Christmas at Your House?

I'm doing this Christmas meme for Kim at The Bitter Ball. Feel free to join in!!!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. The kidlets can see in the bags!!

2. Real or Artificial tree? Artificial. I really love a real tree but the kidlets like to put it up early and we always travel at Christmas so it’s not really feasible.

3. When do you put up the tree? We try to get it up Thanksgiving weekend so the kidlets can enjoy it. And I admit, I enjoy it too!!

4. When do you take the tree down?The goal is by New Years but at the latest, the first week of January.

5. Do you like Eggnog?I love eggnog but it is so rich!!! I usually cut it with just a little milk and then shake some pumpkin pie spice on top. MMMmmmmm!!

6. Favorite Gift you received as a child? HHhhhhmmmm…….probably my Barbie Beach Van. Santa heard us coming and left so fast he didn’t have time to unpack it so it was still in a burlap sack!!

7. Do you have a nativity scene?I do but I don’t really have a good place to display it. It’s a shame. I need to find a place. My job as a little girl was to put out the manger scene each year and I loved it!

8. Hardest person to buy for?My parents. They are very simple and frugal people and don’t want or need anything.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Probably my son. He has specific items he wants/likes but he is generally happy with anything he gets.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received?Last year, my MIL gave me an iron. I don’t iron a single thing!! BUT it was a Rowenta and I always wanted a Rowenta so I kept it. Hubby, btw, laughed his butt off!!!

11. Christmas Cards...Snail mail or E-mail? Well, I love Christmas cards but I must admit I don’t do either. No time. I try to email to very small group of close friends but that is it.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s a Wonderful Life.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sometime in December, YIKES!!!! When I was in college I never started until after finals were over so I usually was shopping the week before Christmas for everything. But I got a lot of good deals!!

14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present?I don’t remember doing it but I’ve been tempted!!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Snickerdoodles, Homemade Chex Party Mix, cookie press cookies (spritz), my Daddy’s fudge.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?We have a pre-lit tree with clear lights. But I do like the multi colored ones too.

17. Favorite Christmas Carol? O Holy Night, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Do You Hear What I Hear?

18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? Travel but I really miss all the Christmas traditions we had when I was growing up. My kids will soon be past “Santa” so I want to incorporate some before the magic is gone for them.

19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer?Yes

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree? Star

21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Well………since we travel, we open gifts with Hubby’s family on Christmas Eve (their tradition) and with my family on Christmas morning (my tradition) and we do Santa and our family when we return home. BUT…….this year, I want to do our Christmas before we leave. Santa can come early since he knows we won’t be there!!!!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Craziness in the stores.

23. Shopping...Mall or online?I can’t remember the last time I actually went to a real mall. I hate them with a purple passion. I do a ton on-line and the rest at Walmart, Target, Lowes and Best Buy

24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?) We never really did much outside and we did nothing outside because of Piper the Hyperdog. Inside we really only do the tree and mantle with stockings and I have some Father Christmas figurines that I’ve collected over the years that I scatter about.

25. Favorite Christmas cookie?cookie press cookies (spritz)

26. Do you own Christmasy clothing or jewelry? I love Christmas socks and I have some Christmas tree earrings, my daughter gave me.

27. Do you believe in Santa? Of course!!! That’s all you have to do……believe. I can still hear the bell, can you?


Okay, your turn!!!

Look what Hubby Sent me

His subject line said, "Lookout! There out there!!!"



My reply? "Smart a*s!!!" I wonder how long I'm going to have to endure this? Maybe I should just give in and put reindeer antlers on our mailbox!!!

BEWARE!!!

I can’t back up a car worth a flyin’ flip. So I should have known better but I was in a hurry and obviously not thinking. I was on my way to choir practice last night and got to the exit of our subdivision before I realized I didn’t have my music with me. I thought I’d save some time and back up to turn around in the neighbor’s drive. Now, as I have said, I can’t back up. Plus I don’t see well in the dark. So as I’m backing up, I hear this horrible crunching noise.

I pull forward and hop out to check the damage. I don’t see anything near me. The neighbor’s son is outside and he comes and looks and we don’t see any damage to the van or anything else so we decide I must have run over something on the ground. So I get back into the car, go up the street to turn around (making mental note that that was what I should have just done in the first place), get my music and go on to practice.

