Category: BlahBlahBabble

On Monday, it was in the 80s. I wore a light dress with a sweater over it to class. The a/c wasn’t working, and I was glad I had dressed for the warm weather outside. Tuesday a front came through and brought us a ton of rain and cooler temperatures. Last night it went from cool to friggin’ COLD. (I know, cold by Houston standards is not cold to everyone else. But it is cold to me.)

It was 37 degrees this morning.

I didn’t want to turn on the heat last night because no one has gone up into the attic to make sure the pilot light is lit, and I am neurotic and convinced that I would kill us with carbon monoxide poisoning. I understand how that works now thanks to my Biology class, but I don’t want to experience it firsthand. Instead I went to bed in a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, housepants and the thickest socks that I own.

Mike has been gone to Boston this week, and I must have been super cold without the human furnace here to keep me warm – I woke up curled into a ball this morning, and when I stretched my legs out the sheets were ice cold! Jason said he slept under 3 blankets. We were digging for gloves this morning; it was definitely a glove day.

Tonight looks like more of the same. Actually worse, with a low tonight of 33. I guess I am going to give in and turn on the heater. There is too much risk of pipe damage in Houston homes if it gets that close to freezing outside. Plus my hands are like two ice cubes right now. I like to bundle up and enjoy winter as much as the next person, but this is just crazy.

I’m sure my paranoia about turning on the furnace has nothing to do with the fact that last year when we went to turn them on we discovered we needed to replace both of them. Oh yeah, that made for a fun Christmas.

Now where did I put the flannel housepants?

DKNY Men’s Leather Pants I Unfortunately Own. One of the best auctions ever. Be sure to read all the questions at the bottom. [Seen before, but snagged today from Busy Mom. Us crazy moms, we’re all about the leather pants.]

The pants actually have a history, and the seller has a site at banterist.com.

Normally this is the time of year that I’m complaining that everyone is trying to stuff Christmas down my throat. I prefer to wait until after Thanksgiving to get into Christmas. I put my tree up in mid-December because I’m old school and I like to keep it up until Epiphany (January 6th). But for some reason, I really want to start decorating my house for Christmas right now! I don’t want to wait! I don’t think I can blame it on the cold front that is coming through tonight and knocking the temperature down to a sane fall level either. I asked Mike last weekend if we could start decorating this weekend. Maybe I should start pulling things out – we could put the lights on the bushes outside and start to get the decorations out for the fireplace and things like that early. The tree will have to wait though – it involves cat-herding (and I have no idea how Chloe will do with it), so I’m not ready for that yet.

I just feel the need for sparkly Christmas lights.

I am inspired to make some homemade decorations this year after checking out Loobylu, who has tips on the “perfect” way to decorate a tree – and a link to Wee Wonderfuls, who has the cutest snowflakes hanging on her ceiling! How cute are they? I totally want to do that. And I’m going to get out my cinnamon heart ornaments because they smell so good. I think I’ll make some pinecone ornaments too – I have a few already that Jason made in school when he was younger and they look so darling on the tree. We have plenty of pinecones out in the yard, so I’m all set.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Have I lost it? When do you start your Christmas decorating? Have you started already? And when do you take everything down?

You know how sometimes you get something stuck in your head and you think about it over and over again, several times in the span of a few days? I’ve been going through that lately. I think these things always happen for a reason, and looking at the calendar makes the reason why a little more clear.

Late last Thursday night, I was mentally composing a blog post that I felt the need to write. I was tempted to get up and turn the computer on to write it, but realized it was too late. I should do it in the morning. Friday morning came and went, and I didn’t have a chance to do it. It ended up being a busier day than I expected. But that is ok, because what I feel the need to say – well, it is never to late to say it unless I don’t say it at all.

I didn’t learn all I really needed to know in life in Kindergarten, as Robert Fulghum once claimed. I learned it from my Mom, before I ever went to school. She taught me everything I ever needed to know. She doesn’t hear that from me often enough, but as I get older, I realize the truth of it more and more. I can’t tell you how many times I have looked back at something that has happened to me during the day, whether it be a small event or one that can alter the course of my life, and wondered how she felt when she was my age. When she had a 13 year old child, she was only 33. Things become much more clear when I look at it from that perspective.

Sure, I learned a lot from my Dad too. I’m fortunate to have two wonderful parents. But when I was small, it was my Mom that was there for the everyday things. Taking me to the park, to the pool, to school, whatever. As I grew older, my Mom was the one that was home in the afternoon when I came home from school. My Dad was always there for the important things, and sometimes the small things too – but so many of my memories are tied to my Mom, we did some sewing and gardening together, although for the big things as tree trimming we always prefer get services from http://www.anjtreeservice.com/ for help

We don’t always see eye to eye, and sometimes we drive each other crazy – but don’t let it fool you. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love her. How could I not? She brought me into this world and took care of my every need. Sometimes she still does.

Somedays it is hard to get the words out, and I’m a flood of gooey emotions right now so I’ll stop before I ramble on too long. I just wanted to say thank you – I wanted to put it out there into the general ebb and flow of karma in the world.

My maternal grandparents have both passed away in recent years; I know this time of year is hard for my Mom. My grandpa’s birthday was on November 1st and my grandma’s was on November 11th – last Friday. Were they the ones responsible for nudging me and reminding me to make it known how much I truly care? We’ll never know. But it has come up time and time again since I first thought about it on Thursday night. As I travel down the path of motherhood with a teen myself, I’m sure it will continue over and over again.

I love you, Mom & Dad. Thank you for giving me a truly blessed life. Thank you for teaching me everything I know. Thank you for putting up with me – and for sharing a lifetime of joyful memories with me. I’m sorry for the bad times, and I’m so very grateful for the good. Without you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. You will always be a part of the very core of my being.

Now go tell someone you love them, or at least send them good thoughts. The world could use more love these days.

I lost focus while doing my Algebra homework and ended up finding a good thing. A very, very good thing. I have a plan under way to make a longtime dream come true. I can’t say more yet, and I won’t know if it will happen until later this week, but I’m too excited not to share the joy of the moment.

I’m so giddy I could dance around the house right now. I can hardly focus, I am that excited. There have been squeals and jumping up and down. (My head hurts from where I accidentally hit Mike’s chin with it as I was jumping, squealing and hugging him.)

Oh, and before anyone asks, no – we’re not having a baby and we didn’t win the lottery – although at the moment, I almost feel like I did.