Rachel Callahan

odds and friends

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories I'm a Meme You're a Meme, It's Tough Being a Girl, Utter Silliness

The title is supposed to be a play off of “odds and ends” but I don’t know if it will come off that way in anyone’s head but my own. Punny titles. Always a risk. Anyway. . . .

Friends are fun. So it is fun to blog about them and the things they do sometimes. Hopefully they don’t mind.

Recently, I got a wonderful birthday present from my good friend Barkley that included, among other items, these wonderful products:
Now, if you look at the picture really closely, you may be thinking to yourself, your friend got you ANTI-AGING cream?!?! For your BIRTHDAY?!?!?!?!

But you see, Barkley and I are just that type of friend. She has kept me gloriously up to date and in fashion and all things girly for over seven years now. She is solely responsible for my love of makeup, my increasing sense of fashion, and my realization that I really do need some sort of face cleansing regimen. Oh yeah – and Ali’s obsession with the Sephora catalog would be completely nonexistent were it not for Barkley’s influence on me. Every girl needs a friend like Barkley!

So it is only natural that after reading my sad, sad post about my quickly aging skin and hate for greasy lotions, she tucked that note away and found the perfect item to fit my needs. It’s called skin SERUM. And – I can’t believe I’m saying this – I actually LIKE the feel of it.

Seriously.

It’s creamy, but in a comforting way. Not in the least bit greasy. And dries fast, in a nice, cool, breezy ungreasy way. I like the rhyme of that. Breezy ungreasy.

Only the closest of friends can give you anti-aging cream and it be a really, really great gift!!!

Oh yeah, and even though Chris is my BEST friend, there is an exclusion that husbands CANNOT give anti-aging cream as a gift and it be a really good thing. Sorry, dear. Hope I didn’t just make you return my Christmas present.

Second, my friend Nicole, whom I happen to work with, told me that she had a surprise for me that had to do with my blog, but that I probably wouldn’t like her afterward.

She had been hinting around at finding out answers to my burning questions in my Jesus in a Box post, so I was quite worried that she had found out, but had also happened to tell owner of said box where my blog was or something. But hey, all answers have their price.

Anyway, Ali and I stopped by work for a quick minute on Monday, and she ran out to her car to get a tiny gift bag. I opened it, and found this Christmas ornament:
I searched my mind as quickly as I could to put two and two together, but I couldn’t do it. I said, confused, “A BEAVER???”.

She said (a bit disappointed at my obvious thickheadedness), no!! It’s Satan the Squirrel!! To hang on your Christmas tree!!”

AAAAhhhh!! That makes so much sense!! I was thrilled to have a decorative reminder to that hellish period of our life.

for the record, right after that, someone else walked by and said “A BEAVER????”
I mean look at him – he’s eating a STICK. Beavers eat sticks. Squirrels eat nuts and walls and celings.
But hey, he’s adorable, and I will definitely label him and put him on the tree.

Although Ali may always have trouble differentiating beavers and squirrels, thanks to this ornament.

And finally, my friend Deidre (who joined us with Kendall and Brad Saturday at the Iron Bowl) tagged me in this post. It’s quite fun – you are supposed to post the fourth picture from the fourth album of pictures on your computer.

Initially, how my albums were sorted, the fourth picture in the fourth album was an absolutely grotesquely unflattering picture of me holding Ali right after giving birth. I looked as swollen as a. . .as a. . . . well, as a nine months and two days pregnant woman who was just pumped full of fluids for thirteen hours worth of labor. So that one isn’t getting posted, sorry.

So naturally, I re-sorted the album and came up with a much better option:
Sweet Ali within five minutes of birth and still in the C-Section O.R., as evidenced by the man in scrubs behind her.

Then, for fun, I resorted my albums a couple of different ways for bonus pictures:
Ali, me and Papa at a game earlier this year:
And Ali and Pop in “the country” (Pop and Gramamma’s house) in February. I can’t believe how much she’s grown just since February!Being that one of my quirks is not being able to tag people or make them participate in dishtowel chain letters, I will not be tagging anyone to do the above exercise. But if you’d like to, feel free and leave a comment here that you did so that I can go see!

