Christmas Presents

Tis the season to spend all your money buying people stuff that they may or may not even like.

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE giving to others. I'm one of those people. I invest a lot of thought into what we give each and every person (and not just for Christmas either). I want them to enjoy what we give them. I want them to be able to use what we give them. I want them to be surprised at how much thought we (ME) put into the gift.

Of course, I start planning late August/ early September for who we need to buy for and what we will give them. Because Ansleigh's birthday is in December, we (I) usually purchase her birthday present in September, her Christmas stuff in October, and everyone else in November....early November. Then I wrap and wrap and tie some bows and try to make everything look special.

Because I spend so much time on most of the gifts, I have really been thinking lately about the best presents I have been given. What were they? Why were they special? Were they the expensive ones? Something I desperately wanted? Maybe.

So here it is....my list of the best Christmas presents I have EVER gotten.

1. Bow Baby (who is much more of a tot now than a baby). She was due January 6th. We weren't going to be able to travel for the holidays. I was depressed and lonely. I went into labor 3 and 1/2 weeks early. I convinced myself it was Braxton Hicks. 48 hours later, I was holding my sweet precious baby in my arms. I got her for Christmas. And got to see our family. And was lonely no more. To be honest, she is the most special thing I have ever seen. She's been a bit pricey too :) and was for sure someone I was desperate to have.
2. The world's most amazing dollhouse....at least to me. I was somewhere around 2nd or 3rd grade. I had seen it in some dress shop in Gadsden that my momma always made us go to. I didn't mind so much because I played with the dollhouse the whole time. I enjoyed it but didn't ask for it. Didn't really think I'd ever get it. Little did I know, my parents scrimped and saved and spent every last penny to buy me that dollhouse. They spent HOURS putting the thing together Christmas Eve while we were sleeping. When I got up that morning, I saw it and fell in love. I can't even remember anything else I got for Christmas. I played with it for years and years and years. I still have it. And I plan on giving it to Ansleigh when she's old enough to enjoy it and not destroy it. The dollhouse was the Playmobil Grand Mansion. It isn't made anymore. And FYI, it currently sells on Amazon for $1,375.75. :) She better love it!

Of course, there have been other gifts over the years that have meant a lot to me (the necklace Anthony gave me our first Christmas together), the Coach purse my sister gave me when I was so desperate to have it, etc. But the two I explained have been my favorite. One, a gift from God, and the other, a gift from Santa (aka: the world's most sacrificing parents).

What have been your favorites and why?

Groceries

I just got home from the grocery store and I'm frustrated. I feel like I only have so many options when it comes to buying food for my family:

1. Buy whatever is on sale with whatever coupons I can find and just eat it. No matter how processed or fattening it is. At least I saved money.
2. Buy a few healthy foods and the rest of the cheap stuff. Still not spending a ton.
   
3. Buy all healthy foods (lower fat, lower calories, lower sodium) to keep myself from getting fatter than I already feel and spending a nice amount of moolah.
   
4. Buy organic and fresh and spend half a pay check to feed the family for two weeks.
   

Why??? Why does it have to be that way?

As a consumer, I want the healthy, organic, low fat, low sodium foods for cheaper than what most people buy. Since fewer people buy those options, shouldn't they lower the prices so they can sell more? Probably not but I want them to.

I don't want to have to scrape by in every other aspect of our budget just so we can have healthy food that doesn't take three gillion hours to prepare. Is that too much to ask?

Apparently, it is.


Also, as a side note, I went to the store (in the rain) in a hoodie with my hair piled on top of my head and was recognized by a student at Heritage. Wow. Embarrassing. Also, I had on zero make up. Gah! What a skank!!!

Friday Confessions

• Technically it is still Friday....11:21 p.m. so I can still call these that.
  
• I'm taking a break from wrapping 5 gillion Christmas presents.
  
• Most of them are pictures of Ansleigh...framed....wrapped in a box....with pretty paper....and sparkly, glittery, bows.
• Which means my floor is covered in red and green glitter. No stress...I've always wanted sparkly carpet so we're good.
  
• I'm also jamming out to Taylor Swift Christmas music while Anthony plays Modern Warfare 2. That's man-speak for "blowing stuff up."
  
• I lowered my calorie intake (as it had me at 1500 a day!!!). I started a week ago Tuesday so I've been doing it about a week and a half.
  
• I've lost three pounds. SWEET, SWEET, VICTORY!!!!
• That also means that I couldn't let myself buy the giant vat of popcorn last night at New Moon just to get the New Moon bucket. :(
• Sweet Carrie friend gave me hers :)
  
• I did get my sweet, sweet Jacob cup though. All is well with the world.
  
