Smellyann Strikes Again

Sunday Stealing Double Play: Triple Threat & Mixed Bag Memes

Linkage is here if you want to read answers better than mine! ;)

Sunday Stealing: The Triple Threat Meme

Three names you go by, other than your given name:

Smellyann, its predecessor Mellie-Ann, and Mom

Three screen names you've had: 

Dillaboo, Smellyann, and my real, full name, which was an accident and became a big joke amongst my friends...

Three things you like about yourself: 

I'm creative, I'm intelligent, and I'm freakin' hilarious.

Three things you don't like about yourself: 

Being bipolar, being too self-indulgent, and being too shy/mousy with new people & situations
 
Three parts of your heritage: 

I'm roughly 2/3 German/Pennsylvania Dutch, 1/6 Hungarian, & 1/6 English.
 
Three things you are wearing right now: 

A purple bandana to cover my slightly-more-than-stubbly head, now, a striped long-sleeve t-shirt, and tight gray pants that I can't stand to wear because I hate the feel of them against my skin.

Three favorite bands/musical artists: 

Eric Clapton, Jewel (the old stuff), and, um,... Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, I love that kid.
 
Three favorite songs: 

Okay, we'll go with ones by each of the above: "Tears in Heaven," "The Morning Song," and "My Life Would Suck Without You"
 
Three things you want in a relationship: 

Total honesty, scintillating conversation, and tons of laughs
 
Three things about the preferred sex that appeal to you:  

Muscular arms, eyes that crinkle when he smiles, and a sharp wit (SCORE!)

Three of your favorite hobbies: 

Knitting, paper-crafting, and, duh, this blahg

Three things that scare you: 

Losing another child, speaking in public, and leaving my children without a mother like I was

Three of your everyday essentials:  

 Diet Coke, Internet, & my children's laughter

Three places you want to go on vacation: 

Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Japan, and Hawai'i
 
Three careers you have considered/are considering: 

Family court judge, marine biology (check!), and teacher (check!)
 
Three things you want to do before you die:  

See the whole world, go to a gay bar, and visit Times Square for New Year's Eve, brrrr

Three things you want to do really badly right now: 

Clean up this house, sell the old house, and move to California!

********

 Sunday Stealing: The Mixed Bag Meme

1. How many songs are in your library?

Ugh. I lost my entire library when my computer crashed. I've got, like, five albums' worth now. Boo.

2. Do you like Christmas music? 

Yes, but only for a week or two. Then I am so over it!

3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to?

I get so many free mag subscriptions, it's ridiculous. I have everything from People to Forbes, Martha Stewart Living to U.S. News & World Report, Essence to Latina (though I'm neither black nor Hispanic!)... and sooo many more.

4. What is your favorite scent?

Citrus smells - lemons, limes, and oranges, are my favorites.

5. Do you give money to charity?

Sometimes.

6. What is your theme song?

"Crazy," by Gnarls Barkley - it's my ringtone for my therapist, which I find very amusing, and so does she!

7. What's in your wallet?

I don't really carry a wallet so much as wear a little satchel, so I'll tell you what's in that instead: spare coinage, cards of the debit, ID, insurance and voter varieties, cash when I have it (two bucks right now), my kids' gift certificates to Build-a-Bear Workshop right now, a small gold business card holder with a few of my cards in it, and occasionally, I'll stuff my iPhone and lip balm in there. 

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?

Most anyone who knows me - even a little bit - will tell you it's the latter, unfortunately. Sometimes it's served me well, though. 

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?

You mean like our finances being in the shitter?? That's about it.

10. Do you have a good body-image?

How could I? I don't have a good body. :/ 

11. How are you spending your holidays?

At home with my family, as per our usual. I like it just that way.

12. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?

Getting rid of as much stuff as possible, in preparation for our cross-country move and an expected down-sizing of our abode!

13. Tell us a secret?

It's not a really a secret - I have few of those, y'know - but in grad school (and now, on Facebook), a girl whose father helped develop Universal Product Codes (UPCs) and their scanners was my pal. 

14. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?

Thanks to my girl-crushing 11-year-old daughter, "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Taylor Swift. Hey, it's catchy. At least it's not Justin Bieber. 

15. What’s your favorite item of clothing?

I don't really pick favorites like that. I'm an equal-opportunity everything. I love that I can fit into lots of my very-skinny hubby's clothes now, but I'm the type of girl who gives preferential treatment to my left hand as much as possible, because I feel guilty when I don't use it as much as my right. Yeah. Can you say "OCD"? 

16. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy?

They're okay, but my cereal days are pretty much over now, thanks to my cranky pouch.

17. Is Santa real?

I'd like to be my usual rose-colored glasses self and be all, yeah, the magic, blah blah, but no. No. I told my children the truth about Santa long ago, when they were still quite young. (Not because I wanted to dash their sweet Christmas dreams; rather, they were quite disrespectful of the things we worked hard to provide for them, and I wanted them to develop a respect for their property - and ours - by knowing from whence they really came.) 

18. What should you be doing right now?

Knitting, and now I shall do just that.

Fin.

Saturday 9 Double Play: Same Auld Lang Syne & Happy Holidays

Of course, if I'm going to play catch-up from the last several weeks, it's easiest to start via meme, and that's just what I'm going to do. ;) Linkage is here if you are also late to the party or want to check out some other players.

Saturday 9: Same Old Lang Syne

1) This week's song is the tale of an accidental holiday encounter between former lovers. (Hear it here.) They sit in her car and spend hours catching up, then she gives him a chaste kiss and they never see one another again. Is there a past love who still has a special spot in your heart, despite the years or the miles since your relationship? 

I suppose there is, though I don't like to discuss it, and especially not here!

2) This week's song includes a play on the traditional Scottish song, "Auld Lang Syne." Have you ever visited Scotland?

No, and although it's not high on my must-see list, it would still be nice to go. I do want to visit every corner on Earth before I die, after all!

3) Mother Winters has long told Sam that if she has a glass of water for every glass of champagne she drinks on New Year's Eve, she'll feel better on New Year's Day. Do you have a favorite hangover prevention tip or cure?

Don't drink.

4) Do you like champagne?

Heck yeah! Not dry, though; I can't stand it dry. I need some sweet!

6) This year at midnight, Crazy Sam will kiss the nose of her puppy, Chico. Will you be kissing anyone when the clock strikes 12?

Hubs had to stand the 1600-2400 watch on New Year's Eve, so it was just me and the kiddos for a group hug and cheek smooches. He got home about 15 minutes after the ball dropped, and I got my kiss then.

6) The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy was the runaway publishing phenomenon of 2012. It was so successful that the publisher, Random House, was able to give its employees massive bonuses this year. Have you read it?

Not yet, but I'm told that I simply must.

7) Year-end is a time for newspapers, magazines and websites to run lists. According to Askmen.com, Jennifer Lawrence of The Hunger Games is the at the of the year's "Most Desirable Woman" list. People magazine has declared Channing Tatum "The Sexiest Man Alive -- 2012." Do either of these two set your pulse racing? If not, who is your celebrity crush?

I wouldn't know Jennifer Lawrence if she were sitting right in front of me - haven't seen the flick yet - and Tatum really doesn't do anything for me. Matt Damon, now... phew!

8) Pasadena, California, is known for hosting the traditional Rose Parade. It begins at 8:00 AM on January 1, so the people who watch it live must be there very early. Does the thought of getting up and dressed to sit in the California sun, bright and early on New Year's morning appeal, to you?

I suppose once we live in Cali, it would, but I haven't watched the parade on TV since I was a teen.

9) Sometimes aches and pains that aren't serious can still really hurt. For example, Sam just dropped a can of tomato paste on her foot and the little red mark it left is making her crazy! Are you suffering through a bump or bruise or cut right now?

Not really, but I do have an interesting injury. I forget the full name for it (something ab igne), but I've been warming myself this winter by resting my feet on the mini space heater under my desk, and uh, well, basically my left leg is cooked. Like, it's gross. I didn't even realize that's what the nastiness was from until my BFF, Dr. Weezie, pointed out the obvious to me. And yes, it hurts. Now. (Yet I haven't stopped! Can you say, "idiot"??)

********

SATURDAY 9: HAPPY HOLIDAYS 

1. As you can see, Sam loved giving her annual wish list to Santa. Yet some children are reluctant to climb into Jolly Old St. Nick's lap. Did you enjoy the tradition or were you shy? Or did you bypass it altogether -- either because you wrote him a letter or because your family didn't celebrate Christmas?

I found out the truth about Santa when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and honestly, I really can't remember what I did before that. Lame answer, I know.

2. Are you currently on the Naughty or Nice list? How did you get there?

Naughty. Because I'm naughty, duh.

3. Did you ship any gifts to friends and family this year? If so, which one traveled the farthest?

I guess the gifts I haven't sent yet - and have, also - to my nieces in New York were the farthest? It's not a time for us to be sending lots of presents, though, financially speaking...

4. Did you buy yourself a gift this year?

Um, yeah. It's kind of a sore spot between Hubs and me right now, still, I think, but I replaced my dysfunctioning iPhone 4 with the iPhone 5 a month or so ago, without checking with him first, while he's still doddering along with his from two models ago. Hey, I'm rougher on my phones, I suppose, but I've got this one fully ensconced in armor now. ;)

5. What's your favorite holiday-themed movie?

It's always been Miracle on 34^th Street. Do you know I've never watched It's a Wonderful Life all the way through in my 36 years?!

6. Thinking of movies, Christmas is lucrative for Hollywood. Have you ever gone to a movie theater on Christmas Day?

Yes, it became a family tradition when my father remarried, so from when I was 8 until... they split, I guess.

7. Have you ever suffered an embarrassing moment at the company Christmas party?

I haven't ever been to one. However, when we I was pregnant with the twins and we lived in Guam for Thanksgiving, 2002, we went to the squadron turkey dinner. Needless to say, my various mental disorders were untreated thanks to pregnancy (and not being fully diagnosed yet), and my hormones were running rampant with the double whammy inside me. I brought our dish into the building, where I knew nobody except Hubs and our toddler, and not a soul looked up, greeted me, told me where to put the food, or any damn thing. I stood there like a fool for five minutes before furiously stomping out of there and refusing to return. I'm still embarrassed, but our makeshift little dinner at home together, with the barest bones food, was way better anyway!

8. What's your favorite beverage in cold weather?

I don't care if it's 50º below, I'm still gonna love my Diet Coke!

9. What will you remember most about 2012?

Moving out of our house of 9½ years and preparing for Hubs' retirement in our "halfway house" is the most salient thing about, well, last year now.

********

Speaking of Diet Coke, I'm fixin' to run out to 7-Eleven for a refill of my 'keg,' and then I'll be back for two episodes of Sunday Stealing. Stay put, y'all!

Fin.

