So Monday I am putting in my time at work of half a day in which nothing is actually getting done. (I didn't get to sleep the night before until 1:00am due to the fact that I was making buckeyes.) Just for grins I call the Walmart near my house to see if they restocked the elusive TV that I have been looking for for weeks. I have been to every walmart in town numerous times in the past two weeks (at least 10 visits to 4 walmarts) for a gift for my Uncle from my mom. They actually had the TV that I have been searching for. I should have let my fingers do the walking before, but it's a guy thing I guess. So I am trying to get out of work and over to the store before they sell out. Jen has also asked me to pick up a few things for her at the same time. So 12:30 at walmart on Christmas eve.. yeah it was nuts. I had to wait in a long line to check out, but was pumped that I found that frickin TV for my mom. I get home and Jen heads out the door for work. After some farting around I head out the door with the boys. We go to CVS for some tape for presents and then to Papa Murphy's to pick up Pizza. This was my attempt to keep Christmas simple so we wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up dishes at mom's house, and to keep the amount of food to a minimum. Those two little jaunts were almost half an hour. Lucky for me the boys were in a pretty good mood and had fun running around papa Murphy's while I waited for my pizza to be made. Of course they made it wrong (was supposed to be half and half) so I waited a little longer for them to correct it. We headed to mom's and the boys were having fun running around and playing with the dogs. Of course there was a ton of food even with me trying to keep it simple, but nothing that couldn't be frozen. Mom had Uncle Dave get a sheet cake and had them write "happy birthday Jesus" on it (very cute). Of course Uncle Dave gets a huge 22x18 sheet cake which no one ate since we were stuffed with everything else. We visited with mom and uncle Dave for a while. Finally around 6:30 I started putting the pizzas in the oven to bake. Dan and Rhonda showed up around 7:00. Jen didn't get there until almost 8:00 because of work even though the mall closed at 6:00. Got to love retail. Anyhow we started opening presents and of course the boys got one thing and just wanted to play with that. They didn't fully get the concept of having more (a whole bag of stuff) to open. For some reason Rhonda was in a real hurry to leave so the present opening got rushed a little bit. We sat the boys in front of us and just opened opened opened. After that everyone headed for the door. I could tell the mom and the boys were getting tired. I was attempting to clean up the kitchen before I left, but for some reason Andrew got into a fowl mood and was screaming and crying, and he only wanted me to hold him. I was trying to quickly clean the kitchen, load the car, and get the boys home with Andrew screaming. On my last trip to the car I look back at Andrew crying on the floor and then "that" cough, and puke everywhere. Son of a Bit**. So Jen and I were attempting to clean up puke on top of everything else. Finally we headed out the door and got the boys home around 10:00. Andrew was asleep in the car and William was not long in falling asleep too. Then Jen and I had to wrap presents for the boys, so we were doing that until almost midnight. Both Jen and I commented that we both felt a great calming feeling hit us after getting home. I don't know if it was just the stress of Andrew or the thought of all the other stuff going on.
Christmas morning, but boys kind of slept in (almost 8:00am) and we all headed downstairs.
The boys don't even notice the presents in their stockings and under the tree and start playing with stuff from last night. But after a little bit we tore into them too. The present of the year for the boys was a train track called Geo tracks which the boys have been playing with non stop for two days now (even without batteries). One of the bonus finds at Walmart on Christmas eve was a package of honey buns. Every year it used to be a tradition for us to get up on Christmas morning and have Mortons honey buns and orange juice, but the Morton company stopped making them and I didn't find anything to replace them, but the ones that I found were real close and very tasty. So after "present carnage II" we loaded up the Jeep and headed to the in-laws for "present carnage III". We had a very nice turkey lunch and then more opening of presents. We hung out there for most of the day and headed home around 9:00.
Wednesday I took off of work to burn off a personal day and to give me a little more of a vacation. Of course Jen had to work, but the boys spent the day playing with their toys and new Geo track. One of the things that I got from my mom was a nintendo WII. I was really close to telling her that it was too much and that she should take it back since she has alot of expenses now after her surgery. But I hooked it up and played with it a little bit, annnnndddd yeah it's not going back. It's pretty fun. Hopefully I will find the time to play with it more often. Wednesday night I spent a couple hours trying to get the web cam working so my dad and I can talk to each other on-line, but I think he had a glitch on his side somewhere so it kinda worked. My in-laws then showed up and delivered one of my presents (attic stairs) that I got the night before. So overall it was a petty good Christmas.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Kiss-moose
I am still in a cheery mood....
The weekend before Christmas and all was well. Of course the family is suffering through their sinus congestion and other maladies. The boys both got a case of pink eye, but that has been clearing up pretty well with eye drops. William woke up the other night and chucked all over his bed 4 times during the evening, but I think that was just part of the start of pink eye or the sinus drainage finally getting to him. All I can say is thank God that I can handle blood and puke since that would have made for a looooonnnggger night.
