Merry Christmas to All. . .

Everyone home for Christmas.  I have struggled this holiday season, with Mom breaking her hip and having surgery at the day before Thanksgiving and all of the rehab she had to do, plus my insane work schedule.  I must give kudos to my manager she really worked with me over Thanksgiving so that I could be there for my Mom.  We have been short staffed for a year now and we now have two in training so I will be back to my regular part time schedule soon.  

With all that has been going on I have not really been in the Christmas/Holiday spirit, it has been a struggle for me.  I did get a little bit of it back when someone put out a plea for Christmas lights for a local nursing facility.  The hubbs and I went to the store and bought a bunch of lights to donate for their outdoor Winter Wonderland they were going to have for their residents.  They also had an angel tree for their residents and I decided to adopt two for Christmas.  The hubs and I shopped for them and delivered the lights and gifts not too long after Thanksgiving.  That really perked me up but I was not 100 % in that Christmas spirit just yet.  My very sweet hubby has worked so hard to get me in the spirit and on Christmas morning Santa had delivered a few very cool Christmas CDs.  Yes, I still listen to CD's on my drive to work.  Bing Crosby and Elvis Christmas albums,  the Eagles greatest hits,  ABBA greatest hits, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, and Ray Stevens greatest hits.   Bing can really put you in the Christmas spirit.  

My fellas saw to it that I had a comfort Christmas this year:  Socks (big fluffy comfy), blankets,  gloves and scarves.  Big T, my little hypochondriac, gave me a first aid kit filled with an assortment of bandaids, neosporin, and gauze pads.  He said he was just getting me ready for lacrosse season.  

Photo upload:

 

Sprat Sporting his new ECD Lax Christmas Sweater

The Hubbs being goofy 

The Cousins 

Oh My Poor Deprived Children. . . How Did They Survive Childhood. . .

My children think they are the most deprived things in the world.  I love it, I have made it my goal to deprive them of everything I can think of.  Heeheehee!!  Not really but, that is what they believe at their very core.  I will never forget when Sprat was in middle school and all of his friends had the latest iphones and poor little deprived Sprat did not have a phone at all.  I am polishing my mean mommy crown as I type this morning.  I know that some kids do need phones and I get that but, at this particular time I was not working and the boys were either at school or at home with me so there was no need for a cell phone for them.  That same year as I was buying school supplies preparing for the August back to school fun, I found this cute little eraser made to look like a smart phone.  You know where my devious mind is going don't you?  I decided to have a little fun with the boy.  I found a box and wrapped up the eraser phone and had it sitting at his place at the dinner table that night.  I think this was his eighth grade year maybe.  Needless to say he was not amused at my humor.   He did finally get a phone, he got a flip phone his freshman year of high school.  He was too embarrassed to carry it so I cut off the service and he did not have a phone again.  He did eventually get a phone his sophomore year because he had his license and I thought he needed a way to get in touch with us if something happened with the car.  He did not get an iphone either and I still have not heard the end of that.  I do not like i products and I will not buy them.   I still have not heard the end of that one especially since  Big T got a cell phone (not an iphone) in his seventh grade year.  He only got one because that was when I went back to work and he would be coming home by himself.  I needed to be able to get in touch with him if I got called in to work and his ride home changed.   Most recently we have had issues with the boys having a car.  Big T will start driving more regularly this Summer and Sprat is going to have to have a car to back to school in September.  Their big question is who gets what car?  Sprat thinks he is getting my car and Big T is getting his old car.  Which is partly correct but, we have not made the decision on that just yet.   While we were at mom's for Easter my brother in law had one of his cars, a cute little BMW, I am sure you can hear my wheels turning.   I asked if we could borrow it for a picture, Big T got in and I snapped a few pictures of him behind the wheel.  Yes, I sent one to Sprat at school via text, no caption just Big T behind the wheel of this sweet little BMW.  Again, I polish my mean mommy crown.  It did not take long to get that return text of "Who is that?"  I replied with, Big T is getting this and you get to take your little blackberry to MA since it has front wheel drive it will do better in the snow.  He replied with, "that does not seem to add up."  This went on for a few hours, he really thought Big T was getting a BMW and he was going to keep his car.  My kids are so gullible some times.  That Sprat even thought I would buy them anything that was better than what I was driving just makes me want to laugh and laugh.
He will never let me forget that Big T got a phone in seventh grade and he did not get one till he was a sophomore in high school.  I keep telling him it was a need based decision.  Loving your kids does not mean bending to their every whim.  Sometimes, it means saying no and meaning it. 
Stay tuned the Boy is on his way home for the Summer, the garden is growing, herbs are growing and I am about to get knee deep in making stuff with my herbs. 

