Christmas Eve!

We're all finally getting over our stuffy noses. I spent many days wishing I could just sleep until I was better. I have to say I think that' the sickest I've ever been in a long time. Olivia and Lana are on antibiotics while me and Marcel managed without. I'm finally feeling human again even if it is a thirty one year old human.
For my birthday Lana decided to take me out, just me and her, and spent the day together driving around shopping. I don't think we actually bought any Christmas presents that day but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not too often me and Lana get to spend the day together with nothing to do but enjoy each other's company. For my birthday Lana got me a new leather jacket. Lana was off looking at shoes and purses so I decided to look at leather jackets. It occurred to me that I just don't have much "grown up" clothes. Sure I have a leather jacket but it also has heavy zippers and big belt clasps on it with chains on it. I have a trench I bought at Goodwill I wear most winters but it's a world war II officer's green trench. Plus I have my old standby favorites, my Army field jackets. So when Lana caught me checking it out she made me try it on and then told me to buy it. I'm glad she did because I really like it. It's something I probably would have priced up and never bought.
So Christmas is tomorrow already. Man, where the hell does the time go? This year was pretty easy getting Lana a present. We budgeted for ourselves less than what we normally do with money being a little tight this year due to remodeling, bills, taxes, etc. but I think I did good. Marcel was the tough one this year. He's getting to that weird age between a kid and a young adult. Then again, Marcel's always been at that weird age. He's always been such a responsible kid. Marcel's biggest complaint about school is that his classmates talk too much and make it difficult for him to concentrate. Wow, does that bring back flashbacks except for me I just drifted off to daydream land. Anyway, so this year we got him something a little more grown up. I spent all of last night and early this morning getting it set up and put together. I can't wait to see his face. I'm rather proud of it and happy we could get something so cool for relatively cheap.
So the plan for tonight is sugar cookies and a little work on the house before The Big Man makes his appearance. It'll probably be a while until I next post but here's a few pictures I finally got around to posting.
The site is going to see a major overhaul during the new year. A new domain name with a more family oriented theme. Stay tuned...



Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Sicko

It started the other day as a slightly scratchy throat while visiting at Dosha and Johnny's place. By the time we went to bed that night my throat was sore and by the morning I couldn't breath through my nose. I reeeeeaaaaally hate being sick. Thanks to lots of drugs I can feel moderately normal if it wasn't for the fact that I have no energy. Moving laundry from the washer to the dryer winded me the other day. It sucks even more because normally I'd curl up on the couch and watch a little TV. With all the remodeling though, the TV is sitting in the middle of the room, the couches in the dining room, and our entertainment center is completely unplugged. So that leaves me with working or sitting at the computer. So for now, I'm just going to sit here and do nothing productive other than tagging our photos in Adobe Bridge.
Most of the living room is now done. The Sheetrock is now all hung and taped. I've been working on floating some but I just don't have the energy to do more tonight. Lana started laying down the laminate in the dining room and it looks awesome. I think tonight I'm done though. I can't breath through my nose, my brain feels like it's going to start oozing out of my ears at any moment and I'm feeling really nausous. So I'll just leave you with Marcel's school picture that I finally got around to scanning. Off to dope up before I try to sleep.
Real fast before I go though, I recently got an email from my cousin, Elizabeth, who I haven't seen since she was a baby. So while I scanning pictures I decided to go ahead and dig through the picture box a little deeper and found...
The pictures could use a little attention in photoshop but here they are for now...

Man, my uncle Chris was the shiznit when I was a kid. We'd go down to the bayou with shopping carts, catching snapping turtles, and building model cars. You know all those lowrider model car kits you can buy now? Well, back in the day, me and Chris would make our own lowrider model cars by taking a hot butter knife heated up on my grandma's gas stove and bend the frames. There's not much he couldn't tweak out to a model car to give it the right look. He even made a hopper using an old motor from something he butchered and a battery pack from who knows what. I think about him every time I browse the model cars and think about putting one together again. Shoot me a line sometime Puma!

Ready or Not, Here Comes Christmas!

