Happy 2012!

Last night was the very first New Year's Eve that Mom #2 and I have ever spent without Baby Boy.  He decided to go to a party with some of his friends.  It seems so strange to have a son who is old enough to make his own plans, follow through with them, and leave us behind to figure out what the heck we're supposed to do by ourselves.  

 New Year's Day is Mom #2's and my anniversary, but we've always celebrated it together as the day we officially became a family.   I guess this means Mom #2 and I officially got to have an actual New Year's Eve/anniversary date.  It feels so strange, especially since we just stayed home, made an enchilada dinner, and watched a movie, LOL.  I guess I'm just a cheap date.  ;-)

 

My wish for myself as well as each and every one of you is that we wistfully and nostalgically wave good-bye to 2011 and that 2012 brings peace of mind, body, and spirit, as well as happiness, prosperity, and, of course, plenty of laughter and love. 

Don't spoil it with any silly resolutions!  

Happy New Year! 

Until next time . . .

Ten Years Ago Today . . .

. . . around first light, while everyone else slept off their over-indulgences from the previous night's festivities, a couple of giggling girls shoved a few necessities into a couple of overnight bags and pointed their car in the direction of the nearest beach.  Along the highway they sang songs, took photos, discussed all their hopes and dreams, ingested large quantities of junk food, and threw all their cares into the wind.

As they neared their destination, someone mentioned that there were no flowers.  No problem!  They stopped off at a Kroger and picked up a dozen yellow grocery store roses and a scrap of blue ribbon and made a quickie bouquet from eleven of them and an even quicker boutonniere from the snapped-off-bloom of the last one.  It was so silly, crafty, and just plain fun!  Luckily, one of those giggling girls always has a safety pin at her immediate disposal.

When they reached their beach front hotel room, they tossed their bag on the bed, kicked off their shoes, and ran to wiggle their toes in the luxurious sand.  It was a little chilly, but still hypnotic.  The beach has always had that alluring draw.  There were only a few precious moments to spare before heading to the Chapel.   Eventually, that afternoon, the two girls held hands and giggled through the chat with the Reverend, wishing he'd just get on with it already.  

Finally with nerves tingling, hands sweating, hearts beating, spray from the beach at their backs, and the sound of the waves pounding in their ears . . . vows were exchanged.  The ceremony was quickly followed by a phone call to a certain Baby Boy to let him know that we were all officially a family now.  It happened so fast, it's all a blur, although we'll never forget 01/01/01.  Our favorite day in the whole wide world. 

So that's why in this house, we refer to New Year's Day as  

FAMILY DAY!

Have a fabulous 2011!

  

We wish you love, peace, and prosperity all year long.

Until next time . . .

Release

If there is pain in your past, you can talk about it today and release it today.  You may still think of it again, but perhaps the pain won't be as poignant as before.   Don't let past pain cripple your every new day.  Release.  

If there is anger and resentment in your heart, if someone has damaged you, forgive them.  You do not have to forget the damage, you do not have to accept that person as a part of your present life, but forgiveness is not for them, it is for you.  Please believe me when I say, your forgiveness is not to make them feel better, it makes you feel better.   Anger is a bitter drug and it will poison your entire life from the inside out.  Release.

If you have hurt someone in the past, please reach out to them.  They need to hear that you are aware you have hurt them and that you are sorry for the damage you have done.  Pretending that it did not happen is not equal to admitting guilt and asking forgiveness.  If they do not wish to speak to you, write a letter.  Once you have acknowledged the pain you have afflicted and asked for forgiveness, you have made the first and most important step.  The ball officially falls from your court.  Release.


I know this is heavy stuff during a time of happiness, gifts, and festivities, but I really hope that these thoughts can help someone today.  I hope to be able to provide a virtual gift.  The gift of emotional freedom!  Release yourself from the chains of negativity.  There is a lot of pain in the world and people have such a hard time dealing with it.  Something can happen in one instant and change the fabric of who you are for an eternity.

Please don't give anyone the power over you to derail your hopes, adventures, wishes, and dreams. 

