Fang, the Most Dangerous Golden Retriever

Our generous Nordic friends sent my youngest a book for Christmas (Chrisakkuh?, Honamas?), called, "Glefs verdens farligste golden retriever." Nordic Goddess graciously translated it for us into English, in a separate booklet, in case we actually wanted to see the Nordic text.

We (BD1, BD2, and I), got to read it together last night. What a darling book! I was happy I could understand some of the simpler Norwegian words (not telling what they were, in case I'm wrong). What a great laugh we got, too! I loved the story of grand delusions!

Thank you, K, for being such a gracious, generous, true friend.

New Year's Eve Day--Menu for Football Game

I've been known to occasionally cook for groups of people, and today I'm doing it again, but attempting to keep it somewhat simple, since we plan on attending a fairly large dinner tonight at a local Italian restaurant and we will start the dinner fairly early, too.

With that said, I plan to serve cranberry scones (just came out of the oven), baked brie in brioche with almonds and raspberries, my own version of "beef debris" sandwiches on mini croissants, brownie bites (purchased from the local bakery), virgin madras (orange juice and cranberry juice mixed together over ice), tea and coffee.

Beef debris sandwiches, as far as I have been told, are basically chopped, left over roast beef in the au jus, but the fat cut off and out of both the meat and the jus. A little Horsey sauce, some cheese, bread, and you've got great beef debris!

The game starts at 11:am, and people are supposed to begin arriving at 10:45. For once, I'm all ready already. After the massive cleaning done in the previous two weeks, all I had to do was clean the kitchen last night. I felt so terrific walking around my house yesterday afternoon! The house is vacuumed, nearly decluttered, and still festive!

There are details of decluttering that yet need to be finished, but they'll get taken care of during January (old toys to be donated while girls are at school).

Have a great, happy, healthy and safe New Year, everyone!

Thursday's Tattle

I've been using too much of my time at the pc this morning. Just one more post, and then I'll go back to my real life:

Thursday's Tattle (taken from http://www.kathleenscountrycorner.com/thursdaystattle.htm):
Week 69, 12/16/04

Stupid Stuff
Are your nails long or short right now?
short
Are they painted right now?
no
How many dresses do you own?
about 20 (not going into my closet to count)
How many suits does your husband have?
2
Do you have a cell phone?
yes
Do you use it a lot or very little?
a lot--but not so much right now, since it's kind of hosed, but still works if you hold it all together with your pinkie and thumb at the same time.

The Five "G's"

Something I try to inculcate into my two beautiful daughters is the Five G’s.

Not that I expect them to possess the ability to behave this way 100% of the time, but I hope they’ll think about these qualities before they act or react in situations:

All I want is that they both strive to be:

Good—behave well, don’t retaliate, even if it is attractive to do so.

Gracious—give the other person the benefit of the doubt; allow for different opinions; don’t always need to be the one who is right.

Grateful—be thankful for the things you do have, not greedy for those you don’t. Not only the material things, but intangibles: your family, the fact that you are so very much loved, that you have friends, you are getting a good education, you are in good health, and you have such a rich life.

Gentle—be gentle to others, especially animals and those at both ends of the age spectrum. Don’t judge others; you don’t live their lives nor do you know what issues and pains they endure on a daily basis. People won’t always be gentle to you, but it’s important to strive for gentility in our daily lives.

Generous—give to others freely. Giving to others gives us energy for ourselves, provides us with an undeniable richness in our hearts. The Christian Bible says it is better to give than to receive, and it’s true. While it’s fun to receive gifts and help from others, it’s so much a deeper feeling of joy to be able to give to others, especially those truly in need.

I really believe deep in my heart that if we all strive for these qualities, we’d live in an all around much better world.

Such a Tragedy, and My First Political Statement

My recent updates may appear insensitive to world events. However, my heart is crying for all of the families who have lost loved ones in the horrible tsunamis in southern Asia.

One of our family doctors is from Sri Lanka, and his family as well as his wife's family are still there. As of yesterday afternoon, he has not heard from anyone about their state of existence.

Seeing the videos of the waves, and the aftermath, has me riveted to the web and the television. I seem morbidly fascinated to the disaster. Plus, more tsunami are expected after another deep sea earthquake occurred.

What a bittersweet feeling to feel so sorry for all who have been affected by this, and yet so relieved at those who survived, and had the energy to help others.

A tourist returning home made a comment about what a beautiful thing it was to observe all nations working together to help each other get through this. Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, all together working as one people.

It's more than just too bad the world's peoples need catastrophes to work together helpfully instead of fighting over dirt.

Go ahead, comment away. I think religions, whether Christian based or not, ought to be tolerant and cooperative with each other, not judgemental, devisive, completely conversion based and narrow-minded.

