Well, after a depressing Christmas post, I think I need to balance it out with a positive post. So, here are some things that went right for me in 2009. It actually was a pretty good year for us.

Here are some highlights:

- After a little flurry of concern, Blake got a great teacher for 6th grade (the original teacher took a new job over the summer and they had to back fill quickly). He had a great 1st report card and his best Parent-Teacher conference ever.
- Matt graduated from his Medical Assistant program with high marks and starts his first "real" grown-up job tomorrow. Whew! He also got a great new (used) car - a 2005 Escape.
- Tony's job was looking a little "iffy" for a while. This small company was doing so poorly, they were taking donations for supplies in the bathroom and had laid off all non-essential personnel. I think they came quite close to closing the doors, but seem to be doing better now. Whew! My job, fortunately, is just fine. There were layoffs in other areas around me, but none in my immediate area and none predicted for the future at this point.
- Had a great vacation to Evanston for the 4th of July and to Jackson Hole in August.
- Got to go on a great field trip with Blake's 5th grade class - Jr. Achievement. Also took the boys to a great trip to the State Capitol.
- We got a new President. Yes, I know he's struggling a bit in the polls these days, and I don't agree with his every decision, but I'm a 3rd generation Democrat, so I was happy about it.
- Repainted the basement. It looks wonderful. Also redecorated my dining room. They both look so much better!
- Signed up as a Mom-bassador over at Fishful Thinking. I've really enjoyed this campaign and I'm hoping I've sent some parents on there for some great positive parenting tips.
- Got a new dog that we love and threw a great party for Blake's birthday. If I can survive a sleepover party with six ten and eleven year old boys, I can do anything!
- Got my first ever tattoo. Now I'm not sure why I made such a big deal about it because I really like it.
- We all stayed reasonably healthy. Blake had a few broken bones, but none were too serious and he is getting his latest cast off this week. The guys had a few sniffles, but Swine Flu has not raised it's ugly head and I've been perfectly healthy all year and last year - not even a cold or stomach bug. That's my version of positive thinking. If I don't believe I can get sick, I won't. Just passed the two year mark, so I'm a believer.
- Got my Kindle and it's my favorite toy ever! Six months later and I'm still using it nearly every day.
- Had some great girlfriend time at the Stampin' Up! Convention and at SITScation. Made lots of great new friends that I've really been enjoying. This accounts for my new Twitter addiction!
- Had a wonderful visit with the grandkids over the Thanksgiving Weekend.

So, I've decided that 2009 was definitely a year to be thankful for. I know a lot of people really struggled this year and I am truly grateful that things have gone so well for us. We have our healthy family, our church, our jobs, and all the things we need to be happy and successful. Can't ask for more than that.



By TwitterButtons.com

Well, I guess it's time for the great Christmas recap. When asked how my Christmas went, I usually am tempted to give the sugarcoated version. Everything was wonderful and magical, and of course, it was the bestest Christmas ever.

But, sometimes I like to just tell is like it is. Especially to my beloved blog readers. The real truth is that this Christmas gets a 50%, at best. We did have some good times with our family, did a bit of entertaining, everyone has a job (good news in this economy!) and fortunately everyone has been healthy, (although Tony has been suffering from the dreaded "man-cold" this week, which of course is the worst affliction known to man).

This morning, we had a wonderful brunch with my youngest niece and her kids. That was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed playing Wii Bowling with the kids and just goofing around with them. We had already had a great visit with our grandkids over Thanksgiving, but our Christmas with them consisted of a 5 minute phone call in between everything else they were doing. It's kind of hard to connect with little kids over the phone. We need to get Skype or something set up.

We did go to a fun party with some friends where I enjoyed my year's supply of Tom & Jerry's (my favorite drink!) ended up with the greatest White Elephant gift EVER!



I was so excited this year that we were going to have an all-cash Christmas. This year, we finally got organized and set up a Christmas savings account and made regular deposits to it all year long, so we had a nice little stash to use for our Christmas presents. However, the week before Christmas, my brakes went out to the tune of $500 and our big screen TV quit on us. I would have been perfectly happy to make do with whatever random TV we could come up with, but my darling husband had other ideas. So we ended up with an $800 expense for a new big screen TV. We'll get it paid off pretty quickly, but we ended up with as much debt as we would have had with a "normal" Christmas (sigh). My Mom always used to say that the universe can "sense" when there is extra money floating around and I wonder sometimes if that is true.

