The things that matter {to me}

2008 Highlights

Wii joined the craze

We were saved by an Xray 

Comparing all those years made the changes so clear

Put things in writing when you want them heard

I shared a recipe that will surely make a diet fail

We realized a dream and it was really special

Feeny learned to type & asked for a play date 

Later Feeny was named as a suspect as I worked on a cold case 

Geoff swung a sledge hammer and learned demo is his specialty

it got ugly for awhile and I wondered if we should just get a gallon of gas & a match

Alex decided to hit another milestone in the middle of complete upheaval

I think communal living has it's perks

and then I came home to this which made it all worth it

for the first time in 10 years I was with all of my family

because there was a wedding 

It was a bad week when we had Alex's first broken bone and second cast in 24 hours

this is cool although a little bigger than I thought (it didn't look as big in Costco)

Geoff went to the DMV and now he can see again 

Allergy alert! we became those dog people 

Geoff said we had the best company ever and that's big since he's not a big "company" guy

I grabbed a camera and words came tumbling out 

In a lively conversation my blog intentions were questioned 

Disneyland was once again great no surprise there

Geoff became a radio star and I am so proud

I figured out why Kelly can shop with me and it involves a degree

We were thankful that there was another reprieve  

We celebrated a decade of that smile

we are thankful for this little dude and all of his goodness

I gave into commercialism at it's finest  on Halloween

I participated in making History

Alex gave us more gray hairs

Watch out world because now we can hop a plane

A bonus trip to Disneyland was awesome

Christmas was awesome, I hope yours was too

So that's it.... the year in review. I hope that 2009 is as good for everyone! Happy New Year! I'll be here blogging daily again, I hope that you will join me.

Crazy work time

No time for a big post tonight. Work is crazy with a capitol C, suddenly everyone needs to move. Tomorrow I need to find something to keep the little dude busy and take the last picture of 2008 plus I need to compose my recap post & I have a walk through to do too. I'm off to bed!

Organizational hell

I hate organizing things. HATE IT. In fact, I hate it so much that if money were no object I would hire people to organize everything & I would see none of it until it were done. I know, I know people just love doing this stuff, it gives them a sense of satisfaction but me, no sense of satisfaction only the sense that I should just throw everything away and start all over.

Since the remodel we have vowed to keep the house in manageable condition which for me means constant purging and not letting clutter build up. This has worked pretty well in most areas, well except my desk area. See my desk was the one place that got no attention in the remodel other than to get hastily moved at least 20 times and it did get heaped with more crap. In the months between then & now work has kept me really hopping so most of the time I clean the working surface and just keep my head above water.

Which leads me to the picture above... today was the day. Everything had to come out it was time to purge and be ruthless. I got the desk done, complete with the removal of the old desktop beast which at 6 years old is a dinosaur in computer years. Now tomorrow I am going to be digging through the garage to find the shelves for the lower compartment to stack all kinds of goodies in there that will free up my file drawers for crazy things like files. LOL Although one of my New Years goals is to be as paper free as possible with most things scanned and converted to PDF's  (wait.. is that more organizing? Maybe I'll do that in 2010).

Anyway, I cannot wait until it's over so I can not touch it again. No sense of accomplishment, no pride in a job well done just hours and hours of my life I will never get back.

Mani/Pedi

 

Feeny's nails have gotten quite long but it is a major PITA to take her to the vet for a little trim. We bought the clippers months ago but they sat unused as we were both too nervous to try them out. Today though for some odd reason Geoff decided that maybe he'd give it a whirl and of course Ms. Feeny stayed still like she was having a spa day. I told Geoff he should change his name to Tiffany & charge $20, he'd probably have a line around the block. LOL

OMG make it go away

I started feeling sick today at about 11. It got really bad, I could barely stand up & I just had to lay down. I am feeling slightly better but the nauseating feeling hung on all day. I can barely get off the couch without wanting to slide back down the wall. I am so praying that I am better by tomorrow.... I hate being sick.

The big hit

The Playmobile Circus

 

The only thing is that it is so delicate that it has a hard time standing up to the love that Alex dishes out.

Today we did hit a few stores, I did get a cool bargin on a quilt that I have been wanting for Alex. I had been wanting this star quilt from PBK but I never want to pay that much for something that gets so much use (I think it started at $175) but today it was $39!!! Other than a few small things that was it. Tomorrow we are going to work on decluttering around here and getting thing back to super clean! Fakey is out in the garage until his visit next year and Alex is overjoyed with all of his new toys. :)

The Official Card Photo

 

I hope that your Christmas was as fabulous as ours.

Blessings to everyone!

No Peeking

 

This morning Alex did a double take when he realized that there were suddenly presents under Fakey. I was prepared that it was going to be an all out war that I would have to fight all day to keep him from diving right in & opening the whole pile wether they were his or not. But instead he took the high road and pretty much ignored them all day, every once in a while he would take a little peak & then move on. He has clearly grown so much in just this past year, that sweet boy of mine.

Presents under the tree

Finally, on the 23rd of December there are presents under the tree. I have been stockpiling them in the garage and tonight was the night to finally bring them in to wrap. I'm always amazed at how small the pile is for the amount of $$ that it cost... kinda drives me nuts. But alas, at least it's finally wrapped.

Before the wrap a thon began it was holiday movie night tonight. Lisa brought her family over with takeout and we supplied the movies & desert. We normally watch the Griswolds but this year we decided to watch "A Christmas Story" since Lisa had never seen it. She never laughed... not once. It was lost on them... Geoff & I were shaking our head, how could someone not get the Bumpkiss' dogs or the momentus "major award"? HOW? They barely stayed to see the end & there was a couple of times I think Matt was actually snoring. But these are the 2 people who do not get the comedic genius of Will Farrell either, it's a sad laughless (movie) world they live in. Sad sad sad.

Thanks for calling Kelly!

After the last 2 days of being cooped up (except the visit to the lights) Alex & I both needed to get the heck out of this house today.  I was trying to invent enough errands to keep us away for at least 4 hours when my phone range & it was the delightful Ms. Kelly on the other end. (Note: Kelly you need a blog so that I can link you & people will stop thinking you're my imaginary friend) Kelly said she was going to take Thomas to the SF Zoo and I decided that I should invite ourselves to go along LOL.  So with 2 boys in tow we headed off in search of lions & zebra's (Thomas's request)

 

The lions were sunning themselves on a rock, they looked pretty relaxed

 

and my favorite pic of the day

 

It was really a great day. The boys ran around the zoo and expended all kinds of good energy. We walked a ton, ate some lunch & rode the carousel. Sure, could I have been doing holiday chores today? Yes but you know this was so much better. Alex really needed a day that was about him.

In other news I am so happy about Lisa's miracle and to answer Karen's comment the photo a day album is going quite well in that I have taken a photo almost every day (okay, there is a day I have to fudge but I have multiples from other days) but I have not printed any pics yet. I am planning on tackling that one day next week :)