I know, I know, perhaps the world's troubles are caused by extremists, but then they are the ones elected into power in some countries. In this country, divisions already exist, yet in the last election so much was made of red and blue states that I think yet more division got caused. For Shame!

Before I go rambling off on some tangent, I'll end this now.

Mystery of the Lost Passport

We were so excited last week; we received 2 packets from the US government--in one was my renewed passport, and the other was addressed to dh, so I left it unopened and in his mail basket. Just a few days ago, dh opened a gov't packet and showed everyone BD2's passport with her adorable photo in it. She's ready to do some serious travelling now!

Well, I was asked, "Where is my passport" by DH. Thinking that I had given it to him, I said, "I put it in the basket last week, and mentioned it to you a few times. You didn't respond, so I figured you'd get to it when you got to it." He had that look; the one where I know I am going to get blamed for losing the passport, whether or not it was my fault. Somehow, it would end that I was to blame.

So, he went to bed, apparently slightly annoyed that I wasn't going to join him. I stayed away, tore through nearly every piece of paper I could find, every box of files, every file cabinet, the computer desks, BD1's desk, the kitchen, the garage. I never found it.

So I sat and fiddled around with some paperwork, and after a few hours (at about 2:am), I realized that the packet he opened containing BD2's passport was the packet I had put into his mail basket, and not his as we had thought.

Whew! I could sleep now! And sleep I did! soundly and happily!

BD2 stories

"You was in the hostipal one time. I was in your tummy. Daddy held your hand and I was in your tummy.

Then I got big."

Just thought I'd share.

A Playroom!!

Even my dear, DH cannot believe it! The girls' bedroom is once again a bedroom, and the playroom/junk room is actually a "playroom"!!!

We had a smallish party on the 11th for Christmas. After our Thanksgiving holiday, I decided that by the time the party's date came around, our house would look festive and not fumbled. I worked round the clock, but I finally did it!

The playroom, with new shelving and new organized sections, is functional, and clean!!

I am so very happy. DH worked very diligently the day of the party cleaning the patio, and I am thoroughly enjoying our home now. Our holiday decorations really look pretty, and it's so nice to be able to see them, and not have to look through clutter to try to find them!

It actually makes me want to keep it this way! Yippee!

We plan to have another party, New Year's Eve morning, to watch the ASU (Arizona State University) and Purdue University football (American) game. I plan to serve a brunch type meal--finger foods again--of beef debris sandwiches, crudite, sweets, and other extra stuff, plus, of course, wine, beer, and soft drinks. I need only to remove wrapping supplies from the dining room to make the house company-ready. I am so pleased that this is all needed to get us ready. My husband says we ought to have a party every week so that it will stay clean. I think it would be enough to do it once each month.

I hope I don't need any parties to keep it nice. Then maybe he won't think I've quit my job.

Oh the Burn

Talk about stupid human tricks.

Happily preparing dinner for my family last night, I took the roast beef out of the oven, and got the potatoes, yams, peas ready to serve. Then the act of pure thoughtlessness and stupidity happened. I took the lid off the roaster pan. Doesn't sound so dumb, does it?

The pan was about 400 degrees F and I did not use potholders.

Oh, the burn.

Ice really does help. I still can't feel my fingertips, except for that numbness tingle, similar to when your hand falls asleep, but the pain is mostly gone! My dh filled a glass of ice, and all night I kept my digits inside the ice. When it got to cold, I held the glass; when my fingers burned too much, down into the ice they went. 4 hours of this, and an 800 mg ibuprofen helped immensely.

Christmas Day!

By now, most of you are actually in bed, and us West Coasters are slogging our way from the dinner table to rest our weary and bigger tummies.

I hope Christmas day was peaceful and good to all of you. It was for us! My dad of all people joined us for Christmas breakfast and gift opening. He gave BD1 and BD2 necklaces: BD1's is a blue topaz heart with diamonds, and BD2's is a letter "E" in white gold with small diamonds. I had taken him shopping, thinking he wanted to get them some bean bag chairs! Whoa!

After opening gifts, I made French toast, ham and eggs for everyone (DH and BD2 got the French Toast, Dad got Ham and eggs, I got one slice of Fr. Toast and some ham and 1 sort of basted egg), and BD1, as usual, had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Scott made his best coffee ever, and we didn't get hungry again until about 5:00.

I had put a prime rib in the oven at about 8:am, and at 2:00 it really was ready to eat, but I made it stay in a little longer. It was about 5 ribs' worth (9 lbs?), baked yams, green beans, peas and are you sitting down?--YORKSHIRE PUDDING! (i.e., popovers). I have only attempted them once before, and didn't finish making them, but this time, I did it and oh dear, me, were they ever good! (of course, if I say so meself) I was so proud! Of course, BD1 had the meat and a slice of bread plus two peas, and BD2 had instant macaroni and cheese.