Then we ended up with a little family drama going on. Our family is not normally the dramatic type - we're Presbyterians and tend to be pretty low-key, but every once in a while, we end up with a big ol' blowout. I won't go into the details, but the upshot is that we didn't get to spend Christmas with our family this year. We literally sat home by ourselves, knowing that our whole family was on the other side of town enjoying Christmas together and that we were not welcome to join them, even though there was nothing we had specifically done "wrong" to deserve it. It's just family politics, which are the worst kind of politics, I think.

I have to say, that one really got to me. There is nothing I value more than family and especially with both sets of parents gone, the little bit of family I have left is very precious to me, so that one really hit me hard. I'm still a little sad over it, but this has been a common theme from time to time with my family. Honestly, I don't know if that makes it easier or harder to deal with. Easier maybe, because you have an idea that it might be coming, but harder because it puts just one more bit of distance between you and the people you love (and who are supposed to love you).

Then there was Christmas itself. My honey is not the best guy in town when it comes to present giving. He's not the type to buy me a power saw, or something totally ridiculous, but let's just say, he definitely falls into the minimal effort category when it comes to putting a lot of thought (or money) into presents. And it's always hard for me to hear that my friends got a new this or a wonderful that, when all I got was a sweater (on clearance sale!) and a pair of slippers or something. Usually, I just fudge a little and change the subject.

However, after the Christmas morning of '05 when I ended up literally in tears after the wrapping paper was cleared away, I thought he had gotten the message, but he managed to miss the boat again this year. My grand haul for Christmas of '09 - a watch (virtually identical to the one I've worn for 8 years), and a coat rack. Yep, that's every girl's dream, ain't it? He didn't even make sure the kids got me something nice. A coffee mug, two candles, and a DVD of a movie I didn't like - oh and a sweatshirt that was a gloomy color and didn't fit. No candy, no perfume, no card, nothing in my stocking, except what I'd bought myself and put in there, just because I'd had a sneaking suspicion. At least I didn't cry this year, although it was obvious that I was disappointed.

I mean, I wasn't expecting diamond tiaras, or a trip to Europe or something. But maybe a book, or a CD, or a $20 pair of earrings? And the weird thing is that it wasn't the money. He had free access to the Christmas account and could have spent whatever he wanted to. And I always get him nice stuff and lots of it. I spent more on just one of his gifts than he did on my whole Christmas. I guess he just doesn't think. And he did say he was sorry and treated me to a couple of the CD's I'd wanted today. But it does hurt your feelings, even after 25 years of this nonsense. You'd think I'd learn to adjust my expectations, but I'm such an optimist, I always believe this will be the year he'll get a clue....

Oh well, at least I've got 364 days to get ready for the great Christmas of 2010. Hopefully that one will be better.



By TwitterButtons.com

OK friends, I totally need your help. They are having a special event tomorrow over at the SITSgirls place (The Secret is in the Sauce) if you don't know what it is, click over and find out - you're in for a treat. Anyway, they are having a Best of 2009 event where you are supposed to post your BEST post for 2009.

Yeah, I know. You have to pick just ONE post out of the whole year to represent your blog. Question is, which one do I pick? That's where I need help. I'm asking my readers to help me pick out which one is my very best post this year. I've picked out six of them that I think are contenders. Actually, it's a little sad that I only found six that I thought were particularly worthwhile. Note to self - start posting a little more content and fewer jokes that people send to your E-mail!

Anyway, here are the contenders. Take a peek and then come back here and tell me which one you think is THE ONE!

Letter to a Younger Me
Silly Summer Kid Fun
What I am Most Proud of
Helping with the United Way
Conversations with a Cat
My New Computer Technician

Thanks for helping out, dear friends. I'll let you know tomorrow which one is the winner!



