It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Never had an open concept house before. Kinda cool.

Had some extra mistletoe garland. I like it so much, I'm not going to want to take it down.

Woo-eee! We finally have an "open staircase"! Who cares that it's only 4 steps, we paid extra for it just so I could do this at Christmas.

OK, first time with a fireplace, so I went a little crazy. So exciting.

Here's my first Cricut creation. You can't see it very well, but I took gift tags and spelled out "Merry Christmas" on them, then hung them from floral wire above the fireplace (see previous picture).

Not bad for the first time.

I know, I know, not one picture of one kid. They're fine, I swear.

As a matter of fact, I need to start posing them for our annual Christmas card photo.

I swore to myself that I was going to go the professional route this year, but it's already NOVEMBER 30TH!

So, you'll be seeing LOTS of pictures as I try posing them in different locations, in different ways, trying to get THE shot.

I can't believe there's only 25 more days till Christmas.

ack!

Bad, Bad Blogger.....

I just realized I haven't been posting so much lately.
I also realized I haven't taken any pictures of Lili lately. We went to TWO Thanksgivings and I didn't even take a camera to either. Ho hum. Just haven't felt like saying much lately, I guess. And what's with no Lili pictures? I don't know. Guess I'm just forgetful or disinterested, or something. Hopefully I'll snap out of it over the next couple of weeks and get some nice Christmas-y photos to share.

Speaking of Christmas, we've got our house decorated.
Lots of fun decorating a different house, but also confusing and time consuming. I knew where everything went for the last 10 years and now things don't fit, or I'm tired of them, or I want to do something different.
I think I have it all figured out, although I keep tweaking it everytime I sit and look at it for any length of time.

And, last but not least, I am blissfully unemployed ! I know that sounds kind of bad in light of the economy and all, but you know how I've felt and I'm happy to say, I'm GONE!
Originally I was going to stick it out till spring break, then it turned into sucking it up till Christmas, finally, I was out of there by Thanksgiving.
I've never had a job or been in an environment where I felt so unwanted and disrespected. I guess I've been spoiled (yes, I know, Kelly, Mary and Lisa!), but it was really hard to take. I'm just grateful I had the ability to leave. It was miserable. I thank God that I'm outta there. whew.

So, now that I'm home to enjoy my life once again, I'm hoping to get lots of crafting and baking and FUN done. Meemaw and Peepaw got me a Cricut Expression for my birthday and I hope to make a cute Christmas banner for our mantel as project #1....watch out, Kim :)

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving full of continued blessings!

Snort!

The Cherry on Top of My Sunday!

We went to church today and shook hands with one of the ushers. Jeff introduced himself and said "This is my wife, Nikki". The guy shook my hand and said "Your wife..." I could tell he had a look on his face and I said "No, I'm his daughter." He said "OK, I was wondering that...." I laughed and told him I was, in fact, Jeff's wife. The guy said "Oh, really? You are his wife, because I really thought you could be his daughter." Poor Jeff. I've been calling him "daddy" all day.
So far, this whole '39 year old thing' is really working out for me.
On Thursday, one of my co-workers asked me if I had just gotten out of college, and Brett told me that one of his friends thought I was his sister heading to high school one day on my way to work.
Now, I only mention this because it's just too, too funny. I really think I look like a hag most of the time, so to hear that some (dumb and blind) people may think differently is a-OK with me!
Maybe it's the water here......

39 is the new 38

Quite a big day around here yesterday.

Lili woke up and spit her other front tooth out. No muss, no fuss, just landed in her hand.

After school and work, we celebrated my birthday.

Yep, #39.

sigh.

"I GOT A BOP IT!!!"
Long story. Suffice it to say that my original Bop It was, um, "misplaced" 6 years ago and I've been hankering for one ever since.

I hold in my hands the 'new and improved' Bop It complete with 'party play mode'.

Ooooohhh.

This is our FAVORITE picture ever.

"Ghost Boy".....

Maybe this guy scared Brett to death.
(and, no, I didn't have a clown for my birthday, this is Uncle Keith dressed up for Halloween. creeeepy.)

And, what celebration would be complete without an original song and dance as only Lili can do it :)

Happy Birthday to me. I'm thankful for another year of blessings beyond compare.

ugh.

Just a quick update to let everyone know I'm alive.
Last week almost did me in, but I survived. A big thank you to Jeff who did all the cooking and kid-duty till I got home.
I started at my actual job Monday.
I despise it.
Really, truly despise it.
I usually hate my job in the beginning because I generally don't like anything new.
But, I really do hate it.
The people are not nice and I don't look forward to going in. ever.
For the last 3 days all I can do is visualize me walking out the door. That's what's getting me through, knowing one day that that's exactly what I'm going to do.
mwah, hah, hah.

On a lighter note, the kids are doing well.
Lili's other front tooth is hanging by the thinnest thread. Utterly disgusting. She just LOVES to wiggle it around and around and laugh. ICK!
Oh, by the way, I couldn't wait to tell the kids that this week there would be NO kids club and that Mommy would be home every day after school.
Well, that was met with a round of "Oh, man! No kids club? No empty house? Geesh."
So much for me worrying all last week about leaving my kids without their mom.....

I thought I wanted a career, turns out all I wanted was a paycheck

Yep, that about sums it up.
I have a magnet with that saying on it that's followed me on every job for the past few years.
Not the best "go get 'em" adage, but it's me, what can I say?

I started my job at the library yesterday.
My 20 hour a week, 5 four hour days job this week is really 9 hours/5 days a week, which makes for a 45 hour week. Not the best way to start, but hopefully it'll make next week seem like a piece of cake. (and I'm looking forward to my first check)
I'm working 9-6 at the main library branch, training in every single position.
It's busy, which is good because it makes the time go faster. But, holy cow. My last job I barely worked 45 hours a MONTH.

I realized though, that it just really isn't worth it to me.
Sure, the money's nice, but we don't need it. It'll help with Christmas and some projects, but it's just not worth the trade-off. Not to me anyway.
I'm not there when the kids get home from school. Lili has to go to an after school program. Brett has become a latch-key kid.
I'm not there even when Jeff gets home and he's having to make dinner, too.
I come home, eat, spend a few minutes with the kids between homework and showers and all and then we all go to bed.
Yep, living the dream. But think of all the STUFF I can buy. Just not worth it.

I'm definitely resigning by the end of the school year. I can't imagine paying MORE than I'm making a week for someone else to watch my kids.
We'll see.....I might not make it past Christmas.

The job really isn't that bad, it's just that my heart's not in it. If I really wanted a career (or even a job), this would be it. But, that's not me. I'm just in it for the money :)