telling stories - making memories

You are here: Home / 2010 / Archives for December 2010

Archives for December 2010

I said THAT? 2010 Blog Recap

You’ll be happy know that one of my goals for 2011 is to use less words, but it’s still 2010, so you’re out of luck today.  So very sorry.

I’m linking to Musings of a Housewife’s 2010 Recap Carnival.  Believe me, I don’t want to relive 2010, but I did get a few chuckles looking back over this last year.  If I didn’t have this little blog to remind me of all the good things in life, I might be tempted to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.

Not really, but “If everyone else decided to jump of the Brooklyn Bridge would you?” was a favorite saying of my mother.  I realized I stole that tool and threw it in my bag of mothering tools when my son recently said, “And NO I’m not going to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge!”

So try and remember the good in 2010, because there was definitely some good.  I hope you are all excited about 2011.  It’s going to be one smashing year.  I can feel it my bones!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I listed the first sentences of a few posts for each month.  I only planned on including one silly sentence per month, but I wanted to use photos.  It’s boring with photos, but without them you would have slept the new year in.  And because I have a lame life, I’ve linked every stinkin’ statement to it’s original post.  You can click on any of the 5 gazillion words and read away.

No need for thanks. 😉

January

At the stroke of midnight, I waxed

philosophical.

I shoveled curly seasoned fries into my mouth at speeds only seen on the autobahn, while my purple escort burped carbonated Sprite at each stoplight.

I’ve never been more boring than I am today.

February

I rarely speak of fashion, because frankly, I’m not the one to pick out your wardrobe; however, if you’d like to go shopping, I will definitely give you my too big opinion and force you to try on hideous outfits that I’m sure will flatter your figure.

There is a woman, perhaps a friend of mine (definitely not me), who has been driven to craziness this winter.

Every time someone mentions the words diet or exercise, a thousand Rocketts begin dancing across my mind, each leg kick higher than the last.

March

Yesterday began innocently enough.

My son mastered Hark The Herald Angels Sing on his kazoo at 7am.

A few days of sunshine and my face is so speckled I don’t recognize myself in the mirror; however, the effects of the sun reach deep, changing more than my skin’s surface.

On Tuesday I began my day by filling out a form that required both my height and weight, so I pulled up my big-girl panties (different from granny panties by at least 3 yards of fabric) and noted my weight.

April

When I learned that Julia from Hooked on Houses was hosting a Freaky House Photo Friday, I knew I found my destiny.

This is the only time you will ever hear me stand up for my dog.

Some have genius, others talent, and yet there are those few who amble through life void in their very being of all skills useful and necessary.

May

What causes reasonable, relatively intelligent adults to desire the company of a four-legged beast?

Gimmie, gimmie somethin’ for nothin’!

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the thinnest girl of all?”

Lately, I find that I am distracted and having a hard time being still long enough to get anything done.

June

Yesterday I lost my youth. I looked in my mirror, tweezers in hand, ready to pluck stragglers when I saw it – a snow white hair growing in my left eyebrow.

Blogland is overwhelmed by beautiful images of perfect houses, so I thought I would bring some balance into our pristine world and show you the UGLY.

I am not the Barefoot Contessa, but a woman needs to feed her family and my budget doesn’t allow for takeout every night; therefore, I cook.

July

The other day I found a freshly painted green patch floating in a wall of brick.

Baby it’s hot outside!

It’s so hot my glasses jumped in the toilet for a swim.

August

I realize you probably do not want to hear about the time I stole a cactus and coerced FringeMan to help me carry out this evil deed, but I feel compelled to fess-up to this crime in hopes of absolving myself from bad memories.

Recently somebody asked if we, my family, were living under a curse.

This child worries me.

September

Today I thought I would share this photo to help get you in the mood for fall, and we all know nothing says fall like orange pumpkin cheeks!

The other day I read this blog post and ever since I’ve been thinking about the way we parent.

I move to a land where people ride in horse-drawn wagons and suddenly, I’m acting like Ma from Little House on The Prairie.

