Hello. I'm here. I have not felt very 'chatty' or 'bloggy' or what have you. Stuff has happened but nothing truly earth-shattering - at least not in my little world. I did speak with my host families in Denmark recently and found out that two of my host sisters are pregnant! Exciting stuff on the other side of the pond! One sister is due with baby #2 in September (so she's very newly pregnant) and the other sister is due in June with her first. So, of course, I started on a sweater for one of the babies and have some yarn on order to make a blanket for the other baby. Still in obsessive knitting mode. I can't help it. I go through phases with my obsessions. Sometimes I just want to read, read, read. Other times I won't pick up a book for months but I want to do some major sewing projects like dresses for the girls or a quilt. There are times when I want to cross-stitch or bake or knit constantly. And rarely, like last fall, I'm in a frenzied state of wanting to accumulate and accomplish multiple projects at once. The quilt project I started last fall is all cut out and languishing in my sewing area right now. I will get back to it at some point but right now it's not calling my name - and if it doesn't call my name than I've learned it is best to let it lie or else I'll be feeling like it's a chore and end up making more mistakes than would be acceptable to my inner Virgo. So, there it sits while I sit out here knitting like a fiend. And if the mailman doesn't soon bring my new yarn I might be having a conniption because I might finish the sweater soon (well, not in the next day or two so I'm probably safe, but maybe in 3 or so days...it's small and I've already said I'm obsessive with the knitting lately, didn't I?).
This past weekend we went for a quick overnight to visit my family for the holidays. We arrived at noontime on Saturday and had a nice lunch with my mom, dad, my nephew Rob, his wife Lori, and their two girls who are 6 and 1. Yes, I am a great aunt. Long story short, my much older brother took off when he was a young'un of about 17 and came home approximately a year later with his girlfriend and a three-month-old baby. He had scraggly hair down to his butt (my brother, not the baby) and was practically skin and bones. They had tried to make their way to sunny, warm California but apparently had only gotten as far as Ohio where they camped out with her (half?) sister for a bit and eventually decided to just head on home again, I guess. Anyhoo - I have a nephew who is 10 years younger than I am and he is now a dad with two girls who are roughly the same age as my oldest and my youngest girls. He's in the Navy and had been stationed first in California and later in Virginia but now he is stationed close to home and is working as a recruiter. We are so happy to have him living close again!!
So, back to the weekend visit - on Saturday night we went over to my sister's house where she hosted a wine-tasting party. That was a lot of fun! We each brought a bottle of wine and an appropriate appetizer to go along with it and we pigged out on good food and (mostly) good wine! One of my favorites was the Fish Eye Chardonnay - and I usually despise Chardonnay wines so that was a surprise to me! Our entire family was there for the party so it was nice to hang out with everyone and share the evening.
Since the weather was supposed to be crappy on Monday we decided to make the trip a short one and left for home again on Sunday afternoon. But, not before we had a chance to meet up with S (of the infamous S&O fame, a familiar commenter if you read Vexed in the City) for breakfast. The Divine Ms. Vexed was supposed to join us but fell ill at the last moment and was sorely missed. (Next time, right K?) It was great to see S and I hope I get a chance to love on 'lil man O' the next time we are down visiting!!
Tomorrow we are back to the full-fledged "grind" of life. Rick has been home quite a bit between holidays and illness over the last month and tomorrow he heads back to work and both of the older girls will be back to school. So, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming and I'm really dreading it in a way. I know I'll find my groove again but it's been so out of whack of late that it's going to be a difficult transition for me. It is going to be hard to get the whip crackin' during morning prep - lately the mornings have been unstructured and relatively free of any need to get dressed before lunchtime but now I'm going to have to get R off on the bus and A and E ready to jump in the car moments later to get A to preschool on time. And one of the hardest things is going to be the 5:30am wake-up for my walks with my neighbor. I have been such a bed sloth the last couple of weeks - in such a way as has not been possible for many, many, many moons. Since well before E was born. Rick and I have enjoyed the luxury of staying in bed most mornings past 7am and a few times even past 8am! It's been such a treat and it has felt almost miraculous. The girls have shifted their wake-up schedule from 6:15ish to 7:15 or even later! So, back when they were getting up at 6:15, or even earlier, it didn't seem so bad to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 to go walking. Heck, the girls were going to drag my sorry butt out of bed soon anyway and this way I got a whole hour to do something just for me - and with the added bonus of chatting with my good friend! But now? Ack. The thought of voluntarily pulling back those covers in the cold, wee hours of the morning when I could conceivably get another hour and a half of sleep? That's gonna hurt. And it means that I need to get this sorry (and pounds heavier than last fall) butt into bed early tonight so that I can get the maximum amount of sleep before the alarm disturbs my restful slumber and yells at me to "get in gear"! E just went to bed and I think I will not be far behind...but perhaps I'll sneak in a few more rows of knitting before I head in that direction!
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Breathe....
Ahhhhh....taking a deep breath now that the hustle and bustle is just about over! We are still planning to travel this coming weekend to celebrate with my family but at least the busy work of the holidays is mostly behind us. We had a really nice Christmas Eve dinner at Rick's parents house on Sunday night after the 5pm service at church.
