12 Things I Learned in 2012

12. Not everybody wants equality/civil rights for all. Ahem.....Mittens. Thankfully the majority of this country said otherwise.

11. I really want a dog.

10. Paint water is really gross. (Refer to BYOB Paint class entry....)

9. Everybody needs a good vacation.

8. There is good in this world.

7. Don't believe everything you hear.

6. Buy local. Support local.

5. Give more.

4. Sometimes a night at home on your couch feels just as good as a night out with all your friends.

3. Give more compliments.

2. It's ok to say no!

1. There is nothing quite like your family and true friends.

Happy New Year!!!! Cheers to 2013!

Santa Claus Was Good to Me

Over my 33 years, Santa has always been good to me. Looking back however the most memorable gift Santa has ever left me was a Barbie Doll House. My Dad constructed it and then my Grandma McCreedy handpainted it.  My Dad took carpet swatches and wall paper from some neighbors down the street. My parents were certain I had not stepped foot in the Crackers house however apparently I had because I quickly commented how cool it was that my Barbie Doll House had the SAME WALL PAPER as the Crackers did! Baffled my parents for sure!

I guess back at that time the Fairfield Ledger staff had very little to write about, actually not sure that has changed, anyhow, that year, I believe, 1985 they came and took a picture of the Foss children and their santa gifts of which we posed through the windows of my doll house.  My mom told the most hilarious story over the weekend that after that picture was published somebody in town came up to her and asked when they adopted an "Asian child" because one of the children in the picture had slanted eyes. Well that would have been me and it was shortly after my Myasthenia Gravis surfaced and I started having crossed eyes. Gotta love small towns!

In all seriousness, this is a gift I will treasure forever and ever.

What is JOY?

JOY. It's a word used often this time of the year. As I was packing up my JOY sign yesterday I was thinking about what JOY means.

Websters defines this as the emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune or by the process of posessing what one desires.  The expression or exhibition of such emotion. A state of happiness or felicity. A source or cause of delight. 

To me JOY is a lot of things. It's seeing your siblings when you only get to see them 2-3 times a year. It's walking into your parents house (HOME) after not being there for awhile. It's a home cooked meal. It's a text or phone call from a friend you haven't talked to in awhile. It's happy hour on a patio on a warm sunny day. It's the start of a long awaited vacation. Hearing good news or getting a long awaited answer.  It's pay day or being able to chat with my little friends or munchkins! JOY means so many things to me.  Here's to hoping your 2013 is filled with JOY everyday!

3rd Annual Greater Kansas City MGA Walk, Run and Roll Updates

I have not done an update on the plans for the 3rd Annual Greater Kansas City MGA Walk, Run and Roll for some time. We are making great progress and moving forward which is very exciting! 

We have several sponsors already including Adams Land and Cattle, Casey's Auto Repair, Vince O'Halloran American Family Insurance, Foss Kuiken Cochran, PC, Tom and Clarisa McMahon, Lori and Tim Patterson and Julie Foss.  If you are interested in becoming a sponsor which is a donation of $250 or more you can contact me at fossallison@yahoo.com.  This is also a great time to make year end contributions and you can do so online here.

Also our registration has gone live and you can click here to register for the run!

We hope you'll join us on April 6, 2013! We have a great team and are so excited to raise more awareness to such a widely unknown diease.  As always, thanks for your neverending support!

Wordless Wednesday

One of the best guilty pleasures in town... Loaded Tator Tots from Bar Louie! To die for. Banana peppers, queso and tator tots. What more could you ask for?

Can we start this week over?

This has been a bad day. Let me just start with yesterday I accidentally put rice in the garbage disposal. The garbage disposal is about as sensitive as they come and anything that it doesn't like to digest usually ends up coming back up in the mudroom drain or flooding the mudroom with water. So the later happened today and my mudroom was full of water. On the downside at least rice wasn't floating. I haven't eaten cole slaw since 2007 when it was floating in the mudroom. Anyhoo.....

