Flashback

Have you ever had a memory from your younger days that came at you from out of the blue? It happened to me today as I was driving home from getting groceries. I believe it was a defining moment in my life.

It happened about 30 years ago when I was 15 or 16 and my friend was 13 or 14. I walked to her house to get her so we could go hang out. When I arrived at her house, her father met me at the door and walked me back to her room. A bit unusual, but I had no idea what was coming. When we entered her room, her dad picked up a pack of cigarettes and said to me, "are these yours?". They weren't. I had a split second to make my decision whether I was going to throw my friend under the bus and let her get beat up by her abusive father, or if I was going to take the blame for her and take the chance that her father would tell my father and I could be beat up by my abusive father. I glanced at her face and knew I had to take my chances. When I saw the look of terror there, I saw myself. I said to him, "Yes, I asked her to hold them for me. I'm sorry.". He walked over to me, handed me her cigarettes, and walked out of the room.

I knew I did the right thing.

It was the moment I knew who I'd become.

And he never did tell my father...

Seriously! Lowe's is having a 50% Christmas decorations sale.

I just bought this today. I never would have spent the amount of money on it that was the regular price, but 50% off! Now, they were speaking my language. I've never had such a nice tree before. That would be the reason i felt the urge to actually blog about it. Much to your dismay, I'm sure. Sorry about that...

I put it up, but, obviously, it's not decorated yet.

To take your mind off the above nonsense, I will shamelessly use my adorable son:

He has taken to climbing up and down time and time again on the dining room chair for some reason. Naturally, when I pulled out the Flip, he stopped.

Again, he stops doing his adorable antics once he sees the Flip. Sigh. Of course, he was singing and clapping to...wait for it....The Wiggles. (BTW...You can see part of the old, crappy Christmas tree in this video that, when I plugged it in, some of the lights were burnt out...hence, my justification for buying the new one.)

I've done gone and lost my mind

We went shopping on Black Friday. Not in the wee hours, mind you, but we did venture out in the afternoon.

Just for shits and giggles.

I had never seen a HDTV in real life before. As I muscled my waysauntered through the electronics department, I gazed upon these most wondrous of inventions. I stood there with Kevin just gawking. Drool escaping from my mouth as I stared in amazement. Where have I been? How have I never seen these before? Why haven't any of you told me about this?

Can you say "impulse buy"? Yeah.

I don't have the actual HD hooked up, yet, because my appointment is not until next Wednesday, but this thing is pretty sweet already.

The WALL!

This, my friends, is the new wall separating my bedroom into two, count them, two rooms!

Bliss, I tell ya. No, it's not primed or painted yet, but it's THERE. I can now sleep in my bed again. Last night was my first night in my bed in about 6 months. I was able to read and
eat my peanut butter cups in peace. Without stealth! What a beautiful thing.

The blankie

I have to say that I'm terrified that something awful will happen to Kevin's blanket. Or that he'll carry it around when he's 22. Whichever. The reason this comes to mind is because of
this post by The New Girl (who is a fantastically funny blogger, BTW). If you scroll down a couple of paragraphs, she is talking about switching her daughter's old doll with a new, identical doll and her child's reaction.

Hence, the fear.

The boy is totally attached to his blankie. There is a particular corner of it that he searches for. He'll start turning the thing around to feel each corner until he finds the "right" one. It's frustrating to watch when he's frantically searching and he's felt 3 of the corners, and I think it's almost over, but then he reverses his search and starts covering old ground. I've taken to putting the correct end of the blanket toward his face (yes, I know which friggin' corner it is) and hope he finds it right away. If he start twirling the damn thing, I step in and just hand him the correct corner. He then takes it and rubs it between his fingers like a talisman, or rubs it against his cheek. We take it on vacation with us because, simply, it is a lifesaver at times. WHAT. IF. I. FORGET. IT. AT. HOME?! Worse yet, OMFG! what if I left it at a hotel?! His stuffed Mickey Mouse is his second choice. I'm trying to keep him from taking the blanket out in public with us because he drags it around and, um, yuck, so I make him leave it in his crib. He's gotten used to that and will just drop it now and pick up Mickey instead. Roni, on the other hand, would let him take it anywhere (although she did put her foot down when he wanted to take it in the bathtub while on vacation).

Do your kids have a similar object of love?

I think I did it...

I may have found a way to upload the Wishes video... make sure you watch it all the way through. What you may think is the Grand Finale, isn't.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1406988204156394590

If you click the link, you can watch the video. You can also download it to your iPod/iPhone. It actually plays better on there. The colors are better....

Wishes video

The trip down went very well with Kevin. He was completely different than our trip in January and I was so proud of him.

One near miss while driving...which, if you read my last trip blog regarding the idiot drivers that seemed to hone in on me, was a huge improvement. I don't know how you guys are when driving beside an 18 wheeler, but I constantly watch the side of the truck where the turn signal is under the truck. I've never had a problem before, but this time it paid off. The trucker was passing me and my old habit kicked in and started watching the turn signal. I don't know if he forgot I was there, or what, but the turn signal came on. I kept watching it. Waiting. I knew I was in his blind spot because he never finished the pass. I just knew this was going to be a bad thing. Here he came. I could see the people in the car behind me looking horrified. I'm thankful that there was a shoulder on the highway and I wasn't caught on a bridge or a construction zone. I swerved off and laid on the horn. There wasn't much else I could do. He heard me and jerked the truck back which, BTW, is kinda scary to watch in and of itself. It was a pretty big swerve because his front end was already halfway across my lane. Other than that moment, it was a good drive.

The Universal hotels are gorgeous (and pet friendly). We stayed at the Hard Rock and I'd stay there again in a minute, but it will probably never happen due to the cost. It was really a once in a lifetime thing for us. I enjoyed the Universal parks, but wish I could have spent more time than we did at Disney. Katie was in heaven at the Hard Rock. This trip was mostly for her because I think she's about done with the Disney trips now. I'm sure she won't be going on our next trip. Staying at this resort was also for Roni because she's more about the hotel than I am. I don't much care about where we stay as long as it's pretty decent. Three stars are usually what I shoot for. I'm glad I was able to do it for them this time.

As for the video with Kevin running through the fountains...it's gone, just gone. I don't know what happened, but I can't find it on my computer anywhere. Every other video is there, but not that one. I'm so upset because I adored that time with him and wanted to save it for posterity.

The night at the Magic Kingdom was perfect. I was in my happy place made twice as happy when it's decorated for Christmas. Kevin saw his first fireworks when the Wishes Holiday fireworks began. Hey, if you've never seen Disney fireworks, you don't know what you're missing. I wasn't sure how he react so I held him for it. He was mesmerized. Toward the end of the video, I jiggle the camera a bit. Excuse that, please. I had to switch arms holding Kevin. It was that or drop him. I thought about it for, you know, the sake of the video, but then decided against it.

O.M.G. I can't get the video uploaded because it's too long!!!! Argh! I tried through youtube and it won't allow it either. Any ideas? I'm sorry....I've been trying for hours.