I stained the bed

Get your mind outta the gutter sickos!  I'm talking about G's bed...frame.  Remember awhile back I'd stained it and then sanded it alllllllllll back down because I didn't like it?  Well I'm tired of G's mattresses just sitting on the floor when we have a bed.  And his mattresses cover half of the heat run so the bed will make that work better I'd suspect and if not, at least it won't be making part of his mattress and pillow hot like it does now.

Anyway, since G decided that it was a good idea to get up at 0430 this morning (Ed entertained him and tried to get him back to sleep until about 0515 when they came and woke me up) I figured I might as well be productive and the bed frame was on my to-do list. 

Since it's so cold I couldn't do it in the garage so I brought a tarp in and laid it down by the pantry shelves and worked right there.  Right now the head and footboard are completely stained with cherry stain on the horizontal pieces and dark walnut on the vertical pieces.  I'll give it a day or two to set and cure nicely before putting a polyeurethane finish on it.  E's over at the other garage finishing up the sanding on the side rails so I can knock those out tonight too.  It's good to actually get something accomplished for a change but I can hardly wait until it's done and we set it up in his room.  He's going to love climbing in and out of bed using the footboard.  Oh and once that's done I can start on the dresser that I'm staining to match the bed!   

 

 

Once I get the bed done then I can get started on the blanket I want to make him. I figure that should be done around summertime? Maybe it'll be his 3rd birthday present?

Ooh, but I did also repair the separate binding on our comforter, then washed all the bedding.  I didn't take a nap with G (wanted to get another coat or two of stain on) so I'm so looking forward to climbing into and curling up in my nice, clean bed tonight!

co-sleeping

G's been sick lately and hasn't been sleeping through the night. He crawled into bed with us for the first time ever the other night and it felt so good to have his warm little (well, big) body pressed up against mine. I closed my eyes and literally drifted right to sleep dreaming of what it was like 2.5 years ago when he was brand new and snuggled with me all night every night.


And then I was woken up to his foot kicking me right in the nose 20 minutes later. And another 10 or so minutes later he head butted me in the nose. Then about an hour later, he punched me square in the eye. Not to mention the farting and the snoring (that was more E than G). That's when I was oh so nicely reminded of why I transitioned him to his crib at 5.5 months old. Neither of us was sleeping well back then and we seemed to be waking each other up a lot.  I thought I'd try and give him his own space and see if that helped him to sleep better and it did.  He slept so much better in his crib right from the beginning and I remember crying more than once for that first week because I missed him even though he was only down the hall.  He's been a very independent sleeper ever since and he's only gotten more and more active while sleeping.

I almost wish I could have another babe just so I could feel that tiny little creature in my arms, always touching me throughout the night, that heavy weight of a content baby. 

project list

1.  I NEED to start staining G's bed frame again.  I'm going to have to bring it into the house and do it aren't I?  That's going to suck.  And trying to keep G away from it?  Oy, that's going to suck worse.  But I didn't buy it for it to sit in the garage in pieces, it's time to get it done and get G's bed up off the floor and especially up off the heatrun!  I think it's going to look great if I ever get it done.  Once the bed frame is done I can start on staining the dresser to match, then I can take back my dresser and put it to use in my room!  Maybe I'll get started on that tomorrow.  I think I can find a tarp of some kind to put down at the pantry end of the kitchen and maybe I can righ up a barrier of some kind to keep G and the dogs away from it.  I will probably put a fan on it too even though I'm going to be applying and wiping the stain.  He's going to love having a "big boy" bed that he can climb up to get into!

2.  I picked up my notions and fabric to start on the taggie lovey blanket that I'm going to try and make G.  It will be interesting to see how much I can screw that up but it should be a lot of fun!  I bought myself a cutting mat at JoAnn's toda because it was 40% off.  I need to buy some fabric scissors though, all the ones I have don't cut very well.  I do have one rotary cutter though and now that I have a mat I can actually use it! 

3.  Let's hope we didn't create a sewing monster but I've been looking at some free patterns online and have some ideas for some baby bibs for J & L's little girl - my first niece!  She's going to be here in June/July 2011 so I have time to get it right!  Maybe a nursing cover for L too since I know she wants to give breastfeeding a go!  This website is really cool: http://www.vanillajoy.com/.

4.  But I also REALLY need to get Dad's computer up and running again.  Well, I should rephrase that, it's running but it's stalled at the windows activation.  It won't let me activate it online because I need to install the network interface card (the what?) and it won't let me activate by phone because it won't generate an installation i.d. which I have to have to go that route.  So for now I'm just trying to figure out the network card issue!  My PC is acting very strange and causing me issues while working so I'm hoping to get this "new" computer up and running sooner than later so I can switch it out. 

5.  It will also be nice to be able to put my Lightroom3 on there and be able to use my jumbo monitor to edit pics instead of little laptop monitor.  Speaking of LR3, I have a book (Merry Christmas me) that I need to start reading so I can put it to better use!  Oy, that's another project in itself.

6.  I have a $25 credit to Shutterfly that expires this month that I need to use and a credit for a free photobook that expires in April.  I am going to make two photobooks, one of how I "nurtured" G (i.e. belly picture progression and breastfeeding pics) for almost 3 years. 

