Florida Bound

I'll be leaving shortly for my trip. Unfortunately I have to return to work on the 2nd so I'll be back on the 1st. I'm not sure how much of an opportunity I'll have to blog, but if I get the chance I'll do what I can.

As usual on my way home from dropping of the kids to see their father I felt a heaviness on my heart. They go to visit often, but I never seem to stop feeling this way. I am sure that they will have a nice time sharing the holidays with his family. They have a big family and everyone pretty much lives in the area, so family get-togethers are common for them. All I have here is my sis and two of her children. I wonder if when my kids get older if they will visit mom for a holiday dinner or will they have other plans. I'm hoping that we can at least work something out to celebrate together for at least one of the days, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Of course that is years down the road, no need to really think about it now.

Did I mention who I am visiting while I am in Florida? My parents live down there along with my nephew (my sister's oldest son). My parents raised her two oldest boys. She got pregnant pretty young, way before she was ready to be a mother. I'll also be visiting my grandmother, my only living grandparent. My favorite presents that I will be giving this year are for my grandmother. Besides buying her a couple of boxes of chocolates (she loves her sweets), I am returning a sweater to her that belonged to my grandfather. He use to wear cardigans all the time, and when my grandmother decided to get rid of her place here in Michigan and live in Florida all year around, my father tried to throw them out. A while back I mentioned to her that I saved several of them to remind me of him, and she said that she would like to have one. Isn't that sweet? So this Christmas that will be one of her presents. To remind her a bit of my grandfather. Now HE was a sweetheart. I miss him a lot. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with him before he died. Anyway, along with that I also bought her a book, a collection of works by Edgar Allen Poe (one of her favorites). There isn't much you can get for a woman that will probably never return home. She will probably go straight from the rehabilition center to a nursing home. These are my favorites because it is everything she loves.

Well time for me to stop rambling. I think I'm going to run and have me a bit of lunch/dinner before my flight. As much as I enjoy not listening to my children fighting, I am not use to all of this silence. I guess the alone time is good, but WOW it seems so weird everytime I go through it.

Happy Holidays if I don't return before then.

Dose of Drama

You know what stinks about sitting home so much lately? The fact that I sit here and watch all the reruns for ER, and become annoyed when last weeks episodes are from a completely different season from the one I am watching today. This weeks episodes involve Dr. Green, Doug and an inexperienced Dr. Carter. Next week I'll probably be back to watching a very experienced Dr. Carter in Africa, and a nearly all new cast of characters to replace favorites like Doug (sexy George Clooney) and Dr. Green.

What can I say, with so little drama in my life these days, I have to get my daily dose of drama from somewhere.

I'm outta here!

Did I mention that in less than 48 hours I will be saying "Goodbye Michigan, HELLO Florida."

The Female Brain

I am enjoying the book "The Female Brain," however I wish that I had someone that was reading it along with me. There are many parts of it where I wish that I could engage in a conversation about it after reading it. Right now I am only as far as the "mommy brain," although I suspect that I am heading into the menopausal brain, but I haven't read that far yet. I find it interesting how our brains react to these hormones and neurochemicals. Just like how everytime I come into contact with a newborn I feel that "mommy brain" kicking in. I get the urge to have another one of my own, even though I know that this is not something that could happen, or that I would even want to happen at this point of my life, but that brief sensation is there. That longing for another child still warms me up inside. Of course I can be a very patient woman, and I have no problem waiting for grandchildren. Hopefully that won't be anytime soon though.

Oh, and I love the book cover. The perfect way to depict the female brain, a jumbled up telephone cord. What I also love about this book is that she explains the process in what could be a complicated way, in a way that is very easy to understand and with a sense of humor. My kind of reading.

What's up with UPS?

What is it with UPS? Why don't they bother to knock at the door when they drop of packages? I saw them pull up and I waited for the knock at the door before answering it, but there was never a knock. Then I heard the truck pull off. I then opened the door to find my package sitting there on my porch. Why don't they knock anymore? Have they just gotten lazy, or is this normal procedure?

Chad Bosma Photography

www.chadbosmaphotography.com

La Befana

Not everyone recognizes Santa as "Jolly Old Saint Nick" in the red suit, with flying reindeer. Supposedly Italian folklore claims that "La Befana" delivers presents to the children, not Santa Claus. She somewhat resembles a witch, wearing a black shawl and riding a broom (no rudolph leading her way). Although is nice and not at all an evil witch. She delivers the presents on the evening of January 5 & 6th, and instead of children leaving milk & cookies, they leave a glass of wine and a few morsels of food.

Just an interesting twist on our usual Christmas traditions here in the states.

