MUSIC

I added music!

If you read with no sound, it won't impact you, and if you do and you don't like it, you can mute it................I know I'm very silly, but who knew you could do such cool things!

Thanks to the bloggers I read, like Denise, who made it easy for me to find where she did such a cool thing!

My life is fairly simple isn't it! A wild NYE at home, playing with my blog!

Kids are watching Horton Hears a Who........because I got it from Netflix and I refuse to send it back unviewed. They are such good kids. Kevin is laying in our bed watching tv, probably falling asleep.

Soccer win yay!

Yay for Caitie's team!!! They won 4-2! One down , two to go til semi finals! Caitie played very well..........so proud of her..........she's the goalkeeper if you don't know! This is from last year, I'll take some action shots or scan some that a friend took earlier in the year.

New look

I'm playing with a new look...........it's going to take a bit more time than I have right now..............but not bad so far.

Maybe my buddy Elizabeth.......hint hint...........well help me with colors and a new title in the days to come....lol You know I'm fairly illiterate in these things!

Off to watch soccer!!! Go STORM!

Tuesday

We're in week 2 of the kids being home and out of school.
Yesterday we went to the mall and exchanged some gifts, the kids spent some of their gift money and I bought Adrienne new softball cleats and I bought them all lunch at Chic-fil-a, by the way, I got an email yesterday that if you buy anything on Jan 1 from 10:30am to 6pm you get a coupon for a chicken biscuit...........might be worth a trip.....I know I'll be out that day and I can always use a sweet tea!
Today Cait is getting her hair cut, just a trim I'm guessing, I'll take pictures, when you have long hair like she does it's hard to tell a really big difference.
Adrienne already did her 3 mile run............she's got so much more perserverance than I do!
Nick made a smoothie for breakfast in his new blender.........strawberries, peaches, bannana, pineapple juice............PUREEE!!!
Caitie has soccer practice @ 3 with her travel team, she in playing in a Disney College Showcase tournament 12/31-1/3. It's a big deal, teams from all over the country. Wish her luck!
I just want to get some reading time in. I have one book to finish and 2 new ones to read........thanks for the birthday GC honey!

Reflecting

Do you take time to look back on the year as it is coming to a close? Do you look forward and make resolutions or plans for the next year?

I'm not a big resolution maker......I think mostly because I haven't been good at keeping them, so taking a date, like Jan 1 and saying.......ok from this moment on I will be X, Y or Z.

I'm better at looking back.
2008 was a good year for me personally, but there were not earth shattering moments, not sure if that is good or bad. We had no major changes to our lives as a family. We did have mostly steady growth. My girls completed their first year of High School, and they did very well academically and athletically and socially. I had been so worried, coming out of a small Parish school. Look at the road they have paved for Nick............to give me much less to worry about.

My parents have moved and are doing fairly well in their new home, in Senior community in the Dallas area, close to my brother and sister. It's almost home now, even though my mom still misses her home, her yard and her flowers.

I'm a year older, yes I skipped the posting about it, I was 49 on the 26th of December......yes I am out with my age..........how did I get this old,btw? I don't feel old, I feel good, I feel young, yes like the mom of teenagers but still.........when I was younger wasn't almost 50 a really old age? Dang! I did have a really wonderful celebration that included dinner and dessert at The Cheesecake Factory, my husband of nearly 19 years is so very good to me.

So as we leave 2008 I know we've been blessed, with our health, safely, secure in our finances and with love. Love from each other, from our extended family and friends. We have our faith, that has helped guide us and remind of us of what we find important in life. We are anxious to see what our new President will accomplish in a country that has seen it's most serious economic crisis in decades.

I think I'll leave resolutions or plans for 2009 til tomorrow or Jan 1. I've got to think on them some more.

Family

Today at Mass the focus was on the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. There was much discussion of what is a family, and how do they support each other.