7.  The other one will be pics of me and G from the last 2.5 years.  I've made one for basically everyone but me so I'm going for it.  Those take a lot of time and proofing and stuff but I really enjoy making them, even if they usually make me cry and reminisce!

8.  And with the leftover credit from my cards I will probably make another photobook of our Christmas since I enjoyed last years so much!

9.  Hhm, what else?  Since I now have a shit-ton of coffee mugs I want to make my own little herb garden.  I'm not really sure what or when or any of that, I need to do some research on it first, so that's not super high on my "must be accomplished" list. 

Now let's see if I even start/finish one of these dang projects!

***Update 12/30/10***
Mom sent me a text letting me know that J found the drivers and windows cd's for Dad's computer!  Woohoo!  She put them in the mail to me today.  This will make things SO much easier when it comes to formatting the computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't start staining G's bed because E tells me I have to bring it in the house and let it "settle" and dry out some so I brought it in this morning and set a fan on it in the hopes that I can get started tomorrow or the next day!***

My gripes

I know, I know, one isn't supposed to gripe but it's my blog and I'll do it if I want to.  My first gripe is directed at the USPS.  First of all I ordered E a new cell phone on the 18th and I paid for two day shipping.  It's now the 27th and no one knows where the cell phone is.  All I know is that it hasn't been delivered and I best be getting my $8.99 for expedited shipping back.  And while I'm on the subject of the USPS, why out of 25 Christmas cards containing small wooden handmade ornaments did one get returned with a postage due sticker (right over the to: address of course) because it's not machineable?  Why didn't all 25 get returned like that I'd like to know?  Regardless, some of the ornaments tucked in the cars were broken and the cards mangled.  Nice huh?  Why only some - why not all of them?  My mother-in-law was quick to tell me about how her's was ruined but she fixed it.

USPS's counterpart, FedEx, is a big ol' pile of steaming poo in my book.  My new cell phone (also ordered on the 18th with two day shipping) and G's balance bike sat in Missoula from the 20th until it was delivered today.  They actually called and told me that it would be delivered on the 24th and when I called them to confirm that on the 24th I got the run around until someone fessed up that they weren't going to make it out to us that day.  Then...then they asked me if I could come get it.  What???  Drive the hour into town, the 30-45 minutes up Reserve and then out to the airport so I could pick up what should have already been delivered?  And they wanted to know if I could pick up the other packages for residents of the Lochsa.  Uh, no.  Thankfully my cell wasn't a Christmas gift and G's balance bike can wait until his birthday in June, I'm just an early shopper.  I had them read off what the other packages were and none of them sounded like they were possibly Christmas presents for children so I not so politely declined to do their job for them.  THIS after I had come into town the week before to pick up a few packages because they didn't have time to deliver them.  Are you kidding me?

I will now specifically request only UPS for any packages.  Our UPS guy is awesome and he never has an issue delivering on time.  And the USPS issue?  Well this isn't the first package that has magically been "misplaced" so I'm about to raise a big fat stink there too.

There you go, there is my ranting.  It wasn't too bad, right?

***Update - the phone showed up via FedEx (not USPS like the website told me) in the evening on 12/28/10 ].  So I contacted the company (they're called wirefly) and told them to refund me the cost of shipping, which they said they'd do.***

Christmas on the Lochsa 2010

G and E weren't feeling very well on Christmas Eve so we didn't make the trip to town to attend a church service.  Ed worked all day as well, so that didn't help our "planning" but whatever.  Just another part of Christmas for me to miss - fellowship.  I made a totally YUM dinner of bbq ribs in the crockpot, taboule (wheat salad) and corn.  Then we followed it up with strawberry rhubarb pie and ice cream.  I was pleasantly STUFFED and even G ate like a little piggy!  We were only going to open one or two presents on Christmas Eve (as opposed to how we do it in my family where we open them all on Christmas Eve) but once we got started G was having too much fun to stop.  He ended up being a little overwhelmed though and he was asleep by 9:00 that night.  Remember, he wasn't feeling good.  For some reason he kept trying to rip the paper off using his teeth, like he was trying to eat his presents.  We couldn't figure out what that was about.  He also kept his tongue stuck partway out most of the evening whenever he was unwrapping a gift or trying to figure a new toy out.  That made me laugh because I do that when I'm concentrating on doing something.  But before he went to sleep he opened up some really cool gifts!  Grandma D had gotten him a Tonka police truck which he immediately dubbed, "Daddy car." Aunty Wheels got him the Follow Me Thomas which was a huge hit.

There was a Hungry, Hungry Hippo game that I got him and as soon as he opened that he stopped everything and wanted to play it.  So we did!  G quickly discovered that it was MUCH easier to just put the balls in the hippo's mouths for them rather than try to grab them with the lever.  Clever little shit.  Needless to say, he kept winning but that's because at 2.5 years old, we don't mind if he "cheats" a little.  I wonder if I should make a few rounds of Hungry, Hungry Hippo one of our Christmas traditions?  One thing I did notice, however, is that they sure don't make the game like they did when I was a kid.  If me and my siblings/cousins had played on this one, we would have broken it before bedtime on Christmas Eve!

