I'm sitting here at the table listening to the sounds of Kung Fu Panda in the background while the older two build their new Star Wars Lego sets. Is there a better way to start a Sunday morning? Didn't think so.
The kids made out like bandits again this year. No one, including Jason, have taken off their spanky new slippers. Jake is regularly seen wandering around the house in his Iron Man helmet. It's rather comical since he looks like a bobble head wearing the helmet.
One of their bestest gifts came from Uncle Josh and Uncle Dewey. They were give measuring tapes, mini flashlights, fat pencils and air horns. Fortunately the air horns lost their power on Friday night. The measuring tapes? The boys LOVE them. They've been measuring everything and anything in the house. Hours of fun, even more so than a slinky.
Me? I was dumbfounded by unwrapping packages regarding a new computer. An iMac to be specific. Jason even got me a magic thinkpad for the mouse. Our laptop is sluggish and dying a slow death. We've been talking about finally plunking down for a Mac this next go around. I wasn't expecting the gift for Christmas. He went with the iMac vs a netbook because they cost the same. Yes, I was gauche enough to question him on this since I thought we'd go for the netbook. Portability does have its uses.
It was a good day yesterday.
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Holy crap, I have generous kids
I started baking on Sunday for the goodies will be giving to the kids teachers and our neighbors. I sent Brendan and Colin to school with tins full of cookies for their teachers. The rest of the morning I finished up my holiday baking.
As I'm waiting for the boys after school I see Brendan coming towards me with his cookie tin. When he gets into the van I asked why he didn't give it to his teacher. He, and Colin, both passed out the cookies to their classmates. They took my saying it's for your teachers as 'hey, lets share with everyone!' Brendan said it was the nice thing to do. I thanked them for their generosity, saying it was nice.
This morning I restocked the tins and promptly forgot them in my yelling to get the kids out the door. At least their teachers will have a bit of a different fare this time around.
In other holiday news, Colin hasn't taken his santa hat off since I bought them on Monday. Brendan lost his at school and Jake waffles between wearing his and tossing it around. Colin asked for two weeks if I'd get them santa hats. He is very happy I obliged.
We're not big on traditions so I haven't gone gungho on holiday crap. Things are added each year as the kids get older. We have blue christmas trees, ornament garlands and santa hats this year. I'm thinking I might go squirrely and get solar powered outdoor lights next year.
As I'm waiting for the boys after school I see Brendan coming towards me with his cookie tin. When he gets into the van I asked why he didn't give it to his teacher. He, and Colin, both passed out the cookies to their classmates. They took my saying it's for your teachers as 'hey, lets share with everyone!' Brendan said it was the nice thing to do. I thanked them for their generosity, saying it was nice.
This morning I restocked the tins and promptly forgot them in my yelling to get the kids out the door. At least their teachers will have a bit of a different fare this time around.
In other holiday news, Colin hasn't taken his santa hat off since I bought them on Monday. Brendan lost his at school and Jake waffles between wearing his and tossing it around. Colin asked for two weeks if I'd get them santa hats. He is very happy I obliged.
We're not big on traditions so I haven't gone gungho on holiday crap. Things are added each year as the kids get older. We have blue christmas trees, ornament garlands and santa hats this year. I'm thinking I might go squirrely and get solar powered outdoor lights next year.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Cookie Galore.
Yesterday was spent baking cookies. I forgot how much my back hurts from standing all day. My new recipe for this year was a caramel pumpkin cookie. I will never make this one again. I greased pans. I used parchment paper. Those fucking cookies stuck like you wouldn't believe. I had mangled, but tasty, caramel pumpkin cookies.
The others I baked were called little treasures (chock full of nuts and two kinds of chocolate chips), pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and lemon drops. Today is set aside for feather gingerbread, guinness applesauce cake (for which I need more walnuts) and nanaimo bars.
I was going to make marshmallows but think I'll do those for Christmas Eve. We're going over to Uncle J and Uncle D's house for dinner. I think the boys will appreciate the marshmallows in their hot chocolate.
The others I baked were called little treasures (chock full of nuts and two kinds of chocolate chips), pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and lemon drops. Today is set aside for feather gingerbread, guinness applesauce cake (for which I need more walnuts) and nanaimo bars.
I was going to make marshmallows but think I'll do those for Christmas Eve. We're going over to Uncle J and Uncle D's house for dinner. I think the boys will appreciate the marshmallows in their hot chocolate.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Procrastination, how do I love the? Let me count the ways.
I have one more assignment for my last class and I'm done. All the research has been done. Websites gathered for source material. The project is only 3-4 paragraphs on what I'd like to be as a grown-up or the reason I'm trying to get my arse into nursing school. Simple. Easy. Yet I'm avoiding this task like the plague. If I don't get it done today I always have tomorrow.
On a completely different subject, we have a tree! A fake, prelit, 7.5ft tree is happily decorated in the corner. Trying to find a decent prelit tree in the stores this year has been a nightmare. Everything is either out of stock in store or not sold online. We should have bought the tree when they first made an appearance in store. See the above paragraph about procrastination since it also applies towards trees.
Jake spazzed out yesterday in helping me decorate. His zeal caused several broke ornaments and candy canes. I had to very carefully go around him as I found new homes for some ornaments. While he didn't cluster them in a giant ornament disaster there were a few hanging a tad close. I haven't decided when the boys will start eating the candy canes off of the tree. Perhaps after winter break starts.
