Bad Day

Well, we've trumped TJ's good day with one really bad day. It started better than most days actually... I had taken the day off so I could get some wrapping done -not having the normal "morning battle" trying to get out of the house and get to work on time is vacation enough for me. I did still take TJ to school - I thought it might be too hard to explain why mommy was wrapping all his presents from Santa. Anyway, as I was leaving the Rec. center, Tom called and said he had been in an accident. Someone had gone through a red light and he T-boned them, stopping him dead in his tracks and spinning them around and off the road. He was fine - shaky and sore - but alive. However, his truck didn't fare so well. Only a year old, that truck was Tom's first brand new care he'd ever owned. I should 't be speaking in past-tense. we haven't actually gotten word the truck is totaled, and we may not know until after Chrismas.
Tom did end up going to the emergency room. His back was pretty sore, and his head was hurting alot. We figured he could see a doctor, get checked out completely and they'd give him some muscle relaxers and send us on our way. I dropped him off and waited with Chris. I waited an hour in the waiting room and decided it was time to go as Christoper dumped water all over himself. Someone had left their cup of water next to their chair on the floor (I'm just praying they weren't in ER because they had a communicable disease). I left my cell with the nurse and left to go pick TJ up from school - so much for wrapping presents. Two hours later there was still no word - starting to wonder what could be taking 3 hours to check out I left the kids with Barb and went back to the ER. Tom was sitting in the same place he had 3 hours ago and had still not seen a doctor. Once he finally saw someone it was just as we expected - they gave him some muscle relaxers and sent him on his way. The took his blood pressure before he left - not surprisingly it was very high. The nurse chalked it up to the pain, but I knew better. Tom can't sit still for 3 hours and wait patiently.
After all this, Tom - not wanting to let a good party go to waste - still wanted to keep to our original plans and go to a Christmas festival in Bluffton. Thinking he's nuts - We went along. It turned out there was no festival - but a lovely live nativity at the methodist church. It was nice and peacefull. We went to get pizza afterward. Just when we were all at our breaking point (highlighted by TJ running into the parking lot and almost getting hit by car) we went straight home and went to bed. This was definatley not one of our "good days". But today is a new day. Tom feels better than he thought he would, and the kids and I are braving the traffic to do some last minute shopping - say a prayer that no one runs a red.

Christmas Fun

The weekends lately have been non-stop. If there's not a Christmas party to attend - there is one to cater. We've packed in every minute of our time with visiting Santa, shopping, or attending some function. Tis the season, I know, and I'm not complaining. Soon it will be all over and we'll be bored and cold in January. The only thing I haven't found time to do is clean my house - I JUST CAN"T FIND TIME - HA!......or that's what I keep telling myself. It's no secret that cleaning is by far one of my least favorite actvities- and I justify it by saying that it is more important to me to spend quality time with my boys than have a clean house. I'm sure Tom would beg to differ - but fortunatley for me he enjoys cleaning.

So last Sunday after church TJ and Tom spent some quality time together. They went to the dump - a very manly thing to do, then got haircuts. Tom was very excited about the "new" style haircut he saw on a little boy in the post office and wanted TJ to have the same cut. Turns out it was a bowl cut - not so much a new style - but pretty cute just the same. That afternoon we all went to our church's "Christmas on Buckwalter" celebration. They had 100 different animals surrounding the nativity scene, including a camel and a kagaroo. Don't remember a kangaroo in the Christmas story - but he sure was cute!

As we we left and were walking back to the car TJ looked up at me and said "this was a good day mom" Well said, TJ.

A Work in Progress

Here it is....my new blog site. I'm sure I will change it 100 more times, but for now I'm going to show it to the world. I've been trying to perfect it for days and just realized that half the fun is designing it...if it's perfect I probably wouldn't bother looking at it. But I do still need to upload the pictures from my old site and I'm going to attempt to upload a video clip of the boys.



