Yes, I have been gone awhile…so so so busy….but….
Here’s my warmest holiday wishes in case I didn’t get your card mailed, just know it wasn’t because I didn’t want to. LOL.
Hope your holidays are filled with warmth and love!
I’ll be back one of these days! =)
Well, the ol’ blog got the yearly update in preparation for 2013. I’m not sure if I love it or if it will just “do” so I guess I’ll give it a few days and see if it grows on me…lol. It used to see an update at least with the seasons…now I do good to get it switched with the new year. Back in those days, I also was less of a slacker when it came to posting, too.
That may hit the new year resolution list…haha.
Buttttttt….at least I do post. I won’t call any names, but there’s a few bloggy friends that I occasionally check and have seen the same post for over a YEAR. HELLO!
My bloggy décor may be the same for a whole year BUT at least the content is somewhat fresh. LOL.
Somewhat.
Maybe next year I’ll do better about being fresh. 
So…what do you think? Fresh or not fresh enough? LOL. No, I mean, about the blog. (hah) And after looking at the header a few more times outside of photoshop…is it too Christmas colored-ish to last all year? Hmmmm….decisions, decisions.
So much to do, so little time to get it done. And what do I do?
Well, duh…procrastinate, of course.
At the present rate of progress, I think I’ll be ready for Christmas by December 24th…..of TWENTY THIRTEEN. LOL…okay, that was a slight exaggeration. =) But only a slight one.
I spent hours yesterday trying to get the yearly Christmas card update finished. After I spent hours procrastinating by reading up on typography and font pairing. It’s quite interesting stuff, actually, and I really can’t wait to take some real classes on it. In the meantime, I figured out enough to get the update finished, and now it’s time to finish assembling the card part.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m blogging…which means I’m procrastinating again on those crazy cards. I am usually on top of this thing, but I don’t know what my problem is this year. *sigh*
I mentioned last post that I have been busy. I have actually done quite a few photo 
Well anyway.
I have to get moving—not because I want to, but because it’s really chilly in this here house, and the fastest way to get warm is to get moving, and really, keeping the house chilly is the best way to ensure that I don’t sit on the couch and read a book all day…except sometimes, it means that I might go back to bed all day because that’s the warmest place….but that doesn’t happen very often because there’s not usually enough time for that. How did you like this little rabbit trail I went down?
Okay, enough of this…LATER has come.
My name is Faith, and I’m a slacker blogger.
I have been CRAZY busy and blogging has only been a passing thought every so often (usually, when I should be doing something that qualifies as work, or right before I drift off to dreamland).
So why don’t I just go ahead and say “Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year” and then I’ll just come back sometime next year when things slow down.
Oh…you’re right…there’s no end in sight, so if I did that, I might never return.
Bad idea.
But…I was here. And I think about you all the time. Okay, just sometimes.
Never mind.
I’m tired and now it’s dreamland time.
PS Please forgive me for being a slacker crazy random blogger. =)
No, this post has nothing to do with Snickerdoodles. I was just trying to balance out the bitter previous title. ROFL.
I’m such a nerd. Case in point…wanna know what made me laugh today? I googled the word “askew” (if you’re a nerd like me, you might laugh, too….lol).
Anyway, I’m so tired, but I wanted to come blog quickly before more days pass me by. =)
Thanksgiving was delightful…we hit up the Golden Corral because I didn’t feel like cooking or cleaning up and neither did my mom. LOL. It was great. And then I had desserts to make for tomorrow, so I had to cook and clean up some after all. Oh well…at least it wasn’t all the dishes for turkey and stuffing and potatoes and all the delish stuff we got at the GC today. =) When we got in line to eat today, I looked at all the food on the bar and thought of the day we helped feed the mass of kids in the mission feeding program on our mission trip over the summer. Rice and beans served out of five gallon buckets with a small chunk of bread on the side. When the first row of kids finished, their plates were rinsed off and reloaded for the next set. And that was the only meal some of them get every day. Just made me WAY more thankful for the sanitized plates and silverware and massive variety of tasty food on the menu. AND for not having to wash the dishes. (sorry…I can’t seem to keep my tongue out of my cheek for very long at a time….lol)
Anyway, in spite of trying to avoid work today, I came back home and still got conned into trimming the bushes in front of the house and baking and cleaning up and doing laundry and giving the dogs a bath…and…well, okay, I only got conned into the bushes part….and I don’t care what KC says, he tricked me. LOL. He said he had an alternative to baking and I agreed, then he told me what it was. Alternative mean INSTEAD OF, not in addition to….lol. Conned.