Saturday morning I finally got the chance to get the oil changed in the Saturn. I still go to the dealership to have this done since they do a pretty good job and have a nice waiting room with drinks and snacks. After the oil change I did a little "finish up" shopping at a few stores. And I was home by noon. When we put Andrew down for his nap we started rearranging furniture in the 4th bedroom for the new paint job. We are turning the room into a Lightning McQueen room for William for the great Bedroom swap. After moving furniture around, I threw together a Hoosier pie for Christmas eve. After all that we just kind of lounged in front of the tv for the rest of the afternoon watching the kids new favorite move "chitty chitty bang bang". I got it at a gift exchange a week ago and they love it . I will go into more detail about the movie at a future blog... Jen got ready and headed off to work. As I was pulling the pie out of the stove I was in debate about going to MR's Christmas party. Jen hadn't confirmed things with her parents about baby sitting, I wasn't feeling that hot with my drainage, and I wanted to wrap presents and make buckeyes for Christmas eve as well. But I finally decided to go after my mother in law called to see what was going on. I am glad I got out for a little bit. I really like going to MR's Halloween and Christmas parties since it gives us a chance to get away from the kids, and since it's unfortunately the only time of the year that we all get together anymore. The crowd was small but mighty with the Mike, Jeff, Paula, Lisa and Jeremy. Had a great night visiting and watching Christmas story. I stayed long enough to watch "Ghost Rider", but I am not sure why now. Pretty Bad from what I could catch between conversation and visits to the buffet. Around 11:00 I decided head for home. Actually I hit two Walmarts on the way home looking for the elusive Christmas present that my mom wanted for my Uncle.
Sunday morning was church and then home. During andrew's nap we broke out the presents and Jen and I wrapped all the stuff for the in laws and family. We have still to wrap the boys presents and will probably have to wait until after they go to bed tonight which means another late night. After wrapping presents Jen got ready for more time at work. The boys and I hung out for the rest of the day watching football and "chitty chitty bang bang". After Bath time and putting the boys to bed I pulled out Jen's presents and wrapped them. I was trying to get started on the buckeyes as soon as possible so I could get to bed, but I didn't finally get started on the buckeyes until 10:30. So I was baking in the kitchen with "Christmas Vacation" playing on the laptop. I finally finished up the baking around 1:00am right when Jen came home. So I am sitting here just putting in my 4 hours for the day and then off for the next two and a half days. Wheeeeee.
The weekend before Christmas and all was well. Of course the family is suffering through their sinus congestion and other maladies. The boys both got a case of pink eye, but that has been clearing up pretty well with eye drops. William woke up the other night and chucked all over his bed 4 times during the evening, but I think that was just part of the start of pink eye or the sinus drainage finally getting to him. All I can say is thank God that I can handle blood and puke since that would have made for a looooonnnggger night.
Saturday morning I finally got the chance to get the oil changed in the Saturn. I still go to the dealership to have this done since they do a pretty good job and have a nice waiting room with drinks and snacks. After the oil change I did a little "finish up" shopping at a few stores. And I was home by noon. When we put Andrew down for his nap we started rearranging furniture in the 4th bedroom for the new paint job. We are turning the room into a Lightning McQueen room for William for the great Bedroom swap. After moving furniture around, I threw together a Hoosier pie for Christmas eve. After all that we just kind of lounged in front of the tv for the rest of the afternoon watching the kids new favorite move "chitty chitty bang bang". I got it at a gift exchange a week ago and they love it . I will go into more detail about the movie at a future blog... Jen got ready and headed off to work. As I was pulling the pie out of the stove I was in debate about going to MR's Christmas party. Jen hadn't confirmed things with her parents about baby sitting, I wasn't feeling that hot with my drainage, and I wanted to wrap presents and make buckeyes for Christmas eve as well. But I finally decided to go after my mother in law called to see what was going on. I am glad I got out for a little bit. I really like going to MR's Halloween and Christmas parties since it gives us a chance to get away from the kids, and since it's unfortunately the only time of the year that we all get together anymore. The crowd was small but mighty with the Mike, Jeff, Paula, Lisa and Jeremy. Had a great night visiting and watching Christmas story. I stayed long enough to watch "Ghost Rider", but I am not sure why now. Pretty Bad from what I could catch between conversation and visits to the buffet. Around 11:00 I decided head for home. Actually I hit two Walmarts on the way home looking for the elusive Christmas present that my mom wanted for my Uncle.
