Briefly: Thanksgiving plans

I'm so happy it's Thanksgiving Week (except for the fact that I didn't take the full week off like I have the last few years, because our school district gives kids a whole week off). Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday, because it's forced down-time without the pressure of gift-giving. It's understood that there WILL be time spent on a couch, watching football. And it's all the good food, including the leftovers and the turkey gumbo afterwards. 

It also "hits different," as the kids say, when you have one in college. Alex is heading home Tuesday after his last shift at work; he tried to offer that shift to his co-workers but, surprise, no one wanted it. But no matter, Tuesday night through Sunday is a nice, long time to have him home. I scrubbed his bathroom thoroughly this past weekend, and during that process, wondered if it's related to the nesting we do as pregnant moms -- prepping the space/home somewhat frantically for the baby to come stay. I kind-of love the idea that it's the same thing, years later. (But also, his bathroom just had a layer of yuck, from extreme neglect.) 

I'm excited to have Thanksgiving dinner in our newly-painted dining room. We hung up some things on the pristine walls -- new to the room, though not to our house. It's fun to have mixed it up like that, and I really love how it turned out. Here are before and after:

   

We still need a rug, but how much do you love that color?! Heart-eyes! I love it so much. We think it's going to be a (fun) shock to Alex's system, to come home to the new floors and new paint in several places. 

I'm roasting our turkey with apples, onions, and citrus inside the cavity, hoping for juicy and flavorful. I'm making my family's sausage dressing. Plus the usual mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans (not casserole, but two different kinds), gouda mac and cheese, and homemade rolls. And a fun dessert! 

Weather permitting, I also hope there will be time in the backyard, perhaps with a fire in the fire pit. I want to have this drink in a warm mug. 

I wish all of you a happy holiday, filled with rest and peace. Those are the things I'm hoping to get out of it.

Four Days In A Row

Y'all. I had to go to my office FOUR DAYS in a row this week. 

We had visitors from Germany (head office) and all over, and long meetings on Wednesday and Thursday. Bonus: We had 3 days of free lunches, woo! Detriment: These were not very healthy lunches, heh. I didn't mind so much that, as having to get fully dressed, with makeup, and do my hair, every day before 8:00 am! Whew! How did I used to do that every day?! My body and I do not remember at all.

But I survived it somehow, and it is TGIFriday and I am at my kitchen table again where I belong. I am wearing soft pants, I drank my coffee from a Christmas mug this morning instead of a metal tumbler (I dislike a metal tumbler SO much, because I do think it affects the taste), and I have lit a candle in honor of the occasion.

Naturally, I have lots of home-tasks that I would like to be working on today: Christmas loooooms! But December is always a very busy work month, too, ugh. So I'm trying to be focused on my laptop, minus this blog-break (I did two work tasks prior! I have worked)! I guess tonight after dinner (maybe, if I have any energy left) and tomorrow, I will work on the home things:

• Shipping presents to my parents and to Aunt Jane (today! I hope!)
• Making meal plans for the holiday break (Alex is home! Gotta make sure some of his faves are on the menu so he'll long for home when he goes back, lol)
• Shopping for the holiday break, including baking ingredients
• Cleaning the kitchen, before making more messes
• Making Christmas treats/cookies
• Duh, present-wrapping (my closet is a mess of hidden shipments and boxes)
• Addressing Christmas cards, ack, I am so behind on that!
• Getting starting with the guest room overhaul - I would like to rework the guest room significantly over break and that means taking a bunch of stuff to Goodwill or throwing it out

It's ambitious, I know. Maybe I'm crazy. Because we also need to make sure Alex gets his booster and flu shots while he's home, gets his car washed, and he has a couple of doctor appointments while he's here. AND I'd even like to have friends over once or twice, casually, during the break, just so it feels a little festive since we aren't traveling. As much as I want to see my parents and cousins in FL, we did so much traveling around Thanksgiving that I think we all need to have an at-home holiday. We'll see -- Shawn is considering another trip to Savannah while he has days off. I have plans to go to FL in late January, actually, with my sister. 

All's well. It's a busy time of year for everyone, so I'm not complaining. The sun is finally out, here in Georgia, and we have very cold temperatures, which feels right. Merry and bright, as December should be. I want to tell you about this excellent book I'm reading - maybe about several I've read in the past few months - and once I figure out the Christmas menus, that will be fun to talk about, too. Onward we go, with holiday sparkle in our steps! (Yesterday two albums brought me joy: the old favorite, Harry Connick Jr's When My Heart Find Christmas, and the brand-new Kings Return EP, A Merry Little Christmas, plus their version of O Holy Night -- it's incredible. 5 stars for both, highly recommend.) 

Thanksgiving

I don't owe anyone any explanations, and most everyone reading here already knows this, but it's been a long time and here's where I've been: Shawn's mom passed away. It was sudden, very unexpected. So we've been to Savannah and back again, had Thanksgiving at home, and are going back to Savannah this weekend for the funeral (one thing I appreciate about the pandemic is that it made postponing those kinds of things acceptable). 

It is, of course, still hard to believe she's gone. She was only 76 and we thought in fairly good health. She was certainly still active enough. Last night when I was dishing up bowls of turkey gumbo for our dinner, I had the feeling she should be calling. She always called at dinnertime. We're reminded once again that life is so short, and we never know when our time will come. 

