Milestones All Around!

So, while lying and staring at the ceiling trying to sleep, I realized I hadn't blogged in way too long and that there have been several milestones, well a couple at any rate, since I last wrote.

I've now been at my new job six weeks.  The time really is flying.  I really enjoy my coworkers and the job.  Apparently, according to some team mates, I've been kicking butt and doing really well.  It's funny to say or think this, but I hope I'm not doing too well.  Meaning, I don't want to come out of the gates at top speed, only to falter in a few months when the long haul catches up with me.  (That, and I don't want to "show up" anyone and make them think I'm "too good" for this job.  Because, I'm not!  I just have 12+ years experience supporting customers and software and just because this job is simpler in many ways to my last one, doesn't mean it doesn't have its own challenges or is any less than the one I had.)

But, that's just a minor milestone really.  Boo's hit a couple just this week!
First off, on Sunday the 1st Boo turned 6.  Yes, you read that right, 6 years old.  I really can't believe it in some ways.  Time really has been flying right along.

We had a wonderfully full weekend that only spent part of it celebrating his birthday.  We drove out to York on Saturday morning to go to Avery's high school graduation party.  (Yeah, I can't believe that one either... I mean, I changed the boy's diapers and snuggled him into submission at nap time yesterday, right?  No?  Oh...)  Then Saturday evening we went and watched Billy in his middle school musical.  He was an Oompa Loompa in their production of Willy Wonka.  They did a great job!
Sunday, of course, was all about Boo!  He actually slept in! He opened his presents when he woke up and then we went to the diner for breakfast.  After breakfast we got to Skype with Aunt Michelle!!  (OK, so that wasn't all Boo related, but we connect when we can with our world traveler.  This is the first time Boo has had a chance to talk to her in about a year I think...)  Then we had the obligatory Dragon pictures and the final prep for the party.  We had his party at the playground again this year.  Only one of his friends he invited from Kindergarten came, but three of his buddies from daycare were there.  And Zoe-bear and Billy were there too of course.  Overall it was a great Lego themed party.  There was one incident though. :-(  When the kids were coming back to the picnic tables for cake etc from the playground poor Dom slipped and hit his face and split his gum.  /sigh  If it had been any of the other kids.... But, all turned out OK and he was just fine in the long run.  After the party it was time to go home, relax and get ready for the coming week.

(As an aside here, the new schedule has been very tough on a Boo-boy.  He isn't liking it one bit.  We were both very spoiled by our year at home together.  And even when I was working before, I was home by 5:30 and able to pick him up at daycare and we had just about an hour or so together to wind down before Daddy got home.  Now, depending on the day of the week either Steph or Rachel are picking him up from daycare since I don't get home until almost 6:30 and our time is now all hurry, hurry to get dinner, try and get a little time together and off to bed.  We're working on it, but all the changes going on are making Boo be a lot more cranky and a lot more prone to throwing the "fits" he'd throw as a two-year-old than responding as a six-year-old.  He's finally started to find the words to tell me what's wrong, but there isn't a ton I can do about some of it.  Which breaks my heart.  And tries my patience...)

The other big milestone this week?  Boo "graduated" kindergarten.  He has been so excited about this year-end program for weeks now!  He's been singing bits and pieces of the songs and just being goofy.  I laughed so hard through most of it.  He was up there with the other kids on stage being all excited and enthusiastic and doing his thing and it was great!  If this had been just a few short months ago (even as recently as December) he either wouldn't have participated at all or only half participated just a little but mostly sat and done his own thing.  What a change a few months can make!  He's too stinking cute, which is probably a good thing with his general attitude lately.  He still has school until the 18th, but it's all downhill from here.  (Although, to add to the above stresses on a boy-o, he's already begun to say he's scared of 1st grade and adding that to the list of current stress in his life adding to the cranky and making him prone to act out instead of use words...)

It was both funny and heartwarming to see Rachel's reactions to the kindergarten graduation and stepping back in the elementary school.  She graduates on the 11th from high school and I think this, even more than her fire school graduation a week ago, really made it hit home she's graduating.

There have been a few other odds and ends the past few weeks.  I got a new phone today because my old one was a little cracked and I was due anyhow.  Gak and I took Boo to Knoebel's on memorial day, just the three of us and it was wonderful.  Rachel graduated fire school and got a new job...  Oh, and how could I forget!?  My cousin Ben and his wife Jenny just had son number 3 on Tuesday!! So, on the 10th Boo and I are heading down to Baltimore to meet the new little guy and attend his Bris!

Things just keep humming along.  Now, if only I could get back to sleep.  wake up time will be here before I know it!

Peace to all and may the good things outweigh the stress of change.

List of December

Well, so much for getting back into the blogging swing of things.  Here I've let almost the entire month slide on by, not just a measly week or so.  And no, I don't have any new pictures either.
I take that part back, I do have some new pictures, but their still on the memory card(s) and in all honesty, and a sign of my total lack of organizational skills at the moment, I can't find my little Cannon...

Ok, so to keep this brief (haha) and try and get most of what's bouncing around in my head onto "paper", I'm going to present a huge bullet list.  Not my favorite way to do this, but it's 6:45 and I've only got a half hour at most....

So, in no particular order...

*Got the tree put up Saturday with Boo.  Decorating with a 4.5-year-old is fun.  You can tell a child was involved, there's one spot with a ton of ornaments and a smattering across the rest of the tree.

*Went to Amma and PopPop's for Hanukkah on the 9th.  It was a good evening.  PopPop actually read the prayers this year and I helped Boo light the candles.  We also got a chance to talk to Jon and Becca, which is always awesome.

*Speaking of Jon, I got to have lunch with one of his best friends (and a good friend of mine) from school yesterday.  I think I've known Ian since I was around age 12?  It wasn't too long after we moved to PA at any rate.  It was great to catch up with him.

*Speaking of Hanukkah and photos (wait, did I mention photos?), Dad was wanting to use his camera.  Mom tried to put him off about it for a bit, but he kept asking.  So, I took him his Nikon back when we went down for Hanukkah.  And since I can't find my little Cannon at the moment, I'm cameraless, other than my phone, which takes OK pictures, but getting them off there can be a pain in the butt.

*I've managed to get lots and lots and lots of Christmas crochet done.  No, you won't see pictures until later.  (That reminds me, I need to get pictures of my latest items... but... aargh... too much effort at this point!)  Well, maybe you'll see pictures.  I know I've got pictures of some of them....

*I think I'm all done with the Christmas shopping.  Still debating one small-ish purchase and I might need to pick up one other thing, but overall, I'm good.

*Wok is interesting.  We're going through a reorg, which in the long run I think will actually be quite good, but will cause a little chaos in the meantime.  I'm not sure yet if this is a good or bad thing, but my friend Bill will now be my manager.  Yeah, it could get a little tricky at spots, but we've been through tricky spots before.  As long as he keeps his ego in check (and I don't do anything stupid) we'll get along just fine with his new role.

*Next month I get to go to Texas for a few days with work.  (Well, that's if they send the PO in, but I'm about 99% sure they will...)  This'll be my second trip since the beginning of September.  It'll be nice to get out of the office.  Boo's old enough that picking him up from daycare or whatever doesn't mean I have to make sure the right seat is around, he just needs a booster and I've got an extra of those.  Boo's not happy with the idea, but he did OK in September and I know he'll be fine next month too.

*That reminds me, this trip to Texas will be the first time I'll have been on a plane since before Boo was born.  Wow, that's almost 5 years!

