Yay Christmas!

I had a really great holiday season this year and felt the need to share a little about it. Last year was a little tough on us - it was my first year with Annyka at her dad's for Christmas since he's in Ohio now; I was sick all of December so I felt like an exhausted pile of crap at every event I went to and it was just a little stressful.

This year was a lot of fun. Everything didn't go the way I had hoped (we didn't get to spend much time with Lauren), but everything was fun and I feel loved. We had good food; I laughed a lot with my family and the families of my loved ones; everyone enjoyed their presents.

Annyka got new clothes, a scooter, a bike, CDs and various doll-type accessories that she's so fond of. Wilson got more cars and Bakugans than any boy needs, but he's been playing with them all weekend so he's happy AND he slept in his room last night with the lights off except for his new race car light - SUCCESS! I have fuzzy socks for everyday of the week (SCORE!), a fantastic new toothbrush (here's to my health!) and some money to spend on myself (even if it does end up being on things I NEED rather WANT). I got a whole week to spend fun times with Annyka - sleeping in, going shopping, visiting the zoo, eating out, etc and we all got to snuggle into our warm comfy house together as a family each night.

It has been a rough year - eh, year and a half - for me, but I'm feeling good right now. Things seem to be on an upswing and I'll drink to that...or not, but you get my drift.

Random Tuesday

My friend Michelle has dubbed Monday "Random Monday" but I seem to have several thoughts aren't quite profound enough to warrant their own posts, so today will just have to be Random Tuesday. Sorry, Michelle.

• I want to decorate my desk with the third world children’s wishes from the Sean Morey’s song Dear Santa, but I’m afraid it would be just… well… wrong.
• I love waiting for my packages to arrive from Amazon and the USPS… they are my Santa.
• Did I just put hand lotion in my hair to prevent Alfalfa-esque flyaways? Yes, yes I did.
• I feel like my immune system is currently taking a beating. I don’t have a good reason for thinking that. I feel fine other than being tired, but yesterday I woke up and felt like I’m due for an infection. I also have what seems to be a fever blister/cold sore starting on my lip as of this morning. Ick. Thankfully I have an appointment with the rheumy tomorrow and hopefully within the next couple weeks will be able to say I’m 100% cancer-free. Honestly, I’m a little worried (note of clarification: as of yet, I have not been diagnosed with any cancer, but I am having a minor procedure done on Friday which will include a biopsy and hope they do not find any cancer when they do the biopsy).
  
• This may be a record year for me and biopsies...Friday's will be my third this year.
  
• Despite all that health crap above, I’m really enjoying the holiday season so far this year.
• I just discovered I like baking bread. Who knew? I think part of it is because it takes me back to my childhood when my mom used to bake bread and give it to friends and family. It was famous for a while there, then she stopped making it. Okay, famous might be exaggerating, but I think you know what I mean.
• Why can I not figure out how to add photos in the middle of my blog posts? They always go to the top or bottom….Everyone else seems to be able to figure it out and I’m usually pretty handy with stuff like that. Do I need to choose a different blog template? (ETA: Well, I couldn't tell you how exactly, but I've fixed this issue. Yay me.

I found something to be thankful for...

Okay, in reality I have tons of things to be thankful for like:
Food and ability to provide enough of the good-tasting, nourishing kind to my family
A home that I love
People and pets in that home that I love
A significant other who is supportive despite my crazy health issues lately
Smart, caring, healthy kid(s)
A job I enjoy
Etc etc etc

But today I found something to be excited about. Every year I like to have a special day with Annyka in December to celebrate the holidays. I usually take a day off and we'll do something together. In the past we've spent the day at the Children's Museum; an evening at the zoo; last year was going to see the Nutcracker. I hadn't thought of anything this year. When Annyka gets a little older I would like to go to the ISO's Yuletide Celebration and Beef & Boards Christmas, but I'm not willing to spend a ton of money on something she won't sit still for!

So last night I decided...I'm taking her to paint a Christmas ornament at a pottery studio! I wish I could take both her and Wilson together, but I'll probably have to take Wilson another day since we never have them at the same time. We'll pick somewhere she wants to eat for dinner and make a day of it. I'm excited about this and can't wait to put it on the calendar!

Knock on wood

Maybe if I list all the horrible things that have happened to me since I returned home the bad luck fairies will leave me alone...a bulleted list:

*My storage unit was robbed.
*I got conjunctivitis in both eyes.
*I got a cold sore on my lower lip.
*My daughter has a cold and cough.
*I have a cold and am getting the cough.
*I got charged an extra $100+ for a subscription I thought I cancelled.
*My child support payments are screwed up.
*My daughter broke one of our Christmas ornaments last night despite me telling her a million times it was glass and would break. (possibly my fault for having it at all).
*I left out the milk (just bought the day before) on Thanksgiving while making green bean casserole and just realized it Sunday night (yummy).
*I tripped in my kitchen this morning and now my foot and ankle are both bruised and swollen.
*My personal laptop seems to be still suffering from the virus it had before I left for vacation.

That might be it...I'll add more if I've forgotten something.

I am going to try to start being thankful now.