Already something to look forward to!

As if a whole new year stretching out ahead of me isn't enough to look forward to, I just remembered that January starts up the tennis season! Yippee!! Wait...you think I'm kidding?? Oh no, my friends, if there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I LOVE tennis. I LOVE watching tennis and I swear someday I'm actually going to go to a Grand Slam. I cried - at work, no less - at the end of Andre Agassi's last match of his career (US Open 2006). I LOVE TENNIS.

And The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, starts in approximately 11 days, 5 hours and 9 minutes in Melbourne. Ahhh, the Australian Open. If I had my choice of Grand Slams to attend, it just might be my first choice. For a variety of reasons. First, it's in Australia. Duh. Second, January in Australia is SUMMERTIME. Hot and sunny there when it's cold and crappy here. Third, it's the most laid-bad, almost raucous, Grand Slam of them all. It's really like a big party where people just happen to be playing tennis. Looks like SO much fun. Even if you don't like tennis, I bet you'd have a good time there.

So, starting on January 14th, my TiVo will start capturing all the action, my children will be wailing and gnashing their teeth because Mommy will be hogging the TV (for once), and my laundry be will be the most caught up it's been since August (the last Grand Slam). For you see, being the total ADHD person that I am, I can't just sit and watch TV. I have to be doing something else at the same time, and folding laundry is the perfect thing. That way my hands are busy and I'm doing something productive so I feel a little less guilty about all the hours I'll spend watching a fuzzy little yellow ball being whacked back and forth over a net.

T minus 11 days, 4 hours, 49 minutes.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Wow. Another year over. And this one really flew. But it's been a good year. I can't remember too many awful things that happened, which is a good thing. Call me Pollyanna but I just feel like each year gets better and better. Maybe my expectations keep dropping. Or I'm happier with less. Or I'm just chronically optimistic. Whatever the case, I feel incredibly blessed by my life. My family, my children, my friends, my job...everything. Far more than I probably deserve.

I'm always kind of excited about New Years because it's a time of newness. New calendars. New goals. It's like starting over with a clean slate, even though the first day of the year really isn't much different that the one before. I guess it's more of a mental thing. I really find myself wanting to dive into the depths of my closets, junk drawers and garage and just clean stuff out. Throw it away. Quit hauling it around and stepping over it and rummaging thru it. I mean, if it's sitting in boxes and the recesses of the closet, is it serving a purpose? Is it really that valuable? It's funny because for the last few months, I've really felt this pull to minimize things in my life. No, not my friends or my oxygen intake. Just the stuff that is taking up space. I want what I have to be of quality not quantity. I read a book earlier this year (The Lady in the Palazzo) and one of the ladies in the village had a quote that I just loved: "The less you have, the more important it becomes." It was how she lived her life and while she may have had very little materialistically by choice, she had a very rich life through her friends, family and experiences.

So for 2008 I want more quality time with my family & friends, more happy memories, more laughter, more sunshine on my shoulders, more sand in my shoes and less STUFF. But that doesn't mean you should forget my birthday.

Happy New Year!!

Random Thoughts

Wow, that's quite a list of books that I've read this year. Not as many as I'd hoped - my goal was 100 books in 2007 - but I think I kind of overshot that one not realizing that would mean reading on average 2 books a week. My current book is #34 on the list, which isn't bad. In my defense, several of the books that I read were 700+ pages each, so that's really like TWO books. Anyway, I'm nerdy and last year created a spreadsheet to keep track of my literary accomplishments and will continue to do so in 2008. It's kind of fun to look back at what I've read. I've already got a stack of books waiting to be read in 2008, not to mention my ever-growing wish list at the library.

Since the New Year is almost upon us, everyone starts talking about New Years Resolutions. I haven't made actual resolutions in years, because frankly, I can't take that kind self-abuse. I mean, why set myself up for failure? Instead of resolutions, I try to set a few goals to accomplish over the next year. I think of it as my List of Intentions. What's on it this year? Hmmm....let me think.

