Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone gets a nice, fresh start this year. Seems like a lot of folks that I know had a not-so-good 2004, so I hope 2005 is better for everyone. Overall, I had a pretty good 2004. Out of all the people I'm close to, not just family included, there were no funerals, a bunch of weddings, a birth or two, some babies on the way. Nothing outlandishly awesome happened, but we have had a very blessed year, nothing to complain about. I haven't really made any resolutions this year, okay, so I haven't made out a list...I do have a few resolutions, but I'm not going to kick myself if I don't stick to them 100% this time. Isn't it funny when people ask you "Did you have a good New Years?" What I want to respond with is something like, "I don't know, how about you ask me December 31, and I'll let you know how the 'new year' went." Okay, so I'm a smart butt now.

Anyway, I've been catching up on some movies lately. Tonight I rented "Tuck Everlasting"...it's a Disney movie, a very clean, family movie. Very good movie. If you can tolerate a movie that doesn't have foul language, sex, and blood & guts, just a good mystery story with some romance involved, rent it. It's one of those I'd been meaning to see for awhile, but kept forgetting about it. Last night we rented "Against the Ropes". It's got Meg Ryan in it, a VERY different role for her, I must say. It did involve cussing, drug stuff, and violence. It had a good storyline...she becomes a boxing manager, but the movie was too slow and dragged out too long. Not really my kind of movie. I also watched "Kate & Leopold" yesterday, which I borrowed from a friend. It also has Meg Ryan in it. Basically this guy finds a "portal" that allows time travel, and Leopold, played by Hugh Jackman, is transported forward in time from 1876 to present day , falls in love with Kate, played by Meg Ryan, and I can't tell you how it ends. It's a great romantic comedy. Another one of those "my kind of movie" movies. We took Travis to see the new Spongebob movie this afternoon, which was his very first movie in the theater, and it went great. At first, he was scared. Not so much of the dark, but the loud noise. It was in one of the smaller theaters, and it really was too loud, even to me. As long as he could sit in one of our laps and he had an endless supply of popcorn though, he did great, and then afterwards he told us he had fun. I think me and Michael were the only ones in the theater laughing. I nearly cried towards the end, there was a really sad part, but it ended good. I've also been buying a few movies here and there. I realized how sad my little movie collection really is, so I'm slowly making an effort to add to it. I got a few movies for Christmas, but then I went to Half.com and Overstock.com and recently bought "Mona Lisa Smile", "Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Riding In Cars With Boys", and "Along Came Polly". (By the way, I was looking at Tower Records today, and some of the movies I bought online for like $5 were selling in Tower Records for $29.99. Sickening.) Okay, so most if not all of those are chick flicks, but those are the kinds of movies I like. Sorry if I don't dig the blood & guts war/crime/gang movies. There are a couple war movies I like, but most of them I don't care for. When Michael's out of town or I'm sick or something, I want to snuggle up on the couch with a blanket, a cup of coffee, and I want to watch a feel-good, funny, cute, girly, pick-me-up kind of movie that feeds the feminine me. Like, I live in a house full of boys, so I need as much girly stuff as I can get. Okay, so some of the aforementioned movies aren't exactly happy movies, but they are girly and I can relate to them. So someone remind me why I'm explaining myself? I like what I like and everyone else can deal with it. I made a wish list on half.com of all of the movies I want that I can possibly think of, so maybe for my birthday, which is just around the corner in April, I'll get a few more. Or an Ebay gift card would be nice, too. Maybe I'll add a movie a month to my collection.

In closing, I have to share what Travis said to me yesterday. I don't know if it was funny or sad or a little bit of both. A couple days ago, Travis wanted to watch one of his new "Thomas the Train" DVDs he got for Christmas. Well as everyone knows, when you first put a movie in, it takes a minute for the actual movie to start. So with that, Travis, in an urgent little voice, exclaims, "Hurry up and start the movie before Daddy gets back and changes the channel!" My chin hit the floor because that was probably the longest, most complex sentence I've ever heard come out of a 3-year-old's mouth." Jacob said something new the other day, too. I put in one of his new Blues Clues movies he got for Christmas, and as soon as it came on, Jacob stood in front of the TV, pointed, and said "Blue! Blue!" I nearly melted!! My babies never cease to amaze me!

