2 Weeks and Counting

Weekend was good.  Saturday, we did a little shopping and then I went to the gingerbread party.  A little background...these are my husband's friends.  They hold the gingerbread party every year and I've never attended.  We've always had so many other events that required babysitters that he usually went and I skipped it.  For whatever reason, they were pretty insistent that I come despite Hubby being gone.  If you've been following me for any amount of time, you realize this is a social nightmare for me.  But I went, I drank and I had fun.  It was nice getting out of the house and, yes, away from my girls for an evening.  I drank too much with too little food and was feeling it the next day but I'm glad I went.

Yesterday was lazy.  I did a load of laundry and that was about it as far as errands go.  I also decided, however, that my girls have been cooped up too much and we needed to do something.  So we went for a walk.  We walked to my parents' house, about a mile away.  Lori rode her new scooter and Maddie practiced on her skateboard.  They're getting pretty good but it just felt good to be out.  Maddie and I also walked back but Lori was tuckered out so my mom drove her home.  Once at my parents' house, the girls helped my mom decorate the house for Christmas.  Of course the girls loved that.  I'm having an especially difficult time getting into the holiday spirit this year.  I'm not putting up any decorations since the packers are coming 12/19...no tree...I'm not doing the shopping this year (Hubby is).  We're watching the movies and singing the songs but it's tough.  It's also still SO warm here...Today's the first day under 70 degrees...while I'm watching all these Christmas movies with snow and stuff.  *sigh*  And I'm moving to Florida where the weather is practically identical.  Stupid!

So that was the weekend.  Nothing too exciting there.  It's like I took the weekend off from everything and that was desperately needed with how busy things have been and getting sick and all that stuff.  This week, I'm tackling my closet and starting to clean up a bit.  I have a going away dinner on Thursday night, meeting my BFF on Saturday and the AZ Blogger Lunch on Sunday (Yay!).  Busy week ahead.

On that note, a Monday DEMotivator:

Little Bear = Big Drama

OK...so wow.  What a week.  OK...So how'd it all go with the Little Bear saga?  Oh boy.  Well, the new bear arrived...spitting image.  Great...washed him so he wouldn't be quite so fuzzy but he did look fairly new.    I had a friend write a letter from Santa saying he gave him a long bath and all that jazz, wrapped him up pretty and had my friend deliver him to our doorstop, ring the doorbell and run.  The girls were skeptical at first but eventually warmed up to the idea and were fully committed to this being the long lost Little Bear.  Success!

Letter from Santa

Lori wrote a thank you note to Santa for bringing LB back

Then it all went to hell in a hand basket.  That was Wednesday night.  Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), I get a call from my girls all breathless from excitement.  They had found the OLD Little Bear!!  Isn't it wonderful Mommy?!?!  Now we have 2!!!!  Awesome.  Fan-freakin-tastic.  I get home and sure enough.  There he is. They found him the office...the same office I cleaned top to bottom a couple weeks ago.  The same office I turned upside down looking for that stupid bear.  We had all turned every room in the house upside down looking for that bear.  Where the hell did he come from?  So I worried and pondered that this did the whole Santa thing in...even though I now believe in him more than ever because where else did this stupid bear come from?  Well, I don't know how and I'm not sure how they're rationalizing it but the girls all have it worked out in their minds and all is right and Little Bear now has a little brother - Teensy Bear.  Maddie suggested donating him but Lori wouldn't hear of it, saying Santa had brought him to us because he needed a good home.  *sigh*

So the moral of the story is if you don't have kids yet, don't even start with the Santa thing.  And don't ever try to switch the toys out because you'll get busted.  Way more stress than any of this was worth but now my little one is happier than ever with her 2 Little Bears that she slept quite soundly with last night.

In other news, Maddie had her 2nd grade performance last night.  Standing room only which sucked.  I had Lori up on my shoulders so she could see while I'm trying to video tape it for Hubby who, of course, couldn't be there for it.  The video is probably pretty shaky.  But NSV here...I was standing in heels (came from work), with 45 lbs on my shoulders for an hour and didn't feel like I was about to die or break my back.  Good stuff.

