Friday Fragments: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

I'm working hard at keeping in the Christmas spirit, even though Scrooge herself crawled out of her hell-hole and made an appearance this week.

Really, I shouldn't insult Scrooge like that. Anyway, Andrew's "biological mother" (I think I just threw up in my mouth) came out of the woodwork again, this time through the court system, lying & manipulating as usual. We have plenty of defensive measures, including his psychiatrist who has said many times that she would testify on our behalf if this ever happened, that it is not in A's best interest to see Satan's Spawn. Not to mention emails between the two of us, because I save EVERYTHING. I am just sick that she is so selfish that she wants to shake up his stable, secure life. But, your good thoughts & prayers are deeply needed and appreciated, and I will update you all as things progress.

(For those of you who aren't regulars and have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read here or here for some background, or search "Andrew" and/or "Spiderman" ([when I first started blogging, I used pseudonyms]).

OK, that takes care of the bad and the ugly! Moving on to the good.....

My oldest daughter Shelbie will be 15 on Sunday. We're having her party tonight. My house will be full of teenage girls! *SQUEEEE* *OhEmGEE!!* and all that stuff! We're having a bonfire and pizza (that's what she wanted, whatever!). Hopefully I will still have a little bit of sanity left when it's all over!

The weekend will be a busy one; church play practice, parades, Christmas lights tours, our church's Christmas program, making crafts, baking, etc. Possibly even seeing my parents, who I haven't spent time in with in months, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.

Oh, and? Almost all of my Christmas shopping still has to be done.

I am SO glad John loves shopping and will help me with all of it!

Then on Sunday evening, the kids will go to their Dad's and be gone for a whole week. *sniffle*

Anyway! Back to the Good! This is the first year in probably 8 or 9 years that my family has been unable to choose a name from the Angel Tree and buy gifts for a child or family in need. I still planned to but as Christmas came closer, I realized there's just no way to do it. I did give Shelbie money to fill a shoebox for a program with the youth group, and we still put change in the Salvation Army buckets, and I resigned myself to that being as much as we could do this year.

How is this good, you ask? Because of OHmommy, that's why. OHmommy and her worms, manure, and crabs. Seriously. Check it out. Through OxFam, OHmommy gave away "a card that announces you purchased a school desk and chair, in your recipient's honor".

And guess who won? ME! My family. I am so happy! We couldn't do much this year, but through OHmommy & OxFam, we're doing something wonderful, that will make a big difference to someone in need.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and don't lose your mind in the holiday rush! Relax and enjoy yourselves. And give yourself a break! You're running around like a crazy person and kicking yourself for not having everything done. RELAX. There's only one of you, and you know what? You're doing a GREAT JOB.

Oh um, one more tiny little thing. I honestly don't usually pay a lot of attention to my follower numbers, but lately it's been hovering just under 400 and it's driving me batty! If you're not a follower, if you would take 5 seconds and follow me and get me over that 400 mark, I will follow you back AND love you forever!

Please visit Mrs 4444's for more Fragments!

ETA: Crap! 3rd week in and I forgot to post my Song of the Week. The first thing that came to mind is this gem, another one from Miranda Lambert. (although Gunpowder & Lead is another good one of hers, as well. Just saying.)