I don't know if any of my kids read my blog, so I can't exactly list all the things I got them for Christmas on here, now can I?
Every year, I want to get each and every one of my kids something that makes their jaws drop.
And obviously, that's not gonna happen.
Maybe their friends at school get Airpods and laptops and brand spankin' new iPhones. But these guys here, they do have each other, and we go on lots of trips, and we eat good meals. See how I'm consoling myself here? I know in my heart they don't need to be spoiled with expensive things to feel loved, but I sill would love to spoil them with expensive things.
Even though I KNOW that when you have less, you appreciate things more.
At this time in their lives, I could be out working, and we'd have money for extras. But I am so very very thankful that I CAN still be at home, to be here for them. I know you can't put a price on that care and attention that I work so hard to have for them. In that way, I spoil them, but they don't even realize it, for the most part.
Yesterday, Kathryn's fiance came here, and I did get up and clean up the house before Kathryn brought him back here from the airport...a fact which Lydia came out with as soon as he walked in the door. Yes, she did. "Gramma cleaned the house for Darius!" It was funny because our house is not spotless even after it's cleaned. But here's the thing: I got up and got busy, determined to vacuum the floors, you know, get the edges and the throw rugs, even though we sweep every day...but the vacuum cleaner was clogged. We do not have good luck with vacuum cleaners here at our house. This one was clogged up good. I had to take pieces apart, and when I finally dislodged the giant chunk of dusty hair, probably stopped up with a Q-tip or a broken pencil or a bobby pin, there was dust everywhere....I had more clean up than ever, I was hot and sweaty, and the minutes were ticking by...I turned the vacuum cleaner on, and there's still something stuck somewhere else, because this is just not cleaning up this mess. I had to wave my white flag and sweep.
Anyway, when Lydia took her nap yesterday, I went out all by my lonesome to get a few things from the store.
This fine morning, the house is still Saturday morning quiet. Paul and Jonathan are out hunting. The rest of the kids are sleeping. Wulf is coming over to spend the night, his mama and daddy are going away for their anniversary. Wulf's puppy dog, Bunny, is also coming to spend the night. :)
I am hoping to do something fun with my younger girls today. We have had young children here for a few weeks straight, and while that's a blessing in it's own way, it's also nice to focus on my own girls for a bit too.
We have had the nicest Christmas season here in New York state. The snow keeps coming, just small amounts to decorate the tree branches and keep things bright and fresh. The house has a whole different lighting when it's snowy outside.
Yesterday, Kathryn and Jonathan had a bake-off, they are Great British Baking Show nerds. One made peanut butter cookies, one made oatmeal chocolate chip, but accidentally put DOUBLE the butter in....so they are buttery and crispy, I only broke off the tiniest bit for a taste, oh heavenly yummers, it was hard to walk in from the store to that aroma, and the plethora of cookies on so many platters...I just wanted to throw in the diet towel and eat a stack.
For dinner, I made chicken wings, mostly Buffalo (hot sauce with butter), but some barbecue. I heated up some leftover rice, and we had a spaghetti squash. I really like spaghetti squash, mmm.
Darius and Kathryn went to Ben and Ashley's for dinner, Jon went somewhere with his friends, so it was only Paul and I and five of our daughters here after Mali picked Lydia up.
Can you believe that Christmas is in 17 days? SEVENTEEN DAYS. I had better get moving, ha. I have wrapped most of what I have bought, but I am not done shopping yet. It's hard to fit it in, I have small children here during the day, and it gets dark out early, and it's snowy sometimes...I'll write these things down on a card and wrap it up and give it to those who I haven't gotten any thing for yet.
There's also a wedding this coming Wednesday! I had better get my head in the game about that! I should get my recipes out and make sure I have everything for the cuppykcakes! I certainly should make them a day ahead of time, too, to make sure if anything goes wrong I have time to fix it. I don't know what we're wearing yet or anything...but it's going to be lovely. I am very happy for Mali and Josh. He's a gem, just one of those people you just like from the start. She said she just "knew" he was the one when she first met him.
Tomorrow we're having a birthday celebration for Abigail! She's my second oldest, turning...32. Wow. I'm 53, so I was 21 when she was born. I didn't know ANYTHING. What a blessing Abigail has been though. She's such a good girl. We're having the party at Ben and Ashley's house. I almost forgot that I have to remember to bring/make food for that too, glad I am sitting here writing and remembering things!
Every day is a gift. Today, I am going to be thankful. Today, things won't go my way. I will give and I will sacrifice, and no one will appreciate it, but I do my work for the Lord, He is the one who rewards. He sees my heart.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Friday, December 7, 2018
oh ya better watch out, you better not cry...
The most wonderful time of the year...time to wash the couch covers, just in time for Sunny to come in with a bloody paw. That girl can stain ten things in ten seconds! She hesitated on the rug in front of my chair, jumped on the couch, hopped up on the back, then ran down and plopped down on a different spot, leaving bloody paw prints...all across the floors too.
