Happy New Year!!

Considering that I put this blog address on every Christmas card we sent out, I suppose I should actually update this blog on a somewhat regular basis, in the unlikely event that my general readership has increased from the 3 of my Fat Fighting friends and family members..

Christmas was lovely. We piled kids and dogs into the "NEW" car and drove to the snow. The boys saw a REAL snowman and hopefully now believe me that they are not just plastic Christmas decorations we plug into the wall. It took a number of days, but we reclaimed the living room from ghosts of Christmas-presents, and we are only now reaching the "Ok, we've been together too long" stage.

Yesterday was my birthday, tomorrow is Matthew's. Add that a mere 7 and 9 days past Christmas and it can cause major sugar overdose in any mere mortal. We all have a few fun new gadgets, a few new clothes, and have had a great time...

To top it off, SC beat Illinois in the Rose Bowl. Any time SC wins is a good time!

Here are a few more pictures from the last few days, including one of the new beast (which I love, by the way!) and one of the HIGHLIGHT of Parker's Christmas, which was meeting Boris Diaw in person.

'Tis the season

There has been much going on lately, all good (mostly), but I have neither the time nor the energy right now to write it all down. So, these will have to do for now...

Christmas meme

If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!

We got this in our email from Steve's cousin, Tony... It's fun - give it a try!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags
2. REAL or FAKE TREE? would rather get real, but use a fake one
3. When do you put up your Christmas tree? the week after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take down your Christmas tree? The week after New Years' Day
5. Do you like eggnog? NOPE!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Don't know - most vivid is the ABBA album my grandfather got for me when I was in highschool... totally NOT what I wanted but loved that he tried!
7. Do you have a Nativity scene? 2 of them, actually.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My mother
9. Easiest to buy for? The kids
10. Worst Christmas present you ever received? Can't remember that one either
11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail. To email is sacreligious in my opinion.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Its A Wonderful Life
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Right around Thanksgiving.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Do I really have to admit it?
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Grasshopper mint brownies.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear
17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Come All Ye Faithful
18. Staying in town or going out of town? Staying in...
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Danser, Prancer and Vixin, Comet and Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, and of course, Rudolph. (did I get them all? I always seem to forget one - do the same with the 7 dwarfs as well)

Clothes make the man woman?

At school, we won a small victory. It did not appear small, given the whole heap of bantering and bickering and b*tching that has ensued for the last several months, but in the whole scheme of T-H-I-N-G-S, it was not all that important.

At issue was whether or not teachers could wear jeans in the classroom. See what I mean? Rather anti-climactic if you ask me. For all the posturing and pontificating, you would have thought the administration was taking away our prep periods or Christmas break or something. But any problem is a huge problem when it is YOUR problem, and our problem was being told that we were not allowed to wear jeans to work. This was on its way to becoming an all out mutiny! Most of our anger was geared at the idea that this dictate was coming not from the administration, but rather from the parents, and the campus took on the air of "when they start paying me to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe then they can tell me how to dress in my own classroom".

It could have gotten ugly. But, in a fortuitous change of events, the administration decided to rescind the edict regarding the jeans. And there was peace in the land once again!!

I was quick to jump on the renewed "I can wear JEANS" bandwagon and went to work on Monday in a new pair of jeans (quite stylish, I might add - from Tar-jay!!) a cute baby-doll tunic top (also from Tar-jay) and a pair of kick-ass boots! Little shiny black ones with about 3" heels... S-A-S-S-Y!!

And something interesting happened while I was wearing my sassy outfit, walking around in my sassy boots with my sassy new haircut (that is quickly going from "sassy" so "soccer mom", so note to self: make an appointment with Anthony!) I was ready to take on the world!! I got on the phone with lawyers regarding the accident, the body shop who has been sitting on their ass working on the Jetta, getting information and making plans to finally try to get something done in our favor with this whole mess. No one was about to pull the wool over my eyes or try to get anything by me... No Sirree!! Not today - not in my jeans and boots!!!

So this whole "no jeans" thing started because it was feared we would be too casual in jeans at work. "Real Teaching" would not happen if the teachers were in jeans. We would not be at our best if denim made public contact with our thighs.

Ahhh - ye foolish one, I beg to differ. See, sometimes clothes DO make the woman - and in this case, just gimme some jeans, some sassy boots, and back the hell away, boys!! I'm in charge now and I won't take crap from anyone!!

Things that really chap my hide:

You are warned - I've got a need to RANT LIKE A BANSHEE!!

The absolute ineptitude of the people around me is astonishing. Now, I don't mean those close around me; family, children, coworkers. I mean those who are more on the periphery. The folks at the Dr's office. I swear - they are all dead from the neck up! Missing paperwork not filed with the insurance company, telling us we don't need this or that form when the insurance company requested it, loosing files... really?? I thought a basic high-school diploma was required for most jobs, but then I forget - I am living in Arizona where the basic high school requirement for graduation is whether or not you can walk and chew gum, or whether or not your new perfect boobs can jiggle on cue.

The adjuster for the insurance company; she's a piece of work. Is full of great promises, like "I will call you back by the end of the day", but I think she is actually living on Saturn where a given day is 116 years long because she never returns the call. N-E-V-E-R.

Her supervisor is not any better. Oh - and they are in Texas. Not that I am picking on Texas, but we live in ARIZONA. One would think that we would have a claims rep who lived, at least, in the same freakin' time zone.

The body shop that has had possession of the car since November 11th. "I'm sorry; we are down a couple of guys". You know what?? I don't flippin care!! It is NOT my problem that you are down workers. What IS my problem is that you sat on my car for nearly 2 weeks and stuck your thumb up your you-know-where for too long and now we will be stuck paying for a rental car because they don't think they can fix Steve's car until... wait for it.... F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y!!!!!

The response from Encompas??

Well, you should have taken it somewhere else. This body shop is not on our "preferred" list.

Excuse me - YOUR adjuster told US where to take the car... we didn't decide anything. Get your freakin' story straight! And its not like we have many options at this point - the car is not drivable!!

Please... those of you who might live elsewhere... restore my faith in humanity. Tell me it is not as bad where you are... please... lie if you must!!