Woweee

Woww...wow.....it's been a long time since ive posted & I feel neglectful. A lot of things have changed. Xmas & Yule have come & gone & another new year is almost here. I'll be 38 in just a few months. Yuck. Somehow Im not too excited. LOL
My daughtwers will turn 14 & 9 this year as well. Kayla's bday is just weeks away.
Still unemployed, so thats makig things tough. I have an iterview tomorrow morning though, so hoping for the best of luck there. Abigail has already bestowed her good luck charm upon me. it worked last time!
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Xmas went well for the girls, they made out like thieves, as usual, but this year was very different. If not for the benefactors that helped us out, there would have been nothing. Between the CL ad & KTUL spotlighting us, things worked out well. I dont know where wed be without the help. Likely homeless.
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Weather has been very weird here. 20's one night, 60's the next day. Just weird. I wish itd pick a temp & hang out with it awhile, preferably in the cooler temps too, kill off some of the bug population. We had a horrendous dealing with fleas & ticks this past year. poor cats. Hopefully we have gotten the worst of it under control.
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REALLY hoping for thi s job I interview for tomorrow. Its w/ Mortgage Clearing. Back to the field I was working in. I honestly dont care what Ill be doing anymore, as long as im working & getting paid. Unemployment is ok but I want a real job with a real paycheck. Sick of being behind the 8 ball & feeling unproductive.

Twas the night before........

& all thru the house........everyone was freaking exhausted!

So yeah, we celebrate Christmas too, not the baby Jesus Christmas, but the secular, Santa Claus is coming to town Christmas. The kids get a kick out of it, my little one believes, my older one plays along nicely with a little smirk & a wink. My kids are awesome....really.

So the gifts are under the tree, cookies ate, milk drunk, carrots fed to reindeer......

it's almost 2:30 am. Oh my Goddess, but morning will come awfully early!

Merry Christmas. & goodnight!

I quit.

Ok folks, I quit. I refuse to any longer be sucked into the commercial crap that is the Christmas/ Holiday season.
Wa different this year. I stressed a while over not being able to do the things I wanted to do. ice storm hit us rather hard & a lotnof things havent gotten done & arent going to get done, or get bought. Oh well.
Honestly i wont miss it. Sure its fun to watch the girls tear into gift after gift but whats the point really?
Id rather share memories, make cookies, create the Yule log, sit up late on Yule to watch it burn, & have quiet meaningful convos with my family.
So, the kids get a few gifts this year, the rest of the list can forget about it. We had a nice quiet Yule celebration, took some nice photos of the kids, Ill wrap the few gifts I got tonight, & sit & read & relax w/ a candle burning & make some hot cocoa. What could be nicer?
A stress free year.

Blessed Yule All.

Back from the frozen tundra......

Well, we have power finally, 6 days without really makes you think & contemplate on how much you take for granted & whats really important. Like heat....& light.Last 2 days were COLDDDDD, but apparently not cold enough to keep the food in the fridge & freezer cold & frozen. Sigh....we'd just stocked up to & its all got to be thrown out. Oh well, right? Most streets are cleared, still some branches on some of the smaller streets though, branches & uprooted & broken trees everywhere. It was beautiful til the trees started crashing. We miraculously did not have any house damage or damage to the power lines to our house. Phones are up now, as is internet & cable. The heater sounded beautiful kicking on!

Very interesting how much you learn about yourself & your family with no tv, no games, no internet. We all slept in the living room, close together, huddled during the evening by candlelight & talked, told stories, me & my older daughter made plans for Yule. By day, we cooked as much of the rapidly thawing food that we could & ate lukewarm by candlelight. thank the Goddess we have a gas range & hot water tank! We boiled water on the stove top to help heat the house & ran the burners. Also lit about 20 candles on the coffee table. (Jeff joked we could have a seance!). It was a calm time, we went to bed early & I likely got more sleep than in a long time. I read books, looked at catalogs, worked on crafts, our 5 cats entertained us too. I too was saddened by the poor trees broken & laying open, naked almost everywhere I look. I cried for the large magnolia next to me. We went out today & found a nice log to use for a Yule log. On our return, the porch light was on! What joy! We yelled & danced theu the house!Tonight its back to normal, but we grew closer during this time.
Check out some photos.

Day 5 of no electricity......We're still alive, havent froze to death yet, tho tonight may be the kicker where we wake up as popsicles. Supposed to rain some more tnonight & turn into snow as the morning comes. Pray for us. Really. We need it. Keep hoping we'll get home & it will be on, but no such luck. We're surviving by boiling water on the gas stove top(thank god for that!). It seems to dissipate the heat better in the house. Wasnt so bad when i was home all day (mon-wed had no power @ work) but not getting any heat going ti 5:30 blows. All food in the fridge & freezer is a total loss, had a lot of meat in there......
We have no generator, & down to 1 flashlight. Jeff charges up the backupbattery pack for the servers at work by day & we get limited light or a short bit of tv, its a little slice of heaven & civilization. You cant get ice, batteries, flashlights, blankets, anything of the like in local stores, we'd have to travel almost to Siloam Springs for them. It sucks really. Buit Ive gotten some good of it, Ive spent some quality time w/ my kids & Ive gotten more sleep than ever.

