'Tis the Season.

Back in November I set up some guidelines for Holiday season sanity, to refresh:


-No crying (at least not of the sad, we-have-no-money kind, tears of joy are allowed.)
-No stressing (aka no skipping the gym for this girl.)
-No present buying for anyone but the 'rents and the kids. Period. (I have a problem with gift giving...I enjoy it way too much.)

I can't say I haven't cried since this was posted, but I can say the times its happened has been because of my job/my own personal crap....so I guess that's a half-hearted success?

I may have given up on going to the gym where I work every night but I've been on the treadmill in our living room at least 3 times a week (and that will change to at least 5 times a week since I'm off work starting Monday til January 3rd...not my choice, but my employer's who is hemorrhaging money and cutting our budget with furlough) and I can tell it is keeping me balanced. Who knows, maybe I'll start 2011 5 pounds lighter....but I won't know, since we don't own a scale (because I would obsess every fluctuation) so I'll just have to pay attention to the way my pants fit. Which I already do that pretty obsessively anyways. Good times.

We definitely have only shopped for the kids and the parents. So good job us. Even if I am being a baby and am secretly really sad for no presents from the husband. They are always my favorite at Christmas time....but we have so many Christmas futures, and when I think about it that way, it is not a big deal. Just the fact that we get to spend so much time together this year is pretty awesome. And it probably won't happen again for a long time so I'll enjoy it while I can.

The husband is on his 3rd interview for one job, and is waiting on a call back for a teaching position he open interviewed for last night AND a friend of ours just emailed him about a possible opening at his work. There is a good chance he will have something by January, which would be a great way to start 2011.

Now, if the insane baby dreams would stop, I could have a freakin' Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ('s Eve Party....New Year's Eve is my FAVORITE.)

Til Next time.

Day TwentySeven: Best.

I feel like the best thing going for me right now is the compilation of all the small things going well, considering our circumstances. Or perhaps my ability to accentuate the positive? Either way, here's a list of the good:

I have a job with decent benefits that is paying our bills. My family is amazing and the fact that tomorrow my oldest step-daughter will be seeing her sister for the first time in 3 years makes my heart swell. It won't be long until we get to spend time as a family of four again.

I have some of the best friends anyone could ask for. We recently pulled off a surprise benefit for one of the sweetest women I know who is battling cancer where we made over $6700. They keep me laughing and remind me of how important it is to let loose and have fun sometimes.

I've convinced myself exercise is something I just need to do each day, sort of like brushing my teeth in the morning and before bed. Just another part of the routine. This is already helping my mood, which usually takes a nose dive when it gets cold...and then another after Christmas, since its cold AND all the holiday crap is over and there isn't much to look forward to besides spring, which sometimes doesn't come until April or May. Since I've started now, I'll continue through the dead of winter and who knows maybe even drop a size or two in the process.

You see, its all good, if you look at things in the right way.

Holi-don'ts.

I have already began dreading the next two months. I feel like it starts earlier each year, with Christmas nonsense already filling shelves of every store I've entered since last Sunday, and the TV commercials constantly reminding us of the things to come: Day after Thanksgiving sales, BIG DEALS, consume, Consume, COOOOONNNNNSUMMMME!

We are on a very extremely tight budget this year. With the husband losing his job and I being required to take furlough (long story short: campus will be closed from the week before Christmas until the Monday after New Years and one day of pay each month will be taken off my paycheck until next june, hurrah.) things could get hairy but we have a pretty exact plan of action when it comes to present buying. Mostly, not buying anyone anything besides the girls, Baby M. (my niece) and our parents (ONLY if we can figure out frugal joint presents for each set).

I'm also refusing to become stressed about family obligations. Plain and simple. If the girls can't be there, it will make me sad but I won't get all worked up over it. I'm already expecting my brother to muck everything up, with his "surprise" visit or ever changing arrival date (he is known for both, and while I know he doesn't do it on purpose, it always messes up already planned things....and when he's in another country with the Army its one thing, but he's in South Carolina for Pete's sake!)

