Christmas MeMe

I haven't done a MeMe in quite sometime. But I thought that this one I saw on Kelli's blog was pretty cute.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial - easier.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually Thanksgiving weekend. Depends if I am in the mood early or not. Jack's first year, it was up by mid-November.

4. When do you take the tree down? As soon as I can after Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but it does not like me.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?Hmm I am sure there are a lot, but right now I remember getting a stuffed Benji dog for Christmas one year that I loved.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My brother-in-law. Thank goodness I did not draw his name this year.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Jack. I gave him a toy catalog the other day with a highlighter. He highlighted everything in there except for the "girl stuff". Yeah I just need to pick from the millions of things he wants.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail cards. I try to add something personal, but half the time they just get signed.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't really remember.

12. Favorite Christmas movies? I love them all. Frosty, Rudolph, Wonderful Life.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October. Or I have a list of what to get by Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so. Can't remember.

15.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? chocolate. cookies. all the stuff that is really bad for me.

16. Favorite Christmas song? Away in the Manger.

17. There was no number 17.

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? We have stayed home the last few years and people have traveled to us.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Umm probably if I thought hard enough.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning. Santa has to be there first to open presents. Duh.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? All the hype and commercialization.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? No theme in our house. We have a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

24.Favorite dinner food? For Christmas, I guess it would be ham and all the other traditional food.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To spend a peaceful holiday with friends and family.

Suicide

I know that is not a pleasant topic, but that is the topic that has been on my mind in the last few days. Not me, but a family member committed suicide a few days ago. My ex-sister-in-law, or to be more exact, my brother's ex-wife. She left behind their 15-year-old son, Chad. Through the years that she and my brother were married, I saw her here and there. I remember going to visit them when Chad was about three months old. Of course, I was in my early 20s at the time and my mothering days would be way off. But to this day, I remember the way she loved that baby. She absolutely adored Chad. And now all these years later, I now know that feeling of loving another human being beyond belief.

Laurie was such a vibrant person. She literally lit up a room when she walked in. She never went anywhere without being fully made up and dressed to a T, which was a stark contrast to me in jeans and t-shirts and no makeup half the time. I usually felt like the ugly duckling sister-in-law next to her. But her personality and vibrance made it seem not so bad.

In March when we had a family reunion here at my house, she was generous enough to bring Chad here when my brother could not or would not for various reasons. I will always be thankful and grateful to her for doing that. For the first time, Jack got to meet his cousin Chad and to this day, Jack talks about cousin Chad almost daily. I also got to reconnect with Laurie and have some good old-fashioned girl talk with her while eating spicy shrimp and crawfish. Fun times.

Two days prior to her suicide, I was online talking to her about the possibility of meeting up with her and Chad in January when we go to Disneyworld. She was looking forward to that meeting. I only wish I knew what was going on in her head between that conversation online and when she decided to end it all. I know she was in pain. She had to be to leave Chad like that. I know that I am one of many who are wondering why and how today. One of many who are thinking and feeling "If Only". Laurie, I hope you are somewhere in peace today.

And if there is anything that I have learned out of all this, is that life is so precious. We must hug our kids a little tighter and tell them we love them that much more. We also must tell our friends and family that they are special to us and let them know how much we love them. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Rest in peace Laurie. We will love you and miss you always.

Another Victim of the Economy

I just heard that the indoor playland that we used to frequent when Jack was younger is closing up shop because people just are not paying $6 to come and play. I know the owner and she said that people just stopped coming in right after the financial crisis/bailout began. It really is sad because she just moved to a bigger, nicer location. It was painted so very cute and had a ton of fun things to do for the toddler set. But, alas, she is closing at the end of the month. Just another sign of the financial crisis.

In other news, I am once again a true soccer mom. Tonight is the first night of soccer practice for the boy. We are all set with the ball, shin guards, shoes and everything a soccer star needs. Not too sure I am all that thrilled to stand out on a cold soccer field at 6:00 tonight for an hour, but I guess ya gotta do what ya gotta do for your kids.

Family Day

We had a great family day today. The weather was absolutely perfect. Here in the deep deep south, we live for this time of year. This is when the weather is a cool 75 degrees, with very little humidity. And this is when all the outdoor festivals take place. Today we went to the Scottish games and Celtic music festival. It is very fitting for both Jim and I go to this event as we are both from Ireland and Scotland. We even had a picture printed out showing our respective coat of arms with our names and marriage date. Very neat. I will have to frame it and put it up.

When we were walking into the fairgrounds and Jack saw the men wearing kilts, which prompted him to yell at the very big and burly men "Those are for girls!". Jim and I just about died with laughter. It was too funny.

We saw real live jousting, which was way cool. We were routing for the Irish guy versus the Scottish guy. They were in full armor with real lances and all. And they both got thrown from their horses, which looked quite painful. The Irish guy looked like he bit his tongue or something cause he had a bunch of blood in his mouth. So we got it all, the blood and gore.

They also had the Irish dancers, which I think are fascinating, people playing bag pipes and you could even buy Haggis for lunch if you wanted. We didn't want to. But I think the favorite part for the boy was the huge bounce houses and slide.

Afterwards, we decided to go to see Madagascar 2, which I say it was Eh, okay, but not as good as the first one. But the boy enjoyed it.

All in all it was a great family day, which is something we don't get very often around here with all the schedule conflicts we constantly encounter.

$1.98 !!!

I just had to announce that I just paid $1.98 per gallon for gas!!! That's right, it only took $25 to fill my gas tank up today. I seriously can not remember the last time I paid under $2.

