“‘Twas the night before Christmas… December 24, 2006

… and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

As is the case every Christmas Eve by this time of night, it is much *too* quiet! The girls are both sleeping, and hubby won’t be home from church for another hour. Princess had me tuck her in right on time, at 9pm. Peanut held out longer. About 10:30, she climbed up on my lap and asked me to sing her a lullaby. A couple of songs later, she was sound asleep. I’ve been listening to Christmas programs on tv – a Bing Crosby/Perry Como show, and now a church service.

It’s been a long day today. Well, a long weekend, really. Yesterday we spent the day at mil’s. We had a (mostly) nice visit. It only went downhill at the end. I put together a whole 500 piece puzzle while we were there – I enjoy doing puzzles, and haven’t in a long time, so that was fun. Today I got up early, and started the rest of the housework that needed to be done in order to put the tree up. Yes, we were a little behind, *chuckle*. But, it looks nice around here now. Not perfect, but good. The tree is up, as well as some other decorations, the entryway, dining room and livingroom are “company ready”… oh, yes, and there are plenty of presents under the tree. Not as many as other years, and probably more than there should be this year, but that’s the way it goes.

The kids gave me fits the first half of the day. Too much fussing and fighting, not much helping going on. But the second half of the day, after hubby left for evening services, they were wonderful. We wrapped daddy’s gifts together, then they went downstairs to watch movies so I could wrap their presents. They were very good about it – hollered up to give me notice anytime they had to come upstairs, so I had time to toss a blanket over the presents I was working on. It worked well, and I was able to get all of the wrapping done, while watching my favorite movie of all time, The Man From Snowy River.

After I was done wrapping, Princess and I checked Norad to see where Santa had last been sighted. He was over Peru, and was going to be heading to the USA soon. She was so excited, she started jumping up and down, and wanted me to tuck her in right away. I had her wait a little while, until her regular bedtime. She told me she didn’t think she could go to sleep, but… not five minutes later, she was out like a light, lol. After she went to bed, Peanut watched Return to Snowy River with me, then we read a couple of stories. All in all, it was a very nice evening, just the three of us girls, and I’m looking forward to a day with just the four of us tomorrow. (We had invited mil down, but she called this evening to say she wasn’t coming.) I can’t remember the last time we had that. It was well before Peanut was born – I think Princess might have been 2 that year – there was a storm so we couldn’t go out. Anyway, I’m going to make pancakes whenever everyone gets hungry, and I expect we’ll be watching movies and playing games. We do have a bit of work to do, but don’t have anything time-consuming or difficult planned, merely a trip or two to storage to get the summer clothes out of the house, so I can finish up the girls’ room on Tuesday. Wednesday is only three days away!!!

I guess I’ll stop rambling on now. Have a good night, and…

have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Bits-n-pieces December 19, 2006

Long, slow days, these last couple at home. I’ve done some housework, though not as much as I should have, in between mediating whatever disagreement the girls have (in between bouts of playing perfectly well together, lol), and being lazy. I’ve been reading today, a book called The Godmother, written as a bit of a far-fetched, exaggerated fantasy/social commentary a decade ago, but which presages some of the current right-wing conservative political actions of today. Scary, in some ways.

Other than that, we’ve been watching movies in the evening. Our Holiday favorites. Over the last few days, we’ve watched the first two Home Alone movies, The Santa Clause 2, Jingle All The Way, and Die Hard 2. Not a bad start. (If you hadn’t noticed, we like movies. We are very much looking forward to having a Harry Potter-thon and a whole day dedicated to the extended versions of the LOTR trilogy next week! Whoo-hoo!)

I’ve been pretty tired, because I’ve been keeping such odd hours with Princess sick, so I haven’t done much cooking lately. I did make dinner last night, pasta, chicken, broccoli and alfredo sauce – a family favorite the kids will always eat seconds of – and tonight, I’m trying a new recipe. I just put a venison meatloaf in the oven. I’m going to make baked potato fans to go with it, and some green beans, probably. That should make hubby happy, and it makes me feel more like I’m doing what I need to for my family when it comes to dinner.

Speaking of Princess, she is feeling much better today. The antibiotic seems to be doing the trick, so I’ll go get the full scrip filled tomorrow. She should be able to go to school tomorrow as well.

It’s official December 18, 2006

Princess has what the doctor termed a “classic case” of strep throat. There is enough time for her to start feeling better before Christmas and company, though, and that’s all she was worried about. Poor kid!

