What's Your Inner Flower?

Got this from Courtney's blog...

what's your inner flower?

Word for the Week

Ever had a new word just tickle your funny bone? Here's one that struck me recently off a friend's blog:

KAFUFFLE means:

Main Entry: com·mo·tion Pronunciation: k&-'mO-sh&nFunction: nounEtymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin commotion-, commotio, from commovEre1 : a condition of civil unrest or insurrection2 : steady or recurrent motion3 : mental excitement or confusion4 a : an agitated disturbance : TO-DO b : noisy confusion : AGITATION

Christmas

Duncan awoke at 5:56 a.m., and just as directed, came and woke us up first (UGH). After unsuccessfully suggesting he go back to sleep for a little bit (ha), we sent him to wake Connor and come back to our room. I went downstairs and got the camera turned on, and then both kids EXPLODED down the hall to the living room.

Duncan truly made my Christmas, he was so excited about every little thing, even the inexpensive crayons in his stocking! Both kids liked everything they got. By 7am they were settled playing with their newfound "loot". Dot arrived around 11:30 with her gifts AND gifts from Aunt Susan & Uncle John... so we had another round of "Christmas". My children are truly blessed by all the people who care for them and do for them.

At 12:30 my precooked turkey dinner was hot, and we sat down to eat. Both kids were too excited to eat, so we let them leave the table -- I wasn't going to fight over a clean plate on Christmas. Poor Sassy had trouble manuevering the house with all the stuff strewn everywhere.

At 4:00 my happy little elf and his grandmother headed back to Charlotte for the week. I miss him alot, but sometimes it helps to have some peace and quiet -- at least the kids can't fight in two separate cities. Connor enjoys his Mommy/Daddy time when Duncan is away.

Good News, Good Food, and OK News

We travelled to visit my parents on 12/23 -- it had been too long since we had visited. Since the car wasn't supposed to be finished until late today, we took the rental car up. The kids behaved pretty well in the car.

We really enjoyed our visit -- other than a couple of small tiffs, the kids behaved well. They enjoyed the presents my parents got them for Christmas, enjoyed the food (Connor especially enjoyed the pumpkin roll, see the photo blog), and were sorry to head home. The only "OK" news of the day was they had found more damage on the car, and it wouldn't be ready til next Wednesday at least.

So we headed home... Duncan was awake well past 1am... UGH.

Saturday brought a day of playing with new toys, and the Christmas eve service at church. The church does a “children’s sermon” and invites the kids to come down and sit with the minister and hear a sermon directed at them. They did the story of Christmas, and invited the kids to act it out. None of the little girls volunteered to be Mary, so Connor volunteered! Baby Jesus was the pastor’s 13 week old granddaughter, his first grandchild. Duncan was a shepherd.

They also had communion, Duncan announced (Ioud enough for ½ the church to hear) that he was hungry and could he have a bigger piece?! Out of the mouths of babes.

They were tired, and luckily passed out early so Santa's elves could finish their Christmas eve preparations. We finally got in bed about 11:30 p.m.

Better Mood, Better Luck

God bless the Ford Body Shop -- they've dealt with this adjuster before, like her about as much as I do (NOT!), and said we could just sign the check over to them to pay for the car. Phew.

Thank you so much for all the blog comments from my bad mood swing -- blogging is like group therapy -- I feel much more normal now. I did find two more deals for Connor's Christmas and am feeling better about that, and spent less than $20 to do it. Charles was a sweetheart when I told him how upset I was about not having stuff under the tree for him -- I now have two gifts (small) for him, and some ideas he helped me with to make it look better for the kids (homemade gift certificates for certain things).

So maybe this elf has stretched her dough (or lack thereof) a little further. I got off work today at noon and don't have to be back until Tuesday. We are spending the day tomorrow with my parents celebrating Christmas.

I just can't win!

