Sunday’s Thanksgiving dinner with Alex’s family went well. We didn’t stay long because we had a bunch of other stuff planned later in the day. I also have teenage boys who would rather be anywhere else. Well, they would rather be home than anywhere else.
But Monday. I did get to sleep in. It was glorious. I decided that Monday needed to be Christmas decorating day since I didn’t get it done Sunday because we were busy from running from place to place. I pulled out the Christmas lights. Half of one string didn’t work. Cue the tears (I’m kind of an emotional mess lately). Luckily I had the foresight to buy an extra box of lights last year so I was able to calm down a bit. After I got big lights on the tree I realized that they were the outside lights. Oh my gosh. I dislike decorating in the first place and to have to do it twice was depressing. But I persevered and put the right lights on.
Can I just sit down and watch a movie and eat chocolate alone instead of finishing the decorating? The decorating ended up taking two days. And no chocolate. But we did watch Polar Express that first night. I fell alseep towards the end with kids piled on me so it kind of counts?
Also, Alex took the week off. I planned it. Little did I know it worked insanely in his favor. World Cup Soccer going on this week. He’s loving it. Me? Well, I’ll have his help at the half and when the games end around two o’clock each day. It’s fine, it’s fine. But did you know, due to the location of the games, in Qatar, the time difference means he is up at two and three in the morning to catch some of the games? Dedication or insanity?
Monday and Tuesday were days of checking things off my list. So many chores. But the kids and Alex are cooperating fairly well and the house is clean, amazingly, and it’s making me happier.
So Monday night Lauren, my daughter, made two pumpkin pies for Pie Week. She did so good! They tasted amazing. Then Tuesday I made an apple cranberry pie. Again, so good. Well, if you like cranberries, which I do. It needed I’ve cream to cut some of the tartness but I’d make it again. The pie smelled like Christmas.
Hopefully the rest of the week goes well. My son, who literally waits until the day we go somewhere to see if he can get days off from work, has kept me on pins and needles as we have plans for Wednesday through Friday and he hasn’t gotten work off yet. The kid is a procrastinator of the worst order. I give him a month or more advanced warning and he waits until the hours before. Unnecessary stress on all our parts. When if he’d just put in the request to his boss when I tell him to then this stress could all be avoided.
Oh, and Christmas shopping this year. Things are tighter than they have been in a few years and that is always annoying. Economy, cars breaking down, kids’ unexpected expenses, etc. Life. But it is what it is, whatever. So I told the kids to pick what they want the most. My oldest picked an old video game. A game that they don’t make anymore. A game that I can only find used. I resorted to ebay, which I have never used before. I’m not really a fan, but I looked at the prices and timing of all the items and managed to get the winning bid. With shipping I ended up getting it for less than most of the full priced ones so I guess that counts as a win. Now for the rest of the kids. Wish me luck.
Hold on Forever 