No TV

I'm having withdrawals. We have been without out our satellite dish for over 3 weeks now. And, it may be another 3-4 weeks before our receiver is replaced. I can hardly stand it without TV. I am an addict. We have watched every video in our collection again and again.

I've learned how to play Guitar Hero and am getting pretty good at it. I might even get all of the kids' school papers and picture organized this winter. Maybe. But, most of all I have been reading more than usual. Which is ALOT. I, like my sister, love to read. But, I still think she reads way more than I do even though she does have five little ones. I have read the entire Chronicles of Narnia, except for the first one, but that is only because it is missing. I am still waiting for KJ's friend to return the 3rd in her Twilight series of books to finish that series. I'm not happy about that. I devour every magazine that I receive, plus the ones that Mom gets because I am getting all of her junk mail while she is away. And, now one of my coworkers lent me a vampire series by the author, Nora Roberts. I'll be starting those soon.

But, even so, as I am typing this, it is so quiet. We have no kids this week and Brian is sleeping, but there is no background noise from the TV. I don't like it. I can hear my typing, and the space heater running, and, oh, that stupid scanner. It squawks alot. Especially when it is snowing and you can hear all of the police chatter. It's quiet right now, though. Eerily quiet. I keep looking at the Christmas decorations and thinking that I should just put it all away. But, I will wait until after the New Year. I am still enjoying the lights of the trees.

A ROCK

Ok, I think I mentioned a while back that we organized a Secret Santa exchange at work. Maybe I didn't, but anyway. At the beginning of December, we thought it would be fun to do a Secret Santa gift exchange at work. We have done it in the past with good and bad results. Some people were really into it and some not so much. Well this year yielded the same results.

The rules were that it would only be over about a 2 week period. No one was asked to spend a lot of money, just give little random gifts throughout the 2 week period and then a bigger gift on/around Christmas Eve. We asked that no one feel obligated to spend beyond their limits but to just have fun with it. I found some neat little gifts for my Secret Pal and randomly left them at her desk or in her mail box...a little gift box with some cherry cordial Hershey kisses, a handful of hot cocoa creme Hershey kisses left on her desk, a small tube of hand lotion, some Christmas earrings that I actually got free with another purchase, and then for the finale a neat gift box with a pair of Christmas socks, an ornament and some more kisses. Pretty nice, huh? And, I saw some of the neat things that some of the other coworkers received too.

Well, now we get to the not so great stuff. Guys apparently don't get it. Not everyone participated and that was ok, that was their choice. Well, 2 of the guys in the clinic chose to. One had to ask his wife if they could handle the finances of it first. Well, he did buy a gift, one gift, and that was some funny Santa frame thingy, I didn't see it, I just heard about it. Well, he goes up to the person whose name he had and says, "did you like your Secret Santa gift?" She was sort of speechless at this point and says, "well, yeah...." And he says, "Well, I'm your Secret Santa". And just spills it just like that. It wasn't even Christmas yet. Then we come to my Secret Santa. The first couple of days, I thought it was pretty cool. I came back from lunch to find a cookie on my desk, addressed to me. This happened 2 days in a row, the second time there was also a sucker. Well, the handwriting was pretty easy to figure out. It was obviously a guy's handwriting. So, I narrowed it down to the 2 that were participating. Then on the 2nd day, one of the lab techs shared how the xray tech had shared a cookie with her that day. Ding, ding, ding. I figured out right there that it was him!! Duh! So, I figured that from then on maybe I would either keep getting cookies or something else, but nope, nothing. But, that's ok, I guess I shouldn't be greedy. But, I was a little disappointed as I kept seeing my other coworkers keep getting some fun stuff.

Well, I knew that this xray tech was going to be off a few days here and there around the holidays, so I figured that was probably why I didn't see much after that. Then Christmas Eve came around and we realized that we hadn't planned very well how we were going to do the reveal. Many people had that day off. So, the ones who were there, just decided to give their final gifts and the rest could come back on the following Monday to finish up. Well, this xray tech comes up to me on Christmas Eve and says, "hey, I owe you. I couldn't find what I wanted to get you." So, I'm ok with that, I guess I'll let the suspense wait until Monday. I knew that he was working one final day at the clinic until he accepted a new position within the organization and would no longer be with us. So, right away this morning (the monday after Christmas), he hands me a leather Indian-type bag. It's really heavy. And, you know me and my sense of humor. I say, "What did you get me, a ROCK!" So, I unwrap the string around the bag and I pull it out and what do I find?? A ROCK!! He actually gave me a ROCK!!