I was thankful to hear that a family is many things, not just one accepted unit. When one is single it may be the others they live with and share their day to day life. To an elderly person, it may be the people that care for them, or the others that share their living environment.

My family, we are so imperfect and yet we do love, we do share, we do support.........and we accept each others flaws. I love my husband and children and yet I do goofy things all the time and in hindsight I shake my head and wonder where my love and compassion are. I don't do big hurtful things, but I might not give the right amount of support when needed, or I might not be as excited about the small things they are. I might not give as much snuggle time or passion to my husband when he needs it, I might be too busy thinking of me.

I do love my family, and I do want to strive to give them more of my support and love. I love the family of my youth, my parents and siblings. I want to reach out to my husbands family, there are only siblings left, and we are not close and I often believe that it will take one of us, to make that step, to bring is back together more. There are other families too, those that need to know that my support is there.

So today, reach out to your family, and share some love.

The Story of our Day

Adrienne in her PJ's

Caitie in her penguin pj's

and my darling Nick

I hope all your Christmases were blessed and happy and peaceful, here is how ours went.

Christmas Eve: Kevin was home at 1:30 and we just relaxed..........I even got a nap............ahhhhhh! I made chicken Marsala for dinner and we went to Mass at 6pm. Nick was an alter server.
After Mass we drove around and looked at lights and when we got home Santa's elves had left a surprise, new jammies!!(a small ornament and Christmas socks too) The kids all loved their new jammies and I got pictures too.

We all changed into jammies and watched Mama Mia, it was a hoot, and I didn't realize I knew so many ABBA songs. We tried getting everyone to bed by 11:00, but Nick was so antsy he was really having a hard time.
Kevin and I did stockings and a non wrapped gift for Nick, his skateboard deck, and off to bed we went.

Christmas morning: We had a pact with Nick, no getting up before 8am. This child of mine has been known to wake at 4am and beg, cry, negotiate to open gifts..............ugh! So at 7:19am I was sad to hear him come into my room and say.........I'm thirsty and need a drink and can't wait! In our home, all bedrooms lead through the den to the kitchen, so he was trying hard not to peek and he asked for cold water...lol. He'd been up since 5:45, had been told by Cait to play on her laptop if he woke early. He had and then..............thirst got to him. Note.......next year give him a frozen bottle of water before bed to tide him over.....ha ha.

So Kevin got him his water............and we were talking, he was just a spaz, he couldn't be still!!! Adrienne woke and came in, and by 7:50 I gave up and told him to wake Caitie.
He screamed when he saw his stocking, he screamed when he saw his new skate deck. He was thrilled with his new wii game and clothes and everything. Adrienne was surprised she got 2 jackets I'd told her no on. Caitie didn't seem surprised by anything........sadly, but she'd been way specific on her list and never varied.
Their big surprises were the TV's. We had wrapped them and said they were for Kevin and I, and when we started to open them we said, oh this is for you............lol............they were thrilled! I told them we'd already had cable run to their rooms, they were impressed with my sneakiness.................yay! Ah so peaceful with no one arguing to lay in my bed for TV, no one mussing my bed.......yay!
The kids gave us really nice small gifts, and all was happy. I got up to prepare Monkey bread...........to discover I had no cinnamon~~~ Ok dang it I know there was some in there........I still know there is some in there...............where did it go? What would Christmas morning be without sending Kevin out to the local Winn-Dixie, where we never shop, to buy something. He found it............it was busy, and he returned home and I got it made and we baked it and ate it up!!!!
Picked up paper and boxes and bows and stuffings and then took a shower. My kids have this belief that you should stay as comfy and unkept looking as you can on Holidays, it drives me buggy, but I didn't let it get me down. Adrienne looked like a homeless waif most of the day....forget the fact that she just received $200 worth of new clothes probably. The plan was for a day of snacking, and we did just that. Nick was depressed that he recieved a blender as a gift, but I had no fruit that he wanted to make a smoothie, and his dad refused winn dixie trip two.
I layed down, for a nap, and Cait went to her boyfriends house, Kevin fell asleep and didn't wake me, and then voila, Cait and boyfriend are at our house.............and I was still snoozing at 4:30pm. I got up, did my hair, and re-appeared, apron on, and preparing dinner. He gave her a lovely silver heart bracelet.
I prepared the green beans and the scalloped potatoes and we had ham and rolls too. The boyfriend went home to have dinner with his family. We didn't eat til nearly 7, but no complaints, it was so so good!

