"For the Sake of Old Times"

This is what "Auld Lang Syne" loosely translated means in English. A Scottish poem written in the late 1700's that can still be used for current happenings today. We traditionally sing it at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve to signify our INTENT to forget about old happenings of the previous year and prepare ourself for the new year and new things to come.

You won't see me writing any "resolutions" as many do. If there is a goal or thing that I want to obtain or accomplish, I simply do it! No need to wait until January 1. Instead, I think of general things that I would like to eventually do throughout the year. Sometimes it is travel, sometimes a new skill. I feel personally that it is low pressure and more realistic than forcing yourself to immediately begin something and then beat yourself up if you can't continue it or meet your goal. Of course, if you could care less either way if you do it or not, then why make the "resolution" in the first place?? HA. I just prefer to be much more relaxed about it.

Now don't get me wrong, if someone wants to make a list of resolutions then more power to them! It's always nice to start off the year with good intentions and such. Call me a realist--through the years I am growing used to seeing goals be made over and over, only to be completely forgotten or ignored. But if someone is the kind of person who can be real with themself and really get down and get something done, then good for them!

In the end, any resolution that lasts about 3 weeks then is forgotten is only hurting the one who made it. If you want something bad enough, you get out there and DO IT. Regardless of the time of year, regardless of setbacks, naysayers, income, or busy schedule. It is not an easy practice but it is so fulfilling that words can not describe how much more confidence you will EARN because then you become a DOER. These are the kind of people that inspire me, and that I wish to surround myself with.

On another note, I will not technically be celebrating on New Year's Eve--I will be working away! I work this whole weekend and have picked up several extra shifts for all of next month. Hopefully everyone has a safe and happy evening, without too much boozing. You know how it seems everyone has turned each holiday into a reason to get drunk....

Christmas 2010 and a 1 1/2 Year Old!

Our Christmas was terrific! I hosted a Christmas Eve party/gift exchange AND Christmas dinner at my house this year for the entire family. The two-day extravaganza made it easier for those who were available on one day but not the other, and for other family we got to see them twice!

Christmas Eve

For this laid back party, my mom, stepdad, dad, brother Shane, SIL Sarah, and SIL Teri were there. My brother Eric got there later on after work.

Unfortunately we didn't get any snow, but at least it was chilly outside! I had a blazing fire going both days, and it was quite nice!

^My mom and stepdad

^My brother Shane, Nick, and his sister Sarah

^My dad and I

The food this night was mostly finger foods and sweets.

Mumsy played Christmas carols on the piano, and of course Brad wanted to help! I held him while we sang songs.

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning I got up early and went to my mom's for the traditional biscuits and sausage gravy breakfast. My brother Eric and his wife were also there. Then I went home and got the boys up so that we could open our presents! It was so sweet to watch Brad figure out how to rip the paper off, then play with his toys. He got a ton of new toys from family so he should keep busy!

Then I got to cooking for our dinner. I made honey-glazed ham, mashed country potatoes with brown gravy, yeast rolls, green bean casserole, creamy pumpkin pie, cheesy corny cornbread, whole cranberry sauce, and for the Italian dish I made spaghetti sauce with brachiole! Mom brought 2 types of dressing, and my MIL brought fruit salad.

For this dinner my dad, mom, stepdad, MIL, FIL, SIL, and neice were all there!

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Now for today's special significance! My little angel boy is officially 1 1/2! If you recall from his 1 year post, I am doing his "milestone" posts and pictures every 6 months now. We have a lot to catch up on! I will try to remember everything.

1 1/2 Years Old

Weight: 28lbs
Height: 31 1/2 inches

at 1 1/2 years old you:

• can walk and almost run with ease
• give high-fives
• have 16 teeth, including 4 molars
• can't drink from straws yet, but can drink from hard-top sippy cups
• say momma, daddy, thank you, yucky, uh oh, baby, and bubba
• still wearing a size 4 diaper, but wear a size 5 at night
• wear size 4 shoe, but they are getting tight
• wearing all 18mo clothes, but the pants are all a bit too long
• sleep 13-14hrs at night
• usually take 2 two hour naps a day
• know how to use a brush, spoon, q-tip, and napkin
• are a great eater, but don't really like meat
• use your paci at night but always end up throwing it on the floor
• like to pet the kitties
• recently started acting shy around strangers
• don't really like to sit in the shopping cart
• play well with other toddlers
• started having tantrums a few months ago, but not very often
• still have not been sick!
  

