Weekend Gamers

Right now I'm sitting on the sofa with Big Guy watching him play Civilization Revolution while I put together my blog entry for today.  Because trailers are not so good at maintaining heat, I am curled up under one of my two Snuggie gifts for Christmas. We're also watching my niece, G, for my sister-in-law. She's adorable, if a semi-picky and extremely slow eater. She and Little Guy are currently ensconced in the front room playing Lego Star Wars 2. Currently, they are on a roll destroying R2-D2 so they can hear him yell.

We're a pretty tech-happy family. We love our PS2 and PS3 and, when console debates begin, of course support our brand of choice. It's really not that difficult, though I do wish Sony had not eliminated backwards compatibility from the PS3. The Playstation series has a lot of great things going for it, not the least of which is the Blu-Ray player that comes with the Playstation 3. And, Big Guy and I are pretty dedicated gamers. The irony is, when I met him, Big Guy hadn't had much experience with video games. I introduced him to my Playstation 2, and the rest is history. He became a video game addict like me.

Little Guy is proving to be a video game nerd like mommy and daddy. Of course, the poor child was doomed to nerd-hood anyhow. He runs through the house singing the Imperial Death March and, for a long time, recognized dinosaurs as "dragons". His preferred weapons are the laser guns, lightsabers, or a sword and shield. He also would prefer to be a Sith lord rather than a Jedi. He can speak some small words in Mandarin and can count to 100 and does so on a regular basis. Not too shabby for a 4 year old. I've been trying to get him to read because he LOVES books, but he's been giving me difficulties recently.

We went to the bargain book store the other day and he wanted a particular Pooh book, a level 2 book which contains higher level words and concepts. I told him that he could have it IF he showed me that he could read it. We went through the first couple pages and except for a difficulty with the word "heart" he read every word on those pages. The booger has been giving me difficulties, not because he's having trouble, but because he doesn't want us to know that he can do it. This ranks right up there with our issues with potty training.

Little Guy just turned 4 and is still in diapers. Everyone is full of advice and ideas, some of which we're going to have to implement in warmer weather. I think, though, that the biggest stumbling block to potty usage, is Little Guy's own determination. He adamantly refuses to use the potty, doesn't want to have anything to do with it, and will tolerate no discussion of using it. If he chooses to, he could probably get this potty training thing down with very little effort.

Instead, he's putting all his effort into avoiding it. When it gets to be spring and summer, I'm unleashing the child on the outdoors in a pair of underpants to try and learn potty time. I think it's going to be a battle of wills. Luckily, I'm bigger, older and have a better concept of patience and time.

Post-Holiday Blues

I have homemade chili bubbling away in the crockpot and Little Guy is (hopefully) napping. It's still a bit nippy in the house because I have to keep the heat set at 65 to avoid a massive heat bill. But I also recognize that I am dealing with post-holiday crankiness.

Post-holiday crankiness happens to a lot of people. The coming down from the build up and excitement of the holidays leads to depression and unhappiness. I get cranky after the holidays. Luckily, I recognize it and try to offset the crankiness. But, the whole post-holiday crankiness bothers me. Because it bothers me, it tends to make me crankier. This makes for an unhappy dpwnward spiral. One thing I know I need to do, that will break the spiral, is get back into a routine.

My current routine has flown to the winds. It used to be: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays were teaching days; Wednesdays were my "at-home days", used to get chores and the niggly bits out of the way; Fridays were my days with my mom. Weekends were reserved for Big Guy and our activities. Then, two things happened. Mom's car broke down and eliminated the Friday routine for the time being, and the holidays hit. This event nixed all other routines.

As Big Guy will attest to, I do not do well with change. It is an unfortunate and unpleasant side effect of the ADD, but there it is. A change in routine throws me off and affects me mentally and emotionally. Even worse, the ADD also makes it that much more difficult to get back on track. And if I'm not careful, my distraction can really upset the balance in the household. Big Guy and I are not fanatic cleaners, and Little Guy, for as much as I adore him, is a hurricane and a tornado combined.

What this means is that if I get distracted, nothing happens until I throw a fit because now the house is a complete mess. Big Guy and Little Guy watch me in complete and total amazement while I start slamming things around trying to get things cleaned up. I know the easiest thing to do would be to pick up gradually, but it never seems to happen.

It's times like this that I wish I hadn't married a guy whose cleanliness threshold was so much lower than mine. On the other hand, if Big Guy is the way he is and nothing happened around the house with Crazy Ex unless he did it, what must her house be like now?

Yes, Reader, there is a Santa Claus

PhotobucketThe holidays were, of course, really busy around here. Thanksgiving came and went. We ate turkey, visited with family, and had a great time. Then the preparations for Christmas kicked into high gear.

I am in love with Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. In fact, Big Guy states that Santa probably doesn’t love Christmas as much as I do. I can’t help it though. How can you not love a season that promotes peace and joy? I was the kid who embraced Santa beyond the age of rational thought, the one who knew “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” practically by heart. And, were you to ask me today, I would devoutly answer that yes, indeed, there is a Santa Claus.

It is immensely important in today’s fast paced world that we embrace and enjoy the spirit of giving and sharing. There are probably none better than I who recoginize the difficulty involved in holding on to peace and joy. The months leading up to Christmas 2009 were… difficult… to put it mildly. But, Christmas gives us all an opportunity to embrace the better aspects of our personalities.

I made it a point, this year to share what I had, what extras we had, with others. Selling them would have given us some much needed extra cash, but it would not have given us a much needed c balm to our spirits. In sharing what we had without trying to earn money, I believe we made an important spiritual advance. I felt better and people out there, most likely worse off than us, had a better holiday because of us.

So, yes, at 30 years old, I can proudly say that I do believe in Santa. I believe that the spirit and potential lies in all of us. And I think that if we were to each embrace that happy, peaceful, and giving side of our personalities on a more regular basis, the situation we find our world in would not exist. But, I guess I am an idealist.

Preparing for the Holiday Season

So, preparing for the holiday season is well underway. I have Big Guy all shopped for and we’re working on Little Guy. I have a major weakness when it comes to Christmas shopping though. I like to keep going. Big Guy gets upset with me every year and tries to limit how much I can buy for him. This year, when I made my first purchase, he immediately got irritated and told me I spent too much, even though it was under $25. I think it’s because he’s somewhat flustered, having a wife who tries to dote on him on the holidays.

I have to figure out what we’re getting everyone else for the holidays and work from there. It’s a different type of holiday than last year. It will be our first Christmas without the kids. Luckily, we have Little Guy to focus on and we can work to make it good for him.

Right now, I am also trying to plan my Christmas Eve dinner and breakfast. For breakfast on Christmas day, I am strongly considering a meal of “Night Before French toast” (recipe to follow), sausage, bacon, coffee, and biscuits. But dinner the night before is usually a good meal. My mom comes over and we have our Christmas Eve family gift exchange. This year, it looks like I am making a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes… I’ll have a few finger food snacks and we’ll have a wonderful night. I am excited and looking forward to it.

The big meal the night before enables me to play around the next day and not have to worry about meals. And Christmas Day is one of my favorite things to do.

Night Before French Toast

1 loaf Texas Toast
lots of brown sugar
about 1 stick butter
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg

Directions:

Melt butter and brown sugar together stirring frequently.

Spray a 9×13 pan (important!) with cooking spray. Pour mixture on the bottom so it’s about 1/8 inch thick. Lay the bread slices on top of it.

Mix together eggs, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour egg mix over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 and uncover the baking dish. Bake for 30 min. You can serve with toppings of your choice.