This and That...

Today is our last official day of Thanksgiving break. We have only three weeks left of school before Christmas break begins on the 18th. This month is gonna fly...David will turn 15 *gulp* on the 14th...Travis will be gone hunting our first weekend of break (Christmas shopping alone)...Dr.Sister will be down to visit the week after Christmas...and hopefully by the end of December our house will be sold (not that we have any idea which house we will be moving into or where).

My "keeping up with technology" plan is shooting me in the foot. I got the I-MAC *love*, but have not signed up for my one to one classes so that I can learn how to use all of the wonderful MAC features, like how to create my super fabulous and oh-so-easy lesson plan formats. Fortunately, I did my lesson plans for this next week the week before we got out. Now I'll just have to figure out how I am going to get the next two week's formatted. Also, I need a new camera. I'm sure there are classes for that, right?

We put up our tree yesterday. My mantra in decorating this year is minimal, minimal, minimal. I hung the stockings on the backs of the kitchen bar stools and decorated the front porch. I'm keeping it simple. Partly because hello. House on market. And I just don't want to deal with the after holiday tear down that I usually experience. Gifts will be simple this year too. Traditional stocking stuffers will include deodorant, shampoo, cologne, hair stuff, and socks. We have done that for the kids for years now and it works for us. Hunter wants one of those ridiculously hard to find stuffed hamsters-the zhuzhu pet or whatever. Can't find them anywhere, but Amazon is gouging the hell out of people by offering them up for $99.00. They are regularly $8.00 at Wally-World. That's the Christmas spirit for you.

For those of you who read Miss.Doxie- she is back up and running, hilarious as ever. Leigh is one of the smartest, most talented women I know. If you have no idea who I'm talking about just google her. Brilliantly funny.

My after school book club will be reading Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed as our next book club book. He is an amazing children's author, and this book deals with the Holocaust. We were going to read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, but most of the kids have read it or seen the movie. Milkweed is a great read, and I highly recommend for 5th grade and up.

Travis is finishing up our new cabinet that he made to house all of the surround sound and cable equipment for the TV we cannot properly install because we might be moving. I'm torn on all of that. I was walking around our house last night and felt so sad at the idea of leaving here. While I hate the neighborhood/neighbors, I love my home. At least the inside of it. I know we will recreate a lot of what we have done and it will be amazing, but still- I love this house. I felt the same way about leaving the last house.

Ten Things I learned over the Thanksgiving break:

1. Being alone with four kids with head lice sucks.

2. Also, requires great amounts of wine.

3. And whining.

4. I am not a good stay at home mom.

5. My dog Jack, loves having people home. All. the. time.

6. I can do just as much damage to my bank account while internet shopping as I can in a mall.

7. Drinking large amounts of wine leads to a lot of internet shopping.

8. Did I mention my new coat?

9. Hunter loves the holidays because we are together as a family. His words. *melt*

10. There's no place like home.