January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!!!

Tomorrow's Mark's and my anniversary. Twenty six years. I'm very proud of that. I'm looking forward to many, many more years together, if we're allowed that. Things are hard right now, that's certainly true, but even when he's driving me crazy, I know I'm very lucky to share my life with him.

It's the time of year for resolutions, and I certainly have my share of them, but most important of all I want to try and live in the moment. Not long for the past, which I'm lucky enough to know was wonderful, not to worry for the future, which I'm exceedingly good at doing. Live in the moment. It will be work, but I'm hoping to succeed.

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2010. Thanks for the support, it's made a huge difference in my life.

Christmas...life...

Snippets

I don't feel capable of putting two thoughts cohesively together. Sorry.

Christmas was wonderful...and yet...

Christmas Eve is Mark's birthday. He developed Bell's Palsy. Not what anyone would want for a birthday present.

Jacob and Julianna had "our best Christmas' ever!!!!" Yeah! I'm trying to cling to that memory right now because things are hard. Mark's just plain not feeling well. Thank goodness he has this week mostly off, because he definitely needs to put energy into healing, but he's just completely wiped out.

Wednesday Rebekah and I have an appointment where I fully expect to be told she needs knee surgery...possibly on both knees. *sigh*

I had a doctor's appointment today. It didn't go as well as I would have liked. Not terrible, but I definitely got the "if you don't take care of yourself you can't take care of anyone else" lecture. I know that's true, but it's very, very difficult to find time and energy to exercise right now.

Jacob's still coughing. Not as much, not as frequently, but still. He's been on antibiotics, steroids, and he's still barking. The doctor's starting to talk about seeing a pulmonary specialist or an allergist. For right now we're trying Zyrtec. Hopefully that will make a difference. I'm still not convinced that there's anything really wrong, a lot of people are complaining of colds that have hung on forever. I don't know if that's right and rational or if it's just a massive case of denial.

Julianna's eczema is acting up to the point she's having difficulty falling asleep at night. It's not horrible, but it's a bad flare and nothing I'm doing is helping. The first available appointment with her dermatologist is April 2. Seriously. Crazy. And, no, they won't call in her Aclovate which would clear it up in literally hours. *sigh*

I know I'm very, very lucky. I think about so many people I know who have things so much worse. Still, it's stressful right now. I'm putting all my energy into treasuring the good things that are happening, and there are many; and not worrying about the future, which is very difficult. That's why there's not much posting going on. Thanks for your understanding.

Christmas

Please join us at Linda's for a Christmasy Random Dozen.

I saw this at Living to tell the Story and had to steal it. Too much fun.

1. Gingerbread: For or against? Discuss. For. My kids LOVE gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies, gingerbread houses, gingerbread gingerbread. Of course that all means more work for me, which I'm desperately trying not to think about right now, but it's worth it to build the memories. Right? Right?

2. Is it important to you to always stay (live) close to family? Yes. I'm two hours from my parents, which is fine. Closer would be nice, but we each have our lives and it works. I'm five and a half hours from our son and his family and I will be very happy if we're never any farther than that. I would absolutely love it if he could land his dream job at a University two hours from here.

3. Which holiday pretend character do you wish really existed? Santa from Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street.

4. Which holiday movie best represents how you feel about Christmas or life? Not sure what this means really, but I love Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street.

5. Is there a particular Christmas song that you're enjoying now? Any that you're tired of?
Songs I love:
I Saw Three Ships by Sting, Children Go Where I Send Thee by Natalie Merchant, Little Drummer Boy by Bob Seger. I also love the version with David Bowie and Bing Crosby. Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid. Mary Did You Know? is a fairly new favorite of mine. Baby It's Cold Outside by Lady Antebellum. I could go on and on and on. I love Christmas music. I also must confess to really enjoying I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake and John Lennon's So This is Christmas.

Tired of? Anything barked by a dog. Really? We had to do this?

6. What is your favorite way to remember those less fortunate at Christmastime? I love Operation Christmas Child and Toys for Tots. Anything that helps a child have a brighter Christmas. For me, it's all about children at Christmas.

7. Does it upset you to see "Xmas" instead of Christmas? How about "Happy Holidays" etc., instead of "Merry Christmas?" I hate Xmas. Hate it. Happy Holidays works for me as we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.