Anyway, I just noticed I use the word “anyway” a lot. =(
So, now, even though I’ve got other stuff I probably should do in the last little while before bedtime, we’re going to chill for a bit and watch October Baby…I’ve heard it’s good. Hopefully I can stay awake long enough.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
I’ve found a new favorite author…he suits my randomness, SO well. I picked up one of his books in the children’s section of the library the other day. It’s called Horseradish (bitter truths You can’t Avoid). It’s a weird book, and not like a story but more like random quotes, and I was laughing every few pages. I can’t see it as a kids book though.
“Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother’s wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.”
See what I mean?
Anyway, it’s by the dude who did A Series of Unfortunate Events (which doesn’t really seem child appropriate either, but who am I?) and even his name (or maybe just the name he writes under) is funny. Lemony Snicket makes me snicker. ;-) I’m weird, it’s okay.
“If you try to avoid every instance of peer pressure, you will end up without any peers whatsoever, and the trick is to succumb to enough pressure that you do not drive your peers away, but not so much that you end up in a situation in which you are dead or otherwise uncomfortable. This is a difficult trick, and most people never master it, and end up dead or uncomfortable at least once during their lives.”
LOL
Anyway, figured it would make an appropriate post for my blog, since it so fits my style of randomness.
Life has been busy and hectic and everything else, which makes it really hard to catch up when I try to come back and blog it, so maybe a bullet list:
So, yeah…it’s been awhile since I showed up here, huh? And since the curiosity is just killing you, I’ll go ahead and tell you where I’ve been.
Okay, well, I won’t tell you EVERYWHERE I’ve been (it’s been six days and a blog post can’t contain it all) but here’s one place:
On this day in history, we actually drove to Greenville, SC, picked up a friend from her college there, drove to Huntersville to go farther back in history at the renaissance festival, then back to Greenville to take our friend back, and then drove back to our house. Hours and hours of driving (not to mention the hours of time travel) but we had a great time.
The festival was quite the experience. Well worth the time and energy spent getting there. So much cool stuff (and a little slightly questionable…lol) and a terrific place for people watching…bwahahaha!
The setup is amazing…seriously awesome. We loved all the castles and old style structures! Very incredible.
And the costumes…well, we went as time travelers from the 21st century, so ours were nothing to speak of, but I could talk about the costumes of the other festival-goers for hours. I won’t get into all of it, but we’ll just say that some things, when they get to be about sixty plus years old….just shouldn’t be bare and hefted up around chin level. Seriously. Tuck them wrinkly things back down in your dress where they belong. Not to say that they should be bare and shoved up there when they’re less than sixty either, and there was plenty of that, too. ROFL. I did like the Jack Sparrow dude, though…next year I’m gonna give KC some purple eyeliner and dreadlocks. *bwahahaha*
Anyway, it was a blast. And the kids had happened to get invited to spend the weekend at KC’s parents, so it was awesome to have grownup time for all that, too.
As for the rest of the time, well, we were at church and church events, then a bit of time hanging out at Chuck E Cheese with my friend, J. & Co, on Monday when my kids were out of school, and….well…you get the picture.
Suffice it to say, we’ve been staying pretty busy and having a good time doing it. =)
So…I’m done talking politics, it’s over and I’ve moved on….BUT FIRST (lol) --- and I’m really not talking any more about it – but this post said what I was thinking over the last couple of days…only way better.
And truly…moving on. Conditioning. That’s what’s been on my mind today. We’re so easily conditioned.
When you wake up one morning and it’s 50, you think it’s cold outside. Then you have a week of 35 degree highs, and then it goes back to 50 and you drag out the flip flops because it’s summer.
Or you think gas is astronomically high when it jumps to $1.35 a gallon. Then it jumps to $3.35 a gallon for a while, so when the losers who make a killing on gas drop it back to $2.93, you are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude.
Now…how to make this work in my favor when it comes to the ever so challenging parenting game….(evil chuckle)
Well, I’m not really big into politics, and I’ve seen enough political ads to make me nauseous and extremely hesitant to even voice my own opinion, but I have to say, I don’t know how you could vote for anyone except Mitt Romney.
There. I said it. I also don’t understand how if I voted for someone because he was white, I’d be racist, but it’s not racist for someone who is black to vote for a president based solely on his race.
Maybe I’ll get in trouble for talking about it, but if the color of skin were switched on the two main players in the election, I’d still vote for Romney.
I seriously hate politics. I don’t like how people get all worked up about it, and I don’t like how pushy it all seems. If you’re an Obama supporter, I can agree to disagree. BUT. I’ve already exercised my rights as an American (I love early voting) so now I get to sit on the sidelines with my fingers crossed and I promise not to blog any more about it.
