Sunday night I went out with two of my sisters-in-law, my new one and Steve’s sister that’s getting married next month and moving several states away. We just did dinner and a movie again, but it’s great fun. Just last month we did this and saw Grown Ups (which we all three absolutely loved) but we figured we’d better have some time together while we can. This time we saw Dinner for Schmucks which was amusing. Heh, this is a lot of movie time for me, 3 this year, rofl! Usually I’m there once a year or less! For dinner, we went to a Cajun place that Steve is always saying we need to go to, it was pretty good! Was really nice before people started showing up, but then it got hot and stuffy in there pretty quickly. I wasn’t too happy with that since we’d already spent time in the heat timing the wedding processional at the outdoor venue, so I was very glad to move to the cool movie theater.

Monday morning all four of us went to a home of a fellow homeschooler and Steve helped them with a few household problems they were having including one no one was expecting. I reformatted a computer and got frustrated with satellite internet and printers and print sharing between Windows 7 and Vista! Never did get it working the way I wanted but my friend said it was ok, she’d just use a different printer for the one computer instead of sharing. Note to self, never buy a wireless printer, just too much of a pain in the butt!
Then that night was the meeting and those are always interesting, the after-party, always fun! I was proud of myself this time, for returning home at a decent hour. I left the restaurant at 10:30. I think the other ladies had to have been there at least until midnight! ;-)

Tuesday morning I had a doctor’s visit, just a check up. Joy. Then I went to one house and fixed a printer issue and upgraded Microsoft Office for them. It took entirely too long. I swear, Office is a bear to install, it’s such a pain. From there, to my friend’s house to teach a computer lesson, then home! And then (and then? and then?) Friends stopped by and dropped off a laptop for me to copy photos, went to their meeting, then came back bearing chocolate cake and milk and a couple hours of conversation. I was pretty embarrassed by the state of my house, but I haven’t been home to do anything! Hopefully I can do some catching up tomorrow though!

Today Steve went fishing and I took the kids to meet a friend/cousin at Subway. We got some food and took it to the park and sat and ate and talked while E played for about an hour and a half. It was great fun! I don’t get to see this friend often at all, she currently lives several states away. Good day.

Now? Kids are asleep and it’s My Name is Earl re-runs with S! That and working on the programs for my sister-in-law’s wedding and my other sister-in-law’s wedding book!

It just seems that one thing after another is staring me in the face and I’m absolutely swamped. I have about a billion websites I’m supposed to be working on, several photo shoots that need to be processed and sent to the proper people, a couple of books I’m supposed to be making, lots of crochet projects… then there’s the every day stuff.

Well, one thing at a time. I’m only even sitting here at 2 am because I’m waiting for a very large batch of photos to upload. I finally got through all the photos my friend and I shot at my brother-in-law’s wedding 2 weeks ago. I did not give myself enough time to get through this, on the cards we gave out that told people when and where they could find photos. Next time I’ll remember to give myself more time! On the other hand, I had no idea that we were going to shoot 1900 pictures, either… We got a lot of good stuff though and I’m also going to upload some to Facebook, but that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow… er… later today.

In fact, I’m such a busy idiot that I double booked us this coming week for doctor’s appointments! K currently has an appointment in one hospital for a kidney ultrasound then consultation with the doctor at the same time she has an appointment in another hospital (30-60 min apart depending on traffic) for a follow up with the lung doctor and then the pediatric ophthalmologist, E is seeing the ophthalmologist, too! The lung and eye stuff was set first, back in December, which would be apparently why I didn’t have it in mind when I said “yes” to the other appointment which was set in March. So first thing Monday morning I get to change the kidney appointments, I think it will be easier to move those than the others. Ugh I’m just frustrated with myself.

Torrential winds have not only ripped off one of our shutters, but broke it in two pieces. How, I have no idea. Especially when considering the uber-lightweight patio furniture wasn’t even moved that same day. I haven’t bothered to look, I doubt he’s been able to fix it – he doesn’t even have a ladder that tall and would have to borrow it from his friend and I know he’s not done that.

