I've got a guest this morning

My daughter is home today.

She should be at school. But unfortunately, she blew chunks last night. Yes. She vomited. In the middle of the night. And I didn't know about it until this morning.

After he found her awake and saw what had happened sometime during the night. The Hubs took action. He stripped her bed and placed all the soiled bedding on the floor in the laundry room.

When I saw her at the breakfast table coloring, she looked fine.

"Honey, what happened?"

"I vomited last night. I coughed real hard. But no one heard me."

"Oh honey. When you vomit in the middle of the night you should just come get Mommy."

"Okay. But I tried to clean it up myself."

Did you hear that? My 5 year old tried to take care of it herself. She pushed the soiled linens to the bottom of the bed. She took off her yucky jammies and washed her mouth and hands off. Then she put on fresh jammies and climbed back into bed.

Right now she's in the other room with a Pooh DVD on. She's making holiday cards for her friends at school. We both agreed school would not be a good idea today.

"I don't want to give my sick germs to any of my friends."

She's such a sweetie. Today will be a relaxing day for her. I want her to be healthy for their holiday concert tomorrow night and their play day on Friday.

They won!

I can't believe how HAPPY I am. The LINZ siblings won the Amazing Race!

They did such an awesome job working together. They have fun. They treat each other was respect. They joke. They smile like crazy. Friendly to all (except for the crazy family).

Definitely a fabulous group of adults. Such a tribute for the world to see what a great group of kids (and there are 3 more) that their parents have raised.

I couldn't believe that they had to do a map puzzle at the end. Talk about pressure! Wally was giving Nick (was it Nick?) a run for the money.

Now Wally? He is an awesome guy. All his girls were in tears at the end when his voice broke. Oh! Broke my heart! You could feel the love passing between them by the look in their eyes.

Even though this particular show wasn't the GREATEST of all the races....it was a change of pace. The end was great.

But I can't WAIT for the new season in February! Bring on some international flair people!

Holiday decorations

Help me understand.

I'm a basic girl who doesn't know much.

For my Jewish friends, how do you decorate for the holidays?

The reason I ask is because I have a Jewish neighbor across the street. You know. The guy who has had a lot of problems with his house? Well, he's decorated on the outside of his house.

The first decorations to go up? Two moving lighted reindeer in the yard plus a lighted snowman at his front door.

The second bunch of decorations to go up? The lights along the roofline of his home. The light bulbs alternate red and green all along the front of the house.

On Saturday? I heard him building something. I heard a saw. I smelled the scent of freshly cut lumber. I looked at his yard before dinner. He had a bunch of black iron candle holders in a row. You know. Those ones that you use in the summer with citronella to keep the mosquitos at bay? Anyway, he had those all lined up together. All lined up like a menorah. That night I looked out and he'd strung blue lights in the front of it in the shape of the Star of David.

I'm from one religious background. So this fascinates me. Now in the homes out there that have different faiths in your home. How do you explain Christmas and Chanukah? Do you have both sets of decorations out at once? Teach me! Enlighten me!

Men who wear buttondown shirts & a wish list

This might sound silly but I need advice. On undershirts.

I'm serious.

Now what brand and style of undershirt do you wear under your button-down shirts?

Crew neck? V-neck?

Loose fitting? Body hugging? Why?

What brand lasts the longest?

These are the questions in my mind. Yes. I'm going to buy my husband some undershirts but don't know what to get.

Come on. I'm the practical gift giver. Actually, I also ASK for practical gifts.

In the past, I've asked for the following:

An iron. It was a Rowenta. About $80.

A toaster. It was a DeLonghi. About $60.

Make-up brushes. From MAC. And you women know how much those can be.

On Thanksgiving, for the Hubs' side of our family we select a name out of a hat. Then we each buy presents for the one person we picked. So the "list" I give out each year goes out to one person. As you can see from my past, I'll put pricey items that I'd never buy for myself. I would normally just buy a $20 iron or toaster. I'd normally buy brushes that are less than $5. But for the holiday wish list? Pricey items.