Ok, so it is kind of pretty and all, not just some rock he dug out of the backyard. I think it is a quartz of some kind. I asked if it was, sort of hoping for an explanation or some hidden meaning, but he just said, "yeah, I think it is a quartz." Boy, did I feel dumb, I had to have shown some sort of disappointment on my face. What do you do in a situation like that? I don't remember telling him that I collected rocks or gave him any indication that type of gift was something I would enjoy. Brian likes it, but he also agrees that it is an odd gift. At least my close coworkers got a chuckle out of it.

I decided I would add some pictures for you to get the real effect.

White Christmas

Of all the things that I wished for for Christmas, this is what I received. A white Christmas. You can see how much we have gotten and actually, I should have taken these yesterday when there was more snow. It started melting this morning and now those lights in front of the house are completely uncovered. After the first snow, they were barely peeking out from under the snow. We have been getting a drizzling mist and fog today. The driveway is almost all clear again. I hope it melts completely before it freezes into a sheet of ice.

As you can see, I also posted pictures of my first try at a gingerbread house. I bought one of those gingerbread kits at WalMart. I thought it would be fun for the girls to put together on Tuesday when they were home from school. Unfortunately, my plans didn't work out. Koree spent the night with a friend the night before and didn't get home until later in the afternoon. Heather and Hallie went early to their mother's for their Christmas there. They didn't get back until after 10 on Christmas Eve. Tyler and Koree didn't get back on Christmas eve afternoon from their dad's until I was almost done with the house and then we needed to get ready for church.

It is not a very good house as I was in a rush and no one was there to help me. I know what I may do different next time if there is a next time.

Teenage angst update

I took Ty over to talk with his dad last night. He was afraid that his dad would just yell at him, so I had to go in with him. I did at least for support. He opened up about the way he was feeling and I am glad of that. I think he tends to hold things in and bottles these things up until he explodes and says things he doesn't really mean out of anger. I hope his dad understands that.

I did put in my own 2 cents in Ty's defense. He had said that every weekend seems to get busied up with doing stuff with his dad's girlfriend's family. I mentioned that maybe he could not have to go to these every time as a compromise. Also, I suggested that maybe his dad could sit down and relax once in a while and play Xbox with him or something else that Ty enjoys doing. He had told his dad that he doesn't really like standing around piddling in the shop.

His dad also mentioned that when Ty's friends come over they like to help themselves to the refrigerator and food, then leave messes all over Ty's room. They do that at my house sometimes too and I am torn on this part. I know it also bothers Brian. But, on one hand I want them to feel at home in my house. I don't want to run them off. On the other hand, I also don't like the messes they leave behind. But, I am not afraid to say, "hey guys! will you please pick up your messes." It's not like they are going to bite me or anything nasty when it is my own home. I think if I didn't say anything, they just plain wouldn't think of it. I don't think they do it out of disrespect. Kids these days are different than they were say when our parents were growing up and they were afraid of grownups.

So, Ty did at least get his phone back. But, he is without his car and Xbox for the week. I thought it was a little harsh that he took away everything. His dad says he will pick him up sometime later this week to open presents at his house. Apparently, they opened presents on Saturday without him. And, it is also so they can all sit down and apologize to each other. Ty to the other kids and those kids to Ty.

Teenage angst

I got a call from my daughter last night asking if her brother was at my house. (the kids are with their Dad this week) Since I wasn't home at the time I told her that I didn't think so, but that we could find out. She went on to tell me that Ty and some of his friends were playing 'king of the mountain' on a snowpile near their father's home. Well, from the way I understood the story, their father's girlfriend's kids wanted to play along. They are quite a bit younger than Ty and his friends, so it sounded like things got rougher than they are used to and the younger ones went home crying. Typical kidstuff if you ask me. KJ says her Dad was mad and that they couldn't find Ty and oh, they got a puppy (i'll get back to that part).

