Today's Headline...Hubby Gives Tax Deductible Gift, Wife Declares "I love it!"

Hey hope you all had a great Christmas, I only have 5 seconds to write, I'm getting ready for girls night out (dinner and a movie, very tame). I got my tax deductible gift from my dear sweet husband- I got a Garmin!!! I was excited and surprised! Talk soon...
Love,
Michele;

I did NOT...

I am NOT having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I am NOT moving to Australia.
It was NOT 6 degrees outside today. I did NOT warm up by getting raked over the coals at work today by an angry mom.
I do NOT hate Perrla beads. I did NOT promise to play with them this evening with my daughter. I do NOT get a weird vestibular reaction when I try to place the tiny beads on the even tinier little stakes.
The ketchup bottle did NOT fart all over my daughter and her clothes and the table and the floor. It did NOT look like a grisly murder scene. I did NOT spill water everywhere, requiring an entire clothing change.
I did NOT skip 2 doses of Lexapro b/c I'm been so happy and didn't think I needed them. I have NOT made this mistake before. I have NOT been a crabby mother this weekend.
I am NOT in desperate need of encouragement right now.
I am NOT in tears 3 days before Christmas. This is NOT happening.

Much ado about nothing...

Just wanted to add a few pics today. We had Christmas with the Loennekes a few nights ago. I told the kids they could exchange gifts after they performed a Christmas song.

The song turned out to be a little non-traditional.

Then we promised they could open gifts after posing for a picture.

They were so patient with us.

Now I leave you with another pic I took. First person to name this picture with a quote from a famous holiday movie is the winner. Sorry, no prize this time, just the honor of having your name typed on my blog with a few exclamation marks after it.

Happy Holidays...

Love,

Michele;

And the Winner Is...

KATIE C!!! I loved ALL the stories but Katie, your story left a very strong visual. Your Panera card will be in the mail this week. Thanks to everyone for the great stories. Randy, your story runs a real close 2nd. If you haven't read the stories, click on Comments on the previous post and take some time to laugh a little.
I got tagged on a blog this week http://mrsdirnberger.blogspot.com/ I'm not sure what that means but I think I'm supposed to tell my holiday traditions. I don't have a lot of traditions. We watch our favorite movies, especially Christmas Story, but otherwise we just do everything very traditional. Go to Christmas Eve Mass, open one present, then open the rest on Christmas morning. Last year we bought a mailbox ornament and when we packed up the ornaments we put in a list of predictions. It was fun reading them this year when we unpacked it. My favorite prediction was "Mom will be healthy" Yea! It came true!
I don't know how much blogging I will be doing in the next couple of weeks. I hope everyone has the best Christmas ever! I love you all!
Love,
Michele;

Blog Giveaway!!!

I'll bet you think I'm going to talk about the holidays. Hey, you know me better than that. I've got something even better. My first Blog Giveaway!!! Read on...
I love my job. I call it my dream job. God has blessed me with a challenging but enjoyable career. In case you've just joined us, I will give a very brief synopsis. I am a pediatric speech pathologist (aka and been referred to as speech teacher, talking lady, speech friend, speech person, teacher lady, I could go on..). I provide services for children birth to 3 (plus a few older ones) in their homes. I specialize in feeding disorders but work on speech too. I get most of my referrals through a State program called First Steps. They send the referrals and I work under their many guidelines.
I say that I work in-home but technically, First Steps tells us that services must be provided "in the child's natural environment". So over the years "natural environment" has led to many creative situations. The parent ultimately deems what is "natural" for their child. What I am trying to say is, I work in whatever place the parent requests. This list, over the years, has included front porches, sidewalks, street corners, McDonalds, parks, parties, playdates, the mall, the nature center, and yard sales. The most creative place on the list has to be the ticket gate at the SEMO District Fair. Years ago, the Mom called and said she was working the gate and she needed me to work with her son while they were there. So I found myself at the gate, providing services for a child in his "natural environment".
So your challenge today is to tell me the wackiest work situation you have ever found yourself in. I will award a $10 Panera gift card to the best answer. (Katie C, get to work on picking your favorite, you have as many as I do). I can't wait to hear everyone's stories!

I did NOT...

We are NOT discussing "hot docs" on the Colon Club this week. I did NOT post a pic of my hot doc. http://www.sfmc.net/display/DocDetail.nws?phyid=322
Kelly was NOT the winner with the hottest doc
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b8cc29b3127ccec5852234747400000040O08IZMmbJoxcg9vPgI/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I did NOT go to work today and watch a toddler come out of the bedroom chewing on his mother's thong. I am NOT going to leave you with that image.

Prayers needed...

I just found out that Shawndra Turner is very ill. She is in the hospital and hospice will most likely be called in. My heart is breaking. If you are new to the blog, let me just synopse by saying Shawndra has a rare form of colorectal cancer and I have never known anyone fight cancer the way she does. Shawndra saved my life by posting her symptoms on her blog, which convinced me to get my problems checked out. Shawndra has a very precious 3 yr old daughter and a very loving husband. Her blog is http://shawndraturner.blogspot.com/
Please pray!

Tax Deductible!

This week's Wordless Wednesday is John! John, that was great, I loved it! Also, I forgot to mention that Twylia was the winner last week when she submitted several ideas for what Scott was calculating. Speaking of Scott and calculating, today, he said Honey, I know what I want to get you for Christmas but it's really expensive, about $300. I told him there was no reason to buy me a $300 gift. His response "But the best part about buying this particular gift is...It's Tax Deductible!". So now you see why I posted a picture of him using the calculator.
I do have more to chat about but I'm really tired and I have a date with...the couch. So I'll go for now.
Love,
Michele;

Wordless Wednesday

Today's assignment is a fill-in-the-blank.


"I'll shoot anything that stands in the way of my __________"