Friday Fill In’s #48

I don’t normally do these here, but thought I would start doing a couple every once in awhile.

For more go here.

1. When my blog is broken, I’m basically having a heart attack and frantically trying to figure out why!

2. I saw the most amazing man this morning – he was in my bed!!

3. Enchanted is the new movie I’m most looking forward to seeing. (can you tell I’m a mom!)

4. Work: Necessary and I love it. I’m lucky enough to work from home though.

5. Of all the new tv shows, I enjoy Life Is Wild and Gossip Girl the most.

6. If only there was a third day attached to weekends, I might actually get more done.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to hanging out with my family and watching a video, tomorrow my plans include shopping and trying to get ahead on Christmas and Sunday, I want to start wrapping and finish getting all the decorations up!

Traveling With All Those Gifts

My friend is traveling (read: driving) this Christmas season to her hometown over 675 miles away. First, yuck! Second, she was stressing because she is wondering how she is going to get all the gifts that they have down there. She has young children and many of the gifts are huge. Mailing them seemed silly when they have a minivan that can contain much of the loot. But there are still a few extras that won’t fit in the van. So what was she to do?

Well, we found a solution (as is normal for me LOL) – US Cargo Control is awesome. You can find all types of items to make traveling this holiday season much easier. Whether you are carting a Christmas tree across town or carrying luggage across several states, they have Ratchet Straps, Tie Downs, and several other options to choose from.

The Tie Downs seemed like the best option with what they are trying to do. They plan to purchase an entire installation kit and concoct a tie down system that will keep all of their precious valuables tied down onto the top of the van. Seems smart, huh?

Amongst the awesomeness of the site we also found all kinds of other cool tie downs from securing items into the back of a pick up truck or flat bed, as well as securing a boat (which they also have but won’t be using at Christmas). Besides Tie Downs they have dozens of other products for your car, truck, van or other type of vehicle. They obviously carry high quality items with competitive pricing. What a great solution!

Making His List and Checking It Twice

It’s time for my Christmas list. Mike asked me to make one, and tell him what I wanted. I’ve asked him to do the same (several weeks back) and still neither of us ever did it.

But I have a problem. I don’t really know what I want. I’m not longing for anything in particular. Mostly if I want it, we buy it at some point. I’m sure there is something I can think of, but I thought I’d ask others what they are wanting this Christmas. And while happiness, peace, love and joy are all wonderful things and I badly want them, they aren’t going to fly on this Christmas list. He is looking for something he can purchase. LOL

Help!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I’m freaking out a little because I realized there are only 28 days until Christmas. While I have most of my stuff done, I don’t have all my decorations up or Christmas cards signed. Speaking of Christmas cards, I sometimes order my kids Letters From Santa. Have you ever done that?

I can’t remember who I used last year, but I actually think it might have been LettersFromSanta.com.

I loved it because the personalized letter came with our kids names (we only did the two youngest), it listed a couple of items they had specifically asked for on their Christmas wish list, and it listed three things they had done (accomplishments). There was even a P.S. field that was completely customizable. (I think we did something like: P.S. Be good to your brother Ryan. He doesn’t mean to be a big fat meanie all the time.) Oh, AND you can put the city you will be at on Christmas. For instance, if you are traveling to Uncle Alberts for Christmas and he lives in Timbuktu and you live in Calvary, you can put Timbuktu on the letter. It’s cool.

There’s tons of designs and customizable options as well as the fact that they send out a follow up postcard and door hanger that you can also choose the text on. Really cute idea for your little one’s this holiday season. Go, go now. Order one and put a smile on your little sweetie’s face when they realize Santa sent a letter.

Duh! I Totally Forgot!

Ugh. Photography Tip # 23, 545: If you typically take photos of your Thanksgiving meal, because well, you just always have. Then don’t forget to do it one year. Because then you are terribly tempted to stage a photograph with a whole second Thanksgiving meal (minus the Turkey because for the life of me I cannot handle another 19lb Turkey for awhile).

*sigh* Yup. I forgot to take my traditional photograph this year. I just realized it and as a scrapbooker, it’s going to feel weird not having it. Ah. Big deal. I’ll live. And I promise, I won’t create a whole other meal just to stage a photo. I’m too frugal to waste food and while I love what I made, my waist line did not.

Traveling With Max Sucks!

Actually, Max is a great traveler. It’s the places that accept (or don’t accept) him that are the problem. We were very blessed this past week to be able to bring him along on our little Ozarks adventure and stay in our friend Cherie’s condo (thx girlfriend!). He was as good as gold the entire time. Helps that he is completely crate trained so he doesn’t mind spending a little time in there from time to time.

However, what wound up happening is that now we are aching for a real family vacation. Somewhere further than 2 hours away (since we do that a lot – go locally). However, I am one of those pet parents that doesn’t trust just anyone with my pet. The one friend I do trust with him, doesn’t have pets and wouldn’t like the responsibility of taking care of a small dog (frequent bathroom, shedding, etc.)

So my solution? Take him with us, of course. He is certainly compact enough. Now, to find a hotel that will accomodate, because if you have ever tried to find one, they are hard as heck to find!

I wound up discovering a place where you can find Pet Friendly Hotels. Thank goodness for that. Places that don’t allow pets annoy me, but I understand their reasoning. So now, we can actually take the vacation we are longing for with a little help from our friends over at Official Pet Hotels.

So, our little Max will be able to come along on our vacations, not be in the way and be accepted as a member of the family, the same way we treat him.

Here’s a few pics of him watching our little squirrel friend last week in the Ozarks. Isn’t he so cute!