Goodnight!

So how was everyone's Christmas? It's depressing, as always, that it's over, but I actually made myself take down most of the decorations today. We took the tree down Sunday, and what a mess and a half THAT was. It took me 3 hours (no exaggeration) to get the tree needles out of my carpet. Of course, it didn't help that my poor cheapo vaccum practically choked on the needles and I had to unstop it twice.

How about the fact that the Memphis area had a "White Christmas" though? On Christmas Day, we all went sledding over at my Mother-in-law's house, and that was a hoot. We didn't have actual sleds, we just used whatever we could find. The "whatever" was some green plastic rubbermaid container lids, and some large pieces of cardboard. What made the day even more dramatic was that Michael's brother got stuck coming up the steep driveway, and so when Steve (Michael's brother-in-law) tried to help Michael's brother get his car up the hill, he slid backwards, and smacked into a tree. Merry Christmas! Then we were late getting to my parents' house afterwards, because we were actually smart and parked at the bottom of the hill, and my Mother-in-law's truck has 4-wheel drive, and Steve was using it to give all the "smart" folks a ride, two at a time, to and from their vehicles.

So in case anyone's actually wondering, here's what I got for Christmas:

From Michael:
1. $100 gift card to Cato (in case you didn't know, a clothes store), which I already spent yesterday on a poncho, 3 sweaters, a skirt, 2 pairs of earrings and a necklace.
2. A box of Bath & Body Works stuff...Black Raspberry Vanilla scented body spray, lotion and creamy body wash, and a Warm Vanilla Sugar scented jar candle.3. A box of Victoria's Secret stuff...a black nighty with thong undies...yes, thongs...no, I will not post pictures, lol, a set of 8 mini perfumes, red "candy" PJ's, and a cute Christmas ornament looking thing that had 3 shades of lip gloss in it
4. 3 DVDs...Spiderman, Spiderman 2, and 13 Going On Thirty
5. Thomas Kinkade light-up chapel with a working clock in it
6 . Thomas Kinkade calendar

From my In-laws:
$100 Walmart gift card, which I already spent yesterday on new couch pillows, a toaster, a blender, a lamp for my piano, and a DVD cabinet.

From my parents:
1. DVD/VCR combo player (which is actually mine and Michael's together)
2. A framed photo of my Dad from his retirement
3. A set of large drinking glasses...very much needed
4. A camisole...also very much needed
5. Set of fruit kitchen towels
6. Set of snowman towels
7. Clear snowman serving bowl
8. Bath & Body Works stuff...Sheer Freesia Scented body spray, lotion, shower gel, and hand soap
9. Sewing kit
10. Fleece pajamas

From my aunt:
A giant snowman cookie jar filled with cookies

From my grandma:
A set of Christmas towels and wash cloths

All in all, I guess you could say that I was very fortunate this Christmas and got a lot of nice stuff, as well as some very useful, practical items. Kind of a nice balance between the things I wanted and the things I needed.

I gave Michael:
1. Two PS2 games he wanted: Smackdown vs. Raw, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
2. A shirt & tie set
3. A Mississippi State sweatshirt
4. A Mississippi State mini replica helmet
(Note: DO NOT freak out, anyone, he likes State a little bit. It's perfectly okay to keep up with other teams sometimes. Besides, what do you get a Tiger fan that already owns everything in the freaking Tiger Bookstore? lol, Plus, it's not like it's OLE MISS!)
5. A Memphis Tigers jacket (which I gave to him early for the bowl game)
6. Bowl game tickets (which obviously I gave to him early). Sorry I couldn't ask Santa to let the Tigers win :(

Michael got from his parents:
$100 bill, which they called a "Universal Gift Card", which he's already spent a good chunk of on various stuff.

Michael got from my parents:
A massive tool set. Which of course, I've already told Michael they are "my tools", lol.

The kids got massive amounts of toys...far too many to list. It took me like a whole day just to get everything opened out of their boxes and put away somewhere in their rooms. They each got one pair of PJs and Travis got some socks too, but other than that, everything else was toys and books.

And to think, only 360 shopping days until Christmas!