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
Happy Holidays!
Here it is, Christmas Eve morning and we’re already in a panic. The turkey is too big to fit in our roasting pan. We have a backup plan and Jack’s on his way to the store now to see what our alternatives are, but we can make this work one way or another.
We’ve been insanely busy the last couple days; spiffing up the house, seeing Jack’s family, keeping the kids entertained, shopping. The shopping.. ugh! I swear we’ve looked at everything from Grohe faucets to edible underwear. But we’re done with that finally.
Last night the kids made gingerbread houses, except we didn’t have gingerbread so we used graham crackers instead. We’ve used gingerbread kits in the past and they always left me feeling like something was lacking… so it was fun trying to come up with our own ways of doing it. The graham crackers didn’t work out so well but we had a good time and that’s all that matters.
After that we let the kids open the presents from us. Normally we wait till Christmas eve but with my family coming over tonight for dinner and gifts, it’s easier to let them open the ones from us early instead of having extras my nieces and nephews won’t have. The kids didn’t complain. That’s three days of opening presents!
Technorati Tags: Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, gingerbread houses, opening gifts
Beautiful Turkey Day
We’re here at Grandma’s house and managed to leech a semi-strong Internet connection off the neighbors so I’m able to check in real quick and get a post up. (And still meet my NaBloPoMo goal of a post a day.) I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to post while here in The Dalles, but I guess with Google moving one of their headquarters here, more and more have Internet we can tap into. Maybe there will be an actual WIFI cloud here in a couple years.
It’s a gorgeous day so far. Cold, but beautiful outside. Grandma’s house is on a hill that overlooks the neighborhood below with a nice view of the snowy foothills we can enjoy from the dining room. When we got here last night a big pot of homemade soup with homemade rolls were waiting for us and for breakfast we had homemade cinnamon rolls. Jack’s dad, sister, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, two uncles, and one of his aunts is here so far. More will come later.
Tomorrow I will share the essay Melissa wrote for school about her favorite place. Maybe you can guess which place she chose. 
Happy Thanksgiving!
Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving, Grandma, Family, Grandma’s house
Thursday Thirteen #12 – Favorite Candy
Now that we have about 35 pounds of candy in our house (that may be a slight exaggeration) I figured it fitting to share my favorite candy.
- Butterfinger – the yummy stick to your teeth peanut-buttery taste is unique. I have to fight my stepdaughter for these as this is her favorite.
- 100 Grand – crispy chocolate and caramel. It’s almost the perfect candy bar.
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – you can almost say this is healthy with the peanut butter and all.
- Whoppers – at one time (pre-diabetes) Jack and I never watched a movie unless we had Whopper’s to go with it. I almost got sick of them.
- Hershey’s Dark Chocolate – supposedly this IS healthy? Good enough for me!
- Reece’s Pieces – like M&M’s.. but not.
- Peanut M&M’s – I’m sensing a theme here. I might like peanuts. I’ve heard M&M’s came out with a dark chocolate version. Can’t wait to try it.
- Snickers – always satisfies you. (It’s kind of true..)
- Junior Mints – mint + chocolate = teh win. I even like it when they come out of the box squished together.
- Individually Wrapped Caramels (bite size) – these bring back good memories of my grandma and grandpa. They always had a dish of these at their house.
- Nestle’s Crunch – don’t like the company, but love the crispy chocolate.
- Sugar Babies – sticky gooey chocolately caramely goody.
- Almond Joy – my kids don’t like these so Jack and I fight over them.
P.S. I haven’t forgotten. The winner for the contest will be announced soon!
Links to other Thursday Thirteens: jenn | Sleeping Mommy | Damozel
Technorati Tags: Thursday Thirteen, Thursday 13, TT13, candy, favorite candy
There are hundreds of diet drink choices so why can’t I find them?
We have a convenience store up the road from our house. It’s a mini-mart/Chevron gas station. They have a deli where you can order fresh sandwiches, or hot food, they have 6 fresh brewed coffee choices including several different flavored creamers. They have two full walls with refrigerated beer, alcohol, every soft drink known to man, juices, energy drinks, sports drinks and my favorite, a full fridge of Snapple drinks. How many of those are diet? I can count on one hand how many diet drink choices they have.
If I want a Snapple from this convenience store, my choice is Diet Peach Tea. That’s the only diet Snapple they carry. I do like this tea but Snapple makes a diet version of almost all their products and they are good. Yet I’m hard pressed to find them anywhere. Our local big grocery store chain carries two or three diet versions of Snapple and that’s IT.
Jack’s favorite Mt Dew is Code Red and fortunately they make it in a diet version. Unfortunately, it’s not sold anywhere in our city. We have looked at every major and minor grocery chain and they only carry regular diet Mt Dew. No diet code red. Jack has a co-worker who lives in another city and state over and found a Safeway near him that carries it. So every so often Jack gives him $20 and he buys us some to tide us over a while.
If we eat out and I’m in the mood for a soft drink, guess how many choices I have? Usually one. Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi. No diet 7-Up, no diet Orange, just diet cola. With the growing number of diabetics in this country, is that really fair?
I think not.
I’m thirsty and not in the mood for water but my choices are next to nothing. It’s NOT for lack of products! There are hundreds of diet choices, but no one sells them. Why is that?!?
Technorati Tags: soft drinks, diet drinks, diabetics, diet
