Pyles of Clutter

It's me and you, Darla.

Argh.

It's 5:15 a.m. and I am bored.

Yes, bored!  I've been up since 3 when Sarafina decided that he needed to wake me up for... I'm not sure what.  I went to let him out and he just looked at me like, what?, and then turned around.  So I went to bed.  Fifteen minutes later, he was bugging me again, and this time I made him go out. 

But alas, too late for me.  I couldn't go back to sleep.  So I got up, made Tessa's cupcakes, did dishes, cleaned off the dining room table.  Now blogging.  Because I still can't go back to sleep, and I have to get up in 15 minutes anyway.  Bah humbug.

It is the last day of school before Christmas break!  Yahoo!  I need a break.  I just wish I didn't have Christmas to get in the way of it.  So much to do still.  Yuck.  I love the week between Christmas and New Year's.  Nothing going on.  Just hanging with the family.  Love it.

So I had to make cupcakes for Tessa's class.  I decide to decorate them with these snowflake decorations that I found somewhere that say they are edible, but they are so nasty.  I'm sure all the first graders will just love it (snort), but I'm trying to get rid of them.  Funny.  They look and taste like styrofoam.  Yuck.

My favorite words to convey emotion:  sheesh, bummer, sigh, double sigh, argh, yuck, yikes, ahhhh, and oh.  I notice that I use those A LOT.

Just throwing it out there, I love you, Tyson.  Good job, Lilly!  Glad you're home, AJ. 

One of my favorite things about Christmas, sitting in the dark with the tree lights on.  Love it.

On Ovation TV, they are showing all Nutcrackers from all over the world.  I love the Nutcracker.  I love the music so much, that I just listen to it, by itself.  I can picture my favorite dances in my head while the music is playing, and I catch myself smiling.  So far, we have seen Russia's version, London's, NYC, and France's, which if I remember correctly, was really weird and made not a lot of nutcracker sense.  Like I wouldn't have known it was the nutcracker if someone didn't tell me. 

My Netflix queue is going through something again.  I wish, wish, wish, I could remember why I put some of these movies on my queue but it's like a great surprise when I get them too.  Christmas all the time!  Presents I give to myself!  Funny.  Well, right now, I'm in a classical music composer phase because first I watched Amadeus, then I watched a movie telling about the real story of Mozart, then another DVD of a symphony (I forget from where) playing his more well known music.  Fascinating. Next up is Beethoven, and Grieg.  I love Grieg, but some hog out there has been keeping the DVD's forever and I'm still listed as having a "Very Long Wait".  Argh. 

Another movie I just watched was the movie "Moliere" which is a french movie.  I had to read subtitle's, which was a new experience for me, since I rarely ever really "watch" the movie, I just listen to it while I do all 100 other things I have going on.  But I did my best, while washing dishes by hand, (ugh) (another emotion word I use a lot), and I really quite enjoyed it!  The humor was really witty and the story behind it moving.  I recommend it!

After the rest of the composers, or interspersed with them, I have added a bunch of 80's (maybe 90's) classic movies.  Yesterday I got the movie "Say Anything".  I have never watched that movie.  It should be interesting.  I wonder what prompted that.

Major irritation:  So remember how I had some aprons to sew for Lilly, to give to her roommates for Christmas.  We were going to do them when she was home for Thanksgiving, but there really was no time, and then I was going to do them every week after that, but first this happened, and then that happened, and finally I got them done on Monday.  While watching Monday night football.  So I put them in the mail on Tuesday and because she wanted to give them to her roommates before she left, I next day aired them to her, which cost me a Pretty Penny, let me tell you.  And guess what?!  That's right.  They didn't get there before she left.  They were suppose to be there yesterday, and yet, no aprons.  So I'm going to the post office today, to get my money back.  Supreme frustration. 

I did not know what LMAO meant.  I had to ask my daughter.  Which caused her to have extreme embarrassment.  Do not ask what it means.  Just know that it means something is Really, Really funny. I think I'll start using the acronym RRF and see if that catches on. 

Well, it is now 6:00 and I'm contemplating going to Walmart for the few things I need for the day.  And to finish my Christmas Cards.  And to do lunch.  And to make cookies for Zoey's 4th period party. 

*sigh*

Nothing special...

