Well, today is my anniversary and H has made plans for us to eat at a fabulous restaurant in downtown Atlanta this evening.  I went out and bought 2 new dresses for the occasion, one of which will be returned.  I’m leaning towards the aqua-bluish one as opposed to the black one.  Then again, a girl can never have too many “little black dresses.”  Decisions, decisions, I know…J  I’m looking forward to it, although I’m a bit stressed out at the moment as well.  See, I wrote up the Christmas lists and did the majority of the shopping back in November.  I gave H a very small, simple list of things to purchase to contribute to the Christmas shopping, but he never followed through!  Therefore, we now have a list of items that must be purchased and…a day and a half to git’r done.  Ugh…I could strangle him sometimes!  So I’m thinking we’ll have to make a stop or two before we head out to dinner to knock most of this stuff off the list.  Otherwise I’ll continue to stress over it.  I’m sure we’ll manage to get everything done, but it does perturb me that he neglected to take care of his shit.  Men….. J 

So last Friday was a very crappy day for me for reasons I won’t mention here.  Trust me, it sucked.  I struggled through the workday and barely had the energy to collect myself for that evening’s Christmas party at Val’s.  Knowing, however, that I would get to spend time with my “triangle girls” was enough of a push to get me in gear and to the party.  Originally it was to be the girls and kids only.  Later I learned that the hubbies and significant others were gonna be there too so H came with.  It ended up being a very fun night!  Didn’t get my “girl-time” however, because there were just too many people there and we kept getting interrupted.  But it was definitely a good time and exactly what I needed after the day I had. 

Saturday and Sunday I pretty much laid low and hung out at home getting things done there.  Of course I had a houseful of kiddos at all times, but I never mind that.  On Sunday I read the second book in the “Twilight” series.  The entire book.  About 600 pages.  In 1 day.  I know, right?!  I absolutely love this series!!!  I’m so glad I jumped on the bandwagon after the movie came out.  I’ve already got the 3^rd and 4^th books too.  I’m just afraid to pick the next one up and start reading it because I know I won’t be able to put it down and I just don’t have time for that right now!  Oh, I love these books…love em, love em, LOVE em! 

Oh yeah, with all the college bowl games going on right now, we decided to do a family pool.  All five of us made our picks and it is game ON.  I positively have THE most competitive kids on the planet, I swear.  I have no idea how they got that way either. J  We had a blast watching college football all weekend and guess what…  Mommy is winning the pool so far!  Yay Mommy!!  My boys are in utter disbelief over this, it’s a trip.  Of course we’re only like 5 games in so things are bound to change soon, but still…I have to enjoy my “victory” while I can!  Much fun…

“Elfie” is still present in our home and continues to cause quite the fuss.  I must get pictures before he makes his departure!  He’s the coolest thing ever.  The boys had friends over this weekend and the first thing they did was introduce their buddies to Max.  They would then proceed to study Max…and study him….and study him some more trying to figure him out.  Oh my gosh, it was the cutest thing!  I heard things like, “I know he’s real because of the way he’s sitting,” and “HOLY GOD” when Max would move and show up in another place.  It’s way too much fun being able to trick 8 year old little boys.  Is that wrong?  J  Nah, it’s all in fun and it’s been an absolute blast having that little guy in our house!

Quick story…  I was driving home from work one day last week.  It was dusk, starting to get dark and I’m driving along and all of a sudden I come up on this strange man.  He’s running down the side of the road at break-neck speed, his jacket flapping behind him, and he kept looking back, looking back, looking back like someone was chasing him!  I’m thinking…what the hell???  It was like a scene out of the movies, I swear it was so odd.  All of a sudden, the running man veered to the left towards the parking lot of a big warehouse.  I was so distressed!  I wanted to know what the heck was going!  Why was this man running in such a panicked state and who or what was chasing him?  So what do I do?  I proceed to turn into the same parking lot at the next entrance.  Without thinking, I totally made the turn and ended up in the parking lot on the lookout for the running man.  Once I took stock of where I was and what I was doing, I was sorry I’d made that turn.  I was in a dark, desolate parking lot – the backside of the warehouse where there was no lighting and not a soul in sight.  At that moment I totally freaked myself out and made a u-turn and got the hell out of dodge.  I never did see where the running man went nor did I ever figure out what in the hell was chasing him.  It was just the oddest thing to come upon. 

That’s about all I have so I suppose I’ll check out.  I hope everyone out in blogland has a fabulous Christmas and happy New Year!  See you all in ‘09’!  Until then, stay tuned for more days of my life…..

Be great!

Warning ~ what I’m about to write is gonna be all over the place.  Please don’t expect anything in this post to make much sense.  It is what it is, so hang with me, blog people!

