I don't proofread my posts before I publish them... cause I keep my thoughts au naturale.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

5 Favorite Holiday Activities


Here's a bit of serendipitous fun that greeted me this morning in my inbox. So, A usually only watches Nickjr (formerly Noggin) because it doesn't have commercials. (I can't deal with hearing, "mommy will you buy that for me on your computer" every 15 minutes.) But, they do promote upcoming specials on Nickelodeon and recently A has been obsessed with the upcoming Dora Christmas Carol special.

So, I awake EARLY this morning because an excruciating migraine forced me to bed early last night and surprise! TwitterMoms was hosting a blogging contest alongside Nickelodeon for a Dora Christmas Carol DVD... cha ching! If you're not a part of TwitterMoms, you should consider signing up and check out their current discussions. So, as part of the Dora Christmas Carol Blogging Contest, I am posting my five favorite holiday activities with my kids. And since my kids are so young, none of these are long running traditions.

1) Presents!: This is my daughters favorite part about Christmas. I love buying her presents, she loves opening them and she and my son both love playing with them. Seeing how excited my kids get on Christmas morning makes the holidays magical again.

2) Eating Free, Good Food: I'm cheap. I can cook, I think I'm a good cook, but food just tastes so much better when it's made by someone else and it's free. And this is an activity I enjoy partaking in with my kids cause it opens their pallets up to something I normally don't fix.

3) Reading Christmas stories: I love to read and hope my kids follow in my footsteps, so any chance I get to read to them is fun. But it's especially fun to read them Christmas stories because they think the stories are magical as well. And they learn about other holiday traditions.

4) Sea World: Each year at Christmastime, my extended family goes to Florida. And my favorite Florida activity is Sea World! This will be the first time A gets to go and I can't wait to see how excited she gets to pet a dolphin and experience it with me.

5) More presents: Everywhere we go, A and L get presents! I like seeing what they get almost as much as they do... plus, there's that added satisfaction you get knowing that the presents I got them were the coolest... unless it was something that I told someone to get them... hehehe

There you have it! My five favorite holiday activities with my kids. I'm sure as they get older, there will be new ones, but right now we're a bit limited. Be sure to check out TwitterMoms and also, if your kids don't watch Nickjr as much as mine, remember to watch Dora’s Christmas Carol premiere on Nickelodeon on 12/6 @ 8PM EST!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Oh, the Humanity!

Bear with me on this mini rant:

Many things in life drive me nuts, but the most recent one is the annoyance that I feel when people feel the need to push their thoughts and beliefs on another person. For instance, if you did not attend college, what gives you the right to tell your children where they should go? (This is not referring to me.) And if I hear the words, "I assume you are feeling..." one more time, I'm gonna explode.

And parents that severely punish/yell/talk down to their children for their grades makes me batty, too. My brother graduated with a 4.0 from high school and I can guarantee he did not get yelled at once for his grades. I graduated with something more like a 3.5, I'm thinking, but I was over putting much effort into grades- still am.

And speaking of yelling? GAW! I hate when people yell... hate hate hate. I can't imagine what makes people think that in a civilized society, it is okay to yell at another human being...

Why can't we all just realize that life would be much easier if we didn't shove our opinions down each other's throats, belittle one another or treat people with disrespect? Life's too short for misery.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Mashed Potatoes Make Life Worth Living

This will be a somewhat hodgepodgery of a post again. Yesterday began my Thanksgiving break from school, woo hoo! Coincidentally, yesterday I turned the big 2-8. Birthdays are always depressing and miserable, so I have nothing to say about that. But, I don't have to go back to school or that job until November 30. But, because I'm all over making money, I already agreed to sub at a local elementary school Monday and Tuesday. Today my kids are at daycare, so this is the first day I've had to myself since... probably August. I don't even know what to do with myself! Initially I said I was going to lie on the couch and watch chick flicks all day, but I have yet to do that. I was taking the kids to daycare and discovered I had a flat tire, so aired it up and had the hubby follow me to WalMart- had to get a new tire (there went my birthday money) and run errands, so I got home, started a load of laundry and went about getting some reviews done.

My only goals over break are to read a book for fun and shampoo the carpet in the laundry room. (To which A said, "mommy, the carpet doesn't have hair, how will you shampoo it?") I'd also like to get my rough drafts turned into final drafts so I can hand them in early, but we'll see what kind of motivation I have. Then, after break I only have TWO WEEKS left of this semester, thank you, Jesus!

And December brings in the birthdays, more holidays and the trip to Florida, which I hope is a heck of a lot more fun than it was last year. This will be A's first time going to Sea World, so I'm excited about that... I frickin' LOVE Sea World! And then I think we will go to Universal Studios.

