HAPPY NEW YEAR PLEASESSSSSSSS

It just over an hour before the New Year begins.
We have worked hard all day doing fixer upper
things and now we are sitting back pigging out
waiting for the ball to drop.

We ended up going to my brothers on Saturday
instead of Thursday. They were ill at his house
so we postponed till Saturday. I believe painful
describes the experience. It was nice to see my
nephew and his daughter and catch up with my
nieces. But beyond that my kids got to see my
mother drunk for the first time and other people
there were rude and overbearing and drunk to
boot. So fun had by all. It makes me appreciate
my husbands family that much more. I definitely
lucked out in the in law department. Don't get me
wrong I love my family, don't like them sometimes,
but I do love them. One at a time is easier to take
then everybody trying to pretend that we are one
big happy family. I don't think I will put myself or
my children through that again to soon. They
are getting older so the things that use to go over
there head is now a big white elephant in the living
room. By me participating in the annual family thing
I am playing along with the make believe and helping them
continue to pretend. Don't want to play the game any-
more.

This Saturday is the hubby's side of the family Christmas.
I have to come up with a sappy card to go with the present
we are giving my mother in law as a group. Each son and
their family had some hand in the present and she will love
it. (Don't want to say just in case she decides to read my
blog.)

I am hoping that we can relax and have fun this
Saturday. We have the appraisal this Friday and
we are hoping that everything goes great and we
are finally on our way to a better financial future.
It will still be rough for a few months but in the
long run it will eventually balance out.

I can't believe it is almost 2008. It is going to be
a year of tears. I can't believe my baby is going
to graduate in June. My daughter will be turning
"sweet" sixteen and will be wanting to get her
drivers licence. Calgon take me away.

Well here is to a happier and less stressful
New Year for one and all. I love you all and
hope your life is full of love and happiness in
the coming year.

ttfn

COLD

People can be so unfeeling and assholes.

Sorry but what happened to me earlier in

the evening I feel that way right now.

Somebody hit and killed a cat. They

drove away leaving the poor thing in the

middle of the road. I saw it on my way home

from the store and just couldn't keep driving.

I had to turn around and pull the poor thing to

the side of the road. I cried all the way home

then called the police to report it and they said

they would take care of it. It was definitely

not something I needed to see or do. The poor

thing.

I should be in bed right now but I am

procrastinating. If I go to bed then I will

wake up and it will be tomorrow and I

will be going over to my brothers for a get

together with my side of the family. Only

fun will be had if my sister gets into it with

my mother. Calgon take me away with maybe

a bottle of wine to go with it.

Can;t keep my eyes open much longer. I did

a lot today. We have a final dead line for the

appraisal. He is coming the 4th. It is the big

push to see how much more we can accomplish

before that. I took advantage of the sun and warm

weather today to try and pick up around the outside

and get some of the porch cleaned off.

Well I am losing the battle so I am off to tuck the

ponies in and try to get some sleep. We are going

to have some fun before by going up early to spend

the gift cards the kids got from "Santa".

ttfn

Vision of sugar plums dance in their heads.
Not Megan's head though. She has been up
since 5am waiting to see what awaits her
under the tree and the ugly teenagers are
still asleep in their beds. I only have this
one child left that still is excited about
Christmas morning. We just got done
making monkey bread together and
singing Christmas carols.

I just read a friends blog and her guest blogger
mentioned about family traditions we
hated while we were growing up but
once they aren't there for the first time
we miss them no matter what. Isn;t that
funny. I never would have thought about
it because I always try to keep a few of
my traditions going and some of my
husbands as well. I hope my children
don't have to many of the omg do we really
have to eat that or do that.

Miss Megan is now impishly awaking her
siblings and father so they can open
presents. I haven't heard any screaming
yet but I am sure there will be. I must go
and remove the monkey bread from the
oven and sit back and watch the children
open their presents from "Santa" and be
thankful I have people in my life that care
about my children and would take good
care of them if anything should ever happen
to me.