Kevin cleaned the kitchen, and I called the family in TX to check in, they were all well, it had been a long day for many of them, as my sister's son's family has to do gifts at his house, his in-laws house and then my sister's house.............it's a wild circus. The gifts we sent all fit and we thanked them for our gifts and I ofcourse felt teary and sad and told my parents how I wished I could be with them.
All in jammies again by 8pm, we settled down to watch one of Nick's new movies, the new Batman DVD release. I fell asleep, as did Nick, toward the end. We were woken by my dd's and hubby taking a picture of us sleeping, me with my mouth open and them laughing at us. I was not happy. They claim they were not laughing at us, but saying how cute were were on the love seat all snuggled up together. It didn't feel like that.

I fumed off to bed, and couldn't sleep. I was in a poor mood, it had put a damper on a nearly idylic day.
99% wonderful, that is how our day went. Somehow in there we found time to pray a bit and be thankful for God and his gifts.

Early on Christmas Eve

Huge news!!! I actually slept for more than 2 hours in a row last night!!! This cold has been kicking my butt.........and I've been struggling to be active and normal with the lack of solid sleep. I am not all well, but I feel a bit more human this morning.

I was up early to drop dear Caitie has HS soccer practice, the house is quiet, Adrienne and Nick still sleeping........coffee in hand I read the blogs, the message boards, the emails, the headlines. I enjoy catching up while it's early and peaceful.

I'm going to bake a cake soon.......a chocolate cake.......it's decadent, it's got choc chips in it and sour cream and coffee........and it's the kind of thing you make to take somewhere or when guests are coming, but for Christmas, I'm making it just for our family.........yummy!

We have an opportunity to give today. I got an email from a friend that children at a local home/shelter for abused children don't have gifts for Christmas. We chose a teen girl and yesterday I went out and bought some bath items and socks and candy..........and we'll drop it off today. We have so much, and we need to remember that giving to those in need is another opportunity for us to share our love. It breaks your heart to think about children whose parents couldn't love and care for them the way we do ours.

Last night the boyfriend of Caitie joined us for dinner, and I do think after 16 months he's beginning to believe that we don't hate him............he's not been easy to convince. If you've read my blog you may recall that while I like him, he might not be my ideal choice for my daughter. There are much worse senarios we could be looking at, so the fact that he is a good student, involved in band, SGA, volunteering, and appears to be a good son, I need to remember those, and realize that I don't get to choose every friend my children will have. We had a nice dinner, they watched a DVD and played video games, the rest of the family cracked them up singing air karaoke from the free cable channel........what a hoot.

I plan on popping back in later today..................as events unfold......

Thinking

I am thinking that this is one of my calmest and most peaceful weeks of Christmas I've ever had. I am amazed at what difference early shopping and wrapping make. It's given us more time to focus on family and the reason for the season.

Last night Kevin and I ran out to pick up new jammies for the kids, to give them a gift for Christmas eve, we found great jammies and bargains to boot. Not too many shoppers in our little mall, made me sad. Trust me after years in retail, I know those folks need to earn a living too. I can't wait for the kids to see the surprises we've bought for them, some things on their lists and others they thought were out of reach.

We are planning our Christmas day feast fest...lol, starting with homemade monkey bread, snacks all day, ham and scallopped potatoes for dinner....yummm.

