New year? New wordpress theme?

It’s New Year’s Eve already?!? It doesn’t feel like it. Today was just another Monday for us. We got up early, both of us went to work (I had such a long commute, all the way from my bed to my desk, including a detour through the kitchen to make coffee), so I totally spaced off today was New Year’s Eve. For some reason I kept thinking it was tomorrow. It wasn’t until Jack called me to let me know he was getting off work early that it really hit me. Tonight is the night we stay up till midnight, watch the ball drop, party, give a toast, kiss your guy/girl, etc. I was busy working on ditching my Christmas wordpress theme and installing this new theme (check it out if you’re reading via an RSS reader) when he called so I was totally spacin’ (hehe) what day it actually was.

We have no plans at all. Not a thing. I believe that’s a first for us in many years and that is why I’m all thrown off. We almost always have a party or plans of some sort, such as last year driving up north to spend New Year’s with the Bellingham crew. It’s weird to not have any sort of plans at all but I’m actually ok with this. I’m happy to be bringing in the New Year quietly at home. Maybe it will be a sign of the year to come. 2007 was one heck of a lot better than 2006 and I’m hoping 2008 will be even better!

I hope everyone has an incredibly awesome New Year!

Technorati Tags: New Year, New Year’s Eve, 2008 New Year, 2008, Happy New Year

Bullet Sunday #15 Snow and Stuff

• It’s been snowing off and on for a week now but we have not received a single inch of accumulation. On Thursday we were horribly teased by a light dusting at our place, only to watch it melt away by that evening. I wouldn’t even call the dusting we had “snow”. It was slushy wet… goo. So today we tossed the kids into the car and drove the 15-20 minute drive to Amboy and played in the snow at a park we’ve been to several times (there appeared to be leftovers from a festival of Christmas trees… there was some rather …. odd trees still there). There wasn’t much snow (a little over an inch) but it was enough to have some fun and get it out of our system for a while. We also found a snow wall and a very large snowball (base of a snowman?) someone had built before us.

• Cody is still doing great after having his tonsils out. He did have a painful day yesterday and at one point asked me with big sad puppy dog eyes why it had to hurt. I so wanted to take the pain away for him. I talked him into some pain meds (he hates the taste of it) but when he felt better within a half hour I think he was finally convinced the taste of the liquid pain meds was worth the relief.

• Cody now has me hooked on Star Wars Legos II. Darn if that game just isn’t adorable and FUN! Cody is pretty fun to play with, except when he gets impatient with me and wants to take my controller away so he can just do it for me. He has played it longer than me so I’ll give him credit there but having a 6 year old act like I’m the dumbest thing he’s ever seen is a bit much.

• Last night we ‘camped out’ for the first time since we bought this house in February this year. It’s kind of like how the kids camped out on Christmas eve. Camping out for us means we pull out the air mattresses and sleeping bags and sleep on the living room floor by the fire and watch movies together. We can then fall asleep whenever we want right there. We haven’t done it in this house before because the family room isn’t really set up for it. But we figured out a way to make it work and it was fun. I missed doing that.

• Side effect of camping out: we do laundry in our sleep. Actually I do laundry in my sleep. I woke up at 3 AM last (nooooooo!!!! not the witching hour! damn that movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) night because our furnace kicked on and I’m not used to hearing it like that. I got up for a drink of water and noticed Jack or the kids someone left the laundry room door open… and I could see the green “done” light on my washer. Jack Someone did a load of laundry before bed and forgot to put it in the dryer. I knew I’d never be able to go back to sleep knowing that load of clothes was in there, possibly getting stinky by the minute so I put it in the dryer before going back to bed. I ended up having laundry dreams once I drifted back off to sleep.

• Today I was enthralled by this fascinating love story between a city slicker and a real life cowboy. Not a flashy, fake, cufflinks-wearing cowboy, but a real, honest-to-goodness cowboy. I found the link on another blog because the story’s author was featured on CNN. Her blog looked interesting so I started reading and that’s where I found her story. I read the entire thing this morning over coffee as I related the highlights to Jack, who quickly became just as enthralled as I was. It’s currently left at a major cliff-hanger and I can’t wait for the next installment. What aspired me to read the story all the way through was not only the awesome way in which it is told, but that it’s a true and very REAL story. Jack and I think they should make their story into a movie, it’s THAT good. To see what I’m talking about, mosey on over to The Pioneer Woman. For the love story, start here: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story with the last installment here.

Technorati Tags: bullet sunday, playing in the snow, snow, laundry, doing laundry in your sleep, laundry dreams

Thursday Thirteen #18 Having your tonsils out ROCKS!

Thirteen things that rock about having your tonsils out

Today’s Thursday Thirteen is inspired by my special little guy, Cody. Today he had his tonsils and adenoids out. We expected him to be sore and cranky when he fully awoke after the surgery. Instead he asked for a glass of water and a Popsicle, both of which he downed both in record time.

Upon arriving home he promptly ate four Popsicles in a 2 hour period, then claimed, and I quote, “Having your tonsils out rocks!”. It’s snowing outside and he is ready to go play in it. However, since he’s supposed to take it easy today, he’s settling for playing Star Wars Legos II (his most favorite game EVER!).

