Recap

Where to start...where to start? As I'm sure you have guessed by my week long absence we have been insanely busy. It's for this very reason that I have a love/hate relationship with the holiday season. I love the decorations and the picking of the perfect presents and of course Christmas morning with the kids... but all the rest... the crowds and the dozens of parties and the many many more things that must be done and seen...it just makes me tired. Which makes my short fuse a bit shorter. Or maybe it's the being awake until 2am that does that? or maybe it's the teething baby who hasn't slept really well since we moved the crib out of our room? Either way I am feeling a little grinchy this year and sort of looking forward to the quiet after the holidays; to having Dad home for the whole week between Christmas and New Years (and being able to say "Go ask your Dad"), and to having Grandma and Grandpa come and visit us, along with Dad's little sister Breezy.

Last week I threw a GNO gift swap party. It was awesome and I am SOOO glad that I did it, and I plan on doing it again next year... even if the stress of executing it just about did me in. A major player in the pre-party stress? This stupid flower...

For some reason we got a bunch of duds this year. I asked Dad to pick one up while he was at the store one night and he came home with this. Believe it or not it was the best looking one at the store that night. It may look like it was half bald but it was really more like three quarters. As long as it was turned a certain way and you stood in a certain spot you couldn't tell, but if either of you moved... ugh. It sat up there and mocked me. It had to go.

So I asked Dad to try again on party day. I was actually hoping for two, one to replace this one on top of the entertainment center and one to put on the table with the treats. He even called me from the store to give me the run down on the plants (I love that Dad has a phone now!). I'm not really a fan of the glittery kind but they looked the best so he got two. I understand now why the cellophane wrapped around them wasn't clear... It would have made it very easy to see the death and decay that lurked below the brilliant red canopy. They went straight back out the door they came in and I gave up on having at least one decent looking poinsettia this year. When Dad came home with a nice, full, and not dead one a few days later my exact words were, "Oh h#$& you bought another one?"

I got about three months of the gargantuan eight month newsletter done. I have a feeling that it'll be a nine month newsletter before I am finished. Sigh.

I had some miserable throat crud the end of last week. The kind that feels alright when you get up in the morning and makes you get your hopes up that maybe you're over it and then WHAM! about eight o' clock that night the brillo pad in your throat is back. I am so tired of being sick...

We took the kids to the annual children's party at Dad's work the end of last week.They give each of the kids a present, like real present. It went pretty well. Except for the part where Pinky made such a sour face at the unicorn pillow pal she got that the lady working the window gave her something else before I had a chance to help her adjust her attitude. If she pulls that crap again next year she'll be donating the unwanted gift and leaving empty handed...

The correct response is "Thank you!" Pinky.

The boys got some neat stuff too... Stinky got a stomp rocket that he has been DYING to try out, we just haven't had time to go to the elementary school field yet and the dang thing goes 100 ft. in the air. Ralph got a stuffed Mickey Mouse that has become his new best friend...

And Baby Booger Head got a really cute little set of stuff that had a rattle, one of those satiny blanket pal things, and a hooded towel. 

I started opening my 12 Days of Christmas Swap gifts too... except I am an idiot and started opening them in the wrong direction. Sorry again Cassie... I got the note when the box arrived, but managed to forget the directions in the week I waited to start opening things and I was WAY too excited to read it again before I started. I don't mean to be stupid but it happens sometimes...