My mind, in bullets so you don't get lost

So, things on my mind...

• I love, love, love Old Navy's Dreamer jeans. I forgot how wonderful it is to wear jeans that don't gap in the back. In fact, I want to buy more and just toss out all my other pants.


• I won - Thank you Cursingmama! - a copy of The Mayo Clinic Diet book & journal over at her review blog. I also started it even though it cautions to wait until a good time. The week before Easter is decidedly NOT a good time. As I have mentioned every single year on this blog, my favorite candy in all the world is only available at Easter. The first two weeks (the Lose It! portion) you are suppose to give up sugar. Hahahahaha. Yo, that shit is hard. I've done... ok. Not perfect but not nearly as bad as I would have been if I wasn't doing this. Also? I have to decided to eat as much candy as I want on Easter. For one day. I will be in a sugar coma. Then? I might extend the first 2 weeks for one more. We shall see.


• As anyone who follows me on twitter already knows, I had my annual review yesterday at work and it has been decided I'm full of the awesome. As for a raise, extremely minimal merit raises are being offered up. I for one am glad to have a job. Not that we couldn't use the money but I'd rather have no one lose their job.


• Found out a friend from high school is in the hospital with an infection around his heart... from twitter. Twitter FTW! (As for the other business on twitter. Suck it, don't suck it, I'm out of caring. Although, thanks for the entertainment.) As for my friend, I'm seriously worried. He is one of the kindest people I've ever met and we just reconnected. Get well Alan!

Child update for the related people and grandparents out there reading - non-related and non-grandparents, do not feel the need to read my annoying gushing. (I must gush when I can because usually I'm just complaining about them):

• Alex played for the Varsity baseball team during a scrimmage the other day. He was not nervous. I was a wreck. He held his own though. It's his first year catching and he's doing great but has some stuff to work on. What? I don't know - see: not informed about sports. Still, the coaches seem to like him and he's getting the hang of it.


• Tyler made the JV golf team. He's very excited and we are very proud. Now we need to invest in a membership for him at the local golf course.


• The last parent-teacher conference ever for Dylan was the only one where the teacher had nothing negative to say. Only lovely words were spoken. And his grades are higher than they've ever been. Also, it has been agreed by all that Jr. High should be good for him. Apparently letting him almost flunk out last term worked. He's getting all his homework done at school now. Now if he would just let me cut his hair.


• Zach. What to say about him. He's a bit sassy. A bit whiny. All brilliant and still adorable. Baseball starts next week.


• The 3 youngest have all signed up for the mini-triathlon again.


• Clearly none of these children are related to me.

Happy 2010!

Steak & BJ Day

I almost missed reminding you that today is Steak and Blowjob Day.

Don't forget to show your love for your honey by celebrating. You can learn more about it here.

Back at work & your regularly scheduled life

It feels as if I spent the past eleven days on a bit of vacation from life. It was definitely a vacation from work and without a schedule to follow I sort of floundered as I am wont to do. I did have grand ideas of things I could get done with so much time off work but without any actual plans I got nothing done. The only thing I swore I would do - bake - didn't even get done. Yes, a holiday season without baking. A travesty if there ever was one!

I did however take the children skiing more than once. I rented skis for the season, I suited them up and spent a day reading in the lodge with breaks to hand out money, food and hot chocolate. I also bought a snowboard for one of them and last night... Last night I skied for the first time in five years. My planning skills really need work. Not only do I have to adjust to being back at work, I had to figure out how to get to my second floor office without going up the stairs. Also, the screams every time I rise from my chair are upsetting my office mates. I don't think they appreciate it on this first day back to work.

As for holidays and new years and resolutions...

The holidays were good. Much Rock Band 2 was played on the Wii. During said play it was discovered my 12 y/o's voice is changing and now I have to pay him to not sing. A nasty head cold made the rounds but overall it was a healthy holiday. The new year was celebrated by bowling. And we were witness to another holiday miracle...

