30 days of NaBloPoMo, 30 posts. Very few of them actually involved the official prompts, but never mind: zero days missed.
The funny thing is that I post pretty much every day anyway, but something about having to post every day felt a lot like pressure. And we all know how much I like doing things that I feel like I'm being told to do or that I have to do (wonder where Thing Two gets that from?? Hmm...) which is completely and totally irrational given that this was a 100% voluntary activity. Welcome to my head...it's a scary place sometimes. I probably need professional help.
Anyway.
After the activity of the past few days, today was very quiet. My menfolk collectively went out and sawed down a Christmas tree of quite impressive girth (we are calling it "portly.") I sorted two kids' worth of closets and drawers, did about four loads of laundry, ran some errands, and cleaned the house a bit. As a reward for all my labors, I am currently perched on the edge of the hearth and savoring the feel of a lovely warm fire on my back. Ahhh...peace at last.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
More Than Just Shopping
The lady behind me in line at Sephora this morning told me that the mall was an absolute zoo at 2AM. That's just freaking ridiculous.
Left to my own devices, there is no way in hell that I would go out shopping on Black Friday. Short of somebody handing out free diamonds (and maybe not even then) there is nothing on earth that would make the crowds and craziness worth it. However, I go every year anyway.
It's part of the tradition. I stay over Thursday night when the rest of my family goes home, and at some early but at least reasonably civilized hour (usually 7AM or so) my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and I head out into the fray. We have our route established: Macy's, then other stores in the mall, followed by a kitchen store, lunch, Costco, DSW and Target. We roll back in exhausted and with a full trunk of Christmas shopping around 3:30PM, eat leftovers for dinner (with my husband and kids, who have come back to my in-laws' that morning to hang out with my nephews and father-in-law) and then head home for good in the evening. It's just what happens on Black Friday...my kids have never known anything different.
When I first met my in-laws, my husband and I had not yet officially started dating. They had come to town to visit him and were taking him out to a barbecue joint for dinner. I don't remember how it was that I ended up going too, but they could not have been kinder or more welcoming. I felt comfortable with them immediately.
When Himself bought my engagement ring, they helped him keep it a secret. After we got engaged, my MIL took me to look for my wedding dress, since my own beloved mother was far away on the other side of the country. She hosted one of our engagement parties and then also the baby shower when I was expecting Thing One. There has never been a single doubt in my mind that my in-laws love me and are very happy that I am married to their only son.
So...if the family ritual dictates that the females will bond over shopping on the craziest day of the year, I will go along with it cheerfully, for being part of this family is worth it, even if the shopping isn't.
Left to my own devices, there is no way in hell that I would go out shopping on Black Friday. Short of somebody handing out free diamonds (and maybe not even then) there is nothing on earth that would make the crowds and craziness worth it. However, I go every year anyway.
It's part of the tradition. I stay over Thursday night when the rest of my family goes home, and at some early but at least reasonably civilized hour (usually 7AM or so) my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and I head out into the fray. We have our route established: Macy's, then other stores in the mall, followed by a kitchen store, lunch, Costco, DSW and Target. We roll back in exhausted and with a full trunk of Christmas shopping around 3:30PM, eat leftovers for dinner (with my husband and kids, who have come back to my in-laws' that morning to hang out with my nephews and father-in-law) and then head home for good in the evening. It's just what happens on Black Friday...my kids have never known anything different.
When I first met my in-laws, my husband and I had not yet officially started dating. They had come to town to visit him and were taking him out to a barbecue joint for dinner. I don't remember how it was that I ended up going too, but they could not have been kinder or more welcoming. I felt comfortable with them immediately.
When Himself bought my engagement ring, they helped him keep it a secret. After we got engaged, my MIL took me to look for my wedding dress, since my own beloved mother was far away on the other side of the country. She hosted one of our engagement parties and then also the baby shower when I was expecting Thing One. There has never been a single doubt in my mind that my in-laws love me and are very happy that I am married to their only son.
So...if the family ritual dictates that the females will bond over shopping on the craziest day of the year, I will go along with it cheerfully, for being part of this family is worth it, even if the shopping isn't.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving!
