the mess

This is what my kitchen looked like yesterday morning. Even though you can't see the living room, trust me, it looked like this or worse. I worked all day and evening cleaning yesterday, and the house looks much better now! I have a couple of rooms left which should be getting done now, but I believe my body is taking a day off today. I have piles of laundry to do- haven't started it. I need to clean up the tutoring room- haven't looked at it. I need to think about what's for supper- haven't wanted to. I am lazy today and that's all there is to it. I do seem to be having plenty of computer time however- haven't seemed to get my hiney off this chair.
Been thinking about the new year- goals I want to make. I have a hard time with resolutions. It seems I have never kept one, so making one seems to be a guarantee for failure. How's that for a positive attitude. I also chose a word for the year (from Ali's blog) last year and had fun with that. I am pondering a new one for this year. I will share those probably on New Year's Day when my family is glued to football while I get to do as I please!
Alright- I must get a load of laundry in at least.
Toodles!

Back to the mess

I have been working all day trying to put the house back in order. We had Christmas as a family here at home on Tuesday evening. I made homemade pizza (Gary's request) and then the boys opened gifts. They got a Wii and all the accessories and were quite excited! That was pretty much it for them since that all was quite expensive. Gary and I have not exchanged gifts for the last several years. Instead we usually buy something bigger. Some past purchases have been the video camera, digital camera, etc. This year we bought ourselves good bikes the day after Thanksgiving. We've got a great bike trail from here to Indianola so hopefully we'll get some good use out of them (after the snow melts, which could be awhile). Anyway, we had fun playing Wii that first night. My Wii fitness age was 63 the first time I tried it and I cut it down to 43 today! I was psyched. And I rule at ski ball. I am the top scorer right now (Bradley doesn't like to be beat so I'm sure he'll work on that. I plan to play tennis later. We'll see how that goes! Anyway, with the Wii comes a lot of trash and boxes! We left right away on Wed. morning for the next 4 days to families' homes, so I left the house a wreck! We had fun with Gary's fam and mine. I just love spending time with everyone. When we got back yesterday I had a fabulous nap while my husband caught up on football and the boys were back at the Wii. Today I took all the Christmas stuff down. I am one of those people who can't wait to get the tree up. 3 times out of 4 my tree is up before Thanksgiving, but it's always down before New Year's. After Christmas I am so ready to clean up the mess and get the house back in order. I have all the decorations down and the living room cleaned up. The kitchen still has junk all over and my tutoring room is untouched, but I needed a little break. My back is hurting. I'm getting old! I got some new computer software for organizing pictures and hopefully to do a little digital stuff, so I'm wanting to install that tonight and play with it. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll get some of my Christmas pictures posted!

Today would have been my mom's birthday. I've been thinking about her a lot today and miss her terribly. She always loved Christmas so much-having all of her kids home and together- it's just not the same without her. And I miss the house- Anyway, I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. I have several pictures and things saved in a box. I have been wanting to put together a scrapbook of mom but just haven't been ready to yet. I'm hoping I can get it done soon.
Enough blabbering for now. I need to get back and work on cleaning up the kitchen. I was hoping the maid would come while I was gone, but she apparently didn't get that memo!
Toodles!

Christmas message from an 8 year old boy...

The shirt says it all.

Little Mother

I just love this picture- Makes me laugh every time I look at it! Little Maizy is "supervising" the piano practice- making sure Brennan plays those notes right!
She is my baby girl. We've always had boy cats- this is the first girl cat I've ever had! She certainly has a mothering personality, which I've never seen. She watches out for everyone in our family, but she is especially partial to me and Brennan. She was so precious last week when I had the flu. She stayed nearby at all times. She wanted to be right next to me when I was sick, and at one point when I was leaning over the toilet emptying my guts (sorry for the graphic picture), I turned around and found her peering in the bathroom door, looking very concerned, as if to say, "Mom, are you alright??" After I'd been sick for about 24 hours, my back was hurting so I stretched out on the floor with the heating pad over my head (I had a throbbing headache). She came right over and ducked her head under the heating pad to check on me to see if I was OK! Too funny! She kept a constant vigil during my flu, but when I was finally up and around, she was so exhausted from keeping tabs on me! I think she slept for a whole day to recover from her "nursing" duties! She likes to mother Oreo, but Oreo doesn't really think he needs mothering! I've tried to use this logic with Gary to get another kitten ("Maizy needs something to mother") but it's not working. Go figure.
I'm just enjoying a minute of peace and quiet here between tutoring and piano lessons. The boys had an early out today, and although it was quite a ruckus here earlier, they are now over at the neighbor's playing. Ahh... silence is golden, someone once said.

A good reminder

Our pastor gave a great message at church this morning. It was a wonderful reminder to keep Christ in Christmas and not get so "wrapped" (pardon the pun) up in all of the presents, baking, etc. It really hit me as I have a tendency to want to do, do, do, during this time of year instead of reflect, remember, and rejoice. I want to be intentional about talking with my boys about what this season is really about, not about what we've turned it into. Pastor Phil said this quote, and it has stuck with me all day. I hope that you will let it sink into your hearts, too, so that Christ remains the focal point of this beautiful season.

"During this special time of year, don't let the only begotten Son of God become the only forgotten Son of God."