"Fill your mind with the meaningless stimuli of a world preoccupied with meaningless things, and it will not be easy to feel peace in your heart."~Marianne Williamson

I have given up on the house cleaning until sometime in January...I mean, what is the point, I ask you?

My life is too insane to be able to think about it.  I have not finished half of my Christmas shopping.  I have been busy with school stuff this week for the kids.  Kickball playoffs today for Emma.  Had a pow-wow with a couple of Jacob's teachers, which was barely even semi-productive (but I did not cry!).  Teacher gifts...always a challenge.  Last minute school projects.  Will be tied up all day Friday as an "immigration inspector" (volunteer) at "Ellis Island" (Emma's school).  Lydia Lansky (aka Emma) will be trying to immigrate to America with her tiny bundle of Russian belongings...and her tuberculosis.  Yikes!  It should be fun, but it will be an all day affair. Oh, and I haven't even begun to get those very cool snapfish Christmas cards in the mail.  Forget baking.  I purchased the pre-baked box of gingerbread people for the kids to decorate.  Call me lazy...or just call me too crazy to do anything else!  Oh, and tomorrow morning Hubby will probably ask me, "Sweetie, do I have any clean underwear?"  And I will say, "Probably not...can't you just turn that pair inside out or something?"  It would be accurate to say that no laundry has been happening around here this week.

I could fill up the page with everything that needs doing.

But, in the midst of it all, I have a strange sense of calm.  Not strange, really...I know that it has to be God.  Stuff will get done.  It really will, and what doesn't get done...well, it just doesn't get done. And the world won't come crashing down around me.  It will really be okay. 

Two more days till school is out for Christmas break. 

Then.

No pressure.  No homework.  Just family.  And friends.  And Jesus' birthday.

<insert relaxing sigh here>

It's all good.

 

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

So I promised y'all a non-whiney post this time.  And that is exactly what y'all will be getting.

In this episode, y'all will be getting a blast from my past.  My long ago past...most of which is not appropriate to air here.  I like to say it's "not for public consumption".  No, I have not always been such a well-behaved girl.  I know y'all are shocked and dismayed, but suffice it to say that I used to like to partake, a lot, of the par-tay beverages back in the day, and I did most of that with my friend, Alexis (Kristi would join us on occasion as well).  Not that it was her fault, by any means.  But let's face it, she was the one with the fake ID...and all that crazy confidence. "Y'all gotta be cool, now" she would say.  So, there ya go.  I mean, can we all agree, that most people lose their minds--to some degree--between the ages of 15 and 22??  Most of us are able to locate our brains again around 23 or so, I think.  Fortunately, that theory held true for Alexis and me.

Alexis recently turned 40--much to her great distress--and her mom, who we have always affectionately referred to as "R" (the first letter of her name--not sure she ever loved the fact that that was what we called her, but...), wanted to throw her a surprise birthday shindig.  I was invited and since I hadn't seen or talked to my friend in a loooong time, I thought it would be great fun to go.  And so we did...and, yes, I dragged my poor hubby along. (He had fun too.) 

The party was this past weekend, at the home of Sid and R (Alexis' parents), which is in the same community where Hubby grew up and where his parents still live.  We were late to the party, (Shocker!) so we missed the official "surprise", but I think Alexis was plenty surprised by the whole thing, so I can live with it.  There was food and drink and reminiscing.  R had asked, that in lieu of gifts, guests bring a photo of themselves with Alexis and write down a favorite memory of her or advice for getting older. Isn't that a great idea?? Well, since I am not, in fact, getting older, <don't look at me that way!!> I opted for some "remember when" comments.  And since I was not sure who would be seeing said comments, I kept it clean. 

My favorite part of the evening was later, after everyone else was gone except for:  Hubby and me, Kristi (who had arrived later, after attending a family function), Alexis and her husband Will, Alexis' parents (Sid and R) and Alexis' younger brother and another family friend.  We laughed (a lot) about some of our close calls and poor judgement.  We thanked God for sparing us, and we lamented how we didn't see each other enough.  There really is no excuse, you know.  It's not like I live in Iowa anymore.  And for goodness sake, Kristi and Alexis live in the same county.

It did my heart good to see my old (and I do mean old...muahahahaha...) friend.  Alexis, who has endured some pretty tough challenges in life...even after we had gotten ourselves straightened out!...seems to be truly happy.  She has a sweet husband who adores her.  She has a job she is good at.  People who love her.  I mean, really, what more could you ask for? 

Alexis would probably say, "A mimosa".

At least now we don't need a fake ID to get one.

You know those days that are really really great and then all of a sudden turn really really cruddy?  Yeah, well, that was my day yesterday.  And I am really too tired to elaborate.  Suffice it to say that the great part was visiting with a friend who really cracks me up and who had a sweet little baby girl about a month ago.  So adorable.  I got my baby fix for a bit. 