• Yesterday I painted my toenails this WICKED awesome shade of metallic brown with a hint of red. Hubs said it was "kind of Emo." HAHAHAHAHAHA.
• Taylor's dreaming of a white Christmas. Did you know that?
  
• I'm just dreaming of a COLD Christmas....as in, not 85 and sunny.
  
• Rarely ever do I care which teeny-bopper celebrity is dating the other teeny-bopper celebrity but I get a little giddy every time I think about the fact that Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift are dating. So sweet for them!!!!
  
• I'm lame. I know.
  
• I'm pretty sure I used my monthly quota of text messages all last night while at the movies.
  
• Oops. Sorry hunny!
• In less than four days I'll be in Alabama, which I am totally stoaked about. I'm trying (and have been all week) to refrain from keeping our suitcase out packed. At least until it is a reasonable time to do so.
  
• Ansleigh's been packed for about 3 weeks. Erm.
  
• My doctor's office was supposed to call in my "special" travel medicine today and didn't. The guy working the pharmacy just gave me the prescription anyway, called it an "emergency script" and didn't even charge me for it. I wonder if it was all my southern charm that had him under the influence? Or maybe he was just bored.
  
• Ok. Two more presents to wrap tonight. Must. Go. Do. That.
  

Have a great weekend!!!! Go see New Moon!!!

My Latest Rant

First of all, let me state that I am a FIRM believer that everyone has a right to their own opinion and it certainly does not need to be the same as mine.

Having said that...

This all started last night when a very dear friend of mine from high school posted the following as his facebook status:

Far be it for me to criticize the latest teenage-vampire-sex drama soon to appear at the local cinema, but even more ridiculous than this craze is the real life actions of the actors that star in the movie. It's bad enough they are all pot-smokers and goofy emo-types( parents, yall ok with that?) but everytime I see the guy that plays the main character, eddie or whatever you call it, I can't help but crack up.

The new "sexiest man in the world" always seems to have a pasty white complection, bed hair and pillow wrinkles, and always looks at a camera like he just cleaned out a bug-zapper.

This guy knows he is just an actor, not a REAL vampire, right? I think he's getting too carried away with his fame.

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Now you know I love me some Twilight. But again, he is perfectly entitled to feel this way. What irritates me is that all of this information is based on a stereotype that he's seen somewhere. His status indicates that he has not read the book (doesn't even know the characters names) WHICH IS FINE, but as a trained writer, it bothers me when people make statements without the facts or research to back them up. There is no knowledge of Robert Pattison or Kristen Stewart (including interviews) that seems to be a resource in this statement. Also, there is no sex in Twilight or New Moon, he can't prove the actors are pot heads, and RPat is pasty because he's from Britain.

Oh well. I suggested that he look into it a little more and he might have a different opinion. If he doesn't, that's great...at least he'll be informed. I was fine. Completely fine. Until someone else posted this:

I love it when i talk bad about it in restaurants and 13 year olds turn around and give me dirty looks. And where in the world are the christian Harry Potter Haters of the world. Why arent they raising up mobs in the streets over this series. I guess i missed the part in revelation about vampires being in the new world. or should i say...new moon.

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Really??? REALLY???

IT IS FICTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fiction. Fiction about mythical creatures. So is Harry Potter. So is The Chronicles of Narnia (that Christians revere). FICTION....you know...as in NOT REAL.

Now I'll be the first to admit that people have gotten carried away with Twilight. But still, why in the world would Christians raise up mobs over Harry Potter or Twilight? It isn't real and 90% of the people that read it know that.

The only biblical problem I can see would come in where someone is replacing Twilight (or Harry Potter) for their Christianity, daily quiet time, etc.

No, Vampires are not in Revelation. Neither are wizards. Or centaurs or any other mythical creatures. Guess what??? Hannah Montana, Facebook, and computers aren't biblical either!!!!! Does that mean we shouldn't use them?

I think no.

As Christians, we are called to be in the world, not of it. If we blatantly attack something when we have no knowledge of it, it is no different than being the soapbox preacher who stands on the corner screaming at people that they are going to burn in hell. That doesn't often lead people to Jesus. Will Twilight? Probably not.

But you know what, Harry Potter actually has some really deep things in it dealing with God, spirituality, and eternity if you know where to look. One of the best books I've read is Looking For God in Harry Potter.

And you know what else? Twilight has NOTHING to do with Jesus. Except for the fact that Jesus has everything to do with me, and I've read Twilight, and all the accompanying books. It leaves a lot of room for open debate about the afterlife. With the position that I'm in, I'm constantly around teenage girls (and some moms) who are obsessed with Twilight. On more than once occasion I've found myself having a conversation with someone about Edward Cullen and it lead to discussing eternity and what I know to be true. Was that me? No. It was God. Did God use Twilight to bring glory to Him? YES.

