Saturday, December 31, 2005

December Archives

After discussing security issues last night we decided we needed a new URL. So I'm going to try to plug in here the old posts from the previous blogsite.


Friday, December 30, 2005

Happy Anniversary
11 years... wow.We celebrated with a family dinner out for our traditional steak anniversary meal. This year we went to Sweetwater Tavern. Pretty good steak. Nice loud atmosphere so we could almost forget the kids were there too. Of course Ron and I were at opposite ends of the table so we could almost forget each other also! A step up from last year though. Last year was Outback take-out. We did make the kids watch the wedding video for the first time last year. We hadn't seen it in a few years. Looks like we won't be doing it this year though. The tradition was supposed to be a glass of wine with the wedding video followed by a steak dinner (or vice versa). The only part we have managed to stay consistent on is the steak dinner. Ryan asked at dinner what anniversary means. Then he said that means we got married almost on New Years. "Cool" (a direct quote!) And as for the family anniversary celebration - I think we've only had 2 without the kids since Ryan was born. Maybe next year... It just wasn't in the cards for us this year. Our regular babysitter is in Florida and the girls are sick with a cold anyway and we don't want to spread the germs.

Bella told a joke at dinner. I think it may have been her first real joke.
Q: Where do cows like to go best?
A: To the moooo-vies!
She was also all decked out in her new sparkly bead necklace and bracelet, Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa F. I think the jewelry box was the selling point. She loves it! And so does Felisa which results in at least one argument a day.
B: Moooooom - Felisa's touching my jewelry box.
Me: So? She's not hurting it. If you can't share I'll take it away. Is that what you want?
B: No.
And back to the first part - when did my bejeweled, joke-telling daughter get so grown up all of a sudden?

Felisa... What should I say about her? Well, she was eating salad again. I thought she was the only baby in the world who likes salad. Then this summer in Alb. I learned that cousin Philip likes it too. So now I know 2 salad-eating babies. Strange. Good, but strange.

And now for a bit of irony. When we got home from dinner we discovered that Santa Alexis had come by while we were out. Our gift from her? A gift card for Sweetwater Tavern. How funny! Guess we'll just have to go back again some time. My parents are coming next month. Maybe we can sneak in a date night while they get some quality time with the grandkids!And now the kids are playing with the new walkie-talkies from Santa Alexis. Who knew it would be such a learning curve? Press button while talking. Release to listen. They'll get it soon though I'm sure. And in the meantime I think I'm going to go to bed early and get started on my other gift from Santa A. A book. Wow - when was the last time I read a book for fun? Most of my limited reading these days revolves around natural/organic stuff and parenting stuff. And of course reading with the kids. I like "teenager books" as Ryan likes to call his chapter books. And I like to watch Disney Channel movies. Guess I'm just a kid inside.Okay - enough secret revelations! Time to help Felisa find some pajama pants and get changed for bed.
posted by She-Ra @ 6:58 PM 0 comments

Magical Magic Tree House
Yowsers! I hit the Magic Tree House jackpot! Ryan started reading this series a couple months ago and we're both hooked. These stories are great and not too long or hard for Ryan to read on his own. I bought him #1-8 for Christmas. This morning I picked up a bag of books from a freecycler and there are 9 more! Yippee! Yahoo!I love that Ryan can read now. It keeps him busy not watching TV and entertains him in the car. We visit the library every couple of weeks. Bella's library behavior is great now but we're still working on Felisa. She just loves to run through the stacks and pull books off the shelf. She doesn't want to be in the Ergo now that she's a big girl and I can't keep my eyes on her while helping Ryan and Bella at the same time. Hopefully she'll be better soon! Needless to say, I've been scheduling evening library visits so Felisa can have quality Daddy time at home instead. Makes for a much more enjoyable library visit for Ryan, Bella, and I!And freecycle... Have you heard of this? I discovered it over the summer and I love it! Basically it is an email list (a separate one for each area so there are probably thousands of lists nationwide) where people offer things for free that they are getting rid of. The founding idea was to keep things out of landfills. Just go here http://www.freecycle.org/ to learn more about it and find your local group.

