The good, the bad, and the ugly

I'll do these backwards, so the post ends happy rather than sad!

First: the good...it's Christmas! Tyler is so excited, he can hardly stand himself. Tonight we'll be making Reindeer Munch and baking Christmas cut-out cookies. These are the same cookies I've made nearly every year of my life...Mom's recipe is the best! We'll decorate them tomorrow night, and Tyler will select the two best ones to leave for Santa. This year, he wrote his very own letter to Santa, rather than "dictating" to me as he has done in the past. It's in his stocking, so when Santa comes he can read it and leave what he can. Tyler understands that Santa's sleigh doesn't have room for everything! :) Needless to say, I'll be scrapping that letter into his book.

Next: the bad...our trip to Disney World for Christmas has been cancelled (see "the ugly"). Tyler knows nothing about it, so there's no disappoinment on his part,thankfully. We're hoping to go for either Spring Break or during the summer. We'll see how it goes.

Last: the ugly...our neighbors, Deborah and George, were the ones taking us with them to Disney. George is part of the Wounded Warrior program, and they gave him a one-week trip to Disney to be used whenever he wants it. The program pays for the three-bedroom condo for a week, and gives them free one-day passes to Disney. They asked us to join them, since they had such a large place to stay. We heartily agreed, and have been looking forward to it for about a month or so. Now, insert the ugly part. George's father was sent to the hospital for the fourth time on Monday morning...he's been trying to conquer pneumonia since before Thanksgiving. The last I heard, he had been transferred into the Critical Care Unit, was going to be put on a ventilator, had spiked a fever of 104, and the entire family has been called in. I have had no update today, so I'm not sure what's going on at this minute. I thought a specialist was coming today from Birmingham to do a lung biopsy.

So, the ugly is definitely very ugly, created the bad, and we're now concentrating on the good.

Oh, and I have to shop at Wal-Mart tonight after Tyler goes to bed. Turns out we were going to give him the trip for Christmas, and Santa was providing the wrapables. Now, no trip AND no gift from Mom and Dad. I figure I'd better get something, lest he think we're losers!!!

Can I get a little more stress, please????

Ugh. So, I'm selling my horse trailer, and trying to look for the deal of the century on a newer one. That's frustrating. I have to get up into the attic and drag out the umpteen boxes of Christmas decorations...then I have to put them up. I love having them up, but love it more in January when all that clutter goes back into the attic. I have a horse show this Saturday. I haven't been to a show in about 2 months. Thankfully, Ranger is at the point where I can just get on him and go, without worrying about his form or him paying attention to me. My job with the neighbors has changed, and long story short...I'm getting less than minimum wage to work my tail off. I'm not happy about that, especially since I don't HAVE to work. So, the barn owner and I are going to talk early next week about me doing more for her out at the barn. Everything I earn is credited toward my board fees, so that's nice. However, waiting until early next week to talk to her, since she's out of town, is going to make me insane. I'm not the most patient person on Earth.

So, as if that's not enough stress...let's add some more!

Monday night, my faithful old washing machine died. I have had this washer and dryer set for 18 years. Yes, you read that right. 18 years. There has NEVER been anything wrong with either of them. The washer started acting up when my parents were here earlier this year, and Dad got it back on track for me. But Monday night, it died. Sigh. I never thought I'd be sad about it, but I am. Thankfully though, I have an awesome husband.

He took my stress away. Well, at least part of it. Tonight, we went to Home Depot and ordered my new Maytag washer and dryer. They'll be here Tuesday. YIPEE!! The delivery company will take my old washer and send it to the Great Laundry Room in the Sky, and my old dryer will go out to the barn (the one out there now is awful). I'm so excited!

Some more exciting news...we're going to Disney World! Our neighbors got a condo for a week for free down there, so we're all piling into their Suburban on December 27th and going to see Mickey and Co. Tyler has NO idea. I'm going to get a Mickey Mouse helium balloon and wrap it in a box. When he opens the box, Mickey floats up with a note on the string that says "Tyler come see me!". Then we'll fill Ty in on the details. I cannot imagine the magnitude of his Happy Hopping when he finds out! I'll have to make sure to videotape it for posterity!

Otherwise, there's not a whole lot going on here. The weather is okay during the day and freakin' cold at night...this morning we woke up to frost.

Tyler got a haircut today...finally. This morning he woke up with Squirrel-Boy hair, so I took him after school. He looks so cute! This week, we'll all dress up nice, set up the camera and take a family photo to use for our Christmas cards. I bought Piper a little elf costume...it's a ruff for around his neck and a hat that velcro's on his head. I'm not sure if he'll wear it in the photo or not; he might be too humiliated to look at the camera! :)

Well, I'm off to search the internet again. Looking for a good deal on a trailer is actually harder to do than I thought it would be....