And my heart melts....

Climb

We went to Florence yesterday, and the kids helped Papa & Gramma clear brush and chop down trees. Fun for all!

Summertime Cometh!!

I'm looking at listings for swim classes and day camps, and loving that I don't have to factor in 90% humidity this year!! Made me feel like drifting down memory lane, so here are a couple of pages featuring photos from last summer. (Man, those kids have GROWN!!)

Remember

Edited to add:

Thank you to Sue for the link to this amazing video. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Road trip pics

So, I took pictures of (almost) every "Welcome to..." sign on our way across the country. Finally today, I figured out what to do with them. A fun way to record a snapshot of the trip!

A message from Emma:

Gotta go!! I don't want any more "tikits"!

Thomas Derailed

Around here, we're all about Thomas the Tank Engine. Yesterday, George felt Thomas needed to leave the Island of Sodor and go exploring.
Thomas begins his journey. Pesky boulders make it difficult for this little 4x4-challenged fellow.He evades the rocks by squeezing through a tight crevase.
What a HAPPY place Thomas has found!! Giant flowers provide shade and protection from giant bees!
Um, oops, need a little help here! Too much fun in the sun for Thomas.




Think maybe I need more sleep or did these pictures crack you up as much as they did me? Yeah, I hear ya. Off to bed I go. (In my defense, these aren't posed! I just followed George around and took pictures whenever he left Thomas somewhere.)

Mommy of the Year Award

Bet you thought you were going to get it this year, right? Nope! I’ve got this one wrapped up! Jason was going to pick up Emma from school yesterday. He had a 1:00 meeting, but would have plenty of time to get back across town afterwards to pick Emma up at 2:10. Except for one thing. Yesterday was Wednesday. Wednesdays are Early Release days. School gets out at 1:10.

So, at 1:15, I’m mentally planning out the rest of the day. Let’s see, we would be going swimming so I ought to give George an earlier nap and plan an easy, early dinner. Isn’t it great that we can go swimming every Wednesday? Wednesday. A quick glance to the clock. It’s 1:15 on Wednesday. Oh no!!!!!!!!!

As I frantically call Emma’s school and grab George’s shoes, I have visions of Emma standing by herself in her classroom, sobbing her eyes out. The receptionist tells me they’ll have her brought to the office and I run out the door. Breaking every possible speed limit, I arrive at school approximately 3.8 minutes later. Okay, maybe it was 7.8 minutes, but it was fast!

And Emma? Yeah, she was having a blast. Sigh. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. Ms. AJ took her outside to look for my car, and while out there, she heard her name being called over the loudspeaker. She’s famous! In the office, they gave her a book to read and admired her outfit. So you see? I really am the Mommy of the Year! I allowed my daughter to be treated like a princess at school!

Mom asked me this morning if I plan on picking my daughter up from school today or not. Thanks Mom.

******************************************************

In other news, we attended a Walk the Diamond fundraiser this morning for the Early Education Program that supports preschools like George’s. Very simple little parade around the local baseball diamond, snacks, and fun for the kids. George spent most of the time playing in the first baseline and turning his white socks brown. But he also loved the parachute (he called it a balloon), I loved watching him play happily alongside so many kids. Normally, that many people in so small a space would completely drive him crazy. All in all, it was a fun little event to gather the teachers, parents, and students and enjoy the sunshine. Several hours later, he is still wearing the little ribbon they gave him for completing the walk.

So often, we end up staying home because George can't handle big outings. I sure appreciate his school system sponsering something fun like this for kids like him. It feels great doing something as a family and breaking up the routine a bit. (By the way, George handled the routine change just fine, but wasn't real thrilled at seeing his teachers somewhere other than school! I think he thought we were going to leave him in a strange place, so he stuck pretty close the whole time we were there.)

This may only be interesting to my scrapbooking friends, but I met Ali Edwards and her son, Simon! Okay, Simon blew past me to go play, but he’s as adorable and full of life as all her pictures and layouts show. For you non-scrapbookers, Ali is the Creative Editor of Creating Keepsakes, the largest scrapbooking magazine, and an incredibly talented artist.

Pool, Glorious, Pool!!!