Christmas morning I woke up at 5:30 to get the turkey in the oven (and deal with E who had lost her paci). The turkey was still rather icy and stiff when I pulled it from the fridge. I soaked it in cold water for 30 minutes and had to cut the skin that was holding the leg bones together in order to pry the still solidly frozen giblet bag from inside. I was worried that it would not be done in time and wondered whether I should stuff it or not. Since it was barely 6am I decided to chance it and figured if worse came to worse we'd eat at 1pm instead of noon. I stuffed it good and threw it in the preheated oven. Amazingly enough, the darn bird was done a bit on the early side - well, it was done on time but I thought it was going to need extra time and it didn't! I turned the oven off and let the turkey hang out in there while I finished the side dishes and it all worked out beautifully (and tasty, too!).
The turkey went into the oven at about 6:15a and then I sat and quietly enjoyed a cup of coffee while I waited (yes, waited!) for the girls to wake up. Lately, we've been in a bit of a 'sweet spot' when it comes to the girls' morning wake-up time. They've been getting up somewhere between 6:45a and 7:15a most mornings which is a far cry better than the 5:30a-6:00a wake-up we had been subjected to for far too long! Still, I was shocked when R woke up at 7:15, followed by A about 10 minutes later and we didn't hear a peep from E until close to 8:00a. I really thought that the excitement of Santa's arrival would have made for a pre-dawn wake-up call from the older girls. It was the best gift I could've gotten from them - drinking a full (hot!) cup of coffee in the quiet of a Christmas morning with the lights twinkling on the tree and the presents still piled high in their festive wrapping. After those precious moments it was so easy to enjoy the chaos that followed.
The girls were thrilled with their presents - well, R and A were thrilled with the presents and E seemed to be just as thrilled with all the wrapping paper, bows and boxes! E eventually became interested in playing with the toys she had opened - but only after the wrapping paper was all cleaned up! And she still enjoys climbing in and out of the various boxes that are hanging around. The biggest hits for R this year were all the craft-related items: learn to knit kit, weaving loom, and pottery wheel (thanks to Uncle Will who just took a pottery class we were given some great instructions on using the darn wheel - until he came over to help we were having huge issues and thought it was a piece of junk with a weak motor!). R got started right away on her loom but I think in all the excitement she got frustrated easily (plus, I could not sit and help her for too long because the big meal needed to be prepared). Hopefully, I can find some quiet time to sit with her and we can work on a weaving project together. As for A, she has most enjoyed her HUGE pegasus from Santa (that matches the one R got from him last year except in color), her new barbie doll (a character from Fairytopia that can be a mermaid or a fairy), and a game that grandma bought for her (Pretty, Pretty Princess). The girls also got tea sets and have already had one big tea party at the kitchen table (side note for those who recalled my earlier tea set dilemma: they decided of their own accord to SHARE one tea set when they first started playing! Santa probably could've brought one tea set and stuck both names on it and they would've been just as happy....I think! Oh well, at least we have spare parts in case anything gets broken! LOL). E's favorite toy (as far as she can have a favorite at this age) seems to be the talking Care Bear. It has six different buttons you can press and pre-recorded phrases and it came with a doctor's kit so you can take care of him. She likes to press the heart on his chest to hear some of the phrases and she also seems fascinated with using the stethoscope to gag herself (lovely.) so I've had to take it away more than a few times.
The biggest hit all around (adults included) were the cheap-o styrofoam air rockets that we got from American Science & Surplus (which - out of earshot of the girls - Rick and I refer to it as the ASS Catalog when it comes in the mail: "Hey, is that the ASS Catalog?" or "Oh! Can I look at the ASS Catalog with you?"). Here is a link to the actual rockets we bought. Everyone was shooting them off across the room and the kids were chasing after them. Every time one went off E shrieked happily and chased after it. She liked chewing on them a bit too much so we had to race her to get them first and she seemed to like the game of "who will get to the rocket first!" In the last few days she has gone from a walker to a runner so it was at times hard to beat her at that game!
All in all, Christmas was wonderful. I am left with a warm, fuzzy feeling when I think back on our Christmas celebration...but all the same I'm really quite happy that the celebrating is over and we can get back to a more normal pace of life.
Relax...breathe...
Christmas morning I woke up at 5:30 to get the turkey in the oven (and deal with E who had lost her paci). The turkey was still rather icy and stiff when I pulled it from the fridge. I soaked it in cold water for 30 minutes and had to cut the skin that was holding the leg bones together in order to pry the still solidly frozen giblet bag from inside. I was worried that it would not be done in time and wondered whether I should stuff it or not. Since it was barely 6am I decided to chance it and figured if worse came to worse we'd eat at 1pm instead of noon. I stuffed it good and threw it in the preheated oven. Amazingly enough, the darn bird was done a bit on the early side - well, it was done on time but I thought it was going to need extra time and it didn't! I turned the oven off and let the turkey hang out in there while I finished the side dishes and it all worked out beautifully (and tasty, too!).