*Speaking of being born, my cousin Rae and her wife Kami welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world back on the 4th, Oren William.  He's adorable and I so wish we lived closer.  I have no idea when we'll actually get to meet him in person. /sigh

*Boo keeps growing like a weed.  He's so much fun to watch and play with.  He just amazes me every day.

*We went to Zoe's Christmas concert last Friday.  It was really nice (and just the Junior/Senior high kids).  After we went to the Ronda to catch up with Steve, Shelby and Randy, which is always nice.  Steve is going to be deployed again in January.  I have no details on length, but I do know it's back to Afghanistan. /sigh

*My friend Michelle is in Chile now.  I haven't heard much from her in the past few months, but it seems like she's doing OK.

*No, I haven't posted anything about what happened in CT on Facebook or G+.  I'm not going to either.  Actually, I take that back, I did make a comment on my friend John's one post.  Basically I agree that this is a horrible tragedy and I can't (and don't want to) imagine the personal hell all those families are going through.  The last thing they as a community need is to be reminded by outside people everywhere they look about it.  They're living it every blessed heartbeat.  The best thing we can do is not to ignore it, but to be respectfully quiet about it.  (And if I dwell on this too much I'll just end up putting myself into a bad emotional place and that won't help me, my family or the victims in any way, shape or form...)

*I'm hopefully doing something cool tonight.  Someone I've met through either a photography or a fiber circle on G+ (I can't remember exactly how I met her, but she's into both...) is in the area for work.  The boy and I are hopefully meeting up with her for dinner.  It should be fun.  This is a huge step for me, I normally find real life events like that really tough.  But, I've been kicking myself for a while for not grabbing the opportunity to meet another online friend when I was traveling all the time, so I'm not going to let this one slide by if I can help it...

Well, a boy-child is up.  It's almost 7:10 and we both have to get dressed, get breakfast/lunch together and get out the door.

Peace to all and may you not wait too long to keep friends and family in the loop and may you grab opportunities when and where you can.

Fun Fourth

The photo prompts for the last two days were "the best bit of my day" and "fun".  I would say that this has been a fun 24 hours or so.

After some confusion between Gak and I, figured out that we were, indeed, going to camp overnight Tuesday night at Knoebel's.  So, after work, I pick up Boo, we run home and throw stuff together for overnight.  We didn't have to worry about our tent because it was already up there.  In just under an hour we got everything thrown together, including sleeping bags, washing out the cooler, picked up milk, tea and ice and Gak and dinner from Sonic.  We got up to the site right about 9:00.  Just about everyone was still down in the park so, we head down and catch up with them.  I rode the Ferris wheel with Ed, Buffie, Billy and Nik.  I got a great picture from the top.
I was hard pressed to decide which picture I took yesterday represented my "best bit" of the day.  The pictures of the campfire after we got back to the site didn't turn out too well.  The picture from the top of the Ferris wheel, while cool, isn't exactly my favorite part of the day, so I settled with the picture I took of Boo before leaving to get the food and Gak.  On almost any given Tuesday, the best bit of my day is usually the moment Boo realizes I've come to pick me up and he comes running over.  Although, some times the moment I tuck him into bed is my favorite.  Or, sometimes Gak and I actually get to steal a few moments together ant that really makes my day.

Anyhow, today's prompt was fun.  I didn't really get much of a choice.  I have to go with the picture of Boo, Nik and Billy playing with cars in the dirt this morning.  You see, my camera started acting up right after I took this shot.  It's working again now, so I should be able to finish the rest of the month.

We had a good day at Knoebel's.  After a fairly lazy morning, Gak and I took Boo, Nik, Katie and Katie down to the park.  We got the boys on a handful of rides and the girls and I rode a few things as well.  After we headed back to the campsite to finish packing everything up and having a bit of lunch.  Ed, Buffie and the kids headed home at that point, the rest of us (including Kat, Zoe, Andy, Steph and Rachel at this point) head down into the park.  Those of us that wanted to got on the Twister (I think I like the Phoenix better... it's scarier and has bigger drops, but Twister rattles and spins you more...)  After that we hit the gift shop and some of the kiddos wanted to go on the Antique cars.  Gak and I stole a few minutes and walked to the other side of the park to pick up frozen iced teas and lemonade for Boo.  After that, we all decided we were hot, tired and wanted to make it home for fireworks.

Actually, Boo is in bed now, the truck has been dropped off at the local garage for a second opinion tomorrow and I'm probably going to call it a night soon.  I don't really want to go to work tomorrow, but I've got a mountain of work waiting for me.

Peace to all and may you have fun and good "weekends" even if they're in the middle of the week.

Whoops!

Whoops!  Looks like I took a little vacation from posting here.
It's been a bit of an eventful week.  I've been doing fairly well continuing with my Photo a Day challenge.  There's only one day that I missed, and that was Tuesday, with the theme "imperfect".  Seems kinda appropriate to me.

Anyhow, there are two interesting parts to the last 10 days or so.  One great, one not-so-great.

We'll start with the ugh one first, since it happened first anyhow.  I finally lost my cool at soccer.  Last Saturday was picture day.  Now, we all know Boo doesn't like to cooperate for things like this for strangers.  He doesn't want to be told what to do by anyone, let alone someone he doesn't know.  So, to say photos were a disaster would be pretty accurate.  I managed to get him to pose for the individual one.  Of course, the death glare that he's giving me will be quite precious in several years, but right now I can't see it.  Getting him to actually pose with his team? Forget it.  Not happening.  Not in any way, shape or form.  And yes, there were tears to go along with this.

Did I mention he'd already been pushing buttons all morning about not eating his breakfast (which he chose, a cheese sandwich) and just being Mr. Grumpy-pants?  Yeah.  Oh, I should note, we rode the bike over.  I love doing this because I can get a nice little ride in on the way over and back (it's just the other side of the park) and I don't have to fight all the other cars for parking.

Well, another little boy was being bribed to play with a donut.  Boo thought this was an excellent idea.  He kept asking for a snack and whining about it.  I made a deal with him, that I would get him a treat if he promised he'd go play with his team.  Well, it started out as "take a bite, go play and you can get another bite in a little bit".  That quickly dissolved into "Fine!  You can have the donut, but after you're done, you have to go play. *growl*"  Well, he gladly finished his donut but after insisting on going and washing his hands, refused to play.... including tears.
This is where I lost my cool.
I told him if he didn't go play, we weren't going out to lunch with Aunt Kat.  Yep, more tears, and add screaming into the mix.  I told him fine, we weren't going to lunch,but to at least watch.  Nope, no dice, even more screaming.  So, I growled "fine" and marched him over to the bike, put our helmets on and went off on a long-ish ride.  (I texted Kat to let her know we weren't going to lunch...)  I didn't talk to him.  I didn't ask him which way we should go, I just pedaled.  Eventually we went home.

Now, I didn't yell, I didn't scream and I didn't shout.  I sorely wanted to, but that would only make the crying worse.  I tried to calmly explain that he didn't uphold his end of the deal, so he wasn't going to get the fun of going out to lunch with Aunt Kat, Zoe, Aunt Steph, Billy and Rachel.  At least, I'd like to think it was calmly. It probably wasn't.  And all I could think about was that I'd become that mom.  You know, the one that forces her kids to do things they don't want to do only because she wants them to and only ends up causing a scene and making everyone uncomfortable.  Sure, I may be more excited right now about Boo playing soccer than he is, but he was plenty excited about it when I asked him if he wanted to play.  I'm mostly over that feeling, but since I'm human, there's still lingering doubt and I wince when I think too hard about the day.

