Back in the Saddle Again (almost)

Phewww! We had a wonderful Christmas and I have had an even more wonderful week doing absolutely nothing. Acutally I was stricken with a cold on Christmas Eve and have spent the week fighting it off. I think this is the cold I was supposed to have gotten prior to my sinus infection of a couple weeks ago and it was just late showing up. There's nothing like a cold with no sense of timing.

Father Christmas (otherwise known as Santa; I've been reading a book by the best British author ever, Rosamunde Pilcher, and now I'm doing a Gwenyth Paltrow and trying to sound British myself) was kind to all of us this year. He brought Rebecca the American Girl Doll with the purple dress which she has been drooling over for months and months. That would be Felicity, the Revolutionary War era doll. He brought Dave and Sam an XBOX 360 and several games. Have I mentioned that I am changing my name officially to Father Christmas? I haven't watched TV since that XBOX came home - it's a nice change from O'Reilly. I've been

R-E-A-D-I-N-G! You know, that thing I used to do all the time before I had a family? I'm even almost caught up on my Real Simple magazines. I've got some great ideas for next Halloween!

I got a beautiful Pandora charm bracelet with 3 charms that my husband picked up all by himself and I am pretty impressed with him. I love all three of them. I also got a beautiful cherry red cashmere scarf (red is my favorite favorite color) that I would never buy for myself.

My brother John and his girlfriend Dena flew in from Phoenix in time to see the snow on the ground before the rain came and melted it all away. Why oh why couldn't we have a WHITE CHRISTMAS? The only time of the year when I actually pray for snow and I was so sure we were in like flynn this year and then it had to go and rain! Oh well, it was still a lovely time with both my family and Dave's. Gifts aside, we are all happy (at least most of us are) and healthy which are the most important things.

The kids have been with their mom and I have had the house to myself this week to do absolutley nothing! I went 6 days without a shower. Okay, not really, but I did skip a day and let me tell you, it was downright nice to stay in my sweats all day and read and lay on the couch and just in general be lazy.

Before I know it, we will be leaving for Disney World!!!

So here are a few photos for you to enjoy. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Jen, if you are reading this, don't worry, he'll get his - I'll make sure of it.

Here is a picture of my tree, as promised. I think it's crooked. Dave thinks it looks fine, but I can see now that I was right.

Here is my mom's tree. As you can see, her's is slightly more grand than mine.

This was the best family shot, even though my dad cut the top of my head off. Alison! I need you!

This is Guinness enjoying the festivites. He opened his gift early and hence had nothing to do but raid the trash bag full of crumbled up wrapping paper. Based on the look on his face, I think he got into the spiked eggnog too!

Felicity.


And this is my mom's cat, Ally, who is obsessed with any sort of bag and must either get in the bag or lick it to death. She was just chilling in this one on Christmas morning.

The Christmas Rush

The week has been kind of crazy. It's the holiday's, who would expect anything less, right? I'm the kind of Christmas shopper who starts out strong - I usually get a couple gifts very very early and that lulls me into a state of false arrogance about how much time I have. And then, whattya know? It's the week before Christmas and I still have ten gifts to buy. So every day after work this week I have been shopping. Shopping, shopping, shopping. But yesterday I was finally finished. And I zonked at 8:00. I still have a couple gifts to wrap, but other than that, I am finished. And I'm excited. I got everyone some really good stuff this year and a few big big surprises that I don't want to mention on the off chance either my husband or my stepson happens upon my blog.

All I want to do right now is go soak in a nice hot bath. Which is my plan as soon as I post this.
Tomorrow I intend to give my house a nice good cleaning (my little devil dog got into the trash today and spread it all over my living room and kitchen) and then get some pictures of my tree. It looks so pretty now that it has presents under it. I imagine we (all my blogging friends out there) will all be scarce in the coming days - but I will try to get at least one more post up before Christmas Day.

