End of a Decade

My children, have both lived through their first decade. They are getting a lot of amusement out of that fact today, and I am feeling.. well.. a little old. I was trying to remember back to what I was doing the last time we ended a decade, and then I remembered. I was still shell shocked from our fire that November. I don't remember how we rang in the new year, or the new decade, and quite frankly, I'm ok with that.

This decade has had both it's ups and downs. We bought a house, both got new jobs, welcomed home new pets, new family members through both marriage and birth and said goodbye to loved ones. I am ready for it to be over, quite frankly and look forward to the promise of a brand new one.

I wish you all.. and your families a very safe and happy new years!

Well I'll Be Damned...

Somehow, it my rather short (ahem) life.. I've managed to land myself a 15 year old child. 15 is 6 months from driving with an adult in the car, 1 year from a licence, 2 years from adulthood and halfway to 30. Half. Way. To. Thirty. I'm only 35... so for almost HALF my life, this person has been part of it. How cool and weird and OMG you're kidding is that??

My MIL just called a bit ago. When he got off the phone with her, he said to his father, "You should be proud of your mother. (insert eye rolling from me here). This is the first year she didn't give me the whole story of my birth, just a brief bit of it." To which I promptly replied, "Which is crazy because SHE WASN'T THERE!" OK, moving on.

Christmas Cheer

Today is the day we have our classroom parties at school. Last school year I bought a book at the Scholastic Book Fair called Hello, Cupcake! and you might remember that I made sunflower cupcakes for my birthday, and corn on the cob cupcakes for Mr. Man's graduation party. So when S asked if I wanted to make anything for our classroom party, I blurted out before thinking, "I want to make ornament cupcakes." How hard could they be I thought? Frost, roll in sprinkles, decorate. If only life were that simple. First I had to prepare the candies. Snip the licorice, cute the black licorice into usable strips because we couldn't find black laces to use, cut up fruit by the foot, etc. etc. etc. Turns out, that was the easy part. The cupcakes weren't hard to make, but it was time consuming. It took me over 3 hours start to finish to get those cupcakes frosted and decorated. 3 hours that I had planned on going to a Jazz Band Christmas party, but am glad I skipped. 3 hours of which part of I had intended to be working on a Christmas gift I wanted to give today. It was so worth it.

"At the end of the day, there are some things you just can't help but talk about. Some things we just don't want to hear, and some things we say because we can't be silent any longer. Some things are more than what you say, they're what you do. Some things you say cause there's no other choice. Some things you keep to yourself. And not too often, but every now and then, some things simply speak for themselves." Grey's Anatomy

Finished... sort of

I knew going into working on this room that I wouldn't be able to actually finish it. Paint and labor are cheap, new furniture and storage items are not. I moved some things into my room that will stay there, and some things are just in there temporarily. The walls are bare, but at least I have curtains. My mom made the curtains for our apartment in Manchester and I think they work out nicely with the new paint scheme. I moved the Papasan chair I bought for out in the front room in here temporarily so we could put the tree up in the other room... but I have to tell you. I REALLY love it in here in the corner. Perfect for cozying up with some knitting if you ask me.