Writer's Workshop: Not the gift I expected

Now that Christmas is over, I'm ready to jump back into blogging and participating in some of my favorite weekly memes.  Today, I'm starting with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.  You can find the prompts here.  I chose the third prompt this week.
Score!  What gift is your child most excited about receiving this year?
Most of the gifts the boys received this year came from their Nonni and Pop, since we had less money than usual for shopping this year.  I knew some of what they were getting from my in-laws and, of course, I knew what we were getting them.  I also had a pretty good idea what were going to be the big hits for them.  But reality never quite meshes with what happens in my head.
Ever since the game came out, Teddy's been excited about getting Pokemon White 2.  Normally, we pre-order all the Pokemon games when they come out, but the finances didn't let that happen.  So when my mother-in-law asked for ideas for the boys, I knew that would be at the top of the list. When she told me that had been one of her purchases, I knew we'd have a winner.
And yes, he was very excited about it.  He refused to let go of it as he continued opening the rest of the gifts and he's been playing it whenever he's had down time.  But the surprise for me came a little earlier in the morning, when he saw his stocking.
Rich found a few stuffed Pokemon online and ordered them.  They were smaller, about perfect to stick out of the top of the stocking.  We picked the boys' favorite Pokemon and had them waiting, on top of one of the other gifts from "Santa" (I'll explain that bit in a few paragraphs.))  I went downstairs first in the morning so I could get video of them coming downstairs. I had the video camera running from the time they came off the stairs and I followed them to the tree.  I couldn't see Teddy's eyes when he saw his stocking, but I can imagine his eyes opening wide.  His squeal of delight when he saw the eevee we'd put in his stocking was priceless.  He turned around, dancing the eevee and singing, "I got an eevee!  I got an eevee!"  (or something to that effect.)  I wasn't expecting that much excitement from a boy who already has a bunch of stuffed Pokemon.  But I'm glad Mommy and Daddy (even in the guise of Santa) managed at least one hit under the stocking.
For Pete, he's constantly saying that he's a boy scientist.  It explains everything he does.  If he jumps over cracks in the sidewalk, it's because he's a boy scientist.  If he climbs a tree, it's because he's a boy scientist.  Heck, if he goes to the potty, it's because he's a boy scientist!  So one of the suggestions I gave to my mother-in-law was science-related things.  You've seen them.  The kits from Discover or Smithsonian.  The kits that have little goggles or little test tubes.  I knew that he'd love anything like that.  So she found a Little Scientist kit that has the test tubes, goggles, experiments, etc.  I knew it was going to be a hit.  And it was.  But just like with Teddy, something "Santa" left under the tree was just as exciting for him as the wrapped presents.
One day, a couple years ago, I found a red bean bag on clearance at Wal-Mart.  Score!  I bought it for the boys and it's been the "seat" in their bedroom ever since.  But the problem with Pete getting older and coming into his own is that they both want to sit on the bean bag chair.  And that doesn't work well.  So for Christmas, we decided to pick up two new bean bags (since the old one was pretty close to flat).  I ordered them through Wal-Mart for site-to-store pick up and was ready to put them under the tree.  Blue for Pete, orange for Teddy (since they didn't have yellow).*
I set up the two bean bags in front of the tree and nestled their stockings on top, their Pokemon Pets peeking out.  Each of the boys had forgotten one of their usual night time "friends" so I added them to the bean bag as well, as though Santa had seen them and knew how important they were to the boys so he gave them a special spot.  (And if I'd been thinking, I would have included a note next to the eaten cookies and milk.)
The next morning, Pete was a few steps behind Teddy and the same excitement was in his voice at the sight of the bean bag chair as Teddy's with the eevee.  "We got bean bag chairs!  Teddy, we got bean bag chairs!"  Score another one for Mommy and Daddy Santa!  Of course, opening his stocking also showed a little more excitement when he realized Santa left him Pokemon cards.  We didn't pull anything exciting from the cards, but it was nice to see him excited about a few things.
And if you don't believe the excitement, you can take a look at this video:

* For the sports fans in the audience, YES, I know these are Gator colors. NO, I didn't do it on purpose.  I'm a Noles fan through and through.  I didn't put together the fact that I'd bought Gator colors until my Dad, a Gator fan (as is my whole family - I'm the only one with any sense. ;)) pointed it out.

