Instead of outdoing myself this year, I decided to keep things simple. I invited over several family members and put out a spread of several different varieties of hot dogs and sausages, appropriate toppings, the world’s best hot dog sauce (recipe here), chips, home made pasta salad, southern iced tea, and a crock dull of sweet, rich, home made vanilla ice cream.

We sat and talked, watched the kids play, and looked through the bucket of gems my nephew and niece found when they went gemming last week in Georgia. Something, by the way, that I am very anxious to go when my daughter and I go to visit her Godparents outside Atlanta this summer.

Once evening came, we piled in the car and headed over to Safety Harbor. We were a little late getting started and the fireworks had already started by the time we headed out. Really, the best view of the night was from our car as we neared Safety Harbor. We parked and ran along the sidewalks, making it out from under the canopy of trees right in time for the spectacular finale.

It was simple, no frills, and completely satisfying. Happy 4th of July to my amazing nation, the United States of America.

Well, I woke up this morning with what felt like a bad hangover. Why do say that as if it is an odd thing? I have not had a drink in at least a year, and even when I do drink it is never, ever enough to even feel buzzy.

The woman who owns the house next door had a large party last night and people were out in the yard until about 3:30 a.m. hooting and shouting drunkenly. They were splashing in the pool and wandering the nearby yards. It kept me awake, wondering if anyone was going to drunkenly wander over here and pass out

So, when I woke up with a migraine and a very queasy stomach, the shakes and a feeling of dehydration I laughingly commented to a family member that maybe one of the drunken kids last night had cast their hangover onto me.

That same family member said it was more likely I went to sleep and had a dream about the situation next door, maybe even dreaming I was drunk. She told me it is not so difficult to trick the brain into believing you are sick, or if you are sick you can trick it into believing it is healing.

She has a point. So, I took a little Excedrin Migraine and went back to bed for another sleep cycle. I feel pretty OK now.

Happy New Year!

Are you spending more or less on your Christmas gifts this year? Whether or not you are actually feeling an economic pinch, studies have shown that the panicked atmosphere surrounding the concept of spending in the United States right now is making most people perceive the need to slow down when making non-essential purchases.

However, I also see that when it comes to buying gifts for friends and family, a lot of people tend to make allowances. I know I spend as much, if not more, on my daughter this year. I spent more for my nephew and my father and my one living grandmother. However, to even things out I have a lot of friends and family who all agreed to skip gift exchanges this year. So, it is quite possible that if I add things up, I will find that I spent less on my overall total.

When I do buy a gift, though, I like to buy something significant and high quality. That’s why it was like a breath of fresh air to see that Kmart is showcasing the fact that they have over 25,000 high quality gift ideas that each cost less than $25. And, since most of us can find a Kmart store in our own neighborhood, that means that last minute gifts from Kmart is a convenient stop during these last few crazy days of errands.

In my case, I had *thought* that my best friend and I were not exchanging gifts for our daughters. She called today to tell me she had Gigi’s gift ready and wanted to bring it buy before Christmas. Oops, that means I need to run out and get something tasteful, meaningful and inexpensive for her daughter. Kmart has a great selection of LeapFrog Leapster Learning Games, so all I need to do is add Kmart to my list of places to go this afternoon.

One last thing for all of you who were wise enough to stay home on Black Friday – Kmart is currently running their Black Friday Make-Up Sale. They have a ton of items on sale, like Craftsman tools and Norelco shavers, for prices akin to those you can find on Black Friday. You can only find those prices in the stores, though, so take advantage of their holiday hours of 6 a.m. to midnight.

I’m working on my annual calendar project. I have some of my best pictures of my daughter and my nephew from the past year and design elaborate digital scrapbook pages, then I upload them all to Vista Print and have calendars printed for my family members.

I know! I know! I am cutting it close on this year’s calendar. Ever since I started working, these creative projects have taken a back seat. Since had our last day of school Friday, I’ve been zipping around trying to finish my projects. I just TODAY got my Christmas gifts shipped off to my dad. And, yes, they will indeed arrive late. Good thing I also have some citrus heading his way from one of the local groves.