Wow!! Was that a success or what?!! We all had a blast the other night. I've never seen a pool like this one. Here's a pic from their website:

It doesn't look too strange, I know, but it really was so different. It's housed within a wellness center, so it's completely set up for every handicap or theraputic use. See the black stripe between the pool and spa? That's a wheelchair ramp. Not only useful for chairs, but also perfect for little toddlers, not ready to be in the big pool, but wanting to play without hanging on. Plus, the water was salt water! And heated to 92 degrees! Very, very cool!

George loved jumping off the edge into Daddy's arms and being piggy-backed through the deeper water by me. Emma loved practicing her swimming and enjoying the many floats, noodles, life vests, and toys available. Mommy and Daddy loved the spa! George thought the bubbles were the coolest things ever, so we got to spend lots of time in there! And the best part? The happily exhausted kiddos when the night was over. I had forgotten just how good post-swimming sleepiness feels. Can't wait to do it again next week!

Oh, and an added bonus: George now loves to take a shower, making hair washing night much, much easier!

When it all seems too hard...

...take a look out the window. And breathe. In....and out......ahhhhhhh, that's better now, isn't it?

This is our view from our living room window. Could it be any prettier? I love watching the sun set over the city and warming myself in the morning sun with a cup of coffee, enjoying those few moments before the kids get up!

I have lots more pictures, but it seems like the house looks different every day. One more box emptied, one more project completed, one more detail added that makes it all feel like Home. The fence went up (and with it, the play structure and Emma's garden), the downstairs bathroom was finished just before we moved in, the master bedroom was painted the day before the new carpeting went in (unfortunately, I can't stand how the color turned out, so we'll be redoing that...someday), and slowly but surely the basement has been reorganized and cleaned. As I write this, I can hear Jason dragging his new workbench into place and unloading yet more boxes. So life slowly returns to normal.

Tonight, after dinner, we're going to check out an indoor swimming pool that we can go to for free on Wednesday evenings through George's Early Education Program. This will be one of the first times George has been in a real pool (not a kiddie/wading pool), he loves the water though so I think we'll have a blast!

And now, just for your viewing pleasure (and a cuteness overload) here are the kiddos!

My fellow Oregonians...

I know that the sun is shining and, compared to the recent past, 61 degrees feels oh so warm and good. I agree with you! But please, I ask you to remember the fact that it has been a long winter, and your skin has spent much of that time covered up. The bare legs and arms, I can handle. But, for safety's sake, please keep your bikini tops in your dresser drawer and boys, please keep your shirts on. You're making it awfully difficult to drive down a busy street and see all traffic signals.

Construction workers, this goes double for you, there are too many of you and the blinding wall of white that confronted me across from Safeway was overwhelming. Thank you.

April is Autism Awareness Month

Links for info, if you're interested:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/
http://www.tacanow.com/
Network for Good

Crazy!

So this blog is titled "The Pages of Our Crazy Life", right? Yeah, it's definitely crazy right now. It's amazing (okay, maybe not amazing, but certainly overwhelming) how much goes into clearing a house of over 50 years worth of belongings and fixing it up to the point that it's safe for two energetic children.

For those of you that haven't seen the house, here's a pic:

So far we've basically cleared all of the main living area (the upper floor), demo-ed a downstairs bathroom and replaced old pipes, thrown away a LOT of junk from the basement and created a storage area there for all the stuff from upstairs that has to be sorted, and met with a fencing company about fencing the upper yard. And by "we", I have to admit that I mean everyone other than me. Although I've helped when I could, unfortunately Spring Break came at a very awkward time this year and I rarely get over to the house for more than an hour at a time.

This weekend, we get to start more of the fun stuff: painting the downstairs bathroom so the plumber can come back and hook everything back up, sheet rocking and painting the master bedroom, and ripping up nasty old carpets and checking the condition of the hardwood floors underneath. Hopefully, we'll be able to have our furniture delivered the week after next. We're all anxious to get in there!

Don't believe me about all the junk in the basement? Check out this "Before" picture!


And actually, we had already removed several big pieces of furniture and done some cleaning before this picture was taken! I'll get some good photos next week to show the changes, it's getting exciting!

Hello? Is this thing on?