Sunday morning was church and then home. During andrew's nap we broke out the presents and Jen and I wrapped all the stuff for the in laws and family. We have still to wrap the boys presents and will probably have to wait until after they go to bed tonight which means another late night. After wrapping presents Jen got ready for more time at work. The boys and I hung out for the rest of the day watching football and "chitty chitty bang bang". After Bath time and putting the boys to bed I pulled out Jen's presents and wrapped them. I was trying to get started on the buckeyes as soon as possible so I could get to bed, but I didn't finally get started on the buckeyes until 10:30. So I was baking in the kitchen with "Christmas Vacation" playing on the laptop. I finally finished up the baking around 1:00am right when Jen came home. So I am sitting here just putting in my 4 hours for the day and then off for the next two and a half days. Wheeeeee.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Here is that recipe for those drop sugar cookies that I mentioned a few blogs ago. The batter looks real suspicious, but it makes great soft cookies.
Soft sugar cookies with butter and egg yolks and vanilla and nutmeg.
INGREDIENTS:
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract ( I usually use all vanilla)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
PREPARATION:
Cream shortening and butter with sugar. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour milk into a large measuring cup; add extract(s) and baking soda. Into a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets then sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes at 375°. Store sugar cookies in an airtight covered container.Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Rambled Ramblings
A couple things to get off my chest.
First a couple of PSA's. Now is a good time of the year to check you smoke detectors batteries to make sure they are good or just replace them. A lesser known chore that should be done frequently is the empty the crumbs from the bottom of your toaster. I hadn't done that in years and it was quite full and dirty. Another lesser known chore to do is to clean your refrigerator. No not just the inside, but if you take off the little face plate at the bottom (front) of the fridge you should be able to see the condenser for the fridge. Take you sweeper and clean the condenser so you fridge will run better. My father in law asked me about this earlier this year and I hadn't cleaned it in years (I didn't know about it). When I pulled the grill off there was a 1/2 inch layer of dust blocking the condenser. Just wanted to pass this along to others to check out. Note** your fridge may be different so check your owners manual. Also good time of year to replace your furnace filters..
Pet Peeve: For the love of God do not shovel or blow the snow from your driveway into the street!!!!! A bunch of my neighbors do this and it's like freaking tank traps trying to get out of the addition. With this much snow there are going to be these mini-mountains on the road for weeks. It's not like the snowplows are coming back (especially the city) to do the additions again in case you blow all of your crap onto the street. Even if they did come back the plow is designed to stay on top of the piles and not dig into it. It's going to stay that way and get encased in ice!!! I know with a snow blower there is a chance of getting some onto the road, but I am talking about the yam heads who blow or shovel all of the snow onto the road. Unless you see the plow coming down the street, don't freaking do it!!! Whew
I think there was something else, but I can't remember..
First a couple of PSA's. Now is a good time of the year to check you smoke detectors batteries to make sure they are good or just replace them. A lesser known chore that should be done frequently is the empty the crumbs from the bottom of your toaster. I hadn't done that in years and it was quite full and dirty. Another lesser known chore to do is to clean your refrigerator. No not just the inside, but if you take off the little face plate at the bottom (front) of the fridge you should be able to see the condenser for the fridge. Take you sweeper and clean the condenser so you fridge will run better. My father in law asked me about this earlier this year and I hadn't cleaned it in years (I didn't know about it). When I pulled the grill off there was a 1/2 inch layer of dust blocking the condenser. Just wanted to pass this along to others to check out. Note** your fridge may be different so check your owners manual. Also good time of year to replace your furnace filters..
Pet Peeve: For the love of God do not shovel or blow the snow from your driveway into the street!!!!! A bunch of my neighbors do this and it's like freaking tank traps trying to get out of the addition. With this much snow there are going to be these mini-mountains on the road for weeks. It's not like the snowplows are coming back (especially the city) to do the additions again in case you blow all of your crap onto the street. Even if they did come back the plow is designed to stay on top of the piles and not dig into it. It's going to stay that way and get encased in ice!!! I know with a snow blower there is a chance of getting some onto the road, but I am talking about the yam heads who blow or shovel all of the snow onto the road. Unless you see the plow coming down the street, don't freaking do it!!! Whew
I think there was something else, but I can't remember..
Milk Please :)
So I am trying to get my Christmas shopping done yesterday. I actually took the day off and had a list of places to go and things to get. Jen had to work in the morning so I decide rather than have her mom come over that I would watch the kids in the morning and then do my running around in the afternoon. Jen had to work until noon so she gets home around 1:30 (she almost never is able to leave on time). She closed the store Monday night and got home after midnight and then had to be back in the store by 7:00am yesterday. She was only able to get a couple hours of sleep so I decided that I would pick up William from school and take him with me on my shopping. I was hoping that Andrew would take a nap and let Jen catch one too, but that didn't work. So after picking up William at school we started to do some running around. One of the stops was to Hooters to get the new 2008 calendar as a gag gift for my uncle. I felt a little uneasy unloading my 4 year old to walk into Hooters with me, like people were watching me and judging me. Hey, it's not like I was going into the Showgirl next door. As Jenny reminded me William had been to a Hooters before when she took him there for a lunch with her former co-workers at Lincoln. Of course he was still a baby so he was probably thinking "LUNCH" as the waitresses walked around. As we walked in I noticed that there are 4 tables with people at them and 2 of the 4 had kids! Wow I didn't know how kid friendly it was. The plan was to get in and get out as quick as possible, but I had to stand at the front counter for 10 minutes (darn my luck) until one of the waitresses finally came up to help me. William was having fun walking around the restaurant and looking at the stuff hanging on the wall. The waitress flirted with William a little bit and I think he kinda liked it. We got the calendar and headed out the door.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Christmas is getting near...