Fast forward from the plumbing issues on Riggs street to a fun part of my job, delivering donated Christmas gifts to the individuals on my caseload. I was happily doing this this afternoon, running around without a coat on in this semi balmy December weather when I noticed that everytime I started the Jeep it was making a terrible sound and then finally it would stall and have to be re-started.  Enter several thoughts, why the hell do I always have car trouble and secondly this would be a really good time to have a husband to deal with crap like this and lastly, I DO NOT have time for this right now. 

By the 3rd stop when I was in the ghetto of Johnson County, yes there is one, and it did this I figured best call Casey's Auto. Sweet Mr. Casey, said to come in and he'd check it out. In the meantime I called my college friend who works for Enterprise for a car rental.  I specifically told him 2 things- don't put me in a Kia or a PT Cruiser and we laughed and laughed.  Well guess who's laughing now in a fire engine red 4 door hatchback clown car. Yes, me. Horrified. I want to pull that thing in the garage for the next several days and not go anywhere and I can't hide behind tinted windows because there is no tint on this thing. And the seat mover up and backer doesn't exactly work so I'm sitting pressed against the damn steeling wheel. It's quite the sight I'm sure. Oh yes, and I can barely see over the steering wheel. Get the picture?! Now all while I wait to see what the heck is wrong with my Jeep and try not to worry and pray my warranty will cover whatever is wrong, I have to be reminded of all the things right in my life.  I can laugh at the clown car and rejoice in the fact I wasn't stalled in the ghetto, the fact that I have a license to drive, even if it is a clown car, legs to be a lead foot (right Dad?) and eyes to see so I don't take the side mirrors off going in and out of my garage. With the events of Friday in CT what right do I have to complain really? About anything? Seriously, I have no right to complain. I need to suck it up and put on my big girl pants.  And with that I remind myself Don't Quit.....

 

3.5 days and counting.....

This sums up how I am feeling about my freedom after about 3.5 maybe 4 days of work left this week which leads into a 2 week long vacation........

Sunday Sound Off

There are no words for what happened in CT on Friday. I shut off the news. I can't even stand to see coverage about it.  It's a sorry world we live in where in Overland Park, KS where it's legal to carry a concealed weapon but if you start your car and leave it running while not in it that's illegal. A lot of lives forever changed.

Montreal Steak Seasoning has got to be one of the greatest seasonings in the world. I hate cooking with chicken because I always think it tastes so blah. Well this week I coated chicken in the Montreal Steak Seasoning before I cooked it- SO GOOD!

Love the people God gave you because one day he will need them back.

In the past two weeks I have gotten 2 phone books on my front porch. Who uses a phone book anyway. Seriously?

You know now that I'm back into cubicle hell at work, we have a whistler. Talk about annoying when you are trapped in an area with 60+ people!

Collect moments, not things.

It's the time of the holiday season where I can start to distribute some of the gifts I have purchased for those I love. I love giving gifts more than anything AND I'm proud to say that this year I have not told anybody what I got them before giving it, YET!

I had a meeting in Lawrence this week and it made me miss Iowa State. The carefree days of drinking mugs of Amaretto Sours with my friends...

A friend of mine is starting a home inspection business. She offered to inspect my home for free as a practice.  I'm a little scared of what she will find.

What will you do today that will make you proud in a year?

It's gonna be a great week and a short one before the holiday and 2 weeks off! And I'm really excited to see Freddy, oh I mean the Cyclones when they play UMKC this week in KC! Cheers!

Dilemma

When running into Kansas Sampler for a last minute Christmas gift and faced with this dilemma what do you do?  Only 2 parking spots left, one for Jayhawk fans and one for Nebraska fans, which one do you park in? Why yes, the Nebraska fans spot.  Sorry friends who actually went to KU, post not intended to offend you. I'm talking about the super fans......

Friday Delivery

My sweet friend Becca made a Friday door step delivery of my new most favorite bottle of wine, Gnarly Head Authentic White! It just came out in stores but due to Becca's work we were able to sample it in large quantities in October! Get yourself some. You won't be disappointed.....