Yeah, well, it's been a bit chaotic around here, so I'll try to catch everyone up with a photo-filled update.

The trip. It was long. Actually it only took us 4 1/2 days, but let me tell you... Nebraska? Longest state EVER!! Not necessarily in miles, but in minutes of pure boredom. We crossed from Lincoln, Nebraska all the way to the furthest west town in Wyoming (Evanston) in one day. One long day. But overall, the trip was good. The weather was amazing, nothing but sun. Thank you for all well-wishes from the last post! We had goofy moments. Many of them. That's what happens when you don't see your spouse for two months and then spend five days together non-stop!
When we got home, we received the not-so-good news that Jason did not receive the recruiting job he was after, although he could take a different job. So we cried a bit and worried a bit.

And the next day? We realized that everything we have done over the last couple of months and all the opportunities that have presented themselves all point to the fact that we should concentrate on staying in my home town. So we are. Jason went out and got a job (YAY!), we're fixing up my grandparents' old house, and the kids get to stay in their great schools!!!

We are firm believers in the idea that everything happens for a reason, and this just feels right. Jason may still enter the National Guard or Reserves just to keep his Federal status active for retirement benefits. But we're also waiting to hear about a different possible job that would maintain that status and pay more than his current one does. We're really excited about what these changes may bring!

We got back last Wednesday, which meant we were in plenty of time to celebrate Emma's sixth birthday. What a beauty she is, and such a character! For those of you that spoke with her on her birthday and were regaled with the story of her being banished to the living room for two hours, let me explain. Long ago I started the misguided tradition of creating custom cakes for her. Nothing fancy, but cut into shapes with some basic frosting decoration. This year she requested a horse. Yikes! Thus, the banishment while I created!

It may not be the most attractive horse cake ever made, but heck, she knew what it was when we presented it to her! And it tasted darn good!

Last weekend, she went to the birthday party of a classmate and had her first roller-skating experience. She loved it! And by the end of the party, she was helping me pick her friends up off the floor! (Yes, I skated too, for the first time in who knows how long. What fun!)

I don't have much news in regards to George, other than he looked to be about a foot taller when he came running out to meet us last week! He's learning about a word a day and is WAY into Thomas trains. And he's on Spring Break starting tomorrow.... for the next two weeks. Oh boy. Keep that good weather coming!

To the gods of good weather

PLEASE be nice to us!!!!

Tomorrow I fly back to Virginia where I'll meet up with Jason, Gracie, and a trailer full of cleaning supplies (and my computer, yay!). Saturday morning we turn around and start driving back to Oregon. So, of course, the weather all over America is lousy. We have chains, jumper cables, blankets, coats, a cooler, and a LOT of CD's.

In a way, this will be a nice vacation. Just us, road trippin'. In another way, not so much. Not only is the weather bad, but next Friday is Emma's 6th birthday. She would be crushed if we're not back in time. Of course, I've overcompensated for that possibility by buying just about every pink item sold in Toys R Us. But we have a full week. I've got to believe that's enough time.

Just to catch you all up on life, since I've been so silent here lately:

Jason still hasn't heard back from the National Guard, so we don't know yet where we'll be stationed (or, in fact, if he's been hired at all...though everyone we've talked to has given us the impression that he has.) So, every ring of the phone makes us jump.

It wouldn't be so bad to not know except that, for the first time in our military life, we are really set on where we want to live. The kids are doing so well in the schools here, and there are so many wonderful resources for George, that we are so hoping we don't have to uproot them again. I know, we're completely jinxing ourselves, but we do hope.

Emma's class is fabulous, I went on a field trip with them to they YMCA last week. I have never been around so many well-behaved, happy, polite five year olds, ever! They were adorable and the whole day was really fun.

George seems to love his class and goes in with excitement every day. His vocabulary has expanded amazingly and he's eating with utencils and behaving better and better every day. So much to be thankful for there.

I've expanded my role at Digital Scrapbook Place. In addition to the teaching, I'm now a moderator, which allows me to run challenges and contests, and offer prizes. More responsibility and a lot of fun!

Okay, I think that's us in a nutshell. Help me pray for good weather, and if you live along I-80 somewhere, wave at us as we go by!! See you in a week!