I got a 5qt Kitchenaid stand mixer - a totally awesome and extravagant gift!  Thanks Mom and Sis - I've been drooling over one of those for a long time!  Mom also got me two sets of dishes that I wanted but in one of the boxes two of the bowls were broken and two of the big plates had large chips out of them.  Amazon has already sent out a replacement set and told me to not bother sending back the broken set and to dispose of them at my convenience.  So I get two extra big plates, four smaller plates, two bowls and four more coffee mugs.  Speaking of coffee mugs, why in the world can dish manufacturer's NOT include mugs in every set?  I already have more mugs than I know what to do with and now I'm set to have 16 more once the replacement dishes show up.  I can't see the sense in throwing them away so I'm sending half of them to Goodwill with my old dishes but it still seems like an awful waste.  Heck, even two mugs in each set would make more sense than four.  How about two mugs and six big plates?  That would be nice wouldn't it?

G "bought" me a Bearfoots figurine - my first new one in awhile!  It's "The Swing" which has a momma bear pushing a little bear on a playground swing.  I love it.  E spoiled me something terrible this year, but he does that every year I'd say!  He got me my photo disc light diffuser and I can't wait to get outside and use it!  The two of them (and the dogs) got me a lot of other wonderful stuff.  It's so sweet that E worries that he didn't "do" enough for me each Christmas.  Just being his wife is gift enough to me.  He would have bought me my Speedlight flash if I had let him but that can wait until the mega loads overtime actually starts.  He did "give" me a super great gift (get your mind outta the gutter people) by stopping chewing on Christmas Eve.  He made me promise to be patient with him as he gets grouchier.  Oy, there's a grouchier?  Hahaha.  I can't wait to celebrate his one year anniversary on Christmas Eve 2011!!  Anyone who see's him chewing is welcome to contact me so I can rip him a new one. 

I made E a photo book chronicling the first 2.5 years of his and G's relationship.  That was my favorite present I was giving him, I put a lot of time and love into that gift!  He also got a mug with our pictures on it and a new shaver that he really needed as his old one is slowly dying.  He was surprised that my mom bought him chest waders and S bought him the food grinder/sausage stuffer attachment for the Kitchenaid.  Now all he needs to do is go get some souitt (I have no idea how to spell that) to grind up some deer burger!

This morning E and G let me sleep in and when I woke up we opened the remainder of our gifts.  E saved G's awesome Buzz LightyearLightyear had better last him awhile and he'd better stay interested in it for that price!  Ha - I'm such a butt!  Nana got G a new CD player finally so he has music in his room again, which he's super happy about.  She got him a lot of other wonderful things too, including two train books that he hasn't hardly put down!  He got a few items of clothing that he just tossed aside when he discovered what they were.  He's a boy who knows what he wants!

I had cleaned up the mess in the living room (boxes and wrapping paper and such) and was in the garage and G apparently decided he'd had enough of the whole Christmas thing because he pulled the tree over.  That soaked the carpet but thankfully only one or two ornaments broke.  With all the new ornaments we'd gotten from our ornament swap and from Aunty Wheels (lots of cool personalized ones) it didn't break our hearts to throw away some older ones that had broken.  I spent a few hours cleaning up the tree and all the other Christmas stuff and by naptime it was like Christmas had never even come to our house!  Well except for the tree that now resides in the snowbank next to the sidewalk.

It was a nice Christmas with just my E and my G but man did it ever make me realize how much I miss my whole obnoxious Scandinavian family at holiday time.  I miss all the treats made only at Christmastime, the smell of coffee always percolating, the sounds of laughter, guffawing and name calling.  I miss too many people crammed into too small of a space, I miss playing board games with my cousins, trying to keep the younger cousins away from us by hiding in the closet.  I miss everyone from Granny to a new baby roaming around and being looked after/cared for.  I miss dressing up in new church clothes and walking out to cars, trying not to slip and break my ass and going to church at 10 pm at night.  I miss voices coming together in celebration of the real reason for this holiday season, singing praises and congratulations to our Savior on the birth of his Son.  I miss coming back to Granny's house and singing more carols and hymns since that's Granny's favorite thing!  Then of course there's the ripping open of presents, watching to see if the cousin who's name I drew liked what I got him/her.  And some playtime before bedtime, while dressed in our itchy pajamas and slippers.  All of this just made me realize that I should have thanked my Dad (and Mom) for making sure that we understood that family was the center of our holiday universe and they always did their best to get us to Granny's house so we would be surrounded by those we knew and loved.  My family isn't perfect by any means but they hold the majority of my childhood memories and therefore they will always hold a special place in my heart, especially at Christmas.

Enjoy my Christmas slideshow!

I did it!!!

Back in November I decided that I needed to bite the bullet and sew something.  I bought a sewing machine like five years ago and the only time it's been used is when my Mom visits and sews something at my request.  Ha!  Well I wanted matching Christmas eve pj's for me, G and E but when I went shopping online I was shocked at the price of such a set...$50 for 3 pairs of pj pants.  What???  I bought some Christmas flannel, elastic, a Butterick pattern and thread.  I figured if I got it all I'd have no choice in going back, right?  Then I ordered 3 white t-shirts.  All of that cost less than $50, easily and it paid me in ways that are silly. 

