Monday, December 30, 2013

2014 Resolutions

It’s (almost) a new year, and with that comes resolutions and all of that. This year, for me, is all about survival… much as it was in 2012. I have this new little guy pressing against my ribs and bladder, and I’m excited and terrified of his upcoming due date in a mere 10 weeks (I’m 30 weeks today). Along with a goal of survival comes a realistic view of what I can and can’t make time for. Paying for a blog I barely keep up with is one thing I can’t make time for.

 I want to maintain a place to write and remember… but just maybe not on so grand a scale as in years past. So I have moved all my content BACK to Blogger, and you can find me at mrsmidatlantic.blogspot.com from now on. Just like in the olden days. Let’s just hope Google continues to support the Blogger platform.

(Follow my blog with Bloglovin)

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hot and Ready

My freshman year of college, Little Caesars covered the campus in flyers advertising some ridiculously cheap delivery pizza deal.  Naturally, my suitemates and I called to order our pizza.  Apparently, everyone else on campus did too.  Our cold pizza arrived two hours later and made me feel extremely awful within minutes of eating the congealed mess of grease and cheese.  I swore I'd never order Little Caesars again.

Enter the Little Caesars on the way home from daycare offering a large pizza, ready for pick up, for well under $10, two hungry kids in the backseat, and a mom with no desire to whip up dinner in the mess that is the kitchen following our party...

Laura, do you want cheese or pepperoni?
Cheese.
Ooh, or would you like sausage?
Yes, of course!

Six minutes later, we were handed our fresh from the oven pizza, and we were on our way home.  (Gavin was sad he couldn't eat any in the car).  Was our $8 deep deep dish with sausage the best pizza on earth?  No.  But it was perfectly satisfying, both for our tummies and my wallet!

I don't get paid anything by anyone for anything on this blog ever.  Just thought I'd share my positive experience for anyone else hoping to make a few dollars go a little further this holiday season.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Santa Claus!

We hosted our annual holiday party this Saturday.  I was so excited to have our friends visit our new home (which I finally got decorated just in the St. Nick of time).  I was extra excited when I heard a rumor that Santa would be attending for a brief visit.  And extra excited when I counted up the kids coming and realized I needed at least 15 dollar store gifts for Santa to hand out!!  Cars and trucks for the boys, and surprisingly cute hair brushes and "blow driers" for the girls.

And then, of course, another storm blew through.  We got maybe an inch of snow that was immediately washed away by a torrent of rain... but the weather predictions were enough to scare away a good number of guests.  We still had a houseful though - and 10 kids!!

They were all so wonderfully, incredibly surprised and excited to see Santa at the house, and so close to Christmas!  One little girl ran up to him, gave him the hugest hug, and shouted "I love you, Santa!!"  It was adorable.

20131216-150812.jpg

20131216-150826.jpg

20131216-150838.jpg

20131216-150848.jpg

My two were just as tickled to see Santa, give him hugs, sit on his lap, and put in their gift requests.  Ok, so technically only Laura actually "asked" for anything... but her list is specific:  a stuffed Clifford the Big Red Dog like her friend at school has, and a puppy puppet.  (Done and done, little girl!)

And I just can't get over how sweet Laura and Gavin both looked all dressed up for the party.  Gavin sporting a Kevin McAllister-esque sweater vest, and Laura in a red velvet dress once worn by my little sister...  I love having so many beautiful dresses, saved by my mother, for my little girl to wear!

(And a HUGE thank you to the brother-in-law who donned the Santa suit to bring such joy to our party!!)

Friday, December 13, 2013

My Domain

There are many things I'd rather be writing about... like Christmas in the new house, finally getting our tree decorated, the OMG cute attack letter Laura drew for Santa (and put in the mailbox), all the things pregnant with #3...

But lately, I haven't found either the time or inclination to write much. Life is busy. The new house is huge - which means more to clean. Working from home is great, but hard in its own way. And the blog falls short.

Additionally, my domain is about to expire, and Google being Google, they've made it nearly impossible for me to renew it. I don't want to pay to have a Google Apps membership, since this is basically an online outlet for my deeper thoughts. I'm leaning towards moving back to Blogger (from WP), since I never got the hang of WP anyway, and a free domain name (and hosting) sounds pretty reasonable right now.

And there are times, too, where I think to myself "does anyone really care?" If I stopped writing here, would anyone notice? I'm not as active a commenter on your blogs as I'd like to be. I haven't participated in a link-up in ages (though there have been some I've wanted to). And now this domain thingy that I can't figure out how to navigate.

So what's a (crappy, largely intermittent) blogger to do?

Monday, December 9, 2013

Thanksgiving

Whoops! The seasons are getting away from me... Isn't it still October? No, that's right, Halloween has passed. So it's November, right? No? We already had (hosted!) Thanksgiving. So, it's that week following Thanksgiving. The one between Thanksgiving and the first week of December.

OMG WAIT. Thanksgiving was two days before December! We're over a week into Advent, and I am still firmly stuck in October. Despite the 7 inches of snow covering our yard and the fir tree perfuming our home. I'm obviously playing catch-up, so here are some photos from Thanksgiving. The day when we welcomed my parents, sister, younger brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law to our new home for TONS of food.

20131209-124551.jpg

20131209-124600.jpg

20131209-124608.jpg

20131209-124614.jpg

20131209-124622.jpg

20131209-124632.jpg

20131209-124643.jpg