Once we got home, I then dropped off the bike and our helmets and we ran out to get Gak's Father's Day present, which was a bit more adventure.  (I got him a great cookbook.  No, he doesn't cook, I do.  But it was the official Game of Thrones cookbook he'd been drooling over...)  I told Boo we weren't staying long and that we were there to get presents for Daddy.  He wasn't happy when I made him leave the train table and go home.

Getting him to nap was even more fun since he'd fallen asleep for about 3 minutes in the car on the way home.  Yeah.
Thankfully the rest of the evening went much better.  We went to the AT&T store and Gak swapped out his Windows phone to go back to an iPhone.  We went to Target and Best Buy to look around.  I got a new basket for my bike so I don't have to put everything into a backpack when I want to carry anything with me on a ride.

Father's Day was a good day.  I tried out my new bike basket by going to the grocery store for a few odds and ends for breakfast.  We did laundry.  We went back to Best Buy.  Gak really loved his new book.  We also went to Kat's house for Billy's 11th birthday party.  It was a good, relaxing evening.  Overall a good day.

Monday was the most awesome day of the week.  Boo and I got to go to the beach for the day with Amma.  Unfortunately, Gak had to work all day.  So, we drop him off at work early and headed down the turnpike to pick up Mom.  The drive down was uneventful.  The skies started out cloudy but cleared up quite nicely by the time we got to Rehoboth.  We spent a very enjoyable two hours or so on the beach.
Boo had lots and lots of fun in the sand.  He has a whole pile of sand toys, including some new ones from Amma and PopPop for his birthday.
 

The fun, and funny, part was when we convinced him to splash in the waves.  (The waves were quite something on Monday, the lifeguards were keeping everyone in close.)
In the past, we'd convince him to walk down to the water, he'd take one look and turn around and run in as straight a line as possible to our blanket.  Last summer we finally convinced him to join me in the waves and he loved it our last time there.  Well, this time he wasn't sure he wanted to go down to the water.  So, I left him and Amma there to go down.  About a minute later they came down.  Boo took one look at the water and ran back to the blanket.  Mom and I were laughing.  He comes running back with one of his buckets, takes one look at the water and runs right back to the blanket again.  Mom and I are laughing even harder now.  He does this one more time, but this time Amma convinces Boo to give her the bucket and hold my hand.  As you can see from the pictures, he had a blast.  Eventually he decided he was cold and wanted to get out.  OK.  After a bit more sand play, he asks if we can go back to the water.  You don't have to twist my arm hard on that one!  The second trip to the waves didn't last long, he was getting cold.  But we still had a lot of fun.

 After a bit more sand time we decide we are hungry and head back to the car to drop off the toys, we found out that I had Mom's license plate wrong and didn't actually pay for parking for her car and we got a parking ticket.  Oops.  We had some lunch, wandered around a bit, went to Browseabout Books where the boy-o got a new car and a new book and played with the trains for quite some time.  We then had some ice cream and headed out of town.  Right as we were pulling into the parking lot at the outlet I wanted to stop at, Boo's eyes flutter closed.  Mom tells me to go shop, she'll stay with the boy-o.  So, I went to the store I wanted to go to, found a new shirt and a new pair of pants for a total of $13.  Yep, thirteen whole dollars.  Usually the shirt alone is $15 or so.  I was quite happy with my find.

The drive back was uneventful and Boo slept for about an hour total.  We were heading back a little earlier than usual, but I still knew that if we didn't stop and grab a bite to eat before getting to Amma's, I'd be ready to chew my arm off by the time we got home.  We ended up stopping at this awesome little place in Wilmington.  It was called Lucky's Coffee shop.  I'd missed the turn for a Panera Bread and I really didn't want fast food.  I'm so glad I decided to give Lucky's a shot.  I had some of the most amazing french toast, potatoes and bacon that I've had in quite some time.  Boo's grilled cheese was every bit as delicious as the one he had the week before at the Silver Diner in Maryland and Mom's eggs, bacon, biscuit and potatoes looked done just right.  I ended up eating that French toast two more days for breakfast.

So, those are the highlights of the last week.  The only other interesting part of the week included me battling with the Girl Scout finances (I'm still not happy with the way the numbers are working, they don't seem to match what I'm expecting, but they are what they are and I'm just turning in the paperwork and being done with it!)  Work's been a drag (today especially so it seems) and I just haven't been up for much outside the normal routine.  Ah well, such is life.

This weekend should be a "normal" Saturday with soccer tomorrow.  I'm not holding my breath, I just hope I can hold my temper.  Sunday is and isn't going to be fun.  I'll get to go hang out with Mom, but we're looking at burial plots.  (Dad's health is in decline, no denying that.  He's made it clear he doesn't want to be cremated, too many burned Jews already; so we've got to find a place to put him whenever the time comes.  No, none of us expect him to be leaving any time soon, but it just makes life easier for everyone involved if something this simple is taken care of way in advance and everyone knows what is going on.  Hopefully it'll be years before we need to even think any more seriously about it.)

So, on that cheery note, I will wrap this up.  I guess I really should try and get something real done in the last half hour or so of work.

Peace to all and may your weeks be full and productive, your temper steady and your adventures full of fun and sunshine.

Weekends are Hard

Just a quick little update.
Weekends are hard.
Especially when you're not quite 4 and not quite 100% sold on the whole using the potty thing.

Tuesday through Thursday evening was perfect, we really couldn't have asked for better from Boo.  There was that minor accident Thursday evening.  Friday he did great all day playing over at Gradmom's with Zoe.  He had a minor incident where he just didn't pull his pants down far enough so ended up a little damp.  That happens.  Yesterday and today though, well... we were pretty good most of the day but had our problems.
Yesterday it was a stinker butt that we didn't want to tell anyone about and had been dealing with for a little while.  (I'm thinking he oopsed at lunch but didn't want to tell me to make me mad.  I really wouldn't have been, but in the mind of a pre-schooler...)  This morning it was getting too involved in playing with Play-Doh (I'll 'splain that revelation in a bit here...) and he peed on the floor.  Then at Amma's this afternoon he had another stinker butt incident, even though he'd tried while we were out.

So, weekends are hard.  I fully understand and get this.  We're not in our normal routine.  We're out and about and having all kinds of grand adventures.  I'm willing to grant some leeway on weekends, but I'd much rather he tell me about a stinker incident than ignore it.  Oh well.

Highlights of the weekend.
Saturday started out like a normal Saturday.  We did laundry and went over to bowling.  This was the last week of the season so they were having a party.  Zoe had a birthday party she was heading to with Grandmom and Aunt Kat was going for a ride with Scott on the bike.  Rachel was on a trip to NYC and Billy and Aunt Steph were heading to Billy's aunt's for an Easter Egg hunt later in the afternoon.  So, we headed over to Kat's to play with Billy for about an hour or so before we went and got some lunch, came home and had some nap time.  We went and picked up Gak from work then headed over to Target to do a little shopping.  Boo got some more big-boy underpants.  He got the ones with Cars on them.  We also picked him up some shorts, me some socks and about a total of $60 of odds and ends including a few groceries.

After dinner Boo was playing with a container of Play-Doh that he got in his Easter basket from school.  Now mind, until yesterday, Boo wanted nothing to do with Play-Doh or anything that could possibly be squishy.  Well, we played with it for about an hour last night and he was more interested in the containers we'd left out  on the table instead of the chocolate and other toys in the Easter basket on the table this morning.

Today we had a nice breakfast together and then cleaned up the apartment a bit.  After some hanging about, Boo and I get our butts in gear and head down to Amma's.  We have lunch and go to Trader Joe's.  By the time we get back PopPop is feeling good enough to be a little bit social.  I leave the boy with the grandparents and take a nice long walk for about 45 minutes while the boy-o plays wish his Amma outside and then watches a little baseball (and plays with the light-up frogs and duck Amma got for her birthday) for a little bit until I get back.  We came home, Boo and Gak played outside a bit, I ran to Lowes to get some garden stuff and attempt to transplant some of the seedlings, Boo and I played outside a bit and we had a good, but somewhat emotional, evening.  Boo was a bit tired and some little things just sent him over the edge into a crying spree....  Anyhow, we've had a good weekend over all, even if they can be hard.

Peace to all and may your weekends be easy.

New Year!

Well, it's a new year and hopefully it'll be a good one.
I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to write, so I thought I'd just start writing and see where it takes me.
The picture at the top here is one of the ones my friend Steve sent me this week.  He took this back in November; it's a full moon over Kabul.  Yep, Kabul, Afghanistan.  He sent out several pictures from his tour so far.  It's amazing how beautiful the place can be, and how dangerous and not just because there is a war going on.
My friend Michelle has spent several months over there off and on since this summer.  One "comforting" fact is that all snakes in Afghanistan are venomous.  Oh, and you'd better check the bath house for snake and insect visitors before using.... just ask the guy who ended up streaking across the compound because he found the snake that was hiding in the shower room after he'd already stripped (and used his clothes to cover/distract the snake so he could escape...).  Yeah, fun, fun fun!

Speaking of Michelle, we had a nice visit with her over New Year's.  She was originally going to come up New Year's Eve and then go home Monday the 2nd.  Originally she wasn't going to have to head overseas anywhere until the middle to end of January.
We all know how schedules can change.
Instead of heading out at the end of the month, she was to get on a plane the evening of the 2nd and head over to Pakistan for a few weeks.  Yep, Pakistan.
So, she came up New Year's Eve and we ran a few errands, had some dinner and watched some movies until midnight.  I should say, Boo, Michelle and I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and then Michelle and I watched "Princess Bride" until it was midnight.  (I also crocheted an entire scarf to go with my coat through the two movies...)  Gak crashed and crashed hard early because he had a killer sinus headache and the meds he took (plus the very long, hard hours he'd been working and no sleep the night before) knocked him out cold.  Yep, I actually stayed up later than my hubby... and by several hours!
Anyhow, it was a nice relaxing evening at home.  And can I tell you how much I've missed the last few New Year's Eves without Michelle?  For about 5 or 6 years there we would alternate going down to MD or up to PA for New Year's Eve.  It had become a tradition.
Anyhow, Sunday morning (the first) we get moving and go out to breakfast.  After we've gotten back and cleaned up (we just got dressed and went since it was both a Sunday and a holiday, so who knew how crowded the diner would be...) and fiddled with Michelle's computer a bit she asks what Mom's up to.  She said she really wanted to see Mom if possible.
So, I call up Mom and we arrange to meet at Panara Bread near her house in about an hour.  Well, of course we don't get moving right away.  And then when we stop for gas before getting on the highway Michelle locked her keys in the car, but had luckily popped the trunk instead of the gas tank and we were able to get in through the back seat to unlock the door.  We had an enjoyable lunch together and just caught up.  It would have been too much for Dad to go over to the house.  But, of course he said to Mom that he wished we'd gone to pick her up as she was leaving.  So, Michelle headed back down to Virginia to finish with the laundry and the packing and all that jazz and Boo, Gak and I follow Amma back to the house and hang out with Dad for a bit.

Boo was getting a bit tired, so we made a hasty exit.  We went over to the computer store (that we'd been to the day before) to exchange some RAM that Gak bought because he picked up DDR3 instead of the DDR2 that he needed.  (I still need to install it for him, it's the only thing he doesn't like doing on his computer...)

So, that was the start to our year.  Michelle made it safe and sound back to VA.  We had a good afternoon with both Mom and Dad.  Although, the good days with Dad are getting fewer and shorter.  I will treasure the moments that we get.

Other than that, it's the normal stuff around here.  Back to a "normal" work schedule.  Need to get back to a "normal" swim schedule but the beeper call I had Monday night prevented that, and lack of motivation Friday didn't help either.  I'm kinda glad to be back to a normal work schedule, but I enjoyed last week so very much.

I think this is where I'll wrap it up for now.  No, I haven't uploaded any of the photos to Flickr yet.  I'm sorry.  I'm going to go play with yarn now.

Peace to all and may your holidays be good and your friends safe.

Christmas And Crafts

This is going to be a very picture heavy post.  I realized it's been almost a week and I haven't posted the Christmas pattern and thank's to Flauta Mom's comment on Wednesday's post, I realize that I haven't shared pictures of my crafted goodies for quite a while.  So, please bear with me while I show off a bit.

I'll start off with the Christmas pictures first and then we'll move on to the crafty ones.  Some of the crafted goodies were gifts, some were just because and some were purely for me.

Anyhow, this top picture is of our tree at 6:00 in the morning Christmas day, after Momma, Daddy and Santa had left all the goodies under the tree.  You can see the three stuffed stockings to the left there among all the all other goodies.  Yes, there were lots and lots of goodies under the tree, and Boo's train from last year is there circling the tree and presents.  (Boo loves the train, loves playing with the train, but doesn't like to run it... odd little boy that he is!)

Here's Boo opening his stocking.  He had plenty of goodies hiding in there.  I love these stockings; they look huge, but really don't hold all that much.  That's both a good and bad thing for the stocking-stuffer.

 One of the few things that Boo actually asked for this year was "a new Trey".  So, Santa obliged and brought Trey a new friend.  After several days, Boo finally decided that yes, Rocky is a good name for the new dinosaur.  (He wanted to name him Trey, but we told him that would be too confusing as we already have a Trey...)  Anyhow, this is Trey and Rocky meeting for the first time and they really hit it off.  No jealousy here from Trey.

 Here is Boo trying to open the present from Uncle Jon and Aunt Becca.  They got him this really awesome play mat from Ikea that has roads, some construction and even a race track and a helipad on it.  The thing is almost as tall as he is when it's rolled up!  He did manage to get it open and it's now on the floor in front of his bed.  We've had several fun adventures playing on it.

 After downing his breakfast, Boo settled in on the sofa with the new puppy from his stocking, Rocky, Trey, Snake (I made that one for him...) Baby Trey and Kelly and his new Mobigo game.  He looks way more than three in this picture!  Where is my baby?

Here is two of the gifts that Gak and I got Boo.  In the background you can see the kitchen stuff and he's playing with the toolbox.  (Only after Christmas did Boo and I go to Ikea and I found that they have some really awesome aluminum cookware and utensils that I could have gotten for what I payed for the plastic stuff... oh well, live and learn.)  He really has fun with both, but I think the real hit is the tape measure.

Here is Boo opening his gift at Amma's house.  He got a brand new Kermit the Frog.  I had one almost just like it when I was little and loved it to pieces.  Now Boo has one.  He really loved The Muppets when we went to see them last month.  Kermit has been a favorite of his, but he also really likes Walter, the newest Muppet added to the crew.

Now on to the crafty pictures.  I'll try and limit how many pictures of each project I give.  There are a few that I'll have more than one picture of, just because I kinda need to for the details.  These aren't in any chronological order, not really in any order but *shrug* it'll do.