October

Notice how confession doesn’t exactly spread like, say, the flu?

On a whim, I handed FringeBoy the camera and told him we were going to make a Vlog.

November

We decided to tear up our bathroom since Thursday is Thanksgiving and we are expecting my sister-in-law and her family right after the turkey glut.

Do you ever feel like you’re living as a mere shadow of yourself, of the life God intended and created you to live?

In my house art projects trump science projects any day of the week.

DECEMBER

I was born in the mid …um…to late, but mostly mid late 1970′s.

I felt the skin of my armpit stick together like a piece of double-sided tape from wrapping had somehow made its way to the deep recesses of the pit.

Turns out you can’t treat appendicitis with Gas-X and Mirilax.



See you in the new year!

Praying for Blessings X 10

Please pray with me for Edie from Life In Grace and her family.  She is one of the sweetest women I know.  I admire her commitment to her children, her love for her family, her creativity and her faith.

Right now she and her family are facing complete devastation.  They’ve lost everything except their lives.

Go read her story and pray with me that God blesses her and her beautiful family tenfold.  He can take the ruins and make something lovely out of this tragedy.  He is faithful.

Job 42:12  So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning…

Party On

I’d like to post about Christmas, but no sooner did I take down our tree and my daughter went ahead and had a birthday!

Happy Birthday FringeKid!

I cannot believe you are already 9!

I’m sure glad your daddy armed you this Christmas.  Next Christmas he’ll get you karate lessons, and then boxing, kung-fu, self-defense…

Here’s 9 things I love about you!

  1. Everyone you meet is your best friend.
  2. You always smile.
  3. You still like to cuddle up with me.
  4. You give me the best chocolate from your Halloween loot.
  5. You say the funniest things at just the right time.
  6. You don’t let me forget to take a ‘girls night’ with you every once in a while.
  7. You can entertain yourself for hours with a few horses or a bucket of Legos.
  8. You bring sunshine into our home each day.
  9. You are my gift from God.

I LOVE YOU!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Last winter I wrote about my pregnancy/birth story with FringeKid.  It was only up for a short time and I don’t even think anyone read it.  I can’t really blame them, because it’s long; however, I’m going to throw it up again this year in honor of her birthday.  If you’d like to read my story, it will be on the top header or you can click HERE.

Looking Like Christmas

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Merry Christmas!

Love,

The FringeFamily

Smells of Christmas

I felt the skin of my armpit stick together like a piece of double-sided tape had somehow made its way to the deep recesses of my underarm.  Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead and I went running as inconspicuously as possible through the crowded, candlelit church.  I bee-lined for the basement and ran full throttle into my mother.

“Oh, mom!  You made it out earlier than expected.”  I blurted a quick greeting while pushing her back into the ladies’ room.

“Mary,” draped in Biblical robes, was stealing one last check in the mirror before taking center stage in the manger.   I frantically lifted my arms and stuck my nose into my pit; my worst fears came to fruition.  Lady’s Speed stick failed me!

It was the worst case scenario.  I completely forgot to use deodorant.  My mother’s eyes bugged and she swung her head in shame as I announced that although I forgot to use deodorant, I took a shower within the hour.

“Do you think I smell already?”  The questioned mainly directed at the woman who birthed me.

Before I knew what was happening Mary popped her nose into the pits and stamped my forehead with a seal of approval.  Thankfully I used gobs of Fig and Brown Sugar body cream.  I just didn’t want to smell like a casserole gone bad by the end of the service.

When “Mary” declared me presently fresh, a chuckle escaped one of the stalls.  Oh, no, tell me it’s not a guest!

“Lord, of all nights – on this eve of your son’s birth, please let me know the face behind the chuckle.”  This short, but fervent prayer lifted heavenward as my mouth questioned “Who’s in there?”