Wordless Wednesday

On a recent trip home I was up at the Elks Lodge. I  had to snap a picture of their happy hour menu. TOTINO's pizza- you know the .99 cent pizzas that you ate in college! Seriously couldn't stop laughing....

Monday Musings

I don't like cold weather and because of that it's the time of year that I start to become a hermit.
 
If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough.

The Vince and Associates office building on Metcalf has got to have the most obnoxious Christmas lights display.

Seems like when I was little the Advent Calendar was really popular in getting to count the days til Christmas. Now it seems to be the Elf on the Shelf....

And one other Christmas thought- inflatable decorations are not cute, in fact they are not classy. I am quite disturbed that approximately every 3 house on my street has them.

New favorite lunch I saw on Pinterest, cottage cheese, topped with sliced avocado and cherry tomatoes. YUM.

I also saw this on Pinterest and thought it was hilarious, "Don't keep calm, raise hell and change the world!"

There are approximately 9 working days until a 2 week vacation. I have NEVER taken 2 weeks off from work. I might be slightly excited.....

So my Christmas cards this year are postcards. It is impossible to get a postcard stamp I discovered without waiting in line at the post office. Christmas card fail.

Ok, sorry, one other Christmas thought, this December has been so hectic and busy I'm not finding a day to bake all my Christmas goodies and that makes me kind of sad. Perhaps it makes my jeans very happy though.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

So it's Monday And I have a meeting at 7:30 across town. Nothing says welcome to paradise like that, huh? Just kidding. Cheers to another week and the countdown to spending several days with those I love.

BYOB Art Class

Last week I took my 2nd BYOB Art Class at the Hook Gallery. I'm pretty sure that we can add drinking and painting as one combination that I don't succeed at.  Especially after one glass of vino when I mistook my paint water for my wine and took a big chug. Ended up with hands of blue paint and I wasn't even using blue paint! But what fun it was! A second painting for the garage.....

The stockings were all hung

Looking forward to spending extended time with my family in a few weeks for the holiday season! As you can see we've added a few new stockings this year. Even one for a very special dog!

It's official........

With these sparkly shoes, I am my Grandma Foss' granddaughter!

Elvis for NYE?

 

I think so! Memphis here we come!

My other new buddy.....

Meet Kaspar! Finally got to meet him at Thanksgiving! (and give him his woofie cushion!)

Life's Instructions (as seen on Pinterest)

I saw this on Pinterest over the weekend. I love stuff like this and it brought a smile to my face! What are your life instructions?

Sunday Soundoff

My Dad made the Wall Street Journal last week- pretty cool!. Click here to view.

Why are so many people worried about Twinkies? I haven't had one since like 1988.  Isn't America already obsese enough?

Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.

As I was flying last week I was thinking, we might as well all go to the airport in a swim suit and then start dressing after you go through security. Wouldn't that be a beautiful sight?

Don't talk politics with your friends after you've been drinking. Right Kara? :)

Believe it or not you can already register for the 3rd Annual Greater Kansas City MGA Walk, Run and Roll! Click here if you wanna be ahead of the game and register!

Waiting for somebody else to make you  happy is the best way to make you sad.

I love the church I go to.  This morning as a prelude to the sermon they showed a clip from the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Pretty much my favorite movie ever.

I love coupon shopping. 

I also love when the Christmas cards start rolling in.  It's so fun to see how friends and families change and grow over the year.

The 3 C's in life, choices, chances and changes.....You must make a Choice to take a Chance or your life will never Change.

A dear college friend had a birthday this week (hi Linds) and when we texted back and forth mentioned a memory from our 21st's and Amaretto Sours. I haven't thought about that drink in YEARS. How much fun it is when a taste can put a smile on your face.

Cheers to the 1st week of December and the lovely warm weather!

Adventures in Dog Sitting.....

I agreed to dog sit for 2 puppies.  Yes, call me crazy and possibly brain dead. It's been an ovely entertaining weekend.  I've only cleaned up poo from my floor 20 times. My mom did the other 2 and the large dump on my curtains! Thanks Mom!  It's actually been very fun and these puppies are so little they have trouble getting up and down my deck stairs and stairs to my mud room. Very cute!