Old and Married but We still Got It!!!

So this is probably an adult only post so do not read in front of your kids.  The hubbs and I celebrated 26 years this month, we celebrated watching a lacrosse game.  We are going to try an do dinner some time this month after lacrosse season is over.    We are pretty practical people when it comes to gift giving, every now and then we splurge on gifts to each other.  This year my very sweet hubby got a new toilet for his bathroom, ever since he blew his knee out he has wanted one of those higher toilets in his bathroom.  Happy Anniversary to my hubby, he got his potty this week.  Happy Anniversary to me, I got new brakes for my car.  It is ok to be practical folks, you do not have to always blow everything you have on a gift.  We are trying to pay our house off early so we did our Anniversary Dave Ramsey style. 
The other day while I was at work I get this text from my hubby, it was a picture of his fortune from his fortune cookie from the night before.  It said, "love is on the way."  He then wrote on the bottom of it, "your wife will want you to night!!!"   I work 12 hour shifts and had just worked night shift the day before so I was a little behind on my sleep.  I text him back a picture of my fortune that I had taken to work with me for my lunch, "It is better to attempt something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and fail."   I told him I would need wine, diamonds, and chocolate if his attempt was going to be great.  Now, my hubby and I banter back and forth like this all the time.   He text back,
"you can't hit a home run if you don't take the bat off your shoulder."   He then said, "if I make you laugh I have done my job."  This my friends is true love, a man that knows that if he can make you laugh that he can make you feel better about your day.  I love this man to the moon!!!
When I got home that night after a really long bad day, there was a little brown bag on my pillow and inside was:  a bottle of Mucinex DM cough syrup (this was the wine), a bag of open Nestle chocolate chips (chocolate), and a piece of charcoal in a plastic baggie pinched with a wrench ( my diamond in the making).  How is that for creativity??   We may be old but we still got it!!! 

Time Capsule Opening. . . Drum Roll ^*^*^*^*^*^*

I told you we had a lot of celebrating to do for this Grad.  We celebrated yesterday to my Mom's and Sprat opened his time capsule that we sealed on his first birthday.  Lots of treasures were  found some worth a little dough and some just  very sentimental.  I think Sprat got a kick out of opening it and seeing everything we had put in it.  I know we all had fun watching him.  There were pieces of history enclosed with lots of pictures.  He had a C3PO pez dispenser still in its original packaging, pictures of the hubbs Dad from his service years and patches from his time on the police force.  Mint uncirculated coins from his year of birth, some Joe Camel advertisements from relatives that worked at RJR,  metal toy tractor from my hubbys youth, the cork from our bottle of Champagne from our "romantic" meal we had in the hospital right after we had Sprat, and all the cards from his first birthday and his infant Baptism.  So many memories. . .

Poppy enjoying the cake and festivities . . 

Getting ready to open the time capsule. . . 

Taking in all of the fun. . . 

I do not give a lot of parenting advice but this is and was a very cool idea and I am so glad we did it.  I highly recommend doing one for your little one if you have one.   Stay tuned, we have one more party before Sprat goes off to school. . . 

Bad Gifts. . .

Have you ever gotten a gift and thought, what makes this person think I would like something like this?  My hubby has started this tradition of cheesy gifts.  One year for Christmas he gave me a lemon spritzer.  Well I got him one of those things you can put in the car door to help you get out of the car, I think it is called a car cane.  He found it before I could give it to him and decided he would get me something ugly for Valentines too.  He gave me the giant magnifying glasses he found in "as seen on TV" section of the drug store.  He took offense that I gave him the cane thing to help him in and out of the car so he decided he would get me something to make me feel old.  I was being sincere when I got the cane thing.  He does have trouble getting out of the car because of his knee, I was not saying anything about him being old.
He did get me a box of really good chocolate and silly card that I really liked.
So, has anyone ever given you a gadget or something silly as a gift?  Do you think they really meant it in a mean way or were they sincere?  Sometimes we think that we are getting someone a great gift and our intentions are the very best but, the recipient of our gift is not as impressed.

Men and Gift Giving. . .

