My Top 10 of 2007
Here are the Top Ten Things that happened in my life over the past year.

10. Forgetting Friends. The realization was know to me this year that sometimes you just have to let a friend go and live their life. After trying and trying to keep in touch with an old friend I've decided it may not be worth it. Sometimes it just felt more like a hassle than anything. I miss my old friend, and maybe someday, hopefully someday things will be different.

9. New Friends. Even though everyone goes through losing friends in their life, one way or another, we're always making new friends. My new friends this year include some new coworkers who I've become close with as well as some blog friends

8. Beginning a Blog. Speaking of blog friends, that's how I got the urge to start my own web log myself. I've been reading other mom blogs for awhile now and love hearing their stories. I'm hoping my blog only continues to get better in the year to come.

7. 7/7/07. It's only right that I use number 7 as our anniversary date. And although it wasn't our 7th anniversary it was one of the more memorable ones. I surprised Darric this year with a weekend away to Boston. Darric ended up having an allergy attack as we toured the streets of beantown and I ended the night all by myself at our hotel bar. Not a total washout though, we did get to visit Fenway Park, The New England Aquarium, The Prudential Building, Quincy Market, and many, many other shops.

6. Kidless. I couldn't imagine bringing an almost 2 year old into the streets of Boston, so with our anniversary weekend came our first overnight without the boy. Darric was sure I was going to call every hour, but I only called every other. And while it was nice to sleep in, sleep all night, only worry about ourselves, and eating whenever we wanted...I still had a lump in my throat evertime I called and thought about him the whole time.

5. Divorce. A couple people close to us got divorces this year. And although each one affected us differently there was one that was rather close to home. The 25 year marriage of my parents finally came to an end this year. And I say finally for a reason. There were some unsolved issues that needed to be worked out in court, and it seemed to drag out forever. This was at first hard for me, I honestly didn't know how to deal with it and at times I felt I needed to take sides, but soon learned that I was not going to take sides. They're both my parents and they both will always be my parents whether their together or not. Now that it's all said and done though, I think it was the best thing that could've ever happened to all the party's involved. I've never seen my mom or my dad happier. They both have done more now then they ever did when they were together. I'm happy with their current companions and I actually talk to my father more now then I ever have.

4. New Hampshire. For Jordan's 2nd Birthday we spent a weekend with my dad and Denise in New Hampshire. We went to Storyland, which he loved and also went to the top of Mt. Washington, a first for me. I will never forget entering a total different climate zone. While it was 50 degrees where we left from it was 32 degrees, sleeting and very, very cold ontop of the mountain.

3. Every Man Needs a Garage. For those who know my husband know that you can find him more often in his father's garage then at home. Well, this year we decided to start building our own. At the particular moment it's just a slab, come this spring the walls will go up. There was a bigger reason for this garage though, which brings us to number 2.

2. Hammonds General Contracting. I remember the day I called Darric's Cell phone and his voice mail answered "Thanks for Calling Hammonds General Contracting." Darric has always been a handy man and he's always working on everybody's stuff whether it be a snowmobile, 4-wheeler, boat or even a car/truck. So, we've now decided to attempt our own business. And with anything big like this comes stress. Now he's really never home, which is the biggest reason we're doing what I said in number 3.

1. Disk Fusion. My husband is only 27 years old, but his back is that of a 57 year old. Don't tell him I said that though. Last February Darric had back surgery. This was one of the most scariest times of my life. I had many sleepless nights as well as Darric did. I hated seeing my husband in so much pain. He was out of work for quite a while and for a person with anxiety it's not fun. If you saw him now though you'd never know he's had back surgery unless you see the 5 inch scar on his back. This has changed us and the way we live our life. Darric is still on tons of meds and some days are better then others depending on what he's done that day. He's back to his old self, but I still worry day to day.

Now it's an hour away from being 2008. This year I hope to lighten up a little, become my ol' positive self again, which I may have to make some difficult choices in order to do so. Jordan will be 3 this year, HOLY CRAP! Darric will be 28 and I'll be 29 and we will celebrate our 7th Anniversary. I hope the year ahead brings you all health and happiness. Now I'll end here with this quote from Lord Tennyson.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Happy New Year!!!

Feeling Brave!!!

So, another present that my darling hubby got me that I didn't tell you about was a gift certificate to my hair salon. Since Darric had Jordan with him all morning at his sisters house in Bowdoinham and I didn't have to be to work until 3:00 I decided to treat myself.

After I made the appointment, my mind started thinking...

"Maybe I should get this really, really short. It has been driving me crazy forever! Heck if I don't like it, it'll grow back."

I go through this everytime I get a hair cut. I start to get daring and say I'm going to cut it all off and then as I sit in the chair... "Cluck, cluck, cluck." I chicken right out. Then after it's all done I regret it and say I should've got it shorter.

