Trudging through the Holidays

Check me! Two posts in as many days, wow, I'm on some kind of a roll here. ;)

We just got back from Madeline's school where they were having their Christmas around the world, Mexican themed, Holiday potluck. We brought juice (V8 Splash, Strawberry Banana and Mango Peach, big hits), and forks and were about 3 minutes late which seriously stressed Miss Madeline out. It was fun. I stayed and helped pour drinks and serve rice and beans and taquitos, and quesadillas and such. I finally got up the nerve to talk to one of the other moms who helps out in the classroom a lot. She has a very sweet boy who's in Madeline's class, and a super cute little girl who's a little younger than Zach. They live around the corner from us, and I've been wanting to introduce myself to her all school year. What can I say, I'm a pussy. We even ran into them at our favorite pizza place last Friday, clear across town. Maybe it's meant to be. I'm trying to get up the balls to invite them over for a play date during Christmas Vacation, or Winter Break, or whateverthehell they're calling it these days. She just seems a little too cute and popular for me, but I need to pull my head out and tell myself I'M COOL TOO! Really, I am! OK, enough self-pep-talk.

My Christmas preparations are still seriously slacking. I'm trying, really I am, but I seem to be being thwarted at every turn. I had Clark and Zach pick up a new tree stand, since I decided to try a real tree again this year, and the fucking thing keeps leaking. We put the tree in it on Sunday night, and Monday morning it had leaked all over the floor. Luckilly, I had the foresight to put down one of my painting tarps under it, or else my new wood floor would have been ruined. I single handedly took the tree out of the stand and took it outside to try and figure out what was wrong with it, and filled it up again, this time double checking that the tank was securely seated in it's special spot. No leakage. So, I figured it had been operator error, and put the damn thing back together again. It was good for about a day, then yesterday, as I'm trying to finish putting the lights up, I notice that the fucker is leaking again! Huh? After putting up a bunch of outside lights only to find that the outside outlet isn't working, and finding that about half my lights for the tree aren't working any more, I officially gave up yesterday. The lights are sitting on the front porch, the tree is still half lit, the stand is half taken apart, and I have no idea if the tree is getting any water at all.

Soooo, to distract myself from the miserable luck I was having with the decorating, I took myself to the late show of "Chronicles of Narnia" last night. I gotta say it was pretty good. It had me in tears in the first five minutes (the moms, the kids, the train, heartwrenching), and I thought the child actors were quite fantastic. I had a hard time getting why Edmund would run off to the witch, she didn't seem that magnetic to me, but who knows why kids do stuff sometimes I guess. I wasn't too impressed with Peter in the beginning, but he grew on me, and Lucy was just adorable. I was yawning by the end, but that's just cause I went to the late show on a weeknight. By myself. Ah, the joys of parenting.

I gotta turn right around and pick up Madeline from school in about half an hour, then we're taking her to the doctor. She's had this weird tummy ache for about a week and a half. It seems to me like she's constipated, although she has pooped a couple times. I keep pushing the fiber, and laying off the dairy, but it doesn't really seem to be getting better. She hasn't had any fever, or any other symptoms, so I feel a little silly taking her in, but it's been a long time, and every time it seems better, it's worse again by the end of the day. I'm running out of things to try. Are there stool softeners out there for kids? I'm afraid he's going to give me some kind of supository for her, and I REALLY don't want to go there. So, fingers crossed that there's a relatively easy way to help her feel better soon.

Tonight I must finish decorating the tree, and tomorrow I must start Christmas Shopping. Ugh. I have NO IDEA what to get for most of the people on my list, particularly my parents. Grown ups are hard to shop for. I'm not even sure what my kids want, beyond Zach asking for a Dora Kitchen. Clark asked me the other day if he should be worried about Zach's current Strawberry Shortcake infatuation, and I told him no, but I have noticed he's much more interested in girl toys than the typical boy toys. I think it's because he has a big sister and that's what's around the house, but it's funny how you can't help but notice. Madeline's not interested in any toys at the moment, and is much more into the computer and her books. We'll have lots of little rectangular presents under the tree this year. Come to think of it, maybe I'll just get everyone books. Would that be silly? It'd certainly simplify my shopping list. Hmmm, have to think on that.