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home. Alex was here from Tuesday - Friday (he had to go back to play with the marching band on Saturday) and I was proud of myself for getting the meal all ready on time. My tribute to Susan was that I made her dinner rolls ("yeast rolls" on my yellowed recipe card). It was my first time doing that by myself; I had helped her once or twice by rolling them out and buttering/folding over, but I'd never made the dough. I think I need to work on it for the future, but they were edible. I also borrowed -- well, I guess I don't have to give it back -- her Bundt pan and made this pumpkin spice cake, which was delicious and, in my opinion, cake is more enjoyable than pumpkin pie. 

For myself, I'm feeling some grief-like ...uncertainty is the word, I guess. Just like everything is hovering slightly above ground; like gravity doesn't fully work right now. Like I don't really have a handle on our calendar or the day-to-day things, even though I probably do. I wonder when it will all settle? An out-of-town coworker made me teary on Zoom today when she offered to mention Susan in her rosary prayer group tomorrow. What a gift to have people praying for you and your loved ones, and their souls. What a gift it was to know my mother in law. I'm thankful.

Successful Christmas Gifts for our Teens

I spent so much time worrying over Christmas gifts this holiday season. Every year, Shawn starts saying in October, "We really shouldn't wait... we need to ask the kids what they want... we should get started Christmas shopping...." and every year, I agree with him. And then don't really start until after Thanksgiving. It's terrible. I would like nothing more than to FIX THAT, but HOW? This year seemed even harder for whatever reason. But Santa's delivery brought enough Surprise and Delight (always my goal) to make it a good Christmas for both kids, even if there were some very random things included. 

For Alex, Shawn happened to find a PS5 available in October or November, and he jumped on it. Alex had not even asked for this, but the boys in our family are gamers and therefore any gaming system is a good bet. This was the main gift, obviously; everything else for Alex was silly IMHO (and I bought everything else). There was a good quality Braves jacket (for a kid who rarely wears a jacket, but oh well)... a poster frame for this year's marching band show poster... some toiletries stuff... some new pajamas... a book by one of his favorite authors (never a bad idea, so point for me)... and some gift cards. 

Kate's main desire was clothing from lululemon. This is the Esprit of the 2020s, I guess; all the girls MUST have it. It's expensive, so Santa brought her one pair of leggings, and grandparents bought some other items. She had also asked for a pair of Nikes, which she and I bought together at Thanksgiving (so she could try them on, and because her size is hard to find). I asked her permission to wrap them and put them under the tree, since they were already on her wish list, and she agreed. Womp, wommmmp, sad trumpet. You know you're mature when you agree to that! Sorry, Kate. She had given us more of a wish list, so she also got a skincare kit (Drunk Elephant brand), 3 vinyl records by Taylor Swift, a sushi-making kit I found on Amazon, a milk frother for lattes, and some new perfume. And gift cards. It still probably didn't add up to the same monetary total as the PS5, but I'm okay with that. We've already used the sushi kit (fun!) and the milk frother (super fun!) so I feel like those gifts elicited the "delight" I'm looking for. Or maybe I like them for myself, ha! They do live in my kitchen... ;)

Stockings were stressful, too, and I do not feel like I did a very good job there. New shower scrubbies (loofahs) for everyone, some nail polishes for Kate (so she'll quit using mine), random travel-size items and candy, and lottery scratch-offs. I was glad they're old enough for those now - I remember getting them in my stocking when Florida introduced a lottery when I was a teen. I should have gotten more gift cards, I think, or put cash in stockings - it just didn't seem like "enough." Which is silly. Maybe I need to start employing a Swistle mentality about stockings and buy/stash away year-round.

Last note: I have never done matching Christmas Pajamas for our family, but this year I kept seeing people's photos who DO that, and I was jealous. So I am doing it next year. I'll order them online from LL Bean if I must, but I think it's so cute. 

Covid diaries: The kids tested positive

I knew we would eventually get Covid. On Dec. 21st, both kids were planning to go enjoy their first days of Christmas Break by hanging out with friends -- Kate at a sleepover and Alex ice skating with a group. We happened to have three home tests, and because there had been reports of lots of cases in Kate's class toward the end of school (a Christmas semi-formal was postponed), and Alex had been congested and Kate had had a sore throat and headache, I thought it was best if they just quickly took the tests before leaving the house.

Both tests showed positives instantly. We were supposed to leave for Savannah on the 23rd. That plan was scrapped, as well as the kids' plans that day, much to their (Kate's) dismay. Kate has adamantly said the home test was "a fake," and she "doesn't even feel bad," so she doesn't believe it's Covid (she clearly has not watched enough Nightly News). The test result was very clear.

That first day, I didn't know what to do. I sent them to their rooms hesitantly (well, Alex masked up, poured himself a glass of water and then took himself up there with a joking, "Okay, BYE, see you in January") -- but I really didn't like the idea of them banished for 10 full days. I called the pediatrician; the nurse advised exactly that, to quarantine them for 10 days in their rooms. Sigh. By the end of the afternoon, Shawn and I had decided we weren't going to enforce it. Our house is not that big, and since all of us would be home for a stretch of days, anyway, and he and I are vaccinated and boosted, we decided that if we all wore masks and social distanced in common areas, we were fine with them living in the whole house. They're teens, they keep to their rooms pretty naturally already. Sleeping until noon helps. 

For the first few days, I did have them eat meals in the dining room, and us in the kitchen. It was weird, but at least those two rooms are connected with an open doorway so we were still kind-of together. We served from the stove, one at a time. And actually, it was fun seeing the two of them having conversations, laughing (probably at us), and enjoying each others' company. By the third or fourth day their symptoms were subsiding -- and it was Christmas -- and I decided to stop worrying about it. 