When I come back to the car after practice, I notice that the passenger tail light is broken and it looks scuffed. Now, I’m freaking out. What could I have hit? None of us saw anything!! So on my way home, I convince myself that a deer must have run behind me just as I was backing up. It sounded plausible!

Once home, I tell Hubby he needs to come look at something because I think I hit a deer. I tell him the whole story as he’s checking it out. His comment, you’ve hit the mailbox. No I didn’t. Yes you did--there’s white paint on the tail light. I argued there was no way because I wasn’t anywhere near the mailbox. So it’s 10pm and we trudge up to the neighbors to find……….a slight crunch on the side of the mailbox and red tail light plastic on the ground beside it. OK, so I backed into the mailbox. Hubby’s response? You don’t need to back up anymore.

So we worked it all out, Hubby will get a replacement tail light and I’ll call the neighbor to grovel, uh I mean apologize and offer to replace it. We brought Hyper Dog in to sleep in our room last night. Hubby crawls in bed and says, I didn’t want to leave her outside tonight…….because of the “mailbox deer”. My reply? Go to sleep, Smart a*s !!!

2008--A Healthy You Year!

I'm making my resolutions a bit early this year. I'm racing toward the big 4-0 next year and I feel like a 60-year old woman most days. I'm definitely not a posterchild for a healthy lifestyle. So I'm planning to make small changes in my lifestyle--one at a time until they become a habit. I'm getting a head start and beginning in December. My habit for this month is going to be to eat breakfast. I rarely eat breakfast and when I do it's usually not the best choices. So I'm making the effort to eat a healthy breakfast each day. Yogurt, high fiber cereal, eggs. We'll see how it goes. Can you help keep me honest? I haven't decided whether to do my accounting here or at my other blog, Health Matters, which I've not been keeping up in quite some time. I'll decide and let you know. Wish me luck!!!!

Yes, I'm at it AGAIN!!

I just didn't feel that comfy with the last template. It was pretty and Christmas'y but it just didn't feel right. So I'm trying again. Let me know what you think.

We did it!!

We helped make a difference!!!! Back in October, I posted about a fellow blogger, Kim Klein, who was competing for a blogging scholarship. She is a law student who is also battling breast cancer. Well, with our help (as well as a whole lot of others!!), she won!!!!! Read all about her receipt of her award here. I caught up on her blog and she is finished with her chemo and is doing great!!! Thanks to everyone who helped her out with a vote. We done good!!

Another Try??

Is this better? I love the background but I think it is a bit hard to read. And I've lost all my widgets and such. Honest feedback please!!!! I can take it!

Blech!!

Ok, I do NOT like what I have done to my template. I have lots of trouble trying to work with the templates here. But bear with me while I try to find something else.

What? No turkey?????

I heard this so many times in the last month. Yes, you heard me right. We do not have turkey for Thanksgiving. Most see this as blasphemy. You can't possibly have Thanksgiving without turkey!!! Even my work gives all employees a free turkey for the holiday. I, however, would have preferred a grocer's gift certificate so I gave mine to my coworker so she would have an extra for Christmas.

So turkey is supposed to be the epitome of Thanksgiving. Afterall that IS what the Pilgrams had at the first Thanksgiving.......... Right? There is only one written account of the first Thanksgiving and turkey isn't even mentioned. And cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes weren't even invented yet. Instead they are reported to have eaten duck and venison along with seafood, cabbage, onions, corn and squash. Even my 2nd grader, Sara, told me that the Pilgrims didn't eat turkey. So I wonder where the idea started? Historians state that the Pilgrims called any wild fowl "turkey" so perhaps that is why.

Well, enough of the history lesson. The boring truth is that I used to cook a big turkey with all the trimmings even just for Hubby and me. He always seemed appreciative. Then one year he suggested we have ham instead. I followed the crowd and was shocked, asking why on earth would we not have turkey for Thanksgiving? Turns out after all those years, Hubby doesn't like turkey!!!!! Well, I aim to please and a ham is MUCH easier to cook than a turkey (especially if you order a spiral honey ham, LOL!!!) and I still make all the trimmings. We can give thanks for all we have over a ham just as well as a turkey. So that, my friends, is how we came to have ham for Thanksgiving.