So to re-cap Holiday Season 2010 Don'ts:

-No crying (at least not of the sad, we-have-no-money kind, tears of joy are allowed.)
-No stressing (aka no skipping the gym for this girl.)
-No present buying for anyone but the 'rents and the kids. Period. (I have a problem with gift giving...I enjoy it way too much.)

Did I use parentheses enough in this post or what?

Oh the irony.

It's been snowing off and on for the past couple weeks and the weathermen predict anywhere from 2 to 4 more inches by tomorrow, so why oh why does my favorite place in the world to shop (Target of course) have SWIM SUITS for sale?! I gave them a pass on the Valentine's Day crap all throughout the store, since it is the next major holiday our capitalistic, materialistic country thrives upon, but seriously, four days after Christmas (which was when I witnessed this insanity at Target) no intelligent woman wants to be thinking about swim suit season. I personally don't want to be thinking about Valentine's Day either....besides that it was my great Uncle Bob's Birthday.

After Christmas time is somewhat depressing on its own. You know you've packed on at least 5 pounds from all the delicious yet fattening things you eat, there is always that one gift you regret not buying that one person (for me, it was not gifting nearly as many wedding photos as I had originally planned, oh the guilt!) and snow isn't magical anymore, its just plain annoying. Now they (the man of course) want me to think about being almost naked whilst those parts of my body are pasty and gross? I think not.

Perhaps these early as can be swim suits for sale are geared towards tiny college girls who will be embarking upon spring break at the end of March, but still, 4 days after Christmas people?! Really?

Instead, I'm focusing on making it through the crappy part of Ohio winter, where every other night I hope that if it snows, it will be enough to merit NOT going into work.

In conclusion (yeah, my writing skills are not what they used to be) I still love my Target, and will continue to shop there faithfully, but really have to shake my fist at them about swimsuits for sale in December....in Ohio. *Shakes fist furiously*

The end.

It's the most wonderful time....

For a beer...I mean, of the year, hehehe.

The Johnson's took "getting into the spirit" just a little too far, I think Rick Moranis may have had something to do with it as well.

Something is very different about Christmas when you have kids in your life. For me, I've turned into a misty eyed sap who cries at the thought of sentimental things (including the montage scene near the end of Fred Claus with all the kids opening presents and the elves watching via the magic snowglobe...I seriously almost teared up as I typed this, I'm a freak).

Although this isn't the first side effect of kids and christmas...it is also A LOT more expensive and with the ever increasing technology of toys, I'm sure things can only get worse. Kiddo is requesting something I remember asking Santa for, and now that I'm on the other side of things, I know exactly why I didn't get my American Girl Doll that year. $95 for a book and a Doll?! Really? For a doll that doesn't do anything besides create the need for clothes, accessories and furniture? Talk about a status symbol in kid form. Now, if we had more money, I'm sure I would have obliged...I remember how much I wanted one, but that just isn't the case. Luckily, Kiddo won't be disappointed since her mother is planning on getting her one, but it won't be from Santa. She only puts small presents as "from Santa" because she wants the credit for the expensive ones. Isn't she just a lovely human being?

Everything Husband and I get Kiddo is "from Santa" at our house....she's 7, you don't need to buy her affection, especially if you give it to her like a normal human being should but I digress...
Either way, Christmas (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice or whatev else you may celebrate) is fun with kids around, and I feel lucky to have married into a family o' children. I am also very excited to take Kiddo to a local outdoor shopping mall to see Santa, Mrs. Claus and Reindeer in a couple weeks. I did my homework and found out this shopping mall only hires Santa's with REAL beards. Kiddo is smart, and we are almost sure she is about to figure things out. Our trip to see real bearded Santa a week from Friday could go either way.

Totally unrelated: Who is sick of hearing about Tiger Woods? This girl, that's who!!