Friday I decided to take the opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done. I am a hunter/gatherer kinda shopper where I go out for as long as it takes and go where ever I need to go at one time. Friday was one of those days. With list of some gift ideas I headed out after work. My first stop was Darlington Farms. This is a factory that brings in cheap Christmas gifts one time a year and just my luck it's right down the road from where I work. It's a neat place where just about everything in the warehouse is $1.39 a piece. There is some pretty nice little nick-knacks and other stuff. I originally went in there looking for stuff for my Dad and step mom, but nothing stood out to me, at least nothing I wanted to spend $7 in shipping a $1.39 item. But I did end up finding some stuff for other people. I left with a big bag of stuff for a little over $13 so pretty good on my part.
North. Being ever the Next was the part that I dreaded..... Jefferson Point.... I like Jefferson Point as a shopping center, but whoever designed the way the traffic flowed has to be mental in the head. Who in their right mind designs a 4 way stop with at least 4 lanes in 4 different directions (including turn lanes) and then does it twice in 1000 feet?? I would have to say they need traffic lights, but I think it's private property so they can't or something like that. So my first stop was Kohls to get see if they have a gift that I saw over at another Kohls, and stuck out. Of course it was nuts busy in the store and there was the "gauntlet" of trying to leave the store to get to the parking lot. People do not understand the concept of Yield to pedestrians at all. Next stop was Wal-mart. Of course nuts busy again to the 10th degree. I went in looking for a few things including another gift for my father in law. No such luck.... again. I did find the one thing for my brother in law, but I wasn't about to get in the checkout lanes for one thing. I figured that I would hit the Walmart out by us since I had to buy eggs and butter anyway. The one nice thing this year is that I have been able to keep a little change in my pocket so I am actually able to put a little something in the kettle at the doors of walmart unlike the past couple of years when I had nothing. Even having a little pocket change, I found myself only putting in a few coins to give myself something for the next time since I was going to walmart so often lately. I was thinking about getting out of Jefferson Point when I decided to be brave and attempt the 4 way stop from hell to actually go to Jefferson Point shopping complex and see how bad it was over there. I get across the streat pretty well and it was a totally different story across the street. It wasn't too crowded at all, everyone was relaxed, and I was able to stroll easily into a couple of different stores and get SERVICE almost immediately!!! So with refreshed enthusiasm for shopping I headed out to the Northside of town. Fist stop was at Target for a few things on the list. I was able to get one of the things with the other ending up being way more expensive than I thought it was. Next stop was Walmart. I decided to hit the Kohls up North in the slight chance they restocked that item I was looking for, and by God they did! Score! Next over to Walmart to get a couple things and I was able to get most of my list over there. I get to the 20 items or less self-checkout behind a couple with a whole cart full of stuff. I was going get pissy about their 40 items but decided just to hum a merry tune. As I was checking out there was a thing where the kid working the self checkout had to check me out at his station. Nothing like the personalized service at the self-checkout. Of course I found out later the kid forget to put something back into the cart after scanning it so I had to go back the next day to get it. At that point I am pretty tired so I grab Wendy's and head for home where the boys help me eat my frosty and fries.
Saturday we got up and around and out the door to Charlie's birthday party. That is such a fun time at the roller rink. My boys find the video games fun to look at so I spend most of the time with them on the other side of the rink. I sadly didn't get a chance to visit with anybody that much. First thing when we get in the door I am getting ready to say hey to Keith and he proceeded to drop a bowl of meatballs on his lap. I tried not to laugh too hard. As I was helping clean up meatball juice off the floor I notice the chocolate phallus on the counter. It was supposed to be a chocolate fountain, but the chocolate got too thick (Lori blames Keith) so it just caked up all over the fountain. The little bit of chocolate trying to come out of the top was a little unnerving..... Anyhow in the process of chasing kids here and there, both the boys said they wanted to try and roller skate. I got them both skated up and I was able to drag them about 30 feet before they both were done. I think William was just goofing around where Andrew wasn't getting the concept of being on wheels. I think that if I would have been able to do them one at a time I could have gotten them a little more comfortable on the skates. So off come the skates and back to the video games and running around. Before I knew it the party was over. Lori invited everyone back to their place for a visit, but we had more stuff to try and get done before Jen went to work. So a couple more stops for Christmas shopping (including a place I hadn't been to in 15 years so I couldn't believe it was still there) and we headed home. With snow flying the boys and I settled in and Jen took off for work.They had predicted all kinds of different snow and accumulation for Saturday night/ Sunday so we didn't know what to expect.