And on the cruddy side is more of the same old stuff it always is...poor Jacob.  Add that to the fact that the sun hasn't been seen around my town for about 5 days (that right there will make you crazy if you aren't) and I have lots more Christmas shopping to finish, Hubby's birthday is Sunday and I have done nothing to prepare for that.  The house is a mess and we are leaving town this afternoon for the weekend.  Things are just a tad bit chaotic.

I'm feeling a bit whiney...can ya tell?

The saving grace for me is the fact that it is Friday.  Our favorite day of the week.

Next blog will not be whiney.  I promise.

So, long side swept bangs are in.   Ask my 10 year old or any of her HSM3-loving friends.  Last year, she started the short bob trend after getting all her hair cut off for Locks of Love.  Then a few more friends cut their hair.  Well, a year down the road, one of Emma's friends has started the long side bangs trend.  And though Emma is usually not too pressured by her peers to conform when it comes to her appearance (except that time when she was 7 and begging to get her ears pierced because her friend did), she was totally digging the side bangs.  She wasn't begging, but I could just tell.  She was Jonesing for the side bangs.

Friday afternoon, we headed up to a chain salon up by the grocery store.  (It was convenient, okay).  I needed to take Jacob too, because every morning in recent days, he has woken up looking like the Great Horned Owl had visited him in the night, but the week had been a long one and a Friday haircut wasn't happening for my boy...don't know what I was thinking.  Emma and I walked up to the shop, I believe it is called "Famous Hair", and I looked in the big window.  Who did I see but my old friend MAGGIE!  My original Hairmate, who I was LOVING a few months ago, who then "moved on".  When they "move on", the salon they have left will not tell you where they have moved TO.  And then, there you are.  Lost.  Without your hairmate. What a sight for sore eyes!  I walked in there and hugged her neck!  I said, "where have you been girl??!"  THIS time, I have gotten her personal real live cell phone number, so if she gets a wild hair and moves on again, I can track her down!  SCORE!After that, Maggie cut Emma's hair and it looks ADORABLE.  I am so happy to have found my Maggie again. 

Friday night, we went over to my friend Torri's house--my sweet friend Torri who has just been a ray of sunshine to me since we moved here.  We had such a blast!  Going to have a dinner/game night with friends is not something we ever do and it was a really great time.  Clyn had fun too and best of all, Jacob had a wonderful time!  I was amazed. Good times.  

Hope we can do it again soon.

*Here is the part in the blog where I give a SHOUT OUT to my young friend Allie, Torri's beautiful daughter, who reads the blog.  HOLLAAAA!* 

Jacob did get his haircut yesterday (finally!  So then I could do the annual Christmas card photo shoot) and we got our Christmas tree.  We are real tree people.  Every year, I have twinges of thinking...this is the year we go artificial.  But then the family gets all testy.  And we get a real tree and it smells so great and I absolutely love it.  That is, until January when I have to drag it's fire-hazard-needle-dropping self out of the house.  Then I hate it.  But for now I love it and it is beautiful and as the Peanuts Gang would sing, "Christmastime is here."

 

 

"Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users?” ~Clifford Stoll

 

For a while, I have thought that I had enough to maintain in the cyberworld--between the blog, myspace and cafemom.  But apparently, I've been hanging out at myspace for no reason.  It seems that everyone is at facebook.  Who knew?? 

Here's the thing--you can't just view someone's page at facebook.  You have to sign up for facebook and be the person's friend to view their page.  I appreciate the security of it and all, but now I've been sucked in.  After 5 of those "come over and view my facebook profile" email messages, I caved. 

I admit it. 

I had resisted for a long time.  But now, I have done it.  And now, not only have I been sucked in, but I'm afraid I'll be in need of some sort of 12 step program for facebook addicts.  Holy cow.  Everyone and his cousin is on facebook.  I even found people I went to summer camp with back in, oh, probably, 1983.  My nephew calls it "stalkbook".  After I confessed my impending addiction to him, he suggested I might call it "crackbook"...I think I'm going with that.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed our time with our family.  It was way too brief.  My daughter says to me, "Mom, why can't Victoria (her 'same age' cousin) live closer to us?"  It makes family time somewhat bittersweet because you realize how little time you get to spend with your people.  On the other hand, it makes it great, because not everyone looks forward to spending time with their family like we do.  We are truly blessed. 

But hey, if I can't seem them in person, I guess I can settle for seeing them on facebook. 

OH MY GOODNESS!  I almost forgot to wish myself a Happy Blog-iversary!  It's been two years now, which is pretty amazing because I usually can't keep anything going longer than a week.  Go me.