I couldn't get a good picture of her playing it during the performance so had her pose for one after...of course, Lori had to jump in

Another semi-busy weekend...I have a gingerbread party to go to on Saturday night, not overly thrilled but said I'd go so I'm going.  I have to take Lori to get new shoes and pick up Christmas gift for Hubby.  Then all the normal errands...grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, go through my closet for the move.  Fun stuff.

In the spirit of gingerbread house building, I give you a Friday Funny:

Don't Sew A Cape Just Yet

So it isn't often I think of myself as Super Mom.  More often than not, I think of myself as the opposite - never patient enough, not giving enough hugs, kisses and encourage, not playing outside enough, not baking enough cookies, etc.  But Friday, my friends...Friday...I felt like Super Mom.  Lori's birthday was Thursday...we went to Chick Fil A.  Friday, we had her birthday party.  I worked from home that day, facilitating 3 separate conference calls and between those calls, I bought balloons and decorations, picked up the food, baked and decorated the cake and wrapped her presents.  We had a small family party at my Mom's that night but it was fun and Lori was thrilled so it was all worth while.  Talk about "having it all."  Some pics.

The feeling of Super Mom was short lived.  Saturday, we met a longtime friend for lunch so that the girls could get reacquainted with her since she'll be picking them up for school this week.  We then went to see Rise of the Guardians.

Pretty good flick by the way.  Anyway, we make it home, stay up late cleaning out some things that needed to be put out in front of my parents house for bulk pick up and head to bed around 9:30.  That's when we realized that Little Bear, Lori's beloved stuffed animal, had been forgotten at the restaurant during lunch.  I called and no one had turned it in.  The poor little thing cried herself to sleep that night.  The next day, I went to the restaurant and still no Little Bear.  I went to Target, where I had bought Little Bear 5 years ago and of course they don't carry him anymore.  So Sunday, after moving all the giant furniture things to my mom's for bulk pick up and running around looking for Little Bear, I asked my daughter if she wanted to go to a store and pick out something new that she could grow to love just as much.  She said no, that she didn't need to and I asked why not and she responded, "Because I'm wishing really hard that Santa finds Little Bear and brings him home.  I know Santa can do it."  O. M. G.  Seriously?  Why couldn't this happen in June where Santa would never enter this little girl's head.  So after much hemming and hawing, I went online and believe I have found a duplicate Little Bear.  I'm going to write her name on the tag just like the original and wrap him up in Christmas paper with a note from Santa saying that he found Little Bear but he was pretty beat up so he cleaned him up, added some stuffing and now he's good as new.  I know this seems desperate and possibly overdone for what it is.  But the poor child refuses to sleep with anything else because she "just knows that Little Bear is coming back."  We're moving and there are going to be enough changes in our house without this added to it.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can pull it off.  Here is a comparison shot...the one the left is obviously our beloved LB and the one on the right is the one I ordered.  I really do think the new one is identical to LB when he was new.  He's also produced by the same store and is the same size.  I'm convinced this is him...what do you think?

Seriously...it was a bit ridiculous.  After Lori finally went to sleep Saturday, I had a full blown emotional breakdown over this stupid tiny bear.  I, a grown woman, sat in the middle of my living room sobbing like a child.  It was like all of the stress of the last couple weeks came bubbling up and just had to get out.

So yesterday was spent hauling stuff to my mom's, doing some laundry and just decompressing.  Today I'm back at work and I'm sick!  I've got a cold...stuffy/runny nose (Seriously...it shouldn't be both), sinus pressure and watery/itchy eyes.  Ugh.  No bueno.

Soooo...what else?  Oh!  We found a house in Jacksonville and the app has been approved.  I just have to sign the lease, scan it and email it back to the prop management people.  Very excited to already have a place lined up!  The AZ Bloggers are having a goodbye lunch for me on the 16th...so nice!  I have a going away dinner with some friends on the 13th and still have to find time for a work happy hour and meet with my BFF before we go.  20 days and counting....

Thanks for letting me get all of this out here today.  I know this blog hasn't been focused much on my weight, health and well being here the last few weeks and honestly, I don't see it returning to that until the New Year but I still appreciate everyone's support and reading along.

A little Monday DEMotivation: