Good riddance, 2006!

You've been a sucky year. I got a sweet little niece during 2006, but that's pretty much the only good thing to come of it. Could have been a lot worse, I know, but all I'm saying is I'm not sorry to see you go.

Here's to a fabulous 2007!

I'm not dead yet.

Sorry for the weird lack of posts lately. Things have been BEYOND crazy around here. Kids are going nuts, Chris is already there, I'm being driven there at a rapid pace.

Shopping? Not done. Cooking? Not started. Not bought for. Not even decided on what. Wrapping? Not even started. Cleaning? Good Lord, I can't even begin to describe how far away from clean this house is right now.

Oh wait, yes I can. I have probably 6 or 8 loads of clean laundry waiting in the laundry room to be folded. That's not like me. One or two, maybe, but this is nuts. Iz-man peed the bed the other night - first time, literally, in close to a year - and I got all bummed about all the laundry I needed to do. So I sat here and fumed all day yesterday and didn't do any of it. I know, that's pitiful, and not in a good way.

Then, as if Christmas isn't expensive enough on it's own, the van just needed $500 worth of work. On Monday. So guess what happened today? That's right, the car broke down. Chris dropped it off at the shop tonight, so we'll find out the damage tomorrow. *insert loud cussing here*

Anyhoo, there's my various excuses. I'll be marooned here tomorrow, so if I get that laundry tackled, I'll do a good post, I promise. Unless I die of food poisoning. I bought a pack of low-fat turkey pepperoni tonight and when I got home from shopping I was starved because we had no food in the house, and I hadn't had lunch or dinner. Opened it up and popped in four or five slices and almost choked on it while swallowing because it was all dried out. Must have been a hole in the package.

Speaking of shopping, this is another indication of how nutty my life is right now. I went grocery shopping tonight at 10 p.m., while Chris and the kids were in bed. Didn't get home till 11:15, took me until 11:45 to get all the bags carried in and unpacked. It was strange to be out that late. But it just goes to figure that if I am, I'll be grocery shopping. It is, indeedy, a fascinating life I lead.

PostSecret

If you haven't already checked out this blog, you should: ClickHere:PostSecret. Maybe you'll see a postcard from me someday..."I daydream about beating my children..." WHAT?? It's better than actually doing it, right?

Maybe that's why they're all anonymous.

No harm, no foul.

I used the last set of whitening strips tonight, and here's the final results. I thought they were a little whiter, but I just found the original, which is below.... What's that? You see no difference? *sigh* It's the story of my life.

My soon-to-be pearly whites.

About, oh, five years ago, my mother-in-law got my husband a box of the then-new Crest Whitening Strips. He never got around to using them, so when I was digging around under the sink the other day looking for cotton balls, I saw them and decided to give them a try.

I took this picture after having used them for five or six days. There are 14 days worth in the pack, so I'll post another picture after I finish them up. If I make it that far, that is. I'm awfully forgetful.

And yes, I realize this is a strange picture. It's actually not as easy as you think to try to get all of your teeth showing in a picture, especially if you're like me and have lots of lovely silver fillings in your back teeth. In this pic, I'm trying to hide those back teeth and show the front ones without going for a teeth-baring grimace. It's hard to take a self-portrait of your own teeth too.

But I'm hoping that the pic I take in 7 or 8 days will show a big difference from today's. Might not be, though, because they expired in 2001.

Try not to let the anticipation get to you.

Those old familiar stirrings.

This December will mark two years since I was laid-off from my job doing graphics & communications for the political arm of the labor movement in West Virginia. If you've read this blog for a while, it will come as no surprise that I am still bitter over losing that job, which I adored. Am I happier now? Very much so, and I love being home with my kids. But still.

I was very involved in politics and I busted my butt during that election, only to have Bush and his fellow Republicans sweep the country. A week later, I was told that I'd be losing my job in a month. I walked away and I left politics behind. I was disgusted. All of that hard work for nothing. Very few victories, even at the state level. Any personal pride I had in the work I'd done was erased when I was let go, even though the layoff was not due to my performance, but rather to the organization's finances. And mismanagement. Oh, was that sour grapes? Sorry. But still.

I didn't even vote in the primary. Truthfully, I forgot. It's amazing to me now that I'm a member of the "general public" how far removed I am from the process. Without even trying, I am barely aware of what's happening during election time.

But I remembered yesterday, so I loaded the kids up and went to the polling place. I put Sophie in her sling on my shoulder, took Izzy by the hand, and did my civic duty. I voted straight Democrat. The only other time I've done that was by accident the first time I ever voted. But I skimmed over the short list of candidates and realized that not only was there no Republicans I wanted to vote for this time, there was only one Democrat running that I actively disliked, and I certainly didn't dislike her enough to warrant fighting two wiggly kids to vote against her. So I colored in one oval and left.

Now tonight I am awash in conflicting emotions. Apathy is struggling mightily with exhilaration. Democrats have taken the Senate. Democrats have taken the House. There is a majority of Democratic governors now, and Rumsfeld resigned. I truly don't feel like I closely align with the Democratic party line anymore, but I'm certainly closer to their ideology than the Republicans. But I am thrilled that the country has sent this strong message to the President.

In the end, will the Democrat's victory across the board matter? Will the country see any real results? This is where the apathy starts to creep back in, and I'm forced to admit that I'm doubtful.

But still.

How many of you are there?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 26 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

A little something to keep you busy.

The Executive Coloring Book

My imaginary friends ROCK!

I've been with the same group of women on a baby board since we were all pregnant with our three year old's. Over that time, we've developed a strong bond, which sometimes just seems bizarre to me since many of us will never meet. But it's a true friendship, nonetheless. Look at what one of them sent to me today:


Actual fossils from Colorado and Wyoming! She knows that I love dinosaurs and made a special trip to Dinosaur Ridge to take some awesome pictures of fossils that she sent down here to me. Then she sent me a package of cool information that she picked up while there. And today, the fossils and my adorable little dinosaur.

I am, needless to say, beyond thrilled and very touched. This is the happiest I've been in a very long time. Many thanks to you, my dear imaginary buddy!!