Christmas with my Family

My sister and her family ended up not being able to come into town in December at all, so our Christmas season extended into the first week of January!

It was so very, very nice. Their oldest two have grown so much, both out of the house, so it's actually the first time our ENTIRE family has been together in three years! The last time I saw my nephew I was pregnant!

I can't tell you how blessed I felt just to see everyone again. And to see & hear how well everyone is doing.

My nephew is working and going to school, my eldest niece just got accepted into a private college where she plans to double-major, and just got straight As last quarter in high school, while working her first part-time job, and my youngest niece was the star in her junior high school play!

I've known these kids since my sister was their babysitter, before she even started dating their dad. My nephew was just 10 yrs old, and the youngest was only one! I've been their aunt since before I was officially their aunt. But who needs "official" to be family anyway?

I love these kids. I've watched them go thru so much. They've had a rough time of it thru the years. Maybe some time I'll tell you more of their story. Maybe. But they're such good, good kids. And it does my heart so good to see them doing well.

{{ happy sigh }}

Okay, enough of the sentimental rambling. Here are the Christmas pics. Enjoy!

my nephew (the oldest)

youngest niece on the left
FireGirl reading helping hand out presents

I like this pic. Nobody's cheesin' it, but everybody just looks happy.

My mom & her mom

my oldest niece

Christmas Morning

she got her parrot pillow!

Daddy modeling the shirt Jena picked out for him

the best Christmas morning face EVER!

Fire Department Christmas Party (aka our best pics w/ Santa)

Christmas Parade

 

Update on Financial Peace

So, as I told you earlier, we're taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University thru our church.

And things are going very well.

Baby Step 1: $1000 emergency fund is complete. That wasn't too difficult, since we still had some in our regular savings, but we opened up a separate account at my work's credit union specifically for our emergency fund, added to our savings, and... done.

We felt like having it in a different account, at this small credit union, makes it a little less accessible. Still available at any time if we need to get it, just not as convenient as having it at the same big-name bank as the rest of our accounts.

Baby Step 2: pay off all consumer debt (except the house) is well under way. We've paid off our TV (old one damaged beyond repair in the move) and our couch & loveseat (old ones literally falling apart) a few months earlier than we thought we'd be able too.We have two more small debts remaining before we start tackling the big guns.

Jason has been picking up some overtime at the firehouse temporarily to give us some extra $$ to put towards our debt. With the recent holidays, plus various hunting seasons in the late Autumn, there have been plenty of guys looking for someone to cover a shift.
The double-shifts are tough on all of us (when he does a double he's gone around 58 hours at a stretch, home for 12 hours, then gone again), but we feel good knowing that it's temporary and is putting our family in a much better position financially.

I've also been able to bring in a few extra dollars, but not much. Overtime has been denied by my boss repeatedly, and a second job isn't really feasible, especially with Jason working overnight. Someone does have to stay home with Jena, you know.

I have to admit, I hate doing our monthly budget. But I like the results. Because Jason's income varies slightly depending on how his shifts fall, we budgeted low for our regular income, then we make a plan for where any additional income will go.

For November, the top three were Christmas, Car Insurance (so we can save $100+ by paying in one lump sum), and our lowest credit card bill.

After initial Christmas shopping, I told Jason I would really like to increase our Christmas budget if we can, so for December our #1 was again Christmas, followed by the building fund at our church, then our lowest bills.

Not sure Dave would agree totally, but we're in agreement as a couple, so that's good.

Since November's our only complete month, I can tell you we actually came in under budget (our regular, low-estimate income). We were shocked. But it allowed us to make an extra payment towards our debt. Yay!

December the only area I'm a little worried about is gas. We came in under in November, but we have no control over the price, and with the holidays we've done more driving than usual. I'm quite sure we didn't budget enough.

One thing that is super-sweet is that when we did our initial budget for November, Jason refused to take out me getting my hair done (cut + color), even though I had. I eventually convinced him I was okay with it, and insisted that we had more important things to budget for right now.
Then in December he said maybe we should take part of our snowball from paying of our first two debts, and let me get my hair done. I told him 'no', that we had more important things to do, and I would eventually be able to get it done again. That I'm okay with it. He said he just thought I probably wanted to get it done before the holidays.