Sunday morning we woke up to 6 - 8 inches of snow. Dang they actually got a forecast right!! Lucky buggers. So while Jen gets ready for work I run out to shovel off the driveway. I like to try and get it shoveled before we drive on it since it makes it easier to maintain. I decided to have Jen take the Jeep to work. The tread on the tires isn't the best, but at least its 4 wheel drive and higher clearance. So I get the driveway shoveled in time for Jen to leave for work. Yeah I need to get the snow blower working again. Basically the boys and I just hung around the house for the day watching even more DIFFERENT Disney movies all day. During the majority of the day we were stuck on Dumbo, but not too long. In the morning I decided to take the opportunity to make my Christmas cookies from my grandma's recipe. I was attempting to do it alone, but quickly got help when I started to put them together. Overall the boys did pretty well and I let them help me every once in a while. The funny part is that they got into the container with the cookie cutters so William stars handing me all different kinds of forms. So this year we have a Christmas Cat, some stars, and some moose. The cookies turned out perfect, even the raw dough tasted exactly as it should have. Afternoon I went back outside to shovel the drive again as Andrew was down for his nap. William told me he was going to watch me from the window in his pajamas, but after10 minutes came outside fully dressed with coat and boots on. That kind of surprised me. So I gave him a small shovel and was trying to explain what to do, but he found it more entertaining to put the snow back onto the driveway then off of the driveway. The rest of the day was just watching movies and football.
Overall I would have to say we have most of the Christmas shopping done for this year. I still have to try and find something for my mom. She is a hard one to buy for. I also found out that I have 3 days to burn before the end of the year so I am planning that right now... wheeeeee. I am still in the Christmas spirit and feel pretty good besides my possible sinus infection.
North. Being ever the Next was the part that I dreaded..... Jefferson Point.... I like Jefferson Point as a shopping center, but whoever designed the way the traffic flowed has to be mental in the head. Who in their right mind designs a 4 way stop with at least 4 lanes in 4 different directions (including turn lanes) and then does it twice in 1000 feet?? I would have to say they need traffic lights, but I think it's private property so they can't or something like that. So my first stop was Kohls to get see if they have a gift that I saw over at another Kohls, and stuck out. Of course it was nuts busy in the store and there was the "gauntlet" of trying to leave the store to get to the parking lot. People do not understand the concept of Yield to pedestrians at all. Next stop was Wal-mart. Of course nuts busy again to the 10th degree. I went in looking for a few things including another gift for my father in law. No such luck.... again. I did find the one thing for my brother in law, but I wasn't about to get in the checkout lanes for one thing. I figured that I would hit the Walmart out by us since I had to buy eggs and butter anyway. The one nice thing this year is that I have been able to keep a little change in my pocket so I am actually able to put a little something in the kettle at the doors of walmart unlike the past couple of years when I had nothing. Even having a little pocket change, I found myself only putting in a few coins to give myself something for the next time since I was going to walmart so often lately. I was thinking about getting out of Jefferson Point when I decided to be brave and attempt the 4 way stop from hell to actually go to Jefferson Point shopping complex and see how bad it was over there. I get across the streat pretty well and it was a totally different story across the street. It wasn't too crowded at all, everyone was relaxed, and I was able to stroll easily into a couple of different stores and get SERVICE almost immediately!!! So with refreshed enthusiasm for shopping I headed out to the Northside of town. Fist stop was at Target for a few things on the list. I was able to get one of the things with the other ending up being way more expensive than I thought it was. Next stop was Walmart. I decided to hit the Kohls up North in the slight chance they restocked that item I was looking for, and by God they did! Score! Next over to Walmart to get a couple things and I was able to get most of my list over there. I get to the 20 items or less self-checkout behind a couple with a whole cart full of stuff. I was going get pissy about their 40 items but decided just to hum a merry tune. As I was checking out there was a thing where the kid working the self checkout had to check me out at his station. Nothing like the personalized service at the self-checkout. Of course I found out later the kid forget to put something back into the cart after scanning it so I had to go back the next day to get it. At that point I am pretty tired so I grab Wendy's and head for home where the boys help me eat my frosty and fries.