My images are about the same file size as the pictures from last year, but this year Vista Print is rejected every one of my images from uploading. The error messages say the files are too large. I’m even using the image dimensions THEY recommend.

It might be time to call customer support.

Every year I order photo greeting cards for my friends and family. Last year I just had photos printed and slipped them inside cards. And, even though I sometimes cut it close to the wire and time them a bit late, I generally get them out the week after Thanksgiving.

Not this year, though. Time slipped away from me and I have not even had time to get a photo of myself taken with Gigi. MAYBE tomorrow night my sister will actually have time to get our families together for some snapshot time.

So, I might skip cards this year. It’s a shame, but with this being the first time I have been back to work outside the home in about eight years, I am all scrambled in my head.

My absolute favorite time of the year is that period between Thanksgiving break and the end of the year. I love how much time most people get off from work and school. When I was married, my husband would take nearly all of his vacation at the end of the year and was able to be home with us for over two weeks around Christmas. It was always such a cozy, homey feeling.

I’m back to working outside the home for the first time in eight years and all of the sudden I have that rushed holiday feeling again. Days are passing so quickly and it suddenly occurred to me just how many out of town gifts I want to ship. Of course, I need to buy or order them first. And Christmas cards! I used to have my Christmas cards out the week of Thanksgiving. It looks like I might just pass on the whole card project this year. I keep meaning to have someone take my camera and help me with portraits of me and Gigi, but the time has passed so swiftly and everyone I trust to take the pictures is at least as busy as I am.

I do get two weeks off work for Christmas and New Year, though, so if nothing else that softens the overall blow of being back to work the first time in so many years. I will only have my daughter with me for half of that break, though. I have to split her school break with my ex.

But, back to the topic in question – Christmas sneaking up on me. I need to find some ways to better organize next year so that I can slow down and enjoy this time of year more. I don’t want whiplash Christmases, you know? The only other holiday I like even half as much is Easter and the school system is unwilling to schedule spring break to coincide with a religious holiday, so Easter is always a rush as well.

I don’t need much for myself for Christmas. In fact, I am thrilled to no end with the simple paper ornaments my daughter makes for me at school. I look forward to the crafts made with glitter and pasta. I have all I need in my life and the Christmas gifts that warm my heart are things like a night of quiet in the house or a nice foot rub.

On the other hand, my daughter has a lengthy wish list for Santa. In fact, she has several – pasted up all over the house. She has gone through toy catalogs and sales flyers and cut out pictures of the things she wants.

There are toys on there, but there are also a lot of things that show me she is growing older. She wants a makeup case and nail sets and perfume. She wants gadgets to bead her hair and lots of jewelry and hair accessories. MEGA brands makes a lot of the girly things my daughter wants. They are mostly known around my house for their block sets and building kits. My daughter has a Cinderella’s Ballroom set and the mickey mouse magic Clubhouse, in fact. This year, though, her little fingers bookmarked the pages on the MEGA website for the B’Chic Manicure Salon and the Hannah Montana Make Your Own Fashion Accessories.

I actually really love the MEGA brands site. They have all those great Rose Art kits. I can always find a ton of stocking stuffers and gifts for Gigi’s school friends that I feel great about. Plus, they are affordable.

And so, this year my wish list to Santa is all about the things I want to be able to give to my daughter. Watching her open her gifts gives me all the joy I need. Well, that and a quiet evening alone afterwards. I like to look at Gigi and tell her that, like the song, “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

A Fever. Yes, I got sick.

I woke up tired, but that is nothing new. I have to get up around 5:30 each morning in order to have my daughter to pre-care in time to get to the High School. I’, tired. The students are tired. The other teachers are tired. It is nothing special.

However, by 4th period I was bushed. I went to the nicer of the two teachers’ lounges and was thrilled to find it empty. I left the lights off and had a nap on the leather couch. It did not help much. In 5th period I was getting chills and by 6th period I was flushed and running a definite fever.

