Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Random Updates

It's been a crazy week. I don't have the energy to blog these days and I suspect blog posts will be sporadic until after the holidays. So here's a general over view.
Last Wednesday was Hefty's birthday so in keeping with our tradition I picked him up from school to take him out to lunch. We enjoyed our Big Boy meal complete with free birthday surprise and serenade. It was a rare one on one opportunity for me and I thoroughly enjoyed his company and conversation.


And then late that night (after we returned from gymnastics) we let him open his presents....you know...the gift that takes me out of the running for the Parent of the Year Award....the pellet gun.

The birthday celebration continued on Friday night with the rest of my family at Buca Di Beppos for dinner. We ate with the Pope in the Pope's room.






Saturday I joined my friends for a full 15 hour scrapbooking event. 9am - 12 midnight. That's a full 15 hours with no children. A full 15 hours with no housework. A full 15 hours to do absolutely anything I wanted. I've been paper scrapbooking for the past 12 years since Hefty was born and LOVE it. But I have recently discovered digital scrapbooking and LOVE it even more. As I mentioned in a previous post I've been working hard at completing a heritage album for my Grandma for Christmas and so I spent the entire 15 hours working on that. Still not done but I made a small dent.
Here's my laptop with a couple of the pages I completed.

Sunday we had an appointment to see a photographer for our annual Christmas family photo. Why does this always have to be so painful? Seriously. I dread it every year because no sooner do I say "We are going for family ph...." and my kids all start the "whocancomplainthemost competition." I declared it a tie.
More on that in a future post.
We returned home and hubby removed the not so humble abode of the wasps taking up residence in the tree in our front yard. EEK! And then had to dissect it. Check out the size of this bad boy!


Also, upon returning home from the photo session we discovered that Dreamy had 102 degree fever and he remained in this position for the rest of the afternoon.


And since I'm on a role with the photos...this is how Smurfette spent her Sunday afternoon.


I've spent every spare moment working on the heritage album as I'm in a bit of a panic about it. I had hoped to make one for each Grandma but that's just not happen'n. I'm a little freaked out about what to get Grandma #2 now. Any suggestions?
And while I've been slaving away over my laptop. My wonderful saint of a husband (who is on vacation this week) has spent the last few days working around the house. He spent most of Saturday and part of Sunday doing yard work. He cleaned out our entire garage and stored all the patio furniture for the winter. He spent all of Monday (and I do mean ALL) cleaning our basement. I wish I had before and after photos cuz he did a jaw dropping job. Seriously. My hubby's the bomb.
We had hoped to get some Christmas shopping done these last couple days with the kids in school but due to feverish son on Monday and feverish daughter today that didn't happen. So it looks like I'll be flying the shopping solo again this year as hubby is leaving to go out of town for work next week and then again the following week. My mom's birthday is coming up. My husband's birthday is coming up. My daughter's birthday is coming up. I'm having Christmas day at my house. I'm having another family Christmas party 2 days later. And then we're also having our annual New Years Eve party (yes, I'm already stressing about events that arent's even occuring for another 5-6 weeks). Hubby is going out of town. I'm not even close to being done with Christmas shopping. My kids are sick. I'm never going to finish this heritage album. And I'm stressed.
I fully realize that there are women out there who work full time and still do all this and more with a relaxed smile on their face. But in case we've just met....I don't do stress well. I don't do chaos well. I'm easily overwhelmed. It's a character flaw that I am very well aware of. I freak out very easily. And I'm kinda freak'n out.

15 comments:

Kelly said...

hey we've eaten in the Pope's room with the Pope! LOL

April said...

The Pope thing cracked me up!
You've had a whole lot going on and more to come. I'm glad to hear, for the most part, it's nothing terrible.Try not to let it stress you out too much. Enjoy it as much as you can.
Glad to see Hefty still has both eyes :)

Melissa ♥ Spoiled Mommy said...

WOW!!!!!
You sound very busy indeed!

Your son-totally gorgeous!
Looks like he was happy with the gift!

Scrapbooking & digital, Im jealous...that looks really nice!

Oh my gosh wasp nest!! YIKES!

Sorry about the fever...your weekend sounded like mine a lot. My husband cleaned, sick kids...grr!

And Im feeling your pain about upcomng events...mine is like that TOO!! xmas, parties, daughter bday, other daughter bday, my bday, etc

All I can say is good luck!
Happy Thanksgiving...sit back and try and enjoy it.

Tracey said...

Love the Pope Head room....and that wasp nest is amazing! Naughty, naughty...a pellet gun...can't wait to see the posts that come from that!

FlourGirl said...

I've always wanted to eat at the Pope table. Which reminds me, we haven't been to Buca in a while...

BTW, who are these working moms that can do it all with a smile on their face? Because I wanna go punch 'em sometimes. I'm with you...I love to entertain and usually get myself in over my head which of course leads to stress and yelling. *sigh* When will we learn to just say no??

Ashley said...

Hang in there!

Those scrapbooking pages look awesome!!! Can't wait to see how the family photos turned out!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Kate said...

I'm with ya, my friend. Life is stressing me out too. Good for you taking a day for yourself and scrapbooking - what fun!

We can only hope that everything will just work out the way it's supposed to. :)

Marni's Organized Mess said...

Wow! What a catch up! I'm glad I am not the only one slacking. Thanks for making me feel better. :)

Sorry the pics didn't work out... that would royally bum me out. :(

auntie said...

The digital scrapbooking looks amazing! Take some deep breaths. Somehow, everything that's REALLY important will get done. When I get all stressed like that I try to take a step back and re-evaluate everything that's on my list. Try to cross a few things off that probably don't matter to anyone but you. And then delegate.

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful!

Christy said...

Busy! Wow - you really have your plate full! I have been trying to finish a scrapbook of Izzy's first year for my mother. It is so time consuming.

I have a question - how do you have the digital scrapbook pages printed?

Mama Smurf said...

I do it all with the Creative Memories digital program. And then when I complete a book I upload it the whole thing onto the CM website and they print it into a hard cover bound book. It is SO cool! When I finish it and get the book in the mail I'll take photos of it and share it on my blog. You don't have to do it through CM though. There are many other photo websites that do the same thing. I use CM because I'm not very techno savy and so find the program to be very user friendly. Many people do the same type of thing on their Photoshop program and then have them printed on other photo websites but I can't for the life of me figure out how to use Photoshop. Too complicated for me. If you need or want info on the CM program let me know. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

I don't do stress well either. I tend to calm myself with things like chocolate and wine, so clearly, I can't give you advice. Maybe you should have asked the pope for a blessing while you had the chance?

Unknown said...

I LOVE eating in the Pope's room! And I love Buca . . . so bummed ours closed about 6 months ago :-(

I hear ya on the stressin' about things that are coming up . . . but if you don't think about them now, then you find you run out of time to get everything done in time. You'll get it all done . . . make that list and cross things off :-) One thing at a time - it's all you can do! Well, besides some heavy drinking . . .that helps as well.

Colleen - Mommy Always Wins said...

Have a cocktail and breathe, woman! You'll do alright!

And I'm seriously comin' to MI with the entire family. I'm going to crash your scrapbooking party while your hubby trains mine in the fine art of FINISHING PROJECTS.

Except it'll have to be after Christmas cuz dood - I have SHIT done.

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