Thanks 2010, now Buh-Bye.

I was looking back over my resolutions for 2010, and I kept ONE. I only made three, so it’s not that big of a fail. I didn’t 1) Spend more money on myself in an effort to look decent, but that was more of a I’m too lazy to go get my eyebrows waxed problem than a too afraid to spend moolah issue. I also didn’t 2) read 365 books last year. This is too bad because a few months ago I decided not to read another book until I’d finished the Bible and let’s just say I may never read another book AGAIN. Lots of words in the Bible, and small type. I wonder if I could LISTEN to the bible. Would that count? But I did accomplish at least one goal – 3)More time in the water. We bought the boat, went camping, I pulled my hamstring trying to ski and STILL ache, but I did it! MoonPie says it was one of the best things of the summer. Camping, not watching me limp around, I’m guessing.

This year I think I’ll keep it simple – WRITE more. Which means I’ll have to do something less. Bridge? Tennis? Hanging with friends? Exercise? Yeah, that’s going to be a real tough decision.

JD and I will be braving the cold air of my living room while we watch the ball drop somewhere via the television and I drink a cheap glass of wine. MoonPie will be sleeping and dreaming of more exciting parents.

What will you be doing?

Here’s wishing you a HAPPY New Year! I hope 2011 is good to us all.

LT

Big Leaps

JD and I just finished watching a movie called Leap Year about a girl that travels to Ireland to find her boyfriend so she can ask him to marry her. Of course along the way she meets a super cute pub owner and I think we all know who she ends up with in the end.

JD kept saying, “She’s known him for TWO days!” and I was like, “Just LOOK at him!”

We yell a lot during movies.

Anyway, it occurs to me that this is why single women travel to Europe alone. They watch romantic movies with genetically superior actors, think it’s realistic, and go in search of their own Irish O’Hottie. Then they end up sleeping with some scruffy dude that turns out to be just like the wankers they knew in High School, only worse cause you can’t understand their accent.

Or so I imagine. I’ve never been to Europe so I wouldn’t know. And it’s been a long time since I was single. And I hope I never am again. But if I ever am, I’m totally going to Ireland. Wait, what? I’m very confused.

Maybe Netflix was not the best idea.

I’m Easily Influenced

Because we’ve A) recently discovered the joy of streaming shows on Netflix, and B) have had a lot of down time due to the holidays, I’ve been watching 30 Rock , the comedy created by Tina Fey. Back-to-back episodes for two weeks and  I’m now almost done with Season 4. This means I’ve watched approximately 75 episodes -1650 minutes or 27.5 hours – of Liz Lemon. Now I find myself craving street-vendor hotdogs, and looking for homeless people to shove. The other night MoonPie was whining about something and I’m like, “Hey! We killed the whiny kid skit two days ago! What-the-WHAT?

The problem is that Season 4 is the last one on Netflix! Yes, THAT is the problem. So what am I going to do? Are there other situation comedies that I could watch and learn from? What else have I missed? I heard there was one about a group of friends that might be good for someone like me. Golden Girls, I think. Sounds perfect – I wonder if they play bridge.

Christmas State of Mind

I start feeling the whole Christmas thing around December 22nd, and the feeling continues until the new year. One of the big reasons is that after we open our Christmas presents, and eat ourselves into a coma, we pack up and head to Zollicoffer to gather with the whole clan. This year we had the added benefit of driving through snow the entire way. After several calls to the mountaintop to see if we had a chance of making it up the road, we were told to “give it a shot.”

We made it about a third of the way and not wishing to slide OFF the mountain, called for reinforcements. Tania-the-Mad had arrived only moments before and said she’d be right down to get us. She was driving her husband’s nice 4-wheel drive truck, and since he reads this blog occasionally, perhaps I should edit the rest of this post.

Blah, blah, blah, the next thing you know, GrandPa and I were flying down in the mountain in his 4-wheeler to rescue JD and our belongings. Well, the belongings anyway. JD was left to walk. What can I tell you? Pa’s 4-wheeler was full, what with all of our stuff, me, and Freeda the dog.