8. How many Christmas programs are you attending this month? Four

9. Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Any chance of that dream becoming a reality? Yes, as long as it melts the next day...all right the day after. ;) It could happen, we'll see.

10. Tell me about a Christmas present you received as a child. Pics are always nice. Sorry Mom and Dad, I don't remember any particular present...aside from contacts one year. I do remember the year I found my presents (sitting on the steps I might add), and totally ruined my mom's Christmas. Oops!

11. How many Christmas parties are you attending this month? One, and I'm looking forward to it when my natural social shyness doesn't threaten to overwhelm me.

12. How do you keep yourself centered on the significance of Christmas? I try and try and try to remember what's important. When I start to panic about my to-do list I think about what's really important. I also try to focus on making things nice for the kids. They're not going to enjoy things if I'm completely stressed and crazy making it happen. I want Christmas to be special for my kids--not the presents, the traditions, the coziness, the security, the warmth, the love.

My morning...

You only wish you were me. While my morning trip to Wal*art thankfully does not top Anymommy's, it was, in it's own right quite an event.

I've needed to go to the grocery store for days. Seriously. When we have baked potatoes one night and Kraft spaghetti the next for dinner, things are getting low around here. Between Jacob being sick, and the car being broken, and life in general, it just kept getting put off and put off and put off. Tonight when I'm done working Julianna has a show in dance and Rebekah has a quick Jazz band concert so I had no choice but to take the kids I watch and go. I don't usually shop at Wal*art, I don't particularly like Wal*art, but I knew this was going to be a big shopping, and saving money's kinda important right now, so off we went.

Well, an hour and a half of shopping later, we ended up at the check out. An hour and a half with a baby, a terrible (at times--not often) two year old and a bored five year old. We go all through the process, and let me tell you it takes quite a while to ring up and bag several hundred dollars worth of groceries, and I put my credit card in and *crickets*. I do it again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. The line's building behind me, the kids are way past restless, it was not pretty.

I step out of the way and call my credit card company, fairly frightened at this point because I have no idea why my card's not working. A few weeks ago we had an unauthorized charge in our checking account, seemingly an innocent mistake, but it definitely concerned me when this charge would not go through.

When I got through to my card issuer it seems they had put a security hold on my account. Okkkayyy. There was a charge from a particular company for $62. Yes, I ordered anti-virus software yesterday from them. Well, today there was an additional charge of $62. They recommend that I cancel that software and felt it was a situation where I had agreed in fine print, to be charged every day so they put a security hold.

Thankfully, it's all straightened out now. I appreciate my credit card company watching out for me, but to freeze our account because of two charges? Really? The worry and embarrassment was pretty intense for what it turned out to be. Thankfully, one charge was a verification, one was the actual charge, I won't be charged anymore, the Wal*art charge went through. The back of my van is full of my groceries, but let me tell you that was not what I needed today.

WWYD??

It's time for my favorite question...what would you do?

Mark got a cortisone shot in his thumb last week. He was supposed to get a shot in each thumb, but he passed out after the first one and they wouldn't do the second. Go figure. He had to go back today.

I wanted to go with him and hold his hand and give him moral support and be there for him if he passed out again.

I asked Rebekah to stay home from school this morning with the little ones I watch so I could go and not have the financial zing of missing a day of work. She said yes. It was set, but I was uncomfortable with that plan because I didn't like having her miss school.

Yesterday she found out she was going to have a quiz this morning in a class she might possibly miss if I was gone too long, so I asked the boys' parents to make other arrangements so she could go to school and I could go with Mark. They said no problem (they are awesome people to work for), and we were all set. Now, the fly in the ointment was that Jacob was home sick yesterday. If he was still sick this morning, I'd have to deal with that.

He woke up better, not great, but better and I took him and Julianna to school this morning. I came home, putzed around with installing new anti-virus software and was running a teeny bit late to get out the door to go be with Mark. I put the baby I watch in the car, get in, go to start it, and...nothing. No lights, no buzzing, no turnover. Nothing.

Realize it is just not meant to be for me to go with Mark today. Call him. Call the boys' grandparents who are watching them while I was going to be gone, explain the problem, arrange for the boys to be brought to me. Again, an awesome family to work for.

