Winter Break Already? Say It Ain't So!

image credit

Ahh, Friday.... So often we hear rejoicing voices for this beloved day of the week. I, on the other hand, have been dreading this particular Friday for weeks.

 Today is the 1st day of winter break for one of my children.

 It marks the beginning of the end of 2010.

Only four days until The Man's son arrives from Colorado Springs.

Just 1 1/2 left of school for The Girl.

Less that 2 weeks until The Boy, my first born, turns 12.

Yikes.

With Christmas just a week away, I am filled with anticipation. I am so excited to travel to Chicago and visit my beloved family. I am not at all looking forward to a long, potential snowy drive with three preadolescent children.

I am giddy with excitement to meet my newest nephew who was born in October. I'm not so sure I am ready for our three kids and my brother's older four kids to be unleashed, together, in one place - indoors...

I am looking forward to seeing Fave Cousin, but I am sad that after a very short visit I will have to say good-bye to her and her rugrats. I wish they were closer. I wish our visits weren't so short. I wish the time between them was shorter.

I had hoped to have a birthday party for The Boy over break. I'm not so sure he followed up on his end of the deal by securing his friends' phone numbers. He started a new school this year, but hasn't spent any time out of school with his new friends. I'd like to see some of them at his party and get to know them.

I am praying The Girl will behave herself over break. Things between us have been tenuous at best and I am not currently her biggest fan. Her bad attitude and lack of respect for the rest of us have left her at the top of all of our Shit Lists recently and I would hate to spend the holiday fighting with her.

I also hope The Man and his son have some time to reconnect while he is here. The Man works so much and while his son was here over the summer, I don't feel like they had much "guy time". While all of the stuff we have planned during his visit is family stuff, I hope the two of them can find some common ground to build on.

What are your hopes for the holidays? Are you looking forward to the last couple of weeks of 2010? Or are you secretly dreading winter break? Do you have any family traditions that don't necessarily revolve around Christmas? Have you made any New Year's Eve plans?

Making Compromises Just Got A Bit Easier

With The Man moving in a few months from now, we have both been taking inventory of what we own and how we're going to fit it into my breadbox sized cozy townhome. The layout of my living room dictates that the television can only go into one corner. While I have an average sized tv on an average sized stand, The Man has gigantic tvs (yes, more than one) that may need a corner tv stand to find it's place in my home.

Fortunately, with CSN's 200+ stores, there is a good chance I will find something to fit my living room and his monstrous television.  In addition, I have been turning to CSN to check out headboards. In true guy fashion, The Man has an amazing King sized bed that stands simply on a bed frame. While utilitarian can be good, if I am going to surrender my four-poster bed for the comfort of a new, enormous bed, it's gonna have to fit the decor.

I'm sure that with all CSN has to offer, not only will I find the perfect pieces for the tv stand and headboard, I will be able to outfit the new bed with high quality sheets and a comforter to match my room and eliminate his black on black sheet set and undersized two-toned black and grey comforter.

While I had expressed previously that I wasn't sure how I'd do on all of the compromising that would come with moving in together, I can safely say that CSN's incredibly large selection has made it a bit easier for us to browse and get ideas for what we will need when the time comes...

P.S. Stay tuned for a really big surprise I have up my sleeve from CSN just after the new year!!!

BFFRT2 = Success

We made it!  We're home!  Everyone is alive and in one piece.  The 2nd Annual Big Fat Family Roadtrip was a success.

As usual, things didn't go exactly to plan.  We stayed in Vegas an extra day, didn't get to see the Grand Canyon or Four Corners, and ended up in Las Vegas, New Mexico at 3:00 Saturday morning, but we had fun.

I don't usually travel with another adult, so having The Man along was different.  Different good, not different bad. I love this man.  He is wonderful.  I look forward to many more vacations with him in tow.

I just want to give everyone a heads up...  My blog is in the process of a redesign.  I have been working with Jessica at The Frilly Coconut to give this place a bit of my personality.  When it is all ready to rock, my address will be changing.  I have purchased my domain name and the .blogspot will be going away! (Insert theme to The Jefferson's here...)

I'm going to be going thru pics this week and putting together my tales o' travel, but in the mean time, I will leave you with this....

(I told you he hearts me.  Hahahaha!  Madame Tussaud's is good for my fantasy life.)

Oh, Des Moines, I Won't Miss You

Q: What do you get when you mix 3.5 hours in a car, 6 adults, some MMA, and booze?

A: An annoyed mama that couldn't wait to get back home.

Photo from http://www.midwestcagechampionship.com/

This image is what I was subjected to for all of Saturday night.  I know what you're thinking...  Buff men + That One Mom = Hella Good Time....  NO!  Seriously, I could think of 875 OTHER things I would enjoy doing on a night off of work.  But for the love of The Man, I drove 3.5 hours to Des Moines (Did I mention I had driven 6.5 hours the day prior?) with two other couples to see his friend fight in an MMC Championship fight.

