Christmas Eve...

ALREADY???
I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already. I mean, the month FLEW by. It's been a busy month, but also a financially stressful month.

My parents have been so helpful, and I have maintained a very, very tight budget. I'm waiting to get my unemployment check still, I finally qualify, but there's some sort of holdup while they get information from TN. It's so frustrating to be pinching pennies in a very literal sense.

I've been blessed though, I don't want to complain. I've had a lot of good things happen and the bad things, well... it's all just temporary. I have interviewed with local companies, and although no one is hiring until next year, it's alright, I am enjoying this time with the kids and trying to enjoy the holidays as much as possible.

Despite the tight budget, God has provided. There's no other way to explain it. Just when I started worrying about the fridge stock getting low, my mom called to send us a Ham and a Turkey for the holidays. In addition to that, I have been baking and sharing cookies and food with friends who need/enjoy it, and Jim came by on Sunday for the football game, and went to the store and restocked my eggs, bread, milk, cheese and hot dogs/buns for a few days. He even brought over venison steaks and a venison roast. I hadn't ever had venison before, but after we cooked it, it was simply wonderful!

When things were getting thin again, despite my baking and freezing, I talked with F, and he sent a little of next month's child support to get us through the last week. I went food shopping and stocked the fridge and freezer again. They were running a special at ALDI on Hamburger Buns and Hot Dog Buns for 25cents a bag, so I bought a bunch of both, for a total of maybe $2.50 and then put them in the freezer.

My cell phone is currently out of service, but that's because I wanted to make sure the kids had a seemingly normal Christmas, despite my lack of a job. I bought things smart, and doled out items on their Santa lists to aunts and uncles... I think they'll have a great day tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see their faces. This is the last year I'll have everyone believing in Santa so I really wanted to kind of just make it magical.

I should have it back in service next week. A week without a cell phone is worth it to me.

Our Busy Calendar
The kids have been SO excited. I've written this week's events on our dry erase calendar in the kitchen, and there were two other events beyond Christmas they've been counting down.
My sister, Monica came into town, so she's spending Christmas with us and the kids are so thrilled to see her (as am I). She lives in Las Vegas, so we don't get to see her often. I'm so glad that I'll have a member of my immediate family to celebrate Christmas with.

Then we've also got a countdown for the kids' Dad's arrival. He'll be getting into town on Sunday, and the kids will spend a week at the Days Inn with him, going swimming in the pool, bowling, out to eat, etc. I will have the week *off*. I'll spend it straightening up and cooking, probably. But I'll enjoy going out on occasion with some friends and spending New Years out and about (I say that now, but it might be that I spend it on the couch again).

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
I can't wait till later tonight! :)

Kids' Christmas Lists/ Christmas Wishes...

I have so many family members who are asking me about the kids and their Christmas Lists. What I'll do is type out their letters to Santa here. This will also serve to help me out with remembering what I got the kids for Christmas (as I wrap)...

If it's in Italics, it's been purchased already. Normal type... free game!

Frankie
Nintendo DS
Guitar Hero Aerosmith Game for Wii (we have the guitar)
iDog soft speaker
Madden 09 for the Wii
Kirby for the DS
Tech Decks (though he likes these and they're inexpensive, so feel free to get em if you wanna)
Nerf Volcan Longshot EB525 and the region c5-6 (Ok, I bought a Nerf gun, honestly, I have no idea what kind it is- it's the same kind the people in the office used to shoot.)
Eclops Nightvision
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Mega Next iCoaster

Joey
Nintendo DS
Kirby Superstar DS game
Down to Life DS game
Globs of Doom Wii Game
De-Blob Wii Game
Globs of Doom DS Game (I don't know why this is on his list twice)
Kirby Treasure Hunt
D-Rex
iDog Soft Speaker
Nightvision
Bolt DS game or Wii game
Nintendogs DS game
Rip Stik G (it's a skateboard thing, just saw it at Target)
Trick Tracks
K-Nex Roller Coaster
Zero Gravity Micro
Shrek The Walls (game)
Twin Thunder Havoc
A Motor Scooter (this one, ain't happenin')

Kaitlyn
Nintendo DS - any color
Games for DS
Biscuit My Loving Pup
So Alive To Me
Bratz Magic Hair Color
Candy Canes
EZ Bake Oven (I'm planning on getting this for her)
Barbie House
Barbie Doll
Hannah Montana Guitar (I got her a regular guitar, acoustic. Will find a Hannah Montana sticker for it)
Fur Real Friends Horse

Madelyn
Nintendo DS Pink
Fur Real Friends Cat
Barbie Dolls
Hannah Montana Guitar (she can share with her sister!)
My Little Pony
Bratz
Tinkerbell DVD
Princess Barbie
Prance and Fly Pegasus
Hannah Holiday Popstar
Peek a Boo (I don't know what this is)
Baby Alive
Twister Moves Hannah Montana

__________________

Now, what I do have is a lot of stuff that's not on their lists too. DS games, included.
I'll do a running total here of all the kids stuff for Christmas.

