Been a long time...

It has been a super long time since I had time to post an entry here. I guess I will start by telling a bit about Christmas...

Sam LOVES his 4-wheeler. He wants to ride it all the time. Brad has been great to let Sam ride wherever he happens to be working on the farm each day. That way Sam gets to ride and he has someone to watch him ride. I feel very comfortable with him riding it. He does a good job and Brad and I have both been very stern with him about how important it is to be careful on it. I was sad to see Sam get to that stage in life that I suppose all kids reach where they are all about the presents. On Christmas Eve at Grandmomma's, we heard little comments like, "Is that all of my presents?" and "She got more presents than me.", etc. Oh boy, talk about MAD!!! Brad and I both really let him have it about that. After we talked to him on Christmas Eve about it, it really did seem to get better. He was careful to say thank you to everyone and I didn't hear any more spoiled brat comments from him.

Miss Lily, on the other hand, was a joy to watch this year. She couldn't have cared less that she had fourteen more presents to open... she unwrapped one and then she played with it. She didn't go to the next gift until she had played for a while with the last one. She loved on her baby dolls and she poured pretend tea for everyone and she played store with her pretend cash register... it was so much fun. She tried so hard to play with Sam but he is so difficult these days.

On my birthday, Brad and the kids gave me some new Vera Bradley bags. Grandmomma kept the kids so Brad could take me out to eat and to a movie. Beth and Alex went to eat with us at the Outback (of course) and then we went alone to the movies to see National Treasure 2. It was pretty good.

Then Friday morning (the 28th) I met several of my friends from school and their children to visit the Catawba Science Center in Hickory. We ate lunch at Chic-Fil-A and then we went to the CSC. They have really cool exhibits and best of all, they have a small aquarium with a touch tank and a planetarium. It's all free except for the shows at the planetarium and they are only $3. The kids were wiped out after a long day and Lily napped in the van all the way home.

Friday night, Brad had a sleepover at the boy scout hut so I had Billy and Lea over. We rented a bunch of movies and picked up some supper from mom and dad's. They slept in the recliners that night then I took them home Saturday morning while I took Sam to basketball practice. Brad took his dad to the Wake Forest Bowl Game in Charlotte Saturday for Christmas so he wasn't home all day. I picked Billy and Lea up again and we went to WalMart before picking up lunch from mom and dad's again and coming home to watch the last of our movies. Then (whew) when Brad got home (around 6) we got ready and went to our friends Katie and Greg's house for supper. Beth and Alex and their kids were there, and so were Becky and Daniel. We had a really good time just hanging out.

This morning I got up and cooked some sausage links for breakfast and I started some vegetable soup for lunch and supper since it is such a dreary, sleepy day. I played hookey from church with the kids. Brad had to go teach Sunday School and then he was going to go by his office and check on some things before coming home. So far, Christmas break has been really good. I have stayed busy but nothing too stressful. I am beginning to dread Wednesday and the return to work. I know it will be here before I know it. But while I am home, I refuse to worry about it. I am enjoying my break and knowing all the while that I deserve it.

One other thing before I end this... mom and dad closed their store yesterday. They have worked their tails off for over a year and they actually seem to have a pretty good business but for many different reasons, they had to finally close the doors. I will have to admit, I am very happy about it because I have been really worried about their health and what it has been doing to them to work the long hard hours that they have been working. They have plans to open the lake back up and have a smaller version of the grill down there. For me, this is a return to "normal". I can't help but feel very strongly that this is what they need and it is also what our family needs. I am happy about it for so many reasons. I have only one thing that makes me sad and that is my daddy... I think he is very disappointed to have to close the store. I know how he is and he is definitely not one to throw in the towel on things, and sometimes that is a downfall. Sometimes, you have to know when you've given something your best try and you have to know when to quit while you still can. I hope he can find some comfort in what I think will be a more relaxed and satisfied life after all is said and done. Change is never easy, for anyone, but I think this is a change that will ultimately be for the better for everyone (except maybe for some of those neighborhood ladies who have enjoyed a break from cooking, thanks to the grill). Just pray for my parents as they go through a lot of change in the next few months.