Without further ado, here’s 13 things that rock about getting your tonsils out, according to a six year old (with a few rockin’ things thrown in from mom and dad):

1. Popsicles – when you can have as many as you want, this really ROCKS!
2. Ice cream. Though today he doesn’t get to have dairy products, the promise of all the ice cream he wants tomorrow is almost like Christmas! Cody wants to send out a warning about this: “too much ice cream gives you brain freeze.“
3. Cuteness overload. This boy of ours is amazing. He did not shed a single tear nor did he complain… at all. Not ONCE! Instead he charmed the nurses and made our hearts melt no less than 457 times. He’s just freakin’ CUTE!
4. A full all-you-can-eat jello buffet. I mean, having every flavor and getting to eat as much as you want, IS pretty darn rockin’.
5. Getting to play Star Wars Legos 2 with your dad. That rocks all the time, but getting to play after you had your tonsils out is pretty rockin’ too!
6. Getting to play on Dad’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) as much as you want.
7. Attention. When you’re the youngest of a large family, you learn how to command much attention, but he doesn’t even have to work for it today. It’s all about him.
8. Pudding. Who doesn’t want to eat lots of and lots of pudding?
9. Free slipper socks from the hospital. Here’s Cody checking out his new slipper socks
10. Getting “gwubs”. This is what Cody calls “gloves”. He absolutely cannot leave a doctor’s office without scoring a pair of their fascinating blue or purple rubber gloves.
11. Snuggle time with Mom and Dad. He gets this whenever he wants but there’s extras today.
12. Brothers and sisters being extra nice to you. That’s ALWAYS a plus.
13. Ice cream. This one is worthy of mentioning twice. It’s his favorite topic of the day!

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Technorati Tags: tonsillectomy, having your tonsils out, adenoids, ice cream, Popsicles, pudding, jello, surgery, snow days

Christmas and the day after

Did you have a good Christmas? We did. The kids grabbed some camping gear (air mattresses, extra blankets, pillows, etc) and “camped out” in the boys room Christmas Eve. This has become a tradition for us. None of them sleep well Christmas eve so it’s easier to camp out together, and watch movies. Some of our little heathens angels were still up at midnight! Then they gathered around our bed at 6 AM Christmas morning and sang a “get out of bed it’s Christmas” song to us. I didn’t get startled this year like I have in years past, lol. We came downstairs to discover lots of presents under the tree and stockings overflowing. We let them go through their stockings while we had some coffee and tried to shake the cobwebs out of our heads. Then they opened their gifts in record time.

After that is was a day of laziness and rest. I burned myself rather badly (second degree) on Christmas eve while preparing our feast. The burn was so deep it didn’t hurt at all, but looked awful. It was white where the burn was and charred on the edges. I ended up going to the ER for a tetanus shot and treatment of the burn. (How deep it was and the lack of pain actually scared me a bit…) It’s somewhat painful now but the area where they gave me the tetanus shot is actually more uncomfortable. So Christmas day I was dealing with a sore arm (since they gave me the shot in the same arm that was burned) and since we had no plans to go anywhere, we laid around and watched Christmas movies all day while the younger kids played with their new toys. It was practically a miracle day as the youngest boys got along all day without a single argument. Other than the bitterness I’m still feeling over how screwed up my extended family is, it was a wonderful Christmas.

Food-wise, I did pretty good. I tried to stay fairly low-carb and had only a handful of sweets here and there, nothing to raise my BG levels too much.

The kids got lots of gift cards and money this year. So they want to go shopping today. There’s a part of me screaming NO NO NO… NO MORE SHOPPING!!! But, we do need some gift tags, new stocking holders, and new lights for our Christmas tree next year so today is a perfect day to get that stuff I suppose. We also need to pick up some ice cream, yogurt, pudding, etc. for Cody’s surgery tomorrow.

How was YOUR Christmas? Are you shopping at all the clearance sales today?

Technorati Tags: day after Christmas, Christmas, clearance sales, shopping, gift cards

That’s the last time…

Anyone who hosts family holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. knows how much work it is. But it’s worth it when your family all comes together, spends time together, eats good food together, and celebrates TOGETHER. I got elected to do it several years ago when we bought our first house. It was deemed I had the biggest house therefore, I could host the holiday get togethers. I had no issue with this and even enjoyed it. Sure it’s some stress and a ton of work, but it was worth it for my family. One year my mom even helped pay for the feast, and sometimes people even brought a dish, but most of the time I did all the cooking.

This year was the same.. I cooked, and cooked, and even added a new dish I’ve never made before to the menu (which turned out great). Half the family got sick before they ever made it over so canceled at the last minute and the other half stayed long enough to eat, do gifts, then leave. They didn’t even stay for dessert. I can understand getting sick… but enough is enough. I didn’t go through all this work and go through the effort for less than 3 hours with my family. Last year was about the same… stay only as long as necessary to be halfway polite, then leave.

If my extended family is so damn dysfunctional that we only do the holiday celebrations as a technicality, than I’d rather spend it with my OTHER extended family (Jack’s side of the family) where family not only gets together they STAY together on these special occasions. We spent three days with Jack’s grandmother, father, brother, sister-in-law, and cousins at Thanksgiving.

Other than THAT we’re having a great Christmas Eve and will enjoy the rest of the night with more dessert for us and the kids. We’ll watch a Christmas movie, tuck the kids into bed, then try to sleep as we wait for Christmas morning.

Technorati Tags: families, dysfunctional families

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