Thanksgiving Travel

If you are traveling for tomorrow's holiday, click here to see what you have in store for you:

http://www.elisasepicfail.blogspot.com/

HAHAHAHAHHAHHAAAA!

Making A List, and Checking It Twice

Every year, the Barnes clan creates and refines a very specific list to help with Christmas gift buying. Every single person in the family, including Grandma and Grandpa and assorted pets, all contribute to "the list." As commercialized as this sounds, having a list makes everyone's life easier. Aunt Sherri acts as list manager, and the children are never discouraged from putting anything on the list, no matter how extravagant. Some years, the list could make you cry if you put too much thought into it. I don't know how many years someone has listed "job," or in our case "baby." Some years the wishes are granted, and some items just stay perpetually on the list. Poor Alexis has had "dog" on her list every year since I've known her. Going on 8 years now. She's been optimistic enough this year to even specify a breed, (doberman) which I'm rooting for wholeheartedly. The dog people need to stick together.

This year, Uncle Daron has taken it upon himself to "help" the kids refine their lists. Items such as "a laptop" or "PSP with games" have been callously crossed out to reflect what Uncle Daron thinks they really need. After a quick glance at the boys list, I think I saw "Ritalin" and "a muzzle" as two not-so-helpful suggestions. Fortunately, the kids have a pretty good handle on Uncle Daron, and know when he's yanking their chain. I hope. Because, let's be honest- if Santa forgets to ever send us that baby on our list, these are the people that will be taking care of us in our old age. Hopefully they have a sense of humor!

No such thing as a free lunch

Poor long suffering Daron. For many years now, he’s borne the brunt of the many jokes levied against Team Barnes, and done so with relative grace and dignity. So in the spirit of Daron’s contributions, I submit to you one more humorous photo at his expense.

Working at a busy GYN practice, we often have drug reps and various other riffraff lobby for our business. Prescribe Yaz! Loestrin24 is better! Can we bring you lunch??!! Normally I would object to this sort of blatant buying-of-my-affection, but the lure of free Cheesecake Factory is too strong. Everyone has a price, and mine happens to be bowtie pasta, and keylime cheesecake. Oh, yeah, I totally stick them for dessert too. This works out well, because the portions are nice and large. Most of the ladies eat theirs two days in a row, but not me. This is my ticket to NOT fixing dinner that night!! Whoo Hooo!! Daron graciously eats what’s put in front of him, and nary a complaint. Everyone wins, right???

So what is it about a teensy little biohazard emblem that gets people so upset? It’s just a bag. There really isn’t any biohazard in there. I promise. You would think after 5 years of biohazard doggie bags, Daron would be used to this? Judging by the picture, I guess not.

Are you ready for some football?

This weekend was an exciting milestone in Daron's life- his first NFL football game! I had orginally tried to have it be a surprise for him, but since he's not content to just let things be, he had to figure it out ahead of time. I probably gave him too much advance notice, but when it comes to weekends during hunting season, I had to get on his calendar early. We made a nice weekend out of it, with a stay at the swanky Westin, some shopping, and dinner at a nice sushi restaurant. All in all a VERY fun weekend. The weather at the game was 73 degrees and sunny, and the Panther's won!!

Oh for the love...

Today was supposed to be D-Day. D as in "Deliver the Washer," or "Do the laundry." I say supposed to, because I'm out $539.10, and still have no working washer. Daron and I clearly differ on what constitutes a working washer.

2:21pm, Elisa calls home: Hi! Soooooooo. How does she look? Do I have a new washer?

Daron: Yes and No.

Elisa: What do you mean, yes and no? It's a simple question really.

Daron: Welllll. You know that thingy that hooks the hose to the wall? It's busted. I'm trying to figure out if it's something I can fix or not.

Elisa: (taking deep breaths) Do you understand the peril that we're in? Everything we own is dirty. I needed that thing to be hooked up TODAY.

Daron: You can wash clothes, you just have to wash them in cold.

Elisa: You can't wash clothes in cold, they don't get clean.

Daron: I washed everything in cold before I met you. You totally can do it.