No News....

...is good news. Right? RIGHT????

These kids slay me!

Thank you, Daddy, for sending the costumes!

Emma-isms...

...that I don't want to forget.

(A few weeks ago, after school) "This was my first full day of being a horse!"

(Again, as we left school, waving to classmates) "That's D.., she's my friend, but I don't really like her, she's mean."

(A couple days ago, at the store) "One of these days, can you take me to where I can get a baby? I'm ready for one." (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

(Leading me through the hallways of my grandma's new Senior Apartment complex) "You have to be careful going around the corners. There are lots of fragile people here and you might break one. (Fragile is her word for old, luckily she has declared that I'm not fragile yet!)

(Tonight, when needing me to stop reading to her for a minute) "Mommy, can you put this on pause?"

My little students

Small Sacrifices

I am not generally someone who, upon seeing an obviously germ infested creature, gets up close and personal with said creature and makes a point of rubbing my face against theirs. That all changes when the afore mentioned creature is my child. And when having my face on their pillow is what convinces that child to lay down and rest. At three a.m.

Here's my poor, sick boy:

Shortly after taking this picture he curled up into a ball and proceed to drain from his eyes and nose for about an hour. Luckily, I was able to hide some Benadryl in his dinner and dry him up!

(Hmmmm, looking at this picture, methinks someone did a really bad job cutting his bangs!)

Is there anything worse than a sick kid in the middle of the night? It breaks my heart when there's just nothing I can do. I wiped his nose and washed his face and then put my head on his pillow with him and rubbed his back. He likes to experience textures on his cheek, so he was rubbing his cheek against mine for a long time, until he started to get sleepy again. I woke up a little sniffly this morning, but I've taken about a million mg of Vitamin C today to ward off the germs and, so far, it seems to be working.

Luckily, most of the day he's been in a fairly good mood and Emma has been wonderful. She's kept herself busy when I needed to hold George, and played outside for a while to get some fresh air.

Every once in a while, she can be such a great Big Sister. It makes me really proud to see her take care of the little beast that likes to steal her toys and pull her hair.

Pages

Click on images to enlarge:

Two Things

Two Names You Go By:
1. Megan
2. Meg
Two Parts of Your Heritage:
1. American
2. A little of everything else
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Jeans
2. Black long sleeve t-shirt
Two Things You Would Want in a Relationship:
1. Acceptance
2. Humor
Two of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1. Um, hmmmm, digital art maybe?
2. reading anything I can get my hands on
Two Things You Want Really Badly At The Moment:
1. The chocolate chip cookies my mom is baking right now
2. some milk to go with them!
Two pets you had/have:
1. Gracie - Australian cattle dog
2. Barley - 2 year old, 4" long gold fish
Two people you talked to today:
1. George
2. Emma
Two things you did last night:
1. stayed up too late
2. woke up a lot with two lines of a Toby Keith song running through my head.
Two people that live in your house:
1. My house??? Only Jason
2. and Gracie (the dog) are there now!
Two things you ate today:
1. chicken fajitas
2. popcorn
Two people you miss:
1. Jason
2. Gracie (she thinks she's a person)
Two Things You’re doing tomorrow:
1. taking the kids to school
2. going to Target alone!
Two vacations you’ve been on:
1. Puerto Vallarta
2. Ocean City, Maryland
Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Thanksgiving
Two favorite Alcoholic beverages:
1. Wine
2. Vanilla Rum & Pepsi
Two bands you have seen live:
1. U2
2. REM
Two things you will do after you finish this survey:
1. Eat chocolate cookies
2. Go to bed

I love Photoshop!

My Inner Geek

Today I was as geeky as I have ever been. I was using both a desktop and a laptop, transferring files between the two via email, and having an IM conversation with my husband....all at the same time. Say it together now....NERD!!

I admit to having difficulty keeping the two computers straight though. I had Photoshop open on the laptop and Word on the desktop, and the mouses (mice?) for each of them sitting next to each other. So many times I grabbed the wrong mouse or started typing on the wrong keyboard, causing all kinds of mayhem in my Photoshop file as I unwittingly typed in several keyboard commands. My brain is now swirling in confusion!

