Revenge is MINE, sayeth the Soccer Mom!

The boys had a high school soccer game this evening. Not only were the opposing team and their supporters rude & obnoxious, they were slobs! Instead of throwing their hot chocolate cups in the trash, they threw them on the ground behind the bleachers. NO excuse for that!
So, I went behind the bleachers and started picking up their trash. The bleachers aren't high, so it was obvious to all what I was doing. One guy walked up to me and handed me his cup and said, "Here" (like I'm some maid or something! ) So I said, "Thanks! We pick these up, rinse 'em out and re-use 'em after each game!" Without waiting for a response, I turned on my heel and went straight to the concession stand, where I handed them over to a very confused woman working the stand.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a great one!

$10,195.00

Depending on what it means, it could make ya really happy or just plain sick to your stomach. In this case, it makes me just plain sick to my stomach! That's the amount of money we spent on gasoline in the last 12 months. So when Mabry comes to us for her tuition next Fall, we'll just have to look at her sadly and say, "I'm sorry, honey, we drove it all away!"

Too Little? Or too much?

I can't decide if we've had so much going on that I can't find time to post, or too little going on that there's nothing to post about. But post I will, for anyone interested.
Let's see....Thanksgiving at my sister Laine's was wonderful! They were terrific hosts to about 36 people, I think. With so many people it was really hard to get to visit with everyone, but we had a great time.
We went to Granny's (Patrick's Mom) afterwards and took her shopping for her much-needed chair. Why it was much-needed I still have no idea. It's an "occasional" chair for the very-occasional visitor she has! But it's really pretty, and if they'd had 2 more, I would've bought them for MY house! Had a good visit with her, but we sure were glad to get home Sunday night!
On Monday night we had the Christmas parade, in which the boys marched with the high school band. Holy smokes, it was FREEZING! I believe it was about 29 degrees, and oh so painful! Patrick and I stayed in the car 'til we heard the parade coming, then we got out and braved the cold, each with 3 layers on and still we froze! I was SO happy to see that parade end!
Tuesday night I had to skip class and have an MRI on my back. Hated to miss that class as it was the last one before finals, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Still no word on my MRI. I'm assuming it's nothing serious or else I would've heard something by now.
Wednesday was my Pilates class, which ended at 6:15. I got to come home and do nothing after that, and it was WONDERFUL! In fact, I didn't do anything else 'til Sunday (I skipped the boys soccer game as it was 28 degrees out and I just couldn't bring myself to do that! Sorry boys!). Sunday at 5 we went to pick out our Christmas tree....at a tree farm....unlit....at 5pm it's dark. The most we could see was silouhettes of trees, so we did the best we could. There are bare spots all over the thing, but at least it's live and looks ok with the decorations on it.
After my final last night (for Human Growth & Development), we decorated the tree. Pete's girlfriend Cat came to help, and informed us that we are decoration-poor. Did she mean decoration-challenged? According to her, we don't have enough tree ornaments. Once the tree was decorated, I had to agree. Where have all our ornaments gone?! I suppose years of breakage and never replacing can take a toll on an ornament collection. Anyway, while we were decorating the tree, Pete and Cat were discussing how they will handle holidays after they're married. (HUH?) Pete has declared that they will spend EVERY Thanksgiving at my sister Leslie's house, and that they will always have a live tree (Cat's only ever had a fake tree). He graciously let Cat have Easter! Based on Cat's response, I have a feeling there will be many more discussions about this in the future!

God is so accomodating...

in a funny, infuriating kind of way! This morning I was awake before my alarm went off. Hearing the rain slam against the windows, I grinned to myself and snuggled down deeper in bed. No way was I gonna go to the gym in that mess!
A few minutes later the alarm went off. I shut it off and laid back down.....
listened....the rain had stopped! UGH! So I got out of bed, went to the gym, no rain the entire time. Until.....I pulled back into my driveway. Boy, did God let it loose then! I had to run inside in the pouring down rain, but what did HE care?! He got what He wanted, which was my butt to the gym! Don't ever let anyone tell you that God doesn't have a sense of humor! :)*

Well....at least Pete wasn't involved this time!

Mabry came by the house today to clean our bathroom. No, not because she's altruistic, but because I bought her a $20 lunch last weekend when she went out with her friends! Anyway, so she came over to clean (and did a pretty great job!), then she called me. I could barely understand her because she was laughing so hard. Or was she crying? I couldn't exactly tell. The conversation went something like this:
"Mom, Ryan's bleeding all over the place. His nose is bleeding and making a huge mess. Ryan, I hope you know you're cleaning up that mess! That's just gross!"
"Mabry, what happened?" I asked calmly.
"Well, ya see, I wanted a piggy back ride but Ryan's too tall and I couldn't jump that high so I stood on top of the fireplace only I forgot to ask him if he was ready and when I jumped he wasn't ready so he fell forward with me on top of him and landed face first on the floor. Eeewww, Ryan, that's just gross! Go bleed somewhere else!"
(sigh)
So I got Pete on the phone, the only one who seemed to be able to communicate calmly. Of course, most everything Pete does is calm, minus the time he caught his car on fire. "Pete, what's it look like?"
"Uhhh...." (Oh Lord, give me patience!) "Well, uhhh, it's pretty swollen and it's already starting to bruise. It's still bleeeding bad. I think it's broke."
Yep, this is my life. Kinda funny thinking about it, but I have a feeling tomorrow's gonna have Ryan waking up with at least 1 black eye! The picture doesn't really do it justice; it's really swollen and bruised! We don't think it's broken, but even if it is there's nothing that can be done. He sounds a little funny, though...kinda like Rudolph when he had that mud on his nose! :)

Don't ask if ya don't wanna know!

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate both boys making the Symphonic band. Their band is large enough that they need to split it up into two groups; Symphonic and Concert. Symphonic is harder with more challenging music, and both boys were hoping to get in. They did...YAY!!!!
Shortly after sitting down at the table, one of the boys asked me, "So, Mom, how was your day?"
"Great," I said. "I got naked in front of a man and he took pictures of me!"
"EEEEEWWWWWWWWW" they said, and Ryan got up and walked out the door of the restaurant!
What?! He did ask, didn't he? Hehehehe!
Pete just had a typical deer-in-the-headlights look on his face, so I said, "Oh it's perfectly ok...your dad was there the whole time!" (Insert evil grin here)
Ok, so maybe I didn't have to tell the boys exactly that, but it sure was fun! Once Ryan came back to the table I explained to them what I did this morning. I actually had a consult with a plastic surgeon this morning, hence the getting nekkid part. I thought he'd draw on me with magic marker; that's what they do on TV. He didn't draw on me, but he did take pictures! I wasn't prepared for that! Funny how in that situation there was absolutely no shame, though. He wasn't seeing ME, he was seeing...well...this shell that I live in. He was looking to help me do some home-improvements for my soul. :)
The truly amazing part, at least to me, was what he said as he was pulling, tugging, lifting, etc. He said, "There's really not much fat on your body at all. It's all skin." WOOOHOO!!!! It took quite awhile for that to sink in. All this...this huge gut, is skin?! That's amazing! And disgusting! And pretty exciting!LOL
We're a long way from making a decision. There's an insurance issue to consider, and then there's the fact that he'll only do one procedure at a time. This chick only wants to go under the knife ONCE, thanks very much. But this doc's the only one that takes our insurance. So....more research, maybe more consults. Do I let insurance pay and go under twice? Or do I self-pay and go under once (meaning I find another doc)? (sigh) Decisions, decisions!