Reading other blogs it's clear that Christmas this year was a varied experience from Stephanie's Happiest of Holidays to Troy's Crappy Holidays. I guess mine was somewhere in between.

The family dinner I was so worried about went off without a hitch. My brother behaved himself and Neal seemed to get along nicely with the smokers. It's funny in my family that all of the smokers are in-laws. It's like a club. And during family gatherings there are always times when the 'smokers' get to go outside and smoke and have a chance to talk bad about the family in private. LOL At least that's how I assume it goes. As a non-smoker and a non-in-law I'm not privy to that info. But Neal declared my family 'not nearly as bad as he expected' so that's good.

Santa Shawn came through and I got the digital camera I always wanted. It was a 'complete surprise'! ;-)

I also got a deep fryer which is the other thing I had asked for. So now I can pack on the pounds AND have photographic evidence of it! Woo hoo!

Shawn got Aiden the Robot that I wouldn't get him because it was too expensive. It's still in the box because we can't afford batteries for it at the moment. I got Aiden Bionicles which he LOVES and refuses to part with. In fact when bed time came and I said "Aiden lets go to bed" he replied "Nope, sorry, can't I have to Play!" And play he did all night long!

I got Kathrynn a bunch of My Little Ponies. I was stumped on what to get her for a 'big present' so I just got a lot of little ones. :-) She loved it. Shawn got her Hamsters. After forbidding me from getting her hamsters he comes home from shopping with two elaborate hamster cages saying he couldn't think of anything else. Grrr.

Since I had been originally scheduled to work Christmas Morning we planned to open all of our presents Christmas Eve. When it turned out I didn't have to work the (bigger) children couldn't be persuaded to wait the extra day so we went ahead as planned. It worked out Ok though because that gave us the chance to go out after opening presents and buy the hamsters for the cages. We came home with two females Belle and Cinderella.



I got Shawn a Leather Jacket which looks REALLY hot on him! And it was a big surprise. He never suspected for a moment what it was going to be.

And I got Neal an alarm clock which is everything you could ever want in an alarm clock. Alarm/clock/radio/phone/CD player/nightlight.

We also got a wireless network for our house. That was Shawn's gift from Neal but really all it's good for at the moment is making it so Neal can have a computer in the basement. So really it was more Neal's gift to himself. But Shawn's happy so what do I care?

Shawn and Neal seemed genuinely surprised that somehow I only had two gifts under the tree. Apparently they overestimated the children's ability to go out and do some shopping for mom on their own. LOL

Kathrynn said it was the best Christmas ever.

What could blow more than the prospect of having to work on Christmas? Having to work Christmas Morning!

So imagine my delight and surprise when the bosses husband called today to announce that they had decided to close the store for Christmas Day!

It's not under the happiest of circumstances unfortunately. Her dad is in his last days of terminal cancer and someone (usually my boss) has to be with him 24 hours a day.

That would blow more than having to work on Christmas.

Now I feel like poo.

:-(

There may be a whole lot more pictures on this blog in a few days. That is assuming the gift I spied under the tree from Santa Shawn is what I think it is. ;-)

While driving to Jennifers to drop my kids off I giggled to myself realizing that Jennifer and James started with the same letter. (I know, I'm easily amused). I giggled because Kathrynn and Katie start the same too, so do Dawn and David. I though about it some more and realized so do Stephanie and Shelby and Chelee and Chloe! Maybe it's some maternal drive to name our firstborn with the same initial as ourselves.

Then I realized that Mary Ellen's Daughter Lisa doesn't fit this pattern.

Hmmmmmm

The only logical explanation is that Mary Ellen has another child somewhere. A Mark or a Mandy hidden away that no one knows about.

It only makes sense.

Like any good cell phone user I was reading through the user guide that came with my phone. There wasn't much in there really that I hadn't already figured out on my own in the last 2 days.

I did find two very valuable pieces of information that I will share with you all though.

From the Safety Information on Page 10 of the User Guide.
Using a damaged battery or placing a battery in your mouth may cause serious injury.

And from the Safety Instructions (different list entirely) on page 9.
Never place your phone in a microwave oven as this will cause the battery to explode.

Apparently a my little flip phone is regularly mistaken for food which people think they need to eat or reheat!