1. Finish up a couple craft projects that have been patiently waiting for my attention.
2. Quit spending so much time on the damn computer.
3. Make my husband go on a vacation with me.
4. Be more active!
5. Revamp my wardrobe.
6. Learn how to use my camera and take some really awesome pictures.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there will be more. But my head is starting to pound from all this thinking. Or maybe it's my cold that's making it hurt. Time for more Sudafed!

Happy Festivus!

So the other day, Hubby rolled all the coins from our coin jar (aka the pickle jar in the closet) and gave me the coin rolls to take to the bank to cash in. I swear, the man is finally catching on and realizing what I'm all about. He told me to take the cash and buy myself some of this:


And God love him, I did. Bless his little heart, I think he may have actually been listening a couple weeks ago when we had a "talk" about me and my needs. I don't recall actually telling him I needed top-shelf vodka, but far be it from me to question his interpretation. I think he hit the goose on the head.

The Next Ansel Adams

Let me tell ya, I have been having SO much fun with my new camera! It arrived about a week ago and I think I've probably taken 200 pictures already! Granted, not all of them have been good and I've deleted quite a few, but I'm still learning how to use all the features. Even with my limited knowledge, I've managed to snap some really good pictures. The clarity is amazing - so much better than my point & shoot Canon.

Here are a few of my recent masterpieces:

The kids at the park

Murphy, the cat

Zoe Grace

I will continue practicing and learning how to use all the features so that hopefully I can get some good pictures that can be blown up. I'd love to have some that we could use in our house. That'd be cool.

My new toy!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am over my latest purchase! Even though yesterday was technically The Hubby's birthday, I ordered myself a present. Not without his consent/approval/permission, of course. Especially since it's probably the most expensive thing we've purchased since we bought our refrigerator about 7 years ago (not counting vehicles). But I digress.

I bought a camera! And not just any ol' camera. I purchased my very first digital SLR camera, a Nikon D40. The thought has been in the back of my head for awhile now that we really could use a nicer camera, if we ever wanted to actually get pictures of the kids that were spontaneous and of any kind of quality. But then after discovering my now-favorite blog, www.thepioneerwoman.com, and viewing the awesome pictures that Ree takes, the hunger grabbed ahold of me. Then my girlfriend, Brooke, who is a photo enthusiast also, got a new camera and I knew I just had to join the club. I'm such a joiner.

I researched cameras on line, read reviews and even went and fondled one at Target to see what it actually felt like. Let me tell ya, it felt good. So I grabbed a $12 CD for The Hubster as his birthday present and rushed to home order myself a $500+ camera. Ok, it's not really all for me. I have to remember that and let Josh use it too.

But I can't wait to get it! And it comes with all kinds of accessories: two tripods, a hard carrying case and a soft one, a wide angle lens, 3 filters, a 4GB memory card, a memory card reader, and a car/home batter recharger. I'll be completely set up and ready to shoot. I'm looking forward to getting some good pictures of the kids, especially with the holidays coming. And maybe for Christmas I'll ask for a telephoto lens. That'd be cool.

Later I'll tell you why I think I've bought this from The Mob, but for now Miss Z keeps saying "Take a baf, me!" Time to go get clean.

Love Languages

So I took this quiz this morning: http://edified.org/myspace/lovelanguage. I suspected what the results would be, considering I've read part of Gary Chapman's book, The Five Love Languages, before (I actually own it). The book, and quiz, are geared towards helping you figure out what makes you feel love or what your love language is. Anyway, here are my results:

Acts of Service: 10
Words of Affirmation: 9
Quality Time: 6
Receiving Gifts: 3
Physical Touch: 2

Hmmm. Looks like a typical profile of a mom with small kids, don't you think? Translation: Help me clean this damn house, tell me I'm doing a good job, let me have some time for myself (aka quality time), remember my birthday, and give me an occasional snuggle.

I'm sure that if I were to have Hubby take this quiz his results would probably be an upside-down version of mine. I'm sure Physical Touch would top his list, because, well, he's a man, then he'd probably want some Affirming Words, then Quality Time, Acts of Service and at the bottom of the list would be Receiving Gifts.

I wonder if I can get him to read that book.