And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Good gracious!!! It couldn't possibly be almost the end of November!!! And I've not writing nary a post!!! How could I?? Well, looks like I've a lot of posting and updating to do between now and Friday!!

Did I......

Fall off the face of the earth?
Climb in a hole and never come out?
Sneak away to an uncharted island?
Hole up in my room with beer and oreos?

No..................but as it is known to do, life got in the way. It is exponentially more difficult having two children in school instead of only one--twice the homework, twice the amount of papers to review and sign, twice the lunches to make and on and on and on. But we are starting to settle into a routine. I HOPE!!!

39

Thirty-nine is:

According to David Wells in The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers, 39 is the smallest mathematically uninteresting number.

The sum of five consecutive primes (3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13) and the sum of the first three powers of 3 (31 + 32 + 33).

The atomic number of yttrium

In the title of the John Buchan novel and subsequent films (one by Alfred Hitchcock), The Thirty-Nine Steps

The code for international direct-dialed phone calls to Italy

I-39 is the designation for a US interstate highway from Normal, Illinois to Wausau, Wisconsin.

I-39 is the 39th shortest of the primary "two digit" Interstates.

The eternal age of comedian Jack Benny, and many other people as they grow older

The traditional number of times citizens of Ancient Rome hit their slaves when beating them, referred to as "Forty save one"

Japanese Internet chat slang for "thank you" when written with numbers

"'39" is a track on Queen's album A Night At the Opera. If the tracks on Queen's original studio albums are numbered in sequential order starting with their first, "'39" does in fact fall in the thirty-ninth position

"39" is a song by The Cure on their album "Bloodflowers"

39 cents was the cost of First Class US postage stamps (first ounce) from Jan. 8, 2006 to May 14, 2007

The duration, in nanoseconds, of the nuclear reaction in the largest nuclear explosion ever performed (Tsar bomb)

The number of Scud missiles which Iraq fired at Israel during the Gulf War in 1991

World War II broke out in Europe on September 1, 1939

Pier 39 in San Francisco


At age 39:

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong became the 1st person to set foot on the moon

Charles Goodyear led the way to the effective use of rubber

Jimmy Connors reached the U.S. Open semifinals

Joseph Smith Jr. and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated

I wrote this blog entry.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

Where do the monsters live, Mommy?

The other night, we had been watching Godzilla. Scott was really enjoying it and wasn't scared at all. Well......not REALLY scared. This is how bedtime went:

(Tucking Scott into bed)

What was the monster's name, Mommy?
What monster?
On TV?
Oh, Godzilla.
Where does he live? Is he just in the city or does he come into the neighborhoods?
Oh, he just lives in the city.
Our city, Mommy?
Oh, no, just way up in New York. That's a long way away.
Just in New York?
Yes, just New York.
OK, goodnight, Mommy.
Goodnight sweetie.

Bringing the Cows Home

I grew up on a small farm in the Appalachian foothills. As the leaves changed to brilliant shades of red and orange and the days changed to crisp and cool, the farm also changed. The hay in the field had been cut, baled and put in the barn for the long winter. The tobacco was curing in the rafters making the whole barn smell of its sweet pungent scent. Daddy and PaPaw would put the electric fence around the field. It was time to bring the cows home.

The cows spent the summer at my Great Grandparents in a pasture further up the mountains. There was plenty of grass for them to eat there and we needed the time to work the garden, the tobacco and the hay without worrying about the cows. But once the crops petered out and the hay was up, it was time to bring them home. Daddy would take the old red truck up the mountain and bring them home a couple at a time. We didn’t have many, just 5 cows and sometimes a bull. There was Ol’ Red, Fanny, Bessie, my brother’s cow, Ginger and my cow, Blackie. They would saunter off the truck and go right back to grazing as though they’d never left.

Our house was surrounded by the field so we saw the cows all the time. I would wake in the mornings and look out my window to find Blackie. Cows are very calm creatures, walking around slowly, eating constantly taking the occasional break to scratch their back on a tree. They are also creatures of habit. They knew when the sun started to set low and Daddy or PaPaw headed to the barn, it was feeding time.