Shawn and I have never developed any symptoms. He took the third home test since he was going to work on Dec. 27 -- it was negative. (He wears his mask.) I haven't yet taken one because they are nowhere to be found! There's one drive-thru test site near us and its line is HOURS long; I'm not doing that. I'm mostly quarantining with them in the first place, I'm vaccinated/boosted, and I've double-masked when I've been out to look for home tests or to the grocery store. Maybe I shouldn't be going out at all; I feel like the advice on this isn't abundantly clear for vaxxed/boosted ppl who are exposed but not symptomatic -- in fact I've read that we do NOT have to quarantine. But some of the Internet sure wants to make you feel bad if you don't lock yourself down fully. We've taken some walks outside (masked if we come near anyone). I have an appointment for a PCR test on Jan. 4, the first one available within 25 miles of me, but I'm not really sure I even need that appointment. I'll probably keep it so I can go to my office with a clean conscience. 

Yesterday, a friend dropped off 2 home tests she happened to see in a CVS near her. So kind! I'm saving those for the kids, for before they go back to school, and of course still on the hunt for more, for the future, though it pains me to think we may need them AGAIN.

I also don't know when they will be able to get their boosters now. It was on my to-do list for the holiday break, at least for Alex, who's over the minimum age. But does he have to wait a few weeks now? School will start before then and the DOOMSDAY NEWS tells us he needs a booster to be safe. Not to mention Kate, who isn't old enough for the booster, I don't think.

On the 31st, their ten days will be up. There's still some faint lingering congestion, but it's not bad. Everyone can smell and taste now. Of course we all feel terrible that we didn't get to see Susan/Gammy in Savannah. We are considering a New Year's weekend trip instead, but our pet sitter isn't available; I could ask friends, but I don't want them to feel uncomfortable coming to a house that just had double Covid patients in it. Not that I haven't been Clorox-wiping surfaces most days -- I have. But as the news just gets WORSE with Omicron, it once again doesn't seem prudent to travel, when we're going to visit someone who doesn't have her booster yet (update: she got boosted 12/29) and has smoked her entire adult life. I think Shawn is planning to go on his own; I don't love that idea, it makes me feel terrible that she won't get to see her grandkids, but I also don't really want to go (and we can't all go and leave the cats). Bah. There's no good solution.

Otherwise, my/our Christmas was quite nice! HA. Mainly because I had time to read and finish THREE books and have started a fourth -- and they've all been great, so I'll share:

• Louise Penny's Bury Your Dead. I'd seen Louise on lifeofadoctorswife's book lists and then my mom had this one on my nightstand in Pensacola at Thanksgiving, so I grabbed it. I'm not usually a mystery lover, and this one didn't change my mind, but it was entertaining, particularly the snow-filled scenes of Quebec, perfect to read during a Georgia holiday break when temps have been IN THE 70s. The mood was just right. 
• Marley, by Jon Clinch. Ohhh, how I loved this! If you have any love for Dickens or even just the Christmas Carol story, I highly, highly recommend it. Well written tale that weaves Marley's story perfectly into the myth you already know.
• Scarred, by Sarah Edmonson. This was my Christmas gift, a culty book by an author whose podcast I listen to weekly, and I finished it in less than 24 hours. So good.
• Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver. Just started this one but already it's amazing, making me laugh out loud. It's set in Appalachia and the main character is just a hoot. I have a feeling that, like most of Kingsolver's work, there will be deep meaning as I get further in. 

Today I'm back on the laptop, although I think it's going to be a very quiet day with my manager still out (she told me yesterday she tested positive!). Mom and Dad also have reported colds; we're waiting to see if they can kick it quickly or if they'll need to test, as well. I can't believe we're still not done with this virus, can you?

Oh hi, December, is it?

12/8 Wrapped a gift this morning. Not one I had bought, mind you, but one my Mom sent for Kate because she is on top of things. I am not fully behind -- I have placed at least one Amazon order and half of it arrived, my Christmas cards are printed and picked up, and my house is decorated. So that's all good news. Naturally, though, I feel wayyyy behind on shopping. I am hopeful to get a lot of it accomplished in the next 4 days.

Tonight, for example, after my bi-annual work meeting at a hotel across town (I'm guessing dinner will be over by 8:00...?), I will pop across the street to the mall and pick up a few things on Santa's list. Doesn't that sound light and breezy? It will be so FUN to go to the mall! Hooray for malls being open until 10 during the holidays! hahahahaha. And Shawn has suggested we go out together to look at things for our nieces (etc.) this weekend. So there is a light sketch of a plan, at least, and that makes me feel mostly okay. I don't think we'll FAIL at Christmas. 

Of course we will be traveling on Christmas Day. Home from Savannah. You know what that means: Pizza Rolls! 

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12/15 record scratch. I didn't finish the post. Life got in the way. This is the neverending story of these days. Let's see... the work meeting went well, although the mall was NOT open after 8:00 pm! So there went that. I have had to go IN to my new office way too many days lately. Although it's a lovely new place, I'm not loving having to leave the house again. And so many MEETINGS lately.

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12/17 I just this hour finished a project that has been WEIGHING DOWN my to-do list (work) for the past 3 months. It didn't have a firm deadline, but did require several subsequent tasks, and I just COULD NOT for the life of me start it. But now it's finished. Thank the Elves Above! Now, after today's Early Dismissal and pickup at Kate's school, which begat a somewhat impromptu trip to the Marietta Market for an 8th graders' lunch, including me driving two girls there and being asked to "watch out for" another girl whose mom was also juggling other things. It was nice enough -- and a lovely day to be eating outdoors! In December! 66 degrees, sunny! -- but of course set me back, work-wise. Eh, I thought, as I drove us home at 2:00, it was a long lunch, big deal. And where was that attitude all of November and these preceding weeks?? lol.