My 14 y/o was invited to a New Year's party and did not even ASK if he could go. He told his friend he would be bowling with his family. Yes, a 14 y/o boy willingly spent time with his family over the break. He played games with us, bowled, and did not sulk. I'm trying to soak up and enjoy each and every moment before the wind changes direction. I know this will not last but for now I even have photographic PROOF of this miracle. Of course I can't post it because it would require me to actually take the photos off my camera. That has not happened. I'm thinking I need to put more photos on Flickr so maybe I'll start with these.

As for resolutions, I'm not a fan. Some years I make them, most years I don't. I think this is a don't year. They just make me feel bad when I don't accomplish them. 2009 seems to be the year of let's see what happens. Of course, I just realized I mentioned I must work on my planning skills. That without plans I get nothing done... hmmm. Still, right now feels like a take life where it leads you time.

Things I learned over the break:

1. I can not drink 10 cups of coffee in one day unless I want to be up until 3am.


2. I need a plan or I will get nothing done but watch Gilmore Girls.


3. I think I'm in love with Gilmore Girls. I'm on season 6. I don't want it to end.


4. Your arms can be sore from skiing. No, I don't know how that happens. It just does.


5. It is possible for teenage boys to play Rock Band for 7 hours straight with only one break for food.


6. If not playing video games they eat approximately every 23 minutes. (Okay, I already knew this.)


7. Sometimes your kids will want to play a board game with you.


8. A cool uncle present will up the time your teen will want to spend in your company.


9. If you need to laugh until you cry, hang out with a sibling.


10. Mondays are harder than you remember when you have to go back to work after a vacation.

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve morning and I'm at work. It's not that I have any actual work to do, it's more that I'm required to be here. It should be noted however that they are only making us work a half day. Now for the facts of this particular Christmas Eve:

• My brain is swirling, swirling, swirling. It will not stop. I keep trying to grab things and write them down before I forget them but I still feel things I've forgotten waiting at the edges of my consciousness waiting until it's too late to pounce.


• The lights are still not on the tree.


• The house has not been cleaned.


• The baking has not been done.


• The food shopping for tomorrow is not done. I was suppose to do it yesterday but instead spent the evening at the doctor's with the 10 year old. Earache and possible strep. Every year one of them is sick. It seems he is the chosen one this year.


• I only have a couple of gifts left to wrap.


• A Hanukkah miracle has occurred. The older two received Cranium WOW for the first night of Hanukkah. We have all played it twice since then. The miracle? My FOURTEEN year old played and had fun and was animated and excited to play a board game with his family. Trying to hold on to that memory. Who knows when it will happen again.


• I have a late-breaking gift for one of the children which has thrown off the whole fairly even, fairly fair gift piles. Now I'm trying to figure out how to work it into the rotation. What I'm not willing to do is buy 3 more gifts. What to do? What to do?


• I really need to relax and approach my shopping without a frantic edge. It's all about state of mind now. I always make sure to not have to go to the store on Christmas eve. I hate the kind of crowds out there and yet here I am making lists of food for tomorrow, last minute needs and last minute chores. I'm afraid there isn't enough time left to get it all done.

Have a Happy Holiday! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! May it be fun and stress-free.

Holiday Plans

Today is my oldest's birthday. He is 14. This is a problem for two reasons. One, how can my baby be 14? And two, how can I be old enough to have a 14 year old child? How did this happen?

Since his birthday is on a school night he has planned his own get-together with his friends. They are coming over to a adult-free house after school and playing snow football. Now the reasons I have allowed a bunch of unsupervised teens in my house is this, there will be no girls as they don't usually like snow football, they will be outside most of the time and he is fourteen (gasp) and he and his friends are pretty darn responsible. Please do not take the time to tell me how foolish I am. I'll be home approximately two and 1/2 hours after them. I'm guessing I will find them playing Madden '09 on the Wii.

Tonight is also the second night of Hanukkah. The kids gifts went over well last night - in fact the game (Cranium WOW) I got the older two went over better than I thought it would. Two of the boys gave me a pair of lovely earrings. It seems my second born has impeccable taste. Or at least he always knows exactly what I like. The earrings are dangly and it's weird but I haven't worn dangly earrings since the kids were born. Or at least only when I was dressed up. I forgot how much I enjoy them.