Honestly, I don't really get the whole mixed martial arts thing.  I truly thought that the first rule of Fight Club was you don't talk about Fight Club.  The best I can tell, someone talked about Fight Club, put them in a cage, and sold tickets.  The guys, on the other hand, had a blast.  There was a whole lot of hooting and hollering along with yelling and jeering.  Most fights were pretty one-sided, but a couple had to be decided by judges.  That was confusing.  At no point did I see points being given for different moves like in wrestling or sparring, but at the end, judges declared a winner. 

Sadly, The Man's friend lost his fight, but was excited that his opponent requested a rematch. 

Fortunately, the friends slept the majority of the ride home and last night I was able to sleep in my own bed!  Yay! 

How Time Flies

Wow!  I guess I wasn't lying when I said I would be around a lot less.  Sadly, I haven't been using all of that time to work out.  Some of it, yes.  All of it, no.

You know I have been remiss when BFF sends me a BBM telling me I am a lazy blogger.  How is that an indication, you ask?  Well, BFF isn't a blogger and she only checks in to mine periodically.

So what have I been doing in the week+ since you've heard from me?  I wish I could tell you that I went on a cleaning spree, got my house in tip top shape, and I am 100% caught up with my laundry, but I'd be lying.  Honestly, I've been having myself a bit of a pity party and spending too much time sleeping.  Not even my BB Chat bishes have heard much from me. 

Last Thursday, a dear friend of mine lost his life to cancer.  He was 70 and we often joked that he had 9 lives.  This was his 3rd boute with cancer and sadly, the cancer won.  We celebrated his life on Monday night and after the funeral had a huge dinner, drinks, and played some bingo.  I will definitely miss my pal WTF Chuck.

I have also been struggling with my precious daughter's behavior and grades.  While I'm not a stickler for the letter of the grade my kids receive, I do ask that they do their best.  After speaking with teachers, I know that The Girl does her best less than 25% of the time.  It is sad and frustrating to see that she is not at grade level in her performance and does not seem to be making academic progress.  Unfortunately, she is so accustomed to manipulating herself out of participating, I'm not sure how to get her back on track.  Every "undesired" activity turns into a war and honestly, I'm tired and don't know that I can take this challenge on by myself. 

On the bright side, a dear friend learned she's going to be a mommy again very soon...  Blessings come in all forms, and as her hubby so eloquently put it, God just didn't think their family was done yet.  Also, this weekend my "sisters" and I are hosting a 50th birthday celebration for my children's godmother!  Both of my children were matched with a Big Brother/Big Sister in the Big Brother Big Sister program and they seem to be getting along well.  I am getting my taxes done on Tuesday and can hopefully catch up expenses I've fallen behind on AND I got all of my shifts covered at work so the 2nd Annual Big Fat Family Roadtrip is a GO! (And The Man is coming, too!)

Hopefully soon, I will be out of this stupid funk.  Thank you to all that have been hanging tough while I have a meltdown.  I hope to "be myself" soon!!!

Images courtesey of Google Images

Surprise!!! It's Friday, January 8!

That's it!  That's my surprise!  Not only can I make a slideshow (Travis and Think Tank Momma both know that alone is an amazing feat!), but IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!

I'm so excited!  It's the first year in many, many years I get to spend a birthday with a certain someone special.  The Man has made reservations at a bed and breakfast in northwestern Minnesota AND there is a murder mystery dinner!  He arranged someone to stay with my monsters children and planned the whole weekend himself!

Tonight, he and Miss Lucinda are going to take me out on the town to get my drink on.  I don't have to work,  I don't have to sober cab.  And I don't have to come home until Sunday night!!!! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I will be back on Monday!!! 

Damn Surprise Visits

So, my parents are coming this weekend.  (In case you didn't get the memo.)  While I am very excited to see them, I'm kinda panicking.  Why?  It's been since March since I've seen them.  Usually, I go to them, in Chicago.  If I were to venture a guess, I'd say it's been 2 - 3 years since they've been to Minnesota.  And truthfully, it's probably been about 4 - 5 years since they've come to my house.

So why am I panicking, you ask?  Well, let's just say that my home is definitely "lived in".  With 3 cats, 2 kids (with broken arms the inability to pick up after themselves), and a revolving door to all of the neighborhood children (and more than that), my house often looks as though a bomb went off.  Don't get me wrong, we don't live in filth and squalor, we just don't exactly apply the "a place for everything and everything in it's place" philosophy here.  (Much to my dismay.)

My dad and step-mom?  Neat freaks.  Their home?  Museumesque. 

