I'm moving my public posts over to thebigenoughumbrella.blogspot.com.  I'm going to keep all protected posts here at LJ, so if you're friends with me this is where you'll get the dirt.  Or, more often, the annoying griping and off-the-wall ranting.

I have off work all this week. Woohoo!!!

Rick had the girls for the first part of the day so I went to Walmart. Going to Walmart during working hours on a business day without being accompanied by one to three kids is a much less rage-inducing experience than my usual trip is. Of course I did not buy a single thing that was on my list to buy, but I hit the after-Christmas sale and got a couple of gifts for next year, some froofy-smelling bath products for myself, wrapping paper, some plastic storage boxes, a giant candle, and a couple other things I can't remember.

After that I went to the thrift store -- the "good" one that has 25% off everything on Mondays, of which I don't usually get to take advantage. I kind of went crazy there and spent more than intended, but I came away with two church dresses for Holly, a pair of shoes for each of the four of us (dressier than sneakers but less dressy than church shoes), and for me three skirts, a sweater, two shirts, a slip, two pairs of jeans and two pairs of work pants. One of the skirts is leather and still had tags on it from Bloomingdale's. Unfortunately the part of the tag with the price on it was torn off, so I can't see how much of a deal it was that I got it for $5. Best news of all is that everything except for one shirt fits great.

All this shopping (and subsequent trying-on-of-clothes) took up a lot of my morning and early afternoon, so I didn't get as far on the deep cleaning as I wanted. But at least the dining room table is completely cleaned off so we can actually eat there if we want, and there are wide swaths in which to walk.

A friend got me a gift subscription to Netflix for three months, so I'm going to be watching movies galore. Two nights ago I watched online a British romance, "I Capture The Castle", and today I received in the mail a documentary, "Air Guitar Nation." I have 13 more movies in my queue. If you have suggestions of movies you loved, in any genre, let me know!

Happy Birthday Holly! My Christmas baby is three years old.

I'm nearly suffocating under the piles of boxes and paper and presents in the aftermath of Christmas and Holly's birthday. For once I have a strong desire to get rid of existing stuff, but I can hardly even get to it! I did manage to Freecycle one thing today so that's something. I have all next week off -- we'll see what I can accomplish.

There's nothing like hearing "Mommy, I pooped!" being yelled from another room when you know your almost three year old is wearing underpants, not a diaper.

And there's NOTHING like running around the corner to find the kid sitting on the potty, having gone into the bathroom all by herself and pulled her pants down all by herself, with the poop firmly in the potty and a huge smile on the kid's face.

Yay Holly!!!

We're watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Holly calls it "The Brownie Movie."

I set a goal for myself in January to read 12 books in 2009. It doesn't sound very lofty until you see that in 2008 I only managed to read six books. Anyway, I managed to read 13 this year. (I can pretty safely assume I'm not going to finish any more books in the busy days left in 2009.) Hooray for me!

Unfortunately I only really enjoyed two or three books this year. You can see the list here. I still have a bunch on the bookshelf waiting to be read -- I think I may set next year's goal at 14, just to try to beat this year.

Holly, while watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas: "I don't like that Mean Green!"

The cat peed on Faith's homework. Really!

Why does Pandora keep playing me advertisements for Faith Hill Perfume?  Why in the world would I want to smell like a particular celebrity, and is Faith Hill such a big celebrity anyway?  I know I'm not up on the country music scene, but really.  And I know I don't ever wear perfume, but really!  Faith Hill Parfums?  Is this necessary??

I did wear some "vanilla chai" scented deodorant for a while, until the deodorant ran out and I could never find it again.  I loved that stuff...  and it didn't have a celebrity's name attached to it, thank God. 

..... OK, I gave in and Googled it.  The deodorant was by Secret, and it is a discontinued scent.  But it looks like there are still a couple places you can get it online!  I might have to buy all I can find, like that time Elaine bought up all the Today sponges on "Seinfeld."  Then I'll get to decide who in my life is Secret-Vanilla-Chai-worthy.

(I like the "clear gel," if you're thinking Christmas...)

The U2 concert was So Awesome.  However I did not get into bed until about 1:45 am and now I'm in an exceedingly foul mood.  I think I'm going to hole up at my desk all day, put my headphones on (possibly listening to U2), and avoid speaking to anyone and possibly being a raging bitch to them.