.::still blinking::.

I have about 5 usernames and 5 passwords that I use for all my accounts. I hate when I cannot remember which combination goes where and it takes me 10 minutes to log into anything.

I got a new swim suit today, because when it is 12 degrees outside, isn’t that what you do. It is from Modbe, a “modest” clothing company. They were having a warehouse sale today, so I headed to Orem the modest capital of the world and wandered through their sales, along with every other BYU co-ed in town. It was slightly crazy, and the staff said that things had actually calmed down, egad. Anyway, the swimsuit is a reflection on cave women with a hint of floral panties. Cute you are thinking, I know it. Here is a picture of someone else in it.

I am really excited to wear it. Well, actually I am wearing it right now with my gingerbread man socks to keep me warm. But I am excited for the summer, so that I can wear it with Gentry to the splash pool.

Mere minutes before Christmas and here I am worrying about everything else I need to get done. jj has not been going to bed before one this entire week, he is taking tomorrow off to go grocery shopping with us and do some more work for clients. He likes shopping with us and I like trading off wiping small noses. We are also going to The Forgotten Carols. He designed a program for it and we got free tickets for which we are very grateful. In this program we put an add for our business Makayla Christine Designs. However, I have no business cards or even a website for this and so when I tell people what I do and try to promote myself, I am sure they think, “what the?” Like I am going to trust some girl with no taste and a snotty nosed child on her hip. I might as well be the chicken farmer down the street, which actually could have some pretty great photo opportunities. Since I don’t take pictures of people all posed and you cannot get chickens to smile, they would be the perfect subjects.

So the event is tomorrow and I am going to get something put up tonight. What you ask? I really have not the foggiest. I mean it would be great to get a real website up, but I don’t think I can pull that off in 7.46 seconds. But I am inspired to get something done and even actually print business cards, but you have no idea how daunting a task that is either because really the possibilities are endless.

Do you want to know the website when I get a place holder put in it?

I wonder, am I the only woman who’s husband is infatuated with woman of a certain profession? I am not talking about any of those professions. His is Dental Hygienist. I don’t know if it is the metal teeth cleaning implements or the amazing ability to tell you your number thirteen bicuspid is sensitive to cold and citrus. I guess it could be the quick veracity with which they use dental floss.

He can pick his dental hygienists out from miles and years away. When we lived in Logan, one time we drove by her apartment. He then knew where she lived and told me that his dental hygienist lived there. Not just his dental hygienist, he knew her name, he probably still does.

Now the new dentist has a cute wife and several cute hygienists. He has a favorite. One time while we were at Cafe Rio, he pointed her out at the table across from us. I did recognize her but could not place her, he however knew her.

I guess I beat out all the cute dental workers, and I am glad. Besides, who wants to scoop pancakes out from dental cleavage with floss anyway. And the stinky breath, I would rather die than deal with that all day. But if jj ever gets single again, I am sure that he will start scoping himself some dental honey’s.

We have all had apples dipped in caramel. Have you ever had a green apple dipped in caramel, dipped in white chocolate, rolled in cinnamon sugar? Oh my heavens, it is so good. I have a major sweet tooth for a little bit of tart and a whole lot of sweet. These delectable pieces of heaven are from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The nearest one to me is Trolley Square or the Gateway.

One of jj’s co-workers got it for him for Christmas, bless her heart. Doesn’t eating sin make you feel a little better if there is a bit of healthy in center?

Here are a few of the baby announcements that I have been working on.

There is a small, squishy boy that lives at my house. He is always yelling for “chocolate nilk,” not a miss spelling, that is how he says it. And I give it to him maybe twice a day. It is a cocktail though. All this kid usually eats is chips and salsa, fruit, and oatmeal. So the only way I can figure to get him to eat any protein is soy milk. I mix half a bottle of soy milk and half a bottle of regular milk. He loves it and thinks that I am the queen.

His favorite movie lately is “Nacho Libre.” jj’s friend Richie came over the other day and asked him what his name was, he had just been upstair watching the movie and said, “I nacho.” Of course he is, the only thing missing is stretchy pants. He has the gut and crazy hair, I guess he also needs a side kick unless you count me. His chocolate milk wielding mama.

He loves to watch you draw and he has requests. I have learned to draw elephants, monkeys, mice, turkeys, pretty much everything from every angle imagineable. If I was a dj, I would be taking tips. Of course being the mama, I get kisses and occasionaly some cuddle time. He is so not the cuddle boy, if ever he gets in the mood, I am scared to move in case I remind him that moving, running and jumping are his favorite activities.

