I hadn’t seen the kiddo in nearly a week when he finally came back to me last night. I cooked his favorite meal and sometime after that is when he showed me The Splinter.

It was HUGE and in the tip of his ring finger on his right hand. I, of course, said we needed to get it out. To which he replied, “NO!” and ran away, slamming his bedroom door.

My first thought was, NO HE DIDN’T! To which I proceeded to run in there, fling open the door and tell him to never do that again. We had a major battle of wills going on. He screamed bloody murder and I screamed bloody murder right back. Now. This was all BEFORE I even got the needle out. That stinker.

About thirty minutes and a very loud fit later, I called threatened to call his dad. When that didn’t seem to phase him, I made good on the threat. His dad tells me he’d had the splinter since Thursday. I don’t know about you, but three days is an awful long time to have a splinter in the finger. He said he figured it would just work its way out since neither he nor the kiddo’s grandfather could get it out.

I don’t know what it was, but something inside me snapped. I hung up with him told the kiddo that he would have to let met get it out or we were going to the doctor and HE was going to get it out. He threw another fit.

And I was at my wit’s end. So, I called Man. I mostly just called to complain but he gave me a good idea (he’s raised three kids; he has this all figured out). He told me to use a bag of ice to numb the pain and give him some Tylenol to complete the illusion and all would be well.

SO. Armed with this information, I calmly walk back to the kiddo’s room and make him open the door. We had a calm, rational discussion in which I told him to stop being a butthead and let me get the splinter out. I told him exactly how we were going to do it. He liked the ice and the Tylenol idea. He actually went for and he giggled at the butthead comment.

It took 30 painstaking moments but I finally got the thing out. Well, all except a sliver and the rest of it came out in his bath. I felt so triumphant but exhausted at the same time. I called Man back to tell him he was brilliant (like he needed more ego inflation). He (the kiddo) was most agreeable about The Splinter Tragedy and happily took his bath, washed his hair, and then played with his Millennium Falcon for a bit before bed.

He even told his dad, “I let Mom get my splinter out.” I couldn’t help it; I grinned from ear to ear. hehe

As for me… I was exhausted after the ordeal. I made myself a big cup of Earl Grey before climbing into my warm bed with my book.

It’s supposed to be cold most of the day today. I think the high is going to be 40. What is up with this nutty weather? And it’s back to work/school, too. Actually, I have to admit, I’m ready to get back to work. This staying at home thing was getting old.

Happy Monday!

To Mel’s Birthday Bash!

I’m a featured author today at Melissa Schroeder’s blog. Stop on by and check it out! Plus you can win a copy of Talk Dirty To Me as well as a signed copy of Mel’s anthology Leather and Lace.

So. We hit a high of 83 yesterday. And today? The high is supposed to be 49. Currently, it is 33 degrees and I forgot to turn the heat back on before I went to bed last night. It was 58 in the house this morning!

This weather is nuts.

At least, yesterday, in the fine weather, Man and I got the house lights down. There were three casualties. We also raked leaves and cleaned up all the trash that had blown up between my house and the neighbors. We bagged three bags of leaves. And there’s still yet more to do but we got the bulk of it.

We also went to: Target, Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot. We didn’t spend a dime. Instead, it was a search and discovery trip. We got prices of some stuff that he wanted and that I wanted.

Today, I finally get the kiddo back! He’s been gone nearly a week and I’ve been lonely for him. I’m going to cook his favoriate dinner which is lemon chicken. He goes back to school tomorrow and I finally go back to work and you know… I think I’m looking forward to getting back to the office after the holidays. I was getting kinda bored here at the house. There’s only so much vacuuming a girl can do. :lol:

And that’s it for me. Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday.

It’s going to be 79 today! I have the windows and doors open and I’m wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Kinda weird for early January. We’ve been warm and then cold all winter, though. It’s strange.

Last night, I went to dinner with Man and his daughter. We went to Boston’s and I had yummy chicken pizza. Then we hit Starbucks and then we back to his place and watched Hitch. I hadn’t seen it before. Eve Mendes annoyed me the entire time in the movie though. She has a horrible mouth and she’s just generally a beotch in the movie. I wasn’t all that impressed with it.

Came home, read my book and then crashed.

Got up this morning and made some coffee and started some laundry. Man is on his way over to take down the Christmas lights on the house. I’m going to see if I can talk him into going to this yard sale that has a 4 drawer filing cabinet for $25. Not sure if I want to drive across town for it though. I may just keep my eyes peeled on Craigstlist for one.