Christmas Eve...

I think I might be as excited about Santa coming as my kids are! We went to McAdenville last night and it really got me in the spirit. That place is like some magical Christmas land - something out of a movie. It was beautiful. We even put in a Christmas CD and sang Christmas songs. Definitely excited.

Although I am excited about Christmas coming, I am also excited about Christmas being over and the new year starting. Brad and I have talked about sitting down and making out a budget to try and work on our debt (I'd really like to build a pool and do some things to the house one day but it ain't gonna happen until we dig our way out a little). I, of course, hope to start working on my weight again. And you know how you just get ready to get the tree out of the house and get things really cleaned up when Christmas is over? I'm there.

Back to what I was saying...

Back to what I was saying... After Brad came home with the recliner, he then left to go pick up my new kitten. I had been wanting a cat, not just any cat, but one like my blue-kitty that I used to have. He had been looking around for a few weeks trying to find what we were looking forand he brought home this sweet little gray male kitten with pretty green eyes. We named him Rascal and he really is a sweetie. He really can't stand to keep a secret but he really tries hard to be sweet sometimes. I appreciate him a lot right now.

Nikki and I went to take Christmas gifts to the family of a kid we teach today. I always forget how much of a slap in the face those kinds of visits can be. When you see firsthand what problems other people have, it really makes you appreciate your own good fortune. These people had so little but they seemed pretty happy. Worried, of course, but happy. They seemed to realize how important their family was. It just really makes you think hard about your own circumstances. I guess that's what Christmas is supposed to be about. How easy it is to forget...

Home...

Well, today was my first full day of Christmas break and I must say I was quite productive... I did some cleaning, we made Christmas cookies, and I wrapped all the Christmas presents. I even laid out all the "Santa" stuff and got it ready to go for Christmas eve.

This evening then Brad got home, he had a recliner on the back of his truck for me for Christmas. We bought recliners for each other last year right after Christmas and even though mine cost more, his is by far the better one. It is so comfy and it rocks. Mine was not cushiony at all and it did not rock and worst of all, when you reclined in it, it wouldn't stay reclined so you could relax. So, I ended up sitting in his chair or on the couch all the time. He said he wanted his chair back and he wanted me to have somewhere comfy to sit, too, so he bought me one like his for Christmas. And it really is comfy!

Oops, a child is awake... gotta go..

Vroom, vroom...

Well, we broke down and bought Sam a 4-wheeler (yes, a real one) for Christmas. And sure, there's a lot of potential for danger in giving a 6 year old something like that, but I really do think he will be fine with it. He's had that fake 4-wheeler for almost two years and I know that it doesn't seem like a fair comparison, but he really has learned a lot about driving with it. I can't wait to see his reaction when we give it to him...he's going to be thrilled!

It is the middle of the day on Tuesday and I am at home. I took half the day off of work to take Sam to the dentist at 2:00. Right now, I have just finished my lunch and I am relaxing for a few minutes before I have to go pick him up from school. Brad and I are both coming down with a miserable cold and it would be so nice to crank up the fire and throw about three blankets over my head and sleep from now 'til next week! But with all the Christmas preparations and getting this last week of school behind me, I just can't do that yet. Gotta keep on truckin'. Lily's last day of school is today and Sam and I will be finished Thursday. I have not wrapped one single gift!! I still need to buy a fancy dress for Lily (I told her Mrs. Claus made fancy dresses for good little girls and sent them with Santa), I have to buy dog bones for Taco and Burger (because that's what Sam asked Santa to bring), and maybe a few more little stocking stuffers. I would love to find a Nintendo Wii for Brad and the kids from Santa but it doesn't look like I am gonna get that lucky. Maybe I can find one after Christmas. I think I am getting something from Brad (even though he would never admit it) so I need to get something for him. I have a few ideas. I usually take the kids and let them buy something for him from them. He has also asked me what I want for my birthday but I really feel guilty letting him buy me anything because I know we can't afford it, especially after what we've spent on the kids' Christmas this year.

