All My Mom Wants for Thanksgiving is Her Two Front Teeth

We had an interesting Thanksgiving.

Let me set up the story by telling you the nemesis behind the story. My parents have a wolf head hat - a hat made of a real wolf head. They got it when we were in Alaska several years ago. It's fun to pull out occasionally. Macy is terrified of it. Now my mom is too. 

Megan and I playing around with the wolf hat several years ago 

They display it on a stone head statue - probably weighing 15-20 pounds. Wednesday night my mom was getting something out of a closet and the wolf head/statue combo fell. Her mouth took the brunt of it - knocking out her two front teeth and, four hours at the emergency room later, giving her eight stitches.

My mom originally had capped teeth, so that's what broke off. So what she was left with were the two little chiseled down pieces her capped teeth were affixed to. I tell you this part of the story because this conversation was funny.

Wendy: "So what did mom look like."

Kalin: "Like she got jumped."

Wendy: "LOL. So she had no teeth?"

Kalin: "Well she had the little stubs of real teeth."

Wendy: "Oh."

Kalin: "She looked like a vampire. A homeless vampire." 

Wendy: Erupts with laughter

My dad also called her a meth head. He's apparently watched too many after-school specials on what meth does to you and your teeth. 

Lucky for mi madre, my cousin's husband and our dentist, took her to his office yesterday morning and three hours later whipped up some temporary front toofers for her. 

In light of everything, my dad ate and ran at my aunt and uncle's and my mom stayed home since she couldn't eat and didn't want to gross everyone out with her stitches. So the rest of the family decided to show her how much we missed her. 

We e-mailed it to her from the gathering and she loved it, signing it "Love Mom on Meth." 

It was definitely a turkey day to remember. 

I also have to mention this. While my dad was on the phone with me, dentist Greg, my grandma, etc., our friends from Michigan called. They just found out the newest addition to the family, born about a month ago, has Down's Syndrome. Our thoughts go out to them.

Needless to say, it wasn't the best Thanksgiving. But I did wake up to a text message from Sarah and Jeff saying they welcomed their son to the world this morning around 1 a.m. And I'm about to clean out the storage room and watch the 'skers dominate the buffs with free beer and pizza (Thanks, Hites!) so hopefully things are turning around and the bad things are behind us this holiday season. 

50 years old a still a little hottie

Barbie, wrinkle-less, grey-hair-less and still 36-18-38, has turned 50. My mom is so jealous. (Kidding, ma.)

Mattel, creators of the iconic doll, have put together a great video paying tribute to Barbie through the years. Any former or current Barbie lover should check out the piece. You can actually stop the video and click on Barbie things you had or wanted: her horses, the beauty parlor, Corvette - you name it. There's a polling feature, where you can click if you "had it" or "wanted it." You can also share your favorite Barbie memory. I think I always had my Ken and Barbie dolls make out. I'd never confess that on a Web site, though.

Sing it String Beans

I love Nebraska.

I love catchy little ditties.

I now love the String Beans and this piece.

Regrets

I try to live with no regrets.

But I might just regret not going to NKOTB this week.

The Gift of Giving

I'm going off memory here, but in the last two months we've written checks to at least:

Habitat for Humanity
Arthritis Foundation
Boys & Girls Club
Kappa Kappa Gamma
YWCA
Special Olympics
United Way

And while that's all good and dandy, and I am sure my money is going to great programs and services, it was the giving six of my friends and I did last night that really made me feel fulfilled.

Maybe it's because I was with dear friends and we decided to turn girls night out into doing good. Maybe it's because The Food Bank stayed open late to accommodate us and were so appreciative our our time. Maybe it's because I could SEE what my efforts were doing - the massive unorganized cardboard boxes were getting smaller and categorized boxes were getting filled, sealed, stacked and new ones started.

I drove home last night with a great feeling radiating through me (until I got honked at - I don't think I cut him off). I thank my friends and The Food Bank for a sense of accomplishment. I'll continue to write checks as long as I am financially able, but I can't overlook the gift of giving time. While it seems like we could use a lot more time, it's something everyone can give - regardless if you are 8 1/2 months pregnant, have kids at home, work full time - whatever! We proved that last night.

I'd just like to close by saying I love my friends :-).

Bump on 'da Head

If I had time yesterday to blog about me walking straight into the bathroom stall door - I'm talking side of it, not the front or back - I would have. But since I didn't have time to blog about it, just know that's where the knot on my forehead came from.

I'm going to shit, I tell 'ya.

A Victorious Saturday

What a fun, busy Saturday we had! The football game was AWESOME! Not going to lie, I thought Mangino and his Jayhawks were going to eat, I mean beat, us. We showed them! It was cold but thankfully Emilie let me borrow her super warm Husker-red ski jacket that kept me nice and toasty.

After the victory we hurried back to Omaha and caught The Eagles live and in concert. What a fabulous show they put on! (Plus it never hurts to watch a concert in a suite at the Qwest Center.)

Man, I love the weekend. Is it Saturday yet?

My favorite pawlitician

I'm Macy Fitch and I approve this message.

Better Late than Never

I 'spose it's time to talk about Wine 'Til Nine 2008, held Oct. 23. All in all, it was a great success. We raised more than $47,000 for the cause and had a great time. Thanks to everyone who came, donated or provided silent auction items. Fortunately, Trevor and I had better luck at the silent auction this year (i.e. not buying things the other one donated, not breaking an ornament immediately upon getting it home, etc.). The Hites came away with an awesome Annie M's original painting. She's so good!

Click on the image below for a brief review in the Omaha World-Herald.

Going for the Gold

Shawn and Bela were named champions at the Hites annual Halloween Hoopla. While we pulled off a win, there was some stiff competition. Speaking of stiff...the splits were not quite as easy to do as they were 10 years ago. Ouchie.

Macy was a hula girl for Halloween. She got the belly dance (aka begging) down!

Quotes of the night included but were not limited to:

"Hi, I'm Shawn Johnson." 

"Come on, Nas!" 

"She is an Olympic Champion."

Some great costumes, including Shawn Johnson & Bela Karolyi, Josh Hite, Pharm.D., professional figure skating pair, Juno and Bleeker, "blackmail," O!, Busch Light, Juno and Flava Flav, Dr. Rey and patient from Dr. 90210, Jillian and Bob and Wilma Flinstone. Costumes continue in other photo...

Wanted to make sure  you could see Fred, Sandy and Napoleon. 

That's straight up embroidered.