I’ve decided 2009 is the year of Getting Organized. I HAVE to get this crapola out of my house that I haven’t used in over two years. Some of the stuff I don’t want to get rid of like the kiddo’s baby blankets that were crocheted for him. I just can’t part with them. So I’m going to have to figure out how to store all this stuff. I need a shed too. Heck, I generally need more storage in this tiny house. I guess I need to figure out how to maximize my space. LOL

I have to admit - it’s a beautiful day. The sky is so blue and there’s a gentle breeze making my large windchime sing.

Not much else to report as I’m doing laundry and waiting on Man to arrive. Guess I’ll go drink another cup of java.

I have a feeling this is going to be a good year. A busy one - but a GOOD one.

On Wednesday, I took myself down to Macy’s and I did the unthinkable. I bought a new mattress and box springs set. Now, granted the one I have is only about years old - it’s also HARD as a FREAKING ROCK. Literally. I trick myself by thinking it’s not so hard by putting a featherbed on top of it. But the back knows all too well it’s like sleeping on a slab of concrete.

So. Macy’s is having their Mattress Event and I figured what the hey. Man and I had considered buying a new couch at the beginning of the year, but we decided to invest our money into a new bed instead. Gotta get that beauty sleep, don’t you know. And since there are typically more hours spent sleeping than sitting on the couch, it just made sense (and cents).

Anyway. I got a good deal! And they are going to deliver for free. AND I got the 10 year warranty for an extra $100. I stayed under budget. It was greatness. The new bed will be here on the 14th. And even better, Sis-in-law is coming to pick up the old one for my niece who is in need of a new bed. So everyone wins.

Along those same lines, Penney’s was having their clearance sale on their bedding. I had been eyeing a certain comfortor set for months to go with my newly painted room. It was regularly $225 and I got it for… *drum roll please* $60! I even got free shipping. YAHOO! It will be here on Saturday. Mostly likely, I’ll wait to put the new stuff on until I get the new bed. New, new, new. I LOVE IT.

After I shopped at Macy’s on Wednesday, I headed to Best Buy and purchased a brand hew 8 GIG thumb drive for $19.99. I’m salivating thinking what I can put on that. It’s awesome. Plus it has the security thing so I can password protect it. That rocks!

And speaking of Best Buy… Man bought me an HD Ready/MP3 Player car stereo for Christmas. I’m getting it installed on the 12th at Best Buy. I’m so so so so so excited about that I can’t stand it. Oh, and did I mention the new HD Ready car stereo has a USB port AND a port for an iPod right in front? Hence the need for a new USB thumb drive… heh heh heh I’m going to be rocking out with my new stereo and 8 gig of music.

And speaking of the car… got the brakes fixed and the oil changed to the tune of $200 instead of the $325 those robbers wanted to charge me. AND the calipers WERE NOT bad. It was merely a brake job. I have half a mind to file a complaint with the BBB and then call those losers and tell them I did so because they are ripping off customers with their fraudulent lies. I detest people like that.

As for New Years… Man came over to hang out. I cooked a lasagna and some garlic bread…and then was out by 11:15. I suck. I woke up in time to see the fireworks in downtown Dallas go off, kiss the Man, and then head to bed.

We slept in yesterday, finally dragged ourselves up and made coffee in my new Super Fine Coffee Pot while watching the Rose Bowl Parade. It’s one of my favorite things to do on New Years Day. Then he left, picked up his daughter and they came back and we cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. I also made black eyed pea dip because we gotta get those black eyed peas in for the new year. It was tasty. I made a peach cobbler, too. We had enough food to feed about ten people and it was only the three of us. I don’t know what we were thinking. haha But it was yummy food.

And today.. I’m just chilling out at the house. Man is taking me and his daughter to dinner tonight. I gotta say, I’m really looking forward to it.

This year is starting off really well so far. I’m a super happy girl.

I discovered recently that my brakes need to be fixed because they’re squealing quite loudly. I noticed it about a week ago and since I didn’t want to wait until it got really bad, I decided to take it in.

I figured I could just go down to the local brake shop and have it repaired. Since I only have about 41,000 miles on the car, I figured it shouldn’t need anything but brake pads. Right?

