Lori's Minute

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Conversations

While Pete was at the Packer game two weeks ago, it was around 25 degrees. He had heating pads for his hands and feet. He was sitting there and said to the guys," I am warmer now than I am watching the game on the tv in our family room!" (I keep the thermostat pretty low in our house).

Last night when we went to bed, my son was already asleep on the chair in our room for a couple of hours. I turned out the light and said, "Good night. Pete, Good night, Spanky" and then added "Good night, Luke" since he was in the room. We heard a little voice say, "Night!" We laughed and laughed.....I asked him the next morning if he remembered saying it and he said "No" but he did wonder why we were laughing in the middle of the night.

Every day I walk my six year old to school. Now, when I walked my daughter, as she left, she would always turn around and wave. Even as she got older and I watched her leave the house, she would look back at the door and wave. Not my son, he just keeps walking. THe other day, he turned around and waved so I smiled and waved back thinking it was great. When I went to pick him up, the first thing he said was, "Mom, I was NOT waving at you but my friend, Lydia!"

A couple nights before Christmas, my son asked me to tell him a story while he was in bed so I talked about the Christmas story. I talked about the angels, Joseph and Mary and no room at the inn so she had the baby in the stable and placed him on the hay in the manger. I talked about the three wise men and the star. He asked me a question which I prepared myself for but not the question he asked. "Mom, how did they keep the goats from eating the hay in the manger?" Gosh, I have no idea...

Last night I paid the bills. I said to the hubby to watch his spending the next couple of weeks. He nodded while staring at his laptop. This morning he called to see if he could go to the Packer playoff game this weekend because his sister had a oouple of tickets. JUST GO ALREADY!!!!! Seriously, I am glad he can go but his birthday is coming up and this will be his gift. (Father's Day gift, too).

Have a good one, people!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Holidays

I had a nice holiday. I have reached the point in my life where I do not want anything for Christmas except to see the people I love happy.

Christmas Eve we went to church then to my mother's house where we opened gifts along with my brother's family. It was funny because when my sister-in-law and I exchanged gift cards, we were both embarassed because we could not remember the amount we got for each other! Then we went home to find our stockings had been filled while we were gone.

The next morning we got up to more gifts. My son got a bike among other things and my daughter got her video games and American Girl items along with a robe and slippers. I looked at my pile and noted that one could tell from looking at it that it was definetly a 'Mom' gift pile....a necklace, perfume, a book, a new bath scrungee with bath soaps and a yoga dvd. The same could be said for hubby's pile....a bunch of shirts for work, a computer game, a new showerhead and some tickets to a concert.

Later we headed to the in-laws in Neenah leaving our dog at home. There we had more gifts and a good meal. There is something special about walking into a house that smells like good food, ya know? We also played a family version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and I made it all the way to the million dollar question which I should have gotten but blanked out so I guess I am not smarter than a fifth grader which I knew anyway. Sometimes I think a mosquito is smarter than me.

I did make a resolution to get into better shape and to try to get the house in order. THe worst room is my daughter's room. She was supposed to clean it but she has been sick. For the last three days I have been cleaning her room...the first day it took all day to haul out all the stuff, wash the bedding and vacuum the floor. The second day I emptied out the two dressers and washed all her clothes and put the dressers back in the room. I was so angry the first day I told her if she messes it up, I am taking the item and she will have to do chores to get it back. At least the second day I put on a John Denver cd (back to my high school days) and sang my brains out while cleaning so that made it easier. THe third day I went through most of the toys but I still have two bins to go through. I also managed to get all her books in order and went through all her doll house furniture. We are going to redo the house which my dad built for me but the walls and floors need to be redone just like a normal house! Now I have to find room in the basement for the stuff that is not going back into her room, garbage can or to the Salvation Army. (Three bags of garbage, people! Mostly empty packaging, tissues and broken toys).

Today she is home sick...she has had a bad cold for about a week. She goes to the doctor tomorrow if she is not better. My son tested for his first martial arts belt and should get the belt tonight so that is something to look forward to.

This post is much longer than I thought it was going to be....sorry about that!

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!