By TwitterButtons.com

Thought I'd share our Christmas card with you. If you remember, CheapShots Photography came out while the grandkids were here and did a little photo shoot for us. They not only accommodated us at the last minute over a holiday weekend, I think they did an outstanding job on the pictures! Just look at this Christmas card they made for us. I just love how they incorporated all the little photos around the edges - I think it looks so cool! I think this is going to be my favorite holiday card ever. And that's not just because it's covered in my kids and grandkids. Well, maybe that has something to do with it....

If you live in the Salt Lake/Provo area, Christy at CheapShots is offering 10% off of a photo shoot to anyone who mentions my blog. And when they say "CheapShots", they ain't kiddin'. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but it's just us right? (Looking right and left) One of my nieces is also a photographer and she did a similar photo session for us a couple of months ago. For almost the exact same service, her price is nearly three times as much, and while the pictures came out great, she didn't do all the fancy editing and special effects like Christy did on these pictures. So, when you see a good deal like this, grab it!

Disclaimer: No goods or services were received for this post. We did have some pictures done by CheapShotsPhotography, but we paid the normal price for them, and still got a whale of a deal!

*Picture was edited slightly to mask out our last name. Names were changed to protect the innocent, yada yada yada.



By TwitterButtons.com

It's that time again - time for Writer's Workshop. This time, the prompt I have chosen is "My Cross to Bear".

I have to admit there is one type of person that completely fascinates me. People who water their plants. People who rotate their tires. People who send in warranty cards. People who save receipts. You know, those mysterious folks who have a scheduled, routine, ordinary life.

I am fascinated with people who plan their meals every week or every month. I could no more do that than fly to the moon. If there is one major ingredient that is missing in my life, it is consistency.

My brother-in-law is like that. He's semi-retired now, but when he owned his own business, he would get up at exactly the same time every morning, hit the shower at the same time, down exactly two cups of coffee, and be in his car on his way to work at precisely the same time every day. He hangs his shirts coordinated by color and sleeve length on hangers that are placed exactly 1/2" apart to keep them from wrinkling. Sometimes I want to be married to a man like that, but on the other hand, I think I'd have to kill him. Opposites might attract, but you still have to share a bathroom.

When I see people like that, I want to ask them what color is the sky in their world? They are just that foreign to me. I do not get up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, eat any meal at a particular time, watch a particular show at the same time (They invented Tivo for people like me and now I'm addicted to it!). In short, I am a person of complete random unpredictability.

I do manage to keep the pets and the people in my house fed, but only because they will make noises at me if I don't. I gave up on plants about 20 years ago. If it doesn't meow or bark, it's not likely to survive around here. I barely remember to dust the silk ones! How I've managed to keep a job in the Corporate world all these years is one of the mysteries of the ages, although I am much better at work than I am at home. I think it's because at work you're kind of hemmed in by day planners and meeting schedules and my beloved Outlook calendar. There's not as much opportunity for randomness, especially in the Accounting world where I live.

However, remembering the things that do need to be done on a regular basis requires a super-human feat of engineering, along with multiple reminders. For instance, the only way the cat box gets cleaned is because I have pop-up reminders on my Google calendar, a post-it note on the calendar, and the names and dates of whose turn it is written on the white board on the front of the fridge! But the furnace filter hasn't been changed since last October (October 2008, that is). Sadly, my husband and sons all have the same problem.

It's kind of a dilemma - on the one hand, I like being something of a free spirit. I don't think I'd like the feeling of being boxed in by routine. To have to eat chicken for dinner because it's on the menu rather than because I feel like eating chicken that night. But on the other hand, I do have to live in the real world and sometimes it ain't pretty.

I was sitting at my son's High School graduation. His "free spirit attitude" that he inherited from me almost caused him to not be able to graduate. He was so far behind in his English class that the office literally held his cap & gown "hostage" until the very morning of graduation because he had to get one last assignment turned in. That I essentially wrote for him at 1:00 that morning because I just could.not take.it.any.more!

We have some friends who are the kind of people I'm talking about - you know, regular folks. And a terrible thought came to me. What if my adorable, but scatterbrained son had been raised by people like them instead of people like me? He not only would have graduated just fine, but he probably would have made Honor Roll and had some fabulous scholarship to some fabulous college, instead of barely squeaking through High School and heading straight for Tech School because he couldn't even manage Community College. Boy, was that a hard pill to swallow. I not only have this problem myself, I'm a carrier!

