You can now find me

HERE.

I hope you'll stop by for a visit. My new digs are swanky.

Hello, 2012

Poor Boseph has been so grumpy lately. Hopefully a trip to the doctor tomorrow will give us some idea about whether his grumpiness is treatable with antibiotics or just more wine for mama.

Kidding!

But back to me.

Kidding!

But really. Here's what I've realized in the last few weeks, as December has turned into January: I am not a December person.  I am grumpy every December. I never would have realized this except that I actually blogged about my grumpiness last December. And the December before that.

You probably realized I'm not a December person, too, if you saw me in person before December 22.  You probably backed away from me in fear of the scowl on my face. [It's ok. I won't hold it against you.]

December is just too busy for me. I could learn to say no to more events, but I want to go to the events and celebrate the holidays with people I love. I just hate the in-between time when I'm tired and have too much on my to-do list to manage with a smile on my face. And this year we had an extra little [big, really] disappointment that grinched some of my Christmas joy away as well.

And then, there was

and

and the best part: riding around with my three favorite people, listening to Christmas music and laughing.

And poof! All of my December worries were gone.  It works magic on my soul every year.

So now it's January, and I'm ready to start again. This year I'm going to try my best not to suck. It's a lofty goal for a person such as myself, but I'm waking up at 5:30am tomorrow to give it my best shot.

Wish me luck! I ate my black eyed peas and collard greens yesterday, but I can use all the help I can get.

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping you didn't wake up with your Big Girl Panties on your head!

Tales of a Fifth Grade Suz

One of my favorite things to do when I get a few moments at my parents' house is to go through my old things. I come by my pack rat tendencies honestly. 

The other day I came across pure gold.

Love the fake lock and key. This was clearly designed by a nosy mother.

I also listed my favorite band as "Poison." POISON? Really? I had enormous tortoise shell glasses and twisted my loafer laces into curlicues.

In another "WHO DID I MARRY??" kind of moment, Lee asked where the name Soliel came from. UM, HELLO?    PUNKY BREWSTER?

I really was pigeon-toed, but not when I was 10. But I also could have circled "over-dramatic" "a tad boy-crazy" and "tendency toward verbal diarrhea" if those had been choices. 

Notice that I rated English a 4 [I do all right, but it's very boring]. There was a time when I didn't love English?? Impossible.

And there you have it.

Except all the parts that were too embarrassing to even photograph, like where I listed all the boys I had crushes on. And then marked them out and replaced them with other boys.

Those I'm going to work on getting a real lock and key for.

The Boy Who Cried Marry Me

I have lots more to say about Christmas, but Lee reminded me on the way home from North Carolina that TODAY [for a few more minutes] is our engagement-o-versary, so I thought I'd share a story from December 28, 2003. 

So we were on our way back from this very same trip to see my parents, and we were talking about when we would be getting engaged. Although I knew it was on the horizon, Lee assured me it would be no time soon, and I was ok with this. I wasn't in a super big hurry, and besides that, it was nice to at least know that every time Lee bent down to tie his shoe wasn't going to be IT, you know?

Because Lee was one of those types who would all the sudden look deep into my eyes and say:

There's something I've been meaning to ask you.

And then:

What's for dinner?

You know the type.  Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be jokesters.

By the fourth or fifth time, I had about had it with the jokes.
But anyway, then we got stuck in traffic on I-95, got home late, had to cancel our family dinner plans at Ruths Chris, and picked up Papa John's instead. Engagement had flown from my mind.

So when he said he had one more thing for me, and it was IN the Christmas tree, I think I responded something along the lines of, What is it? Bird poop?

Or something equally enthusiastic.


And then he pulled out the ring box from among the branches.

What are those-- earrings? I said. More enthusiasm.

And then he opened the box and got down on his knee and said very sweet things that I also made sarcastic remarks about.

And then he opened up the box.

WHAT IS THAT?

Exact words, people. I am nothing if not totally eloquent under pressure.

And then he asked me, and I wasn't sure when the part was when I was supposed to say YES. So we looked awkwardly at each other for a second and I think he had to ask me again. It all got kind of fuzzy after that.  And then champagne magically appeared from behind a chair?

I was too confused to even cry, and y'all, I cry a lot.

So that's the story. Not Publix commercial material, but memorable [to us, at least]. If I had it to do over again, though, I would say

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES.
[That's a weird looking word when you type it over and over, isn't it?]
YES.
And he definitely wouldn't have to ask me twice.

Merry Christmas!

Library Field Trip

Yesterday we took one of my favorite field trips ever, to the Main Library via the Jacksonville Skyway.

We did this with an adult to child ratio of 3:8. 
Unless you count Maggie as an adult, which as of yesterday, I do.

It took all of our organizational efforts, Maggie acting as a human kid leash, and some major outside voices just to get the kids to the library in one piece, but it was fun to see them so excited.

The library was decked out for Christmas with several thematically decorated trees, but once we were there the main attractions were the books, any structures that could be inappropriately climbed upon, and the huge fountain on the terrace outside.

I didn't get any outside pictures because I was too busy changing poopy diapers and convincing MB that it is NOT ok to strip naked in public.
This argument took much longer than it should have because she already had her shirt off.
I mean, really.

It was a great day, but we all earned a long nap for this one!