We become so accustomed to how we celebrate things here that we never really sit back and think about how others might be celebrating these same holidays in very different ways.

Girl Stuff

Guys, you might not want to read this. You know....girl stuff.

I'm currently reading the book "The Female Brain." As I was reading it I came across a section that made complete sense to me. The female hormones, estrogen and progesterone and a woman's menstrual cycle; specifically mine.

About two years ago I was bleeding like a water faucet. So bad that I thought there was no way that any person could bleed that much and survive. As you can see I survived. Although it did take some time for me to get into the doctor. You know how they say that women are better about going to the doctor then men are, well sometimes this woman is not so good at it. It seems that when something isn't right with my body my first thought is usually cancer (my family has a history of it). I am sure that I am not alone here, and all my fears usually do is cause me undue stress.

Along with my excessive bleeding I also began to have excessive mood swings. Of course I didn't turn into the Wicked Witch of the West, but instead I became extremely sensitive. This usually happened just before menstruation. I would become very depressed, and just down right miserable. I seemed to think that it was the end of the world; my world that is.

Eventually I decided that enough was enough and I went to visit my doctors, both of them (GYN and family practice). The GYN put me on birth control for the very first time in my life. I thought this was funny, since I had already delivered all the children that I will ever give birth to. I had a tubal ligation after the twins (what did you think I was crazy). It was a simple fix, my hormones were out of whack. Well after the GYN I went to see my other doctor for my "depression." I explained to him about my visit to the GYN, and told him my symptoms. He ended up giving me a prescription for Prozac along with the birthcontrol. He also explained to me that what I was dealing with was Premenstrual Dysphoric Syndrome (a bad case of PMS). You see I only became sad and depressed like that just before my period.

So here I sit, thinking about this book and my experience, and really thinking about how these hormones can really mess up a woman's brain. Thinking about how quickly her world can be turned upside down, as if life is so miserable that it isn't worth living, but yet a week before she was so optimistic about life. I do see things differently now. Sure I do tend to get a bit down when "aunt Flow" comes to visit, but not nearly as sad as I was when my hormones were so jacked up.

BTW...I stopped taking the Prozac after about a month. I wanted to be my normal happy self, not completely numb, which is exactly how it made me feel. Nothing made me happy or sad, I was just left dangling there somewhere in the middle. The birthcontrol made it for about two months before I screwed that up. I've never been very good at taking medications, I'm always forgetting them. It seems though that it was long enough to straighten out my system. So if you're like me and seem to keep putting off a much needed visit to the doctor, get off your butt and do it....NOW.

....and here I am (smile).....happy.

Band Geeks

Don't you just love it when you children inform you the night before a school event that I need to make cookies. It always seems to work this way with me and my children. You would think by now I would expect this.

My daughter has a band concert tonight. Yes, all three of my children are band geeks, but they love it. Here is a little something about one of my sons. Everytime he gets in trouble and I send him to his room, he goes in there and plays his instrument. I wonder if he thinks this annoys me, or is it just his way of passing time (btw, he plays the trumpet). Either way it's a good thing, I've been wondering if I should send him there more often. Just a little something I thought was cute.

Countdown to Florida: 5 days

Cookies & such

Today has been a pretty good day. I made some cookies with my neighbor and my daughter. We had made some Russian Tea Cakes which were cooling. After they were cool, my daughter asked if she could have one. I told her that she could, but that she needed to roll them in powdered sugar first. I was just getting ready to sit down at the computer when I just happened to look over at her as she was gently rolling the cookies in the white powder. That is when I realized that she was rolling them in the flour and not the powdered sugar at all. Ha, ha, you should have seen the look on her face when I told her. What a silly girl! Luckily she only did a couple before I caught her.

Other than that I did find a new recipe for a slow-cooker chicken tortilla soup. I put it on this afternoon in the slow-cooker and let it cook away. I thought it was delicious, and so easy to make. Although I did skip the bay leaf and frozen corn because I didn't have any, but it was still yummy. A little something good to keep you warm this winter.

Dreaming is my enemy

I know what the problem is. I'm dreaming....well I'm waking up in the middle of my dreams. My dreams are all related to my everyday life. Simple things that happen, that roll over into my dreams and are somehow molded into its own variation of my life. Not necessarily making much sense, but the underlying theme of the dream is simply my life, just with a twist.