The turkey went into the oven at about 6:15a and then I sat and quietly enjoyed a cup of coffee while I waited (yes, waited!) for the girls to wake up. Lately, we've been in a bit of a 'sweet spot' when it comes to the girls' morning wake-up time. They've been getting up somewhere between 6:45a and 7:15a most mornings which is a far cry better than the 5:30a-6:00a wake-up we had been subjected to for far too long! Still, I was shocked when R woke up at 7:15, followed by A about 10 minutes later and we didn't hear a peep from E until close to 8:00a. I really thought that the excitement of Santa's arrival would have made for a pre-dawn wake-up call from the older girls. It was the best gift I could've gotten from them - drinking a full (hot!) cup of coffee in the quiet of a Christmas morning with the lights twinkling on the tree and the presents still piled high in their festive wrapping. After those precious moments it was so easy to enjoy the chaos that followed.
The girls were thrilled with their presents - well, R and A were thrilled with the presents and E seemed to be just as thrilled with all the wrapping paper, bows and boxes! E eventually became interested in playing with the toys she had opened - but only after the wrapping paper was all cleaned up! And she still enjoys climbing in and out of the various boxes that are hanging around. The biggest hits for R this year were all the craft-related items: learn to knit kit, weaving loom, and pottery wheel (thanks to Uncle Will who just took a pottery class we were given some great instructions on using the darn wheel - until he came over to help we were having huge issues and thought it was a piece of junk with a weak motor!). R got started right away on her loom but I think in all the excitement she got frustrated easily (plus, I could not sit and help her for too long because the big meal needed to be prepared). Hopefully, I can find some quiet time to sit with her and we can work on a weaving project together. As for A, she has most enjoyed her HUGE pegasus from Santa (that matches the one R got from him last year except in color), her new barbie doll (a character from Fairytopia that can be a mermaid or a fairy), and a game that grandma bought for her (Pretty, Pretty Princess). The girls also got tea sets and have already had one big tea party at the kitchen table (side note for those who recalled my earlier tea set dilemma: they decided of their own accord to SHARE one tea set when they first started playing! Santa probably could've brought one tea set and stuck both names on it and they would've been just as happy....I think! Oh well, at least we have spare parts in case anything gets broken! LOL). E's favorite toy (as far as she can have a favorite at this age) seems to be the talking Care Bear. It has six different buttons you can press and pre-recorded phrases and it came with a doctor's kit so you can take care of him. She likes to press the heart on his chest to hear some of the phrases and she also seems fascinated with using the stethoscope to gag herself (lovely.) so I've had to take it away more than a few times.
The biggest hit all around (adults included) were the cheap-o styrofoam air rockets that we got from American Science & Surplus (which - out of earshot of the girls - Rick and I refer to it as the ASS Catalog when it comes in the mail: "Hey, is that the ASS Catalog?" or "Oh! Can I look at the ASS Catalog with you?"). Here is a link to the actual rockets we bought. Everyone was shooting them off across the room and the kids were chasing after them. Every time one went off E shrieked happily and chased after it. She liked chewing on them a bit too much so we had to race her to get them first and she seemed to like the game of "who will get to the rocket first!" In the last few days she has gone from a walker to a runner so it was at times hard to beat her at that game!
All in all, Christmas was wonderful. I am left with a warm, fuzzy feeling when I think back on our Christmas celebration...but all the same I'm really quite happy that the celebrating is over and we can get back to a more normal pace of life.
Relax...breathe...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
In Which I Search For The Pause Button...
Life has been moving in fast forward motion these days...at least for me. Rick, on the other hand, has made good friends with the living room couch. He's been sick for a couple of weeks with a bad cough. He seemed like he was a bit better at the end of last week - he even worked a couple of days - but over the weekend he got a lot worse and ended up going in to see the doctor on Monday morning. Diagnosis: pneumonia. He came home with a big bottle of cough syrup with codeine and a small bottle of antibiotic pills in a funky green hue. Last night, armed with the codeine and the first dose of the antibiotics he had a fairly decent night. And today he is feeling a little bit better although his breathing still full of yucky sounding gurlgies. So, we are hopeful he is on the mend. But, his butt needs to stay on the couch so he can rest and get better. He's not the kind of guy who likes to sit on his tuchus and relax so he doesn't generally make a very good patient.
So, with Rick on the couch I've been trying to keep things moving along as best I can. I'm beat but it has actually been helpful to have him here at home this week. I've been able to get some time to go shopping without any kids in tow while the girls were in school because I was able to leave E home with Rick for an hour here or there. Sometimes she's been napping while I'm away and sometimes she's been awake but able to keep herself amused so that Rick could just veg on the couch and keep an eye on her. So, even though things have been crazy-busy, they could certainly have been a lot worse!
So, what's kept me so busy?
*I've been busy finishing up the holiday shopping - which I'm about 98% done with (phew). The next step will be the dreaded job of wrapping everything. It's 8:30 and the girls are still not asleep but I hope they will be soon so I can get started. Rick just went to check on E who was crying and found that the older two were still awake (ugh....). R was still reading in her bed and A was just restless and not yet asleep for some reason. They are usually conked out by this time so I have no idea if it's the excitement of Christmas coming or what but they are certainly wound up!
