All right, I'll forgive you for not sending me a Christmas card (you know who you are) if you forgive me first :-) Well, the universe conspired against me this Christmas card season. Let me explain.
Remember how I told you that when I give my new home address out to people now I feel like I'm giving some Extra Terrestrial the longitude and latitude to come over and have Darjeeling tea with me? Well, to give you an idea, if you type in my entire address in a GPS it will not find it. If you omit the first part, it does. Apparently they changed the format of street addresses around here not too long ago and every now and then, delivery people have issues. Nothing major so far - they always call and eventually I get my stuff, but the prints I ordered for our Christmas cards didn't fare so well. Half of it arrived and half Lord only knows where it could be. They are reprinting them so I may still send them later, but unless you're family or someone who could die one day and live me an inheritance (ha, as if I know those people!) you did not make it on my first attempt.
I take comfort in thinking that perhaps you're keeping up with my blog and know what we're up to this Christmas season. DH & I had a wonderful time (champagne included) during our annual Wrapping Party which this year was relocated to a wonderful basement that has yet again proven to be very very handy (if you've read previous posts you know what I'm talking about :-)
We went to bed at 2:30 am only to be awoken by baby girl an hour later telling us she couldn't fall asleep. Well, let me tell you that a queen size bed is not big enough for two adults, a cat and a child! They were gracious enough to let me sleep till 7:30 am, when, with my trusty cappuccino in hand, the unwrapping ceremonies began. I'm sure you had a similar ceremony going on at your house, especially if you have little ones around. This year, even our cat got a gift: one of those drive your cat crazy circles where you can drop cat nip in the middle for them to scratch! Oh, joy!
A big hug to all of you this holiday season!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Let it snow, let it snow....
And yes, we got plenty!! Just about up to my knees - yikes! What have I done moving up here???? And before you go making wise cracks about it not being too difficult to snow up to my knees (in reference to my vertically challenged physique), I'll have you know that I've been told by none other than a medical professional, that for a short person, I mean, vertically challenged person, I have surprisingly long legs. So, there!
Well, it hasn't been all that bad. Then again, I don't have to drive anywhere to go to work, right? Today, DH left his car home and took the SUV because it has 4-wheel drive. The kids' school got canceled and they were very sad (mainly because this being the last day before Christmas break, they were supposed to have their Christmas party today which included a Secret Santa exchange).... So, cabin fever time! Baby girl is all for going sledding again outside but Baby boy has a nasty little cough at the moment and is not inclined to venture out, even as pretty and inviting as the yard looks from my patio door. It's a good thing they took their brand new sleds to a park nearby last week and had a blast! Hopefully that will hold them over till, in another few days, both kids will be up for some snowball fight. I can't wait... he, he, he!!!
Meanwhile, DH was told (by me) to go get his early Christmas present last week: a brand new, shiny red snow blower! How did I know, right? Well, I got tired of the neighbor offering him her snow blower (and no, that's not code for anything else - get your minds out of the gutter already! :-), him not taking it because he was afraid it would break in his hands, while freezing his cutie patoutie out there shoveling our long driveway. He finally took me up on the offer and got it. I'm sure he thanked me for my insight this morning when he had to use said snow blower to get out of the driveway..... After all, if nothing else, I am known to be a thoughtful person :-) But really, I'm loving it so far. The natives tell me that by February they are so sick and tired of all this snow mess, but this being our first winter here, like I said, so far, it's all fun and games.
Did I mention that I finally gave in and decided to start training to be a Jazzercise Instructor? They've been hounding me since Texas, but I never felt motivated enough to welcome the added responsibility. I enjoyed the freedom of just going and having fun too much to feel inclined to turn it into a job. Now, not knowing too many people and having nothing better to do with my time (well, there's always house work & other little projects, but that's always gonna be there), I decided to start the training and if all goes well, in mid-February I go in for my certification. I'm loving it, but I've had a problem with my right foot for the last few years (Morton's neuroma) that gets aggravated when I exercise too much. If I can only get past all the heavy training I could possibly just pace myself afterwards, but that's always easier said than done. We'll see. For the time being, DH feels sorry enough for me that I'm cashing in on foot massages every chance he offers to do it. Yeah, I'm shameless, I know, but that seems to be one of my endearing qualities... Let's just go with that!
Stay warm!
Well, it hasn't been all that bad. Then again, I don't have to drive anywhere to go to work, right? Today, DH left his car home and took the SUV because it has 4-wheel drive. The kids' school got canceled and they were very sad (mainly because this being the last day before Christmas break, they were supposed to have their Christmas party today which included a Secret Santa exchange).... So, cabin fever time! Baby girl is all for going sledding again outside but Baby boy has a nasty little cough at the moment and is not inclined to venture out, even as pretty and inviting as the yard looks from my patio door. It's a good thing they took their brand new sleds to a park nearby last week and had a blast! Hopefully that will hold them over till, in another few days, both kids will be up for some snowball fight. I can't wait... he, he, he!!!