Thankful Thursday

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday is a weekly column where I post what I am thankful about that week, and you have the opportunity (via your blog linked into this post OR via a comment on this blog) to share your thankful thought for the week.

This week, I am thankful for my readers!! I had no idea that when I started a blog nine months ago that it would turn into this – this craziness that I am completely obsessed with and in love with – this that is so wonderfully journalling our family life – something that I always wanted to do but didn’t have the motivation to actually accomplish.

Somehow, the magic of having readers who give feedback and appreciate your stories is the best incentive in the world for journalling, and I am so excited for the 400+ journal entries that I have made so far this year!! In all seriousness – without you guys I would have never gotten so addicted to this. And the added bonus is that it is just as much fun to read your blogs (those of you who have them) as to write mine! I feel like I have a whole new circle of friends this year, and it really is a true blessing!!

I know I said that I was thinking about doing a reader appreciation giveaway each month (where I would randomly pick a winner out of my top commenters of the month), but seeing as how I have had three giveaways in the past month, I’m a bit giveawayed out right now. Or at least prized out. But because today is my day to appreciate you guys anyway, here were my top 11 commenters in November (in alphabetical order):

Amanda H.
Amanda T.
Amy G.
Gina
Jaci
Jennifer W.
Jodi
Kitty E.
Leanna
Lindsay
Mama Hen

be sure and go visit their WONDERFUL blogs as well!!

I want to thank every one of my readers SOOO MUCH for reading! You have played a very large part in helping me do this, and I really appreciate it!

OK – your turn!! What are you thankful for today? Leave it in a comment, or if you have a blog, write a post on your blog and link it in with Mr. Linky (at the bottom of this post), and you can have the pleasure of welcoming my wonderful readers to your site!

To use Mr. Linky to link to your blog, just type in your name in the first slot, then copy and paste the URL of your blog post in the second one and click “Enter” – then there will be a link to your post from my blog! ***be sure to put the link to your actual “Thankful Thursday” post – not just your main blog URL.***

PTSS

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Toddlers: The Experience, Utter Silliness

That’s right – Ali has it – Post-Thanksgiving-Stress-Syndrome

Surely there’s a prescription medicine out there somewhere that treats this syndrome. Of course, I’m sure that the side effects include itchy arms, liver failure, seizures, and possibly death.

Maybe a therapist would help. Nah – she doesn’t have enough childhood for them to delve into to blame all of her problems on.

I guess we’ll just have to live with it until it passes.

Ali has been in major trauma all week by the departing of her family. With Daddy having been home for four days, Kitty and Leo having stayed with us for two days, and seeing some or all parts of her family at some point all four days, she is, to say the least, missing them.

Every morning, the first thing she says is “See Daddy!!!”. When I tell her he’s at work, she switches to a more hopeful but cautious voice and says “See Kitty? See Leo??”. I tell her they went home. Saddened, she says somewhat hopelessly, “See Nana! See Papa!!”. Nope, sorry honey. Then the desperate voice comes out: “See Graaaamaaaamaaa!! See Poppppp!!”.

Poor thing.

Lest you think I’m exaggerating, here is how we spent AT LEAST 30 minutes of Monday morning. She begged me to pull up pictures of everyone on the computer, so I pulled up the one of us all sitting around the table:

She’s also been a bit edgy due to her PTSS. She accidentally spilled my coke in the lap of my Bible Study teacher and her daughter at lunch Tuesday. While trying to save my cup from spilling, another lady spilled ANOTHER glass of coke in their laps.

Ali was so remorseful. She kept saying sadly, “Ali spilled Mommy’s coke!! Ali spilled Mommy’s coke!!”. She finally buried her head in my shoulder to try to hold back her sorrow-filled tears.

All of our reassuring that it was okay finally helped her accept her spilling transgression and move on.

At any rate, since prescriptions are right out and therapy is doubtful, we tried the best thing we knew. It’s somewhat akin to the nicotine patch. A quick fix. Gramamma, Pop, Nick, and Mammaw stopped by last night to bring some cheer to our sad little toddler.
It worked wonders.

