Christmas shopping

It is December 16, 2008 and I'm not finished yet.  Kids get more expensive as they get older.  I remember a time when I could walk into a Toys R Us - spend a little money and have a whole buggy full of toys.  Now my son wants video games that are 60.00 a piece, my daughter wants an iPod (hers was stolen).  An iPod alone costs 150.00 and yes she is getting it.  Spoiled?  No, not really.  She truly loved her iPod and used it on a daily basis.  She saved up the money herself to buy it.  Sadly,  it was stolen and this is something she really used.  I would rather pay more money and get them something you know they will still be using in a year.  So she's getting an iPod along with everything else - lol.  I usually buy too much but I love buying for my kids.   I love Christmas time.  It is one of my favorite holidays and it has nothing to do with the gift giving.  Everyone seems nicer around Christmas, families get together, cookie baking.  I love it all.

I will be baking cookies this weekend and I'm anxious to see if my daughter (11 1/2 going on 16) will want to help.  She always has in the past but lately she doesn't want to hang around mom so much.  We shall see - I plan on making Peanut Butter Blossoms (peanut butter cookie with a Hershey's Kiss in the middle, my husband's favorite oatmeal raisin (his grandmother's recipe and they are SOOOO GOOD) and of course Sugar Cookies.  Do you have a favorite recipe?  Tell me and I will post it.  I am curious to know what your family traditions are at Christmas also.  We always have sausage pinwheels for Christmas breakfast every year.  Not much of a tradition but it is something my kids expect - lol.  I hope to get lots of recipes from everyone!!  Merry Christmas!

Friday - Doing The Happy Dance

Shake - Shake - Shake

Finally made it to Friday. We wish our lives away don't we? The weekends are so nice though and I am off next Friday because my kids are out of school. It's great to have a flexible WAHM job where you can take days off. I have 2 weeks off in December and 1 week off in January, oh and 2 days off in November. I cannot wait.

I've been thinking about Christmas. I seem to spend too much money on the kids and take away the real meaning. My daughter wants a Wii - $250.00 - wow! My husband wants one too - lol. I guess I do too - maybe it can be a family gift for everyone. There is so much more they want. I I bought her a Wii that would cut down on other presents. If I do buy one it will be a family gift and not just for one child. My daughter is 11 and no toys this year. I dind't realize last Christmas was the last Christmas that I would shop the toy aisles. Oh well, kids have to grow up sometime. If you've read my other posts you can see I'm having a hard time with this - she is my baby! It's hard sometimes to let them grow up but I have to remember she doesn't need her food cut up anymore - lol.

We won!!

My daughter had a softball game last night. She pitched 2 innings and did great - struck out their best batter. We played the number 1 team and beat them 16-5 - it was great. We are in third place right now. My daughter was not going to play this year but the league called and said they needed another pitcher so she said she would. This is our 2nd game since she started and we have won both. We have 9 games left so maybe we can get up to first place. She is a really good pitcher and loves it so much. She is 11 and already 5'3 and is at around 50 miles per hour. Her goal is to be up to 55-60 by spring - I am sure she can do it. She is so competitive and loves the sport so much. I think it is great for kids to have something they love to do. I envy her - to have something you love that much and to be so good at it. She's a very lucky little girl and will go far in this sport if she stays in it. I am thinking scholarships down the road - with college prices these days that would be a blessing.

Mondays

I hate Mondays - I really do. I never get everything done on the weekends and would love to have one more day to just rest. It is so hard to do laundry, clean, get groceries and run all the errands all in 2 days. How do you manage? My hours are crazy during the week but I keep my house clean all week - at least it looks clean - lol. My husband is a huge help to me as he cooks dinner 3 days out of the week. I don't know how I would manage if he didn't do that. He is truly wonderful and I would never make it without him. Monday is the busies day of the week for me at work. It is nonstop all day long. I would like to know how all the working mothers out their manage everything - do you do a little each day - do it all on the weekends? I plan a menu for the week so when I go to the grocery store I get everything we need. That seems to help me a lot. I guess we all just get by the best we can.

Are you getting scared yet?

Gas prices, the job market, foreclosures, all the talk that we are in a financial crisis. I overheard some ladies talking at the grocery store this morning that they were getting scared to put their money in the bank and one even said she was going to withdraw everything and keep it at her house. I don't know about you but I think that may be going a little too far at this point. I don't understand exactly what is going on but I do understand it some. I agree that we are in a financial crisis and it does scare me but this is the United States. I think we will be all right with time. We can persevere and we are a strong people. What do you think? Everyone has different views on this and I really love to hear them all. I don't want to hear about the president, or the future president, unless you want to talk about it then that's fine. I have learned from experience to keep your opinion of that to yourself - you will always make someone mad. It almost seems that the people will make this worse than it has to be if everyone starts withdrawing all of their money out of the banks then that will definitely make things go downhill fast! I would love to hear some opinions on this.