Anyway, it's about that time... goodbye peace and quiet! Gone to get Sam, then Lily, then to the dentist, then home to cook, then to dance class.... ah, the neverending list of things to do and places to go.

Just a stick in the mud?...

OK, something is bothering me. I think people think I am sad all the time. Maybe I am and I'm just used to it and I don't realize I am sad. My kids (at school) have made mention several times recently that I don't smile very often. My assistant principal seems to have asked me a lot lately why he never sees me smile. Brad is always telling me to smile. Does anyone else think I seem like a miserable person? I mean, I do have a lot on my mind usually. And I generally don't like my job, but I thought I was better at hiding that than I apparently am. One of my kids saw me while I was out to eat with some friends and she heard me laugh. She said she had never seen me smile or heard me laugh. How pathetic is that? I know I need to loosen up and learn to have more fun, but I honestly didn't think I was THAT bad. Help!!! I need to loosen up!!! I used to be fun. What happened to me???

Blue October and a good supper...

I am so into Blue October right now. They are awesome! Carmen, I really think you'd like them if you don't already know them.

I cooked my first e-mealz supper tonight. I had marinated chicken with alfredo sauce and broccoli and breadsticks. It was yummy. Tomorrow I am going to have a stroganoff style roast that I am cooking in the crockpot. I think it will be good too. It certainly helps to know ahead of time what you are having instead of staring aimlessly into the pantry at 5 o'clock each day.

I am taking the day off of work tomorrow to go to Lily's Christmas program. I know I probably didn't need to take the whole day but I really didn't feel like going in for the second part of the day (that's the longest part of my day anyway). I am not going to hoard my sick days like some people do. I know my kids are only little once and I plan to take days off to go to things like Christmas programs and other special events. I owe that to myself and to them.

Well, Lily is upstairs asleep in the tent in the playroom. She and Sam were watching a movie up there. I guess I need to go haul her up to her bed now. She is getting so big and heavy!!! Or maybe I am just weak and out of shape. Or maybe both. Oh well, nighty-night!

"Enchanted" weekend...

This weekend sure flew by! We went to our Sunday School Christmas party Friday night and my school Christmas party Saturday night. Friday night was really fun. We ate a great dinner and then we played their Wii. I had never played one before but I had so much fun that I am now on the hunt for one to buy the family for Christmas. I shopped all day Saturday and absolutely no one has them. Best Buy gets their shipments in on Tuesdays and Fridays so I am going to call and check regularly and see what I can come up with between now and Christmas. Got most everything else I needed to buy for Christmas while I was out on Saturday, so maybe I won't have to do much more crowd fighting this season. I am getting less and less patient with age.

Today I went to church and listened to the Christmas Cantata. It was good. My favorite Christmas hymns are "Mary, did you know?" and "What Child is this?" and they were both included in the cantata which made it a hit for me. Afterwards, I took Lea and Billy to see "The Golden Compass" while Lily and I went to see "Enchanted". I had seen it getting pretty good reviews in Entertainment Weekly, but I still wasn't dying to see it or anything. I was really surprised. It was so cute. Or maybe I was just desperate to see a good movie and whatever I watched today would've been good. It was honestly a really good movie (as far as those kid/fairy tale stories go anyway). What made it even better was the trailer for the next Season of Lost that they showed before the movie! I am SOOOOOO excited! Season 3 comes out on DVD December 11 (going to get it THAT day unless the world comes to an end or something) so if you are not yet a Lostie then you have a little time left to become one before Season 4 starts. My suggestion is to go to a video store (Family Video has it) and start with the first Season and watch as much as you can stand at once. I really believe that once you start, you won't be able to stop. It is GREAT, GREAT, GREAT! The bad thing about it is that you really have to have watched from the very start.