Above you could somewhat see an "S" that I had made Boo that I turned into a snake.  Here is the "B" Bear, "Z" Zebra and "R" Raccoon I made for Billy, Zoe and Rachel for Christmas.  This all started when I made the M-bunny for Mary this fall.  No, I didn't get a picture of it, but it's an "M" made out of the same pink as Rachel's "R" and looks like a bunny.  I think my bear looks a little more like a cat than a bear and the raccoon... well, I wasn't going to try again.

I got a new jacket this winter (and there's a bit of an adventure behind it, which I won't go into... let's just say I made an "oops" and leave it at that...).  So, since I had a new jacket, I needed a new hat.  I'd been eyeing up a pattern on the Lion Brand website for a month or two and I found some luscious cotton yarn in the perfect color at Juniper Place Yarns, my local yarn store and did this up in just a few hours.  The hardest part was the little pom-pom on the top.  I love the hat, even if I'm less than in love with the jacket (at least the jacket only cost me $30...)

These two pictures are of the blanket that I made for Jon and Becca.  It's a combination birthdays, wedding, winter holidays and housewarming.  This is a very unique blanket in many ways, including the fact that the base chain is 78 * 2 (they were both born in 1978) and that the row repeats are 10, 1, 4, 19, 12, 9 and then 10 and 1 again.  This would be Jon's birthday and Becca's birthday bracketed by their wedding day.  So, like I said, this is a very unique blanket.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.  This was a year long project and labor of love, as I kept changing things up along the way, even as late as the second round of the edging.

These three pictures are the ones that Flauta Mom asked for the other day.  This is my new little nook touch in the sleeve I made.  As you can see, the pink button on the front is totally not needed thanks to velcro, but it really put the finishing touch on the project.  This was a bit of leftover denim from a project I never did get around to doing and lined with a piece of gray flannel left over from my cloak I made many, many years ago now.  There is a bit of fusible interfacing in the back to add a little stability and the reason you see the selvage on the back is because it's actually a pocket.  I really love this little case.  It's cute, unique and totally me.  And the fact that I totally winged it and it turned out great on the first try is even better!  (And that I only put an additional $4.95 into the project for the button, the rest was all "leftovers" that had been paid for years ago.)

 This peach colored blankie (the color is much nicer in person, trust me) is the one that I made for my friend Cynthia at work.  She's due any day now with a beautiful baby girl.  Cynthia really loved it and was so happy to get it.  Ellen also made her a blankie, which was very different.  Cynthia was so amazed to receive both of them.  I'm glad when I can make gifts for people who enjoy them.  I know they'll get much use out of both of those blankets.

***UPDATE: I just got an email from Cynthia that Summer Aurora was born 12/29!! ***

This is a fashion scarf I made for me with some yummy lightweight cotton yarn I got at Juniper Place Yarns.  The pattern is called Clapochet and can be found on Ravelry (or at Crochetkitten.com).  It's actually quite warm and I can wear it so many ways.  I love wearing it with just a plain white, cream or gray T-shirt and it really looks great when I pair it with my denim or bright red corduroy jacket.  I wish I'd had it done before Jon and Becca's wedding, but it was really too warm for it.  No, I don't have a picture of me wearing it, the rocking horse will have to do.  I have received many compliments on it.

These last two pictures are of the socks that I just finished today.  Yep, I finally made a pair of crocheted socks.  I love them!  I'm totally hooked on hooking socks now.  I have enough yarn in other colors to make two more pair, I just have to decide which two patterns I want to try.  You see, I've collected several sock patterns over the last few years because I've just been dying to try it.  I mean, knitters shouldn't get all the fun of making socks.  These are a little heavier than a pair of trouser socks you'd get in the store, but not quite as heavy as some of the athletic socks I've got in my drawers.  Almost like a thin hiking sock.  The yarn is part wool, part bamboo and part acrylic I think.  (I'm too lazy to go get the wrappers on the other side of the room.)  It didn't take all 100 grams of the two balls, I have about 35 grams left.  This was a top down pattern where the cuff is crocheted up and down in rows before the rest is done in rounds around the one edge.  I really like it, but I think I want to try a toe up pattern next, just to see the differences.  Yes, this is the project I've rambled on the most about, but it's the one I literally just finished and the one I've been dying to get to for years.

Anyhow, I've got yarn for a scarf to go with my hat, two more pair of socks, another Clapochet as a gift, a scarf for Trey and I really should make new hats for the boys now that winter is really here.  I just hope I can fit it all in and still manage to pay attention to work.  It's weeks like this that really make me wish that I could work two or three days a week and be Momma and Crafty Momma the other days.  Oh well, I don't have that luxury, so I'll try and squeeze in the crafty time when and were I can and hope that I don't let it interfere with work too much.

Anyhow, this "short" picture post has taken me almost 45 minutes to write.  I'll get the rest of the pictures uploaded to flickr tomorrow I hope.  Gak has another 3-day weekend and hopefully we're getting together with Michelle at least tomorrow and hopefully until some time on the 1st as well.  (Her travel schedule got changed yet again, but that is the way it goes with her job...)

Peace to all and may your creative juices flow and your holidays be merry and bright.

Holidays

Today is a day of two holidays for me.  Not only os today Christmas, but it is also the sixth night of Hanukkah. It has been a good day, and a bitter sweet day as well.  I expected as much.

Last night we had a small gathering of family at Kat's house. Mom came up and we had dinner at my place first. It was quite yummy, even if a boy child was not being helpful.  We had an enjoyable evening with family and headed home around 10 so that I could finish wrapping and still get to bed.

Today was strange in that Gak and I both woke before Boo.  And it turns out that it was a good thing too.  I was lying there trying to ignore the world whenbI suddenly realized I forgot to wrap.three of Boo's gifts!
I managed to get everything wrapped and a little yarn time in as well before Boo woke up.  We had a good time opening presents.  And despite Boo spilling the beans Wednesday about what we got Gak, I still managed to surprise my hubby wih one of his gifts.  And he really surprised me with mine! A nook touch.  I love it.

We spen most of the morning playing around he house and then we went back over to Kat's for a few hours.  Zoe and Boo had quite a fun time together playing.

Then we headed down to Amma and PopPop's house for a few more Christmas presents and to light the Hanukkah candles.
This is where the bitter-sweet comes in.  Dad decided earlier in the day that he just couldn't follow the prayers in the book. So I got to read the prayers tonight for the first time.  That is the botter.  The sweet is that I got to help Boo light the candles for the first time too.
We had a yummy dinner and are heading back to Aunt Kat's to see Billy and Rachel.
I am off for most of this week.  Tomorow Boo and I will be joining Amma at the Y tomorrow.so Gak can have a real day off.  (And play the video game I got him...)

So I bid you peace and joy on this holiday night.

Solstice

Tonight is the longest night of the year.  This is a time of reflection and of hope.  Starting tomorrow the days will begin to get a bit longer with each passing day.  While the weather will actually get colder and more miserable, the daylight will be returning.
Tonight we reflect on all that has left us this year and all that has happened.
I'm thankful that I've lost no one in my close family.  Yes, Joan lost her mom this year, but I've covered that before, and I'm not going to go into that now.  I'm thankful that while some of my family members may have health issues, we're all relatively healthy and whole.

I'm thankful for the love of my family, especially those near and dear to me that have left this world.  I'm thankful for the love of my Gram.  I'm thankful for the time I got with Gak's father.  I'm thankful for all they've taught me and all I've learned from them as well.

I had more thoughts, but they seem to be dribbling out my ear as Gak watches last year's Doctor Who Christmas special.

