Christmas 2008

I have been hesitant to post about Christmas because I wanted to have pictures to post with it, but instead of taking pictures we shot the event on the video camera,(its one or the other with us)and since I still don't have Max's B-day video up, it could be awhile. The Monday before Max woke up and threw up, so we took him to the doctor and he was put on anti biotics for a nose/throat/ear infection. This effectly canceled our X-mas eve plans since we didn't want to spread it around. Jeff and I did continue our tradition of opening our presents christmas eve after Max was in bed. I really like this tradition cause it allows us to enjoy the holiday and is very romantic. Christmas Morning Max woke up and was no doubt suprised to see us following him with video camera (lets face it he was suprised to see me at all since mama only gets up with him on Sunday mornings.) He walked into the living room where the play kitchen was waiting for him with pots, pans, and food. He didn't even think twice, he got right to work, picked up a salt shaker and started playing as if it was totally normal to wake up to new toys. It took a bit of prodding to get him to notice the elmo doll sticking out of his stocking. After that, he loved pulling stuff out of his stocking and opening his presents. We played and enjoyed the day. For dinner we went to our friend's the Evan's house. The turkey dinner was delicious! All and all it was a good Christmas.

Feliz Navidad

And a Merry Christmas to all. Due to my invalid state, not many have been invited to my house to share in the festivities, so I thought I would share a picture of the village. When I was in high school my mom worked at a Christmas shop and fell in Love with Department 56 Villages. She helped us girls each pick one out and has purchased me many pieces over the years. I collect the original Snow Village which is a Norman Rockwell 1950's village. The first piece was the Pisa Pizza. For awhile there I got a lot of food joints and it was beginning to look like a food court. Last year when my mom visited she brought me a few houses and trees and it really all came together. There are always new pieces that are so cute, but I can't fit anymore onto my bar. Jeff's favorite is the pet store, Most people love the Mcdonalds, I am not sure which is my favorite. It's a bit odd that I would have something so Christmasy since I have already stated that I am a bit of a ba hum bug, but even I melt for the village.

Payback

So last week everyone I knew was sick or had sick kids. I felt bad for them, but secretly reveled behind their backs that it was not me. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I haven't had a cold this bad in a long time. There is something so shameful in a bad cold. The flu everyone understands and you can feel fine about not doing anything cause you don't want to move from the cold bathroom floor. A bad cold and you feel like if you could only get everything to stop dripping then you could get on with your life. So here I sit, kleenex everywhere, Jeff watching Max, doped on cold medicine, bored to tears and feeling guilty because I had planned on using this day to make fudge and pies for all my friends. But on the bright side it isn't too bad. About 4 years ago Jeff and I got the Roto Virus and man was it bad. I was basically naked on the bathroom floor for over 5 hours just wanting to die. (After the forth hour poor Jeff came in and threw a towel on me, thanks Honey.) If I could go back and remove that vile experience from my life I totally would, but since I can't I appreciate that it has given me a sense of perspective whenever I get sick. I haven't had anything, labor included (thanks to modern medicine), that bad since.

P.S. I figured that nobody wanted a picture on the chosen topic, so instead I have chosen to include the latest picture of Max.

Proof that I don't make everyone's life worse

http://thethreelittlebearcubs.blogspot.com/2008/11/sweet-sweet-emily.html
Thanks for the beautiful compliment Sarah.

It Totally Tied the Room Together

So my posts have been a bit random and trivial lately, but my life has not, so to bring everyone back up to speed, the following a a few highlights of recent.

Thanksgiving!
We all went down to Little Rock to spend the holiday with My Aunt Mardie and my Uncle Gareth and all my Arkansan cousins. The special guest was my Grandma Tobler! It was so great to see her and everyone else. The food was so so good. The drive at 3.5 hours each way was a bit long, but we all handled it better then expected. All and all, a really great holiday memory.