Ack! The Holidays are here! Am I ready?

I don't know why I let this happen to me every year, but I do.  It seems like I have forever to get things together for Christmas.  It's still weeks away and I've gotten a little shopping done (mostly on Black Friday). The house needs work and the tree needs to be put up, but I've got time, right?  The next thing I know, it's Christmas Eve, the house is a mess, no gifts are wrapped and the tree has only been up for about 2 days.  Then I'm running around like a mad woman.

Well, it's Christmas Adam and, even though I'm a lot further along than usual, I'm still feeling the Christmas Day pressure.  I mean, I've got the living room, dining room and downstairs bathroom cleaned.  The kitchen and pantry are going to be taken care of by Rich.  The tree's been up for a couple of weeks and, unlike in years past, most of the ornaments have stayed on it.  All the Christmas shopping is finished (though Rich had to take over some of those duties this year because of my inability to drive) and all the Christmas Gifts for the family have arrived in their proper locations.  We've got everything we need to make Christmas dinner here this year (since my Dad is coming out to join us rather than us going out to his place) and all I need to do is make the pumpkin cake for dessert.  I've still got the presents to wrap, but not as many as in years past.  I should be ready for it, shouldn't I?

Mostly, I am.  Just writing out what is ready helped.  The fact that I've only got a couple things that will probably be part of tomorrow's agenda and we've got the day to do it is a bit relaxing.  Still, I'm feeling guilty for being on the computer, writing a blog post and taking some down time instead of hobbling upstairs to get started on that wrapping.    I think I'm just neurotic.  Probably.

Really, though, I think this is going to be an awesome Christmas.  Neither of the kids have managed to spoil their gifts to each other or their gifts to Mommy or Daddy.  I think this is a first in 7 years.  And while I couldn't get the kids everything they wanted (Teddy really wants a 3DS, but his regular old DS lite will do fine for him), I think they'll be excited by the things they ARE getting.  Some from Nonni and Pop, some from Mommy and Daddy... but all things they'll enjoy.  I can't wait to see their faces as they open some of these things up Christmas morning.  Though, they are going to need to wait longer than usual - we're waiting until Poppy gets to the apartment before opening anything more than stockings.

Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, if that's your flavor), everyone.  Thanks for sticking around.

Dear Santa - Mama Kat's Weekly Writing Prompt

3.) Write a letter to Santa and let him know what you’d like to see under your tree this year.

Dear Santa,

As you know, this year has been not one of our better ones.  I'm ready for the year to be over.  But I'm hoping that you can come through with a gift or two to make the end of the year a bit better.  I'm sorry if I sound so demanding.  I mean, I know that the kids need to come first.  But I'm hoping that you'll have some room to bring something for me as well.  Anything that I'm mentioning below would be great.  I'm not picky.

First, I'd love a sewing machine.  My hand sewing is crap and there are a lot of things that, if I had a sewing machine, I think I could make instead of buy.  It doesn't need to be a big one - actually, with the size of my apartment, it probably should be a big one.  But something that will help me make a few more things than I buy.

I'd also love some new furniture.  After sleeping on the pull-out bed on the couch for the last several nights, I've determined that I really need a new one!  Half the springs are gone and the mattress sags something horrible.  The couch itself is kind of stained.  Along with the couch, I could use a new coffee table and a new entertainment center.  Both are getting pretty beat up, thanks to the kids.  And I can always use new bookshelves.  The books seem to multiply in my house.

Something that would really help would be someone who knows how to organize and can help me get the apartment under control.  Before I sprained my ankle, I was doing pretty good at getting things out of the house.  I don't want to lose that, and when I'm done with the things out, I need help figuring out where to put the things that are staying in.

If you happen to put Pete under the tree for any reason, can you make sure he has clothes on?  I honestly don't mind his nudist tendencies, but it does make taking pictures kind of difficult.  At least, it does for pictures that I can post to the family.

There area  few books and movies I wouldn't mind getting - Brave, the Night Huntress series or the full Nicholas Flammel series.  I'm not so sure about games for the DS this year - I haven't really been playing it much.  But an Amazon gift certificate to get some books or games for my Kindle wouldn't be amiss.