ANYWAY. I have now finished that task and can coast to the end of the workday (maybe) by getting things prepped for when I login again on December 29th AND NOT BEFORE. Hence, this draft finally getting finished. (We'll see.)

As I told Suzanne (remember that no one reads this blog but us, it's private), I have felt behind so often this last month or so. And I guess it's good to write that down for posterity. Every workday seems to be a race -- even when I've been working from home. Maybe especially when I work from home, because I try to do HOME things as well as WORK things. I have forty-three things I need to do, and 5.5 hours to do them, with 2 meetings on the calendar seems like every day. The worker-bee part of me says, "I should not DO home things on work time!" but the kinder, gentler me says, "Hey. You are allowed to live your life. You are allowed to take 30 minutes to workout or unload the dishwasher. Or sit, away from the laptop, to eat lunch." And again, you'd think that I'd have figured out the balance at this point in our pandemic lives, but somehow I haven't. Or, when school started back in August it all went out of whack. 

I haaaaate to go on and on about the same thing (tl;dr - Lee is in a busy stage of life). My sister told me over the phone that she's trying not to say the word "busy" anymore. She says, instead, that her days are "full." I like the sentiment, and I agree it's BORING to say, "I'm/we're so busy." Everyone is; shut up. One thing that helps me is to just keep telling myself to KEEP GOING. And that it will all end abruptly one day when the kids are up and gone, and THIS is the MEAT of a good, good life, the exact life I wanted and wished for. (Sometimes it helps.) Just one foot in front of the other, do the next thing due.

As discussed elsewhere, Christmas spirit seems to be hard to come by this year. Again, just want to record it for Future Me: 2021, it seems, isn't feelin' it. For me in particular, my kids are (still okay, as kids go, but) at an age that appreciates very little. That's hard. They don't seem to care or worse, they openly roll their eyes and sigh in my direction. [I'm laughing at my own joke, they're "still okay, but..." haha.] Guess I've not done a very good job modeling GRATITUDE. To the New Year's Resolutions List it goes. 

Okay. So, yesterday I put my Christmas cards in the mail, wildly without return addresses, so if they get lost, TOO BAD! I didn't have time to get the nice, rounded-corners-matte card stock; ours are just glossies from Walgreens. lol. The photo is one of all four of us that already got posted on Facebook, so everyone's seen it -- not to mention there's a random guy in the back that I couldn't crop out -- but they're done, and I hand-wrote a small message on EACH ONE, so take that! I think I have most of what I need for my own kids' gifts, and maybe even enough time to figure out the rest in the next couple of days off. 

First, I'd like to drink a large Peppermint White Russian, read some of my mystery novel (Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, which I'm enjoying), and take a nap. Just as soon as I set my out of office. 

Here's hoping the brain cobwebs clear out and I start focusing on what's GOOD, real soon! Merry Christmas!

We Christmased!

For the 2nd year in a row, we Christmased at our own home, just us 4. This year, however, I really wished we could be together with family. Ah, 2020. Even though we weren't sick, we kept seeing the news and authorities advising people to please not travel, please... like, really, we beg you... (they were so desperate to convince us all, weren't they?).... and so we just decided we'd better not. Again, even though we would have driven, not flown or taken a bus or anything. 

And do you know what? On Dec. 26th, Kate developed a stuffy/runny nose and really didn't feel great. And how would I have felt if we'd been at my parents' house?? Not good, Bob. We will come back to this momentarily.

Christmas Week was a full week of PTO for both me and Shawn -- very rare, indeed. It began conspicuously, however, with Alex's oral surgery (part of his braces situation) Monday morning. He has recovered so well, with nary a whimper of discomfort -- only a little bit of having to eat carefully on his back teeth. He's still taking antibiotics but has come out the other side a total champ. Monday afternoon while Alex recovered, Kate and I met some of her friends for an outdoor park play-date -- more specifically for the girls, a photo-op, because this is what pre-teen girls do. Just take a million photos together. Selfies and Us-ies and filters and all that. The moms sat in our folding chairs in a socially-distanced circle and it was nice (though some of them are not my favorite moms, I'll admit. Mostly because some of them do not believe in the virus. I mean, that's an exaggeration. But, a lot of negative feelings about it, some talk about travel and big get-togethers, and some "We cannot let this stop us LIVING OUR LIVES" comments, and it was hard to keep quiet).

Monday night we watched "Elf," I believe. Classic. And I made myself an Amaretto Sour. I really wanted to have a different drink every night and this was an excellent start. Also, we went outside to view the planets passing! Did you? How neat was that? 

Tuesday we had to go to the kids' piano lesson - that was the day's excitement. I think otherwise we did very little, and what a treat! A day off, with no plans! Just what I wanted. Watched "Christmas Chronicles 2" from Netflix and I fell asleep, probably due to my White Russian drink of the day. ;) 

Wednesday Shawn and I VOTED! Woo hoo! Democracy -- an important runoff. I did some last-minute shopping at Target and I think Alex's movie choice that night was "Nightmare Before Xmas," always a good one. I forgot - or just maybe opted not - to make a fun drink. I'd intended to do hot chocolate w/Peppermint Schnapps. Oh well.

