I Can't Believe It's Almost Over and Christmas to Boot!

I don't know about the rest of you, but this semester has flown by and YIKES!!! Christmas is just around the corner. I thought a good post would be to reflect on what has happened in my life during this semester.

In August, school started for my children. My oldest daughter (17) will graduate from High School in December. She will also graduate with an Assosicates in May. I am completely amazed at what she has accomplished. At this rate, she will have her PHD before I ever get done in college.

In September, my mother and I had yet ANOTHER falling out. I want so badly to be close to her but she continues to be negative and controlling. I am 42 years young (soon to be 43) and I can't get her to quit meddling in my affairs, not to mention that she is driving my husband absolutely crazy. She is the type of person who throws constant pity parties for herself and then tries to bring you in by laying the guilt on you. My brothers feel the same way, so the three of us decided to protect our children and spouses from her behavior and distance ourselves from her. I think, or at least I hope, she has gotten the message. I have just recently started talking to her again as have my brothers. Hopefully we can direct her to some counciling and move forward with some healing in our familys.

October was pretty cool. My little turned 7. We took her to Six Flags in Texas for her birthday. We had an amazing time. My husband and I have been married for 10 years (it will be eleven in January). Over the past two years, we seemed to have hit a dead spot in our relationship. I think we just got too comfortable with each other. I put on some weight and since I started school, I have let the house go a bit. We were constantly fighting over money and it seemed it was never going to end. But God is soooooo good! I prayed faithfully and he answered. As of today, I have lost more than 30 pounds and my house is almost (smile) spotless! He has started helping me around the house and (not to get too personal) our intimate relationship has improved 10 fold. Halloween we spent at our church for our annual Trunk or Treat. Our trunk theme was the "Flintstones". I was Wilma and my hubby was Fred. We had the best time.

November was just plain hectic but then the ULTIMATE of good news came yet again for me. I won a three day two night trip to Miami Florida! It was all expense paid, all inclusive. We even got $500.00 in spending money. We used it as a "second" honeymoon. It was amazing. It was like we were just married all over again. What can I say about Miami? We stayed at South Beach. The people were so very different than those here in Oklahoma. It was just plain culture shock. We ended up not getting a car but opted to walk around South Beach instead. We saw everything and anything. My favorite show is "CSI MIAMI" and in one of the episodes, Horatio Cane says, "Miami never closes"...boy was he right. One of the days we were there was Thanksgiving day. We expected everything to look like a dead zone....NOT! It was just as busy and exciting as any other day. We opted to have something different for Thanksgiving than just your turkey and dressing. We had authentic Cuban food at Gloria Estephans restaurant. It was AMAZING!

December has just started and this is the last week of the semester (plus finals week). My birthday is in a few weeks and then Christmas. For the first time ever, we are flying to my fathers house in Georgia and spending Christmas with him. My youngest daughter is so excited about Santa coming to Georgia instead of Oklahoma. She is just amazed that he would know where to find her.

I will let you know how the rest of December goes and post again after the new year. I have a feeling it is going to be the best year I have ever had!