The only disappointment was the gift I got my husband. He always tells me not to get him anything and of course, I always do. Get him something, that is. He always acts... what is the best word to describe it? Respectful? Thankful? Annoyed? Never, ever excited. I've never, ever seen the kind of smile that you just can't repress when you receive a great gift (like the one I had when I got my flash for my birthday). It's been sort of my mission to get one of those smiles out of him. I thought I had finally nailed it. I really did. I even got an amazing deal on it. Turns out? Not so much. I actually think I may give up. I mean, I can't. I just don't know what to do anymore. Accept he'll never be happy with the gifts I give him? Not try to find the perfect gift? Just give him underwear and socks? Gah! It should be noted, he shows proper excitement when other people give him gifts. It's just the ones from me he seems resigned to. Maybe I'm just a terrible gift giver. Seriously? If the Christmas gift I got him doesn't do it, nothing will.

I have decided tonight is book night. The kids and everyone get books. I try to arrange the nights very carefully to maximize excitement and things to keep them busy. I do themes each night and I think only once did I do a misc. night. There is ALWAYS a book night - or two. This year we had game night, tonight is book night (the children have been complaining they have no good books to read which 1. is a lie and 2. there is a library 1/10th of a mile down the street), tomorrow we are celebrating with their Grandpa so no gifts from us, Wednesday is clothes night (so they will be comfy over the holiday), Thursday is Christmas so no gifts yet again, Friday we are going to rent their ski equipment, Saturday is celebrating with Nana and Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I have no idea what to do on Sunday. By that point they will have a present hangover. Maybe I should divide the giant stacks of books into two nights. Guess I better figure that out pretty quickly.

As for Christmas, my mother and I have decided to go with mini foods in a buffet. Oh, and ham. Crackers, cheese, hummus, mini quiches, mini pizzas, meatballs, cookies and whatever else I find at BJ's tomorrow night. We all get too full off snacks on holidays anyway so why bother with the sit down dinner? Snack, drink and pie. Must not forget the pie. Crap! Must remember the ingredients for my traditional Christmas morning coffee cake. This is the only time a year I make it.

As for the cookies? I'm thinking the week AFTER Christmas is a good time to make them. What are your plans for the holidays?

Miracles and Madness

WARNING: Apparently 3.5 hours of sleep is not enough for my brain to function.

Yesterday I crashed my site. Complete meltdown. Nothing showing up. Nada. I spent many hours fixing what I'm sure a fourteen year old could fix in about 15 minutes. Many, many hours. As in late into the night or rather, into the early morning. I also installed WordPress. I may even like it. I can't really tell you though because my brain is not actually connected to the rest of me at the moment. And yes, I do have a 14 y/o. But my 14 y/o can't do such things because apparently when you have a mother who knows even a little bit about computers, you don't feel the need to learn anything about them yourself - much like cooking.

It seems to be up and working today. It's actually working much better than my brain. I was even an hour and a half late for work this morning (one of the 3.5 hours spent sleeping was when I am normally getting ready for work and getting the kids ready). Just know, there is not enough coffee in the world right now.

In other news, I have had my own personal Christmas miracle. I would say more but there is always the chance that one of my offspring will read this. A small chance but who wants to blow the miracle now? Just know that miracles do happen. And remind me to tell you about it after the holiday.

I seem to use the phrase, "In other news" much too often.

I have to ask, are your children, assuming you have them or have spent some time with some recently, insane? I mean really. Mine are driving me mad. They are fighting and teasing and whining and WILL. NOT. STOP. TOUCHING. EACH. OTHER. I get that they are excited but lay off already. When at least one is in tears at a near constant rate it may indicate you should leave your brothers the hell alone. For those of you who don't know what I refer to, it goes something like this:

1. One brother (any brother) does something he knows will annoy the snot out of everyone. Or just one someone.


2. Said brother is told to stop behavior.


3. Repeat step 2.


4. Repeat.


5. First brother is attacked physically by other brother(s).


6. Melee ensues.


7. First brother ends up in tears.


8. First brother tries to garner sympathy from parental units.


9. NOTE: Step #8 NEVER works yet child keeps doing it.


10. Repeat steps 1-9.


11. Repeat steps 1-9 with different brother playing the part of First Brother.


12. Repeat steps 1-11 over and over - even while parental units scream, yell, and send everyone to their rooms.


13. And keep repeating until parental units are dead on floor from apoplexy.

There is no amount of wine that will take the edge off this chaos. Believe me, I've tried.