Things seem to have a way of working out

I prayed and prayed for a good work at home job so I can stay home and be here for my kids. Well, I got the job but have to work 11-7 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is so hard because I go to Church on Wednesday nights and now I can't. My daughter is in the GA's and she loves it but now she is having to miss it. I talked to my preacher about it and he said just to trust God that he will work this out for me. Well, I find out there's someone that has a little girl int GA's with my daughter that lives very close to me and she called and offered to take Jessi on Wednesday nights. God does have a way of working things out. I don't get to go but at least she does and I feel so much better about it.

I feel like I'm back in high school again

I graduated from high school in 1984 which makes me 42 right now. My daughter is 11 and in the 6th grade and they are having Spirit Week this week. Today was 80's day. Wow - I had to sit and think how did I dress and wear my hair during that time. Well, hair was big, feathered, crimped, etc. Dress was a lot of Guess jeans, Jordache and Gloria Vanderbilt. Lots of jewelry, big bracelets and lots of make up. She wore leg warmers today over her jeans - a polo - and wore her hair in a side pony tail with the kind of hair ties we used (the ones with the balls on them) - It was strange seeing her this morning - I was transported back in time. We got out all my old yearbooks to see how everyone was dressed. I've been living my high school days all over again these past few days. Oh how I miss it!! I would not want to go through my teens again but still I miss it. I think what I miss the most was the friendships and knowing there were people that would stick up for you, stand by you and love you no matter what. Now that I think of it that is exactly how I feel towards my children - pure unconditional love.

Do You Have Bugs?

Do you know what Spyware is and what it does? It is software that is installed in a computer without the user's knowledge and transmits information about the user's computer activities over the Internet. It takes information about a person without their knowledge or informed consent and reports such data back to a third party. Its main purpose is to collect information about where you have surfed on the Internet and what you buy online. It also displays popup ads in response to clicks of your mouse. This is annoying enough but spyware can cause much more damage than that. Spyware earned its name because it “spies” on you and then sends reports back to someone without informing you of this activity. There are a lot of free software programs to get read of these nasty little bugs. Do a Google search for spyware and a lot of information will come up to help you

Sometimes you just can't help yourself

I grew up in Illinois with 2 brothers and a loving mom and dad. It was a small town, the kind where your parents know what you did before you make it home. My oldest brother and I “turned” out okay. My parents took us to Church, taught us respect, love and kindness. In high school my older brother started doing drugs. It was just a little marijuana on the weekends at parties. Being the little sister I did not want to “rat” on him. Looking back now I wish I would have. Later when he got into cocaine it was obvious to my parents. They tried to get him help, tried everything they could. There is a saying, “you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped” and this is so true. I can’t go into this story because it would be too long but my brother is now 42 years old and is still “hooked” on cocaine. My father offered to get him help, was even going to pay a lot of money for a treatment center, but he wouldn’t go. He lives on the streets most of the time but comes home every few days and passes out for a few days. I have no idea where he gets his money but he somehow finds a way to buy his drugs. My father passed away 5 years ago and Matt is taking advantage of my mom more and more. The other day my mom and I were at a birthday party. It was only 5 miles from her house and she left her camera at home and I offered to go get it. When I pulled into the driveway I saw a car there that I didn’t recognize. When I went into the house I saw a man and a woman sitting on the couch. They were both strung out on drugs, it was obvious, and one even had a cigarette lit. Something in me snapped and by the time I got done with them they were out the door and into their car. I am a petite woman, 5’1 and 120 pounds, and they were scared of me. I told them if they ever stepped one foot into my mom’s yard I would call the police and I meant it. It’s a shame my brother is like this. My parents always blamed themselves but it isn’t their fault. He grew up in a loving home and there isn’t anything more they could have done to stop this from happening. I just pray one day he will overcome this evil inside of him and I get my brother back again.

There Is Still Good in the World

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and saw something I will never forget. We do not see a lot of kindness in this world today and I saw a glimpse of it waiting in line at the checkout. There was a man in front of me who I judged the minute I saw him. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a logo on it that I did not recognize, had his long hair in a pony tail and battered jeans on. He just looked "rough". We stereotype people so easily. A kid with a skateboard in his hand, long scraggly hair, black from head to foot is immediately a bad kid who does drugs. I know this because my son is a "skateboarder" and wears black most of the time. He is a straight A and as far from doing drugs as you can get. He and his friends probably do look a little rough when people see them at the park skateboarding. What they don't know is all of them are great kids and as good as the boy down the street who wears polo's and khakis.