So, I'm going to sign off from here and try and reflect on the turning of the wheel and be thankful for the return of the daylight that will come with the dawn.

Peace to all and may the sun shine on you all.

Holly Jolly Weekend!

Well, maybe not 100% "holly jolly" but it was a holiday spirit filled weekend.

Even if a boy-o didn't want to/didn't actually nap at all.

Saturday while the boy bounced off the walls in his room instead of napping I managed to get the living room "cleaned".  (I found ever horizontal surface again except for the computer desks, put lots of things away/threw stuff out, dusted, washed the sliding glass door and even vacuumed!)  Boo's room also got picked up and put back down.  Not without much grumbling on my part because he hadn't napped and was very much into "silly tired boy" mode.  We also managed to get all the holiday decorating stuff up from the basement.  Including the long-awaited return of Boo's train that we put under the tree last year.  The tree, however, did not get put up Saturday because the boy-o did not nap, did not even pretend to nap and there was no way I was going to deal with tired bouncing boy while I was trying to "fluff" the tree.

Sunday was another no-nap day for the boy.  And I feel like I spent almost the entire day in the kitchen.  I'm not really complaining about that though.  I slept in a little and got the tree set up and was just finishing "fluffing" it when the boy-o woke up.  He didn't wake up until about 8:00.  I think that's a record for him in recent months!

Anyhow, he had fun helping me hang ornaments on the tree.  There is one corner of the tree that's very heavily ornamented.  That's Boo's corner where he wanted to stick every single thing.  I realized that for being on this planet 36 years now, I really don't have that many "special" ornaments any more.  I know of several I used to have that got broken.  Or I left with Mom.  Most of the ones I do have are yearly ones Mom creates with a photo of Boo.  Yeah, I think we'll have to start fixing that.  (Although, the one ornament that I was extra happy to put on the tree this year is the one Michelle got me from the US Embassy in Ottawa.)  I tell you, I really do have a kitty-cat boy though.  He kept batting at the ornaments he put on the tree just like you'd expect a kitty to do.  It was so darn cute.

Then, after some minor drama (and pancakes!), we all head out to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials and a few extra ingredients for cookies.  By the time we got home, it was after 11 already!  I get the groceries away and then the boy-o and I mix up a batch of sugar cookies to put in the fridge to get stiff enough to roll.  Then I make "star soup" for lunch.  (2 cans chicken broth, 1 diced carrot, some pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder and a box of pasta stars.  I also added a few ounces of grilled chicken breast strips for me and Gak.)  Boo willingly eats chicken and star soup for the ladies at daycare.  He even willingly started to eat mine (I made sure he had plenty of broth and no chicken or carrots...).  Gak and I top ours with a little shredded mozzarella and seeing that, Boo decided he wants some too.  But then the cheese melts.  And the melt-down begins.  After a little more drama, I summarily toss him into his bed.  Nope, no nap yesterday either.  At least he was mostly quiet and calm yesterday.

While the boy was "napping" I made some triple ginger ginger snaps.  Wow were they good.  Trader Joe's, you'd better watch out.  These were as good or better than yours.  I hid away about half to bring in to the cookie exchange at work (that's a whole other load of drama...) and the other half are hidden so Gak and I don't inhale them in no time flat.  I'm glad I only made a half batch though, I managed to get 85 cookies out of it!

After I finally let Boo up from his non-nap, we finish the sugar cookies.  An adventure as always, but they're yummy.  Then it was time to clean up the kitchen yet again and get ready to make dinner.

So, yes, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen yesterday and only have two batches of cookies to show for it.  Oh well.  They're yummy!

I also spent some good quality time with yarn over the weekend and only have the finishing touches to put on a big project I've been working on for quite some time now.

Peace to all and may your weekends be merry and yummy and filled with holiday goodness.

Traditions

Tonight I am thankful for traditions.  Both the "official" and unofficial ones.  The ones I uphold every year and the ones I purposefully bend and break.

Today is Thanksgiving.  This is a day full of traditions.  Some of which I enjoy, some of them, I just don't understand.  Anyhow, I just wanted to write a little about today.  (Boy, this really isn't making much sense or going anywhere is it?  Oh well, I'll just plow forward and see where it takes me.  I'm just not getting my thoughts out well, could be the two glasses of wine maybe?)

This morning started with the normal "weekend type morning" things.  Then we got the whole "Thanksgiving" part of the day going.  We watched the start of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (Boo got to watch the Sesame Street float so he was happy).  We even got a call from Gak's mom.  I started cooking, more like prep-work for the rest of the day around 9 when I realized a few things would take longer than I thought.

We managed to get a family walk in and enjoyed it.

My mom came up for dinner.  Dad wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home, but told mom she had to come.  We had the traditional turkey, but we had my spin on the stuffing, some very sweetly glazed sweet potatoes (less sweet potatoes than I thought I had and more glaze....), some yummy orange ginger carrots (although I'm still not a huge carrot fan...), some herb roasted baby potatoes, some rolls, some home made apple and cranberry sauces.  Over all, it was quite yummy filled with some traditional recipes from mom and some that I've taken and made my own.  Mom brought a pecan pie and half an apple pie she made (she left the other half home for Dad).

So, even though the gathering was a little smaller than usual, I'm still thankful for the tradition of doing Thanksgiving at my house and then Christmas and/or Hanukkah at Mom and Dad's.  I just don't know how much longer Dad will be part of the tradition and that scares me and makes me sad.  I will cherish every moment and every tradition we have together while we can, but knowing that the time is drawing to a close tints things with a little bit of sad, but makes me love them all the more.

Traditions are what bind us together, make us into families, neighborhoods, communities, counties, states and countries.  There are things we do that make us unique, but things that we do that tie us to others, some near and some far.  I love both the things that make me uniquely me, and my family uniquely mine, but I love the fact that there are people all over this state and country that are doing similar things on this day that are tying their own families together.  That is the real power of tradition.  Both the keeping of them and of the bending them to make them our own.

So, I'm off to Kat's house for a bit of socializing (and hopefully not too much more desert, although a small bite of pumpkin pie wouldn't go amiss....)

I bid you peace and may your traditions be yours and yet tie you to something bigger.

Presidential Heroes?

Well, it's President's day, and I'm supposed to be writing about heroes this month.
I'm just not into it today.  That's not to say that there haven't been some great presidents in the history of our country.  And I'm all for remembering two of the greatest ones of our early history, and I believe that both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are two of the greatest men to lead this country.  Of course, I'm looking at them through the lens of history.  And also, let's face it, if the news media and technology of today existed back then, how wonderful would we really think they are?  I'm sure there are major skeletons on the closets of all of our founding fathers and political heroes of a bygone age.
But, I'd like to believe that they were overall good men.
I'd like to believe that about our current politicians.  I often wonder how different our views of our elected officials today would be if we didn't have the "access" and technology that we have today.  Would we be more or less impressed by them?  Would we feel like they were working more or less for us?  (Of course, most people these days, myself included, think that our elected officials aren't doing us any favors, but don't like any of our options.)
Yes, our presidents and elected leaders can be heroes, but more often than not, they are just mere humans like the rest of us.  Only they aren't.  They've had enough drive, vision and luck to end up being elected the leader of our wonderful nation.
I'm not too sure where I'm going with this.  I guess I'd like to say thank you to everyone who wants to serve their community, both at the very local and very national levels.  I just wish I felt like more of them really were of the common cloth and actually worked for me and my family and friends, not for themselves.  I don't really like many of them on either side of the aisle these days.  The whole thing seems to have sunk to the depths of high school bickering and cliques.  I wish I could wash my hands of the whole deal, but there really isn't any where else I'd rather live.