Let 2011 be the year you Release.   

Until next time . . .

OUCH!!!!!

In case I forgot to mention it, one of my New Year's resolutions is to get more exercise.


So far, I think I'm pretty much right on track, but it's really starting to be a pain in the neck.
And back.
And butt.
And earlobes.
And eyebrows.
And elbows.
And knees. 
 

Oh, and today my pinky toe started to hurt.  Really bad.





But it's supposed to do that.  Right?


Until next time . . .

Doting Decade . . . A Memior

Can you believe we've survived a full decade into the 2000's?

Remember partying like it was 1999, but the whole you were doing the whop with a Long Island Tea in your hand,  you had a little twinge of fear in the back of your mind that the world may just end when the ball dropped?  Remember?  I know y'all remember, don't act like it was just me.

My Dad is a computer guy and had to work all night long that night, LOL, good times.  

Of course, New Years Day is always a time of reflection for me so I thought I'd muse aloud over some of my past decade of experiences.  In the past 10 years I have: 

• Had surgery to remove a humongous extra scary tumor, but rejoiced evermore that it was benign. 
  

• Turned a fractured family of two into a FANTASTIC family of three.  Hurray for Mom #2!

• Discovered a rich new culture in the Hispanic community and began the painful yet enlightening process of full-fledged heritage blending.  Mom #2 is a patient and long suffering saint. 
  

• Moved from the ghetto to suburbia.  Suburbia is better, but kind of far from everything.  

• Speaking of moving, moved three four five times, I think I like this house.   

•  Finally talked my way into the promotion that I always deserved at work, and then promptly quit that job to homeschool. 

• Oh yeah, started homeschooling.   

• Began indulging my love of the arts, especially the Opera.  
  

• Became Mommy to two super adorable Baby Doggies. 

• Buried one super adorable Baby Doggy.  R.I.P., Diesel the Weasel.   

• Watched my parents get divorced after 36 years of marriage.  So sad.  

• Became painfully aware and subsequently in charge of my Mom's mental illness.  So sadder.    
  

• Buried Mom #2's grandma.  

• Buried my grandma. 

• Buried my great-grandma.

• Gained a brand new step-grandma.  I'm still working through this one.  *SIGH*

• Mom #2 and I became grandmas.  Three times.  Please pass the Oil of Olay.  
  

•  Became hopelessly and ridiculously addicted to The Young and The Restless.  Mom #2 brought that addiction with her, but I have to admit, I joined in without much convincing. 
  

•  Became a tae kwon do Mom.

• Became an Ultimate Frisbee Mom.  

• Watched an adorable little elementary school boy grow into a handsome young collegiate man.  In case you didn't know, I'm talking about Baby Boy.  ;-)

Not too shabby, eh?


BTW, New Years Day is the anniversary of the day Mom #2, Baby Boy and I all became a family.  Happy Anniversary to US. 

Usually I would insert some glittery slide show full of family photos, but now that we have the new photographic header, it just seems redundant.  If you're missing it this year, you can see last year's right here . . . if you're not in the mood for that . . . you can just scroll back up to the top and look at the header photos again . . . or you can just not do either and pretend you did, LOL.  My feelings won't be hurt.  

I can't wait to see what 2010 brings to us.  There are so many sparkly changes on the horizon, I better get my shades.   I'll bring a pair for you too.  Ray-Bans anyone?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Until next time . . .

Time To Get It Started

This is all that's left to represent Christmas Season 2008 and Baby Boy and Mom #2 are getting ready to take it down to the storage unit right now. Yes, I'm one of those people. We practically had to renovate the whole place to get all of the Christmas stuff up; which of course has to be done in reverse to get it all down again.


We ate our black-eyed peas with the celebration chopsticks that SabrinaT sent us from Japan, so we're all set in the superstitious good-luck department, LOL.


This morning Mom #2 is on her way back to work and Baby Boy and I are getting ready to jump into our schoolwork all the way in the deep in. We've been doing a little school "lite" for the past couple of weeks just to keep our brains nice and sharp but now we're going back to cooking with gas. Sizzle!


