This Is It For '08! See You Next Year!!!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? started working at Meijer.



2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? well, last year I said I wanted to drink more water and use my treadmill more... I've been more successful with the drinking water thing. There are lots of things I would like to accomplish in my life but no "resolutions", no time frame, just a determination to keep working on "things".



3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 3 of my bestest friends all had babies: Mr. Lincoln, Miss Elayna, and Miss Kendall, plus about a 1/2 dozen other little ones.



4. Did anyone close to you die? Tom's aunt Patty.



5. What states/countries did you visit? I'm so lame... I didn't leave Michigan once this year!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? less stress and worry or a better way to handle it all=)



7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Austin's first day of kindergarten. Christmas because it was a little different this year without my mom here to see the kids open their presents from Santa.



8. What was your biggest achievement? Simplifying life (in the form of 3 huge garage sales).



9. What was your biggest failure? I'm still hurting from this one (and it's too personal to share) but it all basically comes from not trusting God like I should have.



10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I had a bunch of tests and procedures done recently but my doctor has assured me that the results are all ok and I am "normal". Tom begs to differ. Other than that just some minor cold and flu bugs.



11. What was the best thing you bought? My Dyson!!! I have wanted one for so long and I *love* it!!! Actually, the only reason we were able to rationalize such an extravagant purchase was because Austin's asthma was out of control this fall. Since we couldn't afford to rip out the carpet and put down new floors we went with the next best thing~ a vacuum that actually works! This is what the Dyson sucked up from our living room and hallway carpet the first time we used it. And, I should add, I really do clean my home. I had vacuumed with my old vacuum only 3 days before.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Tom's for finally finishing his associates degree in marketing. Austin's for loving learning and being so independent in kindergarten. Audrey's for loving gymnastics; and Lexi's for being potty trained!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My own. Can someone please just admit me?

14. Where did most of your money go? the house and the kids

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Coaching track, putting together my scrapbooking room, Christmas, my kids' accomplishments

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Kid Rock "All Summer Long"

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
 a) happier or sadder? I'm pretty happy and content b) thinner or fatter? Let's not ask that question right after Christmas... let's say the same, give or take a few pounds=) c) richer or poorer? richer in the long run but only because we've paid off some debt. Definitely feeling pretty poor right now!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Scrapbooking and blogging. Just relaxing with my kids and forgetting about my to~do list.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Stressing over the "imperfections" in my life. Yelling at my kids. Worrying about finances.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With our families. Hosmer family the Sunday before Christmas. Hrebec family Christmas eve. My brother Micah, and BIL Paul with Tom, the kids and me Christmas morning. My mom came over later in the afternoon and then Christmas nite with Tom's family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008? Every day more deeply with my kids (and with Tom,too!=).

22. What was your favorite TV program? Little People, Big World, John and Kate plus 8, 17 Kids and Counting (makes me feel better about my life)=), House Hunters, Flip That House, Property Ladder, Redneck Wedding.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Laundry, she is my new worst enemy. the sight of her makes me sick. She is so needy always wanting attention and turning into a monster if I don't give it to her.

24. What was the best book you read? Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. Right now I'm into magazines (I *love* and highly recommend Wondertime for parents)~ They're short and quick and I can read them article by article.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Figuring out how to add a playlist to my blog.

26. What did you want and get? My Dyson! my kitchen repainted, a scrapbook room... too much to even list- I have been blessed!

27. What did you want and not get? The credit cards paid off (I may be saying that for awhile...) so let's see, something different from last year. A new tattoo~ I want stars for each of the kids. And I want dining room furniture that doesn't fall apart on my guests! Sorry, mom!

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I'm waaaayyy behind on my list of must see movies. I think one of the very few "adult" movies I saw this year was 27 Dresses. Very chick~flick, very cute!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 28. I had a really good day.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not being so stressed about money. And if we had had a little more, enjoying the finer things in life that money brings~ family vacays, activities with the kids, dinners out.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? What fashion concept!?! Audrey rocks it better than I do.

32. What kept you sane? Blogging~ it's so theraputic. Having the time I was working as a time of quiet reflection, play dates, and girls' nites out.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I read People but I didn't go ga~ga over anyone in particular this year.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? The election

35. Who did you miss? No one- everyone is close by

36. Who was the best new person you met? Coffee. She is my favorite and my best. I don't know how I would have made it through this year without her by my side (in my cup;)

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Sometimes it's ok, even for the best, to let go. Just keep trusting God.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "You've already won me over, in spite of me. Don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet. Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are, I couldn't help it!... Alanis Morrisette (Because I am amazed that I fall deeper in love with my kiddos every single day!)

Finally!!!

