I mentioned previously that I would have to start a blog elsewhere since we will be getting rid of our Earthlink service. I'm not thrilled about getting going without Earthlink as we have had a good experience with them. However, I don't see any reason to keep paying $40/month if I can get other service for free. So, here is the link to my new blog Life at the Academy. There really isn't much there yet, but I will try to add to it in the coming days.

I do realize that this is a couple of days late. I have reasons. If you read below, you will see the prime reason. Also, my parents were in town for a couple of days and after the left on Christmas afternoon, I was too pooped to post. So, we had a wonderful Christmas. It was probably the most we've spent on the kids, but only because Doodles had officially reached her 1000 laptop bucks that she needed to earn her laptop. By giving it to her for Christmas, we didn't have to get her much else, but she still did get plenty. Santa left her a laptop cooler and wireless mouse for it along with an i-tunes gift card and a Books-a-Million gift card for a book she wants that wasn't out yet. Since she was getting that laptop, we felt compelled to make sure that Buster got something nice, but we couldn't quite decide. He wanted an ipod, a PSP, or a Wii. I didn't think he would use an ipod that much. He already has a DS, so I didn't think he needed a PSP. He also has a PS2 and the Wii's are so hard to find that I wasn't sold on that idea either. That is until Thanksgiving day when I lucked into getting one on Amazon for $70 as part of a voting promotion they had going on. I couldn't not get one for that price! So, the decision was made and we bought a couple of games, an extra remote and nunchuck, and a charger. We decide that all of the hardware would be from Santa and the games would be from us. Christmas Eve, I hooked it all up to the tv, and then kind of pushed it back a bit in the entertainment center so he wouldn't see it there. Then, we put one of the remotes at the very toe of the stocking so it would be the last thing he found in it and further up put a fake controller that one of the fast food restaurants had given away in their kids meal some time ago. He questioned why there was the fake one when he came across it but kept digging things out. When he got to the real one, he hesitated for a moment and then said "Hey, this is a real Wii remote but I don't see a Wii anywhere!" The kids ran into the other room where the tv is and found it. They were so excited and Buster hasn't realized that it technically is his Wii - he keeps saying that "We got a Wii." Then we opened all of the other gifts and it was actually his Nerf guns that got played with first. Doodles had told us that she wanted her laptop last, after everything else was opened. We decided to have some fun with it and wrapped several boxes nested in each other. The biggest box also had the charger cord and the paperwork wrapped in it. Each time she unwrapped something, she had to give us $100 laptop bucks. She was sure that we had more than 10 things to unwrap so that she wouldn't have enough money at the end. Somehow, I managed to have it work out perfectly despite forgetting how many boxes we had used. According to her, it wasn't very funny and she was tired of it after the first two boxes. I think she loved the idea of how huge that first box was though. Now if only I can figure out how to copy the songs from her ipod to her computer since mine crashed and the music is lost from it. She's itching to use her itunes gift card too. As for Boxman and me, we are enjoying all of our gifts too. Not as exciting as the Wii and laptop, but we love them all.

I actually had computer issues that left me without my laptop for awhile. I had a corrupt file that made it impossible for me to start up Windows. Boxman talked to all of his computer buddies at work and they all said pretty much the same thing - I would probably have to start from scratch. Fortunately, I had recently backed up all of my pictures onto an external hard drive. I had also taken off a few other important files. Boxman had problems with his computer a few months ago, so he had already acquired a different operating system that we could use to boot up the computer and extract a few other important files. Then, I had to use the ol' recovery disk that came with the computer that wiped out everything on it. <sigh> I'm still trying to get everything set up the way I like it. Add to that the fact that we will probably be getting rid of our Earthlink dsl service, I also have to set up another e-mail and find a different host for my blog. I'll post the new blog address when I get that figured out. I'll e-mail the people in my address book my new e-mail address. We will have the Earthlink for at least another month, so no worries about that yet. I'm just happy to be back on-line with my laptop.