While I was talking to KJ, Brian called Ty's cell and he said that it went right to voicemail as if it was off. Well, I happen to have one of his best bud's cell numbers on my phone so I give him a call and he puts Ty on. Ty confirmed his sister's story and says he doesn't want to go back to live with those (expletives) because his Dad is stupid and lets those kids do whatever they want and he never lets him do anything, etc, etc. He says he is staying with his friend tonight and that's it. I told him to go ahead and do that and cool off and he can set things right in the morning.

In the meantime, I'm thinking, ok, I should be getting a call from his dad soon. So, maybe 10-15 minutes later, my cell rings again and yes, it is their father. He is bawling and asking what is going on with our kids. I'm also thinking there may be alcohol involved because from past experience he doesn't bawl like that unless there is. I say that up until this point that I didn't know there was a problem. Ty hadn't really given me any indication that there was a problem other than that he did say once not long ago that he felt that his dad didn't want him to even have a social life. But, he said it so nonchalantly that I didn't really take it too seriously. I guess maybe I should have. Well, apparently after I got off with Ty, his dad caught up with him and tried to forcefully drag him out of his friend's house, tearing his coat. Ty threatened to call the cops on him and must have said some really hurtful things to him. His dad took away his cell phone, car and X-box, his most prized possesions at this point.

So, at this point he is crying, literally, to me that he bends over backwards for him and buys him everything he wants and that he lets Ty do stuff all the time and that he hardly ever helps him cut wood or help him around the house at all. I explain to him that I struggle sometimes with getting Ty to do stuff for me too. But, I also explained to him that he is 16 and he cannot expect him to hang out with Mom and Dad all the time. I had to remind him that I doubted that is what he wanted to do when he was that age. I restrained myself from reminding him that Ty is far better than he was at that age, and I also did NOT remind him of what he was doing at Ty's age and much earlier. Ty is a good kid and I trust and respect him. But, the two of them have no respect for each other. At least, that is the conclusion I have come up with after having a restless night of sleep.

I did call Ty again after talking to his dad to clear up stuff and to be sure that he wasn't just "playing" me. Obviously, I am getting 2 different views of the whole story. He used some very disrespectful terms for his father, which in after thought I should have corrected him on, but I felt he needed to vent and cool off. He said he was on his way to go bowling with his friends. But, he explained again that he was angry at his dad for always sticking up for the other kids and keeping him locked up all the time. I think that there is alot of pent up frustration from years of growing up with his father that I didn't see coming. I explained to him that he needed to cool off and then go talk to his father. He said he didn't really feel like talking to him. He also said he wasn't like his dad and that he wasn't going to go off and do something stupid. I believe him.

My thoughts are that their dad is trying too hard now to be a good dad and keeps trying to buy their affection instead of just hanging out with them and listening to them. I can tell when they come back to my house, how much they miss just being heard. Ty spends much of the first night at my house just talking to me and telling me what is going on his life and just everything. That is something his dad has never been good at. I used to crave it from him and I guess now my kids are too.

What do I do? I really don't want to be in the middle of their disagreement, but as a mother I want to help my son anyway I can. I think inside he is hurting and struggling with growing up and wanting to feel his own independence, but I want him to keep making good choices in his life. Do I interfere in this or do I let them hash it out themselves? I think I know the answer and I pray that it all works out for the best in the long run.

Oh, and back to that puppy thing. I can't believe he turned around and got them a puppy. Still trying to buy the affection I guess. Just last year he didn't want to keep our dog, Eddie, because of his new addition and that he was afraid the dog would poop and pee all over, etc. (He threated to give him away or kill him.) What does he think a new puppy will do?? Besides that, Eddie was always kenneled while everyone was away. He hardly ever has to stay kenneled at my house because Brian works 3rd shift. He can snuggle with him all during the day. And, he doesn't have accidents at our house at all. He is very well trained. Hmmph! Well, I guess the dog is better off too. He is in a home where he is loved.

My own snow day

Well, it has now snowed here at least 12 inches and still counting. I tried my best to make it to work today, but didn't even make it out of the driveway. Since I have a downhill slope out of the driveway, I thought I could at least make it to the road and have slow going to work, but eventually get there. Wrong! I got stuck just before enter the roadway. Luckily, that is where I stayed and not stuck out in the road where my car would get run into and hurt somebody.