That is why I surprised myself when I judged this man. The lady in front of him was an older woman, probably in her early 70's. The cashier finished scanning her groceries and told her the total. She handed him some money and he politely told her it was not enough. She then started digging through her purse, pulling out change and a few dollar bills she had at the bottom of it. She was almost in tears. The man in front of me asked the cashier how short she was and he told him about $50.00. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a $100.00 bill and told her to keep the rest of it. The lady cried and hugged him and he looked very uncomfortable. He still had his wallet out and was counting his money and looking at his groceries doing the mental math to make sure he had enough left. This is what got to me the most. He freely gave this woman a $100.00 bill and wasn't sure he would have enough left to pay for his own groceries. Everyone was telling him what a good person he was, how wonderful it was for him to give this woman money. He was embarrassed. I could tell he only wanted to get out of there. A lot of people would want to be recognized when they do something like that but he didn't. That makes it all the more special. I looked for him in the parking lot when I was going to my car. I didn't see him anywhere. I don't know if he was just a good person or an angel. The Bible tells us there are angels on this earth sent to help people. Whatever he was he put a smile on my face that day and I smiled all the way home.

Softball Tryouts

My daughter tried out for a Worth softball team last night. She did great on everything - fielding, batting, first base and then it came time for her to pitch. I don't know how she does it. If someone put me in front of an entire team of people I don't know - put a catcher in front of me that I'd never seen before - 3 coaches standing behind the plate watching me - I would freeze. Jessi is the type of person that is great under pressure and absolutely nothing makes her nervous. She pitched to their batters and struck all of them out except for one. This is one of the best travel teams in our area and for her to strike them out - well, that's good. Sitting there watching her pitch, seeing the talent she has, so happy that she has found something that she is so passionate about, I teared up. Every time I watch her pitch I get all misty eyed. I don't know why. I see other mothers do it too. I think it's because I'm so proud of her and seeing her so happy, well, I tend to get emotional when it comes to my kids. We don't know if she made it yet or not. There were 3 other pitchers there trying out. I told her on the way home trying out for a travel team was a lot like going on a job interview.

The bad thing is we didn't get home until after 9:00 last night. Her "I don't have very much homework" turned into a lot of homework. Jessi is a straight A student and it's not like her to blow off homework like that. Needless to say we were up to well past 11:00 last night getting everything done. I'm taking her to school today so she can sleep in a little bit. I really do hate this. I am an avid believer that kids need a lot of sleep - at least 10 hours.

Well, time to get her up and get this day started. Oh how I wish it were Friday!!

Finally Friday....

I thought Friday would never get here. It has been a horrendous week this week! I work at home doing tech support and I am very thankful for that but August and September are the busiest months of the year for them and my phone rings literally non stop all day long. It is starting to get on my nerves (did I say starting to??) It takes a long time to find a work at home position and now that I've found one I will keep it.

It is raining today and we haven't had a good rain in two weeks so this is a blessing! I hope it doesn't last too long though. My daughter is a fast pitch pitcher for softball and she has try outs tomorrow for a very good travel team. She is so excited and I hope she makes it for her sake. She's very, very good so if they don't take her then it's their loss. Well, my phone is ringing - better go!!

Growing Up

My daughter is 11 and started 6th grade yesterday. She is my baby and it's really bothering me more than I thought it would. 6th grade!! It seems like yesterday she was starting kindergarten and now she is in junior high (or as they call it today "middle school"). I also have a son that is 16 and a junior in high school and I know that’s why it is bothering me so much. She’s the last one. She’s 11 and I think 7 years and she could leave – 7 years and she’s off to college. I don’t know how this happened. School clothes shopping was different this year. She was pickier than she usually is. She always wears her long curly hair back into a ponytail but hasn’t worn it like that since school started. What happened to my child that just over the summer was happy pulling on a t-shirt and shorts and run around with her hair in a pony tail? Overnight she changed. I knew it was coming when we went shopping for school clothes. Jessi has never been and probably will never be a “girly girl” as she calls it. She plays softball and is a very good fast pitch pitcher so she’s more the athletic type. I’m not sure after school goes on this year if she will retreat back to her old ways or is that little girl gone forever?

Well, when she got home she went to her room and came out dressed like my Jessi in one of her softball tournament t-shirts and shorts with her in a ponytail. I smiled and tears came to my eyes – she’s still that same girl and always will be in my heart no matter what.

Bad Hair Days

I got my hair highlighted about 3 months ago. My hair is brown and I wanted a "few" lighter brown streaks in it but what I ended up getting were a lot of blond streaks throughout. I look like a striped tiger and I really don't like it. My hair was so healthy before and now it is dried out. I wear bangs and they are so frizzy since I got this done and I hate it! It is driving me crazy!

Does anyone know of any hair products that would help frizzy hair? It is mainly my bangs - the rest of my hair is okay, just dry. I didn't even know she was going to do my bangs. I have been looking for something but can't find anything. I was hoping someone out there would know what product is best. You can have a great hair day but with frizzy bangs nothing look right.

School dress code

My daughter is starting 6th grade on Monday and is very excited about it. They have a very strict dress code and I have mixed feelings about this. Any pants with belt loops and you have to wear a belt. All shirts have to be tucked in. Now my daughter is a little bit overweight and tucking in her shirt is harder for her than a thin child. Wearing a belt makes it even worse. She has lost a lot of weight and more than I thought. She is a pitcher in travel ball and at our last tournament one of her pee wee coaches was there. He was sitting and watching the game and someone said, "Way to go Jessi" when she struck out the best batter on the team. I did not know he was there and later he saw me and said, "Rita I watched that whole game and I never had a clue that was Jessi pitching! She looks so different and I didn't even recognize her. She has lost so much weight and is so tall (She's 5'3). I guess when you are around them every day you don't notice as much. Anyway, I'm getting away from the subject of this post. We went school clothes shopping over the weekend and it was so hard to find shirts because most of them were not the type of shirts that you can tuck in. (I also found out she was 2 sizes smaller than the last time we went shopping for jeans!) She was so excited. There I go again getting away from the subject! Anyway, I just want to know what everyone thinks about dress codes. Good, bad? This is for 6th graders. I agree with revealing clothes and the boys' jeans that sag to their knees but tucking in your shirt when the shirt itself is not baggy and always wearing a belt? I just think that's taking it a bit too far. My son is in high school and they don't have to tuck in shirts, wear belts, etc. I would think something is more likely to happen in high school than in 6th grade. Anyway - what do you guys think about this? I would love to get your options on this matter.

Why is he looking?

I have noticed lately that my husband "looks" at younger women more than he use to. I know it's only natural to look, I do it. It bothers me more now than it did 10 years ago because I don't feel like I can even begin to compete with that. I look at these young women and they are so skinny and so attractive, and then I look at myself, "tummy bulge" from having 3 kids, those small lines around the eyes, face sagging just a tad bit, spider veins beginning to creep up on my thighs. When he looks it makes me feel ugly and I hate it! I told him it's okay to look just don't do it when you're with me. Does your husband look at other women? How do you handle this? I am curious to know how other women react to this. Please leave comments and let me know!

School days..

School in Tennessee starts on August 11 which is really early to me because I grew up in Illinois and we never started school until after Labor Day due to heat. That really amuses me because it gets so much hotter here. The schools are air conditioned though. I hear a lot of mothers say they can't wait until school starts, that the kids are "driving them crazy". I'm just the opposite. I love the summer when the kids are home. Everything is so much more relaxed. During the school year things get so hectic, making sure homework is done, after school functions, projects they have to do, etc. I don't want to sound lazy, I'm not, I just like it in the summer because my kids are here with me and I know they're safe. We have 2 more weeks until then and school clothes shopping this weekend. It is tax free weekend so I plan on getting everything if I can. New clothes, new shoes, school supplies, what fun!

Am I still pretty?

I am not a beautiful person (on the outside anyway) but I'm not ugly either. I consider myself average. I am very petite, 5'1, 120 pounds and have never had a problem with weight. People have always thought I am younger than what I am and I think that is due to my size. The sad thing is they no longer do that. I had my first child when I was 18 (too young I know) and I have a 24-year-old daughter along with an 11-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. My daughter had her first child almost 2 years ago and she had her 2nd on January 1. Obviously the 2nd was not planned but we couldn't imagine our life without William! When I take my grandchildren somewhere with me people automatically assume I'm the mother and that makes me feel great. I don't even want to correct them but of course I do. When I say I'm their grandmother they just look at me like I"m crazy!

Six months ago I woke up and when I looked in the mirror I noticed small tiny wrinkles around my eyes. I know they weren't there when I went to bed that night! How does something as significant as a wrinkle pop up over night! Ever morning now I am scared to death to look in the mirror afraid that I will see another one! I am only 42 and even though these wrinkles are so small that probably no one but me can see them I know they are there. Getting older is not fun but I still feel like I'm 20 on the inside and I guess that counts for a lot, doesn't it?