LOL

I really didn't think it was possible for my brother to be a bigger asshole. But today he proved me wrong.

This year the annual Yelling and Hatred Christmas Party will be held at my brothers house. I don't know why we all bother to get together for the holidays I think the only joy I ever feel is the joy that I don't have to live with these people anymore.

I think I've written about my older brother Eddie before. I don't even know where to start. He got married young, ended up in the Navy and moved away from here with his wife and kid when I was still little. He's been gone, married living his own life for almost 20 years now and then decides it's a good idea to move back to the Tri-Cities. So here I am, all grown up, 27 and with kids of my own and he absolutely refuses to see me as anything but the 8 year old I was when he left. It's beyond infuriating.

Because their house is the most accommodating for a crowd he gets to host Christmas dinner. Today, December 20th, he calls me and asks if I'm planning to bring anyone extra for Christmas. I tell him no that I'm just bringing my family. He asks if Shawn's brother is coming. I reply that yes that is the plan.

Apparently the whole call was staged to let me know that Neal isn't welcome because he's not family. Hu? He's MY family! Apparently my brother considers Shawn family but not his brother. Which makes NO sense.

I told him that was stupid. He said he just wanted me to know his feelings on the matter. He said it's a family gathering and it's not for outsiders (gee, some Christmas spirit). Whatever.

Then he says he's only hosting dinner to help mom out and that he didn't think she'd want him there. Oddly mom has told me nothing except how much she wants Neal to feel like part of the family and how she would be a little offended if he didn't come to Christmas. I told my brother that and again he goes on with the "I just wanted to let you know where we stand." I say if it's going to be a problem we'll just do our own thing here and skip it. He called me infantile. I had to hang up!

I was so incredibly pissed and offended.

I was actually crying because I was so angry and hurt by him. I called my mom (yes, to tattle) and I could barely even speak to her I was so upset.

So I don't know what to do.

On the one hand I don't want to go. I don't want to go at all and be near him and his stupid judgments. We can have a fine relaxed fun Christmas here by ourselves.

On the other hand if we don't go he will never let go of how WE ruined Christmas by boycotting it because I was acting like a spoiled brat and blah, blah, blah. On top of that I would have to have a good excuse for not going to give to Shawn and Neal because I sure as hell couldn't tell them what he said.

But if we go there's sure to be a ton of tension which will just spoil Neal's first chance to meet everyone. (Yes, he's lived here 2 months and managed to only meet my mom).

But I feel like I should go and be the bigger person here.

Sigh

Families suck!

I dislike cell phones.

I hate it when people come in to pay for their gas and don't bother to get off their phone while I'm helping them and then they look annoyed at me for bothering them while they're talking. I HATE people who drive around talking on their phones. I have this sense of silent disdain whenever I see people inadvertently being rude because they are on their phone. I just want to kill them.

Or maybe it's all just thinly veiled jealousy...

It doesn't really matter anymore, I guess because, I have now joined the ranks!

Against my will I might add. My husband and brother-in-law conspired to bring me into the cellular age.

I am now the reluctant owner of a teeny tiny adorable little silver flip phone with unlimited nighttime minutes free calling to other Cingular customers blabity blabity roll over minutes and blabity blabity blah. The technology in this thing is beyond me. But I'm sure in no time at all I will be just as annoying as the rest of them.

Yesterday I didn't work. There were no men in my house, no katate, no ballet, no reason to go anywhere at all. So I didn't. I didn't step foot outside my house but once yesterday and I really only leaned out then to check the mail. I didn't shower until after 3pm and didn't get dressed ever. I spent the whole day in a t-shirt and underwear, or less.

I had breakfast at 9, lunch after 3 and dinner at 8:30.

It was fantastic!

To take this one! Sure it would reveal my true character to y'all. ;-)

I AM 32% WHITE TRASH! The white trash in my blood will not keep me from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep me from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense. Take the WHITE TRASH test at Fuali.com

Kathrynn finished her first embroidery project. She's so proud! And except for the knots, threading the needle, and a few 'motivational stitches' here and there, she did it all herself! So I'm showing it off!...

My men have gone off to work in Wenatchee for an unknown amount of time. It might be as little as 3 days or as much as two weeks, so I'm single for the time being.

