"the twelve pains of Christmas"

All the work of the past few weeks ended yesterday. Thank goodness.

The kids liked their gifts, even though we weren't able to find a Wii. Everyone bought Renee "baby things", so I got her things that had nothing to do with the baby....a nice purse, a robe, slippers...she seemed to really like it all. Joe didn't come down for Christmas, so we'll semi-do-it-again when he's off work. It's a good thing I do a Christmas club every year, or I don't know how we would have afforded it.
We went to Afro's for Christmas dinner, and watched some old family video's. It was a nice day.

I informed everyone that I'm taking today off. I said last night, "I am doing nothing tomorrow. I might put my laundry away, and I might made dinner, but other than that, I'm doing nothing!" I'm exhausted from all the cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping and cleaning. It will be nice to have a day to do absolutely nothing. I'm going to read and watch tv and sit around. My Christmas gift to me.

I made a great stuffed flank steak the other night. It was filled with gorgonzola cheese, parmesean cheese, roasted red peppers and spinach, then rolled and braised, then slow cooked for about an hour. It was delicious. The cheeses mixed with the red peppers was fantastic.

I hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday, and has a relaxing time, at some point, between now and the new year.

"Good luck moving up, cuz I"m moving out..."

Braden has a new friend that lives in town. Now he knows the joys of "town life". When he goes to this kid's house, they ride bikes all over the place. They visit other friends. They ride to the park or to the school or to 7-11 for slushies and beef jerky.
The other day he said, "I think we should sell our house and move in town." I explained to him that I understand the appeal, but remember, that means you wouldn't have a pool or be able to ride the four wheeler if you live in town.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, he said, "Couldn't you and dad get divorced, but not really get divorced? Just live in separate houses. One of you could live in town and the other could live here. Then I could just go back and forth depending on my mood."
Keith said, "no way!"
I said I'd think about it.

"We wish you a Merry Christmas...."

One week to go, and I'm mostly ready. I have a couple of small gifts to buy yet, and we'd love the get the family a Wii, but they're proving impossible to find.
They're calling for a snow/ice storm here Saturday night. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow to get my weekly groceries and my baking supplies....the place will be a zoo!
We had a snow day on Thursday, so I got presents wrapped and some cleaning done. All I have to do this weekend is grocery shop and bake.
Andre's here for the weekend. I arranged for him to be able to go on visits with JJ's aunt, so he hasn't been coming as often, plus it gives him another visiting resource. It takes some of the pressure off of us.
We're still waiting things out on the mortgage front. There have been some positive developments and some negative ones. I'm doing my best not to panic. There's a little voice in my head (maybe it's mum's) that's saying everything will work out okay. Hopefully, it's right.

"I am woman, here me roar...."

This is a practice essay one of my students, B, wrote. This is the girl that had the "melt down" a couple of months ago. I wish I would have met her when she was younger.

Sometimes in our lives we tend to meet people who influence us in a very significant way. Sometimes we beed someone to infulence us in a good way, to push us forward. Many people have met someone like this who makes them feel really good inside. In this case my teacher, Mrs. Koch, has had a great influence on me.
Mrs. Koch is very funny with a great sense of humor. When I first moved up to Pennsylvania, I was very alone and I hated it up here. One, it was boring, but when I started attending Colonial Academy I made friends with Mrs. Koch. She made it easy to attend Colonial Academy. Also, she influenced me to do well at all times. When I start to get upset, she'll come and talk to me.
In conclusion, Mrs. Koch is a wonderful and exciting person. I've learned a lot from her like hot to act like a woman. Now I know that someone will be there when I need help.

Check this out!

Keith, Braden, JJ and I took dancing lessons, and we're going to perform at the local retirement village. What do you think?

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1153019599