People, I feel like I haven't blogged in F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  (Name that movie!)  The problem is that I blog in my head All. The. Time.  Unfortunately, they just never really make it to the computer.  Bummer.

Well, It's cold, cold, cold here.  I guess that's really the way it is everywhere.  As a matter of fact though, it is so cold here, that we are not walking outside.  My walking partner and I have always said that if it is in single digits, or below, then no walking.  It has been in the single digits every day this week.  Brrrr.  When I get up with Zoey in the morning, the first thing I do is look at the temperature, and then before I leave to take Tessa to school, I'll look again.  The crazy thing is that the temperature drops even lower as the sun comes up.  Yikes!  I'm not feeling the pinch though with my SAD issue, since the sun is shining.  Nice. 

Christmas is almost here!!  Argh!  Why is it that it comes faster and faster every year?!  *sigh*  Or maybe it is that I'm getting less and less organized.  *double sigh*  This year, I'm really just living from moment to moment, putting out the fires.  Right now, my list consists of cards, baking, decorating the tree, putting up lights, buying some presents(!) and getting my kids home for Christmas.  Wish me luck.

I've been sewing some aprons.  Thank you so much to my friend, Nicole, I have a great pattern to use, and I have been sewing away.  I'm about half way done, but MUST finish tomorrow. 

Complaints section:  My dishwasher isn't working.  My sink is leaking.  My feet are always cold.  My fingers ache from being cold.  I can't keep up with the housework.  And the flu is still making it's way through our family. 

I'm struggling with trying to make lunch and dinner every day.  Lunch is wiping me out!  I'm hoping that during the break, I can get myself together enough to make some dinners ahead.  I'm hoping to empty my freezer of thing to make dinner with, and replace them with frozen dinners.  Sounds like a good plan, huh?

We have been busy getting ready for the Nutcracker here.  Our studio decided this year to have more incentive to be in the ballet classes, and so we are doing the Nutcracker.  I love the Nutcracker.  I love the music.  I love the dances, I love the costumes, I love the story.  Our studio did just a little portion of the ballet, only about an hour, which is just about perfect.  Tessa is a mouse, and Zoey is a party girl.  Loved it.  Still have one performance.  But I am excited that I will then mark one thing off the list. 

And on Tuesday, I will mark off my list teacher's gifts.  Last year, we made homemade potpourri, and that is exactly what I will be doing again this year.  Oh people, the easiest thing ever!  Go to Neighbor Jane's  website and find that recipe, and you will be so happy.  It's awesome!  And it looks pretty!  And it smells great!  Everything's great!

Well, off to the ballet! 

Where did the month go?!?

I'm glad I did a few posts already because seriously, November just flew by for me.  Crazy!  So here's a little catch up...

First there was the scrapbook retreat:

(picture shamelessly stolen from the lovely Jane)

Scrapbook retreat was, as always, amazing!  We were at a new place called Suncadia, which is a beautiful resort up in the mountains.  When we went up on Thursday, it was sunny, nice, no snow. Friday morning, I get up, go over to the fitness center, start walking, and when I came out of the center, it had just started snowing.  Then it snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more, until it had snowed about 6 inches on Friday.  And then all night long.  I don't know for sure how much snow there was up there when we went home on Saturday, but it was A LOT.  Well, I worked on AJ's scrapbook, and got quite a bit done, but there is still a lot to go.  My favorite parts of retreat: friendships, laughter, food, and caring.  I really appreciate the time I spend there, mostly just visiting.  Worth every minute and penny.  Thanks Deb and Jane!

Second there was the swim banquet:

   

The end of the swim year brought the election of new swim captains.  This year, there were six junior girls that were running for the captain position, Megan being one of them.  And for the first time, the girls voted for and the winners announced, at the banquet.  Oh, I was so nervous. Not that I cared terribly if Megan won or lost, but I was hoping that she would be able to hold it together if she didn't win.  She wanted this captainship pretty badly. So when it came time to announce the new captains for next year, my heart was racing.  Oh, why worry?  Megan and her friend, Brianne, are the new captains for the swim team.  I was pretty excited!  Of course, that also means some work for me.  Ah, well.  What's one more thing to do?

Third, Tessa's birthday. 

 

The birthday that just kept going, and going, and going...