Two weeks ago his truck broke down, stupid clutch again. I am beginning to hate that truck. It’s 20 years old this year and we’ve been wanting to get him a work car instead but he refuses to go spend the money. I’m sure we could do it just fine, but there’s always something going on which makes him say, “not right now, we’ve got….” And I think the recent me on bed rest and soon-to-be extended hospital stay is now what he’s got in mind. Thankfully that day, though, his brother was able to pick him up and the truck and bring them both home. But he spent the next two weeks driving the Jeep to work. Finally, last Thursday, he, his dad, and two brothers, were able to get the truck into the garage so he could work on it. He spent Friday until 1 am getting the parts out, went and traded them in on new parts (he buys the kind where he gets discounts for bringing in the old ones), and spent all day Saturday getting it put back together. Finally, he’s now finished! It’s not a big deal, really, for him to drive the Jeep, especially with me not needing it, but we don’t want to put all those miles on it (something like 130 a day).

Tuesday the Jeep also broke down! Thankfully here, this turned out to be a small and easily fixable problem, but when he was rolling into town, he didn’t know that yet. He called the dealership where we got the Jeep and the lady told him she’d have someone in the service department call him back but they never did. When he tried again an hour or so later, they were closed. So that made him mad. He went into the dealership of the same type, up the road here, and they told him that they were too busy, it would be a couple of weeks before they could look at it. The owner, who he knows, didn’t seem to care, so Steve left. He was a bit mad about that (but said, “well if they don’t want my money, then fine”). So he started looking at it himself and found the problem, a big fat stupid hose that had a rip in it so it wasn’t sealing and the Jeep had no power. Turns out that this was a simple thing, but it’s also something we’re told shouldn’t have happened until the Jeep was much older. But, whatever. So he starts calling parts stores around here and no one has the blasted thing. He starts calling parts stores up north a bit and no one has it up there either. Finally someone tells him that it’s a dealer part, you have to get it from a dealership. I don’t even know where he ended up getting it from but that night he was finally able to temporarily patch it up with duct tape (lol) then got the part the next day on his way home and spent time Wednesday fixing it.

And now! This morning a bit ago, I was simply walking out of the bathroom when I heard a crash and the distinct sound of glass breaking in the basement. Without even thinking that, er, derrrr, maybe someone could have broken in or some large animal or something, I head down there. It was none of that, though, but a rather large fluorescent shop light. One end of it fell and one of the two long tube bulbs in it shattered. Little… tiny… minuscule… pieces of glass… everywhere. Ugh. I tried to unplug it, the plug is from the (low) ceiling right next to the end of the light that didn’t fall, but it’s zip tied really close and I couldn’t pull it out. I wasn’t going to really try, either, since I’m not supposed to be doing stuff. I called Steve though, since my boys were on their way to church, and he said that it won’t come on anyway, so don’t worry about it and don’t go down there. This is the sort of thing that’s his area in the house anyway, whether or not I’m on bed rest, but still, it’s like….

The poor guy barely has time to go to work, eat dinner (not to mention if he has to cook something), then relax for a few minutes before he has to sleep and start all over again, let alone be fixing all this crazy stuff right now. The list really doesn’t end right there but that’s the biggest stuff, I think. I mean, it will be grass cutting season very soon again, there’s other stuff around this house that needs to be done, etc. Sometimes I think it would just be so much easier to rent from someone and make them do everything. “Oh, hello, Mr. Landlord? Yeah a light bulb in the basement shattered… fix it!” Heh, but I know it’s not that easy for renters either, and I’d rather own. But it gets frustrated sometimes, especially when I can’t do anything myself to help.

Then there’s all the stuff that is usually done by pregnant women in the “nesting” stage. It’s going to either have to be done by someone else or wait until I actually get home with the baby…

Now I have to clear out the unneeded read messages, work on my other Gmail inbox, another inbox, and four other folders that stuff is filtered into. :P

Oh, and I have quite a few sites to upgrade and re-do and catch up on… My work is never done! :)

Free showing of Alvin & the Chipmunks was filled up at 10am so rather than wait until 12pm, I just bought me and Elijah tickets for Kung Fu Panda at 1:10pm. I know we have the Chipmunks on DVD, I just thought he might like to see it on the big screen.