Then I had an even uglier thought. Like it or not, I'm going to be doing this in another 10 years with our last boy and I have a choice. Do I want to be sweating it out all through High School with him, or do I want to take these 10 years and do a better job with taming my free-spiritedness to be better prepared to help him with his?

So I buckled down. At least somewhat. We've got a regular homework time and place set. I even have a reminder on my cell phone for it! And I've got a few more reminders on my Google calendar for spelling tests and reading notes. We set a rule that books and papers cannot be more than 2 feet from his bookbag, which has a special hook to hang on. Baby steps, but at least they're in the right direction! And ten years from now (well, now it's six years), I'll know if I've done the right thing.




By TwitterButtons.com

Here is some good common sense advice that was passed onto me by an attorney I know. No scams, nothing suspicious, just some good sensible advice on preventing identity theft or limiting the damage after the fact.

ATTORNEY'S ADVICE - NO CHARGE

Not a joke!! Even If you dislike attorneys..you will love them for these tips.

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday.

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.' That way someone can't forge your signature and use your card.

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. That way if someone steals your checks, they can't come rob your house as well. Never have your SS# or driver's license printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel, if needed. Keep the photocopy in a very safe place like a safety deposit box or locked safe.

I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad (especially abroad). We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, social security number, credit cards. And if your passport is stolen in a foreign country, having a copy of it will expedite getting a replacement.

Unfortunately I, an attorney, have first-hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month... Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them. (That's why you want to make those photocopies. Take it from me, it's very hard to remember EVERYTHING you had in your wallet once it's gone.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks..

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289

4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

I hope you never need to use this information, but if you do, I hope this helps you.



By TwitterButtons.com

Every week lately, I've been participating in MamaKat's Writer's Workshop. It's kind of fun and it does help me a little to have that little extra bit of guidance through her weekly prompts. This week, the prompt I have chosen is to tell how a stranger helped you.

This is actually a different kind of a story than you would expect. This isn't a case of someone stopping to help when my car broke down, or bringing over groceries during a difficult time, but it is a story of how someone's honesty can change the course of a person's life.

The story starts, oddly enough, with my Dad's old guitar. It's been a long time since my Dad died. I'm kind of embarassed to admit that I don't honestly remember how long it's been. I remember he died on June 7th and that it was a Tuesday, but I can't for the life of me remember how many years ago - about 15, I think. Anyway, Dad didn't have a lot in the way of possessions, but one of the few things he left behind was his old Martin guitar. It was a beautiful guitar with mother-of-pearl inlays and a nice case, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Dad left me his guitar because I had played a bit as a teenager and it was one of the few things we shared. I played it a few times, but I was kind of over my "music phase" by then and for the most part, the guitar sat in it's case in the closet for probably 10 or 12 years. At one point, I even had it in the basement near the water heater.

Anyway, somewhere along the line, a musician friend of ours suggested that it might be valuable enough to get it appraised and added to our insurance in case something happened to it. The first place we took asked said that it "might" be worth a couple of hundred dollars, but said that the neck was warped, so it would need to be repaired. So, we took it to another place to get an estimate on the repairs.

That was probably the luckiest move we'd even made in our lives. When we brought it in to these guys, they got all excited and started looking in reference books and calculating numbers. That was when they told us what it was worth:

FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS

Yes, you read that right. My Dad's old guitar that had been sitting gathering dust in a closet was worth

FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS

Naturally, my first reaction was "Yeah right, what idiot is going to pay that kind of money for a guitar?" So, they offered us forty thousand dollars cash right on the spot.

We were so shocked, I accepted their offer and was standing on the sidewalk with a shell-shocked look on my face and $40,000 in my hot little hand, ten minutes later. I never even got a picture of the guitar. I mean, how random is that?

I know what you are thinking - why was I dumb enough to take $40,000 for a guitar that was worth $50,000? You know, I didn't even care. These guys were honest enough to tell me what that guitar was really worth when they could have lied their butts off and told us it was worth almost nothing and we would have totally believed them. And if we'd held out for more money, we would probably have driven ourselves crazy trying to trying to find a buyer and arrange all the paperwork and probably had to hassle with shipping it to somewhere, who knows what a hassle it would have been?