Uh huh. So I took it in. Man followed me in his truck and we dropped it off. About an hour later, I get a call from the shop telling me my front brakes are fine, but my back brakes are trashed. And, oh yeah, I need to have the calipers rebuilt because the ones on there are “prematurely” worn-out. It would cost $325 all total. I sighed heavily. And he says, all jovial, “I hear your sigh of relief!” More like a sigh of frustration. I told him I’d call him back.

I went to Man and told him what the guy said. He called him and talked to him and, apparently, the guy at the shop didn’t like that I had my “husband” call (snicker). Man told the guy to stop talking to him in that condescending tone and that he understand what he was saying to him. He told the guy he’d let me know what “his wife” decided. So Man hung up and told me to go call the dealership.

So I did. And guess what? The dealer can replace the entire brake system for… $180. He said, of course, they’d have to look at it and there was NO WAY the calipers needed to be rebuilt at 41,000 miles. He said that’s how those brake shops make their money and it’s all a big rip off. He also said if it did indeed turn into being the calipers, it was still covered under the warranty. AHA!

Man and I went and picked up my car promptly before the brake shop did any more damage. He’s following me to the dealership this morning so I can drop it off and hopefully get it back tonight before they close. Not a great day to schedule repairs but it IS the brakes and all. Hopefully this experience will be painless.

I admit, I’m not very car savvy. I don’t want to be. That’s Man’s Work, if you ask me. Anything dealing with the car and outside is (oh, and killing spiders). Man told me I should have just called the dealership first and he was right. Next time, I’ll listen to him. It was nice to have the back-up, though, should I have needed an intervention with the brake shop. Luckily, they didn’t try to charge me for bringing it in and tearing it apart.

Tonight, once the car stuff is finished, we’re going to hang out and drink some champagne and watch the ball drop. I’m really looking forward to having a nice quiet evening at home. And that’s it for me for 2008, folks.

Hope everyone has a fantastic and safe New Years!

The last week is sort of a blur. All the days started to run together. I guess that’s what happens when you have 5 consecutive days off.

Yesterday I started cleaning up the kiddo’s room to make space for his new (giant) toys. I guess I got on a roll because I ended up taking a huge load to Goodwill and then I took down all the Christmas decorations. Everything is down but the house lights and Man will have to do that this weekend. My arms are all scratched up from the Christmas tree but at least everything is put away and the house has been reclaimed.

Don’t get me wrong - I love Christmas and decorating and being festive. But the second Christmas is over I’m ready to have it all gone. haha

Anyway… I also did some shopping yesterday. I had gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. I went to B&N and got me two new books. One is a YA called Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston and the other is by Karen Tabke and for the life of me I can’t remember the name of it. But it had a really hot guy holding a sword and castle in the background on the cover. LOL

I made it by Target and bought some tubs to store the new decorations in. I also got some tubs for the kiddo’s room so I could keep all his legos in one and action figures in the other. I can’t stand for it to be all over his room. I’m anal.

This next year is the year of cleaning. I’m going to clean out the closet in the office. I’m getting new DVD storage and I’m getting rid of some stuff. It’s OUT with the old and IN with the new for sure.

Okay that’s it for me. Gotta run. Oh…and I need new brakes. That sucks.

Yesterday it was 80 degrees. We ran around in short-sleeved shirts all day. And today? Well, we had thunderstorms this morning and hellacious wind this afternoon. Tonight, it’s COLD. The temperature has dropped to 54. The low tonight is supposed to be 35. Go figure.

This is the strangest weather I’ve ever seen. I have never seen it go up and down so much, even for Texas. And that’s the norm around these parts. We’ll be back up into the 70s by the first of the week I’m sure. Seeing as how that’s the way things go around here.

Christmas was very low-key and calm. I had my mom with me and my kiddo and we stayed home all day long. We didn’t go anywhere. I cooked a pot roast in the crock pot for dinner. The kiddo played and played with his Milennium Falcon (and yeah so did I! :grin:).

I had been eyeing this Cuisinart coffee pot - the thermal one with the grinder on top - for a while now. Macy’s had it on sale for $129 (regularly $199) and I was salivating to have it. Mom said she’d stay with the kiddo if I wanted to get up early and shop. The store opened at 6 am! Well, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed that early but I did make it to the store by 7 am. I bought the very last one! It rang up $199 but I made the saleslady go look up the right price and she charged the the $129. I was so excited. So much so, in fact, I couldn’t remember where the stupid door was to get out. Anyway, it was humid and just gross outside on Friday. The kiddo’s dad picked him up at around 10 am and then I drove Mom back home.