Made semi-homemade chicken noodle soup for supper tonight. Did I tell you about e-mealz yet? www.e-mealz.com Read about it in the doctor's office the other day waiting for Sam's flu shot. They plan your meals for you for the week and they even provide you with a shopping list to cook all the meals they suggest. The list is divided by category (produce, deli, canned, etc.) and you can even request a specific grocery store and they will suggest brands carried by that store AND the prices for each item. This is my first week trying it. I went to the grocery store today and bought all I would need for this week. I'll let you know how it goes. And also, I am still cleaning my sink each night. And it is still making me smile in the morning. I'm taking my time in moving on to the next step, but I want to make sure I don't jump into this too fast and burn out.

Also not sure if I mentioned on here that I had a major PMS, psycho day on Thursday. I had gone three days without my Effexor and I was a total bitch. Thought it was all because of no meds, then I realized mother nature had a hand in that as well...(you girls catch my drift). I was feelings very edgy and so I call Dr. Lampley and he changed me to Prozac. I started taking it Thursday night and I have felt pretty good ever since. The Effexor was really making me jumpy and I felt like I was having blood pressure problems. My heart was pounding all the time too. Glad to get off of that and try something different that hopefully won't make me feel like I've been running a race.

Oh well, I am gonna run read a little before bed. I bought a new book Saturday, the second in a series by the "Left Behind" writers telling the story of each of the writers of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John). John's was first and I read it about a year ago. Those of you who know me will think this totally doesn't sounds like something I would read, but honestly, I am fascinated. It is like reading a history book, only with a personal story attached to it. This one is Mark's story. I'll let you know if it is as good as the first one. Nighty-night.

Party party...

Well, the Christmas season is officially here, I guess. I have a Sunday School Christmas party tonight and my school Christmas party tomorrow. The Sunday School party is the same as usual... steak dinner at June's house, probably followed by a game or two of Catch Phrase. We usually have a lot of fun. Our school Christmas party is going to be quite a spectacle. Our principal really likes to go all out. This year he has reserved the Owl's Eye vineyard and winery and he has a local country artist that has made it "big", Megan Peeler, coming to perform for us. He always cooks ribs and there's tons of other food. The best thing is that everyone really lets loose and has a good time. It should be a lot of fun. Matt & Lindsay are watching the kiddo's tonight and they are staying with Grandmomma and Granddaddy tomorrow night.

Flylady..

I'm a sucker for a gimmick. Any new program, new fad...I'll try it. I really like this flylady idea. This lady is my kind of lady. Organization, routine...I love it. Anyway, I think I mentioned the other day that her program starts by having you clean your sink every night before bed. I have been doing that and as silly as it sounds...you feel really good the next morning when you see that shiny sink. Maybe I'm just easy to please (although that's not what my daddy always told me!) but it's the little stuff that really makes a big difference to me. I've been running the dishwasher every night before bed and emptying it each morning before I go to school. Then when I come home I have a clean sink and a place to put all the dirty dishes so my sink stays clean. I think I may be ready for the next step in her program! Gotta run build a castle with the kids... may write more later.

She's better. Nope, wait a minute...

