Dancing Fool

Gus was so impressed with his friend Row Row's dancing and singing on a recent video (to Bruno Mars' "Treasure"), that he decided to do a little jig in Which Wich. I can't blame him; this song "Timber" is my jam too! 

Calendar Girl

This is the year, the year that I FINALLY join the 21st century and use the calendar on my iPhone.

I don't feel like someone who is behind in technology. I'm not ahead. I'm not exactly right on time. But I'm certainly not comically tardy.

I mean, in my line of work I have to be resourceful. I'm a Googler. Big time.

And I use my phone for lots of things: I email; I check the weather; I Facebook; I read books; I use the Notes section for my grocery list (Or I take a picture of my grocery list that hangs in the pantry. My camera roll is full of pictures of a dry erase board.) I still don't Tweet.

But when it comes to the calendar, I'm old school. I just need the full month in front of me--at a glance. So I prefer the desk calendar. Here's mine:

A few weeks ago Frank and I decided to have a meeting (or I probably decided to have a meeting) to talk about plans, vacations and stuff, for the next few months. I said, "Let's get out our calendars" so of course, he picked up his phone. I hauled my desk calendar in from my office. "What are you doing?" he asked. "What? This is my calendar!" I told him.

"Why don't you use the calendar on your phone?"
"Because I love this calendar! I can see everything right here in front of me. It works perfectly."

But does it? I mean, when I am at a doctor's office or the hairdresser and I make a new appointment, I have to remember to go write it down on my calendar at home. And when I'm out and about I just have to remember things. A friend asked if we could get together to play. As she searched her phone calendar, I searched my memory. "Sure. We don't have anything on Monday," I told her. She said, "I feel like we do. Oh, yes. There it is. We have a birthday party." I had the same birthday party but had no mention of it on my phone of course. I admired how she had her whole schedule right there on this handy little machine. She said, "I'd be lost without this." Apparently I was lost too but didn't realize it!

The first time I noticed I was lagging behind in calendar technology was when I was on a writing assignment in California. Okay, this NEVER happens. I never get flown somewhere as a freelance writer to work on something. So I can't say it like it's all normal. It was actually very exciting and again, the ONLY time I've really traveled for an assignment. Except for that time I went to Paris. (Yes, Paris, Texas. Haha.)

So anyway, I'm on my super exciting freelance writing assignment and I'm meeting with this publishing company that I was going to do some work for. The owner of the company, another employee and I were sitting in the owner's office and we started to talk about the schedule for this book. The owner said, "Okay, how does your calendar look for the next month?" I whipped out not only a physical calendar but the wall calendar from my church. THAT was my professional calendar.

She totally called me out on it. "That's your calendar? It's like a giant wall calendar!" Now back then (2007), the expectation wasn't even that you would have a smart phone but AT LEAST you would have a daily planner. But no, not me.

"Did you just rip that off the wall?" she asked. We actually all had a pretty good laugh over it. They ended up killing the book before we even started but at least I got this free trip to L.A. out of it. And I'm pretty sure the cancellation was not because of my calendar ignorance.

So this year I'm kind of easing into it. I'm still using my trusty desk calendar but I'm also entering appointments and events into my iPhone. But I wish I could SEE it all at once. I just see a calendar with a bunch of dots on it. I have to click on the actual day to see what I'm expected to be doing. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually. It just might not be until the 22nd century.

Lasagna Lover

Gus has become quite the picky eater. It's not uncommon for him to say he wants"Num-thing" for dinner. But when I said, "Who wants lasagna?" he enthusiastically said, "I do!" Now I should be honest and tell you that this lasagna he loves so much is not homemade. It's Frankly Fresh Turkey and Spinach lasagna from CostCo. It is SO good! 

So here is Gus before eating "Mon-Zon-Zon." 

And here is his "during." This is FIFTH bowl! He started on a sixth and finally stopped. I thought it ws so cute when he told me, "I'm going to turn into Mon-Zon-Zon!" I tried to get him to say it again but it's not as clear. But that can happen after 5.5 bowls of lasagna. 

A-MAZE-ZING LEO!

Leo is REALLY good at creating mazes. I have to admit that, the other day when I wasn't feeling great, I was a little annoyed that he asked me to do like, 53 mazes. But they ARE pretty impressive. And when I can't get to the finish on the first or second try, I'm not even faking. They are challenging! He puts in lots of "dead ends" and lately there have been "scary pictures" (like ghosts or jack-o-laterns) at the dead ends. 

