Happy Sigh.

Today, I am happy.
Some would call me crazy...but if you knew me, you'd already know I'm all sorts of crazy.
The past few days have been whimsical. It has snowed in my neck of the woods...the first time in seven years we've had snow this early, and it makes me smile. Granted, I don't have many negative repercussions in terms of snow. I don't have to shovel or plow. I'm allowed the joys of kicking back, watching the flakes peacefully fall, and soaking it all up.
Since the first measurable snow came so early this year, it melted ALMOST as fast as it poured down. The air outside was warm while the flakes drifted down..unlike December when the air is generally VERY cold and frigid.
Some are claiming that summer went straight to winter...but they're overlooking the fact that September in MN had temperatures consistently higher than normal...if anything, the MN fall has been AWESOME thus far.
This morning, the sun has been shining. The leaves that are still clinging to the trees are glistening. The realization that the holidays are right around the corner can't escape my mind...and I am happy. Happy because the holidays mean seeing people....and people generally make me feel warm and loved.
At the first sight of snow, little man came rip-roaring into my room shouting "MOM! MOM! IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (bless his heart). I had to pull out my calendar to explain to him that Christmas was still a couple of months away...but lucky for me, his excitement was contagious.
I'm not only excited to be around people this holiday season...but also excited to show and teach him the importance and shear awesomeness of giving. Be it to a food shelter, or a toys for tots drive..my goal this year is not to shower him with gifts, but show him how to shower others around him.
So yeah...I'm happy today. Happy for the weather. Happy for my health. Happy for what's to come. Plain and simple, I'm happy.

Lovely.

It's official. Fall is here and is going to leave just as quick as it came. The colors in MN have peaked 100%. It's only a matter of minutes before all of the leaves are blown to the ground, covered in frost, then disappear under snow. That's right, I said the "s" word!

The vibrant colors of this time of year amaze me. The flaming oranges, reds and yellows are just about everywhere you turn. I think it's mother natures way of giving us color overload to prepare us for winter, (which is riddled with white, brown, and a yellow you avoid instead of gaze at...).

Once Halloween is over, the holidays are literally around the corner. One thing I am thankful for is having a white Christmas every year. There's something magical about the snow covered decorations that glow in the night. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

However, once Christmas is over...I'm ready for it to be warm out again. That's the only bummer of living in MN: Cold weather that stays about three months too long.

Aww Shucks

So...nobody responded to my request for introductory comments. Oh well...I'll try not to lose too much sleep ;)
Last friday I had the day off of work. The president of my company notified our office stating it was employee appreciation day, and we should take the day to enjoy the nice spring weather (the president resides in a warm, nice city...little does he know, it doesn't start to get nice out in minnesota for a few more weeks!).
To try and start my weekend early, I decided to treat myself to a night of relaxation and a movie on thursday night. I was looking forward to cuddling up solo to the movie Enchanted. When I went to find the movie (which I had just purchased the day before) it was missing in action. I searched high and low...the bag must have been lost at the store...because it was gone. So, instead of staying up late watching a cute movie, I ended up mindlessly channel surfing my thursday night away.
Friday morning, I was woken up by little man.....he was holding an orange, and a STEAK KNIFE! He was repeating himself saying "orange, orange, mommy, orange." He's such a little rascal..thank GOD he didn't hurt himself!! I laugh about the situation now, but I can only blame myself. I always cut the orange peel off with a steak knife to ensure I get the entire rind and also to prevent the threat of him choking on it (I've had a few traumatic-near-death choking experiences involving tough oranges). So...props to little-man for bringing mommy the appropriate tools (the orange, and the very sharp knife) so she could cut the fruit for him and allow mommy to stay in bed a little longer...hahaha The site of the knife had me up and awake for the rest of the day...Nap time on friday was a HUGE fiasco as well. It took little-man over an hour to settle in. To add mayhem to my already chaotic day, little-man has began spitting every time I tell him no. Not the "blow raspberries with your tongue" spitting...but the actual launching of saliva. What am I to do about this? I've been told to put hot sauce in his mouth..but I can't bring myself to do that for two reasons. First; he ONLY JUST TURNED TWO. and Second; he'll probably LOVE IT just to spite me. I have opted for option three...which is putting him on a time-out in his room and closing the door so I can settle down to explain to him the severity of his actions.
Saturday afternoon we ventured to an Easter Party. Before the party, we stopped over at Grandma's house to visit for a while. I also baked a spinach artichoke dip at grandma's, that I took to the Easter Party with me. My cousin did a fantastic job of hosting the party. There were four toddlers in all, and she made an easter basket for each of them. She also took the time to hide a few dozen candy filled easter eggs around the yard, and inside her house. The kids had a blast. Little-man ate MORE than his fare share of candy...and as a bonus to me...GRANDMA TOOK HIM HOME ON AN OVERNIGHT! There were a couple of other crazy things that took place at the party. At one point, I had all four of the little kids in the basement and we were all playing play-dough together...when all of the sudden the ceiling started raining water as if a pipe had busted. I shouted for my cousin, and we soon found out our uncle had clogged the toilet, and it was overflowing...so I was showered with poop water (ya jealous?). Later in the afternoon, after most of the kids had gone home, my cousin had a little cake smashed in her face. Everyone was laughing and it was all in good fun. This year was definitely an Easter to remember.