Swirling Thoughts

Work? What work? Was I suppose to be working?Ah, I thought I was suppose to be mucking around on my web server. Foolish me.

I've been trying to come up with something to blog about but have realized there is just too much swirling about my head to form coherent thoughts. I decided that I would try letting a little of the crazy out and maybe make room to string 2 thoughts together. Wishful thinking, I know.

• We have a tree. It is not decorated. There are no lights on it. The good part is we sort of have a tradition of not decorating it until Christmas eve. Yes, this was born of laziness one year and the children have opted to live by "tradition". That and the Chinese food we eat on Christmas eve. I say go for it. Don't need to stress about decorating the tree in a timely manor and don't need to cook. Win-win.


• Holiday cards are printed. Envelopes are ready. Still needed are stamps and folding. Lots and lots of folding to be done. Also, I am NOT FUNNY. This makes me sad.


• Still trying to redirect the old site to the new. Not going well.


• Have realized I am also not funny enough to twitter. I LOVE twitter. I just am bad at it. Again, sad I am not funny. Funny = FAIL.


• Spent the majority of yesterday redesigning a logo type thing for work. A logo type thing everyone claimed to love when I first designed it about a month ago. Realized on my way to work yesterday that it was AWFUL. So, so bad. HATE with fiery hot passion bad. Did about four new versions and hated them all. Office chose favorite and now I must use it because the printing is due by the end of the week. Design = FAIL.


• Wow, didn't realize I had such a high fail rate this week. Instead of making myself feel better this is kind of depressing me.


• Last band concert of the season is tonight.


• Have not yet found time to make cookies for holidays. Also just realized I haven't put together a shopping list for ingredients for said cookies.


• Weight is skyrocketing.


• Wow. More failure. I think I should go before I depress myself.

Happy holiday making to you!

PS - All images have disappeared from this site. WTF?

More Holiday Stuff

I am finally playing Christmas music. I've been neglecting the playlist on my ipod and sort of skirting around it. I'm not sure why. It could be that I'm afraid of burnout before the actual holiday. Am I waiting for decorating or baking or wrapping? Who knows. And no, I have done NONE of those things yet.

The holiday newsletter is ALMOST ready to print. Yes, I'm one of those annoying people that send out a newsletter. I know. I'd like to stop but I have had complaints when I did. This year I did something a little different. I made the boys write their own blurbs. I have to say it's not nearly as funny as I had hoped/expected. They may actually be more boring than me. If anyone has ideas to spice it up I'd appreciate it. (and so would the recipients)

In other news, I realized I've gone a bit crazy with the gifts this year. It's the first year in 14 that I've been working full time. FOURTEEN. YEARS. So to say we have a little more cash to work with would be an accurate assessment. Not that I can go completely insane but I can actually shop without the palpatations of the past. The downside to this, I just realized, is I have to now WRAP all the gifts. I'm not a talented wrapper. And I really want to do it up right this year. I got the gifts and now I need to make them look like the treats that they are. The big question... do I even have wrapping paper? And where does one buy nice paper? My kids are out of preschool and to be honest, most of my wrapping paper purchases came from their fundraisers. I'm a bit of a wrapping paper snob in that I like a nice heavy paper. That flimsy stuff just pisses me off. Don't even get me started on the stuff you can see through. Who the hell thought that was a good idea? Cheap? Yes. Worth it? NO.

I suppose I will have to plan a wrapping/decorating weekend. It also seems it will have to be this weekend as I'm starting to run out of time. Hanuakkah starts in a mere 11 days. The good thing is the kids' Hanukkah gifts don't get wrapped. I bought big, blue gift bags one year and decorated them with the kids' names with a silver sharpie. Since then I have had to replace them once but for the most part I just drop the gifts in and hand them over each night. Since Hanukkah is not as big a celebration on the nights it's just the immediate family and we're usually short on time (school nights you know) it works well.

Now I just have to get the husband to take the kids somewhere while I set up a little workshop for myself to crank out the gifts.