Scavenger Hunt Giveaway Winners

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Giveaways and Contests

Today is the day to announce the Scavenger Hunt Giveaway winners!!!

The winners of the $30 gift certificates from Birmingham Menus/Giphter are:
Jaci
Lindsay

The winners of the CD’s are:
Jennifer
Melissa
Greta
Barkley

You should have all received an email from me. Please respond within a week with your address or I will re-draw for a winner.

For the CD winners, you need to comment on this post and say which one you would like – first come first serve. Here are the choices again:

Red Mountain Music – Silent Night
Sara Groves – O Holy Night
Third Day – Christmas Offerings
Casting Crowns – The Altar and the Door

Thanks for playing!

Have a Spoon of Holiday Tradition.

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories I'm a Glutton for Adventure, Utter Silliness, Weird Strange and True

Every family has great holiday traditions. One of my family’s seems to have faded out of existence, thanks to a bit of over-aggression. I miss it greatly, and I think I may do a petition to get it back.

Spoons.

Spoons is an awesome card game. If you haven’t played it, you should. It is a great holiday gathering game, because it works best with more people (ideally maybe 8 or so).
Here’s the overview for those who have never played:

Somewhat akin to musical chairs, you put out one less spoon than players in a circle on the table, and everyone sits around the table, ideally as evenly spaced from the spoons as possible.

Everyone starts with four cards. One person is the dealer, and they pick up a card and pass a card (either the new one or one from their hand) to the next person as quickly as possible. That person looks at the card and passes one to the next person, and so on and so on.

The idea is to get four of a kind in your hand. When you do, you take a spoon (quietly, if you want to make it more interesting). As soon as one person has four of a kind and takes a spoon, it’s fair game for everyone else to grab a spoon. One person doesn’t get one, and so they get a “letter”, starting with S. When you miss enough that you spell S-P-O-O-N-S, you’re out. You play as many rounds as it takes for there to be a winner, swapping up the dealer each game.

It’s a lovely game. I miss it so.

So what happened, you ask?

It is a precious family holiday memory.

The year was 2000. Thanksgiving. I was 18. Chris and I were engaged, and JC and Lindsay were dating.

We had everyone over for dinner, including Chris, Lindsay, Lindsay’s parents, and my sweet, innocent, tweety-bird-owning-look-alike Grandmother, Mammaw (of whom I have included a picture to illustrate her sweetness and tweety-bird-owner-identicalness).

Mom prepared a feast for all, of course. It was a wonderful family gathering. A chance for the new-coming members of the family to really delve into the family and become a part. A chance to make good impressions.

After dinner, we cleared off the dining room table and began a game of spoons.

Now, you play with spoons because it can be a brutal game. “Forks” would be dangerous, as would a hearty game of “Knives”. But spoons? Pretty harmless.

However, we are ALL a pretty darn competitive bunch.

It had already been a spicy game before “it” happened. I had even already given Mom a “spoon cut” on her hand (yes, that is possible).

Then, during one of the later hands of the game, everyone had gotten a spoon but Chris and Mammaw, who were sitting on opposite sides of the table from each other. They dove for it at the same time.

Both splayed out onto the table, Chris grabbed the spoon end, and Mammaw the stem end. They started tugging. And jerking. And going back and forth. The whole table was rocking and sqeaking. They began trash talking each other. Dad began to get irate and told them to calm down.

Then there was a crack. The leg broke on the dining room table that my Dad had lovingly handcrafted with gorgeous woodworking skills in the early years of their marriage.

As I was writing this post last night, I asked Chris, and he and I both actually don’t remember who actually ended up with the spoon. But I do specifically remember three things:

  1. Dad becoming very irate and threatening to “ban” spoons.
  2. Chris running out of the room and burying his head in shame in getting into a fight with my sweet Mammaw.
  3. Chris telling us all later that he realized halfway through the fight that there was no good outcome for him. He either had to go down in history as the guy that beat up his fiance’s sweet grandmother for a spoon, or as the guy who GOT BEAT by his fiance’s sweet grandmother for a spoon.

