Random winterly observations

1. When the weather turns bitterly cold, toddlers CAN and WILL take their own sweet time getting out of the car.

2. The Christmas spirit is contagious and will cause you to buy gaudy decorations from Pier 1 even though you know you'll throw them out in two year's time.
3. December is the time to look back on your New Year's resolutions and go "oh shit! I only have 29 days left to get this done!". My advice, particularly when it comes to writing, is to not look at how you haven't met your goal but how far you've come towards that goal. Except you know, if you haven't made any progress at all. Then by all means do the headslam thing.
4. Ice skating is fun for the whole family, but remember you're a lot taller now and that ice is going to hurt a lot more. Tread with caution.
5. Keep plenty of hot cocoa on hand.

6. Don't buy toddler gloves with the flappable mitten. It takes FOREVER to get their little fingers in the right grooves. (You'd think I'd know this by now, having three kids, but noooo....)
7. Getting a remote starter for your car means you've gone soft. I shall resist until I'm forty.
8. Never tell your husband/significant other that you're not going to spend much this year. It'll come back to bite you in the ass.
9. Elf on the Shelf. Cool concept. Would never work with my kids - Ethan had the whole Santa Claus deal figured out when he was five.
10. This is important!!!! For those using flex money for their medical supplies, know that next year you can't claim anything that doesn't have a prescription. Worse, anything you buy after January 1st will not be eligible for 2010's flex dollars (usually you have until march 15th). This SUCKS!!! Sorry for the rant, all you non-US citizen's. :)
11. Why do they always change the design of mop sponges? Now I'm stuck with a big stick and no sponge that'll fit it. I should just go back to the old ragamuffin mop.

12. Tooth Fairy, the movie. Okay, I didn't watch the whole thing, just enough to laugh at Dwayne Johnson in a tutu. And Julie Andrews??? What gives?
13. Speaking of movies, every year I have to watch all the Christmas classics - Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, and my favorite, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. When I was kid, these shows weren't on videotape so we had to wait around for them to actually be SHOWN on tv and it was always a huge popularity thing where I lived. "Did you get to watch so and so last night. I loved...."
14. Yes, you're probably shaking your head at that last one, but hey, I was seven!

15. Another childhood memory - we used to play outside ALL DAY LONG when it was winter and my parents never checked on us to make sure we weren't frostbit, etc. I remember licking icicles off the roof and wandering out onto the lake without even asking if it was safe. With my kids though, I have to stand in front of the door watching them play in the snow or else I would never hear the end of it from my husband. Are they eating the snow? Putting it in the other one's hood? Are you sure they're not too cold? Sometimes my husband gives the term party pooper new meaning.
16. Totally off topic, but I have glitter all over my laptop. Where did it come from?????????????????
17. I've read 73 books so far this year!! At an average of 6 hours per book that's.... wait, I don't want to know that statistic, do I?
18. I started blogging my household diary. It's pretty bare bones so far, but I figure it'll be a good way to keep track of the all the cute things the kids say and do. The title: Taming of the Crew.
19. Bugger, I knew that I'd never be able to knock of 5K in three days, but in my defense, it's hard to get back in the groove after a four day break, and there was a dentist appointment in there, and... and...
20. I shall make it to 5K by this weekend. Right after I redo this one scene (and add 500 words). :)