So who did YOU vote for? And why?
(just remember, this is a no-hate zone) =)
Regret is a terrible thing. Life is short and every so often, that fact slams you right in the face and you wish you’d taken more of the opportunities when they were there instead of waiting until you only WISHED they were there.
My uncle (on mom’s side) passed away over the weekend and although he hasn’t been in good health for many years, it’s never easy to lose someone you love. He didn’t live close by and it was hard to get away to go down there, but now I wish I’d made the trip a few more times before now. I wish, I wish, I wish.
I drove down yesterday morning to be there for the receiving of friends yesterday evening (and yes, it felt like too little, too late, but I needed to make the effort) and then drove back home afterwards so I could be here to take the kids back to school this morning and would only have to find a couple of hours of childcare between after school and KC getting home (by the way, huge thank you to KC’s mom for doing that). So while I was sitting there in the funeral home last night, I got to listen to my uncle’s brother (who I had never met before) talk…he sounded SO much like my uncle. It was wonderful and sad at the same time.
I’ll never forget my uncle…he called everybody “Sug" (like short for Sugar), he “carried us to the store” to get candy when we were kids, he would bring us vegetables from his garden, take us for rides on his tractor, he was famous for his barbeque, I loved listening to him talk to my dad about his jobs pulling wire for the electric company, he loved people, I don’t even remember how many times I heard him talking about “the good Lord above,” he could send a kickball sky high with his fist for us kids to chase…and he did…many times, he loved his diet pepsi and nutty bars, and even though I wasn’t one of his grandkids, he loved me like I was. I didn’t see him as much as I wanted to, or as much as I should have, but boy, I sure do miss him.
Makes you stop and think about taking the time to appreciate the ones you still have around.
My goal is to live life with less regrets…because they stink.
Another one of those things that is way easier to say than to do. But anyway, I’m beyond exhausted from everything over the last couple of days, and I feel really foggy and maybe this doesn’t make any sense (which is normal, no matter how tired or rested I am), but it’s what I’ve had on my mind over the last couple of days. And I’m going to end it here and put myself out of this fog and into the bed…may not solve anything, but it might improve it. =/ Night.
In Star Trek….not that I know much about it except that I saw the last couple movies that came out…the Borgs were terrible to defeat because of their incredible ability to adapt to the weapons of their enemies. They were almost impossible to kill because as soon as you phasered or tasered or whatever the star trek weapons are (see I told you how much I don’t know about them)….anyway, as soon as you shot them, they adapted to the frequency and became immune to further hits. LOL Somehow, I think Munchkin must be Borg. No matter how many frequencies we try, she takes a hit and then immediately adapts and is immune.
You ground her, she’s upset for a minute and then she twists it around to make it a non-consequence…and then she’ll suggest it as a consequence the next time. “You can ground me from the computer, mom…no biggie.” “Oh, I don’t get to go do the fun thing I wanted to do this weekend…but I’d rather stay home anyway.” “Oh this terrible awful no-good homework assignment….it’s fun…I love reports.”
Whaaaaaaa???
Resistance is futile…next I’ll be assimilated.
If it wasn’t so stinking frustrating trying to train and stay a step ahead of this EIGHT year old, I’d be really appreciative of her talent for turning bad things into good….
Except, it’s really backwards…when we do fun, awesome things….she finds everything to complain about and turn it into bad. Lord help us.
How do you parent a contrary Borg?
Some days I just don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. I could go into detail, but that old saying comes to mind: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
And so, I just muddle on through….one day at a time. Some days I LOOK like I know what I’m doing.
Other days I just drink an extra Dr. Pepper….or three.
I thought about quitting again. By the third one, I decided that was a bad idea. It’s not such a bad vice, really.
I’m really into changing the subject at random.
Today’s Facebook Status: Teachers are GROSSLY underpaid. I have 18 kids in Munchkin’s third grade class by myself for two hours so the real teacher can get a two hour lunch....how DO teachers do this every day, all day without violating the sixth commandment??? Lol ;-)
The sixth commandment part was just being funny…don’t take me seriously on that one. LOL. Also, it’s not the one about committing adultery…lol…I checked and triple checked to make sure I didn’t put that one….lol.
I think I’m not so well equipped to be a blogger either sometimes. There is literally no point whatsoever to this post since I’ve already decided I’m not going to talk about what’s REALLY on my mind.
I shouldn’t blog after midnight and three (large) DP's. Bad idea. But after three (lg) DP’s, sleep isn’t working either.