Finally, there's something I'd love to have but don't think it's practical right now.  A kitten.  It's been 2 1/2 years since we lost Tai.  We all miss him, particularly Lemon.  He seems to have taken over Tai's job of hiding out.  So I'd love a new kitten both for him to play with and for us to love.  A black one, if you can manage it.  Because black kittens are the ones that always seem to touch my heart the most.

I know it may seem like a lot - and some of it's pretty silly.  Like you'll be able to fit a couch in your sleigh?  But I wanted to give you options.  Who knows?  Maybe you have a perfectly good entertainment center sitting in your house that you don't know what to do with.  I like giving options.

Regardless, thank you for reading my letter, Santa.  Have a safe flight on Christmas Eve and know that we're always believing in you.

-- Amber

No breaks here! - and other updates

Well, I had my trip to the ER yesterday.  Interestingly, the longest wait I had was to be seen by triage.  It was a very busy night there and it took triage over an hour to finally bring me back and get my info.  But once they did, things went fairly quickly.  We'd barely gotten back to the waiting room when the doctor came out to take off my shoe and take a look at my ankle.  With the amount of swelling I had, they were glad that I'd had the forethought to leave my shoe on.  It helped keep the swelling down some.  The doctor said there was definitely something wrong, at the very least a bad sprain, so he wanted to get it X-rayed.  They were going to try to fast-track me through the clinic instead of having to wait to be seen in the actual ER.

Within a few minutes, I had someone come to wheel me to X-Ray.  The X-Ray was one of the most painful parts because of how I needed to move my ankle so they could get the pictures they needed.  And, of course, it didn't want to move the way they needed it to without large amounts of pain.  But I've been through one labor and severe back spasms that felt like electrocution, the pain from this was something I could handle.

As soon as we got back to the ER, someone was there to wheel me back to be seen.  Off we went to the clinic with some awesome nurses that I would have loved to have had on my floor if I'd been staying the night.  Great sense of humor and really on top of things.  We had the nurse come in, followed quickly by the doctor (who was also fantastic - heck, everyone I dealt with there was fantastic).  He took a look at my x-rays and saw what he thought was an old break but wanted the radiation tech to look it over.  The radiation tech concurred, so the diagnosis was bad sprain.  Within 30 minutes, I had an air cast boot, a pair of crutches and a prescription for Lortab.  (Along with a Lortab in my system - I felt so much better!)  We were out of the hospital by 6:30, made phone calls to family, grabbed some dinner and picked up the kids.  All in all, it could have gone much worse.

Being immobilized like this is both frustrating and freeing.  On the one hand, I can't even get upstairs so I'm sleeping on the pullout couch downstairs.  It's not the most comfortable place to sleep.  I'd planned today to clean out the linen closet and start going through and organizing all my books.  Both are upstairs (well, a majority of my books are).  The boot is uncomfortable and I'm abysmal at walking with crutches.

On the other hand, it means that I'm being forced to read (right now, I'm reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple) and get some online things done that I've been putting off (like updating my blog).  It also means that I'll be able to do the advent calendar activities that I've been putting off doing with the kids because I've been busy trying to get things done in the house.

Our advent calendar is working out pretty good.  I don't have the money this year to buy lots and lots of gifts to put in it and neither of my kids needs tons of candy.  So I decided to come up with a list of activities to do.  Actually, I came up with two lists - one of activities like crafts, cookie baking and decorating the tree, and the other of more giving things, like calling family members and helping out when you can.  This is what I've come up with (though not in the order we have it on the calendar):

Advent Activity Ideas

1. Write letter to Santa
2. Make sugar cookies
3. Make chocolate chip cookies
4. Make peanut butter cookies
5. Make gingerbread men
6. Decorate tree
7. Drive to look at Christmas lights
8. Watch Christmas movie with hot chocolate and popcorn
9. Make snowglobes
10. Make Christmas Ornaments (Salt dough)
11. Make Shrink-a-doodle ornaments
12. Make popsicle stick ornaments
13. Read a Christmas story
14. Make Christmas gifts for Teachers
15. Write Christmas cards for family and friends
16. Make Apple Clove Ornaments
17. Shop for a gift for Mommy
18. Shop for a gift for Daddy
19. Listen to holiday music
20. Wrap presents
21. Cut out paper snowflakes and hang them in the windows
22. Visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop
23. Make a special holiday meal with one thing each of us enjoys
24. Put out stockings and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Advent Giving and Thankfulness Ideas