Hope your holiday plans are moving along smoothly.

Need Time To Breathe

First I would like to say that I'm still loving my new template. And the same place I first found it (Smashing Magazine) I also found wallpapers for December. I'm thinking I will change my wallpaper each week since there was more than one that I liked. I also think I have a serious problem picking and living with things for more than a week. No wonder I have such a hard time decorating my house. What I like today I may not like tomorrow. I get bored easily and I like a lot of different things. Yes, now you know why my house is just a jumble of stuff rather than "decorated". Let's just call it eclectic. Or ugly. Whatever.

In my previous post I mentioned how I wanted to enjoy the holiday this year and focus on the process. I'm having a bit of trouble with it now. The holiday concerts and shopping (for groceries - holiday shopping is mostly done - FTW!) and basic everyday stuff is not leaving room for holiday stuff. And why? WHY? can't holiday baking be done AFTER the holiday? We get all this time off after the holiday but when we NEED it - before to prepare - we still have work and school and eight billion papers that need to be signed and meetings etc. Speaking of meetings, can someone please tell me WHY we need to have a planning meeting for my eighth grader's schedule for next year this week? Seriously? Like no one has enough to do? It can't wait until January? Seriously? When am I suppose to decorate or bake or even breath?

The Whys

A friend asked me the other day how and why we celebrate Christmas. Because we are raising the boys Jewish she wanted to know how we handled the why of Christmas. I explained that Christmas in our house is all about Santa and family. She then asked if I, a recovering Catholic, still celebrated the birth of Jesus. What I said, and what holds true, is no. I definitely identify more with the Reformed Jews, and our temple's beliefs, than I ever identified with the Catholic church. I won't say I believe in Jesus but I don't not believe in him either. I'm actually kind of ambivalent about him. I believe he existed I'm just not sure I believe all the hype about him. And if you're a firm believer you can pick yourself up off the floor now. It's no reflection on you. It's just me. And yes, I've been told I'm going to hell for this so you can keep that comment to yourself.

I keep wanting to get into more detail about my religious beliefs here but that's not really what this post is about. It is about Christmas and why we celebrate it.

On my way to work this morning I was thinking about why I do celebrate and what really is it I'm celebrating. I realized I wasn't really sure. I could say tradition. I could say religion. I could say for the kids. But while tradition and the kids are the reasons why I couldn't really say the what. What is it we're celebrating? Consumerism? Is it all about the presents? Food? Is it about the decorating? Family?

I can honestly say it's not so much the decorating for me. I don't have many decorations. I kind of hate decorating. In fact, this weekend the littles got the decorations from the basement and then while I was out they decorated the house with their friends. Now it's not exactly how I would have done it but it's done. They had fun. And I don't have to do it. I know this would send most of the women I know over the edge. It's like doing crafts with small children, you almost can't help "helping" them or "fixing" it. I suppose that is something having all these kids has taught me. Keep my damn hands off what their doing. They might WANT it to look that way. It's all about the process for them. As it should be.

I get stressed like every adult this time of year. I want to find the perfect gifts. I don't want to break the bank. The lack of time. It drives us all crazy. So I asked myself, why do I do it? And I realized I wouldn't want to NOT do it. I do enjoy finding the perfect gift. I enjoy a well wrapped gift (something I want to spend more time on this year instead of less). I enjoy seeing someone's face when they opened something they never knew they wanted or the one thing they really, really wanted.

I realized I still believe in the magic of Christmas. And just because it sometimes seems like such a chore the memories of the kids' faces on Christmas morning, the video the kids made one year of their "cooking show" while we baked cookies, the family given a reason to come from where ever they are to just hang out... that is why I do it. To celebrate my family.

Now to just remember to enjoy it. To remember to take the time experience the little parts instead of rushing through them as if they are just one more thing I have to do.

May your Christmas or Hanukkah or seasonal celebration be filled with magic. May you remember why you are doing all this and enjoy it.

New Digs, Holidays and Illness

So, you found my new digs. You did didn't you? PLEASE let me know if you did.

The holiday weekend was nice. Really nice.

Thursday was spent at my MIL's and fun was had by all. All I had to contribute was a green salad and an apple caramel pie. The husband made his famous mashed potatoes.