Saturday 9: Christmas Carols

I'm late again, what else is new?! Link up here if you want to be late like me, too!

1) What's the first holiday song that comes to mind? 

The First Noel - it was my mother's favourite song and, maybe largely because of that, it is mine, too.

2) Are you sending cards (either by postal service or email) this year? If so, have they gone out yet?

Ugh. Yes, I'm sending out cards. Usually I'm among the first to get them out, but this is an extremely busy December for me this year, and no, they haven't gone out yet. I have about 30 stamped and ready to go, but lots more to do. (Do YOU want one? I have lots and LOVE to send out cards; comment if you'd like one. :D )

3) Can you see any holiday decorations from where you're answering these questions?

Yep. We're not putting up a tree this year, but we've made one out of cardboard as part of our many Advent crafting activities, so there's that, the wrapping paper-wrapped door of the room I'm in, the actual Advent craft/calendar, and some more "stuff" for more Advent crafts. Advent, Advent, Advent. Just thought I'd say it a few more times!

4) Do you wrap gifts in paper or take the gift bag route?

I'm all about the environment, so I have about 50,000 (give or take, like, one) used and reused gift bags that we recycle every year. However, I'd like to take it a step further this year and wrap our gifts, as much as possible, in useable fabric, like t-shirts, bandannas, material for sewing projects, or what-have-you. I love the idea, have done it before, and plan to do it again! Try it!

5) The holidays are an important fundraising time for charities. Here's an opportunity to do a shameless plug for your favorite. What organization or cause do you wish got more support at the holidays, and all year around?

I think Heifer International is a fantastic charity, and I like to support them when we can, by gifting animals to impoverished villages instead of random plastic crap from China, for instance, to ... whomever. 

6) Andy Williams was famous for his family holiday specials. What TV family would you most like to spend Christmas with?

I think the Huxtables would be good people to spend it with, because... Because.

7) The holidays are a big time for travel. Where did you go on your first airplane flight?

... To/from Syracuse, NY. Exciting, right? Actually, it was; my grandparents were in NJ, and I loooooved being with them. That actually wasn't my first flight, I'm sure, but I've been flying for longer than I can remember, so that's the earliest memory I have.

8)  Does the weather have an impact on your mood?

Yes. My psychopharmacologist was just asking me how I was doing with this Saturday morning, actually. It's better this year than most, but it has been a relatively mild Autumn / almost Winter so far, so there ya go.

9) Snack time! You're about to make yourself your favorite sandwich. What ingredients do you need?

I love a pita full of hummus, cheese of some sort, and that's usually good enough for me. However, the very best (and I'm not even lying to insert a shameless plug; this is the God's honest truth) hummus and pita sammich I ever had came from my BIL Mike Odette's restaurant in Columbia, MO, Sycamore. There were sprouts and cucumbers on it, and probably some stuff I don't remember anymore, but it was So. Freaking. Good. I crave it all the time, but alas, Missouri is not exactly a hop, skip, and a jump from Virginia!

(If you're ever in Columbia, GO to Sycamore. Ask for Chef Mike. Tell him I sent you. You'll not regret it!)

☼

On to Sunday Stealing, come right back now, y'hear?

Fin.

Advent-ures 2012, Days 7-12 (Yeah, I Know...)

First, let me say that our wrapping paper roll candlestick craft has still not been completed, because the glue took forever and a day to dry, and then when I brought it out tonight to finish, guess what? Jack decided to pour more glue on it! Aghhhh!!! So, it's drying some more. Awesome. Let us move beyond that little incident, though, shall we?

On the 7^th day of our Advent activity, the paper strip read: "7. Visit Coleman’s Nursery Winter Wonderland @ Monumental UMC, corner of Queen & Dinwiddie Sts. Free. Open ‘til 8 PM." 

Rob took the girls to this activity, while I stayed home with Jack, who was napping fiercely. I mean, homeboy was knocked OUT. And I was 'meh' about it, so that decided things.

Apparently there were a bunch of these things, which I kind of hate, but the kids love, so here are two more:

and,

I just don't have much to say about these things.  In this case, for me, the picture says about three words: Bo-ring-a! ;)

I'm not sure what they are looking at here, but this reminds me: Don't buy poinsettias if you have cats & dogs; they're toxic to your animals. I saw some when we went down to the Outer Banks last weekend, or was it two weekends ago? Anyway, I wanted to grab a couple, until I remembered we house six felines who might, ya'know, die and stuff. And several of them are known to nibble on non-food items, so there you go. No poinsettias for us. Ahem. Back to Advent.

I have yet to determine - and Rob wasn't sure either - whether that Father Christmas was a real person dressed up, or some kind of dummy. It creeps me out a little bit. Can I say I'm glad I didn't go? Rob sent me a picture of a scary clown, too - and I am decidedly NOT afraid of clowns at all - so, yeah, it was a weird scene. Just... weird.

Sophia did find some penguins to pose with, which made her happy, as she is the world's foremost lover of all things penguin!

Now this picture, even though I wasn't there, speaks to me. Lots of words could be said, but I'll just let it stand as it is.

You can't see it too well on the lady-babies, but on the ground, you can spot the "snow" that was being made there. The girls had fun playing in that for a few moments in time.

My beautiful Chloë with snowy hair

And then, just like that, it was over, and home they came, before I accomplished a thing, I think. Like I said, I'm glad I didn't go! But I appreciate that the girls had fun, as you can tell by their smiles, so I suppose it was somewhat worthwhile.

Oh, and just to throw a little Jackiness in here, the reason he was so tired was because I woke him up much earlier than he's used to lately, for his dental surgery pre-op check-up (which we have to repeat, because ugh, that's a story for another day), and there was all kinds of running all over the hospital. He needed to have labs drawn, but he cried buckets, so I have put that off for another day. Maybe when Daddy can take him. Ha. I kid. Anyway.

On the 8^th day of Advent, our activity was supposed to be: "8. Olde Town Holiday Music Festival along 1^stSeven Blocks of High St, 12-6 PM & TowneBank Circle of Smiles on High St, w/ free crafts, hot choc, Santa pix, At 5:30 PM, be at Court & High Sts to watch Santa’s arrival parade!"

We were supposed to meet mi amiga Stephanie and her sons, Luke & Vinnie, for the festival, but ah, we did not go. We did none of that. We were all just so damn tired and lazy, so our activity for the day turned out to be: "excessive napping." Lame. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.

Our 9^th day of Advent paper read: "9. Children’s Christmas Shoppe, where only kids can shop, @ Trinity Episcopal Church, 12:30-4 PM (500 Court St) – Shop for presents in Robby’s memory to donate!" however, the fundage wasn't there for said shopping, so we put that off for a later date and decided to tag along with Stephanie and Sons, heading up to Hampton to go to the Bass Pro Shops Christmas-related activities up there. Eh, whatever, why not?

We didn't get to visit Santa for our free "studio-quality photo," because they have this, um, lame (can I say that twice in a post? Too bad; I just did) policy of giving out a limited number of tickets to pose with Ol' St. Nick, and we missed it by about a quarter of a second. Whatever. My kids know the real deal, and Steph's kids had already 'done' Santa a handful of times, so it was really no big deal to miss it. We headed for the carousel instead. 

At first, I took Steph's son Vinnie onboard the ride, because she gets nauseous on them or even watching them, but he was Not. Having. It. and we had to stop the ride. No big whoop. Instead, I handed her the baby and took blurry pictures of my own cadre of offspring.

After the ride, there were a few more activities set up, such as this duck-shooting game with rubber darts and a bow. Rubber arrows, whatever. Chloë had a hard time shooting them, so I let another little girl help her to leave me free to Instagram this photo for the world to see. I'm a great mom like that.

Jack was all about driving the electric train, until it died. Then he moved on to the remote-controlled cars, until they died. He scurried over to another RC set-up, and those whatever-vehicles-I-forget were dying, too. Wow. Can I say "lame" ONE MORE TIME?!!!

My girls are not too girly to drive the RC cars, too. Sophie had a turn, and then Chloë did:

... but you can tell by the look on her face that they were pretty much dead by that time. Fun stuff, right? And no one was around to help. Where were the elves with all the AA batteries?!

There wasn't much else to do - the craft station was closing, so we picked up our crafts-to-go for later - except pose in this giant cupcake scene. Sophia hopped right up there without help and had her 'sweet' moment, if I may be so silly.

Chloë, ever the delicate little pixie, needed mucho help getting up into the cupcake. Sophie to the rescue! She pushed that tush up there, and all was golden. ::snap, snap::

Jack wasn't too interested in this business, so once again, you're privy to the "take the damn picture and let me out of here" smile that I love so much. Not.

It wasn't until I uploaded this picture of a bear, who beheaded one camper before being shot to death by his tentmates, that I saw the unfortunate positioning of Chloë's hand... Ha.

There are Stephanie's boys - Luke, on the left, is the spitting image of his father - with my girls peering out of a "tree" that was in the middle of the store. Not sure where Jack went this time, but I think he was off looking at things with Rob!

After that, we decided we'd had enough of the store and were going to head off toward home. First, a picture of the five kids. Hm, sour pusses from Sophia and Jack. If memory serves, they still wanted to explore inside and weren't thrilled to be leaving. However, they shortly cheered when we let them scamper all over the quads and 4x4s, etc.

There were about eleventeen ATVs and whatnot outside, and they each climbed behind the wheel of every one of them before we finally parted ways and headed home for the night. After all, it was a pretty decent activity for the kids, so I'm checking that one off in the WIN category.

Ha. I use the above notation in my mystery shopping on occasion. We were supposed to go see the lights at the Botanical Gardens on the 10^th day of our Advent calendar, but again, no funds, so we postponed yet another thing and... did nothing. I can't remember exactly why, but I seem to remember crashing early that night...

Our 11th day of Advent activity read: "11. Backwards day: Have breakfast for dinner!" but I decided to mix it up a little bit more than even that. I have a lot of Jewish friends, including my three cousins, so I decided that we'd go totally "backwards" and celebrate Hannukah for one night, instead! Plus, I really had a craving for latkes, which I've had but never made before, so that was a bit of the impetus for the change. Sophia helped me grate some of the potatoes... but not much. She was afraid to catch her fingers!

I kind of made up my own recipe for the latkes, drawing upon several sources for inspiration. I threw in a half a 5-lb bag of grated Russets, some baby carrots I shredded, a couple large diced onions (and was glad I'd chosen to put my glasses on instead of contacts that morning, because these were a couple of real tear-jerkers!), some crushed garlic cloves, half a dozen eggs, a dump of flour (I didn't measure much; just played it by feel), and some spices I chose sort of willy-nilly, including salt (not enough, it turned out in my book) and pepper. 