Next week - no kiddies (they're going to their mom's house) and minimal work!!!! Woo-hoo. A week and half I don't have to wake up to an alarm!!!! And I might even get to read a book. Double Woo-hoo!

SNOW DAY!!!

My kids have a snow day tomorrow. The school district already called it. I get more excited about it than they do.

I think snow days were one of the best things I can remember from my school days. Was there anything better than getting up on a snowy morning and having your mom tell you that you can go back to bed?

It just isn't the same being an adult. Even if my office closed for the day - I would still be taking phone calls on my cell phone and working on my laptop. There are no carefree snow days in my forecast. But at least I can live vicariously through the kids!

Two Holidays Ago

Guinness in his Halloween costume. Or showing his true colors. You decide.

We're Going to Disney World!!

Yea! I booked it a couple of days ago and I'm so excited. I've been stalking the prices for about 4 months now and finally the other day I just broke down and booked it. Found a somewhat reasonable flight and booked that too! I also booked us for the Luau which I have been wanting to go to for years and never have done it. So this time I just bit the bullet and booked it.

So Mickey better get ready because here we come!!

Duh!

I've been struggling lately. It's part of the reason I haven't been very "present" on my blog the past couple of weeks. I have felt tired, cranky, unmotivated and I haven't been sleeping well for the last couple of weeks. At first I thought it was PMS. Then I thought maybe it was just the lack of sleep. Finally I decided I must just be a lazy and unmotivated person. I mean it has been a struggle for me to come home and do anything lately. I wanted to flop on the couch and do nothing the minute I walked in the door from work. Dinner? Forget it - we were living on frozen pizza and the like. I was really starting to get down on myself thinking maybe I am too weak to handle the stress of running a household and working. But what to do? I can't quit.......

The other thing that has been going on for the past two weeks is that I have had a stuffed up sinus head. And every day at some point a headache too. When I say stuffed up sinus head, I'm not sure how to explain that. I can breathe fine, but my forehead between my eyebrows would be feeling packed full of fluid and buzzing - like I was in a daze. And my ears would feel plugged and my neck and jaw would ache. I've been popping sudafed like it's candy thinking all the while that it is allergies or something. Well finally today I had enough. I'm figuring taking a box of sudafed every week probably isn't good for a person and I start thinking maybe it's possible I have a sinus infection. The reason this hadn't occurred to me before is that I have only ever had one sinus infection in my life and that was about 6 months ago following a hallacious cold. I honestly did not think you could get a sinus infection without having cold symptoms. I rarely get sick and I even more rarely go to the doctor. In fact, I detest going to the Dr. I'm always sure he is going to tell me I'm a hypochondriac and to get over it. But, in desperation, I went to the Dr today and guess what? I have a sinus infection.

Thank God.

I never thought I would be pleased to find that out - at least I know I'm not just an unmotivated sloth. I was really starting to worry.

Poor Baby

My poor husband is stranded in Philly. He has been there since Sunday on business and was supposed to fly home this afternoon on a 2:20 flight. It is now 7:35 and his new flight that is supposed to have been leaving at 8:20 now has been delayed until 9:50. He just called me and is beside himself.

I miss him and want him home!

Catching Up

When I tell you what I'm about to tell you, it won't seem so bad that I haven't posted a new post since a week ago Monday.

I got married on June 10, 2006. So I have been married 18 months already.

That isn't the shameful part.

The shameful part is that I hardly anyone has seen my wedding photos. I'm the slackerest bride when it comes to wedding pictures. They've been sitting in a box in my living room and I have done nothing with them! Enter my dear dear friend Alison. She took all my pictures off my hands (and there were a lot!) and not only did she put them on Cd's for me - she also made me the most amazing photo album for my coffee table. And, she didn't charge me a penny. This is what she does for a living (well sort of a living) and I'm having trouble sleeping at night because I nothing I ever do can ever ever repay her for this kindness. So you can thank Alison for the following little gems. Sorry it took so long! Mandy - don't kill me! I love the fact that you are all laughing in that photo.