I Resolve....

...since I'm not going to be back at a computer until after New Year's Day, I think I'm going to go ahead and do this now. Especially effective, since there are only two people in my office today, and it's not like the person who's in really chats it up with me.

here are last year's resolutions:
1. Exercise 3x per week
2. Do at least one educational activity per day with daycare kids, instead of the normal do three in one week, none the next
3. Scrapbook more (Goal of 200 pages this year)
4. Spend more quality time with my family
Ha...not sure that I did many of them at all....did very well on the exercising bit in the middle of the year, and was able to lose about 25 lbs. Recently, the momma guilt has gotten to me, and I've not exercised in ages! I did scrapbook a lot this year, but I'm afraid that I didn't make near the 200 page goal. I did do a looooot of gifts, though, so perhaps that should count?

Anyway, here are this year's:

1. Drink less diet Coke. Seriously, in the words of one of my favorite scrapbookers, Tara Whitney, it's time to become BFF with water.... Seriously....
2. Exercise at least twice per week...one karate class and one other time....it's not much, but hey...I'm human.
3. Scrapbook more.... no page goals, but I want to do at least one layout per week. There were weeks when I didn't even do that.
4. Donate blood every 56 days, making a full six donations for '07.
5. Make happy memories for my children, instead of dwelling on the past.
6. Figure out how to incorporate the egg donor into these happy memories and still keep my sanity and the children's physical and mental health in tact.
7. Be a more loving wife. Hey, the man does so much for me, I really need to be more supportive and helpful to him.

There they are. I wonder if I will look back on this year and giggle at my failures with resolutions, just like I did this year. Who knows.

Mortification....

.....can be best summed up by leaving your undies in your baby brother's shorts....which you borrowed because you forgot your own pj's.

....Rebecca and Judy will especially know how mortifying this is for me, since they got more of a sneak peek into my unmentionables with the "welcome home signs" they left all around my house back in October.

...I seriously don't think I've ever laughed so hard. And I do believe that somehow my undies will be back to haunt me. It is family after all. And if they can't make fun of you....then, well, who can?

Hmm....

....not sure if you want the long or the short of what the last few days have been like Chez Byers, so I'll give you the short version....

1. Emailed Indiana Blood Center, and got more attention than intended. But, the message was received, because I think I will be an owner of a "Bleed Blue" t-shirt. *blush*

2. Christmas Eve went well. Lots of good food and presents with Aaron's family. Everyone was on their best behavior and we had fun.

3. Christmas morning went well...good breakfast, crazy 10 year-old who got up early and scoped his presents (was good and didn't open them, though), and crazy 3 year-old twins who slept in. Happy children with their presents, though, and we had a good time.

4. Christmas afternoon went well, aside from eating cheese and chips for lunch, as we forgot to pack it. Thank goodness for those few souls who had to work Christmas day. We went to my Gran's house, and had good food and a fun gag-gift exchange. Things were groovy....

5. Until my brother and dad had to (willingly) engage me in conversation about my bio-mom. I know that I'm partially to blame for the conversation, but if they never would have asked me about it, I would never have talked about it.

Which brings me to my revelation about the future of familial gatherings for me. I am going to stop letting myself get into conversations about the past. It's never pleasant stuff, and it's not making happy memories for my kids. I'm banning myself from these conversations. Instead, I'm going to concentrate on the here and now and what's important. Making happy memories for my children.

Easier said than done, but this is my new mission.

This is Going To Sound Bad....

...but I'm irritated. Why? Because every 56 days, I make sure that I get my rump in to donate blood. It's for a good cause. I do this, not wanting to get much in return. BUT, recently, they have given out a whole bunch of good stuff to those who donate, but it's NEVER when I am eligible. Why? Because you HAVE to wait 56 days between donations. One of the things that I missed out on was a long-sleeve t-shirt that says "Bleed Blue." Another was movie tickets and coupons for dinner, keeping in with a dinner-and-a-movie theme. Don't get me wrong MOST of the reason I donate blood is because people like Erin and Griffin would have died without someone's donation. As a member of the preemie mom community, I understand all too well the importance, because so very many of our kids received donations. BUT, a LITTLE PART of me wants a flipping t-shirt once in a while, especially when the people who got all the "Bleed Blue" t-shirts were likely one-time donors. It's kind of like having to fight the Christmas Eve mass crowd of people for a seat in the church when you go every Sunday. Most of those people taking up the good seats are the ones who just show up on Christmas and Easter. Perhaps they need a comfy seat in order to get the message they aren't normally getting, but there should be some rewards for the person who goes every Sunday.

