Home again

Aaaaah, the holidays are almost over. Whew! We've been on a roll non-stop since Dec 23rd I think. We had wonderful Christmas celebrations with my side and Roy's side of our family. The kids received lots of nice gifts, even some clothes! Aaron was sick on Christmas morning, but seemed to recover for several hours, long enough to eat dinner and open presents. As always, we left Roy's parents really late, and we would have liked to stay another night, but work beckoned.

The kids are slowly exploring their new toys and gadgets. Lily played with her Dora the Explorer doll a lot today, changing outfits and such. Aaron is infatuated with his iPod shuffle, and looks like a teenager with those white earbuds.

The kids spent a few days with Papa Bob this week, due to a daycare holiday (Lily) and low fever and a cold (Aaron). Both kids are doing much better, and hopefully that nasty flu is behind us.

We took 4 bags of old clothes to Goodwill today, which barely made a dent in the huge stack of things to take there, but it's a start. I kept out a few of Lily's handmade dresses from Nicaragua, I just can't part with them. Most of Aaron's old jeans have holes in the knees, but I donated them too in case they use the materials or something. Not sure about that!

To switch things up today we (the kids, Aunt Sarah and I) went to Perkins instead of IHOP. I sure missed IHOP's pancakes, they are hands-down the BEST pancakes ever, especially the whole grain pancakes - yum!!

I'm trying skinnier needles for knitting, as the big ones make my hands hurt. I like the smaller ones because the stitches are smaller and look nicer. All I can make are scarves (not that I've actually finished any). I have a few small projects in the works though.

We're looking forward to a long weekend, with both Roy and I off through Tuesday, and Aaron doesn't go back to school until Wednesday. We'll keep Lily home on Tuesday with the rest of us too. Maybe we'll catch a movie. I'd like to see Happy Feet, and Aaron wants to see A Night at the Museum. We'll see what's playing at the Collins Theater - can't beat $4 movies!

Bye for now, I'll have more news later I'm sure.....

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Remembering Vince

Tonight was the visitation for a very dear co-worker who passed away on
Tuesday. He was a remarkable guy with a great sense of humor. He was an excellent customer service rep, and he happened to be blind. He listened to the customer talking in one ear, and listened to the computer reading the screen in the other ear. His voice was calm and soft spoken, and he always got compliments from his customers. He reported the baseball and wrestling scores for WMT for many many years. He would remember names and stats from years back. I wish I could have known him better, especially after meeting his family and friends and hearing their stories about him. I plan to pray especially for his daughter, as she's been a caregiver for her parents (both now gone) all her life, and now she'll be by herself. Tonight she was on autopilot, and I felt like it won't hit her for awhile.

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Pain in the .....

Today at work was interesting, at best. Several times I sat wrong and my bruised behind reminded me it's still bruised. My left ankle is "twingy", and I found a couple of bruises on my arms.

We had lots of comfort food at work today, starting with a catered breakfast. There were eggs, bacon, sausage, danishes and fruit. The fresh pineapple was SO good.

Then a co-worker brought in some fudge. It was a little on the gooey side, but it tasted really good. She told us later that it's Velveeta Fudge - interesting, huh? That would explain the gooey consistency. I'm just impressed when anyone makes fudge or goodies.

At our monthly team meeting there were Little Debbie-type snacks and Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist. I had to skip the snacks this time, but the pop was good. It was pretty sweet, so I might get the Diet version at the store.

Oh, I was #1 in my group for November - yay! I get a $50 gift card tomorrow!! I love my job.

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Oh, the irony

So I'm thinking I'm doing pretty well with not being sick like the rest of my family. I promised Aaron I'd pick him up from school, so I decided to take Loki (the dog) with me. I was trying to get him to come along when I slipped down the front steps. It was so fast, I didn't know I was falling, just suddenly I was on the ground in a lot of pain and with a wet behind - it was raining too. Just so you know, Crocs and rainy wooden steps are a bad combination. I managed not to cry, just "ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow". No bruises yet, but the left side of my derriere feels deeply bruised, and I'm sitting very gingerly on our office chair.

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Home again, home again

Aaron missed 2 days of school, but he went back today. He was anxious to get back - a good sign.

I took today off because Lily didn't feel good yesterday and stayed home with Roy. I actually have two patients at home today. Lily has an awful cough, and a fever still. Roy is also home, as he has a 103 temp. I'm doing fine, no hint of a nasty cold or flu for me. Hmmm, I'm the only one in the family who got a flu shot...... I've also been washing my hands until they're raw anytime I touch one of them or their stuff.

Lily' s gift exchange at daycare is today at 12:00, so she and I plan to go over for that and then I'll bring her home. This cold is going around daycare anyway.

I'm using this down time to go through my iTunes thoroughly, and remove the songs I just don't listen to, the ones I skip every time they come up. I'm also organizing the songs I do like into better playlists. I've discovered I really love Skillet, which surprised me. They're a Christian Rock group that actually sounds good - not your sappy 80's type of "Christian Rock" that's really not. Try them sometime if you're looking for something different.

Back to the whiny patients....

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Christmas comes unexpectedly....

Roy got a Christmas Card and gift certificate from two of his Sunday School kids, signed "From your 2 best students". He told them they were his "most humble" students, too! Their younger sister is in my class, and she had a gift for me too. I guess I don't think about being a "teacher" too much, so I was very surprised and pleased. My gift was a silver Christmas tree and a matching candle with a snowflake hanging above it. I'm going to put away a few of my candles to make room for it on our entertainment center. Her mom said they thought of me as "artistic", so they thought I'd like it. I asked why, (because I don't have an artistic bone in my body) and her mom said because my glasses are so cool. Thanks to Roy, my optician husband!!