I'm rambling and probably going to get myself in trouble if I keep writing, so I'm going to put this disjointed ramble to and end.

Peace to all and may you have leaders you can believe in.

Christmas Eve and Other Stories

Well, here it is Christmas Eve and I haven't touched this blog in a week.  I'm sorry about that guys.  I could blame it on the season and the like, but it's just been that I haven't had the motivation to write.
I must say, however, that I'm really feeling the joy of the season right now.  No, I haven't had too many rum and cokes... I haven't had any since our party last Friday.  No, I'm just seeing the true joy that people I know are getting by giving and I'm getting really excited to see the smiles on my nieces and nephews faces when they open what we got them.  That, and I'm truly blessed with wonderful neighbors.  Last week, Frank from downstairs came up, knocked on our door and presented me with a beautiful poinsettia.  I've managed not to kill it like I've almost done with the one at work.  Then, this morning Gak opens our front door and there's a pair of packages sitting there.  Both of them are from Mrs. Alverta from #4.  She gave everyone in the building cute little tins of homemade fudge (yummy, but it has nuts, so that's good for me!).  She also had a present and a card for Boo.  It was so sweet!  She got him three coloring books, including a Winnie the Pooh and a Sesame street one.

Anyhow, I was able to wrap up one of my two big projects completely before the end of the week and I'm pretty sure I'm done the other, just waiting on confirmation from the customer.  Thursday was a bit of a bust in some ways because no one was around for me to get in touch with to do work at the sites.  Oh well.  I got some things done and managed to stay out of trouble for the most part.  I hope to have several emails waiting for me when I get back on the 4th telling me to close things.

This weekend is going to be jam packed full of fun.  Gak actually had today off and got a 3-day weekend!  We did a little bit of last minute shopping to add to a few gifts and ate lunch at our new favorite pizza joint around the corner.  Now the boy is napping (should be up soon).  Gak and I managed to get a little game time in and I just wrapped up making a double batch of chili to take over to Kat's tonight.  Tonight is the usual open house at Kat's when everyone gathers and we get to give the kids their gifts from the aunts and uncles.  So much fun.  Tomorrow we're opening presents here, and after lunch heading down to Amma and PopPop's for more presents and dinner.  Sunday is recovery day and laundry/grocery day.

I'm off work for the next week, which should be fun as I've got a few ideas of things to do.  I'm really looking forward to the 1st though.  We're hopefully getting together with Michelle!!  She's home from Canada until the 3rd, so that'll be fun.  Hopefully her aunt Eileen will be there too, which will be great as I haven't seen her in too long and I miss her.

Anyhow, I'm going to try and get a little more EQII time in before the boy child wakes up.

Peace to all and may your holidays be merry and bright.

Gift Guilt

Today isn’t a happy day. I’m feeling pretty darn out of sorts actually.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One reason I don’t think I’m going to touch on here or now, as it’s probably not appropriate. Or, maybe it’s that it could turn into a very long rant that I may (probably) will regret later, so it’s best not to even touch it here.

Anyhow, one of the things that has me feeling out of sorts is actually part of the whole reason that I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas on the planet. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts of the pageantry and the displays and the joy of the season that I really, truly like. But the whole material part of it really bothers and upsets me. More so the older I get, and the older Boo gets.

Normally I can just gloss over this aspect of the holiday, content in the exchanging of gifts with family and the children in my life. It gets harder though as Boo gets older. Not because he keeps asking for thing after thing, because he doesn’t. I’m not even sure he understands all the hooplah or who Santa is or anything about the holiday as we just don’t “do it up” at home. No, it’s the well meaning gifts from friends and comments from strangers. Yes, my son gives you a blank stare when you ask him if he’s been to see Santa, or what he’s asked Santa for or what he wants for Christmas. He doesn’t understand or “get it” because, well, like I said, we haven’t brought him up to speed on this holiday. Partially because he is only 2.5 after all and mostly because both Gak and I are very unreligious and are trying to figure out in our own way how to explain this holiday season and let Boo understand all the excitement but understand that religion just doesn’t play a huge role in his parents’ lives, but we’re more than happy for people who’ve made it a large part of theirs.

I’m also feeling very out-shined when it comes to the gifts. I know it doesn’t really matter because he’s 2.5 and won’t remember or care about this Christmas. I know it’s just a small, insecure, feeling financially pinched and anti-materialistic part of me being ugly and selfish. But it is casting a huge shadow over my joy of the season. I know our friends (only slightly more than acquaintances really) mean well and truly do it out of a love for and a joy of our son. But, it still hurts. Yes, there, I said it. It hurts.

A pair of friends of ours got Boo a book reader thing with three books and a cartridge, 3 story books and a bunch of other things. Even with the great deals they got, I think they’ve spent more on Boo than we have! (We’ve only spent about $50, and may only spend another $10 or $20 more at most.) Then there’s work. Our kids' Christmas party is Saturday. Corporate is really cool and gives each kid a present (if the parents work at the corporate office) or send a $25 gift certificate to ToysRUs to those of us in office not at corporate. Well, we’ve been throwing a bowling party for the kids the last 2 years and given small gifts from the funds of the activities committee. This year, the committee told us parents they were going to use those certificates to fund the gift purchases, which is great. The problem isn’t so much what the gift buyer spent on my son, but the size. It’s HUGE. It’s trains and is going to make our “big” gift look tiny and silly beside it. I’m really upset. (I know what was purchased because my friend was the shopper and I’m also on the committee and helped wrap the gifts yesterday.) I can’t bring myself to tell my friend that I want to exchange it for something else, because, well… I did say Boo was into trains when he went around asking for ideas. (I also said coloring and books and I think I mentioned Sesame Street too…)

I’m also upset in general because he’s getting so many things from people when his Poppa and I can only come up with 2 or 3 things that we want to get our boy. Partially it’s because we don’t have room for more things. And part of it is that he still enjoys about 90% of the toys he already has, so there aren’t any obvious “needs” to fill with new toys or things. And part of it is that we realize that this won’t be a big event in his memory, only ours. He really doesn’t care about getting gifts at this age, and I’d like to try and keep it that way for as long as I can. I see too many kids, even at his age, always begging for things and expecting things and being greedy little brats at this time of year. I’ll admit, I went through that too, circling just about everything that even slightly caught my eye in the ToysRUs or Sears catalogues we’d get in November. But I’m pretty sure I always did it realizing I’d never get it all and that it was purely wishful thinking and daydreaming. I would love if Boo could be the same way; dream big, ask for the world, but realize that it probably won’t happen that way.
Anyhow, I’ve rambled and ranted and raved long enough. Am I any happier about the situation, no. Do I feel any better, not really. But apparently I needed to get this off my chest. I have to get back to work and focus on what I’m doing. I haven’t done that nearly enough this year, and it shows and it upsets and angers me.


Peace to all and may your hearts be merry and your gift giving reasonable.