I was sort of looking forward to being single for a brief time. But I quickly discovered that single with two kids is WAY different than single with no kids. LOL

I realized also that I've never really been left home without Shawn for more than a day or two. I mean *I* have gone and left him for a week at a time. But I've not been the one to stay behind before. It's kinda lonely. :-(

Well at least I assume so. He only left this morning. :-) He's only been gone 12 hours!

Still I'm lonely.

There is a lovely winery that makes Arbor Mist wines. Which are probably good, I don't know, not much of a wine drinker myself, but they have the prettiest bottles!

They make a product called Wine Blenders or something along those lines. It's a mix that you throw in the blender with some ice to make an alcoholic version of a slurpee! Whaa haa!!

In celebration of my Brother-in-law's bog 3-0 we decided to stock up on alcohol. I chose this wine blender because it was peach and I love peach.

The exact combination is 4 cups of ice to 1 1/2 cups of the mix, blended until it's all slurpee-ee. I did it twice and they are very tasty.

Tonight though the blender wasn't clean. It wasn't clean and I didn't feel like waiting so I just had the mix straight over crushed ice.

Good choice I must say.

quickest buzz I've ever had, and not at all unpleasant. :-)

Have mentioned that Jennifer is quite possibly the coolest babysitter in the whole world? No offense to anyone else who has babysat my kids You're all great! But Jennifer, wow!

I know this sounds like a total suck-up post. Especially considering that Jennifer posted today about babysitting my kids. LOL But this post was half composed in my mind before I even read her blog!

My kids LOVE being there. Kathrynn especially, she's in heaven! The only way it could be better for her is if it were just her and Jennifer alone all day long. LOL

So to Jennifer a hearty Thank you!

Kathrynn is growing up so much. It's amazing. I just glanced over and shy was lying on my bed embroidering.

After Mary Ellen introduced her to sewing and Jennifer reinforced it by helping her sew felt oven mits I thought she might enjoy embroidery. And she really does!

It's so neat to see her into something like that. I got her a little hoop and some needles and a bunch of floss. I'm thinking of making her up a little sewing basket or tin for Christmas.

She's so hard to shop for. She likes everything really. But it's hard to pick out one thing that she will really love. I'm thinking of making her a little apron of her own like I wear at work. With pockets and stuff. I may even embroider her name on it.

We've decided for Christmas to get one present for each other person in our house. I'm getting a clock radio for Neal. That's about all I'm sure of at this point.

I want to get Aiden a robot. But the only cool remote control one I've seen around is $100 and pretty complicated to control. We played with it one day at Best Buy. Aiden really liked it but it was hard for ME to maneuver. And did I mention it's $100?

I don't even know what I'm getting Shawn. I was going to get him a parakeet. He's talked about getting one since before we got married. But when I approached him about getting Kathrynn a Hamster he said absolutely NO pets! So he loses.

Last night I made hats for everyone. I bought fleece for the kids Kathrynn picked purple fleece with embroidered ballerinas, Aiden chose rainbow stripes. I had some cammo and penguins in the basement for my men. Shawn and Neal both chose cammo. Neal liked his hat so much he requested a penguin one as well. The only hatless one now is me. But I'm not so much a hat person myself.

Sometimes we make decisions and at the time they make sense. At the time it's all about the fun, getting caught up in the moment and just going with the flow. It's fun you know. To just say 'Fuck it' and do whatever the hell we please and totally ignore what's 'right' and 'reasonable'. It's fun to be a little irresponsible.

But that part where you wake up in the morning thinking "Oh my god, what did I do?" When you stop and think about the real consequences of your actions and how it affects more people than just the ones who were there. And you wonder if it's going to really screw things up. That part sucks!

Last night I went out with my Brother-in-law. I had a blast but one thing DID lead to another and before I realized what was happening I had blown $80 a the blackjack table! Well, it wasn't MY $80 it was his, but still. I was $200 up on two separate occasions but somehow I still managed to lose it all. :-( Damn casino! Damn blackjack!

Next time I will be more careful. Next time I will set myself some limits. Next time I won't go for SIX FREAKING HOURS!!

LOL

I am a hybrid of: Progressive Girl Girl Next Door Click on the pictures below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com