It just took me by surprise that he's thinking of me, and wanting to put money aside for me to get my hair done! Major brownie points there, Jason!

Besides our monthly budget meetings to set up the budget for the next month, we also decided to have weekly budget meetings. I think for us, with us being apart so much on a regular basis, these checkpoints are important to keep us on top of things. Especially since we have to split our allotted funds to accommodate him being at the fire house and me being here.

Oh, and our Christmas lists were really boring this year

We had a few practical items on our lists, things we actually need / could use (ironing board cover for me, new jeans for him, wall mount for the TV for the family), plus lots of gift cards (Kroger, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc). The idea behind the gift cards being that either we can pay for the next home renovation project, or that we can use them to buy groceries, then use our grocery money for that month to make an extra payment towards our debt.

Even Jena's list is boring. She kept asking for clothes & shoes! Geez! The girl's only three and she wanted clothes for Christmas! Part of me feels bad for "only" getting her clothes & shoes, but she did just have a birthday, plus that's what she asked for (yes, we got her a few toys & books as well, but mostly clothes, since that's what she wants).

Anyway, just wanted to update you on how we're doing, and the answer is... great! Thanks for checking in!

She is an Individual Worthy of Being Noticed

Kids.

Children.

Wee ones.

People.

One thing I've noticed since I became a parent is how many people dismiss Jena because she's a child, because she's small, because she's "too young".

She is a child, she's small, and she's young. But she's still a person.

She has feelings, ideas, thoughts, needs, wants... she's a person.

And as a person, she's entitled to a little bit of respect, a little bit of acknowledgement, understanding, compassion.

She doesn't deserve to be ignored because she's young, she deserves to be listened to, recognized, and tended to because she's young.

It amazes me how many people don't even seem to see her, I mean really see her, as her own individual.

As soon as she could talk, she'd repeat things to me that she "wasn't supposed to hear" from others. Although I can't figure out how she wasn't supposed to hear them, since she was in the same room when they were having the conversation.

Now, at age three, she is intelligent, bright, and more than able to carry on a conversation. Her speech is clear. She talks in full sentences. She wants to tell you things, wants to engage with you.

Yet all too often her conversations with other adults go something like this:

Jena: "Guess what?"

Adult:  "Yes, it was good to see you today"

Jena:  "Guess what?!?"

Adult:  "It sure was neat to get to see your chickens"

Jena:  "GUESS WHAT?!?"

Adult:  "I had a really good time too."

Jena:  "You are not listening to me"

Adult:  "Your shirt looks really pretty too"

That's a paraphrase composite of conversations I've heard my daughter have all too often.

Her speech is clear, not just to me as her mommy, but her teacher confirms that her speech is the clearest of all her age in class (goodbye speech delay!).

She clearly has something she wants to share with these people, something important to her, and they don't even hear her. It's as if they can't fathom that someone so young would have ideas of their own, would be able to carry on a conversation, would be deserving of their attention, would need you to engage with them.

It happens far too often.

And as her mother, it angers me.

I've seen it too many times. I've tried to gently bring to the adult's attention what they were doing, but to no avail.

It happened again at Christmastime. Her Christmas list consisted of a parrot pillow and clothes. That's it. Oh, I threw in a few other toys for good measure that I thought she'd enjoy, but time & time again some adult would tell me that Jena "didn't really mean it", that surely she wanted more toys, or books.

I'd tell them to ask her what she wanted for Christmas. They would. She'd say "parrot pillow and clothes". They'd giggle and shake their heads as if she were being silly, then ask me to find out what she really wants and let them know.

Because clearly my child must not have thoughts of her own, must not know what she really wants, must need an adult to guide her to the toy aisle.

My child has no problem finding the toy aisle, thankyouverymuch.

She just really wanted clothes. And a parrot pillow. Period.

Oh sure, none of these are major issues. Restaurants in our area have yet to ban children.  Nothing like that. But thousands of little incidents, telling Jena that she is insignificant, that her thoughts don't matter, that she is not as important as others... they add up.

She is young, and she is learning, and she is soaking this all in.