Saturday we got up and around and out the door to Charlie's birthday party. That is such a fun time at the roller rink. My boys find the video games fun to look at so I spend most of the time with them on the other side of the rink. I sadly didn't get a chance to visit with anybody that much. First thing when we get in the door I am getting ready to say hey to Keith and he proceeded to drop a bowl of meatballs on his lap. I tried not to laugh too hard. As I was helping clean up meatball juice off the floor I notice the chocolate phallus on the counter. It was supposed to be a chocolate fountain, but the chocolate got too thick (Lori blames Keith) so it just caked up all over the fountain. The little bit of chocolate trying to come out of the top was a little unnerving..... Anyhow in the process of chasing kids here and there, both the boys said they wanted to try and roller skate. I got them both skated up and I was able to drag them about 30 feet before they both were done. I think William was just goofing around where Andrew wasn't getting the concept of being on wheels. I think that if I would have been able to do them one at a time I could have gotten them a little more comfortable on the skates. So off come the skates and back to the video games and running around. Before I knew it the party was over. Lori invited everyone back to their place for a visit, but we had more stuff to try and get done before Jen went to work. So a couple more stops for Christmas shopping (including a place I hadn't been to in 15 years so I couldn't believe it was still there) and we headed home. With snow flying the boys and I settled in and Jen took off for work.They had predicted all kinds of different snow and accumulation for Saturday night/ Sunday so we didn't know what to expect.
Sunday morning we woke up to 6 - 8 inches of snow. Dang they actually got a forecast right!! Lucky buggers. So while Jen gets ready for work I run out to shovel off the driveway. I like to try and get it shoveled before we drive on it since it makes it easier to maintain. I decided to have Jen take the Jeep to work. The tread on the tires isn't the best, but at least its 4 wheel drive and higher clearance. So I get the driveway shoveled in time for Jen to leave for work. Yeah I need to get the snow blower working again. Basically the boys and I just hung around the house for the day watching even more DIFFERENT Disney movies all day. During the majority of the day we were stuck on Dumbo, but not too long. In the morning I decided to take the opportunity to make my Christmas cookies from my grandma's recipe. I was attempting to do it alone, but quickly got help when I started to put them together. Overall the boys did pretty well and I let them help me every once in a while. The funny part is that they got into the container with the cookie cutters so William stars handing me all different kinds of forms. So this year we have a Christmas Cat, some stars, and some moose. The cookies turned out perfect, even the raw dough tasted exactly as it should have. Afternoon I went back outside to shovel the drive again as Andrew was down for his nap. William told me he was going to watch me from the window in his pajamas, but after10 minutes came outside fully dressed with coat and boots on. That kind of surprised me. So I gave him a small shovel and was trying to explain what to do, but he found it more entertaining to put the snow back onto the driveway then off of the driveway. The rest of the day was just watching movies and football.
Overall I would have to say we have most of the Christmas shopping done for this year. I still have to try and find something for my mom. She is a hard one to buy for. I also found out that I have 3 days to burn before the end of the year so I am planning that right now... wheeeeee. I am still in the Christmas spirit and feel pretty good besides my possible sinus infection.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Gift Idea
I was looking around the net for some promotional items or Christmas gift ideas for our company a couple weeks ago. Along with ideas for candy and stuff, I remembered that the cookie cottage had a thing where you could get a custom imprinted cookies. I contacted them to get more information about how they needed the artwork and how long it would take to get. I dropped off a hard copy of my design as well as a computer disc with the design. I wasn't really planning on the artwork turning out to be that clean, but I wanted to give them everything they could want for the design. They ended up being the coolest thing and the artwork on top of the cookie was extremely clean and precise. It took about a week to get the cookies back, but I think they could have turned them over in a few days.
At $20 a dozen it's a little pricey, but its a very cool and unique kinda thing for those of you who like the unique. I am definitely keeping this one in mind for special occasions.