It took me forever to get them done but only because I'm a chicken.  When my Mom came down at the beginning of December we pulled out the fabric and the patterns and she taught me how to read and follow the pattern.  That isn't so much fun but we got them cut out.  Then she told me to just continue to follow the pattern to sew them.  Yeah, I put the pile of cut fabric in the craft room and ruminated every day that they were there.  I waited and waited and waited, then one day I cleaned off my little table and set up my machine.  But I didn't sew.  Then with just a few days left to get them done, we decided we needed to go up to Cd'A so we could drop off and pick up gifts from family.  I took it all with me and Mom got out her sewing machine and got me started.  She showed me by doing one seam and then sat me at the machine and off I went.  E was visiting his other son so we were able to work on them undetected still.  :) 

I finished up the pants and then we came home.  Today is Christmas Eve and the pj's are for tonight.  I cut out the bows/ties using downloaded templates but I couldn't decide how best to attach them to the shirts.  I used a few little squares of that stitch witchery stuff just to hold it in place since I had been warned not to try and sew threw it as it was like sewing through glue.  I decided I'd just sew and deal with the raw hem sticking out, hoping it would look good.  When I sat down at my machine I noticed that it had all sorts of stitches I could turn it to, so I chose to do a "fancy" one that I hoped would be kind of like serging.  I could not for the life of me get my bobbin thread to come up so I walked away from the machine and went back to figuring it out later.  It wasn't easy, but they got done in time for me to wash and dry them and package them up before Ed got off of work. 

E had given G his bath and he came out and said, "Uh, are you going to get out some Christmas pj's or something for him?"  That's when I told him to look in the snowman gift bag.  He said, "Okay, but what about pj's?  Can I put his pj's on him first?"  "Just look in the bag."  "I will in a minute, I want to get him dressed."  "E, look in the damn bag." 

I think I impressed him.  He's been giving me grief about buying a $250 sewing machine for a few years now and how it just gathers dust.  He laughed at the pj's and immediately put them on.  He tells me they're comfy, even!  I wish I had made myself shorts too, that flannel got hot!  G's were too long (surprising considering his height) but I just took them off of him and hemmed them up on my machine and he was good to go!  The legs of my pants were a little blousy and they weren't quite as long as I like my pants, but the measurement was correct.  Ed's appeared to fit just right!

This is a typical family picture for us so I thought I'd throw it in here.  I say, "Just go with it," and E's trying to get G to mind him.  I'm kind of proud of myself.  This is something new for me and something I've wanted to do and found reasons not to do it for a long time.  And it was kind of fun to boot!  I wonder what I should try next...

Our Christmas Card(s)

I almost forgot to show these to you all.  I liked the way they turned out! 

Digital card that I didn't print out at all, but only because I found such great deals on shutterfly and seehere.com (again).  It's a great job though - my friend Laura did it for me:

Then I did these at seehere.com because they were offering 60 for the price of shipping which was $4.90 total.  These went out to the majority of our friends and co-workers or former co-workers.

And lastly the cards I made after winning that Shutterfly blog thing for 50 free cards...they would have cost me (not that I would have gotten them) about $160 for the 50 of them.  Of course I didn't proofread my own work so you'll notice that there is an entire sentence completely out of place in the quick summary.  On some of the cards I drew an arrow putting the sentence where it should be, but on most I just scribbled out the whole sentence.  Oy. 

How about 10 for Thursday since I'm late again?

1. Do you do any volunteer work?
Currently, no.  But I spent many a year as a candy striper at KMC.  I've painted houses (I can't remember what the "charity" is called, I've stacked sandbags during a flood, etc. 


2. Do you have night and/or morning ritual?
Nope, I fly by the seat of my pants.

3. Would you rather exercise or diet? Why?
Diet.  Because that's what I have a harder time doing.

4. If you would rather exercise, do you prefer going to a gym or working out at home?
I work harder/better when I'm at a gym.  I miss going to the gym, plugging in my cd player and going like the Energizer bunny until my energy runs out.  I miss that "alone" time where I push myself to my limit.

5. What do you think is a huge waste of time?
Crap like this.  Good thing I like to waste time huh?  Or cooking food for G since he never eats it.  Or poop scooping the yard.

6. What is one way you save time?
I map out my errands with consideration to how many left turns onto Reserve Street I'll have to make.

7. What is your current obsession?
Lightroom 3. 

8. What is a current obsession you can’t wait to pass?
My Pepsi necessity.

9. Are you currently reading a book? If so, what book? Would you recommend it?
I just finished one and started one called Sarah's Key.  I can't say that I'd recommend it since I'm only a few "pages" into it.

10. Since we had the 90s question last week, what’s your favorite songs from 00′s?
Amazed by Lonestar
Wonderful by Everclear
(I am tired and I'm going to bed, so I might finish this later but I doubt I'll remember to).

Christmas Eve's Eve!

We ran up north so that we could drop off gifts and pick up gifts for Christmas.  We stayed two nights at Mom's house and spent some time with everyone there, including G's aunty Wheels.  I asked my mom if she minded watching G for us for a little while and E and I snuck out to go shopping for a little while, eventually having dinner at Mongolian BBQ.  It was strange to sit and eat dinner and not worry about cutting up someone else's dinner, entertaining someone or telling someone, "Stop that," or "Eat!" or, "Son, it's not okay to pinch the waitress on the fanny."  I held an actual conversation with my husband for the first time in a long time and held his hand.  Usually we have a 3+ foot monkey between us holding our hands.  I felt conflicted though because I should be giving thanks every minute of every day for our little miracle boy, but it sure was nice to not be mommy for a few hours.

