Ho, Ho, Hmmmm.....

Wow it’s cold! The boys left this morning to do their Christmas shopping. I hate it for them, it is only 30 degrees outside. Libby and I are content to stay in with our coffee and cinnamon rolls! Well, my coffee… her milk and cinnamon rolls.

Luke has been saving his money to buy Christmas presents. In his sweet way he was badgering his sister yesterday to see what she wanted. She wouldn’t give him any information, she just pledged her allegiance to Santa Claus. I tried to explain to her that other people want to give her presents, but she wouldn’t budge. Yesterday, I was online searching for the best price for a specific doll house (... just really guessing what she wants at this point). In desperation Luke came up and asked if he could buy it for her. Unfortunately, he hasn’t saved enough. Knowing now of his generous spirit we will have him start saving his money a little sooner next year ;)

Now, if we can just get Santa to tell us what libby wants for Christmas.

living in bloglessness.....

Wow! I can’t even express how busy life is right now. (I’m sure I don’t own the exclusive rights to that thought this time of year). After work, PTA responsibilities, building a house, raising kids and the “to do’s” of Christmas I don’t have much time for blogs. Sad, seeing that is my number one way to decompress. I suppose I will have to find my daily therapy while in the check out lines, or counting receipts for the school, perhaps in the endless work that surrounds this house. ahhhhh......!
I’m definitely not going to find it at work. I have noticed lately there are more people walking around the store uptight and impatient. I mentioned my observation to a co-worker and they said it just gets worse as Christmas comes closer. Yuck! I’m not so sure I’m going to enjoy Christmas so much in the “land of retail”. Oh well, I’ll just keep smiling and hope that everyone finds what they need. For now, I must go and make a dent on my daunting list of things to do.


** funny side note**
The boys were up early today. Tim got Luke stared with a bowl of cereal and I figured I would let Luke finish getting himself ready for school ( never again). He couldn't get his hair to lay down so he decided to cut off the part that was sticking up!

Our trip home

Good thing it's a short trip!

Thanksgiving through their eyes...

We went for walks.

We beat up Uncle Tim ( or Dad) and

we made a huge leaf pile to jump in.

And, we ate lots of good food!

(Tim is taking the pic)

good times....

The best thing about this time of year is getting to hang out with all our friends that come back to town for the holidays. It’s so good to catch up. Some of our friends get the “traveled the furthest in the car award” driving all the way from Dallas, with three kids mind you! ( I have a group pic but my picture drive is broke) However, one gets the “traveled the furthest period!” coming all the way from Africa. Now that was an awesome surprise! And still…others get the “day late award”. We won’t even get to see them : (
Tomorrow we head over the moutains and through the woods to Grandma's house we go. This time of year is the only time all year that my sisters and mom are all together. Good times!
Have a good one!

The day after.

Minor surgery wouldn't be minor surgery without mylar balloons that sing and lots of good food! I think Luke is feeling better already. He is on his 3rd meal and it’s just mid day. Yesterday was rough, rougher than what we anticipated anyway. Although, it’s a much better day for him, I on the other hand am being held hostage by a seven year old that knows he can have what ever he wants. I have played more Battlefront Star Wars on the XBOX and Pocket Tanks on the computer today than I have all year. Really though, I’m not complaining. Just like any mom I would stand on my head, painted in peanut butter if it meant having him feel better. Fortunetly, I don't think it is going to come to that. :)

Say a prayer....

Our day starts early tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 7am. Luke is having his tonsils out and maybe even his adenoids. He hasn't had strep throat all school year. Hallelujah!!! But, his tonsil refuse to cooperate and return to normal size. The doctor is suspicious that his adenoids aren't helping his cause either. When Luke sleeps he snores and when he isn't snoring, he isn't breathing. His tonsils actually close his airway when his throat relaxes. Yikes!! I know he is going to be miserable when he wakes up in the hospital tomorrow but I can't wait until he can breath freely and comfortably. He is so brave. I am so proud of him!

Wish me luck!

Tonight we start the tournament for volleyball. We will be down our best male hitter and female hitter in the finals. We will also be short a player because one of our other guys blew his knee out last night. We finished first in the regular season but we may need more than luck to sweep it.

Life with him is a whole lot different than without him...

