A year from now I hope to be.....

I'm borrowing this idea from a post I saw on the NSBR message board at twopeasinabucket.com. Basically instead of making resolutions of what you're going to start on January 1 you think about where you want to be next December 31, sort of a "see it and be it" kind of thing. I like this way of thinking better than New Year's resolutions!

So let's seeeeeeeeeeeee......... a year from now I hope to be:

1. Healthier! Thinner would be a great bonus from that but with my family's health history and some of the things I now have going on I really need to be HEALTHIER!

2. I hope to cut a big chunk out of our debt. I told Mark and the kids a few weeks ago that I thought we should go on a "no-spend" spree for January beyond buying gas, food and school lunches. I think I saw fear in the kids' eyes! But right after Christmas what else do they really need???

3. More fun/less stressed. I think I used to be somewhat of a fun person and I know I haven't been that person in many months.

4. More caught up in my scrapbooking! I have so much in supplies and so many years of photos and I hope a year from now I've actually scrapped a larger percentage of them than I did this year!

I'm sure I can think of more but there's my starter list anyway! So where do YOU hope to be on December 31, 2009????

Happy New Year

I'm fighting melancholy this morning. I'm thinking of all the changes we've gone through this year and how those changes will affect our futures and it makes me kind of sad. What's done is done, you can't go back, blah, blah, blah. Intellectually I know all that but my heart is having a hard time putting it to rest today. sniff sniff But to throw out another over-used saying life goes on, count your blessings, and to quote some REO you have to roll with the changes. And I am honestly attempting that but I think over the next week it's going to be a little hard to do.

I had planned on doing every "good luck tradition" I could find on New Year's Day but last night at supper Mark and the kids reminded me we DID have pork and black eyed peas last NYD! So now I'm thinking maybe this year we need to do "anti-traditional" things and see how that works for us!

On top of everything else he's dealing with we found out Monday morning that Robbie has a sinus infection. Hopefully that's the main reason he's been so lethargic and not the other meds. He's been on amoxicillin since Monday and does seem a little perkier already but still has the sniffles and cough. Hopefully they are now from all the gunk breaking up! He elected for pills over liquid thinking they would be like the capsules he's been taking. The amox are horse pills! I told him to imagine they were Poke-balls and once he swallowed it the Pokemon would fight the germs. Have you ever seen an 8 yo boy do a MAJOR eye-roll?! Quite the sight let me tell you! lol

And now just a couple of pics from the Children's Museum last week-end. They turn the staircase to the second floor into a giant arctic slide and Robbie and Katie went down it twice. And look at the size of those snowflakes!

hodge podge of musings

Sometimes it seems like there's nothing to blog about and other times it seems like there are a multitude of thoughts floating around in my head that want to put down "on paper" (or typed on screen!).

A week from now Samantha will be heading back to Kansas and that makes me sad. I had a bad dream about it last night so that's not helping either. I'm very glad for the time we've all been spending together and I don't want it to end! We've seen more episodes of "old Robbie" since she's been here. And it's just been good to have the whole one-second-getting-along-the-next-second-nit-picking-at-each-other-shenanaigans going on! And with her graduating in May who knows where life will take her so every second of the next week is going to be bittersweet in the Mom-ish way!

I've been thinking about the new year coming in and how many people make resolutions and all that jazz. I don't want to call them a resolution because it just seems like you're setting yourself up to fall with that title hanging overhead but I hope to become healthier in 2009. Both physically and financially (and hopefully emotionally will fall into place after those!). A year ago at this time I never thought the then new year would hold for us what it has! I'm a little apprehensive about 2009! lol But I'm going to do my best to be hopeful about it too. 2008 tanked if you asked me so I'm hoping we can all only go up in 2009!

And I had started a thought here but a whining 11 yo interrupted my train of thought and I lost it! Maybe it will pull back into the station later!

Merry Christmas! and other ramblings

First I want to say a very Merry Christmas to everyone and anyone who reads my ramblings! I know the weather is wreaking havoc on many travel plans so I hope everyone is able to be where and with whom they want to be this holiday!