So, again, I don't see what the problem is.

And then, late last night I saw this. Idiot. Not because of her opinion, but because she says she doesn't believe in "it." Well the it she's referring to are the books and movie serious and she can believe in them or not but that doesn't stop them from existing. I'm sure she actually meant that she doesn't believe in vampires. Neither do I. IT IS FICTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Geez.

In another article , she calls Twilight fans a cult. I guess from a celebrity point-of-view I can totally see that, but the Twilight following of CRAZY fans is no different than the following of her CRAZY Hannah Montana fans. Does she not believe in that either? She doesn't want anything to do with Twilight (even though one of her besties, Taylor Swift, is dating Taylor Lautner), because it isn't bringing her attention? Or maybe she really does have something against it. But then again, she states she hasn't read it or seen the movies so how does she know anything about it??? Especially if she won't even let her friends talk about it. Her fans are just as CRAZY but she doesn't have a problem with that because that "cult" brings her millions of dollars. Grrr....

Go ahead Miley, nod your head like yeah....you know I'm making a valid point.

I guess it all just boils down to the fact that it irritates me when people take a stand against something that they don't know anything about. That's like a lawyer trying to prosecute someone without having ANY of the details of the case. Stupid. At least look into it before forming your opinion.

Y'all may not remember this, but the whole reason I started reading the books was because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. You can find my original opinion here.

Amazing...I looked into it, and THEN formed an opinion. You should do the same. If you aren't willing to, keep your mouth shut.

Making Up for Lost Time

So...to make up for lost time...

• Today I took a nap. I know, you're surprised, but really the reason was because I stayed up past 2 am working on Christmas projects.
• I have this need to get things accomplished ahead of time. Every minute that passes by that I still have presents to buy/make, or things to get done for the holidays, I stress.
  
• Same thing goes for Bug's birthday.
  
• Instead of a party, we're going to take her to Magic Kingdom this year. I'm using her as an excuse to go to Disney and have a blast. Otherwise, we'd never go. Because we're losers.
  
• To make up for the fact that I took a nap today, I put away clean dishes, washed dirty ones, cleaned both bathrooms, did laundry, vacuumed, cleaned out both the toy basket and the toy chest, cleaned the counters, and....yeah.
  
• I brag on myself because usually I don't do anything except play with Ansleigh. Shh....don't tell.
  
• To answer Joy's question, I'm running in a pink tutu because Winn says I am. And she made me one. And who doesn't want to be kind of prissy in a Princess Run at Disney?
  
• Hey remember how I told you I was counting calories on precious, precious iphone? My goal was to lose 1lb a week. I've only done it for a week but I just weighed and I did lose a pound. A pound sounds stupid, but to me, it is VICTORY!!!
• The LED lights on the tree are growing on me....slowly.
  
• Also, my chin is a zit factory, just in case you were wondering.
  
• I'm fighting the urge to go buy a couple of new shirts to wear when we go to Alabama next week.
  
• I'm also peeing in my pants in excitement that we're going to Alabama next week....to fall weather, changing trees, and all things southern.
  
• And....this week is NEW MOON. That's all I have to say about that.
  

Hello Again!

So tonight I was at a friend's house watching the football game and I was chatting with a different friend I haven't seen in a while and she mentioned that I wasn't writing my blog anymore...and she looked disappointed. Which kind of made me feel like a super star and also like the world's biggest loser.

A couple of I don't know how many days ago a sweet friend commented on something on facebook and asked me if I was still writing my blog.

Hmmmm.....

So...I'm writing my blog. For my loves.

Here's some randomness, just for you :)

• I've been having trouble falling asleep. At first it was because I was too busy reading the Twilight series books on precious, precious iphone. Then, because I'd be soooooo tired the next day, when Bug took a nap, so did I. Which meant I'd have trouble going to sleep the next night. Idiot.
  
• That was like....3 weeks ago. And here I am at 1 AM, not sleeping, writing my blog. But don't worry. I'm not reading Twilight. I'm reading Gossip Girl instead. Hahaha.
  
• Don't play, you know you wish you could read cool teeny-booper books like me.
  
• Also, we put up some of the inside Christmas decorations today. Part of me feels like I need to explain that I'm not completely cooky and the other part of me is thinking, "Pssh. At least I waited later than Halloween this year."
  
