Falling Farther Behind

By Saturday, November 29, I had all these gifts bought and no tree to set them under. Not to mention none were wrapped yet either. And, there was still plenty more shopping left to do.

Christmas keeps getting here faster and faster each year.

I found something that I wanted for Christmas while I was out shopping on Saturday. I took the hubs back to buy it for me  to get his opinion.:)

We came home with it and installed it right away. No need to wait until Christmas.

I spent time Sunday, November 30 putting up the Christmas tree after church.

 I realized December was coming whether I was ready or not. 

 I got the tree up...the decorations are for another day.

I am Thankful

I'm thankful this week that I had Saturday, November 22 and Sunday, November 23 to rest. Those days are scarce around here. I am also thankful that after the technician at Nissan told me that my husband needed an $1,191.83 muffler, my husband found a guy to install it for $125 cash.  I am thankful that I had the whole day off on Wednesday, November 26 to get the oil changed in the truck, go grocery shopping and cook food all day in preparation for Thursday. In addition to that, I am thankful for Thanksgiving Day. It's gaining on my favorite holiday's list. Although everyone doesn't appreciate it like I do, I enjoy spending time with family at my moms and spending time with family at my en-laws. It's an entire day to visit, to eat, and to relax. For me, it is NOT a day to shop. To be honest, I hate that every holiday is being sucked into commercialism.  Why can't we just push those sales back to Friday? Why does everything have to be about either making money or saving money?
I am thankful that I got to experience a true thanksgiving when I was a child.  Back then, EVERYTHING closed on Thanksgiving and family spent the whole day, afternoon and evening together.  All that shopping waited until Friday.
Traditionally, I utilize Black Friday as a day to put up Christmas decorations. This year, we opted for a day of fun at Gaylord Opryland's ICE exhibit and snow tubing.

Stroker

 Jennifer, Libby and Christopher

 Christopher and Jennifer

 Bucket and Jennifer

 Brooke

 Brooke

 Our family, along with my brother in law and his family went snow tubing, walked through "T'was the Night before Christmas Exhibit" and the Opryland hotel.

 

We had dinner at Solario, while at the hotel.

Brooke wanted to finish the day with a little shopping, so we hit the mall. I guess by that time, everyone else had already went home from shopping all night the night before because it wasn't too crowded.

IAAPA 2014

The Feast of Thanksgiving was scheduled for Sunday, November 16, but we missed it this year. After church that morning, we loaded up the car and headed south to Orlando, Florida. We knew with a ten hour drive ahead of us, that we should probably go ahead and get a head start.
It's a good thing that we left right after church, We made about a half dozen pit stops between home and Orlando. Two or three stops for fuel, a coffee stop, a lunch stop and a sit down meal for dinner at  Applebees in some random Georgia town.

 By the time we arrived at the resort, we explored a little, got our window decorations up and then got ready for bed.

We spent Monday, November 17 at Disney's Magic Kingdom. The temperature hit an 84 degree high and I was in jeans. I should have packed a pair or two of shorts for the trip. New things we tried at Magic Kingdom on this visit was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and we stopped to eat some Dole Pineapple Whip while at the park. Most everything else felt nostalgic from our previous visits. By the time we left, we were beat. On the way back to the resort, we stopped for dinner at Olive Garden and then called it a night.

 Brooke's fave...Space Mountain

 Evening Parade

On Tuesday, November 18, we experienced the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) all day long. We walked and tried new things for hours. I even won a $25 gift card at one of the booths. By 4pm, we still were not through all the booths, but it was time to close for the day so we had to go. That was okay with us because we had covered miles of booths and our legs and back were worn out for the day. Dinner at TGIFriday's and some exploring around town before turning in for the night.

We want this! A bowling alley with a theatre built in.

I don't like spook houses, but there were some great exhibits for those that do.

As you spin horizontally, you also spin vertically...no thank you

Carnival Games

 Heading to the outdoor inflatable exhibit

 A water slide that is 4 stories tall. 

Wednesday, November 19 was our second day at IAAPA and we were determined to finish. After testing games, massage chairs, food, sno cones and much more, we had more than seen enough. At the end of the day, we took Brooke to dinner at Planet Hollywood.

Thursday, November 20 was bitter sweet. We went to visit Universal Studios, which we have not been since around 2003. So many things that I remembered and loved had been changed, yet other things were still trapped in the wrong century. The back to the future ride that was my favorite, has been changed to Krusty the Clown ride. Jaws is now Harry Potter. Yet, The Terminator is still in use. We almost dosed off in that experience. Three rides that were totally worth it were, Rock It, Mummy, and Transformers. Those three rides saves the whole park. As we left the park at closing, we strolled over to have dinner at the Hard Rock Theater.  

Afternoon  Parade

 Mummy Souvenir  Shop

We got up Friday morning, November 21,  to revisit the spot where the hubs and I said "I Do" all those years ago. It took us a minute to find it because the last time that we were there, we were delivered in a limo. Once we made it, we walked inside the Fourier and realized that nothing looked familiar. We walked through and went straight out back to stroll up the pathway to Paradise Point.  Still confused by all the fences blocking our view, we stumbled around for about 15 minutes before asking for directions. The cast member informed us that the very place we stood on our wedding day was being refurbished into a line of waterside bungalows.  That was disheartening to say the least. Nevertheless, we stood somewhat near where we said "I Do" (in the middle of a construction zone) and took a photo.

What a Week

After fighting my computer for a couple of days, I devoted Wednesday, November 12 to fixing it. I eventually just removed my internet browser entirely and completely re installed it to try to banish the virus that would not allow me to look at any web page. It seems to have resolved the issue.

