Day 4 Bye Bye Christmas

Saturday, we took down the decorations, and yesterday, most of them got taken back to the shed. The tree did not go out until today, because I was toying with the idea of buying a new box for it. I decided that was something I could choose NOT to buy, and so I did.

Day 5 The Princess Life

Here is Drama doing what I would love to be doing– piled up on my bed, surrounded by fluffy pillows, eating dark chocolate covered cherries. Only, I didn’t let her eat any, I only allowed her to hold the boxes. Muhahahahaha. This is what I bought instead of a tree box, and for only 25 cents a box. I bought all the dark chocolate ones I could find, and when I got home, dh informed me that he likes chocolate covered cherries as well. I may buy him some milk chocolate ones if they have any left when I go back to Wal-Mart, but he can’t have these: they are mine.

Also, today, I told me bff I’d make her a wreath if I had the balls. We snickered. Sometimes, it’s nice to be juvenile.

Welcome to another year of SPS. I am so glad you could joined us! As promised, here is the picture I took of my dad and I yesterday. It’s actually the first shot, which turned out much better than either of us thought.

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One of my absolute favorite things to do is to spend the day with my dad. This has not always been the case, but……that was then. He got older and learned to talk a little bit. I got older and learned that silence is not always a bad thing, and ….. somewhere along the way, we just started enjoying being together.

I think for me, it is the absolute freedom from responsibility. When Daddy calls and says let’s go, I get dressed, grab a lipstick, my cellphone and my knitting and we walk out the door. He drives and he pays and I ride and walk and knit. And shop.

Our favorite place to go is Myrtle Beach to the Tanger Outlet Mall. We went there today, and picked up the shoes I had decided not to get before Christmas. We picked up some stuff he wanted, too. And then we both needed jeans, so we went to Vanity Fair. They did not have the “blu” brand I have been looking for, but I did find jeans that fit me well. I was particularly thrilled to walk in wearing a size 12 and walk out with 2 pair of brand new size 8s in the bag. No wonder I’ve been hating the way my pants fit lately, huh?

After we left Tanger, we went down the street to Myrtle Beach Mall. We walked around it for a bit and bought nothing. Then we went to Broadway at the Beach and walked around there. I had to keep reminding myself that it was Saturday, because all three shopping venues were mostly empty. That’s why we were able to visit so many places today. There were lots of closed stores, too. It was kind of sad, actually.

Anyway, I had a great time all day until I got home and found out my middle son had run away not long after lunch, and just returned not long before I got back myself. Yeah.

As for Daddy, I don’t know why he likes hanging out with me. I’m certainly not as much fun as a barrel of monkeys lately, yk? But tomorrow’s SPS will be the picture I took of us with my phone at Broadway. It will be the second one I took, because in the first one, you can see my eyes and his nose and mouth. That’s what happens when we both stand and try to get ourselves in the same frame.

Today was the first day that has felt “normal” since October. My husband seemed in his right mind. I went shopping and bought normal stuff: a kitchen canister, a silicone spatula, new bed pillows. I found my hair creme at Wal-Mart and now I don’t have to have Mama pick it up for me at Sally’s anymore. I bought some stuff for my girls’ Christmas next year at 75% off. Of course, I can’t show you much of that, since, you know, part of it’s for Christmas and I haven’t yet pulled out the extra pillowcases and shams for the pillows. So I will show you this instead:

I should remind you that I have my bed on 8 inch risers. Do you reckon that after I add since I added 4 more fluffy bed pillows to that ensemble, we’d better get some safety equipment for in there? Bed rails, or nets or something?

That comforter and the decorator pillows came from my aunt and uncle when she redecorated. I took it because it’s king size, and I knew the dust ruffle would be long enough to go all the way to the floor over my queen set, even with the risers. And, I would no longer have to fight dh for the covers. I wasn’t sure the gold would suit me, but in truth I love it more every time I walk into my room. There are also matching curtains on the windows.

Finally, just for my own record keeping purposes, I was 155.4 this morning. No, I can’t just write that on a piece of paper somewhere. I have 7 kids at home, remember?

Edited yet again to add the better picture after we fixed up the bed ;). Here’s the one that was up before:

So, as I was going through my feedreader this morning, I saw this from Booking Through Thursday:

Happy New Year, everyone!

So … any Reading Resolutions? Say, specific books you plan to read? A plan to read more ____? Anything at all?

Name me at least ONE thing you’re looking forward to reading this year!

and I decided to use it as a springboard for my yearly goal post, because, yes I do have reading goals, and lots of other goals, too.