Thursday, finally, Christmas Eve. In the early afternoon I put the TV on "It's a Wonderful Life," much to Kate's chagrin, but everyone watched the whole thing in the end (a first for all of us -- I'd seen parts of it but never the whole movie start to finish). I bawled, then made appetizers. Pigs in Blankets, Sausage Balls, veggies and dip, and homemade salsa with chips. Our drink was a Merry Mojito, and delicious! Rum, Peppermint Schnapps, mint, lime and sugar. I made sure to WAIT until after we watched 6pm Christmas Eve Mass, though. ;) After that, we did take some family photos in front of the tree, and played the Brian Setzer Orchestra's Christmas songs - so fun and festive for our little "party!" AND it snowed! It had rained all day, but for about 10 minutes around 5pm, it was lovely and quiet, the way snow is, and we loved that!

One of Kate's favorite things about Christmas Eve is opening ONE present. But I think this year she didn't even ask about it! We stayed up late -- I finally had to shut things down and go to bed, and then luckily I woke myself & Shawn up around 1:30 to go play Santa. 

And Christmas Day, get this? They agreed to wait until 8:30 before coming into our room! Maybe even 9:00, I can't remember. THEY fed the cats breakfast (7:30 on the dot!) as a means to "peek," so I got to actually sleep in! 

One of the things I love about having older kids is their willingness to help lengthen the morning of present-opening. In our house, we now do a special wrapping paper for each kid, but there aren't any tags so they have to guess which paper is theirs. They guessed right on the first try, and in fact, Kate opened her Grand-Showstopper gift first (her very own iPhone11). I was worried it would all be a letdown after that, but it wasn't. They took turns, and I think really liked everything that was given to them. 

I was happy to receive an Apple Watch (and Shawn was happy to give it, because it is TECH) ;), AND AirPods, which I totally did not expect. And I got the birding binoculars I wanted, and a book I didn't realize anyone knew I wanted, and even a full stocking. I really have good gift-givers in my family (I just wish I was one of them). 

One different thing we did was to FaceTime Mom and Dad, and then Susan, my MIL, while opening their gifts. That stretched things out and made it feel more like normal, when they are here (or we are there). It kinda made me sad, but also happy. ?! You know?

This is getting long, but we made our traditional Christmas Crepes for brunch at noon, then had pizza rolls at 3:30 (ha, a family joke/tradition now), and then Honey Baked Ham, hash brown casserole, roasted vegetables and wine for dinner -- in the dining room with the Lenox and crystal. Somewhere in there, I made a red velvet cake with green whipped-cream frosting. So festive! And I drank another Merry Mojito, I feel sure. :) We Zoomed with Jill and Nils and Mom and Dad again. I didn't take a nap, but gosh, it was a perfect day.

NOW: Back to the matter at hand: Kate's nose. She was sniffly and tired on the 26th - she took a long nap - and got really nervous when she couldn't smell/taste. I tried to console her. That is, after all, a normal thing to happen when you're stuffed up. She never had a fever, so I'm trying not to be worried, and she is much better today (28th), so I'm hoping it was just a blip. I don't know if I'm supposed to report it to school, though? I don't feel like she needs to be tested at this point. I've Clorox wiped and Lysoled everything she's touched, as much as possible. Shawn had a bit of a sniffle today. I just don't know - I feel like I'm doing it wrong to not be panicked. I am grateful we stayed at home, that's for sure, and very wary. 

I went back to work today but have not been super productive. This blog post is the most productive thing I've done, aside from picking up a post-holiday grocery order! 

Licensed to Drive and other Atrocities

Alex is now licensed to drive and insured on our plan. Oh my gosh, that is crazy. I suppose he could drive himself (and Kate) to piano lessons tomorrow night. All by himself. In the dark. The state says he can, anyway. My brain short-circuits a little bit when I think about it, though. Just... he'll be out there! On his own! Making decisions that are, in fact, somewhat life or death. Nope, better stop trying to make this paragraph more descriptive with sentences like THAT. 

......

Christmas is close! I think we have nearly everything, except 1 or 2 items that are still in transit. Santa won't really know for sure until she does the wrapping. We always say that as kids get bigger, their presents get smaller and more expensive. That is proving true this year. I'm considering adding a package of underwear for each kid, just to make the Christmas morning pile a little more inviting, as sad as that seems. (But they need underwear! And it would be funny! Maybe!) It's so hard to resist the call of commercialism, telling me that more is better. 

MORE IS NOT NECESSARILY BETTER. LET ME TEACH MY KIDS THAT CHRISTMAS ISN'T ABOUT THINGS.

......

I have started taking cholesterol medicine in a very low dosage. I am happy/unhappy about it. Happy because I hope it will really help my stupid high cholesterol number to go down. Unhappy because it  makes me feel like a bad person, THANK YOU DIET CULTURE, that I "let" my cholesterol get so high. I mean, yes, for a couple of years I was following a diet plan that encouraged eggs and real butter/cream over "light" or "low-fat" options... that was probably not great for me. But still, some of it is genetic and I shouldn't have to feel guilt along with the bummed-out feeling of adding an old-person's medicine to my daily pile of pills. Ugh. Anyway, I am on it now, I have been working out pretty damn consistently for a year and a half already, and I am changing some food habits. There is Raisin Bran in my pantry, people. And Benecol in the fridge. Never heard of Benecol? Neither had I! We ate vegetarian black-bean chili last night, and I enjoyed some whole wheat spaghetti on Monday. This is going to happen, my cholesterol will go down and I am going to live a long, healthy life with only the occasional indulgence, so help me. I am mad and on a MISSION. My body had better cooperate. 

Stockings Stress

Okay, it's not really stress, but I am thinking about the kids' stockings today, and wondering if I have enough stuff, and an evenly-matched set of stuff, and and and. 

So after everyone left for school this morning, I went to the Christmas presents hiding place (which has been MOVED after someone [Kate] let on that she knew where the previous hiding place was) and arranged all the stocking things in two piles. 

