Just Simply Holly

Today is the day I’ve been talking about for a few weeks now. The day I’ve looked forward to, as well as the day that is the start of an adventure that will involve one of my life’s dreams coming true. In just a few hours I will be meeting up with a very special friend and her daughter for a trip that is sure to change all our lives.

My friends daughter recently graduated from college and was hired by a company that wants her to come to work for them in California. It’s an amazing job and a true testimony to how hard this young lady has worked in her life in order to achieve her goals. So my friend and I are driving out to California with her daughter to get her set up in her new home and hopefully catch a few of the sites along the way!

I’m so proud of this young lady and the achievements she has obtained with her life, she has worked so hard and has not allowed the bumps in the road hold her up along the way! Her new job is on the west coast right now with the potential of taking her all over the world to places like New York, Washington State and possibly even the Outer Banks of the Carolina’s. No matter what is in store for this young lady I have no doubt she’ll do an awesome job that will take her far in life! But I also know that no matter how far away she goes, NW Ohio will always be home and her friends and family will be waiting anxiously for her to come home and visit!

I called out to my moms house last night to see if she was ready for the snow storm that is supposed to hit us today and my niece answered the phone. She is my very first niece, but not the only one now…LOL! But she holds a very special place in my heart and always will! She is now married and her son turned two this week and she just passed the third month of pregnancy with her second child, which is exciting for many reasons!

Although there isn’t going to be a baby shower for her this time around, I still want to try and find her a special gift that will help make things easier for having a second child in her life, especially since her first born has just hit the “terrible two” stage. I found something from amby baby that I think would benefit both her and the new baby. It is an Amby Motion Bed that looks similar to a baby swing, but it allows babies to feel that they are being swaddled while they are sleeping. And as a parent who had a child that was a restless sleeper, I recognize how important that swaddled feeling is for newborns and infants! I think this would be the perfect gift and that it would definitely make having a newborn a little easier.

For all but one of the 17 years that my husband and I have been together, we have had an artificial Christmas tree.  The main reason is because of the fact that I enjoy putting my tree up as early as possible, usually the week of Thanksgiving, if not the weekend before.  After Christmas last year I ended up tossing the artificial tree that I had used for several years, it was obvious that it was not in the best shape when I took it down.

My plan was to simply purchase a new artificial tree this year, but when I said something to my daughter about it she begged me to get a real tree this year instead.  I told her that I just didn’t think that was something I was interested in doing because of what happened the last time I had a real tree.  She, of course, wanted to know what happened, so I told her.  Several months AFTER Christmas, in the middle of summer, I went to walk out the front door of our home.  I was barefoot, as I am for most of the summer, and as my foot crossed the threshold of the door it “found” a single needle from the real Christmas tree that we had put up the past Christmas, that had lodged itself into the threshold of the door.  It was instant and extreme pain and at that moment I swore that I would NEVER have another live Christmas tree!

Of course, I  should have know to never say never…LOL!  We sat down as a family and I was out voted 3 to 1, meaning that this year we will have a real Christmas tree.  It’s not that I’m unwilling to try a real tree again, it’s just the fact that I love having my tree up earlier than is possible when you have a live tree.  Like I said, I usually put mine up the week of Thanksgiving and it usually stays up until mid January.  I LOVE looking at the Christmas tree, it’s one of the most peaceful feelings!  If we have a real tree it means that it can’t go up until a week before Christmas and that it will come down shortly after Christmas.  And I’m one of those people that when the tree comes down, ALL of the Christmas decorations come down as well.  But, I was out voted, so there isn’t much I can do about it.  Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it, and hey, you never know, I might actually like having a real tree more!

My sister called me yesterday. I had emailed her earlier in the day asking about Thanksgiving dinner this year. I wasn’t sure if it was our mother’s year to cook or not, and if it wasn’t, I was going to be brave and volunteer to have dinner this year. While we were talking she mentioned that mom was going shopping that night because her favorite store was having a sale on winter coats, and she wanted to know if my kids needed new coats this year. On top of the great sale price mom also had a coupon for another 30% off her total purchase. I said that yes, they actually do need coats this year because they both had major growth spurts since last winter. We talked for a while and one thing led to another and I decided to head up to Michigan and meet them so that I could maybe pick up a few bargains myself and get my shopping started!

We got great deals on coats for both kids and managed to find a few other things that I know they are going to love! I also managed to find some size “0″ jeans on a sale rack for $7.99 for my daughter, take the additional 30% off that $7.99 sale price and you’ve got jeans for less than six dollars a pair, now that’s a price you can’t beat! I also snagged up a super cute sweater for my daughter and a really rad sweatshirt for my son!

We were all being very silly while in the store, I think it was just the fact that it was the first time the three of us had been shopping together since the day after Thanksgiving last year. We decided we were going to walk through the store and see if we could snag up any other great buys, but ended up doing things like trying on silly hats, spraying perfume in the aisles, turning on every musical stuffed animal we could find simultaneously and even tried on some of the biggest faux diamond rings I’ve ever seen in my life!

We had such a good time, it was nice to spend some silly time with my mom and sister!!  To see my mom laugh as hard as she was laughing really made me feel good!  After we were done shopping I went with my mom and helped her clean one of the offices she cleans, which I know she was thankful for the extra help.  When we got there, my step father was already busy running the vacuum, so he had a good head start on us!  It didn’t take us much longer than a hour to finish up and afterwards the three of us went out to dinner.  This was the first time I had spent with my step father since he had surgery this fall for a lump in his neck.  Fortunately every thing turned out to be OK, but I know that it was a heck of a scare for him!