Friday was spent cleaning and forcing the children to each clean one room in the downstairs. It amazes me that they can whine so much about being responsible for ONE. ROOM. They even got to pick which they wanted. In the end, at about nine o'clock at night, the downstairs was clean. My kitchen (my room) was - and still is - sparkling.

Saturday was yet another holiday celebration at our house. My FIL, mom, dad, both SIL's and various spouses, nephews etc all showed up for a yummy dinner. The turkeys were fab and we had more stuffing than we knew what to do with. I had it easy as my SIL brought her death-by-sugary-goodness-sweet-potato dish and a creme de menth chocolate chip cake. My FIL brought the pumpkin pie. My mom brought a turkey, stuffing, salad & hot veggies. I only had to prepare a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (husband actually did the work on this one), fresh baked bread, homemade cranberry relish, gravy, apple caramel pie, and drinks!

I know, doesn't seem fair how easy I had it. We even had it cleaned up before bed.

Sunday was a surprise. Two of the kids had fevers. The two who never get sick. We withheld meds and put one on one couch with the football game on. The other went on the other couch with a TV & DVD player and watched movie after movie. The other 2 kids were allowed to hang with their respective partners in crime. So the children happily spent a day vegging in front of the TV. Meanwhile, the husband and I managed to clean the room that was set to have the house condemed. The room that gets random bits tossed in. The room that hadn't been cleaned since the plaster removing and replacing in the hall off said room. Yes, INCHES of plaster dust was residing on every surface in the room. All my card/scrapbook/jewelry making supplies reside in this room. My COMPUTER resides in this room. This is also called the office. I will admit to spending greatly reduced amounts of time in this room since going back to work full time. But still, I did have to grace this room occasionally to pay bills and print children's reports. And now, NOW, it is clean. It is organized. I am happy. And amazed. It is clean.

No Help from the Girl Scouts

The cookies arrived today.

I have to ask...

What are they thinking selling cookies around Halloween? I think my scale will be "broken" for the next 2 months.

The Weekend of Chocolate

The party was not FAIL.

YAY! Fun was had by all. Children were kept out of trouble. A few grownups got into trouble or at least drank too much. (Although, I was not one of them. As I was too focused on the children. Although, I did miss when the sheriff stopped to speak to the 12 year old and his best friend for LYING IN THE MIDDLE OF A DARK ROAD AT 9:30 at NIGHT. The husband was on the front porch "watching" the boys play football in the road while I supervised smaller children play ping pong and get hopped up on sugar in the garage. End of extremely long parenthetical side.)

I realized this morning while I read from my feeder that I did not take one single photo of the event. Seriously, WTF? Does it not say photographer on my degree? So I guess I still get a big FAIL on that.

I am proud to announce I only ate 2 pieces of candy on Halloween. And 2 brownies. And 1 slice of pizza. However, the rest of the weekend I ate my body weight in chocolate. It was to save the children. Really. All that chocolate isn't good for them. No really, that's what I'm told. To be fair, they ate their body weights in chocolate also. Fortunately their body weights are considerably less then mine.

And now I must get back to work...

FAIL

I'm kinda feeling like I get a big FAIL on life right now. Dinners not made. House not clean. Laundry needing to be done. Blog not updated. Ever.

Life is kicking my ass and yet it's all good. I'm happy. It's amazing how the people in my life make all the difference. When they're happy? I'm happy. That and my job. Love the new job. That alone makes life so much better.

In other news which is starting to look like another possible FAIL...

I told the kids we'd have a Halloween party. Yeah, not sure what I was thinking. Actually, I do. I was thinking that instead of the jr. high kids out on the streets getting into trouble, they could hang out in our garage. Then the oldest informed me all his friends wanted to go trick-or-treating. So the party became a sort of after-party. A get-off-the-streets-and-into-my-garage-where-I-can-keep-an-eye-on-you party.

We made the guest list. I bought some decorations. We cleaned the garage. I bought food. The kids told me they invited more people. We cleaned the garage. We decorated. I bought more decorations. The kids ran out of invites and invited more kids. We brought the air hockey table into the garage to put near the ping pong table. I bought more decorations. I now have no idea who or how many kids are coming, how many families or what the hell is going on.