Homemade Christmas....

...so it was not my idea to do this this year, but I sure liked it! Rebecca, Stephenie, Judy, and I all made stuff and exchanged it. Not sure how they feel about their stash, but I'm happy with mine. *grins* Rebecca made the flip album, Stephenie, the tote bag (which is a picture of one of the projects we made together), and Judy, the tea for one set (yes, she PAINTED all the decoration on that set!!). I'm so blessed to be surrounded by a group of talented and generous friends. I hope that they like the stuff I made them!

Design Team Tryouts, Weight Loss, and other Stuff

This is my audition for the design team for my local scrapbook store. I'm quite proud of it, and am to the point that if I do not make it, I might be a little sad. I'm not usually so proud of my work, but I am this. I think that my creative muse were the Colts, who actually pulled off a good game last night! The chipboard letters, the brads, and most of the rub-on letters are Making Memories, the flowers are by Prima, and the CS is by Hobby Lobby. Oh, the paint is by Apple Barrel. ;)

And Kari, as for my weight loss, I can attribute many things to this. In the beginning, I worked out on a very regular basis. At least three times per week. And with working out, I always always did cardio. But I also put weight lifting in there a few times a week, too. That, coupled with watching what I ate, helped me to lose my first twenty pounds. The five extra pounds that I've lost, I am managing to find over the holidays, but this is due to the stresses of starting a new job and all the lovely things that go into being a working (outside the home) mom. I'm getting used to my new life, though, so I've been eating a little more than I have. The holidays are helping me none whatsoever, too. Another thing that has helped my weight loss is getting off my happy pills. I packed on a good fifteen pounds alone, just getting on them. The other ten pounds that I put on was potty training the twins....not sure using chocolate as a motivator was such a good idea, now that I think about it. "Ooooh, Mommy's proud of you...here's four or five M&M's....Oohh...I'm proud of me, too....I think I'll take twenty..." But getting off the happy pill has helped me to maintain weight loss. I sure as hell am not doing much else right now to lose it! I quit going to the gym when school started and only do karate once a week. Not enough to do any damage to the scale! hehe...anyway....that's that.

Today I'm going to one of our properties to get information on life insurance. Go me! It's enough life insurance to get me buried, but I want to cost-comparison how much a few extra thousand on me would be with what I'm paying now.... Fun stuff!

What's This?

Why, yes, folks, it's a new picture of part of my family. The other part... the part that got us in the flippin' pool in the first place...was somewhere to the back of us, finally getting into the swing of things after being practically dragged into the pool.

Public apologies for not getting back to M@ & Nay on Friday. My phone went dead mid-conversation, and I didn't get the chance to call back.

The rest of the weekend was quite a blur. I worked on Saturday and Sunday we had church and shopping for Aaron's classroom gifts. Then it was tackling Mt. Needtofold while watching back episodes of "Deadwood."

Design Team Tryouts....

....so I got a call from the Design Team Manager from the local scrapbook store. She told me that I have to submit 1) a layout about myself (holy hell....there is no such thing for me!!); 2) a recent layout; and 3) an altered-something-or-other. No problem. I'm a little nervous, but feel confident that this day in age I can get a picture of myself. Either taken by yours truly or by Aaron. Am a little nervous about the prospect of making a layout about myself, but think that I'll manage it. There is a nice discount associated with being a member of their design team, as well as project challenges, so I'm hoping that I can get on board with them! But I'm not going to wish too hard for this, as I don't want to be über-disappointed if I don't make it.

....the Cub Scouts are really going to be the death of me, I tell ya. Last night, we went to the monthly Pack Meeting. Not a big deal, usually, and fairly boring for a girl such as myself. Last night's meeting? A flippin' swim party! Wanting for everyone to have a fun time, I decide to pack up the whole fam damily, much to Aaron's chagrin, and get them to the meeting. The twins had fun. Collin, not being a huge fan of the water to begin with, was a little apprehensive about going. After yelling at both Aaron and Collin for their shoddy attitudes, we went to the local middle school where said swim party was taking place. It was a good time, but there were two things that made the night a bit edgy. One...the water was COOOLLLDDDD!! Two, I've lost a wee bit of weight since I last donned the old bikini, and the top was looser than I'd thought. Notsomuch fun when you have two pre-schoolers grabbing at the straps. So here I am, the only mother in the pool, and I'm nearly flashing the whole lot of boys 10 and under and their dads. Sheesh.

...Hmm....will have to get back to you on the Goo Goo Dolls invite....need more details, my dear! :)

update....

