On Christmas Eve my Papa broke his foot. He was walking down the hill from his house to the pasture to take some carrots to the horses when he fell down the hill.  We got the call that my aunt (who lives with my Grandparents) had found him crawling in the doorway and was taking him to the hospital.  I was so upset knowing he literally had to crawl about 200 ft to get back to his house at 7am in the morning all because left the house without telling anyone.  My Nana had been in bed listening to Christmas music, my aunt was still asleep, and Ben and I were right next door making breakfast.  Not once did he yell for help because he was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to see he had fallen.

That upsets me so much.  I can’t begin to know what it feels like to be so embarrassed about getting injured that you don’t want anyone to know it happened.  Of course my Papa is old school and hates doctors with a passion.  He tried to convince my aunt that he could wrap it in an Ace bandage, stay off it a few days, and it would be fine, nothing more than a sprain, but it was obvious his foot was broken.

Oh Christmas I had a talk with my Papa.  I (as I have done so many times) urged him to be more careful by remembering to put his non slip grippers on the bottom of his shoes (my aunt bought them for him knowing how unsteady he is on his feet on icy mornings), and if nothing else I reminded him he should never ever leave the house without his cell phone in his pocket.  Heck I don’t ever leave the house without my cell phone in my pocket, even when I’m just going out to hang laundry on the line or feed the horses.  There are too many coyotes roaming around here getting too brave, and I don’t want to find myself in a situation where I need help and can’t get it.  Anywho, even though we knew it would be awhile before he was up and about I ran out the day after Christmas and bought him a case with a belt clip for his phone so he could easily clip it to his side on his way out the door.  He promised he would use it and he could call me immediately if he needed help.

Fast forward to today.  I walked out on the porch to get another load of wood for the wood stove, and what do I see?  My Papa, broken foot in a walking cast, holding onto the walker my Nana bought him to get around the house, slowly moving through the yard headed towards the pasture.  Yes, the doctor told him he should be walking around the house and putting weight on his foot, but I don’t think the doctor meant head outside on the coldest morning of the year and walk around on frost covered ground.

I felt bad for scolding him, but I did.  I know the only reason he was out this morning is because my aunt went back to work from her Christmas vacation today, and she wasn’t around to keep him in check.  He said my Nana was driving him crazy (lol he often escapes her tirades by piddling around in the barn), and he had to get away for a bit.  I asked what she was ranting about this time, and he said he wanted to make more coffee, and she pitched a fit that he couldn’t because she’d just washed the coffee pot (you’d have to know my very OCD neat freak Nana to understand).  He didn’t even tell her he’d gone outside or that he was walking as far away as my house (a pretty long walk for a lil old man with a walking cast and walker), so I told him to call her to let her know he was down here and I’d make him some coffee.  That’s when he confessed he didn’t have his phone, so I would have to call her.

I took him inside and called Nana myself while I made him some coffee.  The poor lil man was sitting in front of the wood stove shivering he was so cold, and he admitted the cold was really hurting his broken foot.  When he was warmed up I left him with Ellie and walked next door for his car, loaded him up, and took him home.  There was no way I was letting him walk back up there, and Ellie ended up begging to stay with Nana for a few hours.

Sigh.  What am I going to do with him?  I can’t exactly lock him inside or sew his phone to his hand, so I guess I’ll just have to keep an extra eye out now that I know he’s willing to take off outside with a bum foot in the super cold.  Poor guy.  I told him if Nana starts driving him crazy in the morning to pick up the phone and call me!  I’ll come get him, and he can enjoy some time with Ellie without the drama or walking down the hill and risking getting hurt again.

Good afternoon! Did everyone have a great Christmas? This turned out to be by far one of my favorite Christmas seasons ever. Even though it’s been a hectic week I enjoyed every minute of it, especially seeing my little one’s eyes light up when she saw the presents under our tree Christmas morning.

Between 5 family functions I think she got enough presents to last for the next 5 years lol, and she’s been busy playing with all her new stuff while I’ve been busy bagging up the old stuff to donate. Ben was excited over his new phone. I was able to use one of our upgrades to get him a Certified Pre-Owned version of the Casio G’zOne Commando he’s been wanting so badly. He had really put his Droid 2 through the mud so to speak working in construction (surprisingly it survived a drop off a 3 story roof!), so I was happy I was able to get him something that should be durable enough to last.

I got a few awesome presents myself. My mom got me an outfit I’ve really been wanting, but I had to plan a trip to Belk with her this Friday to exchange part of it because it’s too small. She bought me a medium which is what I normally wear, but this particular sweater is cut much smaller than normal. I couldn’t get it over my boobs lol! Anywho, we’ll get that straightened out Friday!

My aunt took advantage of the fact that she gets discounted dvd replication services through work, so she had high quality DVDs made for my sister and me of all the video she’s shot of our kids since they were born. That’s something I’ll cherish.

I got a good bit of other stuff from family and friends, but my absolute favorite gift came from my mother-in-law.  I opened my gift to find the Thirty One Organizing Shoulder Bag I’ve been wanting along with a wallet and large utility tote.  I absolutely love it, but at the same time I feel kind of horrible because all I could afford to give her this year was a handmade candle and a box of her favorite candy.  *frown*  I’ll definitely have to make it up to her next year!

So how was your Christmas?  Did you get any awesome gifts you absolutely love?

We had a pretty enjoyable weekend around here.  Ben worked Saturday, so Ellie and I had a girls day.  We decorated a cardboard Christmas tree we made for her last week, baked some sugar cookies, and snuggled up to watch Christmas movies after hanging some more decorations. 

