I made beef stroganoff for dinner. It was delicious. I have done nothing today except make beef stroganoff and watch movies. I have been ridiculously lazy.

In other news, puppy peed on my phone. I was very angry. *insert very angry face here* Happy ending, though! Ordered my iPhone. Excited. Getting it Tuesday. Wow, sentence challenged tonight. Must be that whole "holy crap I'm lazy" thing.

My husband is hot. I'm just sayin' cause I have to go now because he's sitting here and I feel like there's something wrong with me if I'm ignoring this gorgeous man just to post to my blog. Be jealous.

I can't believe I haven't posted for nearly a month. Wow. So, onto the news:

My mom is writing a book. I'm supposed to be reading over/providing feedback/editing the said book. Problem is, I just don't have time to read casually right now. Which sucks, because I really do want to support her efforts in whatever she chooses. My mom is pretty amazing. I mean, she drives me crazy and she has her issues... but she's amazing.

Speaking of my mom, I've been talking to my biological father lately via letters. I really can't bring myself to call him... that's okay, though. I don't really want to call him. In these letters I usually get updates on the weather, his health and such... you know, normal things. Then, every once in a while, he'll make these snarky comments. The most recent one was in reference to my sisters and the fact that they have yet to write to him. He said "I am their biological father (I think)" and "even though I only signed your birth certificates I always thought of you as my daughters"

...yeah.

Mike and I are pretty sure he's trying to call my mom a whore without saying "your mom's a whore" which is really a little comical, knowing my mother, but also highly offensive.

In other news, Matthew's senior pictures came in and they're amazing! Can't wait to get them out to our friends and family with all of the announcements. We're very excited/nervous about his upcoming graduation.

OH! And we have a new puppy!! Jack Russell mix... (we think he's mixed with another Jack Russell, really) and he's ADORABLE. Pagan likes him most of the time, the cats don't know what he is and the kids LOVE him. He gives me hives when he licks me but I forgive him. He's really THAT cute.

So, a bit on my level of cold today: It's supposed to hit -17 overnight. It's 5 right now. I've got the heat in the office set to 71. The thermostat says 70. My internal thermometer says it's time to buy a space heater for my office. I keep saying this and still I have no space heater. I blame the recession.

We ordered Matt's pictures yesterday. I mean, we ordered them over the weekend and actually paid for them yesterday. I want to cry about the money but they turned out so great I can't bring myself to tears over it. I can't wait to scan them in and get them posted!

Also, not moving. The place was gorgeous. Hardwood floors, whirlpool tub in the master, closets big enough to house slave laborers in. Perfection... on the surface. Underneath it was not put together as well as we'd like and we didn't want to commit to something like that without being 100% sure it was what we wanted. We're happy where we are, after all, so why up the rent, move, switch Ian's school and deal with a new landlord for less than an amazing place to live?

I am very, very tired. Since about Thanksgiving I've been having issues with my neck and, if I let myself get to a certain point, it is exceedingly painful. Painful to the point where I can't sleep well because lifting my head to turn it in the night wakes me. I've been taking Advil when it gets bad and Vicodin when it gets really bad... but for the most part I've kept it pretty controlled with stretches and conscious muscle relaxation when I'm getting ready to sleep. Also, I sleep with a pillow under my knees and a down pillow rolled up under my neck. Yes, I do have a neck pillow... it hurts. I can no longer sleep on my side. I can't sleep in any position other than flat on my back. This does not a happy Kyria make. Anyway, Mike and I were at Costco and found these great down alternative pillows and, since we needed new pillows anyway (seriously, we did), we went ahead and bought them. They didn't work out so well for me. No, not so much. I ended up waking with some fairly horrendous pain in the middle of the night to switch out my brand new pillow with my trusty old down one. I was sad and angsty and just generally not pleasant about it. I hurt all the next day (which was yesterday). 'Hurt' as in could barely move without some level of discomfort. So, when bedtime rolled around, I took a Vicodin. I obviously did not consider how my weekend of little sleep would impact me this morning. Needless to say, my lunch today will be spent curled up in my bed at home or with my head on my desk, happily passed out.

On another note, we're thinking of moving. More updates on this later.

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!

Christmas is just days away and I'm excited. Mike and I have been able to pull together a decent Christmas for the kids and that makes us both very happy.

It's well past Thanksgiving by now but I can't help feeling that it's the right time to be thankful. We've been so very fortunate. Mike ended up in a better situation than we could have hoped for after he lost his job in October. Most of the year we went through each day with almost constant anxiety... once the axe finally fell our lives just leveled out. Things just came together for us. I look at where we are now, compared to just a few short months ago, compared to so many people out there still struggling just to get by, and I feel blessed.

In the next few days I'll be sitting around taking pictures while my family opens presents, hoping my coffee isn't too strong for my dad, wondering when my sister will get here from Colorado Springs, estimating how long I have to finish the sweet potatoes before I head over to Megan's house for Christmas dinner. I'll be thinking of my closest friends and my absent family members, wishing they could be with us and hoping maybe next year. I will have joy... and I'll be hoping all those I love have it, too.

I have the cutest dog ever.

Can I just say my minivan is a pain in my ass? I mean, really. How much money, Mr. Minivan, do you think I have to throw your way? Oil leak we thought had been repaired started up again, turned out to be different (oil pan leaking) so we sent it in, AGAIN. We picked it up last night and got a few miles into the canyon before the 'check engine' light came on. See me annoyed. So, we turned around, drove back, Mike called the mechanic guy and told him about it, mechanic guy was astounded and said to leave it and they'd take care of it the next day. The next day is today and I asked Mike what the mechanic said. Well... get ready for it.

There wasn't enough coolant in the vehicle.

....

Now, I'm not a vehicle mechanic but... oil. Oil is not coolant. Coolant is a completely different system, right? I thought so. So, I ask Mike "did we have a coolant leak?" and Mike replied "no." So I ask, "did you ask him how we could have lost coolant?" and Mike replied "yes. He said he didn't know."

blink.

blink, blink.

Whatever. So long as it doesn't cost me money and it works when we get it back.

As an early Christmas present, Michael bought me EA Active for the Wii. I hurt ALL OVER.

That is all.