Wal-Mart's Redeming Value

I went to Wal-Mart today to pick up our second round of Christmas cards. I usually avoid Wal-Mart like the plague. I know there are towns where the Wal-Mart is super nice and one of the best places to shop. My town? Not one of those places. In my area, Wal-Mart is where you want to go if you are in the market for an anxiety attack, or some REALLY good people watching stories. However, I will say that I have never found a better place for the purchase of Christmas cards. For the procrastinator like myself, this place is bliss. Need proof? We took our family Christmas picture on Saturday evening. I went home, uploaded it and created our cards. They were ready for pick up the next day after church! That filled my heart with some crazy Wal-Mart love.

So I go home and start addressing the cards. I finally reach the point where I am about 3/4 through my list of names and have about 3 cards left. Oops! I totally under-estimated how many cards we'd need. No big deal though, I know I can just order more and they will be ready for pick-up within the hour. Of course, that requires that I get on the computer and actually place the order.

Sadly, I put it off and put it off until today when I finally got my tail in gear and ordered more cards. When I got them home I realized that I misplaced my printout of addresses. You know, the one where I checked off names of those who I'd already sent cards to. GRRRRR. So now, I have no remembrance of who I've sent cards to and who is still yet to receive their card. I can't decide which is worse, not sending a card at all, or sending people a second card. Maybe if I do the latter, they will just think, "Wow, they really, REALLY want us to have a Merry Christmas!"

Really not sure what I am going to do about that. I may just bury my head in the sand on it because I don't have the energy to deal with it now that Michael has what is more than likely Swine Flu. Yep. One day before our Christmas travels are to begin, my sweet husband (who NEVER gets sick) is lying in bed with a very high fever and all the yucky symptoms that go along with having the flu. Fortunately we have a stash of Tamiflu at the house so we are self-diagnosing (since no doctor will see him) and self-medicating. Here is hoping that the girls and I can avoid the cooties and stay healthy.

Since some of my dear friends might be missing out on a Christmas card from us this year, I will post it below with my apologies! Merry Christmas!

Not a Smile, Not a Frown, Just Quite the Awesomely Strange Expression

Look What I Found, Mommy!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

SNOW!

Here are the pictures I promised my family I'd upload. It is a rare thing to get snow in our area. Rest assured, it is supposed to be in the 70s today and I will indeed be wearing my flip-flops!

Hugs for the sad little snowman.

We were completely ill prepared for snow play. Those gloves are mine and VERY large on Claire.

She was THRILLED that snow could be formed into her favorite toy, a ball. Here she is throwing one at the fence.

And now throwing one at Mommy.

Hmmmm . . . . think she's cold? Look at those poor red hands!

Pretty excited.

Sarah just wants to go back inside so she can crawl some more.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!! And your point is??

UPDATE: Apparently? The thrill of snow for a little one is all in the accumulation. Once the snow started to pile up and Claire could actually make snow balls, snow men and such, she was thrilled.

As Michael says, until it accumulates, it's just slow rain.

Original post below:

When we moved south, I knew that I would be in weather heaven most of the year. Granted, living in a tropical region means I have to suffer through 3 miserable months of unbearable heat every summer, but the remaining 9 months are a pretty good deal. Moderate temperatures, flip flops even in December. That is my kind of weather.

Don't get me wrong. I do like the occasional cold blast. Mix in some snow and that is even better. But I love living in an area where the cold blast is short lived and we quickly get back to the moderate temps that accommodate park going and other various outdoor activities. One thing I dislike about our weather is that my children won't likely have the fun of waking to snowy streets and school closings. Before I had Claire and was still teaching, I was shocked to find out that the majority of my 4th grade students had only seen snow on TV. Never in person. CRAZY!

Well today, we are enjoying one of those fun cold blasts. We are expecting snow accumulation. That's right folks, I said ACCUMULATION. That NEVER happens here. And boy do we have snow. Not the tiny baby flakes that you can only see against the backdrop of a tree or house. I'm talking the monster huge mega flakes that you are sure will hit the ground with a resounding thud.

So when the flakes started falling today, I was thrilled and couldn't wait to show Claire. Our conversation went something like this:

Mommy: "Claire!!! It's SNOWING outside!!! Come and see!" (scoops Claire up to allow for a better viewing angle through our glass door.)

Claire: "Snow?" (Runs to me. Happy for any excuse to be held by Mommy.)

Mommy: (pointing outside) "LOOK!! Isn't it PRETTY? It's SNOW!!!"

Claire: (Looks outside and then at me. Her expression practically blank.) "I'm hungry. I want to eat a bar please."

Sigh. I guess I never thought about the fact that she is too young for snow to be a novel thing. She has no clue that this is rare for us. She isn't old enough for the mere sight of snow to give her an extra jolt of the Christmas spirit.

I was trying to figure out whether or not to take her to pre-school today. I don't want to be out in the weather if the streets are bad, but she loves school and would actually be devastated if she were forced to stay home because of this nuisance called . . . . snow was it?

So now I sit here enjoying the snow on my own. Claire is at school and Sarah is napping. I think I'll go grab a cup of hot chocolate and sit under a blanket while gazing out the window. I need to enjoy it while it lasts. I am sure I'll be back in flip flops by Monday.

Mind Readers

Those of you who have subscribed to my mental blog are completely up to date on my life right now because I have been a mental-blog-writing-fool as of late. I just need to take all those blogs from my mind and put them on the computer.

Now if I could only find the time. I have one more project to put to rest (hopefully by tomorrow) and then I'll be back with a full (and possibly snarky) update.