On A Scale Of One To Ten.

Today I am grateful for the number four.

because on a scale of 1-10, One being that my husband loves me exactly like he did the first day we met and everything is glorious and chill and Ten being that he is no longer speaking to me..we are currently running at about a four.

we had to have a discussion tonight about budgets. and plans for the year. and i was not so nice and threw him a really big curve ball. (to be discussed at a later time here)

I was actually expecting him to be more like a seven, realistically.

I tried to sweeten him up first by talking about helping him make extra payments on his student loan. nothing puts The Marsh is a good mood like to smell of paid off debt.

I knew it wouldn't exactly be his favorite thing in the world ever, but i'm glad that he trusts me enough to make everything work out for the best.

and he got back at me by making me realistically budget my wine for the next six months. nothing makes you feel like an asshole (and an alcoholic) faster than having apply a price tag over time to that shit. I think my slight humiliation made him feel better about the whole thing. cause he's a big jerk face like that.

but at least he's my jerk face, right?

so I'm eternally grateful that it was only a four.

I guess now it's time to think about getting a passport....

Thanks for reading!
Lana

(WO)MAN DOWN.

Today I am grateful that my children have reached an age where they understand the sentence

"Momma doesn't feel good."

It's taken awhile for them to get that mom isn't, in fact, invincible and there are moments when she just can't play. or deal with whomever hit whom first or who isn't sharing. but slowly they've come to understand.

today was one of those very days. i got a message from my best friend, Kristy, asking if I would be up for a visit for a little bit with her this afternoon. since she lives a couple states away and just happened to be home for the holidays, i didn't want to miss her visit. but as i rushed around picking up toys, vacuuming, and doing the dishes..i felt it starting.

the dreaded migraine.

i popped some advil as soon as i felt the tell tale throb behind my left eye, but unfortunately it didn't make a dent. i managed to get through my visit with Kristy and Ken, which was lovely, but by the very end I could feel the nausea coming on. after they left I wrapped up in a blanked and basically slowly died for the next few hours.

and I have to give the kids credit where credit is due, they got it. they really understood that i didn't feel good and didn't act crazy or loud or bother me with unimportant stuff. they did keep coming into my bedroom and talking to me. but they were quiet and would lay down with me for a few minutes. it was pretty sweet on their parts actually.

and when The Marsh got home I didn't even have to tell him i wasn't feeling well. the babes had informed him that i had a headache before he even managed to make in all the way inside the house. at which point he was then kind enough to take over parental duties and i was left undisturbed for a good 50 minutes or so.

I'm already feeling better now. and it sucked that i felt so awful earlier, it's been a few weeks since my last migraine. but i'm so grateful that Mr. Breyman and Miss G seem to finally understand whats going on. it certainly helps make the whole horrible process go by the much easier.

now i'll be grateful if i can just manage to go a little bit longer before having another one. like forever.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Snow Angels.

Today I am grateful for my little sister Jasmine.

Isn't she adorable?

of course she is.

and this afternoon while I was finishing up at work and my mom needed to come into the office for an hour or so while babysitting Mr. Breyman and Miss G, Jasmine was kind enough to play with my babes outside of the office so they wouldn't be cooped up inside.

do we remember what yesterday's post was about? Frosty being a dick and all that jazz? yea. there is like a foot of snow on the ground. and my beautiful baby sister spent 40 minutes playing in the snow with my kids. and when I say "playing" I really mean some sort of reenactment of something that has to do with the video game Zelda. my geekiness doesn't extend into that fandom so I'm not really sure what exactly they were doing. but it had to do with battle.

and while i'm extremely grateful the she was nice enough to play out in the snow with them so that my mom and i could finish our work, what i'm actually grateful for is the snow fix she gave them. they should be satisfied for at least a couple of days (please God) and that means that I won't have to be the one freezing my ass off out in the snow any time soon.

someone give that child a pat on the head for me. she deserves it.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Frosty? Go Away.

Today I am grateful that I only work part-time.

aside from the obvious reasons to be grateful for such a thing,

like watching my babies grow up and not missing anything

and saving a pretty penny in childcare costs...

it comes in pretty handy on days like today.