Word of the Day

Fabuloso!
Last night I survived my first professional work holiday party! We ventured to downtown Mpls around 3, and had cocktails and food to start the evening out. We then traveled a block down to a gaming hotspot, where we were all able to shred our professional garb, and enjoy in some crazy-fun video games. I am not a HUGE gamer by any means, and I would rarely (if ever) go downtown just to play around, so it was great that the company was footing the bill!!
I am proud to say I beat my co-workers in a game of car racing! We also enjoyed some skeet-ball, air hockey, Deal or No Deal, and arctic snowmobile races. (the free drinks weren't a bad addition either!)
I am beginning to think I am not as young as I used to be. First off, I couldn't think of a solid drink to stick with last night. I was all across the board with my selections. First a vodka collins, then a vodka tonic, then a blue moon and I wrapped the night up with a sex on the beach (when I write it all down it sounds like a lot..but we were downtown for seven hours, so it's not as much as it seems). I think my indecision is from my lack of a nightlife since little-man (which isn't a bad thing, just something to take note of). As the night wrapped up (for me) I came down with a pretty massive headache. I think I was getting hungover or something, which was very weird to experience the night OF drinking.
I found out that a group of my co-workers were out at a piano bar until midnight. It would have been nice to join them, but my piilow was calling my name...and I rarely ignore my pillow's requests! ;) The entire night was fabuloso!

Thanks...

I know it is easy to complain about life, and it's also easy to forget to tell people how appreciative you are of them. So today, I take the time to spell out my appreciation for the good things in life. I have so much to be thankful for. My health, the health of little-man (who seems to be fighting off a cold, but for the most part he's healthy), the health of my family, my friends, and all of the people in my life that care about me. At times, I am overwhelmed with how kind people are.
Over the weekend, some discussion came up about the person who decided to display a crucified santa. To save you some time searching for the story, here's a link about the story: http://patdollard.com/2007/12/22/crucified-santa/
I know christmas and the holiday season have evolved into a huge rampage of commercialism to some, but to me, christmas is (and hopefully always will be) a time well spent with family and friends. Over the years the presents have depleted (to a certain extent). I am ok with not receiving a lot of gifts at the holidays...and when gifts do come my way, it is beginning to become more and more difficult to accept them. I don't know if this is my stubbornness kicking in, or if it is because I feel like I don't deserve presents, or if it's because I would much rather spend time with my family and friends than to make them (or me) apprehensive about the holidays because of the lack of gifts they can afford to buy. It is probably a combination of things. I do feel that everyone deserves to spend time with the people they care about, share some laughs, and soak it up while they can....For me, family moments and great memories are fewer and far between.

From the heart!

Happy xmas eve!! Little-man and I are sitting here, waiting for the festivities to begin. I am actually going to let him type his first blog...so here it goes..

nffb3i ;p;love momm6y!1 hgabcxssefdeeeegfbttimogtty8; vvfgjikidjprdgt[llvlvlvlvlvlvlvl;A9fcdsf

...He would go on for the next few days if I would let him...so for now I say Merry Xmas and I hope you have a safe, fun-filled holiday filled with lots of laughs and good memories! :)

<3
Me and Little-man

*Sigh*

It really is xmas time. Just yesterday it was turkey day! Every year at thanksgiving, I think to myself "xmas is still quite far away"...and every year xmas seems to come faster and faster! This year was no exception.