And I will do what I can to let her know that she is important, that her ideas do matter, that her opinions count, that she is an individual that is worthy of being noticed. I will do what I can to off-set what she absorbs from these others. I am her mother, and I will do my best to instill in her a sense that she matters.

*******************

This post inspired by another blogpost

Friday Fragments

**********************************

Felt like it was time for another Fragments post, so here it is, ya'll.

*********************************

Like every December, life has been crazy busy this past month. Busy, but good. Very good.

I met up with 4 different friends I hadn't seen in a while (on 4 separate occasions), we've had 3 classes, 3 Christmas parties, 1 playdate, 1 band concert, 1 date night, 1 cookie swap, 1 doctor appointment, 1 holiday breakfast, got our family pictures taken, went to a Christmas tree lighting, and went to Southern Lights.

If you add it all up, that's 19 different activities, and it's only the 23rd of the month. There was some overlap on dates, for better or worse.

And that, of course, doesn't include our normal craziness. That's just special holiday craziness, LOL

********************************

Jena is still doing very well in school, and has started learning to write (tracing letters). I'm still very impressed     :)

*******************************

Potty training still not doing any better. In fact, she's had a few more daytime accidents. I do a lot of laundry.

I started a rule that she has to go 2 nights dry in UnderJams, then she can wear panties to bed. That at least gives me some respite. Plus she gets better sleep because she's not waking up wet.

********************************

The chickens are now outside. Their tractor is wrapped in plastic sheeting to keep out the elements. And we extended the invisible fence wire around them to teach the dogs to leave them alone.

And something (a raccoon?) has already been trying to get to them, and broke the wire in 3 places trying to dig underneath the coop.

Thank goodness for Buddy, or we might have lost some chickens.

*******************************

I want to break Jena of her lovey while I'm off between Christmas & New Years. Jason thinks we should wait until the lovey falls apart and deal with it then.

Part of me thinks he's right.

Part of me thinks when it is time, he's not the one who will be up with her overnight, and then have to try to go to work the next day.

I'm torn.

*****************************

Still working our way thru FPU, and things are going really well. We've paid off two smaller bills (the TV & the living room furniture) sooner than planned, and should pay off two more smaller bills (the hospital bill & my Lane Bryant charge) by the end of this month.

Oh, and while this was the first year we actually set a real budget for Christmas (and tracked it), we're actually gonna end up being under budget, so we've decided to buy small presents for each of our six nieces & nephews, which we don't normally do, and we should still end up under budget. Yay us!

*****************************

Work is going pretty well, minus the database project that never ends, but I'm expecting an increase to my stress-level the first few months of the new year.

And maybe most or all of 2012.

So I'm a little anxious / nervous about work right now.

*****************************

As always, thanks for checking in!

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Organization

As a member of the BlogHer Life Well Lived Panel, I was selected to answer the following question:

The holidays make me so anxious! How can I stay organized this year?

Honestly, my initial reaction was: They obviously have never seen my house.

But then I thought about  it. Really thought about it. And it hit me.

Holy management, Batman,  I am organized.

After all, it's not necessarily about organizing stuff., items, things.

I mean, it seems like for me, managing the holidays boils down to managing two things:

Time and Money

Actually, now that I think about it, managing the rest of the year kinda boils down to those two things too, doesn't it?

So, for me, the best way to stay organized during the crazy rush of activities & wallet-emptying gift-giving during the holiday season is to find ways to effectively manage time and money.

To organize our time, FireMan & I use GoogleCalendar. There are several other group calendars available to use as well, and I've always been a fan of good ole' Franklin Covey planners, but with FireMan being away from the house so much, we needed something we could both access at pretty much any time.

Enter GoogleCalendar.

And as far as organizing money goes, ya'll know we've been taking Financial Peace University, and one of their teachings is the home budget. We not only created a budget, we actually stick to it. To help us do this we schedule weekly budget meetings for ourselves (via GoogleCalendar, ha!) and have a weekly checkup on where we are financially.

This is the first year we ever set an actual budget for Christmas, and I cannot tell you how much it alleviates your anxiety to realize that you're coming in under budget for the holidays.