I had a wonderful Birthday weekend.  We watched "Guardians of the Galaxy" and the new X-Men movie.  They were both very good movies and I enjoyed watching them with my fellas.   When my hubby and I were dating and first married he was the best gift giver.  He always got me something really cool and usually something I wanted but did not know I wanted.   After having the kids his gift giving has gone somewhat awry.  He did surprise me the first Christmas after Sprat was born with a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring.  I cried like a baby when I opened it because sapphire is Sprats' birthstone and I thought how neat that he picked that out.   It was a fluke he did not realize that sapphire was Sprats' birthstone, he just liked the ring.  I still loved it very much though because it was the first ring he had gotten me since my engagement ring.   He does have moments of greatness and I do love him dearly.  He is also a stickler for not letting me open my gifts before my birthday or get anything before Christmas.  I do not like that, I am worse than the kids when it comes to gifts.  I remember one Christmas in particular that he teased me by telling me he had a gift for me and he was going to let me open it before Christmas.  I was so excited I could not stand it, he dangled that bag in front of me and I snatched it out of his hands and went running through the living room.  I looked in the bag and it looked like a ring box, I screamed, "it's jewelry, it's jewelry!!!"   He tackled me at the couch and dumped the bag out on me and it was a bar of soap.  He is such a stinker.  From that point forward I knew he would never let me open anything early.
This weekend he teased me again and said he would let me open my birthday present early.  He did let me have it a little early.  He did good this year and on his own and everything.
Do you remember when I was posted about the different types of streaming devices?  It would have been on a Tuesday.  I posted about the Roku 3 and what a cool device it was and that it was tops on my list of the streaming devices.  I got a Roku 3 for my birthday.  yayyyy!!!!  Now that I have it and have played with it over the weekend it does get my big stamp of approval.  It is the coolest thing ever.  There are several options for FREE services and then there are those you must pay for.   I love it, I have watched "Mr. Ed," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and I have pinned a few series I would like to watch from the beginning that are no longer on TV.   I consider myself an old soul, because I like the old black and white shows, like "I Love Lucy," and "Mr. Ed."  
Even though this was my gift, everyone loves it.  They each have some aspect of it that they like, it really offers a lot for everyone.  It has other shows that you can watch, my hubby and I have started watching "Breaking Bad" from the beginning.  We never watched it when it was on TV we just never could sit down and watch it when it was on.   So, it does offer other shows than the old black and white and it offers Netflix too.    You have to have an account through Netflix to be able to use it.  Netflix offers a lot of movies and series you can stream.
All in all my dear hubby did really good for my Birthday this year.

It is Monday. . .

Last final for me today,  a little break till next session starts.   I think I am going to finish up with an A and a B, not too shabby for an old lady.   I really cannot wait till the  boys are out of school.  They have a long break this year.  Sprat faces his first year of "final exams," he had finals in middle school but not like the ones he will have from this point forward.   He was telling me about the week they are having them and how at least two days he will not have to go to school.  If he has an A in the class and the final is not state mandated then he does not have to take the exam therefore, no school.
I have a paper calendar notebook that I keep all of our appointments in.  The boys have a more active life than I have ever thought of having.  I know, you would think in this technology age I would have a fancy computerized something to keep up with everyone.  I like my little notebook and pencil.  I have tried numerous times to use those computerized calendars on my phone and it never works like it is supposed to.   I will remain an old fart with her paper notebook calendar.
With Christmas fast approaching, I think back about Christmas and growing up.  One year my brother, who is 11 years older than me, started telling me in November I had been bad and Santa was going to put switches in my stocking.   He told me this every chance he got.  My mom and dad fussed at him for being mean to me but that did not stop his constant badgering about dear Santa and the switches.   Naturally, I was the first one up on Christmas morning that year and every year.  I was up at probably 5 am and I ran downstairs to see what Santa had brought.   I had to turn on all the lights in the den just to be sure what I was seeing.  I rubbed my eyes a couple of times and yep I was not dreaming, there right in front of me was a pile of switches in my brothers stocking.  My stocking was filled with goodies and so was my sisters.  I could not hold my excitement, I ran through the house and woke everyone up screaming that my brother had gotten switches in his stocking.   I will never forget that Christmas for as long as I live.  I tell that story to my kids every year to remind them that Santa is real and he is watching.  

Happy Mother's Day. . . .

For all the Moms, I hope your families treat you like a Queen today.  We celebrated last night with steaks on the grill, peppers and onions on the grill, and a fresh out of the garden salad with spinach.  Yummmm!!  I do not normally eat red meat but I have to tell you these were the best little fillets in the world.  We picked them up at our local meat market, three 6 oz and one 9oz for around $18.  We could not pass that up.  I even got my presents early.  heeheeheehee   Dear hubby got me a new bird feeder that is squirrel proof, and a new heavy duty shepherds crook to hang it on.  This particular feeder has a battery operated squirrel flinger on it.  If anything heavier than a bird tries to perch on it, it whirls them around and throws them off.  I have seen video of how this works, not only will I get to enjoy my birds but I will also enjoy seeing my fat squirrels being thrown for a loop if they try to get on it.  ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!  My birds have been slow to arrive at their feeder this morning but they are beginning to show some interest.  I also got a new front door mat that is really nice.  I think my little feeder is going to bring me hours of entertainment.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families!!!