http://www.cookiecottage.com/
Busy weekend
Another busy weekend. Seems like all my weekends are like that anymore. Thursday night Jen and I went over to Menards to see about getting a Christmas Tree. Yeah every year we talk about going out the day after to get one, but either never do or they are sold out, so we decided to just go and buy one. Menard's had a sale on all trees and of course the tree that Jen saw and liked a few weeks ago was sold out (even the floor model). She had them call around and found out that the South store had 16 of them, so she headed on over Friday after work and picked one up. Friday night we got an appointment to get the boys pictures taken for the Christmas card/Andrew's 3rd. We decided to just do the boys this year since who want to see Jen and I. We showed up and it was really crowded in the photo area. Everything was going pretty good. The boys were pretty happy, they were keeping pretty much on time to schedule and then it happened.... I was playing with Andrew and chasing him around the basement of Penny's. I see Jen down the hall signal me that it was time for the photos. While we were heading back Andrew sees a couple of kids in those kids cars/carts and wanted to play in them. Whoever invented those cars and who ever put them at EVERY freaking entrance to the Mall should burn in hell (or at least get a bad case of hemorrhoids). There is nothing like trying to go to the mall and encountering a kid meltdown every freaking time because you won't spend the $5 to rent these plastic aggravators. (yet another reason I rarely go to the mall) You see we took the boys to the play area of Menards Thursday night and they played with some riding toys in the play area, but I couldn't explain to a 2 year old they they aren't for everyone to play with. So Andrew is in meltdown mode as we step into the photo studio and won't do anything we want him to do. Lucky for us the photographers at Penny's are real pros and she was able to entertain him enough to get him to stop crying. (That and the fruit snacks helped). We were able to get a couple of keepers from the 20 or so photos that she took. Friday night I went home and started assembling the Christmas tree while Jen stopped and grabbed a pizza on the way home. Amazingly the tree assembly went pretty smooth even with my two "helpers". I need to actually read the instructions before starting those projects since I started building the tree from the top down and they suggest building it from the bottom to the top... that would have been MUCH easier. The funny part is there was as much needles on the ground as if we would have had a real tree. I am hoping that eventually it will stop dropping all it's needles and that those were just some loose ones. Jen finally gets home from getting pizza with a story. She ordered this new double crust pizza half meat and half veggie. Of course it came out all meat (were the Kramers in the restaurant?). So rather than wait for another 25 minutes (pizza hut on a Friday night) she just took the pizza and a coupon for a free one. Overall I have to say I wasn't real impressed by this pizza. First of all it was only a medium (for $12?) and there wasn't anything real special about it. Just like a pan pizza. But you never know unless you try. I still like the stuffed crust from the Hut and the regular pizza. I assembled the Tree and passed along the responsibility to Jen for decoration. I had to place it in three different spots in the living room before finally finding a good place. Dang that tree is freaking heavy. I had to take it apart in sections to move it.
Saturday and Sunday were a Disney movie marathon at the house. William got into the DVD cabinet and was pulling out all sort of movies that aren't in the regular rotation. The one he saw and stuck with for most of the weekend was Cinderella II. I am telling myself that he is watching it because Cinderella is HOT and nothing else. Lucky I at least the the picture-in-picture to watch football or whatever (I wish I had split screen). Saturday night Jen and I talked about going to see a movie. She wanted to see "Enchanted". It looked slightly amusing so I decided it would be worth seeing, especially if we went to the Cinema Grill and I can get a beer. So we were trying to get someone to watch kids and weren't having much luck. Finally Jen got ahold of Tracy and as I was overhearing the conversation I hear Tracy say that she wanted to see the movie too, so I suggested that she should go with Tracy instead of me. I know Jen could use the break from the kids and her and Tracy hardly ever get together, so I thought that would be better. That and we weren't going to Cinema Grill so no beer :) ... Jen said that they might bring Tracy's boys back to the house after the movie and play with our boys a little bit. So I decided to make some cookies for the boys to snack on. I look in the cabinet, no chocolate chips, darn, I look in the fridge and only half a stick of butter so no snickerdoodles which are my usuals. I decided to get creative and bring down the laptop and hop on the Internet to look for a recipe. I look for a sugar cookie recipe that requires only half a stick of butter. I actually find one, and after much internal debate decided to go for it. I have been burned by an Internet recipe before so I was a little leery. I start putting the cookies together and of course the boys have now confiscated the laptop to play games, but I have the recipe on another page for reference. I put all of the ingredients together (getting egg yolks without the white is hard) and it looks like this big gooey liquid mess that looks like quicksand. Son of a B****. Jen then shows up and says that Tracy's boys were acting up in the car so they weren't coming over. Great. I look over the recipe again and I have all the proper measurements and ingredients, so I decide to throw it onto a sheet and throw it into the oven to see what happens. They ended up being the best, soft sugar cookies that I have had in a long time. And it made a ton of them. So I have added that recipe to the arsenal (I will post later). I ended up putting the lights on the tree. Of course there weren't enough lights so I had to find another strand and restring it. The tree is still waiting for ornaments and tinsel. We decide that it would be easier to do it after the boys are in bed, but after the boys are in bed usually Jen is asleep on the couch, so I am hoping that it might be decorated by the end of the week. Either that or let the boys help us and just keep an eye on them so they don't break anything.......
