Way more words than I expected to write on a Friday

I have been in *a mood* the past couple of days, so I’m going to work on posting this without as much crankiness as I’m feeling because that’s just no fun for anyone. Work on – I’m probably gonna fail a little. Sorry in advance.

Good thing! I got my dishes! They are wonderful and I’m so excited. I went out and bought most of my Christmas linens not even on sale because I was so excited. I need a little bit more but things are so coming together, it’s marvelous. Three of the salad plates were broken, but my local store has 11 according to the website so I’m hoping to stop in and exchange them today. I found a place to store all the loveliness and everything. It’s fabulous, really. I need half my napkins still and gold chargers and runners (which I think I’d like neutral with green, maybe? Still up in the air there) and I also think I’m ordering these (I say might, but I just hit checkout so THEY ARE MINE).

 

So. Things are coming along in my quest for the perfect Christmas morning table. I will be serving bacon, biscuits and sausage gravy, almond and chocolate croissants, and fresh fruit, and my MIL will bring her egg casserole that we have every year. Coffee, egg nog, tea and orange juice. Is there anything missing? We do this every year, and every year I’m afraid I’m forgetting something.

I’ve gotten two Christmas gifts so far – This for my mom, and these for my MIL. Obviously it’s a small start but it made me feel good.

I’m having some trouble the past couple days. Anxiety trouble, cranky trouble, I-don’t-know-what’s-wrong trouble, everything-is-overwhelming trouble. It will pass, I know it will, but that doesn’t stop me from laying on the bed sobbing when I step on a tack because it’s just the absolute end of my rope. My mom is in the hospital right now, which sounds dire but it’s only mildly terrible – she’s dehydrated from a crazy terrible virus and she’s been twice for IV fluids and the second time they admitted her so she could rest and get fluids and be observed. She should hopefully go home today. She was a little offended because I said I was disinfecting the passenger seat of my car after Wednesday’s ER trip, but DUDE SHE’S BEEN HORRENDOUSLY ILL FOR FIVE DAYS. Do any of us want that? Of course, I’m terribly lazy so I got disinfectant wipes but they’re still just sitting on my passenger seat not actually being used.

Have you had Panera’s squash soup? You need it in your life before it seasonals-out of the menu. It is just delicious.

This is something that I posted to facebook and twitter, but seriously – I think I need it for posterity. Yesterday I made quiche for dinner – doesn’t that look fabulous? It has all the things both kids love.

They didn’t love it. To the point of crying. So fine, don’t eat it – whatever. But they still have a couple pieces of Halloween candy left, and they only get candy if they finish their food. Henry was hysterical about the prospect of not getting to eat his candy (I assured him it would be there tomorrow but inconsolable). Spencer had already taken his plate into the kitchen, so he went to retrieve it to finish so he could have his candy. About 10 seconds later he comes into the dining room with an empty plate. “I ate it all in there,” he says (empty mouth, this has been 10 seconds let me reiterate).

So I go to the kitchen and open the garbage and his quiche is sitting on top.

Spencer went to bed early.

Henry freaked out about the bite in his mouth that he didn’t want to the point of cough/choking/almost vomiting while he cried. I made him spit it out.

There was no candy last night. There was, however, mass hysteria. And it was after that that I stepped on the tack.

Soo …. C and I ate the quiche (seriously, it was delicious). I’m thinking that won’t make it to another meal plan anytime soon.

Shake It Off

 The other day I was alone in the car with Henry, and Taylor Swift came on the radio. I wasn’t really paying attention, we were talking about Christmas lists and all of a sudden he pauses and said, “I like this.”

“Like what, honey?” I thought he was talking about something he was looking at.

“This song. Can you turn it up?”

Later, he was playing with his Imaginext castle and I heard a whisper: Shake it off, shake it, shake it off.

Christmas comes early.

School was closed yesterday. I don’t remember being off in the middle of the week for Veteran’s Day when I was in school – was that a thing and I’m blocking it out? I feel like they gave us a Monday off or something.

Spencer got in trouble at school on Friday because he gave another kid an answer to a math test (not big trouble, just a check on his calendar so we knew about it). Now, on the surface of this – cheating on a math test? How dare! But then I remember he’s in first grade and does he actually understand the rules of testing yet? Perhaps we need to address that. He was sharing! Helping out his fellow student! Bah.

So what are you getting your kids for Christmas? We (I) are thinking of getting the boys a Wii U as a big gift for both of them, and then getting one additional game for each of them. S wants an alarm clock and legos otherwise, and I have zero ideas for H. What does a four year old want? He has so much. I took him to Toys R Us yesterday to pick up toy catalogs so he could peruse the options and I could see where his interests lie. We also wandered around TRU to get a birthday present for a party this weekend. The wandering doesn’t help because he wants EVERYTHING. Giant dragon? Check. Toys related to all the tv shows possible? Check. 48’ ninja turtle? Check.

