Glory to God in the Highest

Caution Needs to Get Moving

>Am I the only one with Nerf bullets ALL OVER my house?

>I am already mourning the loss of the Discovery Health channel. No, Oprah. I am not excited about an entire channel devoted to your favorite things when I could be spending time watching gory medical drama and sappy birth stories.

>Santa Claus came to visit the Cub Scouts at last night's meeting. My child says Santa's breath smelled like beer.

>During one of our two snow days this week, I devoted myself to making homemade cinnamon rolls. After all that work, my children asked if we could have the ones from the store next time.

>Did you know that a relationship is not official until it's on Facebook? The big question around the local high school is, "Are you guys FB official?"

>I saw the ugliest shoes in the Lands' End catalog. Hideously ugly. I also bought a pair.

>My son has texted his father 30 times. He has texted "Kelly" 300 times during the same time. In other words, things are as they should be.

>Please tell me why the bottom crust of my apple pies always seem to be a little soggy. I love to use juicy apples, but is sogginess the price the pie has to pay?

>To finish up with a bit of embarrassing news: this week we received a Christmas card but didn't know who the people were who had signed it. The embarrassing part? It was from our neighbors. More embarrassing? The same thing happened last year.

>Need to find like-minded people who spend Fridays majoring in the minors of life's fragments? Go visit Mrs. 4444. I promise that you'll love her.

See you all after the holidays (so I threaten).

Merry Christmas!!

The Sing Off

We're making history here. Our entire family is following a t.v. show together. Such is the pull of The Sing Off. With almost every group, I have to remind myself that the music I'm hearing is not instrumental. How can those a cappella singers produce all that percussion and even a saxophone or two in addition to those incredible harmonies?

But please tell me this. Why is Jerry Lawson and his group still on the show? The judges have critiqued every other VERY talented group, but offer nothing to Lawson's group but praise - even when they sing every song the same way.

So where's my money? I like Committed (the Alabama group who learned to sing in church) and my daughter likes Street Corner Symphony (the Nashville guys.) Poor Checkered. His favorite, Groove for Thought, is now history.

Okay, I'm listening now. Who is going to win?

Phone Apps

So Leigh wants to know what makes me happy this week. Forget the organizers and shopping helpers and news links on my phone. My current favorite app is:

I canNOT stop playing!
Do you have a favorite phone app? Tell me! I will need something else to do when I beat this game :)

No School!

A smattering of snow ~

Icy roads~

Single digit temps~

Chili in the crock pot~

Cookies in the oven~

Christmas music in the air~

and

A little extra time to finish that forgotten homework!

All is well.

Very, very well.

FF: A Montage of Mediocre Christmas Spirit

It's been a crazy, busy week here as we have careened from activity to activity. Here's a snippet.

The child earned his whittlin' chip at Scouts:

Then he conquered a huge hurdle by having a part in the school Christmas program. He was an excellent spinning dreydl.

The other guy was the narrator at that program. He wanted a tux, but got a suit instead.

This girl got trampled by bronchitis and asthma, but got a good grade on her AP history test anyway :)

These two danced to their own music.

But no one offered to grade my students' quizzes.

So bah humbug.

In the next 24 hours:

a doctor's appointment

an anniversary

a birthday

a scout field trip

a play rehearsal

a party

Yes, definitely, bah humbug.

Maybe you'll find more Christmas spirit over at Mrs. 4's place.

Yes, we sang to each other while my dad watched...

My dearest Checkered,

Do you remember that night so many years ago when we took your boat across the lake? Remember how my parents were here from Kentucky and my aunt and uncle were here from Florida and you wanted to make a good impression? Remember how the waves kicked up just as you were trying to tie the boat to the dock at the restaurant? Remember how you lost your footing and fell into the lake? Remember how we laughed (my aunt and I might have laughed hysterically, but my parents were much more concerned about your safety.) Remember how you had to put on old sweats and a t-shirt you found in the boat and had to eat wearing soaking wet shoes? Remember how you laughed at yourself and were entirely gracious?

That was the night I realized that you would be the most wonderful husband in the whole world. Seventeen years later, you have proven that to be true again and again and again.

Happy early, early anniversary!

BUSTED (with no reference to female anatomy)

My first child made a mistake when she was in middle school. She admitted that her friends liked me. No, let me correctly quote her: they "LOVED" me. She also admitted her own puzzlement at that oddity. Then my second child entered the teen years and a couple of his buddies sent me Facebook friend requests and they sometimes comment on my status (which really should make me filter my comments, now that I think about it.) So I was comfortable with being cool.

My third child has told me from his first breath that I was not cool, but I'll forgive him for his lack of understanding.

Then my final child wondered into the world and asked how many words I knew how to say while I burped. I thought about it and proudly answered that I could say one word while burping.

"That's it?" he replied. Shoulders slumping, head down in shame, he turned to leave the room and I saw the error of my ways.

"Wait!" I cried. "I'm sure I can learn lots more if I just practice a little."

My coolness confidence was busted, and this child who came into the world without any pain meds for his mother walked out of the room, leaving a broken shell where his mother's coolness used to be.

FF: Emotional Roller Coaster

*SO there's a difference between clarified and softened butter? Is that why my cookie dough became pudding?

The butter problem didn't matter too much though because 1) my phone rang, 2) I multi tasked and tried to peel potatoes while baking and talking and the peeler slipped - ouch! and then 3) we got involved looking at the potato that looked like a butt.

The smoke reminded me that I forgot to set the oven timer.

*Know what makes me sad? People who say, "Of course we budgeted for Christmas. Didn't you?"

*Know what makes me sadder? The dad who told me that he has $100,000 in his daughter's college fund. She just began high school.

*Know what makes me saddest? That Weight Watchers works better than any diet pill. That one really could make me cry.

*Do any of you know where I safely stored the decal I bought for Christmas decorating that says something about such a big miracle in such a small baby?? I'm hoping to find it before we take the decorations down.

*My youngest son's teacher is doing something quite lovely in class. Each child has a secret pal this month. They are to look for positive ways to enhance the other child's day and then next week, each child will write a letter of affirmation to his or her secret pal. Wouldn't you like to be in that class?

*On a similar note, my extremely strong-will child was destroying my day this week. Everything was an argument and he wasn't about to give in at all on anything. A very nice woman watched my child assert his will aggressively, and then the woman turned to me and said, "You know, don't you, that this doesn't mean you're a bad mom?" My heart was warmed by her spontaneous affirmation.

Has anyone warmed your heart this week ?