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What a Weekend

As predicted, this was a crazy, busy weekend. Friday night with Roy's co-workers was a blast as always. I know everyone by now so I'm not intimidated, and I even get some of their inside jokes! Elizabeth watched the kids for us, and our dog is now totally in love with her. She spoiled him rotten while we were gone! She and Lily did their hair and make-up too. Aaron did not participate in that as far as I know!

The kids did really well at rehearsal for the Christmas program on Saturday. While they were there (about 1 hour), I speed-shopped at the mall for a shirt to wear to my work party on Saturday night. No luck, so my LOVELY sister took the kids in the afternoon so I could go to a couple more stores. I found exactly what I wanted at Cato of all places. I never think to go there, but I usually find something I like, at a good price too. So anyway, I wore a black skirt, a cranberry red shirt, and Mom's black velvet blazer. You may be thinking, yikes, she wore her Mom's clothes? Yeah, her taste is getting MUCH better! :-)

My work party was a lot of fun, they played Deal or No Deal 4 times, and everyone that played (pre-drawn names) won some cash. That got everyone in the audience involved, screaming "DEAL!" or "NO DEAL!", as appropriate, just like on the real game show. They gave away a ton of prizes too, but alas, none for me or anyone else at our table. Next year!!

Sunday morning was a great worship service. Pastor Sam is an excellent story teller, and he portrayed the publican's point of view during Jesus' birth and the family's fleeing to Egypt. I love how he commands your attention, he had us hanging on every word. Chris played an excellent song that I hadn't heard before, the tag line was, "It wasn't a silent night in David's town". I'm not sure of the name, but I might try to find the song on iTunes. Oh, the church now has a grand piano!!! It's such a rich sound, and it's beautiful!

Aaron started coughing badly on Sunday morning, and it kept getting worse. After 1st service we got him some cough medicine. Sunday at lunch Aaron was very cold, but he felt warm - I did the Mom test, hand on his forehead. We all took naps after lunch, and Aaron woke up with a slight temp - 100 degrees, and coughing again. We gave him some more medicine and cough drops, and a little while later he decided to still do the Christmas Program. He did a great job, and we could hear him singing! He loves to sing, and every Sunday somebody makes sure to tell him that. He gets his voice from Roy, not me! On the last song, they sang and signed the song, and as usual Aaron' did the signs left-handed. It's cute though!

Again, the grand piano sounded amazing. The drama team got us all swaying and clapping when everyone sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain". Janice's video was powerful, including scenes from "The Passion". I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm almost scared to because it's such an intense movie. I know I need to see it though.

Lily was all dressed up for the program, and her group put on lamb ears for their song, "Away in a Manger". She did an excellent job with the song and the actions. Then her group did a poem, and she did a great job with that too! She's one of the older ones in her Sunday School group, and next school year she'll be moving up to Miss Kathy's class (Pre-K & Kindergarten). We're thinking of Alternative Kindergarten for her next year, since she won't be 5 until the end of September. (She has to be 5 by Sept 15th for kindergarten or take a test to qualify). I feel like she'd be bored in preschool, since they do all kinds of phonics learning activities at daycare. We are SO happy with our daycare provider, she's the best!

After the program, there was fellowship (read "food") in the basement, and Aaron was not his usual self. At first he was playing with the other kids, but later I found him lounging on a couch, so we headed home. This morning I asked him how he felt, and he said "SICK." Duh, Mommy. He had a 101 temp, so we kept him home from school. Roy didn't have to work until noon, so I left work at 11:30 and we switched nurse duties. Actually, Aaron's just vegging on the couch, eating some chicken noodle soup (his favorite), and watching Spongebob Squarepants. He was worried about missing his spelling test though. He inherited my "human dictionary" gene, and love of spelling.

Sorry this got so LONG!

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Get a MAC!

Last night I spent some considerable time cursing Microsoft under my breath. I think Mom or Dad accidentally updated to IE 7.0 and it caused major problems. I couldn't even get the Internet to come up on their computer. Finally I downloaded Firefox, which worked perfectly. I subsequently trashed IE from the desktop, hopefully never to be seen again. UGH!

Don't upgrade to IE 7.0!

My favorite motto: "Once you go Mac, you never go back."

4 Year Olds - Always Thinking

When we got our dog from the shelter almost 4 years ago, they had dubbed him Homer. But that did not suit him at all, and he'd only been at the shelter a week. No one knew his real name, so we named him Loki.

This morning Lily matter-of-factly said "We went to the courthouse to change his name to Loki, right Mommy?" "Yep, we did," I said. Who am I to argue with a 4 year old?

Yes, Roy, I have a blog!

I am very pleased with my gift for Roy this year. I can't let it slip here, but he will be SO surprised.

I think I'm getting a lime green iPod Nano (to match my wallet). I'm such a gadget girl thanks to Roy. This time I get the newest gadget instead of using his cast-offs!

We have another crazy weekend coming up. Friday night is Roy's Christmas Party. Saturday morning the kids have practice for the Christmas Program at church. Saturday night is my Christmas Party. Sunday evening is the Christmas Program. We had to withdraw from the awesomely fun Scion Snow Day at Seven Oaks. Roy's pretty bummed, but we had to draw the line somewhere.