It was totally worth $10,000 to me to be standing there on that sidewalk with that money right in my hand with almost all the possibilities of the world open to me after just a ten minute transaction.

So what did we do with the money? Well, at that point, we had been busting our butts for two years to get out of about $20,000 worth of debt. GONE! I was driving an old beat-up Taurus that was about to die. GONE! We bought a nice used Caravan that was something I'd wanted for a long time. Our couch and dining room set was about ten years old and all scratched up and falling apart. GONE! And then we put the small amount that remained into our savings account for a rainy day.

This was about five years ago, but I am still shell-shocked about how it all worked out. It's like my own personal miracle. At first, I was a little worried that my Dad might have been upset about me selling his precious guitar, but actually I think he would have been horrified that we had something that valuable hanging around the house, especially in places where it could be damaged or stolen. And I'd like to think he would have been so pleased to know that it provided some help to us when we needed it. When I get to heaven, it's the first thing I'm going to ask him.





By TwitterButtons.com

Many of you have noticed the new button on my sidebar. You're probably wondering who Anissa is. Anissa Mayhew is a young mother of three who had a massive stroke a couple of weeks ago. I had not known her prior to this incident, but I've been reading some of her blog posts and tweets and she seems like someone who is really amazing.

Here is the last tweet she posted before her stroke - Screw world peace. The world needs more bread bowls full of baked potato soup. The peace will follow. Her blog title is Free Anissa (with purchase of another Anissa of equal or lesser price.) Click HERE if you want to look at her blog and see what I mean.

Doesn't that just sound like someone you would want to know? Her blog posts are so touching and silly like that, and it sounds like she has been through some really rough times. Her youngest daughter has had leukemia. I believe she is remission right now, but she has four more years before she's considered "cured". I'm sure it's a constant worry for her family. I feel so bad for her husband Peter. Understandably, he is completely overwhelmed in trying to cope with all this. I would be a complete basket case in his situation.

Anyway, they certainly sound like a family who could use a little extra help right now. So a bunch of her blogging friends are getting together this week to provide a little support for Anissa's family.

So on Thursday, a bunch of Anissa's blog friends are hosting a little event called Shop for Anissa. All of them are offering products for sale on their blogs and are giving a percentage of those sales to Anissa's family. I sell Stampin' Up! products, so that seemed like the best way I could contribute. If you are a stamper or a scrapbooker, we have a whole line of great products to help you with all your papercrafting needs - both traditional and digital.

Since I don't have as much traffic as a lot of these people, I'm going to put a little extra effort into it. I'm going to start my sale a little early. From now until midnight on Thursday, I am giving my whole 20% commission on all my sales to the Mayhew Family. Click here to go straight to my Stampin' Up! website to place your order.

If you are looking for updates on Anissa's condition, her husband has been posting updates on her progress (and yes there has been some important progress, though her condition is still pretty serious). Go to their blog at Hope4Peyton.org.



By TwitterButtons.com

Welcome SITSas and other friends. Today is Merry SITSmas over at my favorite blog - The Secret is in the Sauce. They have asked everyone to post their on-line Christmas card and there are going to be prizes and all sorts of fun stuff going on all day long. So here is my Christmas card.

I designed it with my new Stampin' Up! My Digital Studio program. It will look great when I print it, but I realized that it didn't put a border around it when you save it digitally. I'd fix it, but it's 1:00 in the morning and I'm off to bed. So Merry SITSmas from my whole crew.

If you are new to my blog, that is my husband and I in the center with our daughter-in-law Tammy. The three older boys in grey are our sons, Ryan, Matt and Blake and the four younger kids are our four grandkids - Anika, Evan, Noah and our cute baby Ella.

Hey ladies - I am participating in Shop4Anissa to benefit Anissa Mayhew, a young mother of three children who had a massive stroke a couple of weeks ago. Many of you are young mothers as well - imagine how your family would cope if you were completely out of commission for weeks or months, unable to even speak to your husband or children.

That is what Anissa is going through right now and I'd love to do something to help this family. I am selling Stampin' Up! stamping and scrapbooking products from now thru the 10th and donating my commission to the family, so click the link for more info - Shop4Anissa.