Now I'm sitting at the pc, trying to get a few minutes' rest before I give BD2 a bath and we go, girls in pj's to see all the decorated houses. BD1 is making us all milkshakes with her new Hello Kitty Milk Shake Maker that BD2 demanded we buy for her "sisser." Another thing BD2 chose to buy for BD1 was a Lava lamp. DH and BD1 turned it on at about 10:30 this morning, and I think they are still waiting for it to move, now, at 7:30 pm.

We received gifts from our friends of near and far, and cherish every one. I have begun to drink the deliriously delicious wine from northern California by way of Washington, this morning tasted the way-too-yummy cloudberry jam from Norway, and tonight later, I plan to use my new bath gel and moisturizer from Alabama.

We felt so worldly--we received something all the way from Ghana (by way of South Carolina). DH received a mask--those of you who have been to our house have seen our mask collection--and this will enhance our collection in a place of honor in our home. I have been showered with too much generosity, and so appreciate the friends and family I have. DH gave me, among other great things, a piece of "bling bling" that I adore. It's a blue sapphire teardrop stone, hanging from a "ribbon" of inset diamonds. I nearly cried!

So, we successfully earned the reputation of other U.S. residents who overfill their consumerism quotas. Our house once again looks as if a gift shop exploded, but it sure looks like somebody had fun, and boy we did!

Best regards to all, and hopes for a very, very Happy Christmas and New Year!

An update

I think I haven't posted a "real" update in a very long time, and my coffee is ready, so I'll do my update now, while eating brkfst and drinking coffee. That is, of course if little Sprite BD2 doesn't get herself into major trouble first!

First, my December Babe, BD1- Her mother has not changed her middle name yet, and she has a passport already, so it will not be changed anytime soon, I think.

Nearly 8 (wow), BD1 is a Brownie/Girl Scout, still weighs less than 60 lbs, but is 52" tall. She's in second grade, in public school, and is at the top of her class in nearly all subjects. She's in the top 4 for math. She reads all the time, loves Bratz and Polly Pockets, her girl scout troop, Spy Girls, Groovy Girls, Kim Possible, Fairly Odd Parents and the Simpsons. She plays Halo2 with her dad,even though I don't approve, but I am trying to look at it as father/daughter bonding time. I'm amazed, but with her new teacher, she practices piano without being nagged. She does her homework first thing, then piano practice and then plays. She's a good kid, even though I joke about her; she gets easily frustrated (understandably so) when BD2 gets into her things. Then, she'll surprise me and play with her sister rather than against her. Go figure. Or, she'll want to buy something for BD2, and I am unable to determine her ulterior motives, so I guess there must not be any. What a positive-thinking mom, eh?

Her tennis coach says she's a natural, but she needs more practice (bad mom again), her 2nd grade teacher has nothing but great things to say about her, and her dance teacher loves her. I think we may not continue dance--neither one of us seems able to get there every week with all the other things she does. With tennis and piano, the dance is too much, and with soccer practice 2 nights each week plus Saturday games, we missed a lot of dance classes, not to mention the brownie meetings two Mondays each month. Her dance classes are on Mondays. So, something had to drop, and we decided it was dance. I'm very happy she took classes this long--4 years. I never felt it important that she be a potential pro dancer girl, but I did want her to learn how to carry herself, and she's done that--no stooped shoulders for this one!

Soccer finished the season on November 18th. BD1 is a good goalie. She prevented over 20 goals from other teams all season, and only allowed 3 in every time she played. She nearly got 3 goals; and her team even won one game in the season. This is the age (u8) that no one really keeps score but the parents. She loves soccer, and wants to play all the time.

Last night we hosted the Brownie troop after they went caroling throughout the neighborhood. It truly was fun, getting to know other moms, having 20 little 2nd - 4th graders in the house, having hot cocoa, apple cider, cookies and brownies and playing. I'm looking forward to the next group event. Who'd a thunk I would be a Brownie Mom? Or even a Soccer Mom for that matter!?