It wasn't serious, she probably stepped on ice or a stick or something. Char and I wrapped it up, and taped three socks on her, then put the cone of shame on so she couldn't bite the socks off. She looked pathetically sad, but then, so was I, what a mess. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't pouring blood...just a bit, enough.
We took off all the bandages a few hours later no more bleeding.
Trouble? Us?
Lydia has been here every day, and she spends the night on Thursday. She keeps me company. Yesterday we painted a wooden box so she can wrap it and give it to her mama. We played playdough last night. She is a color mixer. I saw her huge flat four-colors-smushed-together creation, and she covered it with both hands and said, "Don't look at it, Gramma." So I told her it's okay to mix the colors. Char and Cam don't like it, but hey, they don't really play with it anymore anyway.
I made her the snowman, he ended up smushed into her creation.
Little kids do bring life into the house.
Cats...why oh why do I love them and hate them at the same time? Orange Guy: In and out all day, and he meows so loud. He sauntered toward the door as Suri and Sunny came back in this morning, but then stopped and hesitated, as if it's only fun if all the cold air comes in while he decides. Sometimes my foot gives him a gentle nudge in the right direction. The old mama cat is a touchy old girl, she likes to hiss at her now grown son, and I trust her not at all with small children. She doesn't attack, but she does defend. And she perceives a cute pudgy hand headed in to pet her as a threat, so...she claws.
Anyway. Today, Kathryn's fiance is arriving from Oregon, to stay with Margaret and Adrian for a few days and visit Kathryn, and us. You would think I'd be cleaning the house, but nah, I'll just sit here until the last possible minute, then go nuts.
Yesterday afternoon, Paul and I went to calling hours for our neighbor. It's very sad, he was my age, died of bone cancer. He owned the collision shop up on the main road, and he did beautiful work on our minivan, helped us out with the doors on our big van way back when, and was overall a really good neighbor. He called me every single year at the start of rifle hunting season to remind me to keep my kids out of the woods. Paul didn't hunt back then, while the kids were growing up, so I wasn't aware of when it started, so it was a very welcome call. He called me about a week before he died and asked very nicely if Jonny could stay off the four-wheeler for a while, so as not to scare the deer away...he said he was at the end of his life, and calling in his favors. I toldhim I've been praying for him, and hoped he got a huge buck.
I'm not sure if he did or not, but I did hear some gunshots from that direction, and hoped he didn't miss.
Life is short, and sometimes very sad.
It's niggling at me that I should be up and cleaning this house. It's getting old, cleaning all the time, but with the comings and goings around here, it gets messy, the floors need daily sweeping and mopping. I mean, I did it YESTERDAY! We have the dogs sit down when they come in the door, and wipe their paws...which was a real hulabaloo yesterday when we saw the blood on Sunny, and she sensed our freaking out and ran all around like crazy. Anyway. We try, some of us more than others, and most of it falls on me, but when I think about complaining about it, I have this vision in my head of...me, old, parked in a wheelchair, wishing I could whisk around the house with a broom in one hand and a washcloth in the other.
Did you know that I have a lot of trouble staying on task? Oh yes, I do. I stand there washing up the dishes, then decide to check the living room for stray mugs, and maybe find a plate with orange peels on it, I scrape that, and decide to wash the garbage can top...then, wow, there's coffee on the floor, but I better sweep first! Oh, here's a sock, I'll just put that in...oh dear, the washer has wet clothes in it, I'll put them in the dryer, oh no, who left stuff in the dryer? Okay, I'll fold it quick, so I can put this stuff in the dryer, and then Lydia needs to show me how she fixed her dolls hair, and someone texts me, and the dogs are barking outside, and the water is still running, and oh goodness, was I washing dishes?
This has gotten much better since I am no longer up to my elbows in small children and nursing infants, but it's still my normal. Go ahead, ask me where something is, and the whole train derails.
It's partly why I sit here procrastinating, because I know when I get up and start cleaning, I'll be going in circles and won't be able to get it all done, there's so much to do.
I also need to make a meal plan for the weekend. We stopped in Aldi last night for butter, half and half, and a few other things, but what will I make for dinner tonight? Last night's dinner was marinated boneless chicken thighs, browned in olive oil, rice, and green beans.
I have to make lists...
Yesterday I did accomplish some good things, staying home all day. We gathered and wrapped/tagged the gifts for our friends at church, like nineteen gifts. I still need a few more, but it's nice to have that mostly done. I also decided on a good gift for one of my girls, and need like several days to go out and about and wander through the stores, but they're zoos from here on out, so blah. Online shopping, I guess.
I was thinking of doing something fun with the kids today, but I don't know. It's snowing and snowing here, not accumulating tons, but covering the muddy yard and brightening up the house. The flurries blowing in the breeze ARE beautiful, and it seems just so Christmas-y!
I had a really really bad dream last night. I dreamed that Adolph Hitler himself came to our house. He was touchy and easily irritated and extremely powerful, with no tolerance for mess or disorganization. Ben whispered to me that if anyone, adult or child, annoyed him, he sent them directly to a gas chamber. This was not a good place for someone easily annoyed, our crazy house. I spent the whole dream trying to get the kids to be neat and polite and quiet. I sneaked around hiding piles of clutter, and sheparding clusters of children to seek less offending activies, glaring at teenagers who slouched, slurped, or carelessly dropped their dirty socks on the floor. It seems funny now, but it was HORRIBLE. Then one of the kids came to me with some of this terrible man's important papers, which a small child had crumpled up. We were doomed. Then I woke up.