The next day we called E's oldest son J and we met him and E's granddaughter for some play time at an arcade and lunch at Applebee's.  It was a good time.  E and G went to J's house and hung out for a few hours and I stayed at my mom's so that I could work on a special project.

The next day we started our journey home but stopped for a few hours in the valley and took E's daughter S (and her 3 kids) out to lunch.  It was good to see them since it had been such a long time (it felt like it anyway).  We went out to E's mom's house and got to spend some time with her as well.  She had a great present for G, he's going to love it when he opens it on Christmas Eve! 

G slept most of the drive home, he was worn out from Nana's house because he didn't sleep very well.  I am so thankful that he's such a good traveler because I cannot imagine traveling with a screaming and fit throwing toddler in the car.  He is entirely comfy just watching out the window during long stretches.  We bought the dogs a big kennel since the new truck doesn't have a canopy on it.  I think it was a good solution but I'm not sure that the dogs do!

Since E had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas we were home in the evening on the 23rd, having delivered all our gifts and picking them all up.  It was nice to get to see some family for the holiday's since that's my favoritest part of the holiday's!

"Mine!"

There's a little box wrapped present that G is fascinated with.  He won't leave it under the tree or with the other presents and I keep finding it "hidden" in different places in the house.  It's a pressie for Aunty Wheels but I don't think that's why G likes it so much. 

I'm surprised that I'm not lecturing G more to stay out of the presents under the tree.  Every once in awhile (maybe once a day) he brings me a gift and says, "Mine?"  "Yep, buddy, but you can't open it yet."  Then I have to remind him that it needs to be under the tree and I get this look like, "Aw, are you kidding me?"  One a few more days, pal...

"Santa!"

I was working on Christmas cards while sitting on my bed and G was watching Shrek.  Then some other movie came on and I wasn't paying any attention until I heard G say, "Hi Santa."  What?  Who?  "Look Momma, it's Santa."  Sure enough, there's a Santa Claus on TV.  Apparently Ed's, "That's Santa Claus and he brings you presents if you're a good boy" lecture has had some impact on the Boof.  I told Ed to come into the room and when he did G pointed to the TV and said again, "Hi Santa!"  Ed's eyes bugged out of his head as well, he was pretty excited.  He grabbed the video camera but I am too lazy right now to upload the video but I will get around to before the end of 2010 (I hope).

o.r.n.a.m.e.n.t.s.!!!

Two more ornaments came in the mail today.  I was kind of excited because it's been a few days since we got one.  We're still waiting on 4 or 5 of them so I'm expecting to see them in the next few days.  I think this years tree, while most likely the most "plain" one I've had in a long time, is my favorite tree.  I love all the handmade ornaments and wish i'd found the time to make homemade garland too, but I'm not about to worry about that now that we're just a few days away from Christmas.

Let's not and say we did...

Gingerbread house?  Never again.  What a frustrating disaster.  And I'm sick even, so that makes it a much more aggravating undertaking.  The frosting was a sticky disaster but mostly because G wouldn't stop sticking his fingers in it and licking them.  The candy gum drops?  Yeah, candy.  G.  Candy.  I'd put one on the house and he'd pluck it off and eat it.  As if I wanted a 2.5 year old hyped up on sugary frosting and candy at 9 am?  It made a mess, which I'm not opposed to, but it just wasn't any fun...for either of us.  I put it on top of the entertainment center so that it gets it's due honor but I'd just as soon throw it and the memory of making it into the trash.  I yelled at G more than once, I threatened him with a spanking, I was just generally crabby and mean.  He didn't deserve that, he's just a 2 year old doing what 2 year olds do...and he does the 2 year old thing so well.

 

 

 

It's ornamental!

We got a package from Alaska today and I knew that meant an ornament from my cousin's daughter J!  We were not disappointed at all - we got a salt dough ornament that she painted and it's lovely!!!

Not only did we have that homemade one, but we got a treat by getting a very "Alaska" ornament as well.  Know what I'm looking forward to?  When I'm a cranky old woman and I walk hunched over and the grandkids come over for Christmas and ask me stories about the ornaments on my tree.  And I'll be able to say to myself, "She can have that one when I'm gone," etc. 

I remember ornaments that we'd hang that were a funny shape and covered in glitter.  It turned out that they were ornaments that my Dad had made as a kid using those little paper Dixie cups that I associated with Grandma's house just because she had the dispensers and cups all over her house.  I wish I had one of those ornaments in my collection but instead I'm goint to make sure that G has some ornaments from his childhood that he can show his kid(s). 

Here are a few more pretties from our tree this year:

Another late 10 on Tuesday

1. What is your favorite kind of cheese?
Mmmmm....pepper jack?  colby jack or a good sharp cheddar, fo shizzle!

2. Do you prefer fudge with or without nuts?
I do not prefer fudge.  I do not like it Sam I am...

3. How do you feel about cats?
Nothin' but runnin' dog food.  Achoo!

4. Meg Ryan or Julia Roberts?
Julia, 100%.  Meg's cute and all that but Julia is Julia Roberts for pete's sake. 

5. Do you wear a watch?
Only if I leave the house.  Otherwise, no.  That just changed when we moved here though, before that I felt naked without my watch.

