Birthday Time!

My girl is about to turn FOUR! Time certainly flies!

She went from this:














To this!








She's a big girl now!!!! And soon to be a big sister! :)

The Bush Family has left the building

It looks like we have a new president. The emotion and significance of the day is not lost on me, but I have a bit of inauguration fatigue. It has been covered on some of my favorite channels (news stations) non stop for SOOO LONG that I am glad things *should* hopefully be winding down soon.

I know today and tomorrow and maybe even the week are lost causes, but hopefully, soon, people will start to realize that other things happen in the world that are of significance.

YES this is huge. YES this is historic. BUT do we need to watch every step he takes every day and every breath he takes? Need we watch his kids go to school every day and know what his wife is wearing daily? I think not.

Let us get on to the business of fixing the sorry state of the country.....and fast! I don't expect miracles from him, however. I know some are certain he will "fix" everything with a quickness, but that is very unlikely to happen. I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed to learn that Obama is merely mortal. He will make mistakes and he won't be as liberal and "anti-establishment" as so many thought. In the past weeks we've already seen some evidence of this.

Some progress for our country is all I ask for and hopefully I won't be disappointed.

Idiocy SURROUNDS us ALL! :(

Who the hell



are these



idiots?

In the first story we have an idiot who left her kid in the car. THANK GOD everything turned out well, but this summer, I read about similar stories every week. Here in Texas, this is often a fatal error. What is so important that you have to run in to buy while your kid sleeps in the car? Imagine the terror that kid experienced, waking to find herself ALONE in the stopped car without her mother? Stupid woman.

The second link takes you to a story I found today about a man who is trying to get payment, or his kidney back, from his soon-to-be ex-wife. He is going through what sounds like a bitter divorce and is changing his mind about saving a fellow human being--for free. He is a surgeon himself, which means he is very likely not hurting for cash, but he nonetheless is looking for over a million dollars in exchange for his wife keeping the kidney he willingly gave her.

What is really stupid, is that he is supposedly a HEALER! What will people think of him now? I would never let someone like this cut me open! God forbid he be in a bad mood that day! What a jerk!

Then we have the grand prize winner for idiot of the week. The mom who takes her infant into a bar and proceeds to get drunk. Runners-up include the bar employees and patrons who sat and watched as this unfolded and allowed her to drink as much as she did! I mean most bars don't allow children. This one allowed an infant to remain there while the caretaker got loaded? HUH?

Why are there so many imbeciles on this planet? And...Why do they keep procreating?

Too many cookies later....

I am back! We had a good enough Christmas and a better New Year. I imagine its best to get things off on the right foot, so 2008 is over and I should focus on the upcoming year. There are lots of things that will follow me into the near year, but I can only hope and pray that things get better and that 2009 will be a huge improvement over the last year.

I hope everyone else had a great holiday. It is back to the grind for most people in just a few short days. I keep forgetting, but I too have work to tend to as my break ends and classes restart on Monday! Egad! I really had forgotten! :( I am wishing I had not accepted this upcoming set of courses, but I really would like another pay check before the baby comes!

Here we are at the start of the year. I hope we look the same (with big smiles on our faces) by the year's end! ;)

More to come soon!

Merry Merry Merry Christmas...and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008 is coming to an abrupt ending. It seems to have come even faster this year. I imagine that is part of getting older, since it seems to be a trend!

I hope that everyone is spending their last days of the year with loved ones and enjoying a blessed and happy holiday!

Elena is sick so we are in a boogary tissue-covered wasteland right now, but we are tracking Santa on NORAD and she's PSYCHED about possibly getting her scooter tomorrow. She is certain its coming because she was SOOOOO "Good" this year (cough cough ehem..NOT..cough cough). Lucky for her its bought and will be under the tree despite her pain-in-the-ass tendencies! ;)

The year has been a mixed one with some high highs and some low lows. Thankfully, a new year is right around the corner, and I am hoping for a better 2009. A baby will join the family within only a few months, and that is always good happy news. I am looking forward to it!

Despite the economy, we are doing well enough to not want for anything and to have a Merry Christmas. We are blessed!

I hope you and yours enjoy a great time over the holidays! Know you are loved and that you are thought of often! Very few cards went out from me this year and they were sent LATE! Hopefully, everyone in my life knows that I love them and that Christmas came a bit too fast for me this year! :)

***HUGS***

Back to my cookie making! We are making blossoms (topped with a Hershey kiss), chocolate peanut butter cookies, and regular chocolate chip. Tonight Elena will make a small batch of sugar cookies JUST for Santa. He said only special people leave those for him. She wants to leave Chocolate chip ones and wants to leave enough for the elves and reindeer and Mrs. Clause. That is a whole lotta cookies!

Mine don't look like these, but these sure look good! I wish I had the patience to make cute ones like these!



Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo! :)

It is that time again! Christmas is upon us and before we know it, we'll be chiming in a new year! Where does the time go?

Not too long after the new year, my little girl will be turning FOUR! Insane, huh?

She went to visit Santa today and asked for her one gift. She said she only wanted ONE thing, so that should be fine. Those are her words. I'm assuming she's thinking since its ONE thing, she'll be certain to receive it! :) She wants a pink scooter! "Santa" needs to get in gear and purchase said scooter, but at any rate, everyone knows now and its officially her request.

She wanted one other thing she asked me about. I asked her why she didn't tell Santa about her other request. And she said, "He only makes TOYS, mom!" Her other request: Candy! YES she is my daughter! ;)

Here is her picture!



I was excited that they got the money shot in ONE take! :) She was just so genuinely happy and excited and she was very huggy with him. So the picture was really a natural easy shot.

This is an exciting year because its her FIRST year where she COMPLETELY gets it all. She knows who Santa is and his role in things. She knows when the gifts appear and how. She knows she has to behave herself and she knows that Christmas is really Jesus' birthday.

She saw the Grinch cartoon and asked me, "Mom why are they happy with no Christmas?" And I explained to her that it isn't just about gifts. The real Christmas is about being happy that Jesus was born. She got it quite easily and loved the cartoon.

You get to be happy for the birth of Christ AND HAVE GIFTS!!! YES!!! Does it get any better? :)

I hope you are enjoying the countdown to Christmas! This year there are no holiday cards from my house and very few gifts just because time is running out too fast! I miss all the fuss I usually make over the holidays, but so long as my little girl is okay and I know she'll have a good Christmas, then I'm okay.

This year put a lot of things in perspective for me and continues to. I love to give give give but I scaled back this year because time just escaped me. I have my job, a residence close to home and family, my healthy and intelligent child, my own health and a sweet child growing within my belly...I am not sure it gets much better than that! ;)

Finally moving day...again.

So we found a place. We will move in this weekend. Starting friday we'll move a few loads in our vehicles and we are renting a truck for saturday. My brothers are helping so hopefully we'll be done by Sunday! I really want to get through this quickly so we can set up the tree and just get settled before the holiday! :)

This place is a duplex, so its a lot of space. It is very close to the cafe I used to go to a lot, so I'll be going there more it seems. There was no fridge, and we required one, so the owners bought one and its being delivered tomorrow. I have to go with lena after we pick up the keys and wait for it to be delivered.

It will be an incredibly busy weekend, but I'm looking forward to being closer to things, since being at my parents means being SO FAR from most things--including dh's job and dd's school. A LOT less time in the car is a very good thing!

Wish us luck! I hope we'll be there for a little while and not have to move again for a while!