I had a nice night though, I don’t get to spend much time with my family even though they live about an hour away.  They’re all busy with their own lives and I always feel like I’m bothering them when I ask if it’s a good time to come up and visit.

My husband isn’t working out of town this week. As a matter of fact, he’s only worked one day this week which means he’s been here at home, driving me CRAZY! I’ve discovered that I’m so used to him being gone during the day and when he’s home he interferes with my TV “routine”. I like watching shows that are totally different from what he likes. For instance, right now I’m on a kick where I enjoy watching shows that showcase luxury homes, more specifically the type of luxury homes that will always be WAAAAAAAAY out of my price range. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

I just got off the phone with my mom, and before you freak, she’s OK, she’s not the one I’m going OMG over…LOL! While I was on the phone with her I could hear people in the background so I asked her who was there. She said that my brother and sister in law had come down with Landon, which is my brother and sister in law’s grandson. It’s so hard for me to believe that Landon is going to be 2 this year. Anyway, mom said that my brother came down to tell them that he has decided that he is going to retire next year on his 50th birthday and that he and his wife are looking for Scottsdale real estate. I guess he finally decided enough is enough after working the same job for almost 35 years. Yes, that’s right, my brother has held a job with the same company since he was 15, and yes, it was the first company he worked for…LOL!

You know, I may not have much to offer as far as things and money go, but the one thing that I do offer to the people in my life that are important to me is loyalty.  If there is something I can do to help them, I will, if they need to talk, I listen.  I just got a phone call from my sister a couple of minutes ago.  This is the same sister whom we helped paint and prepare her new home every weekend for 3 months charging them not a single dime for any of the work we did.  Yes, they did give us a beautiful entertainment center once they moved into their new home, but there was also another agreement between us and them as to a used Chevy S-10 pickup that we were to buy from them for $500.  They knew that we were waiting for our student loans to come in to buy this from them and they were perfectly fine with that.  That was until I talked to her this morning.  It appears as if someone has made them an offer on said truck and, well, they’re in a “bind” right now and really need the money.  Her exact words were “I know you guys are in a jam right now because of your car breaking down and that you’re basically down to one vehicle and you were planning on buying this, but we had someone else make an offer, so basically now it’s going to go to whoever brings us the cash first”.  EXCUSE ME!?!?!

I’m done!  I told my husband that it’s simply time for me to cut ties with my family!  I’m tried of crap like this!  I’m tired of being told one thing one minute then them turning around the next minute and changing their minds!  I’m tired of the fact that whenever she calls and says she needs me, whether it’s to come and help her do something or just someone to talk to, that I’m there for her, but when the table is turned, she could care less!  I’m just tired!

I’m honestly unsure how to feel. My 14 year old son has been “addicted” to an online game for quite some time now. It’s not a bad game, I’ve watched him play and have a monitoring program on the computer, so I know it’s nothing that is going to harm him, but he can sit and play it for hours on end without batting an eye. It’s caused a few heated arguments in our home, but nothing too outlandish. Anyway, last night he announced that he simply didn’t want to play it any longer. When I asked him why he said “I’m sick of sitting at the computer and there is something else that I want to do again”. Imagine my surprise when he said he was giving it up because he wanted to get back into RC helicopters. This is something that he and his dad used to do several years ago. His dad is THRILLED that they’ll be getting them back out again!

In less than an hour I’ll be leaving to head to my moms house for her annual Labor Day picnic, a.k.a. “family reunion”.  Attending will be my mom and step father, my moms 3 children along with their spouses, children and grandchildren and my step fathers 3 children along with their spouses and children and probably their childrens boyfriends/girlfriends.  All in total, there will be roughly about 40 people attending.

If I had my way, I’d be staying at home today, for more than one reason.  My main reason for wanting to stay home today is simply because I still have homework to catch up on and I’m still not feeling 100% good.  My other reason(s) for not wanting to go has to do with the fact that I cannot stand being around my family.  I am a VERY down to earth person, I put little to no importance on “things”, what means the most to me are the people in my life with whom I have true relationships, none of which are any members of my family.

As I sit here, knowing that I need to get ready, I keep having minor panic attacks.  My heart is literally pounding out of my chest.  I totally dislike being around these people and their falseness!  I hate the fact that they pretend to give a crap about me and my children, when I know for a fact that they could care less.  I’ve spent the last several years of my adult life doing my best to distance myself from people like this because I know how being around them affects me.  But I’m going today for my mom.  As much as I want to tell every single member of my family where to go and how to get there, I know that I can’t because of the effect it will have on her.  And I know how much of herself she puts into this party, and I know how much it would hurt her if I didn’t come.  So, I guess I’d better get ready so that I can go make my appearance and put on my fake smile and pretend like I give a crap about other people who are pretending to give a crap about me.  Sounds like fun huh?  Wanna come with me?

It’s funny, I have had my office up here to myself since I started going to school last year. Other than to pop in and say hello or talk, I’ve been alone up here for the most part. Now that my hubby is going to school as well, I keep finding him up here more and more. He says he likes it because it’s a quiet place to study and get his work done. So now I’m thinking a need a different type and size of desk that we both could sit at together. Thankfully Century furniture has one that I not only love; it will allow the two of us plenty of room to study together!