Warm and fuzzy

You know what's nice about having my very own computer? The desktop wallpaper. When I turned on my computer this morning I got to stare at this:

What a way to start my day.

This morning I'm snuggling in my bed with my lap top. Maddie spent the night with mam so I don't have any real reason to get out of bed yet. Dylan is awake because I heard him banging around in his man cave. He did emerge long enough to play Jenga with me and Joel. We both beat him. That's a blow to the ole' ego. Not that it makes a dent. I do have to get up eventually because I didn't bring my power cord with me and the battery doesn't last forever....damn. Plus we have plans for lunch today and I'm excited about that. I guess that means a shower is in my immediate future.

It's almost New Years. I've been thinking about New Years resolutions. I always make them and never keep them. I make sarcastic ones and I don't keep those either. You wanna know why? Because I hate change. So there.

I am excited to spend New Years with my BFF again. I can't think of a better way to ring in a brand new year.

So, I just typed out a really boring blog, just because I don't want to get out of my warm, comfortable bed. Also, I'm watching VH1 Classic Totally 80s and I'm enjoying all the old videos that I haven't seen in like 20 years. Some of them are quite awkward and creepy.

Merry Christmas

Well, Christmas is over. Hard to believe. This whole entire year has gone by so fast I can't quite wrap my head around it.

Christmas was a success. The kids all seemed very pleased. Dylan got a dart board for his room, a bunch of new games, an IPOD, etc. Maddie got two American Girl dolls. They aren't "actually" American Girl dolls because those cost a FORTUNE, but they're knock offs and she doesn't know the difference and she loves them. She got a bunch of other cool stuff, but the dolls are definitely her favorite. Oh yea, and the Spongebob Snuggie.

Dylan has been holed up in his room for hours playing his video games. He comes down for food only. I told Joel if he keeps this up then one day he'll come down and we won't recognize him - he'll be 6 inches taller with a beard.

I was pleasantly suprised for Christmas. Joel and I don't normally buy things for each other. I did buy him new slippers and a new set of sweats, but he definitely needed those things. He bought me a laptop. I didn't even know what to say. It's all mine, not the family's. Nobody is allowed to touch it but me. I get to work on it. I get to play on it. I get to hug it. Okay, only sometimes do I hug it. Today is the first day I get to work on it. It took me a few hours and a little frustration, but I finally got it set up for the wireless and I got my work program installed. The work program was tricky because my laptop has Windows 7 and the program isn't compatible with Windows 7 yet. I had to do some research, but there are little tricks and loopholes you can utilize to help make it work. Today is my first day working on my laptop. I can't wait. I can work in bed. I can work on the couch with my feet up. I can work outside (not today, it's raining). I can work when we go on vacation! Not that I will, but you never know, right? I'm most excited for summertime when the sun is shining and I'm usually stuck inside at my desk. Not anymore!!!! Another nice thing is that when my dad has his surgery, I can come over to his house and work and keep an eye on him. My husband rocks. You should be jealous.

Anyway, Christmas was great, but now we're glad it's over. By we I mean me, of course. The kids wish Christmas was everyday, which would get boring, but they don't understand that.

Now we look forward to New Years and everything that 2011 brings us.

Maddie and The Santa Story

Over the last two weeks we've had a developing story in our house. Maddie is a firm believer in Santa Claus. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I love her enthusiasm.

Here's the first part of the story. The kids and I were at Wal Mart, or as I like to call it during the Holidays - The Tenth Circle of Hell; Maddie was being a teensy bit of a pain, which is nothing new for a trip to Hell, but annoying nonetheless. Dylan rigged his phone up to look and sound like a text message came from Santa (that boy is so clever, I would never have thought of that) and it said to remind his sister to behave in the store and have a Merry Christmas. With her stanch Santa beliefs, I thought for sure we were going to have a tiny little angel on our hands. She burst into tears and cried and cried and cried. She was "scared." Holy Backfire Batman.

So Dylan, being the nice big brother that he is, started a little "text message conversation" with Santa, who proceeded to thank Maddie for being good and asking what she wanted for Christmas. She wanted to ask Santa to fill her mom and dad's stockings because she knows that he doesn't anymore. He told her he was too busy, but that she could do it for him.

A few hours later we were having pizza at Central Market and who should walk by.....SANTA. Her eyes were as big as saucers. She thought for sure he was following us.

The next day she told me I needed to take her to the store so she could buy stuff to put in our stockings. I said no. She cried again because Santa told her to do it and I won't let her. Sigh. Curse you Dylan.