My very first homemade latkes, frying up in some nice EVOO! I was very excited. About ¼ of the remainder of my family felt the same way, and that would be Chloë. The Littles were sort of nonplussed about the whole Hannukah-immersion-night I had planned, whilst Rob was, to my utmost surprise, rather incensed at the whole thing. I don't know; maybe he'd had a bad day at work, but when I told him about it after he came home from work to latkes frying on the stovetop and a whole mini-unit worked out, well, agitated and irritated are the words that come to mind. I don't understand the closed-mindedness he exhibited and would rather not dwell on it here and now, so we'll move along quickly...

Here we are having a good old-fashioned Hannukah fry-up, as one of my Jewish friends corrected me when I thought we were having a Seder. Hee! We had a bowl of (canned) tropical fruit salad to replace the apple(sauce), and rather than honey, applesauce and/or sour cream to top our latkes, I put out what I had: salt (necessary), strawberry preserves, and Ranch dressing. No one chose the Ranch, which I agree would have been ickypoo, but both Rob and Chloë (and, the following day for lunch, moi) enjoyed theirs with the preserves. I just had extra salt on mine, and it was okay...for a first effort. There are definitely things I'd change, but I think they turned out well for my first time, especially since I made up my concoction. Kind of bland, but one can always fix that. Jack didn't like his at all, but choked down about half a one in order to get more fruit salad, whilst Sophia was caught shoving bits of hers onto the floor under the table when she was telling us she had eaten it! Stinker. 

{Pepper, our kitten, liked what he was being fed, though. Talking of him, he's doing so much better, and is quite the li'l stinker himself these days!}

On Wednesday, because Tuesday, after all, I fell asleep right after dinner and didn't finish our immersion anyway, we started working on our Hannukah lapbook. Sophia's writing on one of the "petals" of our first mini-book for the lapbook here. You know what? I admit, my kids' writing is pretty atrocious. They're all bad. We're going to spend some time doing copywork until their hand-printing improves. I'm not so concerned about cursive, honestly, but I want their printing to be, well, nice. And... it's not. Their father's is chicken scratch, while I have very nice writing, if I do say so myself, and I'd rather them emulate my skillz in that regard! But anyway, I digress.

The lapbook was slow-going at first, because each one did some cutting, some research, and some writing, while the others pretty much had to sit around and wait. When each of the first few mini-books was done, I'd have them read back what was written there, so they really got to understand the meaning of the menorah, the oil, the story of the Maccabees, and so forth. I learned quite a lot, myself, that I'd never known before. I found it fascinating. Chloë was really into it, while I kept having to tap-tap-tap The Littles to keep their attention going.

I love the look of concentration here on Jack's face... After the first two or three mini-books were complete, I was able to spread out the tasks pretty rapidly amongst the three of them - and me, too - to get more of them done quickly. We haven't even finished yet and have built up quite a pile of them! We'll work on it more tomorrow, I hope. I'm having fun and can't wait to see the finished product - and show it off to y'all and my Jewish friends!

At this point, things were getting busier, with each of the kids working on separate mini-books, including Chloë looking up recipes for a traditional Hannukah feast for a pocket mini-book full of recipe cards. What fun! I love lapbooking and wish we used it more often. From now on, I think we will. It's more hands-on than the way they've been learning this year, which is proving less effective than last year. Blah for that!

After several hours, they needed a break and were clamoring for something else. The 12^th Advent activity was: "12. Make Cardboard Box Christmas Tree & Ornament craft!" We were just starting on that when Daddy came home, so we enlisted his help with the tough job of cutting a tree out of a cardboard box. He snatched one of the Wüsthof knives out of the drawer, shocking me, and made quick work of the project. Argh! I buy him those as gifts and hate it when he treats them like utilitarian pocket knives... hee. But they're his knives after all, so so be it.

This is where I got the idea for this craft. Haven't decided yet whether or how we'll do the garland...

Sophia got straight to work, decorating her pile of ornaments after cutting them out with her non-lefty scissors. ;)

Jack's ornies turned out looking like potatoes, I thought, and I probably told him so, because I have no filter. I think he didn't mind. It didn't matter, anyway, since each ornament should be unique.

Chloë, a Virgo perfectionist much like me, worked hard to make her ornaments just so.

Sophia, looking rather shaggy now that she's decided to grow out her bangs, was so happy to break out the glitter and glue for this project. Chloë, too. The girls LOVE arts and crafts. Jack is more "meh" on the subject, but even he really got into this one.

A final look at the kids decorating the ornaments for their cardboard Christmas tree, many parts of which are now drying all over the kitchen, such as it is, for finishing up tomorrow. I'll show you that, too, when it is complete. 

Ahhh.... this post took forever. Hopefully it was an interesting-ish read! ;)

Thanks for visiting.

Fin.

Saturday 9: White Christmas

Link up here if you want to play along today!

1) Do you ever suffer the blues during the holidays? 

To an extent, yes. I lost my beloved grandmother on the 23^rd of the month, and of course it's always a time for some people to remember the loved ones who aren't there to share the holidays with us. I don't dwell too much on that during the Christmas season, though.

2) More than 18 million visitors have toured Elvis' home, Graceland. Have you ever been there? 

No, but I plan to take my dad sometime, since he is probably the biggest. fan. ever.

3) Elvis dyed his naturally light brown locks black. Do you dye your hair?

For the first time since April, 1995, my hair is its natural colour, and only because I buzzed it all off. My husband wants me to let it grow out naturally to see if I have any grays (I insist that I don't, yet), while others are daring me to dye it platinum blonde or shocking pink. I'm most intent on proving Hubs wrong, though!

4) He also insisted his young girlfriend, Priscilla, dye her hair jet black. If your lover asked you to change your hair, would you?

I would take it under consideration, but I would have retain final veto power, natch.

5) Elvis served his country at an Army base in Friedberg, Germany. Have you ever been to Germany?

No, but I am 2/3 German/Pennsylvania Dutch. I'll get there one day. 

6) Elvis famously had an affair with Ann-Margret during the filming of Viva Las Vegas. Have you ever indulged in a dalliance with a coworker?

I have more than a few things in common with Elvis.

7) Thinking of his movies ... Elvis was, by and large, unhappy with his film career and once said, "The only thing worse than watching a bad movie is being in one." Are you happy with the way your career is going/has gone?

Once upon a time, I was on the fast-track to becoming a prominent marine biologist. Now I'm one of the two most important people in three wonderful peoples' lives. It's not exactly what I had in mind when I was 20, but I wouldn't change it for a minute. And who knows what I'll end up being when all is said and done... though I do plan on being a family court judge one day.

8) Elvis lost "the battle of the bulge" toward end of his life. Are you happy with your weight?

Before Gastric Bypass:

After Gastric Bypass:

You be the judge!

9) As a teenager, Elvis worked as an usher at a movie theater. What was your first job?

This was my life from 12-17, essentially. Almost comically similar. Almost.

Advent-ures 2012, Days 4-6

I took a few "mental health days" through the middle of this week thanks to a deep depressive downswing in my lovely bipolar cycling, but I hit the upswing again last night, so we played catch-up for the past few days of our Advent activities. On the 4^th day, the Advent activity read: "4. Decorate all the doors in the house with wrapping paper!" The kids couldn't WAIT to do that. Here's Chloë helping wrap her door...

... and standing front of her finished door. (As an aside, I cannot wait until her hair grows back in more!!)

We worked on Jack's door next. They each got to choose their own paper from Mom's stash, and this is what he liked best.

They each were allowed to pick their own ribbons from my stash as well, and as you can see, he was quite enthralled with the results of his door!

Southpaw Sophie's door was last. (We may do the rest of the doors in the house... or we may not. I haven't decided. Time's flying this month, so we'll see!) See those purple-handled scissors of mine in her hand? She's FOREVER stealing them from me, because they're the only ones that work well for Her Lefty-ness. I really ought to buy a nice pair of lefty scissors for the poor girl...

It was no surprise to me when she picked the Hello Kitty holiday paper. My girls LOVE HK, but lately Sophia is all about it. They absolutely loved their doors, so that activity was a win!

The 5^th day's Advent activity read: "5. Make glittery snowflakes to hang around the house!"

I got this craft from the Daily Spoonful (formerly Disney's Family Fun website), specifically here. I chose that instead of the glittery ones I'd originally planned on doing, because, I'll be honest, I didn't feel like dealing with glitter all over the house, and I thought these would be fast, fun, and easy. Surprisingly, though, the younger the child, the more difficulty they had making these. It's definitely a parental-help project, with more input from me than I expected. You never know!

In the end, the four of us only ended up making eight snowflakes (two per), before the kids decided they'd rather move on to the next craft and maybe make some more snowflakes at a later date. Fine by moi. (P.S. Fiskars cheapy shaped scissors don't work so well with these snowflakes; we broke two pairs, dangit!)

The kids LOVED the effect of their hung snowflakes and declared it a "winter wonderland!"

I love the look on Jack's face in both pictures, and the girls' in the latter, which is why I'm including both! You can't quite get the feel for the final effect, but you get the idea. So fun. Another WIN for this project!

(By the by, please don't look at the background in any of my indoor photos. We have never fully moved into this house, and we have unpacked boxes and general disarray all over the place. It's driving me cray-cray, which albeit is a short trip, but I'm counting down the weeks now until our move outta here! Back to Advent...)

The 6^th day's Advent activity reads: "6. Make Toilet Paper roll candlesticks craft!" which I got from the Daily Spoonful site here. (Their photo is above. Parents and grandparents: I highly recommend this site for kid-friendly crafts, recipes, and s'more good stuff, if you haven't had a chance to peruse it yet.)

Anyway, our glue is still drying on our tubes, which, rather than being toilet paper and paper towel tubes, ended up being one long cut up wrapping paper tube. Someone got rid of my stash of tubes that I'd been saving for this stash, and when I went to get it last night, 'tweren't there. Hello, chagrin, thy name is Smellyann. So I unrolled the emptiest wrapping paper tube and chopped that up into different lengths. Whatever works, right? I will show you that finished project on the next Advent-ure update, since we haven't been able to finish it yet.

To add to the Christmas decoratin' that's happening 'round these parts, I broke out the cats' new embroidered stockings (picked up on the super-cheap from Vistaprint) and hung - okay, more tape - them on a clear wall. The kids wanted to know, what about our stockings? Umm... yeah, they're still at the old house. Hopefully we'll get them out before Christmas Eve, because I have things to put in them, and opening them is a tradition for that night!

Stay tuned for more Advent-ures, 2012! We've got big fun planned for this weekend!

Fin.

Advent-ures 2012, Days 1-3

So three days of our Advent 2012 calendar in, and it's kind of a half-fail. December 1^st, the activity on the calendar was "1. Nautical Holidays – make your own nautical-themed ornaments @ Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum 10 AM – 5 PM AND/OR Games, Arts & Crafts, etc. @ VA Sports Hall of Fame 11 AM – 3 PM AND/OR Make Holiday Crafts @ Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve 2-4 PM."

