It's so nice that the simplest things in the world can change your whole mood about life.

Last night Cindy and I went for a drive (in the 70 degree weather mind you) to check out all of the houses that were decorated already for the holiday season. Some were tastefully done, some were obviously homes to the relatives of Clark W Griswold. And with the small sized lots most houses in this neighborhood have, I believe you could actually go blind if you got too close to the cheer that they put in their yards.

This is my new Christmas tree. It's a bit sparse (what do you want for $14.99 at Walgreens?) but it's here, it's up and it's got the white lights on it that I like. To me there is nothing more comforting than relaxing in a semi dark room just staring into the tree lights. The best way to do this is with family. I'm 35 and my sister is 39 - we still sit around at the holidays and reminisce about Christmases past. My sister and I would sleep together every Christmas Eve and take turns creeping down the stairs to see what Santa had left under the tree. We'd get down there, survey the goods and get back upstairs (hopefully without getting caught) to the room and report all the we could see. One memory that always gets mentioned is the Christmas where we stayed up most of the night and my sister drilled me on my multiplication tables to pass the time. When we were younger we would stay up half the night, excited and giddy about what was under that tree - by 5 or 6 in the morning (some years earlier) we'd be excited to the point of bursting. Mom and Dad would lay in that bed and we'd BEG them to let us go downstairs. Dad would joke with us that maybe they'd sleep in and mom would grouch at us from under her pillows. Regardless, we weren't allowed to look at anything or open anything until the family was present and accounted for - and mom had her cup of coffee in hand.

As we grew older we all moved apart. I started working retail and my sister became a nurse. It was harder for us to come up with a schedule that allowed us all to be together ON the actual holiday. So we started getting together on weekends before the holidays and making our Christmas then. It was only just a few years ago when I realized that it didn't matter to me if we were together on the actual day - as long as we got together at some point during the holidays and made a day "our" Christmas.

We have lots of good memories of Christmas past and although I'm sad to be away from my family during my favorite time of the year, this little $14.99 Christmas tree will bring me a very simple joy.

Well, I wrote three new blog posts before my phone rang last night and fell short of mentioning the news of my mother's visit recently. I received a comment from the complaint department that mom didn't get any "face" time on the blog so it is with great pleasure that I write this next blogspot... (hi MOM!)

I'm down. Life isn't as great as I always say here in Texas. I have been feeling lonely and have crying jags when I don't think I'll ever be able to stop. I miss my family and I miss my friends. I have so much here yet I'm so sad all the time. I'm trying to deal with it as it comes but some days I can barely get out of bed and I'm snappy and short with people. I hate being so far away from my family. I hate that Beth is growing up and getting taller and I am not there to see it and share the experience. Because I work in retail and Nancy works at the hospital, Christmas and the holidays are always what we make it. But walking through Wal Mart yesterday and seeing all the holiday stuff made me really, really sad.

So mom recognized that I'm having a bit of a struggle and she jumped on a plane and she came down to give me a pep talk. Mom's are always good at that. Especially my mom - because her pep talks usually start or end with SHOPPING!!! :)

I picked her up on a Saturday morning and we went directly to a mall. Ah, I believe it's what the textbooks call "Retail Therapy." It worked. We bought Christmas presents for me and for Nancy that day and then went to the Saltgrass for a late lunch. Sunday we spent going to the gym in the morning and then doing a little more shopping. I went to work on Monday and Tuesday and then took off Wednesday. I got my Texas driver's license that morning and then we celebrated with...MORE SHOPPING! Thursday and Friday were quiet and we even managed to hit Babe's Chicken in Roanoke for dinner on Friday night. Cindy Lu arrived late Friday night and we awakened to a very familiar morning..all of us sitting around in our pajamas talking about what we'd do that day. Hmmm..whatever should we do? Wanna shop? OKAY! (channeling Monica from Friends) We got back just in time for a surprise birthday party for our friend Gretchen and afterwards we went and did .... wait for it, MORE SHOPPING! :) (actually, mom stayed home in bed cuz she was sleepy and Cindy and I drove out to find a shirt I liked in a smaller size at Lane Bryant)

This was also the night when I misjudged a turn in the dark and ran my car into a ditch in the Flower Mound Target parking lot. I bent the rim on one of my tires pretty good, chewed up the hub cap and the tire went a little flat but for all the trouble it only cost me $22 at the NTB place down the road to get it fixed. Mom flew home that Sunday evening and I missed her before she even got on the plane.

