Just Simply Holly

Good morning and happy Wednesday! I wish I could say I was up and at’em this morning, but I’m struggling to wake up…LOL! The trip to Baltimore went very well and we arrived safely Monday afternoon just before 4. We had a really nice evening with my step daughter, as well as her boyfriend and grandmother and everyone fell asleep fairly early…LOL! We woke up around 8 yesterday morning got some coffee, sat out on the deck for a while talking then decided that we really needed to get our stuff packed up and hit the road because we had a 500 mile trip home ahead of us!

It was much more difficult than I thought it would be to pull out of that driveway and leave the kids there. I was on the brink of tears when my husband handed me a piece of paper and said “It’s a letter from brat gurl, she told me not to give it to you until we had driven away”. By the end of the first sentence, I was crying like a baby…LOL. The first sentence read, “While we are away, please don’t leave or get rid of any of the dogs, PLEASE”…..LOL! The hubby and I haven’t been doing the best lately and the stress we’ve been under has caused a few more arguments than what we normally have, and she’s been terrified that we’re going to split up. I’ve assured her that all parents argue and that just because we’re arguing it doesn’t mean we’re doing to get a divorce, but apparently she hasn’t believed me.

She went on in the letter to tell us to “NEVER, EVER, EVER drive fast because it could lead to bad things and I don’t want bad things to happen while I’m gone” and reminded us to take care of the dogs for her, which cracked me up because she doesn’t take care of the dogs when she’s here…LOL! And she ended her letter by saying “I love you guys very much and I will probably be having too much fun to miss you…..LOL, JUST KIDDING”, which really made me laugh! It’s definitely going to be strange for these next 23 days, but I have no doubt that they’re going to have a wonderful time with their sister!

The trip home went fairly well, although we ran into a HORRIBLE storm east of Cleveland that slowed traffic on the turnpike down to under 30 MPH with limited to times of no visibility! The rain was horrible and the strong winds were mind blowing!! I managed to get a picture of the sky just before we drove into the storm as well as a picture of traffic while the rain was coming down.

Heading into the storm

During the storm

We drove through heavy rain for about half an hour, during that time traffic never went about 30 MPH except a few idiots, which added some time to the trip home, but that’s OK, we stayed safe, and to the best of my knowledge, there were no accidents from the people that refused to slow down!

The rest of the trip went safely, and fairly quickly too. But with about 20 miles left until we were home, my van started acting up. We watched the gages on the dashboard, but none of them ever fluctuated, and we eventually realized that what was going on with the van was not engine related, but transmission related. Fortunately we did make it home, but unfortunately I’m going to have to replace or repair my transmission before we make the trip back out there on the 3rd of August I’m going to go through all these coupon books that we get in the mail and see if I can find a good deal anywhere around town to get it fixed. My hubby called around last night and he found a rebuilt one for about $400, but he’d have to put it in here in the driveway and I really don’t want him to have to do that! So cross your fingers for me, or if you know of any great transmission repair shops in my area, drop me a note and let me know!

I’m just really glad that we made it home rather than breaking down on the turnpike, that would have been horrible!

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And yes, before you say anything, I do know that I spelled that wrong…LOL! I was talking with my son this morning in the midst of the morning rush to get ready. I remembered to tell both of my children Happy Valentine’s Day. My daughter replied back with an “I’m busy mom; I don’t have time to play”. *SIGH* I think that “officially” means she’s growing up!

Gone are the days of mulling over the various types of Valentines the minute they hit the shelves. The quest to find “THE” perfect Valentines Cards that would make them the most popular kid in class isn’t something I have to worry about any more. But even though these aren’t things that I have to do again, it doesn’t mean that the years of Valentines memories will leave me. No, those memories are something that I will have and cherish for years to come.

But I think the one that stands out to me the most is the year my oldest child was in kindergarten. He stood there in the store looking at all the different Valentines Cards for what seemed like forever until choosing the one that he thought was just right. Even though it was still a few weeks until Valentine’s Day, he was too excited about filling in his name and the names of his classmates, so we sat down at the table as soon as we got home to get started at the task at hand.

My son was so proud as he sat at the table filling out his first Valentines cards. He was excited at the thought of taking them to school and sharing them with his classmates and it was an almost constant argument until Valentine’s Day, explaining to him why he couldn’t take them to school yet. But when he woke up on Valentine’s Day he knew the days of arguing were over, today was THE day that he could finally take his treasured cards to school to share with his friends and the thought made him smile ear to ear with his silly little toothless grin.