Flashback and a College Graduate

Just wanted to remind you of what my little angel looked like this time last year! How precious!

Nick and I always just sit back and watch him, and think of how blessed we are to have him in our lives.

So as of December 18, 2010, my husband is a college graduate!! I am so proud of him! He has gone through a lot to finally get here and have a degree that he has worked hard for. It took him awhile to figure out exactly what he wanted to do for a career, but he went for it and now he has the world at his feet.

I threw a big surprise party for him that evening, and he had no idea what was going on! I was cooking snacks all day which I told him I was taking to a potluck at work. I also told him my dad was coming over for dinner that night. My dad was the first one to show up, so we just played along and chatted. Then when Nick's mom and sister got there, I acted like they were just in the area and dropped by for a bit. But then when I started putting snacks out on the table, more people showed up, and he started getting cards...well you get the idea!

We all had a great time, and we both appreciate those who came to the party and made the effort to come and celebrate with us. The actual commencement ceremony isn't until next May, so I will be sending out formal invitations for that so we can all go see my love walk across the stage for his diploma! Now--thanks to the economy--the hard part will be finding a job!

Tonight one of my coworkers had a big Christmas get-together at her house. My mother watched Brad so that Nick and I could go enjoy a night out with friends. It is so nice to be able to go to someone else's house and just munch on good food and have a good time! It's been awhile since we have been able to do that. It seems like some people say "Oh yeah! We have to get together some time" then nothing ever comes of it. Ok, we get the hint! No sense beating that dead horse, huh?

Tomorrow I have a class at work bright and early in the morning, then after that I have to stop by the office where I am doing the research study for a checkup. Then in the evening a couple of friends and my mom are stopping by for a gift exchange. But I am happy to say that today I got some Christmas baking done, packaged up, and mailed off to family in Ohio! Let's just hope it gets there speedily!

Thoughts

No pictures for today, just musings from inside my chaotic mind. I've been thinking a lot lately about things...things in life that bother me at times but I tend to squash them down and keep them buried. Of course I talk with Nick about them, but some things can't be talked out--some things require action for fixing. Not things between us--once he finds a job we will be peachy keen. Life things. Friends, job, location, neighbors, scenery....etc.

I guess you could say I am reassessing my life and where I'm at versus where I want to be. A lot of the time, life takes us in a different direction that where we think we are headed. Don't get me wrong--I feel I have done a good job of taking charge of the things I am in control of e.g. education, house, job, health, fertility. But then there are those pesky things that you have absolutely no control over. And they usually involve other people. That is where the reassessing comes in.

I'm not one to burn any bridges or go out with a bang. But I have done some reading on this subject, and I do believe in some things there comes a time where you have to step back and ask yourself if something has become toxic--are you a better person because of something, or a worse one? And with some things, the answer can be very clear. With enough time, most answers will show themselves, but it is up to you to be strong and make decisions that eventually must be made.

Sorry to be so vague ;)

My Fourth Craft Show

This venue was truly a lot better! It was at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds here in Norman, and I had a feeling it would do better than the last few at the Del City church. It was bigger, and there were TONS of people there. It didn't slow down till about 2pm or so.

Our booth is accented with aqua and black, which is also the colors that mumsy and I wore that day. So the night before, I stayed up late designing my own pattern for a crocheted headband that matched my outfit perfectly!

I was very happy with it, and it was pretty comfortable. My only complaint was the wind! Our booth was right near the front entrance, and the 2 hours we were setting up they had all of the doors propped open (that faced north mind you) so the wind was blowing in freezing air! Even after they closed the doors, the heaters never really caught up with the cold in the front of the building. In the back it was nice and toasty!

We got all set up with 30 minutes to spare, so we both walked around the whole fair sipping our coffees and checking out all of the other booths.

In this one \/ you can see our twinkly lights in the tulle!

