1/2 WAY

I have officially logged in 100 hours on my 200 hour internship! My goal was to have half my hours in by Christmas break. Whooooohoooooooo
BUT
I still have oodles of activities I have to write up and complete-those aren't half done but just celebrating for now!

The Christmas Frenzy part II

Sooooooo Thanksgiving is officially over and the Christmas Frenzy that is ME is on. I am going out on a limb this year, as I wrote before my x-mas tree is a critical part of me-really like a body part-I kid you not. My family knows I drag out all the "stuff" to put on it, and they also know they can look but not touch-I am the sole decorator. I do have a small tree that the boys decorate however they want with ornaments they have made over the years BUT not THE tree. So as I contemplated getting the tree next weekend I nagging memory came back to me.

When I was little my mom was a Christmas freak like me. SHE was the only one who decorated the tree and I remember year after year she would drag out the stuff and among the ornaments were some pretty blue ones. I loved them and I always asked to put them on the tree. Each year the answer was the same, "No the tree is red and gold and the blue balls are for the dish on the coffee table". This was never in a mean way and we did tons of other x-mas fun together but it drove me crazy, just one year couldn't the tree be BLUE? Where is this going you ask? Well as I was shopping with Suree this morning I saw blue bulbs-Blue-Q's favorite color and he always wants blue ornaments to put on the tree. I looked, I contemplated, I agonized-I don't do BLUE very well-probably my least favorite color now-but I got them and I got green-A's favorite color, and I promised myself somehow I would make these two colors work and challenge my creative side. We will see.....

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Our day was pretty quiet and a little melancholy-this was the first year we didn't spend it with any family but the 4 of us. My parents moved to Arizona this fall and for the first time since I was in college we do not live in the same town. I know this has been a luxury-I know all of my blogger friends don't live by their parents and haven't for a long time, but for this first holiday of many without them it was a little sad. "A"misses them alot, especially his papa-he included them in both our Thanksgiving and his nightime prayer.

So here it is a Thanksgiving post, there are no words to express how much we have to be thankful for and the list is too long to write. Each day is a day to give thanks.

Here SHE comes...

I can sense her, she is just around the corner-lurking. She is my alter ego at Christmas time which hubby kindly calls the Christmas Nazi. It starts off with the Festival of Trees which I just went to on Saturday. I walk into a room surrounded by craftsy, artsy trees that I can only dream of being able to create (or afford to create). And then there are the gingerbread houses galore-I was so inspired one year that I tried make my own-have you tried to make a gingerbread house from scratch? I was as good at that as I am at sewing-which means not good at all.

This is how the Christmas Nazi starts the season-listening to x-mas music non stop, looking for holiday recipes, buying egg nog, getting out my 12 tubs of Christmas decor (no this is not a joke-ask hubby he gets them all out for me), scouring hobby lobby for some inspiration for a cool centerpiece or new wreath, watching tons of Christmas videos with the boys, and then finally the TREE. Last year was the first time in a long time that a member of my family went with me (Thank you Q)-they usually boycott this could-be-great family activity due to my searching and searching through the lot for just the right tree. Not kidding, a co-worker who happened to see me go from tree to tree makes wisecracks about it.

I think about the donations I want to make or some kind of community thing to make it special for someone else. I am probably one of the few people who doesn't get short tempered in line or the store-I ooze goodwill (well ok, most of the time).

So there it is, she is coming, I can feel it the Insane Christmas mom is coming and I CAN'T WAIT

competiveness, why me

So we spent the night at a special BMX indoor event. The event was fun and it was good to see all the parents and kids from this summer that you don't see to often. The track was awesome and the boys had a good time. Every kids leaves with something and it is truly a fun, family sport with a wide variety of kids and abilities. So why do I sit there and get a weird feeling I can't even describe when both my kiddos come in dead last in every race-not just last but pretty far behind. Does it bother them-The Big A man-I really don't think so, he has said many times that he likes it for fun-the kid does not have an aggressive or competitive bone in his body. Q-man on the other hand after receiving his runner up prize was mad because I didn't tell him he HAD to get 1st in the last race to make the main event-hmmm would you have pedaled faster buddy? I don't know which is worse my older who kind of tries and has been last since he started or Q who has shown some speed but it depends on his mood.
So I sit there and feel bad and annoyed at the same time at myself mostly that this competitive streak I have sometimes gets the better of me in my head and luckily never comes out of my mouth. I know THIS is my hang up-the whole perfectionist thing I have going on (therapy helped alot with that!) and going 100% all the time, so I am just venting it here and will enjoy the effort, laughter, friends and sportsmanship my kids are enjoying and keep my competiveness DNA to myself:)

From Homework Buzz to Intoxication

So eldest son has an all day chess tournament at the local college. I take this as a sign to load up all my homework stuff-that is really piling on as we near the end of the term (you all remember Fall term, Spring term?) and complete a homework marathon. I have been sitting here since 9:00-it is now 2:10 with only a half our break for lunch and I am feeling like I have been hit with a truck. Not sure if it is the cold I have been keeping at bay for 2 weeks is getting the best of me or my brain is drunk with educational philosophies, multicultural education, transformational leadership, inclusion and the list goes on and on. I have gone to the bathroom a million times and look like one of the college kids who walk in here around 2 to eat in the commons (you know the ones, they have just rolled out of bed due to partying last night), pale, weak and ready to go back to bed. In the back of my mind is the thought that I CANNOT be sick-with a presentation for my class on Mon. night-and a presentation Monday day to 8 of the building leadership teams in the district-a great opportunity to show my speaking skills to a big group in front of those who do the hiring of principals-uggggg-Not being 100% is just not an option.

