New Year's Eve 2008

So the end of 2008 has come and I'm sitting here in my office (craft room, really, but we call it "mommy's office"), getting ready to put the older kids down for the night and trying to decide if I'm going to spend the rest of what use to be fun-party-night-but-now-I-can't-keep-my-eyes-open-past-10:30-night trying to refinsh the hutch, or cleaning out my office. Wow...we have really turned into parents of young kids, huh?

Anyway, New Year's always seem to be the time for resolutions...change...starting fresh...a clean slate. Last year I vowed to set weekly resolutions, change 1 thing (big or small) every week, that way it didn't seem to overwhelming all at once. It worked really well until about April, when we caught a really bad cold and that took me down. (I type this as after two weeks I'm still recovering from what seems to be the worst cold of my entire life.) I think I might try this method again. Not that I need a new year to make changes, but it seems like a good time...plus...its tomorrow. =)

So...this year I'm going to take a little more time out for me. Like reading. I really use to enjoy reading, now I can't keep my eyes open long enough to get through a paragrah, or the guilt that there is a load of laundry begging me to fold it gets to me and I can't enjoy the book. I'm also going to set aside scrapbooking time. A hobby that I love to do (daydream about, really) but haven't done one bit since we moved 17 months ago...way too long to go without. And who knows, maybe I'll even take a few moments once in awhile to paint my fingernails. But mostly, I'm vowing to make the most of everyday. Enjoy my kids...my husband...my family...my friends...my wonderful life.

Happy New Year's to you all!!!

December pictures

Snow Day

Yes, we had a sprinkling of snow, an inch or two maybe, and the schools are all cancelled. As I did not go out today, I cannot attest to the road situation (yes, I'm aware there are more things that go into cancelling school then a few roads), but Joe said they were fine. See, we come from Alaska (Joe does anyway, I just lived there for 5 years), so this light dusting kind of makes us laugh that school was out. Didn't matter anyway, since Ellery is sick and Goggy (Joe's dad) just got here last night so the kids were happy campers playing with Grampa and I had a babysitter!!!

How did we find out that school was closed you might ask? Well, WCS has an emergency alert system. They ran a test a week or so ago, otherwise I would have been a bit urked. You see, our home phone rang at about 6:23 this morning. "Who in the world is called this early," were the words coming out of Joe's mouth...right about the time my cell phone rang, then his cell phone...you get the picture. Luckily I knew that the world was not falling apart, but it was just a little snow. (Neat system in the event of a real emergency!) In addition to all our phones ringing at the crack of dawn, I got a text and an email, as did Joe. We're covered....and awake.

New carpet???

So I'm tidying up a bit today, mostly in my office. It seems that with my sisters wedding invitations, guestbook and thank you cards, our massive trip, and the holidays, I've been a bit neglectful of my office. This is supposed to be a creative space for me (oh, and a place where I can do some accounting occasionally...hence office), but lately its been, well...a place for all things without a home. Paperwork, toys that need glued/taped, magazines, scrap paper, kids drawings from school, the umpteenth project I've started...you get the idea. Anyway, today I lifted pretty much everything off the floor and put it on every inch of available desk surface (except for that one box I've been meaning to get to since we moved...yes, its still in the original spot the movers put it in the day we got here, yes I know we've been here almost 16 months...) So, since I can now see the floor, I decided to vacuum. Nothing is going back down on the floor. I must take care of it all and put it where it belongs. It might take a month to clear off my desk, but I will do it.

My point...well, after I had vacuumed, Ellery walked in and said, "Mom...where did you get all this carpet?"

Note to self: keep floor clear...less to trip on.