6. What are a few of your favorite songs from the 90′s?
Baby Got Back (it's like it was written about me) - Sir Mix A Lot
Unbelievable - EMF
Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Jeremy - Pearl Jam
Losing My Religion/Man on the Moon/Shiny, Happy People - R.E.M.
I Touch Myself - Divinyls
The Sign - Ace of Base
I could keep going and going...

7. Do you like scented candles?
I do but Ed hates them because somehow I always spill that stupid wax.  I love my Scentsy more than the candles though, since I don't have to light a match.  I just like for things to smell good.  A heavily scented candle is a big no-no in my book though.

8. What do you like on your hamburger?
CHEESE!  Otherwise, mayo.  Sometimes pickles, sometimes not.  Ooooh, bacon, yeah, bacon is gooooooooooood.  And I love fresh lettuce and tomato on a good burger.  In fact I'll take it dry of all condiments if I can get fresh lettuce and tomato.  Yum.  Oh, and mustard - a really good mustard is always good on a burger!

9. How often do you cut your fingernails?
When I notice they need cut.  My left thumb nail I pick at all the time because it's growing back finally but it's driving me crazy and catching on stuff all the time! 

10. Do you sleep in socks?
No way!  My feet/lower legs act as my thermometer at night.  I stick them out from under the covers to cool myself down!

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!!!

G has succumbed to Toy Story mania.  His favorite character appears to be Buzz, I don't know if that's just because Buzz is easy for him to say or what but he identifies Buzz and no one else.  It just so happens that last year after Christmas I found a pair of Buzz footy pj's on clearance in 4T and I scooped them up.  I had just got out G's 4T footy pj's last week and these were in there with them.  He got so excited when he got to wear them and he'd point to himself and in his little G voice say, "I Buzz," and, "Momma, I da Buzz." 

He's going to be so excited to find that Santa (aka E, since I don't do the Santa thing) left him his very own Buzz Lightyear doll.  For $45 he'd better pee his pants (figuratively, please).  The Mr. Potato Head that I got him is going to be dwarfed by Buzz but whatever.  While I'm not exactly "happy" that he's into "branded" things (i.e. Toy Story and Thomas the Train) it also doesn't bother me because it's what makes him happy.

Another ornament!

When we got home from play group we had an ornament in the mail from K & H in Boise.  It's so flippin' cute, don't you think?  I hung it up next to the Christmas tree even though it's lightweight enough that I could put it on the tree!  I just don't want to risk another "mishap" like I woke up to today.  Crash had taken our first ornament exchange ornament (the one from cousin K) and he turned it into a pile of doggy toothpicks and glitter.  Damn dog.



Our first CDC playgroup

We made it to one finally!!!  And I'm so happy that we did because we both had a great time.  I didn't have to beat up any little hellions (or their parent) and my child wasn't a hellion.  This alone made for a good time!  G charmed everyone, as is his usual style.  There was one woman in particular whose name I don't remember but she had two boys, E & E.  One is older than G and one is slightly younger and G loved them both.  They had a conversation about poop in the playhouse.  There was an "oven" made out of a cardboard box and for some reason G thought it'd be more useful if he was inside the oven (to help the food cook presumably).  There was one of those sand and water tables but it had split peas in it instead of water or sand and I couldn't resist running the peas through my fingers on multiple occassions.  That was a big hit with the kids mostly just because it was messy as they could throw peas around to their little hearts content. 

G and Kim (our FSS) worked together on a gingerbread house and by worked together I mean Kim constructed it and G ate the decoration (i.e. candy).  She was great about getting him to interact and play with her and she kept telling me, "I love this boy."  She was excited for G to meet another little boy named D who is about six months older than G and "extremely bright just like G."  D takes a little while to warm up to people but once he did he was great to have around.  One of the E's mentioned above is a few months younger than G but almost half G's size.  G kept referring to him as "baby" and I had to keep telling G, "No, buddy, E's not a baby, he's your age."

I was so impressed by G's overall demeanor.  Sure, he was into a lot of stuff and I got comments such as, "I'll bet he's found every hiding place in his house," and, "Oh, that boy's a climber," but I also heard, "He's such a sweet sharer," and, "Look how nicely he plays!"  Considering he hasn't had much practice in the playing with other kids arena I'm guessing that it's all his nature.  I never saw him take a toy away from another kid, but I did see him steal a woman's glass of water, a cookie off a man's plate and he put some of the split pea's in another woman's glass of juice.  He was very aware of where the other children were and what they were doing.  A lot of times he played by himself a little bit but never once did he "have" to have mommy, which was surprising.  He didn't ask me to play with him once.  After about 1.5 hours he did escape the room we were in and took off into the CDC offices.  From that point on he tried to help the other's escape but we had figured them out.  He was the tallest kid there except for a five year old girl.  There were kids older than him other than her, but he was bigger than them all. 

I can't wait to do it again, it's almost too bad that it's only once a month!  This makes me look forward to trying out the little gym thing too!

