Slytherin

1) I still have not seen Harry Potter.
2) I held three gigantic snakes yesterday.

So we're back in California. We did not enjoy leaving. The highlight was certainly the two snow storms we drove through in New Mexico and Arizona. We also had two great meals on the drive - the first of which was in some small town restaurant in Oklahoma. It was a sports bar and there was a big Oklahoma game that night. I'm pretty sure football is the only thing that happens in Oklahoma, so needless to say that was a big deal. There were like 4 tables of people at this restaurant. Wow. Another day for Zach and me to stand out like sore thumbs. This restaurant was clearly the popular place (and this WAS a Saturday) but it was also pretty run down. On the bright side, it had a ton of TVs. The local newscasters that came on briefly during commercial breaks were just hilarious. But the food was super cheap and still pretty darn good. Sunday dinner was in a Cracker Barrel in Arizona, right before we crossed into California. I think I've been in a Cracker Barrel only once before this, but I got pretty darn excited when I saw that fried chicken was the special that night. Zach has been many times from his baseball days and immediately started playing the little peg game that they have at every table. For you Cracker Barrel virgins out there its just a triangle with a bunch of pegs in it that you play essentially like checkers. It says on there how smart you are if you get down to a certain number of pegs; having only 1 left makes you a genius.So Zach plays a few times and grumbles about how he can never get just one left. He stops playing and I take it and he kind of warns me how hes played a bunch and never beaten it. He starts playing other games on his phone as I try at the pegs. I beat the thing in ONE try. Not joking. As I loudly celebrated Zach (and the rest of the restaurant) just stared at me. Then he swore I cheated and just did that to piss him off. I told him to watch me do it again in hopes that I could remember how I did it - he refused. I smelled fear. The third time I did it I taped myself in case he refused to watch me do it the whole night. He was humiliated, I was so proud. It was a life changing moment - confirmation that I am, in fact, a genius.

My first week back to work after break SUCKED. On top of that, our heat was broken (well.. we thought we just lived in such a crappy complex that we didn't deserve heat) and it was the coldest week in California yet (40). It was not a good welcome back.

The weekend was fantastic. Friday night Zach and I went out to dinner at the Grove and shopped a little. It was all set up for Christmas, with its huge Christmas tree, Santa's house, people singing outside, etc. It snows there every night, its amazing. Saturday we went shopping in Glendale and then cleaned our apartment. Awesome! We had to babysit the girls that night because Mitch and Donna had to go to the engagement party for Sam Simon, one of the creators of the Simpsons. 10 mil a year gets you a 250 person, security guarded engagement party complete with a mermaid in the pool. Crazy cool. Not cool that they served vegan food. Mitch and Donna came home and scarfed down the Chinese food leftovers we had. Zach and I were both so pathetic that night, but it was hilarious. I brought Kyla up to go to bed at maybe 9:00, definitely not later. I read her the two stories and laid in bed with her. She kicked around for 30 minutes (and by kicked I mean played fort in the blankets, randomly kissed my nose, moved my arms around to make her comfortable) and I was so exhausted that I was so desperate for her to fall asleep. Like, my bones hurt I was so tired. Finally we both fall asleep. Next thing I know Mitch is standing over me. I feel like I'm unconscious but I get out of bed. He tries showing me pictures of the chandelier in the house and I felt like I was going to fall over the whole time. So pathetic. I get downstairs and it turns out Zach had fallen asleep too. Both of us can hardly form sentences. Then they tell me Donna had tried to wake me up, couldn't, and had to get Mitch to try. FYI, this is very abnormal for me - maybe even a first. I guess that's what two weeks of very abnormal sleeping patterns and time zone changes gets you.

Sunday was one of the best days everrrr. It was Keira and Kyla's birthday party and they had hired some animal person. She brought over tailless rats, mice, chinchilla's bunnies and some lizards. All of that was cool and all.. but then she got to the snakes. She had three gigantic pythons. The first was albino and the other two were just so so long. I have always wanted to hold one of those huge snakes. Turns out I can't be near the head, because the second I noticed it turning its head and moving towards me I almost died.

Also, Donna and I now have gold hair tinsel in our hair. Thank you lady from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and blonde chick on Miley Cyrus for the inspiration, we love it.

Lastly... I hate my job more than ever today. I applied to several other, but this blog has gone from a "CarolineInCali" blog to a "CarolineIn...Cali?" blog. Connor, you're about to lose your "only child" status.