Hello?

Hey, remember me!? Yep - I'm still here it's just been a very long break from writing!

Life has been happening so fast around me and I'm doing my best to keep up with it all. Three kids, two in school, one littlest one who is my mini shadow, two dogs (one of which is a puppy), keeping up (or not) with the housework and calendar commitments and now Christmas too. Phew! I'm pooped out and ready for a vacation.

However, I'm not here to complain...I'm here to give you a quick update. Let's see, I'm still working on Saturdays and that has proved to be a wise move on our parts. Over this past year we've just socked my money into the bank each week and this Fall we were able to take all of what I made and maybe a little more and paid off our van...so no car payments anymore! Woohoo! Now we're hoping to somehow pay ahead on the home loans so we can be debt free. We've been doing this a little this year, but now are hoping to send Ab to private Christian school so we have to juggle that money from somewhere. January will be a time of reevaluation of the finances and spending, so we'll see what can be done with what we have.

October was tough because we had to put our little Max down. He was ten plus years old and having a really hard time breathing along with his other chronic health issues, so we decided it was time to let him go. What a rough life experience that was for this old girl! I still call the other dogs AND THE KIDS SOMETIMES by Max's name and feel a little twinge in my heart, but overall we're glad he's at peace and our house doesn't smell like a decaying dog anymore. RIP Max.

November was great! I don't know where it went. It really was a blur! Thanksgiving was here at my house and we had family in from both sides. Good times, good food, good company! 'Nuff said!

December is going just as fast and it's nearly time to take a look at my "Resolutions" from last year, see what all I've done and make a new list of goals. I think one of those should be for me to write more....I miss it. I read my old posts and think "Damn, I'm a good writer. I need to make more time to do this and stay off of Facebook." Facebook really is fun, but it's also a time stealer and a cheap version of relationships. I need to spend more time farming my relationships with friends and family and less on Farmville, more time filling the emotional tanks of my loved ones and less cleaning the tanks on Happy Aquarium. Right? Right.


Time to start the day here already! Merry Christmas to anyone who might still be out there lurking!