Jonas’ new question is, “Where’d we get it?” Which is a pretty good question considering how much loot he got at Christmas. Every time we pop in a movie he needs to know who it came from. Then he yells, “thank you” to that person.
Don’t try returning stuff to Target if you’ve lost your receipt. They are insane. Chris bought me two books that I already had and lost the receipt. The books still had the tags with the prices on them and the girl at the counter acted like she was doing me some huge favor by doing my transaction. She then tells me that in order to exchange them I have to go pick out two items each at the same or more price as the individual books. I can’t combine the total cost and get one big thing. So I go get Toy Story 2 for the kids since we were buying that for them anyway with their Grandpa money, and I snag a box of diapers, figuring that I would just use the diaper money on myself later. I get back to the register and Li’l Miss Priss says, ‘I told you they have to be from the same department that you got the books from. The electronic department.” Uh, no, she didn’t tell me that, and I have a friend with me who confirmed that. I just ignored the comment and grabbed a copy of Cinderella. In total, I ended up paying $5 extra bucks to get stuff I didn’t really plan on getting. I could have walked into Barnes & Noble and they would have given me store credit for both books to spend at my leisure in whatever department I chose. Target is nuts.
I got SO SPOILED this Christmas! I got a new Quickutz font that I wanted, we got ten DVDs between the four of us, a cute jacket, moola, and a beautiful Hummel figurine that looks like my Maggie. My in-laws are way too good to me! Now I have one for each of my children. The neat thing is that my kids actually resemble these figurines. This is the one I got.
Something very exciting happened to me this past week! I bought a new bra! For the first time in a year! And it’s smaller! It’s so nice to be back in the first half of the alphabet! Maggie is choosing to nurse less and less. I don’t think I’ll be a nursing mama much longer the way she is chowing down at meal time and snubbing the breast. So, that’s kind of exciting and kind of sad all at the same time. Bittersweet, I guess. I like nursing, but I like having my body all to myself too. I’ve spent the better part of the past four years sustaining life. It will be nice to just be me.
On the down side, my camera pooped out on me again. I’m ticked. It has been working when it feels like it lately, and over Christmas that has been not very much. We have a very limited amount of holiday shots this year. Chris is taking it back to Best Buy today. We have a warranty. Since this is the second time it has needed repair in three months I really hope they replace it or I just might go berserk. Last time it was gone for almost a month and came back fussy. I bought the warranty so I could have a camera, not so it could live in the repair shop forever.
Posted by Lou on December 29, 2005 @ 10:18 pm | 4 Comments
Peace on Earth, people.
We are enjoying our Christmas festivities. Jonas and I keep checking the NORAD Santa Tracker to see how close Old Saint Nick is to our house. We are getting ready for our Christmas Eve dinner and looking forward to unwrapping the traditional holiday pajamas that my mother in law swears will be totally garish and hilarious this year.
I have wrapped all of the gifts (including the ones that Jonas and my niece Bella have unwrapped) and re-wrapped Jonas’ Harry Potter Legos in Harry Potter gift wrap. Oh yes, Santa is that good.
Tonight, after we are all snuggled into our jammies, I hope to read The Christmas Story in Luke. It is my favorite reminder of the season, so much more than all the holiday hub-bub. It is nice to remember just why there is so much joy this time of year. Why there is so much giving and why we ought to each do a little better to love and serve one another in the upcoming year. It has been difficult for me to keep sight of the real meaning behind Christmas this year, but these verses always put my heart in the right place. I hope you all have a great Christmas and that you are safe, happy and healthy.
Posted by Lou on December 24, 2005 @ 10:10 pm | 6 Comments
Today I got up early and went to the Family Support Center on base because they were having a toy give-away. Not that my children need extra toys, but everyone said I just had to go, and yes, it was fun! I waited in line with few friends and then got to pick out a few toys for each kid. They had some pretty good stuff. I got a Mr. and Mrs. PotatoHead, a Cabbage Patch Baby, Candyland, and a Cinderella Barbie-like doll. The next thing I knew I was being directed to a hallway filled with stocking stuffers and told “here, take these!” So I wound up with several matchbox cars, Kelly dolls, bubbles, puzzles, books, and “don’t forget some stuffed animals!” Crazy, no? So the kids will be making a haul this Christmas, considering that I had already bought them each a few things. I saw a few of my friends there ho have seven and eight children, respectively. I can imagine that this kind of thing really helps them out at Christmas! I know Jonas will be very stoked about the Potato Head couple.
