If I don't do crafty things once in a while, I go nuts.
This is another reason I am thankful I don't work. Well, I do watch little Anne, but you know what I mean.
Friday, I was super thankful I don't work. My three daughters needed me! Emily called me and I was more than happy to help. Emily lives in a house in town, with Abigail and Mirielle. Here is a pic with them with a few of their friends (they had a Friendsgiving on Saturday).
(Emily, Abigail, Jen, Janette, Mirielle, and Page)
Anyway, they were having dire plumbing issues, but the three of them work full time, (Emily is a nurse practitioner, Abigail is an accountant, and Mirielle is a cancer/chemo certified R.N.)...and someone had to be there to greet the plumber. So I arranged for Anne to be dropped off there instead. I don't actually suffer from social anxiety, but this is not on my list of favorite things to do, meeting strangers and answering the questions I don't know the answers to, like, "Where is the septic tank?" "Did the water back up into this particular sink?", and "Was this tub affected?" I did know that they do indeed have a basement, ten points! I ended up calling Em at work and having her talk directly to the plumber. He didn't seem to understand that I did not live there, so I answered the best I could and showed him around. He got it all fixed up, lickety split, charged one arm and one leg, and left. Phew.
Of course he thought Anne was adorable, because she is, and she chatted with him because she loves everyone, so he showed me a pic of HIS three year old, and I told him that my three oldest daughters lived in this house...and that I had eleven daughters all together...and he said, wow, no boys! Well, I said, there ARE five of those, too.
I do admit, it's fun. It's fun to shock people like that. I can feel the transformation from Normal Person to Crazy Lady, seriously. I wanted to tell him not to worry, it's not contagious.
Anyway. I loved to be able to help the girls like that. When you love someone, or someoneS, ha, it's easy to do nice things for them, you WANT to. And if you don't want to and you do it anyway, it makes you happy. My older girls have been SO good to the younger ones, I owe them everything.
We had a cozy weekend. I baked pumpkin spice muffins, and didn't eat any, the girls made brownies. Paul came home on Saturday, and then in the afternoon, the girls were going stir crazy, so we went out and about for a little bit. One of the fast food places had a special on any size curly fries with cheese sauce for a dollar, so I took them there for some junk, then we drove to the small city for a little shopping. Do you know how hard it is to smell those fries and not have any?! I should lose like five pounds for that endurance!
(cousin Dani, me, Miss Char behind Camille, and Sonja K.)
We didn't get much, but let me tell you, it's hard to go to the stores with all the adorable nostalgic Christmas stuff that I do NOT NEED, and not buy it all. I love the red plaid, the black and white Buffalo plaid, the trees in the tin pails, the whitewashed signs...but I resisted.
Yesterday, Margaret was with us because Adrian joined the boys out deer hunting. We decided to go to Target because it's nice to get little Wulf out a bit. Emily joined us, too. So me, Emily, Marge, Sonja, Charlotte Claire, and Camille, and Wulf. Evelyn stayed here to do school work...she is working full time and going to college full time, so she is very busy.
Target, same: lovely Christmas decorations that I do not need.
Home, ah, I was glad I put chicken in the crockpot. It was marinated in lime juice and cilantro, and oh how good it smelled when we walked in! We had fajitas again, chopped tomatoes, green peppers, fresh cilantro, cheese and sour cream, black olives, ect.
It's snowing out right now, it looks so festive and lovely, the flakes floating down so gracefully.
I've been doing a bit of online shopping, getting a head start on Christmas. At church, the youth aged kids choose names for children, and my kids have all aged out of being the children, ha, but they all chose names yesterday to buy gifts for Christmas. We're having a nice Christmas feast/celebration/concert on the 22nd of December, now we have some children to buy gifts for, in addition to the grandchildren. We also do a Secret Santa in our family, so I have to help (and pay for!) Sonja, Jon, Char, Cam, get their gifts. Then I get things for the kids still at home, then just a little something for the older ones...then something for Paul, and for our friends at church, usually a little something for each family, like a nice candle or an ornament, or some chocolates or mints. It's a lot, and this year I'll be gone from Thanksgiving day until the 14th of December, in Oregon, with Kathryn and Darius, and that wee newborn that's coming! So I have to do things in advance, that's why I'm starting early.
Anyway, I have enough to keep me busy, don't I?
2 comments:
What an awesome mom you are!
I always thought I would be soooo very sad when my children grew, but I love the relationships we have now!
And it helps that I still have a little one! My baby is turning 10 tomorrow. : )
Lovely pictures of some lovely ladies.
Your lime chicken sounds delicious.
Have a cozy week!
I keep seeing all of the really pretty Christmas items in the store and am trying to resist buying them. We don't need anything new at the moment but I do love all the black and red plaid things that seem to be trending this year. But, next year there will be something else so it's just as well.
I guess necessity demands that you start shopping early - that's quite a list of people to buy for! I guess I should quit complaining!
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