Live in the northeast? Do you have about 8 inches or more of snow outside your house right now? me too. and I am NOT a snow person. Frosty The Snowman is not my friend. I can drive in the snow, but i don't particularly like to. I don't play in the snow unless my kids force me to. and I certainly have no desire to get up early in the morning to clean off my car during a blizzard to drive myself to work.

and while that is exactly what hundreds of other full-time working people did this morning, including The Marsh, i lounged in bed for awhile until i decided to get up around 9:00 am and have a cup of coffee.

bliss, i tell you.

I'm so grateful that The Marsh works so hard so that I can enjoy this kind of life. The babes and I had no worries or obligations today. while other people were complaining about the roads and such, we just hung out here and watched My Little Pony.

not a bad day indeed.

but please don't think i take it for granted.

because while I don't have to be to work everyday, i do actually have to work tomorrow. so while i was grateful to avoid the snow today, tomorrow? not so much. let's just hope the snow stops sometime tonight. that would be something to be grateful for.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Last Christmas.

Are you sick of the Christmas posts yet?

me too.

so I'm grateful that Christmas is finally over.

It's time to move on to other things.

Like the New Year. since 2012 started off pretty fucking shady (hence this blog), i'm hoping for better things in 2013.

also, Miss Georgiana's 4th birthday is in a week, so it's really time to put Christmas behind us.

We don't celebrate Christmas until after Brey's birthday, and we take down Christmas as soon as possible so that we can celebrate Miss G's. those are the rules. (that I have just made up)

I don't mean to be going all Mr. Grinch on you guys. Okay, so I totally do, but what I'm saying is that I do understand that people legitimately enjoy Christmas. I'm just not one of those people. and it's not just a case of getting older, I've just always been this way. and having children makes it extremely hard to be a scrooge. I don't want to rub my negativity off on them, and they just get so excited, there is no point killing their dreams by ignoring a holiday that i would rather forget about. So we "enjoy" Christmas.

but oh December 26th.

how I love this day.

Why?




Because I get to push my Christmas tree out my front door.

The Marsh always says "Oh we'll take the decorations off and put it out when I get home from work."

ha

haha

hahahaha

i'm not waiting for him to get home from work.

i'm a strong, independent woman.

and i am capable of pushing a tree out of my house all by myself.

there may come a day when i need help to dispose of my Christmas tree, but today is not that day!

i pushed that sucker out without breaking a sweat. all The Marsh said when he got home and saw it was gone was "did you set it on fire yet?" man knows i hate me some Christmas trees. (and no i haven't set it on fire. yet.)

This should be my last Christmas post, like i said it's time to move on to other things. and i'm generally grateful for moving on to hopefully better things.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Beautiful Mess.

Today I am grateful for a beautiful mess.

and by mess I mean complete and utter disaster zone.

Santa was good to my kids this year. and so was their grandparents. and aunts. and the lone uncle.

stuff. fucking everywhere.

and deep down I really am grateful for it.

I know that there are people and children out there whose Christmas celebrations didn't even come close to my children's. I am so grateful that not only are The Marsh and I in a position to give my kids (for the most part) what they want for Christmas, but that they also have so many people who love them so much and shower them in presents.

it may be a mess.

but it's a beautiful mess. (note to self: keep repeating this tomorrow during my mental breakdown. because of stuff. fucking everywhere)

I hope Santa was just as good to all the rest of you! and Merry Christmas!

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Coffee Break.

Today I am grateful to my father-in-law and sister-in-law

for getting me some seriously awesome Christmas presents.

It's not a secret that i love my coffee.

and it's not a secret that i'm a major kind of a geek.

and they managed to hit both on the head perfectly.

for example...Bob, my father-in-law, got me this gem.



amazing, yes? no?

the correct answer is yes.

and Kristin, my sister-in-law, gifted me with this due to my recent love affair with Doctor Who...



I'm so incredibly excited about both mugs.

my biggest dilemma right now is deciding which one to use for coffee on Christmas morning, but i'm grateful to have such a wonderful, nerdy problem.

except it's not really a problem and yes i will absolutely be using my Star Trek mug for Christmas coffee tomorrow morning.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Lana

Sister, Sister.

Today I am grateful my sister, Stephanie.

and wine.

and Godiva chocolate.

and Ally McBeal.

it makes for a good night.

