Ooo! Better Post Before Time Slips By

If I wait to load pictures, I'll be waiting forever. It's best to just do it, right?


This first one here is the tree, cookies and juice on Christmas eve. Hubby was home and then went to work the next morning. That was incredibly tough for me because, even when he was working graveyards, he's always had Christmas day off. So, hubby went into work and the girls opened three gifts that morning. We saved everything else for hubby's arrival in the evening. After the brief morning horrah, we went to my mother's and opened the gifts she had for us there (hubby met us there, once his shift was complete). By 6:00pm, we were all home and ready to open the remaining gifts. I gotta say that it was sort of nice. I wasn't expecting it to feel the same as Christmas morning feels, but I think it was even better. On December 26th, I took the babe and Indy into Salt Lake. Indy went to daycare, while the babe and I journeyed to the movies to see Enchanted with a girlfriend. It was quite cute and better than I thought it would be. The babe enjoyed it but we were both freezing! Why do they insist on cranking on the air conditioning during movies? (I know I'm not the only one who has noticed this). It doesn't matter the time of year or the number of people in the auditorium, they will crank it up as if it were 100 degrees outside and a packed house inside. And, there's no exclusion...it's every theater I've ever been too.

After the movie, we picked up lunch and then picked up Indy. She was glad to see her friends, but felt even better about going home. These are the moments where I truly hate that my kids have to be in daycare. They are loved and treated well, but I'd much rather be the one to take care of them (more specifically now, Indy since the babe is in school). From December 27th to January 2nd, the kids were home with mom. It was nice and I noticed how much improvement I saw in Indy's vocabulary. She's always chatting but much more clearly to all of us in those days that passed.

Sunday, December 31st, we took new family pictures. Now, I have to say, it's been a while. The last family photos only reflect our family as it was in 2004. Indy wasn't even thought about when those pictures were taken! Well, Miss Indy was all over the place during the session. At first, she was grouchy because she had stinky bricks in her diaper. Once I took care of that, she was in much better spirits but didn't want to relinquish the photographer's "watch the duck" rubber ducky. She took picture after picture with only a few of Indy in one place or not making a crazy face. The babe, the consumate modeling professional, took picture after fabulous picture without trouble. Family pictures were hard, but we got through it and with a few nice ones we could actually order. (Hubby actually did a bit of reordering when we picked them up on January 16th). There are several he and I took together that turned out so beautifully. He even commented last night at how these were the best we'd ever taken together. How sweet!

January 2nd was the first day back to school for the babe and hubby was off. Woohoo! (We had spent New Year's eve watching Season three Dallas Episodes and drinking Tequila Sunrises till two in the morning. (These are the kicks for a mother of two with barely a social life....it was awesome nonetheless). We took Indy into Salt Lake to daycare and the two of us went to see Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem. Fun, suspenseful and definitely much truer to both franchises than that last piece of garbage they released. Hubby and I were elated! We then to lunch at a new Thai restaurant. I had the Pra Ram (my new fav) and he had a spicy noodle dish that wasn't Pad Thai. I tasted it and it was wonderful, along with his Thai iced tea. We'll definitely pay that place another visit, even if just for take-out. Too bad we don't have a decently priced Thai place in our area. There's no reason Pad Thai should be more than $10 for lunch. Yeesh!

The vacation time moved quickly (as I knew it would) and I could sadly feel the end approaching. It wasn't the going back to work that I dreaded, but being separated from the kids (even though they were working my nerves, at times). I experience this anxiety after ever Christmas break - you'd think I'd have learned to cope by now. Hubby's first day back after five days off had him very upset, too. For all the time we've put into working on the house and making it a comfortable living space for the family, we just weren't ready to give it up so quickly. Vacation time for the summer is definitely a goal we're shooting for.

During all of this break time, I was fortunate to be home during some pretty big storms. The biggest, however, was yet to come. January 9th, I found myself working from home because I just didn't want to take my life into my hands. It was as if Someone was shoveling snow from heaven's driveway and we were the curb. Yeesh! It just wouldn't stop! (See picture)------>

By the end, we had 8 inches of cover and more to come during the week. I don't mind the snow so much when all it does is flutter down and then melt the next day. But this kind of stuff is wild! I worried that I wouldn't be able to get out and pick up Indy's stuff for her birthday the following day. Luckily, at around 3:30, it stopped. Hubby and I shoveled as soon as he got home. It's no wonder I didn't put on much weight this holiday season. I think I shoveled snow, at least, every other day and sometimes twice on those days!

Indy's birthday was a quiet affair at home with just the family. We picked up cupcakes this year rather than a cake...mainly because the Sesame Street decal wouldn't fit on the small cake I wanted to order. Oh, well. It turned out that it was perfect for a toddler and she enjoyed the Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Ernie rings mounted to each one. She also enjoyed receiving her Cabbage Patch "baby" and See 'n Say Farmer in the Dell. It's quite easy to please a two year-old.

This week and last have been filled with numerous emails, projects and all kinds of craziness at work. I want to say that things are calming down a bit, but I don't want to jinx myself. So, I'll just say work is work and I'll be happy when it's not bearing down on me like a ten ton boulder.

Oh, and I should mention my dreams. I've been having very intense, vivid dreams for the past month. I usually remember them with great detail and they haunt me through out the day. The night before last was the first night I didn't remember a dream, but this morning, I'm having flashes of the one I had last night (not as intense, but the images are still there). There doesn't seem to be a recurring theme, but several have been sexual in nature. Some involved my hubby and some did not. Yes, I think I'd use the word erotic and in some cases also p.orno.graphic. Others are very normal, day-to-day occurrences but still quite vivid. In two or three of them, it was hard to distinguish reality, once I woke up...as if I were traversing a plain. These were the cases were I was bummed out to find that my dream wasn't the reality. Other times, I woke up feeling like I had more to do...I just wasn't finished. Since hubby and I had a love-making session that last more than an hour last night, I wasn't surprised that I dreamed of the events. To bad it wasn't as vivid as the other dreams I've had.

I talked to our resident Shaman (she really is!) and she said that if I were interested in pursuing this, I could keep a dream journal. Most likely, though, my mind was fixating on something I subconsciously need to notice/work on/pay close attention too. I don't know if I'm ready to keep a bedside journal about any of this. As I said, they are growing less in their intensity. Perhaps I'm already working out whatever it is I need to workout. Of course, for those that are "fun" in nature, perhaps I should just enjoy them.