We're getting rain right now. I'm afraid of how icy things will be again once the temps drop again. Yesterday afternoon we got ice. It was like a fine glaze had been laid down on everything. There were wrecks all over the metro Indy area (including two fatalities--always sad but especially so with the holiday). It took Mark three times as long as it normally does to get home from work. He said once he got off the interstate the cars were going so slow that the speedometer wasn't even registering. We do not have much of an incline to our driveway but it was enough that Mark couldn't just drive the car right up. I kept hearing these weird noises so I looked out the window and saw him coming into the driveway and then sliding back into the street over and over! It was kind of funny! Then Sam and I both thought there was going to be no tread left on the one front tire so I convinced him to use the yard for traction so half the car sat in the yard and half on the driveway last night. This morning I-69 was closed due to the large number of accidents on it because of the ice so he had to find an alternate route to work. There were still accidents going on this morning including a 20 car pile up in Indy. They're saying tomorrow will be dry but very cold and then Friday and Saturday A LOT OF RAIN and the weatherman was commenting on how there's nowhere for more rain to go. Maybe time to start building an ark?

But for now we'll just get ready for Santa to make his arrival and our traditional Christmas Eve feast of delivery pizza! The kids, Robbie especially, are sad that my parents won't be here this year. My mom is in physical therapy for a bad back and the trip here at Thanksgiving about did her in. So this year it will just be the five of us (seven if you count the dogs!) celebrating. Sounds like a perfect jammie day tomorrow if you ask me!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Indy zoo and boy is it COLD!

I just checked weather.com and it's 9 degrees right now. Good news is we're only one degree from the forecasted high of 10 today! Whoo-whee, grab the shorts and the flip-flops! But again the sun is actually shining today. For over a month now it's been cloudy and overcast UNLESS it's been bitterly cold and THEN we get sunshine. Seems to be a severe case of weather irony!

Last night after debating most of the day whether Robbie and I felt up to going (thank to the crud) we went to the Indy Zoo to see their Christmas lights. We had made going to see Illuminations at Botanica in Wichita a family Christmas tradition so we needed to make some new traditions here in Indiana and this was the closest thing I saw to Illuminations. The zoo was packed! I guess everyone was trying to beat the frigid temps we're supposed to have over the next several days. A lot of the animals were sleeping or trying to stay warm but the seals were putting on a loud concert as we walked in. Two were up on a large rock just "singing" away. Probably wondering why all the humans were in there after dark disturbing their quiet time!

The kids about to be attacked by a giant peacock!

The obligatory flamingo shot!

We went to the gardens next to the zoo to see the indoor train display. My picture doesn't do the entryway or their tree justice. It was beautiful!

The trio in front of said tree!

It's officially Christmas

because, once again, I have caught the annual Christmas crud. I had hoped I'd get by-passed this year with all the other crap that's been going on but since Robbie's had it for over a week I figured my days were numbered.

I feel like my sinuses and all the area around my eyes are swollen to 10x their normal size and I can't breathe through my nose. I look mahvelous...ahem.

So if anyone has any good home remedies I may not have tried yet bring'em on!

Yay!

After a delay (what IS the problem with plane travel between Wichita and Indy that there always has to be some sort of delay???) all my lil ducks are under one roof! I've been telling Mark, Katie and Robbie that Sam wasn't coming in until next week so they were all surprised when they got home this afternoon and here she was! Now for two+ weeks of peace, love and harmony! Yeah, right! lol

We're under another winter weather advisory tonight. More ice is supposed to come through. We still haven't thawed out from the other day's drop. So the kids may have another late start day tomorrow. One more day and then they're out for Christmas! I hope that this break will be uber beneficial for Robbie. He's been fighting a cough for a couple of weeks and now has the "nose crud" as well as all the other issues going on. Hopefully some time off will help him get healthy and also find his bearings and be ready to tackle the world again. I think having Sam here is already helping. Tonight he was pretty animated in that "old Robbie" way at supper. I'm sure it was his big sister and not the fact we went out to eat at 5 Guys!

The past week has been a stressful one for the Robtar and his parents. I won't bore you with all the details but at times I've been frustrated and angry with him and at other times I've been ready to go take a school apart brick by brick. We had a meeting with his teacher on Tuesday and Mark took off work so he could go too. He told me "I didn't go for your safety...it was for THEIRS!" heehee I did well though and told the teacher again that I'm not a "not my kid" kind of mom but that it's not ALL my kid either. I think we made our point in a mature way but if my son comes home with another bruise like he had before then we're going back to that brick by brick plan!

But now all my "babies" are here and I'm happy about that!

It's sooooo cooooooollllllllllllld!