If there were ever a time I needed a long-lasting deodorant, it was tonight.  I bragged of my Christmas laziness this year; however, my pre-Christmas preparation was not so lounge-worthy.  I prepared all the refreshments for the fellowship time directly following the candlelight service Christmas Eve.  I set up the chairs, decorated the serving table, and enticingly displayed the food.  Food must look lovely even if it doesn’t taste yummy.

Now on the eve of the biggest holiday of the year – the I hug my friends, foes, and family holiday – I forget my deodorant!

Thankfully I remembered to shower.

Here’s wishing you a fresh smelling Christmas.

Originally posted in 2008

A Child of the 80’s

I was born in the mid …um…to late, but mostly mid late 1970’s.  Each and every childhood memory I have is right out of the 80’s.

Hello, my name is Tricia.  I am a child of the 80’s, and I am proud of my side pony-tail.

Can I get a witness?

I don’t really miss the neon colors, or the pinstriped (colored pinstriped) jeans, or my leg warmers.  I may miss my barretts that said “gag-me-with-a-spoon,” but just a little.  What I really miss is…

the SITCOMS!

I mean, tell me you didn’t watch Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss, Family Ties, Alf, The Jeffersons, Silver Spoons, The Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Greatest American Hero, Fresh Prince, Perfect Strangers…

Are you remembering now?

The 80’s was the bastion for bad half-hour television, only I LOVED these shows!

Didn’t you?

I even had a crush on Jason Bateman.

I really wish these reruns were on.  I would watch every. single. day.

And don’t even get me started on the 90’s.

One man…

SULLY

They actually sell the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman DVD collection.  Before I die, I will buy it and watch Sully every episode.

Now we’ve established that I love cheesy TV, but I never in my wildest dreams considered the fact that I would birth a child right out of an 80’s sitcom.

But. I. did.

Yup.

I have my very own Alex P. Keaton.

And I’ll vote for my young republican when he grows up.

Go ahead, tell me about your love for 80’s TV.  Just be sure to include your crushes! Okay.

And I Thought I was a Good Doctor

Turns out you can’t treat appendicitis with Gas-X and Mirilax.

Who knew?

Although I pride myself in my doctoring skills, if you have anything except an asthma attack, don’t listen to me!

That’s the best advice I can give you.

When FringeMan woke up in pain Friday night, I thought a few Gas-X would surely solve his problems.  I spent a few minutes wishing I had a gasmask handy, but then fell into a deep slumber.  Unfortunately FringeMan continued to have a stomach ache well into Saturday night.  He made the smart decision to go to the ER and just “make sure” it was nothing.  Little did he know he’d be in surgery before morning.

Thankfully FringeMan is doing well, and he’s not even whining.  I would definitely be whining!  After all, surgery is cause for some whine.

Unfortunately my poor mother didn’t fair as well.

We have issues with one car and keys in FringeMan’s pocket an hour away at the hospital.  Although we have a hospital a block & a half from our house, they don’t do surgery.  Sounds crazy, right?  It’s very small.  They have an ER, they do all testing, but they only have 25 beds and they don’t do surgery.  That meant FringeMan had a wild ride in an ambulance at three in the morning.  His drivers were NYC ambulance drives, only now they were driving upstate, through winding, snowy, icy roads.  He said the drive in the ambulance was scarier than the thought of surgery.

It’s was like a roller-coaster ride with an IV!

Anyway, my mom came to rescue us.  Only she told the kids to grab a book before we walked out the door.  You know how you can tell a kid to do something a million times and they’ll say, “Oh, I forgot!” OR “Oh, I didn’t hear you!”

Not this time.  The kids grabbed a book and proceeded to read it in the car.  My mom forgot that FringeKid loses her cookies when reading in the car.  So early this morning, my mom called me from a pet store.  She was looking for something to get rid of the smell.

My poor, poor mom.

Thank you mom for coming to our rescue.

Thank you God for taking care of FringeMan.

Thank you doctors and nurses for an awesome job.

Thank you kids for obeying.

And…

Thank you all for praying and for your well-wishes.  You’re the best bloggy friends a girl could dream of having.

The FringeFamily just figured we’d see 2010 out with a bang!