My Frakkin Blog!

I know this is a little late - but - I’ve been extremely busy this past week.  In case you missed it - Battlestar Galactica started back up again this past Friday 1/16/09 on the SciFi channel.  These are the last 10 episodes before the series comes to an end.  Man, I’m so bummed.  I was hoping this would continue for a while longer.

So - here’s the scoop - BSG and their cylon allies landed on Earth the last episode of the last season.  The first episode picks up where that left off.  They land on Earth on a date not specified.  However, the Earth has been ravaged due to some nuclear event 2000 years before their arrival.  Everyone is now feeling really bummed out.

But - there are some new developments - they find “cylon remains.”  In other words - it appears that the inhabitants of earth were actually decendents of the 13th tribe - which were the human look-alike cylons.  The Four BSG cylons start having memories of living on earth.  Apparently, at the time earth was devastated - they were “downloaded” in to new bodies and reborn on one of the 12 colonies.

What else is revealed is the “5th” or “12″ cylon - depending on how you look at it.  It turns out that Colonel Tigh’s wife is the 5th cylon.  I’m sure we’ll see more of her later on in these last episodes.

The other mystery surrounds Starbuck.  She found the wreckage of her ship on Earth with her charred remains in it.  If she’s not a cylon - then who is she and how the heck did she get back to BSG in the new viper?  Just another question to be answered as this series continues on.

I guess the only down side at this point is that it appears that BSG is taking a really “dark” turn. Lee “Apollo” Adama gets back together briefly with his wife Anastasia Dualla.  After a great evening out - they show her smile - then blow her brains out.  WTFrak?  That caught me completely off guard.  As the episode progresses - we see other crewmembers in fights - morale is just completely on the kibosh - and previously disciplined military members are just sitting around moping.

Let’s hope things pick up later on.

Well - for some reason - since the last time I posted - today.com screwed up my blog.  You’ll also notice that my header is gone as well.  I don’t have any control over anything on this blog other than what I can post, my header, and my sidebars.  I have no idea when they actually disappeared or what today.com did to my profile - but - everything I worked so hard in building up on my sidebars is now gone.

I have sent them two messages now hoping they are smart enough to keep a back up on their servers - considering - whatever they did - they totally messed up my blog.  If I have to start all over trying to build up all those links and try to find all the award images, and everything else I had - it’s going to kill me.  It’s going to take forever!  I don’t know what the future of this blog will be if they can’t recover what they screwed up.  I might have to give it up.  One of the other problems with not having control is that I can’t save images.  I can only upload or link to them.  They don’t save in to a directory that I can access.

If it looks to be a daunting task to rebuild my sidebars - I might have to say adios to this blog and move to somewhere else.

To all the EC people who came through from other blogs I advertised on - sorry for not having the widget up.  I didn’t learn about this until I received a message from EC saying they could not detect my widget.  That’s when I learned everything was gone.  For those of you who paid credits to advertise - sorry - I don’t know what to say.

Did anyone else have this same problem with their today.com blog?

Okay - finally - I was wondering if the frenzy was ever gonna end.  Well, Christmas and the New Year festivities finally ended today.  All the decorations came down and were put away.  The house really looks bare now.

Christmas was a big hit with the kids this year.  As stated previously, Ryan was really in to the whole spirit of it this year.  While I totally expected him to get us up at 5am - he actually woke up at normal time - 8:00 and then got us all up.  Mary’s parents came in and were staying with us - they were actually up before Ryan.

Anyway - he came in all excited about Santa coming and all the presents that were there.  Kylie slept through it.  After Ryan opened up a few presents - we decided we really needed to go wake her up.  She had a great time opening up her presents as well - but - she still hasn’t really figured the whole thing out just yet.

I spent Christmas day doing what I usually do - putting together all the toys that Santa brought.  With the exception of about a 3 hour break when Mary’s Uncle’s and Aunt came for dinner - I pretty much spent the whole day doing that - into the night.