Elisa: I gotta go.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Today is the day when we recognize the tremendous sacrifice of all of our veterans, past present and future. Freedom isn't free, and these men and women know that more than anyone. They leave their homes and loved ones, and travel to the ends of the earth to serve their fellow man.

My favorite veteran is my dad. He served a few years in the Navy, but spent his entire career as a civilian working for the Army at White Sands Missile Range. Those of you that know my dad, know that he's had the same military crew-cut since he was 11 years old. My friends used to affectionately call him "the colonel" because of his intimidating demeanor, and way of scaring potential suitors off with one stern look. Only the very best and brightest boys dated his daughters. Even then, only the very cream of that crop got to marry them! My dad is still a patriot, frequently donning his Navy uniform, and serving as part of the honor guard at Veterans funerals. I'm sure he considers it his great honor and privilege to do so.

Dad, we love you and sure are proud of you!! Thanks for instilling in us our love of God and country, and the respect for those that make our many freedoms possible.

Compromise?

Yeah, I wussed out. The techy, nerdy, shopaholic in me wanted the beautiful new front-loaders, with matching beautiful dryer, both in classy yet exotic color. The scrooge in me bought the same machine that I had before. Only 7 years newer. Oh yeah, the fact that I had mister stingypants whispering in my ear the whole time didn't help either. So yeah, new washer, but not excited. He baited me with the whole "the money we could save" thing, and slyly hinted at a new dishwasher as an enticing concession. How is it I came out sans beautiful washer/dryer, and NO dishwasher? He wisely played the Christmas card, which trumped my but-we-have-money-in-savings card. Well played Daron, well played.... Your ability to hang on to a dollar will be what keeps us from eating catfood in our old age.

Coincidence?

Ever watch NCIS? Gibbs would tell you that there's no such thing as a coincidence. Like the fact that my washer blows up 3 days before tax-free appliance weekend? Who knew that Obama's stimulus money was going to benefit me in any shape, form, or fashion... That being said, I've been researching consumer reports, and weighing the benefits of the good old fashioned top loaders (like I have. correction: HAD), or the fancy, pretty, colorful new front loaders that look so cool. Oh yeah, and cost double. One thing I've been reading pretty consistently is that people have problems with mold? Mold around the door, and seal? I need comments, people. Who loves theirs, and who hates theirs? And why?

Happy Halloween!

I know what you're thinking. KISS costumes are a risky choice for a ward Trunk-or-Treat. Right on the borderline between totally awesome, and "the bishop needs to see you." We talked a lot of trash last year about our costumes, only to be outdone by the Carlile family and their Ghostbusters/Slimer trifecta. This year, we enlisted the help of our friends to make sure we had a lock on "Best Costume." Nevermind that the Carliles added additional progeny this year, we still took home the prize!!Fortunately for us, our ward has a sense of humor, and there were no Bishop's summonses or releases from callings. It was quite a process, getting the boys costumes to this point. There were several construction meetings at our house to ensure continuity of theme. We sewed every single stitch ourselves. Plus, obscene amounts of cardboard, glue gun, bedazzler, and spandex!!!

So remember last year when I featured Sushi eating hotdogs? Apparently the menu hasn't changed, because Gene Simmons eats hot dogs too!!! Who knew??



These costumes were a tremendous amount of work, only to be worn for an hour. We decided that IHOP would be a worthy venue for our three rock stars to further debut their look. Being the night BEFORE Halloween, I'm sure we caught some people off guard, but the IHOP employees were good sports too! They were quite patient as several patrons took pictures with their IPhones.

Perhaps my favorite photo of the evening is one of our niece Alexis with her uncle Daron. Check out the pure humiliation! Being related to people that aren't "normal" must be a real strain for her. She bore it somehow, and managed to show her face at the IHOP with us.

Thanks again to everyone that played along with us, and helped perpetuate this Halloween spectacle. And an honorable mention to the Carliles, who were such good sports, even in defeat! Your Captain Crunch/ SnapCracklePop/ TrixRabbit/LuckyCharm were flawlessly executed, but ultimately no match for Rock and Roll Royalty...