Busy day December 16, 2006

Woke up at my usual time today. Instead of making an effort to go back to sleep, I got up, but didn’t head to the kitchen like I usually do on Saturday morning. I decided to get a jump start on some housework while everyone else was still sleeping. I worked 4 hours straight in the kids’ bedroom, unpacking, sorting and putting away clothes. I don’t have all of the winter stuff out yet, but I made a dent. I had several bags of too-small clothes we took to the Sal when we were out running errands. There will be more that head that way before all is said and done. I still have clothes to put away, which I’ll work on in the morning, but they are all folded and sorted out in stacks, ready to go in each drawer, so it won’t take much time.

Princess is sleeping in there now, for the first time since we moved in. Actually, she’s sick today – was running a temp of 102 earlier. She asked me if she could go to bed at 6pm. I gave her some medicine, and tucked her in. She’s still sleeping, three and a half hours later. I’m hoping she sleeps through the night.

Hubby has been working around the house today, too. Actually, primarily in one area… he’s getting the shelves up, so we can unpack the cd’s, whoo-hoo! I was already out perusing, pulling some I want to listen to. He told me I was a dork, lol. I’ve been anxious for him to get that job done. Not only does it give me more music to choose from, it also eliminates a couple of dozen boxes that had been piled in the entryway (not to mention the multiple stacks of cd’s lining one wall from when I had to empty boxes so we could pack more).

When he gets that all done, we can put up the little Christmas tree I borrowed from work. It looks a little bit like a Charlie Brown tree, but it will be fine for us. It’s an easy, manageable size, and will definitely be better than just using our little tabletop fiber optic tree again this year. If I can get my other work done tomorrow, then we can do some more decorating. We aren’t going to go “whole hog” with that this year, but we’ll put enough up to look/feel festive. Chances are, we won’t do any of that until Monday or Tuesday night, but that’s all right.

The only room I’m not touching is my sewing room – it is half full of boxes, but I’ve had an offer of help with that room, which I will gladly take, so that room can wait a while. I’m hoping to get a bunch more work done before Christmas. There will still be boxes everywhere, particularly in the garage and basement, but as long as the main living areas are less cluttered, I’m fine with the rest. Just have to figure out what the heck to do with all of my Barbies…

Darn December 12, 2006

Mild disappointment. I was scheduled to go with my mom to go to the spa for the first time, for a lovely, relaxing facial. The spa ended up having to switch days on us, so now we’re going to go the day after Christmas. Still have it to look forward to, then, so it’s not so bad – I was just looking forward to a little “girlie time” today.

After the facial, I’m going to see if I can’t make an appointment for a massage. Mmmmm….. sounds heavenly!

When push comes to shove… December 11, 2006

the girls are there for each other. As much as they bicker and fuss at each other, I know they love each other, and that’s what’s important. I fully expect that they will grow up to be friends, like I am with my brothers, like their older brother and sister are with each other (maybe I’d better *knock wood* just in case ). For example – today, they had a spat in the early afternoon. Shortly thereafter, Peanut had a little accident. Princess was the first one on the scene, was very loving and comforting, and sat with her on the couch, reading stories to her until she felt better. What a nice big sister!

Brings to mind a song from last night’s movie:

“Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters…”

A little time to myself December 9, 2006

Not much, only about an hour, and I’ve spent most of it finishing up a bit of housework I’d been doing, but I still have a few minutes before everyone else gets home, so I thought I’d catch up here.

As much as I like to have peace and quiet, I don’t like it being too quiet, so I put on one of my very favorite holiday-time movies, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. I guess I must be finally getting in the spirit of the season, because earlier today while I was working, I listened to an Irish Holiday dvd.

I didn’t get done everything I wanted to today, but I did make headway, and that’s the important thing, right? I might even get the Christmas tree put up before Christmas! *GRIN*

Mil will be down tomorrow, so I’ll be up early, making sure everything is as neat as I can make it, and getting a head start on the work I’d planned to do in the first place. I was hoping not to have to worry about company this weekend, but ya know, it happens. I’ll just do what I can do, and go from there. I’ve got a big list of things I want to get done before Christmas. If it gets done, great, if it doesn’t, it won’t be the end of the world. I’m just getting to the point where I want to be rid of the boxes that are everywhere. Next time we move (which won’t be for a long time, *knock wood*), I hope that I can take a little time off work to focus on the unpacking, so that it doesn’t take so long to get done!

The kids are, of course, counting down to “the big day.” I have a countdown of my own going on, something I’m really looking forward to, something very special. Can’t sleep at night for making plans!

One of the best bands you’ve never heard December 6, 2006

Aphonic

I’ve been listening to their first professional release, “Why It Sometimes Feels Good”. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played the disc. I liked it the very first time I heard it, and the more I listen, the more I enjoy it. Several major labels have been duking it out over them, though I have a feeling they’ll opt to stay indie.

If you’re curious, check them out, either at the link above, or at myspace.com/aphonicband

Enjoy!