That glorious song of old

Here are my Christmas Highlights. It just got real in here, yo. 

The English dinner at Jack and Danielle's. Jack made Beef Wellington and Yorkshire Pudding. And treacle tart. I normally avoid pie like creations like the plague, but my loyalty to all things Harry Potter forced me to try it. It was actually really good:)

Christmas at Milford Branch. I always forget how much I love singing Christmas Hymns.

The amazing gift from my parents. (I don't have pictures for some reason)

An incredible Christmas dinner and quality time with 'crazy Danielle'. I LOVE crazy Danielle.

24 hours with the 4 craziest kids on Earth. We made more than one anniversary cake. We barked like puppies in the Walmart parking lot. We laid on the grass and looked up at the stars. It was...amazing.

Watching another hour of 'Jane Eyre' with my brother. We have made it through 2 of 4 hours. I had to explain AGAIN what a governess does. At which point he said " I am watching Jane Eyre, but I don't have to understand it". Oh Junior. 

An untold number of hours at my parents; watching low quality TV, wrapped up in a blanket, drinking hot chocolate and feeling completely at peace. 

Lori Ann

Bells will be ringing

It's almost time for me to go home for Christmas! 

Of course, I was home last weekend, so it's not exactly a call to roll out the red carpet:)

My dad's making steak and shrimp on Christmas day, we are opening presents after church and probably spending a fairly crazy day with the kids. Everyone will be home. 

Only one thing will be missing. 

Erin.

Christmas isn't anywhere near the same without Eri. 

She listens to me, does projects with Danielle, and always makes plans with Junior. 

She brings light and happiness to our home. 

Spending one day with Erin gives me the feeling of having taken a two week vacation. 

She is Christmas magic. 

I wish you could be home, Eri. 

Merry Christmas. 

Lor

5 Things

5 Things You Don't Know About Me

1. I've lived in 8 different states. Pennsylvania the longest, Colorado the shortest. 

2. I'm really good at memorizing things. But only if they are obscure and pointless. Like movie dialogue and weird facts.

3. I can always predict that it's going to rain, but not with any degree of certainty as to exactly when. So, yeah..not so useful.

4. I truly believe that there is an episode of Seinfeld about every life situation.

5. I am completely honest when I say that I would love to marry a gay man:)

5 Things I'm Knowledgeable About

1. Axis 1 mental health diagnoses

2. Harry Potter.

3.  The Philadelphia Eagles and football in general.

4.  Historical Romance novels and their Authors. My favorite is Lisa Kleypas. 

5.  The Poems of Emily Dickinson. I've read every single one. Two words: Nature, Death.

5 Things I Know Nothing About

1.  Oliver Cromwell. I guess he's important but I can't ever remember for what.

2.  Stocks and Wall Street. My dad tries to explain it to me, but I'm like "wait..so, can I go buy a stock? And then they send it to me? How does it work again?"

3.  Fashion. I like it, but I don't understand it. And 7 seasons of Project Runway have brought me no closer.

4.  Mechanics. I don't know a transmission from a tire iron.

5.  Entertaining. I want to entertain but I can't figure out how to do it. Finger foods or a meal? What will people talk about? What time should the party be?? AHHHH!!!

5 Things I Believe

1.  I believe that everyone would benefit from therapy.

2.  I believe that blond haired and blue eyed babies are the cutest.

3.  I believe that when you become a pet owner it creates a bit of a social disconnect. Kind of like having kids. No, I don't want to hear about your puppy again, thanks.

4.  I believe so strongly that everyone should read the Harry Potter books. It's one of my strongest held beliefs.

5. I believe that God loves you where you are.

Lori Ann

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

My weekend in pictures

My uncle got my parents cats some catnip for Christmas. Thomas (aka "Lord Tubbington" and "the fat one") stood at the bottom of the stairs for I-kid-you-not FIVE minutes, staring blankly. Merry Christmas, indeed.

   
 I got to complete my goal of doing something crazy and Christmassy with the kids. We made hot chocolate and peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses. And according to some we made a "mess". Whatever. We let our haters be our motivators! 

 

My sister Erin sent our nieces Christmas dresses. I don't think my nieces really needed any further confirmation of their princesses status, but if they did, these dresses gave it to them. They LOVED them and twirled and twirled. They looked like Christmas angels. 

I watched A Christmas Story with my parents and Junior. It never ceases to make me laugh. 

Thanks to a certain blogger friend,(you know how you are), my Post Secret app addiction continues. This secret (if you can call it that) was my favorite today. 

I've been making Christmas trees. The one white is a bit avante-garde, eh? 

It's Christmas Week, people!! I hope you have the MERRIEST week ever!! 

Lori Ann

p.s.- On a strangely serious note-  I can't express how much joy it brings me to spend the holidays with my family. I feel closer to God when I am with them and I hope they know how much I appreciate their love and support. 

Tell Lori that I love her

I've told the story of my name countless times. How my parents didn't decide until I was born, and how they choose my name from a soap opera. 

Today,  for some reason, I was filled with an inexplicable curiosity about exactly WHO I was named after. 

