I finally got Matt to dance on camera!!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thank you to Emily/Jen for introducing me to this!

why I will no longer set foot in my garage

Last night was going pretty well. Matt and I drove home from Houston and stopped by HEB on the way home. When we got home, I continued my domestic domination by baking the most delicious almond crusted salmon and a cherry pie! We cleaned up the house, started doing laundry and getting ready for the week.

For about 6 months the door knob to our pantry has been loose, so I decided that last night was the time to fix that. I was going to need a screwdriver, and that was in the garage. My original instinct was to ask Matt to go get the screwdriver, and he of course said that he would do it. But usually when I ask for favors like that, I mean "now." "Now" for Matt means whenever he finishes what he is doing, or it means a minimum of 5 minutes from now. I could tell Matt wasn't gonna budge, so I put on my shoes and headed to the garage for the screwdriver... opened the door... turned on the light, and boldly started to walk across the garage, when I spotted a little friend...A RAT!!!!

I slammed the door and began jumping and screaming bloody murder for a solid 30 seconds till I lost my breath, and then when I got my breath back, I screamed again for another 10 seconds or so, and then I started crying. Matt probably thought there was an armed robber in the house or something. Well it gets better...

The pest control came out to inspect the house today and concluded that we probably had an infestation of rats... a whole little community making a home in our attic, pooping everywhere and nesting in the insulation. His exact quote was, "They're pretty happy up there." Apparently they've had to come out to over 100 houses in our neighborhood recently. He said if they haven't found a way INTO the house yet that they will soon enough. Vomit!!!!

I am no longer parking in the garage. I am also spending as much time as possible on top of beds and couches... these feet are not going on the floor unless I have to walk, and I will only do that with my running shoes on.

On top of this, nothing makes me want to cook LESS than knowing that there is a rodent nearby. They don't let it happen at restaurants, so why would I do it at my house? And I had big plans for making some yummy Thanksgiving food this week. Oh well- I am taking a hiatus from the domestic lifestyle until all the critters are GONE.

No, Hell has not frozen over... but Austin, Tx has.

Since Sunday I have cooked 1) a pot roast, 2) a delicious peach cobbler (pictured), 3) yummy and spicy tortilla soup, 4) banana bread, and tonight I am making lasagna - my first time ever not to buy a frozen one.

grouper or groper?

Yes, we did just have this conversation. And no, the "groping" was not what you're thinking, you sicko!

Matt: Quit groping me.

Leah: Sorry, I'm a groper. That's what I do. I grope.

Matt: No, a groper is a fish... you are not a fish.

Leah: No, smarty, you're thinking of a grouper.

this needs to be told

I was reminded of a story the other day that I have yet to blog about, but it is totally worthy.

A few months ago, I picked Matt up after work to go to a meeting for church that was really close to his office. The meeting started at 7, lasted till 8:30 or so, and then after it was over we went to Jason's Deli for a fancy dinner date. After dinner, I dropped Matt back off at his office so that he could drive his own car home.

I left, drove home, and started putting the laundry away. About ten minutes after I got home, I started to wonder what was taking Matt so long, but I didn't try to call him or anything. Twenty minutes later I heard the doorbell ring. I opened the door, and our friend/neighbor, Justin, was standing there.

Justin: "You need to go pick up Matt; he left his keys in your car."

Leah: "Are you serious?"

Justin: "Yes."

Leah: "Dang it, Matt!!!!"

Justin: "Sorry."

So I checked my phone and, sure enough, I had missed about 5 calls from Matt while it was on silent. I drove 10 minutes back to Matt's office to find him sitting there- pitifully locked outside of his office and his car. These types of things are normal occurrences for us.

role reversal- what happens when Matt does the chores?

I love Matt. You will also love him more after this post. This morning, he woke up and voluntarily started doing some chores around the house. He really is a very helpful husband. However, the way he went about completing those chores left me with some serious blog material.

Exhibit A: Laundry. Matt sorted the laundry all on his own this morning. I was helping him switch out the loads, and I found three white socks in the dark load, a couple of dark socks in the light load, and some of the same shades of yellow and blue in both separate loads. Now I know that he's color blind, but I am confident that white is distinguishable from color. I concluded that Matt doesn't so much sort the laundry according to color as much as he just arbitrarily separates it.

When it comes to folding the laundry, we usually do that together. I pointed out to Matt today that he always skips over my clothes and only folds his. His response was, "That's what I feel most comfortable with." Ha.

Exhibit B: Cleaning up the kitchen. This is only funny because if Matt has to put away something that is not an "everyday item" then he typically does not know where it belongs. He usually asks me, and I usually make him guess. I love watching him open drawer after drawer to try to figure it out. It's almost as if it was his very first time in our kitchen.

Exhibit C: Making the bed. I'll just let the pictures below illustrate what "making the bed" means to Matt.

No, this is not how it's supposed to look.

You're welcome.

Meet Dashing David

Allow me to introduce you to my brother, David. He's 22 and the youngest of the three Buescher children. He just graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Accounting (that degree runs in our family), and he just got a job with a commercial real estate company in The Woodlands, Texas.

