I got to thinking maybe I should give an update as to what's been going on lately, seeing that I haven't really done that in awhile. I've been so busy lately, that I haven't been able to keep up as much as I'd like to with my blog.
Friday night we took the kids to see Santa. We weren't sure if we had lost our minds or were just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. The last 2 years, Travis freaked out at the sight of Santa Claus. He would talk about wanting to meet him, he would talk about telling Santa what he wants for Christmas, etc., but when it came down to time to meet Santa, it was total core meltdown. Jacob did fine last year, mainly because he was too little to really know what the heck was going on. But this year I figured as super sensitive as Jacob is, he would get upset as soon as we handed him over to Santa. SURPRISINGLY though, neither of them freaked out. They just had this expression on their faces like "Woooowwww!" They didn't exactly give a big smile for the picture, but they weren't bawling their eyes out either. As soon as we were making our way back down the escalator in the mall, Travis shouts out "Heeeyyy! Santa didn't give me any toys!!" Travis misunderstood the whole Santa concept, apparently. He thought Santa was supposed to give him what he wanted right then and there when he asked for it, lol. We had to keep explaining to Travis that you ask now and he brings on Christmas Eve. After that we just walked around the mall, ate supper there, and just enjoyed being out as a family. I can't even remember the last time I was at a mall! It was probably last Christmas!
Saturday we went to a Tigers basketball game at the new FedEx Forum. A friend that has season tickets wasn't going to be able to go, so he gave us his tickets. This was our first game to attend at the Forum. It was alright, just nothing like it was hyped to be. And paying $18.50 for 2 hot dogs, 1 souvenier coke, and 1 order of garlic parmesan fries was ridiculous. We could have gone to Huey's and had an awesome burger for THAT. Totally nuts. OH, and get THIS...THIS is totally unbelievable...my MOM kept the kids while we went to the game. Let me repeat in case you didn't absorb that...my MOM kept the kids while we went to the game!!! Oh yeah, and sorry to admit, but Ole Miss beat Memphis. That's even more nuts.
Sunday was a very, very long day. It was my day to teach Sunday School (I teach the 3 & 4-year-olds every other week), and then I sang a solo/accompanied myself on piano during the morning service. After church, we decided to have lunch in Collierville, then went to the Collierville Walmart to look around since they always have Memphis Tigers stuff, and Michael was wanting a Tiger jacket for Christmas, so we found one for MUCH less than you'd pay for one at the Bookstore or anywhere else. Put it this way...the one at Walmart was $39.95. We saw a jacket, which was less nice in my opinion, at the Oak Court Mall for $74.00. The very same jacket at the Grizzlies store at the FedEx Forum was $100!!!!! By the time we left Walmart, it was after 2, so we decided to just stay at church for the afternoon to save on gas, plus I had to be back by 5 anyway for practice. We now have a set practice time of 5 p.m. on Sundays. Anyone who is scheduled to sing that night or the following week has to show up or they are off the schedule. Next week one of the men in our church is singing "The Little Drummer Boy", and guess who is playing snare drum along with him? None other than me!! I came up with the idea and suggested it to the Pastor, and he loved the idea, so someone is singing it, and then it will be accompanied by piano and snare drum. We practiced it Sunday night and it was awesome! Everyone was like "you can play that?" lol, and I had to explain to everyone that I played in high school. The drum I am using is the concert snare I've had since 7th grade. It had been stored in my attic over the garage ever since we've been in the house. The case is FILTHY, but the drum has been very much protected from the elements, and looks practically new. Who could've known when I was 12 years old that I'd play it in church someday?
Today I stayed busy doing laundry, cleaned the big bathroom, took care of some bills, and unlocked the little bathroom. Oh yes, today was one of those days where I had a "series of unfortunate events" (I want to see that movie, by the way). I was on the phone with T-Mobile trying to get my service disconnected and getting my bill straightened out, when Travis announces "I've gotta go pooooop!" and so I kind of whispered to him to go, and he said "I can't...the door is locked." Huh? I thought maybe his hands were just slippery and he needed help opening the door, so I put the T-Mobile man on hold, tried to open the bathroom door for Travis, and sure enough it was LOCKED! I guess Travis locked it at some point and shut it. Just great. So I asked Travis if he could hold it, and he said he could, so I tried to hurry things up on the phone. I was able to work out a pretty reasonable payment plan with T-Mobile. They can divide my massive cell phone bill into 5 payments, each payment due every 2 weeks. I will make the first payment on December 20, and the last on Valentine's Day. Once I get that paid off, I'm going to get a new phone, with an UNLIMITED USAGE PLAN!! So after I got off the phone, I took the door handle completely off, and using a screw driver, was able to make the lock pop open. While Travis "took care of business", I replaced the door knob and everything was great again.
I still have 2 presents left to buy, about 4 things left to wrap, stockings to fill, a couple Christmas cards to find addresses for and get in the mail, a batch of fudge to make and a couple batches of cookies to make, a couple toys to put together for the kids (Don't you just love "Some Assembly Required" toys?) and then pack to get out of town next Tuesday for the bowl game, go to Mobile, come back the day before Christmas Eve, then it will be Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day.
It is going to be coooooollllld tonight, so everyone be sure to snuggle up with something or someone warm! Low of 24 tonight in Memphis, with a wind chill of 15! I don't remember it EVER getting that cold last winter. If it did, maybe only for a week. But that was probably in January or February. This is still December and not officially winter yet. What's up with that? Bring on the snow!
Jacob has a follow-up denist appointment tomorrow, and we will possibly be scheduling Jacob's dental work...he has to have caps put on his top front teeth some time soon, and the dentist is trying to put it off as long as he can since Jacob has to be put to sleep to do the procedure since he's so young. :::SNIFF:::....the whole thing makes me nervous. I'm hoping that we can just keep putting it off until he's old enough to NOT have to be put to sleep to do the caps.
Well, I'm zonked! I have clean, smelly-good sheets to jump into and I took a warm soak in the bubbles a little while ago, so I'm all ready to go to sleep! Until next time, GOODNIGHT AND SLEEP TIGHT!