We're still missing a topper since the one I got years ago is rather heavy for a fake tree. Our last fake tree could handle the star in a rather lopsided way. This new one wants to be Charlie Brown's Christmas Trees older brother. In the meantime, the old topper is sitting on our mantel by the blue tree. It rather matches everything we have up there now.
On a completely different subject, we have a tree! A fake, prelit, 7.5ft tree is happily decorated in the corner. Trying to find a decent prelit tree in the stores this year has been a nightmare. Everything is either out of stock in store or not sold online. We should have bought the tree when they first made an appearance in store. See the above paragraph about procrastination since it also applies towards trees.
Jake spazzed out yesterday in helping me decorate. His zeal caused several broke ornaments and candy canes. I had to very carefully go around him as I found new homes for some ornaments. While he didn't cluster them in a giant ornament disaster there were a few hanging a tad close. I haven't decided when the boys will start eating the candy canes off of the tree. Perhaps after winter break starts.
We're still missing a topper since the one I got years ago is rather heavy for a fake tree. Our last fake tree could handle the star in a rather lopsided way. This new one wants to be Charlie Brown's Christmas Trees older brother. In the meantime, the old topper is sitting on our mantel by the blue tree. It rather matches everything we have up there now.
Monday, December 13, 2010
I don't like Mondays
Actually, it's more along the lines of not liking this particular Monday. Things didn't start out very well once I realized the fresh pot of coffee I made wouldn't get drunk by me. My stomach has been doing knots ever since I woke up. Chalking it all up to my last test tonight which I'm woefully unprepared for. Instead of studying I've been reading, poking around on the internet, buying gifts for my niece and nephew. Pretty much everything in my power in keeping myself from cracking open my science book.
On a brighter note our tree is on the way through the postal system. We did a real tree last year and decided it's not happening again. More from not wanting to clean out the sap in the tree stand because I don't even know where to start with the gooey mess. Between Jason and I we've combed the stores all over our area. Finding a decent priced tree is a bitch. Or having any stock of fake, pre-lit trees in the store is a bitch. I keep forgetting we're in a densely packed area of human bodies.
Realistically I know a pre-lit tree is a bit costly. Only I don't want to pay the cost even knowing it'll pay for itself within 2-3 years. Seeing our neighbors tree almost had me canceling the order and hitting up Home Depots tree sale. They got a beautiful live tree for $20. But no, I don't want to deal with putting up any lights. I don't exactly enjoy all the knicks I get from the needles, real or fake be damned.
On a brighter note our tree is on the way through the postal system. We did a real tree last year and decided it's not happening again. More from not wanting to clean out the sap in the tree stand because I don't even know where to start with the gooey mess. Between Jason and I we've combed the stores all over our area. Finding a decent priced tree is a bitch. Or having any stock of fake, pre-lit trees in the store is a bitch. I keep forgetting we're in a densely packed area of human bodies.
Realistically I know a pre-lit tree is a bit costly. Only I don't want to pay the cost even knowing it'll pay for itself within 2-3 years. Seeing our neighbors tree almost had me canceling the order and hitting up Home Depots tree sale. They got a beautiful live tree for $20. But no, I don't want to deal with putting up any lights. I don't exactly enjoy all the knicks I get from the needles, real or fake be damned.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Holiday baking goes bust
This year my gifts for the boys teachers and friends would be baked goods. The ambitious part of me had grand ideas of all sorts of goodies along the lines of what Mom did back in the day. The realistic part of me realized this was all a fantasy.
Still, I had plans in baking several different cookie and loaf recipes. I started with a low-carb oatmeal pecan cookie recipe from Weight Watchers. This would be the one healthy recipe made. All three boys helped add all the ingredients, talking animatedly about the cookies. I dolled out the first tray, popped it in the oven, turned the timer on and waited.
The cookies flattened out on the baking stone. Melted is the best description for how they looked. I scraped up the oatmeal bits so the boys could see how the glop turned out. Rather tasty considering the hideous mess left on the stone. With this fiasco I decided to turn the cookies into cookie bars. I scooped the rest of the batch into a pan and popped it into the oven.
At some point I checked on the cookies turned into cookie bars. They were bubbling over the edges, glopping onto the bottom of the oven where it started to burn. I kept an eye on the oven despite the impending mess for a few more minutes before realizing this recipe truly failed. I haven't a clue who came up with this disaster at Weight Watchers but my failed attempt didn't match their picture. No crisp looking oatmeal pecan cookies came piping hot out of my oven. Instead I pulled out piping hot goo.
Still, I had plans in baking several different cookie and loaf recipes. I started with a low-carb oatmeal pecan cookie recipe from Weight Watchers. This would be the one healthy recipe made. All three boys helped add all the ingredients, talking animatedly about the cookies. I dolled out the first tray, popped it in the oven, turned the timer on and waited.
The cookies flattened out on the baking stone. Melted is the best description for how they looked. I scraped up the oatmeal bits so the boys could see how the glop turned out. Rather tasty considering the hideous mess left on the stone. With this fiasco I decided to turn the cookies into cookie bars. I scooped the rest of the batch into a pan and popped it into the oven.
At some point I checked on the cookies turned into cookie bars. They were bubbling over the edges, glopping onto the bottom of the oven where it started to burn. I kept an eye on the oven despite the impending mess for a few more minutes before realizing this recipe truly failed. I haven't a clue who came up with this disaster at Weight Watchers but my failed attempt didn't match their picture. No crisp looking oatmeal pecan cookies came piping hot out of my oven. Instead I pulled out piping hot goo.
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