As we did this time last year, let’s take another stroll through the archives to see what happened here at The Bean Blog in 2009.

In January I discovered I may be getting a little too drunk old for girl’s night out.

I began to loathe my treadmill, but I did work up a sweat as a groupie.

In February my treadmill tried to kill me so we had to break up.

I stupidly cooked two weeks of meals in one day…which I will never do again.

And I locked myself in the laundry room and had to be saved my 6-year-old.

In March I went roller skating for the first time since junior high. Also ice skating. And I sucked at both.

After running in to a man from my past I told my story of domestic abuse.

Turns out Lee and I shop exactly the same way.

In April our great state of Iowa began to allow same-sex marriage.

My friends and I had a flashback to the 80’s at the NKOTB concert.

Justis turned 17. Just one year away from 18. *hold me*

In May I once again realized how sewing challenged I am.

I overcame my fear of public speaking. Well maybe overcame isn’t true. But I gave a speech without almost peeing my pants so that was an accomplishment.

Caleb turned 7 and finally got his goggles.

After several years of college, Lee graduated with an Associates degree in LAN Management. And then celebrated his 39th birthday.

And then we got the bombshell that Justis wanted to move back to live with his mom for his senior year.

In June I debated the role of stay-at-home dads multiple times.

I celebrated my 35th birthday in Vegas.

The stay-at-home dad debate continued in to July.

My friend, Carolyn, and I were stranded at Subway.

I went to my very first BlogHer and had a blast.

In August Caleb almost drowned at the pool. And the next day he almost killed himself at the park.

Keaton turned 15 and showed his love for all things Apple by liking his new iPod touch.

I got a new piercing…in my eyebrow.

And I almost had a panic attack while school supply shopping.

In September I took shopping advice from Lee and regretted it.

I got my panties in a wad about the debate over the President speaking directly to our kids.

In October Skyler & Spencer turned 10. Finally in to the double digits…much to my dismay. My babies are growing up.

After my blog was banned because Google hates me (or something like that), I kind of lost my blogging mojo. But after months of sporadic posting, I blogged every single day in November.

Spencer broke his wrist playing football and then got his cast off right after Halloween.

My laptop failed and I almost had a heart attack. But thankfully it was fixed within 24 hours.

I had some crazy dreams where I was in a bathtub of chili with Russell Brand. Or bald.

Lee and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.

And then we celebrated my friend Lori’s 40th birthday.

Lee got a job and I now have to wake up earlier in the morning.

For the first time in, well, forever I started my Christmas shopping early. But when I asked Justis what he wanted all he said was “socks.”

In December I went to visit my Grandpa at the hospital and ended up $100 poorer.

Caleb had his first speaking part in a school musical. And I forgot my camera.

The flu shot tried to kill me.

For Christmas Caleb got a broken wrist.

It’s been a good year (aside from the blog blocking and bone breaking). Let’s home 2010 is even better (and bone breaking free). Happy New Year!

2009 has been a medically rough year for us. My medical issues aside (which have me at the doctor quarterly for checkups in a good year and monthly when my asthma flares up, pneumonia comes a knocking, and my OCD takes me on a turn of the crazies), the rest of the family is usually pretty healthy. Other than their annual physicals the kids can go years without visiting the doctor. And nobody’s had a broken bone (again me and my constant broken toes from tripping over crap in this house excluded) since Keaton was in junior high and fractured his heel in soccer.

But this year? This year the kids decided to end that streak. And end it with a vengeance.

Back in September, Spencer fractured his wrist during one of his football games. And then, following in his big brother’s footsteps, Caleb fractured his wrist on Christmas Eve.

As we were leaving grandma’s house on Christmas Eve, the boys went outside to play. It’s Iowa. In the winter. So it had been snowing and raining all day. And the driveway was slick. Not exactly ideal weather for horseplay. But has that ever stopped boys before? NO!

Apparently Justis tackled Spencer. Spencer fell on Caleb. And somehow Caleb fractured both bones in his wrist. Ouch!

All the way home Caleb cried in the back seat. It was obviously very painful. As soon as we got home we put some ice on it and sat down to watch Fred Claus. Throughout the entire movie Caleb was breaking my heart with his Christmas wishes. “All I want for Christmas is for my wrist to feel better,” he cried. “This Christmas I just want to be able to use my hand,” he sniffled. “I wish I could just play video games,” he sobbed.

By Christmas morning his wrist was swelling up. And a bump began to form on the top of his arm. Unlike Spencer’s wrist a couple months ago, it was pretty evident Caleb’s wrist was broken.

So on Saturday we braved the extremely germy urgent care center to confirm what we already suspected. As soon as the doctor looked at Caleb’s wrist he said, “Oh yeah. That’s broken. But we’ll do xrays just to be sure.”

Yep. Fractured.

So they gave him a brace to wear until we could call out family doctor and get Caleb an appointment with the orthopedic doc. His ortho appointment was this morning. And he got a hard cast. A red one. A bright red one. And he’s pretty proud of it.

He’s doing well now. He says his wrist doesn’t even hurt anymore. And the best part? He can still play video games. So Christmas was saved.

Now all this mom would like for Christmas is no more broken bones in this family. Can 2010 be a broken-bone-free year? Let’s hope so!

Skyler and Spencer are 10 years old so it’s no surprise that they may no longer believe in Santa Claus. But while Spencer quietly plays along without question, Skyler is the type that must know all the details. She won’t just believe her friends or even be satisfied with putting all the clues together.

TV shows/commercials make a big deal out of the “Is Santa real?” question. While our immediate family leaves to go look at lights when Santa comes to grandma’s house, the rest of the family stays behind to clean up and somehow never runs in to Santa. I spent all day wrapping presents, but only had one present per person to put under the tree. Santa’s handwriting looks remarkably like mine…and he uses the same wrapping paper that we use. [Yeah, we aren't exactly pros at this whole Santa thing.]

