Merry late Christmas! We had a good Christmas day and night, my sister and her family came out and livened things up for us. Though the girls are reaching the skeptical age, Santa's status here is still Believed. He brought some good stuff this year, and got some sugar cookies in return, along with some carrots for the deer. We gifted ourselves with a new TV, and I think we're all still in shock... we can't seem to turn it off for more than an hour. A good analogy would be upgrading from a rotary-dial phone to a satellite phone. Or going from a doghouse to a 3BR/2BA/2car.
Goodbye to 2008! I wonder what makes a person not care so much about New Year's Eve... Losing the whole Twentysomething lifestyle for sure. Getting old. Below-zero weather. Feeling worn out after 12 days of school vacation, 5 more to go. I need to shake this feeling that every day is just another $#%^@# chore.
Okay so here's my list of aspirations for 2009:
talk to my Grandparents more often
organize
wash the dog
organize
learn lots of things from Martha Stewart
knit ... no more blankets!
take walks
garden in a productive way
organize
get piano and violin lessons underway
send cards and presents out EARLY yeahright
That's enough for now I think.
I'm going to heat some water in my Christmas Kettle, make some tea and plant myself on the couch to get in a few more rows on the baby blanket I started when my baby was still a baby.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
school break, hockey night
All-children, all the time. Actually, ALL of us are home, all of the time. If I explain that, I'll probably jinx it and K will have to fly all week.
I certainly jinxed the Fecal Catastrophe situation by blogging about it... ick. A Category Four happened yesterday, with a total of four clothing items contaminated. How do kids get poop on their socks? How does the stuff squish out onto just the bunched-up elastic waistband and no other part of the pants?
We went to a hockey game on Friday night, (Junior 'A' Hockey) Alaska Avalanche against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. It was their pink-jersey night, when they auction off jerseys to benefit breast cancer awareness; one guy did a strip-tease while the auctioneer was bringing in bids for his jersey but I don't think that hockey-pants-crotch-sweat helped raise the price . Maybe Misterguy was watching, I don't know, but each time the music blasted during face-offs, he would race to the aisle and shake it UP. He grabbed the railing and moved his little hips and got some attention... then he pulled his shirt way up to show off his pecs and pranced around in front of about 40 people. It was funny at first but I think that was the Little Miss Sunshine moment.
So we've really been enjoying all of this family-time. The girls haven't had a throw-down yet, their snow-fort is getting bigger and bigger, and every night has been a popcorn-and-a-movie night. I don't think we'll be headed back to the rink anytime soon though.
I certainly jinxed the Fecal Catastrophe situation by blogging about it... ick. A Category Four happened yesterday, with a total of four clothing items contaminated. How do kids get poop on their socks? How does the stuff squish out onto just the bunched-up elastic waistband and no other part of the pants?
We went to a hockey game on Friday night, (Junior 'A' Hockey) Alaska Avalanche against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. It was their pink-jersey night, when they auction off jerseys to benefit breast cancer awareness; one guy did a strip-tease while the auctioneer was bringing in bids for his jersey but I don't think that hockey-pants-crotch-sweat helped raise the price . Maybe Misterguy was watching, I don't know, but each time the music blasted during face-offs, he would race to the aisle and shake it UP. He grabbed the railing and moved his little hips and got some attention... then he pulled his shirt way up to show off his pecs and pranced around in front of about 40 people. It was funny at first but I think that was the Little Miss Sunshine moment.
So we've really been enjoying all of this family-time. The girls haven't had a throw-down yet, their snow-fort is getting bigger and bigger, and every night has been a popcorn-and-a-movie night. I don't think we'll be headed back to the rink anytime soon though.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Blog, Interrupted
This is what happens when I leave the house for six hours a day. No blogging time.
Tomorrow night will be the big shiny concert night for the band, the choir, and the 5th grade classes. Last Tuesday's concert went really well, the kids all sang out and the music teacher and I got mini-poinsettias. There was a car on fire in the school parking lot about a half-hour before the concert started... it belonged to one of the substitutes, and it burned up because of an electrical problem. R still likes to talk about the CAR, on FIRE, and the MOKE!
Hearing the band rehearse today reminded me of 5th grade, Mr. Hill in his powder-blue
polyester tuxedo, and the impatient tap-tap-tapping of his conductor's baton on the music stand... the plodding tempo of all of us beginner musicians trying to make it to the next measure. Elementary bands always suck. Listening to them is hilarious, and torturous. I hope my kids get to be band geeks too, really.
Happy Belated Birthday to Uncle Brian! We might get your (and Missy's) birthday card in the mail along with the Christmas cards.
There are 10 days until Christmas... We have a decorated sparsely-limbed tree up. Instead of wandering around somewhere north of Palmer looking for a tree, this year K found a U-cut lot about 5-minutes' drive from here. It was pretty fun except for having to listen to a grumpy daughter moaning over and over, "Let's just go to Home DEEpo-o-o-o".