Lilly surprised the family, except me, by coming home the morning of Tessa's birthday.  Tess was so excited to have Lilly home for her birthday.  And then:

That evening, the drill team had a performance at Gonzaga which unfortunately meant that Tess could not have her birthday party on her birthday.  She was Un Happy.  So, to appease her, I told her she could come with us and we would have a party with the drill team.  I made some smiley face cupcakes, and the girls, who are all good sports, sang to Tessa.  And then we watched them perform, and then we went out to eat as a team at Olive Garden.  Can you guess what happened?  Yea, they sang to Tessa there too.  So far, Tess has been sung to in the morning by her family, at school in her class, at Gonzaga by the drill team, and at Olive Garden by the waiters.  And we still have a party to go...

Alright, so this year, Tessa really wanted to have a party at the bowling alley.  Yikes!  I have a hard time paying that much for a party!  So I told Tessa that she could have a few friends at the bowling alley, or a lot of friends at home.  She chose home with lots of friends.  Our theme was a candy party where we made a life size Candyland game, played hot-cold with a chocolate bear, but the big hit of the party was we made gingerbread houses.  I wish I had pictures of them making the houses, but I was pretty busy helping out.  I bought only cheap dollar bags of candy at walmart and I made the houses out of graham crackers.  So cheap and the kids stuck with it for 45 minutes!

See!  Cute!  It is so nice though to have the girls there to help me.  I made it through relatively unscathed. 

And then the big event:

AJ comes home!!  Oh people!  Words can not express our feelings! 

To have our family all back together again... well, it was heavenly!  Just heavenly! 

Aj's plane was scheduled to come in at noon, but it was about a half hour late.  That half hour was the longest time in the whole month.  I was on pins and needles waiting for his plane to unload!  and when he finally came through those doors! there was nothing that could come between him and his little sister.  She became his instant shadow.  We had a little family party that night, with our families, and our Very Good Friends, the Baker's, and the Nielsen's.  It was incredible and I'm still riding cloud nine. 

 

We spent some time going to the movies (Christmas Carol Movie 3D).

We spent some time getting reacquainted.

And spending time with family.  

Oh, the great month of November.

Phew.

Good news!!

After researching the question do germs survive baking cookies, it seems that I did not infect my lunch crowd.  Germs are killed in a baking atmosphere of 350^. 

Phew.  I'm so happy about that, because seriously, I would not wish that on anyone.  Not even my worst enemy. 

Ick...

Last Saturday night, Lilly got so sick.  She was throwing up like every 15 minutes, poor thing.  Finally, at about 5 in the morning, she was able to keep something in her stomach and get a little sleep.  We thought she had food poisoning because she didn't have any other symptoms of the flu, no chills, no headache, just ...yuck.  She bravely went to AJ's homecoming at church, but she was pale and barely able to sit through it.  Then they drove back to Utah that day.  Thankfully, she had a little help resting all the way (thank you Lisa!) and she felt okay.

So yesterday, I started feeling so icky.  My head was killing me, and my stomach was cramping.  But I didn't put two and two together until I started throwing up, every 15 minutes.  I did survive it.  Barely.  And today I spent all day trying to recuperate from being up all night long. 

I'm worried for my lunch crowd.  I made lunch yesterday, not knowing that I was sick, and I'm sure I've passed on germs to those poor children.  I guess we'll know by next Monday or Tuesday. 

Hopefully back to normal tomorrow.

I know I shouldn't complain, but....

When I drove the girls to drill team this morning (thank you carpool!), my thermometer said 24^.  Brr.

When I went got home from driving, I looked up the weather on the internet and it said 21^, feels  like 18^.  Double Brrr.

When I started getting ready to go out in the cold and walk, I checked the internet one more time and it said 18^, feels like 7^.  Triple Brrrrr!!

And so, I looked like the tick this morning, with my three pairs of pants, four shirts, two jackets, scarf, mittens, hat and two hoods on my head. 

I was still cold.

*sigh*  but it is December. 

At last...

 

We are.... resilient.

I'm having a melancholy~ish type of day.  It is gray, overcast, trying to rain.  No sun to peek out every once in awhile.  Only gray.  And the wind is cold, cold, cold.  Today while walking, I got so very cold that I had to put my hood from my walking jacket on.  This may not seem like a big deal, but it makes me look like a teletubby.  Not attractive.  And while I don't need to look attractive while I'm walking, which is such a good thing because it really isn't happening, I certainly don't want to look like a teletubby either! Yikes.