...so the egg-donor finally decided to write back. and i'm not sure how i feel about things still. apparently, she's not going to dredge up the past or defend herself. and to me, not even showing an ounce of remorse for the past and simply attempting to shove it under the rug again, it is just as good as writing me off. perhaps my brother is a bigger person than i am for letting bygones be bygones, but i'm not sure that i can be that bigger person. not sure whether i can just sit back and continue to have a fake relationship with her. at this point, i feel like the only reason to try to have any sort of relationship with her is because of my children. is it fair of me to deny them a relationship with her? and honestly, in her letter, it seems that they are the ONLY reason she would want to have anything to do with me, too. the letter she sent to me was fairly emotionally detached, despite the fact that she began the letter with saying that she loved me and my children. i'm extremely confused as to what to do now. she said that life is too short to try to defend herself. to me, life is too short to spend it investing in a fake relationship. if she can't even face up to the past and talk to me about it, there will always be a strain. and i won't keep having my children be put in the middle of such bullshit. it's not fair to them, either, is it? again, i say, I'm confused.

...on a much lighter note, i am going to don the gi and go to karate again tonight. we shall see this time if i manage to screw myself up...when did 29 suddenly become old?

Happy Tuesday....

...nothing much to report. My past few days have been spent doing Christmas presents for people. I do a lot of homemade gifts. People are probably dreading my homemade gifts by now, but they're going to get them anyway! ;) A few of my local girlfriends and I are doing a homemade gift exchange. I'm happy to say that all my presents are finally completed. I was so proud of them, in fact, that I took two of them to my local scrapbook store and showed them as part of an audition to be on their design team. On the way there, I called my mother-in-law up and told her that it was all her fault that I was doing that. If she hadn't boosted my ego by buying scads of cards off me, I wouldn't have had the confidence to do it. hehe Nothing to report on the audition. I just gave them my name, phone number, and email address. You guys will be among the first to know if I get a call or email. ;)

...so I've been a busy little Office Monkey the past few weeks. It's been insane here, and we're all saying how it would be nice to have just one more person in here. Hopefully we'll find someone decent soon. My immediate supervisor and I are feeling the stress of trying to get everything done and not spend every waking moment here in the office. Why is it so hard to find good help??

...Anyway, time to start the day. I came in early to wait for the electrician to come and fix the Dish TV in our office. No one watches it, really, but we're going to get it fixed anyway. Joy.

Happy Friday....

...I can't believe how quickly this week went by! Amazing, it is....Though, not surporising when I realized that I've been extremely busy at work. There is never a shortage of things to do. Ever. Which is good. Job security. ;)

...So a few things of note happened this week. I got a bonus. Yes. Me. The trouble-maker. The best friggin' bonus I've EVER received. Ever. Schweet.

...Collin got a few awards at school yesterday. Despite the fact that the only papers I seem to see these days have D's and F's on them, he made A/B honor roll. He has a pretty tough teacher this year, and he is like his mom and dad and is a bright, but average student. He also got an award for being an honest kid...one of the schools "Guiding Principles." I'm very proud of my little man. Who's growing up. It's scaring me.

...I started karate again on Wednesday. I messed up my neck. Not sure if the two are correlated, but I'm questioning this sudden urge to get the respect from people of having a black belt.....

How to Lose a Job 101

OK, so it's amazing that I'm still employed. You remember when I said I was planning the company Christmas party? Well, I did. Hired a DJ and caterer, rented tables, etc, etc, etc. The night of the party arrives, and things are going well for the most part. I knew that I had to play emcee all night, and was a bit nervous about that. Things start out well...until one of the guys informs me that the salad has bacon in it. Remember, the owners of my company are Muslim, and, while they might not be devout in ALL senses of the word, they sure as hell will not willingly eat pork. So, I consult with my former friend Tanqueray for a little comfort. Our version of "Deal or No Deal" starts, and, while a bit tipsy, I do a pretty darn good job of it. Then comes a bit of dancing...no problems. Then comes the pie eating contest....the owner calls my name to participate. WTF? I have had about a fourth of a bottle of gin by this time, plus a Smirnoff Ice. There is no way I'm going to be able to eat this pie without puking. What do I do instead? Throw it over one of my bosses' heads. A food fight insues. Not pretty. And I'm not necessarily proud to be telling you all.

Miracles do happen, however, and I do still have a job.

Don't Be Alarmed.....

...but here are a few pictures of the wedding we went to in November.....





...are there really only 24 more days until Santa comes?? YIKES!!!