Tonight's parade

We went to the PSO parade of Lights tonight. Nice & cold, perfect for a parade. Jeff, the Ice King didn't wear a coat, or even a long sleeve shirt, the dork, of course he probally thought it was warm til the drizzle started. blech. Abigail was going numb & Kayla said she couldnt feel her toes.LOl
Abi went back to the car w/ jeff. me & jess & kayla stayed longer. They had several large balloon floats, lighted floats, marching bands & horse drawn wagons, also service dogs, cute little poodles & even Alpacas! I should have lots of photos uploaded by tomorrow, left the camera in the car & too damn cold to go get it.
Weather turned tonight finally, were currently getting freezing rain. YUCK, I wouldnt mind snow, but this shit sucks.

Exhausted

What a helluva week it has been. Wow.

Busy Busy Busy too. The whole week after Thanksgiving was ROUGH. Could barely function, just run down & exhausted. Weekend finally rolls around, still running around. Run.Run.Run.

Saturday was errand day & did a bit of Yule shopping. Found a few nice things & got some great craft ideas. Also found some great things to do around the house to make it more 'mine.'

I haven't been really attached to this house, its never felt truly like home, so Ive come to the conclusion, home is what you make of it, so I'm gonna make it mine. If that even makes sense.

Then Sunday, we left early to go get a tree. We got a real one this year, we walked around awhile til one called to us, then when we found the right one, I silently thanked it & asked its permission. I held my hand on it as it was cut down. As it were, i vow next year, were going to get one we can replant.

We finally get it home & get it in the stand & indoors & its time to go again. Every year, Tulsa does 2 biker toy runs. One for the Salvation Army & one for ABATE. Sundays was for Salvation Army. About 1000 bikers showed up, all bearing toys for little kids. What a great thing. We always show up to watch them go by. This coming Sunday is the bigger one sponsored by ABATE. Some friends of mine are even running Security for the event. Were looking at a turnout of about 10,000! It benefits Toys for Tots.

So back to work on Monday & just TIRED, drag-assing. I'm popping my vitamins, drinking more water but keep having to hit the caffeine. UGH, now, here I am, almost 12:30 & I'm not yet in bed. Bleh, gonna be a long day tomorrow & tomorrow I have a courthouse run. At least Ill be out a bit early, that helps, but also makes me step up the pace during the day to get it all done before 2 pm. Ah well, c'est la vie, right?

Toodles!

What a weekend.

What a weekend.

Only worked 2 days last week. That part was nice. LOL, & got paid for all 5, even nicer. However......Thursday, official Thanksgiving, we spent at the meeting, as previously noted, that evening was quiet & calm. Friday I worked in My youngests' room, cleaning, purging no longer needed toys, no longer fitting clothes, gathered up 2 bags for Freecycle. rearranged stuff, hung pictures & her awards from school up, & some butterflies Id been keeping for her. Room really looks cute & comfy now. If only she could keep it clean......
Saturday, I spent the day in my eldest's room, doing the same. I was exhausted by days end, Sunday was our big dinner, as some of us are invariably having to work on thanksgiving day. Oh my, did Mom ever outdo herself. She REALLY gets into the cooking part. No wonder I'm fat.LOL
We only had 8 people there, but there was -& still is- enough food for 30!
I'm sure I will be really sick of turkey before it is over. After dinner was over & company had departed, I realized one of our kitties, the Terrorist Kitty himself, was nowhere to be found. Oh shit.
We looked in closets, under beds, in cabinets, in the attic, furnace closet, anywhere you could imagine. No Terrorist Kitty. We grabbed a flashlight & ventured out in the rain, my eldest & I, calling & searching, to no avail.:( Terrorist Kitty was nowhere to be seen. I was going to make another pass in the attic, sat down to talk to Mom for a few & out of the corner of my eye, saw movement. There sat the little shit on the table, calmly licking leftover gravy.......I wanted to choke him. Instead I grabbed him & hugged him. I still have no clue where he managed to hide but I don't care. He wasn't lost outside in the rain & cold. :)
So I deposited him in my daughters hands & went to get ready for bed, already almost 1:30 AM. Bleh. Suddenly a knock on my door, "Mama, come here quick!"
I rush out to see whats wrong & the lights are all off & everyone is gathered by the front door. What in the world?
I peer out & there, on the porch is the biggest, fattest possum I have seen. It was HUGE. Looking for dinner I guess (REALLY glad now Kitty wasn't outside!). He finally wondered off the porch & I went around the side of the house to make sure the trash was secured. Sure enough, it was there, about to tear in. Uh-Uh! No you don't! I stomped my foot & made a hissing sound & that fat little possum ran like hell. LOL
I grabbed the loose bag of trash & moved it higher then walked back inside. How funny.
SO that was my weekend.
Now today, here I sit, workblogging, braindead as hell. Must be something in the air, as everyone in this office is drag-assing around & sluggish. I think I just need caffeine to be injected intravenously & I'll be OK.

While the mice are away...

The cat cleans their rooms out. Time to purge thru everything & get it back in order for the holiday madness that is approaching. Turkey Day here was quiet. Bb's youngest is staying over the long holiday & the girlies are at their fathers house. We actually spent the day at a meeting dinner. Was kind of nice. A bit smoky for me but I hold my breath well.LOL

I'm awfully glad ice King is there. Grateful to be there with him. :-)

Our big dinner is Sunday since Mom works fri & Sat. I cant wait. I'm skipping the Black Friday madness tho. No way I'm going out in the madhouse store, I'm keeping Yule pretty simple this year. I'll do some Xmas decorating just cuz its fun but I try to shy away from the mainstream stuff & stick to the more natural aspects of Yule. We're doing a real Yule tree this year. I haven't had a real one in years. I LOVE the smell of pine! I do hope the 5 freaking psycho cats don't kill it tho. We shall see. promises to be entertaining at the very least.