Now I am not so ticked by going all the way over to get flu shots for Jack and I only to discover they were all out of the kid shots. They said that they ran out of them a couple of days ago. We just got the phone call that the flu shots were in a couple of days ago! Argh. I even had Jack all set to be brave about getting a flu shot and also a little bribe by saying he could have ice cream afterwards if he was brave. So I couldn't deny the boy, who was trying so hard to be brave about getting a shot, his ice cream. I got him a small ice cream cone afterwards. But all was not lost, I did get my flu shot and after my bout with the super bug a few weeks ago, I think I really needed it.

Why I Have Twelve Loads of Laundry Piled Up...

So today, I think I did 8 loads of laundry. Give or take. I think I lost count somewhere after four, but it was a lot. I even cleaned out my sock/underwear drawer. Aren't you proud of me?

But that gets me back to the reason why my husband had to ask me if I could get him some clean underwear out because there were none to be found in his underwear drawer. And that reason is that I realized today that I am crazy busy. I have two part-time jobs and about to start a third one. I work part-time as a bookkeeper while Jack is in school a few mornings a week. I also sell Uppercase Living (really cool product). And I am about to start another bookkeeping job for friends who own a construction company. So three part-time jobs. But wait, not done yet. Me and my big mouth said yes this year to taking over the treasurer job at the church, which is kinda like another part-time job, just not paid. Oh but that's not all, I also donate my time to helping the youth group at church every Sunday night. Oh and to make my life even busier, I signed Jack up for soccer which starts next week with practices every Tuesday night and the games will be every Saturday morning for about three months.

And somewhere in all that, I have to be mother to a very energetic four-year-old, wife, chef, caretaker to five animals, maid, and yes laundry person! I think I just made myself tire. I need to go lie down.

After Election Thoughts

First off I want to say that I am proud of America that we can look past racial issues and elect a black man. I am equally proud that we were thiiiisss close to having a woman in the white house, whether president or vice-president. I think that really does say that we as a collective can look beyond what the person is, but who the person is. Something that America could not do when I was born. We have come a long way.

However, Mr. Obama, simply scares me. I truly believe that our founding fathers were brilliant when they drafted the constitution. And when I hear Mr. Obama say that he wants the Supreme Court to change the constitution to become more "distributive" and spread the wealth, I am scared. Very scared. The constitution is what has made America great since the beginning. It sets us apart. It makes all men equal with the ability to pursuit happiness. It gives us the freedom of speech, religious freedom, and justice and liberty for all. Those words are not just words, they are the foundation to this great country. The American dream is to work hard and pursuit success and happiness. It does not mean that the government automatically grants you financial wealth, it means you have equal opportunity to make something of yourself as everybody else. Mr. Obama wants to take that away from us. He wants to spread our wealth around. He wants to take away the drive to make oneself greater. And to some degree, I am confident, he will get his way. Which brings me back to being scared. Because if he can change the constitution in that regard, what else can change? My freedom to worship my God the way that I want? My freedom to write this blog saying that I am scared? My freedom all together?

We must not forget what the constitution stands for. We have to continue to teach it in schools. Our children must know that our founding fathers wanted this country to be the best in the world. The idea that people governing the people was so completely foreign at that time, it was revolutionary. And we can not lose our freedom. We can not lose our dream. We can not lose America, no matter who the president is.

Hmmm...

**Edited to add that the boy woke up and said that his "room was scary" and that is why he decided to walk through the dark house to the couch in the family room. Hmmm.

So I am up for the third day in a row at the early hour of 5 am. I get up and walk out to the family room and there is Jack sleeping on the couch with his Foo Foo dog and his little blanket. Now I know he went to sleep in his bed, so at some point he got up, grabbed his dog and blanket and went out to the family room couch to sleep. I thought that he had wet the bed, something he never ever does, but no he did not. The weird thing is that he is so afraid of the dark and he must have walked through a very dark house to get to that couch because the night light in the bathroom has been off for the last few days. Hmmm. I guess I will have to ask him why he did that. if he can remember, when he wakes up.

And one last reminder. GO VOTE! Even if you are voting for that other guy. Everybody needs to vote today. If you vote, you can get a free cup of coffee at Starbucks, which I plan to partake in. So go vote and then caffeinate yourself.

Pictures Galore

I dumped a bunch of pictures off my camera, so I thought I would share a few of them with you.

Jack and Molly the crazy dog.

Jack came home the other day with his first official "homework". He was so proud and excited to have "homework". And because this was such a momentous occasion, I had to take pictures. The "homework" was having to write his name a few times on the paper. Below are pictures of the intense concentration of the boy doing his "homework".

We went to the corn maze last weekend keeping up the tradition we started last year. Jack showing the corn.

Which path should we take?

Jack with the "really super duper heavy pumpkin".

Jack and Daddy with pumpkin. Sorry this was not rotated.

Halloween 2008 - I give you Red Power Ranger. Can you feel the power?

More of the power ranger

Jack and his trick-or-treating pals. We had Gabriella (from HS Musical) and the Pink Power Ranger with us last night or also known as Cori and Allison.

One of the cool decorated houses in the neighborhood.

Jack and his girls - holding hands.

After trick or treating, we went to our neighbor's house and met up with more friends from church and their little girl who is Super Girl in the picture.

Halloween was quite the adventure this year. We went out and hit a little over half of the 170 houses in our neighborhood. It lasted about an hour and a half and by the end all three kids had their containers overflowing with candy. At one point, I had to stuff some into my pocket to relieve the pressure from Jack's pumpkin. Anybody need any candy? We got it.