In the bleak midwinter

This photo was not taken today.
If it was, there would be a lot more white stuff in it.

Looks like I made it through February without posting. Let me sum things up: first Cuddles was sick, then Easy, then me, then Easy was sick again, and then Cuddles was sick again. Somewhere in there I also took care of my little sister when she had her wisdom teeth out. I guess the good news is that when I am stuck at home with sick kids I get projects done. Mostly involving sewing {two bedspreads, two sets of curtains, baby bibs and quilt, and a couple other random things.} And some reading too.

Oh, and I did have a birthday. With cheesecake and my favorite Papa Murphy’s pizza. If you’ve never tried this, you need to order a Hawaiian pizza but get the garlic sauce. You will never look at pizza the same way again.

And have you noticed the new Cheerios?? I discovered how to put them to good use:

Substitute them for the rice krispies. Put your hands together!

A Portrait

"Hold still so I can draw you."
We were sitting in church and I happily froze so Easy could study my profile.
"Okay, blue eyes. . .red hair. . .what color is your necklace?"
She promptly got to work. I was impressed with her attention to detail {they've been emphasizing that in kindergarten} until she asked, "Mommy, what are those pink circles under your eyes?" She wanted to show Daddy her masterpiece upon completion. His comment: "She got a little carried away with the makeup, huh?" Oh, no, see those are just the dark circles under my eyes. Thanks for noticing. Let's focus instead on those tan legs and sophisticated heels...

I only wish it had been the squirrel

Yesterday was The Professor’s birthday. I made him a delicious dinner and then he had to run back to teach his swimming class from 6 until 7. He must have been in a hurry to get his birthday cake {actually he doesn’t like cake so we had a key lime pie and a cheesecake}, because this morning when I went out to the garage to take the kids to school I noticed that the garage door was open. And the light was on. I asked him if he had gone out there this morning already, but he hadn’t. Great, I thought, that means the garage was open all night. Well it’s not like that hasn’t happened before…
As we were in the car, Cuddles asked me where his Didj was. We thought he had left it on the seat in the car. That’s where they have been keeping them. I prefer them to play in the car since they’re sitting anyway and it significantly reduces the fighting/whining. But it was nowhere in sight. Surely, I thought, it must be somewhere. Nobody would come in to our garage and swipe that. . . would they??
So when I got home I looked for his Didj. Everywhere it might usually be. Then in the places where it probably wouldn’t be. Certainly this must be just a coincidence that it would be missing after the garage was left open. I mean, there wasn’t anything else missing.
I called up The Professor and was talking to him about it. I was in the garage. Then it struck me that the saw that should have been in a certain spot wasn’t there. But our garage is such a disaster area right now, because, seriously, who goes out in the cold to tidy the garage?? So it must just be somewhere else. I looked in all the places that it might be. Um, now there were two things unaccounted for. But I still wasn’t convinced enough to go fill out a police report or anything.
So I spent the afternoon trying to get the kids to clean their rooms and going through all my stacks of papers for year end/taxes {one of my personal favorite pastimes} and the day just slipped away from me. Until The Professor got home. He came storming in. You see, it was tolerable to have lost a Didj. And we weren’t really that much worse off without the saw. But the *power washer* was gone too. {See, I would have probably noticed that in a clean garage...} So he called up the police and soon we were filling out the report.

RIP Power washer. sniff.

The moral of the story: {other than don’t leave your garage door open all night with the light on, but let’s not dwell…} The police officer was telling us that there have been a lot of burglaries. Seems like people are just getting desperate {whether that’s true or not I suppose isn’t the point.} But with the world the way it is, go through your house and take pictures of all your stuff. You can take a picture of the box that it came in. It is most helpful if you have the serial number. You know, to prove to the guy at the pawn shop that it is actually your compound miter saw. Or you could engrave your initials onto it, or at least something that is distinguishable that can’t be removed {like stickers}. Unfortunately we didn’t do that…
So, I guess I’ll be spending that rebate check I just got to replace the stuff that was swiped…I don’t think we’ll claim it on our insurance, since the last time we made a claim we were given bad information and ended up worse off, but we won’t go into that right now.

Don't know about "The Squirrel"??? click here.

Is it too late?

Do I still have time to post about Christmas? It's still Christmas Break, right?

It was a busy Christmas this year. My parents and youngest brother came down and so everyone within reasonable distance congregated at our house. I should have ended up with more pictures...

The kids were excited to sleep in our room while their beds were occupied. Eazy snores.

Uncle Matt is always good with the kids.

I like to have our fancy dinner on Christmas Eve and then we have Papa Murphy's on Christmas Day. That way we get to eat pizza and nobody has to work on Christmas. it's a win-win. So here are some pictures of the Who Hash

and the Roast Beast

I tried the new Peach Sparkling Cider. My favorite is still the Cranberry.

I also try to put breakfasty stuff in the stockings in a futile attempt to give the day a healthy start. {Not everyone brought their stockings, so we just put stuff on the counter} Oh, those pop tarts count, because they have fiber...

There was a Wii under our tree. The Professor really lobbied in favor of that Christmas Wish...

And here are the traditional pictures of the kids in front of the tree with all their presents. Yes, they each got a bag of chips. It has to last the whole year, cuz it's the only time I buy them.

My mom got me a new Michael Buble CD. I've been listening to it most of the time since Christmas. And my kids really dig it when I break out with "Cry me a River." Goes over real well.

Socks

I feel like I am always buying socks.

Easy has been picky about her socks lately. Just bought her a big ol' package from Walmart. She refuses to wear them. None of them fit right. Except her “easy” socks {aka ankle socks}.

Cuddles will wear any socks, even if half of it is hanging off his foot. His issue is that he likes to run around the neighborhood with no shoes on. Makes for lots of holes in his socks. And a happy me.

The Professor has a basket full of socks, but feels like he needs more. Something about playing basketball and yada yada. Whatever.

As for me, I am down to a few pairs left from the package of perfect socks I found at Costco a few years ago. I hope I can find them again, but so far they have eluded me.

I do have one question. Can anyone tell me why all the sock packages have ziplock tops??? Is that so they stay fresh …?

What's in your wallet?

I don't know about you, but we get tons of junk mail credit card offers. {I'm pretty sure we aren't the only ones.} Some people don't use credit cards. But we do. I feel like they can either work for you or against you.
When we first got married we got a GM card. {after being rejected for the Ford card we tried to get, but I think it turned out better in the end.} We earned 5% of whatever we spent as a rebate toward a car. We used it for years and actually almost gave up on ever seeing that money. But when our trusty Sentra bit the big one, we were able to buy our Vibe using their current promotion plus our rebate to boot. We actually could have traded it back in and made money on the deal.
Our Chase card gives us decent cash back. But the thing I really like about that one is that I figured out that if I save up my cash back until it reaches $200, then they will send me a check for $250. Easy as pie. Extra fifty bucks. That's what I just did today. Nice!

Daddy Date

The Professor took Easy to see the Nutcracker on Saturday night. She was really excited. He even asked me to make her a corsage. She made me put it on with a safety pin.

Cuddles and I went to get a Happy Meal and ice cream while they were out. As soon as Easy found out she didn't get a Happy Meal, she made her disappointment known. I guess you can't win...

It also made for a pretty late night, since the Nutcracker started at 7:30. Let's just say that The Professor told me on Sunday, "I learned something today. I should listen to you. The kids definitely need to go to bed on time." Ah, music to my ears.