I am just sick after finding out last night that when Doodles went to her last dance performance, they had 5 children in the back seat of a vehicle that is meant to hold 3 in the back seat. Oh, my child was one of them that had on a seatbelt, but that wouldn't help her any if one of the other kids came flying at her at 50 mph. I'm going to talk to her dance instructor, who was not in the vehicle, about it as I don't really know the woman who was driving that car very well. I intend to make it perfectly clear that she is not to ever ride in a car like that again. I was available to drive that day and am available pretty much anytime they need me to drive. And I can safely take 5 kids with me. I'm just sick over it. The worst part is that the woman who was driving is a mother of 3 and really should know better. I would almost be a bit understanding had it been her teacher who is 24 and childless or if she had been riding with one of the older girls who are clueless on such matters. But it was supposed to be a responsible adult. So, Thursday, when I take her to her dance class which is right before their next performance, I have to make it perfectly clear to the teacher that not only must my child be buckled up, but there must be enough seatbelts for everyone else in the vehicle to be buckled up too. I am willing and able to drive whenever they need me to make sure that everyone is transported safely. I hate it when I have to have talks like that. First it seems so ridiculous that in this day and age, people still haven't figured out that seatbelts save lives. I had been certified as a child passenger safety technician so that I could do car seat checkups. As part of the week's worth of classes, we learned a lot about crash dynamics. An unbuckled person or unsecured cargo can kill you. Knowing too much might make me a bit more overprotective, but I would rather be overprotective in a case like this than mourning my child. Of course I still can't understand why an adult would be allowing someone else's child to ride in a vehicle like that. I'm just sick about it.

If it weren't for this stinkin' 80 degree weather. Oh wait, it's down to the mid-70's right now. Almost feels cool. We stuck with tradition and went shopping for our Christmas tree in shorts again. It just doesn't seem right. But, the tree is now sitting in the living room part way decorated. It would have more decorations on it if we could find the ornament hooks. Some how, they didn't get put in one of the boxes with ornaments and we haven't been able to locate them yet. The kids started hanging up whatever ones they found that still had hangers on them along with the ones that don't need a hanger. I guess if we don't find them by the time we leave for piano lessons, I'll be stopping at Target to pick some up. I'm so grateful for that Target.

I did get all of the presents that we have to ship wrapped this weekend. Except for the one that should be showing up in the mail in the next couple of days. And the one that the UPS man should be bringing me. And the one that I have to go buy at the wine shop yet. But other than that, they are done. And let me just say that a high fill power, king size down comforter doesn't squish down to fit in a box as much as everyone keeps telling me it should. So, my db and his wife will be getting a far bigger package than the families with kids will be getting. Once they are out of the house and the tree is finished being decorated, I will finally be able to start wrapping stuff for the kids. I love the excitement of them trying to guess what each gift is. I love Christmas.

So, I was helping Buster tuck his shirt in yesterday when he gave me some shocking news. He told me, "I don't like underwear." My first thought was that I hoped he had some underwear on. Then I contemplated the idea of him going commando on me, as I had my hand down his pants tucking in his shirt. I was about to tell him that he needed to wear underwear even if he didn't like it, when he clarified that he wish he had more boxer briefs. Whew, it wasn't that he doesn't like underwear, it's that he doesn't like plain briefs. He only has 5 pairs of boxer briefs so he has to wear the regular briefs a couple of days a week. Good thing I bought him a few more pairs for Christmas. I really don't want to hear him say that he doesn't like underwear again.

I've been trying to get lists from people for a couple of weeks now. Boxman doesn't seem to want anything until we go out shopping at which point he buys whatever it is he sees for himself. Good thing I bought that GPS for him a few weeks ago. Doodles has been working hard to earn a laptop, so that is about all that she is getting. Of course this makes it hard because Buster knows *we* are getting her a laptop so Santa still needs to get her something since Buster still believes in him. However, I don't want to spend any more money on her as we spent more than usual already. Buster just wants an iPod, games for his DS, along with all of the video game systems we don't have - a PSP, Wii, PS3, not too interested in an XBOX 360 though, thank goodness. I had no idea what Santa might get him because I didn't really want to buy any of those things. The answer came to me on Thanksgiving morning. I had voted for the great deals that Amazon was going to be having. If you vote for the deal that wins, you have a chance of being randomly chosen to get that deal. The first deal was on Thanksgiving. I had voted for the winning one - a $250 Wii for $79. When I checked to see if I was offered the deal, I was totally shocked to see the "Congratulations" come up on my screen. I really hadn't even contemplated the possibility of getting it. So, for $79 my decision had been made, Santa is bringing Buster a Wii. The fun part is that Doodles has no idea about it either so even though she won't be surprised by her laptop, she will be thrilled to see that Buster has a Wii under the tree on Christmas morning. And I am so excited about getting such a great deal.