Dad DID fix the table, Chris DID still get to marry me, and we actually DID finish the game of Spoons (on the floor in the living room). I won – I do remember that. We are, after all, a competitive bunch.

Thanksgiving Week Festivities

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories A Day in the Life, I would NEVER take too many pictures. . .

We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend – it all started with having the pleasure of hosting Kitty and Leo (Chris’ Aunt and Uncle) overnight at our house. Ali was in heaven:
Then we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house for mine and Chris’ family. Ali moved up to seventh heaven!! She LOVES having all of her favorite people in one place, and she was so mesmerized by all of the attention that she didn’t even mind sharing it with Eli!

She showed Nana her shapes:
And sat in Papa’s lap.
And in general visited with everyone! She was so excited she went past the point of “social graces”. In her excitement, during a jumping up and down and laughing with Papa series, she announced to him (very accurately, I might add), “Ali pooped!!”. Funny though, he didn’t fall for the line that “the rule is, whoever she tells gets to change it!”

On to more pleasant subjects. Here is half of our dinner table(s):
And the other half:
Fourteen!!
Ali was so happy:
After she finished eating, she just sat back and basked in all of her seven-fold grandparental glory. She looked at each of them one by one and said “Hey Gramamma!! Hey Pop!! Hey Nana!! Hey Papa!! Hey Kitty!! Hey Leo!! Hey Mammaw!!”. She couldn’t have been more thankful.

You know it’s a successful meal if it ends with every piece of silverware that you own to be in the sink:
Friday, we went to one of my Aunt’s house to see all of my Dad’s family. Ali and Eli had much fun together, including dancing lessons,
And deep conversations.
My Aunt still had Mardi Gras beads from 1985 (I think my parents kept my cousins for them to go that year, and I actually remember them bringing home piles of beads in paper FoodMax grocery bags. So I played with those same beads as a four year old!). Anyway, Ali L-O-V-E-D them. She spent at least 30 minutes just putting them on and taking them off.
Their house is by the Cahaba River. It was very foggy, which made for some great photo ops.
And some spooky photos:
And then today, we went to Tuscaloosa for the epitome of the football season: The Iron Bowl. We took Brad, Deidre, and Kendall. The girls had a blast tailgating together! Although both of them seemed to think that tailgating meant dirtying their own tailgates, of which they both did an admirable job (wow this post has a lot of poop references).

Here they are on the actual tailgate:
They both loved playing in Papa’s truck. Ali actually begged to “play Papa’s truck”, which is quite a good situation for Mommy, as it works as somewhat of an oversized, outdoor pack and play. Containment is a nice break!
Ali playing bartender:
These were the only two people at the game that the humidity was giving them GOOD hair days (curly-haired people are so lucky):
I took a few pictures of Ali (I know this comes as a shock):
Us girls returned home for naptime, and the guys went to the game, and had a glorious time.

Ali woke up from her nap in time to watch the end of the game. She really loves football. Every time a commercial would come on, she would start whining and say “Foootball!!! foooootball back on!!!” Of course, I made her ask with a happy voice before allowing football to come back on.

I explained to her that Daddy was at the football game, and to watch for him on TV. It’s very entertaining having an early talking baby, because her vocabulary often exceeds her reasoning abilities. Despite the fact that she knows EXACTLY what her Daddy looks like and could pick him out of any lineup, she pretty much thought everyone was Daddy since I told her he was on TV. In disguise, I guess? Or maybe she’s pretending. I dunno. Anyway, here were some of her observations:

(right after I told her that Daddy was on TV, Tommy Tuberville, Auburn’s coach came on the screen): Daddddy!!! Heeeey Daddy!! (I’m sure that Daddy will be sooo happy that he was confused with Mr. Tuberville.)

(when the players were running down the field): Daddy Running Fast!!

(during a big tackle): Daddy hug!!!

(high up shot of the field): Little bitty Daddy!!

Daddy over there!

Another Daddy!