Fast forward to last night. The kids went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Mall. Dylan has put his foot down about sitting on Santa's lap and Maddie, who does anything Dylan does, refuses as well. Santa was at the mall and at the last second, she insisted on sitting on his lap. No pictures. Just a chat. Grandpa said she sat there and chatted with him for about 5 minutes. I asked her what she talked about and she said she was testing him to see if he was the real one or if he talked to the real one. When I asked her how she did that she said "I was asking him things we asked Santa on the text and he was not answering the same, so he was totally fake."

Fast forward to this morning. She was sitting very thoughtful-like when she suddenly says "Mom, do you think Dylan is lying about texting Santa?"

Not wanting to be a snitch or a liar I said "What do you think?"

She said "of course he isn't lying, Dylan never lies."

A Maddie-ism!! or two

It's been awhile since I've had a few of these on the blog, but she stayed home from school yesterday and other than drive me BAT CRAZY, she was funny at times. In her own little way.

She was watching TV and came in and said: "Mom, have you ever heard of a show called The Jasons?" I said no and came to make sure she wasn't watching porn or something. It was The Jetsons. So I told her what it was called and that I loved that show. She said "Oh, I guess I just produced it wrong." I said "You mean pronounced." She said "that too."

In staying home sick yesterday, she missed a field trip. Missing the field trip was actually the point of missing school because they were going to be outside for a bit and it was cold and she's sick, so I kept her home. Maddie has a serious love/hate relationship with her teacher. Some days she loves her, some days she hates her. Her teacher pushes her to do her best and that's not what Maddie wants. Anyway, the teacher called concerned that Maddie would be missing the field trip. I explained the situation and the teacher suggested I drive Maddie there so she wouldn't have to walk and then drive her home, just so she wouldn't have to miss the field trip. I declined, but I thought that was nice. When I told Maddie that she said "She hates me, she just did that so that you would think that she doesn't hate me."

Um...okay.

'Tis the Season....

Christmas snuck up on me. Like, big time. December is always the busiest month of the year for us. Well, for anyone really. I am a really Bah Humbug girl. Really, I would love to be one of those people who is always prepared for Christmas and not shopping for presents the week before Christmas and buying just a bunch of crap that they don't even really want simply because I have to buy SOMETHING. Argh. One day I might be that girl. When I have grandkids. Or great grandkids.

The statement "'tis the season" confuses me. It's an incomplete sentence and you know how I love that. I correct grammar for a living. I am a walking, talking human spell checker/grammar monitor. I annoy people (Lezli). Speaking of which, my blogger spell checker is telling me that "snuck" is not a word. I just thought it was a liar, until I did some research. I found this debate about the words. I still chose to use snuck, because by saying "Christmas sneaked up on me" I sound like a hick. Warning: Unless reading articles debating verb tenses is enthralling to you, reading the entire article may cause a migraine. Just a hunch though. But hey, you learn something new everyday.

Back on topic: In light of my confusion about the statement, I decided to finish the sentence my own "Karla" way.

'Tis the season to park too close to me. For REAL. What the crap, people? Eleven months of the year, people park like grown ups. Then December comes and cars are all over the flipping parking lot like matchbox cars in a 4-year-old's bedroom.

'Tis the season to have so much to do that 24 hours is not enough time in the day. I start thinking about ways I can incorporate supposed sleeping hours into productive hours. This next weekend I have so much going on that I may explode. Pieces of me will be everywhere. At least I will be able to be everywhere at once, correct?

'Tis the season to irritate the CRAP out of me. We have two different sorts of people at the store. We have the overly-cheerful-Christmas-loving-freakazoid who can't wipe the grin off their face and has to WHISTLE Christmas carols as they shop for toilet paper and garbage bags (yes, I saw/heard that person). Then we have the cranks, who bump their carts into you, don't apologize, and then glare at you as if you were annoying person number one. Then there is me, who cowers in fear in the corner of Wal-Mart, praying for Christmas to end soon. Sometimes I run into people there and I help wipe their tears.

'Tis the season to struggle to find things to buy people for Christmas. New Rule: If I can't find something that you will really want, and not something I think you want - you lose out. Yea, like that would happen. How about, we each go shopping for ourselves, buy what we REALLY want, and be done. Merry Christmas to ALL.

'Tis the season to be sick. Did you know that for the last 3 Decembers Maddie has been sick. Guess what? It's December. She's sick. I do feel fortunate as this is the first time all school year that she has been sick, but it doesn't make it easier. Basketball started last week. We have something like 6 parties in the next two weeks. She going to have so much vitamin C in her she'll be orange. 'Tis the season to be an oompa lumpa.

I hope my Bah Humbug mood doesn't bring you down. But honestly, you can't say that sneaked up on you. You expected it, you know you did.