Today...today though, I fought off those clucks.

So, tell me what do ya think? For me, one minute I'm liking it, the next I'm not quite sure. Maybe next time I'll shave my head, ya know start from scratch.....yeah I'm just kidding.

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours!!!

Wow, what a busy, hectic, long, overwhelming, exciting, joyous day we had. The day didn't start too early, Jordan let us sleep in until 8:30, due to the fact that he didn't even go to bed until 10:30. Myself on the other hand was up until 3am, finishing up on the last minute wrapping and stuff.
We opened presents until 10:00 where Jordan told us he wanted a break. I could tell he was already getting overwhelmed and we still had a long day of present opening ahead of us.
We then went to my inlaws to have christmas morning breakfast (breakfast pizza, Hammond Tradition) and open presents with them.
Then we headed back down to our house to clean, shower, cook, ect. Everyone showed up around 2:00 and this is where it got hectic. Imagine 25+ people in my tiny little house, bringing food, presents and laughter. We ate (Mashed Potatoes, Dirty Rice, Corn, Peas, Veggie Platter, Rolls, Turkey, Ham, Banana Bread, Pumpkin Bread, Chip & dip, Shrimp & dip, and sweets by the dozen.), we open presents, we laughed, opened more presents, laughed some more, ate some more and by 11:00 we were pooped.
So, what did we get? Behold here are just some of the presents...

From: Darric's Mom.

From: Aunt Chetta. Now I have a place to put all my photos that I've been taking with my new camera.

From: My Mom. This is just some of the gift cards I got. I also go Khols, Texas Roadhouse, Applebees, Chilli's, and Money(can't go wrong there!!)

From: My mom. Bird house, even though grampy thought it was a candle holder. We had some laughs there with that one.

Some of Jordan's toys he got. Others included ride on 4 wheeler, bed sheets, clothes, coloring books, reading books, tons of Thomas Train & Mickey Mouse stuff, oh the list could go on and on.

Darric got some clothes, a briefcase for his laptop, GPS system, gift certificates, new feather pillows...

And our big family gift this year was...

This sweet Polaris, 400, 4 wheeler.

Darric surprised me with it, so for the record it's actually mine, but we'll use it as a family...but it's mine! So, yeah you could say we all made out good this Christmas.

Even though this is my favorite time of year, it's also a very stressful time of year for me as well, but I will say, it never fails, by the end of the day I can always sit back and feel blessed with the people I have in my life.

I hope you had a nice christmas as well.

Chex Muddy Buddies

(or as some call it "Puppy Chow")

If you found this blog by searching Healthy recipe,

YOU'RE IN THE WRONG PLACE.

Ingredients:
9 cups Chex® cereal (any variety)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (ah, heck I use a whole 6 ounce bag)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (or as much as it takes to coat)

Preparation Directions:
Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
In 1-quart microwavable bowl, stir together chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Test to make sure tastes good. Wait a few minutes and test out some more. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Enjoy!!!

Digging Out!

It's still 4 days until winter actually begins, but with the way it looks outside it's made an early arrival. We had another snow storm, check that N'orestah yesterday. I'm not complaining though. I love the fact that we're going to have a white christmas. I do wish though that it was a little warmer. Jordan really wanted to go out and play in the snow today, as did I, it just was soooo cold and I knew if we went out we both would've gotten cold very quick.
So, I have to tell you the highlight of my day yesterday. Darric had me stop at the hardware store to pick up liquid electrical tape, which I had never heard of and niether did the kid at the hardward store. Darric did say if they didn't know what it was then to ask for, now this is where I couldn't remember what he had called it. It was Whip it and......."Whip it and what. Well, it's tape, stick it. Yeah that's it. So, there I was in the hardware store, hadn't taken a shower, wearing a baseball cap asking for Whip it and stick it. Oh if you could of seen the look on this kids face. Then when I got home and told Darric the story he laughed for a minute and then corrected me by saying it's Whip it and dip it. Not that that makes much of a difference. I still would've felt silly.

So I caught Jordan counting to himself today. First it was "Weady, One, Two, Fwee Goooooo!" Then I heard. "One, Two, Fwee, Seven, eight, nine, tennnnnn!" He amazes me more and more every day. At this moment that I'm writing he just brought out a toy that was repeating a word "Wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa." "Battaies, momma, bowkin." How does he know this stuff? Hopefully this means he's getting his smarts from his daddy and that he won't be caught in a hardware store someday asking for Whip it and stick it.