So. Chloë had her piccolo lesson at noon that day:

(and yes, she technically was supposed to be taking flute lessons, but she's a wee pixie, and the flute was too big for her, so for now, it's the piccolo).

After her lesson, I ran a few much-needed errands, so by the time we got home, it was after 1400. I offered up the activities on the list to the kids, and they chose to just go to the Hoffler Creek Preserve to make crafts. Okay, fine.

Rob took them to the preserve sans moi, because I was exhaaaaaausted and needed a "nap," (which turned out to be a marathon catch-up sleep session), and there turned out to be nary a craft at the preserve. They were all, "What crafts?" and had nothing. Um, that's cool, so whatever. Rob and the kiddos went for a hike out on a trail in the woods intead, but do you think he took any pictures for me? Of course he didn't. Boo.

They had a great time anyway, crafts or no, and saw some ducks. I don't know what, if anything, else they saw, but I did hear tell that apparently three kids in the woods are generally too loud to see much else, because they scare away the aminals? Yeah, mine don't shush well. So. That was Day One.

On the 2^nd day of our 2012 Advent calendar, the activity was: "2. Learn to knit, do origami, and/or do fun Christmas print-out activities!" However, I had to do some, uh, shops of the mystery variety down the upper stretch of the Outer Banks, so we rented a bunch of movies from the Redbox, put the kids in the car, and went, figuring on doing the activity(ies) upon our return to the homestead.

Here's my man getting gas. We needed some. I took a picture. There's that story.

And if you look hard, you can see him in the 7-Eleven there, getting me a Diet Coke refill. We did that a bunch during our annual OBX pilgrimage, too. I found it interesting, and commented many times during the drive, that SO MANY NEW THINGS have sprung up down in that place. I thought it was cool to see all the new things, but on the other hand, a little sad that Big Box has taken over the "mom-and-pop kitschy-beachy" feel of the Outer Banks quite a bit. Progress? You decide.

The kids watched Arthur Christmas and 12 Dogs of Christmas during the drive; as you can see Sophia was locked onto the screen during their little viewing party. I rented four movies, but we haven't gotten to the two others yet, and I haven't returned them to the Redbox. Yay, late fees. Arthur sounded like a really fun flick, from my driver's seat hearing position, and even Rob enjoyed it, so I recommend that if you have and your kiddos haven't seen it yet! Hubs and I talked to each other a lot during the other movie, so I can't really comment on that, but there was a lot of "awww"-ing from the back of the van, if that helps.

Anyway.

When we got back here, it was decided that we would go do our big grocery shopping trip together, so the Advent activities were pushed back even further. Note that the girls both wanted to learn to knit, but Jack absolutely did not, no matter what we tried to convince him; no one wanted to do origami; and, everyone wanted to do fun Christmas printables.

Knitting took a pause for a later date, as it was lay-hay-ate by the time we got home from the shopping, but I did allow the kids to do the printables. There were mazes, dot-to-dots, word searches, bookmarks with jokes, and so on, which I searched for all over the Interwebs, so no linkage, sorreh. They're easy to find, however. Remember to use Swagbucks for your searching, to rack up those rewards! Anyhoo, the kids really enjoyed that and kept asking for more, so I guess that part wasn't a fail. (Eek about all the paper and ink I used, but nevermind that.)

On the 3^rd day, the Advent activity was: "3. Holiday Lights at the Beach – Military Mondays 20% off!"

The plan was to go after Jack's Cub Scout meeting, but, uh, while the boy and his father were gone, I fell asleep and didn't wake until a few hours ago; 0230 to be precise. The kids were a bit disappointed, but I'll bump that to later in the month, so we won't entirely miss out on that, an annual tradition for us.

I did accomplish something, though. Normally, Rob does all the dinner cooking, especially in this house, since I hate the kitchen, half our crap is still at the old house, and did I mention I hate the kitchen?? However, I got a bug up my arse to actually accomplish some housewifery yesterday, and I washed the humongous pile of dishes that were taking over the sink and half the nation, so I could give The Bob the night off from cooking and make a delicious dinner that would be ready for him when he got home, exhausted from work. (The kids helped: they dried and put away the dishes and did some other various and sundry tidying-up chores while I prepared the sup.)

Dinner was a pork loin, cooked on the stovetop in a pot with the usual roast veggies: potatoes, onions, and carrots, along with a bunch of garlic thrown in for good measure, salt-and-peppered to who-knows-who's taste, since, natch, I don't eat pork (mammal-free since 1995, give or take a few lapses I won't mention now) and wasn't about to sample my own cooking. 

I decided to make dessert, too, and opted for baked apples, which I'd never done before but had long wanted to try. I used this recipe as a starting point, with the addition of oats to the hollowed-out Granny Smiths, and a cooking time of 30 minutes rather than 15.

The chiquiniños watched me make dinner and dessert, and they thought the addition of butter to the apples was disgusting!! They were vehemently opposed to trying the apples on the before side, but when I served the baked cinnamony goodness alongside their roasted pork an' veggies, they decided the after was quite edible, indeed. Jack didn't eat too much, having filled up on pork (he's my meat kid; Sophie's my fruit kid, and Chloë is my picky, depends-on-the-moment kid), so I ate some of his (in addition to my hummus dinner), and it was delicious!

Anyway.

I don't normally eat with the family anymore, since my gastric bypass surgery (nearly four years ago, wow!), because I'm finished eating in approximately 13½ seconds when Oscar-the-pouch is full, and it's incredibly agitating to me to watch everyone eating for another ten, twenty, thirty... you get the drift...  minutes, when I have so much else I could be (and would rather be) doing. It's kind of sucky on my part, which I realized in full when the kids were so ecstatic over my joining them for the recent Thanksgiving repast.

So I sat with them today, to watch them enjoy the meal I'd made, because I do love so when I cook and it turns out well, and the eaters of such like it and compliment the food and so on and so forth. I normally am quite horrible at accepting compliments, but because of my stepmother's excessive criticism about cooking-related everything during my formative years, I live for cooking-related accolades! And all four of them loved the meal (though the girls kept thinking the pork was chicken, not that I cared, as long as they ate it), so I was well-pleased. Well-pleased was I, yes.

And then, while I was washing up the dinner dishes, the boys readied themselves for their den meeting, and Sophia did Sophia things, Chloë, who was helping dry and put away said dishes, said to me, "I hope tomorrow is just like today."

Of course, I asked the inevitable, "What do you mean?"

And do you know what that child said to me? She replied, "I mean, I hope you cook a yummy dinner again, that's ready when Daddy gets home from work, and sit down with us for dinner. I really liked that."

You could have knocked me over with a feather, when she said the part about dinner being ready for Daddy when he got home from work. Seriously? It was a revelation for me. It was a total 1950s moment, kinda, but I mean that in a good way. I envisioned what tonight looked like from the kids' perspectives, compared to my usual snubbing of dinner, and wow. It meant so much to them, that I cooked, and joined them, and all, and I felt great about having done so. (I'd had my meds, so I was able to turn off the "I feel like crap about every other day" thoughts that tried to push in.)

So yeah. We didn't do the lights on the beach, but that happened, and it was pretty awesome, so I'm calling Day Three a mostly-win. Okay with you?

And yes, I'm going to cook dinner tonight, and probably the next, and yes, the week's menu plan was already in my head eleven seconds after Chloë said that. And I'm feeling a weird feeling I don't often get, and I think it's what they call "happy."

Stay tuned for more Advent-ures!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmenting today!

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I have a headache, which isn't responding to anything, so forgive me if I make no sense, cop an unreasonable attitude, or anything. When I have the migraine pain in the brain, all bets are off!

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I stayed up all night working on the kids' Advent calendar, then got ready to put it up... and it ALL FELL APART. I said some words I won't repeat here. Not because they're foul; I just can't remember them. I believe they were amusing to whomever was listening at the time, but alack. So, I used the opportunity to teach my kids about perseverance. "What's perseverance?" they asked. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" Now they keep repeating that...

So here's the finished project, such as it is, which is not at all what it started out to be:

That's part one. Ugh. It's completely overhauled, and I'm not loving the results, but the kids are, so I guess that's all that matters! It's a magnetic dry-erase board with the 24 days 'til Christmas on it on bottlecap magnets, with a stupid dumb bow on top and all the activities for the 24 days on strips of ribbon down below. Yeah. I kind of hate it.

Oh, and yes, that is duct tape holding it up on top, because the magnetized dry erase board wouldn't stay up, even with NOTHING ON IT!! BAHHHH!!!!

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That's part two, the be-ribboned bucket of 24 packets of treats, because there MUST be treats with any Advent calendar I make, after all. With another stupid dumb bow on top. There was not supposed to BE a bucket at all. Can you sense my annoyance with this thing?

The only thing that makes me glad about the calendar o' Advent is the list of activities I've prepared, most of which are brandy-new for us this year, and full of fun they will be for all five of us. I can't wait 'til tomorrow!!!

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I'm bald. Did you know that? I "pulled at Britney Spears," as someone I know so eloquently and delicately put it, and chopped off all my hair. You know what? Wintertime is not the best time to be doing that mess. Just sayin'.

On the upside, at least I can knit myself lots of cute hats and berets an' stuff.

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Finally, I asked in my Aloha Friday question already, but I'll ask again here: Do you want to exchange holiday cards? I have lots to share and love getting lots from all over, too. If so, drop me a line in the comments! Please, pretty please?

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That's about it from me for this week. Shortish and sweetish. Back to my grocery list, yay.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Fin.

Aloha Friday: Card Exchange?

Link up here if you want. Otherwise, run along and play. Kidding! I'm feeling snarky. Don't take it poissonally.

So, my question for you this week is:

Do you want to exchange holiday 2012 cards with me? 

If so, leave your snail mail addy in the comments. I jest. Just comment below, saying heck yeah!, and I'll reply with MY address. I have tons of cards and LOVE getting a bunch back over the holiday season!! 

Have a fantastic Friday, y'all.

Fin.

Christmas Continues With Crafts And...Stuff.

I took advantage of a few after-Christmas sales and picked the kids up some small things at AC Moore last week. All three picked out their own colors of plastic canvas and some embroidery floss for some crafty-time fun. The girls wanted to use theirs before I was ready, so I gave them the needles and thread and go crazy. It's hard to tell here, but Chloë made a face and a flower on hers; later, since it was New Year's Eve, she stitched "Happy New Year" on hers, too. I neglected to get Sophia's project, because her floss knotted up and she threw it down in frustration. (Hey, she's her mother's child.) I'm going to check out this site soon to see what we can do together with the rest of it.

 

I also snagged some Learn-to-Draw books for the kids, and Sophia's was horses and ponies. She started sketching right away, and this is one from the next day. I'm not sure where the others ended up, but they were equally impressive, for a six-year-old to whip out, in my mind!