Today for lunch we had Mountain Man breakfast.  I like to make this usually because it is one of those dutch oven things that you just throw in the oven and walk away from.  Love that!  So I start out cooking and realize that I haven't bought any hash browns, I still had bacon and sausage to cook and cracking 25 eggs always takes more time than it seems.  Can you tell I was late for breakfast, er, lunch?  Sheesh.  I hate it when that happens.

I went to go see the Michael Jackson movie last night with two of my friends.  I think he's a genius, and no, I don't want to know what you think.  I think his life was tragic, and I'm so very, very sad for his children, and his mother.  It has made me think so much about how short life can be, and how life is a fragile thing.  I loved the movie by the way.  No surprise there. It would have been a great concert.

My netflix queue included the movie "We Are Marshall."  No idea why, but it did show up yesterday.  I watched it today.  Probably not a wise choice considering how I am today.  Melancholy.  By the very nature of what the movie is about, I hurt inside.  Life is short.  Life is precious.  Life moves on.  Take care of the ones you love.  Make the decision that is best for them, not always the decision that suits you.  It's not always easy.   

Motherhood is a double edged sword, isn't it?  You raise children through 18, 21, 24 years, and you hope, hope, hope that you've taught them everything they need to know in order to sustain their testimonies, in order to progress in their lives, in order to make good decisions.  And then you send them out in the world, hoping they remember everything you did teach them, and hoping that they remember who loves them, and where their true happiness lies.  And then you wait.  Wait for those good decisions to start, progress to happen, good decisions made.  Some times it happens and it's mother payday.  And sometimes you're still waiting.  This week, it's been both mother payday, and still more waiting.  Next week will be the same.  I'm hoping that the respect for mothers in this world comes back soon.

And now, it is time for me to go try to do something to raise my spirits back up again.  Melancholy~ish.

Train wreck.

Oh People.  You know when you can see the accident coming, but there's no way to stop it, I'm there.  I can see the clash coming, but there is no way to stop it.

My blog stalker is back.  Maybe it was always here, and I didn't realize it.  But now I know and I'm prepared.  I will be using all in my power to end this.  Just telling ya.

*sigh*

Traffic report says traffic jams ahead.

Self Realization #762

Self realization: I am OCD. 

Now some of you may be saying, ahem, well, yea.  But I have just realized that I'm REALLY obsessive about some things.  Today, I realized that I'm obsessed with my to do lists.

Today is the first day of the scrap retreat! Yea!!  I decided that I would do all my normal stuff in the morning and then leave, so I was sure that I could get out of my house by 9~ish.  Foolish, foolish thinking.  I got up, started getting some stuff done, took Tessa to the bus, did my usual walk, then hurried to finish up.  Here's where the weirdness comes in.  I could not, COULD NOT, leave until I finished some of the things on my to do list for the week!  Now I usually have like 25 things on my to do list, you know, just in case I really get moving and I can finish a lot of stuff.  But usually the way it works is that I'm lucky to get three or four things done on the list, and I love, love, love marking them off.  And so today, I wasn't getting much done, you know because of scrapbook retreat and all, so I was determined to get at the very LEAST, my daily chores done.  SO I start on the laundry, get a couple loads folded, one load washed, one load dried.  I clean the bathroom.  Move onto the table. Start the dishwasher.  Sweep up the kitchen floor.  Pickup living room mess.  Look at the clock.  I'm an hour late already. 

In the meantime, I remember that I have not bought a birthday present that Tess will need for Friday birthday party and so have to go to Walmart.  It's on my list, but I neglected to see it.  *sigh*  Some how I've got to get the list prioritized so that the list actually HELPS me.  I hop in the car, run to Walmart, grab a present, get home, and while I'm thinking about wrapping, I decide that I need to get just ONE move thing done on that list.  So then I'm two, two hours late.  Two hours. 

And while we're on the subject of being late, I swear! that I have a mental block about taking my headphones to scrap retreat.  Seriously!!  I have to buy a new set of headphones on the way to every retreat!  It is my goal to not forget next year!  So I'm on my way, and just as I'm hitting Ellensburg, I realize, yep, did it again, and I stop to buy myself a new set of headphones.  Seriously. 

Here I am, finally at retreat.  Finally all unpacked.  Finally getting started.  Ahhh.  I'm just hoping to actually get something done now. 

Phew.