This made me laugh. Glad I'm not cooking the turkey this year!
Our collective assignments this year were to bring wine (Himself) and make a kid-friendly dessert (me.) With the able assistance of Petunia, I made a big tray of these yesterday.
Our collective assignments this year were to bring wine (Himself) and make a kid-friendly dessert (me.) With the able assistance of Petunia, I made a big tray of these yesterday.
Happy Thanksgiving from my house full of turkeys!
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Giving Thanks A Day Early
Half day of school for the kids today because of the holiday. It was pouring rain and cold outside all day, so I met the school bus at the end of the driveway with the car after school so the kids wouldn't get soaked on the walk to the house, which is 100 yards or so. Petunia hopped off the bus and dashed to the car, with Thing Two close on her heels. I waited a few seconds for Thing One to follow, but he wasn't coming. He wasn't on the bus at all.
The driver said that she hadn't seen him after school and radioed back to school to see if anyone knew where he was. The transportation coordinator and parent pickup monitor hadn't seen him either, and I was really starting to worry at that point. Then she started trying to reach the receptionist in the main office, which took an additional few minutes--of course, during this whole time traffic was building up to a crazy level on the main road by our house in both directions, since the bus was still stopped with its flashing lights on. The driver finally got hold of the receptionist, who said that he was indeed in the office, and the bus drove on.
I was livid. The office couldn't call me? The KID couldn't call me?? This being the same kid who calls my cell phone about once every two weeks from the phone in his classroom when he forgets something at home or has a question during the day?
Turned out that he hadn't heard the bus announcements over the ruckus of the end of the holiday party in his classroom, and the bus was long gone by the time he got to the office after going out to look for it. He said that he had the phone in his hand to call home when the bus driver's call came into the office. After I got done yelling at him, I told him that it was only because he scared me to death and that I wouldn't have been so upset if I didn't love him so much. There's nothing like being told that nobody knows where your ten year-old is (on a day when any number of visitors were at school for class parties, with who knows what other intentions in mind) to put the fear of God into a parent, after all.
He now knows to call home immediately if he ever misses the bus again, and everything turned out fine. But I am not taking that for granted, and I am profoundly grateful for it.
The driver said that she hadn't seen him after school and radioed back to school to see if anyone knew where he was. The transportation coordinator and parent pickup monitor hadn't seen him either, and I was really starting to worry at that point. Then she started trying to reach the receptionist in the main office, which took an additional few minutes--of course, during this whole time traffic was building up to a crazy level on the main road by our house in both directions, since the bus was still stopped with its flashing lights on. The driver finally got hold of the receptionist, who said that he was indeed in the office, and the bus drove on.
I was livid. The office couldn't call me? The KID couldn't call me?? This being the same kid who calls my cell phone about once every two weeks from the phone in his classroom when he forgets something at home or has a question during the day?
Turned out that he hadn't heard the bus announcements over the ruckus of the end of the holiday party in his classroom, and the bus was long gone by the time he got to the office after going out to look for it. He said that he had the phone in his hand to call home when the bus driver's call came into the office. After I got done yelling at him, I told him that it was only because he scared me to death and that I wouldn't have been so upset if I didn't love him so much. There's nothing like being told that nobody knows where your ten year-old is (on a day when any number of visitors were at school for class parties, with who knows what other intentions in mind) to put the fear of God into a parent, after all.
He now knows to call home immediately if he ever misses the bus again, and everything turned out fine. But I am not taking that for granted, and I am profoundly grateful for it.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
A Reward Of Sorts For Thoroughly Antisocial Behavior
I spent the last three hours on the computer taking an online certification course. Between that and having to take Thing One to his basketball practice beforehand, I had virtually no conversation or contact with my husband whatsoever this evening; not an ideal state of affairs, to be sure. He spent the evening in the family room without me, watching TV and hanging out with the dog.
However, on the plus side:
1) I am now a fully certified youth basketball coach, as is required of all coaches by the league that my kids play in, and
2) I don't have to deal with anything certification-related again for a full year.
