there's truth behind every 'just kidding', curiosity behind every 'just wondering', knowledge behind every 'I don't know' and emotion behind every 'I don't care


No idea who said this.  One of my friends had this posted as their facebook status the other day and I completely agree with this statement. 
I am in a slump.  I wake up every morning, get ready for work, make coffee, drive to work, work all day, drive home, cook dinner, watch tv or do homework and go to bed, sleep for a few hours, toss and turn, sleep for another hour, lather rinse and repeat.
I don't know if it's just "this time of year" or just feeling ambivalent about things, but I am in desperate need of something to shake things up a bit.  I usually feel this way at the end of the year as it's dark out all the time (or at least what I get to see of the day driving to and from work). 
Work is crazy and long...but a project is finishing up so hopefully the late nights will be cut back to one a week starting next week.  
To top everything all off, we need to decide what we are doing about the follow up with the fertility clinic.  My health insurance changes at the beginning of next year and it doesn't cover any treatments so if we start now, we will either not be able to finish it or pay for it out of pocket. So, that's a pretty huge decision we are trying to make.
Not exactly oozing positivity and rainbows tonight.  
Your blogs bring smiles to my faces on a regular basis and I love reading everything that's going on in your lives....so thank you allowing me to witness your lives...

Post Thanksgiving Post

We got home earlyish today....after finally going to the grocery store.
This weekend was pretty good.  We braved the crowds twice on Friday...once at midnight and one around one pm.  Didn't get nearly as much as I wanted to get but at least it is a start.  Now I can finish up most of it online and not feel like I didn't go shopping...
The kids were pretty fantastic this weekend- they definitely make it worth being up there.  The hugs, the unexpected snuggles, the fast talking oh-my-goodness-you-need-to-hear-all-about-my-day.  They love to play board games so we did that for a while last night.
We also had the first snow of the season this weekend.  It snowed sometime between 4am on Friday and 8am when I got up.  Just enough to make it a little sloppy- but by the time we headed into town it wasn't bad.  We didn't even buy that much.
That's all I got today.  I am tired and need to do homework...hope that your weekends made you smile!

Special Thanksgiving list

Today was full of smiles....being around the kids always brings out extra ones
Them wanting to "touch" the turkey before we cooked it
A very serious discussion about why we eat turkey with a three year old
Champagne before noon
Picking up a jewelry order
Yummy dinner with all the fixings...
Bribing the kids with a dollar to try cranberry sauce...they did and they liked it!
Sitting on the couch trying to get homework done and the little one throws his arms around my neck and gives me a kiss- just wanted to say I love you Auntie
Yummy chocolate pie
homework is done for tonight
Football on TV
Actually enjoying the holiday with my inlaws, only getting teary once cause I wasn't with my family
The oldest nephew not wanting to go to bed cause we are here....promises that we will be here all weekend have been going on for the last hour
Separating myself from the fray to finish my homework (and write this blog post) and the oldest nephew coming in to show me his etch a sketch mazes
Planning a shopping trip out tonight to go start shopping for Christmas....my sister in law and I are going to start in about two hours till probably about 3am...then come back and crash for a little while.
The only downside....I forgot to bring my camera with me...but the memories will still be there...
plus my nephew grabbed my sister in laws camera- so I am sure it will be interesting to see how he captured this holiday!!
Hugs to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a day to be thankful....for all of the blessings.
A day to slow down and realize the good things that have happened and be grateful for them.
There are many blessings in my life that I am grateful for everyday..
My wonderful hubby
My family
My friends
A good job
a roof over my head
The ability to recognize that things aren't always going to go the way you want them to but there is a reason that they happen...and eventually, you will figure that out and be thankful for it.
I am sitting in my inlaws living room listening to the banter that goes back and forth every Thanksgiving, the memories being shared, the laughter being remembered, the people who are no longer with us being talked about.
I am truly blessed in my life, and while I may get caught up in the every day drudgery of it sometimes, I try to take a minute and remember every day.
I am remembering some special people in my life who have passed today and am grateful for the lessons they were able to teach me while they were with us and know that they are looking down, watching and guiding my path.
You all out in blogland are new blessings that I am thankful for this year.  Your comments, stories, support and lives that you share on this anonymous source make me smile, make me laugh, and make me realize that the world is wide, the experiences varied and that it is possible to write something down, have virtual friends read it and give feedback.  I am grateful for having "met" all of you and sharing in your lives.
Thank you for reading, for giving me something I didn't even realize I needed.
Count your blessings today, enjoy every single moment and appreciate the things that make you smile!! I'll be back later...

Thanksgiving

I am up insanely early this morning.  I am not really sure why but figured I would write a quick post.  After work tonight we are headed up to my inlaws for Thanksgiving.  They live about 2 hours north (we are hoping for no snow) so it will be late when we get there.
Tomorrow will be a day of cooking, football, entertaining kids and eating.  We have two meals tomorrow- one at hubby's grandmother's and the other at my mother in laws house.
We alternate holidays between my parents and his because they live in opposite directions.  I HATE not being with my family on a holiday.  Christmas is always harder than Thanksgiving, but I still hate it.  After ten years of marriage, I still feel like an outsider when it comes to hubby's mom.  She really just doesn't like me- and no I am not exaggerating, she's told me that.  So it's tough going up there for holidays, knowing that I am not with my family.  However....the kids make me laugh, I love when we get up there and they realize that we are there and come running into the room to say hi, launching themselves at you with the full force of their bodies behind the hugs.  I love that my sister in law and I are like sisters....except most of the time we don't fight...
I love that it makes my hubby happy to be there.  So I suck it up...ignore a lot of comments and concentrate on what's really important.....the time that we get to spend with family, the laughter, the conversations, the board games, the football games, the food....all those things that I have to be thankful for this year and every year.

Today was another long day....had fun at work today...we laughed and laughed...
Hubby was cute today..he's off this week.  He must have called me fifteen times today to check in on different stuff...made me smile..
That's all I got today...gonna call it an early night...promise a real post soon...
hope that all my American friends are enjoying the preparation for Thanksgiving....the grocery store was a mess today!!

Exhausting Monday

Yep..it's Monday....it's almost over...thank goodness.
However...my very first call this morning cracked me right up.
Some highlights:
1) The man sang to me- a song by someone (I don't remember whom)- using nikki as my name- I HATE the name nikki...you would think having told him that I haven't been called that since I was about ten would have clued him in- but nope- every other word out of his mouth was nikki
2) Being sworn to secrecy that I wouldn't tell the National Republican Committee that he used to be a heavy metal singer in germany because they gave him an award
3) another song that I don't remember being sung to me
4) A thirty minute (mind you my average call length is three minutes) diatribe about how no one is trying to keep "his" people down and the "others" needed to stop hating and start understanding that it's not their fault.

I don't think i am going to get an account out of him- but man he was fun...
The leftover crazy from the full moon was out in full force today!

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