A Post-Christmas Hello

Just a quick post to say I hope that Santa brought all your Christmas wishes. I know he did here, although he found our town a bit dark. To hear that tale read the poem in the post below this one. I'm sure you'll find it amusing.

My cards are going out late this year (I'm mailing them tomorrow), so please don't be upset that you've not received one yet, because no one else has. This holiday was a tough one to prepare, because I was my mom's sole driver for all her shopping, plus, I had my own to get in. I'm not complaining, she needed to shop and I'm the one who is local. It just made it a tiny bit more hectic that's all. But right now my kids are with her (probably for the night) so I'm going to go make some dinner and relax for a while.

Hope your Christmas was fantastic and please accept my best wishes for a very happy, healthy, 2007.

Love to all,
Kim

A (Very Interesting) Visit From Saint Nicholas

'Twas the night before Christmas
We came home, and I straightened our wreath
Then sent my little darlings
Upstairs to brush their teeth.

My dh was a bit
On the happy-happy side
He'd had some beers at his sister's house
So to get us home, I drove for that ride.

I sat down to check email
The kids were upstairs brushing
With Santa coming they knew
That off to bed they'd soon be rushing

R finished his teeth
And went into his room
K was brushing hers
And so would be joining him soon.

When suddenly, with a pop
which startled us all
The computer blipped off
and the light in the hall

In fact every thing was off
For this Christmas Eve treat
We looked out the window
and saw darkness all the way down the street.

The street lights were off
Not a Christmas light shone
At that point my dh let out a groan

"Power Outage!" he exclaimed
"It's not only us"
And at that point my little one started to fuss

She was in the bathroom, alone
As you may recall
But now, in the darkness...
"R! Don't let her fall!"

So her big brother rescued her
Then found the flashlight
G had gone down the basement to find it
Buzzed and now without sight

But I'd gotten some candles
from my dear sil
What a lucky gift that was
Words cannot tell

So we snuggled up on the couch
All four of us, with candles lit
K was still a bit freaked out
So for a while I let them sit.

Then R remembered that
His dragons he could light
Their battery powered, fiber-optics
Might chase away K's fright

So G lit them up to R's room
And tucked them into bed
Soon with dragons on the job
Sugarplum visions filled their heads.

But of course we had to wait now
To be sure they were asleep
Before we could do the "Santa" thing
So in a little while, upstairs I'd creep

It might have been a lovely time
With G and candles glowing
But as we snuggled on the couch
I felt his breathing slowing

I can't blame him, I must admit
Because soon I dozed off too
An hour later I snapped awake
Still in the dark and we still
Had oh-so-much to do!!!!

I tried to let him rest there
I went down to get their stuff
I overloaded my arms and lugged it
Up the stairs with a huff and a puff

I dropped it when I reached the tree
(Thank Heaven nothing broke)
Then looking at my flashlight
I saw a site that made me choke

The flashlight would soon be going out
It definitely was dimmer
How would I make all those trips
up and downstairs without it's glimmer?

So I woke up G; I needed his help
There was no other way
He lugged the gifts while I arranged them
Which really saved the day

I think he made the last two trips
without benefit of light
I arranged them all by candlelight
I was sure they'd be quite a sight

And as he set the last load down
Beside me by the tree
Suddenly the room burst into light
The power was back! Whoopee!

But then in a flash I realized
That when the lights had blipped back on
R's room, the hall and bathroom lights
were now blazing clear and strong

So, another stressfull moment
While G crept up to their room
He turned off the lights
And left the kids in sleep-conducive gloom

I had light to fill their stockings
and then I crept to bed
At 6:45 I heard their voices
Seeping into my head

"Santa came Mom & Daddy!
Let's get up!" they said
But G and I just couldn't
clear the cobwebs from our heads

"Come here, K..." he grunted
"R go back to bed,"
"We need a little longer
to rest our sleepy heads"

So K climbed into bed with us
and soon was sweetly sleeping
R went in and checked out all
the stocking stuffers he'd be keeping

At 8:15, he came back
This time I said "Okay."
"G, wake up, he can't wait anymore.
Let's start this holiday!"