No more guessing, no more wondering if you can afford that extra present. We're under budget. And we've gotten pretty much everything we were planning on getting, with a few exceptions, none of which should get us anywhere near the edge of our budget.

Do we have bins for Christmas decorations? Sure. Do we have family traditions to keep up with? Sort of.
But for me nothing has helped ease the stress of this holiday season as having my time & money organized with the calendar & budget we put in place earlier this year. Maintaining both of those items just creates a sense of order amid all the holiday chaos.

So what about you guys?
How do you use organization to ward-off holiday anxiety?

Should you comment here? Sure, I love comments!

Should you answer in the comment section of the Life Well Lived Blog Post? Of course! Especially since while you're there you can enter to win the $250 sweepstakes. And couldn't we all use some extra $$ to ease our money management woes?

Happy Holidays!

Christmas List

 

There's really not a lot on my list this year. Mostly due to the budget cuts we've decided to make. So my list is boring, because I'm asking for mostly useful things instead of fun things. Although I did manage to put a couple of just-for-fun items in there.

My list:

PhotoShop Elements

hot rollers

pre-order of this book

ironing board cover

******************

Jena's list:

And this is seriously all she's asking for:

"parrot pillow"

clothes

Seriously, what am I supposed to get her?!? LOL. No worries, we've managed to find a few toys for her, but at her request, she's getting mostly clothes & shoes.

** click on each picture to find the source **

So what about you? What's on your Christmas list this year?

"No, that is not a manatee. That is me in a wetsuit."

And no, you don't get pictures    =P

So, here's my confession. My so-embarrassing-I-cried-when-I-finally-admitted-it-to-FireMan-last-year confession.

He kept bugging me about doing the manatee tank. It had been too long since I had done it, I enjoyed doing it, it was something we could do together, etc.

So what was the problem?

I had gained so much weight that I no longer fit into my wetsuit.

The wetsuit I bought after FireGirl was born.

And wetsuits, for those of you who don't know, tend to be very stretchy, very... forgiving.

As I start to tell the story, I realize I never told you any of the story...
In 2010, for FireMan's birthday, I surprised him with a trip to Florida to dive in the hot springs and snorkel with the manatees. Like, I tucked away cash here & there for a year-and-a-half (small amounts so he wouldn't notice, any cash I received for my birthday or Christmas, etc), spent about two months planning it, called his boss to schedule his vacation, and surprised him with a certificate that said "We leave tomorrow".

Yes, you do wish I were your wife. Because I am that awesome.

And to answer the question before it's asked: yes, that was before our marital problems surfaced. Or at least before I saw them.

{{ mental note - seems like there's a whole 'nother post in there I could write on later}}
Okay. Are we all caught up now? Good.

So on that trip, as we were preparing for our first snorkel with the manatees, and I put on my wetsuit, I thought it felt a little snug, but, well, wetsuits are always a little snug. And mine zips up the back, which I should be able to do myself, considering the long zipper pull, but it was morning, and I'm not a morning person, and things just weren't working, so Hunny, will you please help zip me up?

It took about a half a nanosecond for both of us to realize the problem.

I sucked in. He pushed on me, and squeezed on the wetsuit, and pulled on the zipper.

Until the zipper broke.

It still zips (thank the Lord!), but pull tab? Broken. Won't even hold the string of the zipper pull anymore.

And this happened in front of other people.

I was humiliated. Embarassed. Mortified.

Self-esteem plummeted instantly.

I did manage to enjoy the snorkel, and the rest of the snorkels & dives on the trip. And FireMan mastered the art of sausaging me into my wetsuit.

Devestating.

That trip, in early 2010, was the last time I put on my wetsuit until last Friday.

I had managed, barely, to get thru that trip. But I also gained more weight after that trip. I never tried it, but in my head there was no way it would fit. And wetsuits are not cheap, so I didn't want to buy a new one, when that one was only a couple of years old and barely worn. And we have to be at the zoo so early, that if I rented one I'd have to pay two days of rental fees for a mere two hours of diving.