And I am not the only one who is impressed. This other mom at swim lessons said matter-of-factly, "That is a math skill, an upper level math skill." I don't know what her background is but I got the impression she knew something, like maybe she had been a math teacher? Or a mathematician? Anyway, I did not know that mazes = math so I was pretty proud. She went on to say that creating the mazes is much harder than doing the mazes. (And there I was taking at least three tries to get his maze!)

As usual, Leo is super humble about the whole thing: He told the other parents at swim lessons today, "I am the best at doing mazes!" 

Prayers from Gus

If you are sick, you'll want to let Gus know. He will not forget you in his prayers, even when you are recovered. A classmate was sick right before Christmas break and he has included her on his prayer list ever since. I try to tell him that I'm sure she is fine by now but he insists on God Blessing her. Guess it can't hurt. Grandmother was sick just as we left Houston last week and although she is better now, Gus still asks, "Grandmother sick?" during his bed time prayers. 

He has recently added his prayer lamb that Granny Jo and Popsy gave him a long time ago to his entourage of crib buddies (which used to just be Elmo and Cookie Monster but now include two stuffed puppies, a bunny rabbit and at least five teddy bears). Prayer lamb recites The Lord's Prayer, Glory Be and Hail Mary. Without any help from us (only prayer lamb) Gus can say them too! 

Obviously these aren't as clear and amazing as they are when he does them off camera but you get the idea. It should at least assure you that, should you become ill, Gus has got this. 

Fun Fitness Facts

Tuesday, January 7th, will have the highest gym attendance of 2014. This is according to my own anecdotal evidence, having worked in the fitness industry for the past eight years. This is also based on my having been a frequent gym goer since the turn of the century. So that's a combined 13 years of experience that helped me come up with this fun fitness fact (read: just a hunch).

As everyone knows, the New Year's Resolutioners will be out in full effect this month. But they don't start right out of the gate, at least when it comes to gym attendance. Today, for example, I hit the gym and had my pick of treadmills. No, they'll start when it's more convenient--next week. Yes, the first full week back at work, that's when the NYRs like to go from the couch to CrossFit.

But if we pinpoint it even further, down to which day of that week they'll be swarming the spin classes, we would discover that it's definitely Tuesday. I will explain why by listing the excuses people (myself included sometimes) make for not going to the gym on other days:

Monday: It's Monday. I'm tired from the first day back at work. I have a case of the Mondays. I'm still recovering from the weekend. It's Monday.

Wednesday: It's hump day. It's wine down Wednesday. I have church on Wednesdays (Okay, can't really argue with that.)

Thursday: I like to go out on Thursdays, like a prequel to the weekend. Or at least that's what I did in college. I don't actually go out on Thursdays now. It's just a habit to not work out on Thursdays.

Friday: TGIF does not mean "The Gym is Fun" or "Triceps Glutes Indoor Fitness."

Saturday: It's my day off. I got back-to-back kids' soccer games. I'm not even sure the gym is open on Saturday.

Sunday: "And on the seventh day, God rested." Me too.

But Tuesday? What excuse can you possibly have on Tuesday? Obviously nothing because I have noticed that Tuesday is the most popular day at the gym. If people can't make it any other day, they show up on Tuesday. So you can see how, based on all of this non-officially-researched data, that it makes perfect sense to predict that Tuesday, January 7th, will be super crowded at gyms all over the world.

So to those of you actually go to the gym in months other than those that end in "ary," I suggest you stay away on January 7th. Or any Tuesday for the next few weeks.

And for those of you who have made working out your New Year's Resolution, I say…

Easy, Tiger.

Start with a walk. Start by saying you'll go three times a week, not seven. And maybe, just to shake things up, try going on a Wednesday.

Christmas Cuteness

I've taken lots of cute pictures and videos this Christmas season. Now I'm just gonna dump it all here in one mega Christmas blog! 

Leo and Gus love to sing "Ring the Bells" from their school Christmas show. The lyrics are (in case you can't understand them): 

Ring the bells, Ring the bells

Ring the bells today 

Jesus came, Jesus came

To take our sins away 

Hey! 

Next time I will remember not to turn the phone horizontal. Sorry in advance if you get a neck cramp from this one! P.S. Row Row has a boo boo on her nose but she is fine.

More pictures of Row Row and Gus. Gus was sad about being put in time-out until Row Row came to sit with him. Then he said, "Time-out not over!" 

He must love her; she got him to play with dolls! 

My cookie exchange! 

 Riding the Polar Express in Palestine, TX

The Seiss cousins take good are of my boys

The Christmas show at school. Gus is probably singing "Ring the Bells!" Actually, I think he is singing "Joy to the World" and that is why they are jumping up and down.