The deal is suppose to be that once they come to the house they can't leave until a parent picks them up. (I live in a very heavily trick or treating trafficked neighborhood.) NOW my oldest tells me that a bunch of them are meeting up BEFORE trick or treating at our house. NOT part of the plan. Also, it was suppose to be mostly for his friends with a couple of the youngers' thrown in. Now the other three each have a handful of kids invited.

What to do? I think I may be going with the whole wing it thing. What happens happens and if we run out of food they can eat their candy. That and I'm locking them all in the garage so no one escapes.

What say you? FAIL? I say I agree, FAIL.

Arrrr, It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Glad I didn't miss it this year.
Blimey, I really need to work on my pirate speak.
Off to swab the deck!

Earth Day

So Earth Day. Yes, I know it was yesterday and I’m writing about it today. No, I’m not sure why I waited until today. Ok, maybe because of time constraints. Maybe because I needed time to collect my thoughts. Maybe just because I was lazy yesterday and needed something to write about today. The world will never know.

I read many posts and articles yesterday complaining about having an Earth Day holiday. They all spoke of doing things every day and not just one day a year. I actually felt like I was reading about Valentine’s Day. Show the special person in your life every day that you care. Blah, blah, blah. Amazingly, I’m able to articulate my feelings on this subject more clearly when focused on Earth Day but really, they sort of apply to both.

I like Earth Day. I think it is a fabulous holiday. I think everyone should celebrate it. We might not all have a special love in our lives but the Earth is important to us all. (Even if you don’t agree – it is still important because without it WE WOULD NOT BE HERE.) Anyway…

As for the whole “do things to help the earth all the time not just on one day” thing, I do try to do things all the time. Shall I list a few? Because I will. And I actually like it when other people do too. Why? Does it make me feel good about myself to say, “see, see all I do,” sometimes. But most often I feel like, “That’s it? I really should be doing more.” I’m going to list what I do because when I read about what other people do it gives me IDEAS. Maybe they do something I’ve never thought of. Maybe they do something I had previously rejected but now that I think about it again I realize I too could try it.

The whole one day a year thing gives us a day to reflect on what we are doing and what still needs to be done. That is a good thing. That does not mean we can forget about it for the rest of the year but if we’ve pushed those efforts to the side to focus on other things (as we all do) it reminds us to pull the issue back out and reexamine it. It is a day to talk about and share ideas.

So my admittedly very short list of things we do in our home:

• Change to CFL bulbs as the regular ones burn out. We have been doing this long enough that we are almost regular bulb free.


• Recycle. I still need to get past the once or twice a year I’m too lazy to clean out the peanut butter jar and just toss it. Although, since I read someone else put it in the dishwasher – I have not thrown even one jar away. See what I mean about ideas from other people?


• Walk to run local errands, build time into my schedule to walk to the kids local sporting events. This doesn’t happen as often as I’d like but the more I do it, the easier it seems to get.


• Use reusable bags at the grocery store. This is something that definitely gets easier with time. The biggest road block? Remembering to put the bags back in the car or into my husband’s car when I take it.


• Turn off lights. It’s the kids I’m having trouble training with this one. Anyone have ideas for that?


• Turn off the water when brushing teeth. Since we were kids people. Are there seriously still people who don’t do this?


• Back off on the bottled water. A couple times of year I still do this for convenience. We do reuse the bottles for quite a while and then recycle. Still, MUST STOP.


• We installed low flow toilets a few years ago. Now I have to admit something. HATE. I hate them. The kids clog them almost every damn day. In fact, I need to get a new plunger because I believe we have WORN OUT ours. Who knew that was even possible? Not I.


• When our washer died last year we replaced it with a front loader. Less detergent, less water, less loads because more clothes fit in it. (and I always do full loads because hello! 4 boys)


• Buying more local and organic foods and less processed foods. With the cost of gas and groceries rising and our pay not getting higher, this one has been tough. But, it is one of the most important expenditures in our household. I still haven’t managed to buy organic milk by the gallon because my God, we’d be destitute in a week but we buy local milk and organic eggs. And if I could find someone local to buy eggs from I would. If I could keep a plant alive I might even plant a garden but for now I will take any and all fruits and veggies offered by friends and relatives.