It made no sense. But when he strode through our house, looking and inspecting, and my family just wouldn't snap to it, I was terrified. It felt real. It reminded me of being little...my dad had a temper, he didn't hit us, but sometimes he yelled and I hated it. So I walked on pins, needles, and eggshells around my dad. My younger brother didn't get that memo, and would shriek, protest loudly, or have a fit if he felt like it, and my dad just hated it. I tried so hard to project it to my brother that he needed to be good, but he didn't even care.
Anyway...it was only a dream, and I'm awake now, and I can see how it reflects real life...ha. Off I go to clean this house...and play with Lydia:)
It wasn't serious, she probably stepped on ice or a stick or something. Char and I wrapped it up, and taped three socks on her, then put the cone of shame on so she couldn't bite the socks off. She looked pathetically sad, but then, so was I, what a mess. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't pouring blood...just a bit, enough.
We took off all the bandages a few hours later no more bleeding.
Trouble? Us?
Lydia has been here every day, and she spends the night on Thursday. She keeps me company. Yesterday we painted a wooden box so she can wrap it and give it to her mama. We played playdough last night. She is a color mixer. I saw her huge flat four-colors-smushed-together creation, and she covered it with both hands and said, "Don't look at it, Gramma." So I told her it's okay to mix the colors. Char and Cam don't like it, but hey, they don't really play with it anymore anyway.
I made her the snowman, he ended up smushed into her creation.
Little kids do bring life into the house.
Cats...why oh why do I love them and hate them at the same time? Orange Guy: In and out all day, and he meows so loud. He sauntered toward the door as Suri and Sunny came back in this morning, but then stopped and hesitated, as if it's only fun if all the cold air comes in while he decides. Sometimes my foot gives him a gentle nudge in the right direction. The old mama cat is a touchy old girl, she likes to hiss at her now grown son, and I trust her not at all with small children. She doesn't attack, but she does defend. And she perceives a cute pudgy hand headed in to pet her as a threat, so...she claws.
Anyway. Today, Kathryn's fiance is arriving from Oregon, to stay with Margaret and Adrian for a few days and visit Kathryn, and us. You would think I'd be cleaning the house, but nah, I'll just sit here until the last possible minute, then go nuts.
Yesterday afternoon, Paul and I went to calling hours for our neighbor. It's very sad, he was my age, died of bone cancer. He owned the collision shop up on the main road, and he did beautiful work on our minivan, helped us out with the doors on our big van way back when, and was overall a really good neighbor. He called me every single year at the start of rifle hunting season to remind me to keep my kids out of the woods. Paul didn't hunt back then, while the kids were growing up, so I wasn't aware of when it started, so it was a very welcome call. He called me about a week before he died and asked very nicely if Jonny could stay off the four-wheeler for a while, so as not to scare the deer away...he said he was at the end of his life, and calling in his favors. I toldhim I've been praying for him, and hoped he got a huge buck.
I'm not sure if he did or not, but I did hear some gunshots from that direction, and hoped he didn't miss.
Life is short, and sometimes very sad.
It's niggling at me that I should be up and cleaning this house. It's getting old, cleaning all the time, but with the comings and goings around here, it gets messy, the floors need daily sweeping and mopping. I mean, I did it YESTERDAY! We have the dogs sit down when they come in the door, and wipe their paws...which was a real hulabaloo yesterday when we saw the blood on Sunny, and she sensed our freaking out and ran all around like crazy. Anyway. We try, some of us more than others, and most of it falls on me, but when I think about complaining about it, I have this vision in my head of...me, old, parked in a wheelchair, wishing I could whisk around the house with a broom in one hand and a washcloth in the other.
Did you know that I have a lot of trouble staying on task? Oh yes, I do. I stand there washing up the dishes, then decide to check the living room for stray mugs, and maybe find a plate with orange peels on it, I scrape that, and decide to wash the garbage can top...then, wow, there's coffee on the floor, but I better sweep first! Oh, here's a sock, I'll just put that in...oh dear, the washer has wet clothes in it, I'll put them in the dryer, oh no, who left stuff in the dryer? Okay, I'll fold it quick, so I can put this stuff in the dryer, and then Lydia needs to show me how she fixed her dolls hair, and someone texts me, and the dogs are barking outside, and the water is still running, and oh goodness, was I washing dishes?
This has gotten much better since I am no longer up to my elbows in small children and nursing infants, but it's still my normal. Go ahead, ask me where something is, and the whole train derails.
It's partly why I sit here procrastinating, because I know when I get up and start cleaning, I'll be going in circles and won't be able to get it all done, there's so much to do.
I also need to make a meal plan for the weekend. We stopped in Aldi last night for butter, half and half, and a few other things, but what will I make for dinner tonight? Last night's dinner was marinated boneless chicken thighs, browned in olive oil, rice, and green beans.