1. Tell everyone in the family something you like about them.
2. Do something nice for a stranger
3. Donate a toy to someone less fortunate
4. Donate a book to someone less fortunate
5. Talk about what Christmas means to you
6. Read the story of Jesus' birth
7. Make a list of 10 things you are thankful for
8. Call Nonni and Pop to tell them you love them
9. Call Grandma and Grandpa to tell them you love them
10. Call Poppy to tell him you love him
11. Call Aunt Robin, Uncle Simo and Layla to tell them you love them.
12. Call Aunt Deni, Uncle Mike, Gabe and Mikayla to tell them you love them.
13. Do something nice for a family member.
14. Make a video to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
15. Give out free hugs to someone
16. Donate extra change to the Salvation Army bell ringer
17. Suggest something fun to do the weekend after Christmas
18. Suggest a tradition you'd like to add to our family holidays
19. Help someone with their chores.
20. Make up a story about Christmas together
21. Donate food to Second Harvest
22. Buy something from the Angel Tree for someone in need
23. Tell one thing you want to do better in 2013
24. Say Thank You to someone you don't usually thank

Our advent calendar with notes waiting for each day 's activities

The crossed out ones are the ones we've finished.  The italics are the ones that we were supposed to do but haven't yet.  Technically, the snowflakes are today's activity, but we should be able to do those without too much trouble, along with the other crafts that we haven't finished yet.

The ornaments that we did do have come out pretty good.  The kids loves doing the Salt Dough ornaments (it's another one I've found on Pintrest) and they had a lot of fun using the cookie cutters to cut them out.  This is what we came up with:

Our Salt Dough ornaments

We still have to paint them (also happening tonight) and put mod podge over them so we'll be able to keep them for years to come.  Teddy had so much fun with it that he made making new ornaments every year as the family tradition he wants to adopt.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about things.  Yeah, my leg hurts horribly, but it could have been broken, which would have been worse.  But my house is clean, I've got plenty of books to read and I've got lots of fun things to do with the boys.  What else could I ask for?

Tuesday Coffee Chat -Too Early for Christmas?

Les over at Time Out for Mom hosts a weekly chat every Tuesday where she'll post a topic for us to talk about.  This week, we're talking about spreading the holiday cheer.
Now, I'm going to say from the beginning that I love the winter holidays.  I love the chill that comes in the air, the colored lights, the decorations.  I love the anticipation that my children have of Santa's arrival on the night of the 25th and the fact that so many of my friends celebrate the various holidays that happen this time of year in different ways.  I love to put up the tree with the kids, make cookies for my friends and loved ones, find wonderful gifts that just scream, "Give me to...", making up our yearly family gifts of holidays calendars, sharing traditions with the boys and making new ones.  I love the carols, and I love to sing along with them.  It's the one time of year that I don't feel embarrassed to just break into song for no reason. It really is a wonderful time of year.
But even with my love of the holidays, there is such a thing as too much.  An example:  On Halloween, I walked into Wal-Mart to buy thermal underwear for the boys to wear under their costumes trick or treating that night.  As soon as I came through the door, I noticed a bunch of employees with baskets in the action area, taking down all of the Halloween stuff and putting up the Christmas stuff.  On October 31st.  And I was annoyed because I wanted to be able to finish one holiday before having another sliding in for attention.  I also felt sorry for anyone needing to come pick up a last minute Halloween whatever, only to be greeted with the site of Christmas gifts and decorations instead.  That is just a little too early.
Personally, I wait until after Thanksgiving to get started on my holidays decorating (though not actually on my prep - I'll admit it. I'm someone who goes shopping on Thanksgiving day in the hopes of getting some goodies for the kids or stocking stuffers for the family).  Usually, I try to wait until December hits before getting the decorating started.  Because, again, for all that I love the holiday I want to be finished with one before moving on to the next.  I don't need a Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving day, pulling the boys' attention away from talking about what they should be thankful for and instead talking about the lights or gifts they want or whatever.
By next week, I'm hoping to start on the decorating.  Thanksgiving is over and it's the next holiday that I should be thinking of.  I should have more than enough time to make my house look pretty, share things with my boys and bring out the cheer.  