I do admit that with all the blessings I have I miss my family so much this time of year. My parents and sibs are in Texas, and we aren't able to be with them every year. Kevin's parents have passed away, and I miss those traditions too. My MIL hosted every Christmas eve, it was tradition and wonderful. We would all go to Mass and back to her house for food and gift exchange, mostly for the kids, and we'd eat and drink and sing and enjoy the family. We'd pass new babies around and just love that feeling of being together. My kids would be exhausted and come home all sleepy or asleep and we'd tuck them in and get busy being Santa and then we always took a minute to sit by the lights of the tree and feel how lucky we were to have our family and our children and each other..........I hope you are finding these blessings in your life each day.

Missing

I haven't been posting because I took Adrienne to a weekend softball tournament. I am also still sick with my lousy cold. UGH! Last night I was awake for nearly 3 hours..........it was awful.

Our weekend was fairly good, only marred by the fact that Adrienne is not hitting. My poor baby, she is so frustrated and her bat just doesn't seem to be working for her, the less she hits the more frustrated and determined she becomes, and yet she appears to choke up and swing, foul or miss and sulk back to the dug out defeated. As her mom, it's awful to watch. She'll get it back, but it's hard, and today she didn't get to bat at all, and she felt even more defeated. Her coaches are awesome, and they will work with her.

We did attend a wonderful Christmas banquet with her team, and she received some sweet gifts. Her team is part of a larger organization that all celebrates together.

I'm home tonight, and we relaxed and watched a movie, the girls, Kevin and I, my little guy is spending the night with his best bud.........little boys are just the best............they are actually less trouble together, no fussing!! I sure hope Sheila has ice cream............because Nick is needy about his daily ice cream.

I hope your weekend was peaceful, and not too hurried and scurried. I know a few bloggers who were snowed or frozen in, a few bloggers that tried to catch up,a few bloggers that we reflective, and a few bloggers that wish this gift giving season would go away.............you can claim your own status!

For me, the next few days should be mostly peaceful and thoughtful. No school, no homework, no rushing ,no shopping, no wrapping............it's all behind me now.

Good night dear bloggers, this viral infected woman is taking her cup of tea and book and heading to bed.........................praying to sleep well.

Friday Five

It's that time again.........wow this week flew by.

I'm thankful that:



1. Some wonderful drug companies make Advil cold and sinus and Nyquil liquigels(though they are huge), I'm able to function semi-normal.

2. My kids are done with school today for 2 entire weeks, that is 16 full days with no homework or projects or having to be the chauffer at 7:30am....and up way before that.

3. My kids are wonderful, good, driven and so balanced. They have given more of themselves this week to make others Christmas better, and they haven't asked for a single thing beyond one more cookie.

4. My husband is good to me, is employed, and didn't get upset at me for being all congested and yucky and waking him the last 3 night with this cold.

5. Coffee..........and having the time to sit and have another cup, while blogging, reading, reading a book, praying..........and remembering how good life is........even in the wake of seeing how confusing life can be.

Irony

Now this is ironic, IMO.
One of the big family type gifts we bought for our kids this year are TV's. Yes, I'm an awful mother, and my kids will have TV's in their rooms. I even had cable run in them. My kids don't watch a TON Of TV, the girls have sports and honors classes, and social lives, and volunteering.......so much going on. Nick had an old TV in his room that he watched videos or DVD's on to help him go to sleep. It was perfect, but the TV died 2 or 3 months ago. There are 5 of us, and we currently have 2 TV's and it seems that I'm always giving up my room, to be mussed up to a child laying on my bed watching TV, and that's fine, if they want to watch something we aren't watching in the den.
Ok, back to irony...............
This morning, guess what.................my TV in my bedroom is going out!!!!
Kevin and I laughed, our Christmas budget spent, and now we are going to need a TV or I won't be able to lay in bed and watch TV til I fall asleep, as is my normal routine..................

Wednesday Whine

Let me start by saying I don't have much to whine about!! YAY.

