Nothing good to report

I know the post's title grabbed you. Feel free to go on to the next blog or check out your FB account. I will understand.

Honestly, I'm not even sure I can bring you up to speed so much has happened over the past two months. However, one major event and not necessarily a good one, is the fact that I brought my mom for her annual mammography and one year to the day...they found a malignant tumor. It has been removed and the surgeon got all the "bad" cells. Now, she is going for radiation. Rather, I will be bringing her to radiation everyday for the next 5 or 6 weeks. Of course, I don't begrudge her the help, I just wish the responsibility of the transportation didn't fall all on me. However, my sister the CPA - well, need I say more? It IS tax season. Army wife, lives upstate and is geographically unsuitable to provide assistance. Finally, there is Red. My sister, Red will help if she isn't working. Honestly, being a SAHM I am the logical choice. Right now, I know I am feeling overwhelmed. I'll be fine.

It doesn't help that one of my mother friends is being snarky. I'm partially to blame because apparently I just don't know when to stop talking. I was speaking to a friend of my friend and all of a sudden I said too much. Maybe you've been there. You're comfortable, relaxing and chatting then words are coming out before you can censor yourself. I like to call it diarrhea of the mouth. The thing that really bothers me is that it took her a week, 7 days!, to tell me. Is it asking too much to expect people to be "adult" and say "hey, you hurt my feelings" or "you were out of line" when you said this. Instead, she waited until today, when all of a sudden she laid into me. When she clarified her issue with me, I apologized immediately. However, I can't help but feel I'll be doing penance for this one for a while. I should mention that I noticed that she and I were "off" but didn't know what was bothering her.

One of the churches I work for is cutting my pittance of a salary in half. It's the one where the director challenges me musically. The pastor met with me and the other ladies who sing tonight. The economy...blah, blah, blah. Can't say I'm happy about it and I can't say I'm definitely sticking around for it to "get better". He (the pastor) is a good actor, he had the right catch in his voice and looked distraught. I have to admit, he had his part down. Well, we'll see. I'd like to think about this. If I do leave, I will miss the director (who fought against our pay cut). He really is an awesome musician and an upstanding kind of guy.

That Damn Tree

Happy New Year! I hope that 2010 brings peace, joy, and good health to you and your families.

I love Christmas. I enjoy the greeting cards, the hustle and bustle of the season, the music and the children's excitement as Christmas day draws near. I even enjoy decorating the house and the Christmas tree. That is, I used to enjoy it...

Due to the fact, that I have three children and my husband had become concerned about potential fire hazards of a live tree, a few years ago we purchased a pre-lit artificial one. If we were going to make the investment, I insisted that the Christmas tree meet a couple of my criteria. One was that it had to be "fat". I wanted it to have some shape. Secondly, the tree had to have A LOT of light. I love a well lit tree. Fortunately, that Christmas tree did exist and we bought it. It's been a pleasure having this tree. It's easy to assemble and the lights haven't given us a problem. However, for the last two years, my children have asked to help to decorate the tree. Actually, they insist on helping. Last year, I thought it was fun and they had such a wonderful time. However, I secretly cursed them when it was time to put everything away. This year, well, let's just say I've been working on removing the ornaments for the past 6 hours and I'm not done yet. It's true, I'm a bit obsessive about putting the ornaments back in their proper boxes. After all, if they are packed neatly and I'm organized about it, it should be easier to decorate next year. Right? The problem is that when the kids help, I have no idea where anything is. Plus, placing 2 or even 3 ornaments on one particular branch, doesn't make it easy to find the ones that are hiding in the back. Inevitably, it's a smaller ornament hiding behind a much larger one! Well, back to work for me...that damn tree won't take itself down.

Oh, I just realized today is my blogoversary! This blog is a whole year old. Wow. It's true how time flies. I'm not going to resolve to write more often, but I will try. Thank you to all who read and all who take the time to comment, I appreciate it. And, if you are one of the "lurkers", please take a moment and say hello.