Weekend

Well, it's been a while since I've managed this, so how about a weekend update?  Yes, I know it's Monday, but I had a vacation today, so technically this is the end of my weekend.
Overall it was a pretty good weekend.  It was quite busy and full, but not in a bad or stressful way.
Saturday was a pretty typical Saturday in many ways.  We dropped Gak off at work.  Boo and I did laundry.  We went to the bowling alley to watch the kids finish up bowling.  Rachel and Billy are back from their trip to Florida.  You'd have thought Rachel hadn't seen Boo in a month the way she all but tackled him and grabbed him as soon as we walked in the door.  Boo was pretty happy to see her too.  We hung out for a bit, did lunch at the dinner and then we went home so Boo could take a nap.  After nap it was time to pick up Gak from work.  We then went up to Center Valley to go to the bookstore.  Yes, I broke my mall avoidance, but it's not really a mall and it was between the busy family afternoon and the dinner and a movie crowd, so it wasn't too bad.  We got a great new book for Boo for Hanukkah and wandered around a bit.  Then we stopped and picked up pizza on our way over to Kat's.  Kat and Scott went up to NYC to catch a show with Steve, Shelby and some others.  Steph and Andy were going to Andy's work Christmas party.  Grammy was off work, but was mostly just doing her own thing in the back of the house while Rachel watched Zoe and Billy in the rest of the house.  Rach didn't mind if we left Boo with her, so we took the opportunity to go have dinner at Friday's and do a little shopping ourselves.
Sunday was another busy day.  We took it easy in the first part of the morning, but then headed down to Ikea on our way to Amma and PopPop's house.  What was going to be a $20 lamp replacement run (I still half think I should take the one with the broken switch that's less than a year old back with the receipt of the new identical one....) turned into an $80 trip.  There was only 1 or two splurge items on the list, so I don't feel too bad about it.  After that we went to the Complete Strategist.  It's the gaming store where Jon and I bought our Magic the Gathering cards and stuff like that at when we were in high school.  They've moved slightly (I think, either that or I'm  confusing two different stores in my memory...) to a different shop in the same center.  Gak was able to pick up some stuff he needed and I mostly kept Boo from looking at everything with his fingers instead of his eyes.  Then it was on to Amma and PopPop's.  We had a nice little visit.  Gak got a nap.  Boo had a few minutes of "quiet lay-down time" as I call it when I put him down for a nap... especially if he doesn't want one.  He never did nap, but he was quiet for a little bit.

Boo helped make the latkes and I helped Mom fry them up.  It was great to light the candles.  Boo got two books from Gak and I, a book from his PopPop and a nice little Duplo set from Amma.  Such a big difference between now and six months ago at his birthday.  Back in June he still wasn't sure about this whole present opening thing, but last night he really got into it.  It was great to watch, and I'm sure Christmas will be a lot of fun too.

Today I had a doctor's appointment with my OBGYN for a follow-up pap.  Such fun.  We talked very briefly about the miscarriage from last month.  He said he really doesn't think there's any genetic problems as a whole that's messing things up, since we were able to have Boo without any problems and he's healthy.  He says if we want to keep doing what we were doing, that's fine or if I want some contraception to let him know.  Gak and I have talked a bit, but haven't really decided where we want to go from here.  There are good things about both decisions.

Anyhow, after my morning adventures, it was home to pick up the boys and take them to lunch.  We then dropped Gak off at work and Boo and I ran a couple of errands, including the grocery store.  By the time we got home it was nap time for a boy.
Can I tell you that my boy really likes to "help" me cook?  More and more he's been asking to help, and been doing a fine job of it too.  So, this afternoon we made some sugar cookies.  I just used a pouch mix, but I jazzed them up a bit by adding a little mint extract, just enough to give them some flavor, not enough to be strongly mint.  Anyhow, he helped me mix up the egg, but whined "I can't!" when it came time to mix in the soft (half melted) butter.  I have no idea where he picked up "I can't!" from, but it's getting old.  Anyhow, he helped me off and on mix the dough the rest of the way.  I actually rolled them out this time and used a glass as a cookie cutter.  Boo did a very good job applying sprinkles after I showed him how.  He was quite proud of his task.  I even let him eat one almost fresh out of the oven, and he loved that.
We played for a bit, and after the cookies were really nice and cool, I asked if he thought we should take them to Poppa to share with the guys tonight.  He thought that was a great idea.  So, on went the shoes and the jackets again and I bagged up the cookies.  Gak was quite happily surprised to see us and the cookies.  We hung out until closing, mostly so I could get a chance to say hi to Ed, as I don't get a chance to see him much since Boo and I don't go over for Warhammer on Monday nights.  (Hence why Ed picks Gak up to take him...)

So, it's been a busy but good weekend.  I've got a metric ton and a half of work to do this week, and I'm not really looking forward to it.  I am looking forward to the weekend though.  Mel Bell will be coming to visit.  I'm not sure exactly which days or for how long, but it'll be fun.  The only things we've really got planned is to get the tree up, probably make some goodies to put in packages that are being sent out and well, that's about it.

Anyhow, I hear my book calling my name.  I'm going to wrap it up here and call it a night.
Peace to all and may your weekends be full of fun and family.

Hanukkah and Other Things

Happy Hanukkah to all my friends.  Tonight is the first night of the festival of lights.  Other than Thanksgiving, I think this is my favorite holiday.  Maybe it's because not everyone celebrates it.  Maybe it's because it still seems just a little bit more "pure" than Christmas and all the mass marketing and consumption of it.  Maybe it's because I love candles and watching them.  Maybe because it's something special I share with my Dad.  Maybe because the message at it's heart about faith in miracles and perseverance through dark times, and a rededication.  I think it has a bit to do with all of those things.
We won't be heading over to Mom and Dad's until Sunday to light the menorah (and for Gak to get latkes).  That's the only downside.  Or maybe that's the plus side of this holiday being 8 nights long.  Anyhow, between now and then I've got to go get my son a book, which is a traditional Hanukkah gift in my family.  (Probably because Dad did the Hanukkah shopping and he's as much a bookworm as I am and loves searching for just the right book for us.)  I really do hope to share this tradition with my son for a long, long time.  I may not be overly religious in any faith, or overly fond of rituals, but this is one that is special to me and has a power all of it's own.

In other, not quite related news, my one neighbor is very much a Christmas person and has decorated the foyer and the second floor common area quite extensively.  The two artificial trees downstairs have also been decorated, one of them lit, and almost all the doors sport a wreath or bow of some sort and there are all kinds of decorations out.  So, yes, the Christmas season is here.  All I can say is that at least just about everything is pretty tasteful, nothing too obnoxious.  (Gak may argue with me here, simply because of the quantity present...)  So, instead of waiting another week or so to put up my snowflake hanging that I originally made for Gram, I went ahead and put it up today.  (I refused to before today, because I can think of December as Winter, but November, even late November, is still fall in my mind...)

Today also happens to be Boo's half-birthday.  Yep, somehow my baby boy is now 30 months old, officially 2.5 years.  How did that happen?  He's been pretty good at being whiny lately, although if you tell him to knock it off, it's amazing how fast his regular voice returns, letting me know he wasn't really upset just trying to push.
He's very much a two-year-old, going on five.  He's growing in leaps and bounds and his curiosity is just about endless.  His language skills just explode every few days.  You can just about have a real conversation with him.  It's very amazing to watch him grow.
Tomorrow he has a doctor's checkup appointment.  I'm interested to see what his "official" height and weight is.  He's just about 30 lb and just about 3 feet tall by my guesses.  Hopefully it won't be quite such a teary experience as it has been the last several times we've gone.  Hopefully he'll start not minding the doctor's office again.  Well, he really likes the fish tank, but as soon as we head to the door out of the waiting room... the tears start.  We shall see.  I'm sure I'll have more to report tomorrow.

Anyhow, I think I'm going to go read a few pages myself before I go crash.  Either that or I'll play with some yarn.  I'm in the middle of two projects that I'm enjoying working on.

Peace to all and may the light of the season fill your lives and your hearts.