The Marsh is working a double tonight. so normally i would be alone reading or watching Doctor Who...which isn't horrible, by the way, but tonight I'm grateful for the company.

we decided to put in Ally McBeal, a show my sister and I watched religiously in high school, we still have plenty of wine from last night's family Christmas, and Stephanie picked up some chocolate earlier today.

perfect evening, I'm telling you, friends. perfect evening.

and i'm grateful a night like tonight before the craziness of Christmas starts tomorrow. no matter how fun it's going to be.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Nacho Emergency.

Today I am grateful that we found the nacho cheese.

no.

this isn't a joke.

The Marsh has a serious love affair with nacho cheese. it's not in anyway shape or form healthy, but whatever. neither is my affair with pepperoni pizza. to each their own.

well today we went to sam's club to buy several things, the most important among them was a tub of nacho cheese. (yes, you read that right. a TUB of nacho cheese.) and so we headed over to that direction and came to the pallet where the cheddar cheese and nacho cheese are, only to find them complete out of nacho cheese.

i thought i was gonna see a grown man cry.

we're having Christmas with my family tomorrow and are finally planning on breaking out our new crock pot. The Marsh has been so excited about warm nacho cheese ever since we decided this was going to be the plan. looking at the empty pallet were the eyes of a broken man. not only does he have to deal with my crazy ass family invading his house the night before he pulls a double shift, now he doesn't even get any nacho cheese to help him cope.

it was a sad day, people. a nacho emergency.

but then after we were all finished shopping and headed to check out...what did my eyes spy? a giant nacho display. with salsa, tortilla chips, and the missing nacho cheese.

I would be lying if I told you i didn't lift up that tub like it was baby Jesus and say "It's a Christmas Miracle!" and in the eyes of The Marsh, it really really was.

So tonight I'm thankful I found the nacho cheese. so that The Marsh could enjoy it. and so that I don't have to listen to him bitch about not having it.

a christmas miracle, indeed.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Drive-Thru.

Today I am grateful for the Drive-Thru.

Did you know that you could buy a gift card from the drive-thru?

maybe this is like super common knowledge and i'm just an idiot but I was so excited.

I guess it makes sense that you can buy one, I mean it's a product, just like any food that you would be ordering..so you should be able to buy one right?

GRATEFUL.

Let me paint a picture for you. It's December. In New England. and the weather has absolutely no idea what it wants to do. so at 8:00 this morning after hastily throwing some clothes on my babes so I could head out and try and pick up a Dunkin Donuts gift card for my secret santa, there I was driving through the freaking snow. and freezing rain. and oh wait? maybe it's just raining normally now. nope, here comes the snow again.

I did not want to get out of my car.

I did not want to get my children out of my car.

I wanted to stay warm. and dry.

but i needed a freaking gift card. i was so worried when i pulled up to the ordering microphone that they were going to tell me i couldn't get a gift card at the drive-thru. and ladies and gentlemen, I'm not ashamed to admit that at that particular moment if they had said no i may have, in fact, started to cry. i almost did in relief.

some days it's nice to catch a big break in life. some days it's nice just to catch a little one. not having to get out of my car and get my kids out into the rain/snow may not have been a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. but I tell you what it's one little break that i was grateful for today.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Battleship.

Today I am grateful...

That it rained. and washed away most of the snow. it meant i didn't have to brush the snow off my car at 6:00 this morning.

I am not grateful, however, that I got soaked every time i walked outside today because it was fucking pouring cats and dogs.

yes. actual cats and dogs. if you missed it too bad for you.

Let's see, oh yes.

I'm grateful that my secret santa seems to have not quite figured out that I have them yet.

I'm grateful that today wasn't too busy at work considering we're heading into a holiday weekend.

I'm grateful that I managed to get to the store today to pick up the rest of the gift boxes I need. and I'm grateful that almost everything i've ordered online has made it to my house without fail. so no minor heart attacks there.