Now, generally speaking, I can find PLENTY to do with my folks that keep them the hell out of my house, but since I was laid off in April of 2008, I have done A LOT of redecorating in my house.  For some reason, my step-mom (who I think is incredible and has spotty memory due to a brain anuerysm 6 years ago) has remembered that she hasn't seen my home in YEARS and would really love to do an early Christmas at my house.  Had they given me a few weeks notice, I could probably have hit up the Flylady and applied some of her super intense "get your shit ready for the holidays" tips, but they didn't.  They told me on Tuesday.  Yep, 2 DAYS AGO!

Guess what!?!?  I don't have my Christmas tree up.  I don't have any Christmas baking done (my dad is a super cookie monster).  I don't have any gifts wrapped.  I don't have any Christmas decorations up.  All in all, I'm really not ready for this.

So?  My plan?  I'm sooo gonna see if they want to meet me at the Science Museum.  If I can occupy them there and wear them out, I can probably wear them out enough to have them suggest dinner out and NEVER make it as far as the suburb where I live!!! (YES!!!)  It's sketchy, but it might work!  And yes, I have a back-up plan...  They aren't planning on seeing us until Sunday.  So everyone is grounded until the house is clean(er) and The Man has been recruited to carrying the Christmas tree in tonight (SURPRISE, babe!). 

Wish me luck!

Meeting the Family?

New relationships are often blissful...

The Man (I know, not a very creative name.  Deal.)  and I have been spending a lot of time together.  I am completely smitten, and he has met my kids.  They are both HUGE fans.

The Man is divorced.  He has a son that lives in Colorado.  The son will be here on Friday.

My dad called yesterday.  He and my step-mom will also be here on Friday. 

I'm super excited to see my parents.  The Man is super excited to see his boy. 

This is where it gets scary.  The Man wants me to meet his son....And he would like to meet my folks.  Eeek!

Why so scary, you ask?  Because his son is only going to be here for 10 days.  I don't want to interupt the short period of time they have together.  The Man is sure he wants to integrate the two fams for the 10 day period as much as possible.  While I don't think it will be disastrous (far from it, actually), I'm just not sure.

As far as the "meeting the parents" thing goes - I'm totally comfortable with it. 

Okay, maybe not TOTALLY... 

We haven't really had any "relationship" talks.  While we did decide we were happy seeing only one another, we haven't really begun planning together.  Do you know what I mean?  Like, when we're making individual plans, we don't really check in with each other.  We just kinda spend time together if we have time or when it works out.  I actually can't think of a single time we've planned to do anything together in advance...

So I guess what I'm saying is, I don't really know that I see us as a couple.  And you don't really introduce your parents to someone you're just dating.  Does that make sense?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, worrying about a whole lot of nothing.  I do know that I am totally comfortable talking to him about anything, so we will be talking this through.  Any words of wisdom or thoughts are welcome, as always.

And I Am Still Alive

I think I've fully recovered from the weekend.

Wow.

On Friday night, I closed at the bar.  It was a bit nuts.  I ended up staying at The Man's house.  Let me tell you, I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.  The Boy had gone camping this weekend and The Girl spent the weekend with her godparents, so I didn't have to wake up at any particular time Saturday.  Wow.  Did I take advantage of that.  I think it was around noon when we finally pulled our butts out of bed.  We did a late brunch, hit up the local Target Boutique, and I went to my adorable nephew's 3rd birthday party before going into work at 5:00.

Saturday night at work was INSANE!  There were two 40th birthday parties for some guys that went to my high school and there were a million people I have known all of my life there.  NUTS!!

After work, I met my girl Dar out to see a Styx, REO, and Journey cover band.  It was a lot of fun, and once I figure out how to post a video (hint hint), I have a HILARIOUS video of some killer dance moves.  The Man and his roomies needed a ride home that night, so I stayed at his place again...  BUT  I had to be up super duper early to meet some friends for the Minnesota Vikings game. 

Hahahahahahaha!!!  I heard the Vikings won...  "What?!?!  Were't you at the game?", you ask.  Why yes, I was.  Full up with many screwdrivers and beer...

Me and Glamour Girl before the game at legendary Hubert's.

Me, after the game...  Headed back to Hubert's.

To put it mildly, we were train wrecks.  The Man happened to also be at the game with his friends.  He decided that Glamour Girl and I were in no shape to drive...  Even after the train ride back to the car...  So he left his friends and came to rescue us.  He rode the train back with us and drove us home...  Our hero...

He made it back to my house sometime during the Pats game.  Although I was passed out in my bed, I had the game on and was continuously waking to hear the game.  WTF happened?!?!  They lost by 1!  BY 1!!!  WTH!  Grrr...  And The Man was cheering for the Colts!  Let's just say, it doesn't matter if he saved my life, kept me out of jail, and got my ass home in 1 piece, he's in big trouble, buddy...

Hahaha, I'll tell you that story tomorrow...