January 5, 2009 – 1:14 pm
Mr. B and I started the new year determined to stick to our budget.
This was made tough even before the year began when we spent some time at his brother and sister-in-law’s new house and got our first real taste of HDTV.
We want one. We really want one.
But we agreed that we would try to live very frugally and put as much as we can away each month, and only when we had the cash in hand would we splurge on a new TV.
This morning, our 14 year old washing machine gave up the ghost. It’s really not worth repairing.
So much for a new TV. And so much for sticking to the budget, unless we live on PBJ for the few months.
January 1, 2009 – 9:29 am
Once again, I try my hand at prophesy.
January: BD turns 14 on the 10th. With any luck, we’ve taken down the Christmas tree by then
February: Once again, Mr. B and I eschew gifts for Valentine’s Day and settle for a quiet diner a deux, probably at home.
March: Warm weather gives us false hope before the last snowfall.
April: My “birthday buddies” and I once again celebrate our April birthdays with a fun lunch out. None of us has to cook or do dishes.
May: HS receives his masters degree and moves out of state.
June: I actually go camping with the extended family and finally tackle Anna Karenina, purchased for the 2008 trip which I skipped.
July: BD starts stocking up on school supplies for high school.
August: HS and LDIL tie the knot and I become a mother-in-law.
September: Mr B and I attend our last Louisville Bats game of the season over Labor Day weekend. BD finds something else to do that day.
October: I am glad to finally get back into jeans and a sweater, never having lost those extra pounds that show up more in summer clothes.
November: Our first major holiday with a married child having to decide where he and his spouse will spend it. I try to be brave.
December: I vow to get all the Christmas preparations done well in advance. I quickly fall behind.
December 26, 2008 – 10:16 am
It’s time for my annual “Year in Review,” when I treat readers to the first line of the first post of each month. I even provide a link, hoping to entice you to check out the entire post. I think you’ll find it painfully evident that I completely forget that this post is coming when I sit down to write at the beginning of each month.
January: I first tried this last year, and thought I’d give it a go again.
February: I figure I can post about the weather at will now.
March: For some reason, BD is often embarrassed by my behavior.
April: How kind of Google to come up with an April Fool prank so I don’t have to.
May: The Kentucky Derby Festival has been going on for a couple of months now.
June: We’ve belonged to a local pool since moving here in the summer of 1990.
July: Mr. B and I ended up with tickets to baseball games for last night and tomorrow night.
August: Yup, school starts here in less than two weeks.
September: After several years of being hosted by my friend, Annie, who also designed my blog, I am now being hosted by my Baby Bro.
October: Yesterday morning, in the midst of communion, the fire alarm went off at church.
November: OK, I’ve decided to give nablopomo a shot this year.
December: You are a Gingerbread House.
December 24, 2008 – 10:13 am
Wishing everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.
December 23, 2008 – 9:54 pm
HS and his best friend from high school are sitting in the kitchen reminiscing. I was working in there for awhile, and got to listen in.
Nosy Parker that I am, you’d think I’d have loved the chance to hear what the boys were up to in their not-so-distant youth.
But they spent the entire time discussing the pros and cons of every iteration of the Final Fantasy video game series.
It was about the dullest conversation I’ve heard since Mr. B used to play softball and the team would replay the entire game verbally afterward while the wives rolled their eyes and looked pointedly at their watches.
December 21, 2008 – 4:59 pm
Hurray! I finally finished the wrapping today.
Now it’s on to some baking…
December 18, 2008 – 6:28 pm
Last weekend was the church’s choir party. I always have a great time there. I love the people, and the white elephant gift exchange is one of the funnest things I experience all year. However, all I wanted that day was a quiet evening at home.
So I skipped it.
Earlier this week, a friend had her annual Christmas lunch. Last year was the first time I was invited, and I enjoyed it very much. I fully planned to go this year. But the weather was dicey and I was trying to catch up with some work at home (the paid kind; I’d have ditched housework in a heartbeat).
So I skipped it.
Tomorrow night is our Sunday School class’s annual Christmas dinner. It’s at a restaurant, but we’ve invited everyone to carpool there from our house. I figure that way if I try to wimp out, the rest of the class will stuff me bodily into a car and drag me along. And I will have a good time, despite myself.
December 17, 2008 – 8:32 am
I haven’t done an actual photo Christmas card since HS was a baby. But I do take a picture of the kids to send with our card to people who haven’t seen them in awhile. This year was the first time I wasn’t able to get a picture of HS and BD together, so I have two to include.
I often just print the photos out at home, but this time I decided to take advantage of our warehouse store’s great prices on printing. I uploaded the pictures, ordered a whole bunch of copies for a little bit of money, and clicked “place order.”
Then I remembered that my membership expired December 1, so the price of those pictures just went up $50.
December 16, 2008 – 12:39 pm
As I was looking out the front window this morning, I saw a car stop by our driveway. Our driveway is a little long and uphill, so I was pretty sure that if they were coming to the house, they’d have pulled in. My best guess was that they were going to stuff a flyer in our paper box.
I was just beginning to wonder if they were casing the joint instead, when a woman got out of the passenger door. I didn’t know her, so I kept watching.
She went over to our trash can, still sitting there after the collection truck came earlier in the morning. She opened the lid, threw something in and got back in the car. Her accomplice promptly drove the getaway car down the street.
I’m still trying to decide if I should be upset at the nerve of someone dumping their loose trash in my can or glad that she didn’t just throw it out the window. Me? I’d have kept it in the car till I got home or to a more public waste receptacle.
To make it worse, it was a Coke can, which we don’t even put in the trash. It’s now in the recycling bin where it belongs.
December 15, 2008 – 12:21 pm
You know your kids are growing up when you realize that not only do you not have a clue where the video camera is, but you can’t even remember the last time that you used it.
And I didn’t want to shoot a video. I just needed the tripod that was with it so I could take a picture of the Christmas tree without using the flash.