When he got home that afternoon he told me that there was something in his backpack “Just for you mommy”. When we walked through the door he pulled open his backpack and handed me a folded and crinkled piece of red construction paper and proudly exclaimed “Happy Valentimes Day mommy, will you be my Valentime”. On the red construction paper he had drawn a heart with a white crayon and had made his best attempt at writing “I Love You” and signed his name.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to remember the special moments like this that I have had with my children! My oldest is now 15 and my “baby” is just a few months away from turning 13, so they are a few years past being “little” kids now. The days of nonstop silliness and “Valentimes” cards have been replaced teenage bickering and arguing. But I will always treasure the moment that my 6 year old son asked me to be his Valentime!

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Yeah, I know, we just got past Christmas. But to be honest, we’re only a few weeks away from Valentines Day! And if you plan on buying a gift for your special someone online, then you really need to start thinking about gift ideas soon! So here are some of the things that I’m going to put on my Valentines wish list for my hubby:

• Chocolate, especially those chocolate covered raspberry basket things I’ve seen at a local chocolates store!
• Although I’m not usually a flower person, for once I’d LOVE to get a dozen roses!
• Jewelry, or more specifically, diamond pendants!
• Something to make me feel pampered like a manicure or a pedicure!
• Dinner and a movie!  Let’s face it, as parents we don’t get many date nights, even though our kids are teens!  You can’t leave these two alone for more than an hour without the cell phone ringing with one of them on the other end whining about something the other one is doing.

So, what kinds of gift ideas are you going to give your special someone for Valentines Day this year?  I’d really love to hear some of the neat ideas that you’ve come up with!

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One thing that I am absolutely thrilled about as far as this years Christmas is the fact that it was so stress free that I didn’t have a single migraine. This is a definite plus for me when you take into account that I normally use more of my migraine medications during the holidays than I do the rest of the year. I think what attributed the most to my lack of stress was the fact that my whole outlook on life in general feels completely different than it has in a very long time! Now lets just hope I can keep this mind set going and keep from having a migraine for a very long time!

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This time of year is difficult in many ways.  December is the anniversary of my fathers death, which I still struggle with many years later.  I also am already suffering from my “winter blues”, even though it’s just a few days into December.  Trying to deal with my family adds even more stress to my life this time of the year, and my sister, in particular, is really pushing her limits with me.

We’re in a very difficult spot financially right now, with no hope for it letting up any time soon.  Bills are piling up and the fridge is almost bare.  So my thoughts are on getting the bills paid as soon as possible and getting some food in the fridge, then, if there is anything left, we’ll worry about Christmas.  About a month ago my sister made mention that the six of us kids were going to go in on one big gift for my mom and step dad that would be their Christmas present and their gift for their 70th birthdays, which are just 4 days apart.  She wanted to know if I would be able to go in on this, and I told her that it did not look like I would be able to, but that if it changed, I would let her know.  She called me last night giving me details for the party, asking if I could bring a veggie tray, and reminding me that my husband would not be allowed to attend since my step father was going to be there.  I said no problem to the veggie tray and told her that we had already planned on the fact that my hubby wouldn’t be able to attend and that it wasn’t a problem.  She then asked again about my going in on the gift, of which my share would be more than $150.  As nicely as I could, I explained to her that we were so low on food that I had to make noodles from scratch for dinner that night, to which she said “Oh my God, I wish I had as much free time as you do so that I could cook like that, but are you sure you won’t be able to pitch in, because I don’t want you to be upset because your name is not on the card”.  It took ever ounce of energy for me to keep my calm enough to be able to tell her know and finish the call.  She just has no clue as to what it is like to need, nor do I think she ever will.

So tonight I sit here, wondering what is in store for myself and my family.  I know that we will make it through this difficult time, we always do.  But right now, it’s difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

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I am happy to say that I survived Black Friday 2007 and I hope that if you went out this morning in the week hours of the morning to grab those early morning deals that the retailers that were offering that you survived as well!  I spent the night with my mom last night and she and I were up at 2:30 this morning and out the door shortly after3:00 so that we could be ready to hit Kohl’s when they opened at 4:00 this morning.  I was able to grab a couple of the micro fleece blankets they had for $7.99 as well as a few things for the kids.  My mom got  some great deals on clothes for the kids and she also got my gift, which is a gorgeous comforter set for my bed.  From Kohl’s we headed over to Walmart where I snagged up my new crockpot and a pair of memory foam slippers.  I also managed to get 4 oversized bath towels in 2 packs for $3.84 per package.  Other than that, there really wasn’t much at Walmart that we wanted.

