It's Christmas, ready?

With the exception of my Christmas cards that are sure to be very late by the time I take Christmas pictures and the fact that I can't get my background changed to a Christmas type one till I remember to log in on my home computer, I'm juuuust about ready for Christmas. Hubby put the lights on the house before Thanksgiving, without being asked, I might add. The tree is up. Most of which my sweetest baby Landon is responsible for decorating. With our in and out schedules, we had a hard time finding group tree decorating time. He even got the stockings up and set up my little village and carried all the boxes back up to the attic. (Man, time has just flown. I look at him and see a boy who is almsot a man. Seems like yesterday that he was that twinkly eyed, chubby cheeked, curious little baby.) I just love Christmas! Well, except the overwhelming commercialization of it all. For so many, it has become about money and gifts and bills and stress. If we let it, it's easy to do. I have to step back and remember that it is a celebration of Christ, of peace, of salvation. Although I'm not the most religous person, this time of year tends to bring things full circle. I'm reminded of the blessings in life, of all that I have, and that I love my life. Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Thankful

I love this time of year- with the exception of the cold weather that is! People are just happier don't you think. I become very thankful for the things in my life. We just had Veterans Day and to those whose sacrifices truly improve my life, I am very greatful. Soon it will be Thanksgiving which makes you think about all the things you are thankful for. I have so many. I am thankful for a God who is all powerful and forgiving. I am thankful for my family. The whole bunch of them. I have 3 precious, healthy children who feed my happiness everyday. I have found the most precious and wonderful husband. I am so thankful for him and the way he is a father to my children. We are a family. I am most thankful today that my new family will be growing soon. So so thankful. My mother- man I love my mom. We have our moments but the thought of life without her is almost unbearable. My step-dad- such a great man, and a dad by choice, not by obligation. I could go on and on. I have the comfort of knowing that if something tragic were to happen in my life, I have my family and any number of friends just a phone call away to support me. This is a good life. I wish these things for everyone.

Halloween

So Halloween has come and gone. It was pretty fun this year. Nothing big. Just a small group of family and friends, chili dogs, and a simultaneous hayride/ trick- or treating! Great fun! Hope went as Steve Urkle (sp?) and Braden went as a motocross rider. Both great costumes and cost me little of nothing so I was happy. My oldest, however, did not trick-or-treat, claiming that he was too old this year. He threw a "pumpkin ghost" costume together at the last minute but then stuck with his original plan to not trick-or-treat. Kinda sad! I remember being that age and thinking the same thing. Unfortunately with Halloween being on a Saturday this year, we missed all the fun grown-up parties, but that's okay. It was still pretty fun!

Small World

Okay, so I was just thinking about how incredibly small the big world is. Facebook has brought this to my attention here lately. It's like we are all connected on a big huge web that just gets bigger and bigger. For instance, my step-sister's hairdresser works in Atoka although my step-sis lives in MS. I happen to live very close to Atoka. Then it was discovered that a very significant "ex" of mine went to school with this girl for years and also sings kareoke with one of my dad's cousins! So back to the hairdresser- she also happens to know several people that live on my street and grew up with a girl I work with. Then when I come to work, our secretary is dating her ex-husband! What the heck? Isn't it just strange how 2 completely unrelated individuals' worlds can be so intertwined. It just blows my mind.
Oh, and another thing. One of the girls I was best friends with in elementary school is the cousin of a girl I've worked with for 6 years. I bet if we sat down and made a big map, we'd all be connected in some small way or another. . . .