Saturday and Sunday were a Disney movie marathon at the house. William got into the DVD cabinet and was pulling out all sort of movies that aren't in the regular rotation. The one he saw and stuck with for most of the weekend was Cinderella II. I am telling myself that he is watching it because Cinderella is HOT and nothing else. Lucky I at least the the picture-in-picture to watch football or whatever (I wish I had split screen). Saturday night Jen and I talked about going to see a movie. She wanted to see "Enchanted". It looked slightly amusing so I decided it would be worth seeing, especially if we went to the Cinema Grill and I can get a beer. So we were trying to get someone to watch kids and weren't having much luck. Finally Jen got ahold of Tracy and as I was overhearing the conversation I hear Tracy say that she wanted to see the movie too, so I suggested that she should go with Tracy instead of me. I know Jen could use the break from the kids and her and Tracy hardly ever get together, so I thought that would be better. That and we weren't going to Cinema Grill so no beer :) ... Jen said that they might bring Tracy's boys back to the house after the movie and play with our boys a little bit. So I decided to make some cookies for the boys to snack on. I look in the cabinet, no chocolate chips, darn, I look in the fridge and only half a stick of butter so no snickerdoodles which are my usuals. I decided to get creative and bring down the laptop and hop on the Internet to look for a recipe. I look for a sugar cookie recipe that requires only half a stick of butter. I actually find one, and after much internal debate decided to go for it. I have been burned by an Internet recipe before so I was a little leery. I start putting the cookies together and of course the boys have now confiscated the laptop to play games, but I have the recipe on another page for reference. I put all of the ingredients together (getting egg yolks without the white is hard) and it looks like this big gooey liquid mess that looks like quicksand. Son of a B****. Jen then shows up and says that Tracy's boys were acting up in the car so they weren't coming over. Great. I look over the recipe again and I have all the proper measurements and ingredients, so I decide to throw it onto a sheet and throw it into the oven to see what happens. They ended up being the best, soft sugar cookies that I have had in a long time. And it made a ton of them. So I have added that recipe to the arsenal (I will post later). I ended up putting the lights on the tree. Of course there weren't enough lights so I had to find another strand and restring it. The tree is still waiting for ornaments and tinsel. We decide that it would be easier to do it after the boys are in bed, but after the boys are in bed usually Jen is asleep on the couch, so I am hoping that it might be decorated by the end of the week. Either that or let the boys help us and just keep an eye on them so they don't break anything.......
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Getting into the spirit
I finally have been getting a little more into the christmas season. Saturday I saw a slim opportunity and got a chance to put up my lights. Lucky for me Andrew took a 3 hour nap so I could get the lights done with some help from William. Once again the lights are done, but I still want to tweek it a little bit, like always.
Last night I was getting ready to put the boys to bed and noticed that the Charlie Brown Christmas special was on, so I let them stay up and we all watched it together. The first episode was the classic one with Linus telling us the true meaning of Christmas (1965). The second half hour was a Christmas themed peanuts cartoon, but not the pull as the first one.I noticed tonight is rudolf and last week was the classic grinch cartoon. There is something about those little half hour cartoons that make you just feel good. Whether it's the call back to your childhood or just a good message.
So I can say I am getting more and more into the Christmas spirit. I think when we finally get our tree and I make cookies and buckeyes I will be able to be full tilt Christmas. (I was trying not to peak too early and get burned out). I am listening to Christmas music stations (WMEE) in moderation right now so I don't get tired of hearing it too soon.
The Christmas schedule is a little in the air right now too. Christmas Eve is usually at my mom's house, but I wasn't sure if she would feel up to entertaining everyone. I am sure we will discuss tonight. On a side note: she has been having alot of pain in her butt and down her leg so she finally got to the doctor yesterday and found out that when the put the screws into her back they ended up fracturing something in her pelvic bone so that has lead to more pain than usual. IF it wasn't for bad luck my mom would have no luck at all. But hey she can still move around and walk, but she won't be able to do the full tilt rehab for a month or two until the fracture can heal.
Merry Christmas
Last night I was getting ready to put the boys to bed and noticed that the Charlie Brown Christmas special was on, so I let them stay up and we all watched it together. The first episode was the classic one with Linus telling us the true meaning of Christmas (1965). The second half hour was a Christmas themed peanuts cartoon, but not the pull as the first one.I noticed tonight is rudolf and last week was the classic grinch cartoon. There is something about those little half hour cartoons that make you just feel good. Whether it's the call back to your childhood or just a good message.So I can say I am getting more and more into the Christmas spirit. I think when we finally get our tree and I make cookies and buckeyes I will be able to be full tilt Christmas. (I was trying not to peak too early and get burned out). I am listening to Christmas music stations (WMEE) in moderation right now so I don't get tired of hearing it too soon.
The Christmas schedule is a little in the air right now too. Christmas Eve is usually at my mom's house, but I wasn't sure if she would feel up to entertaining everyone. I am sure we will discuss tonight. On a side note: she has been having alot of pain in her butt and down her leg so she finally got to the doctor yesterday and found out that when the put the screws into her back they ended up fracturing something in her pelvic bone so that has lead to more pain than usual. IF it wasn't for bad luck my mom would have no luck at all. But hey she can still move around and walk, but she won't be able to do the full tilt rehab for a month or two until the fracture can heal.
Merry Christmas
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