I've made my usual resolution to lose lots of weight and start exercising much more regularly. . . I'm not sure if black-eyed peas are conducive to that goal or not, but it doesn't matter because I hate them and won't be eating them anymore until New Years Day 2010, LOL. Maybe I should continue using those chopsticks, because it sure was a workout trying to get food onto them and I was all worn out way before all of my food was gone ;-).


I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, or continues to have one, if yours isn't quite over yet.


I hope getting back into the swing of things doesn't hurt too badly. I'm a bit of a night owl and all three of us have been sleeping in every single morning . . . so I'm already hurting a little bit, and since I don't drink coffee - - I have to wait for my natural stimulants to kick in . . . so I'm waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting, LOL.


Have a great week and a fantabulous 2009.


In the words of my favorite late night host from seasons past, Arsenio Hall,

LET'S GET BUSY!

Until next time . . .

Happy New Year - It's Our Anniversary!!!!

Today is the anniversary of the day Mom #2, Baby Boy and I became a Family.

Here are a few souvenirs from the journey of our lives together!

In our home, on New Years Day we eat black-eyed peas for good health and greens for prosperity in the new year. Since no one in my family likes either of those things, Mom #2 prepares them, we each hold our noses and swallow one spoonful, and then we go out for dinner. Gotta love traditions, LOL!


Of course, this year, we'll be eating those black-eyed peas and greens using our celebratory chopsticks from Japan, courtesy of SabrinaT. Perhaps we'll get to double dip in the good luck pool just this once, ;-).


Feel free to express any of your families' New Years Day traditions and have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009.

Until next time . . .

Reflexions Of The Old And Anticipation Of The New.

On this, the early morning of the very first day of 2008, I'm trying to be a little reflective of the past year while at the same time not giving too much attention to the overly *canned* tradition of the New Year's Resolution. Of course, it is always enlightening and informative to take stock of one's life. If you haven't at all this year up until now, then by all means - let today be the day. My blog-friend , Heather, wrote a very insightful post on New Year's resolutions. With that post in mind, I think I'm going to try to make an effort to be a better, healthier, friendlier person every single day - not just once a year. So I hope Heather is starting a new trend. I'm definitely on board.


Another blog-friend, Ami, posted about her friend, Rosemary, regarding the importance of being grateful for everyone and everything in your life every single day. It really gives you something to think about and it's the kind of lesson we should all remember. So while you're resolving to be this and do that and lose this much weight, don't forget to be grateful for all you already have and have done. I'm sure all of us can find that we are all blessed in one way or another.


Also, I do want everyone in the world to know, that long ago, in a land far away, three people who didn't even know they had been flying along lonely and solo, crash landed into an incredible avalanche of passion, happiness, honesty, communication and, most of all, acceptance and love. All of us had seen too much, done too much, been hurt too many times, and had put up many many walls of defense around our hearts and emotions. Until this perfect storm occurred, our individual futures were undefined and unremarkable. Now that this stormy avalanche has happened and hopefully will continue to roll into eternity, life is good!

Today is also the anniversary of the day Mom #2, Baby Boy, and myself became a family.

Happy Anniversary to us! This is my favorite day of the year, except now that Baby Boy is taller than everyone else in the house, I do start to feel a little aged, and not in a good way, like with wine or cheese.

***** Then . . . and . . . Now *****

Yikes! Maybe I will resolve to lose weight and perhaps use a little more wrinkle cream this year. *SIGH*


Well, we had a very festive evening last night filled with family, friends, food, fun, and fireworks. Right now I'm enjoying the few quiet moments that I get before everyone else realizes that I've awakened and reported for duty. I'm going to try to get some reading in before I clean up last night's mess (inside from the family, friends and food - outside from the fun and fireworks). After that, on to the laundry. Happy New Year.


I hope everyone reading had a wonderful 2007 and will have an even more Fabulous 2008!


Smooches!