ITS MONNNNNNDAYYYY!

Good morning ya'll!!! How is everyone doing this am? Great I hope! How was your weekend? Ours was quite busy actually. I'm not only happy about the busyness (for once) but excited too. I feel like I have been able to get some control back since having some down time for a few days. Managed to get in grocery shopping which let's be honest wore me out! People were STILL shopping into the evening on Black Friday. Who'daaa thunk it! Sat was busier with the overhaul/cleanup of the living room and getting down the Cmas tree and various decorations. Spent a couple hours ditching toys the buggas could care less about and making room for others plus with Cmas coming I'm sure they won't miss them. Set up the Cmas tree & other decorations. The buggas helped to decorate it and we really had a good time doing it. Switched out my Fall kitchen items for Cmas/more festive holiday attire. Looks spiffy! Gotta change out the flags out front from Fall ones to Cmas/holiday ones and put up/out a few more things. I love the feeling of accomplishment! Sun was low key (needed cause yeah I pushed myself & my mood and energy levels were bummin'). Watched Live Free & Die Hard (in my  opinion they shoulda left the Die Hard triology ALONE). Gotta movie called 4 Sheets to the Wind that I've no****ched but will sometime this week. Still another called Angels Fall. Went through some books and this coming Friday they will be headed to a new home. WHEW! Hit the bookstore last pm & have several things I'm picking up for fam & friends (and ME puuuuleeeeezzzz you actually think KAT can go into a bookstore and NOT pick something for meeee? ok I COULD but I'm OBSESSED with reading!) I saw one of my best connections last pm and it made my mood go from blah to yeeeeehawww and made my heart sing big time! Its 6:30 am this beautiful Moday morning & its time to rise & shine and get your smile on!!!! My buggas are stirring and I'm ready to get our day underway. Its been a tough set of days not just for myself and my family but for others here and off the boards. There are many to mention and I don't want to leave anyone out so I'll just ask that we lift one another up in prayer and try and be there for one another. Some of us are recovering from surgeries, others have had some family members end up in the hospital over the turkey day holiday, others still have been dealing with some emotional times as well. So, what ever your/our struggles let us ask the Lord to ease our burdens and guide us to better paths & times.  What's your plans for this wonderful Monday?? Its back to school after 4 1/2 days for Kayla so she's a little less than thrilled. But, I know once she gets there she'll be fine. She really enjoys school. Nora & I are on a mission (she just doesn't know it yet) as we will be working on a few things later in the am. I hope to see a few faces and hear a few voices as well. Going to be pretty low key today (on purpose). In what ever you do today smile, remember to give thanks, reach out when you can and help someone else or reach out and ask for help for you.  Quote which is soooo cute: "My personal theory is that God designed parenthood, in part, as an enormous character-building exercise, and since God does not personally require character improvement, He didn't need to bother getting Adam to eat strained peas." - Meurer  Have a FANTASTIC Monday! All best & God bless....

Good morning beautiful!  Glad to hear you had a good weekend, though it sounds like you were pushing yourself a bit much considering your early week activitites! :-) I hope you and Nora accomplish your mission today!  My weekend was full of shopping...I was a Black Friday crazy and then went out again on Saturday!! Saturday night I was ready to just plop on the couch and veg with some movies....I watched Nanny McPhee (cute!) and Over the Hedge (cute also!). Yeah, kids movies, but I didn't want anything too deep. Sunday I started wrapping all those gifts and watched the Redskins lose (boo!). I'm pretty much done with all my Christmas shopping and have all of them wrapped except for those that I'm waiting for something to arrive that I ordered online or have to bake! :-)  Today is my first day back at work after having all of last week off...so I can sympathize with Kayla....::yawn::....can't we stay home just one more day!?  Have a great day and we'll chat soon! Blessings to you and yours!

Good morning yourself pretty lady! Yeah well I guess by now ya'll figured me out bout pushing. I don't know how NOT to function and do nothing!!!! Admittedly I realized some muscles I'd forgotten about! Nora & I are working on Cmas "stuff" and she's my lil' helper! Yep, enlisting my 2 1/2 year old!  I LOVE Nanny McPhee! We have the movie & the book (the originals are GREAT)! Over the Hedge is FUNNY! Right now the buggas are in love with Veggie Tales & really I am too. The neighborhood kids have been hanging ou****ching them with these 2 as well. I'm on the hunt for some 321 Penguins now as well. Sorry bout your Redskins! I've got some Cmas shopping to get done but honestly I'm excited bout it. I'm gonna be making a lot of gifts and baking is going to be fun too!  LOL! Nope, off to work with you! Anyhow, she got to the bus stop with friends and life is balanced for her again. Big hugs and prayers for a GREAT day!

Well I am late but I am here.  Getting back into the real world was a bit harder than I expected.  Lots of stuff to tackle at work today and I was overwhelmed but all in all it was a great day. I had a nice weekend.  We house sat for my sister in law which was nice but weird.  Definitely glad to be in my own surroundings again.  Gave my cold to my sweetie and my youngest so they aren't feeling to well and I still have mine so we weren't a real rowdy bunch last night.  We did however get the first ever Parker family Christmas tree up & decorated and it sure is beautiful. Tonight is supposed to be dinner & the grocery store but as it gets later & my hubby isn't home yet we shall see about the groceries. 

I certainly hope everyone gets to feeling better. The colds deal is certainly going around. We've been lucky so far but the neighbor's boy always seems to have something no kidding! We're trying to be cautious with all the crazy weather changes so, so far we're all right. Hopefully you & hubgs got shopping done. No fun when you're sick either trying to get through the crowds & such and just wanting to veg at home & rest. Congrats on the 1st Parker Cmas tree. I feel a lot better with ours being up as well. Brings spirit & smiles around. Love ya!

I'm late too but better late than never, right???   Me, my sweetie, our two sons, and my Mom all piled into the car Saturday afternoon and went to Bristol, TN to see the Christmas lights at the Bristol Motor Speedway.  We had a blast!!!  They actually let you drive out onto the track and let me tell ya, 36 degrees of banking is a lot steeper than it looks on t.v.!!!  The lights were awesome and they have a Christmas Village set up in the pit area where the kiddies can ride some amusement rides and meet Santa and they have vendors selling crafts and all kinds of Christmas goodies.  We plan to make this a yearly tradition for our family.  And we plan on going back again this year too and taking some more of our relatives.  If any of you live anywhere close, I would highly reccommend it!!! The sweetie and I had an actual date night on Friday without the boys and we went out to dinner and did a bit of Christmas shopping at the mall.  I had to work on Friday (terrible, I know) so I didn't get to hit any of the really good sales.  Oh well, maybe next year, right??  Sunday we put up our Christmas tree and just chilled out for the day.    Throw in the 10,000 loads of laundry and all the other household chores and you have my weekend!!!  Hope everyone else had a good one.  Thank goodness this Monday is almost over!! Hugs, Donna

Hi Donna - no matter! I'm glad to hear from you! Those Cmas lights sound great! Get any pictures? I LOVE it when they have shows with vendors and such with all the holiday goodies! LOL! We are the same with the laundry! Chores are for sure NEVER done! Hope your Monday was great! All best...