I'm grateful that The Marsh made tacos for dinner. I'm grateful that I picked up a new bottle of wine. I'm grateful that i managed to get both of Breyman's teacher's presents taken care of today. but i'm not grateful that i freaking forgot to pick up more capri suns while i was at the grocery store to bring to Brey's school christmas party tomorrow.

over all it was generally a pretty boring day. but it certainly didn't suck and I got stuff done, so who wouldn't be grateful for that?

also.

about last night.

i'm talking about the blog.

or lack of blog.

perv.

but anyway.

this is what happened. I was finishing up doing something on the computer. god knows what. i'm sure it had something to do with star trek. when suddenly The Marsh decides that he wants to watch Battleship. which I really had no intentions of watching, so i figured I would read a little bit and then write my blog. yea about 10 minutes later I was so sucked into that movie that i wasn't doing anything else. and while parts of it were kind of lame, over all I would say it was a good movie. A bit cliche. I mean, really. A guy who has issues with authority and gets himself in trouble then saves the planet from aliens and suddenly gets command of his own ship? I think I have heard that one somewhere before. but no matter. it was good. and if I had been grateful for something last night it probably would have been Alexander Skarsgard.

for..well..reasons.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Cue Mission Impossible Theme Song.

Today I am grateful for having an accomplice.

that all sounds very sordid, doesn't it?

I assure you it's not. I wish I were that cool.

but I do, in fact, have an accomplice.

for my secret santa.

see?

I told you it really wasn't all that exciting.

but i'm grateful to have one none the less. you see on Friday I had every intention of leaving my secret santa a present at work so that I wouldn't have to worry about it come Monday. I don't work on Mondays, and sometimes it's easy to swing in and drop it off. other times it's not so easy. so there I was at work on Friday without my secret santa gift trying to decided how I wanted to handle the situation. 

and then i found out it was suppose to snow on Sunday night into Monday. god damn it. you know what's not on the list of my top 10 favorite things? driving 25 minutes into town to drop off something at my office in the snow. even if the weather channel was wrong (ps. they weren't. it's fucking snowing outside) I wasn't sure I wanted to chance it.

this is where my accomplice comes in.

sometimes working with family isn't the greatest idea. i'm not going to go into all the ways working with someone in your family may not be such a hot idea, common sense will fill in those blanks for you. and I just happen to work with my mom. for the most part it has all turned out to be fine. i'm not complaining. we tend to be exceptions to rules in my family. (this isn't always a good thing, people) and today I am grateful that we work together. cause my Momma? she works Mondays. 

cue mission impossible theme song.

so I gave my mom my gift and she'll bring it in for me tomorrow.

this is awesome for two reasons.

1. I don't have to drive up there in the snow. HOLLA!

and 

2. The person who is getting the gift wont suspect me, because I won't be there to have gifted it. HOLLA! again.

oh and thanks mom! you're the best accomplice a girl could ever ask for! 

Thanks for reading!

Lana

There's A Hole In The World Tonight.

In light of today's horrible events, I'm not going to go on and on today about how grateful for my children I am.

I think today of all days it goes without saying.

I cannot even begin to imagine what those parents and families in Connecticut are going through. I don't want to imagine what the parents and families are going through.

It literally makes me sick thinking about it. 

So I am just going to leave this here.

and I'm going to hug my kids a little bit longer.

and kiss them goodnight one more time.

and pray to God to keep them safe.

because my heart is just broken for those children who didn't make it.

Thanks for reading.

Lana

That's A Wrap.

Today I am grateful to have my wrapping for Christmas all done.

ahaha.

okay.

so it's not ALL done. but anything that was in the house as of today and needed to be wrapped...was wrapped. we still have a few packages that we're waiting on in the mail, and The Marsh still needs to get his shit together and finalize his plans for his parents gifts...but other than that, we're good.

and it's only December 13th.

weird.

I come from a long line of procrastinators. and I'm a procrastinator myself. like, still buying presents and wrapping like crazy on Christmas Eve.

but tonight my Mother-in-law had my babes and The Marsh was working a little bit late so I thought "What the heck, I'll wrap my family's presents and get them out of the way.

So I grabbed a glass of wine, put on some Dr. Who (nerd, remember?) and then away I went.

Now, even though I'm not exactly a huge fan of Christmas, I do enjoy wrapping presents. and making them super pretty. this year's theme, however, is make the presents as impossible to open as I can. It will be amusing to watch everyone try and get past the ribbon and glitter poinsettias.

