Christmas

Well, Christmas was, um, interesting. This has got to be the most stressful holiday season yet! Just about everything that could go wrong, did! The week before Christmas, Shane was on call 24/7. That made it very difficult to get anything done. As usual I waited until the last minute to do my shopping. Since Katie was with her father this year for Christmas Day, we talked Santa in to coming a day early. Of course he obliged. But that meant I had one less day to get everything ready.

So I finished up my shopping and got our turkey on the 23rd (our Christmas Eve). Kim came over and helped me wrap and bake magic cookies, thank goodness.

Christmas Eve (our Christmas morning, if you're following closely) the kiddos got up and opened their presents. Everything went great, they were so excited! just as I was getting ready to make breakfast, Shane got a call to go to work. Argh!!! So now I had all of the present clean-up to clean up. Plus I had 4 kids to get ready for my mom & Larry to come over for dinner, which was supposed to be ready at 6 o'clock (remember that--it's important). At about 10 am I put my 20 lb. turkey in the oven. Off I go to get my stuff done. An HOUR AND A HALF later, I go to check on the turkey and baste it. My trusty oven has decided to turn itself off!!!! Okay, so now I'm way behind. I wound up having to take it over to my neighbor's house to cook it. But there were still other things I needed an oven for. This is just great!! Well, I made do with what I had. What choice did I have? So my mom & Larry get to my house at about 4:30. We opened presents and chatted. it was all very nice, but we were incredibly worried about when dinner would be ready. My mother does not like to be kept waiting for her food. Well, 6 o'clock rolls around. Was my turkey ready, you ask? It was a Christmas miracle! The turkey was ready and juicy and everything turned out wonderful! After dinner, the kids got riled up and trashed my house. The adults were getting cranky and I was ready for everyone to leave so I could put my kids to bed.

Christmas morning we got up, had muffins, watched to Disney parade and got ready to go to my in-laws. I was tense from the night before and I knew it would not get any better. We got there and exchanged gifts. It was a nice time. BUT--then it was time to sit down for dinner. When you get that many Oslunds in one place, there is bound to be some issues. And there was. After we all sat down, Sherri remembered that she forgot to put out the cranberry sauce. So Shane got up to get it. It reminded me of something. I told Sherri that for Christmas next year, I wanted a cranberry sauce dish. She says, "Oh, not to be morbid, but Gary and I have to make out a will. You guys need to think of what you want." So everyone starts teasing me saying that all I want is a cranberry sauce dish. We all had a good laugh. I said, "Okay, I can think of something else, then. I want the set of pictures of (Sherri & Gary's) grandparents. Sherri tells me that this my start a battle. Mary pipes up at this point to inform her mother that those pictures SHOULD NOT go to in-laws. Okay, yeah, I want them for myself. Uh, no, they would be Shane's of course. Like if we were to get divorced I would take them?! Well, I had never been treated like an outsider in that house until that very moment. AND I DID NOT LIKE IT! For goodness sake, I have been a more permanent fixture in that house in that last 10 years than Mary has! So needless to say, it put a huge damper on my evening. Then, my wonderful 11 year old nephew, Dylan chimes in. "Nana", he asks, " do you have a d*ldo?" My mouth shot open! I could not believe he just yelled that across the dining room! And on Christmas no less! Shawn starts making excuses for him saying he spelled it, he didn't say it. Okay, most of the kids at that table know how to spell! So Mary chimes in again. "It's my fault...I call him a d*ldo all the time. My kids have started doing it too." Okay, you freaking idiot! You be proud if that! The next topic of conversation involved making fun of Shane's and my financial state. I had to ask them a couple of times to stop, saying that it wasn't an appropriate time to talk about it (like it would ever be!), but nobody seemed to care what I thought. They just continued making cracks and laughing about it. So, with my head hung, I quietly finished my dinner. Afterwards, I had to beg Shane to leave, claiming that I had a stomach ache. So we did. We looked at some Christmas lights, came home, put the kids to bed and watched a movie, where I fell asleep on the couch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Go Elf Yourself!

Okay, so this is such a fun way to get in the holiday spirit! Go elf yourself!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1114024852

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1118125374

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1118347275

Make sure you elf yourself and send it to me!
Happy Holidays!!!
Love you all!

The zoo has gotten a bit bigger...

So, last Tuesday, Shane did some work for PetSmart in the adoption center. Knowing how I can't resist animals who need homes, he sent me pictures of his new "buddies". Well, he also knew that I didn't want to do the pet thing again. What a jerk! LOL! So he insisted that we go down and just look at them. Shane made fast friends with a cat named Adolfo. I, of course, fell in love with 2 different cats. Having done the kitten tearing up the furniture phase, I wanted 2 mellow adult cats and Adolfo is a kitten. For the next 4 days, we talked about getting NO MORE THAN 2 cats. Problem was--which ones? I wanted Mystery and Frenchy and Shane wanted Adolfo and Frenchy. Being the wife, I won.