I don't have anything else profound to say at the moment....I've waisted all my brain cells just trying to center the words "the Condame Family" over our picture. So I will retire for tonight and dazzle you later with my literary genious later.

Thanksgiving 07

I started this blog intending to complain about how busy my weekend was; how extremely tired I am and how the holidays are starting off to be stressfull and overwelming. Instead, I'm going to embrace the spirit of thanksgiving and make a list of what I'm thankfull for. It may be corny - but some times It's good to remind yourself why you're blessed. It's too easy to get so self-absorbed that you forget to look around and think about how much worse your life could be. Turkey Trot was unbelievable this year. We had a huge turnout and ran out of T-shirts. The majority of the crowd was okay, but there are always those people who do nothing but complain and running out of t-shirts was apparently the end of their world as they knew it. These peole didn't think about the fact that it was nearly 70 degrees outside and they were with their family fully capable of running a 5k race. Isn't that enough to be thankfull for? So here it is, some things I thank God for every day, and some things that I take for granted....
My Family, friends, my job, my half hour walk, crocs (yes they're ugly but extremely comfortable), Harry Potter, Heroes, Pumpkin Pie, Ice cream, contacts, digital cameras, fluffy down comforters, flannel pants, yummy vodka drinks, lasagna, sunny days with a light breeze on the beach, friends who have a boat :), and lastly, because I'm getting really tired, I'm thankfull for my bed.
Good Night.

November 9, 2007

Christopher has offically turned one. My baby is one. We didn't have a party for him - we didn't even get him a present for that matter. This is a bit strange for us, especially for Tom who will throw a party just because they had a sale on french onion dip at the store. But I voted against it. We've been to birthday parties for one-year-olds before. They are usually catered and involve a large amount of beer-most likely a keg. Somehow the "one-year-old birthday party" and the keg don't seem to go together. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, yet it is still a very popular thing to do in this area. I actually had a co-worker tell me that I should have a big party for him becuase it was the only one that would be for me, the rest would be all for Chris. ummm...shouldn't they all be about Chris? It is his birthday right? But, now that I think of it, maybe he has a point. Chris didn't really do anything, I'm the one who had surgery then spent the rest of the day throwing up and dizzy...and the next 2 months recovering, waking up 3-4 times a night, sore nipples, bags under my eyes, and excess weight....maybe I SHOULD get the party - celebrate and congratulate myself on surviving the first year! But to be fair, when I look at Chris and see how much he's done in his first year -from this tiny helpless screaming baby taken from his nice warm cozy spot inside his mommy to a harsh world of lights and sounds, then growing from a helpless screaming baby to a walking, full-of-personality child , I think he has a lot to celebrate too. It comes down to this, the first year of life is challenging for both mom and baby, and I guess the first birthday should be a celebration for both. But I'm glad we celebrated keg-free. We had a small party at Barb's house and got all the great pictures of Chris and the cake smashing. That's good enough for me!

November 1, 2007

Well, halloween has come and gone and we survived TJ's first real trick-or-treating experience. Since Rose Hill isn't great for trick-or-treating we headed over to Eric & Summer's house. TJ had so much candy he was walking sideways trying to carry his pumpkin pail. We offered to carry it for him but there was no getting it away from him...which is probably smart, I was definately eyeing the snickers bars. TJ dressed as a pirate...Jack Sparrow actually, although Eric thought he looked more like Steve the pirate from the movie Dodgeball. Chris was superman, mostly because I thought it was only outfit he would actually keep on. Someone did point out though that it was apppropriate that "Christopher" be superman. So there's my tribute to Christopher Reeves.
Overall, it was a lot of fun and we are all very tired. In fact, I have a lot more to write but I'm going to bed instead....I'll write more tomorrow - and post pictures of the boys in their costumes.