I have to make lists...
Yesterday I did accomplish some good things, staying home all day. We gathered and wrapped/tagged the gifts for our friends at church, like nineteen gifts. I still need a few more, but it's nice to have that mostly done. I also decided on a good gift for one of my girls, and need like several days to go out and about and wander through the stores, but they're zoos from here on out, so blah. Online shopping, I guess.
I was thinking of doing something fun with the kids today, but I don't know. It's snowing and snowing here, not accumulating tons, but covering the muddy yard and brightening up the house. The flurries blowing in the breeze ARE beautiful, and it seems just so Christmas-y!
I had a really really bad dream last night. I dreamed that Adolph Hitler himself came to our house. He was touchy and easily irritated and extremely powerful, with no tolerance for mess or disorganization. Ben whispered to me that if anyone, adult or child, annoyed him, he sent them directly to a gas chamber. This was not a good place for someone easily annoyed, our crazy house. I spent the whole dream trying to get the kids to be neat and polite and quiet. I sneaked around hiding piles of clutter, and sheparding clusters of children to seek less offending activies, glaring at teenagers who slouched, slurped, or carelessly dropped their dirty socks on the floor. It seems funny now, but it was HORRIBLE. Then one of the kids came to me with some of this terrible man's important papers, which a small child had crumpled up. We were doomed. Then I woke up.
It made no sense. But when he strode through our house, looking and inspecting, and my family just wouldn't snap to it, I was terrified. It felt real. It reminded me of being little...my dad had a temper, he didn't hit us, but sometimes he yelled and I hated it. So I walked on pins, needles, and eggshells around my dad. My younger brother didn't get that memo, and would shriek, protest loudly, or have a fit if he felt like it, and my dad just hated it. I tried so hard to project it to my brother that he needed to be good, but he didn't even care.
Anyway...it was only a dream, and I'm awake now, and I can see how it reflects real life...ha. Off I go to clean this house...and play with Lydia:)
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
making a list....checking it twice...
I still have blanks next to names on my Christmas list. My daughter is getting married one week from today. I need to make sure I have the ingredients for really good homemade cupcakes, I'm thinking some chocolate and some vanilla, with white buttercream frosting with those clear sparkly sprinkles, maybe some with silver bows.
The dress I wore to a few weddings was a bit tight the last time I tried it on, I am procrastinating trying it on, so not sure what I'm wearing yet.
I don't know what the the little girls will be wearing.
Tonight there's a wedding meeting at Ben and Ashley's house.
Today, Anne is coming over, Lydia is here, nestled in my arms watching, "Martha Speaks", all snuggled up in her blankie.
Yesterday, we went out and about a bit, got Jonathan's secret Santa present, and some groceries. Lydia fell asleep in the car seat on the way home, but still took a little nap in Sonja's bed. She is such a good girl. She helped me wrap some presents yesterday and put them under the tree.
Dinner: I cut up a whole package of chicken breasts (5 or 6 pounds), cooked in olive oil with salt and pepper, then added some orange ginger sauce...made some rice, stir fried broccoli with red, yellow, green peppers, and mmm, dinner. I only had a tablespoon of rice, but lots of veggies and chicken.
Does it baffle anyone that we actually have sixteen kids? Sometimes it still shocks me. I have a fear of overlooking someone, slighting someone, and it's amplified at Christmas. I need to check that list of mine, and make sure there's at least one or two things for each of them on there...it's so weird, to love each of them with my whole entire heart, no matter how old they are, no matter what choices they make in life...sometimes they make these decisions that I don't agree with...and I feel almost helpless, like they're running toward a cliff they think will make them happy, yet I know it won't. Then I think of God, and how it must be for Him...giving people freedom to choose, yet willing, wanting, us to choose the good, and I picture Jesus jumping up and down in heaven when we humble ourselves...as a mom, I want the best for my kids, but I cannot live their lives. I can only continue to seek peace in my own life, and continue to love my kids as they figure things out.
It's my inclination to be hard and stubborn and harsh when I disapprove of something. But Jesus was meek and lowly of heart, and has said, "Follow me."
So life is a real learning process, and I have great confidence that God won't leave me in the dust when I don't know how to handle issue, He gives wisdom to those who ask, and who diligently seek Him.
If you read this blog, and think that I have such a good life, it's true! I do! But not because everything goes my way!
Ah well, little Anne will be here soon, and the squabbles will begin. Anne and Lydia, ages 2 and 3, love each other, but often love the same toys at the same time, too. And Lyd gets jealous when Anne gets snuggles, which works in my favor, because it makes lyd more cuddly. I am learning not to expect to get anything done around the house when I have both little girls, and to be very creative in getting school done...it's challenging, but then life isn't supposed to be easy, right?
The dress I wore to a few weddings was a bit tight the last time I tried it on, I am procrastinating trying it on, so not sure what I'm wearing yet.
I don't know what the the little girls will be wearing.
Tonight there's a wedding meeting at Ben and Ashley's house.
Today, Anne is coming over, Lydia is here, nestled in my arms watching, "Martha Speaks", all snuggled up in her blankie.