So I may be a geek, but I'm not a very good one, LOL!

All this to finally complete the manuscript and screenshots for my art journal instructions that will appear in Creative Techniques magazine next summer. A cool magazine with a very cool editor! She has very patiently worked with me through dozens of rewrites (okay, four, but it felt like dozens!), until we finally figured out that my older version of Photoshop was not at all compatible with her's. Today I downloaded a trial copy of the newest version, and rewrote all my instructions with the proper terminology. If that doesn't solve the problem, I may have to pull the plug. On the computer, that is, I'm sick of looking at it.

How amazing this world is though. To have not one, but two computers sitting in front of me, to be able to access new software within minutes, and talk to someone in another time zone at the same time. Unreal.

No real purpose to this post, I suppose. I'm just a bit loony from overexposure to computer radiation and had to share. I'll have my Blog Pals share their nerdy stories tomorrow, be sure to check them out!

Geeks unite!

Missing You

Ahhh, routine!

After Monday's holiday, and yesterday's snow delay, George finally started at his new preschool today.

I think it went well, he went in without a fuss and started playing right away. I snuck out when they gathered the kids for watercoloring. The only thing the teachers asked me to do differently tomorrow is to bring a bigger snack! Apparently, my picky eater was trying to steal everyone else's!

I have been amazed at the success we've had in this school district. Normally, dealing with special needs children is a long and difficult process. But here George was enrolled in a great class within 24 hours of meeting with our case manager! AND....in order to maintain a teacher/student ratio of 1:3, they added a new teacher to his preschool this week! Unreal, we are so lucky to be working with so many knowledgable people.

So now we return to a more structured day, which is so valuable for all of us. George won't be bored, I'll have some time to get things done, and Emma won't feel like she's the only one away from home during the day.

SNOW!!

How great is it, after a night of not enough sleep, to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and discover that the schools are closed and everyone can go back to bed? It's AWESOME! We started getting some snow yesterday, but we didn't know if it would build during the night. Only a couple of inches came down, but it was enough to make the roads icy and close the schools. Yay! Our first snow day!

I think Emma was confused when she first woke up and discovered that I hadn't woken her at the normal pre-dawn hour. But one look outside and both kids were anxious to get out there! My notoriously slow eater, Emma, slurped down some cereal in record time!

We had a blast throwing snow balls, making snow angels, and building a rather small snowman....all the traditional fun! It doesn't often snow here, so this was a very pleasant surprise!


If that last photo doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will!!

Right now....

Right now I miss my husband.
Right now my son is mad at me because I bought my husband a toy and didn't let the kids play with it. (Jason, think it will drive you crazy to wait until March to find out what it is?)
Right now Emma is avoiding lunch by playing a very intricate game involving dinosaurs, dragons, and Thomas Trains.
Right now I would love to take a nap. Or maybe go out to a movie. Something that is completely self-centered. Does that make me a bad person, or merely a tired one?
Right now the sun is shining and it's a gorgeous winter day.
Right now both George and Emma are singing to themselves as they play. Love that!
Right now I have Adobe Photoshop CS2 sitting in my room, taunting me. (I am 3,000 miles from my computer and don't have a laptop.)
Right now I am loving being among family and relearning my home town.
Right now I must go convince Emma and her dragons that they need to eat!

Thank you to Sandra for this weekend's fun blog prompt!

Exploring the Birdbath

Emma's (2nd) First Day

Emma's new school is AWESOME!!! Multiple teachers in every room, new equipment of every kind, friendly faces everywhere you look. She fit in well, and was acting like she had always been there. Thank goodness this was so easy!

(And didn't she look sharp today? Too cute!)

Art Journal Challenge

Come join us in our latest challenge: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20440


Credits: War kit by Robyn EnglandVintage label from DoverNewspaper image from The Register Guard, Eugene, ORLittle Words by Dani MogstadKeep 'Em in Stitches 5 by Lisa CarterFonts: DSP Lemon Meringue, DSP Modern Millie, Algerian

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's 2007??? What an unreal number, not one I thought about much when I was a kid. By the way, how do you explain the New Year concept to an almost-six year old? She has the basic calendar idea down, knows her months, but I don't know how much she understands them. And to her, if it's a new year, then today must be her birthday!