That afternoon, Man came over so we could have our Christmas. We had presents first because neither of us could wait. We’re like kids, still. I got a very large bottle of my favorite perfume, two books to add to my collection, a calendar, and an HD ready/MP3 player car stereo. WOOHOO! I’m so excited about that. Now I just need to call to get it installed. I can’t wait either! It’s got a USB plug in the front as well as a plug for an iPod (should I ever get one). Very excited about that.

He took me to Saltgrass for dinner and we stuffed ourselves silly. We even had dessert and, despite the fact he’s skinny, that man can pack away the food. It’s amazing actually. Afterward, we stopped at Starbucks for some whole beans to break in the new coffee pot.

I gotta say, it makes the best coffee EVER. The kiddo came back that night since his dad had to work today and he opened his gifts from Man. He got him a Hot Wheels Trick Tracks and they had to put it together immediately. He thought it was super cool. We were going to head to the movies today but the kiddo was feeling a little under the weather so we stayed in all day. The wind howled and gusted ALL day long. Someone’s trash can ended up in my yard on several different occasions.

Kiddo’s dad picked him up a few minutes ago. Man is off with his daughter. And the house is strangely silent. I don’t think I’ve been alone here in a couple of days. It’s…weird. I like it, though! Think I’m going to finish my grocery list and see if I’m brave enough to go shopping tonight. HA!

In case, you know, you’re bored.

We had a great time at Mom’s on Sunday. The kiddo got lots of stuff including some Star Wars action figures. He slept with them. It was cute.

Every year, my Sis-in-law gets me a pop-up book. It’s sort of a running gag with us. For the third year in a row, I got my pop-up book. WOOHOO! I was very excited. It’s about Pixie Hollow and the very last page is this giant tree. I’ll have to take pictures and post them.

Last night I had Christmas with a couple of writing pals. It had been a while since we’d seen each other so we had a lot of catching up to do. I got some really cool Christmas kitchen towels, a gift card, and a Starbucks gift pack with a mug, coffee and cookies. Love it!

I also bought some Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee last night. It smells SO yummy. I plan to have that Christmas morning while we open gifts. And I’ve decided not to go anywhere on Christmas day if I don’t have to. I’m going to make a pot roast for Christmas dinner. I’m glad I had the forethought to think to put it in the fridge to thaw. Should be ready to go on Thursday. I’m going to cook it in the crock pot all day.

Today, my co-workers and I are doing our little Christmas. There are four of us and we’ll exchange gifts and have lunch. Should be a lot of fun. And after that, I’m headed out for the week. Going to pick up the kiddo from his grandparents and then we’re just going to hang out and take it easy. No where to run to or anything. Glorious.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading to candlelight service at the church in the afternoon and then the kiddo goes to his grandparents for Christmas with them. Them he comes back to me for Thursday and part of Friday, then back to me for Saturday and then back again to me for Monday. Whew. I think I’ve decided to take the 2nd off. Might as well, right?

And then.. the new year begins. Another year gone. Another Christmas done. Time flies by so incredibly fast, doesn’t it?

I may or may not blog between now and the end of the year, so I’m wishing everyone a super Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Happy Winter Solstice! Tonight is the longest night of the year. I’m looking forward to the days getting longer after today.

Kiddo and I went to the Christmas musical at the church last night. It was really nice. The cold front blew in while we were inside (thank goodness I brought our coats). I had to stop by the store because I bought the wrong cheese for my mac and cheese and I forgot the cherry topping for my cheesecake. So while we were there, we picked up dinner, too. When we got home, I made a fire in the fireplace and we drank hot spice tea and watched The Cat In The Hat.

It’s currently 23 degrees outside and the wind is blowing. Not sure what the wind chill is but it’s a north wind for sure. I got up this morning and started my mac and cheese - it’s a Paula Deen recipe and you make it in the crock pot. The kiddo loves it and since there will be lots of kids there, I figured it’d be a good side dish for them all. I thought about green bean casserole but I’m so not a fan of that. In about an hour, we’re going to head to my mom’s for my family Christmas with my entire family. Should be a good time. All my siblings will be there! I expect to come back with crumbs of cheesecake and an empty crock pot.

I have all the gifts packed up and ready to go. I finished the laundry yesterday so I can play today. All that’s left to do is feeding the cat and putting a few lights on and then we’ll be ready to head out.

And that’s it for me! Hope everyone has a lovely solstice.

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