However, this is worse, so I think I’ll go try sleep again. If that doesn’t work, I guess I’ll start writing out the terrible awful homework assignment on Honesty and the Negative Effects of Being Sneaky for the little miss in the house. Pooh…I don’t know what we’re going to do with her…I can’t figure out what she’s thinking. This is like the 15th time we’ve had this conversation on Honesty, and the 4th for this very specific issue of disappearing papers between school and home. So. The terrible awful no-good homework assignment for this weekend…I’m thinking I’ll start with making her look up and copy off some definitions of honesty and deceit and then write a report comparing the two (because sheesh, that’s what they do in third grade these days!). I’m not sure if I should add to that or not…or what I should add to it. All I know is somehow, she’s got to figure out that she needs to use her amazing intelligence in ways OTHER than manipulating the system. Kids are gonna be kids…that’s just all there is to it…I get that…but I don’t get lying when you know everyone has proof of the truth already and that all you’re gonna get is trouble for your efforts. What would make you do that? Or how do you deal with a kid who does?
Okay, I spent enough time on that thought to make me sleepy…night now.
I don’t even know where to start.
First of all, I’m not saying fall is my favorite or anything, because I am fiercely loyal to flip-flop and pool season, but the colors turned GORGEOUS while we were gone. It’s making my fingers itch to pick up my sketchbook and pencils and try to copy God’s awesomely colorful landscapes.
Second of all, our internet is making me insanely and unreasonably angry. I shouldn’t blame the internet…it’s actually a router issue. But what’s making me angry is that one computer will be working fine and the other just randomly bombs out….and a while later…vice versa. UGH. But I suppose as long as I’m not being violent or hurting anyone, everything’s good and I can pass on anger management classes…lol.
On the subject of classes I don’t have to take…I got a surprising email from school that my classes I took in 2001 will transfer to current. Last time I considered going back to school, the other school I was looking into told me that I wouldn’t get transfer credit from those classes because they were over 10 years old. So I was expecting to have to take them again, and I was super excited to see that email saying that’s four credit hours on my current transcript. Might have done a little tiny happy dance…lol. Now, fingers crossed that it wasn’t a mistake. Haha. And with the price of credit hours now, it will be BEAUTIFUL if it’s for real! *grin* So I’m just waiting for registration to open in November so I can get back to this thing.
Internet’s still down….and it’s late…I don’t know why I’m still typing because this won’t post until it’s working again. *sigh*
Oh, one last thing…I took pictures of my cousin’s kids this week. They are SOO adorable. They aren’t real keen on posing, but I snapped until I had something to work with…
So as usual…I’ll spill a little secret here and say this next photo only had two kids in it originally, and in the original photo, only one kid’s head was turned toward the camera. There was one thing I couldn’t change though, so every time I look at this one, I know it’s photoshopped because I see it.
It’s a pretty major issue, so let’s see if you can figure it out. *grin*
And now, I’m going to go see if I can figure out how to make my computer get back on the internet so I can post this. =)
Holy COW, the pictures! There is NO shortage of pictures from this vacation…that’s for sure. But I’ve gone through them all now (except for the ones on KC’s video camera) and picked out a few thousand to post on here….lol.
So we left on Friday the 5th at lunchtime, drove 9 hours and spent the night about half an hour above Orlando, then got up the next morning and drove through Orlando…
Past all the Disney signs and subtle MICKEY clues.
No, we didn’t stop. We drove for another hour down to Legoland! And THEN we stopped…much to the kids delight! K-man was in seventh heaven. It was really really cool!
Then, we called it a day there about 4pm and hit the road again down to Fort Lauderdale for the night (another several hours driving).
The next morning, we got up and got moving, KC took K-man to Target for any last minute things on our list and I took Munchkin over to the laundromat near the hotel to wash up our weekend clothes so everything would be clean before we got on the ship.
Laundromats are a great place to see strange people…just saying. This one strange person gave me a complex while I was there…she kept looking at me and cackling under her breath. Awkward. lol
Anyway, then we got on the ship and the next seven days I felt like a princess. Didn’t have to cook, or make my bed, or clean the bathroom or ANYTHING.
So enough talk, I’m out of time….here’s a thousand pictures (or maybe just 119)…lol =) The usual disclaimers apply…=)
Oh yeah, one last thing: MY WASHER WORKS AGAIN! Hallelujah!!! I called tech support and talked to someone who barely spoke English, and they told me what was wrong with it and how to fix it. Apparently there is a filter in the bottom of the machine that I didn’t know about…and hasn’t been cleaned in the entire life of the machine (almost three years). Dur. But it’s fixed…for free! And laundry mountain has been reduced to a molehill. Now it’s Ironing Mountain that must be moved. *sigh*