Yesterday, Jason travelled back to Virginia and now we begin our 63 day separation. (But who's counting?) He'll finish out his last couple months with the Army, find out what the home inspector wants us to fix on our house, and, most likely, play lots of Playstation and Tug-of-War with Gracie while the stereo blasts through the house. Tomorrow, I sign Emma up at her new school, and next week, will begin the process of getting George into the special education system here. It's no fun being apart, but I think these couple of months will go fast.

My wild New Year's Eve celebrations? I fell asleep. No surprise there, we never bother staying up to watch the ball drop and listen to neighbors light firecrackers. My resolutions? I'm still working on those. I don't usually pay much attention to making resolutions, but I think I want to make at least one this year. This is going to be a crazy year, as Jason transitions jobs and we find a new house, etc. I want to resolve to RELAX!! Go with the flow. Bend with the wind. Take it one day at a time.

Yeah, it might happen.

Happy New Year to you all!

Dear Mom, Jason, Sue, etc....

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated since our flight. I was under the impression that since I am currently sitting across the room from you (okay, down the freeway from Sue) and one of you actually travelled with me, you would know that we made it safely and had a wonderful Christmas. But since I'm getting told repeatedly that none of you know what we're up to, this update's for you!

So, we made it!

What? You want more? Okay, fine. The night before we travelled, we stayed with friends in D.C. It was wonderful to see them, but George wasn't real interested in sleeping, so we only managed to get about three hours before we had to get back up and head to the airport. The plane that was supposed to have power outlets? Didn't. BUT, George did amazingly well. We didn't know how long the DVD battery would last, so we didn't turn it on until we had less than two hours to go. For the first three, both kids played quietly, drew pictures, and read books with us. They were great, we were exhausted!

Other than a slight delay in San Francisco, both flights when very smoothly. We were very lucky in our destinations, as many other Western airports were cancelling all their flights due to snow.

To be honest, I don't remember much from the following couple of days. We were all very jet lagged and trying to finish our Christmas preparations. We recovered in time to enjoy two wonderful holiday gatherings with family. I am so very happy to be here with them!

Christmas itself was so fun! We did the present opening in stages to accomodate children's attention spans and the arrival of more family. Other than the yummy food, hilarious conversation and family jokes, and lounging in my new pajamas all day, my newest favorite Christmas memory is, of course, my children. They did so great, playing quietly with new toys while the adults chatted, showing such joy in those new toys, and being complete angels all day. And at the end of the day, when everyone had gone home, they sat quietly, enjoying their new art supplies.

Peace, quiet, happiness, and a glass of wine....what more do you need? I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, as well!

Getting ready to go!

Today I called our travel agent with a question and, as she's looking up our reservation, I hear, "Oh gosh, I'm glad you called." Um, WHAT???? No big deal, except that our already early morning flight has been made even earlier by about 20 minutes. Since we always go for overkill, we would have been plenty early anyway, but can you imagine the adrenaline overload if I had found that out while we were checking in?? Ya think maybe airlines should be required to TELL their paying passengers when they change the flight schedule?

But, on a better note, I found out that our 5 plus hour flight is on a B757. Why do we care? Because B757's that are traveling across the country have power outlets at every seat. Can I get a big YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!? The portable DVD player will be plugged in the minute they allow it and the Wiggles will sing us across the country!! Normally, five hours of nonstop TV is a bit more than I allow. But with George being "that kid" that tends to scream a lot on airplanes, and the fact that music filled videos calm him, we'll be making an exception. I can't tell you how much stress drained out of my body when I found that out. Life is good.

It will be even better Thursday, when I wake up in Oregon. Yippee!!!!

Christmas Questionnaire

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Um, one of those has the word "chocolate" in it, right? That pretty much trumps all other choices. Though, Jason does make a yummy egg nog for us every Christmas Eve.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa leaves one present unwrapped for each child. Usually the big, hard-to-wrap ones!