So we went downstairs
And watched our darlings open all their stuff
It was a crazy night but somehow we still
pulled off the "Santa" bluff

We've had alot of memorable
Christmas Eves so far
Ear infections, no wrapping paper,
caused late-nite trips to the store in the car

But I think this one will have to be
Among the most memorable yet
Playing Santa in the pitch darkness
Is something I'll never forget

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

I know I'm getting really bad about posting. Not entirely my fault, as my dh has sort of monopolized the 'puter for the past several weeks, but tonight I'm getting a reprieve. A guy on his Dad's Friday night bowling league/team was unable to bowl tonight, so they asked G to sub. Also, my Mom has offered sort of a reprieve too. She's taking my kids overnight tonight so I can get done with all the Christmas preparations. But they're still here which means I can't start yet and since I can't do anything while they're here, I figured I'd try to do a post.

So, what's been going on? I'm still waiting to hear about the overnight job. I called the lady today and she said she has to wait till the budget frees up a bit, which I guess means the first of the year, but right now waiting for their budget to free up, is causing a definite strain on our budget. Oh well. You know what, I have complete faith that we will get through this, and that everything will be alright, but now we just have to figure out how we're going to get through it. Times like this I could really, really use a hug from my Dad. I can't believe he's been gone nearly 17 years already. He had this amazing way about him. When he hugged you and told you everything was going to be alright, you knew it would be, simply because he said it would. And you know what, it always was. But anyway, I do feel very strongly that this is all temporary and that we'll be fine. Hey, without faith, what's left?

But in spite of all that, I'm getting excited. Today was, of course, the last day of school before Christmas. I made R's teacher's gift, a Harry Potter Themed Altered Clipboard, and it really came out nice. She wrote me a thank you email right away after he gave it to her and she really loved it. I also made one for R and one for his friend, as well. The three of them (his teacher included)are huge Potter fans, and they all really liked the clipboards. They're addicting though, I just did three and I'm already wanting to do more (like I don't have enough to do in the next few days). The pictures are of the one I did for R's teacher and if you click on them, they should enlarge for you The ones for R and V were essentially the same, I just used different paper for the bottom halves of the clipboard on each of theirs. I found all the embellishments on eBay and attached them to an old CD to make the element.

Oh, and guess what! I can now officially say that I have removed a door from its hinges! Princess K went into the bathroom the other day (the other news is that she's finally potty-trained! Yay!) and locked the door. The lock is old and sticks a bit and once she locked it, she couldn't get it open again. I called G and he was about 90 minutes away from home, so he told me to get a flat headed screwdriver and a hammer from his toolbench and told me how to get the hinges to unhitch. It took some work, because once I got it unhitched, I had to sort of pry the door out of the doorframe using a big screwdriver like a crowbar, because there was nowhere to pull it from and she didn't get what I was telling her when I told her to push on it. But anyway, I managed to keep everything under control, even with her in there crying. I got her calmed down and told her to hold on and I would get her out as fast as I could, to which she sort of sniffled and said "Hurry Mama, I'm all alone in here." And then I got her out and got to be the hero for a change (Daddy usually gets that title from all of us). So I was pretty proud of myself. It was really very empowering!

But for now I've gotta run. The clock is ticking and I need to get a move on. Let me know what you think of my clipboard. I'll try to post again before Christmas.

A Quick Post To Say I'm Still Alive

As the title suggests, this post will be brief, but it's been so long since I posted, I thought I'd better get something posted. Thanksgiving was nice, but after that, my mood sort of plummeted. My birthday was horrible, till G saved the day by surprising me with going out to dinner. I had an interview on Friday for an overnight stock position at a store nearby and it went really well. The store traditionally does two interviews, but I expect to be called for that either tomorrow or Tuesday, and then hopefully an offer will be forthcoming. I'm not thrilled by the idea of working all night, but the job itself sounds fun and I'm sure once I'm used to it, it'll be fine. Really it'll be nice to work in a store and not have to deal with customers, as the store will be closed when I'm there. I have to say I'm a bit sad at the prospect of how the new schedule will affect my time spent with G and the kids, but we have to do what we have to do. As the song from the old Christmas special goes, "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand".

Anyway, we put up the tree yesterday and I'm about to jump in the shower now and then I'm off to shop. With this job in the works, I feel really under the gun to get finished with the Christmas preparations before I start. I know the first two weeks will be the hardest, as I'll be getting used to the schedule, and after all, by the time that's over, Christmas will be over already. So, with that in mind, I guess I'd better go and get busy. The clock is ticking... More soon.