Meanwhile, DH was told (by me) to go get his early Christmas present last week: a brand new, shiny red snow blower! How did I know, right? Well, I got tired of the neighbor offering him her snow blower (and no, that's not code for anything else - get your minds out of the gutter already! :-), him not taking it because he was afraid it would break in his hands, while freezing his cutie patoutie out there shoveling our long driveway. He finally took me up on the offer and got it. I'm sure he thanked me for my insight this morning when he had to use said snow blower to get out of the driveway..... After all, if nothing else, I am known to be a thoughtful person :-) But really, I'm loving it so far. The natives tell me that by February they are so sick and tired of all this snow mess, but this being our first winter here, like I said, so far, it's all fun and games.
Did I mention that I finally gave in and decided to start training to be a Jazzercise Instructor? They've been hounding me since Texas, but I never felt motivated enough to welcome the added responsibility. I enjoyed the freedom of just going and having fun too much to feel inclined to turn it into a job. Now, not knowing too many people and having nothing better to do with my time (well, there's always house work & other little projects, but that's always gonna be there), I decided to start the training and if all goes well, in mid-February I go in for my certification. I'm loving it, but I've had a problem with my right foot for the last few years (Morton's neuroma) that gets aggravated when I exercise too much. If I can only get past all the heavy training I could possibly just pace myself afterwards, but that's always easier said than done. We'll see. For the time being, DH feels sorry enough for me that I'm cashing in on foot massages every chance he offers to do it. Yeah, I'm shameless, I know, but that seems to be one of my endearing qualities... Let's just go with that!
Stay warm!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Cookie Exchange Party
Well, most of you who know me, know that I love to cook. That being the case, I often peruse through web sites in search of new and yummy recipes. One of my favorites is the Nestle website. They even encourage you to write reviews for the recipes you've tried, good or bad. Well, I guess I've done enough of them that a while back the Nestle people invited me to be in their Advisory Panel for the new chocolate chip line they were launching. That was a lot of fun. I basically tried new recipes using their new products and share the opinions of my family and friends who tried it. But that only lasted a year.
So then, a couple of months ago, they contacted me again asking if I'd be willing to host a Cookie Exchange Party. I don't know if you've had a chance to ever go to one, but basically this is how it works: each guest bakes several dozen cookies of one kind of cookies (however many dozens depends on however many guests are coming). Then at the party, each person walks away with a dozen of each variety of cookies that were brought.
Needing an excuse to put a deadline on certain house projects around here (I'm shameless, I know) I set it up for the last possible option the Nestle people gave me, which was December 6. That worked out great! My dining room tile floor got done by none other than DH, which saved us a ton of money and looked fabulous! I tell him, I cannot recommend him to my friends only because I cannot afford the time, but he does fabulous work! It took him a week (well, in all fairness there was a Thanksgiving weekend in there that we needed to go to IL for and also he does have a regular job he must attend to) but it was done just in time. I had a small group of 5 ladies coming which meant each of us baked 5 dozen of one kind of cookie but went home with 5 different kinds: Russian Tea Cookies, Peanut Butter Kisses, Molasses, Sugar & Candy Cane Cookies. We had a great time just sipping coffee and cider and trying a few samples and having good conversation. By the way, it was during that conversation that I learned about fleece lined jeans and remote control starters (to warm your car) among other things I wish I had known before we moved :-) Now that I'm not a newbie anymore, I think I'm gonna have a bigger group next year! For all my trouble of hosting (as if!) the Nestle folks sent me several cookie tins and recipe booklets to distribute to my guests. That was a nice touch.
If you ever want to host one, it is a lot of fun. It doesn't even have to be Christmas but that is as nice a time of the year to host as any. And don't worry about going home with too many cookies that you can't possibly eat. You can always take them to the office or send them to your kid's school, or even a nice treat for Sunday School. It's just as much fun passing it forward as it is to eat them! Another great reason to do it is to also make someone's day by shipping them to distant relatives, friends, kids who are away in college or even in the military overseas (just remember to pack them well and ship priority mail)!
Go ahead! Nibble time!!!!!
So then, a couple of months ago, they contacted me again asking if I'd be willing to host a Cookie Exchange Party. I don't know if you've had a chance to ever go to one, but basically this is how it works: each guest bakes several dozen cookies of one kind of cookies (however many dozens depends on however many guests are coming). Then at the party, each person walks away with a dozen of each variety of cookies that were brought.