Our money from the insurance company to pay for the car repairs arrived
today, payable to Paul Fodel. Very nice, but Charles Fodel is who was in
the accident!!! Now I have to HOPE that the bank will take the check and
we can get this straightened out. I'm so very annoyed and stressed!

Mood Swing From H-E-L-L

OK, all of a sudden I got hit with a major downer mood swing. I'm staring at my dining room table covered in unfinished Christmas presents, I don't feel "done" shopping but my shopping money is definitely "done"... I haven't wrapped the first gift... why do moods like this have to happen? I'm kind of the barometer for my family mood -- I have to be "up" so everyone else can be "up"... Yet all of a sudden I want to go crawl in bed and stay there.

Duncan came home from school sick today -- complained of a sore throat, and his chest was kind of junky. His inhaler helped some, but it hyped him up and he's been a real pistol today. Tomorrow is his school party so I have to go wrap the gift for that exchange, and Charles is making cupcakes. Do you know I have absolutely NOTHING under the tree for Charles? The item I was supposed to get him from his mom is backordered, won't be here before Christmas, and I *thought* we were gonna do our Christmas later, but my husband decided to buy for me without telling me, so now I have gifts under the tree and he doesn't. I feel so stinking guilty. Dot helped Santa get Duncan a new bike, so Duncan's Santa is going to be HUGE compared to Connor's... and I don't have the $$ to even it up. I just wish it was 12/26.

Tag

OK, I got tagged with this one TWICE, once from Courtney, once from Annette. I'm gonna respond to the first one right now.

The rules for this particular meme are as follows:
Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot.

1. Running2Ks
2. Queen of Spain
3. Kdubs
4. Courtney
5. Carolyn

Then you get to select five people to pass the love on to.
1. Mary
2. Julie B.
3. Felicia
4. Bonni
5. Deanna

Now, on to the questions!

What were you doing 10 years ago? About to have my future husband move in with me.

What were you doing one year ago? Off of work for the whole week for Christmas
Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Chocolate
2. Chips
3. Chocolate
4. Chocolate
5. Chocolate

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:

1. Devil Went Down to Georgia
2. Buzz Buzz
3. Stray Cat Strut
4. Jump Jive N Wail
5. Another One Bites the Dust

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Be debt free!
2. Make my parents debt free (I think they're close but...)
3. Prepay both kids college
4. Send my husband back to college to finish
5. Hire a maid and a gardener!

Five bad habits:

1. Diet Coke
2. Too much computer time
3. I yell
4. I'm messy
5. I'd rather do it myself than let someone help

Five things you like doing:

1. Computer time
2. taking pictures
3. reading
4. scrapbooking
5. listening to music

Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again:

1. Underwire bras
2. tight clothing
3. clip on sunglasses (too heavy)
4. chokers
5. socks with toes

Five favorite toys:

1. My computer!
2. my camera
3. my quickutz
4. my DVR
5. deck of cards

Something Went Right

I felt so sorry for Charles last night -- he hit a moment where he was really open and honest, and told me he felt Dr. T (his pychiatrist) had let him down, as he told Charles that "if anything happens, just call me." Well we had a moment of brilliance, and called the emergency number for Dr. T's office. He wasn't on call, but Dr. M was, and he called in a refill on Charles' mood stabilizer. Whew. He still says he feels out of sorts, but at least we're back on track for 30 days.

The kids have been a pistol this weekend -- Connor has been Mr. Hyperactivity, egging his brother on, bouncing balls OFF PEOPLE, just plain obnoxious. Yes I know, this is my golden child I'm referring to.

Check out the photo blog, I've updated it this weekend as Susan informed me I had taken the sparkle out of her morning routine as there was nothing new to look at last week.

I have handmade Christmas presents spread all over the dining room table drying. ACK -- I'm suddenly really behind. With all the stress of the car etc this week I just haven't gotten to it. Guess I need to get on the ball huh?

More to Come

More to come today -- Charles' mood stabilizer medication prescription ran out, and his
F*%^ing psychiatrist's receptionist won't let the doctor know we need a refill. Our family physician won't touch it, so he is REALLY out of kilter. We have a message in to the therapist for help, our last resort is to take him to the emergency room, but that's a $75 fee on top of the prescription. UGH. And I'm busy working on the last few handmade Christmas presents. More tonite!

Name 5 Talents/Gifts that you have

Found this on Meghan's blog --
.

Name 5 talents/gifts that you have.

1. Even though I've never kissed the blarney stone, I have the gift of
gab -- I can talk to anybody!

2. I have an amazing memory for trivial details -- my dad refers to it as
a "steel trap".

3. It's sounds so cliche (because we are all listing it), but I'd say I'm
crafty -- I've enjoyed cross stitch and scrapbooking.

4. Self-confidence -- when I can channel that I feel I do amazing things.

5. A strong family -- sometimes when everything else fails me, the love &
support of my family always carry me through.

How about you guys?

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you?

Stolen from Courtney's Blog!

You Are Cupid

A total romantic, you're always crushing on a new reindeer. Why You're Naughty: You've caused so much drama, all the reindeers aren't speaking to each other. Why You're Nice: You have a knack for playing matchmaker. You even hooked Rudolph up!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

My Weekend -- WHEW

I hope it's a long while before we have as many things to do in a single
weekend as we did this one. I'm sick, tired, and drained. On the
bright side, I think the kids had a marvelous time, which was the whole
reason for all of it.

Saturday morning bright and early Duncan & I headed out to the Pinewood
Derby Race. His car didn't place or anything, but it looked good, and he
was such a good sport -- I'm so proud. His buddy Comfort placed 5th
overall out of 116 cars! GO COMFORT! The fastest cars averaged
around 2.96 seconds. It was a long morning -- I think Duncan's
favorite part was doughnuts for breakfast and pizza for lunch. Since
Charles and I were up til almost 2 a.m. working on his car, and then I was
up again at 6:30 a.m., I was exhausted by this time. My mother-in-law
(Dot Dot) arrived about 1:00 p.m., and proceeded to lecture Duncan on the
state of his room. Trust me, you don't want to know! He worked on
his room (under LOUD protest) for a while, and then we set out to run some
errands. We made a find at the consignment shop -- long sleeve white
button down shirts for the boys for $4.50 each! Off to Target for long
underwear for the parade, and hats & gloves for both boys. We got home
around 4:30, and I was REALLY tired then. I made spaghetti & garlic bread
for dinner.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. I had three hampers of kid's clothes to
hang up between the two boys. I purged some size 6/7 ones out of
Duncan's closet into Connor's. We put both boys in their new (to them)
white shirts & khaki pants for church, and Connor and I left early as he
had a last minute choir rehearsal before services. He did great, except
he wiggles... ALOT. I'll have pictures up SOON on the photo page.
Duncan had a meltdown at home before Connor & I left over shoes -- I wanted
him to wear his white tennis shoes because they blended with the outfit
more. He erupted over this -- he hadn't slept well the night before.
So he arrives at church about 3 minutes before the service starts.
Fortunately, the "choir mom" got him settled, and other than yawning during
their song he did good! It was a nice service, the sermon was about John
the Baptist and "The Message and the Messenger". Lots of music, the
advent candle lighting.. I can't believe it's only two weeks until
Christmas!

We got home from church about 11:50, and I had just under two hours until
Duncan & I had to be at the parade spot. I made an ugly discovery when
he and I went to get him dressed -- he's GROWN! He's now 4' 4.5" and 63
lbs -- I knew he had put on a little in the waist, but I wasn't prepared
for every pair of pants he owns to show his ankles!!! GAK! Needless
to say Santa is going to have to bring Duncan some pants at least. His
long sleeve shirts hit him about 1/2 way between his wrist and his elbow.
This all fit great two months ago! I know it's normal for kids to have
growth spurts, but this is the first time in a LONG while that Duncan has
popped out of his clothes mid-season. So we got him into the thermal
underwear, a pair of khakis, and his uniform shirt. We bundle up and go
dashing off to Lewisville. It was colder than a dead man's butt Sunday!
I was amazed at how big of a parade it was for a small town -- it lasted
over an hour! We saw Daddy & Connor along our way (Dot watched from the
warmth of her car), Comfort's family, my friend Marcia from work, Mr. Cann
(a prior assistant in Duncan's class) and Mrs. Stock, Duncan & Comfort's
teacher. I'm guessing it was a 2-3 mile walk round trip? Duncan
threw almost 800 pieces of candy to the crowd, and generally had a good
time, but boy were Duncan & Comfort s-l-o-w by the end! I had to laugh
-- Connor rode home w/me, Duncan w/Dot Dot & Charles; Connor was asleep
within 5 minutes of leaving Lewisville! Poor guy, all tuckered out.
I'm such a bad mom, this was their very first parade! I didn't think he
could make it through the White Christmas program at church, so we didn't
go. Dot treated us to McDonald's to let the boys run and play a bit for
supper. Then home, and relax, kind of. Charles is on a Christmas
decorating kick, so he put up the tree last night -- tonight we start
decorating.

At least this week the only thing we have to do after work is fellowship
supper on Wednesday. Then no more obligations until after New Year's.
Tomorrow I take Connor for a speech/language evaluation, but I got time off
from work to do that in the afternoon.

What Have You Done?

Here's another quiz making the rounds!

( ) smoked a cigarette
( ) crashed a friend's car
( ) stolen a car
( X ) been in love
( X ) been dumped
( ) shoplifted
( ) been fired
( X ) been in a fist fight
( ) snuck out of your parents' house
( X ) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back?
( ) gone on a blind date
( X ) lied to a friend
( ) skipped school
( ) seen someone die
( X ) been to Canada
( ) been to Mexico
( X) been on a plane
( ) purposely set a part of yourself on fire
( X ) eaten sushi
( ) been skiing
( X ) met someone from the Internet
( X ) been at a concert
(X) taken painkillers
( ) love someone or miss someone right now
(X ) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
( X ) made a snow angel
( ) had a tea party
( X ) flown a kite
( X ) built a sand castle
( X ) gone puddle jumping
( X ) played dress up
( X ) jumped into a pile of leaves
( X ) gone sledding
( X ) cheated while playing a game
( X ) been lonely
( X ) fallen asleep at work/school
( ) used a fake ID
( X ) watched the sun set
( X ) felt an earthquake
( X ) slept beneath the stars
( X ) been tickled
( X ) been robbed
( X ) been misunderstood
( X ) petted a reindeer/goat/kangaroo/deer
( X ) won a contest
( X ) run a red light/stop sign
( ) been suspended from school
( ) had braces
( X ) felt like an outcast/third person
( X) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
( X ) had déjà vu
( X ) danced in the moonlight
( ) liked the way you looked
( X ) witnessed a crime
( X) questioned your heart
( X ) been obsessed with post-it notes
( X ) squished mud through your bare feet
( X ) been lost
( ) been on the opposite side of the country
( X) swam in the ocean
( X ) felt like dying
( X ) cried yourself to sleep
( ) played cops and robbers
( X ) recently colored with crayons
( ) sang karaoke
( X ) paid for a meal with only coins
( X ) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
( ) made prank phone calls
( X ) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
( X ) caught a snowflake on your tongue
( X ) danced in the rain
( X ) written a letter to Santa Claus
( X ) been kissed under the mistletoe
( ) watched the sun rise with someone you care about
( X ) blown bubbles
( ) made a bonfire on the beach
( ) crashed a party
( X ) gone roller-skating
( X ) had a wish come true
( ) jumped off a bridge

Derby Jitters and Paint Woes

OK, we're about to race a plain green car! We tried using the metallic
paints last night and the stencils to put the dragon on the car...
EWWWWWWWW! So I painted over it all in green, again, and it's home
drying. There is a nasty glob of paint on one side -- I couldn't get it
off with the exacto knife, so if Charles doesn't get it off today I'll be
sanding right when I get home. UGH! We have to be there by 8:00 a.m.
tomorrow for check-in -- we're not ready! Charles has promised for two
weeks to help Duncan sand the axles... is that done yet? NOOOOOOO!

