am i the only one who's happy it's over??

the holidays, that is.

for some reason, i breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday...took down the tree and started putting the house back together. now i have the itch to start a few projects around the house...and that never leads to a good thing, lol. wish me luck as Mike & i will attempt not to kill each other during said projects, as it is nearly impossible not to argue during said ventures.

on to other stuff...

my Grandma is HOME. she was discharged at about 4pm on Christmas day, so a bit of 'normalcy' has been restored for she & Grandpa. we went to visit that evening and she was kind of back to her old self...griping about the price of coffee, telling Grandpa he needs a haircut, trying to tidy up the havoc that had been wreaked whilst she was tucked away in the hospital...you know, all small stuff, but i do have to say that it is good to see her home. she will be following up with lots of appointments, etc. with her primary care doctor to make sure everything stays in order. again, i can't thank everyone enough for their well wishes and caring words...it really did help me when i was feeling down. i took some time while she was away to scan some old pics of her...which was a hoot, lol. that one below is of she & i...don't be too harsh about the hair/clothes/paneling...it was 1973 and they swear everyone looked like that, lol.

so...Christmas Eve.

after Dad passed away, we decided to do things a bit differently...switch some 'traditions' up. it was really difficult for my Mom to let go of a few things she was used to doing...but after we convinced her that it was ok to start NEW traditions, she now enjoys herself even more than before. so one of those new traditions is going to Brett & Deb's house for Christmas Eve...we always have a blast and this was they can visit her family on Christmas Day without running around like crazy people. . it's actually SO NICE to just be able to chill at home all day on Christmas without having to try and visit everyone...until we head out after dinner for our 'traditional' (new) trip to the movies. we usually see a Christmas-y flick, but seeing as '4 Christmases' didn't seem appropriate for Allie, we let her choose and 'Bedtime Stories' won out. (now, i am not a big Adam Sandler fan, but this is a great movie to go see for a chuckle) we started this tradition the year 'Elf' came out (can you believe that was 2004?!) and now look forward to it.

so...Allie's big gift this year was Guitar Hero World Tour (you know, with the drum set, guitar and microphone??). and we are having a BLAST with it...just check out my brother's action on the guitar here (work it out, Brett lol)... and Miss Thang belting out a tune she hasn't even heard before, lol. she knows quite a few of them, due to Mike being a hair band junkie from way back, but even if she doesn't she just pretends she does and has a blast...which is the point, isn't it?!

me?? i rock the drums.

for REAL.

but i will have to have one of them take a pic of me as i have none right now, lol.

just trust me...you should fear my mad drumming skills.

and my favorite gift every year is Allie's Santa Shop gift from school...it's always too dang cute to see what she decides is the perfect gift for each of us. that would be an OSU helmet for Mike's desk, a penguin for my Mom (because she and Allie love to watch 'Happy Feet') and an angel with an amethyst bottom for moi (because that's my birthstone). i feel sorry for the poor gals who volunteer to work at these gift shops, because they have no idea what they're getting into when my girl walks through the door...i'll bet it took her the entire 45 minutes they were alotted to choose these 3 things, lol.

just a quick pic of her with her 2 books she asked for...'On Tour with the Jonas Brothers' and the '2009 Guiness Book of World Records'. i flipped through that JoBros book, and honestly...how many pics od those 3 yahoos does one need, lol?! (i actually asked her that very question and her reply was 'Mom...you can never have too many...see how they look different in each picture??')

her favorite thing though has been the gift cards she received...she got quite a few to Target, 1 to Claire's, 1 for ITunes...again, it's torture for us to wander around the store with her as she tries to decide which things to get with them, but it's also cool to see her thinking twice before plopping down her card for something she won't be interested in 2 weeks from now. good to see her thinking about choices. the last time she had a gift card to Target, we walked up and down EVERY aisle...including the cleaning supplies...so she could fully get a grasp on what her options were as far as value for her money. it took 1 hour, people...and then i'd had it, told her she had 5 minutes to decide and she ended up taking home the first 2 things she had put in the cart in the first place.

*sigh*

what can you do, lol??

quick reminder that tonight is Reveal Night over at Studio Calico, so if you have your eye on the new kit with the 3 exclusive Studio Calico papers this would be your chance!! (they will be available both in the Main Kit and the More Patterned Paper add-on) our guest designer for this month is Maggie Holmes...and honestly, i have more pages ripped out of magazines with her work on them than i care to admit, lol...so i can't wait to see what she came up with. we'll be chatting away in the Live Chat room, so please come on in and say hi!!

until then...arrivaderci!!

:)