A little while into my wrapping The Marsh came home and we decided to tackle the kids presents in order to eliminate any last minute craziness. (I also married a procrastinator.) As we were wrapping up the gifts I actually mentioned to him that it was weird getting it all done ahead of time instead of marathoning it on Christmas Eve. He just looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm too old for that." was actually his response. After I picked myself up because I fell over laughing I just simply said "You obviously didn't grow up at my house. We were the only ones who had parents wake us up at 3:00 am to open presents because they had just finished wrapping them."

true story, bro.

and while I'm sure there are some fun memories that my parents have associated with those blitz wrapping sessions, tonight I'm glad that we got the bulk of it done. I feel like this time of year there is just so much going on all the time. It's hard enough to keep life on track, so why not just make it a little bit easier if you have time. right? right.

So I'm grateful that we're done almost done.

and I'm grateful for all the pretty presents now sitting underneath my Christmas tree. like I said, I enjoy wrapping. and glitter. so it's pretty much a win-win situation.

Have you started wrapping yet?

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Hit and Run.

Today I am grateful for "It could have been worse."

what could have been worse?

The car accident Miss G and I got into today.

yup.

a fucking car hit my car.

and then just drove away.

WHAT. THE. HELL.

I just don't understand people. and he actually pulled over right after it happened. we were on a pretty busy street in town so he drove up like a 100 feet or so and pulled into a gas station. I, not knowing what condition my car was in, decided to pull right over where I was.

After checking on Georgiana to make sure she was fine, i hopped out of my car, looked up the road to see he was still pulled over and then checked out the damage.

there was none.

zilch.

nada.

I'm so grateful for that. The accident was clearly not my fault, as the dude that hit me tried to merge into my lane, you know, right where i was, but I'm still glad that my pretty CR-V is still pretty.

another call pulled over and asked if I was okay and I let her know that we were fine. We then watched the car that hit me pull back out into traffic. We both assumed that he was taking the turn after the gas station to turn around and come back towards me, so I reassured her I was okay and she went on her way. then I waited and waited. after a few minutes it became obvious the guy wasn't coming back.

asshole.

I called the police just to report that someone hit me and drove off. an officer came and took my info, in case some crazy guy calls them up tomorrow claiming i hit him or something, so they would know what really went down. Then Miss Georgiana and I went back to business as usual.

on one hand, I am super pissed off at that guy. I mean, he pulled over at first, so why didn't he decide to come back? I parked with the passenger side (the side he hit) away from him, so he couldn't have known that there was no damage done. and if he had come down, i probably wouldn't have even called the police. besides some scuffing on the tire, there was nothing to even see. I don't know if dude was driving with a suspended license or what, but it just seems like such a prick move to hit someone's car and drive off.

not cool dude. not cool.

on the other hand? I'm just grateful everything is okay. I'm grateful that my car is fine. I'm grateful that Georgiana isn't traumatized and that she was sitting behind me on the drivers side. I'm grateful that for the most part my brain is repressing all the "what if" scenarios to keep me from going crazy.

and I'm grateful to know that I will never be the type of person to hit somebody's car and then just drive away. It would never have really been an option before, but now as somebody whose had it happen to them, I can't even understand how someone can do that. so thanks for the life lesson. asshole.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Expecto Patronum.

Today I am grateful for Expecto Patronum.

no. not because of Harry Potter.

but because of reasons.

that don't need to make sense to you. because they make sense to me. and this is a blog about things that I am grateful for.

Today that happens to be Expecto Patronum.











it keeps the dementors away.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Follow Rafiki, He Knows The Way.

Have you ever been grateful for something that pissed you off?

It's not always easy to do.

and it happened to me this morning.

sometime around 4:00 am my children decided to crawl into my bed. that's right. both of them. usually it's one or the other. The Marsh and I being too tired to carry them back to their own bed, just let them crash in between us and go back to sleep. BUT TWO. that's a different story all together. christ, thats practically a party. in my bed. at 4:00 am. 

THIS IS NOT OKAY.

and after getting kicked and punched and pushed to the complete edge of the bed, i got out of bed and headed to the couch. because at this point there was all kinds of room on that thing.

so I wrapped up in a blanket, climbed up on the couch and closed my eyes to get some more sleep.

and then punk ass #3 (a.k.a. my FUCKING cat) decided he wanted to sleep with me too. so there I was once again not able to sleep.

and I was pissed. 

at this point it was like six something and I could not believe I was awake. what the hell was I awake for? what good could possibly come from my being awake at this ungodly hour on a day that I do not have to work? NOTHING,

and then I heard Rafiki's voice in my head.

wait a minute.

it's six (almost seven) o' clock in the morning.

my lazy babes aren't getting up anytime soon. so i have a solid hour maybe even an hour and a half to spend time with my husband. while my house is still quiet.

yup. i was that wife. and I went into the bedroom and woke up his sleeping ass too.

