I’ll be back another time to post about what has been going on in our neck of the woods (including the nice Christmas we had), but for now, I would like to ask for any good/positive thoughts you can spare. Something big (for us) is going on, and we need all the luck we can get… I’ll share more when I am able to. Thank you very much.
kibbles -n- bits -n- bits -n- bits December 20, 2007
(aka – a little of this ‘n that)
Lots going on. I don’t know if I will remember all of the little odds-n-ends I wanted to mention. Guess it doesn’t matter much.
Let’s see – the truck still isn’t running. Hopefully that will change after this weekend, if hubby gets a chance to get out to work on the thing. In the meantime, my mom picked me up to take me to work a few days this week. The kids had a snow day on Monday, so we all went to work. Today, I stayed home. I was going to go to the girls’ classroom parties, but decided to try to get some things done around the house instead (besides – by the time I got home from taking them in the morning, I’d only have had a half hour before having to start the walk back for Peanut’s party, and after we got home, we’d have had an hour before Princess’s party, then would have had to come home for an hour before going back to get her. I think we’d all have been worn out after that much walking back and forth!). Mom is picking me up again tomorrow.
Anyway – one of the side benefits of walking when so much snow is on the ground is that I’ve been able to show the girls animal tracks in the yard. We’ve got a family or two of rabbits, and a few deer of varying sizes, as well. The girls like watching to see where new tracks will be.
I’m listening to a new album hubby gave me this morning (he should have saved it for Christmas, but didn’t want to because it was missing the booklet, lol. He’s so silly!). Actually, I’m on my fourth or fifth time through it today. It’s Hvarf/Heim, the latest from Sigur Rós, and it is a lovely album.
We’ve watched some pretty good movies at home lately, but I have to say, the one we took the girls to see at the theater was the best, and we were all completely enchanted with Enchanted. 
Can’t wait to see it again!
We added two new members to the family last weekend – a black panther named Boomba, and a gray and black moose of a tiger cat rechristened Buddy, as the name he came with was the affectionate name hubby called my late father-in-law. They’re both much larger than any other cat we’ve owned, but they’re beautiful, and are welcome additions. They’re great fun, and very loving.
Oh – I had more success with Craig’s List. Not selling – haven’t gotten to that yet – but we got a nice dark eggplant colored comfy leather chair with a matching ottoman for free last weekend, too. It has a small spot of damage on the inside back of one of the arms – but it is easily hidden with a throw pillow, and it goes nicely in the living room.
Back to an earlier topic again, I did get a bit done around here today – not cleaning so much, though I have some of that to do. Instead, I was decorating. I draped (fake) greens around the mantle, arranged some decor on top of it, hung some ornaments and the stockings. It looks very homey. I like it. I also put away all of the fall decor from the dining room, and put out winter/Christmas decor in various places in there. Hung a wreath or two, very belatedly put up both Advent calendars (the girls had fun with those this evening), and so on. It was more work than it sounds like, lol. I also made two batches of chex mix, a pan of brownies, and wrapped all of hubby’s Christmas gifts.
The kids had too much excitement and TOO MUCH SUGAR at school today. Peanut was tired, Princess was tired and cranky. Still is, for that matter. I just sent them upstairs to watch a movie until bedtime because the noise was making my head hurt. Oh – that reminds me. I walked Princess to class this morning because I was carrying the pan of sugar cookies we made last night for her party. Several of the girls were wearing fancy dresses (she would have been too, had we not had to walk – snow pants just don’t fit well over dresses 
). Two of the boys in her class were watching them run around – one turned to the other and said, “Why are they all dressed up?” The other boy looked at him, shrugged, and said, “It’s a girl thing.” Made me chuckle. When I told hubby about it, he said it was interesting to see how boys that age finally really started to get an awareness of the differences between girls and boys.
Well, anyway – I guess that’s enough rambling on for now! Have a good one.
It’s been almost a month December 13, 2007
since I was here last. I didn’t realize it had been so long! We’ve been really busy, and have had a lot going on. Isn’t that the case with everyone this time of year? (or any time of the year, really, if you have kids!)
