I've been less computer-oriented the past week or so than I have in years. My laptop had to be sent away because of a motherboard/wireless connection problem that HP's laptops developed. They extended the warranty to cover the problem, thank goodness, so all I had to do was send it in and they're replacing my motherboard. While it's been gone, I've been using the fabulous new Dell desktop that I bought for W. for his bday/Father's Day/you're in nursing school and you need a better computer. Between W. and the kids, there's not much free time online, lol. The nice part is that I've not really missed it, kwim? I run in and check in here and there for a second and then I get up and go do something else. I think that's what my poor manic brain needed.

I've read a LOT of books in the past month. I desperately need to update my Goodreads info. Goodwill had their monthly 50% off everything sale yesterday and I went into book-buying overdrive. I bought 74 books. About 15 or so are for my classroom, the kids or other teachers, but the rest of them? Novels. I had already read all the stuff I bought at McKay's last month, so I needed some more books to read on vacation next week. Once I started piling them in the cart, I couldn't stop. I found lots of good things--some book I'd been wanting to read such as Like Water for Chocolate, Atonement, Snow Falling on Cedars, some Maeve Binchy and Steve Matini titles and the like. I also bought several Patricia Cornwell and Mary Higgins Clark titles and a couple of Sue Grafton's alphabet series as well. I tried to get a good variety so that W. and SIL would have stuff to read, too. I read Atonement yesterday. I've been reading a book a day for the past couple of weeks. I am forcing myself to cut back this week in order to get housework and mommy stuff done. I have seven days next week with nothing to do but cook a few meals, supervise my ornery children and lie on the beach. Such a rough life I lead, lol.

We're going to Gulf Shores, Alabama, for a nice stay. SIL and MIL, Lynda (with a friend) and Jeffrey are going, too. The condo will be a bit full, but I think we're going to have fun. It will be a treat to have more adults around so that the kids have more options--I'm very much a lie on the beach and read/nap/people watch kind of chick. W. is all about fishing. The kids like to do both, plus swim in a pool. Usually since we only have one car there, it takes a bit of juggling to get everyone where they want to be, but this time will be a bit easier. Sometimes I take for granted how well-located Tennssee is. We're just a seven-hour or so drive from great beaches on the Gulf, three or four hours from Atlanta or Memphis, a long day's drive from DC, three hours from the Smokey Mountains, etc.

Five is on a mission trip to Kentucky this week. He'll be helping repair homes in a poverty-stricken area. Packing for a week for him was no fun. Just the sheer volume of t-shirts alone was daunting. I used my fabulous Delsey suitcase that my mom gave me for Christmas. When I had all of his stuff packed, I called him in so I could explain what I was sending and the first thing he said was, "Mom, I think the suitcase is a bit too big. I think I'm supposed to bring a small bag." Translated: He was embarrassed that the suitcase was so large. I had quite a time explaining to him that in order to take enough long pants and shorts, t-shirts for working and for hanging out, socks, boxers, towels, medicine, toothbrush and other personal stuff AND a tool belt, measuring tape, nail apron and hammer along with an extra pair of shoes, there really wasn't any way to take a small carry-on sized suitcase. He pondered this and then asked, "Well, can you try to put the sleeping bag in the suitcase?" Uh, no. An adult-sized sleeping bag will NOT fit into an already loaded suitcase. He resigned himself to looking like a tourist and moved on to more important topics--snacks for the trip.

Sam, Jay and I are home on our own this week. W. has to work everyday but Thursday, so the boys and I will be doing a great deal of pool time and maybe a trip or two to the park. They havie swim lessons every day, so that gives us a good reason to get up and get ready at a decent hour. Speaking of swim lessons, I guess I should go get stuff ready. A day at the pool requires much food and drink planning and I'm such a ditz I have to allow enough time to figure out what I've forgotten.

Hope everyone had a great 4th!!

Oh, last thing....my cousin's daughter has a fabulous new online biz--Good Fortune Soap. All her things are handmade with natural ingredients. She's going to be sending me some samples so I can farm them out to some of you. When they arrive, I'll post more info and tiny little presents will be shipped out to those who want some.

I cannot seem to get into a good workout routine. Either something comes up at the last minute or my neck hurts so much that I don't dare do anything strenuous.

Labels: helpful beauty hints, holidays, kids, mr kim, my life, physical exertion, updates

Tomorrow is the first day back to work after Christmas break. It's a teacher work day, which is a great thing, but I'm only going in for a few hours and then I'm going to be homebound until Monday. I'm staying home to let the knee get a little bit better before I take a chance on going to work for a long day. I have my disability insurance, which will pay me for the days, so I decided to take it easy and not strain the knee. It's still looking pretty nasty and I don't go back to the doctor until Thursday.

I've got a lot of stuff to do around the house, so hopefully I'll be able to get a few things done without my three helpers under foot. For now, I'm going to sit around and watch some more Law and Order marathon on TNT and enjoy mynew flannel jammies, cozy slippers and fabulous down throw. I had a very lovely Christmas.

Labels: holidays, ramble, work stuff

Christmas is almost over here in Middle Tennessee. The kids and W. are long since asleep. Me, I had to wait up until 11.30 so I could take my last dose of Demerol for the night--the knee is being partiularly ornery tonight. I did fine most of the day, and I suppose I overdid things--the back is has a nasty looking knot on it. I shudder to think what is inside that knot--it's looking a bit red and funky, so I think I'll be calling the doctor just to check in. I need this to heal, not drag out into some medical horror story.