You spend so much time in life with your mom and she always knows what's best. You don't want to admit that she knows best and you don't want to admit that sometimes you just need a mom to come along and clean things up for you. Secretly that's what they live for; a mom never stops being a mom. :) And even though I get frustrated with her and I yell, I am grateful for the relationship that I have built with my mom through the years and I mean it when I say that I don't know what I would do without her. This visit was good and I was glad that she came to spend some time.

Don't try this at home, folks...

These guys go at it night and day. They LOVE each other! I can't believe what a good playmate this kitten has made for Joey in the last several months. It might not look like it here but the two of them are best friends. This pic shows the newest game that they have invented...

Gracie loves to sit up on my old office chair and stretch out to sleep. Every once in awhile Joey will wander past the chair and she will wake up long enough to reach a paw down and cuff him wherever she can get him. If he's feeling particularly feisty he will jump up on his hind legs and they will go at it - no holds barred, claws and teeth out and raring to go. The best part? The chair spins...so while she is perched up on the chair, he's trying to keep up the fight with her all the while the chair is going around in circles. He's gotten quite good at staying up on his hind legs and following the motion of the chair.

The two of them might be at each other's throats sometimes but it never fails that at the end of the spat they find themselves up on the crate at the window snuggling in for a long nap...until it's time to jab at each other again... :)

Yep, that's correct all you Philadelphia Eagles fans, I took in a Dallas Cowboys game this year. I didn't have a choice - I was FORCED!!

I know you all believe me! I was forced to go by stretch limousine and sit in this awful luxury suite in the Dallas stadium and watch football one rainy Sunday afternoon. :)

I have friends in high places, that's all I'm gonna say! We had a blast going to the game - not only was it the Dallas Cowboys but they were playing the Washington Redskins. My good friend Lulu was dressed up in her best Portis jersey showing support of her Redskins (she is a Maryland native) and I was going to root for the Redskins myself however, it was just too much fun to root for the Cowboys instead and get her hackles up.

On the way to the game it rained and poured. The limo driver had some issues with the car - one of the rear tire air bags busted on the way to the show and we had zero suspension in the back left side of the car. What fun that was! Then on the way into the parking lot he misjudged the turn and hit a curb and nearly took off one of the front wheels. Needless to say he dropped us off and went back to the office and got a new limo. We were back in business for the ride back to the office. What a fun day!

*sigh*

This is the last scrapbook page I completed.

The reason I'm sighing?

It was completed almost 3 months ago. Cindy came up for a visit two weekends in a row in September and we spent most of both weekends scrapping and goofing off.

I have to admit - and you might want to be sitting down for this - I have moved away from scrapping. It's not on purpose, mind you, I've moved away from quite a lot in the last few months. I just can't bring myself to sit down and do it any more. Maybe I'm in a funk, I don't know.

I miss it. Scrapbooking. Most of all what I miss is the time I used to spend with my best girlfriends under the guise of scrapbooking. Oh don't get me wrong - there was SOME scrapping being done on the occasion but for the most part it was mainly an evening spent with the girls.

On another note, this weekend that is coming to a close marks the anniversary of our first visit to Texas to see if we'd like the area. Last year on this weekend Dottie, Elaine, Mike and I flew down to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to see if this was a place we thought we might like to live. Let me tell you, it was a lot warmer LAST year on this weekend than it was here this weekend. :) I'm not complaining though. Texas is nice.

Thanksgiving is this week. All of us PA people are getting together at the Koch's house for what I am absolutely sure will be one of the best Thanksgiving meals I will experience in many years. I have been given the task of making a green bean casserole and I have volunteered to bring a couple copies of the local newspaper so that we may all lay around fat and happy reading the ads for Black Friday. Our friend Cindy will arrive Thanksgiving eve to spend a weekend again.

I took the opportunity to invite friends to come and share the day with us scrapbooking at the house. I don't know what I'll do yet - I'm so far behind on projects it's hard to know where to start. My girl Mel is pregnant and now Dottie and Winston are adopting...will the projects ever stop? :) (SO HAPPY FOR YOU, SISTERS!)

I know that it's been awhile since I posted and I apologize. I'll do better through the holidays, I'm sure. I didn't think there'd been much news but now that I've written it seems as though there has been SOME things going on.