Holiday ketchup.

Ok......I know this looks like an expose of me but honestly.......there were NO good pictures of Avery and Joe forbid me from posting pictures of him. So, you're stuck with me, my daughter and my Dad. Oh well.

So much to tell since I last posted.

X-mas went fine. I stayed up late to plant the socks while everyone slept. I got about 3 hours sleep, I guess I was abit jumpy. We woke around 6am and I went into Syd's room around 7. Once everyone emptied their stockings, we hit the tree. It only took about 40 minutes to open everything (I slowed the process by insisting that we read who it was from and took a picture of subject and gift) Overall it was a success and a good time was had by all.

After X-mas we just basically hung out and ate huge amounts of food. Nummy.

Joe bought his first Harley, which I mentioned before. We had our first ride together, to Starbucks, HA! It was fun. I started wishing for my own bike and so today I graduated from Biker Safety Class and can officially ride my own bike when I get one. I'm pushing for a disposable bike first so I can wreck it without consequences. In the Spring I can get a better one, by then I'll be a pro. HA!

Anyway, Dad will be leaving tomorrow. We'll miss him. It's been nice having another person (over the age of 11) in the house. I like having him here, I wish he would come more often.

So thats it for now. I'm not planning any more excitement for this year. I'll wake up Syd for the New Years ball dropping in Times Square (she wont remember it). Other than that we'll be getting back to normal and looking forward to school starting again in Jan.

PS. I sent my Mom a new phone for X-mas ( a complicated 2 station cordless phone) and she balked at it (repeatedly) when she got it. New technology scares the crap out of her. Luckily she has made a male friend (NOT a boyfriend she states......uh.....ok) and he helped her decipher the instuctions setting it up. I was hopeful, my husband believed it wouldnt leave the box. I called her today and YES she had her "friend" help her hook it up. Now she can be in her workshop AND have a phone on hand......instead of sprinting upstairs to try and catch the last ring. She even discovered that it has a speaker function so she doesnt have to hold it under her chin (cutting people off continuously) My mission is accomplished. HA!

Alright yall, time for me to go relax. Hope your holiday was sweet! Tata.

Harley-mania

Joe's first Harley. He's so happy he could burst. Merriest X-mas ever.

Sydney got into the Chorus in the school play. She's alittle dissappointed but at least she got in.

I havent felt like writing lately, sorry. I promise to try harder. Tata.

X-mas bitchin.

It's my vacation right? Then why am I busier now than I was during school? My youngest is auditioning for her first real play and we've had to scramble to learn a new song. UGH! Listening to Good morning Baltimore 5 billionty times........not my idea of pleasant. So I think she has it and this morning in the car we practice more.......she forgets a verse.....completely. GAH! She panics and its like the world is ending. I'd like my vacation NOW please.

My Dad is arriving either today or tomorrow, not sure which. He enjoys showing up unannounced, usually when I'm scurrying through the house in my knickers or just ran out to get some milk. I just finished making the crockpot full O meatballs for Joe to take to work for his potluck. (made Lemon Burps last night (theyre my oh so lemony cookies that make you burp all lemony and such) with Syd's help) After putting kids on bus I realized I hadnt checked the mail and lo and behold, FULL of X-mas cards that need to be replied to before the actual holiday. BAH!

Do I seem bitchy? Sorry. Maybe I feel like everything always gets dumped on me. And it does I guess. I'd just like a few days of nothingness, is that too much to ask? Anyway, gotta go, much to do. Tata.

What a rush!

Well yall, I did it. I managed to stagger through my finals without dying of exhaustion. I wrote my last one on Wednesday, which was Nutrition, and she posted the grades a few hours later. I got an A. Shit, I got a 91 on the final which surprised the crap outta me. The rest of the classes were B's, ah well, I guess I cant be perfect ALL the time. I'm just so relieved to be DONE. So today I did absolutely nothing.......and it was goooooood. I start school again on Jan. 14th but its only one class so its almost like not going at all! HA!

