Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bring on 2011!

The year started bad, was awful most of the way through, and ended bad. I can't recall ever feeling so relieved that a year was over. I have dubbed it the 'year from hell.'

Things can only get better right? (I suppose they could get worse, but we're thinking positively here.)

"They" say the economy is finally starting to improve, so hopefully some of that will trickle our way so that at the very least we keep our heads above water.

I don't have any real resolutions as the new year looms. Mostly to get back to eating better, cut back on the sugar and the carbs and eat more protein. And exercise. I need to start walking again, but when it gets too nippy around here--I hate being cold--then my motivation to do that drops to zero. I'll have to start up with our Wii again. There's an aerobics section--I can plug my ear buds in and listen to my music and do a little step aerobics. There's also some Yoga moves in there. I do some of those for stretching and conditioning purposes.

Of course, the biggest question is: when? When can I carve out 10 to 15 to 20 minutes to do this? Early morning does not appeal to me at all, though I do get up early every day. But that's my quiet writing time. By the end of the day, I'm ready to relax. So I guess that means lunch time...we'll see if I can arrange that.

So here's to a better, healthier, more prosperous new year for us all.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

It's Christmas, Charlie Brown

Yes, I have completed my annual watching of this classic Christmas cartoon. Although I have done none of my other traditional activities such as the Redneck Gingerbread House (this from '05):

(That's GI Snow on the left there--our minuscule attempt at honoring the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.)

Shopping is 99% complete--with 1.5 days to spare. Wrapping is in progress. Plans are set.

Whew!

All that's really left is to drive down Friday afternoon with presents, stuffed stockings and stinky dogs smushed into our Scion xB. Hmmm...

We'll be spending Christmas eve at my mother-in-law's house (about 12 m. east of the fireworks store) and then spending Christmas day at the store (a new tradition in the making).

Merry Christmas to all...

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Down to the wire...

Only three days until Christmas and I am not done shopping. This is unusual for me as by this point, I am done shopping and spend the last few days off my feet, wrapping and watching/re-watching favorite movies and TV shows. All gifts, save the annual ornament, have been purchased for one DD; hubby is about halfway done and I know what I want to buy for the other half; Marching Band Boy has two things so far. His big gift is a cell phone, but until I buy that, I don't know how much I have left for the rest of his miscellaneous gifts. (Each person is assigned a $$ value; the kids' are higher than hubby's or mine.)

And there are stocking stuffers--not so easy any more. All that's left is candy, which I hate to do. Girls are easier than boys since we always need new hair stuff, makeup or nail care products. Either way, it is easy to spend another couple of hundred dollars putting decent stuff in those suckers. Maybe my sister has the right idea about no stockings. But I guess it's a little late now. :)

Today I will be leaving the office for a couple of hours to try and get hubby's gifts all bought. I may even buy MBB's cell phone. And it's all downhill from there. I think I'm going to end up doing a late night to super WalMart for the rest.

Marry Christmas to all!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A reprieve...

No event this coming Saturday. It was postponed for three weeks. Whew!

So this morning, I went into the local grocery store on my way to work to purchase lunch for hubby and myself. I bought two things and two things only. My receipt is -- no joke -- 16.5 inches long. Maybe if they didn't add all kinds of crap to the receipt I *never* read they wouldn't have to spend so much money on replacement rolls. Or better yet, why don't they (like the gas stations) ask me if I even want my receipt. Most of the time, I'd say no.

On a scale of 1 to 10, one being bad and ten being good, I'd have to rank today a 2. I think.

Hope your day is going better than mine.

Monday, December 13, 2010

No Rest for the Weary/Wicked...

Today is the ninth day on my own. And between all the work at work and the weekend activities, I am exhausted and there's no real rest to be had for some time to come.

This past Saturday was my writing chapter's Christmas party, which was fun. Before and after that I had laundry to do as I had not done it in two weeks and certain family members were starting to feel the hardship. Sunday, I had to work the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

I thought I was going to get some down time as we didn't have to report the stadium until 1:30, but...hubby had gotten up in the wee hours with a rumbly tummy and woke up when I got up and then marching band boy awakened shortly thereafter. No quiet time to write then. They boys took their own sweet time getting the heck out of the house but by that time DD and I needed to make a trip to a store to find a specific item or two for the band director's Christmas gift bag, not to mention a bit of chocolate to put in all the band kids' goody bags. Back to home to assemble goody bags and rest before work. But I'd miscalculated the number of kids and we needed more candy. So DD drove back to the store while I lay on the sofa and watched an episode of Stargate: Atlantis and rested.