Yesterday, we went out and about a bit, got Jonathan's secret Santa present, and some groceries. Lydia fell asleep in the car seat on the way home, but still took a little nap in Sonja's bed. She is such a good girl. She helped me wrap some presents yesterday and put them under the tree.
Dinner: I cut up a whole package of chicken breasts (5 or 6 pounds), cooked in olive oil with salt and pepper, then added some orange ginger sauce...made some rice, stir fried broccoli with red, yellow, green peppers, and mmm, dinner. I only had a tablespoon of rice, but lots of veggies and chicken.
Does it baffle anyone that we actually have sixteen kids? Sometimes it still shocks me. I have a fear of overlooking someone, slighting someone, and it's amplified at Christmas. I need to check that list of mine, and make sure there's at least one or two things for each of them on there...it's so weird, to love each of them with my whole entire heart, no matter how old they are, no matter what choices they make in life...sometimes they make these decisions that I don't agree with...and I feel almost helpless, like they're running toward a cliff they think will make them happy, yet I know it won't. Then I think of God, and how it must be for Him...giving people freedom to choose, yet willing, wanting, us to choose the good, and I picture Jesus jumping up and down in heaven when we humble ourselves...as a mom, I want the best for my kids, but I cannot live their lives. I can only continue to seek peace in my own life, and continue to love my kids as they figure things out.
It's my inclination to be hard and stubborn and harsh when I disapprove of something. But Jesus was meek and lowly of heart, and has said, "Follow me."
So life is a real learning process, and I have great confidence that God won't leave me in the dust when I don't know how to handle issue, He gives wisdom to those who ask, and who diligently seek Him.
If you read this blog, and think that I have such a good life, it's true! I do! But not because everything goes my way!
Ah well, little Anne will be here soon, and the squabbles will begin. Anne and Lydia, ages 2 and 3, love each other, but often love the same toys at the same time, too. And Lyd gets jealous when Anne gets snuggles, which works in my favor, because it makes lyd more cuddly. I am learning not to expect to get anything done around the house when I have both little girls, and to be very creative in getting school done...it's challenging, but then life isn't supposed to be easy, right?
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
tis the season...
To find the fine line between overspending, and getting nice things for everyone. For baking lovely cookies without eating any. For keeping secrets, and finding time to do it all, yet enjoy the family. It's the seasons for moms everywhere to feel overextended and undervalued...secret Santa gifts for this party and that party, a dessert for this, and a dish for that. I keep thinking of the verses about love, and if you don't have it, you are just a clanging cymbal. You can have all your ducks in a row, but be so irritated, maybe even harbor grudges, or have terrible thoughts against someone. Or you can just plain be stressed out.
Being stressed out is something I can really relate to. See, I am a YES person. Of course I'll help you! Yes, you can drop off your kids here! Yes, yes, yes! Because that is my heart, my longing, to be good. I see the more and more I find how selfish I really am here inside, the more room I have to do things for other people, and the happier I am. Being stressed out is more a result of the thoughts I have when I am super busy and pulled in lots of directions, I think. But honestly, sometimes it's okay to say no, to have some down time, to reflect and relax.
The house is just twinkling.
The tree drama, oh dear. I kept thinking about the tree in the cracked base, drying out, forming a sap seal on the bottom and dying before Christmas. Paul and I agreed not to mess with it Sunday when we had so much company, over 20 here for dinner, so last evening it was time to figure something out. The tree is huge, he already cut off the top and the bottom, to fit it in the house. The star was on, it was touching the ceiling...but it was leaking, and we had to figure out how to get it out of the base without dragging it outside so we had more height. I thought to find something huge, like a corrugated metal beverage bin, to just set it in...but Paul thought differently...he used a small metal pail, put it on the bottom of the tree and put the tree back into the broken stand, so it can hold a small bit of water. Of course the whole tree tipped over in the process, messing things up majorly, but it's "fixed", and we can give it small amounts of water at a time.
Paul knows better than to ask me if we should just get a fake tree, ha.
One year, when we were knee deep in small children and babies, he drove away with two of the lucky kids who got to go in his little red truck with him, to cut down a tree. He came back in a bit, had forgotten his wallet. He drove all the way back to the tree place, and oops, he had forgotten his saw. This was before cell phones, and he came home the second time for the saw, and said he was just going to the store and getting an artificial one...NO, please, no! So off he went, and cut down a tree.
Our tree...
Kitty, Sunny, and Lydia with her Rapunzel Barbie, this fine morning. She is trying to brush this doll's hair. I am going to help her, but she likes doing it:)
Yesterday we stayed home. Anne was here, it was a quiet-ish day. I made molasses cookies with Paul's grandmother's recipe. The kids are crazy about them, and Anne liked them too. I didn't eat one, just had a few small tastes. I have very little self control when it concerns all things spicy, like cinnamon-y, molasses, pumpkin, ect. So it was hard to make them, they made the house smell just heavenly.