*I have been busy baking. After making the pizzelles for our neighbors I whipped up another batch to bring along to last night's book club meeting. We had a great night drinking wine, eating cookies and other decadent treats, and discussing the book "Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik. It's a good, quick, fun kind of read - just the kind of book we like to pick for our December selection since it's a busy time of year. I recommend it highly if you want something not too deep or thought-provoking that is a fast read. Our January book is (I think...LOL) a novel called "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl. It's certainly one of the books we'll be reading sometime between now and May but I can't remember if it's the January book or not. I should probably find out soon so I can get the right book ordered and start reading. But, back to the topic of baking...I also made quick breads to hand out to some of the teachers at R's school later this week. I made some apple pecan and some sour cream gingerbread quick breads - yum. I made them into mini-loaf sized breads so I was able to keep a couple for our enjoyment and they came out so yummy (if I do say so myself). For R's classroom teacher I am going to put some of the quick bread into a basket along with some treats from Trader Joe's, and a Trader Joe's gift card. The other loaves will be going to other assorted teachers like her art, gym, and music teachers, the librarian (who I have been volunteering with this fall), and I'm thinking that I'll just bring in a few loaves and some cookies or candy and leave it in the front office for the administrative staff to share. So, I have a bit more baking to do tomorrow but not too much. I'm usually in the school on Thursday mornings so I will plan to bring in the treats then and have R join me in handing them out to her teachers.
*I've been busy knitting (I bet you could guess that one!). I finished R's socks and immediately started in on a pair of socks for A in the same yarn. I'm about 95% done with sock #1 and hope to finish it and its mate before Christmas - wish me luck! And of course, I have other projects waiting in the wings, but they are not slated to be Christmas presents so there is no rush on those, thankfully.
And then there is just the miscellaneous stuff of everyday life - cleaning, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, preschool drop-off/pick-up, etc., etc., etc.... Today was actually A's last day of school before the holiday break so that takes a bit of a load off...but having her home allllll daaaaayyyy adds a load of a different kind...I put the word out at preschool that we are available for playdates this week and I'm hoping that something pans out to keep her from careening off the walls in psychotic anticipation of Santa's impending arrival.
Lately, I've wished more than once that I could find the Pause button so I could get off the Merry-Go-Round of Life for a minute to catch my breath, or even just the Slow-Motion button that will allow time to stretch out a little and give me more room to breath, and a few times I've even wanted there to be a Rewind button so I could relive a sweet moment that I shared with a friend or family member or to take back a harsh word that was uttered by the stress monster from within. Alas, life does go on at its annoyingly steady pace and I just have to figure out a way to keep up. But, if you happen to locate any time warp buttons be sure to let me know!
All is quiet - for the moment... Time to go be productive!
So, with Rick on the couch I've been trying to keep things moving along as best I can. I'm beat but it has actually been helpful to have him here at home this week. I've been able to get some time to go shopping without any kids in tow while the girls were in school because I was able to leave E home with Rick for an hour here or there. Sometimes she's been napping while I'm away and sometimes she's been awake but able to keep herself amused so that Rick could just veg on the couch and keep an eye on her. So, even though things have been crazy-busy, they could certainly have been a lot worse!
So, what's kept me so busy?
*I've been busy finishing up the holiday shopping - which I'm about 98% done with (phew). The next step will be the dreaded job of wrapping everything. It's 8:30 and the girls are still not asleep but I hope they will be soon so I can get started. Rick just went to check on E who was crying and found that the older two were still awake (ugh....). R was still reading in her bed and A was just restless and not yet asleep for some reason. They are usually conked out by this time so I have no idea if it's the excitement of Christmas coming or what but they are certainly wound up!
*I have been busy baking. After making the pizzelles for our neighbors I whipped up another batch to bring along to last night's book club meeting. We had a great night drinking wine, eating cookies and other decadent treats, and discussing the book "Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik. It's a good, quick, fun kind of read - just the kind of book we like to pick for our December selection since it's a busy time of year. I recommend it highly if you want something not too deep or thought-provoking that is a fast read. Our January book is (I think...LOL) a novel called "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl. It's certainly one of the books we'll be reading sometime between now and May but I can't remember if it's the January book or not. I should probably find out soon so I can get the right book ordered and start reading. But, back to the topic of baking...I also made quick breads to hand out to some of the teachers at R's school later this week. I made some apple pecan and some sour cream gingerbread quick breads - yum. I made them into mini-loaf sized breads so I was able to keep a couple for our enjoyment and they came out so yummy (if I do say so myself). For R's classroom teacher I am going to put some of the quick bread into a basket along with some treats from Trader Joe's, and a Trader Joe's gift card. The other loaves will be going to other assorted teachers like her art, gym, and music teachers, the librarian (who I have been volunteering with this fall), and I'm thinking that I'll just bring in a few loaves and some cookies or candy and leave it in the front office for the administrative staff to share. So, I have a bit more baking to do tomorrow but not too much. I'm usually in the school on Thursday mornings so I will plan to bring in the treats then and have R join me in handing them out to her teachers.