Anyway, today was a very lovely, laid-back Christmas. W. was up around 4.30 to make breakfast before he went to work--he definitely has some keeper qualities. Steak, country ham and biscuits. Yummy. I had planned to get up around the same time, but since I was up in the middle of the night dealing with an asthmaticly coughing 8-year-old, I 'slept in' until 5.00. I'm such a bum, lol. Got up and puttered around in the living room getting things just right and then we woke the kids up around 5.15 or so. It took about ten minutes to get them up and going, but once they were awake, they were bouncing. It was so much fun to see Jay and Sam's reactions to their loot. Five was more subdued--it's hard when one of your presents costs two or three times what a brother's does. I tried really hard to make sure they each got three 'big' gifts and then supplemented. I got this idea from a friend--she explains to her kids that Jesus was given three special gifts and that's why we get gifts now. My kids have actually gotten much more into the whole list thing since I told them to just choose three things. They put lots of thought into it and shuffle stuff around as needed.

The Moon Shoes that Jay wanted are actually sort of cool. I'm sure they will just be a novelty, but I liked the idea that they required physical activity, so even if he plays with them once a month, that's better than sitting watching tv for that time. Sam got a scooter--he didn't ask for one, but again, I'm trying to push the outside activities. He said that Santa must really like him to bring such a cool scooter AND a red helmet (red is his favorite color). Five tried to be excited about the fact that he got clothes from Santa--I know he wsn't, but it was stuff he needed, so I decided to add it in to his very paltry looking pile of DVD/PS2 games and a huge Beatles Anthology book.

W. had to go to work at 6.45, so that left me and the boys home alone for the day. Our present to him was a clean house, so we played and napped (them and me) and then I organized a fairly effective cleaning of the dining room (the table had been buried for months upon months). We had to move loads of junk here and there--well, I say 'we', but it was mainly Five. Now there is a huge mess in the office, but I've decided that it makes more sense for one room to be a disaster than for six of them to be, so we started the offloading today. I had Jay on his hands and knees cleaning baseboards and Sam was dusting window sills. By the end of the afternoon, the dining room was shining, a bathroom had been cleaned, the hall had been swept (mostly) and the baseboards in the halls, dining room and part of the kitchen were clean. Floors were mopped and vac'd and everything just looked better overall. Tomorrow and Thursday are bedroom days. They will be painful.

Nice time at MIL's for Christmas dinner. I didn't take any cooked food this year thanks to SIL having pity on me being crippled and on my own. We didn't have any other folks at MIL's, so it was very easygoing and chatty. My boys were hell on wheels, but that's the norm when they get in a confined space without a television or other distraction. The fart putty (or toot in a can as Sam calls it) certainly didn't do much to calm them, lmao.

I went to pick up W. and took him back to MIL's so he could eat and do gifts--he'd worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital and was pretty dead. His feet didn't hurt as much and I am crediting the diabetic socks that I gave him. No, I don't know what makes socks 'diabetic', but I figured they would be comfy and easy on the feet, so I bought them. We'll do a comparison tomorrow to see if it was the socks or not.

So, another Christmas in the books. It's hard to believe that I've been doing the Santa gig since 1993...that's 14 times. It's even harder to believe that I'm over halfway done doing it...and just about to the point where I don't have a believer. Today Sam said, "Wow, Santa sure is a generous man." I almost cried it was so sweet. And while it will be nice, I suppose, to get the credit for the gifts in a few years, I don't know that they will be nearly as awe-inspiring as they are right now. That's a little bit sad.

I hope everyone (or three) that reads this has had an equally blessed Christmas. Take it easy this week and let's get ready to welcome in 2008--the year that I personally feel will be Kimmah's Year.

Labels: funny kids, getting old, holidays, my life, serious

For the past several years, it has seemed as if Christmas sort of snuck up on me. I haven't really been in the mood for it all. This year, though, I was determined to be ahead of the game and get the 'must-have' presetnts in plenty of time, have my house cleaned, etc.

Naturally, I ended up having knee surgery instead. This one was much more involved than the three previous ones, so it's meant a lot more down time than usual and much more than I can really stand.

So, instead of being ready at Thanksgiving for the Christmas season, I ended up leaving all the decorations in the attic and only put up a tree yesterday. I decided that we would do kid-made decorations, so we hung the things that were made at school, plus anything that a student gave me this year. I went out and bought a few strands of colored lights to make it more cheerful--normally, I'm a white light kind of girl. Sam and I made snowflakes out of coffee filters and put them up there and that's about it. Naturally, we have a HUGE tree this year, so it defnitely looks a bit bare, but I sort of like how homey it looks. We may make this a yearly thing--for the one tree. Next year I fully intend to be in mega-holiday mode and have all my trees out, have the garland and knick knacks out and the wreaths hung. This year was just not the year for that--and I'm totally okay with that. Sometimes you need to just step back and take a break. W. and I are really focusing on the kids this year and making Christmas about people more than gifts or hoopla. Sam, in particular, has really been full of Christmas spirit. He is quick to tell anyone who mentions gifts that Chirstmas isn't about getting stuff--it's about Jesus and love. He's a smart one, my Sam.

Because I have been hobbling around on one crutch in some questionable clothes (and in a Demerol-induced haze at times), I feel compelled to wrap up with the famous words of that little crutched boy, Tiny Tim:

Labels: holidays, ramble, serious