1. I have a cold, it's not so bad except for late at night when I feel exhausted and my throat hurts, I drank tea last night and it helped a ton.

2. Laundry......why does it just keep happening?!

That's enough of that!

wonky posting

Do you ever begin to write hoping a title will come to you? That is how I feel today.
It's a typical run around, busy Tuesday for me. I have a moms in touch prayer meeting at 1:30, I have 3 kids going in 3 different directions between 4 and 5:30, and husband who doesn't get home til close to 6pm, but he can pick up Nick at the end of basketball practice.
Good news, the oven is all fixed, and I can bake...lol.
Something is weird about this post............I can't hit enter and begin a new paragraph, so this is going to look like a huge run on post...........ugh!
I'm happy to say my shopping is done and my wrapping is nearly done, and now just the baking is left. And delivering goodies to friends, which is a welcome chore.
This post and it's format, or lack of is driving me buggy.
Other things on my mind...........friends with more challenging children and lives than my own, my heart goes out to them.
Friends of my kids that are in homes with less than we have and I see them struggling.
The auto bail out and what will happen to my dad's retirement or his benefits.
My nephew is a coach at a Texas HS and his team won their State Championship..............GO PROSPER EAGLES!
ok.........maybe I can edit this thing to make it flow better...................UGH!
update: I was able to edit this wonky post.............but forgive me it's a fairly random Tuesday post............now off to drink more coffee, bake and wrap!!!

It's broken

The oven isn't working right!
I know, with cookies and treats to bake and prepare, my oven is on the fritz. It's not OLD, but older, 15 years. It's just the bottom coil, it's electric(does that remind you of the electric slide song/dance). It heats up some, but not right, and the top coil, if you want to broil still works..UGH.
Anywhoooo, it's got to be repaired, I'd love to buy a new one, really really, but my budget says no no. So I'll call the repair folks and get them out here ASAP.
It's not life or death, but it's important....UGH!

Taking a moment

I'm a blog lurker, I've virtually "met" so many people via their blogs lately, and I enjoy the diversity and looking into their lives.
Via Beth, my dear sweet former board buddy, I've been led to learn more about others, and one of those bloggers led me to this person, Nicole.Grey's Gift: Baby, It's All Right. Today her baby, her less than one year old son lost his battle with Krabbes disease. I feel so sad and so humbled by what she is facing and how strong she has been. Her short but beautiful blog sharing her son Greyson with so many others is touching and heartbreaking.
Go take a look, say a prayer, hug your child and think of Nicole and her family.

Friday Five

I am thankful for:
Quite time to read, contemplate, pray...........and fret less.
Cookies..........only I've eaten way too many.
My sister.........who calls and has such wisdom and keeps me real.
Coffee.........I know I mention this one way too much, but I need it...ha ha
Christmas lights on other's lawns and decorations to drive by and oooh and ahhh over.

Kind of a simple week, but I'm feeling simple and quiet today.

It's Raining, It's..............

Pouring, you get the idea.
I got out early and did my errands, after dropping the kids at their respective schools. I grocery shopped and was bummed that I forgot to take my parent's new address with me so I could get their gifts shipped to them, via UPS...ugh!
I got home, and put it all away.........and then my mom called............what a great chat we had. They are now living in an Independant living apartment and today is their first attempt to take the van to Wal-mart.........I'd have preferred Target, but you get what you get...ha ha. Mom is excited. They've been relying on my sibs to take them out for just about everything.

Because it's rainy and icky out I'm making a pot roast for dinner, a real stick to your ribs, warm up meal.

On the Christmas prep front, I only have 6 more gifts to wrap, and I might get to some of that in a few minutes. I have a list of 6 different cookies/treats to make, now the time is the issue. I have the time alone, but the kids want to help me.
I'm making:
Pretzel Hugs
Ice Cream Cookies(dough made with real ice cream)
press cookies
RC treats
Choc chip cookies
and either Peanut Butter balls or Peanut Butter blossoms......not positive yet.
Sounds like a ton of cookies, but more than half of them will be going out in gift boxes to friends. Last year I bought boxes at Target for 75% off...yay me!