*I've been busy knitting (I bet you could guess that one!). I finished R's socks and immediately started in on a pair of socks for A in the same yarn. I'm about 95% done with sock #1 and hope to finish it and its mate before Christmas - wish me luck! And of course, I have other projects waiting in the wings, but they are not slated to be Christmas presents so there is no rush on those, thankfully.
And then there is just the miscellaneous stuff of everyday life - cleaning, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, preschool drop-off/pick-up, etc., etc., etc.... Today was actually A's last day of school before the holiday break so that takes a bit of a load off...but having her home allllll daaaaayyyy adds a load of a different kind...I put the word out at preschool that we are available for playdates this week and I'm hoping that something pans out to keep her from careening off the walls in psychotic anticipation of Santa's impending arrival.
Lately, I've wished more than once that I could find the Pause button so I could get off the Merry-Go-Round of Life for a minute to catch my breath, or even just the Slow-Motion button that will allow time to stretch out a little and give me more room to breath, and a few times I've even wanted there to be a Rewind button so I could relive a sweet moment that I shared with a friend or family member or to take back a harsh word that was uttered by the stress monster from within. Alas, life does go on at its annoyingly steady pace and I just have to figure out a way to keep up. But, if you happen to locate any time warp buttons be sure to let me know!
All is quiet - for the moment... Time to go be productive!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
The pictures tell the story pretty well...
Last night we visited Santa! Since we've had so many late nights this week we decided to have the girls get in their jammies before we left. We figured that this would speed up the process once we were home AND it would make for a cute picture...
Intial reaction to sitting with Santa. R pays attention to the camera, A wonders what E's problem is and E is just completely traumatized.
Oh dear...Mrs. Claus steps in to rescue poor, freaked out E! But even Mrs. Claus is not exactly above suspicion...
Mom steps in to help with the process and E calms down a bit. She is soon engrossed in the apple that the 'big, scary guy' gave her.
Once the screamin' mimi was out of the picture, R and A are able to put in their requests. (R - pottery wheel, A - big stuffed pegasus)
Obligatory picture on the sleigh outside Santa's Workshop.
Oh dear...Mrs. Claus steps in to rescue poor, freaked out E! But even Mrs. Claus is not exactly above suspicion...
Mom steps in to help with the process and E calms down a bit. She is soon engrossed in the apple that the 'big, scary guy' gave her.
Once the screamin' mimi was out of the picture, R and A are able to put in their requests. (R - pottery wheel, A - big stuffed pegasus)
Obligatory picture on the sleigh outside Santa's Workshop.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Another busy pre-Christmas weekend...
Yesterday, A had a birthday party to attend in the morning. R came along with me to drop A at the party and then we headed to the store in search of R's gift to A for Christmas. We also made a quick stop at the craft store because I wanted to look for some yarn for a hat pattern that a friend gave me. Yes, the CMAD-ness continues. And just wait until I teach R to knit! I'll have another enabler in the house! Woohoo! R had fun browsing the different yarns while I picked out what I needed. I can see her already turning into a fiber fiend like myself. I let her pick out the color of the yarn once I found one in a suitable thickness. I spent a good deal of the weekend knitting (when I should have been doing other things like laundry, washing the kitchen floor, vacuuming... but hey, that dirt will still be there for me to clean tomorrow, right?). The hats I churned out were actually very quick knits - the fiber was sooo chunky - especially considering the thickness of the sock yarns I've been dabbling in of late. So, here are the results of the one green ball of yarn that R helped me pick out:
Both hats have a tassle hanging from the top and I added the straps to Miss E's hat so that she won't be able to pull it off as easily. They both seemed pleased with the results (E walked around for at least a half an hour with hers on and she got mad if we tried to take it off) and now I need to make one more for Miss A -- but she wants hers in purple to match her new coat. I have to see what colors they have at Michael's!
In the meantime, I've also been knitting a pair of socks for R (shhhh....don't tell her - she thinks they are another pair for me). Here's the first of the two:
I'm well on my way to getting the second one done. And then I think I will try to start a pair for A so she won't feel left out! And speaking of socks, here's a shot of Miss E in her warm and fuzzy pair:
They were a bit slippy on the hardwood floors but she got used to them pretty quickly!
This weekend we also put together our gingerbread house. This is one of the things I never attempt to do from scratch. I like buying the inexpensive kits from the store complete with premade frosting-glue and plenty of colorful candy bits for decorations. This year I bought a kit made by Wilton and was impressed by the difference from last year's no-name brand kit - more candy, smoother frosting (although I had some issues with the house pieces sliding on me because the frosting did not seem to set fast enough), a plastic guide thingamagig that helped in house construction phase. It also came with gingerbread man, snowman, and two trees to decorate and place around the house.
Oh, and remember that snowman I made when we were out playing in the first real snow of the season? He didn't last very long. The next day R looked out the window to check on him and found this sad (yet funny) sight:
Spike managed to hang on to his hair for quite a while there but he was looking flat out tired here, don't you think? The following day there was not a sign of him to be found. Hopefully we'll see him again later this season...