Christmas in Nashville

This year was a slower Christmas.  Without everyone else living at my Dad's house, we didn't have the big Christmas there that we usually have.  Instead, we stayed home for the day, planning to go up and see my Dad this week when my sister and her family were in town.  (We were supposed to go today, but that's been shunted to tomorrow because Pete's sick.)  So it was a far more laid back Christmas than we've had since Teddy was really little.

The boys were told that they weren't allowed to wake us up before 7 and they weren't allowed to go downstairs without us.  And they were pretty good about it.  At 6:45, they came in because Pete had a nightmare and rather than make them go back to bed, we got up and were ready to head downstairs and see what Santa had left us.

The kids were excited about what they got me and wanted me to open my gifts first, but I convinced them to take turns between themselves and after that, Mommy and Daddy would take turns.  There were gifts from us, gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, gifts from Nonni and Pop, gifts from Great Aunt Rosemary and Great Uncle George and gifts from Pete's godfather (and Rich's cousin), Will.  They were rolling in gifts.

While all of them were well loved, there were a few obvious favorites.

For Teddy:

Nonni and Pop got Teddy the Pokemon Unova set.

Teddy kept using our Pokemon Pearl and Platinum games, so we got him Pearl for himself.

We also picked up Platinum for him as well.  He doesn't have a DS of his own yet, but I think that will be a birthday gift in February.

I hadn't expected him to be quite so excited about the Bakugan we got him.  But he didn't want to let them go.

In an attempt to get a bit more exercise for the boys, I got Teddy a pair of Grow with Me Inline skates.

Santa brought Teddy Scrabble Jr... something he'd been begging for!

Grandma and Grandpa won big with Pokemon shiny cards and a folio to keep them in.  And this from grandparents who know nothing about Pokemon.

And finally, the Pokemon Black and White manga, volume 1.

As you can tell, it's been a pretty Pokemon Christmas.

For Pete, here are some of his highlights:

New Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Sheets from Nonni & Pop.

Alphie from Nonni & Pop... and he's been playing with him for days.

Santa brought a Dinosaur Train motorized set.  It hasn't been set up yet (no room until we do some cleaning) but he wants it to be!

In trying to help him work on his numbers, Pete got a Chat & Count phone.

Some Dinosaur Train figures to go with his playset.

A book about Dinosaurs from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa also picked up dinosaur figures for Mommy & Daddy to step on.

While Teddy got the inline skates, Pete got Grow with Me Roller Skates

Thanks to Aunt Rosemary and Uncle George, he has a new bedtime friend in Roaring Rex.

There was one big win for the whole family:

Season 1 of Pokemon, Indigo League

For Rich, the big winner was, I believe, a bunch of comics and graphic novels from his loving wife:

Beanworld, Vol 1 & 2

Eternals, Vol 1 & 2, and PVP, Vol 5

As for me?  Well, along with the various DS games that I got from Rich, the boys got me my favorite:

My Zebra pillow pet.

And finally, I pooled together the various bits of Christmas money that I received and bought myself a Kindle Fire.  I've been wanting an eReader for awhile, as well as an android/iPad/tablet/something that runs apps.  This melds the two of them nicely.  It's the most I've ever spent on a Christmas gift for myself and I'm really looking forward to it's arrival on Friday.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas (for those who celebrate such things) and are enjoying the end of 2011.  May 2012 be even better for you.

The cuteness of children

"Mama, dere a dinosawa on dat boot."

He hands me his toy and steps toward the display of Christmas books that stand, along with the toys and candy, in the middle of the aisle.  Reaching out, he pulls Our First Snow, a Dinosaur Train book, from the cardboard shelf.  He turns as though he's going to hand it to me, then changes his mind.  Instead, he sits down on the floor in front of the display and opens the book.

I push my cart a little closer to him.  The seasonal aisle is quite full of paper and ribbons, toys and gifts, ornaments and lights.  He is close enough to the small tower of books that I don't worry about him being in the way of others, but I position my cart to shield him none-the-less.

He starts on the first page, telling the story as he perceives from the pictures on the page.  After perusing the page and naming each dinosaur, he moves to the next page.  The process starts again.  I watch with a smile.

An older woman ghosts by with her cart.  I watch her face for a reaction and, when there is none, a part of me becomes indignant.  Don't you see my child there?, I think. You could at least smile to acknowledge how utterly adorable he is. But of course I don't say it.  She is, I'm sure, as focused on her search for Christmas supplies as I am on my adorable three year old.