Call around, get an idea that it's my battery, not the alternator. Good news. :-) The Honda dealership tells me the battery will be $125.00 installed. I figured that's worst case scenario, most expensive option we'll face.

I call the repair place at the end of our street. I explain what's going on, tell them where we live, they offer to bring a jumper to the house. They're here within a half hour, put the jumper on and get the car started. They offer to take it to the shop and put a new battery in. Great, I say, that would be perfect. Three little ones here and no running car, I'm not seeing a lot of options. No problem, he says, that will be $160-170. Is that okay?

What was I supposed to say? Beggars can't be choosers I figured, and they're even bringing the van back to me when they're done. Their service truly can't be beat, but boy! do you ever pay for it. I'm trying to beat down the little voice in my head that's telling me I could have bought a battery at a car parts store for under $100 and installed it ourselves. I certainly don't know how, and I don't think Mark's hands are up for it. But expenses like this are really hard to take, especially during the holidays.

What would you have done?

Postscript: Well, this place is truly awesome. They just returned my van, I realized the radio probably wouldn't work because the battery had been removed (a Honda safety feature). The guy sat out in the cold, bitter weather and leafed through my paperwork (including embarrassingly lots of oil change and tire receipts from other places), found my radio lock-out code and fixed the radio. Very much above and beyond. Very.

I won't claim I'll always go to them, unfortunately I can't afford that, but I will refer people to them and go as often as I can.

Bleh

Even in this mood, this always makes me smile. :-)

I don't know what my problem is, but I can not seem to get in the holiday spirit. There's just so much "real life" yuck going on right now that it feels like there are black out shades over my holiday spirit. Not good. I have two little ones (do I still get to call them little ones?) who are very excited about Hanukkah and Christmas. They want their traditions, they want their excitement. They deserve those things, I just don't feel like I have the time or inclination this year.

Oh well, I'll do what grown ups do and fake it till I make it.

Mark's definitely not in a holiday mood either. His mood? Grim. Work's definitely not good, and that colors everything. Not only for him, but for me as well.

Bleh.

Well, tonight's the first night of Hanukkah. Jacob's wanting presents! and Latkes! and candles!

So, I'm off to the grocery store. Presents are bought, I just (?) have to locate them and wrap them.

We'll have a wonderful Hanukkah meal, eaten quickly before Rebekah has to rush off to be at the play, then we'll watch The Rugrats Hanukkah and play dreidel, and hopefully at least Jacob and Julianna will have fun.

Sorry this was a downer. Hope your holidays are off to a much jollier start. This weekend should help me get in the mood. Hanukkah's always fun, we'll be getting our tree and decorating it this weekend. The kids and I are going to see Julianna's dance studio's version of the Nutcracker...lots of fun stuff, I just wish it was December 1st instead of December 11th.

Meal Plan...

Busy, busy week ahead. Jacob's sick again...still...who knows. Hopefully he'll bounce back quickly, right now it's not looking so good. He's well on his way to missing two weeks of school this year. Wow! It's crazy, but what can you do, if he's sick, he's sick.

Monday (ballet/tap): French Toast

Tuesday (piano/jazz band): Meatloaf, parsleyed potatoes, brown sugar roasted carrots, cut out cookies

Wednesday (jazz): Chili, chili dogs

Thursday (jazz band/sax lesson): Chili spaghetti

Friday--last night of Hanukkah: Brisket, noodle pudding, latkes, sour cream, applesauce, challah, salad, rugelach

Plus, there's all kinds of stuff going on with each of the kids at school and in their extra activities. Why does December have to be so crazy???

Hope you all have a good week. Check out more plans at Organizing Junkie's.

Meal Plan...

