Photo Card

Candycane Frames Holiday

To view our most popular holiday card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

Over scheduled

So as you know, I grew up in a very small town. In fact it was so small, it only had one stop light. And, it didn't even have that stop light until I was in high school.

Anyway, that said, there weren't tons of activities to be involved in. At least that I am aware of. There were no winter swimming lessons because the town only had an outdoor pool, those kinds of things.

So the fact that we have our son in so many things is crazy. He is booked Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night. Currently, my husband is looking into starting the winter t-ball indoors so that would tie up Wednesday nights as well.

For the record, my son isn't even 5. To me this all seems a bit excessive. My husband doesn't think so. But I didn't grow up in this kind of environment. Anyone have some insight?

Home Alone

So tonight I am home alone. Sonny is out of town for work and the boys are staying at Grandma and Grandpa's. It's really weird to be here in total silence. I almost don't know what to do with myself. I mean, I don't have to pick up all the toys on the floor if I don't want to, because no one will see them until I come home again and pick them up. It's up to me. It's just strange because it reminds me of the days when it was just me to worry about and that seems so long ago that it almost freaks me out. Maybe I will go do some stuff and stop freaking out about how quiet it is here tonight. Maybe I will just enjoy the silence.

Random thoughts

So, I was thinking about my former boss and how she got fired. I think that it was something that probably inevitable. But then I was looking online at school board meetings minutes from meetings leading up to her being fired.

The ironic thing that I keep thinking about is the fact that at one of her later meetings that she was at, she got upset with the board for not taking a vote on whether or not she could bring her dog(s?) to work when she was there and no one else was. The actual minutes said that she "demanded a vote". Like she gets to demand things. I wondered to myself if that was really the reason she was let go, because she said that if she was going to work a 14 hour day and no one was there, she was bringing her dog(s?) to work. That would be funny. At least to me it would be.

The other thing I was thinking about was the television show "I Shouldn't Be Alive." Has anyone seen this show? Last night I watched an episode about these two guys that got stranded in the Alps. They were there like 4 or five days before the first blizzard subsided and rescue came, but rescue couldn't save them because of the updraft from the mountain so they had to stay and wait more. On day 7, they were rescued, except in the time between the first appearance of the helicopter and the second, one of the guys dies from hypothermia and the other lost his limbs to frostbite. I can't shake thinking about that. It's truly an example of "What a difference a day makes."

Old Clothes

At what point does someone have to throw something away? A couple weeks ago, after the holidays actually, I got a couple new shirts, and as a result, I threw a couple into the donation bag because they didn't really fit anymore. When we went to Good Will to drop them off, I remembered that I had had the one shirt since I was in the sorority. I remembered wearing it with carpenter jeans and a grey cardigan. That made me a little sad and a little nostalgic.

Tonight, when I was trying to lay out some clothes for tomorrow, I came across a sweater that I was given by my ex-fiance's parents as a gift once. I haven't worn it the entire time I have lived in the twin cities, but I still have it. Is it time to donate that?

How about the sweater that I bought on a day when Steph bought the exact same sweater? That sweater hasn't been worn since I had kids, but I can't bring myself to donate that, even though I haven't probably worn that since Lukin was born. I just don't know.

What a difference a day makes

So today, I was driving to school thinking about how calm I was feeling for how close we were getting to the holidays and how I didn't have everything done but I wasn't stressed.

8 hours of teaching later...

I went home totally stressed about everything that still needs to be accomplished. It may have been not getting everything I wanted to get completed taken care of at work. But whatever it was, it made me stressed for the rest of the evening.

December Holidays

So, today I was looking at Kwanzaa Candles (Mishumaa Saba) online so I was ready when, and if, students asked about them. And I found this menorah.com website. Now, I don't participate in the celebration of Hanukkah, and so I found it odd that they had so many different styles. I found it almost mocking when I saw that there were animal ones and different sport ones. I don't get it. I mean I thought it was supposed to be a sacred thing. We don't wrap baby Jesus in a Blue's Clues blanket in the manger scene. You know? It just seemed really weird to me.

First Time Bidders

So, last night, Sonny and I put our first bid in on a house. We don't know if it will go over or not. But we did it. With the uncertainty with both of our jobs, we don't know if we hope they will say yes or no. We will wait and see.

Less Soprano, please.

So this weekend, I joined my mother-in-law, and my two aunts-in-law and went to a Mother-Daughter luncheon at church. The hour before the luncheon, we were entertained by this vocal group (and I don't remember the name) which consisted of 3 women and 3 men. They sang several songs, songs from the 50s, some disco, some religious, some patriotic, but throughout them all, all I could think was how heavily weighted the group was by the soprano one (a reference to when I sang in college, referring to the topmost soprano part). Now, I realize that this is somewhat hypocritical of me, seeing as I was a soprano one in high school. But I kind of think that perhaps that teacher didn't really know how to "read" voices, because just a short summer later, I was singing in college choir and I was an alto one. But I will confess that I am far more comfortable as an alto than I ever was as a soprano. Who knew?

But what I really wanted to hear was the men's voices. When I was in college, the best part of the concerts was not our female choir part, but the men's choir part. I loved listening to them sing the UND school fight song. It never got old. Neither did the "Little Lamb" song. I can still see the big guy named Grant singing when I think of that song. It's funny what memories we have, isn't it?

Edmund Fitzgerald

Did anyone have the Gordon Lightfoot song in their head yesterday? It was the 35th anniversary of the sinking. I heard the tail end of it on the way to work. I didn't know it was the anniversary at the time.