No, Skyler wants us to confirm it for her.

On Christmas Eve we were watching Fred Claus when Skyler said, “Mom, I need to talk to you for a minute.”

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.

“We need to talk in private,” she said as she glanced over at Caleb.

Ruh-roh. I knew what was coming. The Santa talk.

I already knew she had her doubts about Santa. But I was hoping we could just skim over the talk. I never really know how to handle the talk. On one hand I don’t want to lie. I spend all year long dishing out punishments to the kid when they lie. I probably shouldn’t look her right in the eye and lie my tail off. But on the other hand, I prefer to live in a world that believes in Santa Claus because Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

So I decided to just be evasive. And answer questions with questions. ‘Cause that always works. Right?

When the movie ended and Caleb went to bed Skyler came right out with it. “Is Santa real?”

I asked, “What do you think?”

“I don’t think he’s real.”

“Hmm…” I sure have the best comebacks.

She inquired further. “Do you have more presents to put under the tree after we all go to bed?”

“Do you think I have more presents?”

“Yes.”

And we left it at that. With me neither confirming, nor denying, the existence of Santa Claus. I totally rock at this motherhood gig. I’m already dusting off the spot for my “Mother of the Year” award. *sigh*

Yesterday, coming off of our Christmas high, we decided to head to the movie theater for a little Sherlock Holmes.

There are two main movie theaters in town. The one clear across town that is only a couple years old and yet still have the games in the game room don’t work. The theater seats are not all that comfortable. And the popcorn is terrible…unless you enjoy chewing on cardboard that will leave you sitting on the toilet for hours later in the day. [There's a visual for ya. You're welcome.]

We prefer the theater that is not far from our house. It’s older but well taken care of. The seats are nice. The popcorn is yummy. And it’s not usually as crowded.

So we headed over to our favorite theater where my mom and grandma met us. We got out tickets and headed in to the lobby. There are concession stands on both sides of the lobby. But I have never, ever seen both sides open at the same time. Even when it’s busy (like, say, the day after Christmas) they still only have side open. It’s always irritated me, but I’d still rather stand in line for a few extra minutes then have to eat stale popcorn at the other theater.

Yesterday was a particularly busy day. They, of course, only had one side open. But they also only had two people working the concessions. TWO people. Seriously?!? The day after Christmas? The TWO lines weaved through the video games until the people in the back of the line could literally sit on the counter of the concessions on the other side of the lobby. Nice.

We ended up standing in that line for THIRTY minutes. THIRTY MINUTES! For popcorn. But we were willing to do it because a movie just isn’t the same without popcorn and syrupy soda. Plus we brought our buckets.

Our theater had this promotion a year ago where you could buy an Indiana Jones bucket and then every time you brought it back they would refill it for $0.50. About six months after that they had another promotion where you could buy a Jonas Bros bucket and refill it for $1. The Indiana Jones bucket expired in May, but the Jonas Bros buckets are still in use. We have one Indiana Jones bucket and two Jonas Bros buckets. We usually bring all three buckets and then just pay for a large popcorn that they put in to the Indiana Jones bucket. That way we all have a noise-free bucket to eat out off and there’s no fighting.

By the time we finally got up to the stand Lee put all three buckets down. The girl behind the counter said, “This one’s expired.” To which Lee replied, “Yeah, I know. We want to pay for a large popcorn and just put it in this bucket.”

The girl kind of rolled her eyes. I said, “Wow she’s friendly.”

Lee replied, “Well I think she just doesn’t understand what I’m asking.”

Wait for it….

The girl then said with all the attitude her little teenage self could muster, “No. I understood you. It was the way you said it. You didn’t ask me. You just told me.”

I started laughing and said, “Are you kidding me? For real?”

And my mom exploded, “WE’VE BEEN STANDING IN THIS FUCKING LINE FOR 30 MINUTES…” and several more choice words. I was actually very proud of this teenage girl because she didn’t cry while my mom was berating her. I’ve seen grown woman cry when my mom goes off on them before.

I walked over to the ticket office to ask for the manager and my mom followed me. She chewed out some poor teen named Jimmy who said, “I’m not in charge. Do you want me to get the manager?” Yes, Jimmy. It’s probably best you get the manager.

As the teenage girl was finishing up our order, angrily throwing down cups, tossing lids on the floor, and asking through clenched teeth, “Do you want anything else?” I saw Jimmy and the manager coming our way. “Don’t swear at him,” I warned my mom.

Thankfully mom remained calm as she told the manager what had just happened. He offered to give us a free ticket which she declined. It wasn’t about the money. We’re willing to pay for everything, but I sure as hell will not have some 17-year-old girl talk to me like the world revolves around her.

Not once were we rude to this girl. Granted Lee didn’t ask her if she’d be willing to charge us a large and, instead of putting it in a bag, put the popcorn in our bucket. But he certainly wasn’t being snotty with her. He wasn’t telling her what to do. He was ordering. And we go to movies all the time and often use our expired bucket in this way. Never once have any of the workers had a problem with it. And if this particular girl had an issue with it she could have just said, “I’m not sure I can do that.” And we would have been fine with it. She could have just put it in a bag and we would have poured it in to our bucket ourselves.

What happened to customer service these days? At Thanksgiving we were at a local bar downing some half-priced martinis when we got the rudest waitress I’ve ever experienced. How do these people get jobs? If you aren’t a people person. Fine. I’m not either. But don’t work a job that deals with people if you can’t even fake a smile. Go do data entry or something. But please get out of the service industry before I have to bitch slap you. I’m just sayin.