Leo's class after the Christmas show. Leo is a shepherd on the front row. Aren't they adorable?

I hope you are not having cuteness overload because surely I will have more pictures and videos from the big day! 

Merry Christmas--Not!

Getting the Christmas letter out this year was a bit hairy. First, I had to wait until the cards arrived and they were delayed because of our ice storm. Once they got here we could have been in business except back in 2003 I committed to writing a Christmas letter every year! And I had written the letter...but the paper hadn't arrived (blame that ice storm again). The paper finally got here on the 17th. (We were still waiting on stamps. Maybe I need to cut back on the online shopping.) We started to print the letters but our printer was all kooky and that set us back a night. We thought about going somewhere to make copies but we couldn't even get one good original copy.

Finally, Frank started the fulfillment process on Wednesday, the 18th. I was at a Christmas party so couldn't help or be there for quality control (foreshadowing alert!).  Anyway, we were determined to finish them up Thursday, the 19th, so we could mail them, Friday, the 20th, and just barely get them to our recipients' homes before Christmas. I'm pretty sure this is our latest arrival of a Christmas letter!

As we were nearing the end of our stuffing and stamping, I happened to glance at the last line of my letter. And there it was. Not only a typo but a typo that totally changed the punch line of my letter.

You see, at the beginning of my letter I talked about how everyone started decorating for Christmas so early this year, like November 1st. I said that I feared that, by the time they received my letter, they would already be addressing Valentines. Then at the end I say that I hope everyone can slow down and enjoy this Christmas season. "But if not, Happy Valentine's Day!"

Well, our spacing got all messed up so the "But if" got lost in a snowman towards the bottom of the page. So the last two lines now read like this: "We hope that you are able to slow down and enjoy this Christmas season. not, Happy Valentine’s Day!"

You see what's happened here, right? It now appears as if I tried to make a "not" joke, circa 1992. And while some might think "not" jokes are so old that they have come back around, that is not the case. It's still too soon! They're old but not retro. And bottom line, that is NOT what I was going for.

At this late in the game I certainly couldn't open all the envelopes and put in new letters. I mean, they were stamped and stamps are like $.50 each! So we did print new letters for the envelopes we hadn't stuff yet. So a few lucky folks will get the right punch line. The rest of you will just have to enjoy our messed up letter--not!

I'm going to paste the correct letter here because that makes me feel better. If you find other errors and typos, please keep it to yourself.

Dear Friends and Family,                                                                 December 2013

I’m going to always remember 2013 as the year that everyone got a jump on Christmas. I mean, I had barely scooped up the remains of our rotted jack-o-lantern when suddenly, halls were decked, chestnuts were roasting and elves were on shelves. I fear that, by the time you receive this, you will be addressing Valentines. Nevertheless, a Simcik family update is welcomed any time of year, right? 

This will be our second Christmas in Frisco.  Of course we miss our wonderful friends in Georgia, but we have grown to love this little town back in our home state of Texas. We’ve gotten involved in our church, St. Francis of Assisi, are enjoying our friendly neighborhood and love the endless entertainment opportunities for the kids (jumpy places and froyo on every corner)!

Mind you, we could not afford the admission at said jumpy places if it weren’t for Frank, working as a finance director at Frito Lay. Frank also found time to play on a softball team this year. At first he was reluctant but after a nudge (shove, really) from me, he ended up enjoying it.

When I’m not herding our boys, I churn out one or two articles a month for a couple of local magazines.  I’m also teaching spin (and branching out into other formats like Tabata) at our local YMCA. But mostly I’m doing domestic diva stuff like cleaning, cooking and breaking up fights.  

Leo is five-and-a-half and is doing a year of Pre-K before heading to the big leagues next year. He loves being the “big man on campus” at his preschool, which is at our church. Leo played soccer, takes gymnastics and learned to swim sans floaties this summer.  He’s a big Star Wars fan like his daddy so he went as Darth Vader for Halloween. He also dresses up as Darth Vader for other occasions like Tuesdays.

 Gus is two-and-a-half (those halves are important, y’all) and attends the same preschool as Leo two days a week. He loves sports, especially UT football.  He likes to say, “Texas Fight! Give ‘em Heck!” Gus takes gymnastics like Leo but swimming seems to be his strong suit (also like daddy). The guy can full on swim! We are totally going to save money on floaties this summer.

Frank and I celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary with a trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico (the site of our honeymoon) in March. We went with our Atlanta friends, Josh and Claire, who were also ten years into this whole marriage thing. Then we visited Atlanta over 4^th of July and went to North Carolina to see the Kinfolk that same month. We made it down to Houston a few times and added on a trip to Galveston with Frank’s family at the end of August. In November we got to see Gus’ beloved Texas Longhorns beat Kansas and visit my sister Kristin (better known as Tia). We hosted my family for Thanksgiving and plan to wait here for the big guy on Christmas. Soon after we will head down to Houston to collect all the grandparent loot.