Mindware had several cool items on crazy clearance, too, so I grabbed a few things from there for the kids, too. Jack wanted to start painting his car bank inmediatamente!

Chloë at least waited until after dinner to paint her scooter bank. Look, she even painted a little road on the paper. Silly girl.

For Christmas, the Littles each got a three-month subscription to Kiwi Crate from a Plum District deal, and they've been eager to break into their first boxes and see what goodness was contained within. I worried it would be a little young for them, but so far, they've had a blast with what we've done. Here they are decorating and putting stickers on special dates in the calendars therein. (The scissors came with the crates; they have everything you need to do the crafts and activities, which I like, even though we obviously own scissors and tape and stuff. They loved getting them.

 

The next activity was to make these super-simple but nifty "rockets," receiving enough supplies for about a dozen, each.

Jack was oh-so-careful making his. I mean, rockets! Right up a boy's alley!

The first launch was directed at his mother. It really flew, too! Good job, Bud!

When Sophia's first one was finished, the two of them were in competition to see whose could go the fastest, the farthest, the whatever-est, and they had an absolute BALL. I mean, days later, they are still making and playing with these things. Even Chloë made one or two of them, and they've been running all over the house, up and down the stairs, launching these rockets. WIN!

Finally, the kids each got gift cards from both sets of grandpas, and they opted to spend them entirely at Books-A-Million. (If you'd like the pictures individually, just let me know. Figured a collage was in order for this one.) Chloë shopped frugally and ended up with four books and a Gordian's Knot; Jack got two Legos packages, and Sophia bought a book and a Barbie DVD. Plus, all three of them bought Angry Birds stuffies; they are huge fans of the game app on my iPhone! Thanks, Grandpas!

Whew. So, I think I'm done blogging for the night. And now... back to my hexipuffs. At least one more before I turn in for the night. Have a great week!

Fin.

Christmas Day 2011

Once everyone was up, and we parents declared it 'time,' the kids bolted right for the stack of presents in the office. 'Scuse the clutter behind them in the pics; it's an ongoing project (or twelve) in here at all times. Right, so let's, shall we?

We started with the presents from Aunt Stacey (my sister); the girls got a couple outfits for their Barbies. I don't mind the Barbies at all, because these once oft-feuding sisters have really bonded over their play with her (them). So bring it on!

Jack's first present was a box of Ninja Legos, and he was overjoyed. The kid is a Lego fanatic.

Another Lego set for Jack - Stacey really scored points with the boy-child this year!

Actually, Stace scored all the way around - Chloë has already dug into this American Girl Fashion Studio, which caused lots of squealing upon being opened!

Sophia was given a Ballerina Barbie, and she declared, "I always wanted one of those!"

This was a last-minute snag I got off Amazon when it was price-dropped way low, and I didn't pay anything because I had Amazon money from Swagbucks to pay for it. It's a game we'll use in homeschooling (which significantly upped the "oh" factor when I told them that), because I get to make up the questions and then they buzz in. The reviews were pretty good, so I jumped on it.

Both grandpas gave the kids cards this year, and they requested Rob's dad and stepmom's card next.

Jack's reaction to getting his "own credit card" from Grandpa was hilarious, and he's been plotting and planning how to use it ever since.

Well, and so have the girls. They're all pretty excited about the concept.

Similar excitement ensued when they found gift cards to Books-A-Million from my dad's cards, especially from the bookworm in the family, Chloë.

I had gotten this Japanese-inspired outfit when we were in Charleston over the summer, before Chloë had even gotten her American Girl doll. I saw it and, given my love for all things Asian, knew I had to snag it for the doll we were already planning for her birthday.

Skipping ahead just for a second, here's Faith decked out in the outfit. Lovely, isn't she?

At the same store in the open-air market of Charleston, I spotted this tea set for Sophia. She peeked and saw me buying it, and she's been reminding me about it ever since! And I still almost forgot about it! Ha. She was thrilled when she opened it, and we've all had our share of "tea and cookies" this afternoon, including Daddy. It inspired us to plan a real-life tea party one of these days, which I can't wait to do.

I grabbed this Nerf gun for Jack online a long time ago, probably at the end of summer, when I saw a killer deal over it. Jack's still playing with it, hours later. He loves it and wants to use his gift card (this moment, anyway) to buy more 'bullets' for it. The four cats have been providing him endless target practice, which both scares and amuses me. I'd make him stop, but for the most part, they seem nonplussed by the experience. Good ol' Nerf!

Not long after we finished opening gifts, Chloë insisted on taking a shower with her new Jafra "BTWIN" shower gel and body lotion. She smells pretty good, I must say!  I could eat her up.

My metrosexual son was funny and just as quickly followed suit, bathing himself in his Jafra "Skid Rock" shower gel for boys, and spraying himself with so much of the cologne that the girls had to step outside for a few moments to get some fresh air!! I nearly joined them. *cough, cough*

Sophia was equally thrilled to get her Jafra goodies, a bag filled with perfume and sparkly lotion and lip gloss. She's probably used half the tube of gloss already and covered me in pink kisses. Silly cutie.

This was another last-minute snag, when the price dropped way down on Disney's website, and I knew Jack would love it. I was right. The only disappointment was there was no tree to hang it on, so he's looking forward to doing so next year.

We are big Webkinz collectors here, and this was Box One which contained a Mud Hippo for Curls, an Okapi for Soap, and a Yeti for Jacky-boy.

Out of Box Two, Jack chose the Prairie Dog, Sophia the Aardvark, and Chloë the Wombat. Aren't they great? I love all the different animals, I do.

I grabbed a great deal from Kiwi Crate for three months of crafts and projects for the two Littles, but I was a little disappointed they got the exact same things when I had to put in their ages and genders at sign-up time. Ah, well, we'll do the projects together - this month it's a rocket and space mobile, and I'm sure we'll have a good time. It's a little young for Jack, but he seemed excited about it, so whatev.

Rob caught me making this goofy face when modeling the earrings "he gave me," which were really another killer deal I snagged from Novica, which is a collaboration of National Geographic with artisans from around the world. I think these came from Thailand, but I forget. They're pearls, blue amazonite, and turquoise on silver findings, and they came in the most beautiful handmade paper box that will be great when I have to give a small gift to another. Two gifts in one!

I was glad when I found this deal for snow boots from Land's End, because even though we don't get a ton of snow and ice here, we do get some, and they've all outgrown last year's boots. It's hard to beat the boots from Land's End, so I'm well-pleased. I got a much-needed white oxford short for The Bob and a smaller, more well-fitting bathing suit for myself, from the same deal, but we opened those a few days ago and I didn't get pictures. Eh, well.

I paid practically nothing for this sapphire and diamond (although I think it's a CZ, but the saph is real) pendant from YaySave!, but we didn't get a photo of me actually wearing it because it arrived with a knot in the very fine chain. As you can see, I chopped my nails down to nothing, so I can't get the knot out at the moment, but I still love it. It's purty.

Sophie has been asking for a Barbie motorcycle for aaaaages, and I've been searching for one, but all I could find were either these Vespas on eBay, or $60+ collectible Harley ones. Obviously, she was going to get the Vespa. I showed it to her before I bid on it, to make sure it 'do,' but I told her I had to win it and that I might not if it went too high. She didn't quite get the concept of auctions, which I realized when she opened the packaged, exclaimed her shock that I won, and inquired as to whether anyone else got a prize. Hehe! Funny girl. But she's delighted with it, and I couldn't be happier to have finally made her small wish come true.

 

And last but not least, I grabbed another great deal on Rob's teapot and warmer from Cost Plus World Market, but I didn't realize we don't have any tea (that he'll deign to drink, anyway), so boo, me! The posing of this picture cracks me up, but it works, so hey.

Welp, after naps for Mom and Dad and lots of hours of playing with no signs of stopping by the kids, it's been a pretty good Christmas despite my being sick and falling short of the mark in many regards. They're all happy, so I'm happy.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday, however and whatever you celebrate, and don't have to spend 100 hours in line at the returns counter tomorrow!

Cheers!

Fin.

Christmas Eve 2011

Let me preface this post by saying that I have been really, really sick for two weeks now, with tests still pending to figure out exactly what sort of microbe is causing my delirium. I've been tired, and I've been so weak and dizzy that I have bruises all over from the falling and  tripping I've been doing. It has not been a fun time for me, and as such, we hardly did any of our usual Christmas traditions. I didn't bake a single cookie, I wasn't up to going to the Christmas Eve service I so adore at church (or the Lights on the Beach, but at least Rob and the kids got to go), and we didn't even put up our tree or hang the stockings!! So, we sat in my office/craft room where I had all the presents stacked to open presents, and I used gift bags instead of their stockings. The upside, though, is that the kids still had an awesome Christmas and, as is their custom, all have proclaimed it "The Best Christmas Ever."

So.

On to the pictures an' sech.

Sophia, Chloë, and Jack, about to open their "stockings"

Each of them got something different this year. The girls' were pretty similar, yet different, while Jack got completely different stuff. No rhyme or reason for it, really. They had a good time digging through and discovering!

As opposed to years past, I greatly limited the sweet treats I put in their "stockings." Nevertheless, Sophia gobbled piece after piece, true to form. This is her reaction to me calling her out on it!

Jack, a little excited about his Chiclets-like gum, I think!

After they finished going through their stockings, I had one present I wanted them to open last night. But first, I sent the kiddos upstairs to take a bath, so they were nice and squeaky-clean for it.

New pajamas for Christmas! This hasn't been a tradition of ours, but I found a deal and wanted to partake. I got a 4T for Jack, which is the size he's currently wearing in ALL his other clothes, yet they were way too small. I tried to hike them up on him, and this was his hysterical (to me) reaction! Haha. Poor kid. I know he was disappointed, but he gamely went and put on a pair of PJs he already owned.

I absolutly adore this picture of my girls, sharing a nice sisterly moment in their new jammies, which, crazily enough, ran BIG for their usual sizes. (Ugh, Old Navy. Ugh.) The socks were from their stockings, and the bow in Sophie's hair was a bow I made from a magazine page that topped the jammies box.

Rob and I got new jammie pants, too - I think this is the first pair of PJs that Rob has owned in his adult life! I think they look so cute on him! He even broke out the slippers I gave him on our first married Christmas, to complete the look (after this picture was taken). He rarely wears them, so it gave me a wee giggle.

No pictures of my jammies, but basically they're just a tank top and sweat pants. I'm all about the comfy right now!

I shall return shortly with pictures from today, Christmas Day.

Merry, merry!

Fin.

Aloha Friday

Link up here if you're questioning with Kailani today!

So, my question for you this week is:

Does it bother you when people wish you holiday greetings for a religion in which you don't participate, or do you just smile and shrug it off??