But - I got a Wii from Santa.  After everyone went to bed and after I finished with the last of the toys that needed to be put together - I spent the rest of the night playing Need for Speed and Nerf N-Strike.  Wow - time really flies when you’re playing those games.  Before I knew it - it was 4:30am.  I had to just shut the thing off or I would have been up all day.

I spent some serious time on that thing over the past week - so - I wouldn’t say I’m burned out - but - I’m definitely over it and ready to incorporate blogging back in to the routine.

So - I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, etc and a safe and Happy New Year.  I’m really looking forward to what 2009 will bring!

Also - I see that BSG will be on Jan 16th for those of you that are interested.  Unfortunately, it appears it will be the last episode of the series.  Bummer!

Yes - the countdown clock is getting closer and Ryan is almost over the edge - which, in turn - is about to drive me over the edge!  His excitement is getting so built up he doesn’t really know how to let it out other than running around all over the place, not listening, and just being a regular 4 year old in anticipation of Santa’s arrival.

Well - I had to pull the old “I’ve got Santa’s phone number” thing.  It worked for a little bit.

He was poking his little sister in the head.  I told him to stop.  He looked at me, then poked her again. Here’s how the rest of it went down:

Me:  If I have to tell you one more time, I’m calling Santa Claus

Ryan: You don’t have his phone number!

Me: Oh yes I do!  Every parent gets his phone number as soon as we become mommies and daddies.

Ryan: Right! What’s his phone number?

Me:  1-800-North Pole

At this point - he had that kinda cocked-head quizzical look on his face.  Then he decided to test it - he didn’t even take his eyes off me.  He just kinda reached out - then poked his sister in the head again.

Me: Okay. That’s it.  I’m calling Santa! (as I’m walking towards the kitchen to the phone).

Ryan: Nooooooo! (he’s following me now)

Me:  I told ya if you did it again I was calling! (picking up the phone).

Ryan: I won’t do it again.  I promise!  Don’t call Santa!

Me:  Fine.  But, I swear - if you’re mean to your sister again, I’m calling him.

Ryan: Okay.

I think that lasted a couple hours.  But, now - I only have to threaten to call Santa one time then he stops.

So, on Monday Mary gets a call from her Aunt telling her that they are in the area.  She was wanting to know if it would be okay for them to come visit on Christmas day.  So, Mary’s like - sure - absolutely!  So, her aunt and uncle will be coming.  Then during the course of that conversation, the aunt lets her know that one of her other uncles would be flying in to see them, so, she was wondering if it would be okay if he came along as well - Sure - absolutely!

So - Mary calls her mom to let her know about this news. So, her mom finds out that her sister and her brother are going to be down here - so - apparently, after she gets off the phone with Mary - she talks it over with Mary’s dad - and she calls Mary back to let her know that they’re coming down now too!

Only AFTER she learns that we will be having 5 additional guests did she call me to let me know the story.  It’s not like I was going to say “no” or anything.  Her family is always welcome in our home - but - this is the first time any of her family has ever celebrated Christmas with us.  I’m sure it will be fine.  We’re used to a house full of people…what’s 5 more, right?

Okay - got them downloaded!  Here are just a couple pictures of the outside of our house, at night.

Hopefully, you guys can make out these pictures okay.

These are the best angles I could get.  I was thinking about taking these at twilight - but - wasn’t sure if the full effects could be seen.  I think I will try to take some twilight pix tomorrow and see how they look.

After looking at all of these pictures, maybe you have noticed the same thing I have  - it is noticeably dark on the right side of my home.  Looks like I’ll need to put up some more lights, at least on the right side of the house.

I’ve also noticed that the corner of the house, just behind the choo-choo train needs something else.  Mary has to work tomorrow - so - I told the kids we’d hit target or walmart and see what other kind of lights or light-up yard ornaments we can find.  They’re really looking forward to it.  In fact, I think I’m looking forward to it too!

Okay - so, it’s not really the camera’s fault.  I guess in a way, it is my fault.  The actual title of this post was supposed to be “Christmas Lights” - but - it quickly changed.  When I went to load up the pictures - the camera would not come on for me to download them.  I guess I probably should have checked to see if the battery was charged.