Needing an excuse to put a deadline on certain house projects around here (I'm shameless, I know) I set it up for the last possible option the Nestle people gave me, which was December 6. That worked out great! My dining room tile floor got done by none other than DH, which saved us a ton of money and looked fabulous! I tell him, I cannot recommend him to my friends only because I cannot afford the time, but he does fabulous work! It took him a week (well, in all fairness there was a Thanksgiving weekend in there that we needed to go to IL for and also he does have a regular job he must attend to) but it was done just in time. I had a small group of 5 ladies coming which meant each of us baked 5 dozen of one kind of cookie but went home with 5 different kinds: Russian Tea Cookies, Peanut Butter Kisses, Molasses, Sugar & Candy Cane Cookies. We had a great time just sipping coffee and cider and trying a few samples and having good conversation. By the way, it was during that conversation that I learned about fleece lined jeans and remote control starters (to warm your car) among other things I wish I had known before we moved :-) Now that I'm not a newbie anymore, I think I'm gonna have a bigger group next year! For all my trouble of hosting (as if!) the Nestle folks sent me several cookie tins and recipe booklets to distribute to my guests. That was a nice touch.
If you ever want to host one, it is a lot of fun. It doesn't even have to be Christmas but that is as nice a time of the year to host as any. And don't worry about going home with too many cookies that you can't possibly eat. You can always take them to the office or send them to your kid's school, or even a nice treat for Sunday School. It's just as much fun passing it forward as it is to eat them! Another great reason to do it is to also make someone's day by shipping them to distant relatives, friends, kids who are away in college or even in the military overseas (just remember to pack them well and ship priority mail)!
Go ahead! Nibble time!!!!!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Who invented glitter?
Well, it may be obvious to you (right?!) but I finally realized today that although the credit for coming up with glitter, as we all know it, goes to an American cattle farmer named Ruschman during the 1930s, the credit really should go to God.
This week, as I was driving the kids to school, we looked at all the fields that are now blanketed with snow as white as white can be (have I mentioned that by now we've had two snow storms that brought around 6" of snow each time?). When the sun hits it, it's amazing how beautiful it shines! Seeing that, I told my kids: "Look how beautiful the snow sparkles with the sun!", to each my daughter says: "It's like someone dropped glitter all over it!" And that's when I had this amazing epiphany that God is the one who invented glitter in the first place. OK, like I'm fond of saying: "I am a genius! A slow genius, but a genius nonetheless." Yeah, I know that basically God really invented everything, but you know how we, humans, tend to get sidetracked by patents and all.
And then, when you look a little closer at how glitter is actually made, I can't help but think that old man Ruschman must have had a little divine inspiration to come up with it. While some may assume that glitter is produced by simply crushing the source material (very tiny flecks of glass, stone, paper, plastic or polyester), that is simply not the case. Commercial glitter manufacturers use various dies to cut out individual pieces in bulk. Even though pieces of glitter can be as small as 50 microns in size (and again, let me remind you that I belong to the SLOW variety of geniuses, so I had to go look up what 50 microns would actually be in my world, and that turns out to be 0.002 inches), each piece has been precision-cut in the shape of squares, circles, rectangles or hexagons.
Which led me to my next epiphany (this has been a prolific week for epiphanies around here!): we have all been precision-cut into the beings that we are today, by none other than God... while we were still in our mother's wombs. I find that amazing!
Didn't mean to get all preachy on you. Just wanted to share. Maybe there's hope for me yet!
Now don't go saying you didn't learn something new today (I'm assuming that, like me, you never heard of Ruschman before).
Have a wonderful day!
This week, as I was driving the kids to school, we looked at all the fields that are now blanketed with snow as white as white can be (have I mentioned that by now we've had two snow storms that brought around 6" of snow each time?). When the sun hits it, it's amazing how beautiful it shines! Seeing that, I told my kids: "Look how beautiful the snow sparkles with the sun!", to each my daughter says: "It's like someone dropped glitter all over it!" And that's when I had this amazing epiphany that God is the one who invented glitter in the first place. OK, like I'm fond of saying: "I am a genius! A slow genius, but a genius nonetheless." Yeah, I know that basically God really invented everything, but you know how we, humans, tend to get sidetracked by patents and all.
And then, when you look a little closer at how glitter is actually made, I can't help but think that old man Ruschman must have had a little divine inspiration to come up with it. While some may assume that glitter is produced by simply crushing the source material (very tiny flecks of glass, stone, paper, plastic or polyester), that is simply not the case. Commercial glitter manufacturers use various dies to cut out individual pieces in bulk. Even though pieces of glitter can be as small as 50 microns in size (and again, let me remind you that I belong to the SLOW variety of geniuses, so I had to go look up what 50 microns would actually be in my world, and that turns out to be 0.002 inches), each piece has been precision-cut in the shape of squares, circles, rectangles or hexagons.
Which led me to my next epiphany (this has been a prolific week for epiphanies around here!): we have all been precision-cut into the beings that we are today, by none other than God... while we were still in our mother's wombs. I find that amazing!
Didn't mean to get all preachy on you. Just wanted to share. Maybe there's hope for me yet!
Now don't go saying you didn't learn something new today (I'm assuming that, like me, you never heard of Ruschman before).
Have a wonderful day!
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