The raise has certainly helped me get ready for Christmas. I only have 4-5 people left on my list to buy for, and most of them are getting gift certificates.
I love Christmas. I am SUCH a big kid. I�m the very first one to wake up on Christmas morning, and I wake everybody up. Nothing excites me more (except a naked fireman) than the thought of my loved one�s face when they open their presents from me.
I�m still thinking of buying my (adopted) Mom, Cindy, a pair of diamond earrings for Christmas. I know if my birth mom were here I�d get some for her too. I�m sentimental like that.
I�ve just never bought Cindy jewelry. She�s bought it for me, and unfortunately in my weak moments I pawned it. I know, I suck. I�d just like to do it for her. To see her face when she realizes that I went beyond my budget for her. Because I really do love her and want to show her how special she is to me.
We both know, she�ll never replace Joann. We must all admit though that she has endeavored to be a mom to me. She has tried to treat me like a daughter. She�s earned her right to be called Grandma by Jackie.
Sigh. It�s times like this; I wish my real mom were here. I wish both moms� could�ve met each other. But the reality is, if my mom wouldn�t have died, I�d never have met Cindy. And Cindy saved me when I thought that nobody cared what happened to me. I was a runaway, for criminy! I was an unwanted kid.
This weekend was great.
Friday night I took 3 hours to clean the kitchen, the living room and the dining room. Yes, my house was that messy.
Finally, I sat down to take a break and called Lisa to see if she and Jake wanted to accompany me, Jackie and Max to the mall to see Santa Claus on Saturday.
She agreed.
The next morning, I got up pretty early; about 9:00 a.m. Jackie and I went to get breakfast right away at McDonald�s. Boy am I getting sick to death of that place!
When we got back we watched Discovery Kids while we ate.
We got dressed and before we knew it, Lisa and Jake where there, so we grabbed Max and Jackie and took off.
I thought the mall might be crowded�but it wasn�t. We waited about 20 minutes to see Santa. The kids took great pictures with him.
After that we went to Bath and Body works, since they were having a 5 for $10.00 sale on their anti-bacterial soaps and stuff. The kids were having a ball spraying stuff.
We were going to go into Yankee Candle but they were not having any sort of sale.
On the way out, we went to the Sees Candy stand. I bought some gourmet lollipops to go on my Christmas cards for work. Lisa snapped up some good stuff too.
The kids were hungry so we opted to go out for lunch at Denny�s.
The children sort of behaved while Lisa and I steamed about waiting 25 minutes for the waitress to take our order.
While we were chatting, Lisa and I decided to surprise the kids and take them to see �The Incredibles�. After lunch we didn�t say anything, we just got in the car and droved down to Ronnie�s Plaza.
One of the kids piped up and said, �Ma, it looks like we�re going to the movies..� Lisa let me spill the beans and I said, �We�re going to see �The Incredibles� you guys�, and they screamed!
It took forever and a day. We had to park in Egypt and had to walk 100 miles to the front door, but then on top of that, the line was all the way outside. It was so cold! How ridiculous! Everybody and their mother were there.
First shopping weekend after Thanksgiving�what do we expect? The 2:10 show was sold out, so we ended up buying tickets for the 3:00 show and we headed into the arcade.
We gave each of our brats $5.00 and told them to go nuts.
That burned up about 40 minutes.
After we were finished there, we headed up to the snack bar where they took FOREVER to fill my small order. I was peeved. Some dude that worked behind the counter took my money and walked off and didn�t give me any change. I finally had to pipe up about that.
We head down toward the proper room and go in only to find out that the only available four seats where way down front, like the first two rows.
That sucked.
After that, the kids decided they wanted to go home and play pirates. Lisa and Doug had to run out to the mall, so Jake stayed with us.
The kids ran themselves ragged.
All in all, it was a very good day.
Sunday I did not go to Grandma�s. She wasn�t home anyway. She fell last Monday and was in a convalescent home recuperating.
It felt good to have a Sunday off anyway.
I got laundry done. And I took the kids to the gamestore, where we bought �Men in Black�, �Snoopers� and �Ferris Bueller�s Day Off� dvd�s.
On to other things�my sister Melinda called me from Italy on Sunday. She spent 3 days traveling between the day before and the day after Thanksgiving, with no sleep, trying to get to her destination. From what she said, people weren�t very friendly, especially the Navy personnel at the USO. That makes me angry. The people at the USO are supposed to be supportive and helpful for the military, especially in a foreign country. Melinda, a Navy spouse, who knows but a tad of Italian, and was traveling with two cats, a suitcase, and a satchel full of passports, Visa�s and other crap, was on her own.
Only when she got to her final destination did she get some help. She said where she�s at, the family support is awesome. She�s got classes next week on customs and even learning some introductory Italian!
Where they are located, there are mountains visible every way you look. And it�s cold. So I�m thinking she�s in Northern Italy.
They don�t know their address yet..but I do know they have found a home on base. From what she described, I think it�s one of those red brick adobe houses. I envision the inside as being very warm and earthy, and the floors are probably polished red brick.
Kitties keep coming to their door. Melinda is a true witch and sees cats as being familiar�s, and she feeds them all. She mentioned that she thought it was strange, but all the cats she�s seen so far are twins. I told her that maybe she could bring a kitty home from Italy. She seemed to like that idea.
Melinda seems to be happy to be at her destination and I�m thinking it probably seems like a great adventure�
She also commented: �The espresso�s great!� which makes me think that she�s making the best of it.
I felt bad but I forgot to call Uranus back last week, so Sunday night I called him. He answered and I gave the phone to Jackie.
They chatted for a while..then she gave the phone to me.
God bless the man, he got her something besides Barbie�s for Christmas. No Uranus, she is not a clone of your 7-year-old stepdaughter. Jackie is in fact, your biological child.
He got her a binder for her Yu-Gi-Oh cards. And he bought her some cards. Yay for him. It�s about time he realized that his stepdaughter, Becca, and our daughter, Jackie, are not clones.
I was watching �The Swan� last night and it occurred to me that, like one of the girls, I was mentally DAMAGED and emotionally ravaged by my divorce. Do you know that it�s been, count �em, 5 years since my divorce and I�m still hurt by it? I have not moved on, which is sad.
I loved Shayne with everything I had, and in the end, like I had always felt in my life; I just wasn�t good enough for him.
That hurts.
Sadly, I�ve put on 100 pounds since my divorce.
I guess it�s been eating me while I�ve been eating everything else. My how that sucks.
9:49 am - November 30, 2004
Recent entries:
What you missed - January 16, 2012
%%older_entries%%From hell - October 19, 2010
%%older_entries%%a rant from a few weeks ago - August 17, 2010
%%older_entries%%Tired - June 20, 2010
%%older_entries%%A beautiful lie - March 11, 2010
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