It’s a beautiful, COLD new year here, and we are slowly moving back into our regularly scheduled programming. After having a break, you always have to ease back into the school work, so that’s what we’re doing. Right now, the boys are playing their Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts game that they bought with a slew of Cabela’s gift cards, and I’m finally blogging, for the first time in weeks. Time always flies, but especially in December, it seems, right along with the money! I spent the bulk of yesterday assessing the damage to the bank account, so we can put it behind us and move forward, lol. With all the gifts, traveling, and general holiday fun, we can barely see those budget lines we crossed WAY back there! But, it’s not like that doesn’t happen every year, so we won’t get bent out of shape about it. We did manage to save a few dollars by getting a bunch of dental work done right at the end of the year to avoid paying new deductibles, so that has to make you feel good!
It’s been a crazy, tiring, fun month, but it sure is nice to settle down a bit. That’s the plan, anyway. We made a trip to East Texas to see family and had a nice visit, although we are usually resigned to staying within about 50 miles from home in December. Craig and I also got to have a night’s getaway for his birthday and enjoyed that. We saw the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who are very talented musicians, but we agreed only need to be seen once, and we got to eat at Fogo de Chao on the Riverwalk, which is a grand experience. It’s certainly not somewhere you want to pay for kids, so it was a good opportunity for us to go and have a nice adult dinner. It only took about 3 days to get everything unpacked, sorted, and put away, so we are finally in somewhat of a state of order again. Today will be spent reviewing math, Latin, and grammar, and trying to catch up on some latent projects I started weeks and months ago.
Luke lost his two top front teeth in the last two weeks. He pulled them out on his own, as he did the first two he lost, and probably all the rest of them. I think I’ll stop offering ‘fairy’ money if he pulls them himself. For what, exactly, are we paying, if it’s not the privilege of pulling a tooth out of the child’s head? Where’s the fun in watching HIM do it?
This winter is turning out to be one of the coldest I can remember. This week, we are supposed to have nighttime temperatures in the teens and twenties for several days straight, and while it’s sunny out, it’s still bone-chilling during the day. For me, anyway! I’m thinking it might be wise to invest in a chocolate fountain, and use it for apple cider. Can you imagine, coming in from the frosty air, and holding your cup under the cider fountain for an instant warm-up? Yum! Okay, maybe that’s not very feasible, but it sure sounds cozy! I’ll probably just keep it on the stove or in the crockpot, but it will be ready! It’s very difficult not to drink coffee on cold mornings, when all I want is a mug full of steaming hot liquid in my hand, so the cider helps to keep my caffeine in check. We had effectively broken our morning coffee habit a couple months ago, but being on vacation kind of soured that accomplishment. Now we’ll have to wean ourselves back off of it and save it for special occasions.
It’s time to make goals for the new year, but I get rather tired of setting goals I never achieve. Perhaps this year, I’ll aim lower. If I would work out just two or three times a week, I’d be happy. Of course, more Bible reading is always on my goal list, as I never seem to achieve a level acceptable to my expectations. Getting dinner on the table earlier and getting in bed earlier are also repeat offenders on the list, so, basically, I have no NEW targets. I could just dig up the list from last year and post it up again! Sad… very sad. Maybe I’ll add a new one: relax more. In the past two weeks, my hair, which, until now, has had ‘stray grays,’ has begun producing large numbers of short, wiry ‘silver’ hairs that like to hang out around my part and wave around for the world to see them. I accused Craig of placing undue stress on me (yeah, right!), but we both know it’s due to my own obsessive/compulsive personality and constant need to stay busy. I’m able to relax in theory, but even when I’m sitting on the couch, effectively doing nothing, I’m really just waiting for a load of laundry to finish, or I’m making plans in my head, or SOMEthing the keep the wheels turning. It seems I am physically unable to clear my mind and really relax. Hopefully, I can learn to do that, and enjoy spending time with the family without DOING anything. That’s a respectable goal.
On that note, it’s time to get busy! We have flash cards waiting, and school plans to be made, and laundry, etc, etc. There are also 8 packages of cream cheese loitering on the kitchen counter, waiting to be made into Honey’s overdue birthday cheesecake. We’ve all been anticipating that annual treat, but had to delay it until the holidays were over, so we wouldn’t have to share it with anyone else. I’d like to say I’m kidding, but you probably know us better than that! So, Happy New Year!!
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