Thanks for listening and off to imbibe of more homework.

14 years and many more to go

I was at a time in my life when I was resigned to never having a boyfriend like all my friends, never getting married, never meeting that SOMEONE and I would be going it alone and not turning back. WHEN We met on chance-a dare actually to go on a motorcycle ride to the coast-he said my butt wouldn't last a day. Well my good friends you know I hate to LOSE, so away I went on the back of a Harley with a guy I had known for barely a month. Now here we are on the day of our 14th wedding anniversary, 2 kids later, 2 cancers later and a roller coaster ride of both small and big things.. Besides the thought that I am getting older (ugg) I had some random thank you's that go through my mind for my significant other. We don't celebrate with cards or big gifts and I think the appreciation comes in the little things, so here is the list of appreciations. Thank you to my hubby who:

Lets me shop whenever I want and appreciates my sense of decorating style and dress style ,he actually asks my opinion on "What not to wear" for himself

Takes care of the checkbook and all that "silly" money stuff that I have conveniently forgotten how to do

Taught me how to fish and hunt and still puts a worm on my hook for me

Shared with me two beautiful children and listens patiently to my worries about said children

Is the ying to my yang-he never sweats the small stuff and actually doesn't sweat the big stuff. He has taught me that things WILL be out of our control and you can worry or get off the pot and move on

He is never jealous and understands the "me" and "girl" time I need

Sorted the pantry during my week long hospital stay after surgery because he didn't want me to come home to a "messy house"

Encourages me to go out and get what I want, that I am good at my job and have the ability to do so much more

He is the mental rock I cling to when I am frazzled and scattered and the sounding board that I can share anything-and I mean anything about-almost as much a great female friend. It isn't always perfect or romantic on a daily basis but it the length of the journey that counts and oh what a journey it has been.

Early winter cheer

Homework buzz

So besides blogging (I have posted more in 3 days than in the last couple of weeks) over this soon to end 6 day mini-vacation I have caught the homework buzz (FINALLY). The homework buzz goes like this. All the research and bits and pieces I have been collecting-on paper and in my brain-finally come together and make sense. The current one is a teachable point of view (don't ask) but it requires a paper (APA format no less-anyone remember that discussion) and a powerpoint presentation. Once I started the powerpoint everything just flowed and I am booking along on the paper-wahooo. The bad part of the homework buzz is the diet cokeand popcorn I need on my desk. The other downside is the boys being home, the tv has become the babysitter because I am determined to get this FINISHED. It may be a two movie kind of day or a kick in the snowpants outside:)

The crash

So after two days of snowball fights, snow igloos, snow forts, sledding and putting on and taking off layers of clothes my younger son has crashed. This child has not uttered the word "nap" since before the tender age of 3 unless he was sicker then a dog- is as I type sleeping. I came home from boot camp and he asked if I could take a nap with him and proceeded to fall asleep in five minutes. NICE.

Now I can redo the 2nd assignment that somehow got lost on my computer that I had worked on for an hour yesterday. I am thinking my computer is possessed!

Homwork break?

So I finished one small assignment and thought I deserved a break:) The bad part about typing on the computer for homework is ALL the other DISTRACTING stuff I like to look at is a click away. Including this new site http://www.crossfit.com/. After a year of boot camp I think hubby and I have hit a workout plateau and need to step it up (or change eating-HATE to do that). So he found this web site. I did one of the workouts today-they are confusing at first and one of the major exercises is a pullup on a bar-yeah I will let you know when I can actually DO that. I was going to do one of the 20 minute ones-15 minutes kicked my butt and that was with a few minutes of rest on the bike. I think I am going to LOVE it-short, fast and using weights-I am just not a long distance runner like SOME of you awesome athletic people on here so this works for me.
Hubby and are going to go get some equipment for our anniversary this week for our exercise room downstairs-now there is no exuse.

embracing the inner (frozen) snow bunny

Ok, so here is the best part of a snow day (which I just found out we have another one tomorrow). Late in the day as the neighborhood kids come creeping out of their houses (or get kicked out) they congregate on our driveway. Our driveway is steep and the trailer created a huge drift, the fun in the dark creates some great rosy cheek pictures.

Like father, like son

"A" comes home with a book order and little brother gets his hand on it. He finds the perfect book.

What is the title you may ask?

"How to Get Rich Quick"

snow day

Ugggg while some of you are rejoicing about the snow, I am not there yet. I had a cool conference to go today that I can't get to, we were supposed to have parent teacher conferences tonight which now makes our make up day in June to a day and a half and I have no "good" groceries in the house to do anything with. sigh. There are some good points though, I can get all my laundry done and MAYBE make an effort at homework. Better yet I could go back to bed:)