a wonderful evening of Christmas decorating, we decided to put up the fake tree we bought last year on clearance. The only problem? No top!! Luckily the tree company will send it out "immediately." I hope their "immediately" is sometime before Christmas!

Top 5

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Things I am thankful for:

1. Hot chocolate on a cold day
2. Old Navy Performance Fleece
3. Kitties that nap with you
4. Christmas music
5. Tweezers - unibrows are a no-no!

And of course - family, friends, health and freedom. I can't leave those out!

Have a great Thanksgiving!!

What A Nerd

Caramel's new favorite lounging place. She is just too funny!

Bus Ride

Last Tuesday, we went with some of our Sunday small group (and borrowed the Hutchisons) up to Okarche to sample some of the famous Eischens fried chicken and okra. I've never been and have heard so much about it, so now I can officially say I've experienced the joy of Eischens. I LOVE fried chicken and fried okra. It's so good for you too. :)

Terra's dad owns a charter bus and all 10 of us got in the 40 passenger bus and drove up to Eischens. We had a blast! It was so much fun to go and we got to know each other a whole lot better. Thanks for coordinating this, Myers!

Can You Tell A Difference?

Yeah, me either.

Thanks to the doc's who wrote on me with super stain-y marker - your initals will forever be on my leg.

Greaseball

Today is my big day - Justin is going back to work for a little while and I'm going to be on my own. I'm ready. I can walk. Bring on the day.

I went to my follow up visit with the doctor yesterday and stupidly took a pain pill in the waiting room. Well, this commenced nausea and lightheadedness. We were in the room and they started to take off the bandages to take out the drain in my knee and I had to lie down because I thought I was going to pass out! Then once that was out, I sat up and felt better. Then Dr. Hines came in and while he was talking, I had to lie down again! I can never go into a medical profession. I would be on the floor the majority of the time.

Dr. Hines told me I could start walking with the crutches and graduate to without whenever I felt ready. I used them yesterday from the office to the house but have been getting up to use the bathroom without!!! I am still keeping my constant ice pack on my knee but will probably go without it at some point today.

I am really excited - today I can shower!! I have the type of hair that gets greasy after a day without washing so going two makes me really nasty. That is my excuse for not going into work today - I am a greaseball!

That's the prognosis so far. I start physical therapy with my guy again on Monday. I doubt I can do much but it will be nice to get out of the house!

I Survived!

Today was the big day! Everything went very smoothly and I feel pretty good! We got there about 7:30 am to check in, but then had to sit and wait for a long time to actually get in to surgery. Justin was great and kept me company and in high spirits. Finally I talked with the doctor and anesthesiologist and then a few minutes later, we were off!! I woke up awhile later and felt really good - not too groggy, sick or anything like that. My knee hurt of course but they gave me some drugs and the pain went away.

I spent the rest of the day napping, watching TV and catching up on blogstalking. I'm also trying out a new background - I tend to get bored easily with stuff like that so it might change again soon.

Thanks for everyone who has called/texted to ask about me today. My wonderful in-laws sent flowers! I love them! I told my parents they are going to have to step it up :) I've had several people offer dinner for us and I am so grateful to you for thinking about that!

Tomorrow I will go back to the doctor at 10 to get the tube removed that is removing excess fluid. After that, I should be able to walk without crutches. I don't know how that will go - I got up to go to the bathroom and about passed out so right now, as long as I'm horizontal, I am doing great.

We got this deal today that looks like a cooler...you fill it up with ice water and it connects to a wrap around my knee and constantly keeps it cool and lessens the pain. It is WONDERFUL!! It didn't even hurt when Caramel came to visit me and sat right on my knee. :)