Yes Virginia, There is a Harry Potter

Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me over the last few months knows it was only a matter of time before I addressed this subject. So here it is...Harry Potter.
Two things I have given up since becoming a mother are 1)working out and 2)reading. One,as I'm sure you can guess, is more regrettable than the other, however I still would like to fit them both into my day. To resolve this, I started walking and listening to books on tape . It has worked out beautifully, and best of all - I get a whole half hour to myself!! The first book series I chose was Harry Potter. I didn't have a lot of interest in the books or the movies for that matter, but I figured since J.K. Rowling is now a multi-millionaire she must know what she's doing, and that she does. I soon found myself completely engrossed in the wizarding world she created. I couldn't stop, it was an addiction. I was listening while I made dinner, in the car or giving the kids a bath...it didn't matter. Harry's, Ron's, and Hermoine's lives were spilled out to me around the clock. I dreamt about them and thought about them almost continually. They have became my friends . Okay - before you start calling doctors and reserving a spot for me at the mental health institution, hear me out. There is absolutely nothing like getting lost in a book. One book, and especially a series of seven books, creates a place to escape from reality and life in general. It is like being right there in the action, because only in a book can you hear another's thoughts and feelings. Ironically, this has actually given me a better appreciation for movie-makers. They have such a short time to introduce characters, make us like them and show us not tell us what they are feeling....not to mention create a story-line and plot. Books , on the other hand, can take as much time as needed for you to feel like that character is truly alive and well...and maybe living somewhere in London.
Maybe J.K Rowling is not as creative as we all think, and she is just a muggle who accidentally fell upon the Leaky Cauldron one day while shopping. Instead of altering her memory, the Ministry of Magic allowed her to write about their secret lives, but as fiction - just to get people use to the idea of witches and wizards living among us. Okay, it's highly doubtfull, but if my 11 year-old step-daughter still believes in Santa, I'm going to believe in Harry.

October 26, 2007

For the last couple of days TJ has woken up every morning and run down his daily schedule for me.
"First I'm going to Barb's, then I'm going to school for a long long time, then I'm going to Barb's for a long long time, then I'm going to vacuum for a long long time".
Vacuum? Yes Vacuum. Grandma had bought him a toy dirt devil vacuum cleaner for Christmas last year. It has sat in the corner of our living room for months...rarely even looked at. For some reason, it has taken on a whole new fascination for him. This is not unusal, favorite toys come and go. It was not that long ago he and his Diego action figure were inseparatable. However, I am seeing a golden opportunity here. Why on earth would a toy company make a vaccum cleaner the perfect size for a 3 year old and NOT have it actually pick up any dirt?? TJ has "vacuumed" every room in our house twice - which, by the way, is more than I've vacuumed in...nevermind you don't want to know. Maybe they are afraid parents will actually use the toy to make their children do chores...honestly, is that such a bad thing? I'm just saying, if he's doing it anyway......

October 24, 2007

Entry for October 24, 2007
I've always wanted to write about my life, not because it is extraordinarily intereresting, but because I've always had someting to say. My need to run a never-ending commitary on just about anything is why I spent much of the 6th grade sitting in the hallway away from the rest of the class. Mr. Matson was not nearly as patient with me as others in my life, like my best friend Kelly. She has been subjected to several long, endless conversations about nothing important. Starting a blog will not, of course, replace my marathon phone calls, but instead act as a recording of what I need to release at the time. I just finished reading Harry Potter and in it Dumbledore was able to touch his wand to his head, pull out a memory put it in a large silver bowl called a "pensive" and review it whenever he liked . That is what I'd like this blog to be, an outlet for me to write whatever random thought I have and be able to view that thought later. I'm sure much of it would silly little nothings, but maybe, like Dumbledore, I could put pieces together and solve some great mystery of life. Okay - maybe that is expecting too much from a blog. But I can write some of my "life Lessons" and keep them to laugh at when I'm old or pass down for my boys to laugh at when I'm gone.
So there it is my first ever blog......check in as often as you like, I can't guarantee that it will be updated, but I'll try to at least get some new pictures up once in a while!