The funny thing is, now that I am back online, there doesn't seem to be anything of importance that I need to search the web for. Funny how that works.
Anywho, I went on a Christmas shopping trip on Thursday, November 13 at Christmas Village in Nashville. It is six buildings of booth after booth of shopping. It takes hours and hours to get through them all.

To be honest, I'm not even ready to Christmas shop just yet. I have to enjoy Thanksgiving first. It makes me cringe to watch people rush through the holidays as they do these days. Can't we just slow down and enjoy the now?

I'm not sure if I mentioned it last month, but on October 18, Stroker's truck radio stopped playing. The CD player would work, but no radio. I told him that God must feel that he needs some quiet time to reflect on some things.  I don't think Stroker appreciated me translating God's intentions, but I said it anyway. 

I'm always trying to analyze Gods messages in good times and bad. He is speaking to us all the time. It's important that we stop and listen as much as we can.

I gave Stroker 6 Christian music CD's to put in his six disc changer to give him something to listen to.

Fast forward to Friday, November 14, Stroker came in and said "My radio started working again today".  So, I told him that God must have felt that he earned it back.  I know...I need to stop relaying God's messages.  

Supper and a Shopping Spree

Over the river and through the woods to Jackson County we go. We joined Dustin and Lindsey Kennedy for a chili supper at the Gainesboro Elementary on Saturday, November 8. The dinner wasn't really that good, but it was fun to hang out with friends for a bit. Besides, the money went to a good cause.
On Sunday, November 9, Brookelynn and I took off for her birthday shopping trip after church. Our first stop was lunch at Chuey's.

After lunch, we hit all the stores we could handle before our backs give out on us. We had to visit and extra mall because Brooke said she wanted to ride the escalators. There her favorite. We got home around 8:00 Sunday night and unpacked the days shopping haul.

How the hubs spent the day while we shopped.

It Was Getting Crowded

After getting the four girls dropped off at school this morning, it was back to the house to load up Devin and get him over to the oral surgeon.
Today was his day to say goodbye to those pesky wisdom teeth that have been crowding his nice orthodontia work. By 8am we were checked in at the office and he was back in the surgery seat. By 9:30 he was being loaded into the car. the nurse said that they all came out relatively easy and all in one piece.
With the sedation still in effect, he was quite entertaining.  Getting across town and filling his pain and antibiotic prescriptions went fairly well. Devin kept asking me about the two guys crossing the street. He wondered why they were dressed exactly alike. I didn't bother to tell Devin that he was apparently seeing double vision, I just told him to stop laughing because those guys were twins.  :)

He seems a bit big in that little dentist chair.

Friday evening, after Devin was resting better, I picked up my mom and took her to have her hair done. With the holiday's coming up, i thought she might like a fresh perm and haircut. She was happy with her new "do".

We Have Another Teenager

"Disbelief" is one of many words that I could use to describe this day. How can it be that I have an adult son and now have a teenage daughter?  What happened to all those days, weeks, months and years. I still want to tuck my kids in at night. I still want to take cupcakes to school for holiday parties. I want to see there faces light up when they see Santa Clause. All of those days are behind me and I just can't cope with it.
I tried to keep the festivities upbeat even though I was feeling a little glum about handing my baby girl over to the teenage society we live in. I started the day with some door decorations to break through.

I dropped her off at school right after we stopped for birthday Starbucks.

When I picked up her and three of her friends ( Morgan, Ella and Alyssa) at the end of the school day, we made our first stop at Dairy Queen to pick up a surprise birthday cake. I think it went over well.

We had to rush home and then rush to El Tapatio for dinner because they had to be back at the school for a ballgame by 5:15. None of the girls were excited about that. 

As we were eating dinner, I received a text from the cheer coach that the game had been cancelled because there was no one to referee. Talk about a birthday miracle. Those girls were ecstatic.  And that is when the party began.  All three girls ended up spending the night (a school night) at the house. There was giggling and tiptoeing later than usual, but they all eventually made it to bed. 

Cold November Rain

This month has started just as the  old Guns-N-Roses song "Cold November Rain".  Since we already had our first snow on HALLOWEEN!...We may not see a white Christmas, but kids have to trick-or-treat in the snow.  Crazy weather. Since the weekend was cold and dreary, I took Sunday, November 2, to assemble my brand new desk. I'm okay with assembly as long as no one bothers me. I tend to get cranky if someone is trying to rush me along.

I also got a new desk chair and assembled it too. 

I got all of my Halloween decorations taken down and packed away; however, since the days are shorter this time of year, I ran out of time to put up any Thanksgiving decor. Before I knew it, the weekend was over.

Treasure spent the night with Brookelynn on Monday, November 3. When I grew up, sleepovers were for weekends. Times have changed apparently. There are sleepovers on any given day of the week these days. 

Tuesday, November 4 was Election Day, so school was not in session. I had every intent of voting, but somehow the entire day slipped right through my busy little hands. As I set at Brooke's ballgame at 7:30 that evening, I realized that it was too late to cast my ballet. 

Brookelynn and I went to church on Wednesday evening, November 5 while the boys sat at the house. I also started reading a book entitled "You and Me Forever".

 Amy Profant recommended it. She and I have several things in common. She is a lot nicer of a person than me though.  Anywho, the book is about marriage, the importance of staying married and what marriage means in to us in our eternity. It's a good read. I like the authors' perspective on several things. And, I like that it was written by a man and his wife.