Soon, the final page has been closed and a brightly smiling face glances up at me.  "Aw done, Mama!"  He rises, returning the book to where he got it.  At first, he's set it with the back cover out but before I have a chance to mention it, he turns it the right way, the pteranodon family smiling at passers-by once more.

Back to my side he comes, his small hand reaching up for mine.  "Otay, Mama.  Less doe."

Times like this, it's good to be the Mama.

An update on Life

As I just finished up the three latest reviews, I'm in shock that I've read 25 books already this year.  Tomorrow I'll be going to the library again, so I may get 26 or 27 in before the end of the 2010.  Since my year goes from November 1, 2010 through October 31, 2011, I think I just make that 100 books in a year.  I may even make over it.  Which will make me very, very happy.  There are so many books that I have on my radar that I need to pick up, though.  I just hope I'll have time to get to it.

I've managed to get caught up on my Swap-Bot stuff, finally.  I got my two late swaps sent out, and now I just need to work on some of the ones that are due.  One of them is the book review swap for the 4th quarter of 2010.  That, in part, is why I've been writing the reviews here.  I'm planning on putting all of my reviews into a file, printing them out into a book format and sending them to my partner.  I hope it's an enjoyable read for them.  Other than that, most of my swaps are non-snail mail.  I just haven't had the time to focus on them, so I've been focusing more on online swaps. That may change with the first of the year, though.  I'm trying to get myself organized a bit better so I CAN do things like this.

That's actually one of my plans for tonight - grabbing one of the multitude of notebooks around and getting a game plan down.  I have an account on Cozi, where I'm hoping to get myself better organized.  I've got my 101 in 1001 list at Day Zero and my resolutions on 43 Things.  I need to integrate those in as well.  Plus I want to restart my organization for Swap Bot (new year, new spreadsheet).  What I really need to do is make a schedule for myself, because it's so easy for me to let other things slide.  And I need to stick with it.  Because it's the only way to make things work for me.  I'm hoping to get the plan worked out over the next week.  I'll keep everyone posted how that goes.

Now for a little of the past week.  On Christmas Eve, we went up to my Dad's for our Christmas get together.  The boys got a few gifts from my Brother & his family and we all had a great Christmas dinner of ham and trimmings.  We got together early because we were supposed to get snow starting around 5.  I was really hoping so because I wanted the boys to have a white Christmas.  And I wasn't disappointed.  It was also kind of nice to not have to rush to get up to my dad's for Christmas day.  I don't mind going up, but it was nice to play with the kids' games and toys throughout the day.  The boys, as usual, made out like bandits, getting lots of stuff from us, family and "Santa".  The big gift was bikes for each of them.  Teddy's bike fits perfects.  Pete's big wheel, however, is still too big for him.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  The other gift that they loved was the pillow pets they got from my mom.  Teddy got a ladybug and Pete a bumblebee.  They haven't let them go since Christmas.  From the boys, I got a set of chopsticks that were more a family gift than a me gift.  From Rich, I got a nice crushed velvet shirt, a box of cherry cordials,. Puzzle Quest for the DS and $10 of Facebook credits.  We're probably going to be doing some more shopping because we got some money from family.  I just don't know quite what we want to get.  I did get myself a scrapbook kit, though, so I can make a scrapbook for the next year.  I'm looking forward to getting it started already.

Rich has been off from Friday through tomorrow and we're enjoying spending the time together as a family.  Tomorrow, we're planning on going to the $1.50 theater to see Legend of the Guardians with the boys and then heading to the library.  More books to check out!  Whoo-hoo!  We haven't been to the theater as a family yet and I'm a little nervous about taking Pete in, but he's been surprisingly good at home watching movies so I figure we'll give it a shot.  We got Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 from my sister-in-law and borrowed Toy Story from my in-laws. We watched the original yesterday and 2 today.  Tomorrow, we're going to watch 3.  I'm really enjoying having this family time.

Rich is only working Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and will probably get out early on Friday.  Then he's off next Monday.  I'm not sure what, if anything, we're planning for New Years Eve yet.  Probably not much, just kicking back and relaxing together watching movies and playing games.  Then it will be 2011 and it will be time to start all over with a new year and a new start.

So, belated though it is, belated Merry Christmas to all.  And an early Happy New Year to all.  I'm hoping, once again, to have more regular posting.  We'll see how it goes.  But it will be on my schedule of things that need to be done.