Happy Holiday and Happy New Year may
this coming year be kinder and gentler for
one and all.
ttfn

Relatives

Okay so my sister is crazy and I love her
anyway. She drove all the way down
here last night in crappy weather and
braving her overwhelming fear of hitting
a deer to deliver some gifts for my kids to
open on Christmas morning. The kids will
be surprised when they receive something
tomorrow. And I will maybe be able to get out
of bed and not try and hide the day away.
Gotta make the monkey bread it is tradition.

I am once again fighting with a frozen turkey
because I couldn't get it till yesterday. My hubby
will be surprised when he gets up from his nap to
find his parents decided to come down for dinner.
We aren't doing the O'Brien side of Christmas until
Jan. 5th due to schedules. We are going to my brothers
on Thursday and it should be excitement and tension
enough for everyone. Then a game night at Aunt Julies
to top off the week on Saturday. I am hoping my mental
state can survive that much Kelly family in one week.

well I am off to pick up the swimmer from practice.
No rest for them except he gives them Christmas day off.

Peace on earth, Good will toward men.
Happy Christmas.
ttfn

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus

I do believe in Santa.

There is now light at the

end of the tunnel and I

am pretty sure its not the

express train to hell.

I still won't be able to

give my kids a Christmas

but the new year will find

us better off due to my angel.

My sister. I only had to listen

to her say read the book of Mormon

2 times to boot. That in its self

is a miracle.

I survived another senior night

tonight. I got a little teary on the

way to the meet from work. Then when Ian

was swimming toward us at the end of

the pool. But not as much water came

out of me as I thought would.

He got his first college

acceptance letter

in the mail today so it begins.

It feels good to breath again.

Life still ain't grand but

we are getting there. I wish

my hubby would get up so I can

share the good news.

Happy Holidays to all and

a safe and happy New Year.

ttfn

Done

I am done writing in here for a while.
I have been reading back and its the
same shit different day. I just got done
writing out bills which always gives me
that warm Fuzzy feeling NOT. Trying not
to think about not doing Christmas this year
and how to spend what little I have left on
food. I am just going to dig in and plod to
reserve what sanity I have left.

Here is to a New Year with improvements.
Time to get drunk.

One positive note. Ian's swim team beat their rivals for the first time in 30 some years.
it was a great day. Hoping for more of those in the coming weeks.
ttfn

Taking a break from uncluttering yet another room.

I can not believe how quickly "stuff" piles

up especially in the rooms I don't spend

much time in. I always say after

getting done reaming out the place that

I will be good and keep up with it so it

doesn't ever get that bad again.

Right!!!

Had another last for Ian again last night.

There are so many more than I thought of.

He performed his last year as the friar in

the kings court for the Madrigal Dinner.

It of course will not be a last for me because

I am sure Sean will follow in his brothers foot

steps and be doing it next year. But it will

be the last time I get to chuckle when

Ian tries to make his dancing partner Julie

laugh. She won again this year making Ian

laugh first.

I gave in and set up the fake Christmas tree

Friday night while I was waiting for Sara to call

to be picked up after her indoor track meet.

The cat has already knocked it over twice.

Megan wants to put ornaments on the tree

to make it look more christmas like but I

explained to her that it was just more

things to tempt the cat to play with the

tree. So it just has lights for now.

I said maybe we could make a colorful

paper chain to put around it.

My mother in law came down for the dinner

last night and spent the night. We sat chatting

over waffles this morning about how we both

were not feeling the "Christmas spirit" this

year. I don't want to decorate or think about

Christmas. She is spending her first

Christmas without her mom. We are

quite a pair to draw too. I have been trying

to come up with idea's to make it special

for the kids even though we can't get them

anything material this year.

I still have time and have a few idea's just

need to find the time and energy to do it.

Well I must get back to shoveling the clutter

before I run out of steam.

Anybody want a Cat for Christmas!!!

ttfn

Stress

My daughter wrote a paper for health class on stress. (see below) She asked me to
type it up for her. I think its her counselor and her way of telling me something.
I wish it where this easy. Poof car problem solved, Poof Mortgage problem solved,
Poof money problem solved, POOF stress solved. Christmas is coming but not. Try
and explain that stress.
Will we be moving in the new year? Don't know wish I could say don't care.