Enough of that panic... it's been a long week already. I had to travel
to Charlotte for class on Monday -- left at 6:10 a.m., got home at 6:30
p.m. Tuesday afternoon Duncan had his quarterly visit with the
psychiatrist for a medication check. We upped his ADHD medication a bit
-- he's had NO impulse control lately. He's also gained 7 lbs since
September, up to 63 lbs. While that is a good thing, it's also a sign
his meds aren't working as well. The note from school on Wednesday said
he showed a remarkable improvement in the afternoon, which is normally his
worst time of day. He was roaming the house in the wee hours last night
though, so let's hope that doesn't continue. Wednesday I was in meetings
most of the day at work, and I had stayed up late Tuesday night to finish
up some work. My neck started bothering me on Monday -- it always gets
stiff and achy when the weather gets cold. Everyone at work is trying to
tell me it's in my head, "tension". Thank you very much, but I'm positive
it's in my NECK!

One of my reality TV shows ended this week -- America's Next Top Model.
I wanted Kim to win, but I wasn't disappointed with Nicole. Last night
Survivor went down to four people, it finishes up on Sunday! What will
I watch now?! I understand Project Runway on Bravo is gearing up again,
so maybe I'll have that to watch.

I had to give back the dining room table this week -- I've had it covered
with scrapping stuff etc working on Christmas cards and gifts. I'm not
done with that either. Besides the Pinewood Derby tomorrow, both kids
are singing in church on Sunday. Connor is singing "Go Tell it on the
Mountain"; I'm not sure what Duncan is singing.

So anyway... that's my busy week so far, and it's not over yet. One final
note... one of my scrapping/blog buddies had a death in the family this
week, very close to her heart. You know who you are -- please know I'm
thinking of you and your family this week!

More Quiz Nonsense

Harry PotterYou crave your own knight in shining armour: the
guy who will swoop in and save you, and manage
to be a sweet lover and good dad all at the
same time. You are the girl he's fighting for!

Who is your Harry Potter love match? (for girls)
brought to you by

An Interesting Mail Day

We forgot to get the mail out of the mailbox yesterday, so we got it this morning. Charles had his accident Wednesday morning; the mail came Saturday. Imagine my surprise to find letters from 7 different lawyers addressed to Charles, four lawyers addressed to Connor, and 4 chiropracters! We now have 5 copies of the accident report! Thanks guys! Sheesh, what a bunch of vultures. All this because of a rear end fender bender? We have more information on whiplash and neck injuries now than anyone could possibly need! Oh, and less I forget, one letter addressed to me, the car owner, from the Ford dealership bodyshop!

No wonder insurance costs so much!

It's Beginning to Feel Alot like Chistmas!

ad·vent ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dvnt)n.
1. The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important: the
advent of the computer.
2. Advent The liturgical period preceding Christmas, beginning in Western
churches on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and in Eastern churches in
mid-November, and observed by many Christians as a season of prayer, fasting,
and penitence.
3. Christianity. The coming of Jesus at the Incarnation.
4. Christianity. See Second Coming.

And so begins the holiday season at church... instead of fellowship supper on Wednesday, they had an advent festival. The kids had a BALL. Most of the activity was around making holiday crafts -- a nativity scene, banners, christmas tree cookies, angels, advent wreath etc. I volunteered to help the kids make the nativity scenes -- it was really cute.

Then this morning we went to church again and had breakfast with Santa! My kids got to do more crafts (Duncan was in 7th heaven!) and talk with the big man himself. The "elf" in the pictures is the christian education director at church. Connor was the very first one to jump into Santa's lap!