G's first professional haircut

Before:

Dear twit who looks like you're too young to be dating much less finish beauty school,

Thank you for butchering my son's hair.  I realize you probably haven't cut the hair of too many two year olds but maybe next time bow out or at least listen to the momma that comes in with the two year old.  Had you spent more time paying attention to this little boy instead of chatting with your co-worker (while cutting his hair) about your boyfriend's girlfriend that you don't like, the little boy in the chair might not have felt the need to have an utter melt down.  You get 10 minutes or less with a two year old boy, I told you that before we got started.  I've always cut it myself or had my mom cut his hair and it was hard for us so I don't know why you thought it'd be easy for you. 

The only reason I paid instead of punching you in the head was because G was throwing enough of a hissy fit that I just wanted to get the heck out of there before I started to throw one with him.

Thankyouverymuchdumbass,

C

p.s. and when my two year old snorts out a big booger and you don't offer me a tissue and then deny having any just so you can get rid of us faster, I will again wipe it right on your counter. 

After:



Two more exchange ornaments!

Two more of our exchange ornaments came in today!  They are so cute!!!

This one is from K.P.!  It's fantastic!!!

 

This one is from Hannah and her momma Carey!  SO cute!!!

Here is one of my snowball cupcake ornaments in action on our tree.  :)  I thought they turned out pretty cute even if I did lose a lot of skin thanks to the hot glue gun biting me!  Here are a few more of the ornaments that are on our tree this year:

 

My pseudo Christmas Letter

I'm cheating and copying the Facebook app My Year in Status on Facebook!  It totally fits as a Christmas letter!

* To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. ~Josh Billings * Dear Computer, Foot Pedal, or Scribe program: Whichever one of you keeps finding it necessary to completely lock up needs to stop that.  I have too much work to do and too little time to play these games.  You are frustrating me and when I figure out which one of you is messing with me - I'm going to do something equally annoying to you.  Signed, the lady who can unplug you all. * Okay who came and taught G how to climb out of his crib?  Whoever it was Ima kick your butt!  I guess it's time to make the switch to the toddler bed so he doesn't get caught between the wall and his crib anymore.  Dangit! * G stood up and pee'd and tooted in the tub.  I laughed...until I saw the floaters.  "Ed!  Get in here!"  Yeah, I made him grab Mr. Tubshitter while I took care of what he left behind. * And life goes on without him.  Gone but never forgotten. * "Teaching your diaperless toddler that he/she can't always trust a fart" should be a chapter in the "What to Expect: The Toddler Years."  I'm just sayin'... * Cyndi - put down the chocolate cheerios and go to bed... * Mark my words - something doesn't smell right in here.  I checked and it isn't me.  Ed said he can't smell anything.  I can smell it in the office and in the bathroom.  I smell something dead, I swear it.  And it's going to drive me crazy until I figure it out.  Thanks a lot for the sensitive sniffer Mom! * wonders how I can remember the lyrics to a song I haven't heard since 1985.  But can't for the life of me remember why I just walked into the kitchen? * Ed took the afternoon off and I packaged G up for him and they took off down the river.  They are going to "salvage" some 1x4's from a crash there last week.  I need a pantry built so free wood can't be beat!!!  And now I have a nice quiet how to work in as well.  Guess I'd better get going huh? * What a strange night last night - everyone in this house was sound asleep by 9:30 pm.  I think the boys were tired from being buttheads all day and I know I was tired from having to deal with buttheads all day.  We're rested and ready to rock today though! * ...is retired.  I was tired yesterday and I'm tired again today.  Too bad there's dictation to be type! * I am complicated, stubborn, boorish, insufferable, protective, frank, proud, loyal, thoughful, adaptable, zany, tough, driven and lonely.  My personality is not split; it's shredded! * My husband and I were reading my horoscope and it told me that I was in love with someone with the initial "A."  My husband asked who that was.  I replied, "asshole."  * I need sleep like a skinny chick needs a cupcake!  Adios! * Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do it unto me. ~Matthew 25:35-40 * I can never complain about a co-worker again.  At least none of them have squatted and piddled on my desk while I was working.  Thanks a lot, Crash! * You know you're a good cook when you ask your husband if dinner was good and he says, "It'll make a turd."  * I hate it when a bug bites my boy :(  It makes me want to go all ninja on any and all insects that I see! * Love is sharing a spinich and mushroom pizza with your almost 2 year old...for breakfast.  Can't tell he's my kid or anything! * I can't help but wonder if G is as tired of time-out's as I am? * Fruit punch Tootie Frooties are going to be the death of me someday, mark my words. * I need someone who feels like "donating" a new(er) BMW road bike to Ed.  There was a guy with one at the gas station today and Ed said that if I bought him one of those he'd "consider" "letting" me have another baby. * You know you're a mom when you're moving laundry from the washer to the dryer and your kidles throws a Tonka in the dryer and you continue with what you're doing, remarking, "I didn't know your truck needed dried.  Well let's throw an extra softener sheet in there then!" * Cancer scares the hell out of me and I hate that it has taken and continues to take so many lovely people from my life.  RIP Rebecca Greenfield Coleman, you will forever be so very, very loved. * Sacrifice is what you do for those you love without them asking and without waiting for a thank you.  * Powell Crime Report: A homicide was discovered early this morning when a large gopher was found dead on the wood pile.  Obvious cause of death is a gunshot wound to the head.  No suspicious persons or vehicles were reported in the area.  The suspect is believed to be female as the shot was well-laced and the crime scene was neat and tidy.  * Me: "Brrr, I'm cold!"  Ed: "Hey, you want a bowl of ice cream?"  Me: "Do you ever hear me?"  Ed: "Huh?" * Yeah, I dare you to stifle your laughter when this is what you hear outside your office door: "Did you do that?  Did you go pee on the floor?"  "Yeah!"  "No, stop!  Don't do it again!  Garrett, stop!" * Does it make me a bad momma or a smart momma that I taught my kidlet to scratch my back and I'm not above taking advantage of his new skill? * Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are.  Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you.  The right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass.  That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with. * G took Ed's hat off his head and the woman by us says, "Did you steal Grandpa's hat?"  I snickered and goosed "Grandpa." * Someone please remind me of the etiquette here.  When my 2 year old belches like a grown man am I supposed to be moritified or is it okay to be proud? * Today is "New Toilet Seats" day at the H. house.  Try not to be jealous. * My Mom is so much cooler than me.  She wears Lucky's and she rocks them. * After playing outside for the last 3 hours, G and I came inside.  When presented with 3 options: Cars (the movie), Toy Story, or BNSF - Stevens Pass...he chose Stevens Pass of course!  Oh, Dad I wish you could see him now! * As of Friday, Crash will be nutless.  I just scheduled the big snip-snip.  Ironically, I just scheduled a doctor's appointment for Ed too.  Lucky for Ed, it's not for the same procedure. * Um, OUCH.  I thought this thing hurt yesterday, but yesterday was easy compared to what I woke up to early this morning.  Maybe I should have just cut the whole thumb off. * Tweakers make my job so much harder. * I never, ever thought that in my whole entire life I would get excited about someone pooping in the potty...but I am.  I did a dance and everything. * I got tired of having to go into G's room and tell him, "Get back in your bed, stop turning on the light and quit playing with toys.  It's bedtime."  After the 4th time I got out the duct tape. * I snuck within 40 yards and dropped her where she stood.  In the words of my husband, "You done good, babe!" * I wonder if I can sneak a garage door opener onto my Christmas list and talk Santa into letting me open and isntall it before the snow falls this year? * The score as it stands in the Great Battle of Wills... G: 0, Momma: 1. * I <3 being used as a leanin' post.  Mostly because I know that sooner than later, he'll be too tall and he'll push me over. * G just brought me what appeared to be a rock.  Too bad it was a stinky rock, from his undershorts.