I will try to keep some good blog posts rolling out as the holidays come and go to keep you posted on what's going on with me. I'd also love to hear back from all of you to hear about what you're doing over the holidays! And of course, you can always chat with me on Twitter.

Take care!

hammy

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Down with North Face!

I've started talking on Twitter lately about my dislike for North Face. I actually am not a fan of most brand whoring in general, but right now I'm going to take out my annoyance on North Face. Why take a $30 jacket, stick a logo on it and mark it up $70 bucks or so... or 20, or 30, etc. And especially when kids expect their parents to pay for this... *shudders* Ack, ack, hard earned money down the drain! I'll take Old Navy performance fleece anyday.

So, feel free to join my cause if you get bored on Twitter. I'm adding #northfaceisout to some of my posts cause I think it should no longer be "cool." I will point out that they are made in America, which is nice, but adding to American consumerism that promotes spending big bucks on a name brand when we're in a recession kinda makes me wanna stab things.

@a99kitten on Twitter directed me to this funny website called "Stuff White People Like" that included a section on North Face. It's hilarious... because it's true... and I don't know why. Although I only really like about 10 of the things on there... so hopefully that makes me not white.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Tomorrow's my birthday, woo hoo!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Yesterday was Tubular

Some of you follow me on Twitter, so might have caught me tweeting about this, but yesterday A had to get tubes in her ears and have her adnoids removed. I was not really worried because L had this done last winter, so I knew the drill. Plus A had no clue what was going on, I just told her the doctor was going to "fix her ears." So, she gladly went with the nurse, completely unaware. I waited and read some articles for school. They brought her back, said she was an A+ patient and I sat in the rocker recliner with her while she came out of it more. She was none too happy, mainly because of the IV in her hand (I felt her pain!) About 20 minutes into waiting, she threw up all over me and herself, so that was a treat.

The doctor came to check on her and informed me that she would probably be cranky for a few hours and then be back to her normal self by the evening. Either he sniffs glue or he way overgeneralizes, but he was so wrong. She was a zombie all day up until about 7pm. She snoozed and cried off and on, but then the weird thing was she didn't perk up until she had Tylenol with Codeine... isn't that supposed to knock people out?

So, we went to bed around 10pm and this morning she is right as rain- or so she says. Hopefully she will be able to sleep better now, hear better and quit digging in her ears. Unfortunately L started running a temp yesterday afternoon and is not much better this morning. And I have to present at a conference tomorrow morning, so I won't be home from 10:30 am today until noon tomorrow. It will be the first night I've ever spent away from the kids! And they're both under the weather- go figure... now I will be riddled with guilt the whole time...

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hodge Podge... Dodge Ball?

So I'm reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallly lagging here lately on churning out the bloggy goodness, so you'll have to forgive me! We're in the last 4 weeks of the semester, so all these huge papers are due for me. Any free time I get I'm working on school work, working, or trying to spend some time with the family. Last week I had the kids go an extra day to daycare, but I got called in to work at a different job, so I figured money was more important than that extra time to do school work. This weekend I had SEVEN school papers I wanted to get done and so far I've finished 2. I'm quite behind! Then tomorrow I have to work again... then begins the busy week of class and work. Add to that that A has to get tubes on Thursday and Friday/Saturday there is a conference hosted by the English Grad Organization that I have to attend and present at, so I am going to have to spend the night at a friend's apartment. Plus, Nick just got a new part time job, so he'll be going through orientation this week. Ay carumba!

My last day (hallelujah) of this semester is Dec. 9, so I will be a free woman after that... well, until spring semester starts. I promise as things wind down and all my papers are handed in I'll put my blogging hat back on... until then... feel free to go through the archives, lol.

Have a great week!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

'Tis the Season!

It's my favorite time of year again! I looooooooooove the holiday season. Of course, I went through that phase between high school until having kids that the holidays didn't mean much. After you're no longer a kid, holidays just seem boring and chalked full of awkward conversations and monotony. But, having kids has injected some fun back into the holidays! It's so cute to see how excited they get about everything "magical" about the holidays.

Here's all the things I'm looking forward to:

November:

My birthday (not sure why, two years ago I spent the whole day crying about getting old)
Thanksgiving (free food is always the best kind!)
Thanksgiving vacation from school (hallelujah!)

December:

A's birthday (she'll be a whopping FOUR!)
End of the semester (I might die of joy overload that day)
Christmas
Going to Florida with the family (I love Sea World!)
New Year's Eve

January:

L's birthday (he'll be TWO!)
School starts again mid-January (maybe I'll be over taking a break by then)

What are you looking forward to most about this holiday season?

Monday, November 2, 2009