Where did the year go?

Tomorrow will be the last day of 2008. It has been a good year that has brought many changes to our lives. We bought an old house, our kids started a new school, we added a kitten to the mix, and I am working for the first time in 8 years. Let me rephrase that, I am earning a paycheck for the first time in 8 years. I am anxious to see what 2009 holds for us.

Tomorrow we will make the trek to Decatur to visit family. It was nice to leave work today knowing I wouldn't return until January 5th. I'm sure it will be here soon enough. In a way I am longing for the return to a normal schedule. Right now it just feels like everything is in a holding pattern. Everyone is waiting for the new year. I am ready for things to feel like they are moving again. Anyway, that is all for now. I hope you all have a blessed new year.

Customer Service Woes

I have spent way too much time the last two days dealing with Customer Service people. The only lesson learned is that persistence pays. I ordered some merchandise online Christmas evening with a gift card I received from my loving husband. As soon as I got the email confirmation for the order I realized I had made a mistake. I had intended to order 5 of one item but had only ordered 3. There was a significant discount if you ordered the larger quantity. No problem, I sent a quick email to customer service explaining my mistake and asking if it would be possible to correct it. I received an email about 24 hours later saying that they could not fix the problem via email, but if I called customer service they would be able to resolve the issue. Yeah for me. I called and was told that since the order had already processed they could not do anything. I let it go and decided that I should learn to pay better attention. However, the more I thought about it the more it irritated me. The email led me to believe that they would help me if I called and they didn't help me. John suggested I send another email to express my frustration. So I did. They responded with a new email that said if I would call again, they would fix it. I called again and this time they were able to do a new order for the additional items and give me a credit for the 3 already ordered. I do love happy endings. So remember kids, there is always someone willing to help if you insist enough.

Winter Blues

I think the Winter blues have set in. I guess I need to snap out of it. The tree is down and everything is put away. The lights are still on the roof, but they will most likely be down before the weekend is over. The kids are having fun with their new toys. The cap guns, basketball goal, and Wii Rock Band were all big hits. Now we start the countdown to the new year and all it has to offer. I am hoping and praying for great things. All the economic news makes it hard to be cheerful at times, but there is no sense worrying about things I have no control over. John called and said he is hoping to leave work around 3:00. I hope he is able to. It will be nice to have him home. It was kind of a bummer that he had to work today, but I am thankful he has a good job he enjoys. Sometimes you have to look for the silver lining.

Merry Christmas

The presents are unwrapped and everything has been assembled. I am tired. Merry Christmas!

Making Memories

We are home and settling in for the evening. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at the Ichiban Grill in Flowood. It was really nice. They haven't been open long, so it was our first trip to said establishment. The food was excellent and our cook put on a great show.
Once we got home the boys opened a gift. Don't they look cute in their new pajamas.

As they prepared for bed it was time for the Christmas story. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas Eve

Wow. Tomorrow is the big day. I am so excited. Knowing that I don't have to go back to work until Monday is pretty exciting as well. I am looking forward to a great day at home with my kids. We need to get some cookies baked for Santa and possibly run to Lowe's for some last minute shopping. We went to Walmart yesterday around 3p.m. It was nothing short of chaos. Everyone had that glazed over look in their eyes. I was glad to get out of there.

Tonight we will continue our Christmas eve tradition of going to a Hibachi grill for Japanese food. We started the tradition when we lived in Ohio. I do miss the House of Japan in Dublin, OH. Anyway, we found a little place in Jackson last year that we will visit again this year. After dinner we will drive around and look at the lights before returning home where the kids will open one gift before bed. That is the current plan anyway. I am hoping it works out that way. Some of it will depend on how my Joshua is doing. He had a little bit of a temperature last night. He just got up and seems to be better so I am hoping he is done being sickly. In case I don't get a chance to write again before tomorrow
Merry Christmas!

Slowing Down

I love weeks where the calendar is pretty open. This is one of those weeks. Since we had our Christmas party here yesterday, my house is pretty clean. I have to work tomorrow and then I am done for the week. I am looking forward to some time at home to just do nothing.

Speaking of our Christmas party, it was really fun. Counting us we had 29 people here. I realized after everyone left that I hadn't taken a single picture during the party. I took this picture before June got here with the other table clothes. We had seating for 30 so it worked out perfect. The food and fellowship were both wonderful. I can hardly wait until we do it again.