In one week from tomorrow, Mali is getting married. I am making the cupcakes, and some meatballs. Margaret and Emily are doing other food (Buffalo and barbecued chicken bites, cheese and crackers, grapes...), and Josh's mom is making some things too. It's going to be a very simple wedding, but we want to make it as nice as possible.
Perhaps that's why I am feeling a tiny bit stressed, ha, a wedding in the middle of the Christmas season. It's also Abigail's 32nd birthday next week, we're having a celebration on Sunday. And Aaron and Margaret both have birthdays in December. The Christmas feast at church is coming up, and it's going to be a good one. On Friday night before it, we'll have a cookie bake where everyone brings a different dough, and we bake it all (there's a huge convection oven in the kitchen there). We'll have hundreds of cookies, to serve for dessert at the celebration, and hopefully lots to bring home too.
I am buying the food (around 90 people), and helping to prepare it...ham, roasted squash and root veggies, baked russet potatoes with sour cream and butter, apple sauce with apple slices, green beans with almonds, and rolls.
So there's a lot to keep me busy.
Today, we might go out to the library. It snowed again last night, and it's just beautiful out there, the branches looking all Narnia-like.
Being stressed out is something I can really relate to. See, I am a YES person. Of course I'll help you! Yes, you can drop off your kids here! Yes, yes, yes! Because that is my heart, my longing, to be good. I see the more and more I find how selfish I really am here inside, the more room I have to do things for other people, and the happier I am. Being stressed out is more a result of the thoughts I have when I am super busy and pulled in lots of directions, I think. But honestly, sometimes it's okay to say no, to have some down time, to reflect and relax.
The house is just twinkling.
The tree drama, oh dear. I kept thinking about the tree in the cracked base, drying out, forming a sap seal on the bottom and dying before Christmas. Paul and I agreed not to mess with it Sunday when we had so much company, over 20 here for dinner, so last evening it was time to figure something out. The tree is huge, he already cut off the top and the bottom, to fit it in the house. The star was on, it was touching the ceiling...but it was leaking, and we had to figure out how to get it out of the base without dragging it outside so we had more height. I thought to find something huge, like a corrugated metal beverage bin, to just set it in...but Paul thought differently...he used a small metal pail, put it on the bottom of the tree and put the tree back into the broken stand, so it can hold a small bit of water. Of course the whole tree tipped over in the process, messing things up majorly, but it's "fixed", and we can give it small amounts of water at a time.
Paul knows better than to ask me if we should just get a fake tree, ha.
One year, when we were knee deep in small children and babies, he drove away with two of the lucky kids who got to go in his little red truck with him, to cut down a tree. He came back in a bit, had forgotten his wallet. He drove all the way back to the tree place, and oops, he had forgotten his saw. This was before cell phones, and he came home the second time for the saw, and said he was just going to the store and getting an artificial one...NO, please, no! So off he went, and cut down a tree.
Our tree...
Kitty, Sunny, and Lydia with her Rapunzel Barbie, this fine morning. She is trying to brush this doll's hair. I am going to help her, but she likes doing it:)
Yesterday we stayed home. Anne was here, it was a quiet-ish day. I made molasses cookies with Paul's grandmother's recipe. The kids are crazy about them, and Anne liked them too. I didn't eat one, just had a few small tastes. I have very little self control when it concerns all things spicy, like cinnamon-y, molasses, pumpkin, ect. So it was hard to make them, they made the house smell just heavenly.
In one week from tomorrow, Mali is getting married. I am making the cupcakes, and some meatballs. Margaret and Emily are doing other food (Buffalo and barbecued chicken bites, cheese and crackers, grapes...), and Josh's mom is making some things too. It's going to be a very simple wedding, but we want to make it as nice as possible.
Perhaps that's why I am feeling a tiny bit stressed, ha, a wedding in the middle of the Christmas season. It's also Abigail's 32nd birthday next week, we're having a celebration on Sunday. And Aaron and Margaret both have birthdays in December. The Christmas feast at church is coming up, and it's going to be a good one. On Friday night before it, we'll have a cookie bake where everyone brings a different dough, and we bake it all (there's a huge convection oven in the kitchen there). We'll have hundreds of cookies, to serve for dessert at the celebration, and hopefully lots to bring home too.
I am buying the food (around 90 people), and helping to prepare it...ham, roasted squash and root veggies, baked russet potatoes with sour cream and butter, apple sauce with apple slices, green beans with almonds, and rolls.
So there's a lot to keep me busy.
Today, we might go out to the library. It snowed again last night, and it's just beautiful out there, the branches looking all Narnia-like.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
anyone else very merry?
So this is the tree Paul came home with, he took Miss Char and Miss Cam, and twenty dollars later, wow. It needs a few trims still, and a few more ornaments. Charlotte Claire was the boss of decorating, she had a vision. The other girls weren't home, as there was a basketball game at the college (fundraising).
Paul and I had a mostly quiet evening here with the little girls, and also with Lydia who came to spend the night. Wulf was here too, and he liked that Christmas tree!!!