We hope that you are able to slow down and enjoy this Christmas season. But if not, Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love,

Elsa, Frank, Leo and Gus 

Frozen

Even though I haven't seen the movie Frozen, I have been told by Frank and Leo that there is a character named Queen Elsa and she has the power to freeze everything she touches. 

Well, life must be imitating art because I, Queen Elsa, made everything in the DFW area frozen today. My evil plan was to make it icy, not snowy, so little kids couldn't play in it. But apparently ice is fun too and actually makes sledding faster. 

Oh, and in the tradition of snow days, we waited eagerly to hear if schools and offices were closed. They were! And we found out the night before which was awesome. 

This is what we woke up to this morning! Thanks, Queen Elsa. 

Leo said, "I'm all bundled up" (in his windbreaker!)

That's more like it! 

Frank worked from home...as much as the boys would let him.

Ice sledding!

Leo loved the cold weather. He could totally be a Yankee. Gus liked it too...for about 15 minutes. 

How Scott Bakula and I are alike

I have a lot in common with this guy. Not Scott Bakula, the actor (although that would be really awesome because he is obviously a stellar dude). I mean his character, Sam Beckett, from the hit TV show of the early 90s, Quantum Leap. 

You see, Sam used to jump into a different body and time period each week. Now, as a freelance writer, I don't get to jump into anybody's body and I am rarely in a different time period but bear with me. I can make the connection. I do jump into different worlds all the time. And whatever world I am writing about, I soak it all up and sometimes even live in it for awhile. Here are some of the worlds I have had the privilege of leaping into: 

• Online dating 
• Battered women
• Dairy-free people
• Dave Ramsey
• Hot yoga
• Dozens of Texas state parks 
• Flea markets 
• Mud runs 
• Breast cancer 
• Marriage retreats
• Children's theater
• Reiki, acupuncture, reflexology and polarity 
• Enormous families (meaning they have a lot of people, not that they are fat)
• Extreme weight loss
• Hula hooping
• Holiday cocktails
• Salsa dancing 
• Fish oil 
• Blowing Rock, NC
• Fencing 
• Gyrotonics (don't even remember what that is!) 
• Scottsdale, AZ  
• Culinary trips 
• Religious symbols at work 
• Personal trainers who make house calls 
• Say Yes to the Dress 
• Triathlons
• Barefoot running 
• Traffic roundabouts 
• Brain imaging 

(To name a few.) 

While writing these pieces, I am captivated. (One exception? Drought-resistant landscaping). I'm usually like, "Wow. This is amazing. I had no idea hot yoga could be so invigorating, going on a culinary trip could be so life changing and that people could have so many kids and still seem normal." But what my subjects don't always understand is that I am writing an article, usually between 500 and 1,200 words. They often think I am writing a book. They want me to come visit them, spend hours and hours listening to them talk about the subject they are so passionate about. So that is a big part of my job, politely letting them know that I just need the Cliff's Notes. I wonder if Sam Beckett had the same challenge. "Look, I love it here in the Wild Wild West but I can't stay forever. I gottta leap into another world next week." 

For this month I leapt into the world of pawn shops. That was a big leap for me because I had never even been in a pawn shop before. But they didn't disappoint. It's good, fascinating stuff. I'm posting it here so you can leap too: 

Buy, Sell or Pawn

A Budding Writer

The other day Leo told me, "I wrote an article. It's a true story." He then showed me some pictures he had drawn and told me the story. I said, "You're a writer like mommy!" He said, "I saw it on Word Girl." 

So maybe I'm not his inspiration but I still think the guy's got some talent. Here is a card he made for his teacher: 

He told me a story and I wrote it for him.

And here is how the story goes (in the style of "If you give a mouse a cookie" if you're not familiar): 

If you give Ms. Patty an Amazon gift card, she is going to buy a book. After she reads the book, she will go inside a real alive haunted house.  She will see ghosts and run home. She will see spiders with sharp jaws. She will put the spiders outside. And that is why you never give Ms. Patty an Amazon gift card. 

I was impressed. I mean, I didn't write my first short story until first grade. And I would say this was just as good as Tammy the Dog.  Well, maybe I'm giving him too much credit. Tammy the Dog is a masterpiece. Nevertheless, Leo's story was a solid effort for a five year old. And I think Ms. Patty got a kick out of it.