I don’t know how many years I have intended to sell things on ebay. In fact I have this list on my Cozi called “left overs”. I am on a tangent here, but bear with me. I make a to do list everyday of 10 things I want to accomplish that day. I don’t do it on weekends, but almost every day I make a list because I am a list addict. When something is left on the list it goes to another list called “left overs”.

Most of the time it either gets done or becomes obsolete, but as you can see I have this dang “Take pics for ebay” and it just sits there taunting me! It’s probably never going to happen. Still, I love my lists and goals. I have even had some of them become permanent life habits like when I quit drinking soda back in 2000 or when I decided to start using reusable shopping bags in 2009. All that to say I do in fact have a list  of new years goals and since it’s 2013 you can bet I have 13 of them.

1. Get the kids on a schedule Z and SJ will be in school full time this year so that means early to bed early to rise. For our group of night owls  I think we’d be better off trying to memorize the Bible, but here goes nothing.

2. Learn more signs Now that SJ has a Cochlear Implant she is learning to talk orally, but I still want us to continue to expand our ASL vocabulary.

3. Be active with the kids Some of our favorite family activities are riding bikes, flying kites, and catching fire flies at night. Excuse the rhyme, I can’t help myself.

4. Vitamins and veggies everyday for me and the fam I’ll confess it just doesn’t happen consistently, but it needs to.

5. Donate my hair I have had long hair most of my life. I love my long hair, but I have had it short some too.

 

 I also loose A TON of hair after pregnancy and it drives me crazy. I swore I would chop it off and give it to locks of love after I had a baby so it is happening. I just have to make the appointment.

6. Move to Ohio More details on this later.

7.  Be alone once a month Not as easy as it sounds.

8. Visit Texas and Michigan We weren’t able to travel back home for the holidays this year and many of J’s family have yet to meet E.


9. Make a movie Not like a major motion picture, but I have a little project in mind that my brother and I are hopefully going to work on.


10. Learn more about the world and teach my kids I am bad at Geography and I want to change that.


11. 12 date nights Once again, not nearly as easy as it sounds. Believe me, this isn’t the first time I have had this as a resolution.


12. Update our family portrait This is the most current one we have.

13. 4 big birthday celebrations. Z (Super hero party), SJ (small, but special), E (first birthday, I don’t have a theme yet) and SJ’s hearing (video montage of her journey).

I shot up out of my seat before take off and ran to the closest flight attendant. In a panic I asked

  “Is it too late to get off the plane? I can’t go. I need to get off the plane!”

Let’s hold it right there and back up two days before. It was December 28th I was working on a puzzle and I get this text from my best friend.

It did sounds a little crazy after all to travel from Kentucky to Michigan at the last minute like this, but with my mom working for the airlines the standby flight was only $50, E could ride along for free. We decided to go for it. I could leave on Sunday and come back New Years day. As I waited at the Cincinnati airport I knew our schedule didn’t have too much wiggle room, so when the flight was delayed I started to get a little nervous. The problem was I could make it to Detroit, but I would probably miss my connecting flight to my final destinations. This would also mean missing the party. Long story short we decided that someone would drive three hours to Detroit to pick me up and with that plan in mind I boarded the plane.

 It was really crowded and I was holding a baby so the people around me finally offered to help me out and I shoved my boarding pass in the seat pocket, they put the diaper bag on the floor, and my laptop in the overhead compartment. Then I plopped my exhausted self down while the announcements started up over the intercom. My mom called before they made us turn off our cell phones and when I told her the latest itinerary she reminded me that the car seat and my suitcase were headed to my final destination NOT Detroit. This meant I would arrive and have no carseat, clothing, or toiletries. That’s when I pleaded to be let off the plane. They brought me my bag and I headed back up the jet bridge feeling like a total psychopath for the way things just went down.

Back at the gate I began to regroup and make a few phone calls. People that were picking me up in Michigan needed to know not to, and someone needed to come and pick us up from Cincinnati. Finally, everything was settled and I was just about to let out my breath and head to baggage service where they said that my stuff would be. Just before that happened I remembered one last thing. With what little bit of strength I had left I headed over to the gate agent and said “this just isn’t my day…”. It turns out I had left my laptop in the overhead bin on a plane that was now on it’s way to Detroit.

I won’t make you suffer through a story that would include every detail about how many people I talked to online, on the phone, and in person over the next two days. Instead let me just skip to the end which is that my laptop was eventually located at the Detroit airport and my mom flew to Detroit yesterday (she flies for free) and brought it back to me so that I could  type all of this drama out for you. The ironic thing about it is my macbook came back the same time I should have. I left my computer on the plane, but since it made it to Michigan on Sunday and came back New Year’s day I am  beginning to feel like it left me!

As far as Michigan is concerned it was quite a debacle. I am determined to make up for it one of these days, but next time I’m leaving the laptop at home!

Despite J and I not buying Christmas presents for our kids or each other we all still manage to be spoiled silly every year.

Some of my favorite gifts this year included a new Sonicare toothbrush, a beautiful vase with the ASL alphabet on it, and a denim shirt.

SJ got a snowsuit just in time because it snowed Christmas night and there is several more inches falling tonight.

Z got an explorer kit and naturally the kids made a spaceship out of a cardboard box. They drew all over it with crayon including some detailed drawings of the control board. It’s already been busted and taped back together once. You have no idea how much enjoyment I get from watching them play with a box!

 and my sister in laws reaction to this wooden box that J made for her was priceless.

It’s all been so much fun, but my favorite gift exchange for the year was from Z to SJ. He saw a commercial for the Dora Pony Land Adventure a long time ago and he always thought SJ would love it, so he saved up all of his chore money to get it for her for Christmas. We had a picture of the toy hanging on the fridge and he’s been working toward purchasing it since October!

We were only able to send out a handful of cards this year and we kept it REALLY simple by using the photo booth on my mac for our picture, but we had fun and we wanted this year’s card to be especially light hearted. So here it is…

 I can hardly wait!