Family Visit
The Tuesday after thanksgiving my Aunt Mardie, Grandma Tobler, and Cousin Liz and her girls came up to visit me! It meant so much to me to have family come. I don't know why but I got it into my head that I had to paint my kitchen and dining room before they came. Poor Jeff was up late the night before helping me paint, but it turned out well. I had made a lasagna which turned out well, but when I went to the fridge to get the salad, it was gone! Jeff took it to work. I felt a bit foolish only serving Lasagna, but at least it tasted good. It was nice to get to spend more time with my family after the busy Thanksgiving.

Branson
Our friends the Messicks gave us some discount tickets to Silver Dollar City last weekend. It is a really fun amusement park in Branson (2 hours away) that has an old fashioned feel to it. The weather was cold 50 and breezy, but we all enjoyed ourselves so much. Max was just barely 36 inches the minimum to get on all the kiddie rides. He loved them so much. We spent almost all the time putting him into little ladybug, frogs, and elephants that move and bounce slightly. We all got on the tea cups (seriously I don't know how Disney hasn't sued them yet.) When I finally decided to get the funnel cake over the apple dumpling and cinnamon roll, thanks for the help deciding Lu, the funnel cake line was too long! Oh well. I also learned a good trick for hot chocolate, they put the marshmallows in the cup first, then the hot chocolate. The lights were really pretty when we left, they have an evening Christmas show, but we wanted to get home and Max doesn't sit for shows.

Rug!
Thanks to the wonderfully generous Sarah Allred, I have a new area rug in my living room. For months my furniture has been sliding around the room, but no more. The amazing thing is that it matches my living room perfectly. When I tell people I didn't pick it out, they are shocked. Almost as shocked as when I tell them it was free. It is beautiful and in really good condition (Sarah could have easily gotten 400-500 bucks for it on craig's list) and it makes my living room complete. Thank you so much Sarah.

Things that Must Go IV

1. Rocket's various incarnations: The Little Einsteins often find themselves in situations where they need to move around, or over some obstacle; so Rocket will transform into some object, train, pogo stick, crane in order to help the kids around or over the obstacle. While it is an impressive feat of engineering that the rocket ship can transform into various other machines, why doesn't it just fly over the obstacle?

2. Christmas Music on the Radio: Okay I am totally gonna get feedback on this one, but I don't like Christmas music. I dig the hymns, and Feliz Navidad (which by the way, if you ever have a song stuck in your head, sing this song and you brain will clear, it totally works, only not as well at Christmas time)but other then that I hate having more then half the songs on the radio being really bad pop Christmas tunes. The radio stations of Northwest Arkansas are not very good to begin with and can ill afford all the time wasted with Christmas music.

3. 12 Original Herbs and Spices: One or maybe more of those herbs and spices in the Colonel's Original Recipe always leave me sick and stuck in the ladies room all night long. You ask why I still eat from KFC? Well mostly I don't but every once in awhile it just looks too good.

4. Watered Down Soda: Okay, I know we are in a recession, but why McDonald's, Sonic, and every other fast food place, do you have to cut back on soda syrup? Have you had a fountain drink lately? Awful, watery, so so disappointing. (This is especially bad in Northwest Arkansas because our water has a slight taste of dirt.)Really how expensive is syrup? Am I missing something? Did Hurricanes affect the syrup crop of 2008? Are terrorists to blame? The honey bees? Please if you have a soda fountain add more syrup.

Max's Posse

Max has a posse. They follow him most everywhere he goes. He looks after them and loves them very much, (In some cases probably more then they would like.) When we get him in the morning and after naps he hands his posse to us first to ensure that they get out of the crib with him. Puppy, or sometimes called baby by Max, is the most important member of this group. A baby present from his Grandma Larkin, puppy has seen better days, but I suppose that he has had a good life with lots of love, adventures and travels. Blanket was a gift from some ladies that my parents home teach in Colorado. Blanket originally had a pretty crochet edge, but that has since unraveled and been replaced by Grandma Tobler. Pop is a new addition, I purchased him last spring from Kohls. He is a replica of the Dr. Seuss character from Hop on Pop. Jeff and I are hoping that he might be a comfort to Max should anything every happen to puppy.