I know most of what is going on with me right now is stress but my mind only
thinks about the quick fixes and we don't want to go there. How do you meditate
when you can't even shut your mind off to sleep.

So I take the little things that brighten my day and try to hang onto the love of my family
and friends. Like the laugh Sara gave us all last night when she was trying to decide when
would be the best time for her to take her vow of silence taking that first step toward becoming
Buddhist. Haven't laughed that hard in months. I vote for Christmas vacations and maybe we all
should do it. Or my husband and I window shopping for cheap idea's to fix stuff around here. Spending time with him is little and far between. Being silly doing stomping dances on the front porch.

Today I get to escape into another season of swimming for now and hope tomorrow
we don't find ourselves under a boulder.
ttfn

Health assignment: Stress 12/6/07

Stress happens to everyone. In the demands of the fast pace world we live in it is not out of the ordinary to have too much in our lives. With families, jobs, or perhaps college on our minds it can build up and become a problem. It is important to know how to deal with this overload of stress because it is not just the little pain in your neck or fogged vision, it can worsen and become a major health issue. Over all stress is your body’s reaction to what’s going on around it. Situations can be handled in two different ways, negatively or positively. Stress does not only plague adults but is very common in over burdened teens as well.
For adults’ stress comes mainly from the family bills even there jobs and juggling all of these things can be hard. Most adults today do not know how to deal with stress in the proper fashion. Although teens may be the top stresses in an adult’s life they have a lot of their own stress to deal with. Juggling school, sports, extra activities such as band or an art club can become to much to bear. Along with all these activities to juggle you throw in the fact that they are changing and making decisions that could influence the rest of their lives. With full stacked up lives it may be hard to deal with all the stresses in your life but it is important to find time or even the slightest thing might build up.
The effects of stress put their own burden upon the shoulders of many when stress is not dealt with. Stress can cause both physical and mental effects making it harder to complete every day tasks. Some physical effects are elevated blood pressure that when left untreated can case stroke and kidney disease if left untreated for a long period of time. Chest pain, problems sleeping, upset stomach, and headaches are also common effects of to many stresses. Not only are the physical effects something to worry about but the mental as well. You might feel unable to work, or snap at others, become agitated easily, worry or feel anxious, depressed, helpless or complacent or restless. Most times stress will also interfere with your judgment and ability to make decisions. Over all it is a viscous cycle when left untreated. Stress in the end just creates even more stress.
With busy lives it is hard to find the much-needed time to deal with stress the right way. There are two ways to handle stress. The first way is you can shut down, snap, and give up and by doing this it will only relieve stress for a short period of time before creating more stress in the end. The second way would be taking a second to think things over organizing your day, possibly even take on less in your everyday life. Those are just a few of the ways to go about handling stress. Another way would be exercise, which release endorphins that will better your mood and give you the extra edge you need to get through the day. Then there is meditation, a mental exercise that allows the person to think and focus on calming your self down and relaxing. It helps a person focus and control their mind. Most find this relaxing after a day when they where unable to think about anything other than the task at hand.
Stress is no joking matter it is something that should be treated as a sickness. For when someone has a cold they don not wait days or weeks or even months to treat it so why wait that long to treat stress. When after all the effects of to much stress can be far worse than a common cold. Take time and watch out when taking on a new activity.
Stress for too long can be dangerous.

Curtain call

Well one more tearful last.
Ian had his final drama play
today. Opening night was good.
But.......
the performance this afternoon
was fantastic. I of course started
crying after the first line was spoken
and melted into a puddle of tears by
the curtain call. It was the story of course
that made me cry not the fact that it is yet
another last for my senior. I am not going to
survive to the end of this year.

I am just sooooo tired. I can't shake this flu
I have had for 2 weeks now and life is falling apart
around me. Hanging ten is slowly diminishing to hanging
2. And amid all the stress already complied don't inanimate
objects and children have to add more to the heap. I'm tired.

The rain is falling outside right now onto the 4 or so inches
of snow we got last night. The kids are hoping for no
school tomorrow I am just hoping the power doesn't go
out. No school would be nice too.

Sleep is calling and hopefully I can answer it tonight.

ttfn