I think we chose the most dangerous two hours to be traveling today. When we started out there was a bit of a drizzle, by the time we hit the freeway it was a massive downpour that didn’t let up all the way to San Bruno, on the other side of the Bay. Being a North Dakota girl, I’ve seen my share of weather. I’m even fairly comfortable driving through a snowstorm, but put me in a heavy rainstorm and I get nervous as a cat, and for good reason! We hydroplaned several times, just drifting lazily from one lane to another, wondering if we would end up in the ditch, or worse, on the grill of the semi next to us. I really got a thrill when the blue truck next to me sped by, splashed through a huge puddle, and covered my entire windshield with water, leaving me to just coast along with my foot off of the brake, hoping that when I regained sight of the road there would still be a road there. Then there was the sheer bliss of driving with idiots. I feel so blessed to be able to share the road with selfish jerks who feel that their pathetic lives are so important that they need to weave in and out of the rest of the traffic that has sensibly slowed down from eighty mph to a safer fifty. I really cherished associating with the moron who cut me off and nearly caused a pile up, and then, deciding that my lane wasn’t inching along any faster than the one he came from, weaved out infront of the guy next to me, forcing him to slam on his brakes and dart in back of me to avoid crashing. You people are just stellar. When you get to where you are going, would you stay the heck there?
Upon arriving at my in-laws, Jonas expressed his delight at the beautiful decorations. He adores the tree and the Santas, and his sheer joy at the signs of the season really melt my Grinchy, cynical heart. The icing on the cake had to be when Jonas discovered the angel on the tree.
“Wook! Wook!”
“Yes, that’s an angel! Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Yes, that’s Mommy!”
And that is why he gets so many presents!
Posted by Lou on December 22, 2005 @ 11:47 pm | 4 Comments
Remember how I told you that my family never waited until Christmas morning before diving headfirst into the stack of presents under the tree? My mom tolerated this tradition. Oh, she had her fun like anyone else, but it bugged her just a tish, so one year she decided that when the Day of Unwrapping arrived, she was going to be ready.
That year was no different. It started with eleven year old Janice wheedling and needling Dad until he had very little choice but to turn to Mom with big puppy dog eyes and ask, just like Jan had been pleading, “Just one present?” Usually, it took a little work to get Mom to give in, oddly, this year she acquiesced quite quickly, only after making us promise that once we opened this gift, we’d wait for Christmas for the rest. We agreed and never suspected that the wool was being cleverly pulled over our eyes. She gave the customary, “I’ll choose the one you get to open first!” and then ran to choose three gifts from under the tree.
She had to select the gifts because we kids were so terrible about guessing and peeking and shaking that she had to devise a new code each year of how to mark the packages so that only she knew who belonged to which gift. There were many years that she would be second guessing herself as we unwrapped as she tried to remember the recipient of a certain gift. Accidents were made, but it never made anyone upset- we just tossed the unwrapped gift to it’s rightful owner and continued on.
Mom had us each sit at the table with our present and told us that we should unwrap them all at once so we didn’t spoil the surprise. My younger brother and sister tore into their gifts with rabid glee while I more delicately teased the pretty paper off of the box. Before I was done unwrapping my sister and brother had torn the paper off to reveal Uncle Ben’s Minute Rice and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. They immediately began to tear into the boxes because my mother has a habit of wrapping gifts in whatever box is available, and those usually happen to be food boxes. As I unwrap a cake mix, Mom yells not to open the boxes because that’s really what they are.
Jan and Bernie are devastated. Bernie gets mad and Jan dissolves into tears; I start laughing and congratulate my mom on pulling a good one. I’m about fifteen years old, and the humor is not lost on me. My sister sniffles and then wails, “Of course you’re happy! At least you got cake mix!”
I’m still laughing. I can’t help it. My siblings start looking mutinous and declare that they still get to open a real present. Mom tries to hold them to their promise, but after many tears she gives in and, as usual, the gifts are all unwrapped that night.
To this day I still think it’s one of the funniest things my mother ever did. If I get the opportunity to pull something similar on my children, I will.
Posted by Lou on December 16, 2005 @ 10:44 pm | 15 Comments
Chris and I were cleaning our room a few days ago when he suddenly threw his arms in the air and said, “Trickle, Trickle, Trickle. . . Grecian Urn” and struck a pose.
Yes. This is a straight man. A military man. Quoting “The Music Man” and prancing around like an old lady with a screw loose because he’s just cool like that. And he’s all mine.
Welcome to my newest renter, Signora M! She has a fun blog with a gorgeous design, so click on the side link where it says “rent my blog”. And, a special WELCOME to visitors from gigglechick’s place!
Posted by Lou on December 15, 2005 @ 9:51 pm | 6 Comments
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