For Alex, we have:

1. A box of Vandoren V12 size 3.5 B-flat clarinet reeds, which he knows he will get because obviously I had to ask him what kind he likes and would've had NO idea.
2. A travel-size after-shave lotion; he is only shaving every so often (crazy, anyway), but it was a "beauty" product and I was trying to match the type of things in Kate's stocking
3. A silly $1.00 back scratcher from WalMart
4. A mini-Lindor chocolates bag
5. Candy Cane TicTacs
6. A bag of mint-choc penguins (?) that I bought from the private school fundraiser
7. I think, a new AirPods silicone carrying case (if Shawn has bought that)
8. A school-spirit mask (womp womp, but will definitely get used)

For Kate:

1. A new mascara, slightly nicer than typical drugstore brands
2. A light pink lip gloss
3. An inexpensive clear case for her big present this year (an iPhone)
4. A mini-Lindor chocolates bag
5. Candy Cane TicTacs
6. The mint-choc penguins
7. A laptop sticker and a set of sparkly ponytail holders from a favorite store of hers
8. HP Sprocket paper refill
9. Razor blades for her razor (yes, she is also now shaving!)
10. Christmas themed nail files
11. A pair of hypo-allergenic earrings

So see? I have some work to do to balance them out, and they just don't feel very exciting to me. I'll definitely add a clothes gift card for each kid, (one is bought but not yet delivered, the other isn't bought yet), and cash. My mom used to put scratch-off lottery tickets in stockings, which is fun when you're a teen. Probably every stocking should have a hand sanitizer in it this year.... I just don't know. 

Alex kinda needs a non-logoed, adult wallet... Kate ooohs and ahhhs over the Burts Bees gift sets every time we see them... usually I do their favorite pens/pencils (boring, but useful)... maybe a funny bookmark?... Kate's newly into Harry Potter, should I do a chocolate frog or Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans?... Alex is having oral surgery on the 21st (poor kid), should I stick some Aleve in there for him (haha)?... I feel like all my ideas are very meh. And it's almost too late for ordering anything -- the rest of it will have to be stuff I can find if I go TO the stores. 

Well, anyway, Christmas!

Monday Morning at Home

I love, love, love Monday mornings working from home. Back in the day, when Alex was a baby, I used to WFH every Monday and Thursday. Seems so quaint. Now in 2020 it's more days at home than not, and I am totally okay with that. I did realize last week that there's one drawback to all this flexibility, and that is, I used to very happily tell people that I "left work at work," and I never had to check emails after 5pm. Now, not so much. Since I take breaks during the day to workout, and then to do afternoon carpool and whatever errands need doing, I have to go back to my laptop when we get home, before dinner prep begins. (Dinner is later than it used to be.) And sometimes on weekends. But I think that trade-off is worth it.

This Monday morning I lit 3 candles, to help take away the lingering scent of the turkey gumbo I made yesterday. Don't get me wrong, I love gumbo, including the way it smells. But by the next day, I'm ready for the onions/peppers/roux to be a happy memory. (Same goes for oven fajitas, and red beans and rice, which also tend to linger.) Candles make it feel so cozy. I have my coffee, the Christmas tree is lit, and I'm wearing a not-professional hoodie and no bra because no one will know. So see? I love this life. ;)

Here are some updates.

1. We did go to Savannah for Thanksgiving. I feel incredible guilt about it; I know that the CDC said we weren't supposed to travel. But it was a good visit with Shawn's mom, and I think she really needed it. Not that she doesn't see people -- she does -- but still, she lives alone in 2020. We felt that bringing her some joy was more important. She'd had a COVID test a few days before we came and it came back negative while we were there. (So we know if she gets it, it'll be our fault!) We are all feeling fine so far (it's been just over a week). Prayers that it stays that way. 

2. I was thinking about this recently: I owe you a years-later update on Alex's stature. He has shot up in the last year and is now definitively taller than me: 5'3" and 105 pounds in his junior year. I'm so glad we never made him do the hormone shots. I remember when we were considering all that, and Sherry, you told me your brother grew finally in high school/college. Thank you for telling me that back then. He's still not big, but I'm not worried about him anymore. Incidentally, Kate's on her way, as well, so I'll likely be their "little Mom" when I'm old, haha. 

3. Online Groceries: I've done it twice now. It's muuuuuch faster to pick them up on Sundays, I'll grant you that. And both Aldi and Wal-Mart have done a good job; I've never had to wait longer than 10 minutes. It does seem like I forget things frequently, and have to run to a store one more time during the week to pick something up... but I guess those are quick trips at off-times, so it's safer in general. Yesterday I had to go in-person; I needed several holiday-related things, as well (wrapping paper for the Santa gifts, some stocking stuffers/Advent calendar gifties), and Kate was spending the night out, so it had to be done then. I went early on a Sunday morning and the crowds weren't terrible. 

Shawn is recovering from his last surgery of the year (we hope)! He had a hernia repaired last Tuesday. Quite a year he's had, health-wise, with the liver scare, the melanoma, and the hernia. He's impatient that he still isn't feeling 100%, but he was good and pretty much took it easy this weekend. 

I somehow had a ton of extra energy and the weekend was super-productive for me. I feel I should catalog it here because it's pretty rare that I want to do so much. I took care of a lot of Christmas shopping and wrapping on Saturday, addressed some Christmas cards, did laundry, cleaned up the dead plants from our front yard, and even did a couple hours' worth of work-work on Saturday night until about 10:30. THAT did not feel like me, but it was a project I needed OFF my list. On Sunday I got up early for groceries, then picked up Kate from her friend's (a little more guilt, but it's someone she's seen several times since March, for whatever that's worth), made gumbo, did more laundry, and we even baked sugar cookies (the pre-cut ones you just put on the cookie sheet) after dinner. Who am I?! I don't know. I doubt there will be another weekend like that so I'm grateful for it. If only I could put that kind of energy into my work-week. LOL.