Ok, time to check on laundry and then head to bed. Once, long ago, I put a load of laundry in before going to bed and the damn machine malfunctioned. Water flowed into the machine and the mechanism that tells it to stop filling didn't do it's job so the water ran over the top of the washer and onto the basement floor ALL NIGHT LONG. What a mess! From that day forward I swore never to leave a load of laundry unattended overnight again.
Lastly, if you can spare any get well vibes send them to Rick. He is suffering from another cold (sinus infection and chest congestion)... poor guy. He's in bed already and he is planning on staying home tomorrow. He spent most of the day on the couch and since he never really complained that he was bored I know he's feeling like crap. Usually I can't keep him still for very long! He's always busy with one project or another!
Laundry-check time and then some sleep - I need to get a good nights' sleep if I hope to be up walking at 6am with my neighbor!
Both hats have a tassle hanging from the top and I added the straps to Miss E's hat so that she won't be able to pull it off as easily. They both seemed pleased with the results (E walked around for at least a half an hour with hers on and she got mad if we tried to take it off) and now I need to make one more for Miss A -- but she wants hers in purple to match her new coat. I have to see what colors they have at Michael's!
In the meantime, I've also been knitting a pair of socks for R (shhhh....don't tell her - she thinks they are another pair for me). Here's the first of the two:
I'm well on my way to getting the second one done. And then I think I will try to start a pair for A so she won't feel left out! And speaking of socks, here's a shot of Miss E in her warm and fuzzy pair:
This weekend we also put together our gingerbread house. This is one of the things I never attempt to do from scratch. I like buying the inexpensive kits from the store complete with premade frosting-glue and plenty of colorful candy bits for decorations. This year I bought a kit made by Wilton and was impressed by the difference from last year's no-name brand kit - more candy, smoother frosting (although I had some issues with the house pieces sliding on me because the frosting did not seem to set fast enough), a plastic guide thingamagig that helped in house construction phase. It also came with gingerbread man, snowman, and two trees to decorate and place around the house.
Oh, and remember that snowman I made when we were out playing in the first real snow of the season? He didn't last very long. The next day R looked out the window to check on him and found this sad (yet funny) sight:
Spike managed to hang on to his hair for quite a while there but he was looking flat out tired here, don't you think? The following day there was not a sign of him to be found. Hopefully we'll see him again later this season...
Ok, time to check on laundry and then head to bed. Once, long ago, I put a load of laundry in before going to bed and the damn machine malfunctioned. Water flowed into the machine and the mechanism that tells it to stop filling didn't do it's job so the water ran over the top of the washer and onto the basement floor ALL NIGHT LONG. What a mess! From that day forward I swore never to leave a load of laundry unattended overnight again.
Lastly, if you can spare any get well vibes send them to Rick. He is suffering from another cold (sinus infection and chest congestion)... poor guy. He's in bed already and he is planning on staying home tomorrow. He spent most of the day on the couch and since he never really complained that he was bored I know he's feeling like crap. Usually I can't keep him still for very long! He's always busy with one project or another!
Laundry-check time and then some sleep - I need to get a good nights' sleep if I hope to be up walking at 6am with my neighbor!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
We were busy elves around here over the weekend. I spent most of Friday morning trying to get this place cleaned up a bit and organized so that I felt like I could actually get down to the task of decorating. The girls were quite anxious and spent the morning hovering and asking "is it time to decorate yet?" over and over. There was a bit of kid-style helping when they got to play with their matching yellow feather dusters but otherwise it was a lot of onlooking and impatience over this trivial matter of cleaning that mom insists is necessary (geesh).
Once the cleaning, vacuuming and dusting was complete it was time for snack so I got them some fortification and they ate up quickly and were ready to help haul the boxes out of the basement!
We spent about 45 minutes unpacking and finding homes for our various snowmen, elves, santas, kid-friendly nativity, angels and other assorted decorations - and this year the challenge was to put everything in a place high enough that it was out of reach of The Mobile Menance, but low enough so the girls would also be able to enjoy the decorations and actually be able to help me do the decorating. It now looks much more festive around here! Here's a shot of our stockings hanging on the hutch with care. This is the time of year I always wish we had a fireplace with a nice big mantel.
On Saturday morning, with Rick home to help, we got the little fake tree decorated and set on a card table so that it would be (mostly) inaccessible to The Mobile Menace. As you can see in one of the pictures below she is mostly certainly a hazard to the tree and we are just praying that the damage to ornaments is minimal this year and that she doesn't manage to pull the tree down on top of herself!
Once the cleaning, vacuuming and dusting was complete it was time for snack so I got them some fortification and they ate up quickly and were ready to help haul the boxes out of the basement!
We spent about 45 minutes unpacking and finding homes for our various snowmen, elves, santas, kid-friendly nativity, angels and other assorted decorations - and this year the challenge was to put everything in a place high enough that it was out of reach of The Mobile Menance, but low enough so the girls would also be able to enjoy the decorations and actually be able to help me do the decorating. It now looks much more festive around here! Here's a shot of our stockings hanging on the hutch with care. This is the time of year I always wish we had a fireplace with a nice big mantel.
