Christmas, the great room clean up and surgery countdown

Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but just not been motivated.

Christmas was great! Very relaxing. Matt and Kristen loved all their gifts as did I. The kids gave me a Hairspray DVD, MacGyver boxed set and a cinnamon toast candle. Kristen loves her new dvd player and has spent many hours since Christmas watching dvds on her bed. Matt of course loves his bass most of all. When he is not playing it he is hugging it. Nice transition into the next topic...

They are doing these activities when they are not working on their rooms. Both rooms were just unbelievably trashed. Kristen finished tonight after about 6-7 hours of work since Christmas. Matt's room, well I am afraid to look. Randy has been checking on the progress. He has put about 10 hours of work and had finally gotten around the bed to access 1/2 the closet. At least 4 bags of trash have been removed. He is not allowed to take the bass upstairs until the room is done. The same goes for the purchase of an amp which he desperately wants, Hopefully, on Wednesay, because Thursday is...

Surgery day! He is very nervous about it. No surprise there. He is worried about having a foreign body(needle for iv sedation) in his body for a long period of time(procedure should last about 45 minutes once he is under) and he worried about the iv sedation not being able to knock him out and being half conscious and feeling the pain; he is also worried that pieces of his jaw will be removed never to grow back. I have done my best to assure him that it will all be fine-the needle will come out, he will not be awake and that he will not have gaping holes in his jaw. Hopefully, he will follow instructions(of course he will follow instructions because he will have his mom the supernurse overseeing his every move) and his recovery will go smoothly. On Sunday,

Randy leaves for Singapore. Welcome back to my old friend, single parenting.

National Treasure II

OH.MY. GOSH was this movie good. It is better than the first. Race to your closest theater to see it. Consider it a Christmas present to yourself. There are 4 or 5 things I am going to Google to learn more about. Helen Mirren was fantastic as Ben Gates mother! Wow oh wow! It was totally worth the 9.50 we paid per person plus snacks. I want to run back and see it again and again!

The most boring Christmas party ever

was held last night. It occured in a room above Shorty's bbq. 20 or so people talked and drank and did not mingle a whole lot. Randy made the right decision not to go. the food was good, but was taken away by the wait staff way to soon. I have gone for two years in a row. No more unless it is a job requirement.

Only 4 days to go

Well I think I am almost ready for Christmas shopping wise. My son is getting his heart's desire so the present count is extremely lopsided. It has been very difficult for me to get into the "holiday spirit". It is weird spending the holiday here with no family coming. Hopefully it will be relaxing. Unlike most school librarians I only get Christmas eve and Christmas day off. The weather is cold and damp. Southern Colorado is getting close to a foot of snow. We probably will only get an inch at most. Our plans for Christmas and New Years are pretty dependent on Matt's work schedule. The bowling alley is closed on Christmas eve so we will definitely be headed to church at 7pm that evening.

Kristen seems to be recovered from her bout of strep throat. I am loaded up on oranges and orange juice to try to thwart the rest of us from getting it.

Adding to my melancholy state at the moment is the fact that Jerry, the custodian at Altona Middle School died today. The teacher-librarian at that school found him dead outside the gym doors. He was the nicest soul you could ever meet. He used to be the custodian at Mead. Matt remembered him, but I doubt Kristen did. My heart is very sad right now. I put off dealing with it while I was at work, but now that I am home, I do not have that distraction. My office Christmas party is tomorrow night, but I do not feel like celebrating.

Kristen makes Christmas cookies

Kristen wanted to make Christmas cookies. Cutouts. Unfortunately for her, she has been burdened with a mother who hates rolling out any kind of dough. Her mother toughed it out and we made the batter. Kristen from this point on will be called Rachel Ray, does not feel the need to measure precisely. This was a bad, bad omen. She mixed and rolled and cut cookies out the thickness of biscuits. A batter that should have made 2 dozen, made 15 cookies. Then came the icing. Apparently, Rachel did understand the coach(me) when I said lightly ice the cookies. Her inner Rachel Ray stated more is better. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.

matt Christmas shopping, m/k shoes, where are my toys

Matt got paid so I deposited his checks(apparently he gets paid every two weeks but he did not know this) and showed him how to use an ATM. While I had him out, I told him to get enough money out to buy Christmas presents for at least his father and sister. Headed to Borders and listened to Black Sabbath on the way. Get into Borders he is flundering. Help him pick out something for Kristen, he manages to find soemething for Randy on his own. He goes to pay. I go to sit. He comes over to me with a very foul look on his face snarling i hope she appreciates this. The actual price was 3 times what we thought it was. OK, so now we have to go exchange it for something more appropriate in price. He grabs the 1st thing he sees with no thought put into it. Have the "do you want her to think this little when picking out your gift?" chat. Ok, make another suggestion which he takes. I go with him to exchange the gift. Get this process initiated and then go sit some more. He comes back looking less unhappy and gets the gifts wrapped and they are under the tree.

The night before, I took both kids shopping for more shoes. Kristen's sneakers were falling apart and Matt needed shoes that will give him some foot and ankle support. Let Kristen to her own devices and spend time helping Matt. I told him we are not going for style but functionality. Apparently this fell on deaf ears. he picks out skechers which have a plastic sole and no support. I pick out rockports. After suggesting many styles we finally find one. they are slip on and are relatively comfortable. Tonight will tell since he works.

Now for the toys. Based on furniture arrangement, the best place for the Christmas tree is at the side window, where the doggie's toys are. She watched me move them to the window seat behind the rocker. She sniffed at them there. We put up the new skinny tree that I like and Randy hates and a new fuzzy tree skirt. The dog insists that her toys are there and invisible. She digs around the tree skirt and sniffs with her nose touching the carpet like she is a bloodhound tracking those toys that any non-moronic dog could find, but with her tracking geniousness(to use kristen's word, she can not find them on the window seat. Brilliance. Every day I come home to the tree skirt disturbed.

Matt Christmas shopping, Matt/Kris shoe shopping, and where are my toys, huh?

coming soon....