There were a lot of jewelry booths there, and several other repeats of the same things. But nobody else had coasters, bookmarks, or hats with flowers! My hats just flew off of the table, and halfway thru the show I ran home to get more yarn! The 2 hats I made while sitting behind the table both sold! I believe it was a very good idea to do the last craft show right before Christmas! Our next one isn't until March, so I get a few months to recoup!

Michael and Emeril--My Oh My

So yeah I got to see two celebs this week! Wednesday evening I met my friend Sara for dinner at Chili's, then we headed downtown for the big Michael Buble concert. We were meeting my brother Eric and his wife there but they were going to be a few rows behind us. I didn't bring my camera because we were way up in the nosebleed section--this turned out to be a colossal mistake. When we got to our section, it was closed and there was a table in front of it with staff directing people to a new section....

...they asked us if we wanted the second level instead of the third. I said "What else do you have?" They said, "You want the floor?" I said HECK YES WE DO!!! Since Eric and Teri weren't there yet, we had to wait 30 more minutes for them to show up so that we could all get tickets together. I was very worried they would give the floor tickets away, but she had set aside 4 seats for us, and she wasn't offering floor seats to everyone. It seemed like only the people who asked got them!! As soon as we could, we all 4 ran down to the floor and saw how amazingly close we were to the stage!!!

I immediately began kicking myself for not bringing my camera, and it continued throughout the whole night. Thankfully my sis-in-law had her phone and got a couple shots with it, and this one \/ is from a friend who was at the concert also.

Halfway thru the concert, Michael walked off the stage and thru the crowd RIGHT BY US to a platform that was in the middle of the floor area. We were a mere 15-20ft from him!!! I stood on my chair and was jumping with delight like a 12 year old boy at a Miley Cyrus concert!

Ahhhhh! It was a fantastic concert, and I can't wait to see him for a 3rd time!

You may have noticed our family portrait on my blog header. It was also in my Christmas cards, and since most everyone has already received theirs, I can put it on here now!

I love sending out cards and finding cute holiday stamps to put on them, but it is really sad how many people don't do them anymore!! I mean, who doesn't love to get a festive card in the mail and hang it up for all to see during the Christmas season??? All you fuddy duds out there need to get with it, go spend $3 on a box of cards, and mail them to your friends!!!!!! All the cool people are doing it ;)

Today was another big day! Last week my mom got wind that the uber-popular chef Emeril Lagasse was going to be here in lil 'ole Oklahoma City to promote his line of cookware and do a cooking demonstration!! So of course we were there! We got there an hour and 15min early, and there was probably already 25 people ahead of us. They had seats lined up in rows and we were probably about 30ft away from him

They handed out recipe cards for the 4 gourmet dishes that he prepared in front of us. I'm not sure what they did with the food after he cooked it...when we left it was still sitting on the table.

After just a few minutes from coming out, his mike quit working, so the "crew" scrambled to fix it but all they could come up with was a handheld mike...which is pretty stupid for someone who is trying to cook 4 dishes in 45min!! But he made due! His assistant went between cooking to holding the mike for him.

It was very neat to watch, and we loved the delicious aromas that were wafting thru the air afterwards!

After crawling through rush hour traffic to get back to Norman, we ran to the venue where our craft show is tomorrow and began to set up our table. It looks like we got a very good table, but we need to get there bright and early tomorrow to finish our table and get it looking good. Wish us luck!!! If you live in the area, it is at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds in Norman from 9am-4pm!

Weekend Pics

It has been a busy weekend here but it's Monday now and I go back to work tonight. Saturday I threw a surprise birthday party for my brother here, and all of the family was able to be here! It was so nice to have everyone back together again, and of course we had good food and cake to enjoy. He got some nice presents and stayed for several hours with us.

Yesterday Nick and his best friend Terry went out for lunch and man-shopping, then Terry hung out at our house the rest of the day until about midnight last night. He joined us for a few meals, and even bought a huge bag of firewood just so we could have a big roaring fire for the evening! I was able to crank out a couple more hats for my craft show Saturday too.

I have my Christmas cards all stuffed and addressed--all that is left is buying holiday stamps and mailing them out! That will get done today, and then I will be on track. 90% of presents are already bought and wrapped of course ;)

I leave you with a couple of pictures of my little man and some of the mischief he gets into on a day-to-day basis...