'Tis the Season

Well, it's getting to be that time. Christmas is right around the corner, and for most people it is stressful, for me it is more so. Not only do I have Thanksgiving followed closely by Christmas, I have my son's birthday November 19th, then my daughter's birthday December 9th. So I get slammed with two birthday's worth of presents as well as Christmas. My budget is tight at best, and this time of year it is downright non-existant. This coming weekend will be our "Backyard Barbeque Birthday Bash" for my son. He is turning a whopping 13 years of age, a true teenager this year. We have managed to get him some nice gifts that we hope he will thouroghly enjoy. Kevin will be baking the birthday cake and he and I will work to come up with some off the wall crazy way to decorate it. Here is a picture of him taken not too long ago. He made this face and while it's not suitable for hanging on the wall it suits him well if you know him.

We also had to take our poor Drizzt to the vet yesterday. He had been acting a little 'off' for a few days and yesterday his entire lower jaw was swollen up. Kevin and I rushed the poor baby to see what was wrong. The vet couldn't tell me for sure what it was (he wanted to do x-rays but I didn't have an extra $70 to shell out for them). It is possible it is just a really bad bruise, he could have fallen, ran into something really hard, or been hit. The likelyhood of him falling or hitting something is very small, which leads me to think he was hit. Now I am trying not to speculate, but I'm half afraid some hooligan has decided to use my loveable cat as a soccer ball. The idea of that has me decidedly worried. Kevin and I are on the hunt for a guard dog now. We would like to start with a young puppy to train him properly, but at this point, anything is better than nothing. See Drizzt below, he may look innocent in the picture, but he's after my food!

I seem to be having some difficulty with my daughter of late, I am not sure what her deal is, but she pouts about everthing, and has started getting an attitude with me of late. I assure you this will not last! I do not put up with moody children and she will be made aware of this fact once again (yes, she has tried the 'attitude' bit with me in the past) and she will behave like a...hmm...well behaved child. Sounded odd saying it that way. Most of the time I can count on Amy to be loveable, crafty and fun. For the most part she is very easy to get along with and always willing to help out with things. It has just been recently that she has tried to start attitude with me, perhaps part of her 'growing up' is to blame for that. I am sure it's just a phase and she will (hopefully) go back to being the sweet helpful child I know. Here she is in a recent picture.

I think I will have to close for now. Be sure to check out the blog of my love Kevin, and also that of the Crazed Mind. I'm sure they have something much more interesting or inspiring to say, me, I just whine a lot.