Dropping the ball on 2010

Happy New Year everybody. New years eve was a nice family day. A nice quiet ending to a year that could have been allot better, but also could have been much worse. There has been some stress in our lives over jobs and money and personal relations with fellow employees. We lost our health insurance and had to buy it on our own. I know that does not get much sympathy but its a adjustment. New years eve here in Michigan was a soggy affair. It was if God was crying tears all day after the very emotional funeral of Pat Coughlin the day before. I am sure they were tears of joy from him, but they felt like tears of sorrow to us.
Iris and Lily were getting stir crazy and therefore so was I so we decided to get our gift certificates and some cash and go out on a last splurge for 2010. Just like Dave Ramsey would tell us to do. First we went out for a late lunch and then it was over to the mall to gets some exercise. The mall was packed as usual and we headed down to the Magic Mushroom to let the kids play. The play area was packed with kids from 1 year old to 6 so we pointed Iris and Lily towards the center and said "good luck, be careful". The thing I hate about these mall play areas is the total lack of any control. The sign says the area is for children under 42 inches, but who enforces it. If you say something you are the bad parent and will probably end up getting into a cursing contest with another parent who is stressed out from trying to keep an eye on their kid. All sorts of kids are running around knocking each other over so that ads a few kids crying which makes matters worse. There was one particular child who might have been under 42 inches, but he was over 42 inches wide. He would plow through kids like a bulldozer. I kept giving is dad the evil why don't you watch your son eye, but he never got the message. And then there is the dad walking around the kids with a cup of coffee in his hands. I kind of wish the little human bowling ball would have taken him out. Anyway after an hour there was no broken bones and it was off to Barnes and Noble. We read a few children's books to the kids, purchased Avatar on Blue Ray and I picked up a U.K. magazine on Classic AOR rock that just begged me to read about how Journey and Styx and the such are making a comeback. With our gift certificates spent we went home. We ate a light dinner with the kids, cleaned the house a little and sat down to watch Avatar with a big bowl of popcorn. The kids lost interest about an hour into the movie and Hazel was chatting on skype with her family so trying to watch the movie became more of a challenge than enjoyable experience. I tried to put Iris and Lily to bed around 9:00 and read some books to them but they were so wired I gave up. About 10:30 the online chatting was done as well as the movie so it was time to go to bed. Hazel put the kids down and said "stay awake I want to spend the new year with you" and I said "OK and went to bed and read "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" for awhile until she returned. Last thing I remember is her coming to bed at 2:00 and I said "Happy New Year" and that was it. Nice quiet and tired ending to the year. For 2011 we have some goals in place and we made a budget for spending. We will put our trust in God to help us carry them out. A nice resolution.