Email Update

Yes. Indeed. There was an email. Sent at 6:46pm. Could you please go back and look at last nights post and see what time I called her at (yeah – 6:45!)
I’m so dang ticked.
I think she sincerely forgot. Realized as I called – oops. I won’t deny that she might have composed the email before last night, but it wasn’t SENT until last night at the same time I called her. Ironic? Coincidence? Sickening!

And lets pretend she DID send an email on time. We were in the Ozarks all week. Exactly when did she think we were going to get the email? Monday morning? Still the day of!

Now I understand completely why the “rules” are the way they are.

Irritatingly Simple

Irritatingly Simple. That’s all my life seems sometimes.

We had another ordeal with “the mom” again. First, might I ask what the laws are in your state regarding communication with your ex spouse? Is email a suitable method for communicating when or if you want the children?
I got divorced in Texas and was told by both my lawyer and the courts that email was not a reliable nor suitable communication method for contact between both parties regarding custody issues. They gave the reason as being not …hmmm… reliable. How do you know that person is going to check their email that morning. How do you know that a server won’t be down somewhere making it take longer to get the email out to the person, etc. I am in Missouri now and I don’t know if Missouri has the exact same law, but I do know that a friend of mine with two kids just got divorced and was also told by her lawyer that emails don’t hold up in court as a suitable method of communication regarding custody.

So that said. Brings me to last night. Or rather last week. B.mom allows us to leave for our vacation a day earlier, giving up her night with them. Now, before I go on and everyone thinks its a selfless act, it wasn’t. I assure you. She has to drive well over an hour on Tuesday nights to see them. There are frequently times she changes the night or doesn’t come at all. She chose to move that far away several months back. So last Tuesday she communicated with Mike that she would instead like to have them on Monday and would that work? He says yes without checking with me first (he’s not home on Monday – he’s at work!) so I was irritated with him because we did have plans, but they were certainly easily rescheduled. It was more the principle. SO I called b.mom on Tuesday and told her thank you for letting us leave early (I did it to be nice, not because she did us a favor, etc.) and told her that Monday was just fine, and that I would switch our plans to Tuesday, which was easy. “We’ll see you on Monday, I’m sure the kids will be really excited to tell you about our trip.” Final words before I hung up.

So I look at the clock tonight – 6:04pm. Hmm…she seems to be running a few minutes late. She’s usually here at 6:00pm. I tell the kids to get their coats on, get their books together (they go to the library), etc. They are sitting waiting there, again I look at the clock. Now it’s 6:22pm. Hmm… I want to call her, I really do. Especially because B and I are starving and really want to go eat. The three girls waiting for mom are starving, but sometimes when traffic is bad, she doesn’t arrive until 6:20 or so. I give her a little more time and finally at 6:44pm I call Mike. He answers (unbelievably) and is shocked that she isn’t there. Says he knows he told her it was fine, blah blah blah. So now I’m torn and confused. Did the conversation really happen? And lets pretend for a moment that it did not. That Mike dreamed it. I did NOT dream calling her and leaving a message on Tuesday. Where I clearly stated several times that Monday was perfectly fine. Didn’t she think that was weird?

So I call her. She answers. (SHE NEVER ANSWERS – EVER!!) and I thought that meant she might be on her way. Nope. She was very obviously sitting in front of a television set. *sigh* In my opinion she forgot. Instead, she lied. She said that she didn’t remember having that conversation with Mike and insisted that she had said Thursday. So I did the only thing I could do. “Didn’t you think when I said Monday a half dozen times to you on the message that you should call and let us know I had the wrong date?”
Her answer.
“I sent an email.”

An email, that quite interestingly Mike says he never got. (She doesn’t email me!)
So in the morning, when Mike returns home, I plan to have him look and see. I want to see exactly what it says. I’m so damn annoyed.

Try feeding children who are starving when you have to fast cook something because you were not prepared (B and I were going to go eat dinner out). They didn’t eat until 7:30 and then we headed out to the library at 8:00pm. Not my favorite time to leave the house, ya know? Except the library was nice, because it was quiet. I like quiet. Especially when I’m stressed. And now I’m so angry I can’t sleep. UGH!!!

Pictures of Our New Ozarks Friend

Most of my regular readers know that we escaped to Lake of the Ozarks for Thanksgiving week. We got home yesterday and had a fabulous time!!

We made a new friend while we were there, providing her with loads of cereal and marshmallow snacks. I’m sure quite healthy, but she kept coming back for more. Every single day at least four times a day! The kids absolutely loved her and we took dozens of photographs. These were rated our favorites of our cute little squirrel friend.

Are You Looking for Top Christmas Gifts and Christmas Ideas for Moms

Well, look no further.

If there is one thing I think I might have found, it is a place to find the Top Christmas Gifts and Christmas Gift Ideas for Moms. I have shopped at Collectibles Today several times. They are always a fun and unique place to shop, as they cater specifically to the passionate collector (which I just so happen to be!)

One of the coolest parts of Collectibles Today is the fact that they are the leading provider of limited edition collectibles and gifts. And they don’t just carry one or two companies, nope – they cover a broad variety of companies and products.

They have a commitment to you (and I) the consumer, to always ensure the products are of top quality and they provide amazing customer service. I also happen to love that they provide installment plans, which is like an online layaway program for those of us that might not be able to fork over a lot of cash for some of their more expensive items right away. These are just some of my favorite features. Why don’t you head on over and do a little shopping. You’ll be thankful you did.

I found A Mother’s Heart Birthstone Charm Angel to give to my mom this year thanks to this wonderful website. She is adorned with one of my very favorite quotes of all time. Plus, I love the idea of customizing it and placing my brother and I’s birthstone on it. I think I found the perfect gift.

Oh, and for myself, I plan to buy this absolutely gorgeous Thomas Kinkade ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Story House to compliment our ever growing Christmas Village. I absolutely fell in love with it the moment I saw it.