As for me, I like knowing about other people, so I won't "Merry Christmas" someone I know is Jewish, for example, and if I don't know, I'll wish them a happy holidays. I am Christian, so few people get it "wrong" when wishing me holiday greetings, but if and when they do, it doesn't bother me in the least. I guess I just figure that the person is being kind-hearted and loving, and not intending offense, so why take it?

Anyway, that's my take on things. What about you?

Have a great weekend and... happy holidays? ;)

Fin.

Not-So-Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Is Coming, Whether I'm Ready Or Not!

Link up with the gals at 5 Minutes for Mom if you're Wordless-ish today. (I hate the word "gals," btw. I don't know why I just used it.)

So our tree may not be up, no stockings hung by the chimney with care, no ornaments, wreaths and garlands, but by the sparse look of our Advent calendar, December 25th is chugging right along and will crash into us whether we're ready for it or not! Here, Sophia's showing off the FREE Build-a-Bear pup she got a certificate for in my email inbox out of the blue the other day. She named it... Jack. Yes. After her brother. Sirry girl! I don't know why the other two didn't get one... bummer!

Our two boxes of Harry & David "Royal Riviera Pears: America's Rarest and Finest" finally arrived, after I snagged the deal that was posted on Hip 2 Save, as a gift to my family. My kids LOOOOOOOOOOOVE fruit, and while I'm not the biggest pear person myself, I have to say, these are awesome. Worth every penny (that I thankfully didn't pay). They've already gone through the first dozen - and I'm glad it was 12, because the picture showed 9 per box. Lucky us!

As soon as I let them open the box, they each wanted to dig in. I mean, look at them! Who gets that excited about pears? But they really were, as you can tell by the genuine, non-"c'mon, moooooom" smiles they're wearing.

I barely took the picture before Sophia was digging in. I think she literally had four or five pears yesterday. And for once, she didn't waste a single bite. They are good.

Our first box of beautiful pears... they don't look extraordinairy, in my opinion, but the taste - oh! You've just gotta try them. Say you will.

 

I snagged these 60 AA and AAA batteries off OfficeMax for, like, a nickel after Max Perks. You gotta love all these loyalty rewards deals! And all of us moms know that it just isn't Christmas without going through a dozen or two AA batteries!

And finally, here's batch 2 of 3 different sets of Christmas cards we're sending out. I worked off and on addressing those yesterday. I've run out of the ones I ordered (and got a deal on, of course) at Walgreens.com, so I've got to wait until the ones I got a killer deal on from the Paper Coterie come in the mail to get the rest out. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying all the holiday cards that have been rolling in here, myself. I love Christmas cards!!

Anyway, that was about as Wordless as the Pope is Muslim, so I guess I better move on down the road now. I've been wrapping presents, organizing and cleaning, and I've got lots to do still!

Fin.

Great Wolf Lodge Re-Re-Visited, Take Two

Ah, now, that's more like it, hmm? If you read that last post, I'm sorry. I won't go there this time. So, last week, we went back to Great Wolf Lodge for an early Christmas celebration, because I got a fantastic deal on a killer room. I mean, look at it! Here's Rob going UP THE STAIRS - yes, our hotel room had two levels - to the kids' loft. Rock on, dudes! That meant we could get our groove on downstairs without having kids sleeping in the bed next to us. You know what I'm talking about. And ohhhh, yes, we did. What's better than hotel sex? Okay, once again, I'm completely diverging from the intended discussion. But I rarely backspace except to correct typos, so, um, now you get to know that little factoid about our lives. Moving on. (It was great. Thanks for asking.)

 

Of course, Chloë and Sophia couldn't wait to play peeky-peek at us downstairs, from the ledge of the loft (cue all the helicopter parents cringing and screeching, "Oh, my GOD, they could fall to their deaths doing that!!"), but I'm apparently not one of those, because I was peeved Jack wouldn't climb up on whatever table on which they were standing to do the same thing. Chicken. Chicken and dumplings, for that matter. Whatever that means.

After they checked out their loft and squealed a billion times about how awesome it was to have their OWN bathroom and floor, we had a little photo sesh on Mom & Dad's bed (well, there were two downstairs, plus a pull-out couch, so we could've roomed in with another family, but who in the hell wants to do that?! Not this blahga, thanks). This was the best of the lot. "The lot" consisting of this and one other picture, before I got bored of that. What makes me laugh about this picture is threefold: (a) It's obvious that the youngest child, in the middle, is by far the biggest and is therefore some kind of freakshow (hey, I've offered to let him do a DNA test; I swear she's his or she'd, um, have a much nicer tan and kinky hair...), (b) NONE of their socks match either their outfits or each other, and (c) Sophie's clothes came from my "too small, must take to consignment" pile, which she must've raided without my paying attention. Did y'all notice any of that, or are you not the "Find the 10 differences between these two pictures" types?

 Right. So.

I had planned on getting to the Lodge at, oh, 11 AM or so that day. Instead, we rushed so hard we ended up getting there at, like, 7 PM! Don't ask me to explain why; I hardly remember the kids' names most of the time, let alone that. But that left us just enough time to quickly explore the hotel room and then shower and put on PJs before story time. I didn't want a picture of Sophie's posterior, so instead I ended up with this terrific, "WHAT, Mom?!!" shot when I called out her name on the way down the hall. I am so great at photography.

Chloë, ever the modeling poseur, hamming for me when we arrived in the lobby, about 3½ seconds too late to catch the nightly snowfall. Dangit! That's all I was looking forward to, too! My life, it is Teh Suck. *le sigh*

Sophia, during story time, completely oblivious to her mother's frantic waving and face-making to get a decent shot... And what's up with those pupils, anyway? She high or something?

After story time ended, we still had a good 35 minutes before the waterpark closed for the night, so I asked the kids whether they wanted to dash back to our room to put on our swimming pannies (as I'm wont to call them, because I'm kewl) and get in a quick half-hour of splashy fun (well, I can't be that cool, if I wrote that) or stay upstairs in the lobby to catch the next snowfall. Of course, they opted for waterpark, now that they're no longer convinced water play is from The Debbul. Here, the girls are waiting for the huge jagillion-gallon bucket to dump on them - always a family favorite.

(I'm back! My wireless keyboard batteries died. Didja miss me? Thought so.)

So yeah, Rob's in there, wearing a wet suit. It's a good thing he brought it, too, because my genius child, there, Chloë, left my bathing suit on the couch at home, after I asked her to put it in the suitcase! Thank God I can fit in all Rob's clothes now, so I didn't have to either miss out on the fun entirely or get arrested going in there with the lady business hanging out. I wore his trunks with my tankini top, and he wore that. And no one batted an eye, either, because have you seen some of the shit that people will wear in public swimming areas? Hello, if you're a size 20, do not go to the beach/pool/indoor-or-outdoor waterpark with your chubs squeezed (squozen?) painfully into a 14, with everything that wouldn't fit hanging out. And I can say that, because I have been way past a size 20, and I covered my junk up. I mean, damn.

 

Jacky loves to wear his bathing suit shirt, even though its main purpose is to protect him from the sun, so we brought that thing, too. But more importantly, how cute does Chloë look, skipping through the water, when she's not actively posing for Vogue Tween™ magazine? (The lighting inside the waterpark itself is wicked weird, so yes, these are the best I could do after my major editing with free software.)

Soon, the waterpark closed, and it was time to head back to the Den of Iniquity, aka, our room. Room 4047, not that that will help you find us now, because we be back home an' stuff. Anyway, what? Who? Lookee there! Jack decided to play peeky-peek after all. So maybe he isn't chicken and dumplings. Maybe he's just... chick? Wait, no. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

 

The following day, we slept in super late - and by that, I mean, everyone else did, while I woke up at stupid o'clock as usual and waited for daylight - instead of getting up an hour before the waterpark opened like we planned. Why didn't I wake everyone else up, then, if I was awake, you wonder? Listen. I don't know if you have kids, and if you do, whether they are total grumpypants when they wake up before they've slept enough, but mine ARE. And I didn't want to deal with a whiny, cranky, moody grumpypants trio all day when it was supposed to be Happy Family Christmastime for us. So we woke up in time to pack up and check out, after a breakfast repast in the room, and that we did.

On the way back to the Lodge from Penelope (our van), because your waterpark passes are still good all day after you check out, I had the kids pose for me again. If I didn't already have Christmas outfits picked out for them, this might have been what you'd be getting in the mail from us this year. Hell, it still might, since the intended photos have yet to be taken, thanks to a photographer who apparently doesn't know how to reply to his emails in a timely manner. Maybe I'll just take them myself. I am as talented as Dorothea Lange, after all, and yes, I totally did a Swagbucks search for "Famous Female Photographers" for that. I referenced Annie L. too recently to mention her again. Aagh, I just did! You tricksters!

Our non-mystery-shop budget for dining out being quite stinted these days, we brought our own food for all our meals except this sweet treat from the Bear Paw - and the only reason I even allowed that was because it was our Advent activity for the day. Not that we adhere strictly to what I place in the daily Advent checklist, because we've done about 10% of our activities on time so far this year, but still. I budgeted for this, and so it must be, gosh darn it! (There, now, you can see the resemblance between Sophia and her siblings, right??? I know. I can't either. I'm such a teaser.)

 

Rob scamming some of Jack's chocolate icy cream, to the child's chagrin...

 And yeah. I did, too. I tried Chloë's strawberry sorbet as well, but you weren't getting me near Sophie's cotton candy flavor. Just... ick. Really? That should be outlawed. I'd rather eat mustar...ah! Gotcha 'gain! No way I'd eat that poison.

 

Here's my artsy-pants picture of Chloë drooling over all the candy choices in the shoppe. I should put out a coffee table book, I swear.

The kids were all keen to do this robofusion ice cream sensation that was kickin' it in the area outside the regular ice cream parlah, but, it was seven bucks, and you know money doesn't grow on trees, people. So I took a crappy picture of them in front of it and promised we'd do it next time. Seven dollars! As if! It's not like I'm LiLo getting a million bucks to pose for Hefner, here. (See, I'm all about the pop culture.)

 

Ice cream eaten, we were thoroughly chilled, so we headed back inside the park of water for some hot tubbing. My boys are sharing a moment, here, I wrote, pointing out the obvious.

Chloë enjoying the warmth and hopefully not adding to it herself.

They do that, you know. Kids. Don't drink the water. How do you think I ended up with this heinous dysentery from which I suffer?

Sophia, drowning in the vest that was supposed to protect her, even though she can swim. Daddy insists, and Mommy generally defers to his preferences on issues of safety. As soon as I took the picture(s), I went and got her one that fit. A size small, because after all, she really isn't BIG for her age. She's right at the 50th percentile. For an infant, but still. No, for real, she's just average. Blah blah.

I love Jack with spikey hair; I just never remember to do it most times. I'm gonna add that to my short list of New Year's Resolutions, because it is of global importance how his hair is coifed.

