Flip flops and Christmas lights, boo-yah

We decorated the house for Christmas Saturday.

It was warm enough for flip flops. (Yes, I'll wear sandals even when I shouldn't. But Saturday I was actually totally comfortable!). And for capri yoga pants that came to my mid-calves.

This rocked my world.

So Dane scaled a ladder to the roof where he hung lights and did the annual gutter cleaning ("two birds with one stone," Rye likes to say), and Rye played with "guys" in the leaves I half-heartedly raked (yes, I know. Long overdue. I still haven't actually picked up those piles of leaves, however. Ahem).

And Paige and I just sort of well, hung out.



It was awesome.

The weather mainly is what made it awesome. I don't remember ever hanging out in the yard while someone else hung Christmas lights on the house. Nor do I remember wearing flip flops while decorating the tree.

I'm so not complaining.



The older I get, the less I like cold weather. I remember being in second grade and being the new kid in class - again - having just moved to Nebraska from Texas but having lived in Wisconsin until I was 4 proudly telling people that winter was my favorite holiday. Summer be damned! Who needs swimming pools and popsicles and suntans and sleepovers and baseball and everything that I now think is great (well, I could leave baseball)? Who needs that warm-weather stuff when you can wear snowsuits and build snowforts. Humph. Not that second-grade version of me.

Now, yeah, now I could leave winter waaaaaaay far behind.

Not my choice, as long as I live here. So. I'll take the flip flops day I got Saturday.

Think the kids liked it, too.

Yes, that is a leaf in her mouth ... She was fine.

Too long, once again

It's been too long once again since I've written anything here.

Work is crazy, but in a good, good way. I've got this new job and it's stressful yet exciting. I like it, really. A lot. There's a lot of potential there, and I hope we pull it off.

Life outside of work is still crazy, but in a strange sort of way feels better than it has in a long, long, long time.

I still don't have any answers. I still don't know what the heck we're all doing. I still feel very much like the only thing I can do is get up every morning, get dressed and be on my way. Get through the day. Do the best I can while I'm getting through it. Look ahead to better, more confident times.

Hope I make the right choices. Not just for me. For everybody.

Smile a little more. Do what I can.

Anne Lamott says 80 percent of life is just showing up. Maybe she's right. I'm going with it, for now.

Happy Thanksgiving week. Be extra thankful this year.

momaha.com

I got a new job at work.

It's totally cool.

I'm in charge of helping start -- and then leading -- a Web site for moms. It's called momaha.com (pronounced mom-aha), and its name is a take-off of the World-Herald's main Web site, omaha.com.

Anyway, moms, check it out! I'll keep a blog there, as will a few community members and newsroom staffers. Also, you'll find discussion groups/forums, recipes, children's activity ideas, a calendar of family-friendly events, directories to places good to go with kids throughout the city, info on what restaurants are kid-friendly and much more.

I'm seriously excited.



You can go to momaha.com now and see a static "splash" page. The content should be up and interactive by early to mid-December. That's when you should check back.

Also, check us out on Facebook and Twitter now (Just search for us on Facebook. Be sure to become a fan please!).

World-Herald photographer Kiley Cruse took these photos of me and the kids earlier this week. Thank you, Kiley!

Happy Halloween!

I had a little pumpkin and the Wolverine for Halloween this year. Both were adorable. And Rye, even though he doesn't like candy, said he had a GREAT time.

Here's just a few photos.

I love this one of my little pumpkin!



And here's us at Rye's preschool Friday morning. They did a craft, then paraded through the hallway, and mommies and daddies got to come. It was pretty cute.




Finally, here's the two, on the porch, right before the trick or treating extravaganza began. The moon was full last night, too, an added bonus.