After all of the fun and excitement of Christmas... finally a day to stay home and relax!!! The entire Hosmer family (minus my FIL) headed to Henry Ford yesterday. The kids enjoyed the museum and we watched Madagascar 2 at the IMAX theater before doing a little shopping at Old Navy and eating at Chili's. I've got some really cute pics of the kids but you all know how efficient I am at getting them off the camera and onto the computer so I'll have to update later;)

Tom had some unused vacation time at work and since their policy is "use it or lose it" he's using it all this week. He's only working tomorrow so it'll be fun having him around. My Christmas present from my in~laws was gift cards to Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Kohls for a new kitchen makeover. Tom ran out to get paint this morning so our little project for the afternoon is going to be painting the kitchen. We have paneling above the cabinets that I want to paint but I'm not looking forward to doing it; other than that, there is not a whole lot of wall space so it shouldn't take too long (key word is shouldn't).

Aside from me working a couple of days (and Tom working 1) this week, we're spending New Year's Eve with my BIL's family, and Tom is driving down to South Carolina with his brother and then flying back home sometime early next week. Austin returns to school next week so we're just going to try to enjoy these last few unscheduled days of 2008.

Lovin' The "Ponies"

Flashback Friday: December 2006

Not Exactly Christmas Cards

Well, my Christmas cards are finally in the mail... 1 day after Christmas. So this year, I'm calling them holiday cards because they'll arrive sometime between Christmas and New Years;) Since I couldn't do this, and our last studio session at JC Penny was less than stellar, we went with this for the cards this year:

I printed the photos off in black and white so they would "color coordinate" with my cards=). Don't let the smiles fool you though. I'm sure the whole neighborhood heard me yelling~ just stand still! Lexi, look at the camera! C'mon kids, I just want one decent picture! Seriously, can't you just cooperate?!?! Of course, the cold zapped my half-dead battery so I had 1 minute to capture the "perfect" picture; which didn't exactly happen. So this is what we ended up with: the kids with their snowman "Fred". And I have to give credit where it's due... it was Austin's idea to use dog food for the facial features.

From Our Home To Yours...

Merry Christmas!!!

Going Postal On UPS

Yesterday the big brown truck delivered not one, but 2 big packages to our door. The only problem is... they're not our packages. So sure, our house numbers may be a little obscure (they're only each 4 in. big) but how could the driver miss our address on our mailbox?! Since I spent the day unshowered and in pj's, I asked Tom to run the boxes to (supposedly) the next door over when he got home from work. Ten minutes later he returns with boxes in hand. "Uhh," he says, "there's no 4162. I drove all over the neighborhood just in case and there is no 4162." So he gets on google earth and *ta~da*! it shows us as 4162 (we are, by the way, 4154). We decide that I'll try to call UPS the next day and have a driver come back and pick them up.

Flash forward to today. I call UPS and get an automated system (gotta love 'em.) But you don't punch a number in, no, this one's fancy~schmancy and it's voice activated, so the "lady" gives me a bunch of choices to speak and of course, "dumb~ass driver delivered package to wrong house because address on box is non~existent" is not a choice. So I speak ve-ry clear-ly "I want to speak to someone." By default the system actually connects me to someone. Except that someone is apparently the only someone who is working at UPS 2 days before Christmas and has decided to not answer the phone. So it rings, and rings, and rings.... I call back and go through the whole system again only to hear that crazy busy signal when you can't get through. Someone somewhere is waiting for Christmas to arrive and I have their 2 packages sitting by my front door. Can my friend in brown help me out?

Down For The Count

That was me Friday. I felt the flu coming on as I was going into the last couple hours of my shift early Friday morning. I made it home and didn't actually get sick until around 6 and then again at 8:30am. After that, the ache set in and unbelievable exhaustion. The kids woke to find mommy on the couch with these instructions:

• sippy cups (of juice) were in the fridge
• watch cartoons
• stay away from mommy's germs

For the rest of the day the kids ran the house. In my complete and utter sickness I almost didn't care about the inevitable destruction that I would surely awake to come Saturday morning. I was able to summon enough strength to pop some toast into the toaster and left them with little butter knives, honey, and scoops of butter for breakfast. Somewhere around 2:30 Austin repeated his request for lunch so I pulled myself out of bed to plop some jelly in one bowl, peanut butter in another, dispersed more butter knives, bread and oranges and left them to make their own pbj's. By the time Tom came home, Lexi had taken it upon herself to make dinner and had handed out bowls of cookies sprinkles and decorations to everyone. And I was so sick, I didn't.even.care. My mom came later with homemade turkey soup to balance out the sugar rush and kept the kids occupied for awhile.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling quite a bit better but still completely wiped out. It's now Monday, I've been through one round of Christmas shopping, church, Christmas with the Hosmer family and an 8 hour shift at work. My strength is back but my stomach is still a little queasy, too much still for me to enjoy my beloved 1/2 pot of coffee in the morning. So that's where I'm at. 3 days before Christmas and frantically trying to make up for all of the lost time and energy from my "sick day". Today's agenda:

• finish Christmas cards
• put away gifts from yesterday's Christmas
• write thank you notes
• clean up the house
• catch up on laundry
• plan Christmas eve & Christmas day menus

Happy Monday!