An hour before the Cub Club closed for the day, we decided to quit the waterpark and change into dry clothes. The kids love the Cub Club, but they weren't so thrilled with it this time, because there weren't any free crafts to do like there have been in the past. Bummer. So the girls colored, and Jack complained watched a movie. He's never been a big consumer of Crayola products.

I'm surprised he even let me photograph his grumpiness, because normally when he's in that mood and the camera points his way, I get this:

...which I did, moments later. Eh, whatever. He was just tired.

 

One of my favorite things about kids is when they concentrate on something. Anything. I love that. Love. That. They could be about to set the house on fire or set off a bomb or something, but if they're concentrating, I don't care. Kodak moment.

 All of the kids eventually got 'round to playing with this puppet bird, which was all well and good, except for the incessant squawking. I wanted to kill the thing. That's right. I wanted to annihilate an inanimate object. It was like the toy that the mean uncle who hates you gets for your kids because it's the most obnoxious one they can find, and they don't have kids so there's no chance for payback. STFU, YOU DUMB PUPPET BIRD! Look at me, I'm getting all worked up over it again. I'm sweating.

 

I'm back again, after some deep breathing. I like it when Rob participates with the kids' activities and stuff, but really he was checking out Facebook or Texts From Last Night or YouTube or some damn thing on his iPhone. And wearing my shirt, I might add. See. We share.

Oh, hey, what's up? That would be me. Yup, I was there, too. And d'ya know who took this picture of The Self? Soph. Yup, the babe. I entrusted her with the Nikon for precious few seconds, all the while worrying more about the camera than the kid, so she could capture photographic evidence of my presence on this mini-vacay. There, now, give it back.

(Also, do you guys know what I did with all my nose jewelry? Because, while I love this one, I've been sporting it for, like, six months or two years or something, and I can't find where I put all the rest of my nosy posies. I bet you that Sophie has 'em up in her bed or something. She would do that. She's probably got all kinds of secret piercings I don't want to know about.)

(Strikethrough rulez.)

And then I had my camera back, and then Sophia was busy on her next crafty project, and then I called her name, and then she looked up, and then I took the picture, and then I got this, and I liked it.

Yep, she's a Lefty. A Southpaw. Like her Aunt Gail, Rob's sister. I feel sorry for me, though, because even though it's a right-hander's world, I'm the poor fool who has to teach her to do stuff backward, and my non-spatial brain simply can not manage it most of the time.

Ah, actual participation with a child. The phone must've been dead. {Snark, snark}

I lay down there next to them shortly thereafter and attempted to doze off until it was time to go, but I couldn't. And I can't just lay around and do nothing, ever, so I got back up for a few more snaps before we hit the road.

I don't know why it annoys me so much when I feel like Chloë is playing "beneath her age," or whatever, but it does. She's the oldest, so she should be super-mature, right? Yet, she's not. I've talked it over with her doctors, and we chalk it up to the fact that her whole entire being is immature compared to her chronological age, but I still find it annoying. I'm such a bitch sometimes. (I can admit it, you know.)

Right after this, everyone agreed they'd had enough of the Lodge, and we skedaddled up on out o' that puppy. And literally less than 10 minutes later, bing-bang-boom, all four of the rest of Team Odette were asleep in the car, while I drove home, wishing I were, too.

 

One last photo, an Instagram from my own much-beloved iPhone: Sophia does this thumb-suck-while-flashing-the-"I love you"-sign frequently, and I adore it. She is pretty cute, despite being a huge (and near-constant) pain in the rear. It's the only reason we haven't given her away to the Pitt-Jolies yet. Well, that and we love her.

So that was the third trip to Le Lodge of Great Wolves, and though we were on the strictest of budgetations, we enjoyed it more than Trek Two. Next time, and there will be a next time, we have new things planned. So if we go again, read that, too. Even if the pictures are the same, after all, the words will be different, and who writes better than I do?

No one, that's who. No one.

(Ha, even I laughed out loud on that one. Of all my mental issues, a superiority complex is not among them. Which is not to say that I'm not a snob. Separate things, peeps. But this post is over, and I'm still yakking, so I better wrap it up quickly before I lose even my own interest. Y'all come back now, y'hear?)

Fin.

P.S. Shoot, there's, like, 27 things I wanted to mention, but forgot, because I didn't photograph them. And no, I'm not talking about the things mentioned in the first paragraph, piggy-wiggies! Oh, well. I've asked myself to shut up now, and I aim to please.

Are You Lookin' At My Ass?

This is what you're in for tonight. (Click to embiggerate, as usual.) What? You want to see the pics individually? Well, all righty, then, I think we can manage that...

But first, I'm up to some, oh, 43 hexipuffs, and I've been asked several times what I plan to do with the darn things. Oh, but didin't I link you here, to the Beekeeper's Quilt, already? Eventually, they'll be sewn together for a fun, poofy, multi-colored and -textured blanket, and I simply cannot wait to do that. I'm hexipuffing every free moment and enjoying every minute of it. Won't you join me, oh, ye knitters of the world? You don't knit, you say? Well, there's also a free Ravelry crochet equivalent, if you're so inclined... but anyway, that's what they're for. Aren't they cool? (Say yes or I'll cry.)

So anyway... (ugh, I'm full. Chloë has been all about baking bread in the bread machine lately, and her latest creation, chocolate chip-honey-oat bread just finished baking. I had a rather-too-large hunk of it with nary a chocolate chip in the slice. Life is so unfair. But I digress yet again...)

We had a homeschoolers' field trip to the Hunt Club Farm Winter Wonderland tonight, so the first thing our kids ran to do after we got our wristbands and entered through the lighted arch was run through the light maze. Lots of these pictures are blurry, and I apologize for that, but I'm still learning the settings on my Nikon. Yes, I got it in February, and no, I have not yet read the instruction manual. All in due time. These were all taken on the nighttime setting, which would have been great if the little people were not in constant freaking motion...!

Sophia, as usual, was the fastest. You'd think she was running through a laser security light field thingy.

She did pause for a quick smile at Mom after the maze, though. Time to cut the bangs again, eh?

After the light maze, we happened upon the Nativity scene, where Jack was pointing at the donkey and saying,...

..."Hey! You ass!" Then, to us, "What? That's what they're called!" What could we do but agree?

 

Apparently there were llamas and alpacas at the birth of Jesus, too. Who knew?

The children running through the archway on the way to the Wonderland workshop

They were here last year, too, and it was very similar then, but that didn't stop them from being amazed and wanting to touch everything in sight.

I do like me some cocks. Peacocks, people. Peacocks. Sheesh. (Heh heh)

Sophia was the most hands-on of the kids, as usual. She's very handsy. She's not the type of kid you bring to a glassware store, you know what I'm sayin'?

There were lots of little vignettes set up of elves working at various tasks. I didn't care what they were doing. I just wanted to get all three kids in one decent shot. Watch. I tried again and again.

I don't know what Jack was looking at, but in this picture, my eye keeps being drawn to the fact that it looks like the fawn is trying to nurse from his daddy. Um...

My attempt at an artsy picture

There's just something about a praying mantis that screams "Christmas!" isn't there?

 

Another awesome shot of the back of the three kidlets. Hey, whatever, man. They're cute from any angle, I maintain.

Soapster petting the swan

The swan's nest of 'eggs'

Chloë's always reliable for a good pose, huh? The polar bear was pretty compliant, too.

More of the the three children's backs, as they admire the doll factory

What the hell is that? A bunny? Yeah, a bunny. And an unnaturally bright child. Maybe this is Sophie's audition for Twilight.

I forget what this was that was flying around, but I think it was penguins. Yeah, that's the ticket. Rob was mocking them, because, ah, penguins. Flying. You know?

Three faces! Score! Ten points for me. Nothing for you, except eleventy more pictures.

So this elf was totally drunk on moonshine, a fact that tickled Rob and I mercilessly. I mean, we weren't falling down laughing, but we had a few good giggles over it. I mean, this was supposed to be for the kids, wasn't it? And there was a damn drunk elf! Nice.

El niño, Jackalope

Oh, here we go, back to the backs of the chirren. Looking at skiing bears. You know, I've never gone downhill skiing in my life. That's on my bucket list, too. It's a rather long list. But I'm going on yet another tangent...

So I did a freaking spectactular job of capturing the three kids in a billion pictures, where NONE of their faces were visible. Go, me!!

Sophia admiring more elfin (elvish?) scenery

Train-obsessed Jack couldn't help but get down on all fours to admire this little set-up. Give that boy anything that goes and he's a happy little mofo boy.

 

Hey, guys, stand in front of that tree and smile! Or, well, do that!

Santa wasn't on his couch when we got up front to take pictures with him, so I had the kids pose in his absence. They no longer believe in him anyway, so they didn't care much. They were happy just to get the candy cane out of his basket and leave, but then...

 

...he showed up, like, a minute later. He asked them what they wanted for Christmas. Sophia told him, "Oh, you wouldn't know what it was if I told you." I died laughing. As if! Santa knows everything. He's like the god of toys. I forget what it was she thought would stump him, but it was something to do with Barbies. That girl is Barbie-crazy.

 

Immediately outside, Rob and the kids were drawn to this Blacksmith Shop, which was cool and all, except for this one creepy thing Rob found on the ledge:

A severed hand, with a missing finger! What in the hell? Merry, merry, ho, ho, ho!

Time to go back through the lighted archway to head toward the bonfires. We brought our own bag of marshmallows. We paid just over a buck for a whole bag. They were selling them there for five for a dollar. Um, yeah. This place is making BANK.

"Kids, run through the arches, so I can get a picture of your heads looking invisible like in Back to the Future!" Okay, so that's not exactly what I said, but it might as well have been.

The kids wanted to stop and look at the turkey in the chicken coop. So here are four turkeys...

I always have the kids say something when I take their picture, something silly, so they're smiling and laughing (theoretically) when I make the snap. Half the time, I catch them mid-phrase, so it looks like this. I'm no Annie Leibovitz, what can I say?

Finally, the moment we were all waiting for: marshmallow roasting time! I ate about six too many. I think I had seven. I like them on fire, roasted to a crisp. It's the only food I like burnt. Otherwise, blech. The kids, they like them practically raw, with no brown on them or anything. Rob has it down to an art form. They were disappointed we didn't get hot dogs this year, but hey, we were on a tight budget, and the 'mallows themselves were a splurge we could barely afford, this being the first half of the month, after all. But anyway, anyhow.

These are mine. This is how I like my marshmallows roasted. Crispy. Fried. Mmm. Hot and black, like I like my men... ;P (That will elicit a mock-indignant "uh!" out of the hubs, I know.)

Smoke gets in your eyes... and hers... and mine... and all of ours...

Chloë in the obligatory, singular black-and-white pose. of which I don't do enough, I think....

