Ho ho fucking ho.

Tis the Season.

After my annual holiday freak-out the other day (no, I haven't blogged about that one) I decided I needed to make up for it. I was going to decorate out front some. Justin would come home and be amazed at how beautiful the house (or at least the outside of it) was. The neighbors would be in awe. Cars would drive slowly by just to gaze at the merriment of decor. Martha Stewart would soon be calling for tips and I'd be featured in Better Homes & Gardens.

I begin hanging large, colorful decorations from the tree out front. As is customary whenever we are outside for more than five minutes and our evil neighbor is home, she comes outside, picks up a stray stick or two, and then leaves. She drives the opposite direction from our house. ~ I take this as a sign that the beauty of my Christmas decorating must be working as the Grinch has felt the need to flee it's cave.

Then the kids get up. First Shannon and I foolishly think that I can finish the last of my decorating (for now) while he stays inside. HA!! Then, because I don't ever seem to learn, I foolishly think that maybe Shannon and I can sneak outside while I finish the rest of this decorating while Tristan sleeps. Even bigger HA!!!! -- actually, I think I peed a little laughing at that last one.

Shannon willingly & eagerly gets on socks, shoes, & a coat, though we argue about which coat. Tristan begins whining when he can't find the socks that he took off during nap. Apparently they've become invisible. He's walking around, jacket over his shoulder, barefoot. I tell him to get everything on and come outside when he's done. = Mistake #1. This will never happen, we all know it won't, it will take several interruptions & back and forths before he is actually capable of joining us outside.

Mistake #2 & this is the doozy one: I clip a leash to a bouncy Foster and hand the other end to Shannon. I expect this to go well. After all, they're only supposed to be coming out on the front porch, sitting down, and watching me finish this last little bit of wrapping the columns. What could go wrong?? I mean, how could handing responsibility of a 125lb puppy to an almost 7 year old kid, who can't sit still either and weighs 60lbs, possibly go wrong?!?
On one of my trips back inside to help Tristan get fully dressed, Foster decides to follow me. There goes the little tree near the front door. Luckily no damage done.
Then Foster finds a pumpkin to play with. Yes, a pumpkin. Big dogs play with big toys. Anyway, I think this might be ok because he'll lay there and play with it while I quickly finish. I've already told Shannon to not try and take him into the front yard.

....... I have my back turned.

The pumpkin Foster is playing with goes rolling into the mulch. He goes after it. Shannon decides he doesn't like standing on the porch anymore, and since Foster has gone into the mulch he decides to go stand in the yard.

So - have you ever seen a puppy/dog get real wound up?? I mean REALLY wound up? You know, where they start running around in near circles like their butt is on fire?? And they're kinda bouncing in the middle of all of it?

Well, this is what I turn around to see, as I hear Shannon let out a cry. Foster has gotten all excited and wound up. He is running around in circles, circles that overlap Shannon who is still holding the leash but is now on the ground. I tell Shannon to let go of the leash & get up. I get Foster's leash but he's now in the insane gremlin mode. I have to tackle him and pin him down into some form of submission. I now lose my cool.

I growl at Shannon that I told him not to go in the yard, that I've warned him about trying to play with big dogs, & to go inside. I give Foster a bad dog whap and drag him inside & into his crate. I come outside and then growl at Tristan to go inside as well. I say things I regret. I contemplate burning down the house, or at least the column that I am trying to finish wrapping. I hear Martha Stewart putting me on the "do not call" list and Better Homes and Gardens finding someone else. I hear the neighbor's gossiping "those poor kids!" I hear someone saying "then why did she get a big dog?" - I think it is Shannon's voice in my head on that one. I am sad and beaten.