So - I guess there will be a delay before I get the pictures up of the external Christmas lights.  Sorry!

But - some good news for you other BSG fans - in case you haven’t heard - the final installment of BSG will begin January 16, 2009 on the Sci-Fi channel!  WooHoo!  I’ve been jonesin’ for it to come back.  However, I’m not ready for it to be the final season just yet.

If you’re interested in catching up before it premieres next month - you can watch all of the prior season episodes at the Sci-Fi channel BSG website.

Anyway - pix will be coming soon.

Alrighty - got the first set of pictures to show you guys - these are from the inside of the house.  Mary is still buying things to put up on the inside - so - as she continues to add - I’ll take a few more pictures and post them up.

First - a couple different angles of the Christmas tree.  Also - if you take a look at the mantle to the left - you’ll see the countdown calendar that I referenced in an earlier post.  Also - you’ll see that mantle is very bare - well - long story short - while I was putting the Angel up on the top of the tree - I hit the mantle on the way up - which knocked down and broke all the ceramic figurines.  I owe Mary a new Manger with all the pieces, a couple Angels, and one Santa Claus.  Oops!!

I also had to repair the mantle - I knocked it loose!  Also - you’ll notice there are only two stockings - Kylie’s and Ryans.  We actually have 11 - one for each kid, one for Mary, one for me, and one each for the dogs.  But, we figured with a 2 and 4 year old - it would be safer this year if we didn’t put them all up around the mantle.  I would rather have had the stockings up - at least I wouldn’t have broken all the

And - here’s one of the steps.  Mary likes to collect different figures - here’s the beginning of them.  I’m sure there will be more by the end of this Christmas.  Anyway - this is the last of the pictures for tonight - I don’t want to overwhelm you all!

Also - you’ll notice a gate around the stairs - some of you may remember the whole Kylie saga last April when she broke her arm.  For those of you that are new - she fell down from the third step there and broke her left forearm.  I’m kinda lazy and don’t want to hunt through the archives to post it up here - but - if you follow the tags for Kylie - you’ll find the broken arm posts.  Anyway - that gate is now our and her protection.  She can’t get up the steps any more on her own.

I know, I’ve said it before - I am SO SUCH a SLACKER!  Actually, this is not the case today.  I didn’t get an opportunity to put up the lights today as I had planned.  You know what they say about plans..right?

Well - things started off right - Mary would do her thing and I would do my thing and then I would get to the lights after I was done doing my thing!  Well, my thing consisted of doing homework, updating and balancing the checkbook, writing and paying the bills, putting the Angel on the top of the tree (Mary can’t reach it even on a step-ladder), super-glue some broken ornaments, and put up a wall decoration.  Once I got all that done - then I would get to the lights.

Well - I should probably update the checkbook more than once a month - that took me a heckuva lot longer to do than I anticipated.  Anyway, I got everything done on my list - but - by that time it was already dark outside.  I don’t like to put lights up in the dark cuz - well - while I consider myself to be somewhat nimble and coordinated - you never know what’s out there in the dark that might cause some unanticipated injuries.  20 years ago I never would have cared about that!

Anyway - I’ll get the lights finished tomorrow and I promise the pictures will be up!

Yup, feelin’ like a kid again!  I always do this time of year.  I think part of what is making this so exciting for me is the excitement that Ryan experiences every day.  We have a count down calendar on our mantle that we update every morning.  Actually, we let Ryan change it over.  He’s starting to get countdown fever - and - it’s catching.

Likewise, he’s starting to learn all the Christmas carols and he’ll just break out in to a song at any time in any location.  I have a tendency to join him!

Well, tomorrow I will finish putting up the lights outside.  I’ll get both daytime and nighttime pictures and post them up here.  Mary did a great job on the inside as well.  I’ll get some pictures of that and post them here as well.  I’ll try to spread them out a couple days so not to bog the page down with picture loading.

Anyway - how about you guys?  Anybody else starting to feel that buzz in the air?