I will be a better blogger in 2009.

I promise.

I made it a New Year's Resolution so it will happen NO MATTER WHAT.

Jeremy said that his New Year's Resolution/Christmas-present-to-me-for-next-year will be that he is going to work out every day he has off (which is 3-4 times a week) so that he will be totally in shape by December 25th, 2009. That's one bandwagon I'm gonna jump on! If I can get back to my pre-marriage weight and Jeremy does all this working out he's talking out we will be so attractive that we will barely be able to keep our hands off each other in public. Watch out world! Public Spaces beware! The Swaffords will be all up in that making you feel inferior and uncomfortable with our hotness and PDA.

Somebody come take all the cake mixes and cookies out of my pantry. Like now.

So it occurred to me a minute ago that the 10-year-anniversary of my accident and spinal cord injury is in about four days. HOLY SMASHED VERTEBRA BATMAN. (I watched Dark Knight tonight with Joey. And it's 5am. Forgive me.) I can't believe it. I'm glad that I've made it this far without any skin sores, severe urinary infections, or any of the other lovely life-threatening things that can happen to a paraplegic. They warn you about all these yummy things in rehab over and over and I guess I'm here to say that FEAR TACTICS ABSOLUTELY WORK. Show somebody 100 pictures of butt bones and elbows jutting through deteriorating skin and they will remember to roll over once in a while. I don't think I've done a properly timed "weight shift" since I got out of the hospital, but my antics seem to get the job done.

I think to celebrate my anniversary, I will buy myself a new shower chair and some new front caster wheels. Oh yeah, a new shower chair would be a real treat.

Here's some of what we got Joey for Christmas.

I got him a bunch of clothes because for some reason, he won't wear hardly any of the clothes that he brought with him. He's only wearing the 4 or 5 shirts we got him when he got here. He brought several polo shirts and stuff with him but I haven't seen him wear them once. So I think after Christmas we'll just take all that stuff to the thrift store and he'll have all these new shirts and sweaters to wear. I'm also getting him two pairs of jeans since he hardly wears his old pairs and some of them are getting too short. We try not to get things that say ABERCROMBIE for GAP or AMERICAN EAGLE across the front because Jeremy has a thing against advertising on clothing. I've gotten to where it bugs me too.

^^We got this because at dinner the other night he was saying he liked watching some of these cartoons at Christmas.

I'm trying not to spoil the kid so I'm having to restrain myself. I want to buy him everything. Part of that is the gleeful high I get from shopping, and part of that is from the excitement I get from giving presents. He's also getting some airsoft stuff, a CTR ring he wanted, and a cover to hold his scriptures that he said he liked. He wants an iPod touch, but we're gonna wait and get him that for his birthday. Oh, and he's getting this super rare video game that we had to get on Ebay. He had it before, but his previous home wouldn't let him take it with him so he's been missing it.

PS- No, he doesn't read this blog or know how to access it so I'm not spoiling Christmas!

Jeremy has been more difficult. I got him one thing, but I'm struggling to find anything else. Geeks are so hard to buy for! Everything he really wants is super expensive so it's hard to find little things. And he HATES getting clothes. I may get him some clothes regardless, just because he won't buy them for himself. I think as long as I get some geeky things too, that's okay right?

Hoping we can all be in the same spot long enough this weekend to get our Christmas picture taken!

Here's what I want for Christmas this year!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to dress more fashionably and expand my wardrobe piece by piece. Now that I've had my surgery, I think it's time I spent a little money on myself and not so much on my house, gadgets, parties, etc.

Here's what I'm looking at right now. And all these pieces are on sale except the denim. They didn't have any tall denim sizes on sale.

And then I want a new handbag. I keep losing my wallet and keys! All of these except one of the white ones are on sale 30-50%.

And of course, I want this:

But I think it will have to wait until next year!

All the cute clothes can be found at Anthropologie.com.

And the handbangs are at Dooney.com.

So it just dawned on me that when my computer died, I lost all of my address book contacts! So if you normally receive a Swafford Christmas Letter, or if you'd like to, email me your address at asecheer221@yahoo.com

Or message me here.

And I think it would be fun to exchange cards with some of you xanga ladies so if you'd like to let me know and we can swap addresses!

I haven't had the chance to see Twilight again, but I do know that I'm excited about the new director. Whoever that may be!

This is a very compelling video argument for marriage for everyone. It was made by Ryan Simmons, my former acting TA from freshman year. I imagine he's off in New York becoming a famous actor by now.

"Spring might be nice..."

^^Just one of the awesome/goofy things that have come out of Jeremy's mouth recently.^^

So I saw Twilight and I liked it a lot. I don't think I loved it though. I'm going to see it again to be sure. I also want to see it again before I write my little review here. Want to go with me? I'm not gonna ask Jeremy to see it again. I was super grateful that he came the first time.

Also, do you have any of my Twilight books? The first three have been borrowed from me and I can't remember who I gave them to. I want to read them all to refresh my memory since I couldn't do it before Breaking Dawn. And I really don't wanna buy them all again so let me know if you have it and I'll come get it. Thanks.

I think I should start a "Funny Quote from a 12-year-old Boy" once a day.

Here's one to begin:

"What the Mother Nature?!?!" (In a weird English/Scottish/Australian accent.)

And for our "Awkward Quote from a 12-year-old Boy" today:

"What's PMS?"

Oh the joys.

Okay, so we all know Edward Cullen is supposed to be this Greek god of dreamy, aching, mind-bending sexiness.

But this....

...just doesn't do it for me.

Really? This guy?

I don't see it.

Now I know he was okay as Cedric Diggory.

Even hot occasionally.

But only at the right angle with some airbrushing.

And as Edward Cullen, I don't think he's much better:

Now sure, this is nice...

...but that is some serious photoshop.

I just hope they made him look good or the whole movie is going to be ruined for me whenever I get around to see it. Hopefully they've got him wearing a lot of make-up and made him shave his face.

This was always how I pictured Edward:

And frequently, I just imagined him like this:

Sigh. Everyday is Twilight for me.

Several new posts at The Swafford Scoop!

And remember, if you still can't access it I just need your email address and I can add you! Some of you may have asked and I just forgot. So let me know!

Here's my most recent attempt.

These people looked like they were having a good time so I put them first!

A party is not a party without a chocolate fountain.

The cake and beverage table.

The croissants and meatballs! yum!

Me sneaking away from the craziness to get a bite to eat.

Look at that handsome man with his sexy grin. It says, "I'm watching the football game please don't make me do any girlie things."

The veggie and cracker table.

The dessert table.

Shawna is the balloon lady.

And then Lauren and Kacey got crazy with the balloons.

Helium induced delirium.

That was a crazy, chaotic, very fun day.

I have just one more class until Thanksgiving break. I'm going to bed before 2am.

Life is good.