Just as I got myself stuck there, my cell phone rings and it is my coworker saying that she hopes I am not trying to venture out in this weather. We both decided that it most likely the clinic will close. Which is rare. I cannot understand why anyone would want to venture out if they don't have to, but when I worked in the pediatric office in Des Moines parents would bring their kids in the worst weather for WELL child checks. I can understand if they are really sick, but WELL. Why come if you don't really have to??

So, as I was saying. I am stuck at home and with no TV. Our satellite receiver went out sometime last week. We have been watching and rewatching some of the DVDs in our collection and that is already starting to get old. They are apparently upgrading and that has put a delay in our getting a new one plus the fact that these orders always seem to get mixed up. And, they don't understand why we feel we shouldn't have to keep paying for service that we are not getting. So, in the end we will get some free stuff (we hope) or we will get totally different service. But, in the meantime, I am going to have to either clean house, bleh, or find some other creative outlet to spend my day. There are lots of things I could do, but how ambitious am I today? :)

Holiday traditions

I've started a weekly newsletter for the clinic where I work. For next week, I've asked my coworkers to submit some of their favorite holiday memories or traditions. This got me to thinking about the things we used to do growing up.

I remember when we were younger, all our aunts, uncles and cousins would gather on Christmas Eve at my mother's parents house. There we would open presents from them. I don't remember if we ate there too. I was pretty small. So, I mostly remember the presents. Knowing Grandma, I'm sure there was good food there too. After that, we would go home and Santa would have come while we were gone, so we would open presents from "Santa" at home on Christmas Eve.

As we got older and my younger brother and sister came along, that tradition changed. Then we as a family would go to Mass on Christmas Eve. While we all loaded in the car to go, mom would mysteriously always seem to take a long time finishing getting ready and take long time coming out to the car. Again, when we returned home, we would find that Santa had been there. Then, opened presents on Christmas Eve. This left Christmas day for visiting relatives or having them to our house for dinner.

I'm sure there were other things that my siblings can remember, but these are the ones that stand out most in my mind. Oh, and I used to love singing Christmas carols on the way to Mass when we were older, too.

I hope my own kids don't mind that we don't have traditional things that we do each year. At least we still get together with family and friends and do fun things. And, I still get to sing Christmas carols. Tomorrow night, for the second year in a row, Brian and I will be going caroling with our church choir. After that, we will head to our neighbor's for fellowship and snacks.

At least I hope we still can go. We are getting a bunch of snow and it is supposed to keep snowing for the next few days. My brother was kind enough plow our drive. I'm sure he will be back again soon as it keeps piling up.

Snow....and lots of it!!

We are in the middle of a winter weather advisory. As the day progressed, we had people cancel appointments for the afternoon and for tomorrow. It was a little of a treacherous ride home. I drove only 35 miles per hour at the most. I felt as if my tires barely touched the pavement. It had started raining around 3:00 pm. I am working early mornings this week, so luckily got to leave at 4 pm. I had to scrape ice from my windows before I left. After getting home, it started snowing on top of the ice. We have at least 2-3 inches since getting home and lots more coming. The weather forecast for tomorrow is 100% chance of snow. The kids' school is already delayed 2 hours for tomorrow. (they got out early today too) I really doubt that they will have school at all.

Brian got home from hunting yesterday not feeling well. Luckily, he had taken the night off, so he spent the night on the couch, and making frequent bathroom trips. When I left for work this morning, he was sporting a 101 temp. I tried to call and check on him throughout the day and he never answered the phone. I'm glad the kids got home early to check on him. He had me worried. I fed him some soup for supper and he seems to be feeling better. I have been encouraging him to stay home from work tonight for two reasons; to get better and to avoid having to drive in this weather. I doubt he will listen to me. Men!

Anyway, I am not looking forward to driving back to work in this stuff. Another good reason for him to stay home is so that I can drive his truck to work tomorrow. Although, I'm sure my car will be okay in the snow too. I'll leave early and just plug along until I get there. It really never has bothered me too much to drive in the snow. I would just rather stay home.

