Oh Boy Santa!

Funny Flashback -
About a decade ago, we lived in rural England.  Having moved there in the summer and realizing we would be limited in our "Santa" options, my hubby and I made the best with what we could find come November and December.  Our daughter, who was three years old at the time, wasn't really raised with gender specific roles so we thought she'd be open to anything.  One of the gifts we selected for her was a Hot Wheels race track.  We happily stayed up late Christmas Eve wrapping the gifts rather proud of ourselves for accomplishing Christmas in a foreign land with limited resources.  The morning came and wouldn't you know that the first present our daughter opened was that Hot Wheels track.  She excitedly tore the paper off of it.  Upon seeing what it was, she threw it down on the floor and proclaimed in tears "Santa thinks I'm a BOY!!!!!"  After much reassurance, a few more gifts, and mom and dad "playing" with the "oh-so-fun" track and cars, she recovered and a wonderful Christmas was had by all, but we were left with a memory we will never forget :)

R.I.P. Christmas Lights

Yesterday we finally got out the Christmas tree.  I have been waiting, as you know, a long time for this event.  Hubby and Daughter set up the tree and all was going well until Hubby plugged in the lights.  They didn't work.  Luckily he had not yet put them on the tree.  He plugged in another string of bulbs.  Nothing.  Not a shine.  Not a twinkle.  Nothing.  Come to find out thay most of our Christmas tree lights had died.  Now, we have had these particular lights for 17 Christmases so they definitely had a long life but I just wasn't expecting to have to put them to rest just yet.  (Sniff.  Sniff.)  They and the tree were a wedding gift from my grandparents.  But I gave in and headed to the store today to buy new lights.  Hubby said we previously had six sets.  50 feet of lights in each set.  Ok.  We get to the store and of course there are about 5,000 choices of lights.  You've got your minis and your traditionals and your spheres and your bulbs and even flame tipped ones.  And they all come in white or colored or all red or all blue.  There was even a set of all purple lights.  We located the lights that looked best.  Spheres - a change from the old traditional.  Wouldn't want my old lights to feel as though they're being replaced.  Just a change to something different.  Each box says that it holds a set with a length of approximately 20 feet.  Ok.  Time for math.  We previously had six sets at fifty feet each.  That's 300 feet of lights.  Ok.  At 20 feet per box we need 15 boxes.  15 seemed like a little much so we opted for 12.  Yeah, that's right we bought 12 boxes of Christmas lights for our tree.  We even weighed out the option of buying new lights versus buying a new pre-lit Christmas tree.  After dropping $120 some dollars, we head home to discover that each box of our old lights did not contain 50 feet of lights.  There were 50 LIGHTS per set not 50 FEET.  We bought enough lights to cover three trees.  Big mistake.  So, as I type this Hubby is wrestling with the lights and the tree.  I'm not sure who is winning.  Tomorrow I will hang my head and return seven boxes of lights to the Target.  We bought all the lights in this style the store had.  Hopefully they won't place an order to replace the stock we drained yet.  Glad we didn't opt to buy a new tree instead.  Oh well, at least I can smile.  My tree is up - FINALLY!

Sorry Peeps, I Forgot

So, the last two days I completely forgot to blog.  I was ticked away in my cozy little home with my family of three (six if you count those with feathers) and we just enjoyed being together.  No facebook, no e-mail, no blog, nothing.  And I have to admit it was kind of nice.  While I love my cyber-friends dearly, it was nice to take a break and live like it was when I was a child - computer-less.  We played cards and games and Wii and it was awesome.  We missed our families but had a kick-ass Thanksgiving meal of our own.  We did get some rather good news.  If all goes as planned, we will be landlords by this time next week.  It has me nervous and excited at the same time.  It will be such a relief to have the rent coming in to us, but at the same the house is in such good condition that I'm scared to let anyone else live there.  I don't know why because its not like I'll ever live there.  I didn't venture out to the Black Friday sales.  Just didn't have the energy and was enjoying being here at home too much to leave.  Don't think I really missed anything except standing in line in the freezing cold for a few hours and I'm totally ok with that.  Other than that not much has transpired over the last two days.  I promise not to forget to blog again.  At least until Christmas :)

Nacho Average Lunch

So today I had a girl's lunch with my daughter.  It was wonderful.  We bundled up and headed out to the local Mexican place and had us some south of the border grub.  We chatted about this and that and just about everything you can think of.  It was nice because there was no reason for it.  There was nothing to celebrate except us being us.  Relationships are work and the relationships we have with our children are no exception.  What does it tell your child if you are having lunch out with friends on a regular basis yet never have lunch with them?  And I'm not talking about grabbing a McCheeseburger and fries on the way home from the dentist office.  I'm talking real sit down with a waiter, takes longer than 20 minutes meal.  One on one interactive time.  No cell phone, no television, no distractions what-so-ever.  Just good old fashioned conversation.  You get to know your kid in a way you didn't before.  You get to see them in a new light.  While having lunch with my daughter, I realized what a capable, grown up young woman I have.  She has a good head on her shoulders.  It hit me especially hard when the waiter asked if it would be separate checks.  Wow!  We looked like two girlfriends out having lunch!  That's exactly what I wanted.  And yet at the same time I don't.  It means she is growing up and I'm not quite ready to let go yet.  Thank goodness I have at least another year and a half of girlfriend lunches till I have to deal with that and for that I say gracias!