I can't say for 100% sure, but the girl in the big picture on this Soap Opera Digest, she played a character named Lori Brooks, on the Young and the Restless in 1979.

So...there she is. The girl I was named after. 

Now..back to making these!! These are the most fun Christmas crafts I have made in years!!

Lori Ann

And so this is Christmas

I haven't gotten  very much accomplished on my Christmas "to do" list.

Work and life have just taken over, I guess.

But that changes as of tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I am throwing myself full tilt into the Christmas season and having a magical week before Christmas. 

Feliz Navidad, people!!

Lori Ann

Truly Random

I don't dedicate enough blog posts to my various injuries.

I am slightly prone to cuts, burns, etc. My dad would say it's because I don't pay attention to what I am doing. 

This is my latest injury. Pretty sweet, eh?

Anyway, back to reporting on the Christmas magic tomorrow!!

Lori Ann

Beautiful and Strange

I just got back from my weekend at home. Here's what went down...

1. I heard the two most epic talks in LDS church history. For reals.

2. And by "epic" I mean the following things were mentioned: infant sacrifice, the zombying effects of Ritalin, what kind of snow tires to get if you move to Vermont, the importance of trading your pain pill buzz for some excellent Motrin, and how pride is easily swapped for charity.

3. My baby James got baptized! It only took 2 dunkings:) It was not your run of the mill baptism, which was perfect, because James isn't your run of the mill kid. I can't believe he's 8!

4. I attempted my long dreamed of armoir tent at my sisters house. It was unsuccessful. But me, Junior, and 3 of the 4 Monrobie babies still watched Return of the Jedi on blu-ray:)

5. I watched the new fear factor at my parents. My dad always tells me that 'this crap is rotting your brain'. As if watching people eat live scorpions could be anything less than educational:)

It just got real in here. Oh Snap.

Lori Ann

But right from the start

My less blogged about niece and nephew (Erin's babies): Pumpkin and Buster

It's my sister Erin's birthday today!!!

You faithful readers of my blog know what that means..it's blog tribute time!!

Erin is a rescuer.

If she were a Harry Potter character, she would be a Healer.

She saves left behind animals and befriends left behind people.

She brings the fun to our family. When she is home, everything is better.

She is so funny. No one makes me laugh like my sisters.

She is strong and smart and beautiful. And I don't know how I got so lucky as to have her for my sister.

Happy Birthday, Eri.

I hope you have an amazing year.

Lor

I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas Tree

In the interest of full disclosure, and because I know y'all find the minutiae of my daily life unbearably interesting, I present to you...

My annual (well, two years in a row now, anyway)

Christmas To Do List!!

Let's do this thing!

1. See a choir concert

2. Bake cookies for someone

3. Have a fancy dinner, just me!

4. Do something crazy and Christmassy with the kids

5. Watch "A Christmas Story" with my family

6. Drink hot chocolate and watch Love Actually

7. Make a homemade snow globe

8. Complete at least one act of selfless service and do not tell anyone

9. Go the Office Party

10. Possibly host a Festivus Party..if people can make it.

11. Send out Christmas Cards! (I'm going to do it this year, I swear!)

Wish me luck, gente!!

Lori Ann

It was his true medium; a master.

I came home from work yesterday to see my apartment looking like this.

It brought tears to my eyes.

I knew my dad was dropping off the couch I bought and a tree (which was already an over 100 mile round trip for him), but he put the lights on the tree and my windows and the star on the top, which I can never reach.

It was pure Christmas magic walking through that door.

My sister and brother in law lent him their SUV so he could haul all of it up without me having to rent a trunk or anything.

And then; when I got sick last night, my sister Erin stayed up late talking to me, making sure that I was ok.

My family is amazing.

I don't say thank you enough to them.

Thank You.

Thank You.

Thank You.

the family baby,

Lori Ann Peanut Butter- Jelly

Let's talk about you and me

Ok,

So, I know that you are all burning up with curiousity to hear more about my job. It's kind of glamorous, yo.

I listen to people. That's my job.

I love it. I really do. But some days, 6-8 hours of LISTENING can make you feel a little crazy. But, luckily for me, my day is usually broken up with one or two diagnostic assessments.

It's where I assess people and diagnose them. Yep. I've given out every diagnosis from PTSD to kleptomania.

Anyway, the reason I just took five minutes of your life to get to mentioning these assessments is because they have been making me laugh so hard lately. Or actually one section has been making me laugh- the cultural questions.

In the South, our assessments didn't ask any cultural questions. That's not how we roll in the South.

Yankees do things a little bit different.

Here the assessments ask people to identify how they define their gender (male, female, transgender, other), how they define their race/ethnicity, how they define their sexuality (heterosexual, gay/lesbian, bi, other), and how they define their religious view (Christian, Jewish, etc, etc-its got like 12 things listed)

In all the assessments I have done (probably 50+) NO ONE can answer these questions like an adult. Everyone reverts to their 13 year old self. At least for the sexuality question. I have gotten the following responses when I asked "How do you define your sexuality?"

Normal

What do you think?

Strictly dickly

I'm going to give you one guess.

The one where I like boys

and a lot of people just laugh.

Anyway, it's sad the things that keep me entertained at work.

Lori Ann