After Walmart we went and grabbed breakfast and planed our next stops which were Kmart, the mall (JC Penney, Sears, Aeropostle and Elder Beerman), then ran to Meijer.  At that point I was tired (it was 9:00), and I was fed fed up with my step sister in law, who met up with us a Kohl’s at 4:00 AM and had yet to do anything but whine even though she hadn’t bought a damn thing!  After the fiasco with her and her daughters last year my sister swore they’d never go with us again, only to insist that they ride with us from the time we left Kohl’s.  So I informed my mom that I would not be going next year if they were going, I have nothing but disgust for this woman.  I have tried for years to be decent to her and treat her with respect, even though she has always been a bitch to me in the 24 years I’ve known her, but no matter what I do, no matter how many times I try to talk to her and be nice to her, she is nothing but a bitch to me.  And in the 4 hours that she “hung out with us” this morning without buying a single thing, she constantly whined and then examined everything that my mother bought as well as making sure she knew what my mothers total purchases came to.  It makes for a VERY unenjoyable experience, and frankly I’m done!  Next year I’ll go out with my hubby and we can shop just the two of us.  By then the kids will be 13 and almost 16 and more than old enough to be home alone during the wee hours of the morning.

But, I’m HOME!  I will be heading out again in a couple of hours to take my daughter to her favorite store so we can grab a few things that we have coupons for.  Other than that, I’m not going ANYWHERE the rest of the weekend…LOL!

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After spending a couple of years dealing with a VERY crappy digital camera, I finally broke down and purchased my Kodak Z710 in January. It was so amazing to see the difference in how much better my photos turned out on my new camera versus the old one that I had been using!

For instance, on December 24, 2006, we took the kids to an NFL football game. I had the old camera and we had some pretty good seats, but the pictures that I took of the field were the pits. Here is one of the pictures of the field that I took with the old camera.

But this past August my hubby and I went to another NFL game and although we still had some pretty good seats, they weren’t as good as the ones from December. But this time I had my Kodak for picture taking, and even though the batteries weren’t charged, the photos that I took of the field turned out awesome, as you can see for yourself from this photo.
Now, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for what I have, because I do truly love my Kodak digital camera. But with all things in life, we always want something bigger and better. So, if money were no object I’d LOVE to have a top of the line digital SLR camera like the Nikon D3! I’d love the ability to snap on one of it’s amazing zoom lenses so that I could zoom in and grab a close up shot of one of my favorite NFL players in action at the next game I go to! It would also be nice to be able to grab a shot of the deer and other wild life that frequent the woods on the back of our property since sneaking close to them to grab the shot isn’t a possibility!So if you’re sitting here reading this and have been wondering “Gosh, what can I get Holly for Christmas this year, you now know what the perfect thing to get me would be.!!

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Out of all of the people I buy Christmas gifts for, my husband, without a doubt, is the most difficult one to buy for. When I ask him for suggestions as to what he might like for a gift, I get the standard “Surprise me” answer. Now, if there is a type of answer to any question that I totally despise, it is an answer like that! I get an answer like that a lot from my son, no matter what question I ask him. But, back to my husband and shopping for his Christmas gift. I know of the many things that he likes, but he is not as specific about his dislikes.

For instance, I know for a fact that he loves all of the Detroit sports teams. As a child, his father would take him to as many baseball, football and hockey games as possible. And even though the Detroit baseball and football teams haven’t had many successful seasons, he’s still supported them as a fan. I also know of a few different movie stars and movies that he is a big fan of. For instance, one of his all time favorite movies is Easy Rider with Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. And one of his all time favorite actors is none other than Jack Nicholson. I also know that he enjoys watching The Three Stooges because we have several of their movies on DVD.

Knowing what I know about his likes, I’m leaning towards getting him a gift of some type of sports or movie memorabilia. I personally like this signed Easy Rider poster!

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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!

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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.

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