By TwitterButtons.com

Those of you who have been following my blog, might remember some previous episodes of this post. Most notably, the broken wrist saga, and the broken foot episode (on the day before school started, no less!).

Well, now we have a new story to tell, the one about the broken thumb. As I've mentioned, this is my third son. Our two older boys have never broke a bone in their lives, at least not to date. Yet, this one has actually broken 2 bones in less than three months. Or 5 bones depending on how you count it (he broke 4 different bones in his foot last time). For a while, I was kind of freaked out about it - in fact, I spent a whole week telling him it was just sprained because I was in denial about it being broken. The Instacare doc tried to talk me into thinking he had some kind of brittle bone disease. Fortunately, the ortho guy said no way, which was a big relief! He's just clumsy, or unlucky, take your pick.

You know how they have different colored casts now? Well, turns out they had one in a camo pattern. Well Blake just loves anything camo, so as soon as he saw that, he was all over it, but they had already done his foot cast in red. He kept saying that the "next" time he broke a bone, he wanted the camo cast, even though they told him it was a discontinued pattern. (I told him there wasn't going to BE a next time, but obviously, that tactic didn't work!)

Sure enough, when the doctor told him he had to have a cast, the first thing he asked was if he could have the camo pattern. They told him it was discontinued, but you know what that little stinker did? He waited until they were out of the room, then he climbed under the exam table and dug through the whole box of casting materials until he found the ONE roll they had left of the camo pattern. It was the wrong size for a thumb cast, but somehow they made it work for him.

That kid is just something else, isn't he? He definitely knows how to get what he wants - bet he got that from his Mama!







By TwitterButtons.com

It's that time again - MamaKat's Writer's Workshop. The prompt I chose this week is a fun one - what kind of Christmas would you have if money were no object?

This really got me thinking. I know a lot of people would go the high dollar route - a trip to Paris, or matching Hummers in the driveway, or a fancy cruise or something, but that just isn't the direction I'm thinking in. My idea was all about family.

My dream Christmas would be to get all my kids and grandkids, along with my sister and all of her kids and grandkids together and rent a cabin somewhere for the weekend. It would have to be a pretty big cabin because we've got a LOT of kids - my sister has 3, 6 or 9 kids depending on how you count her stepkids from current and past husbands and I've got my 3 boys plus my 4 grandkids. I'm thinking something like this:


It would have a big kitchen where we could all cook delicious meals every night, a big playroom for the kids and lots of snow outside for them to play in. Naturally, it would have to have a big family room for all the husbands to kick back and watch football in, with a roaring fire to snuggle up next too. I'm thinking it should be near a shopping center somewhere, so my sister and I and all our nieces and daughter-in-laws could go out during the day and go shopping together and have lunch somewhere yummy.

There would be a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in one corner, at least 12 feet high and covered in beautiful ornaments. And there would be loads of tastefully wrapped gifts under it. Not expensive things, but thoughtful ones - homemade gifts, and funny gag gifts, sentimental ones that make you cry, and beautiful ones that you would never have bought for yourselves.

And everyone would just take their time. No having to run off to the in-laws, or dash off to a party somewhere or run the kids off to some school event. Everyone would have all the time in the world to visit and eat, and play board games with the kids. Naturally, everyone would get along wonderfully. The kids wouldn't fight and my sister and I wouldn't snip at each other, and all the cousins would just have a ball together.

(Hey, it's my fantasy and if I'm giving up the matching Hummers and the trip to Paris, I might as well have some peace in our beautiful little chalet!)

Sounds pretty heavenly, doesn't it? And with a family like mine, it would probably be a blast if we could ever pull it off. But with all of us spread throughout four states, it's not too likely to happen any time soon. But I can dream if I want to, can't I?




By TwitterButtons.com

Well, I did promise you some Thanksgiving pictures. Dinner itself was a little too hectic, so we didn't get any pictures of food, but we got LOTS of pictures of kids. We actually had a photographer come and do some pictures for us so we will have some to use for our Christmas cards and scrapbooks. Plus Tony got a new camera, so we got lots of pictures of our fun weekend with the kids.

This was the most fun weekend, we've had in a long time and the kids were just cute and adorable and a whole lot of fun. And when you've got 5 kids under one roof, that's about all you can ask for! Enjoy!