I liked to go with them to feed the cows but I had to stay out of sight so they wouldn’t spook as they came into the barn. Daddy let me put the sweet feed in the trough for them then I would rub their noses while they ate. Daddy climbed into the hayloft and dropped hay down for them. We’d tell them all goodnight and head back to the house just before dark for a hot supper of our own.

The time eventually came when Daddy and PaPaw weren’t able to care for the cows and we had to sell them all. It was hard for everyone. I miss them. Still to this day, a cow pasture or barn will send my thoughts rushing back home.

Please Help a Fellow Blogger

Kim is a fellow blogger at The Merits of the Case. She is working to complete her law degree and she has breast cancer. She's competing for a blogging scholarship to help pay for her law degree since breast cancer treatments have put a financial strain on the family. Please check out her post and help her out by voting for her. It's free. All it takes is a click and every click helps.

Get into the PINK!!!

5 Minutes for Mom is having another give-away. This time it's a pink Casio digital camera to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer. Go check them out! And don't forget to click at The Breast Cancer Site to help provide mammograms for women who can't afford them!!

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?

How many times a day do you say the those three little words? I say them all the time to my family--when we leave each other, when we hang up the phone, when we go to bed, and on and on and on. But how many times a day do you hear them? I rarely hear them back. Hubby only tells me he loves me when we finish a phone call. And my children never say it. Recently, I even resorted to asking them if they loved me. They both said yes but when I asked them to tell me, they both refused. Should I be concerned or is it just the age? I mean, I know they love me. They give me hugs and kisses and are happy to see me. They enjoy being with me. But they still don't verbally express their love.

Now, I've read Dr. Chapman's The Five Love Languages (awesome book, btw!!) so I know that we all have different ways of expressing love. Sara loves quality time. She is always wanting to play a game together or read together or just hang out together. She craves being with you. Scott is my little cuddle bug so he's looking for physical touch. He loves to crawl into the rocker next to me and just curl up in my arms. He gives the most wonderful melty hugs. Hubby tends to see acts of service as tokens of love (which is why a messy house upsets him so much).

Me? I'm multi-lingual it seems. I look to validate myself through physical touch, quality time and acts of service so I can see that each family member can show me their love in one of those ways. But I also want words of affirmation. I want to hear the "I love you". Is that so much to ask?

Bring 'em on!!!

Thanks to Mama Zen at The Zen of Motherhood for letting me know that today is "The Great Delurk". I LOVE comments and they are very important to me as I wrote in this post. But I admit that I’m guilty of lurking, also—especially since I tend to check blogs while at work……ssshhh, don’t tell!!!

But I’m going to make a point of leaving more comments as I visit and I’d love to hear what YOU have to say!!!! So comment away!!!!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I’ll be posting lots of related things this month to help get the word out so please stop by often and spread the word. You’ll notice in my sidebar a button for The Breast Cancer Site. This site helps to fund free mammograms just by you visiting and clicking. Your click on the "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button helps fund free mammograms for women in need — low-income, inner-city and minority women whose awareness of breast cancer and opportunity for help is often limited. Your click is paid for by site sponsors, and mammogram funding is provided to clinics throughout the U.S. through the efforts of the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

They also sell breast cancer related products and have information on diagnosis and treatment and stories of breast cancer patients and survivors. Please help out. All it takes is a click and clicks are free!!!! Then you can help another woman have a mammogram that could save her life.

Oh, yeah, it’s the first of the month, so don’t forget to check to the girls!!!!!

Blocked!

I’m so sorry for the recent lack of posts. I have had a sort of writers block these past few days. I think of things to write about all the time. Post ideas come to me while I’m driving, cooking, bathing the kids, showering, sitting in meetings, working at my “other” job. So you see, my problem is not a lack of topics but an inability to put them to “paper”. I have sat down with my computer on many occasions this past week with a desire to write and found myself with no drive to perform and the topics that spin in my head at the most inopportune times where no where to be found.

Should I blame it on the crazy week with school open houses, Pampered Chef parties, PTA meetings, homework, school projects and hockey practices? Could it be that with this crazy schedule, I’m too tired to type? Could be!!

But don’t give up on me, yet!!! I’ve still got those ideas swirling in my head, I just need to net a few and pen them to paper and we’ll be back on roll!!! So check back soon!!!