*cough* misery loves company *cough*

but I was nice enough to make him a cup of coffee, so good wife points for that yea?

anyway, there we were, awake. and  the house was quite. it was amazing. we drank our coffee, looked over all the new store flyers that came out today. made a game plan to do a little bit more christmas shopping while Brey was in school. laughed about stupid things. he told me he loved me. you know, lame but awesome married stuff.

stuff that for us isn't easy to accomplish at night after the babes go to bed. come 9:30 at night when the kids have actually made it to bed and are actually asleep, I'm usually trying to write this blog, catch up on a TV show or I've started reading. and then ALL bets are off. and The Marsh? lately he's been so tired that I've found him passed out in the kids bed next to them after reading the bedtime story. our biggest interaction lately has been him yelling at me for having cold toes when I climb into bed. sometimes hours after he went to sleep. I know. you're jealous of our super amazing marriage. everyone wants cold toes in the bed.

any who. we managed to spend a little over an hour together this morning, and for that I am grateful. as I've previously mentioned, this is a busy time of year for him work wise. so i'm grateful for every single hour i can get.

and to think, if my babes and the cat didn't piss me off so much this morning so that I couldn't sleep, I never would have gotten to spend it with him.

Thanks Rafiki.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

HIMYM.

Today I am grateful for Season 7.

and Netflix.

again.

cause season 7 of How I Met Your Mother is on instant streaming.

and I've wasted this glorious day catching up on the wonderfulness that is this show.

I regret nothing.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

The Beginning of the End.

Today I am grateful that my son takes an adorable picture.

obviously.

he is my child.

but I will admit that a couple weeks ago when it came time for him to take his first ever school photo, I was nervous that they might not come out so great. Breyman sometimes has a tendency to stick his lower jaw out really far when smiling for a picture. or doing this weird thing where he makes his eyes look really big and creepy. it's a talent he picked up from my little sister.

anyway, i knew it wouldn't be the end of the world if he made a funny face, but it was his first ever school picture. and i really wanted them to turn out nicely.

this mama had nothing to worry about.

Isn't he the most adorable thing you have ever seen in your life?

I'm so grateful and happy that they came out sooo good!

of course after gloating over how beautiful my child is, i then realized I was holding a school picture of my baby boy. a SCHOOL PICTURE. as in, i have a child old enough to have his school pictures taken. i've had to overcome alot of feeling about him being in school, but i somehow wasn't prepared for the feeling a fucking school picture would stir up in me.

last night while The Marsh and I were getting ready for bed I just looked at him at said "This is the beginning of the end." 

okay so I admit that it was a touch dramatic. but if you think about it, it's really true. this is the start of many more school pictures to come. and what happens when the school pictures stop? it means your babies are all grown up and done. and while that will be special in it's own way, my brain isn't ready to process the fact that my son has started on that journey towards the end.

so while I'm extremely grateful he took such a great picture, i'm also grateful that it was just his first. and that we're still at the very beginning of this new journey.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Teaser.

Today is a glorious day in the nerd world.

today was the day the new Star Trek movie teaser trailer was released.

and it was amazing.

absolutely amazing.

I am so grateful that after YEARS of nothing, and i mean NOTHING, from JJ Abrams (the director of said film) we got a freaking trailer. 63 seconds of beautiful star trek action.

and the Japanese trailer had an additional 14 seconds of footage!

oh yes.

today has definitely been a good day.

and I'm grateful that I got to fly my nerd flag high and proud.

and i'm grateful for this.

 

yup.

Kirk and Spock touching hands through a piece of glass?

Classic trek.

I'm so excited i think i might pee a little.

Is it May 17th yet?

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Hide and Seek.

