Coming to a Nursery Near You

Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category

I actually began this post last Monday, but life, and emotions, got in the way, and so here we are, another week gone. Another week closer to Christmas. Oh. Goody.

I’ve only bought a few things, mostly because Jimmy’s already got his own plan of what he wants to buy, and so I don’t know what I’m “allowed” to buy.  So I stick to groceries, mostly.

I’ve also been buying more stuff for doing crafts with the kids, and for making homemade gifts although I haven’t figured out how I’ll be able to ship them.

I WAS able to bill for some ads that have been on my blog that I’d never billed for, and now I have enough money to early-bird register  for BlogHer ‘10. 

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Is that not a word that describes my sister:

(Oh the evil things I could have done with this photo… and didn’t.  See? I’m an angel like that.)

and Donovan, her newly 7 month old:

We couldn’t see her other boys this weekend because they were sick, but I finally FINALLY got to meet Donovan. What a gorgeous little boy.  And by little, I mean although he’s 16 months YOUNGER than Zachary, he’s only 2 pounds lighter and an inch or two shorter than Zachary LOL  He’s one SOLID little boy.  Sooo huggable – and he’s holding his absolutely favorite new toy from Aunty   It vibrates when you pull the handle and he would go into fits of laughter whenever someone would hold it against his teething mouth.  He was a joy to experience, and I can’t wait to see him again.

His oldest cousin kinda liked him too

His younger cousin was happy hanging out with Nannie

This is Rascal, the newest addition to my parents’ household.  I’m not a fan of dogs but as far as dogs GO, he is pretty cute.  (yappy yappy yap though. omg)

That’s about it for me for now. 

November was not a very good month for us. Between Jimmy losing his job and me losing my mind, things have been in such an upheaval, it’s not funny.  As of today, we are without medical benefits as well.  Fun times.

Our Thanksgiving was ok.  Pretty low-key, actually.  I took the advice of someone, somewhere, and didn’t go crazy over details this year.  That means we didn’t eat on the good dishes.  While nothing came out of a can, I didn’t go crazy trying to find some new & exciting recipes. Our dinner came out very good anyway.  I didn’t set a beautiful holiday table, mostly because no one else seemed to care that I’d only slept 3 hours and had been on my feet all day.  It’s just expected.  Somehow, I doubt they even noticed anything amiss. 

The dinner itself consisted of homemade mashed potatoes, baked mashed sweet potatoes, homemade cranberries, gingered cranberry stuffing, our tradition sausage stuffing, homemade rolls, baby carrots, and of course, the turkey.  Everything came out very good, except for the epic FAIL on the WalMart thermometer I used to check the turkey temp when I first took it out.  It read that it was fine – so I set the turkey aside and worked on everything else.  When I finally went to cut the turkey, hours later – it wasn’t cooked all the way.  So it had to go back into the oven (I finally used the electric roaster Jimmy bought me for Christmas last year), and we wound up eating an hour late. 

Black Friday rolled around and I was at Walmart at 5am, along with half the known world.  I picked up some things for the kids mostly.  So scared of spending money, not knowing when any more will be coming in.  We’ve applied for aid, but you never know if that’ll happen. 

I’m worried about my mother.  She was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) early this year and it seems to really be hitting her hard right now. She tells me how she longs for a cigarette so badly, despite being smoke-free for nearly 2 years.  She seems to think she’d feel better if she could smoke.  She has been a medical transcriptionist for 40 years. I KNOW she knows that’s not true. I KNOW she knows what happens to smokers with COPD.  But I understand her frustration, too.  More than I’d like to admit, I suppose.

I have been sleeping so much, and yet so tired.  I haven’t seen my therapist in a few weeks, and now without insurance, I don’t know how that’ll happen.  She’s offered to see me at a reduced fee, but right now, every dime counts. 

Jimmy designed a logo for someone I met through Twitter, and it was really nice to get this email:

Great job, you guys were awesome to work with. I can’t tell you how many graphic designers I told what I wanted, and then never heard from again.
You hit the nail right on the head as to what I was looking for. I will recommend you to anyone who needs a logo.  Jess, Momelettes.com

So that was good.  It’s always good to see that someone appreciates what you do.  I can’t wait to see it on the final redesign. (The one that’s on there now isn’t ours.)

I haven’t been around to my favorite blogs in ages. I do try to keep up but ya know, you all just keep writing!  I do want to congratulate my wonderful friend Stacey on her upcoming GRANDMA status

Finally, check out this shot I got Saturday morning. I’d just gone down to get my coffee. I looked out the window and it looked like the mountains were on fire.  I literally ran up the stairs with my camera and hopped up on my only perch that allows me to get photos above the other apartments across the lot. LOL  It was a gorgeous sunrise!

As always, Jimmy Santa spoiled me rotten.  The kids, as always, were spoiled rotten.  The day was so very nice, although last night was pretty stressful and tiring – last minute wrapping, combined with SOMETHING wrong with my stomach all day, led to a long, drawwwwn out day.  Today was better, though, and all I had to do today was make dessert and the ham – everything else had been done last night  

That photo up there?  That’s taken with my NEW CAMERA!!!! and so were these:

Chocolately face, peep eating psycho child baby girl with the beautiful blue eyes.

"Zachy, leave the tree ALONE"

"what do you mean it’s a roaster oven? It looks like a step stool to me!"

"Yeeeehawwwwww!"

So yeah, a really nice day.  Be prepared, people, because this is a ProFesSionAl GraDe CAMERA, so I’ll be taking a BAZILLION pictures with it!  And of COURSE, posting them here and there and everywhere lol

Merry Christmas

Quote of the Day:
I was so hungry I could have eaten a horse. But only pigs were available.
–Anonymous

I maintain that that’s a lollipop stuck to my coat – my mother disagrees.  What do you think?