Sadly we've only received one Christmas card this year. I'm going to scan ours and post it here soon.

I'm not as presurred this season, and I'm really hoping I enjoy it more.
OH, still no tree or major decorations up............but maybe tonight some, and Kevin promises the tree up on Saturday morning.........no ifs ands or buts.

Wednesday Whine

Do I complain too much? Do I whine? I'm not sure. I don't always bring my woes to my blog, but my husband would say I doth protest too much. My blogger friend Amy The Borrelli Household added this to her blog today, and I'm going to join in. Only 3 things..........and then on to happier moments.......Thanks Amy.


1. While discussing finances and buying a new or newer car for me, Kevin and I had an argument last night........I feel awful. He'd been holding his thoughts in on this topic and it just bothers me that he didn't want to discuss it. We were still a kind of cool to one another this morning...ugh.

2. My daughters are pigs.....ok, maybe all teen girls have their moments but I wonder if never reigned in if mine would ever pick up after themselves.

3. I'm procrastinating some of my to do lists, and then at the end of the day, I feel like I wasted so much time.

That is certainly enough for now, and I could go in much greater detail with those whines, but it's enough. Writing them down atleast gives me the desire to tackle 2 of them............honestly the girls pig sty of a room..............not my plan for today.

Background update

Let me know what you think...............I'm still struggling to be creative....LOL. Truth be told I'm not crafty.......my scrapbook layouts always look like the templates they suggest, in that respect I dont' think outside the box.

Thankfully I can cook and decorate and I have other creative outlets.................

UPDATE: Thanks to Elizabeth I have an even new look! I love this and it's given me such a feeling of creativity! I hope you all enjoy it.

I'm feeling all festive and merry now!

Friday Five

For today, 5 rather random thoughts!

1. Yay it's Friday!

2. Yay my shopping is done save for a few stocking stuffers and a few toys for tots type gifts.

3. Yay Adrienne has a softball tournament, but it's Kevin's turn so I don't have to drive this weekend(it's nearly 100 miles away).

4. I plan to bake and decorate some this weekend.

5. My son is spending a bunch of time with his friends this weekend, tonight wtih a bud, and tomorrow at a party..........boys are so layed back and easy. Well my 10 year old is.

Economic Waste Land

The way I figure it, and it scares me, is that Kevin and I will be working until we are 70 or older in order to retire and not eat cat food.

We live just a few months away to slightly more away from economic dissaster. I hear all the analysts telling us to have 6-8 months in the bank of living expenses, well in a push I could get my hands on that money......luckily the job is secure at this time, but in reality, we are living life to the max, saving a little, saving for college and retirement, but in these times.........with the Stock market making roller coaster highs and lows............God knows it's not enough.

I read blogs and see the people in the town we live..........and it's heartbreaking to see them losing their homes and sacrificing so much. For what? Did all these people make poor choices, NO, did all of them just decide to stop paying their mtg? NO.

I am sick of hearing what the bail out pkg is going to do............help people already in homes..........struggling. I heard tell of mtg as low as 4.5% to help people buy homes..........oh for goodness sake, why not give that to the people struggling..............does it take a regular person like myself to see what is good and prudent!?

I wish I were wealthy, I'd spend more time helping others.

Tis the Season!

I did my part for the economy and went shopping last Saturday. We found the stores somewhat more busy, but not bustling. Having worked 20+ years in retail, and most in mgmt, I can tell you it wasn't busy enough. What I found was more bargains, more offers of % off, more offers of free shipping online, and more retailers eager to have my business.

We are spending about the same as previous years and using cash.

I'm trying hard to keep my faith a larger part of Christmas. I have children, and I struggle to teach them that it's not all about receiving gifts, but just as much about giving, and recalling the reason we are really in this season.