If you know Tim or at the very least read his blog you may have wondered at one time or another how I do it. Well, it’s never boring around here, I a sure you. As his wife I often feel like I’m standing on the other end of the tether holding on for dear life. However, his newest venture doesn’t make me white knuckled so much as exhausted. Our life a month ago would have him working in a big city far from home, however now has him sitting at our kitchen table. I love having him home. I know it’s only a matter of days before his office space is available and then he'll walk out that door every morning. Until then I will take the endless banter and wit that is hurled at me 24/7 and settle for finding moments of solitude in my sleep. I would rather have him here sitting behind his Mac in our kitchen than sharing him with the rest of the country any day. Life with him is a whole lot better than without him.

Hallelujah !!!!!

It's the end of the harassing phone calls and the endless (and insulting) TV ads. Its election day. Wahoooo!
Our senate race has been ugly and embarrassing on a national level. In fact I'm having a hard time coming to terms that I have to actually vote for one of them. In my opinion I have to choose the lesser of two evils. I have a hard time believing that a recorded message on your phone or a nasty commercial about a candidate's character is going to sway anyone. I guess it is true what they say "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything".


oh....and I need your opinion. I have a great chocolate cake recipe that I'm getting a little bored with. Do you think if I added an orange flavored extract and orange peel shavings that it would resemble orange chocolate?

good times...

We went to a local college where they sponsored a trunk or treat. It was cute. All the trunks had themes.

Upgrade shumutgrade!

I “upgraded” to beta blogger ( John, it is on the right side bar on your dashboard …look harder next time ;). I’m still trying to figure out why it’s called an “upgrade”. Anyway, if you click on comments you will be asked if you want to view “nonsecured” items. Well, those items are people’s profile pics, so no worries…just click yes. Sorry, I know it is very annoying.
I will post pics later tonight (maybe tomorrow) of the Halloween festivities.

**edit** And, if you have upgraded, my bloglines no longer notifies me when you update. Ughh! What's that about?

The rain has made us all crazy!!!!

Kind of a low key weekend... except for the husband leaving his j.o.b. But I believe it’s a great move. The kids have lost all sense of reality this rainy weekend. Libby’s favorite show is Hannah Montana. It’s on the Disney Channel. Billy Ray Cirus and his daughter Miley star in this very cute show. The characters on the show go by their real names. Well, Libby has insisted on us calling her “Miley” and her brother “Jackson” ( Miley’s brother on the show) and her dad “Billy Ray” and me “Aunt Dolly” ( Dolly Parton has guest stared as the aunt….Billy Ray’s sister). This is hilarious! Tim looks as much like Billy Ray as I do Dolly Parton. But it makes her happy so we have spent this weekend trying to remember the right names and listening to Libby…I mean “ Miley or Hannah Montana”( you will have had to seen the show to understand) sing very loud and very long. It’s a good thing that “ Miley” doesn’t understand that sisters and brothers don’t cuddle or kiss or we would have some problems….or maybe we will. Oh, brother….anyway, it looks like the TN. VOLS are trying to lose so I better go and start calling the plays…it has worked, I promise ;) And, Tim (I mean "Billy Ray") has me listening to 14 songs that he has narrowed down for his ring tone on his phone... I don't know why he won't just pick "Islands in the stream"....it's a classic ;)

Who needs a title anyway?

It seems to me that life is just one huge contrast day after day. Yesterday was a GREAT day. Nothing huge happened just several simple things that worked together to make the day work and work well. I had a great morning at my j.o.b. My training is officially over and I have been given my own responsibilities and managing quite well. I work in retail but it isn’t just any normal retail there is a lot to remember because there is a ton of security issues ( a couple months before I got there an “unloaded” gun went off in the store). We sell guns, amoung many other things. Anyway, I want to be known as a valued employee with a good work ethic, and yesterday I left feeling like I accomplished that. I came home made an Amish Chocolate cake that I have been waiting to make for the past 10 days as I watched the starter mature (multiply), that turned out better than expected. I went on to play volleyball last night and hung out with a group of people that I have grown to love (my team). In the 22 years I have been playing volleyball I have never played on a team that gets along better. We win a lot ( 29-1) but more than that we enjoy each other’s company. It’s a great feeling to feel valued as a team member. The kind of value that pulls your team out of a 9 point deficit with a strong serve. It seems everyone on my team has had their turn at that and last night was mine. Then just as I was expecting to spend the evening alone (cause Tim is out of town) one of my best friends walks through the door to spend the evening with me. It was just an all around very good day.

