INHALING

Been in Kansas City for about ten days and SO glad to finally be home. Found myself daydreaming about being in Florida again with the beaches, warm, humid weather and the sound of seagulls and surf; would like to somehow morph my world now and my world one year ago. Last year was a terrible year and yet the greatest year of my life in terms of friends and down-time, well spent. Friends are one of the things that come to mind the most during the holiday season, as well as, reflections of life that has been lived and the pull of the past. Depression encompasses many people during this time and it's easy to understand why--the smells and sounds and even the tastes of the season conjure up memories of the best and worst times in people's lives, usually interspersed. Remember to call up a friend of two after the holidays, you just never know.

No resolutions as of yet; never quite got into all that. January is a GREAT month for beginnings, of course, but probably not the greatest month for making commitments. Too much pressure. I have set forth some goals for my life this year but they've been in the making for a couple of months now. January seemed the reasonable time to start these new goals in my life, but I have stopped short of calling them resolutions. Okay, maybe that's just what they are. I wish my husband would make a resolution to stop changing the channel every 1/1000th of a second...drives me CRAZY!

Glad to be back. Great to be journaling. I'm breathing again.

GO CHIEFS!!!

CHECK

The "imaginary list" (Tammi) in my head is all checked off! Went to bed at 2AM, about an hour earlier than I thought I would.

~Bought all 30 teacher's gifts--LOVE the dollar tree--little tins of tea and shortbread cookies in a stocking, yay!

~Root beer and party mix for the "1" male teacher, yay!

~Blanket washed and made and gifted last night during a little "get-together," yay!

~Kids' teacher's gifts de-tagged, wrapped and gifted this morning, yay!

~Different book exchange gifts bought late last night--LOVE Books-A-Million-open til midnight, yay! (dislike children who didn't like what I had already bought, yay!)

~Cinnamon popcorn made and tasted...yummy, yay!

~Lots of cherry Coke, yay!

~Hot tea, yay!

~Coffee, yay!

~Indoor plumbing (thank you Thomas Crapper), yay!

~TheraFlu for Anna, yay!

~Someone else made dinner and had us over, yay!

~Didn't have to wash uniforms 'cause today was "Christmas-wear," yay!

~Going back to bed for an hour, OH YEAH!

MY HOLIDAY CURSE(S)

I definitely should not be sitting down at all, not even to blog, but I need a break. I have a buttload of cinnamon popcorn to make by tomorrow for a school party; I have a blanket to make by 7pm tonight, and the material is just now washing; I was informed last night, VERY LATE last night, that my hubby thought he should probably get a small gift for the teachers--yeah, all us women know EXACTLY what that meant. I was up until 2:15AM helping Molly start AND finish a project that she has known about since Thanksgiving. We had words from about 11PM until 2:15AM about the importance of not procrastinating and how this will be the LAST time I stay up helping with a project last minute. It was worth 300 points, what could I do? I know, I know. Then I was up at 6AM to wake Anna so she could study for Mid-terms, as she has a bit of a head cold and went to bed early last night. Gerald and the kids off to school at 7:30AM and Zac and I head out the door shortly after to find those gifts for the teachers. Back home about 12:30PM, bank account depleted, and fed Zac the sandwich we picked up at Blimpie; he proceeded to spill his root beer and I said a Holiday Curse that went something like, "Well, shooting stars, Zac, how many times have I told you to put the lid on your drink?!" "Sorry, mom, it was an ancident." "Alright, I know, just be careful 'cuz I'm trying to be happy for the holidays." LOL.LOL.LOL. That's all I could do--stress laughing, I call it. I used to do it in my sleep at college during exams, or so my roommates said. They'd yell at me to be quiet and I didn't even have a clue I was laughing in my sleep. Weird, huh.

I was ahead, now I'm behind, such is the Holiday Curse. The Holiday Curse has nothing at all to do with Christmas, it is its own entity and allows me to blurt out "OH, HOLIDAY CURSE," and then insert whatever "word" I deem appropriate in my head and nobody has to be in the know about what I'm thinking or feeling of the holiday season ") Like the other day when I went to Target to buy cinnamon redhots for the cinnamon popcorn--they only had a little 6oz. tube for $2.99 OR you could buy them from the Jelly Belly counter for $6.79/lb. I was like, WHAT? Well, deck my halls, how hard is it to carry big bags of cheap cinnamon candies?! Now I have to go to the scrooge of all scrooges--Walmart. I absolutely hate Walmart. I cringe just typing the letters; however, I've had to break my boycott and go in there TWICE this holiday season. Seriously, makes me want to go through the self-checkout and scan my butt just to see what they would do. Sorry, mom.

I actually was stupid enough to schedule hair appointments AT THE MALL this past Saturday. We spent about four hours there b/c they were so far behind...and I had ALL the kids. No hubby, he was barricaded at school finishing about six projects for his master's degree class. That was on Saturday, it was due on Sunday. See a pattern here? Molly, Gerald. Then I went back on Sunday to have Jake's hair cut--my fault, I messed it up awhile back and it needed fixed. Oh, yeah, we also attended not any less than two athletic events this past weekend. We ate frozen taquitos and frozen chicken strips and frozen pizza. We did, however, fix fresh veggies w/each frozen, preservative-laden, non-food, food. We lost our dog on Friday. Found him on Sunday; I'm rethinking having put up "Lost Dog" signs b/c he's barking right now and I'm tired. VERY tired. We skipped church.

Well, I have to go double check that the kids' basketball uniforms are washed, yeah, games tonight. I've wrapped about eight gifts and have about that multiplied by 1,000 left to do...not really that many. I'm thinking about just sticking a bow on top of each box or tying a ribbon around each Target bag. Do the kids really notice anyway? I think not. Hmmm...not a bad idea; we waste too much paper and cut down too many trees as it is. Washer's done...time to make the blankets!

Happy Shopping, only 5 days left.

A LITTLE PIECE OF ME

A little over a year ago, our life took a sudden journey through an unquestionably long and dark tunnel; we thought we might never see the light at the end. It was the Lord's plan, no doubt, but it was a very painful journey for many people in our lives; however, pain often inspires. It often is the catalyst for my writing, specifically poetry. I do not consider myself a poet in any sense of the word, that makes me laugh, I just consider myself a person that can put together rhyming words pretty well. I'm short on time and brain power today so I thought I'd share a writing of mine; I may think better of it tomorrow. I may totally embarrass myself. That's okay, that's life, let life be what it will. Hope you enjoy.

HANDS

First intertwining of lives together

Mine in his and his in mine

Unfamiliar flesh

Made familiar with time

Two parts of two bodies

Different and the same

Forever move like two of one

One pulse, one heart, one name

Cold with lonely

Wet with tears

Weary with work

Tremble with fear

Children held and let go

Parents tried and failed

Devil tried to part

Both had felt the nails

Eyes grow dark and cannot see

Feet refuse to stand

Ears turn off and will not hear

Still forever I'll know his hands

Amy 9-2005

ANYONE FOR VITTLES?

We moved to a "truly" southern state this year. I've noticed the past few weeks traps in alot of yards and after contemplating this for several days, I remembered hearing someone say a while back, "We have trouble with squirrels chewing our power lines here." Instantly, I knew what the traps were for...EWWW!


A few of our neighbors have a trap in their front yard; they all had us over for a get-together before we moved into our new home.


Ya'll come back now, ya' hear!