Max's Obsessions

For those who want more Max and less me.

1. Elmo
I love taking him to Walmart and letting him play with the $60 Elmo live doll. It says, "Elmo Love you, kiss kiss," then blows kisses. Max then always blows Elmos a kiss in return. If close enough he will kiss the doll.
2. Toy Story
He can't say Toy Story, Buzz or Woody, so he melds them all together into "Boy"
3. Stickers
4. Banging stuff
Any thing that will make a big noise
5. Duties
Max loves having "duties." He loves showing the people at Sam's Club out membership card. He leans forward and waves it around so that it will not be missed. He loves to throw stuff away, hand people stuff, put the vacuum cord away. These are all of his choosing, if we were to give him a task it wouldn't work.

Obsession

As requested by the generous Sarah the following are my 5 admitable obsessions
1. Sheep
This all started when I was in high school and had a dream about hugging sheep. Since then I have amassed quite a collection of stuffed sheep, have a sheep sweater, and a promise from my friend Maryann that if I can figure out how to get the sheep out of Lyman, Utah I can have a gimp from her parents farm.

2. DVR
I can't stop looking ahead to see if something good will be on.

3. Job Hunting
Not a day goes by when I don't check the Bentonville Public Schools HR board to see if a position for a social studies teacher has opened up. This actually paid off two years ago, and I got a job in March, so that probably keeps me coming back each day. I check the Rogers and Gravette sites about once a month.

4. The Associate Store
This is a store for Walmart employees that has all the sample, clearance, and gift items that buyers/ and stores are not allowed to keep (anything over 50 cents.)They have everything there at one time or another. From regular Walmart merchandise to Neiman Marcus Ties, Lladro statues, Kate Spade Bags, Utah Shot Glasses. It is the most random assortment of items that are all at least 50% off. I love getting diapers for half price. The items change constantly. My most recent scores have been pampers diapers for 50% off, the John Adams Movie DVD for 5 dollars, Welches Juice for 1.50. Just a really random assortment. In a way it pays to go frequently cause you never know what will be there, but it is also hard to have self control and not buy something on sale. Just cause it is on sale doesn't mean I need it.

5. Injustice
I have a hard time getting over things. It takes me awhile when people apologize, but if they don't then I hang on forever letting it eat at me and torture me. The Internet has been an interesting tool for this as I am now able to search out old school bullies, "Do they regret treating me so badly? Do they even remember they terrorized me?" In the past year someone close abused me (mentally and emotionally)so shamefully that not a week goes by that I don't cry about it and not a day goes by when I don't think of that person, get angry, and wonder how they could behave in such a deplorable manner. I know that I need to rise above and forgive, but it is so hard, especially when the people responsible are so unaware of their guilt. I get by with prayer and the hope that with time I can become more Christ like and stop getting angry.

So those are my obsessions, or at least five of them. I'm not sure why I blog about what I do. I admire those of you that have a purpose, Keeping in touch, Recording memories for kids, humoring us all. I really don't know what my purpose is, but I think that this is a good thing for me, so I will keep at it with the random entries until I achieve some clarity or find a reason to stop. I am always open to suggestions, such as today's tag, or if you would all like more Max and less me. I have though about changing the background but came to the conclusion that this one really fits me.

It's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited!

I am so happy right now. My loving, wonderful, beautiful sister Krista has sent me Stephen's Hot Chocolate. (Not available for sale in NW Arkansas.) This is the best Christmas Present ever! The beverage is hugging my esophagus all the way down to my tummy where it is working like a water heater, spreading out and warming every inch of me. This is extra wonderful because it snowed yesterday. (which is pretty infrequent here.) So thank you Lu for the cup o' happiness. Best Present Ever!