30% Off Your Sanity

Ok.  So I thought it was cool when someone in the Ukraine was reading my blog.  Now someone in Pakistan is reading it!  That is so cool.  If you enjoy reading it, please take a moment to choose a favorite post and share it on your facebook page or any other way that you may know how to share it (I can be techno-challenged so all I know is how to share it on facebook).  I love knowing that I am reaching people.  Too awesome!  Today I am prepping for Thanksgiving and trying to decide if I am going to venture out to the Black Friday sales.  Most of my shopping is done so I don't really need to go out.  I have just always wondered what it was like to be out in that mass of insane shoppers.  I want to see it firsthand.  All the fuss and craziness all for a cheaper price.  I don't really want to buy anything on the super sales.  I just want to watch the mass hysteria.  And would you believe that you don't even have to wait until Black Friday anymore?  Toys R Us opens on Thanksgiving Day at 10 p.m. with their sales.  Wal-mart's sales start at midnight.  Other stores are opening at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.  There is no reason to set your alarm to get up when you never get the chance to go to sleep.  Apparently you are supposed to eat your turkey and take a nap so you can get up in the evening and head to the overnight sales.  I wonder what they do in the rest of the world where there is no Thanksgiving?  When is their Black Friday?  Anyone from the Ukraine or Pakistan care to  enlighten me?

The Wild Mouse is not a Fun Ride

I'm back!  After a weekend of computer dysfunction, I am once again able to put my thoughts into blog form for others to read, ridicule and/or relate to.  Hope you didn't miss me too much. 
Well, we took my daughter out to practice driving once again yesterday.  She has had her temps since October and due to scheduling conflicts and an early dusk (we figured we'd stick with daylight first) this is the third or fourth time she has been driving.  She had driven around the parking lot at a local vacant business and the high school at first.  When we first put her in the driver's seat, she asked "Which way do I turn it to start it?"  Yes, that was her actual first question.  No joke.  Nothing like upping my confidence in you baby girl.  After a quick lesson in how to start a car and a quick lesson on changing gears, she slowly inched forward and drifted about twenty feet.  She was then prompted to brake which led to a testing of the seat belt restraints.  After much more drifting, reversing and one scary moment when the gas was mistaken for the brake, we called it quits and headed home.  The second trip was a little better.  Then tired of making loops with no obstacles and hoping to go above 10 mph, I graduated her to the street.  She did ok.  Typical student driver.  We did go over 10 mph.  We went 15.  But for a first time driving on a road with other cars, she did really well.  Then yesterday, Hubby demoted her back to the parking lot.  He said he wanted her to get a better feel for controlling the car, but I think her confidence took a hit in the meantime.  She seemed more nervous than she did driving around the neighborhood and was right back to where she was when she first started driving.  I shut my eyes (to avoid becoming sick in the backseat) and we looped and looped and looped the parking lot.  With my daughter's style of sudden braking, it was like riding the wild mouse at the amusement park.  Turn, turn, turn, jerk to a stop.  Turn, turn, turn, jerk to a stop.  I think next time we go out, I'll insist on the roads in the neighborhood.  I think it does a lot for her confidence and her skills.  I know it is a lot better on my stomach.

Bigger is Not Always Better

Holy Kroger Marketplace Batman!  Today was our third trip to the new, improved, gigantic Kroger Marketplace here in Suburbia.  Its so big that they had to pass out maps the first week it was open.  I'm really not kidding.  We used to have a very nice Kroger, but they decided to knock it down to build a Kroger Marketplace (which is PR for Kroger with furniture and a sushi bar).  They closed the old one and plowed it over taking their good old time.  We suffered without a grocery store for about a month making trips to the Super Wal-mart.  It was difficult but we perservered.  The whole time I wondered - how are they going to afford closing for a month?  Well, now I know.  They jacked up all of their prices to high heaven.  Things that used to cost $6 now cost $8.  That's quite a jump if you ask me.  Whereas we used to be able to make it out of there with a full cart for $120, now we leave about $150 poorer.  I have a theory that is why they closed for an entire month.  So you could forget what prices you used to pay for everything.  Its nice I guess.  They do have a section I have dubbed "Cheeses of the World" where you can sample till your hearts content, but that's not worth an extra $30 a trip for me.  Now if I could only find my way out of the store without my frozens thawing out.