Oh well, that’s better than Sunday, when she grabbed Chris and I and proclaimed proudly and loudly to all who could hear, “Ali’s two Daddies!!!”.

Almost Two, Going on Twenty-Seven.

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories I'm No Videographer, Toddlers: The Experience

Two Quick Reminders:
1. This weekend (and Monday) is your last chance to enter the Scavenger Hunt! You can enter by simply commenting on this post, enter again by commenting on this post, and get up to 14 more entries by playing the scavenger hunt. Don’t forget to play! The prizes are great!

2. Be sure to check A Dose of Humor today – especially you homeschoolers out there! It’s by Octamom, a homeschooling Mom of eight. Due to the fact that I spent the majority of my homeschool career in my jammies doing my school in bed, I can COMPLETELY relate to this post!!

We took breakfast to Sunday School, so Ali has been enjoying the leftover Panera bagels and cream cheese for breakfast this week. I cut up her bagel and give her a dollop of cream cheese (or “dip-dip”) for her to use.

One morning, while I was looking away to fix a bagel for myself, she decided to cut out the bagel middle man and just eat the cream cheese right off of her tray:
I just left her like that until breakfast was over, because really, what’s the point of cleaning a toddler’s face twice during one meal?

All that to set up why her face is creamy in this video.

She has loved talking about how old everyone is ever since Daddy told her on Sunday that she is now “Almost Two” instead of one. So here we are discussing ages. Hope no one wanted it kept a secret. .

Almost Two, Going on Twenty-Seven.

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories I'm No Videographer, Toddlers: The Experience

Two Quick Reminders:
1. This weekend (and Monday) is your last chance to enter the Scavenger Hunt! You can enter by simply commenting on this post, enter again by commenting on this post, and get up to 14 more entries by playing the scavenger hunt. Don’t forget to play! The prizes are great!

2. Be sure to check A Dose of Humor today – especially you homeschoolers out there! It’s by Octamom, a homeschooling Mom of eight. Due to the fact that I spent the majority of my homeschool career in my jammies doing my school in bed, I can COMPLETELY relate to this post!!

We took breakfast to Sunday School, so Ali has been enjoying the leftover Panera bagels and cream cheese for breakfast this week. I cut up her bagel and give her a dollop of cream cheese (or “dip-dip”) for her to use.

One morning, while I was looking away to fix a bagel for myself, she decided to cut out the bagel middle man and just eat the cream cheese right off of her tray:
I just left her like that until breakfast was over, because really, what’s the point of cleaning a toddler’s face twice during one meal?

All that to set up why her face is creamy in this video.

She has loved talking about how old everyone is ever since Daddy told her on Sunday that she is now “Almost Two” instead of one. So here we are discussing ages. Hope no one wanted it kept a secret. .

Almost Two, Going on Twenty-Seven.

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories I'm No Videographer, Toddlers: The Experience

Two Quick Reminders:
1. This weekend (and Monday) is your last chance to enter the Scavenger Hunt! You can enter by simply commenting on this post, enter again by commenting on this post, and get up to 14 more entries by playing the scavenger hunt. Don’t forget to play! The prizes are great!

2. Be sure to check A Dose of Humor today – especially you homeschoolers out there! It’s by Octamom, a homeschooling Mom of eight. Due to the fact that I spent the majority of my homeschool career in my jammies doing my school in bed, I can COMPLETELY relate to this post!!

We took breakfast to Sunday School, so Ali has been enjoying the leftover Panera bagels and cream cheese for breakfast this week. I cut up her bagel and give her a dollop of cream cheese (or “dip-dip”) for her to use.

One morning, while I was looking away to fix a bagel for myself, she decided to cut out the bagel middle man and just eat the cream cheese right off of her tray:
I just left her like that until breakfast was over, because really, what’s the point of cleaning a toddler’s face twice during one meal?

All that to set up why her face is creamy in this video.

She has loved talking about how old everyone is ever since Daddy told her on Sunday that she is now “Almost Two” instead of one. So here we are discussing ages. Hope no one wanted it kept a secret. .