Non Incautus Futuri

I think most close family and friends probably realize that we have never been happier to say good bye to a year than we are now.  It's had more than it's share of challenges, though we've probably been luckier than most.  Still, I now finally understand what it means to welcome the new year.  

We've got so many plans for the new year.  Not resolutions, but plans.  But before we can really accomplish anything, I need to get a hold of my daily life.  Sounds simple, right?  For me, not so much.   I'm perpetually behind on laundry.  The house always seems to be in a state of total chaos.  And sometimes I barely know what day it is.  

But this year HAS to be different.  We had a great start yesterday.  All the Christmas decorations were carefully packed up and taken down to the basement.  Now if you know us, you would know that the Christmas decorations might be boxed up, but it would take us 2-3 weeks to actually bring them down into the basement.  Heck, one year we kept our tree up until March.  We were thinking about decorating it for Easter.  

I've been on a total tear today:  packing up toys for the toy rotation, washing and folding laundry, grocery shopping, putting away the china from a party we had in November.  The kids think I'm nuts, and they're getting quite protective of their toys.  Sunshine has been quietly hiding toys her toys in the hopes that I won't see them and they won't make it into the rotation.  Ladybug has been running around the playroom clutching as many toys as she can fit in her arms.  Keep in mind these are toys the kids haven't played with in months.  

So... now that I'm getting my house in order; I need to get my life in order.  I need to start looking beyond the next event/weekend/milestone.  Not unmindful of the future.  That's my new motto.  

Now if only I could figure out how to do that....

Over the River and Through the Woods...

Hello from Virginia. We are visiting family for the holidays. Well, I should say that we'll be here for just three quick days. Not nearly long enough. With no family in the lovely state of Georgia, I desperately miss the hustle and bustle of these humongous family gatherings. Aunts, Uncles, siblings, and cousins. Many, many cousins. My family knew something about procreating.

I love that we can cram so many women into my grandmother's postage stamp-sized kitchen. I love that we work so flawlessly together in said postage stamp-sized kitchen. Well, if you consider several small arguments about whose mother was going to live with who, a burned pan of mac and cheese, one flying green bean flawless. The green bean was really good.

Somehow supervising the children downstairs became my responsibility tonight. Not quite sure how that happened, and I'll be sure to have several glasses of wine before doing that again. For the most part, I like to be there primarily to avoid a costly trip to the ER. I actually enjoy watching the children try to work out their little tiffs on their own. They're incredibly creative. Not always fair... but creative. And who knew that the "it" toy this year would be a play microwave. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, that is what the children are fighting for over here. A play microwave.

I'm super psyched about tomorrow. I get to go shopping. At the butt-crack of dawn. Without my children. With my mom and sisters. At the Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual Sale. See, and you thought I was being sarcastic. And my husband's even excited about it.

Could it get any better?

Merry Christmas to All, and to All A Good Night!

The Apple Store elves were working overtime this year.  I got my MacBook back, and it's beautiful.  It's embarrassing how much more productive I was when I did not have my computer just a room or two away.  I even got the bathroom counters cleaned and the laundry folded.  I even just managed to finish wrapping presents.  Good thing, too, seeing as Christmas is tomorrow.  The tree looks beautiful.  I think the girls will be thrilled.  As for Todd and I, we just can't wait to see the look on their faces. 

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!  

It's gone...

The Apple Store is holding my MacBook hostage for the next 7-10 business days. I predict that by tomorrow afternoon I will be huddled in a corner, eating my hair. Either that or I will be incredibly productive tomorrow. Let's hope it's the latter.

Posting will unfortunately be dependant on my husband's nightmarish work schedule as I will need to fight him for his computer. He automatically wins. Something crazy about needing to support us. If anyone wants to call me when Redneck Mommy updates, I will be forever in your debt.

Love to everyone!

Silly Mommy... Why would you think I wanted chocolate?

OK.  So now I'm really bummed.  Todd is working.  We're all a little off today.  In an attempt to add a little spontaneity, and perhaps a little whimsy, to our day; I decided to make chocolate chip pancakes for dinner.  Chocolate?  For dinner?  Yes.  Me.  I actually made something chocolate for dinner.  What did my oh so grumpy kid say?  "Mommy?  (Of course it is in her most sarcastic, know-it-all voice.)  You made chocolate pancakes?  But I wanted couscous for dinner."  Are you kidding me?  She wanted couscous?  I'm trying desperately not to take this personally.  But seriously, no good deed, folks.  

Searching

I haven't gotten any sleep in two days.  I am WAAAAAYYYYY behind in doing laundry, and I ran out of sheets for our bed.  I had to resort to using a set of sheets that I never, ever use.  They're satin. Luxurious, or so you'd think.  No.  Wrong.  So very wrong.  They're awful.  And every time I put them on the bed, I remember why it is that I never use them.  (Except until I run out of all other clean sheets.)  My pillow slips off the bed.  The blankets slip off the bed.  I almost fell off the bed.  At around 3 am, Todd asked if I was still awake.  I was, and he suggested sleeping in between the blankets.  That just completely defeats the purpose.

Things have been really busy.  Aren't they always?  We've had a lot to do these last few nights, and the girls have been going to bed way late.  And weirdly enough, getting up a little early.  Combine those with smaller nap times, and I feel like our house is a powder keg waiting to blow.  Todd and I are tired and grumpy.  The girls' moods are rapidly cycling between giddiness and severe grumpiness.  Sunshine and I had a birthday party to go to today for one of her classmates.  So in addition to being tired, she's now hyped up on sugar.  Super.  I'm actually a little jealous of Todd who got to dash off to work when I returned home with Sunshine.  

Cookies to bake, presents to wrap, ornaments to repair, mountains of laundry to fold... I feel like I'm missing out on the joy of the season.  I can't seem to get past what I need to do.  I don't want any of this to feel like a chore.  Maybe it's the weather.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas when it's a balmy 70 degrees outside.  Maybe it's just a long, tumultuous year coming to an end.  I don't know.    Whatever it is... I need an injection of holiday spirit.  It seems a bit hard to come by this year.  I want to go see some Christmas lights, spend just one evening with the girls doing nothing but having fun.  Todd is working tonight, so maybe tomorrow.  Definitely tomorrow.  

Once every year, around this time, pigs fly....

This is the one time of year my husband enters the kitchen for something other than sneaking tastes of what I'm cooking.  It's my birthday, and every year he makes me a birthday cake.  The last two years, Sunshine has helped.  It's such a treat to watch them, because I don't pick just any box cake recipe.  I like a loaded carrot cake.  Nothing in the world better than homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  This particular recipe involves shredding carrots (so much fun to watch him try to figure out the food processor), whisking eggs for what seems like forever (because our hand held mixer died and I lent out our large one), and the addition of lots of fun, complex spices (like cinnamon).  Todd is such a good sport.  This particular evening has been made all the more special because it is now almost an hour past the girls' bedtime, and Ladybug keeps taking her diaper off.  She does love her naked time, and I love this man more than life itself!