Today, DD will be baking 160+ so snicker doodles to go into the goody bags (4 cookies each x 40, plus the band director and extras for the family). They will be handed out tonight after the band concert.

But that means another late-ish night although not as late as last night ( 11:30). I couldn't even get up early this morning to write...I was too exhausted.

December is my least favorite month of the year for myriad reasons. And this year is more crazy than usual when I really need it to be less crazy. At least it only lasts for 31 days. Twelve down, nineteen to go...bah!

Hope your Christmas or Hanukkah preparations are going smoothly. :)

Monday, December 6, 2010

Whew!

Fourteen hours in a car in one day is not fun, but I survived and am now very glad I went on this particular road trip. Usually, I love going to Corpus Christi--the USS Lexington Museum is there and I admit to a little love affair with the ship and the main period of history it represents (WWII). This time, no Lexington. Instead, I visited a drug rehab center.

I admit I didn't want to go. I didn't want to waste my day on a place I didn't want to spend my hard-earned money for something I didn't believe would help my child. Not that the rehab center couldn't do it's job, but I felt/feel as if my daughter does not want to be helped at the moment and I don't want to spend the money if she's not going to put her all into the program and into getting better. I just can't afford for that money to be wasted because she thinks rehab is the lesser of two evils.

But the facility was very nice--they recently moved into a former small hotel and have/are refurbishing it. It's been in business for over 40 years and many of the staff and volunteers are former clients who are paying it forward. While waiting for the gal who was supposed to give us the tour, we actually spoke with one of the workers who had been a client about three years ago. She said she'd lost everything--her family, her job, a place to live. Sounds like my daughter, except she didn't lose her family, she pushed us away. She said for her it took 45 days at the center. And she told us that most people don't want to be there at first and they are either very scared or very angry about it, but after they get a few days into it, they settle down. Anyway, long story short, much of what she said really made a difference to me in feeling that even if DD goes in not wanting to get clean, that there's a good chance she'll get an attitude adjustment and find that it's really not such a bad place and can--if she makes a concerted effort--get better and find a clean, productive life on the other side.

What I don't think she's really accepted yet is that this is probably her last chance. If she messes it up, there's nothing else we can do. She will have made her bed and then she will have to lie in it.

Friday, December 3, 2010

BWAH

It's shaping up to be a not-so-good day. It's just a feeling and I hope I'm wrong because I'm starting to feel a bit stressed.

Today is day three on my own. It hasn't been too bad, to be honest. I answered a fair share of phone calls yesterday and one of our techs was out yesterday so everything fell to the other. The tech is out again today and we have one client who will be especially cranky to hear that. Hubby is going to have to take care of her issue.

On top of answering phones, I've actually worked most of the day the past two days. I've taken stolen moments to do personal things, but with payday (the 1st) there's extra tasks involved and I now that it is just me, I can't afford to put things off or get behind.

I know you might be thinking, "oh, poor baby actually has to work." And I'm not really complaining, I'm just not used to having that many things to remember to do in a day. It'll get easier each day as I develop a new routine and integrate these new tasks.

In addition to that, I have to work Cowboy's Stadium tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to that, but that's okay. It's not that I mind doing it--only that it chews up nine hours of a day and by the end I'm completely exhausted and can hardly do much else.

On Sunday I may have to make a whirlwind trip out of town to check out a drug rehab facility for my oldest DD. A seven hour drive one way. So I may really have no weekend. :(

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Just me...

We let a couple of people go. I mean that technically we fired them. But that just has bad connotations to me. Although for the most part I dislike using euphemisms (most especially 'passed away' in place of 'died'), but I digress...

We just couldn't afford to pay them, so we...let them go. (My jury is still out on that. The wording, not the deed.)

Regardless, I now have to answer the phones. UGH! I hate answering the phones. I no longer have a gate keeper. I have become the gate keeper. nonononono...

I also have to clean the office, but I think I'm going to pay DD to do that. She could use the money.

Oh, and in honor of the month and the season, see new icon. I loves Christmas lights. Don't know why, but I do, and have inadvertently, now vertently (is that a word?), been collecting them.

And, no, vertant or advertant are not real words. Doncha just love the English language? :)