On Saturday morning, with Rick home to help, we got the little fake tree decorated and set on a card table so that it would be (mostly) inaccessible to The Mobile Menace. As you can see in one of the pictures below she is mostly certainly a hazard to the tree and we are just praying that the damage to ornaments is minimal this year and that she doesn't manage to pull the tree down on top of herself!
The girls had a lot of fun opening the boxes and finding the ornaments which, at this age, still seem new to them each year. As we hang the ornaments I tell them the stories that go with certain ones - like the year that R begged for the fragile porcelain Rudolph ornament and then dropped it accidently. It broke into too many pieces to try to fix and I couldn't find a replacement for it anywhere. She was crushed...but Santa came through and on Christmas morning and a brand new and perfect little Rudolph was hanging on the tree! This year we put those fragile ornaments back in the box for another year and only put up the ornaments that were more or less unbreakable - just in case we do have a tree-toppling event!
All the Christmas-themed books came up from the basement along with the decorations, the fake tree and the ornaments. This year R is reading them to herself and I often find her curled up on the couch with a stack of Christmas stories by her side. A is constantly asking me to read her "one more story" from the Christmas box. We have a lot of nice ones and I like to add to the assortment every year, but by Christmas I am more than ready for them to go back down to the basement again until the next year!
Yesterday was a busy day at church. We had service, followed by choir practice, followed by pageant practice. They were assigned their roles for the pageant - R will be a dog and A will be a piggy. The Christian Education director found some cute plush masks at the Dollar Store for the kids to wear and they have one line that they repeat a number of times during the play along with a bunch of other kids dressed as farm animals. So, that was our morning. We went home for lunch and had a few hours to hang out before we headed back to church for the Advent Workshop. Our church has this nice tradition where everyone brings sandwiches to share and we have a soup and sandwich supper followed by Christmas-themed craft making. I brought along pipe cleaners and red, white, and green beads and at our table the kids strung the beads on the pipe cleaners and bent them into wreathes and candy canes. At other tables they made ornaments from old Christmas cards, placemats (also from old cards), gift tags with stamps, stickers, and glitter, pompoms out of thick yarn, and placed potpourri in Christmas fabric and tied it up with a fancy ribbon. The girls had fun bouncing between tables creating all the different crafty items. I invited my MIL along to help me out in case I was being pulled in two different directions by the girls but this year they were both quite independent and found other adults they were familiar with from church to give them a hand. Regardless, it was still very nice to have Grandma along to share the evening with! :-) It was a long day and the girls were riled up and difficult about going to sleep --- 'tis the season, I guess. And when we are busy with all good stuff, how can I complain?
All the Christmas-themed books came up from the basement along with the decorations, the fake tree and the ornaments. This year R is reading them to herself and I often find her curled up on the couch with a stack of Christmas stories by her side. A is constantly asking me to read her "one more story" from the Christmas box. We have a lot of nice ones and I like to add to the assortment every year, but by Christmas I am more than ready for them to go back down to the basement again until the next year!
Yesterday was a busy day at church. We had service, followed by choir practice, followed by pageant practice. They were assigned their roles for the pageant - R will be a dog and A will be a piggy. The Christian Education director found some cute plush masks at the Dollar Store for the kids to wear and they have one line that they repeat a number of times during the play along with a bunch of other kids dressed as farm animals. So, that was our morning. We went home for lunch and had a few hours to hang out before we headed back to church for the Advent Workshop. Our church has this nice tradition where everyone brings sandwiches to share and we have a soup and sandwich supper followed by Christmas-themed craft making. I brought along pipe cleaners and red, white, and green beads and at our table the kids strung the beads on the pipe cleaners and bent them into wreathes and candy canes. At other tables they made ornaments from old Christmas cards, placemats (also from old cards), gift tags with stamps, stickers, and glitter, pompoms out of thick yarn, and placed potpourri in Christmas fabric and tied it up with a fancy ribbon. The girls had fun bouncing between tables creating all the different crafty items. I invited my MIL along to help me out in case I was being pulled in two different directions by the girls but this year they were both quite independent and found other adults they were familiar with from church to give them a hand. Regardless, it was still very nice to have Grandma along to share the evening with! :-) It was a long day and the girls were riled up and difficult about going to sleep --- 'tis the season, I guess. And when we are busy with all good stuff, how can I complain?
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Procrastination...
Not feeling like cleaning/decluttering at the moment so I've done a number of things to avoid that task. I want to get things organized, dusted, and cleaned before we put up the Christmas decorations (which I hope to do with the girls on Friday) - so I have some time to get it done but I had told myself I'd do it this morning while A is at preschool. So far, I've spent a good deal of time on the computer doing a variety of things....
*I researched Christmas gift items (but managed not to melt the credit card online this morning).
*I read up on the news a bit.
*I checked my usual haunts - various blogs, message boards, and Freecycle, among others.