4 Nintendo DS
Acoustic Guitar
Kicking And Screaming DVD
Barbie Rapunzel DVD
2 Nerf Guns - N Strike Maverick -with extra ammo pack
Tech Decks
Girls Stocking Stuffers- makeup, markers, etc..
Lemony Snicket DVD
Secret of Nimh DVD
Charlottes Web DVD
Yours, Mine & Ours DVD
DS covers - Littlest Pet Shop cover for Madelyn
Pink cover for Kate's pink DS
Hannah Montana Music Jam DS game
Kirby Super Star ULTRA DS game
Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise DS game
Balls of Fury DS game
Arthur and the Invisisbles DS game
Nintendogs (Labrador Retriever) DS game


I still plan on doing the baby doll and other game stuff run early next week....
Oh, and I got wrapping paper and tape. :) (DOLLAR STORE!)

Here's my Santa List...
A lunch date with Vince Vaughn (heehee)
A new job.. (I think I have this handled...)
My trip to Nashville when the kids dad comes to visit them...and with this, the ability to go to the Black and White party that I was invited to with Laura (oh, but Cinderella needs something to WEAR!)
A writing session with Randy Houser, Rory Feeks or Jeffrey Steele.
STUDIO time!
To find an investor for Cari's and my studio/gallery.
To get my internet business up and running...
To sell some of my artwork, oh.. and the handmade soaps that I made...
A date for New Years. :) I have someone in mind!!!
Oh, and if Santa wants to send me a matchmaker, I'm interested... but I'm picky! :)

December Already?

I cannot believe it is already December of 2008. I don't know where this year has gone. Mainly getting life organized again, I guess. My thirtieth year is drawing to a close, and I feel like it flew by. I didn't do ANYTHING I initially planned on doing for my thirtieth. I guess I'll have to celebrate my 30+1 the way I wanted to celebrate 30.

I have realized what I want in life... it's a pretty good place to be when you know what you want.

Keith just stopped by, surprising me with a knock at the door. Haha! In the UPS uniform. Awesome. There's something about that brown uniform. It made me laugh when he asked if I had any packages that needed delivering.

I'm about ready to make myself lunch. Dinner is already prepped and in the fridge till about 4pm. I feel so industrious today. I even prepped dinners for later in the week!
I went grocery shopping at both Redners and Aldi, found a couple Christmas goodies for the kids too!

Frank is getting them the DS units, so I'm in charge of finding CHEAP games en masse. I'm probably going to run up to GameStop later this week, maybe tomorrow... and see if I can find any that are on the "Santa" list.

Anyway, I'm off to start some baking. Making banana muffins, apple crisp, oatmeal cookies and some rolls for later. I figure by the time the kids get home I should have at least the cookies and dessert made. The bread should be rising... and be ready for rolls later.

I really missed being domestic. I can only hope that someday I can do this again full time... and not worry about making money to pay the bills. I read on the inside of one of my old cookbooks... and it said.. "An industrious wife is a man's best savings box". I shared it with my mom, and she laughed at the box reference (yeah, my MOM laughed... I get my gutter mind from her), but we agreed on how it is true. It takes time to prepare foods, plan menus, and grocery shop, do laundry. Being a housewife is a full time job in itself, being a mom is a full time job too! Add another full time job on top of that and every now and then you feel like you can't keep up. And it's true, somewhere some things suffer.

When I was working full time, we were all eating a lot of QUICK meals, whether I fed the kids chicken nuggets, or mac and cheese... Now, I get to make garlic chicken with broccoli, or beef and noodles with mashed potatoes, or sesame ginger chicken... Veggies with every meal... The time and energy to put love into the foods I make.

I spent $160 between the two stores today. $78 at Redners and $80 at ALDI. Of course, in the ALDI, there was about $30 of non-food purchases (a mini-guitar for the girls for Christmas, hat/glove set and a pair of cordoroys for Madelyn), so I spent $130 on food items.

Barring buying extra milk, that should feed all of us for the next 2 weeks. I stocked up the cabinets again and I have just about everything I need to make treats for the kids and dinners and plenty of room for leftovers.

Keith and Ron have been overjoyed that I've had extra leftovers over the past several weeks to feed them too! Ron packed up a bunch of Tupperwares for me to fill up for them. Haha!

Anyway, off to bake.

I need to find a Christmas tree... this week... I don't have a stand, so I can't get a real one. I should check Craigslist. Hm. Ok, off to do that first.