not off to a good start

Well, I've been meaning to post. I've been meaning to do a lot of things. I don't do well in the season after Christmas. You'd think my depression would be when it starts getting dark longer, but instead mine is when it starts getting light earlier. Go figure. I was an awful mom to poor Gman. I know that at least twice I let him watch movie after movie while I slept on the couch. There will be days in Purgatory for that little bit of neglect and poor parenting. I'm sorry Gman. I love that boy so much I really hate it when I have a parenting fail.

What have we been up to lately. N and J rented a house just 2 1/2 blocks from us which has their little brother absolutely excited. He loves to go and see them. He likes to hang out with the "big kids". We gave them our couches and dining room set. The dining room set was relatively easy to replace even though it will take a long time to get because it's made from all wood. In fact, I ordered it before they even had my old set out of the house. Got a great deal on it too. It's smaller than my old set which will hopefully open up the room more. The couches were another story. I gave them away 3-5-11 and I think I started to regret it 3-6-11 12:00 AM. 3 weeks I have been searching for couches. 3 weeks without anything to sit in but 2 old recliners - and when you're used to sprawling on the couch that gets old quick. We found the couch last week but I couldn't commit. I was looking for something red. I don't know why, except that my house is decorated in neutral colors and I wanted something bright. So we've gone to almost every furniture store in the city and sat on just about every couch available. I was really disgusted with some of the stores that have online sites. I would see something I liked online, go to the store and they wouldn't have it there to try out. Heaven knows I was not going to buy a couch without sitting on it. One saleslady actually told me that they have free shipping to the store. What? I'm going to order expensive couches, have them delivered to the store, come in, sit on it and then decided it's not comfortable and return it. No thank you. That makes no sense. I'd still be buying couches 6 months from now. So last week we found a few that were doable. Not great, not exciting, but doable. This weekend Tom told me to go out and buy couches, pick from the ones we'd liked or go somewhere new but his thought was that they were all pretty much the same. He was right. I finally went to the last place we had been the weekend before and bought the couch he seemed to like the most. Trena Pewter, Ashley Homestore, if you're interested. I bought them Saturday, found recliners I liked to go with them [recliners not ordered yet, waiting for the eventual coupon they send every month], saw some end tables that were pretty, by Monday, Tom picked up the couches and they were waiting for me when I got home yesterday. 2 days from purchase to having comfy couches that Gman loves. Easier to snuggle blankey on the couch than in a recliner. Still don't have the dining room table.

In the meantime, we've been reading. Gman is up to 70 - 75 books read to him so far this year. That's not bad for the first 3 months of the year. I'm only on #11 and I want to read 111 this year. 111 books in year 2011. I keep track of what we've been reading over at www.librarything.com if anyone is interested in seeing what we've read and my thoughts on it. Additionally it is Lent and I have given up reading fiction for my sacrifice. Since I am addicted to brain candy it seemed like a good idea to try and get more thoughtful, spiritually uplifting or even just something that gave me knowledge instead of inanity. So far I haven't read a single book. I'm working on it though. Stayed up to 1 AM last night reading UNPLANNED by Abby Johnson. She was a director of a Planned Parenthood clinic, saw an ultrasound guided abortion and became devoutly pro-life. Very, very interesting and intense book.

We also have Gman's school fundraiser coming up - The Jog-a-thon. He isn't old enough yet to run laps for money, not until next year. But we've been raising money by soliciting lump sums from family and friends. I think he's raised over $300 so far. Every kid at the school except the Preschoolers has a goal of $300, so the fact that he has no goal this year and still managed to make it to the mark gives me hope for next year. We're trying to raise $20,000 for the school. I think we're really far from our school goal so far. But we still have a month to go and that's usually when the impetus kicks in. I tried to have a trivia night but no one was intested. Oh well, maybe next year something smaller, like at the school with bring your own everything.