currently- the unChristmasy December edition

Pondering: Jesus' mother Mary. People often talk about how she had to tell Joseph she was pregnant, but I'd like to hear how the conversation with her parents went down. "Hey Mom, here's the jug of water you wanted oh and btw, I'm pregnant and if you can tell Dad so I don't have to that would be great. K, thanks bye." 

Proud of: Annabelle and her desire to help the less fortunate. I gave her a quarter to give the Salvation Army outside of HobLob and the action really stuck. When we got home, she collected four baskets (she wanted all the coins to be separated), found her jingle bells and walked around the yard looking for people who would give her money for the poor people. She asked if we could walk around the neighborhood and knock on doors. It was so sweet. As much as I want to encourage her generosity, I was not about to knock on rednecks doors and ask for donations. Instead, I told her she can collect coins she finds in parking lots and donate that money.

Saving: money. I am very thrifty. Outside of groceries, I seldom buy items without coupons or discount codes. I have swagbucks, ibotta and several money-saving apps. I saved up my Walgreens points and got $50 worth of free products. I love a good deal. I was listening to a podcast and they had an excellent deal for The New Yorker magazine. It was something like 50% off plus an additional $10 off PLUS a free tote bag. I all but pulled over as I drove so I could get the deal before it ended. Then I remembered I don't even like The New Yorker. In my attempts to save money, I almost wasted money on a magazine I don't read because it was 75% off. I cannot pass up a good deal!

Reading: Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips. I started it at 1 in the afternoon and stayed up until after 1:30am to finish it. I couldn't put it down. If you're like me and ever wondered what you would do if there was a shooting while you were at the zoo, this is the book for you. If that sounds like a terrible story then move right along. I can't tell you the number of times I've considered where I'd hide during a zoo attack and it all played out in this book. Some of it was a little wordy (something crawled over the mother's foot which led to several paragraphs down memory lane blahblah) but overall it was engrossing. 

Apologizing to: the mother's from AB's school. When I dropped AB off at school on Wednesday I asked if she's been behaving well. They gave a glowing report. When I picked her up, Miss Shiela pulled me aside and said, "Annabelle blurted out to the whole class that Santa Claus isn't real." She gave me a look that said I needed to get my truth-spreading child under control. I apologized profusely. The day before Annabelle was at swimming lessons and made the same announcement to the whole pool. I thought I had gotten through to her when I said she couldn't say that in public because other children might not know. Now I keep my eyes averted when I see a mother from her class.
I was starting to regret telling her if it meant she'd ruin other children's fun, but she told me "I'm glad you told me because I was wondering why I've seen so many different Santas out there."

Protecting: Linus and Lucy. If they don't make it, it will be because Sesame loved them to death. She's trying to teach them how to play patacake and do the cooking game on the ipad. They've been dropped, squeezed, kissed, wrapped in blankets, made to dance and treated like babies. She loves them. They tolorate her. It's an arrangement that's worked well so far.