Friday--Mark and I out to see Rebekah's play, kids get pot luck
Saturday lunch--Club sandwiches, chips
Saturday dinner--Roast Chicken, roasted brown sugar carrots, roasted new potatoes
Sunday lunch--Meatball subs, carrots, fruit
Sunday dinner (Sunday School Christmas program)--spaghetti w/meat sauce, garlic bread, salad
Monday (ballet, tap)--Spicy Orange Chicken Lo Mein
Tuesday (piano, rec center class, band concert)--Kung Pao Chicken, rice, sugar snap peas
Wednesday (scouts, jazz)--Free Wendy's for Julianna and I...cool story, bad service + really good, apologetic manager = free dinner for us, free replacement Frosty, free kid's meal toys (several), plus a free little something extra for Julianna to make up for the shabby treatment. I LOVE when people really try to make things right.
Thursday (jazz band, sax lesson)--eggs, potatoes, fruit

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Ack! Why did I do this?

Rebekah needs a winter coat for next year...a WARM winter coat. She currently wears her marching band jacket, and while that is awesome for now, she realizes you don't wear your high school letter jacket in college.

Sidebar: Do NOT go out and buy her a coat Mom and Dad. Yes, she loves you dearly. A 17 year old is not going to want to wear the coat that her grandparents picked out, not because you picked it out, but because your tastes are just too different. Sorry. Nothing personal.

Anywhooo, I took a chance and ordered her a coat I had found at Kohls.com. I honestly did not expect her to like it. See sidebar above, it's not just a grandparent thing, it's a mom thing too. I figured it was a long shot, but it was a great price and I'd rather find a coat this year and know that it's all settled. Welll...I showed her the coat and she loved it. Could.not.wait. for it to get here. Of course that meant there would be a problem, don't you know? The coat came last night. She absolutely loved it. It's heavy, it's her favorite colors, it's perfect...EXCEPT, it's too small. Why oh why did I not order the size I got and the next size bigger so we would have options? Now, it's all sold out except for a small.

I have a feeling every coat is going to be 'okay' after this. Nice, but not as nice. I hate that. :-(

Check out my giveaway.

Awesome Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is truly my favorite Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. It tastes delicious, and it has 180 calories per slice, not too shabby.

It has the traditional ooey-gooey, caramel-ly pineapply topping...

There's no fat in it, just a really, really light cake.

It bakes up nice and golden, then invert and...

Voila!
Yummy, traditional goodness, but no guilt. :-)

Luscious Caramel-Pineapple Cake
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. fat-free caramel ice cream topping
7 or 8 canned pineapple slices, juices reserved
7 or 8 dried cherries or cranberries
2 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9" cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Spread brown sugar evenly over bottom of pan and drizzle with caramel sauce. Top with pineapple slices and cherries or cranberries. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons pineapple juice.

Beat egg whites and salt in large bowl until soft peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar until whites are stiff but not dry. Sift flour and baking powder over white mixture. Gently fold into whites with rubber spatula. Fold in 1/4 cup pineapple juice.

Spread over fruit in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 35 minutes until pick comes out clean. Cool 2 minutes in pan. Invert.

Enjoy. :-) 8 Servings

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.

Planet 51

We went to see Planet 51 over the weekend. Rebekah chose to go have fun work with her calculus group, but Jacob, Julianna, Mark and I went. I should have known we were in trouble when the movie cost $26.00. Isn't there any such thing as a matinee anymore?

We bought our tickets, and proceeded into the theater. They've completely screwed up changed the concessions at this theater. Now, it's all self-serve, fancy-shmanzy, fru-fru concessions. A big treat for J&J has always been to have an icee at the movie. They no longer have kid's sized icees. Now, the icees are $5.00 and $5.50. No thank you. The prices, and the offerings, were truly ridiculous. They don't even have movie-sized boxes of candy anymore. It was crazy. I quickly made a deal with Jacob and Julianna that they could get an icee after the movie at Auntie Anne's. They were good with that, and both icees together cost me the same as one would have at the movie. I don't think we'll go back to that theater, which makes me sad, I've always really enjoyed this particular theater for movies, but I do not enjoy being ripped off, let alone volunteering for it.

So, concessions settled, we went in to the movie. It completely stunk. Really, really bad. None of us enjoyed it. It was too intense for Julianna, too preachy for Mark and I, and too not-fun for Jacob. There are maybe three funny scenes in the movie, it was not the fun experience we were hoping for.

As we left, it was a fantastic feeling knowing we had just spent $35.00 (Mark always gets popcorn) and two hours of our lives we'll never get back, seeing a terrible movie no one enjoyed. I can't change that for us, but I can warn you.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.