Today we're having a family dinner here, after church. Suzanne and Sonja are going to their cousin Grace's birthday, and Jonathan is in Ottowa this weekend playing hockey. It seems like there are less people here to help get ready for these events, yet more tan ever to attend them, ha. I am making a ham dinner, with roasted sweet potatoes and red skinned potatoes, applesauce (I buy the no-sugar-added jars of it, then add lots of cut up apples, a bit of sugar and cinnamon on the top, and bake it. We're also having broccoli and rolls. I made cut-out cookies on Friday, so have lots of them to frost, when will I do that? Hmm, if I wasn't sitting here blogging, ha.
The bins of decorations are still sitting here and there are piles of things stacked in places they shouldn't be. The floors need sweeping and mopping, but the dishes are mostly done and the counters clean. I am NOT going to let stress about getting things done ruin my day, or my life.
Grumpy and miserable: I could be both, but I choose neither. I am actually both by nature, but I choose to believe that God has caused all things to work together for my good, and I am not a slave to sin. I refuse to waste my days complaining.
And it's not smooth sailing. There's more to do than I can shake a stick at, and I'm no spring chicken. I have a knee with issues, and it's my good knee. My sinuses are backed up, I'm dizzy and have a headache. There are crawling babies coming over today, and the floors need to be babyproofed. The Christmas tree holder thingy broke with a loud crack last night, but we didn't know exactly what the noise was, we thought it was just the tree settling in, but oh no, there is water all over the floor under the tree. I need to pick up the cute fleece blankets I sacrificed for a tree skirt, and wash them, and mop up all that water. We now need to get a new tree stand and somehow transfer this already lighted and decorated tree into it, or perhaps we'll call the Grinch and ask him to help us undecorate it.
In any case, I am not happy because all things are going my way, zippity do dah. I am happy IN SPITE OF things NOT going my way. Because life is short, and God is good.
Friday, November 30, 2018
november, where in the heck did you go?!!!
It seems that just when I get used to a month, it's on it's way out. It goes from being way too early to think about Christmas to OH NO, I better get going on this thing, in no time flat. 24 days. That's almost tomorrow. Yes, from having all the time in the world to oops, I better get shopping, planning, wrapping...
I have shopped, and I have wrapped. But in my red notebook next to my chair, next to my list of names, some have...nothing written..yet. Oh, and I do this thing where I write things really code-like, abbreviating or giving the item a nickname that only I would understand...then I scan the list a few days later and have absolutely NO IDEA WHAT I MEANT.
I do not believe in fairness. How could I? That would be madness! I mean, if I picked up a cute pair of socks for Sonja on a random Monday in March, would I have to give the fifteen other kids a cute pair of socks too? Same goes for the last cupcake, or the extra slice...yes, you can cut it and share it, but you can't mangle a cupcake into a dozen chunks. So it's not going to be fair, in a big family. So I don't stress about having the same amount of gifts, but still, I have to be careful. A teenage girl has enough angst in her life without thinking mama doesn't love her as much as her sister because she only got two things. Some kids are just easier to buy for, and each year it seems there's a kid who gets more. Of course the three youngest will get more, but the older ones still are enchanted by Christmas, and I want to make it as nice as I can for them. But not too nice, ha.
It IS more about being together, it really is. But I have always felt that since I do happen to have so many kids, I want them to know they're individually special. When they were little, yes, there were a hundred Barbies in the house, but that didn't mean that each little girl didn't deserve her own brand new one on Christmas.
Tonight, there's a family dinner here, homemade pot pie. I haven't made it yet, I hope I have all the ingredients. but rolled out butter crust, with hot bubbly chicken, potatoes, carrots...mmmm. Dessert, maybe some brownies.
Sunday everyone is coming over for dinner too, I have a nice spiral sliced brown sugar ham. I'll roast some red potatoes and sweet potatoes, and maybe make some green beans. And rolls. (Suri and Sunny got the brown and serve rolls from the counter last night, bad dogs!)
Lydia spent the night last night. I told Mali that she could do that on Thursdays, so she is only getting her out of bed and bringing her here so early, four days a week. She is still sleeping!
Today, I plan to stay home. Yesterday I took two trips to the small city, for doctor appointments for two different kids. I went to the craft store on the first trip, and to Walmart on the second. I found too many good things in Walmart:), but got a few good Christmas gifts to put on my list.
A day at home, while the snow falls gently, and the fake fireplace hums, the dogs snoring on the couch, a second cup of coffee steams in my hand...what could be better?
I have shopped, and I have wrapped. But in my red notebook next to my chair, next to my list of names, some have...nothing written..yet. Oh, and I do this thing where I write things really code-like, abbreviating or giving the item a nickname that only I would understand...then I scan the list a few days later and have absolutely NO IDEA WHAT I MEANT.
I do not believe in fairness. How could I? That would be madness! I mean, if I picked up a cute pair of socks for Sonja on a random Monday in March, would I have to give the fifteen other kids a cute pair of socks too? Same goes for the last cupcake, or the extra slice...yes, you can cut it and share it, but you can't mangle a cupcake into a dozen chunks. So it's not going to be fair, in a big family. So I don't stress about having the same amount of gifts, but still, I have to be careful. A teenage girl has enough angst in her life without thinking mama doesn't love her as much as her sister because she only got two things. Some kids are just easier to buy for, and each year it seems there's a kid who gets more. Of course the three youngest will get more, but the older ones still are enchanted by Christmas, and I want to make it as nice as I can for them. But not too nice, ha.