Woohoo!!
However, on the plus side:
1) I am now a fully certified youth basketball coach, as is required of all coaches by the league that my kids play in, and
2) I don't have to deal with anything certification-related again for a full year.
Woohoo!!
Monday, November 25, 2013
"That's All I Can Stands..."
My legs are so tired that they are actually shaking! Just got home from an evening taekwondo class, which would have been difficult anyway, but I made a geocaching run with my friend B this morning as well to pick up a couple of high-terrain caches in the area before winter hits and that trip was killer...all up and down steep slopes.
Suffice it to say that deciding to tackle the second of the two caches was NOT the most intelligent thing that B and I (two otherwise fairly intelligent women) have done recently. Specifically, the return-route-to-my-car part of the second cache. The traverse over to the site from the first cache wasn't too bad except for the very end bit, but then we looked down (and further down) and realized that we had two choices: to go back the way we'd come or to tough out the crazy downward slope to the highway below. Being the brave and slightly foolhardy adventurers that we are, we decided to take our time but go the direct route down. HA.
Thus began a highly entertaining (for any spectators, at least) series of lost footings and butt-crawls and skidding down hillsides and grabs for handy trees and generally non-graceful, zig-zaggy descents that ended with an unceremonious slide through piles of leaves down the last fifteen feet or so to flat highway and safety. Then we looked back up the way we'd come, were absolutely horrified by its almost vertical appearance from ground level, and counted our lucky stars that both of us survived the experience with only a bump and bruise or two and worn-out legs! Not sure how we were actually supposed to get down from there, but the route we ended up taking was nuts.
Think I'll stick to terra firma for a while after that experience, but at least I earned my Thanksgiving pie today!
Suffice it to say that deciding to tackle the second of the two caches was NOT the most intelligent thing that B and I (two otherwise fairly intelligent women) have done recently. Specifically, the return-route-to-my-car part of the second cache. The traverse over to the site from the first cache wasn't too bad except for the very end bit, but then we looked down (and further down) and realized that we had two choices: to go back the way we'd come or to tough out the crazy downward slope to the highway below. Being the brave and slightly foolhardy adventurers that we are, we decided to take our time but go the direct route down. HA.
Thus began a highly entertaining (for any spectators, at least) series of lost footings and butt-crawls and skidding down hillsides and grabs for handy trees and generally non-graceful, zig-zaggy descents that ended with an unceremonious slide through piles of leaves down the last fifteen feet or so to flat highway and safety. Then we looked back up the way we'd come, were absolutely horrified by its almost vertical appearance from ground level, and counted our lucky stars that both of us survived the experience with only a bump and bruise or two and worn-out legs! Not sure how we were actually supposed to get down from there, but the route we ended up taking was nuts.
Think I'll stick to terra firma for a while after that experience, but at least I earned my Thanksgiving pie today!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Progress Has Been Made
Sunday evening. I'm wiped out, but I'm pleased to report a few things:
1) After a full weekend of painting, the dining room is done and the furniture is finally back where it belongs! My OCD-like tendencies are much better for the improvement in the general order around here.
2) The nest is done, and I was in no way responsible for its construction (although the engineer father of its builder had to be chased away from the construction site a couple of times.)
3) The Mayflower is done, and I was in no way responsible for its construction (Himself got that detail this year.)
Doesn't it look like something a first grader could make alone?? Hopefully it will carry the required 102 pennies (representing the Pilgrims) although probably not in comfort, much like its namesake.
So tired I'm slaphappy. Going to bed!!
1) After a full weekend of painting, the dining room is done and the furniture is finally back where it belongs! My OCD-like tendencies are much better for the improvement in the general order around here.
2) The nest is done, and I was in no way responsible for its construction (although the engineer father of its builder had to be chased away from the construction site a couple of times.)
3) The Mayflower is done, and I was in no way responsible for its construction (Himself got that detail this year.)
Doesn't it look like something a first grader could make alone?? Hopefully it will carry the required 102 pennies (representing the Pilgrims) although probably not in comfort, much like its namesake.
So tired I'm slaphappy. Going to bed!!
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