The other day as we were running laps around the coffee table, I hoped this will never end. I hope that for the rest of his days he thinks that I am fun to play with. I know it will last for a while still, but I will miss his unconditional, all in awe love for me when it is gone. Because it won’t change from this end. I will always be amazed at this little boy that is two parts jj and one part me.

I have been working on a wedding announcement for a cute couple that I know. They really are named Jake and Karie, but I have changed the rest of the info to protect their innocence. Yeah right. They wanted a winter wedding so these are the ideas that I came up with.

This is my favorite one. They thought seriously about it. Where there is gray it would have been printed silver, but I cannot add glitter to your screen so you will have to imagine it.

I love the feel of this one. Don’t these kind of patterns remind you of ovaries. So if I could, I would title this one Frozen Reproduction.

This is the one that they chose. It is simple but beautiful. The snowflake and gray single line of border will be printed in silver and I am excited to see what it will turn out like.

Printing is the part that worries me. It is kind of out of my hands, of course they always do a press check were I go and check what it will look like before they actually get started. But still what if they cut it all wonky? Or what if the color isn’t right or what if the stem disappears during printing. Which has happened to me and threw me into a tizzy. My counselor says tizzies are not normal.

So the disappearing stems forced me to a new printer who I absolutely love. If I cannot get out there when they are doing a press check they will bring it to me. They always have the best prices and I do check around. They will get me the paper that I want. Of course there is the part about them hating to use the press, they like to use their digital printers a lot more. But I can get them to do what I want and I love it. In fact, one time they printed an announcement for me and it looked fine while I was there. When I got home I noticed that the brown had actually printed purple. They did it over for me, at no charge. I was so worried about what they would do, and they just took care of me.

Anyway, I really like my job. We are going to be posting a new site soon that will have the announcements that I have done and also just let people know I am available to do custom wedding announcements. Get ready.

With Christmas fast approaching I have suddenly started to think that I do not have any Christmas Eve traditions, except for opening pajamas.

As a child we used to go over to my Aunt Julie’s home and celebrate with my dad’s side of the family. We would have dinner and sing songs and run around until we absolutely needed to get home so that we could make sure that Santa would not miss our house. But now there are so many of my cousins and their kids that it is just not really possible, and I don’t want to be in charge of the massive event.

When I was 10ish my cousin Megan was born on Christmas Eve and that started the tradition of a brunch. We still do that, although I cannot remember the last time that we went. We may go this year if it does not overlap church. It is lame to miss family events for church, but I am playing the flute in sacrament meeting. I like to do that and I don’t want to miss it.

Now as an adult with my own family, I don’t have any Christmas Eve traditions. We have family activities on Christmas. I am wondering what I should do. I don’t really want to start a dinner with my siblings because we do one the next day, and we have not done one before. I am thinking about starting a dinner with people that don’t have family close by, except that I don’t want to ask what people are doing on Christmas Eve. I wish I just knew of someone that also felt a little outcast to play with. Most people have family traditions, and I am jealous. I just need to get something going and then I will not need to worry about it any longer. What do you guys do on Christmas Eve? I don’t even know where to start.

The caramels turned out wonderfully. They are very good and rich. So rich that you only want to eat a few of them and your sweet tooth is done. They actually required 3 hours of constant attention and then when they were finished cooking you could ignore them for a day to let them cool. I guess cooling takes that long. Anyway, they are done now and we have a huge amount of them. You can get the recipe here.

I was thinking that instead of book club this month we could do a Christmas Treat exchange. What do you think?

We had a list of things to accomplish today: clean and vacuum the car including the trunk, vacuum all floors in the house and sweep and mop the kitchen, hang another shelf in the laundry closet.

We have gotten all this done. Well jj is currently working on hanging the shelf, which I am sure that the trying to sleep gentry appreciates. I am grateful to him though for getting it done, we have needed another shelf here for quite sometime.

When he gets done I am going to head downstairs to make caramels. The Martha Stewart version. I will let you know how they turn out and if I like them. In true Martha fashion, the recipe is very painstaking. You have to stir the stuff for an hour and then let it sit in a pan for 24 hours. So about this time tomorrow we may be enjoying the fruits of our labor.

Also, here is a cute picture of Gentry. Don’t you want to kiss those little swollen lips. I gave him a cookie with nuts in it the day before and you can see what it did to him. Nothing that would kill him, but obviously he should not be having them. And yet I keep trying, hoping that this time he will be over this allergy. The band aid is because he bumped his head and of course a band aid, or as he calls them “bangers,” always make him feel better. Especially one this cool.

Also, his hair is done. He does not look cute with the good boy hairdo. He never has. Maybe it is the wonky way that it grows or that there is not a huge amount of it, but it just looks better messy. We really do style it. He goes and gets the brush and gel and hairspray. I am a dork, two products in a two year olds hair. But it is cute.