Trick or Treat

This picture was taken shortly before we left to go trick or treating. We took Thomas the Tank Engine and a little Lion out. They did a good job. But I think it would be fun if all of us dressed up, Mommy and Daddy included.

Wait, wait, wait.

All there is to do tonight is wait, wait, wait. There is a lot riding on this election, like, "is any reason to hold out hope for a job for next year?" Also, to see where would be the best place to put Lukin in kindergarten. I hate the way the referendum questions were worded on the ballot, but hopefully there was enough people who had gotten the information to have the explanation to know what they were voting for and to make the educated decision. Just say my prayers and wait.

Halloween Success

It's amazing what a difference a year makes. Last year we went around one block and when we turned the corner, Lukin got too tired to continue. This year, he didn't ask until the last couple houses and only because he could see Mimi's house and wanted to go there. It was pretty fun.

I have to confess that I never knew the rule about the house lights. I grew up in the country and we went into town and went to the same houses every year. I didn't know that if the lights were on you could go there, and if they weren't, you couldn't. Good to know though.

We had fun though. Lukin did great saying trick-or-treat, and thank you at each house. Parker would only say his version of trick-or-treat if prompted. And you couldn't distinctly hear "trick or treat" but you heard three syllables ending in "ee". And he would say something that sounded like "thank you" too. But he was cute to watch as he just sat back in his stroller wondering why we were going from house to house in the dark saying the same thing and getting stuff in a bag. I think he didn't mind though as he looked pretty comfy in his little lion outfit and winter coat. He looked like he was going to fall asleep.

When we got back to Mimi's, I guess it was like Halloween in years past. Lukin had all the candy dumped all over the floor in moments. And he had four pieces before you could tell him how many he could have: 1 starburst, 1 piece of bubble gum, 1 box of milk duds and a kit kat. Parker got to have a little candy too (only because it was Halloween and he dressed up for it.) He got to have one little bag of M&Ms and suck on a sucker until the stick got too bendy, then Mommy took it away.

All in all it was fun night. I will try to get a pic up here eventually. Like hopefully before the kids go off to college.

So tired...and ready for the end of the week

So I am sitting here at my home computer working on stuff from work because as much as I am trying to get done, I am not getting far at work what with classes and students...Who knew?

Anyway, I am sitting here and in the middle of my second report of the night, but have had a long day. I got up at my regular 5:00 time but ended up heading to work early and putting in a 9.5 hour day. Then I came home to do more. So as I am sitting here, my eyes drift closed and I snap them open thinking I am at work and will get in trouble if my eyes close. That's how tired I am, I think I am at work, when I am not.

I need this week to be over and for me to put a huge dent in all that I need to get done before coming home tomorrow.

Won't make much sense if you aren't in Education

So tonight, Sonny took the boys to swimming lessons and left me home to work on my CEUs. That was awesome because I stayed home and was able to complete .6 CEUs. That was great because now I am sitting at 2.3 CEUs, whereas earlier I was sitting at 1.7 CEUs. If I have another night like that, I should be almost to my required 3.0 CEUs. That would be fantastic. Now that I think about it, I would probably be there if I hadn't missed out on the classes I had registered for before the computer crashed. Oh well. I am almost done and that is great!

In other news, the last couple and the next couple weeks at school have been and will continue to be hectic. We have had 2 program evals plus their IEPs, 2 program IEPs, 4 speech assessments and IEPs, 1 speech IEP, and 1 LD IEP. It's been crazy. I could have worked on some of that paperwork tonight, but I feel good having gotten some CEUs done. All I know is that I should have all of it done by Thanksgiving and I will certainly earn my Thanksgiving break. And as of now, I have no documents due in December. I can't wait!

A long weekend...well it felt long.

Sometimes, the weekend just doesn't seem long enough. And sometimes, you can't wait for it to be over. This was one of the latter weekends. That is, with the exception of needing more sleep. But I had a 4-year-old who thought he should stay up til past midnight last night, and who got up before 8 am this am. That lead to some tired eyes today and some crankiness and an inability to sit still for fear of falling asleep. Here's hoping everyone has a good night sleep and tomorrow is a better day, with all of us fully rested.

Alaska was great!

So, last weekend we went to Alaska to watch some college hockey. It was a lot of fun. I had never been to Alaska before and I really enjoyed it. It was beautiful up there and the fall colors and the mountains all around made for very picturesque scenery. I can't wait to go back. You know how you imagine what you will do if you ever win the lottery? We decided that we would take our families on a trip to Alaska because they would all like to go and with everyone there, it would be so much fun!

(almost) all my bags are packed...

I'm ready to go.

Tomorrow after work, Sonny is taking me out of town for my birthday. It should be fun. Where we are going will be a surprise. Yay!

Burday me

So last night for my birthday, we went to Osaka. It was yum-yum-yum-yum-delicioso. My husband and I shared sushi and then we each had some hibatchi. Yum! Then all 9 of us came back to our house for cake. It was yummy too!

Almost older

I get to wake up tomorrow one age and go to bed another. Forgive me for not really feeling particularly excited for my birthday this year. I know I am not that old, but I sure feel like I am.

I told my husband that I wanted to buy a pair of heels. Impractical ones. I told him that in my head that would make me feel less old. I don't know why I think that. But I think that people who wears heels have to be young because I don't know that they would just wear them if they weren't. How many old people wear heels just because? My point exactly.