I will pat myself on the back in terms of holiday shopping. The majority of my shopping I finished in mid-september (yes, that's wierd, but last year I had waited until the last minute, and there was nothing left at the stores, and I ended up spending WAY too much). I try not to be too materialistic at holiday time. Now that I am an "adult" and realize the financial burden the holidays can bring, I try and focus more on giving than receiving. The best gifts are those where a lot of thought and creativity come into play, as well as the unexpected suprises.

Last year, I opened up my door to find a wrapped gift for little-man, a grocery gift certificate, some xmas cookies, and a slightly religious card (from anonymous). I will never forget this gift..it was truely from the heart. I was completely blown away by the generousity! It's great to know that people in the world have the capacity to be self-less.

This year, I was suprised by my co-workers. They are the kindest and most respectable bunch I have ever come across in a professional setting. Maybe I am just unfamiliar with holiday time at the office. Most of my previous experiences entailed such large places with extremely high turnover that holiday time at the office was completely impersonal. Not my current office. The holidays here have brought warmth and a great spirit that is truely magical (wow, I sound cheesey...but it's soooo true!). There is nare an ugly attitude. Everyone is walking around with a little extra pep in their step. All of this holiday spirit has made me realize (like it does every year) how much I truely love the holiday season. Especially when I get to spend time with self-less, good hearted people.

24

It is amazing how much can actually happen within the span of 24 hours. On my way to pick up little-man last night, a good friend and neighbor, Jane Johnson, called and asked if she could hang out with the babers so I could get some random house cleaning done (I'm having some girls over for dinner on Friday, and my procrastination bug has bitten me in the rear...The house is a mess!!). I took her up on this offer without hesitation because I really didn't feel like getting screamed at, and a break (even for just an hour) sounded lovely. After dropping little-man off, I happily drove the two blocks home and went inside with the best intentions to clean. I loaded the dishwasher, changed into comfy clothes, and decided I would rather socialize with my friends who I don't see too often in the winter (since we don't participate in a winter softball league). When I arrived back at Jane's house, I was greeted by a happy as can be toddler, who was making the entire room laugh with his silly antics. This made me breath a sigh of relief, even though I still cannot figure out why little-man is so horrible to me, but so lovely to everyone else...It is certainly a mystery to me!
Instead of being the responsible mom, I decided to hang out and chat for a while (especially because little-man was being so well behaved, and quite the entertainer too). His bedtime came and went...and all I was thinking was "This is gonna suck tomorrow morning" and "I can't believe he's lasting this long without being a total stinker!" It is amazing how recharged you feel after spending an evening laughing with some good friends. I definitely enjoyed myself :D
This morning my mom-prediction was dead on. Little-man was HORRIBLE during our morning routine (I felt a twinge of guilt because I knew it was my fault). It was a little rewarding to know I could handle his fussiness. Although he was quite cranky, he was trying to cuddle with me as I was getting him dressed...almost like he was trying to go back to sleep (so if you could tune out the "crying" it was kind of cute). When we got to his little person school, I warned his teacher he might not be in the best mood...which she replied "Ya know, whenever parent's say that their children are crabby, the kids always end up acting great!" (I never know if I should take this as a compliment, or if I should get frustrated because he's so nasty with me most of the time...)
On my drive into work I was doing my morning channel surfing to avoid the commercials. I have been listening to a few of KDWB's xmas wish bits to fill my morning with a bit of holiday cheer (there is something about public gift giving without asking for a thing in return that makes my heart smile). I am very cautious when I listen to these bits because I am a fairly emotional person at times...and yes, they make me cry. So, as I'm channel surfing, I fall upon the xmas wish station, and the story they are telling makes my eyes well. In a nutshell, it was about a mom who was defending her kids at the bus-stop, and has nothing in her home, blah blah blah (not to discredit the story, but I just don't feel like typing the whole thing out). KDWB took their xmas wish theme to a new level this morning. After telling the lady how many awesome things she was getting, they decided to play a "christmas wish song" that one of their employees had put together. It was one of those classic "put peoples statements in the middle of an already sad sounding song" kind of things. Needless to say, I was ugly crying in less than 10 seconds! Why I didn't just change it back to 93x, I cannot tell ya! I felt a little less silly about ugly crying on my way into work when I heard one of the DJ's admit that if she had been listening at home, she would be ugly crying too...So I knew I wasn't the only one!!
I can't think of what else I wanted to write about, but I think I've done an alright job of jotting my current thoughts for the time being...sorry if this was long winded and drawn out! Hope you're all having a great, sunny day....and I hope you don't find yourself ugly crying anytime soon...unless of course it is during one of those xmas wish bits! Later!

