look out Seattle

you're going down

stinky boys and football

ARRGGGHHHH New Year, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. New Year = a hella lotta work. I have been avoiding it since we got home from vaca, but the time has come. Nothing like the added pressure of KNOWING it has to done on time this year, if there is any hope of us receiving some financial aid and keeping me from selling a kidney before the oldest completes his secondary education.

Only that kid could pick a major that somehow makes his tuition double what the average undecided kid will pay. He is his father's son.

However, on a lighter note, this was overheard this morning after I noticed the youngest has been in the same pj's since Christmas morning, and insisted he bathe.

"Oh my God...I DO smell, quick smell me mom"

I am so proud right now I could bust.

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Oh yeah and GO SKINS.....with a win against the effn Cowboys we are playoff bound BABY!!!!! wooo

Californication

we have been Californiaized, it was fun, I am tired. Originally our plan for this years vacation was the sunny warm beaches of Mexico, unfortunately our neice does not have a passport, nor are we able to obtain one for her. There is some silly rule about PARENTS having to do that. Something about taking minors out of the country without parental consent nonsense, jeez. She will be 18 next August, and we contemplated attempting to work with her mother in an effort to get her a passport, but decided it probably would just be quicker to wait until she can just get her own, because any of my in laws are crazy that way.

So we decided to do something that would not involve a) leaving the neice home by herself while the rest of us frolicked on some foreign beach, or b) being forced to leave her in some strange country, because while she is free to go anywhere it seems the issue would be actually getting her back in. We picked the closest thing to Mexico we could find...California.

It was great, we actually left a day and a half earlier than expected because nasty weather was due on our original departure date. Of course when i tried to change our tickets I was told to try back later, no weather emergency had been declared and the cost would be almost $300 per ticket to switch them at that time. My husband calls and 5 minutes later has us leaving at 8 the next morning with no additional cost....it's times like that I remember how he conned me into spending the rest of my life with him.

So we arrived in San Francisco and ended up 8 days later in San Diego. And we saw it all in between. It was great, we even ventured into Tijuana for an afternoon. My children were awestruck, to say the least. The oldest wants to "have his birthday party there", and the 14 year old was offered a shot of Tequila at lunch. You can't put a price on memories like that.

BIG PROPS to Southwest, we flew out on Dec 23rd, and I never saw an airline run so smoothly amid so much chaos. So after my disaster last year , I was a happy camper.

While it was a great vacation, it was not relaxing, 8 days 5 different hotels, 3 cities, a couple amusement parks, more National Parks than I can remember, well worth it, but it's one of those vacations that have me dreaming of a vacation. Next year I am going to the beach and not moving for a week.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I have many a tale of Christmas woe. Who with children doesen't?

There was the year my sister and I were kicking and cursing at a Little Tykes pick up truck at 4 am. That was also the year of "WAY TOO MANY gifts". I was storing them in a house we had rented, but had none living in, it snowed and I had to keep driving back and forth at all hours of the night. In my pre Christmas delusion I was sure "there weren't that many gifts". I was WRONG

Then there was the year when I thought I was GOOD, I had one week left. And youngest was in pre school 4 days a week. My plan was to wrap all that week to avoid my usual Christmas Eve wrap fest. Who knew everyone in the house, including moi, would be stricken by a flu that would almost kill us. Needless to say the wrapping? Again my poor sister and I sat up all night.

Then my favorite? Because of cats and children, and the fact that I grow trees, so I am always the absolute last person on earth to put up a tree. I planned on putting up the tree and wrapping the weekend prior. Then a ton of snow fell in NY and the husband and I ditched everything for a weekend of snow mobiling. And I hurt my back...BAD. My poor sister arrives and has to assume my role, becuase I am useless. There is a picture of her somewhere hacking at the top of a too tall tree with a steak knife. With sap running down her arm.

It's no wonder she never wants to come to my house anymore, and gets twitchy when A Christmas Story is on. Because I insist we watch all 24 hours of it, it was usually on during our Christmas Eves from Hell.

Adios I say to those ghosts of Christmas past. NEVER again. We are once again, taking the week before Christmas and running away. The whole lot of us. When I told someone our plans she looked at me incredulous and asked how I could possibly do that? How was I ready for Christmas an entire week before? "Easy", I replied. I'm already done.

The few gifts are bought and wrapped, the tree is up, and as long as I remember to take the turkey out of the freezer, dinner is ready to be prepared upon my return. It took the kids until this year to accept the fact that the ridiculous amounts of gifts from Christmas' past were done. But really they would rather miss an extra week of school and go somewhere exciting than get a bunch of clothes anyway.

And this week I was in the mall picking up some flip flops for the middle child, and I almost got sucked into the "just one more thing" habit from my past. But I walked away. Because really, I don't miss it one bit. This is more fun.

who's the fat chick in the little dress?

when I ordered the dress for my sister's wedding I knew from the one I tried on at the store, that a certain size would fit. It would fit just fine. However I, in my twisted crooked, warped little mind thought if the one size fit, with a bit of breathing room, why then by ordering the size down I would have, something to work toward....

Let's call it incentive.

You know to lose that 25 pounds I've gained over the last 7 years.

mmmhmm...as I sit here googling "cleansers" and diet aids, while eating a piece of cake.

I don't think my incentive is working