She has an appreciation for full, symmetrical, beautiful trees but those don't grow in the woods around Wasilla. So, now I just have to finish up shopping for gifts and I have to make some cookies.
We've been having some dog issues lately. Just after it started getting really cold at night, while K was in Japan, I moved the dog in and went a little OCD trying to handle the dog smell and dog hair. I didn't realize (no experience here) that he was "blowing his coat" which basically means he was shedding every hair on his body to make room for more hair. The groomer I took him to was shocked at how dry his skin was (again clueless dog-owner) and said to feed him fish oil. That craziness passed, but Chena still needed some attention I guess, because he got into garbage, knocked things off the table while we were away, ate half a loaf of bread, stole pancakes... K's got him mostly under control now - I won't take him out to do his business anymore, he just runs away from me - but he's coming back around to smelling like a nasty old forgotten towel. I think that I like to think of myself as a dog-person, and tell other people that I'm a dog-person, but I am not, at all, a dog-person. I grew up in houses full of dogs and birds and fish, but none of that prepared me for having to actually be responsible for a smelly pet who steals food and runs away.
In the parenting department... we're celebrating Little Dude's slow but steady climb to the rank of Big Boy. We haven't experienced a Category Five Fecal Catastrophe in ages, or even a Category One really, since he's figured out how to poop in the potty, consistently. Peeing is not as easy to figure out I guess but he's catching on, little by little.
The girls are still enjoying school but they're pretty thrilled that they get a couple of weeks off, starting Thursday afternoon. Ballet and soccer are on hold until next month, and Girl Scouts will take time off after Saturday. I'm a little concerned about the fighting I know will resume at 4pm on Thursday. Maybe I can have K make a little penalty-box in a corner of the kitchen, and keep one girl there while the other one helps make cookies, then switch 'em out.
Tomorrow night will be the big shiny concert night for the band, the choir, and the 5th grade classes. Last Tuesday's concert went really well, the kids all sang out and the music teacher and I got mini-poinsettias. There was a car on fire in the school parking lot about a half-hour before the concert started... it belonged to one of the substitutes, and it burned up because of an electrical problem. R still likes to talk about the CAR, on FIRE, and the MOKE!
Hearing the band rehearse today reminded me of 5th grade, Mr. Hill in his powder-blue
polyester tuxedo, and the impatient tap-tap-tapping of his conductor's baton on the music stand... the plodding tempo of all of us beginner musicians trying to make it to the next measure. Elementary bands always suck. Listening to them is hilarious, and torturous. I hope my kids get to be band geeks too, really.Happy Belated Birthday to Uncle Brian! We might get your (and Missy's) birthday card in the mail along with the Christmas cards.
There are 10 days until Christmas... We have a decorated sparsely-limbed tree up. Instead of wandering around somewhere north of Palmer looking for a tree, this year K found a U-cut lot about 5-minutes' drive from here. It was pretty fun except for having to listen to a grumpy daughter moaning over and over, "Let's just go to Home DEEpo-o-o-o".
She has an appreciation for full, symmetrical, beautiful trees but those don't grow in the woods around Wasilla. So, now I just have to finish up shopping for gifts and I have to make some cookies.
We've been having some dog issues lately. Just after it started getting really cold at night, while K was in Japan, I moved the dog in and went a little OCD trying to handle the dog smell and dog hair. I didn't realize (no experience here) that he was "blowing his coat" which basically means he was shedding every hair on his body to make room for more hair. The groomer I took him to was shocked at how dry his skin was (again clueless dog-owner) and said to feed him fish oil. That craziness passed, but Chena still needed some attention I guess, because he got into garbage, knocked things off the table while we were away, ate half a loaf of bread, stole pancakes... K's got him mostly under control now - I won't take him out to do his business anymore, he just runs away from me - but he's coming back around to smelling like a nasty old forgotten towel. I think that I like to think of myself as a dog-person, and tell other people that I'm a dog-person, but I am not, at all, a dog-person. I grew up in houses full of dogs and birds and fish, but none of that prepared me for having to actually be responsible for a smelly pet who steals food and runs away.
In the parenting department... we're celebrating Little Dude's slow but steady climb to the rank of Big Boy. We haven't experienced a Category Five Fecal Catastrophe in ages, or even a Category One really, since he's figured out how to poop in the potty, consistently. Peeing is not as easy to figure out I guess but he's catching on, little by little.
The girls are still enjoying school but they're pretty thrilled that they get a couple of weeks off, starting Thursday afternoon. Ballet and soccer are on hold until next month, and Girl Scouts will take time off after Saturday. I'm a little concerned about the fighting I know will resume at 4pm on Thursday. Maybe I can have K make a little penalty-box in a corner of the kitchen, and keep one girl there while the other one helps make cookies, then switch 'em out.
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