!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not one to use the Instant Message lingo of my generation, but at times, all you can think to say is: OMG.

So, as I've said, (by the way, we're still without internet; I'm at my mom's house again and this time she's feeding me!) Martin has picked up a second gig at University Bookstore as a way to gain a little extra cashola. Well, the main reason he jumped on board with this was to cover Christmas expenses, but as it turned out, we kept within budget wonderfully at Christmas, and didn't really need the extra money anyway. I thought he was saving his Bookstore money to buy himself a gun (a very specific gun, which is very cute and "Tombstone" looking, although I doubt he'd want me calling his gun of choice "cute" on the internet... so I will say that it is cute in the most manliest of ways) that he's wanted forever. This made sense to me, and plus, that's what he told me he was going to do. Not knowing I was married to such a liar, I naturally believed him.

Well, I'm not going to lie. The past week has been rrreeeeaaaaalllllyyyyyy hard. It's not his second job that is the problem. It's his second job on top of the fact that Anja has been going through some kind of really horrible phase and she's been really hard to deal with. She's very clearly not sick--she just hates the world. (Except this should all be explained as past-tense, because today she is magically back to her normal, chipper self.) We don't know if she's getting some teeth (I wanted to ask everyone on here, when do babies normally get more teeth, after the first 4?) or if it's Martin's absense that's making her crazy, but whatever the reason, she's been kind of a monster. We agreed that Martin wouldn't stay on through the spring, if that became an option, and that he also wouldn't go back for any more Book Rushes. (This is especially do-able because he found out on Friday that he's teaching a class at Ivy Tech!) Two gigs is enough, three seems a little extreme, and it just turned out to be too hard. Aaaanyway.... this was all agreed, and I was satisfied, although there is still at least another week of late nights at the Bookstore. WHICH IS FINE, because he committed to it, and he needs to stay until he's no longer needed. I wouldn't ask him to just leave them hanging, no matter how difficult our toddler is.

Okay, this story is getting long. Anyway, the other night Martin mentioned he was going to get me a present. I thought he was going to get me a "Cute Overload" calendar (www.cuteoverload.com) but I told him that was silly, I didn't need any sort of present. But last night we were driving Anja to sleep and he was very insistant that I drop him off at the mall. So I did. And I got Anja to stop screaming and to fall asleep, and when I came back, he was there at the door waiting for me

WITH A GORGEOUS RED KITCHENAID MIXER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were majorly on sale and he said he's wanted to get one for me since we were married. When we were doing our Christmas shopping he asked what color I'd have if I ever got one. It was not such an obvious question at the time--we just happened to be meeting up in the Homewares Department at Macy's, and the mixers were right there on a huge display. I thought nothing of it! I thought if he got me one it might be for next Christmas, or later than that.... but he got it for me last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I told him I really hope his New Years Resolution involved gaining A LOT of weight. The first thing I'm going to make are some Chocolate Cherry Molten Lava Cakes. I'll make bread all the time now that I don't have to mix in the flour by hand.

Oh, that's the thing I haven't mentioned. I've never had a mixer of any sort. I have a hand-mixer that was my grandma's that I can't make myself throw away, but it doesn't work. It never has! So up until now, for my whole life, I've been mixing things entirely by hand--which takes kind of a long time. And a lot of energy. So this opens whole new doors for me!!!! I'll be able to make bread dough during naptime! I'll be able to make desserts for dinner!! I'll be able to turn on the mixer, and things can still be mixing in the time it takes me to rescue Anja from killing herself when she's trying to climb up the pantry shelves!! I'm telling you: this is a wonderful thing.

I don't know how long he's been planning to spend his Bookstore money on me instead of on himself. But isn't that just the sweetest thing ever? His reasoning was that it was a lot harder for me that he had the second job than it was for him (even though he's the one eating balogna sandwiches for every meal) and while I think he's completely ridiculous and a big scumbag.... it's awfully wonderful!!!!!

But more on Anja--
Today she seems completely back to normal. After a week of complete awfulness (and I am not one to speak poorly of my children, but this was EXTREME) she started out on the same foot this morning, and then suddenly in the middle of mass her tantums magically ended and she became her old delightful self. It was SO WEIRD. It was as if it was a tooth that had been bothering her the whole week that finally punched through and didn't hurt her anymore. Except there aren't anymore teeth in her mouth... but it was SO BIZARRE. And now she's fine! We spent more than an hour at Vienna today and she was a total peach! I am soooo happy to have the old Anja back. I will make a Chocolate Cherry Molten Lava Cake just for her, to show her how grateful I am for returning to her old cheery self.

So the good thing about this bad week is that I really don't have any news to share and I never had anything to blog about until last night, even if I'd wanted to. Since Martin's working all the time the internet at our house is still out of order, but it doesn't matter much. And it won't matter for a long time, either, since I will be spending ALL of my free time baking from now on.

Did I mention the mixer is RED?! It looks soooooooooooo cute on my kitchen counter.

So anyway... that's my big news. I married such a great guy. If I were able to have a job, I would totally save all my money and buy him his perfect, shiny, cowboy pistol.

Oh, and as for Bananagrams, I was on a winning streak, but it broke last night and now Martin is really whooping me. It's SO ADDICTING!! We play every chance we get! We're actually LOSING SLEEP over this game!

Now it's time to read up on the lives of others. There's a slight chance I'll post some pictures after dinner, if I have my camera in my purse and have the time.