White Flag

Dear Monster Cold,

I hate your guts.

Yours truly,

Josie

Spam Mail

 The family Christmas name-drawing has been submitted.  I've received 103 emails about it since Thursday.

103 emails filled with snarky, ruthless jabs. And there's still 11 days 'til Christmas. Anyone wanting to write a sitcom about a dysfunctional family...I'm willing to sell each jab for $2/piece.  And Sarah don't you dare undercut me by offering them @ $1.50...remember I drew your name this year! (and I promise if I give you a cheesecake to deliver it in person...not via USPS.)

the bitter cold.

Our family has a monster of a cold.

Bart caught his three weeks ago.  It mostly went away but came back with a fury last Friday. He's out trying to get into a doctor who will see him on a Saturday...after a full week of just getting worse.

Dave and I came down with it yesterday.  I could slowly feel my immune system giving in.  Being sick with a toddler in the home that is sick and bored with being sick?  C'mon mothers, where y'at?

*sigh*

So this is my venting post.

Strike 1.  Dave spills my mug of apple juice all over my desk, mouse, keyboard, and floor.
Strike 2.  I'll keep it simple and say it was a diaper malfunction.
Strike 3. Trying to make a semblance of a lunch, I spill easymac shells and powder all over the place, only to turn around and see.....
Strike 4. (Aren't you only allowed 3?) Dave holding above mentioned apple juice mug trying to get the last ounce of juice out, when he sees that I'm looking he throws said mug onto hardwood floor, it shatters into pieces.
Strike 5. While trying to clean up sticky apple juice mug pieces and shards, I sneeze and ram a piece into my hand.

And lunch still isn't made.

ps. Anyone wanna sub for me to play piano just 2nd hour for primary?

Snow

Since we've spent the last two years in California, the only time Dave has been in snow is when he was less than 4 months old when my brother got married in St. Louis.  When he woke up Tuesday morning and it was snowing, he stood at the window watching it for a good ten minutes.  Fascination!






















The dog, however, was less enthusiastic.

Hugs

I love that Dave has a cousin his age just a few miles down the road.  I was watching them yesterday at my sister's house and they would create their own little games with each other.  And when they weren't playing games nicely, they were trying to stake territory over who gets the toy...or who gets to close and open the door, etc.

I can see them learning and growing together.  Learning to say "sorry" even when they didn't get their way, learning to allow the other to give hugs when just 20 seconds earlier he got pushed for no reason.

The hugs are my favorite part--they hug each other for a minute solid before letting go. Sweet boys.

Can you tell who was wronged and who did wrong?  (Who's not really returning the hug...but accepting it as a rite of passage?)

The other side of the hill

I was looking through old emails today in search of something when I found an image hosting site that I signed up for about 3 years ago.  I was living in Utah and loved to drive towards a (any) specific mountain and see what I found.  On one particular outing, heading south from where I lived, I remember finding lots of interesting places to photograph.

As I went through these old pictures I had forgotten about, I found one that made me want to be able to go back to that place to re-explore it.

Now out of all the splendor of the mountains and beautiful sights I caught by photograph that day, it interested me that this was the one that stood out to me.  It's just a dirt road.

But where does it go?

It's been well-traveled.  At some point, someone had to carve out that path.  What's beyond the hill was worth getting to, enough that it was visited frequently enough to create a cleared path.

Next time I feel like I'm beating a path that gets no where?  You betcha I'll be coming back to this picture.

What's on the other side of your hill?

Great Deals Blog

I'm kickstarting a new blog for some of my favorite freebie/great deal finds.  I'll be building it over the next week or so, so check back!


http://duckycents.blogspot.com/

Freebies!

That saying that nothing in life is free?

Wrong.

I keep wanting to post finds I get for free...such as the Santa Paws blue ray+ DVD disc, free amazon mp3s, various grocery items, etc...but by the time I find them a lot of times it's the last day you can do it.

Not today!

You can get a variety of FREE (including shipping!) options from photoworks.com...a subsidiary of the American Greetings Co.  I'm not sure how long this will last so you better get on it!

Go to the site and create one of the following photo creations.  It can take between a half hour and an hour to decide which photos to use and to place them all...but this is FREE people!

C3733852365 -25 free holiday cards
C3733859796 – Free 20 page photo clutch book
C3733858476 – Free 11×8 photo calendar
C3733847579 – $25 photo gift credit (This one is "worth" more, but you have to pay shipping if you use it)

Merry Cyber Shopping!

The Elf.

There is a little elf in our home that likes to remind me it's Christmastime.

I get to decorate the tree...several times, each and every day.

While I'm writing letters....

Dear Thanksgiving Dinner,

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know that despite your caloric magnificence, Bart and I both still managed to lose 5 pounds last week.

Take that.

Sincerely,

Josie.

P.S.  It's rude of you to remind me that I had two desserts and I really didn't deserve it....so just don't go there.