Today I am grateful to have been able to hide some presents from Miss G.

while I was actually in the process of buying them.

that's the one problem with kids growing up, folks.

they get observant.

it's kind of a pain in the ass.

especially when I'm out and about shopping and see something i want to grab for the babes for Christmas and I have one of them with me. It's usually Miss G lately because I run errands while Brey's at school. and it's hard because I think to myself "well, i could come back for it later. but maybe it will be gone then. do i try and grab it now while she isn't looking. will she see it later. can i actually check out and pay without her noticing? when will i get a chance to come back without a babe if i don't get it now?" it's a vicious cycle.

and today I tried to play the "I can sneak something past my 3 year old" game.

for the most part it worked. some of the smaller stocking stuffer things I shoved into the new hat i was buying so i managed to sneak them by her. cashier gave me a funny look when she saw the hat was full but whatever. she did sneak a peak at one thing that i bought her. and of course when i told her to just stop talking about it she kept talking about it even more. so then began the dilemma of do i put it back? do i just get it and not put it in her stocking? I decided to get it anyway. I'm still trying to decide a game plan. but i managed to get her to stop talking about it by telling her it was a secret. lord knows how long that will last.

for the most part though, she wasn't her normal observant self. she was too caught up in telling me how she wanted Santa to bring her every single god damn thing on the shelf this or that. so I managed to sneak a decent sized present for Brey past her.

this whole having kids who are aware is hard. you can't just tell them not to look because they don't understand. but i'm grateful that I got away with what i did today. especially because my chances of pulling it off again are not looking all that great.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

O Christmas Tree.

Today I am grateful for Christmas trees.

                                                                             a
                                                                           aha
                                                                        ahahaha
                                                                      ahahahaha
                                                                    ahahahahaha
                                                                  ahahahahahhaha
                                                                ahahahahahahhaha
                                                             ahahahahahahahhahaha
                                                                          ahaha
                                                                          ahaha
                                                                          ahaha
                                              

sorry.

I just needed to have a good laugh at the idea of  me being grateful for a christmas tree. cause you know, I'm not.

Christmas and I ain't exactly BFFs.

But i have children. CHILDREN. who think Christmas is fun. and want to listen to Christmas music. and can't wait for Santa to bring them presents. and who expect a Christmas tree. they're like little Christmas extremists. especially Miss G. She met Santa this past weekend at our family's Christmas party.

and while she may look all sweet and innocent here, what you actually can't see is that she is ripping that package out of Santa's hand like a woman with pms whose found chocolate. I think even Santa was suprised by the amount of strength coming out of such a small person.

anyway, the babes, but especially Miss Georgiana wanted a Christmas tree. like now. even though it's only DECEMBER 4TH. there is going to be a Christmas tree in my house for like 20 days. okay 21. I deliberately place the tree next to my front door so that the day after Christmas when The Marsh leaves for work, I take everything off the tree and then push it out the front door.

I'm not kidding even the least bit.

all of this is really fascinating, right? the problem however? I still haven't technically been grateful for anything. 

sigh.

I guess I'll go ahead and say that I am grateful that the one thing I tend to actually be organized in my life with is my Christmas tree ornaments. don't ask me why i am. the only other thing i have OCD about it how I fold my towels. but i have to put all the ornaments back into their original boxes and i have special wrapping for the extra fragile stuff. 

it all seems like a pain to put away at the time. but i tell you what, on nights like tonight when it comes time to decorate the tree again? it's pretty fucking handy. and i'm always grateful to myself for taking the time to put things away neatly the year before. there's never any broken ornaments or wondering where this one is or that one is. it's all together. as a mom of two young children, i'm always grateful for anything that happens quickly and efficiently. (read into that what you like)

anyway. I think it came out okay, right?

right.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Scholastic.

Today I am grateful for Scholastic books.

Come on, you guys. I know you remember scholastic book orders.

those little paper flyers you used to get at school with all kinds of books and weird science-y things in them?

oh yes. I can tell it's all coming back to you now.

and weren't they freaking awesome? I feel like every single month I used to get those things and just want everything in them, and when my mom actually did order something from them? AMAZING.

well, now that Mr. Breyman is in school, he actually gets book orders. I almost fell out of my chair the first time I took them out of his backpack. I had completely forgotten about them!

nostalgia, people. gotta love it.