But mostly... I was embarrassed. Horrifyingly embarrassed. The thought of putting on a wetsuit, or trying to put on a wetsuit, in front of other people seemed like about the most awful idea in the world. I was ashamed of myself, embarrassed of my body, and just the thought of it made me feel about yay big.

Just the thought of it made me feel so bad, that one day last year, when FireMan was asking me yet again when I was going to go back, I finally broke down in tears, confessed why I hadn't signed up, and begged him to stop asking so I could stop thinking about it.

To his credit, he did not ask me any more after that. Even when he went by himself a couple of times.

Still nervous, I knew I had lost weight, so when the manatee keeper contacted me and said it had been too long since I had been there and I needed to either sign up, or quit... I signed up.

Yes, in saying that I'm also saying that if he'd given me that choice last year, I probably would have turned in my volunteer badge. I was that mortified.

So that, dear readers, is my confession. Something that up until now only I and FireMan knew. But now you.

A FireFamily Christmas

Well, here it is. Four years as a full-time firefighter, and we have the first time Jason has to work Christmas Day. We've been blessed by the timing of Leap Year. Other families have been cursed by it.

We got a small taste of what it will be like on Thanksgiving. It stinks. We did Thanksgiving with his family on Tuesday night. Thanksgiving with my family went on as planned on Thursday, without him. I had originally planned on leaving around 2pm to drive Jena and myself down to visit him, but since my family lives two hours from his firehouse, he told me he didn't want us driving that much, especially on the holiday with all the "crazies". So we didn't even see each other.

I think it bothered me more than it did him.

See, for him, it was a normal work day. Pretend nothing was different, and it doesn't seem so bad, right? But to me, being at my aunt's house, surrounded by family, repeatedly answering questions about where Jason was, even just the fact that we were doing our normal... without him. It just felt... weird.

Jodi no likey.

But, that is the life of the FireFamily, right? That is what we signed up for.

So this Christmas will be different.

Santa will come to our house the night of the 23rd, and we will celebrate Christmas Eve morning as if it were Christmas morning. And Jena will certainly not know the difference yet, which is grand. We will open presents and have breakfast together as a family, the three of us, then head over to his parents' house to have Christmas with his family on Christmas Eve (as usual).

The hard part will be Christmas Day.

There will be a part of me that I know will be sad waking up Christmas Day knowing that our Christmas morning is already over.
And Jena & I will get up and get ready and head over to my parents' house to have Christmas over there with my family, as usual (although a little earlier than usual, since we don't have to do our Christmas morning this year), and that will be weird.

Jason has never not been there, since I've met him. I will miss his presence, miss sharing that day with him. I anticipate... part of me will be sad.

My hope is... that Jena will be so enthralled by her aunts & uncles & cousins & grandparents & presents & decorations & lights, that perhaps by the time she thinks to ask where Daddy is it will be time to kiss her goodnight... and he willl walk in the door the next morning.

Appreciation

A few days ago FireGirl and I spent the day babysitting taking care of visiting my dad so my mom could get some Christmas shopping done.

It. Was. Wonderful.

We got there around 12noon. Mom got home from shopping around 5:30pm. We left around 8:30pm. It was great.

Dad looks awesome! Really. He said he wishes people would stop telling him that because he doesn't really feel any better, and I told him that he may not notice the difference day by day, but since it had been 10 days since I had seen him... he looks awesome compared to 10 days earlier, much improved.

Honestly, if you didn't know better, you really wouldn't even know he had a triple bypass just a couple of weeks ago. I mean, he's tired, and still took two naps that day, and has to be really careful moving around, can't pick FireGirl up yet, etc. - but other than that, you'd never know. He didn't need to take any pain pills the entire day, had no acid reflux the entire day (a huge improvement), and really just seemed to feel great, no matter what he said.

While he & FireGirl took their afternoon nap, I downloaded some pics from my mom's camera onto our laptop. We usually do this regularly, but were already behind when all this happened, so had about two months worth of pictures to download. Oh, and my mom is a total camera-hound, so there are always a ton, which I am grateful for.