If real estate doesn't work out for David, I'd suggest he consider a career in stand-up comedy. He is most famous in our family for his humor and his accurate impersonations of almost anyone, including me. Everyone has a reason to feel a tad bit self-conscious around David because he is most likely paying more attention to the way you say your words than to what you are actually saying. Most likely, if you know him he does have an impersonation of you, but usually only very close friends and family members know about it.

David did grow up with two sisters, so we are probably to blame for the fact that he is a little more conscious of his appearance than the average male. I think he has more shoes and shirts than I do. He goes shopping on his own, which I thought was pretty normal for a guy until Matt came along. Also, he has expensive taste, which he most definitely inherited from my dad.

As the youngest, David has always been unashamed to ask our parents and grandparents for things he wants. Spring break trips, designer watches, etc. - he's taken full advantage of being the youngest.

David is also a good conversationalist. He can do the small talk pretty well, but he prefers deeper conversation. He's relatively good at analyzing people and situations, so that sort of stuff usually comes up when he gets in the mood for deep conversations. Side note- my mom loooooves analysis, and so she loves trying to have deep conversations with David.

From what I've experienced, David should not try to be a professional golfer, athletic ability aside. Although in his most recent years, he has matured a lot, I am afraid he might be susceptible to impatience, anger, and some slight profanity on the golf course. Let's be honest, I would probably not fare well as a golfer myself - nor would anyone else in my family.

David has a tender-heart, a pretty face, and a traditionally messy room and car. Over the last year, David has matured a whole lot. He's becoming a man, and he will make a great husband and father whenever that time comes! We wove our wittle Mavers. (My mom calls him Mavers.)

Monday's Fabulous Moment of the Day (X2)

The first fabulous moment of the day happened this morning at about 3:45 am, when I woke up restless in the middle of the night. I walked out into the living room (pitch black), and reached for the switch to the lamp. "Click... click..." Annnnnd...darkness. Thank you, Matt.

The second fabulous moment of the day happened tonight, when I was trying to get Matt to dance on camera. (Oh I haven't forgotten.) I agreed to go "on the record" with my own dance moves as an encouragement to him. See below. (And excuse my hubby who filmed sideways.)



I was trying to sing the song, "Dangerous" by Akon.

And here's the second try.

The last shall be first. Meet Maddie!

Allow us to introduce you to MADELINE, the 7th child born to Matt's parents. Maddie just turned 11, and she is in 5th grade.

What you need to know about Maddie.

• Maddie's energy level is unsurpassed, except by her mother. For about the first five years that I'd come over to the Gibson house, Maddie (and her big sister Mary) would inevitably start doing dance routines, hand stands, and all sorts of gymnastics in the living room. She is also the youngest triathlete I know, and the only 11 year old I've ever met who willingly goes running for fun. She begs to participate in races like the Turkey Trot (5 miles) and the Cap 10K (6 miles). Crazy little lady.
  
• Another thing about Maddie is that she LOVES playing games of all sorts. Card games, board games, pool, ping pong, you name it. Sweet Maddie often has to put up with the old boring people (like me) who don't get quite as excited about the games as she does.
• A girl after my own heart, Madeline loves her planner and to-do lists. One of my favorite things about Madeline is that she used to (and maybe still does) write notes to herself at night before she'd go to sleep to remind herself of all of the things she needed to do in the morning before school. This was taking place as early as 3rd grade. Beautiful.
• Youngest? Yes. But don't mess with Maddie. She's strong and physical, and she's not afraid to show it. If you don't believe me, just ask Mary. Feisty she is.
  

• Something else I personally appreciate about Madeline is that she has picked up on some of Matt's facial expressions and learned to mimick them. When Matt gets frustrated, he sticks his tongue out about 1/5th of the way and bites it. I thought I might be the only one to notice this, but observant Madeline has also pointed it out.
• Maddie is an excellent dancer, swimmer, and student. She's very smart (and she knows it). She's also very beautiful. Oh, and she likes to whistle. We love Madeline!

(This picture was taken almost 3 yrs ago at our wedding. Mads has grown a lot since then.)

blogging is therapeutic

I finally remember what it's like to get my hopes up again. I reeeeeeeeeeally don't like Texas Tech... at all. And I REALLY don't like Alabama. And as my grandmother pointed out, Mike Leech looks like a parrot...an ugly parrot. So not only for Matt's sake, but also for my own sake, I really wanted Texas to win tonight. Normally I would sit on the couch and try really hard not to get my hopes up. I'd normally make pessimistic comments about how Texas will screw up and yada yada. This saves me from having to be embarrassed or disappointed. But tonight I went all out for the Burnt Orange. And now I remember what it feels like to be disappointed. Deep breath. UGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile Matt and our friends Evan and Jess got a glimpse of what it might be like when I have a child playing sports. I might pull my hair out at little league games. My kids will probably have to cry to Matt when they lose in sports. I will make them do pushups when they lose.

I need to go to sleep.

Meet the Families

I had a brilliant idea. Over the next few weeks (or however long it takes), I am going to be introducing all of you to our immediate family members. We will write an individual blog post for each of our brothers and sisters and parents. We will probably do in-laws and nephews (since there are only two) as well. This might be a daunting task since Matt has six siblings, but I am looking forward to it. It is time we bring the familial idiosyncrasies into the light. Get excited.