It IS more about being together, it really is. But I have always felt that since I do happen to have so many kids, I want them to know they're individually special. When they were little, yes, there were a hundred Barbies in the house, but that didn't mean that each little girl didn't deserve her own brand new one on Christmas.
Tonight, there's a family dinner here, homemade pot pie. I haven't made it yet, I hope I have all the ingredients. but rolled out butter crust, with hot bubbly chicken, potatoes, carrots...mmmm. Dessert, maybe some brownies.
Sunday everyone is coming over for dinner too, I have a nice spiral sliced brown sugar ham. I'll roast some red potatoes and sweet potatoes, and maybe make some green beans. And rolls. (Suri and Sunny got the brown and serve rolls from the counter last night, bad dogs!)
Lydia spent the night last night. I told Mali that she could do that on Thursdays, so she is only getting her out of bed and bringing her here so early, four days a week. She is still sleeping!
Today, I plan to stay home. Yesterday I took two trips to the small city, for doctor appointments for two different kids. I went to the craft store on the first trip, and to Walmart on the second. I found too many good things in Walmart:), but got a few good Christmas gifts to put on my list.
A day at home, while the snow falls gently, and the fake fireplace hums, the dogs snoring on the couch, a second cup of coffee steams in my hand...what could be better?
Thursday, November 29, 2018
out and about times two...
In a small city fifteen miles away, there are things to do, and doctor's offices to go to.
Today, I get to go there twice. I cannot combine the trips, because of girls in school.
So in a little while, we'll pack up and go, then come home, and go again, as I will pick the school girls up a little early.
I hope to stop into the craft store while I'm there, because why not?
Out the door in a bit, but first, ahh, my feet up and my coffee...I bought gingerbread coffee from Aldi, and the magic formula is two scoops of regular coffee, and a half scoop of the gingerbread, in the pour-over. mmm, just flavored slightly but not overwhelming.
It helps that I have heavy cream in it this morning.
In other news, I am finally back to my pre-thanksgiving weight, so down a bit over five pounds. In order to lose weight, I really have to cut back, basically to two meals a day. Like eggs at noon, then dinner, meat with veggies and no carbs. Sometimes a spoonful of peanut butter as brekky or a snack. Then nothing in the evening. It's hard, but after a bit it becomes mostly habit and I feel so much better. I take my vitamin D, magnesium, and fish oil, too.
Anyway, last night I had one square of Trader Joe's Belgium chocolate. It was good, but nowhere near what Norwegian chocolate tastes like, or Swiss. It was super sweet, and almost chalky, but I still could have wolfed half the 17 ounce bar down if I wanted to. And shh, I did want to, but I had one square. It would be good with crunchy peanut butter, but I'll just stick to the peanut butter.
Does anyone else wait until the last minute to get ready to go somewhere, then run around like mad so they're not late?
Also, does anyone else love the childrens' show, "Martha Speaks"? It's so cute. (Lydia is watching it. We don't really do any television during the day, but she gets here early, plays, and watches a few shows...then it goes off for the day.)
Ah well, off I go to wash my hair and change out of my around-the-house clothes and into bye-bye clothes. :)
Today, I get to go there twice. I cannot combine the trips, because of girls in school.
So in a little while, we'll pack up and go, then come home, and go again, as I will pick the school girls up a little early.
I hope to stop into the craft store while I'm there, because why not?
Out the door in a bit, but first, ahh, my feet up and my coffee...I bought gingerbread coffee from Aldi, and the magic formula is two scoops of regular coffee, and a half scoop of the gingerbread, in the pour-over. mmm, just flavored slightly but not overwhelming.
It helps that I have heavy cream in it this morning.
In other news, I am finally back to my pre-thanksgiving weight, so down a bit over five pounds. In order to lose weight, I really have to cut back, basically to two meals a day. Like eggs at noon, then dinner, meat with veggies and no carbs. Sometimes a spoonful of peanut butter as brekky or a snack. Then nothing in the evening. It's hard, but after a bit it becomes mostly habit and I feel so much better. I take my vitamin D, magnesium, and fish oil, too.
Anyway, last night I had one square of Trader Joe's Belgium chocolate. It was good, but nowhere near what Norwegian chocolate tastes like, or Swiss. It was super sweet, and almost chalky, but I still could have wolfed half the 17 ounce bar down if I wanted to. And shh, I did want to, but I had one square. It would be good with crunchy peanut butter, but I'll just stick to the peanut butter.
Does anyone else wait until the last minute to get ready to go somewhere, then run around like mad so they're not late?
Also, does anyone else love the childrens' show, "Martha Speaks"? It's so cute. (Lydia is watching it. We don't really do any television during the day, but she gets here early, plays, and watches a few shows...then it goes off for the day.)
Ah well, off I go to wash my hair and change out of my around-the-house clothes and into bye-bye clothes. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