I couldn't help but get choked up at the pictures from late November. Pictures of FireGirl playing outside with her grandpa. There was a moment when I realized the "what if's". What if his doctor hadn't ordered the stress test? What if my dad had decided to reschedule it till after the holidays? What if? What if? What if? I stared at this one picture forever. I just couldn't help but think that at one point in time there was a very real possibility that it could have been the last picture ever taken of FireGirl & Grandpa together.

So after they woke up, and Dad felt good enough to move over to the couch so FireGirl could snuggle in next to him (he can't have her on his lap just yet) to watch her "show" (30 min DVD of kids songs to video of kids & animals), I couldn't help but just sit & watch them. At one point I thought of getting up to get the camera, but I didn't want to ruin the moment, didn't want to miss even one second of it.

I left there that day happier than I'd been in a long time. Renewed. Appreciative of the life we've been given. Appreciative of second chances. We all get second chances, don't we, in one way or another? Chances we don't necessarily deserve, but are mercifully given anyway.

My heart is full. I am in love. Life is hard, but life is good.

You know what else?

God is good, all the time.
All the time, God is good.

On. The. Edge.

That's the only way I can describe it.

Ever since my dad's surgery, I feel like I'm teetering on the edge. Like I'm walking this fine line, and that I'm gonna fall off at any moment. Or maybe one day I'll just get tired of struggling to stay on it, and I'll jump off.

Truth be told, it doesn't really take much to push me over that edge right now.

I had a breakdown at Toys-R-Us yesterday because I couldn't find winter pajamas that I liked in FireGirl's size for her to wear Christmas morning, and thru the rest of the winter.

I got mad, like really angry, at FireMan the other day because he off-handedly called me "boring".

I told you, it doesn't take much.

And in case you've never walked the edge of a steep cliff, or balanced on a tight rope, or anything similar, it also takes an enormous amount of energy just to keep going.

So I'm constantly exhausted.

I just keep telling myself I just have to make it to January. If I can just get thru this year, get thru the rest of this month, next year will be better, 2011 is gonna be awesome. Right?

Please don't tell me any differently, because right now that's keeping me going.

So that's me in a nutshell right now. On the edge. I really don't know how else to describe it. Just teetering on the edge.

Christmas List

Time to add to this year's Christmas List.

If you remember, so far we have:

an ironing board cover

a laptop

I am adding to that:

PhotoShop Elements 9

I would ask for the full PhotoShop, but that's pretty pricey. So maybe just Elements. For now.

And that's my Christmas List.

I love my guys

As in, the guys I work with.

And yes, I can say "guys" without being exluding anyone, because up until last Monday I was the only female.

sidenote - so far I really like the new girl. whew! I was a little worried. you never can tell when you add a 2nd women into the mix

Anywho - they are soooooooo generous. No, really.

Every year, we do a Habitat for Humanity build. Who shows up varies depending on travel schedules, but we regularly have over 50% participation.

For the past five years, we've donated food to the Thanksgiving food drive sponsored by one of our business partnering groups.
This year? We decided to provide our own basket (an entire Thanksgiving dinner contained in a laundry basket). Considering the entire company is only committing to six, and we're the newest, and one of the smallest, divisions in the company, providing our own is, relatively speaking, a big deal.
Not only did we provide an entire basket, our management threw in an additional gift card to Kroger (I have no idea for how much, they didn't want to broadcast it), and we had enough extra donations (items & cash) to provide additional laundry baskets and food items.
And now I have guys complaining because they didn't check their email in time and didn't get to bring anything in.
Didn't get to! I love it! They're complaining because they didn't get to donate!

In addition, every year for the past three years we've adopted a needy family for Christmas. The program is to provide food, toiletries, clothing, & small gifts to families at Christmastime. Well, let me tell you, we don't just adopt the family, as in oh-I-guess-we'll-buy-what's-on-their-list. Oh, no. With the family's permission, we meet with them in their home. Talk to them. Find out what's going on. In the past we've rallied together to provide beds (like entire beds, twin up to queen size), televisions, DVD players, a new front door, door knobs & locks, school supplies, extermination services (bedbug), and more. Oh, and basic food & toiletries? Pshaw! How 'bout so much food they ran out of room in their cabinets?
So this year? We're adopting two families.

I love it. I love my guys. They're awesome. Yes, I'm bragging. I'm bragging on them.

