bugaboo, mini, mr & me: Because I Dread and Avoid Change.

Did you know that change is hard for me? It is. Truly. Very, sometimes excruciatingly, hard. It is for a lot of people, I know. My mom insists I've been this way since birth. I was a baby strung tightly to a schedule. Alter that schedule in the least - throw me a curve ball like a different set of arms or a disgusting plastic bottle - and the universe would know that all was not right. I never really grew out of that... just learned what was socially acceptable behavior.
Did you know that I've never liked New Year's Eve? Never. (I don't think it had anything to do with the debilitating migraines I encountered not once, but twice as I was growing up just as everyone was gearing up for the big party - though I could be wrong). I hated it all. I did not like the hoopla - everyone screaming down numbers and kissing as if it was a magical moment. Resolutions seemed useless if they were lost by the second week - and in general they all seemed to be. Besides, I always felt that one should be allowed to resolve to be better anytime at all. I never could quite put my finger on it.
I believe the two may be connected. A sort of resistance to the "out with the old, in with the new" thing. I've decided I may need to alter my frame of thought or my stubbornness and inability to "roll with the punches" (as I often tell my 4 yr old) will be carried down to my littles, and I hate to plague them like that. In any case, this is an extremely long introduction to simply tell you that this may be why I drag out the end of the year thing until halfway through January. (a slight exaggeration, but only slight). What does that mean? It means I have one last

Only one, and then I'm done with it, I swear. Promise. Pinky swear. Cross my heart. All new stuff from here on out. I just couldn't resist sharing a few of my very favorite posts that didn't make it to the "in crowd." I didn't want them to feel left out, you see.

MY Top 10 Favorites

10. Chicken and Cream Cheese Stuffed Peppers

9. Catalogue of LOVE - a wedding present

8. Gift (a Tales From the Crib post)

7. Chicken Tot Pie

6. I Spy Pop - a travel game

5. Little Man Argyle Vest

4. Gingered Pears

3. The Easiest Skirt You Will Ever Make. Promise.

2. Seeing is NOT Believing (a Tales From the Crib post)

1. How To Salvage Off-White Carpet (aka What To Do When Your Two-Yr-Old Gets a Hold of a Carton of Eggs. Besides Panic.)

Other Favorite Posts I Can't Help Telling You About Again

5 more...Giggles - another Tales From the Crib post.

What Not to Say - when someone's having a bad day.

Baked Zucchini Fries with Sweet Onion Sauce - I'll admit it, they're a bit finicky to make, but so very delicious. And the sauce is good on EVERYTHING (aside from maybe ice cream).