Things I’d like to get back to working on:

• Composting. At our old house we had a compost pile. When we moved into the village with a little yard we did away with it. I have looked at those compost bins you can buy and never could justify the cost. Well, it is time to revisit this. I was amazed at the reduction in our waste when we composted. I actually miss it. It is time.


• Safer cleaning products. The ones I used in the past sucked. But, now I’ll do a little research and try again. I’ve been lazy about this one and there is no good reason why I should be.

I know we need to make major changes but baby steps people. Change takes time. And as much as I would like to get rid of my cars and get more fuel efficient ones or hybrids, that isn’t good either because my cars still run. So I’m saving and hoping they will last for another year or two at which point I will try to get the latest energy-efficient technologically advanced car.

So, now I ask you. What am I missing?

2007

Still not dead.

Just not having a very happy 2007. In fact I have a very bad feeling about this coming year. So, haven't wanted to share a whole lot.

Now don't worry. Nothing terrible has happened. Nothing to fret over. Nothing to pat me on the back and tell me it will all be okay. I just came down with the coughing, stuffy head thing it seems everyone has. Started New Year's eve and has just worn me out.

So. To a wonderful 2007 for you all. May it not be crappy.

Oh, and resolutions? To make it to 2008.

OVER.

The holiday, it is over.

What a huge relief. I'd like to say I pulled it together and got everything done but HA! HAHAHAHAHAHA! No. Not so much. I've thought about doing New Years' baking this year instead of the more traditional Christmas baking but that probably won't happen either. Someone at work suggested Martin Luther King Jr. baking. That may be more realistic. Except, if it doesn't get done by New Years', it won't be getting done at all. Let's at least try to be a little realistic here.

As far as Christmas goes though it was nice. Family, food, fun. Several Christmas miracles occurred and I appreciated them all.

One was the fact that for the first time ever I had to shop on Christmas Eve. Never have I left shopping until then. But the real miracle was the stores were less busy than on your average Sunday afternoon. That and I managed to get everything I set out for. See? CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

The other was coming home to a clean house. Now I do use this term lightly as it only covers the downstairs but people! The kids and husband cleaned the downstairs and made sure there were clean dishes and utensils for Christmas dinner. MIRACLE!

There was one other miracle but I can't speak of that here. Just know it was a good one.

Can't forget, not a miracle but a surprise none the less, I forgot to drink on Christmas day. Christmas eve I had a couple of peppermint patty martinis (Rumplemintz may be too strong for this drink - just saying) and mmmmm.... tasty. I also played the traditional cards with the husband and my brother. So it was fun and a tradition we've kept.

Speaking of traditions... thank God for the kids. They were kind enough to remind me (before dinner was started) that we always have Chinese food Christmas eve. Not sure how I forgot that one. But it was so, so good and I didn't have to cook. YAY!

We also decorated the tree Christmas eve like tradition (or my laziness) dictates, even though last year we did it earlier.

Honestly? I'm glad it's over. The pressure's off, the kids have new stuff to keep them busy and I get to go back to work which is completely dead right now.

So that was my holiday. How was your's?

To Make Your Christmas Merrier

I mentioned I've been drinking? Up until now it's been mostly Mike's Hard Limes. Tomorrow I'm trying something different.

While tracking Santa try this drink:

What I call a Peppermint Patty Martini

1 oz. Svedka Vodka (new, I'm trying it for the first time)
1/2 oz. Rumplemintz
1/2 oz. Creme de Cacao (some random brand Boston something-or-other - all they had at the store)

Every damn recipe I googled gave me different amounts and ingredients. I'm working with what I have on hand (and what I picked up tonight at the packy). Will have to taste test. I'll give you an update tomorrow and let you know my preferred amounts.

Edited to add:
The Boston Somthing-or-other brand was a no go. Returned for Dekuyper's clear Creme de Cacao.

New recipe that has been tried is:
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. Rumplemintz (who the hell can do 1/2 ounce - why even bother)
2 oz. Dekuyper's Creme de Cacao

Mmmmm... tasty.