Shopping

The guys went hunting this weekend, so I decided that it would be a good time to spend some time with my daughter. So, yesterday I took KJ and her cousin shopping. That was on KJ's list for Christmas. We found some really good bargains and I probably spent too much as usual. But, it felt good to knock off some of my list. Now, Brian and I have to find the time to go before Christmas to get the final things. I think I'll do some more online too and save us a little. There were so many people and now I know why I hate shopping at Christmas time. The one store that we found the best deals on was jam packed with stuff and people. I'm glad we only had to hit a couple of stores. I really kind of like the mall we went to, too. It is much smaller and there is alot less walking around. Plus, the other stores that we needed to go to were in a close vicinity, so we didn't have to drive around all day. There was however, one store that I prefer never to have to go in again. This store was so dimly lit and the music in it was blaring so loud that you could not hear the salespeople or see the sales prices on the tags. Plus, the stuff that was not on sale was way more than I wanted to pay. Trendy stores!! I'll stick to finding that stuff on Ebay.

Friday night we took the girls to the local basketball game. That was fun even though our teams lost. The girls game was close. (the other team is rated) The boys were way ahead in the first half then just kind of gave it up in the second half, but almost pulled it back together, then ended up losing anyway. Seems to be the Valley fate every year. We sat in front of my brother and nephew and were lucky to get a seat. We were late getting there and he called us from inside the gym to say that there were seats available in front of him. Thought we were going to be watching the game from the hall. We ended up sitting right next to the student section, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Oh, yeah, it was "red hot night", so everyone was wearing red, and I think that was partly the reason for the gym being so full, plus the fact that the other girls' team was rated. They are pretty good and their side was just as full as ours. The sad part is that part of their crowd left after the girls' game. Doesn't show much faith in their boys team. Another interesting fact is that both our girls and boys coaches went to school at the opposing school. I bet that made it extra hard to be beat by their home school.

So, now I am exhausted after spending that long day shopping, but still have to get to church soon. Took KJ to Sunday school and dropped off our pies and rolls for the senior holiday dinner. She will be helping to serve at it later, but first she has to acolyte at church. I signed her up for this month and next because she is only here every other Sunday and there are only a few confirmation students this year to divide it up with. Good thing she came to stay with me this weekend to get an extra Sunday in.

I think this afternoon we will be reorganizing her room. The guys finally came and put in the insulation. Now we have to put everything back in its place. But, I definitely need to vacuum first. And, I thought weekends were for relaxing. Yeah, right.

Proof that I am not a Photographer

Funny, these pictures didn't look that blurry in the camera when I took them this morning. But, I thought I would post them anyway, so you could see the stockings that I talked about in my last post. I guess you get the general idea.

Well, I am off today. (working late on Thursday) Sometime today I have to make pies for the community Senior Citizen holiday dinner on Sunday. Then, KJ has a game this afternoon. And, I also volunteered to work the concession stand tonight for the varsity game. The junior class is doing the concession to raise money for prom. And, since Ty is a junior I get to help. I hope that they hit his dad up for it too I have already worked one evening at a volleyball game, after all. Oh, and Ty takes his turn too.

More Christmas

I thought I would add some pictures of our Christmas trees so those of you who aren't here at Christmas time can see them too. As I was trying to play with my camera and capture the pictures in the light that I wanted, I noticed that there is actually a setting on it to capture snow pictures at night. I'll have to try that one with the next snowfall for you. I never really fancied myself a photographer before, but when you have a decent camera it really helps. Although, I still don't think I am that great of a photographer. At least you get the idea. And now that I look at the bigger tree, I see that there is a dark spot in the middle. Guess I didn't quite get the lights spread evenly. :)

It needs a little more something to make it sparkle. Maybe some silver bows. What I really miss is the silver icicles we used to put on when we were kids. That was my favorite part of decorating. But, I sure don't miss the mess they left behind. Kind of like Easter grass from Easter baskets. You end up finding that stuff for months afterwards.

You also cannot see the Santa on a motorcycle sitting under the tree. That was given to Brian last year by his sister. Someone gave it to her as a gift and she thought he would enjoy it more. He thought maybe it would be fun to find a Santa suit, dye his beard white and drive his motorcycle through downtown. Wouldn't that be funny. I would definitely post that picture.


I should also have taken pictures of the dining room. Koree had a great idea to hang the stockings under each of their pictures that are hanging on the dining room wall. Brian hung ours together on another wall with some other decor and we hung Eddie's above his dish. It sure makes the little room look cozy. I found the perfect sign to hang in our dining room too. It says, "Our house may be small, but God knows where we live." Fitting, huh?