This has been covered in other venues before but let me say again for blogger world...ahem...I HATE COLD WEATHER!!! It literally makes me hurt. I think some of it stems from the hypothyroidism but whatever the cause I hate it! Now don't get me wrong I don't mind cool weather and even "oh it's nippy out there" weather but when it stays below freezing then I'm planning my hibernation evacuation! Right now it's snowing/sleeting with a wind chill of 11. I keep telling myself it could be worse and I could be in whichever northern plains state that I heard the wind chill was -48 this morning. Nope, I don't think so!

I read a great e-mail today from one of my online scrapping friends. Her son just turned 11 and told all his friends that he didn't want gifts for his party but rather unwrapped toys to donate to Toys For Tots instead. He collected 30 toys to donate! How inspiring is that?! What a great son they're raising! If he's doing this at 11 can you just imagine the good he's going to spread through the world as an adult? Yay Tara and Daniel!!!

ramblings

I think I am finished buying Christmas presents for the kids. I might need a couple of little things to suggest to Santa for Mark's stocking but other than that I THINK I'm finished. Oops, forgot about a teacher gift and two bus driver gifts. Any suggestions for the bus drivers? I'm thinking a Starbucks gift card.

I still haven't made nut clusters yet or made any cookies yet and there's a all the wrapping of presents to do. But tomorrow our high is only supposed to be 25 degrees so after I walk Robbie to the bus stop I think I'll hibernate and maybe I'll get some of that stuff finished then!

The MD wants to try Robbie on Strattera to see if that will help with the supposed ADD. I'm still not convinced he has ADD and think that it's more that we have OCD (the not wanting to be touched by others) issues going on. I picked up the prescription but when I hear him laying there on the floor laughing at the tv and picking up on jokes and plays on words I have a hard time with actually starting him on this medicine Saturday. The first day of the Adderall was hell, no other word for it. It's one thing to take a medication yourself knowing there are possible side effects but it's entirely different when it's your child.

I heard from my friend, Edie, this week and she's going to be in Louisville (she lives in NC) so she's going to drive up here Saturday and spend the night. That will be a nice break from everything else going on around here!

Celtic Thunder and 39 Clues

You gotta love PBS fund drives! Now the people coming on the screen in the middle of the shows pleading for money is not loads of fun but they bring out some really good shows during this time frame. Earlier in the year Mark and I saw a video of The High Kings, an Irish group, and really enjoyed it. Well this time around Katie has discovered the Celtic Thunder and is in love! Primarily because of the youngest member of the group who is in his teens! She watched the show on tv and then saw it was on again and begged us to DVR it and she's already watched it a few times since this week-end! I think all three of my children have inherited my ecclectic musical tastes and I love it! Katie doesn't know it yet since she's still at school but I downloaded the Celtic Thunder's first album from iTunes today. They have a second one out now but I didn't see it on iTunes yet.

Any of you with kids in school may have heard of the newest book series craze, The 39 Clues. Robbie finally got his copy of the first book from a book order at school. Last night he had a Cub Scout event about a half hour from the house. He read that book by flashlight all the way there and all the way back! And then stayed up reading longer than he should have. He's not reading as much as he used to so it makes me happy to see him so excited over a book! Ssssh....he doesn't know it but he's getting the second book for Christmas!

We're such a cultural lot this week!

Snowy Saturday

I'm watching the snow coming down and listening to the neighbor's yappy dog yap about being stuck outside in it. Poor thing is probably afraid he/she will be buried and never seen again! Belle and Daisy used to have to rush outside when they heard the neighbor dog yapping, "We're missing all the action, woman, open the door already!". Now they barely move an ear when they hear it. "Oh, it's just them again."

Katie's a little sad that the snow is coming down so heavily on a Saturday and they're missing the opportunity for a snow day. They only go for half a day on Wednesday (some teacher workshop thing) and in two weeks they're out for Christmas and New Year's. When I reminded her of that I got "But Mom....a SNOW DAY!" And I get what she means. There's just something about that bonus day off where everything you do seems just a little bit more special because normally you wouldn't be able to do it on that day.

This is the first Saturday in awhile that we don't have company or have something on the calendar. I thought about going out to get all the "donation gifts" that the kids scout troops and/or classrooms have requested but I may just kick back today and watch the snow. No point in making cookies this early because they'd be gone by Christmas. I could make nut clusters but we'll have to see how the day pans out. I probably should address Christmas cards today but we'll see.

still here

Had a couple of people ask and I'm still here. I just can't seem to type anything that isn't dark or depressing right now. Just one of those things I have to work through but I'm still hiding out around here.