A lot of lifeofadoctor'swife's topics the last few days are things I'm thinking about, too. What should we have for Christmas meals? What's making me feel festive? GIIIIIIFTS to buoy up everyone's moods in 2020... but I'll leave those for future posts, I think. Maybe a post a day this week, to continue using my good energy! 

Here is what we're eating this week:

• Chicken/GreenBeans/Potato Bake - super easy weeknight dinner
• Sloppy Joes with tater tots
• Pork Chops with field peas and rice
• Hawaiian Roll Ham Sliders with Pasta/Vegetable Salad
• ... and some really good leftovers on Friday! 

Even More Merry!

I just up and took Monday off! I had plenty of PTO days left, and Shan was suprirsed I was planning to be here Monday the 23rd, and she said, as she handed me a Peppermint Mocha she bought for me, "it isn't too late to request it..." So I did! And she approved. Yay! (Isn't she the best boss? I am very lucky.)

Now I get a whole week for Christmas and today is IT, and the last half of today I'm going to work from home anyway, because Alex, my dear 15yo Alex who spends so many of his half-days and days off at our house, without transportation or anyplace to go, just him and the cats.... was invited to "hang out with" 3 boys from his Spanish 2 class. The kid never asks for anything, and so even though we don't know the other kids, we are trusting him and trusting that their parents will be home (fingers crossed) and shifting our plans so he can go socialize for a while. (I'll stay home with Kate instead of him staying with her, as was planned.)

All this to say, I'm so happy we've finally made it to the end of this week. NOTHING is going on at my office anyway, or inside my laptop. No emails. Our German headquarters is already closed for the next 2 weeks, and our sales force, whom I support, has checked out. (I mean, Salespeople, they're on their own schedules all year round, right?)

Next Monday, Kate has scheduled a little lunch-date with her current group of girl friends, and I also have a lunch-date scheduled with my girl friend, and so it's starting to feel pretty festive slash laid-back around here.

We successfully prepared and ate our 2 meals from Hello, Fresh. The Bulgogi Pork with jasmine rice and roasted carrots was DELICIOUS. The Pineapple Chicken Quesadillas were, too, but less impressive since we eat quesadillas and pico often enough. But there's something I can't put my finger on about the HF meals... something about how "fussy" they seem to prepare. Maybe it's all the garnishing? (White sesame seeds AND lime zest AND finely chopped green onion? I would never do all that for my own recpies, although I guess the plates looked nice...) Or is it the packaging? When I cook with regular grocery-store bottles and boxes, things get put away back into the pantry -- but with HF, every time you use an ingredient, you have to throw something away. OR in my case, set it aside to be rinsed/recycled later, making the countertops seem messy and the whole affair unfinished... maybe it's that. I can't decide. Maybe I just felt rushed because they were planned for school nights. I liked the meals, though, and it's a good way to get out of a meal-making rut. I have skipped the next couple of weeks, but will plan to order at least one more time after the holidays. It is a pretty good deal, cost-wise. Thanks, Suz!! Anyone want a free box? I have invites.

I messed up a pot of ham and white beans the other night. HOW in the world I messed them up, I have no idea. I forgot to soak them overnight, but I know a trick for that: bring them to a boil, cover and let sit for an hour. Presto! Mom has done that for years. I've done it before. So that's what I did, then put them in the crockpot for 6.5 hours on low, as my recipe suggested. But they came out HARD! Not at all soft, even though ONE thing I messed up was I think I doubled the amount of water. Still, it doesn't seem like that would make a difference. Seems like it would even help! But no, the entire pot had to be thrown out, after we'd tasted and tried to eat them. At least beans are cheap. I bought them at Target, maybe they were defective? Who knows. Alex has been teasing me about "not even being able to cook BEANS." As if HE knows how. ;)

The Sped-Up Advent and Slowed-Down Christmas of 2019

Hasn't the month of December been a blur? With Thanksgiving so late it has felt like we arrived abruptly AT Christmas, and even though it's still 7 days away, time has already run out in my mind.

Our shopping is mostly done, thank baby Jesus, but very little of the wrapping. No Christmas cards have been addressed or sent. Nor have I attempted any meal-planning for the days of Christmas itself, because for the very first time, we have ZERO obligations and no family coming to visit. It's just US FOUR. I'm happy about that. I know I will probably feel a little bereft on Christmas Day, when Mom and Dad are alone in their house and we're in ours, 6 hours away, and Shawn's mom, too, by herself. But on the other hand, I have this cozy, slowed-down picture in my head of just a relaxing day, our little foursome and our kitties. I want to do my usual Christmas crepes for breakfast, and then I suppose we'll think of something a little more special than a weekday dinner, for afternoon Christmas dinner... but I also hope there's time for reading, movies, naps, games, hot chocolate, and maybe even PJs all day.

I DO NOT HAVE TO SING at any Mass this year! That's a first. Or, a first in a loooooooong time. It's my very best gift to myself, I'm so happy about it. Of course, it means we'll have to really work to get ourselves to a Mass at all... the 7:30 am is probably the wisest choice as far as crowds are concerned, but I can guarantee my crew won't want to do that. So 6:00 pm Christmas Eve is more likely. (Less wise.) Doesn't matter, I don't have to be there from 10 pm until 1 am and that is an amazing freedom.