Even so, I managed to go to Arigato with my mom, daughter, sister and nephew. That was a exercise in confusion. I had called about their free meal policy and they told me to bring my “red card”. I assumed that was my points card, which I had in my wallet. They had meant some sort of red card you are mailed. I never received one of those. So, no free birthday meal ? The food was still decent.

Anyway, here it is Saturday morning and I feel much better. I went to bed shivering before 8 last night, even though my daughter assured me the bedroom was hot.

I just hope the fever stays away.

I like to get things moving along early when it comes to Christmas gifts and the cards I will send out to family and friends. For the last five years I have used Vista Print to order my Personalized Christmas Cards. I have our family portrait done and then I upload it to the Vista Print website and choose one of their cool designs. I add a message unique to me and move a few things around in the layout – and voila, I’m all done. Vista Print always ships me my order even quicker than they promise and all that leaves is getting everything addressed and mailed out to people.

I like the feature that allows me to put a version of my photo onto the back of the card in black and white for no additional cost. It looks cool and adds some personal flair.

The reason I prefer to use Vista Print’s cards over the ones you can have made at Costco or Sam’s Club, or even Wal-Mart is that Vista Print’s cards are not printed on flimsy photo paper, but on high quality glossy card stock. They are Christmas cards in the truest sense. Best of all, I can do the entire process online, from the comfort of my home, and cross one more errand off my list.

Because the Christmas cards I have ordered from Vista Print in the past have come out looking SO good, I have gone into at least a dozen homes of my friends and family and seen the cards still displayed in the middle of summer. It’s kind of flattering.

This week my daughter’s kindergarten class is doing all kinds of apple related lessons and activities in preparation of the celebration of Johnny Appleseed’s birthday this Friday.

As fortune would have it, we have apple blossoms coming in on the trees in the backyard this week. I think I have mentioned that we get two apple crops here in Florida. We make sure to help things along by helping the trees lose their leaves a couple of times a year.

Anyway, when I was little I would cut daffodils in the yard in the spring and wrapped the stems in a wet paper towel and cover that with foil. Them I would take them to school and present them to my teacher. Tomorrow morning, I am going to let Gigi cut a branch from the apple tree and bring some apple blossoms to school for her teacher.

Want to go to one of the U.S. Disney parks for free in 2009? All you have to do is show up o your birthday. Talk about a great deal.

In an age when few if any restaurant even offer you a free meal on your birthday, Disney is willing to hand you a park pass worth about $75. Sweet.

My daughter and I usually go on her birthday every year, but I do not have her on her actual birthday this year, so we will just have to wait until mine and make a day of it together.

You can either register online (disneyparks.com) in advance or just show up at the gate with your photo ID. My daughter does not have a photo ID yet (she’s only five), so something official wither birth date on it will work.

If you have already bought passes for days that include your birthday, you can alternately get a one-day, one-park ticket to use within the next year, a Fastpass for four rides for up to six people (Fastpass allows you to basically turbo right past the long lines for any number of the more popular rides), or a gift card amount equal to the cost of the free ticket to use in the parks.

No matter how you might feel personally or politically about the current war, I’m sure you agree with me when I say that the soldiers involved still deserve our support and appreciation for the way they daily risk their lives.

Soldiers’ Angels is a non-profit volunteer organization that backs such programs as Adopt a Soldier, Blankets of Hope, and many more. They provide a plethora of ways that anyone can easily get involved in supporting the men and women of our armed forces.

GalleryCollection.com has donated 180,000 Personalized Holiday cards to Soldiers’ Angels for the care packages that will be sent to every man and woman serving in Iraq and Afghanistan over the holidays. It’s a small way to thank them for a commitment that will keep them far from family and loved ones during the holiday season.

That got me thinking about Christmas cards and how ever since my daughter as born I have waited longer and longer before getting my card list together and having photos taken to send out. In all honesty, it is not too early to start of my Christmas card project. If I order personalized cards and have a photo done at my favorite studio, the hardest past will be done ahead of time and I can focus on my list and tucking in personal notes.