This year, I want to read the rest of the Harry Potter books. And my TBR pile. In fact, I am going to set a lofty goal of a book per week. Crazy, right? If I aim for the moon, perhaps I will reach the stars.

This year, I want to use up the craft stuff I already have, and not buy more.

This year, I want to exercise. In fact, I want to be able to play the card squat game up to 10 cards by the end of the year. I’ll have to post a video of the card squat game so you will know that this is a serious event.

This year, I want to learn to play guitar. I have the instrument, I have the learning dvd. All that remains is to make and take the time to learn.

This year, I want to clean the house. I’ve kept hoping for something bigger, but it hasn’t happened, so this year, I am purposing to make our stuff smaller.

This year, I think I want to do project 365. I guess I need to make up my mind, huh? I used to do a photo a day, and it was a love/hate relationship for me.

This year, I want to send my kids to booty camp. They need to learn to do what they are told, come when they are called and speak when they are spoken to.

And on that note, I guess I just committed to Project 365. I may or not actually scrap the pictures in a book, but here’s the first one.

Notice the five booty camp recruits. (The other two are not yet home from a retreat.) Notice that one girl is holding a HP book, and one is holding 10 cards. Notice that my oldest son is holding my guitar for me. Notice that the girls are sitting on the clean counter I cleared last night. Maybe I should try again. I forgot to have some one hold craft stuff.

There, that’s a bit better. This time I included the craft stuff, and there are two children holding five cards each, (DaBaby lowered hers as I snapped) since I could play card squat through five cards when my nephew and sister taught it to me.

Please note that there are no goals here about money and there are no goals here about people who are beyond my control. I have no idea about my finances at this point, and I have learned that making goals that involve other autonomous people is setting yourself up for big fat failure.

IF I was to set one goal that involved others, it would be going to see Ang. this year. But that means I have to have a sitter, and a sitter falls in to the category of “other autonomous people”.

I posted over on my craft blog about the crafty calendars I got for Christmas. Man, I just love those little page-a-days, don’t you? But I also love a good hard bound book, and I’ve gotten my hands on one I think will interest some of you. It’s been sitting on my desk for three weeks or so, while I waited on my internet and computer and and and AND! I realized today is the last day of the year, so I better tell you about it, so you can go pick up your own copy. Oops!

The American Patriot’s Almanac is written by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb. I ordered it because I like Bennett’s earlier works, The Book of Virtue and The Children’s Book of Virtues. I also read his book on Education, the title of which I forget and was impressed with it. In short, if Bennett is the writer, I want to be a reader.

The book has an historical entry for each day of the year. It’s a book to read one morsel at a time, provided you can make yourself slow down to do so. At the end of each month is a longer segment that explores a topic in more detail. And the introduction? Well, there are lessons in there for all of us.

I will be seriously starting this book tomorrow, as opposed to flitting around in it here and there. I’m giving Country, my (also) history buff daughter, less than 1 week to discover it on my desk and try to steal it.

Lately, I have decided I like being a wee bit taller. Apparently, I have a more “confident stride”. And also, women scowl and men snap their necks as I walk by, though I doubt the veracity of that latter bit. Anyway, I’ve begun to wear heels more often. As in daily. Sometimes with cute socks, instead of knee highs. Even with jeans. I thought you might get a kick out of today’s look:

And this weekend, I read Bobbi Brown’s Make-up Manual. I’ve also decided that once I can leave my husband for more than hours, I am going to treat myself to a makeover at the mall. Because… I can. She recommends doing that now and again to learn about new products and techniques. I did my makeup today as she recommends, or at least as close as I can remember, having returned the book to the library yesterday. It’s the first time I have actually lined all the way around my eyes. Whaddya think?

So, I have had a new cd on my desk for a couple of weeks now. I even debated giving it to dh for Christmas, but in the end I was too selfish to do that. I wanted it for myself, so I kept it. I finally opened it today, and I played it so loud that it made the old rocker himself complain. The album is Styx Greatest Hits, and I discovered (again) that Styx, played loud enough will fyx just about anything, at least for awhile.

My husband had another cat scan on Friday. There were no “acute changes”, and so we came on home. It’s a little scary to be asked by the doctor’s office “Can you come in today?” and then “How long will it take you to get here?” and then “She wants you in the room with him. I don’t know anything else, but I know that.” We should have the final report along comparisons tomorrow. I hope. In the meantime, I am dealing with a grown man who often acts like a 5 year old, but demands all the rights and privileges of an adult. I’ll leave you to ponder that for a few minutes while I turn my cd back up.