Snow Day

Today we're snowbound, enjoying an unexpected vacay from our very busy week before Christmas. My MIL called at 6 this morning to tell us school was closed (she teaches at the HS so she gets all of the inside info;) Since I worked 3rd last nite, I was very content to just stay under the comforter until the kids forced my butt out of bed. The phone did at 9:30 and we've just been taking it easy since then. Austin was absolutely thrilled with his very first "snow day".

I'm hoping to get caught up on laundry, get clean sheets on the beds, and bake some Christmas cookies for Austin to take to school tomorrow. My last basketball game of the season was scheduled for tonite and has also been canceled. My cheerleaders were planning on coming to the house after school today for a Christmas party and that's been postponed until tomorrow. So plans have been changed. Today is a day of no schedules, if it gets done, it gets done; if not we'll do it tomorrow. Happy snow day!

A Little Bit Of This & That

It's the weekend (and I've got 2 days off)! I had my day fully planned out so I wouldn't waste a spare moment but my plan went to pot as soon as I woke up this morning and saw the clock read 8:26. Yeah, and Austin's supposed to be in school at 8:20. We've had a less than stellar week with school attendance. He missed Monday- Wednesday with a nasty cold/flu bug. And then he was 45 minutes late for a half day today. He has next week and then we have the Christmas break to get our act back together.

Audrey is off with cousin Katy tonite celebrating Katy's 4th birthday. Plans included going to Red Lobster for birthday dinner (both girls *love* shrimp) and Fun 4 All before a sleepover at Katy's. Audrey has looked forward to this all week so I'm sure she is having a fabulous time tonite.

I have one more week of basketball to go, so the end (and the paycheck) is in sight. We have a game in Tekonsha tomorrow morning and then 2 more this coming week. The cheerleaders are heading to my house before our last game on Wednesday for some Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, and a small gift exchange. For the last week, Lexi's been parading through the house in full cheerleader mode calling off cheers and even getting the pom poms out for a little cheer action.

After I return from the game tomorrow I have a couple of errands to do and then I have to get my scrapbook room ready because Leslie and fam are coming for pizza and Christmas projects. We ordered scrapbook calendars awhile back to make for Christmas gifts so we're combining our resources to get them done.

The kids' Christmas program is this Sunday at church and then I work a full shift. And that is pretty much our weekend. Still on the agenda for tonite: wrapping Audrey's Christmas gifts and folding several loads of laundry. Happy weekend, all!=)

Blah, Blah, Blog

It seems as if the whole blogging once a day in November has ruined me. I was doing really well and then had to miss a few days because we were so busy around Hosmerville and after that I lost complete motivation to post anything. I've tried several times and each time the words escape me and I trash the attempt. But good or bad, I'm publishing this post!

So what have we been up to around here? One word~ Christmas!!! Each year the kids and I go on our traditional turkey hunt the day after Thanksgiving and gather up all of the fall decorations. Once everything is taken care of then Christmas gets to come up out of the basement. Things were a little tricky this year as I was scheduled to work the day after Thanksgiving and the rest of the weekend. Knowing I only had the morning, we were able to get an early start and get all of Thanksgiving taken care of before 9am. I brought all of the Christmas tubs into the dining room where I made the kids repeat my mantra as they unpacked~ "if it's wrapped, it's breakable!" They did an amazing job unpacking the tubs and starting to decorate while I tried to control the the mess and get ready for work. Because I worked the whole weekend, the kitchen and dining room basically looked like Christmas had exploded but by Monday we had pretty much managed to get everything decorated. The snowman on my front porch is still sharing space with half rotten pumpkins and gourds but eventually I'll get outside long enough to clean up the yard, too.

We're big into traditions around here in Hosmerville but instead of making this an overly huge post, I'll try to touch on them in the next few days or so. Other than doing everything Christmas, we've been busy fighting a nasty cold/flu bug the last week or so. Austin's home from school for the second day in a row recuperating on the couch. As I tucked him into bed last nite and told him I was sorry he wasn't feeling well, he angrily declared it was Audrey's fault because she had given him her germs. *sigh* These kids really do love each other, right?