I'm a weather forecaster today!

Today I forecast that many people will be complaining. Complaining that today is cold. This evening, even more people will be complaining because it will be Freaking Cold. Starting around 3am we will get more snow, which will cause those who haven't yet started complaining, to complain loudly about how cold and snowy it is. Tomorrow will be more Complaining because it will be REALLY FREAKING COLD! We will all curse Alberta and her Clipper and pray for July in Wisconsin, which at this rate, will never get here.

My moments of Fame!

My debut column came out in the journal yesterday & you can read it here...

My (ahem...) 20 Resolutions for 2009

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/37170404.html

In addition Patrick McIlheran of the Journal Sentinel gave me a positive plug on his blog site!


http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/37212114.html#comments

6 Little Heads!

Excitement is Brewing!

Amazingly all the presents that I have been laboring over are upstairs, in the attic, under the tree. We decided to only decorate with homemade ornaments & ornament gifts from this current year & its, amazingly, completely decorated. Its small (next year!), but showered by creative little hands! The kids have been up & down, up and down & up & down. They have counted out each others & their own (6 a piece). They have shaken and felt for some kind of a clue. But, amazingly, no wrapping paper has come off! I was anticipating Maverick deciding all the presents were his & finding wrapping paper everywhere, but he could care less. I don't think he gets it, yet. Unless its a veggitale, he might be hard to impress. The other kids are trying to be patient... trying to be good... trying to find things to fill their time, before they run back up to the attic & count out the presents again. I put them all in their own piles, now. Counting should be easier.

Celebrating starts tomorrow with a kick off by the reason for it all ~ Jesus. Our church has a live nativity scene & its complete with real animals. So exciting for the kids. We will have 4 Christmas's in the next 4 days. We start at Mike's families house. Christmas morning will be Mike & I & the kids, then traveling to my brother's house for my mom & dad's Christmas, followed on Saturday by my extended family. Its always busy, but its my favorite time of the year. Mike told me the other night, as I'm wrapping even more presents, that this is when I really shine! This is when all the hard work I do doing the year, getting all the great bargains, working all the monster deals, shopping all the clearance racks. This is the culmination of it all. Presents galore, even in a economic crunch!

Hmmm....

Its that time of the year, the time I try to figure out just where to put our Christmas Tree. We went from having a gorgeous big REAL tree completely decked out in our apartment, to a fake 3' tall one that fits on the playroom drawing table. I always tell everyone, space is at a premium in this house, but it never rings so true as to Christmas time. With the presents and decorations and life in general happening, its hard to figure out where to shoe horn in the Christmas tree. The kids have off next week for school. Vacation starts on FRIDAY at 2:20pm & they will have 16 days off! I've saved most of the decorating & cookie making for them, as I'm sure we will be home bound (Love Wisconsin, Hate the Cold!) & needing stuff to do. Where to put the tree though? I rearranged the living room... not very exciting as we have 4 doorways, 2 windows, a fireplace & a radiator to contend with ~ Yeah, 1 actual wall ~ but I'm not thinking it'll work in there. Maybe in the Dining Room corner... or there's the playroom again, or maybe up in the attic. Hmmm... Its not going in the bedrooms or bathroom, so that takes out the 2nd floor... I'm thinking the attic rec room is going to win. Conveniently close to the Christmas storage area & the present room... Hmmm....

Friday night at the Johnstone's

With Mike's new hours, used to be 2-11, now its whenever to whenever ~ he was really looking forward to dinner at home around the table with everyone!


Tonight we went around the table and discussed our highs from the week...

Morgan ~ her harp playing, she gets to be the librarian for her class for the month & she got a great interim report

Marina ~ her singing for the winter concert, she's the farthest on our Farm Valley game & she's looking forward to sleeping in the tent tonight (I cleaned the attic & set up a tent for them to sleep in! FUN!)

Mitchell ~ went from being a Beatle with LONG hair to having his close crop again, also he kept most of his stars this week in his class (he's usually a good boy)

Madigan ~ got a CD Player from the treasure box (WOW!) for being good at school all week (What parent donated that?! Mike asked why she didn't grab the TV! LOL!) & she got to "chase" gingerbread men all around the school on a savenger hunt.

Miranda ~ had a blast at McD's with her friends today & loves her new Christmas sweater

Maverick ~ is enjoying being a Veggitale fan ~ BIG TIME!

All in all a great week for the kids!

Morgan Playing Harp

Thanks Samantha! Sidhe, Morgan's friend, is on the left, Morgan is on the right. Here is Morgan Playing the Harp. She just started this year & loves it!