Well, another Christmas is over now. I don't really enjoy the next few months in general. The month of November you have Thanksgiving to look foward to and you still have some fall color and December you have all the parties and get togethers and Christmas festivities and then after New Year's Eve, you are kind of slapped in the face with the reality of winter. No leaves, just gray and cold. The fact that it gets dark so early is another bummer.

I trudge thru January, February, and March and then about April there is a glimmer of hope. Usually we will get some warm days and you know the end is near. I am an outdoors type person and so are my kids, so we don't really do well with soggy, cold winter days.

But enough complaining about cold weather.... We had a great Christmas. I like all the traditions that go with Christmas. I had fun reading the "baby Jesus story" to the Banimal. It was more fun this year because he can communicate better and can understand the story. I also had fun making and eating tons of cookies with him. And I can't leave out watching all those old clay mation Rudolph movies.

This year was also the first year the Banimal has been able to understand Santa. I have debated about doing the santa thing, but I am glad I did. When he saw the crumbs on the plate and the half empty milk glass his mouth hit the floor. He didn't even notice the presents.

I was also so pleased with how he handled it all. My Christmas present was seeing him be so appreciative of everything he got and saying 'Thank you' without being prompted. As a mom, those moments are what I enjoy most. About two weeks ago he blurted out the blessing we say before meals on his own. I was surprised and pleased. Now he insists on saying it. And of course, I just radiate when he does.

Little Pteradactyl boy had no clue about any of it. He is so laid back anyway. He never blinked an eye at any of the presents or the lights. He was fascinated with ornaments. He is only 8 mos. Next year he'll be able to get into it all more.

I have had bronchitis and my father in law had a stroke on Christmas day (but is doing well). So I have been neglecting my blogger duties. But I am planning to start back full steam New Year's Day. I have missed keeping up with all my blogging buddies. I have noticed that I wasn't the only one who got scarce during the holidays.

I hope everyone has a great New Year!!!!!!

Thinking back on past Christmases

I was thinking about the Banimal getting a bike this Christmas and it made me think about a Christmas when I was a kid. I was probably in the 2nd grade, maybe 3rd and all I wanted for Christmas was a blue and white BMX bike, just like all the boys in my neighborhood had. It had orange writing on it and knobby tires. I just thought I couldn't live without it. And sure enough, Christmas morning there it was under the tree. ( I was so scared that my mom might buy me a pink 10 speed, because she thought it was more appropriate.)

I also remember that we had bad weather that year on Christmas. Not snow, but sleety, slushy, icey precip. But Christmas morning I bundled up and went outside and rode my bike.

I think I enjoyed that bike better than anything I ever got. I could ride with all the boys and jump dirt piles just like they did. I fit right in. I don't know how many miles I put on that bike.

Hopefully, since the Banimal is not quite 3 and his little bike has training wheels, he won't be jumping any dirt piles or ramps when he gets it this year. Thinking about stuff like that makes me anxious for the future. I can't wait to see my boys get big and see them doing things that I did when I was a kid..... wait a minute.... after giving this some careful consideration and recalling some of the things I did as a kid....maybe I'll just savor these moments while they are little.

The cat is out of the bag now.

We have asked the Banimal several times over the last few months what he wants for Christmas only to have him say, 'nothing' in response. I am convinced that he has some faulty wiring. God forgot to connect the toy-wanting wires. But anyway, we decided to get him a little 12 inch bicycle. So to pump him up every time we went to Wally World we would take him back and let him sit on it. So now he is pretty excited about the prospect.

Well, today I had the kids in the minivan headed to the grocery store and who should pull up next to us at the redlight.....why, it was Mr. Clean in his red dump truck. The Banimal was all excited. He was yelling and waving at his dad. And then he got quiet for a minute and then he screamed, "MOM LOOK LOOK LLLLLLOOOOOOKKKKKKK!!!!! There is my bicycle!!!!!" And sure enough sitting on the seat next to Mr. Clean was the bicycle.

I have tried to convince him that Mr. Clean was taking it to some poor, under priviledged child, but he is having no part of it. He just looks at me and smiles and says that he knows that its for him. He is way to smart for his on good. He is not even 3 yet. I should be able to make up a lame lie and have him believe it. But no...

So, I guess Santa made his stop at our house a little early this year. (He still doesn't get to ride it until Christmas... I am such a meanie.)

Well, I didn't make good on my promise. I have been a terrible blogger for another week. I have had little to no free time here lately and I just have not felt that inspired.

But here we go anyhow....