Then there is today. A day full of disappointments some expected….others not. Some by those you love…. and some by those you don’t. Anyway, I guess that's how it goes. And, so it goes…..

V.O.L.S... goooo VOLS!

The UT game was a blast. Well, mostly a blast. The first half was somewhat boring as it was mostly a defensive game and Ainge (UT quaterback) threw 3 interceptions. Yikes!!! I still can’t believe we won but it was exciting that it came down to the final few minutes. We had great seats! My seat was a lot better than Tim’s as he was next to the most obnoxious guy in the stadium. Ha! I saw more eye rolling from Tim in those few hours than I have in our ten years of marriage. UT is now 6-1. So we just need to beat LSU and pray that Florida drops a game then we will own the SEC. GO VOLS!!!!!!

My Cankle

So, evidently you can sprain your ankle by doing something even less stupid than longboarding backwards in flip flops (that's how it happened last time). Last night as I was going down the stairs my left foot just turned in with no warning. Fortunately, I was on the the bottom stair when it happened. I have fallen from the top before and that hurts! I suppose I need to be more careful, at least that is what I would tell my kids if they had done such a thing. I'm not real sure how to do that unless I avoid the stairs all together and that would bring on an entirely different problem like the absence of clean clothes and a deprived dog. So, I guess I will just have to suck it up and be brave. I have to work tonight (that's 4 hours on my feet). And, tomorrow (that's 4 more hours on my feet). Then Saturday I have The TN/AB game (that's 3 hours on my feet and endless walking). Nice.

BEFORE



















AFTER

good times....

Its pumpkin carvin time! The kids picked their pumpkins and designed the faces. Luke had a notebook of different faces he had drawn and after a lot of indecision just let his daddy pick one. The Libster just looked at Tim and made a crazy face and said "that's what I want". I cleaned them out (with the kids help of course), Tim cut them out. Libby went in to wash her hands after every time she touched the pumpkin goo. And, Luke....well, I had to strip him down before I would let him in the house, he was covered in it.
We ordered their costumes. Luke will be Anakin (from StarWars) and Libby will be a purple dinosaur ( no, not Barney). I love the fall and all the fun things that come with it.

My big news......

So.... this is where I will be spending some of my free time for the next uh.... well, who knows how long. I got a job at one of the coolest stores in town. I have always loved this place. Now I get discounts and even pro deals on a few items. It will take some serious self discipline not to spend every cent I make here. I will be working while the kids are in school and one night a week, hopefully not too much on the weekends. So, I think it is going to be a good thing. I'll let you know ; )

What shall we name her?

So, I have been sharing my kitchen with a black widow spider for about a week now. Tim comes home with this creature one day wanting to show Luke. Well, of course Luke was and still is all about it. I have been pretending that is doesn't exist, telling myself it's just a figment of my imagination. Well, after I started dreaming about spiders all over my house I figured I needed to deal with reality and get to know this little guy ( or gal I should say). So, today I looked up some facts about the black widow and was happy to find out that these "ladies" haven't killed a human in North America in the past 10 years. Wheeew!!! And, after trying to get a decent picture of her (failing miserably) I have come to realize that this spider is really kinda pretty...in a scary, creepy, kinda way. She is very shiny and clean looking with this perfect red hour glass shape on her belly. If only these spiders would stop eating thier mates they wouldn't stay widows for long ;)

The boys have been feeding her bugs and Luke makes sure she has water everyday. This is nuts, I know! Who has a pet Black Widow?..... leave it to us.

Our cub scout

I just can't stand it! He is so cute I could chew him up. What is that about anyway? Why do I want to consume my son? When he was a baby I actually had a dream that I put him on a cookie sheet and put him in the oven. I was really going to eat him up! He has such a sweet heart. Yesterday we were playing around and he jokingly called me a fat old lady. I said never call a girl fat! Old, maybe.....but never fat! Well he said it again (just kidding of course) so I pretended to cry. His heart broke and his tears were huge. I felt terrible. It took a minute to convince him I was okay. We kid a lot around here so I was a bit surprised he took me seriously. He has such a sweet spirit about him and I am so proud of my tiger cub!