Just watched Serena kick butt at the Australian Open. Her physique is unreal- she's all muscle! Totally amazing. She made her opponent look like an amateur, there was no contest!

Today we're going to go to the gym then get ready for the Super Bowl tomorrow. We're having a few people come over tomorrow, mostly to watch the commercials! Looking forward to it, yet having trouble figuring out what I'm going to make...might just settle with a bunch of different things.

Jeff and I are about to head to the gym, got to get a couple workouts in before chowing down tomorrow!!

Jeff got back yesterday. It's nice to have him home again! Gavin certainly did better sleeping last night than he did Friday or Saturday. It's funny, he never asked for Daddy when he was awake, but it seems like his absence really affected him. We were able to go up to the playground and let him burn off some energy on the slides.

It's good to have my husband home. Ahhhh...

Jeff leaves for New Jersey in about an hour. It'll be me and the kid this weekend! I plan on keeping him pretty busy. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Gavin. Unfortunately, I have to work on Saturday morning-afternoon, but his Grammie is going to come watch him. I have a work out scheduled for Saturday late afternoon, after that, we might go up to the park or something. Thank goodness our gym (yes, I joined) has a children's area!

Just a note of observation: I'm watching the Australian Open this week and next. I'm really disappointed at the American tennis player roster. There are only 5 women and 12 men. And, there's really no new "hopeful" on the rise. This makes me wonder, is it because our kids aren't disiplined enough or because they just aren't interested in tennis? I have to laugh at that, if it's the latter because where I live, there are hundreds of tennis teams in the area. To my knowledge, ALTA is one of the biggest non professional organized tennis groups in the country. So, I know I'll be sending my son to tennis lessons at an early age!!!

I'm watching the Inauguration right now. How incredible is this moment? I have a lunch at 12:30 and don't want to miss the actual swearing-in!!! Looks like I might be late!

I really have feelings of promise for the next four years. I know our country has a long way to go, and I can only hope and pray that we start to turn this great place around.

I'm very proud to be an American at this moment.

I got this email from a friend of mine this morning. It cracked me up! Come on, I know you all can relate!!!
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009, WHEN:
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends & family is that they don't have email addresses.
6. You go home after a long day at work, you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line.
8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.
10. You learn about your redundancy on the 10 o'clock news.
11. Your VCR is now the 8 track of 21st century and your thinking you need a TV
no thicker than an encyclopedia. Your kids will never know what an
encyclopedia is. What are you going to do with your Entertainment Center
Armoire?
12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
13. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
15. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)
17. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

I finally took the plunge and changed my name at work. Yes, yes, it's only taken almost 4 years. Honestly, it felt really weird to do it. It's like now it's really official, even though at home with all my family I've been a Stevenson for the past year. It'll take a little while, but I'll get used to it!

I'm sitting at home with dad right now. He's got kidney stones and the doctors want someone to sit with him the initial 24 hours. My step-mom is on her way back from Daytona, she'll probably be here later tonight. So, for now, we're bundling up on this chilly evening and watching coverage of the Hudson River plane crash.

Speaking of, how incredible is it that everyone survived!?!? Great job to that pilot!!!

You know how generally when you greet someone, you say "Hi, how are you?" And, 8 times out of 10, you really don't mean the "how are you" part, but it's part of a generic greeting.

So, Saturday night, I go over to our local pizza joint to pick up a pie for the fam. My dad was visiting and we were watching football. When I walked in, the gal at the cash register gave me the typical, "Hi, how are you" greeting and I answered back, "Fine thank you, how are you?"

"I don't feel so well, I have a cyst on my ovaries during my menstral time," was not the response I was expecting. Sometimes folks, I really don't need to know. Especially when picking up a pizza covered in tomato sauce. I mean, do I have to be more blunt than that? I decided to spare my husband and father from the lovely visual picture I had received and stuck with the Greek salad!

Weary little worker bee

Today is my first day back to work since before Xmas. Not too bad, so far. I'm getting back into the swing of things...obviously multi-tasking!

My friend gave me 3 free passes to the gym. I'm going to see if Jeff wants to go tonight. We think we might be able to put Gavin in their little daycare for about 30 minutes. Enough to get the ball rolling on some exercise. Of course, I'm not fooling myself- I know it'll be packed!

Had lunch with Amy Jones Norman today, haven't seen her in years! It was so good to hang out with her. We went to Raging Burrito in Decatur. She's living out in California...I'd love to visit her sometime! Gavin hasn't been on a plane ride yet, to tell you the truth, I'm a little nervous about that. I don't want to have the one kid on the plane that screams the whole way! I don't really think he'd be like that, but you never know! All my girlfriends with kids say it's not that bad once you get going...I think they're just saying that so I can tell them all the horror stories once the ride is over!

I'm really in the mood to go on a vacation. Yes, yes, I've been off work for the past week and a half, but I want to go somewhere, see something new...but it has to be affordable and close enough that we can drive over a weekend. MLK weekend is coming up and we're going to Clemson to visit my family, but we'll still have a couple of days to hang out somewhere. I'm thinking Asheville might be fun, but we've been there enough. Oh cyberspace, any thoughts?

Sitting here with my son on my last weekday holiday, I wonder what 2009 is going to bring into Casa del Stevenson. Usually, within the first few days, Jeff and I sit down and write out some goals. I haven't looked at our list from '08 to see how many we can check off. I can think of a few we accomplished (like more painting...).

Gavin just got through putting together his first puzzle. Well, not his "first" puzzle, but one that has actual connecting pieces rather than the ones with farm animals that fit in a specific space. I'm pretty impressed! It's a little 10 piece puzzle we got free from Publix. Mom is feeling proud of her visually adept little boy!

I guess I ought to start taking down some of our Xmas decor. This part of the holiday always makes me a little nostalgic. Of course, the holidays wouldn't be complete without a trip to the store for a few returns, which we'll also be doing today.

Happy New Year!
Now's the time for resolutions, new paths, chartering new territory! HA! What is everyone thinking??? Honestly, no resolutions for me this year, I'm just going to do what I'm going to do. Of course, Jeff and I will set some goals, we always do. But, if we don't reach them all, that's ok!!

By the way, we bought Jeff a new car- it's a 1998 Toyota Avalon. Very nice ride. It's got a handful of miles on it, but we like it. It's actually nicer than mine, which is 5 years younger!

We're watching the NHL Winter Classic right now. I love this time of year! I'm ready for another good snowfall, like we had last year! We've got a roaring fire, just finished up some hot chocolate and, no kidding, I just pulled a loaf of pumpkin bread out of the oven. Which, this stinks, we have to get another one. The baking element gave out on us on Xmas and cooking with just the broiler isn't going to cut it.