Finished shopping.

Saturday hubby and I did our Christmas shopping. We were gone all day or so it seemed. We went to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Game Stop, back to Best Buy, the mall, Target, and Dollar Tree. We used all cash except for one gift. Yeah! I love that! All bought and paid for, now I have to wrap. I did some wrapping today.

We bought our ham on Saturday as well. I have to finish the rest of the food shopping yet. I will do that probably on Wednesday. I have to plan out the meal yet too. It helps to have that planned before you shop, ya think?

Looking forward to spending time with my family. We will miss our extended family this year as it is the first time in a long time that we haven't spent it with them.

Christmas Cookies!!

The kids and I made Christmas cookies today. Here are a few pictures...

Waiting to go into the oven.



Seth decorating cookies.

Joshua decorating cookies.

Some of the finished products.

Still not ready for Christmas.

I am not ready at all and I am not even in the mood! Bah Humbug!!!! That is my theme this year. Think the kids will mind if we skip Christmas this year? I need to focus, I know. Focus on Christ and the gift He gave. I think it is the traditions that we did before that we can't do this year. I don't know what we will be able to do and what we won't. I do want to make Christmas cookies with the kids this year. I think that will be fun to do. I have never made Christmas cookies. Can you believe that? 39 1/2 yrs. old and never made Christmas cookies. Well, my kids and I will make them this year, or that is the plan. lol I have to find a good recipe and just do it. Oh I need some cutouts as well. I can't freehand a tree that is for sure. lol 

My oldest son is coming to visit over Christmas and I am excited to see him. I am hoping he can stay for a few days but it will depend on his work schedule. Hubby is supposed to have Christmas Day to Jan. 3 off but told me he will probably have to work some of it.

We took some time off school to have a break from the norm. I hope it will not be too hard to get back into school. We did this a few years ago but don't remember how it went. Must not have been too bad because I would think I would remember if it was bad, right? lol 

Merry Christmas!!

Ready for Christmas?

I am not. I have one present bought. That is it! lol I always wait until the last minute. I want to start early but it never seems to happen.

We had snow in TX. It only snowed for a bit and it did not stick, but it did snow. It has been pretty chilly too.

I have been going to the gym faithfully since Oct. I have lost 18 lbs. so far. Yeah!!! I am proud of myself. I am drinking water again too. I had stopped for a long time and drank only diet pop. Now, it is basically just water. That helps a lot not only with cleaning your body out but also keeping you full.

JM came home for Thanksgiving. We had a Mexican Fiesta instead of the normal turkey and such. It was good. We ate all weekend off of that and wasn't sick of it. lol The boys really don't care for turkey so why make what won't get eaten. We had turkey at the church the Sunday before so that worked out. It was nice having JM home for a few days. I hated to see him leave. We had a lot of fun together. 

Not bad for a Monday

It was an okay weekend. John and I had two nights without kids, but we didn't do much exciting. We did go to dinner on Saturday night. We tried a new (to us) restaurant. It was really good and the portions were big. I cut my sandwich in half and ate half of it, but ate almost all my onion rings. We also had fried mushrooms. Oh, they were good.

Sunday we were gone all day. First we went to church, then had a potluck dinner at the church. We stayed at the church and waited for the evening service. Our evening service is at 2:00 so it wasn't long. I love having an early evening service. After the evening service we went to the Fort Worth Library and then back to the church. The boys went wit the youth group to a think called Hell House. It is like Judgment House for those in the Akron area. It is a little different though. John and I just came home after they left and sat and did our own thing... quietly. That was pretty nice. lol Oh yes, we also stopped and got a shake. lol

I got a application for a job. I am not happy about it, but at this point, I don't know I have a choice. I haven't turned it in yet. I am hoping we come up with a better solution first. Is that selfish? I don't mean it to be. I will keep you updated.

Time is flying by...

I cannot believe today is Oct. 20. Good grief where does the time go? It is just so hard to believe life is flying by. 

I will be 40 in Aug. With time flying by so quickly that will be next week ;-). That and a few other things got me motivated to get healthy. I started working out at the gym at our complex. Seth goes with me Monday - Friday. I got John to go on Saturday and Sunday. I wish I could get him to go more, but I will take what I can get. I am watching what I eat as well. I am down 2 lbs. Woo Hoo lol! You gotta start somewhere, right? I feel better about myself plus it helps fill the time. Gives me something to do for part of the day. 

I also colored my hair. It is like a reddish color. I was going for a lighter color but not bad I guess. John and I did it. We had no idea what we were doing. I guess for our first attempt it turned out okay.

School is going good. Joshua is really learning this year and seems interested in a lot of what is being taught. I am glad I got Bob Jones for him for science and history. I haven't tried to catch up on the math book. I will in time. It isn't like we are in a hurry or anything. Seth is doing great and picking up on Geometry. I am so clueless with those theorems. I am so glad John can help him. We would be in trouble otherwise. lol

John Michael switched jobs. He seems much happier with the job switch so that is good. I just wish he would decide about college and get to it. I want him to get an education and have a better life than what we have had. I hate living paycheck to paycheck. We used to have breathing room but not anymore. I want him to be able to do that. He is a smart kid and has a lot of potential so I am sure he will succeed. Just wish he would get to it. lol 

Not much else happening in our little world. I will still take a boring life over one with a lot of anxiety and problems. I lived that before... no thanks!

Math book arrived!

Well, the math book arrived. The condition they said it was in was not described accurately, but that is okay. I got good deals on his history and science books so I will take this bad one. I did hear from the other seller. She asked if I received her check yet. I haven't. I truly believe she did mail them both but for some reason, neither made it. I guess our transaction was not meant to be! lol

It has been raining off and on since Saturday evening. It is to continue until Sunday I think. UGH! It is good reading a book weather though. I got the book The Time Traveler's Wife on Saturday. I wanted to read the book before I watched the movie. I don't think I have watched a movie that was better than the book. I like the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. I watched most of the movies as well. If I hadn't read the book, I would have liked the movies better. Does that make sense? Anyway, I am trying to read this book. It is a very thick one too! Wow! I have 3 weeks to finish it. I am sure I can do it. I have a lot of time on my hands these days it seems. lol

I found out last week that Joshua was color blind. JM and Seth are color blind as well, but I thought Joshua missed it, so to speak. It turns out, he is the worst of them all I think. Either that or the other boys have learned to adjust more to it and have learned to look for it more. Is it something you can grow out of I wonder? It isn't a big deal it just means we have to watch what we are doing with colors and what not. He will adjust like the other boys have. The one eye doctor told me that my dad was probably color blind and that is where they got it from. I don't know if that is true or not, but it came from the doctor. lol