Can I just say that I am *very* distressed that I cannot organize my pictures in my most recent album here?  What’s up with that?!  It is seriously bothering me.  Seriously.  I think I may have to delete and start over at some point because I just can’t get past this…;)

Anyway, I have an elf in my house!  Yes, an elf!!  It is the most exciting thing about this Christmas season so far, I can barely stand it!!  I heard about these suckers one morning on the radio and did a little more research about them online before ordering one of my own.  He arrived in the mail yesterday and my kids are freakin’ nuts over him!  The anticipation of his arrival was positively painstaking.  I wasn’t sure if the elf would work for my kiddos because they’re a little older and wiser.  Isabelle informed me last year that she knew there was no such thing as Santa and told me not to even try to tell her otherwise.  What do you say to that?  She totally caught me off guard and I had nothing, so I told her not to tell her brothers or anyone else who still believes in Santa.  Thankfully, she’s good at keeping secrets. J  Needless to say, she wasn’t the one I was worried about in regards to “elfie”.  I wasn’t sure how the boys would react to it, but when I mentioned the possibility of an elf coming to live in our house, they went crazy!  Who knew?  The boys were totally diggin’ on elves and couldn’t wait to get one of their own.  So the deal is ~ a little elf comes to stay with you the weeks before Christmas.  He flits in and out of the house and chooses the most interesting of hiding places.  You never know where he’ll show up!  He leaves the house every night to report back to the North Pole to inform Santa on the goings on in the house so everyone must be sure to be on their best behavior at all times.  And you can’t touch him.  No touchy!  If you do, he loses his magic and has to return to the North Pole for good.  Seriously, it is the most fun thing ever!  “Max” (aka elfie) made his first appearance in the boys’ room last night and I told them it must be because he wants to keep a close watch over them.  You could just see their little minds spinning, so cute!  This morning he showed up way up high on a window sill in the living room.  The kids are super excited about this little guy and what a wonderful thing to be able to threaten your kids with during the holidays!  Gotta love it… J

Christmas in 8 days?  Really??  How did that happen?  Finally got my decorating done, however I’m still waiting for H to complete the outside stuff.  I don’t know why it takes him so long to get the job done out there, but it’s the same story year after year.  We’re gonna have to work on that!  I spend an insane amount of time decorating my house inside and out.  That’s just how I roll.  Of course I curse myself every year, but I do it anyway.  The kids love it and it just makes everything feel so…happy and Christmassy. 

Speaking of happy, Christmas has gotten me in a real funk the past few years.  Obviously when things were bad between H and me, I had a really tough time getting through the holidays.  Now, I’m not sure what’s up.  I’m not in a total funk…just a little…I don’t know, I can’t really explain it.  It hits me at different times and I manage to push it away.  The kids always brighten my mood though, so it’s not such a big deal.  My guess is that it has something to do with the past few years and that in time it will just go away altogether.  I am enjoying everything about the holidays so far, but I have to be honest and say that I’ll be glad when January rolls around.

Also coming up in…6 days is my 13^th anniversary.  Wow, I didn’t think we’d ever get here, but here we are 13 years later.  Just wow…  Two years ago we went through the motions of “celebrating” our anniversary if that’s what you want to call it.  It was more like us just trying to tolerate each other on an evening that was not a happy occasion.  Last year we didn’t even bother.  This year, we’re back to celebrating in our traditional sort of way.  H’s mother always takes the kids overnight on our anniversary and H plans a super special night out.  We get dressed up and spend way too much money, but we’ve always had wonderful anniversary dates so I’m looking forward to next Tuesday evening.  It’s been weird.  There have been moments when H and I have really connected, but those moments have been few and far between.  When we went to Tybee Island in October, we were in a really good place for a few days.  We also had some really good moments during our recent St George trip too.  Hmmm…maybe we just need to spend the rest of our lives vacationing, ya think?  J  I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I’m the one holding back and not putting forth the effort I should.  Something way deep down inside just won’t let me.  Some part of me is still resisting.  Several factors come into play here, “things” that I need to change in my life, “things” that I need to completely remove from my life altogether.  Texas Girl Jen, one of my all-time favorite bloggers, recently wrote a piece about “editing” her life; removing those things which hinder peace and harmony for her.  I need to do the same thing.  I need to do some serious editing of my own.  I know what “things” stand as obstacles in my life, obstacles that keep me from truly moving forward to where I need to be.  You would think that since I’m able to identify these things it would be an easy task to simply “delete” them and remove them from my life altogether.  Not so much.  It is definitely something that I need to work on.  I do believe that a lot of the uneasiness that I continue to experience is due to these things which I haven’t yet let go of completely.  As Texas Girl Jen said, I really need to get out my red pen and start editing my life…

