Happy Holidays

Well, I survived Christmas, bring on New Year's Eve! My last day of work was December 19th and I was really looking forward to Christmas Break this year. I have lots of plans for my house and I wanted to spend a few days painting, along with moving and arranging furniture. My plans have been put on hold because the first few days included babysitting a friend of DQ. I don't mind because I know how it is to be new in town and wary of entrusting the little ones to just anybody. Little did I know that I would be subject to a giggle fest and cries of hunger throughout the day. I'm not kidding-- I didn't know girls could eat so much. This friend got an Ipod for Christmas, which led DQ on a mission to beg, cry and plead for one as well. She tried to explain the many benefits of the Ipod, but I refuse to listen, the price alone in enough for an automatic NO! I bought DQ a MP3 player for Christmas last year-- it is now in my possession because she never used it. She assured me the Ipod is much cooler and you can do much more than listen to music and audiobooks. The begging and crying and "I'm not going to talk to you until you give in" went on for a few days, but I didn't give in and much to my delight, neither did her dad. We've spent hundreds on dollar on gadgets only to see them bite the dust in a few weeks. I bought her gift in October and after much snooping she already knew what is was and had the nerve to ask me to return it for an Ipod. Now, it was just the principle of the matter-- no Ipod.

We spent Christmas in OKC, visiting their dad and my sister and family and had a good time. I braved the rush and went to the malls, Target and Wal-Mart both Saturday and Sunday and to my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Maybe because all of my purchases had been made and I could just walk around and look at all the panic and mayhem. The kids were excited and stayed up until 12:00 am Sunday night in anticipation of opening gifts, but we didn't let them. They eventually fell asleep and we had to wake them up Christmas morning! After opening the gifts and having a dinner of barbeque chicken and fried cabbage (YUM!) we ventured out to see Dreamgirls. This movie was 2 1/2 hours and I thought the kids would get restless, but we loved it! The all-star cast did a wonderful job and I'm still singing, And I'm Telling You, I'm Not Going.

I made it home yesterday and I'm gearing up for a trip to Arkansas tomorrow. All of my mom's sisters came to visit from Milwaukee, so I'm going over to mess with them. My mom also informed me that my cousin is planning another fish fry for New Year's Eve, so you all know I'm headed over.