Then it was to a store to return something and also buy him some dress shoes for the wedding and some batteries so he can continue to play that keyboard that drives me nuts. Well, that and so my mouse can continue to work.

Then, to Grandpa’s business to give him his father’s day gift, a bit late. Two cousins, a brother, and an uncle there, but no Grandpa, so I didn’t get to see him get it.

Then to JC Penny to get Steve a shirt and tie for the wedding. And my man is picky, dang. Short sleeves he wanted (it’s all under his suit jacket anyway). And no yellow. Darn. I like yellow. Found a shirt that was short sleeved and would perfectly match my dress. I mean perfectly. But I wasn’t in the mood to die as my dress is purple so I couldn’t get it. Had to settle for a spring green. He doesn’t really like it or the tie but who cares! Heh. Also got another as they had a sale and another tie but despite the sale I somehow seemed to spend $85 still. Bah.

Then a trip through the mall then lunch at the food court. Then we raced to Kung Fu Panda. Which… loved the movie, but missed the first part. They were showing it in two theaters and one started at 1:10 which was our show but the other at 2. Me and Elijah and another guy and his grandson were sitting in the 2:00 theater alone because we were directed to the wrong spot. So by the time I was like, why isn’t this movie starting? and the manager came in and showed us the right theater. I felt stupid but it wasn’t my fault we were there, I went where I was told. Oh well. We missed the commercials and previews and a little bit of the movie but not much. It was just annoying.

From there? To the dealership to start paperwork on officially buying the Jeep as the lease is up on the 28th. It will work so our payment is right about what we were already doing and I hope to pay more on principle each month. We also don’t have to make any payment for this month, so that’s helpful considering all the crap we have to buy.

From there, to the bridal shoppe, where, y’all saw the photo I posted in the last entry. Got him all dressed up and everything fits and got me all dressed up for the most part and everything still fits I guess (I think I actually gained some weight with the short pregnancy so I was really worried about that). My straps fell down while I was wearing it though so they had to add some extra stuff on for that. Heaven forbid I walk down the aisle and lose my dress… I’d kill myself. :P

Annnnnd from there dinner with Steve who was on his way home from work then to church for a few minutes away from Elijah while I burned the DVD of the slideshow for the reception. I did it there because of the method of burning I wanted, I’m not able to do at home. Long story, not important lol. Anyway, I don’t think I did the slideshow too bad considering the amount of time I was expected to put it together in. Had everyone gotten me the photos in January like I asked, I would have had time to fix the errors I see and such, clean up the scans, fix the quality of the second song, and stuff. But when you give me pretty much just a few days to get it done, forget it; I spent all day Monday after my doctor’s appointment on my laptop at my in-law’s doing the bulk of this as it is. But just thought I’d share anyway:

I keep seeing bad fades, too, when viewing on the computer and I don’t get why it’s doing that because it’s not all the time. BUT thankfully the DVD doesn’t do it at all, so we’re good. The quality of the second song is really bad on here, too, but again not as bad on the DVD. So… whatever.

Well now. Just got a call from my sister who had me talk to the lady at the reception hall… apparently all they have there is a projector screen, you have to bring ALL your own equipment so, yeah, looks like it might not get shown at all. I don’t have a projector and even if I did I am not hooking my laptop up there. If someone brings in a TV and DVD player that’s fine but I can’t do it!

It is Christmas Day, the day that we have been preparing for for the better part of a month and the day that has had all the children – especially mine – tied up in knots. Elijah is playing on the floor with the gifts from Steve and I that he opened this morning. It’s funny how it turned out, every one of them is from the Cars movie… five of the die-cast cars, two shake-up cars, and the Mater game (race to put him together before he blows his parts again). He’s having a ton of fun down there! I’m sure his sugar high will come to an end before long…

Friday (21st) after Steve got off work we went out to eat and then up to the somewhat-nearby live nativity scene. I love going to this and it’s almost a tradition, even if we don’t make it every year. Elijah had fun though, and wasn’t ready to leave (especially after the guy mentioned there were free cookies and hot chocolate inside). I was missing a piece to my tripod though, so next to no pictures worth looking at (from this year anyway, pic at left is from two years ago).