I woke up to a beautiful morning on the mountain. Then work emailed me with a big project. Since my employers read my blog occasionally, perhaps I should edit the rest of this post. Blah, blah, blah, I’m sure Staples will print their order fine.

What can I tell you? The Christmas State of Mind is a bit hazy on details.

Christmas Preview

For those of you who won’t be here Christmas morning, which is basically everyone, I thought I’d share of few of the gifts MoonPie will be finding under the tree.

Cool boots – there are actually TWO of them. We bought boots last year but her feet grew! Kids. These are fur lined, and look super comfy. The color’s light, but I didn’t like any of the others I saw, so let’s just hope she avoids the mud.

Spot It is a game I found at Learning Express. It has 52 cards and each card has 8 symbols on it. No matter what two cards you pick up, there’s one symbol on both cards. The key is to find the match before your opponents do. Trust me, it’s seriously fun. And I’m not just saying that because I kicked JD’s booty 4 out of 4 games.

The big gift – a Nintendo DS Lite. Most of her friends got this a year or two ago, but until she asked for it, we weren’t rushing out to buy it.

There are a few other things, some clothes, blah, blah, blah, and then the Santa gifts.

And for JD? Oh well, there’s always next year. I didn’t have time to shop for everybody!

Christmas Fever

MoonPie has been sick the last few days and has spent her time in bed channeling Russell Brand.

I’m like, “Are you feeling better?” and she’s like, “Wha? Bring me a drink!” Hey, I’m living with a celebrity!

It’s been three days but I’m pretty sure we’re through the worst of it. Well, ALMOST. I still have to comb that hair.

Christmas Crafts

Because this is a very slow time of year with almost nothing to do, I decided to do a craft with my Sunday School girls. I started with several different colors of felt and cut them into strips, 2.5 inches wide and 5 inches long.

Next I took a holly template and pinned it to the felt.

Then I cut out the template. Actually, I cut out about 45 templates. Look at me, nothing but time on my hands!

Then I tied ribbons of numerous colors, bought beads, cut cards, bought ink for my stamps and a hot glue gun and pins AND then glued everything together.

Martha Stewart made it look so easy. And so much better. But the girls liked it, and I’ve got about 40 corsages to give as gifts.

Or SELL if you’re interested! If I price them at 10.00 each and sell all 40, I should just about make my money back.

Super Easy Cookies

The Girl Scout troop that MP is involved with decided to have a Cookie Exchange. Don’t they get ENOUGH cookies? Because I’m reluctant to do anything difficult, I searched for a super easy recipe. Luckily – I found one!

Here’s what you do –

1. Get a roll of Pillsbury peanut butter cookie dough.

2. Cut it into thick slices, about 1.25 inches.

3. Quarter the slices and put each piece into a mini muffin tin.

4. Cook approximately 7 minutes until slightly brown.

5. Take out of the oven and stuff each one with a miniature Reese’s cup.

Take my advice OR – go the The Pioneer Woman and read it for yourself.

They aren’t  super sophisticated  but YUMOLA! Moron Test Grade A!

Public School Update

I thought I’d take a moment to update you on how the MoonPie is doing in public school. When we first decided to give it a try, we said if she didn’t like it, we’d go back to homeschooling. With five months under our belts, I think it’s been a great success.

She’s made a lot of nice friends. Only once has she come home complaining that someone teased her. We had a three minute conversation about it, and she’s never mentioned it since. I love to walk the hallways with her and hear people call out to tell her bye, or run up and give hugs.

The media leads you to believe that schools are full of bullies and kids on crack. Yeah, not so much. So far the only thing I’ve had to explain to MP is “Selena Gomez”.

The parents of the kids have been great. They’re friendly and because there’s so many of them – I have almost nothing to do!

The school experience can be made wonderful or horrid depending on the teacher. MP has a GREAT teacher. Of course, I make everybody look good.

The only real negative is that I miss my daughter. I don’t miss the pushing/fighting/tugging/cajoling to get her to finish her schoolwork, but I miss hanging with her.

Okay, there’s TWO negatives. I really miss sleeping in. Does school HAVE to start at 7:50? Geez, what are they doing with my tax money??