Happy Thanksgiving. Eat more food than you should and enjoy your time with your family.
And of course, Happy Black Friday. Hope you find all the deals you are looking for....and dont forget to pick something up for yourself while shopping at 2 AM! I am sooo excited.

Black Friday

This weekend is one of my favorite times of the year.

Long lines. Great deals. Standing outside a store before the sun comes up. And getting all the holiday shopping done before the calendar says December 1.

I love it.

The past few years, it has been a tradition for me to hit the stores by 5AM on Bla.ck Fri.day. And this year is no different. Some years I had friends with me. Some years I went by myself. Either way, its a blast. One year, I think 3 years ago now (wow, time flies and things change!),a friend of mine and her mom went with me; it was probably the most successful BF I have had so far. And what a blast we had. You know who you are. :)

But this year is a little disappointing already. Granted, the outlet mall opens at midnight and I know there will be many purchases made there. But the rest of my regular stores for this shopping trip arent advertising any "must have" deals.

Of course, I will still be there with the rest of the crazy people at 5AM. You never know what deal you will find once out and about on that early morning.

The lack of deals....is it because I already know what Santa is bringing (and most of those things arent on the "doorbuster" deal lists) or is it because, even though the deals are great, I am still cheap and wont buy stuff if its not specifically on my list this year?

Extra Credit for Early Learning?

Workbooks. Flash cards. Write and Wipe tablets. All so we can teach Grace how to recognize her letters and numbers before her 4th birthday.

Are we crazy!?

Grace has been trying to draw a triangle for 3 months now. With only mild success. She wants to make everything a circle so asking her to draw 3 straight lines and connect them together is a little much for her to handle. We have spent countless hours going "up, down, and across" and we have probably killed at least 3 trees with all the paper to practice this particular shape.

All because the other kids at daycare are drawing shapes and practicing their letters. We dont want our kid to be the one that cant do something. What we forget is that these other kids, while 4 inches shorter than Grace, are about a year older.

How much is too much at 3 years old!?

Are we pushing her too hard already? Will her academics suffer forever if she can't write all 26 letters on her 4th birthday? Is she destined to be behind in school if we wait to place her in a formal preschool?

In the spirit of not "pushing her too hard", we spent $50 at the store this weekend on a "Trace Your Letters" placemat, wipe and write flashbards for numbers 1-30, a Learn to Recognize Your ABCs game, and other things that I dont even remember. Tonight we start the routine; every night we will spend at least 10 minutes on one of these activities. Ugh, homework already!!!! And its self-inflicted!!!!

Now dont get me wrong, I am all for teaching my kid her letters and numbers and animals and all that stuff. Its important. I want her to have a solid foundation when she gets to school.....in 2009; she wants to play dress-up and make fake-dinner for her baby dolls.

Are we sacrificing her childhood for an extra smiley face on her kindergarten report card?

Mission Accomplished

I stop counting how many loads I did this weekend but...............the only dirty laundry in this house right now are the clothes we are wearing at this very moment.

I never want to fold another shirt again-----haha--I know that I will fold another in 2 or 3 days but for right now, I am tired of them!

Grateful Basket

Yesterday was an early pick-up day at day care. I thought it would be fun to spend time with Grace doing a craft about Thanksgiving. Having her assume the holiday is all about eating turkey is fine right now but I do want her to know that the holiday actually stands for something.

SO.....I gathered some supplies at Walmart (and couldnt resist the cutest little jumper outfit for Miss Grace). The project was fairly simple: We cut out leafs from construction paper, glued them to popsicle sticks, and wrote something that makes Grace happy on each leaf. The result----an adorable leaf bouquet of gratefulness.

Look closely at the things that make my daughter happy:

• Daddy
• Mommy
• Cinderella
• Sleeping Beauty
• Jake Dog (our dog who passed away 6 months ago)
• Uncle K
• Aunt Meggie
• Uncle Buddy
• MoMo
• Papa
• Silly Guy (random kids singer...really the Silly Bus but she made up her own name for him!)

Some pretty random things but, hey, at least I made the list!!!!! :)

Holidays Have Arrived

I saw a Christmas countdown clock while shopping with Allie last night. At Tar.get, there were red boxes featuring stocking stuffers on every end cap. And I even heard carols. But best of all, the Ging.erbread Latte has returned to my favorite place in the world!!!

Yep, the holidays are finally here!

Why Are Things So Different Now?

I dont like being a "working mom". I made this realization yesterday. It sucks. I have to do it but I dont have to like it.

Conference is over finally. I didnt get that magical sense of accomplishment this time around. Maybe it was because I missed being home so much (12 days on the other side of the USA is a long time!!!) or maybe because The Boss was being extremely difficult onsite. Or it could have been the fact that my conference was in S.an Die.go during the worst of the fir.es. I am sure all those things have something to do with it.

I am exhausted and I realize that is pretty much a permament state of live for me. Work all day, go home and hang up the Work Hat and put on the Wife/Mommy Hat. Even sleeping those hats dont come off. Hubby and I took vacation in Sa.n Di.ego after the conference and we had a blast. But I am still exhausted.

I was browsing the Help Wanted ads yesterday. Not that I am looking but I am interested in what is out there in terms of options. Maybe a job closer to home or maybe one that didnt offer a micro-managing boss. Or maybe just something completely different (though I am not skilled at much else than meetings/events).

I ran across 2 perfect "working mom" jobs......career oriented part time positions within 10 miles of my house. Seriosusly, perfect!!! Stay on track with my career and be able to be home with Grace more often. Here's the catch----the money wouldnt be enough to pay the bills. And that sucks.

My SAHM friends always tell me "you can make it work if you are willing to make sacrifices". I am willing to do that....a new car can wait for another year, I dont need any more Coa.ch bags, and I dont need to eat out every night. But the house is what it is.....that is not a sarifice up for discussion. It requires a large mortgage and mountains of work to get it updated for safety reasons. And so I go to work every day.

I have always loved working. There has not been a time since I was 16 years old that I didnt have at least one job. So why all of the sudden do I despise it!?

Could it be cause its hard as hell to leave this adorable little girl crying at daycare every morning?