RAN.dum.

Dang. Has it been a full week again since my last post? Seriously? Well, shoot. Here's some stuff we did since last Thursday, in no particular order other than it is popping into my verrry tired brain:

~ Visited Bass Pro Shops to visit Santa and found out that the ONLY thing that my 6 year old asked him for was a "make up kit" which is the ONLY thing that Santa didn't know she wanted. Naturally. (FYI, Bass Pro Shops has a FABULOUS winter wonderland set up. Free pictures, free kids' meals, free games and crafts...)

~ Visited The Museum of Science and Industry along with about 40 bajillion other kids and their school field trips resulting in waaaaay too many children with waaaaaaay too little supervision and waaaaaay too much noise for my eldest's sensitivities. Especially since he was hungry. Never a good combination. Needless to say, it wasn't our best trip to MSI. Still, we played with our homeschooling co-op friends and the youngest 2 seemed to have a blast. Not a total bust, I guess... Exhausting? Yes.~ Fixed the damn lights on the damn tree. Again. And yet? There is still a strand that is out. It's in the back of the tree, though, so I'm pretty positive that this tree decorator is hanging up her gloves...

~ pinched my neck in a, ah, private moment with my husband. This resulted in having to move verrrry slowly for an entire day and then deal with a splitting headache this morning as a result of not moving all freaking night. Seriously, this "aging gracefully" shit is for the birds. Or it's at least for people who know how to be intimate without getting into awkward positions.*


~ Was featured in Mommypage.com. Well, that didn't really require any work, persay, I wrote that info page a long time ago. But still. I was FEATURED. It should count on lists of things accomplished. I liked to read it, mainly because I am super tan in the bio pic I sent them. Sigh... I miss sunshine.

~ Drove to Legoland! Notice I said "Drove to" Legoland and not "visited" Legoland. This is what happens when you don't visit the website and check the hours. You'll end up walking up to the doors as the doors are LOCKING. And you'll have some superbly devastated children who can only be persuaded to be Happy Little Elves once again by visiting the nearby Rainforest Cafe. Legoland is open for YOU, though! CHECK THEIR HOURS. They are all decked out for the holidays. (Or so I hear....)

~ Did my all day shopping extravaganza. It was everything I'd dreamed it would be and MORE. 6 hours of uninterrupted, child-free, shopping bliss. I say "uninterrupted" because I don't have a cell phone and couldn't be contacted every 45 minutes to see how long I'd be gone. I don't have a cell phone because I am way too cool for that.**

~ Lived it up with various other over-30 folks at a White Elephant party. Went there with some very cheesy romance novels and an unopened Security light and returned home with an extremely cool, avocado green party dish set. You'll have to see it to understand why I liked it so much that I made Patrick steal it.

~ Did the usual runs to and from karate twice, gymnastics and dance classes. Managed to not catch the cold that seems to be residing in every 9 and under's mucus membranes.

~ Answered a FEW emails, but truly, I am perpetually struggling to get on the internet thankyouverymuchJustin.

~ Was continued to be amazed at the brilliance of my children. My 6 year old who is reading Stuart Little. My 9 year old who is just ABSORBING the American Sign Language studies he's jumped right into. My 12 year old who informed me that he spent 2 hours on the computer, getting rid of some virus or something by looking for the directions on the internet. They're all freaking geniuses, and I absolutely AM bragging!

~ Smiled whenever I found a hidden message left by my daughter. I love that she uses hearts in her alphabet. It's such a sweet reminder that we're doing SOMEthing right in our raising of them...

*Don't tell the kids, though: I told them I must have hurt my neck when I was Christmas shopping for them.


**Actually, it's because I'm too lazy to pay a bill and too cheap to pay it when I REMEMBER, so my Pay As You Go phone just kind of gathers dust on my counter top...