• So I drug our tree out and turns out...most of the lights on it didn't work. It is a tree that already has the lights on it. Hubs sent me on a mission to buy a new one...with LED lights. UGLIEST LIGHTS EVER. Well...just the strands of the colored ones that I mixed in. The tree doesn't look ugly, it's just....different. And I don't do change well. Ever.
  
• Two of my friends (a married couple) have lost about 80 pounds (combined) by just counting calories. Now I feel fat b/c they are getting smaller and I'm not. Also, I've started counting my calories too.
  
• I'm using my precious, precious to do it. There's an app called Lose It. It's awesome. You put in your weight, height, age, and how much you want to lose and it calculates how many calories you can have a day and tells you when you'll meet your goal if you stick to it.
  
• February 27. That's when I'm going to weigh 125 pounds again. Because that's when iphone says I will.
  
• Also, I entered a 5K. Because I'm stupid. BUT...I'm running at Disney World. So that's kind of fun. Oh, and with a pink tutu on.
  
• You're jealous, I know.
  
• I'm seriously considering changing my name from "Mommy" to something really hard that Ansleigh can't say, like, Kheljekistan. Then she won't say my name 30,000 times in one day.
  
• I got pulled over Friday night on my way home from the football game. Why you ask? Was I speeding? No. Did I run a red light? No. I HAD A TAILLIGHT OUT. Yes. I sat in my car, embarrassed, with flashing lights behind me, while several members of my cheer squad drove past. Lovely. Just lovely.
• I'm REALLY hungry right now. I'd really like to have a bowl of Golden Grahams. Is it too early for breakfast? Hmmm...
• All this time I could have spent writing my blog, I've been playing a game on facebook called Restaurant City. It' so fun. And dorky.
  
• Me thinks I'm going to try and go sleep now.

Missed you all!!!

Leave me comments if you want me back!

I'm still alive!!!

Hello loves. I've missed you.

I've been busy--reading Twilight. And watching New Moon trailers and videos. And being completely ridiculous.

I promise you it is a disease.

In the past two weeks alone I've probably read through all four books at least twice and I'm working on a third.

Like I said, completely ridiculous.

I remember when I first read Twilight...to see what the fuss was all about. I couldn't help but to think about how Bella and Edward go from not knowing each other and hardly speaking to completely devoted to each other for life--STUPID...and not realistic at all. But alas, it is fiction. Then I spent all of New Moon trying to figure out where the crap "Mr. Amazing" Edward was. And then I kind of got so involved in the story that I gave up on analyzing.

Reading through all of them the second time, I was able to focus more on who the characters were and not as much on how things couldn't really happen that way.

Now I'm on only like...reading number 742. I still can't help but to "Writer's Workshop" this stuff to death, but I love it.

Now-a-days, and even back in the olden age (you know...March), it was all about Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Both have redeeming qualities. Edward is brilliant, and loving, and always says the right thing (except for that one time...in the woods...YOU KNOW what I'm talking about). Jacob is what I think of as a "good ol' boy." He's a sweet kid. And he's human. And awesome. And a lot smarter than someone his age should be (much like Bella).

I never have been able to decide. I've always leaned one way, then I teeter back the other.

Then, about a week or so ago, I saw a shirt that said "Team Alice." Yes, please. Dude. Alice is amazing. I want a best friend like that. She is my favorite.

But you see, I'm teetering again. Or at least...I was. Until I kept watching all these freaking amazing previews that kind of make me want to pee my pants with excitement. And then, it happened. I declared.

Team Jacob. He's my wallpaper now.

I think what put me over the edge is really Taylor Lautner. There is just something about him. He is the PERFECT Jacob. The new muscles and the tan *might* help too. I mean...I'm just saying.

So anyway, that's kind of been my world lately.

Cheerleading is amazing. And crazy. It reminds me of how much I miss being in a school every day and hanging out with kids. Some of them just steal your heart. There is a whole lot of red tape and paper work that I never anticipated to go along with coaching but I love it. LOVE IT. This has always been my dream job and I can honestly say, it still is.

Other than that, I've just been watching the Bug develop her little personality. She is freaking hilarious. And bossy. And a smidge too much on the cute side. These days we watch Tinkerbell a million times a day. And we're obsessed with Minnie (who she will be for Halloween) and "Boots" (aka: Dora). She's the craziest kid I know and I'm head-over-heals for her.

She's so easy to deal with these days--so independent--that it has me wondering if I'll ever REALLY be ready for another one and have to start all over. But that, my friends, is another blog post.

Oh, and I have a rocking giveaway that I was *supposed* to have done in September (SORRY BECKY!!!!!!!!)

Hopefully, I'll be back soon, if you'll still have me after abandoning you for so long.

LURVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!