posted by She-Ra @ 10:11 AM 0 comments


Thursday, December 29, 2005

Reflections on "Ramblings"
During Felisa's nap today I decided to continue my scrapbook organization I started yesterday. I'm so far behind on my pictures it's not even funny. I have been working on 2002 for the last few months (whenever an opportunity arises which isn't all that often!) and am almost done through March. At this rate I'll never catch up! But, I digress... While organizing I decided to go back and print out the next few issues of my newsletter (like the catchy title, "R%##% Ramblings"?) from 2002. While I was at it I decided to go ahead and see how many others I could find. There were 3-4 letters from 2003 and 2004 (and none from 2005 but that's another story!). Wow - good thing I sent those letters out. Memories there I had forgotten about and good time references (such as who visited when, etc.) So there's my motivation to keep this blog going because it is now my new memory receptacle until I can get caught up. And perhaps it will even be entertaining to some in the process. Of course these random glimpses into my thought process could be more scary than entertaining. At least that's what Ron would say!Well, better go check on the girls and see about dinner.
posted by She-Ra @ 3:05 PM 0 comments


Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Another day, another ???
So here it is - the end of another long day. Today was a long day of doing nothing in particular. We hung around the house this morning(our playdate was cancelled) then headed over to the condo to wait for the mattress delivery. I contemplated a stop at Target first to exchange a few gifts but just didn't have the energy to deal with a long line. So, a run through the Chik-Fil-A drive-thru then off to the condo. No free spaces - all are numbered and therefore have official owners - but I decide to risk it and take an open spot. Didn't get towed today though I read about it in the condo association newsletter after I got upstairs so maybe next time I'll park outside on the street! We have lunch then proceed to sit around (I finished a book I had left there - such a luxury - albeit with a little help from Felisa) while the kids play and watch movies. The delivery was scheduled for the 12-3 window so I'm sure you can guess when they arrived - 3:30. Once the mattresses were there I made up the bed then loaded everyone up to come back home. Felisa's cold seems to be making a comeback so she has been cranky and a bit feverish all day. I called Ron and he agreed to pick up dinner on the way home since the girls would be sleeping awhile (therefore excluding any options to eat at the restaurant). Of course Felisa didn't follow the plan and woke up when we got back to our street. A few extra turns around the block yielded no more sleep so home we went. An hour or so spent washing diapers and carrying around Ms Cranky, taking time out for dinner and a check of my email. 7 pm and I am so ready to go to bed... I tell Felisa to wait while I put away the leftovers then I will take her to bed. Not the least bit interested in waiting, off she goes crying to Daddy (who has already taken his shot of Nyquil and so is not long for this world). By the time I get upstairs, she is asleep. Which is good. Except that now I have to wait for Bella to get home from Grandma D's. I read to Ryan then once Bella arrives we play with their new puppets and puppet theater (Christmas gifts from G&G D and G&G R). Until I just can't take it anymore. 8:00 and time for bed! Now a dilemma for me, which you may have seen mentioned in my last post, to work or to sleep?!? I'm not sleepy. I am tired. I do have to get up at 6 to go run. I probably won't sleep well tonight since Felisa is sick. BUT - Felisa is sleeping so I have the opportunity. Just no motivation as usual. I can usually convince myself that tomorrow will be better and more will get done. I don't know why I haven't figured out yet that it just isn't true. Tomorrow is rarely better and nothing more ever gets done. And so at 8:20ish I sign off and head upstairs to look at my new scrapbooking mags that came in the mail today. Perhaps that will give me motivation for tomorrow evening... Without hope, what do we have?
posted by She-Ra @ 8:09 PM 0 comments


Monday, December 26, 2005

Yahoo! TV Fixed!
Yea! I finally got my new DirecTV receiver in my office corner. This awesome undercounter TV/CD/Radio was my Mother's Day present. Makes the decision of "Should I work or should I watch TV?" much easier now that I can do both. Of course the decision of "Should I work or should I go to sleep?" is a little tougher. Maybe having the TV back will help motivate me to work. The receiver I had before died so I've been without since the summer. Do you think the TV will make me more productive so I don't have the last minute Christmas crisis next year? One can only hope. :)
posted by She-Ra @ 3:27 PM 0 comments

Let's get started
I have decided that I need an easy way to record what's going on around here a little more frequently. A place to share or just a place to find my memory when I lose it... And so I join the blog trend.
posted by She-Ra @ 2:18 PM 0 comments