This morning I dreamed about car doors being wide open, cakes being made for a competition, and a mix between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I can't remember the entire dream, only pockets of it. My car was broken into a while back, and now I double, no triple check to make sure that my doors are always locked. This is why I saw the car doors opened. The cake decorating competition had involved my ex-in-laws (that I still get along with), but I wasn't competing against them. Somehow there were also some old friends from the military (not sure how they came into the picture). Now lately I have been baking for the holidays, and the kids are helping so they are sending some goodies to their father. Although I'm not making cakes, I'm making cookies. The mix between Thanksgiving and Christmas I just can't seem to understand, except maybe that it is simply because they are both so close together, and tend to blend into each other anyway. Like I said, the dreams are just a variation of my everyday life.

The bad part is that once I am awaken I start to think about whatever it was I dreamed about. What to make next for the goodies. Then I am left to think about something else. Why did my daughter's friend's mother call me and ask if I was going to the band concert? Well I know that we get along very well, and she does know that I always show up. Is she planning to give me a small present for the holidays? Don't you feel awkward when you get presents and don't have one to return. Although we did get something for the daughter and we were sending cookies for the family, but should I bring them then or let my daughter wait until the last day of school like she had planned? She is such a sweet lady, we get along so well. Whenever we get together for school events we end up standing around forever catching up on things.

Well that is how I spent my morning so far. I was awaken by a dream, that led me to think about other things, that eventually caused me to do what I have been doing every morning. WAKE UP way too early in the morning. Burying my head under the blanket and pillow do me absolutely no good.

Actually there is probably more to it than that. My internal clock is probably still use to waking up at 5 am, so getting up at 6 am IS sleeping in for me. Although 9 am sounds soooooo sweet.

Simple Holiday Yummies!

The kids and I made this holiday pretzel treats this afternoon. They are very simple to make and fun for the kids. To find out how to make these and other holiday treats look here.

Enjoy!!

Spread some Christmas joy this year!

"Girls, stop jumping on that couch! You know Santa doesn't bring presents to bad little girls." Just as my mother spoke those words there was a knock at the door. Without knowing who it was she opened it to find someone special. Little did she know there was Santa himself standing in our doorway, dressed all in red, with his checklist in hand.

"Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas" he exclaimed as he entered the house. "Have you been good little girls this year?"

"OH YES!!" we replied as we climbed off of the couch with innocent little smiles on our faces.

He went on to explain how he was in the neighborhood checking his list and that he would be back on Christmas to bring us presents.

That sounded all fine, but inquisitive young minds want to know. "Hey Santa, where's your reindeer and sleigh?"

He must have expected that question because he had a good answer. You see we lived on a military base, my father was in Vietnam at the time, and he explained that they wouldn't let the reindeer on the base so he had to leave them at the gate for security reasons. Okay, that we could understand. Of course they made exceptions for Christmas, and allowed Santa and the reindeer to come to deliver presents to all the good little boys and girls. That of course would be us, since we had been such good little girls.

With that he added us to his "good" list and promised to return then waved goodbye. As he walked away we turned to our mother and asked, "Hey mom, when is the snowman coming?"

~~

Well I'll let you in on a little secret. That wasn't the real Santa. It was a man dressed up as Santa to help spread holiday joy. Since my father was in the war, and we didn't have very much money back then, someone turned our name into a charity. That charity helped us to have a Christmas that year. If you haven't donated this year, do so, and make someone elses Christmas special.

The real Santa did come by that Christmas Eve, and that Christmas morning we did have presents to open.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Fun with photos

Kind of cool pics. My daughter playing around with a camera & the computer.

Where is that energizer bunny when you need him?

Have you ever noticed that when you don't do much, you seem to feel more fatigued? I know this but I think right now I am going to say "oh well, I am going to read and take a nap." See ya in a few.