We picked up a few deals on Black Friday. Since Sears wasn't offering the gift cards to the first 200 people or so this year, we didn't bother going and waiting in line there. Matter of fact, we overslept and didn't get out of the house until nearly 5 am so we didn't wait in line to get in at any store. We did get enough snow globes from Penneys despite the woman at the door we went in not allowing the kids to have one. She actually told us that these small Disney snow globes were not toys and kids shouldn't have them. Ha. It's not like I had toddlers with me, they are 9 and 12. We went to the other door and the lady gave one to each of us. The doors leading from Penneys to the mall were still closed, so we had to go outside and then go in the mall door. I didn't like that trapped feeling of not being able to get out into the mall. But then again, I do have claustrophobia issues. Boxman snagged the last ticket to get a set of drawers/workbench thing for his tools at Sears, and I got a pair of jeans for $10. We moved on to Radio Shack for some Star Wars Lightsaber flashlights and a laptop cooler (which is going back because we got a nicer one for a better deal at Circuit City later). Then we left the mall to go to Kohl's because I really wanted a memory foam pillow for 60% off and wanted to look at their clothes. They were sold out of the pillow I wanted but I did get a couple of sweaters. Then we went to Circuit City and got some deals on blank DVDs since Doodles new laptop can write DVDs. We also got her a laptop cooler and an SD card for the digital camera she recently bought with her birthday money. But our shopping wasn't done yet. Boxman had seen a shopvac in the Home Depot ad. He and my brother decided that they were going to buy each other a shopvac for Christmas. My brother lives in PA so they were both going to go buy their own so we wouldn't have to worry about shipping them. Boxman still wanted to shop some more, but I was getting tired and hungry so we went home, unloaded the van, ate, and Boxman went out to do some more shopping. He went back to Penneys and got my memory foam pillow there along with a shirt that Doodles had picked out earlier. The pillow looks like the same one that Kohl's had, but cost a couple of dollars more. I really have no clue where else he went after that, and that's okay. I think the only things we got by getting up early that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise were the free snow globes, and the workbench thing from Sears. Ah, but it's fun getting up so early and joining in the festivities.

I love Thanksgiving. I like it for various reasons - the pause that it makes us take to remember all the things we have to be grateful for, the time it allows us to spend together as a family playing games and hanging out without feeling like we should be doing something else, the wonderful food, and of course going through all of the black Friday ads plotting our course for the biggest shopping day of the year.

I do have a lot to be grateful for. We were reminded of some of that on Monday as we helped deliver food baskets to some needy families. They lived in not so nice neighborhoods where it wasn't as safe for the kids to play outside. Their homes and apartments were small with dilapidated furniture. They took the food with a small thanks extended to us. Only a couple seemed truly grateful for it while the others seemed either embarrassed or as though accepting charity was a common place thing for them. It was sad either way. When we came home, I looked at my nice, medium sized house that was equipped with all of the necessities and many luxuries and felt very blessed. I then went and spent well over $100 on groceries to make our Thanksgiving feast. I'm thankful that we can eat without worrying how we will pay for the food, that we have a comfortable place to live, and that I have a wonderful, healthy family filled with love. I'm so happy for Boxman to have a job that he truly likes and that he is able to work from home most of the time. We get to spend so much more time with him than we did a couple of years ago. I am truly fortunate in many ways.

Tomorrow, we won't be traveling to see family or friends. We will hang out together cooking, eating, playing games, and enjoying each other. I miss not getting to see my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It's always great to see them. However, I have learned since we have been in Louisiana that something can be said for just cooking, eating when it's done and doing whatever we want, whenever we want. It's a very relaxing day.

I really do like to cook. I don't like planning what to cook. This makes Thanksgiving a good day for me. The menu stays pretty much the same each year. The first year we were here was the first year I made a turkey. I got on epicurious.com and searched for recipes. It was fun to try something new and so the next year I tried yet another recipe. Over the years, I have tried several different variations and have found a couple of things that we like enough to crave the following year. The one recipe that we absolutely must make every year is this Spiced Cranberry Sauce with Zinfandel. This is the most incredible cranberry sauce I have ever had in my life. You must make it sometime. We are also going back to Maple Glazed Roast Turkey with Mixed Herb Gravy. We really like this one for the gravy. Even Doodles requested it this year although she also likes one with a carmelized onion gravy too. And then there are the pies. My grandmother was the master pie maker. I'm used to having lots of different pies for Thanksgiving. Having just 4 of us here though, I can't seem to convince myself that we need more than 2 pies. Doodles usually makes these. She does a pumpkin pie for the rest of us even though she doesn't like pumpkin, and then makes an apple pie too. This year she decided to go with a crumb topping. She cheats and uses the Pillsbury rolled pie crusts, but I think they taste pretty good. One of these years, she might move on to making the crusts from scratch. Of course I make the homemade whipped cream to go on top of them. Yummy.