A Snowy Christmas Time

Last weekend, it snowed all day Sunday.  We don't get much snow in TN, but we got a couple inches this day.  We had put lights on the bush outside our townhouse apartment so I love the way that the light glows from below the snow.  It's one of my favorite pictures that I've taken so far.

Snowy Christmas Lights

A Little More of this, A Little More of That

I'm still playing extreme catch-up with things right now.  I'm behind on two swaps - the David Tennant ATC and the Inspired Short Story Swap.  I have them both done, I just don't have the money for shipping them out.  Unfortunately, there was a problem in the building here in Nashville where the unemployment checks are processed.  So the unemployment checks didn't come out until Friday, which means I won't be getting it until Monday.  It's been a very lean weekend because of it.  We did sell quite a bit of our books and DVDs to McKay's so we'd have money for groceries.  I'm just grateful that we have the things that we CAN sell if necessary.

I spent quite a bit of time today working on some of the other swaps that I needed to send.  I had two online swaps that needed to be completed and those are done, plus the Blog About My Blog swap that I posted earlier.  (Two of the people I blogged about also blogged about me and they said really kind things, so that makes me happy.)  I had stopped signing up for Swaps until I started catching up. Now I've got quite a few on my watchlist that, if I've got the time when they come up, I'll do.  One of them is a Resolution swap over at 43things.com.  I actually started it up today (here, for anyone interested in checking it out and cheering me on).  It also got me thinking of my 101 in 1001.  And, while reading them over, I realized that there's one that I can cross off.  Number 3 on the list (which can be found in this blog post or here on Day Zero) - Lose 5 pounds.  Since I started, at 242 pounds, I've lost 7 pounds - down to 235.  Which means that I'm working toward number 4, lose 10 pounds.  I'm also up to 20 books now, I think.  I may have started my year of reading before I started the 101 in 1001.  I still think I'll be able to get 100 books read without a problem.  The rest, I need to look over again and see what I can start working on.  Some of them, I think, I'm going to start after the first of the year (like FlyLady).  I'm definitely trying to do more in 2011.

We're getting ready for Christmas here in DiTullioville.  My in-laws came down last weekend to spend an early Christmas with us.  We all had a blast while they were here.  The kids especially had a good time because they love spending time with Nonni and Pop.  We had a few bad moments with Teddy where he decided to act up with hitting and kicking and yelling.  I was honestly surprised, not because he hasn't been doing it but because I couldn't see him wanting to disappoint Nonni and Pop.  But for the most part, the kids had a great time playing games and playing with some of their new toys.  I've got some pictures of them, but I need to upload them still.  Hopefully, I'll get that done soon.

We've got our Christmas Tree up and lit, though it's in our dining room.  It's really the only place that it would fit.  We've also got a little decorating done outside.  But that's about it.  I do have almost all the shopping done.  I just have to get something for Ryan (my SIL's nephew) and get gift cards for my niece and nephew.  I also need to mail off all the Calendars that we had made as Christmas gifts.  As per usual, I seem to be pretty far behind on things.  I also had a bunch of Christmas cards that I wanted to make, but I haven't had the printer ink to print out the pictures.  I may do those at Walgreens and send them out late.  Better late than never, or so they say.

I've got all my book reviews completed for now.  I'm in the middle of two other books, with many more on the horizon.  Hopefully, I'll be able to write them up quickly after I read them.  One of the swaps that I'm doing is a reading list for the 4th quarter of the year, and all of these book reviews are being incredibly helpful.  I think I'm going to print them out, bind them somehow and send them that way.  I hope my partner(s) enjoy it.

I still have the pics of the various crafts that I've done that I need to put up.  I was going to do that tonight, but it might need to wait until tomorrow.  Now it's bedtime for my boys and I get the pleasure of reading them stories and tucking them in.  It's a great nightly tradition that we have - each of the boys takes turn picking a book (2 total at nap time and 4 at bedtime), and they take turns being the first one to pick.  Whoever doesn't pick first gets to choose who covers them or, if it's just me, gets covered first.  It's helped keep things from devolving into arguments and it keeps us close as a family.  Last night were Christmas stories.  I'm really curious to see what they choose tonight.

Good night, all my fair readers!  And thanks for reading my babbles.