This is a test

Every morning I seem to wake up no matter how long I WANT to sleep. 3 am, 4 am, 6 am. I hate waking up when I have absolutely no reason to do so. Once I wake up I end up staying up because one thought or another will pop into my brain. Nothing in particular, just thoughts. I guess this is a sign that I am stressed out, but I don't actually know what I am stressed about. Even though money is a lot less that in previous years, I still wouldn't call it a problem. Love life, well we know I don't have one of those, so how could that be the problem? Well then again maybe not having one is a problem, a cause for frustration, but not the end of the world. Sometimes being single is a major plus, but sometimes a major downer. That probably isn't my problem right now either. Kids fighting drives me crazy, but I don't think any crazier than any other time. School is finished for this term, so no worries there either. My biggest problem seems to be what book to read, or when to bake the cookies for Christmas gifts. That doesn't sound too complicated does it? I did start reading a book, "The Female Brain." Actually I'm reading that and "The Mermaid Chair," it seems that I can't just read one book at a time. Before going to bed I read one book and then switch over to the other for a bit before falling asleep. I did have some thoughts on the first few pages of the first book. About how hormones cause women to act certain ways. I know this all to well since about two years ago my hormones were totally out of whack. My doctor put me on birth control to get them back in order, that and a little problem I had with bleeding, well major problem. I didn't think any woman could bleed that much and still be alive. All is well now, the birth control straightened it out, but I got a taste of major hormonal issues. When I PMSed I could cry at the drop of a hat. Of course crying is easy for me to do. I tend to cry often whenever I am touched by anything sweet that anyone does, I don't even have to know the person. Of course it is like a happy cry, you know, like when you watch a Hallmark commercial. I'm bad I can get all emotional about an Army commercial. When the son is talking to the mother about his plans to go into the military. I'm goofy like that. I don't really look at this as a bad thing, I just care about people and how they are to each other. Lets see...."The Mermaid Chair"....I don't usually read novels but I am making an attempt to enjoy them. It isn't that I don't like reading them, but instead that I get so much more out of reading books that I can learn from, or take something from. Not that I can't take anything from a novel. There are lessons to be taught by them also. I have been trying to read these types of books more right before bedtime. Today I think I am going to start to make some of those cookies that we have been planning on making. The kids are excited about this, they really do enjoy it. Not sure what they like more, making or eating them. I went online and found a bunch of recipes for some hopefully delicious cookies. My mother-in-law makes some wonderful cookies, but hers I think are more about appearance than about taste. Of course I would never repeat that to anyone, I wouldn't hurt her feelings. Some are delicious, but others are too plain for my taste. I guess I like to have things with a lot of flavor, that I probably why I enjoy spicy food so much, I gotta have that FLAVA. I was told to set a timer and do this for 10 or 15 minutes, but I'm a bad girl I didn't set the timer. I went to the store yesterday and bought some pj's for my mother for Christmas, this is what my nephew told me to get her. As I was leaving I stopped and purchased a scratch off lottery ticket. I actually won $60. I rarely play so I was surprised that I actually won. So I went to the desk to cash in the ticket and I played a easy pick for the Mega Millions, and took the $59 in cash. I'm not what you call a big gambler. I'll take my winnings and run. I guess this surprises me a bit, because my mom's side of the family are big gamblers. My mom doesn't go much, but when she does get the chance she is an addict. Oh, but she is big on the lottery. I've never really been the lucky type, anything I have ever won has been from my own work, not from luck. Not that I even enter many contests. I did win a couple when I was a child. I won a Woodsy the Owl coloring contest in 5th grade, and also a young authors contest. I wrote a book and was amazed when my book was chosen over all the other choices. The other books were about creatures from outer space, or cool stuff like that. Mine was about a little girl that hid from her brother when he was suppose to be babysitting her. In the end she appeared and apologized to him, "I'm sorry Peter." Ha, ha. I guess mine had a moral and was appealing to the adult readers. As a kid I like theirs better.

This I am thankful for...

Last year I joined an online scrapbook class that created a keepsake journal for the 2005 Christmas season. This is one of the pages that I created. Maybe this season I'll go through some of the prompts and see how things have or have not changed for me.

For today I want to talk about the things that I am grateful for THIS holiday season.

1. This has been somewhat of a difficult year for my family. My grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, and they told us she had a week to live. That was about two months ago, and I am happy to say that they were wrong. She isn't dying, and lets hope she has many more wonderful years ahead of her. I am thankful to have another year with her.

2. My father was involved in a motorcycle accident a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't wearing a helmet, and we are fortunate that his injuries were not life threatening. Although he did get pretty banged up and has a broken pelvis. Of course this doesn't stop him from being a handful. I am thankful that I have been given the chance to realize that my father will always be the way he is, and he will never change is ways, at least not until he is ready. Until then I have accepted that I need to stop being so stubborn and have that relationship with my father, before it is too late and I regret not having said the things that I want to with him. Love your family, no matter how different their views are from yours, don't live with regrets. This I am thankful for.

3. I have healthy children. They are compassionate and care about others. Let me brag here....they get this from me, and this I am thankful for. Of course you couldn't tell this by they way they fight with each other, but deep down I know how much they love each other also. My kids will not being spending Christmas with me this year, they will be with their father and his side of the family. They have a big family and I am happy that they get the opportunity to share holiday traditions from his family as well. They enjoy many of the Italian traditions that are a part of both our ancestry.

4. I swear I have the best mom in the world. She taught me the importance of family. I am thankful that I will soon have the opportunity to spend the holidays down there with her in Florida.

5. The time off from work to bake some yummy cookies to pass out to friends and family this year. This isn't usually something that I do, but something that I do enjoy.