We’ve just about finished decorating the inside of the house with the exception of our Christmas tree.  I would love to have the tree now, but because the wood heat keeps the air in the living room so dry we have to wait until 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas to put up our tree or it will dry out and die before Christmas.  Yes, we are pro real trees, and we recycle them in a number of ways.  Even though I contemplated buying Ellie a small fake tree for her room I’m not a fan of them.  I don’t think they’re very pretty, and I don’t like the lead hazards associated with most artificial trees.  The National Christmas Tree Association has an interesting article about fake trees, how they’re made, the hazards they pose.

Anywho, getting back on topic of the weekend, we had a very enjoyable one.  Sunday we took Ellie to her first parade.  Even though it was a very small parade she absolutely loved it.  She fell asleep before we even made it out of the parade traffic, so our plans of Christmas shopping afterwards were put on hold.  Instead I came home and window shopped online to get a few ideas of what to buy. 

I still have no earthly idea what to buy for Ellie.  I got her a pair of toddler roller skates with my Swagbucks gift cards, but that’s it so far. Our house has become hoarder central for toys.  Seriously we have so much stuff I don’t know where t put it anymore.  There are boxes in the attic and piles of toys all over the house.  She’s filled her bedroom, most of my office, and most of the living room with stuff.  I’ve been packing up stuff she doesn’t play with often and donating it, but we still have a massive amount of toys.  Plus I have to consider all the gifts she’ll get from our family for Christmas, so I have no idea what to buy her.

At least Ben is a lot easier to shop for this year.  I have his present picked out and ready to order as soon as I get paid.  Each year I plan the same present for him, and it gets put on hold because we can’t afford it.  He’s been looking at titanium rings and talking about getting a new one to replace his broken and too small wedding band, so that’s what I wanted to get him.  I found a few that I like in our price range, but now the issue is finding one that will fit.  I’ve searched high and low, and no one seems to carry anything over a 13.5.  He needs a 14.5 to fit his big ‘ole finger.  With titanium there isn’t an option of buying a size smaller and having it stretched, so I’ll have to keep looking.

Now that I’ve gotten off topic again I guess it’s time to wrap up this post.  I have a ton of housework to do today anyway, and I definitely can’t get it done if I’m sitting here on the ‘net while Ellie is napping!

Wow, what a busy weekend/week we’ve had!  I’m so thankful we finally got some time to relax today.  Between Ellie’s birthday party Saturday and my Fleischmann’s party on Sunday I’ve been going non-stop preparing and executing.  Then I spent yesterday making up for the cleaning I’ve neglected to do all week while I was busy with all this other stuff, so I decided today was my be lazy day.

I was lazy for the most of the day with the exception of reorganizing some of Ellie’s toys and cleaning out more to donate.  She’s already got a bedroom and playroom full of toys, and today I noticed there isn’t a room in the house that doesn’t have a pile of toys in the corner.

Because we knew she’d be getting even more toys for her birthday we decided to get her a desk instead.  We got an American Plastics toddler desk that converts into a small easel, and that was good enough for now.  I wanted to get her a larger easel with the chalkboard, but it just wasn’t possible right now.  Ben got laid off again last week, so we needed to keep it cheap.  The toddler desk/easel was under $20, and it’s the perfect size for her even if it is something cheap that will probably fall apart in a year or two.  Then again, it could last forever.  She has a ton of other American Plastics toys that we thought were sure to break within a few months, but she’s had them all for over a year with no problems.  The top of the desk isn’t as great as I’d like, but what can you expect for $20?  It’ll do the job, and she absolutely loves it, especially now that I let her decorate it with stickers this morning!

Cheap is good for me right now, so I’m very happy she’s still young enough to be happy with a cheap toy!  I know one day she’ll be asking for the expensive stuff.  As much as she wants to play with my Eee PC I’m sure one day she’ll be begging for an Eee Tablet, so I’m going to enjoy the years when cheap toys are very acceptable birthday gifts!

My biggest problem right now is figuring out where to put all the big stuff she’s got.  We are definitely running out of room, and cleaning out the toy box doesn’t really help with that.  As far as the big stuff Ellie now has a desk, laundry center, nursery, shopping cart, kitchen, slide, baby stroller, and vanity…all American Plastics toys, and everything but the desk was a present from a grandparent. I’m starting to feel like that company could stay in business thanks to our family alone!

This morning as I spoke to my Grandma about my cousin’s funeral arrangements I realized life really is making a full circle this week in my family and life, and that’s got me emotionally up and down. I’m sad over my cousin’s death and the circumstances surrounding it, but at the same time I’m happy because this morning a new addition arrived in our extended family.

Ben’s cousin and his wife welcomed their second baby girl into the world just a few hours after the proud Dad and his twin brother began celebrating their own birthday. What a birthday gift for Dad! I’m also very happy because our best friend, who is like a brother to Ben, will be getting married Saturday in front of his closest friends and family.

Today a birth, tomorrow a funeral, and Saturday a wedding. I’m not sure I will be able to attend the funeral tomorrow as I don’t believe it is appropriate to take Ellie and as of yet I have no sitter. No matter where I’ll be I’ll be praying for my other family members who have lost their son, brother, husband, and father. If you happen to see me tomorrow, and I seem down and out please understand I will be dealing with my emotions no matter where I may be.

Saturday I’m going to try to enjoy our friend’s wedding and remind myself that life goes on, and it is ever changing.  This week has been bittersweet, and it has definitely reminded me to enjoy all the moments I can get with my family and friends who are so dear to me.