One last marshmallow-roasting picture before we decided to pack it in for the night. We'd have stayed longer, but I was freezing. It really is time for me to pack in the Crocs flip-flops, but I love them so dearly, I haven't had the heart to break out the sneakers or boots yet...

And so, we left. Good-bye, Hunt Club Farm. Until next year.

Fin.

Saturday 9: Drift Away

Link up here if you're playing along with Crazy Sam today!

1. Who or what bores you enough to mentally drift away?

Finances. Any talk about money. Or insurance. Pretty much anything my dad rambles on about. When he starts doing that, I've been known to threaten to teach him calculus. That works.

2. How many members of your family not living with you do you see during the holidays?

Usually none! :*(

3. When spending time with family, how long after you arrive do you begin to feel "antsy" about being there too long?

It depends on which family member, but like my mom-in-law says, "Fish and company start to stink after three days."

4. Does your family more generally get along at a holiday gathering or are there generally arguments?

Growing up, there was an argument for every holiday or special occasion. I really try to avoid that now. I don't want that to be my kids' memory of growing up.

5. Are you ever embarrassed by your family around friends?

Not anymore, now. As a kid, sure.

6. Of the celebrities that died in 2011, who will you miss the most?

Steve Jobs & Amy Winehouse

7. When you watch a movie in a movie theater, do you like the theater filled to capacity, halfway full, or nearly empty? Does your answer change depending on the type of movie you're seeing or do you feel the same way regardless of the movie or genre?

I prefer an empty theater. I'm short, and when it's full, someone tall always sits in front of me, and I can't see crap.

8. What’s one really cool/useful/nice thing you purchased for yourself this year?

It's a toss-up between my yarn shopping spree in Feb (or was it March?) and the cake spinner thingy that I bought when I started my now-on-hiatus cake business. That thing is rilly, rilly useful.

9. Are you in the holiday spirit yet?

I'm about 92¼ there. Tree and lights aren't up yet, so, I'm waiting on that to get fully in there.

Have a great weekend!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmenting along with Mrs. 4444 this week!

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I had, like, the worst headache ever yesterday, for half the day. Coincidentally or otherwise, I was also in the worst mood ever. Every single thing pissed me off royally. You ever get in that mood? I Hate it!! Even being mad makes me mad. Ah well. I'm over it now. But still, very annoying. I had to text Rob to steer clear, to give him fair warning!

☼

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, for the third time, earlier this week. It was our early Christmas celebration. I enjoyed it immensely, though our budget for this trip was more strict than ever, because the kids were old enough to let loose in the waterpark. This allowed Rob and I to go on the more grown-up slides plenty of times without worrying about the kids. I gave them two rules: No leaving the waterpark area without a parent, and if you needed one of us, meet at our table and wait until one of us showed up. I checked back frequently, and it worked out well. Other than finding Sophia with some lifeguards getting a bandage after a scrape, there were no issues, and we all had a fantastic time. I've been SO stressed and anxious lately, and it was a nice little 24-hour escape from that for me. I needed it!  (Pictures to follow in a separate post.)

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Speaking of GWL, while there, we gave Chloë her big Christmas present: a cell phone. She's SO excited about it and wants to use it like crazy, but we've reined her in pretty well. She understands, at ten, that there are strict rules about usage, but we felt that the time was right for her to have one, especially since we occasionally leave her home for very brief periods and don't have a landline. Peace of mind, basically. Do your kids have their own phones? How old were they when they got one?

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Tonight, we're going to the Pumpkin Farm for their Christmas celebration, as part of a homeschool field trip. We went last year, too, to visit the farm animals, see the lights, and - to the kids' utter delight - roast marshmallows and hot dogs. They don't know yet that we're going, so it'll be a lovely surprise for them later in the day. Hopefully we can get plenty of school done first, since this week has largely been a bust on that front!

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If you do yoga, can you give me some tips for getting started? I used to do it years ago, but it's been so long, I don't know where to get started. We have it on the Wii Fit, but the Wii Remote has vanished, so I can't do that, argh. I need to do it to help control my anxiety. I'm more worried I'll be stressed about my form, but I guess I just need to let that one go and concentrate on the breathing and meditation aspects, eh?

☼

I guess that's all I've got for now. I think I'll go knit a hexipuff before getting back to the work I was doing before: getting my list of bills together. Exciting stuff, bills. The hexipuffs are way more fun:

 

☼

On that note, see you next week and have a great weekend!

Fin.

Saturday 9: Lies

Link up here if you're playing along today!

1. “Everybody lies. But it's alright because nobody listens.” is one of Bud's Law's. What do you lie about?

I'm not really big on lying, but I've come up with some doozies in my time. None that I'm willing to share with you (mainly because I can't remember at the moment. I need caffeine. Sorry to disappoint you!)

2. When you purchase a DVD, what besides the the movie itself, what do you enjoy the most? Is it the director's commentary, the deleted scenes, the bloopers or the behind-the-scenes documentary?

I rarely watch anything but the movie, but once in a while, if I'm bored or whatever, I'll watch the deleted scenes, outtakes, director commentary, and all that jazz. Only if it's a really good flick though.

3. What would you most like to accomplish before the year is over?

Getting our financial house in order. And our physical one, while we're at it!

4. What is your current percentage of online shopping? Is it going to be more this year than last?

I do probably about 60% online. I love shopping online and finding great deals, and what's more fun than packages popping up in the mail?

5. What's left to do at your place (or where you are going)? Is the tree up? ...or maybe you're just happy you found that fave Christmas coffee mug and are calling that good?

Everything's left to do. I think we're planning on setting everything up on Sunday, but maybe it'll be the following weekend. I'm hoping for Sunday, though!

6. If you could get worry-free, cost-free plastic surgery, would you? If yes, where?

Hell yeah. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I have major excess skin from losing ~210 lbs, so I'd have all that removed, and get a full body lift. Boobs are high on the list but not my body. Ha.

7. Do you think the child you were growing up, would like the adult you've become?

Good question. I think the child I was before Mom died (when I was 7) would be saddened, while the child I became after the evil stepmonster came on the scene would be proud that I'm finally working on these issues.

8. What will you miss about 2011?

Co-op was really fun this past fall. I'm disappointed we won't be going back, at least not to that particular one. I've said good-bye to a few friendships, but that was the right decision. Mostly, I'll miss Summer. We didn't go to the beach even ONE time. Ridick!!

9. What is something you'd love to see invented?

Those flying cars we were "promised" by the Jetsons when I was a youngster. I'd love that!

Have a happy weekend, y'all!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Hiya, fellow fragmenting folks! Link up here if you're into bits 'n' pieces today! Thanks for hosting, Mrs. 4444. ♥

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So I haven't blogged much this week, not like more than a handful (a small handful, like a lemur's hand. Wait, a lemur's hand? Nevermind...) of people noticed, but I did change the blog header. Do ya like it? I didn't mean to include myself in there, but I couldn't figure out how to center the kids' picture, and I didn't want all that blank space, so... there I am! But the kids, so cute, right??

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Mrs. 4444 asked for a health update on my hubs. So here it is: We saw Neuro on Wednesday, and he was in and outta there in five minutes or less. Basically, his spinal MRI was all clear, and they ruled out the Von Hippel-Lindau disease, so that's good. He's still having headaches sometimes, but they're fewer and farther between, if not more mild. So the current treatment will just involve maintenance for that, and occasional monitoring of the benign tumor (cavernous angioma) in his cerebellum. Pretty good. Guess I can stop lining up potential future suitors and counting my life insurance money now, right? (I jest, I kid, I josh, I joke!!)

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So I've been hexipuffing these last coupla days. What's a hexipuff, you ask? Why, here are four I've done:

So if you can't tell from the pictures, they're little knitted hexigon-shaped pockets stuffed with a wee bit of fiberfill, and then when you've made enough, you sew them together to make a kind of hexipuff quilt, AKA the Beekeeper's Quilt, as seen here. Cool, huh? I like making them. It doesn't take long to make one, or use up a lot of yarn, so I'm addicted to doing it when I have a down moment (okay, and sometimes when I should be doing eleventy-billion other things, like, um, always...)

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Do you have pets? Love 'em? Take pictures of 'em sometimes? Go answer my Aloha Friday question here, pretty pretty please! If you have a post, link to it in your comment as well, and I'll answer yours. Thanky kindly!

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So I have had a major upset stomach (TMI but we're talking both ends, living in the bathroom) for three days now. It's NO fun, and I feel sooooo weak. It made me miss my Girl Scout meeting for the second meeting in a row, and I felt badly about that until I learned two things (a) everyone was glad I didn't bring my tummy bug to get them all sick and not mad at me, and (b) they ran the meeting with my Daisies anyway, so the girls didn't miss out. Still, I felt like a crappy Leader. Well, pardon the pun...

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Here's the (undoctored) photo that didn't make the cut into the blog header. I think I made the right choice. What do you think?

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Did you know you could shrink Crocs by putting them in the dryer? True story! Chloë accidentally washed the one on the right and, well, now we're out a pair of shoes, darn it! Funny, though. I guess we'll wash the other one and give them to someone with smaller feet, huh?

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So I took the kids to Sears for their portraits (free sitting fee & 8x10, so that's all I'm getting, because hello, we po') on Monday, and it was first thing when they opened, so no one else was there. So why did it take over an hour, and I STILL didn't get to pick my portrait? Because their computer system wasn't functioning properly. Ugh. That was annoying. That picture better be cute, if I ever get back there to choose it.... ;P

(Note that these are the girls' holiday dresses but not Jack's, which was supposed to be here by the 30th, and, uh, it's not. Grr. Grr, Old Navy, I say, grr!)

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So I've been lame and kind of giving the kids Christmas presents whenever I feel like it, instead of waiting until the actual Day o' Christmas this year. Anyway, I made this dress and shawl (color combo chosen by Chloë; don't blame me!) for Chlo's new American Girl doll that she got for her birthday. Don't you think Faith looks so cute in it? It was super fast to make, too. I'm going to make her a bunch of outfits so she has a whole wardrobe of hand knits. Hey, I like knitting (and crocheting) on a small scale, what can I say?

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Speaking of giving them early Christmas presents, they each got one of these cool nightlight lamp thingies from Discovery Kids. Did I show you these already? Well, I gave them to 'em. It was cool because I asked each one privately, separately, which one they really wanted most, and they each chose a different one! Serendipity, baby!!!

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One last pic and then I'll let you be. So I totally got these Webkinz (another Christmas present for the kids, I know, I know) for FREE! Can't beat that. I didn't pay one thin, uh, penny, not even for tax. Can you saw AWESOME? Because that was. And they were happy! Look at the boy! The one who "doesn't know how to smile" is doing a pretty good job of it there, eh?

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Okay. That's all I got. Lucky you!!  Happy weekend.

Fin.