I haven’t started my decorating other than putting out Christmassy kitchen towels and unearthing my Santa throw pillow from the linen closet and putting it on the couch. However, H and I decided to buy a small Christmas tree and accoutrements and decorate it over the weekend, and so now the boys have a Christmas tree in their room. They use it as a nightlight.

I think I might ask for the Wii U Zelda game for myself. 

Oops and weekend shenanigans

Well I was on a roll there, but then real life showed up and I totally forgot about blogging yesterday. Meh.

This weekend though, was the best. We bought tickets to a Greek festival at the local Orthodox Church for this weekend, so we went on Saturday. There were FIVE bounce houses that the kids spent an inordinate amount of time on, and a bake sale with all sorts of confections and a ridiculous amount of food and Greek-themed items to buy from vendors (my favorite: a shirt/mug that says “I’m not yelling, I’m Greek – that’s how we talk”). We got fried dough (like doughnut holes, covered in honey and cinnamon and nuts) and a sampler plate to share and desserts and let the kids jump more on the bouncy stuff. Spencer really wanted to do ring toss so I gave him a dollar to do the wine toss – and he made it! And guess what the prize was? A BOTTLE OF WINE. My six year old made me proud by winning me a bottle of wine. Hallelujah.

(I bought this lovely almond loaf for Sunday breakfast, and it was a sound and delicious investment)

The whining (heh) was a strong with the kiddos, but we powered through the day and decided to go to Big Hero 6. I’m not going to lie, we entertained the idea of going out to Disney but it was scheduled to be chilly and rainy and blech. So the movie! Was sweet and good and not a comedy. Henry stood up after the movie and declared “That was NOT funny.” He liked it (a lot!), but like the rest of the world we were expecting a comedy and not a touching why-we-became-superheroes story. What is it with Disney releasing trailers that don’t give you any idea of the storyline? First Frozen wasn’t all about the snowman and now this.

We also had dinner with our neighbor friends at a local California taco place, and it was delicious and fun. We really need to spend more time with friends. And I had macaroni and cheese with spinach, bacon and goat cheese so that was a winner.

**

Sunday was more of a lay around day. We’ve gotten used to staying home on Sundays and watching football, cleaning, and generally being lazy. We did that through the afternoon but then new-neighbor boy showed up and we went over to play basketball with other neighbors (well, it started out that the kids all wanted to play basketball but really they wanted to play on the wooden tree swing and me and my neighbor played basketball for a couple hours)

We had a fire going most of the day even though it was in the upper 60s (it was lovely) and I had a pork roast in the crock pot. I made brownies with peanut butter cups in the bottom and guacamole. I watched a lot of Gilmore Girls and didn’t read as much as I expected to. Nice, lazy day. For dinner I made pork nachos which we ate by candlelight and football-on-tv light. 

TV Talk

These questions were from a few days ago from Miss Zoot, and I liked them so I’m doing them now. That’s in the rules, right? Rules, heh. Anyhow, I  saw them on Mama Bub and thought I’d play along.

Did you watch TV growing up? What is an obscure TV show you loved that was maybe short lived or that NO ONE has ever heard of?

I did not watch much tv. I don’t know why, except that my nose was usually in a book (I know, not much changes, right?). I remember watching Reading Rainbow and Jem (I almost burnt the house down when my parents left the house with me in charge of the sausage cooking on the stove while I was watching Jem. They came home, the house was full of smoke and I was still perched slack-jawed watching Jem.) Do you remember Picture Pages? I loved Picture Pages. And Dinosaurs. Not the Mama!

What is one TV show you loved that everyone HAS heard of?

Blossom, Clarissa Explains it All, Are you Afraid of the Dark?

What TV are you watching now that you would recommend to EVERYONE?

The tv I watch is the same shows I’ve been watching for 10 years, and I wouldn’t recommend new episodes to anyone. I’m just watching until my shows are canceled, but I’m not good at picking up new shows so I figure eventually I’ll be watching nothing.

What is a TV show – past or present – that cracks you up consistently?

Friends, Big Bang Theory, New Girl.

Do your kids watch TV? Are there shows you love too and sometimes watch when they’re not around? Are there shows you hate and you REALLY wish they didn’t love them so much? 

I don’t really like the kids’ shows. They love Tumbleleaf and Peep and the Big Wide World, and last night they decided to watch an episode of Caillou (gag me). Kids movies: yes. Kids tv: no.