They're awesome.

*note* - because I always wonder about this - the charities we work with do an awesome job of making sure the families we donate to are really looking for a hand up, not a hand out. In every situation so far they have been "working poor" - every parent working full time outside the home, but still struggling to make ends meet.

Wishlist Wednesday



I wish our home renovation were D-O-N-E.

The renovation is taking much longer than expected. And as excited as I am to see the improvements coming to fruition, I'm sick of living in a home that's being renovated.

I wish we had county water hooked up at our new house.

After seven weeks, it looks like it might happen soon. They've marked up the road in front of our property, and the end of our driveway. Hopefully that means something's about to happen.



I wish we had internet hooked up at our new house (mental note: call cable company to follow up. Again.)

Six weeks and numerous phone calls later, we still don't have internet. We got a note on our door about 10 days ago saying "Pardon our Dust" because they'll be installing an underground line for us (kinda cool), but no date, no estimated date, nothing. And haven't heard anything since. And unfortunately we can't find another broadband provider in the area. Grr.

Sometimes I wish we had a television.

We haven't owned a television in seven weeks. Our old one got damaged in the move. Actually before the actual move, but during the packaging, etc. It's been surprisingly easy to give it up. But then there are times... like last night. Jena was tired & cranky, and I just knew that if I could find something halfway interesting for her on TV, we could cuddle up on the couch together instead of her taking turns throwing her toys into the ground as hard as she could.

Or when I want to check the weather. Waiting for the page to load on my blackberry is just annoying (but at least I have that!). It'd be nice to just be able to flip on a news show & see.

Or like when I'm home alone. The house is just too dang quiet, and I would love to have the mindless drone of TV voices & soundtracks on in the background.

Oh, and before you suggest it, we don't own a radio either.

a beautiful new bedroom set

Growing up, I always got hand-me-down or yard-sale furniture. I didn't get my "own" bedroom set until I was 27-years-old. For some reason, this meant a whole lot to me. I spent weeks shopping until I found the perfect one. I paid for it myself, and my parents generously purchased my mattress set, as a Christmas gift. And I loved it. It was beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. And it was mine.

When I moved in with Jason however, he declared that he didn't like it, and we eventually sold it on Craigslist.

We recently sold "his" bedroom set on Craigslist, as I declared that we were starting out in our new home in a new bed.
But for now, we are bedless. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
Jason wants to get one off of Craigslist. And while I know this is the more financially practical choice... there's a big part of me that longs for a brand new, picked it out ourselves, never-anyone's-but-ours bed.

I've also already started my Christmas List for this year.

So far it consists of:

an ironing board cover

My father-in-law had the gall ingenuity to use my (we got as a wedding present and I loved it) ironing board as a tile-cutting-table when they were installing our, well, tile floors.

I've cleaned it pretty well, but there are some stains that aren't coming off, as well as some... grout? plaster? I don't know. Some plastery-looking stuff that has hardened in two places and won't come off.
So I'd like a new cover. And while I'm at it, I'd like a cute one.

a laptop

Jason keeps saying I can have his old current one, and he'll get a new netbook.

I don't like this for two reasons:

#1 - I think it's impractical.

With both of us working for his business, I think it's a smarter idea for both of us to have laptops

#2 - I don't want someone's hand-me-downs.Even Jason's. Even if it were more practical, if we went with his idea basically he would get a new computer two years in a row (laptop in Nov. 2009, netbook in Dec. 2010), and I would get his hand-me-down.

"Christmas" vs "Holiday" Tree

Seriously ??

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gvgLBPF4L2i4LUG3L_bDgTJU7bbwD9BP0ULG1

I can't believe this was even a question. There is no such thing as a Hanukkah tree. Or a Kwanzaa tree. Or a Festivus tree. If you're gonna have a tree on display during the month of December, and you plan to decorate it with Christmas lights, and Christmas ornaments, then, let's all be honest now, it is a Christmas tree.

People seriously need to get over their hangups, and let it be.

We're not forcing you to celebrate Christmas (although I personally know several non-Christians who enjoy the commercialized aspects of Christmas), so don't ask us to not celebrate.