So, I need a little help. Right now we're currently using Dial up. People PC to be exact. And IT SUCKS! We've been looking for a good Broadband service, that's affordable, but our options are limited because we live in east bum. We could get Time Warner, but I've heard some negative things about them. We could get HIgh speed through our satellite company, but it's outragious. I checked into GWI and Vonage and I'm leaning towards one of them, if they're available to us, haven't got that far yet. So, what do you have for ISP? And are you happy with who you've got?

ELFED!

Check This Out

Oh My Gosh this makes me laugh everytime I watch it. If you wait till the end you can make your own as well.
Happy Holidays! Hope you enjoy.

Don't Be Such A Scrooge

Can you forgive a pig-headed old fool with no eyes to see with and no ears to hear with all these years?

As it's getting closer and closer to christmas I'm noticing I tend to be getting crankier and crankier, I've also noticed this with age but we'll save that for another day.
Yesterday at work I was talking to a co-worker about another co-worker, ok I was complaining about this other co-worker and guess who walked in? I felt awful and I still feel awful. I'm not totally sure if the co-worker heard what I had said about them, and honestly it is something I would say to their face. I'm just not the type of person to start confrontations, stir the pot if you will. I'm also not the type of person to be negative and I find myself being this way a lot lately.
And the other day, I got mad at Darric because I couldn't find Jordan's hat and lately I can't find his mittens and Darric is the one who picks him up from the daycare most days so I was getting snappy at him and then when I got into my car, there was Jordan's hat sitting on the passenger seat. So, I had forgotten it in my car from the day before. D'oh, my bad!
And I've also just gotten reactions from people lately making me realize I've been snippy, sarcastic, & complainy. And for those who know me know that's not me at all. The miss mary sunshine isn't so sunshiny lately, so I just want to appologize if I've snapped, been sarcastic or complained around you lately. Starting now, I'm going to be cheery, positive, and my ol' miss mary sunshiney self.

'Tis The Season For...

Taking Family Christmas pictures of coarse. So, the other day I ended my post stating I was going to go out in the snow with Jordan & Bubba to attempt to get a picture for the christmas card. Order of events went a little somin' like 'dis.

After spending a half hour getting fully clothed with 2 pairs of socks on each of us. Going through the routines of 'Jordan do it' when it came to zipping up, and of coarse putting on the hat. Which, (I know for a fact that he gets this from his father) the hat has to be just right. We finally get outside. Jordan played with Bubba for a total of 2 seconds and then I had had enough of trying to get a picture of the two of them while holding onto Bubba's run so that he didn't tangle Jordan up in it. Picture this if you would.

Plan 2-Maybe I'll get a cute enough picture of just Jordan. So, I got way up on a snowbank, sunk into the snow up to my thigh, and then Jordan ran to the front of the house. As I struggled to get out of snowbank, almost losing my boot in the process, he then decided to come back to this snowbank. Urg! An idea popped into my head at this point as Jordan stood in front of the sunshine and threw snow at me. Here's what I got.

And here's the close up version:

Then I just followed him around the yard and got a couple more snaps...

But, after it was all said and done we decided none of them were christmas-cardy.

Plan 3-Before heading out shopping with some friends we had them snap a couple family pictures of us out front.

Plan 4-This is a safety incase I liked this better than plan 3. Invited our friends for supper and after had them take another family snapshot infront of the tree. 2 hours later, after changing 2 lightbulbs so that we could backlight, the changing into holiday gear, the changing of positions, being covered in dog hair and going through a couple of toddler crying fits we had one that was passable.

Notice who actually has the smiles in this picture. Bubba & Darric were so not ammused, infact here's Darric after attempt 5,830,539.
The winning picture is in the mail so I'll be lookin forward to your feedback once you've received yours. And for those who are unfortunetely not on our mailing list stay tuned, I'll post the results closer to chrismas when I know everyone has received theirs.

On another note, since it is the season. We watched Rudolph last week and someone asked me something that I can't figure out that's been driving me crazy? What's wrong with the doll? Why is she at the island of Misfits. What's wrong with her. I'm trying to replay the song in my head, but I'm stumped. Please help!

All I want for Christmas...

Sometimes I beat myself up and wonder if I really am doing a good job as a mother. The thoughts: Do I spend enough time with Jordan? Do I let him watch too much TV? Am I feeding him the right/healthiest foods? Do I yell too much or should I stay more calm? go through my mind more often than not. I'd like to think other parents wonder about this as well. But what exactly is the definition of a good mother? When I sit back and think about it, he's a happy child, he appears to be a healthy child, I barely ever have to take him to the doctors besides for his regular check ups (knock on wood). But I wonder what would things be like if I were a stay at home mom. He would probably be potty trained for one. He might possibly eat better, ie more vegetables for two and when I did leave him with someone else he may cry and not want me to leave for three. But this is the way it has to be. If I could, I would be a stay at home mom. Unfortunetely we can't afford it and I'm the one with the good benefits, so it's what I have to do. I do like to work, I love what I do, when Jordan's had a rough weekend and is driving me crazy it's nice to have a break from him and deal with adults, well, I guess that's what you'd call them.
So, literally on my christmas list this year is:
*Kitchen Table
*Vacuum Cleaner
*Bird feeder
*Clothes/shoes
*Entertainment Stand
*Sheets
*Comforter
*G.C. to Home Depot(so we can finish our bathrooms)
*Bushes for out front of the house

