Rain, Sleet and Snow

That's what today has looked like as far as weather. I hate to admit it, but as I get older, the cold weather is getting much harder for me to bear. I end up wanting to stay in the house and venture out only when I have to.



The cold didn't stop me from getting out and doing a little shopping though. I was on a conquest for card making supplies so that I can make Christmas cards tomorrow while the boys are in school. When they come home, I am going to have them help with some of cards. I'll do all the embossing and any messy work, then turn it over to them.





One thing that is clear to me is the fact that I need to get an organized area to keep all my craft supplies in one place. I know I have some really pretty Christmas stamps, but I can't find them at the moment. I do have a half a dozen that will get me through this season, but I really would have liked to have had the other ones too. I'll continue the hunt in the morning. I used to rubber stamp a lot but then stopped for some reason. I had forgotten how fun rubber stamping is. I definitely intend to rubber stamp and emboss cards for other occasions too.





We went to my mom and dad in law's house for Thanksgiving. The boys got to do some shooting with their Grandpa and I was able to see our adorable niece and nephew who were down with my sister in law from Texas. The kids get cuter every year!





The game plan tomorrow is to bake pumpkin bread, knit a bit and clean house. The cleaning house part definitely needs to happen above the other activities. With kids and the menagerie of animals that we have, I have to keep up or it gets out of control pretty darn fast! I can put a batch of pumpkin bread in the oven and get a little cleaning done at the same time. I might even get around to pulling out my "Artisian bread in 5 minutes" book and making a batch of dough to go in the fridge for the upcoming weeks. Homemade pizza is on the menu plan this week and it would be nice to have the dough sitting in the fridge and waiting for me. With the cold weather coming up, baking is one thing I do a lot of. Having the oven on warms the kitchen, plus something good gets made, so it is a win/win situation.

The blip above was written on Sunday and I waited to post since it sounded so blah to me. It still sounds BLAH, but I thought I'd post anyway and add a little for today (Monday)..so here it is:

I REALLY should stay off the holiday recipe sight for Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I subscribe to their email feed and today they had a couple leftover turkey recipes that caught my attention. The recipe for turkey tortilla soup really sounds good. That got printed, but the turkey nachos sounded so good that I am abandoning the planned meal for tonight in favor of this one. Turkey, sour cream, salsa, nacho chips--what's not to like? Gotta LOVE this sight!!! However, once I finished there, I noticed a "food gifts" section. Slippery slope that it was-- I fell right in. My printer will never be the same. Let's see...easy chocolate shortbread, chocolate raisin and oatmeal cookie gift mix, soft honey nougat (YUM!!!), buttermilk pralines, hazelnut mocha sauce,honey and macadamia nut fudge, mocha truffle tartlets, cherry and golden raisin bread..and those are just the ones I printed. I might have to quiz everyone on my gift list to see whether their blood sugar can take a "12 days of sugar" blitz for the Epiphany!

No Rest for the weary!

This past week, I lost my mind and apparently forgot that it has been a while since we've had youngsters in the house.

So when I went to Stillwater to pick my 2 year old great nephew up to spend a week with us, I also accepted his Mom's request(begging) that I take my 5 month old great niece.

See where this is going?

Having Auralius is not that hard--but my niece didn't tell me that Anna was both teething and in the middle of being treated for an ear infection, so let me tell you---that was definitely interesting.

I had forgotten all the little things involved with kids, like ear splitting crying from a teething child, the stubbornness of a two year old and the fun of trying to get everyone in the car to pick my older kids up from school. Holy Smokes! Now I know why you should have kids when you are younger!

So here is a little of what I wanted to get accomplished this past week:

1. Do a once a month cooking session to stock the freezer.

2. Shop for a compact freezer unit to keep from overloading the refrigerator freezer.

3. Finish the shop hat for Twist and the shop scarf for The Newton Beadery.

4. Get Christmas card supplies in one spot and make Christmas cards.

5. Clean house.

This is what I got accomplished:

NOTHING

Yep, not a darn thing, except the priceless hands on experience that my sons had with the reality of having kids.

You know the experiment some schools do where they have the kids carry around a doll or an egg for a week and pretend to experience the reality of a baby?

I think that is a lame experience.

After listening to a teething kid scream at decibels that could shatter glass and knock pictures off the wall, my boys have firmly proclaimed they are serious about not having children. Actually in the middle of one of Anna's voice lessons, one of my boys declared he would remain celibate for life...LOL.

And that was even before she blew the back end out of her diaper with poo.

Did I mention the diaper was not manly enough to handle the job so some of it escaped?

Yep, I thought I was going to lose two teenagers right there!

Let me tell you, if the screaming didn't do it, the diaper sealed the deal.

Priceless.

Kids...

Today I had a meeting at the high school to review one of the twins school progress. It went very well.

I was sitting in the high school office thinking "Wow, my last batch of babies are in high school". I have to admit, it did make me a little sad. Those who know me know that I totally love being a Mom. Sitting there, I started thinking about some "Mom memories", some of them funny, others were a little exasperating. But then, that's what raising kids is all about. Just when you think you have the answers, God decides to shake it up a bit. For example:

Before I had kids, I always said "MY kid will NEVER scream in the grocery store". God took note of that one obviously, because I got humbled BIG TIME. When my oldest son was about 3 years old, he decided to throw a REALLY big hissy in the grocery store, but he didn't stop there. We were standing in the middle of the personal hygiene aisle of the grocery store when a college boy(who obviously didn't want to be on THAT aisle) came walking by with his girlfriend. My son promptly and tightly attached himself to that poor guy's leg and started screaming DADDY to the top of his lungs. Yep, it was a golden moment.The look on the guys face was almost as priceless as his girlfriend's face--even after I:

A. told her that I honestly have never met her boyfriend....
and
B. Offered to send my son home with them-just in case they thought they MIGHT want kids..they declined. Go figure.

Before I had kids, I always thought that there was a perfectly good reason for any incident. So how did one of the twins end up with stitches in his head after playing croquet with his twin brother? Isn't the idea of that game to move the balls with the mallet still AT GROUND LEVEL ?

But having kids also gives you absolutely golden moments of humor. Like the time we were going through "What sound does this animal make" with the twins.

Me: Jeremy, what sound does a cow make?
Jeremy: Moo.

Me: What sound does a dog make?
J: Woof

and so on, until:

Me: What sound does a kitty cat make?
Jeremy : (sticks out his fingers like claws) HISSSSSSSSSSS!

Well alrighty then...

Giggles