On the 22nd, Saturday, my immediate family came over for our little gathering. This is the first time it’s been at my house – so I’ve been quite busy getting ready. However, I had the best idea ever and we ordered pizza for dinner. We had a good selection and everyone filled up that they refused dessert. To the left is a picture of the gingerbread house Elijah decorated earlier in the day. So we sat around and talked, watched a bit of a movie, and exchanged presents. This would start the Elijah-goes-nuts-with-the-presents attitude and he wanted to open everything and was getting frustrated that he couldn’t. He got a lot of good stuff, though, including two packs of Hotweels – both my sister and her fiance and then one of my brothers got him a pack without realizing that was what the others got him, too. The next night, he’d get another pack, from some of my cousins.

Sunday started out normally enough and I hurried on the editing because I wanted to get out of there fast for various reasons which need not be mentioned. :P Then it was home for a while then to one of my uncle’s houses for a gathering of some of my mom’s side of the family. More food, more fun, more talking, more presents, etc. Again, E acted like a spoiled brat even pulling out a teddy bear from my parents and just tossing it behind him and digging further until he found the candy. I keep telling my mom she doesn’t have to give us gifts at the extended gathering, but she always says she doesn’t want us to be left out. Everyone else gets us stuff, though, so I don’t understand this. It was good to see everyone, though, as it’s gotten to where I don’t see a lot of them except at Christmas since this family doesn’t get together for Thanksgiving. One of the things Elijah got, though, was a trampoline from one of my aunts and uncles. It’s a little thing, about three feet square, and it took Steve and I an hour and a half the next morning to get it together! Hopefully E won’t break his neck…

Monday, of course, was the 24th and Christmas Eve. Each year we trade off with my family and with Steve’s on where we spend Christmas Eve. We’ll schedule a date with the other family (hence mine on Saturday). So we went over to his parents house and everyone was able to be there, of course. The boys all spent the afternoon fooling around and shooting clays and what not – I shot a few times but it was my first time with a moving target so, of course, I missed every one. Steve even took Elijah out and helped him shoot the .22. I didn’t realize this at the time, though, so I have no photos. So sad. The girls and I mostly hung around the house and after dinner we broke out the Da Vinci’s Challenge game which is a ton of fun and has become our yearly tradition. Of course, like at Thanksgiving, the boys all got agitated at us, claiming that the louder they turned the TV, the louder we get… well, duh, if we can’t hear each other, we have to talk louder! Halfway through the game we paused to open presents. Each family is chaotic when it comes to the opening gifts but Santa was in a hurry this year, and was just calling out names and then throwing gifts over his shoulder in the person’s direction. (lol, my father-in-law, love him.) So it was extra crazy, but nothing got broken! My sister-in-law really made me smile though. I had messaged her Friday about the wine she’d brought to Thanksgiving, but I was unable to find it in this crazy town so she added a bottle to our gifts – a nice surprise.

Elijah was nutso, so it was time to go home, somewhat “early.” I carried him in because he’d fallen asleep on the way home and when we got to the living room he woke up and asked if he could jump on the trampoline. I put him down and said, ok, if he took off his shoes. I went outside to get the rest of the stuff from the Jeep and when I got back, Elijah was in bed! I asked Steve and he didn’t put him to bed, he went alone! Amazing! HAHA! So this morning, when normally he’d be wearing pajamas in Christmas Day photos, he was wearing the clothes he’d worn the night before… oops!

So there you are, you’re all caught up on our Christmas so far. Elijah’s been quite good playing with all his new stuff, that’s a big plus. And now it’s about time for me to get ready to head to Steve’s grandma’s. We like to spend Christmas Day at home alone but he wanted to go see his grandma at the same time his family does, so that’s what we’re doing this afternoon. We don’t go to their Christmas Eve thing. This won’t be anything big, though, just talking a bit and giving her our presents and such.

The rest of the week? Steve’s taken vacation so he’s not back to work until January 2nd. It’s working out perfectly, and it was really nice him being home on Christmas Eve all day. We hope to get some stuff done this week, like getting rid of some junk that’s taking up room in the basement and such. So hopefully we’ll have a productive week!

Merry Christmas, everyone!