On the agenda ~ I am attempting to make peanut brittle for the kids’ teachers this evening.  Ever since winning the “baking contest” at the beach last month, I think I’m Betty-Freakin’-Crocker.  This should be interesting…J  Friday night, me,Val, Renee and T are getting together with our kiddos and other friends for our annual “cookie party” at Val’s place.  I’m definitely looking forward to seeing my girlfriends and getting the kiddos together!  It is sure to be a fun time!!  Saturday night we’re getting together with T and her hubby so that the guys can put the kids’ electric scooters together!  My 3 kiddos are getting them for Christmas and T’s little boy (the twins’ bestie) is getting one too.  We’ve been storing them over at T’s house and it is time to piece those suckers together!  How fun!!  This will likely turn into a late night party over there ~ that’s just how we roll when the four of us get together.  I’ve got my anniversary date next week on Tuesday and my family’s traditional Christmas Eve at Mother’s on Wednesday…two stops to make on Christmas day…then hosting Christmas dinner at my house for H’s Mother and stepfather’s family the following Saturday…and on and on and on…  The next 2 weeks will be busy for sure, but I am looking forward to it all. J  My kids are an absolute joy this time of year and I am thankful beyond words for their health, happiness and safety.  Above all else in my world, that is all that truly matters to me ~ the greatest gift of all, at Christmastime and always.  My Little Lovies…

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas!  Until next time, these are the days of my life…     

Be great!

Hey, blog people!  Sorry I’ve been M.I.A. for so long.  As usual, life calls and I’ve had little time for blogging.  I will attempt to get around to visiting everyone soon ~ right after I get this thing posted and download some more recent pictures…J

So first things first ~ my beach trip was in a word, fabulous!  We had the best time!  Not too much to report as the trip was pretty much uneventful ~ uneventful in a good way.   Our days were spent watching sunrises and sunsets, eating, drinking, reading, talking, laughing, drinking, dancing (our pool deck seemed to transform into a *disco* every afternoon…right around half-past drink #3 ;), fishing, dolphin-watching, sunbathing, walking on the beach, drinking, swimming, hot-tubbing, watching football games on the beach (the kiddos’ football games), night-crawling (nighttime beachcombing with flashlights, nets and buckets), star-gazing, and drinking.  Did I mention drinking?!  ‘Cause we did our fair share…J  It was a super-fun time.  The weather was gorgeous and the views…incredible…  There’s nothing quite like waking up to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean from the comfort of your bed…nice, I know.  I watched lots of sunrises and sunsets ~ and the stars at night were equally exceptional.  The skies were so crystal clear with stars dancing everywhere ~ shooting stars too!  We had fantastic weather all week too ~ low to mid 70’s so we were able to lay by the pool everyday and even on the beach once or twice!  We didn’t really go anywhere or do anything outside of our little “paradise”.  The adults went out one night while “Grammy” kept up with all the kiddos.  We went out to a nice dinner and then to our favorite karaoke bar on the island.  I think we were better behaved this year than last, although we did leave with a pumpkin and a trashy novel at the end of the night…don’t ask…;)  Fun times for all!  J  We also took the kiddos out to lunch one day for seafood.  My kids eat well, what can I say?  We can’t get away with going to the beach without them being treated to a seafood feast!  And of course we had a full spread for Thanksgiving.  My family can cook.  Like seriously cook.  Oh!  We had a cooking contest!!  My idea, of course.  Competitive much?  All the girls made Thanksgiving dishes, which were to be judged, only you couldn’t vote for your own dish.  Ask me who won…come on, ask already…!  Why yes I did, thank you!  J  Get this, I made a lemon meringue pie, a key lime pie, and a freakin’ apple cinnamon pie with homemade caramel pecan sauce.  Did you get that?  Homemade caramel pecan sauce!  Oh, and homemade whipped-topping too.  My pies rocked, hence, my win.  I love it when that happens!  Especially since I’m not a cook.  Or a baker. Or a candlestick maker.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist ;)  Dumb luck actually, that my stuff turned out okay!  So yeah, the beach trip was positively awesome.  Can’t wait to get back!     

More posts coming soon.  Pictures too!  We’ve been staying busy, as usual.  The kiddos are all puffed up about Christmas, it’s very fun…J  I’ve done great with my shopping this year, but not so much with my decorating.  Ugh!  I’m hoping to get it all done by the end of the weekend, which will be difficult considering we’re going out of town again.  We shall see!  Meanwhile, I am once again the “heathen” in the neighborhood.  I swear these women compete to see who can put their shit up first.  When we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, our street looked like a freakin’ winter wonderland with all the decorations and lights.  Whatever, clever.  I’ll get my stuff done when I get it done.  Then again, I kinda hope my slackness is buggin’ the hell outta someone…J

Stay tuned for more days of my life! 

Until next time,

Be great!