Category Archives: Nico

Nov 8

The Holiday Blues

Dylan and I were picking up a few things at Dollar General, when this cute little lady came up to me, and said hi. She asked how old the baby was, and commented on all of the Christmas decorations already in the store. She then said, “I love to see all of the Christmas decorations, but that time of year always makes me so sad.”  I had to admit it, and I told her “me too…”

I love Halloween, and all of the fun that Thanksgiving brings, but the very next day my happy mood turns to sour stresses. It has been this way ever since I can remember, I just don’t do well with the stress of the holiday season. I love the meaning of Christmas and spending time with my loved ones, but I don’t love the endless shopping, the blatant commercialism, and the never ending stress of gotta have more. I constantly question every purchase that I have made, and stress over every little mundane detail of the big day, and I just wonder how can I get through the holidays without suffering from an ulcer…

I am determined to change, and do my best to get through the holiday season with my sanity intact. This year I’m doing things differently, and we’ll see if it helps any.

  • I love to bake, and baking homemade goodies really makes me happy. I’ll be baking more cookies, and giving them as gifts.  The kids and I will also be taking cookies to our Church, hospital, and to many of our friends and family.
  • I will keep the Christmas decorating simple. I will be putting up less and therefore there will be less to take down when the holidays are over.
  • I will be making my own Christmas cards. I love to make paper crafts along with jewelry, and spending a little more time creating these crafts might take away a little stress.
  • I will be skipping the “Package Christmas Pictures”! The kids hate to go, and it is never an enjoyable experience for any of us, not to mention those pictures cost way too much! I’ll be taking pictures when the kiddos are in happy moods, and printing them locally. Eliminating the “Package Christmas Pictures” will also save a lot of  time and gas. Before I would have to drive 30 minutes with the kiddos to take the pictures, and then drive 30 minutes home, then it is another 30 minute trip (usually in bad weather) with the kiddos to pick the pictures up, and pay way too much, and then 30 minutes home. Yeah, I’m so done with that.
  • I’m also skipping the big holiday meal. This one might scare the family. I’m going to cook a smaller meal, and take a little time out of the kitchen, so I can spend a little more time being the full-time hostess.
  • Last year we instituted that the Christmas festivities would be starting in the afternoon. This really helped a lot. We could spend plenty of time with the kids on Christmas day, and the kids were a little calmer too. I know this was tough on the Grandmas, but it was really great for our family. We spent the morning together hanging out stress free in our jammies!

Do you have any tips or traditions that keep you calm during the holidays?

Nov 6

Late Quirkiness Tag

My Blog Buddies Marva and Mimi tagged me for this one awhile ago, and here is how to play…

  • Link to the person who tagged you
  • Post the Rules on your Blog
  • List six unspectacular quirks you have
  • Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them
  • Leave a comment on the taggee’s blog to let them know that they have been tagged

The Quirkiness of Nico:

1. I will never return an empty dish or plate. That is right if you happen to bring me over cookies you’ll be getting a tasty surprise from my kitchen to yours too.

2. I love office supplies!!!

3. My husband says I make emoticon faces. I’m often scrunching up my eyebrows, and wrinkling my nose at him, Dylan does it too.

4. I totally have OCD, but it comes in handy when I go shopping.

5. Sorting and pairing tiny socks is my very favorite part of doing laundry.

6. I love to take pictures of architecture, and sometimes I wish that I loved in a big city, so I would never run out of photos to take. I also love to take pictures of clouds and trees, so when you look through my camera, it looks like my ADD kicked in and I’m no longer paying attention to my surroundings.

I’m going to leave this tag open to anyone who wants to play!

Nov 6

An Award from Mimi

My dear friend Mimi over at Palm Trees and Blue Skies, has given me an award. Thank you so much Mimi, I really appreciate it! I also love the name of your new blog, we could all use a little Palm Trees and Blue Skies in our lives.

I’m also supposed to list six things that make me happy, so here we go…

  • My Husband
  • My 2 darling Boys
  • Shoe Shopping with my Mom
  • My dear Friends
  • Pretty Autumn Days with Crunchy Leaves
  • A BIG cup of Coffee, just the way that I like it

I am giving the award to Marva at Blessed Frugalness Times Two With Twins, Susan at Being Kylie’s Mom, and Maggie at The Erratic Homemaker. Big hugs to all and thanks again Mimi!

Nov 4

Two Spilled Shakes

This has been one of those weeks, and it is only Tuesday. Where to start… On Sunday night my left eye was itchy, and I think I scratched it a little too hard, cause I got this bump. I wore my glasses all day yesterday, and the bump went away, cool I can put my contacts back in on Tuesday. This morning I wake up, and evidently I must have itched my eye in my sleep, because my left eye is completely swollen down to my cheek bone, just lovely. So I’m in my glasses, and it looks like I’ve picked a fight…

Yesterday Dylan had his well baby check up, and it was going great until the Doctor asked if we had checked his lead levels and hemoglobin… We hadn’t and she recommended that we do, thanks again to all of the lead paint in children’s toys, we’re off to the lab. Here is the crappy part it isn’t a finger prick test, you have to have blood drawn from the arm, and Dylan isn’t a fan of needles.

So we wait in the waiting room, and Dylan gets to play with all of the fun toys, and he is all smiles, then his name is called, and into the dark chamber of the lab we go. It takes Mommy and 2 nurses to hold Dylan while his blood is drawn, but thank goodness we made it thought it. Thanks again to Shaunna who was watching Thade, so I didn’t have two freaked out kids in the lab, I owe you big time!

I had already decided that we were going out for Ice Cream after dinner, it had been one of those days. I fed the kids early and we went and picked up Milkshakes and Hot Fudge Sundaes for the family. Both of the kiddos were thrilled, Thade picked out a Chocolate Milkshake and Dylan vanilla. When we got home James took Thade upstairs so they could watch Football and I was downstairs with Dylan cleaning up after dinner.

I had put that last load of laundry in the dryer, when Dylan ran into the utility room holding an empty cup. Hmmm, just where was the Vanilla Shake? I guess Dylan loved his shake so much that he gave it a big hug, and splattered vanilla ice cream all over the living room. I then found little vanilla handprints in the dining room, on my diaper bag, all over the kitchen floor, and stove, and not to mention all over Dylan.

Great, so know there is that big-huge-sticky mess that needs cleaned, and by this time my patience is wearing thin. So I clean it all up, and take Dylan upstairs to get ready for bedtime.

Thade was upstairs still savoring his Chocolate Shake, and I was relaying the vanilla mess to James when Dylan took off running down the hallway and Thade chased after him, and we hear a thud and a blood curdling scream. Great who fell, and is injured I thought?!? So James and I run down the hallway and we see  Thade who is hyperventilating and screaming “my Ice Cream, my Ice Cream!”

Thade had dropped and splattered his chocolate shake all over the hallway and into their bedroom, and he was losing it big time. James grabbed Dylan before he could get into the chocolate mess, and I tried to calm Thade down, as I cleaned up the second mess of the evening. Who knew a chocolate shake could go so far?

James ended up giving Thade his Caramel Malt and that calmed Thade down, I finally got the second mess all cleaned up, and the boys off to bed. I think next time I’ll stick to Ice Cream Cones…