Demanding? I'd say not. The Hubs' family are the ones who started the gift exchange. They are the ones who said to make a list. They are the ones who put a dollar limit each year. Since everyone has a good job it's up to $150!!!!

What was on this year's list?

A 5 to 8 cup rice cooker (I've got a little 3-cup one that isn't quite enough for a family of 4)

DVD/VCR combo (so the kiddos can use the old DVD player and the old VCR player upstairs for their shows)

Fuzzy slippers (the ones I've got were from 2 Xmas's ago and are WORN out)

BIG coffee mug (since I'm working from home and the small cups I have aren't cutting it)

Boring? Some might say so. But it's stuff that I'd like to get. I didn't put specific brands on anything because it doesn't matter for the stuff on the list. In the past, I did put down specifics. It's especially important when it comes to clothes. I would put down the store (if it's exclusive to one location), the size, the various colors, etc.

I tell you. My style of "list" has caught on. I selected my BIL out of the hat this year. He put down a brand of shirt that is only sold at one store chain. He also put down a pillow. A pillow? Yeah. From that $elect Comfort place. The Hubs and I could NOT believe the price points of stuff in that store. But it was on my BIL's 'wish list'. Stuff that he'd never buy for himself! So the Hubs and I didn't bat an eye when we paid for it.

As for my side of the family. We get the kids the gifts. All the adults get a 'couple gift'. We're all paired off now. Remember that LilSis and Shorty are engaged? They get ONE gift. HA!

Now what does YOUR family do for the holidays? Do you buy every child and every adult a gift? Do you have a price limit per gift? Do you only buy for the kids? Do all the married adults get only a 'couple gift'?

It must be nice...

The other morning I received one of my many online orders.

The Fed-Ex guy was surprised when I opened the door. Wearing my big blue plaid flannel jammies & pink fuzzy slippers.

I cheered when I saw the box. He looked at me with a funny little smile.

"Must be nice to be in your jammies at this time of day."

"I work from home."

"I wish I could."

"Well. I also work late a lot. Midnight. 3am."

"Oh..."

First of all son. It was only 10:30am.

Second of all. I don't know why you were commenting on my outfit. YOU were wearing shorts when it was 35 degrees outside!

Third of all. Working from home doesn't mean it's a piece of cake. I work my kanoodles off.

Who knew that stream would make me happy?

A stream?

Yeah. A stream of pee-pee!

Ha! Those of you parents who are dealing with or have just dealt with potty-training...you can relate.

My little guy has been learning to urinate on the toilet. He'd push and push. Then when he'd see a little bit come out he'd freeze up. One little squirt.

"Aw done!"

He'd be hopping off the toilet. Finito. Done.

The last couple days he's been making STREAMS come out. Two nights ago he had 4 LONG squirts. Kind of like "ahhhh...." It was FABULOUS!

Like I said in my title...who knew a stream would make me happy?

The smell of newness

My ever faithful readers know that my folks have lived in their home for over 22 years.

Yeah. It's a long, long time for today's standards. But for their generation, it's typical.

Just this year they've finally made changes to their home. Remember the changes over the summer?

Well, last week they got the flooring in all the bathrooms changed out. I think they went with more vinyl. They couldn't do tile upstairs because of the sound issue. Their house isn't soundproofed so well. So if they had tile in the bathrooms it would be mighty loud downstairs if someone would walk in the bathrooms.

This week they were having new carpeting put on the 2nd floor. The second floor has ALL the bedrooms. I'm sure it was a huge mess. Lots of dust and gunk in the air. This was the FIRST time they've had those carpets changed out. Yeah. Over 20 years of use out of that orange/brown carpet.

I don't know what the new carpet color is or what kind of pile they decided on though. I'm not going to ask either. I'll just see the results when we visit for Christmas. I'm sure the house will have that "carpet" smell still in a couple weeks. It'll be like see a whole new house. I can't wait to see it all!

Progress report

Tree: up & decorated

Accessories in the house: up & displayed

Outside: Not even touched

Presents: 25% purchased

Gifts wrapped: 0% complete



Now how are YOU doing with your holiday progress?