Happy New Year!

I've been reading other blogs about how people have fared over this past year and it's made me think about my own life. Everyone has their ups and their downs. I'm very grateful that right now, things are going well in my own life.

I feel loved.

That's huge. Some people search their whole lives looking for that feeling. I just started thinking about the people I could list that I am absolutely sure love me and I can count on. It's about ten cherished souls. I am so grateful.

I feel like I've come through a dark tunnel at last.

Part of this year has been really hard. Harder than I ever thought I'd have to deal with. Death, loss of friends, uncertainty in life... it all just feels like a huge weight sometimes. But, God really does heal through time. The hurts don't really disappear, but they stop feeling so gut-wrenching and the tears become less frequent.

I guess I'm just sitting here tonight feeling happy. Happy that I can love. Happy to feel loved. Happy to be holding my loved ones close. Happy for all the small things that I cherish in life. It's a wonderful way to start the new year.

I'll close this post with the words a friend of mine shared on Facebook today. I found the words to be very moving. They are words from a Jewish prayer book.

May we lie down this night in peace and rise up to life renewed. May night spread over us a shelter of Peace, of quiet and calm, the blessing of rest.

There will come a time when morning will bring no word of war, or famine or anguish; there will come a day of happiness, of contentment and peace.

Praise be the source of joy within us, for the night and its rest, for the promise of peace.

Ick

Tomorrow I get new glasses... and not just any new glasses... BIFOCALS, the no-line kind.

I'm just not so sure how these are going to work out... I had to pick out NEW FRAMES too (always a trauma). Usually, I just pick out a bunch and choose from the ones my husband likes the best (since he's the one that has to look at me the most). :) BUT, this time I IGNORED him (OH NO!) and went with what my daughter and both sales people liked. Uh-oh! These are a whole new shape and smaller than I've ever worn. What have I DONE?????

I'll take a picture as soon as I'm having a good hair day... which may not be until mid-Jan. when I get my roots done. :)

In the meantime, wish me luck! I feel OLD. Bifocals. YUCK. How did 45 get here so fast???

On a plus note, while pondering my new frames choices, I paced around the mall and found an ENTIRE $80 outfit for only $24 at Christopher and Banks. How often does THAT happen? NEVER! I'm THRILLED. I think I'm going to tell everyone that I bought it to go with my new glasses. :) Best part, I can steal my daughters brand new black suede boots to go with it. (hehehe) Pay her back for permanently "borrowing" my new sheepskin-lined WARM boots and letting my poor feet FREEZE in these low temps we've been having. :)

Random thoughts...

Today the kids are hiding from me b/c they remember I said it was haircut day. I wonder where they are? ;)

The Christmas tree... well, I'm wanting to take it down today and put most of the decorations away. I always wait until New Year's Day. This is odd. I shall try to resist.

All Matt's new toys won't fit in his room. I was afraid of this. It is time to purge the Rescue Heroes. I think I will mind more than he will. I love the Rescue Heroes.

What I should REALLY do today is defrost the upright freezer in the basement. Goody. Pretty sure I can find enough to do upstairs so I can rationalize putting that off (again).

I have HUGE news in that someone close to me is having their first baby. I am keeping mum under extreme duress. I've always felt that kind of news is best told by the people actually having the baby... and this blog feeds into my Facebook page... sooo... but, I'm VERY excited!

Tommy got an electric scooter for Christmas that goes 15 mph. I think he feels like Superman riding this thing. It is COOL. He's a very careful kid, so I am not nervous about him riding it or anything, but I'll still be mother hen and remind him to be careful... every second or so. ;)

Steelers have a chance at the play-offs. I'd love to see that happen! Sunday is going to be nerve-wracking! Right now, I bet they are really regretting letting the Browns beat them. That never should have happened.

My online buddy, Speedy, is making me pay for popcorn in his movie theater and I'm rebelling and sneaking in my own snacks. So there. HA! ;) (Daisy, are you with me? I'm bringing homemade caramel corn drizzled with dark chocolate. Speedy, I'd be happy to let you buy some. hahahaha)

My gene pool rears it's ugly head

I have 3 kids. Two have so far escaped wearing glasses. My youngest has my eyes. Darn. For some silly reason I was hoping that since Matt has blue eyes and I have green... that maybe he escaped. Not so. Wouldn't it be nice if you could tell by color?

About 6 weeks ago, he came home with the classic complaint... couldn't see the board at school. He was in tears over a failed quiz in music class because he couldn't see what she was writing on the board. So, I made the eye appt. and asked for a seat closer to the board. All was well.

Every day, "Mom, is it time for my eye doctor visit yet?"

EVERY. DAY.

You have never known a child so excited to get glasses!

Finally, after a month of waiting, he had his exam. The doctor was surprised he could see much of anything clearly at all.

And then we all went to Lenscrafters. It was An Event.

He took about 2 seconds to choose his favorites.



Doesn't he look adorable?

Then, after thinking about soccer, and skateboarding, and sled riding... we decided a pair of sports glasses was in order. Giddiness ensued. ;)

Believe it or not... they had BLUE (super cool) sports glasses. BLUE. His favorite color.

AND the nice man who helped fit his glasses found him a BLUE glasses case.



Just when he thought life couldn't get any better, we decided he needed some easy way to keep the glasses clean. A brief internet search discovered this:



It's BLUE. It attaches to a belt loop so he can't lose it. It's at Radio Shack, a mere block away from our house.

Let's just say that I never guessed getting glasses could be so much fun and delight a child so much!

Lest anyone think I am dead...

I have not abandoned my poor lonely blog. I have at least 10 entries that I just need to finish up and post. Why is it so hard to do that sometimes?

In the meantime... some random thoughts...

Today I'm trying my second batch of homemade noodles... like grandma used to make. Only, hers were delicious. Mine are, well, iffy. They are kind of more like dumplings at the moment. But, I bought more flour and chicken broth and I'm ready to try again! I am so fortunate to have a family that is willing to try anything. :) One of my favorite memories is coming home from college to see family and then grandma sending me back with her special homemade noodles, so I wanted to see if I could replicate them. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow I start baking Christmas cookies. I LOVE this time of year! I think I appreciate it all the more for having worked in retail so long and not having the time for so many years. I absolutely revel in the spirit of the season. Cookies, anyone? I ship! ;)

Sunday our family is in charge of coffee hour for the first time. This could be interesting. But, I love the excuse to dig out my good serving platters and fill them up with (hopefully) yummy goodies. Sarah is going to bake her monster cookies with red and green M&M's. I'm doing my old standbys and trying some new ones too, like Peppermint Meltaways. For some reason, those just sound so delicious to me!

So, I'm doing all this AND trying to stay on my diet. hahahahaha Really. Don't laugh. ;)

I did just safely (or almost safely) make it through Sarah's birthday (on Thanksgiving) and Matt's birthday (this past Monday). Do you know how many cakes that involved all together? Go ahead. Guess. You'll never guess. SIX. That's right. We go a little overboard on celebrating birthdays around here. I LOVE birthdays.

Well, that's my randomness for the day. Now Speedy can quit bugging me about my dead blog. :) (Thanks, Speedy! Now, go harvest your dead crops in Farmville!!) ;) lol