I finish the final column and drag all my decorating supplies inside and put them away. I hear the kids in on the computer, listening to Mister Rogers. I don't know why, but it induces a child-like cry from me. A "yes, everything is bad and wrong, please say something soothing and make it all better" type of cry. That doesn't happen though. I go change pants and toss my jeans, now covered in grass and dirt from tackling the dog, into the wash. I curse myself for losing my cool. For not seeing it all coming. For blaming it on anyone other than myself.

And that is how you know the holidays have officially begun. Tis the Season.

Happy Monday

Those aren't words that usually come out of my mouth, but .. there they are. Yesterday I posted a 'bitch & blog', venting off some things that needed venting. You know what they say about women, if we don't bitch we'd blow up! The venting worked and I feel much better today. But I didn't want to leave the blog with a negative topper. So ...

Here are some things I'm happy about this morning:

*I was able to up my morning sit-ups by 5 per rep. ~ Not a huge achievement I know, but a small step. More importantly, an attainable step .. since I've obviously gotten there! I love this quote and it is something I repeat to myself when my goals don't seem lofty enough: The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step ~ Lao Tzu. ~ It may not be lofty, but it is a start. It is putting one foot in front of the other and slowly getting there.

*Speaking of steps and journeys, the kids and I are planning on walking to our playdate at Longwood Park today. ~ This is something that once was very easy for me to do, many years ago. Then, after the boys were born, the walk seemed many, many miles long, uphill both ways, and etc. It became very daunting. I haven't walked there in too many years. Oddly enough, now that we're stroller free & will be toting along any needed items in a backpack, now it seems do-able. Hopefully it will become a very regular walk for us. But, as with the one above, we'll start with one step. Sometimes Tristan sleeps late, not giving us enough time to walk, and sometimes there are errands that also need to be run. So, we'll see. It's a start though, and I'm happy about that.

*All the work we got done this weekend ~ This weekend was a wonderfully productive one. Lots of scraping, sanding, plastering, and painting inside. A new compost bin built outside (we have two now; one for filling the other for emptying), lined with chicken wire to keep nosy dogs' paws out. We cleaned out the chicken coop. We emptied out our pond and cleaned it. Hopefully this evening we will be getting a new filter for the pond. Sometimes you just have to start over. I also got several loads of laundry done and was able to hang the majority of it outside to dry. Is there anything so wonderful as laundry drying on the line?

*Family ~ I have a great husband and two fantastic kids. We also are blessed to have some truly wonderful family members in our lives. Thinking back to the 'bitch & blog' from yesterday, it is heart warming to know that my family still loves me. I can send my kids into fits of hysterical laughter simply by dancing around the kitchen, shaking my butt (actually, I am a dinosaur swinging my big tail from side to side), and making silly noises. There is a moment when you try to make your friends laugh via similar antics only to get looked at like you're a freak & you realize just how cool your kids are, how wonderful their sense of humor is. (And maybe that your butt is big, but at least they can laugh when you swing it around)

*Mother Nature ~ Suddenly, as I typed those words, that commercial where Mother Nature appears with your monthly gift popped into my head. That wasn't where I was going with this. There are so many days when I can feel overcome with self-pity. Where I sob on and on about everything that is going wrong and I don't feel taken care of. And, then, I am happy for Mother Nature. Spring that brings buds, blossoms and flowers to cheer us; birds singing, chickens laying more eggs. Summer with food growing everywhere, bringing to mind Porgy & Bess and how the livin' is easy. Fall's crisp air, a reprieve from Summer's heat. Winter's cold that forces us to take time to heal on the inside and huddle near loved ones. - I know some people would call this God's work. Call it whatever you'd like, we call it Mother Nature. But by any name, it is truly divine.

*You ~ You who take a few minutes out of your day to read this blog. I am grateful for you. Your comments and kind words mean so much to me. Even if we haven't met in any way other than online, you are so, so dear to me. You help make my day a little bit brighter. Thank you.

And, there you have it. Some things I am happy for this morning. There are many more things I could list (Jeff Bridge's acceptance speech last night for example), but I'll leave the list as it is. Thank you.