*I worked on our Christmas card collage - this year we did not succeed in getting a decent family picture so instead I took individual pictures of the girls and used the handy dandy timer feature to get a picture of me and Rick together. I resized those pictures and have been working diligently at making a collage that will look nice in a 4"X6" print. I even added my own little holiday message and a clip art Christmas tree. It's looking nice but still needed some tweaking. If you are among those lucky enough to be on my personal Christmas card list you will be receiving your very own copy in the mail in a week or two (depends on how much I procrastinate on getting them stamped and mailed). If you are not lucky enough to be on my personal Christmas card list you can still see the results of my labors at a later date. I want the cards to reach their destination before I unveil my creative genius to the masses.
*And now I'm busy writing my third blog entry in three days. Woohoo! Go, Jeanne, go. I don't think I could ever manage to post every day for an entire month like some others have done this month. Super duper, extra special, high-fivin' kudos to all of those who participated in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Only two more days to go - well, one more day if you don't count today! It's been great reading the daily entries over the past few weeks. I hope those who participated don't become hermits for a while once the month is over (not that I could really blame them but I'd really miss them, ya know....)
Today is R's early release day (every Wednesday here in our school district) and so she'll be bounding off that big yellow bus not long after I pick A up from school. And I need to leave to go get A in about 20 minutes. This afternoon I am taking R into the doctor's office for a FluMist vaccine. I am avoiding the mercury preservative in the shot version of the flu vaccine by getting her the mist variety...unfortunately, A is not old enough for the FluMist and too old for the non-mercury shot version that E got at her doctor's appointment so she will not be getting the flu shot this year....praying that she stays healthy! After the doctor's appointment R is going to have a playdate with a former classmate from Preschool and Kindergarten. They are not in the same 1st grade class and have been asking for a playdate for a while so she's going over to his house for a couple of hours this afternoon. A has a playdate lined up with one of her classmates tomorrow - he is coming to our house. And then A has been invited to a Pajama/Slumber party for Saturday night. I have a feeling that it will just end up being a pajama party because I can't imagine many 4 or 5 year olds doing well at a sleepover! I was surprised by the invitation that she got and expect that I will just pick her up after the festivities of the evening (popcorn, movie, etc.), but we'll see how it goes! Geesh, my girls have a very active social life all of a sudden!
Ok, maybe I can get a bit of cleaning/organizing done between now and 12:30 when I have to be out the door to get A!
I seemed to have lost my motivation. Has anyone seen it? Or do you know where I can get some more?
*I researched Christmas gift items (but managed not to melt the credit card online this morning).
*I read up on the news a bit.
*I checked my usual haunts - various blogs, message boards, and Freecycle, among others.
*I worked on our Christmas card collage - this year we did not succeed in getting a decent family picture so instead I took individual pictures of the girls and used the handy dandy timer feature to get a picture of me and Rick together. I resized those pictures and have been working diligently at making a collage that will look nice in a 4"X6" print. I even added my own little holiday message and a clip art Christmas tree. It's looking nice but still needed some tweaking. If you are among those lucky enough to be on my personal Christmas card list you will be receiving your very own copy in the mail in a week or two (depends on how much I procrastinate on getting them stamped and mailed). If you are not lucky enough to be on my personal Christmas card list you can still see the results of my labors at a later date. I want the cards to reach their destination before I unveil my creative genius to the masses.
*And now I'm busy writing my third blog entry in three days. Woohoo! Go, Jeanne, go. I don't think I could ever manage to post every day for an entire month like some others have done this month. Super duper, extra special, high-fivin' kudos to all of those who participated in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Only two more days to go - well, one more day if you don't count today! It's been great reading the daily entries over the past few weeks. I hope those who participated don't become hermits for a while once the month is over (not that I could really blame them but I'd really miss them, ya know....)
Today is R's early release day (every Wednesday here in our school district) and so she'll be bounding off that big yellow bus not long after I pick A up from school. And I need to leave to go get A in about 20 minutes. This afternoon I am taking R into the doctor's office for a FluMist vaccine. I am avoiding the mercury preservative in the shot version of the flu vaccine by getting her the mist variety...unfortunately, A is not old enough for the FluMist and too old for the non-mercury shot version that E got at her doctor's appointment so she will not be getting the flu shot this year....praying that she stays healthy! After the doctor's appointment R is going to have a playdate with a former classmate from Preschool and Kindergarten. They are not in the same 1st grade class and have been asking for a playdate for a while so she's going over to his house for a couple of hours this afternoon. A has a playdate lined up with one of her classmates tomorrow - he is coming to our house. And then A has been invited to a Pajama/Slumber party for Saturday night. I have a feeling that it will just end up being a pajama party because I can't imagine many 4 or 5 year olds doing well at a sleepover! I was surprised by the invitation that she got and expect that I will just pick her up after the festivities of the evening (popcorn, movie, etc.), but we'll see how it goes! Geesh, my girls have a very active social life all of a sudden!
Ok, maybe I can get a bit of cleaning/organizing done between now and 12:30 when I have to be out the door to get A!
I seemed to have lost my motivation. Has anyone seen it? Or do you know where I can get some more?
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