Our other tradition is going through all of the black Friday ads. The kids love getting up at 4 am (might be earlier this year) to go shopping with the crowds on Friday. Of course Boxman loves it too, as crazy as that sounds. He is a shopping man. Our routine for shopping usually consists of waiting in line at Sears to get the gift cards they usually give out to the first 200 or so customers. Then we go to the other end of the mall to get the snowglobes that Penneys gives out. Then we shop a little bit waiting for Radioshack to open as they usually have a few things we want. After that, we generally move on to Target. I try to avoid the really crazy places like Best Buy and Circuit City, although Boxman is talking about camping out to get a good deal on a laptop. And I always avoid Wal-Mart but then again, I despise that store and pretty much stay away from it year round. By lunchtime, we are ready to come home, eat, unload everything, take an inventory of what we actually got and need to buy and then maybe head out to another store or two. Boxman is like the Energizer bunny and will keep shopping until we make him come home and then will generally go back out by himself. It's fun.

But perhaps I should stop writing about it all and get to some cooking! Besides the cranberry sauce, I'm thinking about making the sweet potato casserole today. I hope you all have a truly blessed Thanksgiving.

Last week, Boxman had to go to TN for work. The kids talked me into getting up early so we could take him to the airport. We came home, did school, and then got in the van to go to piano lessons. The van wouldn't start. It had worked perfectly fine earlier when we went to the airport. It was turning over and sounded fine, but as soon as I let go of the key, it would die. Thank goodness we had taken him to the airport so that his car was still at home instead of sitting in the airport parking lot. Later, I messed with the van again, and found that I could get it to start if I stepped on the gas pedal, but as soon as I took my foot off of the pedal, it would die. Well, my mom sells cars, so I did like I always do when I have a car related question/problem and called her. She then mentioned it to one of the guys at the dealership who knew exactly what the problem was - the idle air control valve was stuck. I googled it and not only found a description of what happens when it is stuck, which completely described my problem, but even found a website which gave step by step directions with pictures on how to fix it. So, with the help of a socket, some WD-40, and a little pointed tool, it was back up and running in less than 1/2 an hour with no costs involved. Had I taken to the shop, they probably would have wanted to replace the part and charge us a couple hundred dollars. Whew, am I relieved.

Yep, today is Doodle's birthday. My first born is now 12 years old. Amazing how that happens.

We have a Frankenstein cake sitting on the counter. Her middle name is Francesca. I told her that I picked out that cake because she was named after Frankenstein since she was born on Halloween. She looked at me oddly and replied with "You never told me that before." My response, "Really, I never did?" I think she bought it.

She has the whole day planned out, as usual. We don't do school on our birthdays, so we have the day off. She had a homeschooled friend spend the night last night. They are currently in the kitchen making miniature cinnamon rolls and miniature crescent rolls from an American Girl cookbook. At least I didn't have to get up and make them pancakes. She wants to go out to Macaroni Grill for lunch. She never goes anywhere decent for dinner on her birthday since she would rather go trick or treating. At tae kwon do today, it's just a big Halloween party with games and candy. Fortunately, we are in the early class so we will be home plenty early for all of the other festivities. And then dinner will consist of her using her free kid's meal coupon from Sonic that they send for birthdays. Being 12, this might be her last one. And then, of course the trick or treating. She is going to be a geisha again this year. After days of searching for the perfect costume, she is going to be the same thing as last year. This would be a good thing except that she wasn't willing to wear the same costume as last year - it had to be a new one. With it being her birthday, I always feel compelled to try to get/make her what she wants for a costume. I am just grateful that the one she chose was already marked 40% off. I will admit that it is prettier than the one she wore last year. And then after all the trick or treating is done and they have eaten so much candy they are buzzing, I will be reminding myself that next year we really need to take the day after her birthday off, not the day of.











Happy Birthday, Doodles!