Resolutions, schmezolutions. . .


It’s the “thing to do” this time of year, isn’t it? Make a list of all those things you want to change or improve in your life and then, by March, realize with a start that you’ve let them all slide.

Sounds awful, doesn’t it?

And, yet, here I go:

1. Do something “exercise-like” every day. It could be five minutes of sit ups, a few lifts of a hand weight or a half-marathon (ha!), but just something, ANYTHING would be an improvement over what I did in 2008.

2. Play more games with the kids. This will be a tough one because they LOVE Clue Jr, and I effing HATE Clue Jr.

3. Send out more birthday cards, not of the “belated” variety.

4. Spend some time each Sunday doing the following: planning our school week, writing cards (see #3) and deciding what we’ll have for dinner all week.

5. Keep my hair colored and cut, so that I don’t have this embarrassing skunk stripe down the middle of my head. Also, get my kids’ hair cut before they all look like mop heads, like they do now.

6. Become more social. Have more people over for dinner, drinks, movies, Guitar Hero showdowns.

7. Drink more water.

8. Figure out how to do this “work at home” thing more productively, namely, being able to get on the computer without getting sucked into Twitter, Facebook or funny YouTube videos.

So, any bets on which one of these I’ll stick to best? Which ones I’ll bemoan in a week or two?

Who’s that sleeping in my bed?


I’m never sure who I’ll find in my bed.

Ever since we finally moved D out of our bed (the only place he’d ever slept), I can expect him to creep back in around 3am. He usually snuggles right in and falls to sleep. Call me creepy, but I can’t bear the thought of putting him back in his own bed. Maybe I’ll do it when he starts smelling like a boy.

Sometimes, though, I’ll wake to find a little blond head nestled under my chin, and just as I’m putting my arms around what I think is my little guy, he’ll show up next to the bed whispering, “UP!”

Such is life with two children of similar size and hair styles, despite being eighteen months apart and different genders.

Jilly has been sneaking into our bed about twice a week for the past few months. She is almost six, so I have no problem quietly bringing her back to her room and putting her back in her own bed. But, more than once, I’ve picked up the child I thought was Jilly only to see that it is D when I deposit him in her bed. In my defense, I’m as blind as a bat without my glasses, in the dark.

D, as the youngest, gets dibs on our bed, even though I do feel guilty about moving Jilly back. I’ve tried to let them both stay, but two children make me too warm and uncomfortable, even in our big king-size bed.

At least the oldest, Belly, knows to wait until Fairly Odd Father has gone to work in the wee hours of the morning before she sneaks into his spot in the bed.

I hear that there are families whose children stay in their bed all night long, but I think they use a lot of duct tape.

Ending on a high note


Thirteen hundred miles may separate us, but my Sister-in-Law has been in my thoughts for most of the year. She has taught me so much about how to face adversity with grace and love and courage.

In 2008, she faced a cancer diagnosis, surgery, a canceled honeymoon and chemotherapy.

But, there was a beautiful, intimate wedding, a surprise pregnancy with one determined little baby, and, on Monday, there was a birth.

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May the new year bring more and more happiness to her and her family. And, to my newest niece, your aunt cannot wait to get her hands on you.