New Toys

Well nothin too exciting happening right now. The kids have been on fall break and spent some time at their dad's. They got home tonight right before I had to leave to go to work. I tried all the last minute tricks to get out of work tonight with no luck and then when I got there, I wasn't even on the schedule. Ha! Irony! I just love it. So while I'm working away, the rest of the family is having movie night at home without me. Poo. Justin grilled hamburgers just before I left so at least I could take one with me for dinner. And they were all about to sit down to watch a movie on the new TV. Yes, I said NEW TV! We have had the little 26" flat screen out of our bedroom in that big ole living room since we moved in which looked quite silly. So my hubby got a wild hair the other night while I was working- see, they do all the fun stuff while I'm working- and bought a 55" flat screen. It's ginormous! The dilemna was then to find a "cabinet" of some sort to put it on. So after two days of shopping with the hubby, which was quite enjoyable I might add, we found what is called a "tv dresser" or a "media cabinet" to put it on. These are intended for the bedroom but it was the only way to find a stand that was as high as I wanted. So until that comes in, it is sitting on the old yucky black one from the big tv upstairs and hubby is working on getting the speakers and stuff hooked up! I can't wait for the next movie night when I'm home! It will be nice to have my living room look a little more "together"!

The Sweetest Words

Today was the memorial service for my cousin, Ryan Barringer. He was 30 years old and died peacefully in his sleep after a 10 year struggle with physical disability following a terrible accident. I learned so much about him today. What I remember from our childhood is Ryan and his brothers calling me a magpie everytime I opened my mouth! LOL. It used to make me sooo mad! He had these huge brown eyes and the longest eyelashes. He was a beautiful person, inside and out. Today, I learned that Ryan had been a loving and devoted father to his 3 yr old son Dacota and had quit drinking after Dacota was born. They told a story that when the baby saw his daddy after he'd passed, he first said, "shhh, my daddy is sleeping". Then he blew him a kiss and waved goodbye. How sad that this baby will have few memories of the daddy that loved him so much.
My youngest son, Braden, sobbed for Ryan today even though he barley remembers him. He's such a beautiful boy. After the service, Braden signed the guestbook. I signed right after him, and noticed that in the Comment blank next to his name, he simply wrote, "have a great time". How precious are these words? My children restore my faith in a broken world everyday in some small way or another. What better to say to someone who has gone to spend eternity in a better place than "have a great time"? Wow. Sometimes I'm just speechless. . . .

Birthdays and Calculators

Okay, so two things today. The first is that Round 2 of Birthday Train on Sunday went smashingly well! Aside from the weather, it was very enjoyable. We had to nix the volleyball game due to the drizzly rain, but everything else went well. We stopped after church and picked up a bought and pre-decorated cake from Walmart. Yes, I said I bought the cake and didn't even order a special one!! We came home, warmed the pre-cooked butt in the oven for a couple hours, got out the pre-made potato salad and slaw and dumped some pre-cooked beans in a pot on the stove. Ahhhhhhhh, yes, it was great. No stress, no worries. We had a nice but not quite oversized group. Family and a couple little friends. This is what birthdays should be about! I just hope Hopie enjoyed it too. She and her little friend and I went to a "birhtday" movie Saturday night and after being completely disgusted by the first 10 mins of H2- I didn't realize it was Rob Zombie- we caught most of The Time Travelor's Wife which was good except the ending stank!

And the second thing involves a little math. An item at a local convienience/grocery store which will remain nameless, was on sale for 5 for $5. Of course, as I was leaving, I noticed that each item had wrung up $1.49. When I brought this to the cashier's attention, he attempted to fix it at which point he said, "You were actually better off the other way. This is going to cost you more." So with a puzzled look on my face, I said, "Noooooo, 5 x $1.49 = $7.45. There is no way that's better than $5!" So the guy points to the computer screen and tells me that that is what he had to go by since the computer said so. We went round and round with these same issues several times when I irritatedly asked for a new cashier to shed some light on the subject. Fortunately, she realized the problem so at least all hope was not loss. Unfortunately, to my frustration , she was unable to fix it. She finally tossed $2.50 my way and called it good, which was still not right but if they truly felt that that computer was smarter than they were, then they needed the 18 cents worse than I did! Did you know that kids are allowed to use calculators at all times in Math class! It's just going to get worse!