the shepherds

go check out this post at modern molly mormon that was written by my little sister, about the shepherds present at the birth of Christ.

observations

have you ever noticed that when you are required to do that word verification stuff when leaving comments that the letters almost make an actual word? i have noticed this a lot. today i left a comment on my sister's blog and it was "mismook" which is almost "mistook."

one of my favorite things to do at christmas time when i was a kid was cut out those snowflakes from white paper. i saw this post today, with GORGEOUS templates for cutting out snowflakes. go check them out!

red cream soda is yummy.

apple beer is even yummier.

apple beer is yummiest when taking a hot bubble bath.

my house is cold. i hate being cold. i am always cold. it stinks.

i love that comcast commercial with the caveman and the beaver thing. i snort every time.


i HATE doing laundry.

most of our dishes consist of bottles.

we watched "merry christmas, charlie brown" last night on tv. that is one of my favorite christmas shows ever. then they showed some newer peanuts christmas thing. the voices were ALL WRONG. all wrong, i tell you! we only watched a few minutes of it. originals are almost always better.

i need a nap.

reaching a turning point

the depression has kind of been kicking my butt the last few days.

man, i sure hate this.

but i'm looking forward to happier days....

can you believe there are only 17 days left until christmas? i sure can't. time goes by so quickly. we went christmas shopping for little buddy on saturday. poor kid saw his presents while we were wrapping them and was MAD when i took them away! good thing he's too little to remember them. we got him some fun toys that i think he will love.

his grandma and grandpa bought him this beautiful music box. it plays music accompanied by the chimes on the top. you can pick from 25 christmas songs and 25 "all time favorites," including a few of my favorites: beautiful stranger, let me call you sweetheart, oh you beautiful doll, and blue danube. little buddy's has a train that moves in the scene (i couldn't find a picture of that one, this picture has children in it.)

i'm in the process of getting myself back into counseling. it has been a long time coming...i've really needed it. but i've had a really bad attitude about it/it costs a LOT so i've been putting it off. but hubby has finally convinced me i really need it. and i'm at the point where i am ready to go back. i hate finding therapists. i mean, HATE it. i have seen a total of...let's see...have to count....12 different therapists in my life. the majority of whom i only saw once or twice....maybe three or four times. it is important to see a counselor that i like, that will really help me. most of those that i've seen did not help me. but there were two that really did. that helped me a lot. a ton, in fact, and i am a different person today because of what they've done for me. but the fact that there were 10 that didn't do anything for me and only 2 that did is frustrating. because even those one or two visits cost. time as well as money, emotional as well as physical energy. i am hoping that i'll get lucky here and find one that i really like right off the bat, because we really can't afford to pay six different therapists until i find one i like. my old therapist from high school agreed to look over our provider list and give me a referral for one that she thinks will really help me.

so i've reached a turning point in my life. another one. i am anticipating that this will be a positive thing, that this will benefit me and my family. it will be a lot of hard work...and at times is really scary. but from past experience, i know it will be worth it!

me, a slacker? i don't think so-oo!

whew! what a busy week it has been. i know i have been slacking here in the blogging world but i've been working my butt off in the real world. so sorry for those of you who care that i've been absent. :)

last night was our christmas party, and if i may say so, i believe it was a smashing success. i was a little worried about where we were going to put everyone, but it turns out we had just enough space! we had yummy food that our guests brought and played some awesome games. charades (always a classic), a gift wrapping race and some trivia games. and then to end the night a white elephant exchange. i think our guests had a good time. i know i enjoyed myself, and so did hubby. and little buddy miraculously slept through it all!

today we went christmas shopping for little buddy as well. it was fun to find gifts for him then bring them home to wrap. we have gifts under our tree now. now we'll have to see if they can stay there, because i'm pretty sure little buddy will want to unwrap them.

tonight hubby is out with some friends. he is looking at joining a local masonic lodge. one of his good friends/coworkers is a mason. hubby has been very interested in it for a long time--before he met his friend. he is really interested in the history, and tradition, and comraderie that comes with being involved in the lodge. he is also looking for something to help him become a better person, husband, and father. the masons do a lot of community service. he's checking things out, meeting the members of the lodge, and learning more about it. i'm glad that he is doing something for himself, something that will help him be happier. i don't know a whole ton about masonic beliefs, but what i do know is positive. (the feminist in me is a little ticked that it's a fraternal group, but if it makes my hubby happy then i'm good with it. :) i tend to get a little bent out of shape over dumb things like that...)

so while hubby is out making new friends i'm chillin' at home. poor little buddy had kind of a bad night, and i'm not really sure why. he normally doesn't cry at bed and he just howled for 45 minutes. he wouldn't really eat before bed, either....poor kid. he finally fell asleep and he's been sleeping like a rock. my guess is he's growing and was totally exhausted. it's so hard to listen to my boy cry, especially like that. it's even harder when i get frustrated. i'm not a very patient person, but i have been amazed at the patience and understanding i've had with little buddy. but for some reason tonight i was lacking in the patience department. i finally put him in the crib, sat downstairs and listened to him cry...and get more and more anxious and frustrated. then he fell asleep and i sat feeling like a terrible mother for getting so worked up over something so small. so now i'm watching law and order: svu and hate/loving it (i always hate/love the episodes having to do with sexual crimes....hate watching it and reliving my own issues and love watching those bastards get what they deserve in the end) and waiting for hubby to come home.

so now i'm off to chug-a-lug the leftover pepsi in the fridge and do some more hate/loving while watching l&osvu.

happy 1st anniversary, mmm!

modern molly mormon (where i am a featured columnist) is having an anniversary! lots of give a ways and fun stuff to check out, including a whole new look! go check it out and enter the contests. join the forums and meet new friends!

happy SITSmas!

Merry SITSmas to my SITSahs!

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i hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

(for those of you who don't know what SITS is, go here and check it out)

and...don't forget about the give a way!

A $200 Target Gift Card!
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back to work today

i'm sad the long weekend is over. :(

(spoiler alert! don't read the following if you haven't seen twilight yet and want to be surprised...)

i went to see twilight on saturday with my friend kaitlyn. it was awful. terrible. horrible acting. cheesy. one scene that was eerily similar to something you would see on general hospital. and awful, awful, pathetic 1950s horror movie flashbacks. and jasper? what on earth was the deal with his hair? and lack of facial expressions? besides that one that made it look like he was surprised at how constipated he was? sad. so sad. i went into the movie with absolutely no expectations at all and i was still disappointed. (and i don't care what kaitlyn says, the actor who played edward is not attractive. at all. so sad.) bella was sulky. alice was almost annoyingly cute. rosalie was not that pretty. edward had matching "sparkly" sound effects when he was in the sun. seriously? special effects weren't that great. and james? don't even get me started. he wasn't scary, he was downright laughable. the facial expressions he had literally made me laugh. in fact, the only two characters that i found to be anything like my idea of them were emmett and charlie swan. i was horrified at how awful the cinematography was. i was appalled by the sheer pathetic-ness of it all.

now for the really sad part? i want to see it again.

but it really was lame. lame, i tell you, lame!