And, while I am at it, I want to join in on eh sentiment of ‘may no soldier go unloved’ and contribute some gifts to the care package effort.

I’ve been getting new contacts on Facebook almost daily ands most of them are from people I went to high school with, because we are ready for our 20th reunion. 20th! Holy cow, people.

I went to the 10-year reunion and I admittedly had an awful lot of fun. I’m going to skip this one, however, and just hope to hear more feedback from the people who do get to attend via the internet. Even ten years ago not as many of my classmates were online.

Today I tried to find a lot of my old photo albums, but they are apparently in my storage unit. I did happen to find some stray photos in a box that says “To File”. I scanned some of the sillier ones and made an album on Facebook that I am hoping only a couple o chosen friends can see. I set the security setting as such, but now I need to see if it works.

That last post about Miley Cyrus and the price of her 16th birthday tickets made me remember that my five-year-old has decided she wants to be Hannah Montana for Halloween this year.

For her first Halloween, I dressed her as an angel, complete with halo and a sweet little embroidered bubble outfit in cherubic white cotton. Of course, she was too young to have a say in her halloween costumes then.

By the time she got to her second Halloween, she was 21-months-old and already insistent that she go as Sleeping Beauty. Disney costumes ruled the roost after that: Belle the next year and Ariel last year. I assumed we would simply choose yet another Disney princess this year.

Nope. The kid is growing up and branching out, much to my chagrin. She wants to be Hannah Montana, complete with a blonde and pink wig. HalloweenAdventure.com has a Hannah Montana costume and it’s pretty cute. Plus, they have a 5% off coupon that is good through October 10 – PPP05BLOG2008, and we all know discounts and coupons make the world go ‘round.

If we are going to at least be keeping in a Disney theme, I am thinking that I might get myself a Sally costume from The Nightmare Before Christmas. That is much more my style than a princess. Although, my favorite past costume was from the year I went as Aphrodite. That might be a better choice, though it is not Disney-esque.

As a matter of interest, the website I mentioned above has a blog that talks about a lot of the latest costume trends. I might just cruise it for a few days and see if I get an even better idea.

Sunday I was shopping for a few last-minute school items with my daughter and while we were at one store, my daughter came running at me with a Hannah Montana wig. She announced that this Halloween she was dressing as Hannah Montana and the wig was absolutely necessary to complete the costume.

I told her that it is only August and Halloween is not until the end of October, to which my five-and-a-half-year-old replied, “It is never too early to start planning.”

Sage wisdom for such a little person, yes?

You know what? I had to think back to when I was her age and Halloween was this exotic concept to me, one day of the year where I could go absolutely wild and wear a costume to school, all day, without anyone telling me I had to look anything but fanciful and fun. I used to plan my Halloween costumes for months on end as well. So, who I am I to not let my own daughter do the same?

For the record, I did not buy the wig Sunday. I can find better prices online. And, as much as I would like my daughter to choose something other than Hannah Montana, this is going to be her choice 100% — so Hannah it is. I still want to point out that I adored her “princess” stage and I keep looking at a Cinderella costume I found on the Costume Cauldron website. *sigh*

This will be the first time in three years I will have Gigi for Halloween. It just hasn’t worked out lately. So, I am going to be dressing up in full costume as well this October. There is just something about having a child that allows you to let go and be a kid again. In light of that, I am going all out! I’ve been looking online for a while for the right costume and I’m almost doubled over in laughter right now! I found a costume for Julie the Cruise Director from the Love Boat. Talk about a blast from the past. The kids might not know who I am supposed to be, but anyone over 30 should be in on the joke without a problem. How “camp” is that?

When you go to the Costume Cauldron website, make sure you use the Secret “Haunted House” backdoor. Just go to the homepage and about halfway down on the right side you will see a brown comma in the line that reads “Our Store now has over 10,000 masquerade items for you to choose from!” Click it and you’ll get better prices.