3. Colored lights or white lights on tree/house? I love icicle lights on houses, but on the tree I can go either way.

4. Do you hang Mistletoe? No.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Normally, the day after Thanksgiving. This year, we're just looking forward to Gramma & Papa's decorations!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Excluding dessert? Do people eat anything other than dessert from Thanksgiving to Christmas? Seriously?

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Going out into the woods (okay, a Christmas tree farm, but I thought it was the forest) to pick out a tree. We always got cold and sappy and bickered about which tree to get, but I loved it!

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We've started opening one gift, new pajamas for everyone. That way our Xmas morning pictures are that much prettier!

9. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember not knowing the truth, though I'm sure I believed at some point.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lots of family ornaments, handed down from parents and grandparents, and lights. No tinsel or garlands to clutter it up, I like to see the pine needles!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? LOVE IT!!!!

12. Can you ice skate? I haven't in years, but I used to manage getting around the rink without falling.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I remember getting a leather bomber jacket when I was about 13. I was sooooo cool.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Making it magical for my children.

15. What tops your tree? A glittery gold star with pearl-type thingies in the points. Sounds kind of strange when I try to describe it.

16. What’s your favorite holiday tradition? Leaving cookies for Santa. Or, as Emma has made this her duty, leaving cookies and milk for Santa, and a salad for the reindeer!

17. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Oh heck, both! I love, love, love choosing just the right gifts for each person and watching them open them. But I love seeing what other people choose for me, too!

18. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Thank you! A normal holiday food question! Fudge. Yum. And decorated sugar cookies. And 24 hour salad (see my Thanksgiving entry). And Mom's apple pie.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Any of the classics, O Holy Night, Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, Joy to the World, etc.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Bleh.

21. What is your favorite Christmas special/movie? A Christmas Story. Have to watch it every year.

48 hours on the market.....

Do I feel lucky?

My blog pals are talking about luck today. And when I posted that prompt this morning I had all sorts of ideas and, well, energy. But you see, we spent most of the afternoon banished from our home (with the dog, during George's normal nap time, and we forgot hats and mittens so we couldn't go to the park), so Realtors could preview our house. And now, now I'm tired and have no idea as to what I was planning on regaling you with.

So I'll leave you with the most recent moment in my life when I truly felt lucky.

Day: Today

Time: 6:30 am

Setting: Living room, leaning over the couch trying to convince Emma that she wanted to eat breakfast.

Costume: Slippers, bath robe, no make-up, hair clipped out of my face

The words that came out of my dear daughter's mouth: "Mommy, you are so beautiful."

I am the luckiest woman in the world.

Anyone want a house?

Check us out!

The best house you can possibly buy, ever, and you know you want it, so come on over with your checkbook ready!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAck!

Let's just say that I woke up at 4 am this morning, realizing that I only have 2 1/2 weeks left in this house. Let's just say that I spent the next hour stressing about the satellite receiver and DSL modem and how my husband would have to remember to pack them up and send them to their respective companies and how the boxes for them are behind one of the shelving units in the garage and they need to be gathered up before the movers come (which, granted, won't be until at least late January, but still) and how I need to write these things down on our list so we wouldn't forget and they wouldn't keep me awake at night!!!

Okay, I needed to get that out. Since that early morning heart attack, I've pretty much been a zombie all day. Jason just laughed at me, because he had his stress attack about a week ago. It took me a while to catch up, I guess. Tomorrow, we're back to our chores: packing up closets, getting rid of clutter, cleaning, etc. Wednesday, our realtors will come to the house to sign papers and take a look around. Then, it will be back to packing so that we have what we need for the five months or so that we'll be living with relatives.

I'm exhausted. I'll try to be a bit more coherent tomorrow!

Christmas 2005 Memories

I created this for my latest Art Journal Challenge at DSP, Creating a Holiday Journal. Check it out if you want to join in!

Credits:

Blue Christmas by Elizabeth Weaver, Because I Love You page kit by Rene Bross, Paint It! Element Pack by Stacey Jewell Stahl, Floral Traditions Add On Pack by Rene Bross, Altered Journey by Beth Nixon, DSP Basics Set by Valeri Brumfield, Flossie kit by Fee Jardine, Simple Pleasures kit by Michelle Coleman, Journal from Stock Exchange, Fonts: Susie's Hand, Typewriter