Giftmas shopping is going slowly. I wander aimlessly through stores, not committing to buying anything, picking things up, putting them down, wandering some more, giving up....etc. I hate to be a Grinch but this holiday irritates me. I'm forced into celebrating it though because I have 1 child under the age of 18 who everyone thinks will be permanently scarred if we dont. I dont want to start a rant here, I'm too tired to type that much. Lets just say I'm not a fan.

We paid off our truck. The day we paid the balance, it broke down and we ended up paying 600 bucks to get it fixed. Is that irony? Ha.

Joe and I are doing well. We still have "moments" but who doesnt.? He's gone insane and bought me a ton of stuff, I eyeballed a few of the big ones under the tree. In the past we didnt do too much gift exchanging. I feel pressure to buy him a bunch of stuff now. Did I mention how much I detest forced consumerism? Oh, I did? Sorry.

Anyway, thats it for now. My Dad will be arriving around the 17th and he hates X-mas as much as me. Ha! I dont care, I'm just glad he's coming. So, I'll attempted to post more since I dont have the excuse of school for awhile. Tata!

Catchup

Well, here it is, the Saturday before exams and I'm.....not studying. I swear I'm building up to it, it's only 8 am. Anyway, as you can see we got the tree up and this year Joe wanted to decorate it all in his moms old x-mas decorations. Every year she had like 5 trees in her house and did them all in Victorian ornaments. It looks nice.

Syd had her Winter Program last week and sang with the choir. For all the practicing they did they only sang for 30 minutes and it was over. I dont think Syd wants to continue with choir next year, she says its getting boring.

So this year we adopted a family for X-mas. A boy, 15, and a girl, 7. Instead of giving small token gifts to friends and family this year we opted to take that money and buy things for our adopted kids in their names. We ended up with $100 and last night the kids and I picked out the clothes pictured above. It doesnt look like much huh? $100 doesnt go very far I'm afraid. It made us feel good to be able to do something for kids that have nothing.

Ok, so I need to get to work. We have another Winter Program this afternoon at the courthouse at 2 pm. Ugh. Its VERY cold out today and I'm not looking forward to standing outside for an hour. I'll take pictures. Tata.

Bad deja vu......

Once again the pictures WERE in order when I loaded them, and now they are NOT! Annnnnyway.....

We went to DC again this weekend. All I can say is....bad planning. Joe booked a hotel BEFORE he checked the weather report. He also had no clue where the actual hotel was in relation to everything. We got a late start on Saturday and ended up not even getting to the hotel until 4 pm. It was a mess. OKay so Sat was a bust, we still had Sunday right.?!

We were up early on Sunday and I knew nothing opened until 10 am. It was raining and miserable out. Needless to say, no one had a good time and there was much snapping and whining. The only thing we got to was the Air and Space Museum. Now, for me, this is equivilant to the Watching Paint Dry Museum but I perservered. Actually I was just happy to be inside where it was dry and warm, there was a bathroom and a place to eat. We stayed there until about 2 pm. Joe estimated that we would be home in time for dinner, I estimated we might get home by 9 pm. He said I was crazy. We pulled in at 8:45 pm last night. Hate to say I told you so........

Bottom picture: the lobby of our hotel....very posh!

Picture 2 left(going up):Sydney sitting on the sundial.

Picture 3 right: view from our room on the 14th floor.

Picture 4: Chinatown, Saturday night.

Picture 5 right: Guy in chinatown making noodles.

Picture 6: recurrant graffiti of a little man painted on the roads and buildings. Very cute!

Picture 7 left: Air and Space museum

Picture 8 right: Avery at the museum

Picture 9 right: Us at the 3-D Imax called 3-D Sun. It was so good that I fell asleep.

Picture 10: Getting ready to left the museum and walk the 4 blocks in the rain to the Metro station. Fun.

We agreed that I will be planning the next getaway we go on so that we have a good time. Hehe. I'm thinking Massenutten for a weekend, at least then we can be physical. Snow tubing is so FUN!

Anyway, thats it for now. Tata!