Yesterday Lily was back to her usual rambunctious self after feeling really lousy at the end of last week. This morning I knew something was up because she got up and went straight to the refrigerator, got her sippy cup out, turned on the tv, and covered herself up on the couch. No demands for little snacks, no demanding mom to get up and cover her up and turn the tv. I was so shocked, I first thought someone had broken into the house when I heard her and I knew she hadn't come to wake me up. I knew Sam spent the nite with Lea at mom's and Brad was still in the bed beside me. Anyway, I cuddled up to her on the couch and I noticed immediately that she was very "ragdoll"-ish. She didn't speak to me (now THAT is unusual) and she didn't smile. We laid there for about thirty minutes and out of nowhere she threw up all over the side of the couch and the floor. Cleaned that up and got her a pedialyte popsicle. She laid there and sucked on the popsicle for a minute or two and threw up again. She looked miserable. Glassy eyes, pale skin, just pitiful. She fell asleep and slept for about an hour and when she woke up she seemed to feel much better. She has eaten a whole plain rice cake and she's had two pedialyte pops and she has kept them down. She has talked a little but she's still not moved off the couch. I offered to get her dressed but she said no. She looks like she might fall back asleep any minute. I did manage to get her antibiotic in her and so far (knock on wood) it has stayed down. It's like I told Daddy, she can be so aggravating sometimes, talking nonstop and having all that energy. The when she doesn't feel good and that part of her personality is gone, you really miss it. I can remember taking Sam for well-checks at the doctor when he was little and finding double ear infections. He never let us know when he felt bad. He didn't cry or fuss or anything. She's not fussy or anything like that, but she just isn't her usual happy self and that's enough to let me know that something is not right with her.

Why don't I get to go to bed at 7:30?...

Well, I guess you could say I am irritated at Brad (nothing major, just his usual). The kids got me up at just a few minutes past 6 this morning. He slept until around 7:30 and when he got up he went to church to help the brotherhood put together treat bags for Santa's visit tomorrow night. When he got home, he went straight back out to check the cows and piddle in his pasture, as always. He went to buy some poles to begin building his dock down at the pond. I took Sam, Lea, and Lily to Sam's practice (which went much better than his last practice, by the way). They wanted to come home and play outside. I tried to get them to agree to Christmas shopping because I need to do at least another day of that, and I do not want to wait until the week before. Anyway, he came in this evening and stayed for about fifteen minutes and he said he wanted to go down to his parents to look on the internet at the go-kart we are thinking of buying Sam for Christmas. He didn't want to have it up here in front of Sam and he said he wanted to ask his dad a question or two. Ok, then he comes back and says he wants to go to mom and dad's for supper, so he goes to order and pick up supper. So, all day he has not been home and I have been here all day by myself with the kids and guess what??? He ate his supper, laid in the chair and went to sleep. I woke him up because his snoring was grossing me out and he got up and went to bed at 7:30!!! He stuck his head out of the bedroom door before he went to bed to remind me to turn off the Chrsitmas lights outside before I came to bed. I just wanted to scream at him that I would love to go to bed at 7:30. I would love to go to bed without having to tuck everybody in and read some book about Barbie or Dora. This is what drives me crazy about him, as much as I love him. Some things are just never going to be fair and equal. Besides that, it drives me nuts that he cannot sit still and just talk to me. He's gotta be up moving and breaking a sweat, or else he's asleep in three seconds flat. I never get a bit of conversation out of the man. And he can talk all day long to my friends when he's around them, or to any of his scout mom's, but getting him to talk to me is like pulling teeth. Of course, he says he tells me things, but he doesn't. I get half of my information about his life by listening to his end of his phone conversations with his mom or dad. UGH! I just want someone to talk to me for goodness sake!!

I was looking at this website www.flylady.net today. It seems to be a really good, do-able way for me to get things organized so that I can keep my house clean and my life organized. As funny as it sounds, her first step is to clean your sink until it shines and to make sure you do that every night before you go to bed so that you will have that shiny sink looking at you when you get up in the morning. So, tonight I soaked my sink in bleach, then I rinsed it and scrubbed it down with Comet. I dried it and put a little lemon oil on it to give it some shine. As crazy as it sounds, it was very pretty and it did make me feel good. I like the way she thinks...very anal retentive, like me. But she also has found a way to meet her anal retentive needs without driving herself crazy...exactly what I need. It is step-by-step, you have to go slow so that you make each step a habit and you are not allowed to skip steps. If you have time, you should take a look at it, especially if you have kids and work outside the home. I was really impressed.

OK, well, Lily is ready for bed so I'm off to tuck her in. Sam's at Mimi's tonight and I considered buying a movie on pay-per-view when she went to bed. I'm not sure if I will now or not since I have no one to watch it with me. What a poopy-head!