BD2--the sprite, Destructo Babe, never-to-be-fully potty trained 3-1/2 year old, BD2 is certainly different in many ways from BD1. She is so joyous when she breaks the rules we set. She absolutely does not listen to us, and short of beating her, we've tried just about everything to get her to comply with the simplest of rules. Examples are: Emily you need to go potty. Let's go...we can go right now and I'll help you. "NO! I DON'T HAVE TO GO POTTY!!" not 5 minutes later, "MOMMMMYY--I had a aksizent!!!" "Emily--ok, let's go change your clothes." 'NO!!!" I either give up or drag her, kicking and screaming into her room to change her clothes. I need to buy her some more undies since she goes through about 4 pair a day. What is very odd, though, is that there are no night-time accidents, no school-time accidents, just at home accidents. Maybe it's another instance of my "Bad-Mommy-ness." Other than this issue, and sometimes her behavior when she's tired/hungry/make up symptom here, she's wondrous, beautiful, cute, and oh, so funny. She makes up jokes, makes funny faces when I am sad/mad/whatever, does whatever she can to make us laugh at any given time. She loves a little boy in preschool named Kyle. He is so cute. He's the one who was Peter Pan at Halloween (she was tinkerbell). I am very patient with her, but she tries my patience at
least 4-6 times each day. It's so odd to me to love someone so very deeply who can frustrate me so very deeply simultaneously. But then, damn, she's cute! And then, too, she'll be at a store with me, and out of the blue, she sees something BD1 would like and asks, "Mommy, can we buy this for my sisser?" awwww...

DH appears to be doing well. He still works at the Mickey Mouse Outfit, is a Technical Director on a project called "A day in the life of Wilbur," written by William Joyce (no relation to James, I think). He is loving his work life. His home life may be a different matter, since his wife of 12 years seems to have quit her job. Not the one that pays money--she quit that one 8 years ago. This is the job where she's supposed to take care of the home, the kids, the dog, and the husband, always has meals done on time, never lets a fleck of dust fall on a surface in the home, and does the bills and budget, the shopping, the secretarial, event planning, calendaring, social, and community jobs for the family (and smiles all the time she does these things.)

We are still cluttered from my parents' things, some of our joint things from when we were first married (3 houses of furniture: mine, his, and his mom's), and now kids' things exploding/growing/multiplying/mutating by order of magnitude. However, it's getting better. After the Christmas wrapping is done, we will have a fully functioning Play Room!! Tah-Dah!! Can't wait for that! I want a lock on the outside of the door (to lock the girls in), but Scott won't let me (small joke--weak grin).

I'm still here, not quite as stressed as I ought to be, writing this update instead of going through paperwork because I'm frankly sick of looking at the paperwork, especially after it took me nearly 6 hours this morning just to organize and pay our bills. They were pretty organized to start, but I managed to not comprehend some of them and sat there staring at them trying to figure out from what turnip I would pull blood to pay them. I managed
to finish, and we'll even be able to pay the mortage! (yay)

My dad has good and bad days...fortunately, lately he has had a few more good days than bad ones. The girls and I are supposed to go over to his apartment in a few minutes to help him with his television and a few other things, then come back home and get dinner ready for Scott. Dad lost and found his new glasses, lost and did not find his $3,000 hearing aid (which
probably won't be replaced), and loses his small amounts of cash repeatedly. He loses track of what day it is, when we will see him, etc. But he's always happy to see us, give me a hug, and watch the girls do their antics.

Our dog is a cutey, seems happy to be with us, even though BD2 has pulled nearly every limb so hard I thought it would come off. He's small, gray, and very energetic. He runs so fast his feet don't touch the ground--I truly believe this. When he jumps he looks like a very small dear--so graceful and not even a second's hesitation to jumping as high as he needs.

My next step now, is to start tearing into the playroom and the gifts--not too many left to wrap, a few things that need to get moved, and voila! the house is ready for the party! YIPPEE! whoops--I forgot the back patio. Yes, well, it's nearly dark so that may not happen to the extent I had desired. What I'd really like to do is knock it down. Story for another time.

The house looks livable (and lived in) again. The bedroom for intents and purposes is finished, the master bathroom, too; the laundry room is beautiful, even though the painter and my husband don't think the walls match the floor. I do, so it stays the colors I chose. I'm the one that is always in there, after all. We have about 4 more phases on the house and
then' I'll be happy for about ten years. Of course it will take ten years to accomplish all the items on my list, but so what. We'll just start over after that. The phases are, if any interest is out there: (phase 1 and 2 are done)

3: painting the rest of the inside of the house (family room, dining room and living room), scraping/retexturing the ceilings, adding some electrical in preparation for Phase 6..., adding some cool ceiling fans to the family room.

4: re-finishing the outside of the house, tearing down the siding, changing colors ever so slightly getting a new garage door;

5: re-landscaping the back yard,

6: tearing down the patio, remodeling the kitchen, changing the layout of kitchen, dining room and family room areas.

7. selling. (just a joke--but isn't that what usually happens when you get your house just the way you like it?)

That's pretty much a full update for the six of us...with all that said, it's time now to get ready for our bigger than we had planned Christmas party tomorrow night. Off to see dad, then buy a few things, then finish wrapping, decorating and emptying the play room. I will be very, very happy on Sunday! Saturday, of course will be grand fun, too. Anyone want to join us? 8^)