The Marsh and I were pretty excited about ordering some books for the babes, but with the trip to Disney and getting into the swing of things with Brey and school, we just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Finally The Marsh created an online account (that's right, you can order scholastic books that can be sent to your child's classroom online. note to self: grateful for technology) and ordered a couple books last month. The babes really seem to like them and they really weren't that expensive. and really, you can never have too many books.

Last week we got his december book order and I was pleased to find that most of the books were about Christmas. You see I have this plan to accumulate a ton of christmas books. at least 24 of them, but it could be more than that. what do you do with 24 christmas books? you turn them into an awesome advent calender.

Step 1: Get a basket. or a large bucket. or some sort of storage device that will hold 24 books.

Step 2: Wrap up all of the books in wrapping paper and place them in the basket.

Step 3: Let the babes pick one book each night leading up to Christmas to unwrap and read as a bedtime story.

awesome, right?

and the best part is that you don't have to get all new christmas books each year, just put them away during the rest of the year so that they don't lose their holiday fun. obviously as the babes get bigger we'll have to start exchanging out some of the books geared toward younger kids. I'm sure 10 year old Brey won't care too much for Llama Llama Holiday Drama. but classics like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Night Before Christmas will always be able to be re-used.

but there is one little problem with collecting alot of holiday books. they are expensive. YIKES! well, not super expensive individually. but you know, 24 of them add up. that's why I was so excited to see this month's book order flyers. because they had some cute books. and some of them were only $1.00. heck yes. and while we didn't go crazy and get all of them tonight when we placed our order, we did manage to get quite a few without breaking the bank. they even had a 6 pack for $9.99. and they were actually decent books too! double score.

So tonight after placing Brey's book order I am so grateful for scholastic books. I'm grateful that school's are awesome enough to send these flyers home (even after all these years geez) and i'm grateful that we have access to children's books without feeling like we have to pay a pretty penny for them. not that my kids ever have to worry about not having books around. reading to me is like a part of my soul. i'll always have books around me and will always surround my children with books. but hey, if you don't have to go broke to do it, even better right? right.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Anonymous.

Today I am grateful for anonymous.

you see I started this little blog not exactly sure where it would end up.

Would it it be forever lost in the bloggesphere? would only my friends and family ever read it? would it even matter to anyone else that it was here?

and to be fair I didn't really care what the answer to those questions were. who cares if it's lost in the bloggesphere? if only my friends and family read it then i know it's at least being appreciated by people whom i know love me. and you know what? i don't care if it matters to you if it's here or not, the point was it mattered to me enough to find something everyday (okay so we can all admit that i suck at this everyday so we'll say everydayISH) to be grateful for.

I needed the reminder in my life that everything isn't shitty all the time. that everyone and every family goes through hard times. medically. financially. legally. romantically. so why not look for the positive in life instead? and that's what I did.

I made a blog for me that other people occasionally read.

but then something awesome happened. I received a reader comment here and there. from people that I don't know. and then I almost fainted when my silly little Dog Shaming post resulted in Maymo The Lemon Beagle posting on his facebook (well his owner, i'm sure) that he thought I was funny with a link to my blog.

say what?

That little post from them resulted in literally hundreds of views to my blog.

and then today while checking my email i noticed I had a comment on a post I had written a few months ago.  a comment from anonymous that said "great stuff".

It made my day. I was pleased that somebody took the time to read my blog and write a comment letting me know they thought it was great. that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate my friends and family whom I know read every post. I write every post with them in mind, I love them. but every now and then it's nice to know that even though this blog is solely for my own purpose, that maybe somebody else got something out of it too. that maybe anonymous, after they got done laughing at how completely ridiculous I am, thought to themselves "you know, I think I'm grateful for something too."

so tonight I'm grateful to anonymous and to every single one of you that takes a moment to read my rants.

poor things.

I'm grateful to you for sticking with me even though I tend to go on and on about my husband. and nerd life. and my cat. whom I am not currently speaking to because he ruined my kids' letters to Santa. note to self: remember that you love the cat. and are, in fact, usually grateful for him. I'm grateful that you stick by me even if you might possibly vote republican while I make no secret about my love for the democrats. and I'm grateful for you for sticking with me even though this is the second time in less than two weeks that i've gone two day in a row without blogging. I am grateful for every single one of you.

and to be fair one of those days involved alcohol.

like a lot of alcohol.

Thanks for reading!
Lana