Tired

Yikes! I have worked 7 days in the past 11 days. Sigh... what happened to my part-time job? T would say that I volunteered and he is right. He is off for a week and a half at Christmas and I chose to work extra. Hopefully the extra will go to the house savings account and not to pay for things. Time will tell. I always spend more than I intend to and end up saving less than I want as a result.

I just wanted to share my tiredness today. =)

Lovely Christmas

Christmas has come and gone this year. We had a lovely time visiting with the grandparents in Dallas. I worked all weekend and Christmas Eve. We had the beginning morning at home, had a stocking with small toys and ate breakfast. We had a marvelous

Christmas Eve

Christmas is here! I *love*love*love* Christmas time. I love getting to celebrate Jesus birthday. I love it finally getting cool/cold. I love getting to look for presents for each of my loved ones. I don't just go and buy things or gift cards. I spend hours looking for gifts that suit each person.

H and I were going to make necklaces for the grandmothers and my sister. I thought that I would let her string beads and be a part of the creative process. That was before my OCD nature took over and I hijacked the whole project. LOL We did make three necklaces and they all look beautiful, IMHO. ;) But I made them all, picked out the beads, spent hours stringing and re-stringing to get the look just right. It also made me realize that maybe I could do this from home and make a bit of money on it. I can't get it all together for this year (2007) but hope to take pictures of the necklaces and use them as a starter gallery. I don't want anything big and elaborate, just something little on the side to eliminate a shift from working outside the house. The problem is that I make a nice living outside the house so earning enough from a few necklaces will be nearly impossible. Sigh... a girl can dream!

We are going to see the grandparents tomorrow for Christmas and H is more excited about that than getting presents. She has a bike, helmet and pads in the garage (from Gran and Poppy) as well as Playmobil stuff from us. Gran and Poppy also got T and I a Wii for Christmas so she will get such a kick out of that. I just got her some playsilks, doll diapers and the Playmobil stuff since she will get such big things from other people. She is so easily overwhelmed that I would prefer to keep it simple from us. We will probably even wait until we return home to open many of the presents. Certainly will wait on the bike and the Wii! Who could open those and then leave them at home to go to the grandparents. We will just have stockings in the morning and then hit the road. She is so excited to see Nana and PawPaw. I also plan on reading the Christmas story before we leave. I really want to keep our hearts in the right place in what we choose celebrate.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Lights

Our neighbors across the street have had their lights up for about 3 weeks. They put them up every year and they are nice, just some net lights on the bushes, candles in the windows and wreaths. Nothing overdone or overwhelming just simple and beautiful. Our house has no electrical outlets on the outside of the house... NOT A ONE! We do have a pair of outlets in the garage that we could use one of to have lights but it would be pitiful as I shouldn't overwhelm one outlet with 16 strands of lights. So, needless to say, we have never used lights outside. This year H is wanting to decorate... she is old enough, understands and wants to participate. So I broke down and went to Walmart at 530am one morning before work to check out the selection of Christmas decorations. I bought plastic (shatterproof) *big* ornaments and some big candy canes to stick in the grass. We had such a marvelous time decorating the yard on Monday. =D H even said that she liked our tree ornaments and the candy canes better than lights. LOL It also gave us a chance to talk about what a candy cane means (origins) and that I think the lights symbolize Jesus coming to be the light of our world.

We went looking at Christmas lights last night. T wasn't playing on-line and H and I wanted to go with him and not just by ourselves. T and I decided that we like all white lights better than a bunch of multi-colors. Hannah got tired earlier than we thought she would. We ended up coming home at about 740p. All through the shower and she collapsed in sleep on me about 2 minutes after I got out of the shower. T and I finished watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir special that was on. It was lovely to listen to and H even enjoyed it too. She watched about 30 minutes of it before she fell asleep. It was a nice evening.

I am attempting to wash and soak the doll diapers that I got for her as well as our new Christmas stockings. We also had to go to Whole Foods and so between the grocery store, playgroup, the light looking and the soaking and washing stuff... she has had a tough couple days. I am attempting to lay low today to give her a chance to detox in case we have playgroup tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well and safely today!

A cold and misty day in December

Well, today is 42 degrees and wet. Not really raining, just misting enough to make your hair and clothes damp when you walk the dog. =) Amy enjoyed the walk though. H & I needed to get out of the house. It has been such a lovely fall that we spend most afternoons outside all afternoon. I have gotten spoiled.

We went with T yesterday to pick up the ground beef and steaks, then drove over to Whole Foods and picked up more food and came home. It is easy enough to buy meat for several weeks but the veggies just don't last that long. I end up having to go to WF again or order from Diamond Organics. The ordering costs more (I think) 'cause I have to pay FedEx charges but it keeps us out of the car and the store.

Just another day in the life!

Random Thoughts from November 28

Well, I tried to cut my finger off again but was unsuccessful. Thank Goodness!!! I have a really sharp knife and this is the second time that I have cut a finger and nearly needed stitches. I probably could still use them but I refuse to need them. It will heal just fine, not very deep at all but fingertip lacs just bleed like crazy. Then it doesn't take much pressure and they open up again for a couple days until they are good and stuck shut.

H and I finished the female Christmas presents today, more me than her. I feel slightly guilty that I intended for us to make the presents together and I have hijacked the projects. I told her that we would do something just from her with the extra beads. She is looking forward to working on Gran's something tomorrow. I will have to get beads together so that she can just pick randomly. T approved the necklaces tonight so I am good to put the magnetic clasps on tomorrow. They all turned out well and hopefully the ladies will like them.

The weather has been much cooler this week than last but still nice enough outside today. We spent the whole afternoon outside and it was lovely. Yesterday we visited Gran and Poppy and it was chilly 'cause the wind was blowing. Tomorrow is the Friday playgroup and we are looking forward to it. We love to get to play with other kids!

Our Thanksgiving 2007

God is so good! I always have so much to be thankful for but yesterday was super great!

Since I am working this weekend, T took Wednesday off and we had a family outing to the Zoo. Since H is big enough to walk around and she is doing well, we decided to do it. We had such a great time. Her favorites were "the elephant, the rhinos and the giraffes." We also saw the tigers, the monkeys, owls, lots of snakes and lizards, bison... well, I could go on. We walked and walked and H did great. The gibbons are first in the gate and they were howling like crazy when we got there. Evidently gibbons do this every morning to mark/defend their territory. It was great and T got some great pictures of them howling. =D

I am working the 4 days over Thanksgiving but am thankful to be working days instead of evenings. It messes less with my body clock to get up a couple hours early than to stay up 4-5 hours later than I usually go to bed. But it does make for a more tired mama. Lots of cereal/granola in the 'fridge so that we can eat this weekend.

We had a lovely meal of bison steak and summer squash tonight. LOTS to be thankful for... wonderful family, warm house, good food, good job. Thank you God!