Random Holiday's

Today, I'm sitting at my desk listening to holiday music. I am also working, but right now, the holiday music has my attention. There are a couple of things I feel the need to write down. First, why do they always seem to play the same song by the same artist about four times a day? I LOVE holiday music, but I am pretty sick of the Africa song "do they know its christmas in Africa"...and there are a few others I can't think of because Winter Wonderland is playing...and it's tough to think of songs when you're singing one!
Another thing I will admit to doing today is attempting to win tickets to Manheim Steamroller from 102.9. Has anyone ever actually gotten through on those radio telephone lines to win tickets?! Not to admit that I have been side-tracked by this...but I have tried every single time today to dial in to win these silly tickets...and it is ALWAYS busy! Is this some sort of conspiracy against me? Or am I just really unlucky...? All I know is you can't win unless you try...so I guess I'll keep trying for now..Wish me LUCK! I'm gonna need it :-)

Black Friday

I think I have already written about this...but I feel the need to reiterate myself. I love the holidays. I have most of my holiday shopping done, but have been trying to decide if I want to venture out on Black Friday to see if there are any good deals I can find. I am afraid to venture out for a couple of reasons. First, I have heard viscious rumors that people are horrible in the stores and the parking lot. Going as far as getting physical with complete strangers over a hot item that has run out of stock. I think if I witnessed this behavior first hand, my holiday joy would instantly disappear. Second, I haven't figured out where little-man would hang out, because there is no way I would bring him into the chaos known as Black Friday! Third, I cannot decide what stores to venture out to. Walmart is at the top of my unethical list of places to avoid, but they do have crazy holiday deals (which I should take advantage of seeing as I'm broke as a joke). Target would be a must visit, but I know I'll end up buying way too much...And then there is Best Buy, Old Navy and Kohl's. The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards avoiding retail stores all together on Friday...only time will tell! Toodles!

Tis the Season!

I cannot believe thanksgiving is less than ten days away! This year seems to have flown by!! I am such a sucker for the holiday season. The family get togethers, large meals, and all-around good times the holiday's bring are in a league of their own. It makes me wonder...what makes the holiday's so special?
When I think back to christmas' of the past, I can't help but smile. I have been extremely blessed with my family and friends I have had to share the holiday season with. In my family, the holidays never failed to bring warmth , smiles, laughter, and everything one would hope for to short cold winter days.
Growing up, I was as spoiled as a child with a little brother could be. I know money does not buy everything, but my brother and I never went without a good amount of presents from Santa...Aside from D claiming to be sick most holidays, I love looking back and realizing how my parents made an extra effort on christmas to be a family. It was the one day of the year when we would wake up together, we would sit together and share gifts, and we would eat breakfast together. My family has always been very busy with varying schedules (sports, different work schedules etc) and my parents did their best to juggle my schedule with my brothers. With such busy schedules we almost never were able to sit down for family meals, and there was hardly a time where the entire family was home at the same time. Maybe if my family made more of an effort to do family activities then the holiday's would lose some of its magic.
Looking towards the future, I hope to continue to make the holidays special and magical for myself and little-man. Last year it dawned on me that I have a family and I have to start doing family things, even though I am without a husband or active father figure in little-man's life. I decided to start a new holiday tradition for myself and little-man; attending the holidazzle parade. I never went to the holidazzle growing up because my parents considered it to be on the wrong side of the river (they both grew up in st. paul, and RARELY went to minneapolis). I would occasionally catch the parade on tv, and always thought it would be fantastic to see it in person. I was certainly right. I am tearing up thinking of how beautiful the parade, and the idea's behind the parade are. If you are unfamiliar with the holidazzle, it is a parade that goes down nicollet mall in minneapolis, and runs on weekend nights from the day after thanksgiving until just before christmas..the lights are so much fun to look at, there is holiday music playing, tons of people out and about as families and the parade collects food and monetary donations for local charities. I cannot think of a better way to spend a holiday evening than with your family, donating some food to charity and watching a really cool lit-up parade. Little-man enjoyed the parade last year. I hope he continues to enjoy it for years to come!!
I feel like I've rambled on a tangent...which I normally do! More to come later...Toodles :)