Do you limit your TV or your kid’s TV at all? How do you make sure your entire family isn’t sitting around binge watching Gilmore Girls all weekend?

The boys watch tv at aftercare, but we don’t really turn on the tv when we get home until after the kids go to bed (unless they are playing a Wii game), during the week. Monday through Thursday, they watch one show before bed (Mon/Wed Spencer gets to pick, Tues/Thurs Henry gets to pick) and on Fridays we do movie night with popcorn and I usually pick the movie. When we drive to Disney on most Saturdays, they watch a movie, and on Sundays we have football on and sometimes I let them watch movies in my bedroom. Mornings that one of the grownups gets to sleep in, the other grownup usually lets them watch a movie on the portable DVD player in their room.

Apparently I’m raising my children to be as out of touch with pop culture as I am. Sorry, boys.

Friday ... five? ish?

1)      I realized this morning that Henry has been playing us on the pull-up issue. I had suspected that he was replacing his pull-up in the mornings, but I couldn’t really prove it. I put the new ones out of reach, but didn’t really pay too much attention. This morning he left his old one in the hallway but still had one on his bottom so I knew without a doubt that he had switched out for a dry one so he could drag my hand to his diaper and say “look! It’s dry! Can I get a sticker on my sticker chart?”

2)      I’m trying to decide when I want to get my Christmas tree down from the attic and start slowly decorating for the holidays. I don’t separately decorate for Thanksgiving because I just love all one holiday season. My husband is an “after Thanksgiving” tree person, but last year we compromised by putting up the tree before T-day but not decorating until afterward.

3)      I’m taking a timeout from a project that is testing my nerves right now. And I think I’m going to have to take it home this weekend which I REALLY didn’t want to do but I just don’t see any way around it.

4)      We have tickets/Groupons to a local Greek festival at an orthodox church here. I have no idea how it will be, but we thought it would be a little something fun. Maybe it will be a lot o ffun, maybe it will be a little fun. We shall see.

5)      I’m low on topics today. Have a good weekend, play a little basketball.

Answers to questions

Let's not let me kid myself, I totally stole today's meme from Kristabella. But I liked the questions, and I like Kristabella.

1. What did you do 10 years ago

It saddens me that 10 years ago was a drop in the bucket. I’m feeling so very old. 10 years ago was 2004, which means I was working middle management in retail and coming home to my now-husband (then still boyfriend) to cry almost every night. It was bad. Otherwise I don’t think anything noteworthy was happening 10 years ago. It seems to me that that was around the same time I met my best friend (via the internets and a dire need for a pair of shoes!) and she’s one of the best things to ever happen to me, so there’s that.

2. Five items on my to-do list today

Nearly the exact same things on yesterday’s to-do list, because I left it at work and didn’t do jack (that’s a lie, I made milkshakes, dinner, went to Target and got Lego storage, helped Spencer sort his Legos and gave the kids baths. But the only thing I did from my to-do list was go to Target.)

1)    go through the kindergarten stuff (I have this enormous box of kindergarten stuff because every piece of paper that ever came home went in the box. I need to pick a couple things to save for Spencer and chuck the rest – this task will need wine.

2)    Get mail done: I have a couple packages and cards that have been in my car waiting patiently to be mailed and I really need to get that taken care of.
3)    Make dinner. Tonight is shrimp and grits.
4)    Clean my dresser. Guys, I cannot for the life of me put my own clothes away. I pile them on my dresser until I can’t see over the top of them, and then I buck up and clean up the mess. I need to break the cycle but I just can’t seem to do it.

5)    Do any work that I bring home. Because I didn’t yesterday and I’m hopelessly behind. I need to catch myself up by Friday. Friday! It can be done.

3. Snacks I enjoy

I am not really a snacker. I like sweet treats, so I’ll often take something to bed with me like a mini candy bar or a cookie, but during the day I just don’t snack very often. I’d rather have real food. I did find those mozzarella Cheez-its – those are marvelous crunchy pats of butter, basically.

4. What would I do if I were a billionaire?

I’d move, and I’d have a pool and a housekeeper. I’d probably still work, but probably in a less-paying, less-stressful job. I’d spend more time with my kids (ideally, not sure in practice). I’d travel and take my kids fun and interesting places.

5. Places I would live

Probably still here, as all our family is here and I can’t take my kids from their grandparents. If I could uproot the entire extended family? South Carolina, Pacific Northwest, San Diego. What I’d really like is to live in one of those communities where you can walk to the grocery or to Starbucks or the playground or bookstore or bar. I want to live in a walking community with lower humidity and moderate temperatures (or at least pool). That. Is what I want.