Why did I let him see me do that?

Time to decorate the tree!  After getting the lights on (we only have two strings of lights but thankfully we also don't have a very "full" tree) I got out the ornaments.  We'd bought some on clearance after Christmas last year and I said to E, "I think these are the shatterproof ones, I think that's why we got them."  E said to me, "Well drop one on the floor and see."  So I did.  It bounced right back up to me.  And G got a big grin on his face and squealed, "It's a b!" (b is for ball).  Why, oh why did I do that in front of him?  I'm an idiot.

G wasn't too interested in putting ornaments on the tree but he was very interested in taking every.single.one out of the box.  And taking the ones off the tree that we had already put on.  And trying to pull the ribbon parts off of the "baby's first Christmas" ornament.  Oy, this is going to be interesting.  I'm seriously debating whether or not to bother wrapping gifts and putting them under the tree because something tells me I'm going to spend the next two weeks trying to keep G out of them all or wrapping them up numerous times.   

We left lots of room on the tree for ornaments though because we have our ornament exchange ornaments coming, remember?  We got our first one today, from G's cousin's K & B!  I'll take pics and show y'all what we're receiving as we receive them but I'm not posting about them on FB since I don't want to ruin any surprises for anyone!  This first one has already accomplished what I wanted it to - it surprised us!  I wanted to do the exchange so that we could see what everyone comes up with and even though we're about crafted out this year, next year G will be older and hopefully a little more patient in the crafting department.  I'm proud of our ornaments but I'm tickled to have a piece of all our little friends on our tree too!
Our first ornament exchange ornament:

Oh Tannenbaum...

We'd been waiting all week for Ed to have a day off so we could all go out and find our Christmas tree.  We got all dressed to go trudging around in the snow and packed the sled and Kelty...and found a tree right off the side of the road.  Ha.  We were home within 30 minutes and that included some time of Ed pulling G around on the sled just because.  So much for our big adventure but I'm with not having it be a whole lot of work since setting it up, decorating it and keeping it watered, etc. is enough work!

Check back later for some decorating/finished product pictures!  It's set up in the living room right now "relaxing" and thawing out.  G loves it so far and it doesn't even have anything on it!  Siren's bed has been displaced and she's not very happy about that but hopefully she'll be okay until around the first of the year. 

 He was having his train test out the tree stand for stability I guess.

Daddy's helper.  Why does he alwasys pick the most dangerous of tools?  He goes straight for them.  Is it a boy thing?

Having his choo-choo drive on the tree.  I think this is a taste of my future for the next few weeks.  I'm going to get tired of having to remove him from the tree.

Crap, if we have a tree up that means I'm going to have to start wrapping some presents doesn't it?  I wonder if G's going to leave them alone or if I'll have to rewrap stuff once a day?