So we finally got our Christmas tree up despite all the work we're doing the house. It'll mean moving it when we get around to sheetrocking (in the next few days) but you can't have a Christmas without a tree. I have to say it was the fastest and cheapest we've ever gotten a tree. We were in and out of Wal-mart in under ten minutes. We came very close this year to getting a fake tree but there was nothing Lana saw she liked that was within a reasonable budget this year. We'll probably break down and get a nice artificial tree next year but this year we do it with a real one.
So we broke out all the ornaments, the decorations, the lights and put on some holiday music while Marcel and Lana made sugar cookies. I have to say I think our tree this year is one of our best looking ones so far. It's Olivia's first Christmas with us and she's growing so damn fast.
She laughed for the first time for us on Tuesday afternoon. Wow, you wanna talk about a heart wrenching thing of shear joy to hear. Lucky for us, I got it on my camera to relive as often as I want and to share with all of you. She's giggled a few times, teasing us, here and there but never a full out laughing fit. Lana got her going and she laughed 'til the hiccups were too much. I'm having a hard time deleting it from my camera despite the space it takes on my memory card. I rarely max it out so it'll stay for now. ;)
Tonight we're taking it easy after a busy day of preparing the living room for sheetrocking. The room is almost ready, the sheetrock is sitting in the garage, and the new flooring is in the fish tank room. It's going to get real busy in the next week. I'm looking forward to some serious work followed by a very awesome Christmas. This Christmas has really nailed home that my little Marcely isn't so little anymore. While he still plays with his action figures, he's spending more and more time reading, playing on my computer, and hanging out with his friends. Shopping for him this year was really tough. He's becoming a young adult and it's frankly a little scary. He's always been mature for his age and we've loved it but now I wish he would stay my little Marcely for just a few more years. I think my factor of "daddy is a cool guy" is slowly wearing thin. He actually ditched me for the first time on Donuts for Dad this year and even told me he doesn't want to be called Marcely anymore. I have to admit my feelings were hurt a bit both times but I know he's just growing up. We're already coming up with our strategy for "The Talk" with him. I swear I'm not ready for that...
Anyway, I should get to bed. Tomorrow we're hanging sheetrock. Wish us luck!!

Slowin Down

So I've been trying to slow down a bit the past day or two, as per orders of Lana. I hate knowing there's still so much to do and so little time before some serious payoff begins. The new floors arrive on Wednesday!! What that means though, is the Sheetrock has to be done before the new floors can go down - which means the entry hall floor has to be leveled and prepared, the door and floor molding has to pulled, and the carpet in our bedroom needs to be yanked out. Still lots of work to be done but I'm so exhausted these days. Lana's been a huge help freeing me up when I'm feeling ambitious enough to tackle house stuff and switching out with me when I wanna just veg with 'Livie and watch TV. I don't really know how she's been doing it between working, house remodeling, cooking and us. She's more of the multi-tasker thankfully. Me, I just plow ahead until I'm out of steam, recharge, and go at it again. I think I'm at the recharge stage.
So yesterday I slowed down a little and just got the floors in the bathroom closets done thanks to Laura. She came by to visit and kept 'Livie company while I tackled laying the tiles. There's no way I would have been able to get the tiles done if it hadn't been for Laura since Lana was out working, earning us some money pimpin out toys. I managed to relax some when Lana got home, visited with her, then finished off Second Contact. I'd been trying to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but I just can't seem to get into the story right now. It's not that it isn't good writing or that I dislike the characters. I just can't seem to get into the story. So I put it down for a while (again) and grabbed one of the books I put aside when Lana and I moved my mountain o' books to our bedroom. It was nice to read an author I know and trust again considering that I've really been trying to stay away from my favorites this year to just read new stuff. I figured a Resnick book I hadn't read was a good compromise rather than one I've read. I did find the high tech computers of the year 2065 very entertaining. ;)
So now I'm stuck with the choice of trying to read the Harry Potter book oooooor... reread the Necroscope series. Yeah, I should probably grab a book I haven't read but I really liked these characters and I don't feel like digging through the books. Besides, the year is almost over and I can venture back to a few favorites. Plus, I think that once you've gone over the ten year mark on having read a book it's okay to go back. I think that's enough justification for one night of indulgent reading.
Off to do a little reading while 'Livie is napping. Later!