We haven’t done much of any decorating, but we’ve got a nice pile of gifts for the girls. We’re so excited about some of them – can’t wait to see their faces on Christmas morning! And I’m so very thankful that they’re not picky or choosy. We can buy secondhand or used, and they’re just as thrilled. That really helps. On top of that, they’re nice when it comes to their Santa lists. They never ask for more than three things each, and so far (*knock wood*), we’ve been lucky in that they haven’t ever asked for anything overly expensive. Normally they ask for a doll, and a movie or cd. This year, Princess asked for a cd player – one of those personal ones (what is it called? A “walkman”?), so she can listen to her own cd’s in the car. Those are pretty reasonable if you don’t want/need a fancy one, and we got lucky! When we put in a small layaway, we got a coupon from the store – spend $25, get $15 off, so we got them each a player and only spent $15! I thought that was pretty cool. And then, mil gave us two $10 cards to Value City that they’d given her to encourage her to come back before Christmas. We happened to hit a sale the day we went in – we got them each a few toys, and with the sale prices, it came to only 39 cents above the gift cards. Then, they didn’t even charge us the difference – the cashier said that up to a certain amount, they waive! Wow, we’ve had good luck this year. (It also doesn’t hurt that my sil manages a video store, and she gives us the heads up on when sales on used movies will be, so we are always able to get the kids the movies they want at really good prices!) Anyway, I am very thankful that this year has been a good one that way. We don’t always get that lucky, and some years have been leaner than others. And it hasn’t only been with the kids gifts. We found something I really wanted to get for a friend at such an excellent price, and the one thing hubby really wanted, I went to buy yesterday – and it was on sale for almost half off, that day only! I’m so grateful.
Things in the rest of life have been going well enough. Can’t complain! We’ve had some really good days, and some not so good days. Such is the way of it. Today, I’m glad that we live as close to the kids’ school as we do. Hubby’s truck wouldn’t start for the third day in a row, and he’s got no more time left to be late to work or to leave early (he stayed home Tuesday, went in late yesterday). So, I’m staying home today. I walked the kids to school – it only took 15 minutes to get there, which isn’t bad at all. I’ll be back to get Peanut when she’s done, then we’ll go back to get Princess later in the afternoon. We’ll get our exercise in, anyway!
I am going to call my dad later on (he doesn’t get up until close to noon), to see if he can come over and help me get the truck started. Hubby forgot to put dry gas in the last time he filled up, and the truck is persnickety about starting when it is cold/damp. I think it would have started this morning, but for the fact that the battery is running low now from trying to start it so many times these last few days. Of course, the jumper cables are in the trunk of hubby’s car, which is sitting in the pasture at my mom and dad’s… :p Anyway, we’ll see how it goes!
After Christmas, I’m going to see about getting some of the work done on my car that needs to be done. It will have to get done a little at a time, but every little bit will help. It is really leaking the antifreeze now, and that has to be taken care of as soon as possible.
Oh – Princess got in trouble at school yesterday. She was trying to help a classmate who had spilled something all over their desk. Several other kids started picking on her. She got frustrated, and swore at them, to the tune of “damn, I’m just trying to help!” Because of that, she got lectured by her teacher and another woman about anger issues and being dishonest (she told them she hadn’t sworn, but then told them the truth). She had to sign a note, bring it home for me to sign, and has to have an in-school “time out” on Friday, which is a little excessive, considering it is her first offense, and was obviously punished enough just with the lectures, as she spent the rest of the day and half the evening crying. Now, I understand that rules are rules, and that she shouldn’t have reacted that way – what I have a problem with is that the kids who were picking at her – to the point of her getting so upset – didn’t have a word said to them at all. This is a school that touts that “Everyone is someone” and has all these sayings in big letters in the front display about being nice and respectful to others, etc, etc. She shouldn’t have sworn, but she also shouldn’t have been being picked on. It doesn’t have to be pushing and shoving to be bullying, and this isn’t the first time this same set of kids has been on her case. I have issues with selective zero tolerance and “one size fits all” punishments. (According to the note she brought home, the same punishment is meted out for not using indoor voices at lunch, using poor table manners, being disrespectful to the teacher – or hitting someone!)
I am going to let Princess go to the school holiday shop after school tonight, so it won’t matter if they choose the time the rest of her class goes to shop tomorrow as the time for her “time out,” though she’ll be just as distressed if they make her skip recess time, because on Fridays, the choir she is in meets during recess. Anyway, that’s enough of that. Makes me angry, and I don’t want to be angry!
Well, I think I’ve rambled on enough for now. Have a good one, and I’ll try to make it back again before too long…