But the unrealistic christmas list going through my head is:
*To be a P/T stay at home mom
*Jordan to be Potty Trained
*To win the megabucks
*Peace on earth

I really had to think about that realistic list. It's funny how when we're kids all we think about is what we want, but as adults it's what am I going to get for this person and how much should I spend on this person? I'm finding it hard to not buy Jordan things this year. Last year, it was easy, he wasn't into as much. He didn't understand really. I can imagine it's going to get harder each year because he's going to ask for more. This year he's just asking for 'Toys' in general, so everytime I see something "Thomas, the train" "Blues Clues" Curious George" "Mickey Mouse" or just something cute in general I think I have to get it for him. And I know when it's all said and done, I'll look back and say "Wow, we got him a lot this year."

We took Jordan to see Santa last weekend. The whole way there he was yelling out 'Santa Caws, Toys." And when we got there he seemed in awe to just look at him. As we were waiting in line he was standing on his tippy toes yelling Hi to the man in red. Oh, but when it was our turn, the moment I had been waiting for, it was going to be the perfect picture for this years chrismas card; Jordan wanted no part in it. He stood in front of this man with the big white beard, wearing red for exactly 10 seconds, look at him and stated he was "Done" and walked off. I tried to get him to sit on his lap, or even my lap beside Santa. Oh, No-No! It was the famous crying Kid scene at the mall. So, you won't be a getting that christmas picture in the mail, so don't be looking for it.
Right now though, we're going to go play in the snow and attempt to get a seasonal picture instead, wish me luck.

Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me...

If you had been a fly on the wall at my house today here are some of the things you might have heard...

Jordan: Momma, watch Mickey Mouse?

Jordan: Momma, watch Curos Gewarge?

Jordan: Momma, watch Boose Coose?

Me: Jordan, do you need to go potty?

Me: Jordan, if you go potty you can watch Mickey Mouse.

Jordan: OK

Later on in the day.

Me: Jordan, don't touch that ornament, it's very breakable.

Me: Jordan, I said don't touch, it's breakable.

Me: Jordan Richard, do you need to go in time out?!?!

Jordan: OK

During Supper.

Jordan: More booberry Muffin?

Me: You need to eat some more Peas and Meatloaf first.

Jordan: More booberry Muffin?

Jordan: More booberry Muffin...Peeeeeze?

(Mother now gives in to frigin cute kid)
Jordan: OK

Don't ask me where I'm going with this. I just wanted you to see how exciting my first day of vacation was. Actually, it was one of the best days that I've had in a long time, besides the fact that work actually called me 3 times today. Jordan was sooooo good. There was one point when I peeked in on him in his room and he was just sitting on the floor playing with his toys and when he saw me peeking in on him he smiled and said "Hi Momma" I felt a warm feeling come over me, gosh I love being a mom, especially his mom.
Well we got most of our christmas decorations up and I made a nice supper and Darric's parents joined us and it was a quite a nice dinner. I sometimes get nervous making dinner for others because I can be known to burn things. I was somewhat proud of myself though. I actually cooked a nice dinner as I finished cleaning up the house and putting up decoration.

So, if you were a fly on the wall right now at my house you'd hear...

"What do you want?"
"What do you do?"
"Everything"
What, we're watching Pretty Woman!

2nd Verse...Same as the First!

So, here I am, attempting to become a blogger in this new technology world we now live in. Where we keep in touch through emails, blogs, text messages and whatever may come next rather than picking up the phone or even a pen, but...I'm not complaining....really I'm not. I just wonder what it will be like in 20 years.

I'll start off by saying I'm probably going to be a boring blogger. I don't lead that exciting of a life, I live in Maine for goodness sake, where cow tipping is what keeps some busy on the weekends. My goal for this blog is more of a journal to look back on, I plan on writing mostly about the thing that makes up my life, who I breathe and spend every waking hour caring, thinking & worrying about. He stands about 3 feet tall, if that, lives off milk, applesauce, & chicken nuggets and tonight when I walk through the door and hear him yell out my name with excitement all my stresses of the day will disappear. Jordan is my 2 year old and is probably what will bring most readers to my blog. But Welcome anyway.

On a totally different note, and because I'm so excited about it....guess what arrived here today

.

Shh, listen, yup, that's my snowmobile calling my name!!!