I met a girl a couple of weeks ago who was pregnant with her third baby and was having problems that caused her to not be able to work. Times were hard for her and her husband and she was worried that she wasn't going to be able to do anything for her kids for Christmas. After I talked to her I couldn't get her off my mind. But it was kind of depressing because I felt pretty helpless. Being a stay at home mom myself we keep a tight budget and don't do big Christmas ourselves. But I just kept thinking about her and her kids.

Well, I mentioned it to few people and I guess I mentioned it to the right ones. Actually, I really do believe that it was just a God thing. He planted a seed in my heart and I in turn planted a few. But long story short.... Some people got involved and they brought in food and presents for the kids and some cash for them.

The girl called my mother in law in tears ( My mil was who introduced us). She couldn't believe that strangers were so generous to her and her family. It just made me feel so good. She didn't have any idea who got the whole thing rolling. It felt so good to be a secret Santa's helper.

I think it was a good lesson for me. Sometimes I am hesitant to get involved because I think I won't be able to do what needs to be done. But I think it helped me to realize that just because I can't contribute financially like I want does not mean that I can't contribute in some meaningful way.

So I guess the moral is I need to get up off my apathetic bow-hunkus (My grandpa's word for butt) and do something more often.

I'm back...

I have been a bad blogger for the last week. I have been reading alot and doing my usual duties (mom, maid, etc..). I am addicting to civil war novels. I read the Truest Pleasure a long time ago. It is not really a civil war novel. It is mainly after the war, it got me interested in North Carolina fiction. Alot of the NC fiction books take place during the Civil War or shortly there after.

My absolute favorites are Truest Pleasure and Cold Mountain. I could read those over and over again. This weekend I broke down after much deliberation and rented the movie Cold Mountain from the library. I wish that I had not. I hated it. I think on the movie they should say 'Very Loosely based on the book by Charles Frazier' instead.

I thought Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger were ill suited for their parts and their accents were terrible. I was just so dissappointed. I know that the movie never usually lives up to the book, but I just didn't expect that much of a letdown.

The characters in the book were so real and interesting. It seemed like the movie's characters were just flat, little shells. yuck. yuck. yuck.

Well, enough moaning about Cold Mountain.

I am going to try to put my book down this week long enough to blog some. So I promise to try to be a better blogger. I have so many fave blogs that I like to read it will take me a week to get caught back up.

Christmas parade

Well, I had the pleasure of attending two Christmas parades this weekend. A town about 10 miles away had one yesterday and the little town that we live in had theirs today. Our little town is much smaller, but I thought our parade was much better.

We kind of have a little bet that goes on each year. My friends and I try to guess how many 4-wheelers will be in the parade ever year. All you win is bragging rites, but its still fun. This year was a dissappointment though. There were only a couple.

But just as always there was a ton of candy. Its like Halloween backwards. You don't have to dress up and go door to door. You just stand on the sidewalk while people who are dressed up throw candy toward you. (or in the case of the little smart aleck boys...throw candy at you at high rates of speed. Every year there are always one or two little mischievious boys hurling candy at unsuspecting onlookers.)

I think Santa had given into the whole Atkin's or South Beach diet craze, because he was noticeably thinner. He was teetering on the edge of what my grandmother would call "poor".

I have decided that kids today definately have too much candy. I watched little boys and girls run out to pick up candy and look at it and decide it was not what they wanted and throw it back down on the ground. I couldn't believe it. When we were kids we would race out for any little piece on the ground. We'd risk life and limb by running out in front of the next float just to save a piece from getting run over. I was also surprised at all the candy wrappers on the ground afterward too. My parents would have smacked me upside my head if they had caught me throwing down candy wrappers.

Not parade related, but funny none the less..... I was in Kmart yesterday with the Banimal and we rounded a corner only to be met with a mounted deer head singing 'Sweet Home Alabama.' You know the whole world has gone mad. If that is not enough to entice you, BUCK (he has a name ), also sings "On the road again." The kicker is the price tag. You can have this redneck singing deer head for the low, low price of $119. I would love to know how many of those are bought this season.

Happy Birthday, Mr Clean

Happy Birthday, Mr. Clean!!!! 


This is my wonderful hubby, Mr Clean, and the barn on our 'farm'. (We just have fields, no animals.) But we have always called it the farm.

Mr. Clean and I used to sit at the barn when we were dating and talk about what our future would be like. We wanted to be together and have a couple or more kids and to live near the barn and the fields. Not long after we to married a house and some property that was next to the fields came up for sale and we bought it. So now we live at the farm.

Its a wonderful feeling to be living a life that you have dreamed of. We have what we wanted from the start.... each other, a couple of kids, and the farm.

Mr. Clean is edging ever so closely to the BIG 50. But fortunate for him, men don't get old, they just get more distinguished. HEEHEEE!!!! You just keep telling yourself that.