So, yesterday we took the kids and went to PetSmart. We got there early to ensure that we got Mystery and Frenchy. After waiting and waiting, we found out that someone had already adopted Mystery. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't like Frenchy's attitude. So we spent some time with the other cats and found out a little of their history. Apparently, Adolfo is everyone's (including the other cats) favorite.
And now I can see why. On Wednesday, he had to have surgery on his teeth. His baby teeth weren't allowing the adult teeth through. But you'd never know he was in any pain. Penny's story was very sad. A year and a half ago (when she was only 6 months old) she delivered a litter of kittens and was found, stabbed, in front of the store. She recovered beautifully. She's not at all skittish. So we brought the two of them home. Adolfo took right to all of us. Penny took slightly longer, but since Shane and the kids are off at bowling right now, Penny is really letting her friendly side show. She's actually a bit of a ham.
So here are a few pictures of our new babies...

Adolfo, 6 months old

Penny, 2 years

Adofo and Penny, cuddling

My Weekend

Oh, my goodness!!! So this past weekend was exhausting!

Friday I dropped Katie off with James. Nothing new there, but it was still tense. I am making it that way, but I cannot pretend to be nice. So I figure I'll just ignore him. Hey, it works for me! ;)

Saturday was Halloween Haunt 2007!!!! There was some concern about some of the girls going in the group. They had been fighting for the last couple of weeks. So I have felt more like a chaperon to adult women. But I have to say...everyone got along great! Or at least had the ability to pretend to. One of the girls took her 12 year old daughter. She did amazingly! She was terrified at first, but she got past it and had a wonderful time. She was a great addition to the group! I tend to be the most brave a Haunt. I love scary movies, I have a huge fascination for the supernatural, I just love to be scared. Let me just say--I was freakin' terrified!! It was so much fun!! I didn't get home until 4:30 am.

I had been feeling a bug coming on for about the last week or so (ever since Big & Rich), but it seemed to be fading. Friday night, it started hitting kinda hard. Well, I'm a tough cookie who very rarely gets sick. I figured I could fight it this time, too. Wrong! I was popping ibuprofen all night. The cold settled in my chest. Screaming DOES NOT make it any better. And boy did I scream on Saturday! So my mother woke my up at 9:30, shocked that I was still asleep! Heeellllloooo! Whatever. I couldn't get back to sleep. So I was feeling awful, no voice, no sleep, ridiculous cough that sounded like I was faking it. But I have a great husband. He made me chicken noodle soup and took really good care of me until he had to leave for bowling and pick up our kiddos (who were at Nana & PopPop's).

The next part of my story needs some background. I was supposed to go to Haunt from the beginning. Then due to my finances, I decided not to go. Well, that didn't sit to well with two really great, caring friends. The two of them insisted (and I mean INSISTED) that they split my ticket so that I could go. I told them that the only way that would be acceptable is if I pay them back. So it was a done deal. This deal, however, was to be kept a secret from certain people for certain reasons. It was not a secret in my own home. Yesterday I got a call from Kim. Her husband, David went out to the lake with James (his brother and my ex-husband). They got to talking about golfing and James told David that he wanted him to go golfing with him. David said that it wasn't in his budget right now. So James tells him, "Tell Kim that if she could pay for Kristen to go, then you can go golfing." David decides that this is actually a GOOD IDEA! He actually thought it would work. My question is--how did James know that Kim payed for me to go? Katie knew, but how would that come up in conversation? Well, Kim denied it all and told David that it wouldn't work to hold something like that over her head. So I spent the next few hours (sick) fuming that my daughter is talking about me behind my back again. I have asked her not to mention me at her father's house because he takes everything and twists it around. So she gets home from the bowling alley and I was mad! I sat her down and asked her point blank why she would do that again. She swears up and down that she didn't do it. I kind of have to believe her. She cannot lie to my face like that. So, here I am wondering how James would connect the dots. He can't even add 2 + 2...And, more important than that, why would he use that to try and start a fight between Kim and David? He has so much nerve. Every time I turn around it seems he has sunk lower and lower.

Well, there's my eventful weekend. Incredible highs and very low lows...

Until next time...

My first post

Well, this is my first post. Bear with me...

Hi all!


The Oslunds are doing great! Shane has been working bunches, which is good, but we miss him! Katie and Brandon just started 5th and 2nd grade, respectively. They really like their new teachers. Hayley and Megan are enjoying having their mommy to themselves again and I am loving the tighter schedule.



Shane, Katie, Brandon, my mom & I went to see Big & Rich at the L.A. County Fair this past Saturday! We had so much fun. Mom & I are looking forward to going again in 2 1/2 months! This weekend I have Halloween Haunt with the girls to look forward to. It's my one time of year I get to let loose. And I fully plan to!

Well, I will post as time and interesting experiences allow! Until next time...