Kate told me tearfully a couple of weeks ago that she knows, about Santa and the Elf and all. :( It was hard for her to admit. She was wandering around the house kind-of unable to sit still, looking at the Elf on the Shelf and acting like she wanted to say something, but not saying anything, while I was writing a grocery list. Finally, I asked her, "Kate, you seem like you have something on your mind, what is it?" And she said down next to me at the kitchen table, and said, "I don't want to say because I don't want to be sad..." and then I could guess what was coming. "I know," she said. I tried to comfort her and say that we'll still DO all the things -- I did get the feeling she was worried we'd say, "Oh welp, that's the end of that! Thank goodness, the jig is up!" -- and told her the "magic" of Christmas is that you're infinitely loved, and that families give gifts to each other to show that love and and and... and I think she understood, but still. big breath. It was a moment. The real end of an era. (I think she had her suspicions last year, truly, but wasn't ready to admit it.) And it's time, I mean, she's nearly 12.

Somehow, it wasn't enough to quell our parental desire to make Christmas special and... bigger than it needs to be. I mean, it isn't going to be "BIG" by some people's standards, but we still had to list out and chart all the gifts to make sure both kids' piles will be "even," and honestly I'd really like to be one of those families that does "Something you Want, Something you Need, Something to Wear, Something to Read," and that's it. Cut down on the consumerism of it all. Not quite there yet, but maybe one day. Jill's new family is apparently better at that; maybe they'll be a good influence.

We get our first Hello, Fresh box today! I'm excited! Tonight's dinner will be Pineapple Grilled Chicken quesadillas, and tomorrow's is Pork Tenderloin Bulgogi. Yay for trying new things! Thanks to Suzanne for the referral!

I have to work the rest of this week and Monday the 23rd, but it's already winding down significantly. I suspect I'll be doing some desk cleaning in the next few days, and not a lot of work-work. I'll take it! Merry Christmas!

Turkey Week

Hard to believe we have arrived at the end of the year and the holiday season! With Thanksgiving so late this year, everything feels like we're already late/behind, though. Not good! I am trying to envision a looonng December stretching out in front of me, to make me feel like there's still enough time.

Mom and Dad are driving to Atlanta as I type this from my desk at work. Festivities are about to begin! The kiddos are at home, sleeping in and, if Kate follows through with her plans, she's drinking coffee-milk (cafe au lait) and making a fried egg on toast. (This is her favorite breakfast lately.) She'll do her laundry this morning, and hopefully clean her bathroom -- Alex cleaned his yesterday. Such good, helpful children! Who are they? ;) wink wink. We were surprised that we didn't get any flak from Kate about being home "alone" today. Perhaps there is light at the end of that particular tunnel!

I put a chicken soup into the crock pot this morning. Creamy Italian Chicken Noodle Soup, to be specific. I've never made it before so I'm taking a risk, but it sounds delicious to me. Here's hoping! Will serve it with cheese and crackers, and French rolls. Because we have to eat something tonight, and tomorrow (Honey Baked Ham, salad, and homemade mac and cheese casserole), AND Wednesday (I'm hoping we'll go out)! Even though we are making a giant meal on Thursday! What's with that?!

I'm fighting a cold. Alex came home with it from Indianapolis -- I guess 8 hours on a bus with a bunch of grimy kids will do that to you -- and I guess he passed it on to me. I'm on DayQuil today, wishing I were at home under a blanket but hoping for the best. Thankfully I don't think it will be a difficult workday.

For one, we're having our office Thanksgiving lunch today. It's a concept I kind-of don't care for. It's turkey and dressing and sides from Cracker Barrel, and I'm sure it will be delicious, but... we're having that already, on Thursday, at home. Why duplicate it at the office? I would rather have an appetizers party/lunch at the office, I think, to mark the holiday but not RUIN the meal that we're all waiting to eat on Thursday. What say you? Oh, well, I should be grateful, and I am. I didn't have to make a lunch this morning.

For our actual turkey day, we're roasting a turkey (with sausage dressing inside) -- no fancy brining or any of that for us. I'm also having mashed potatoes (I realllllly want to try this), sweet potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, Sister Schubert's rolls, cranberry jelly from a can (and whole-berry, but also from a can), and an apple moscato wine I found at the store that looked festive. And I did buy ingredients for cherry pie and pumpkin bars! I can't wait.

There has been talk about seeing Frozen 2 (at least some of us), and we are proud subscribers to Disney+, are you? There will be some movie-watching going on this weekend! Also, I just downloaded the free (public domain) Kindle version of Jane Austen's Emma, because I realized I've never read it before. So I'm definitely looking forward to the "downtime" portion of the holiday.

Wishing you and yours a lovely time, too! Tell me about it! What are your plans?

Crunch Time: Grand Nats, Tgiving, Xmas Plans, and Books

Turned in 3 time off requests today, for the day before Thanksgiving, December 16th, and the 2 days after Christmas. I have one more I need to turn in, for a couple of days after New Year's, so we can go to Pensacola to meet my soon-to-be-new-BIL. :)

This is definitely crunch-time with fall activities and pending holidays. Whew, I mean, yesterday Kate had Drama rehearsal, which I chaperoned, from 3:30 until 5:15, and right after that, she changed her clothes and ran up to the gym for a rescheduled basketball practice from 5:30 to 6:30. We got pizza on the way home. No cooking on a day like that! 

I have found one trick that helps me feel relaxed during crazy-long days -- reading. When we're at home in the waiting-hour after we get home but before Alex does, if I sit down and read for a few minutes (I usually set a timer so I remember to get up and start dinner), I feel less stressed. Sure, I could vacuum or clean a bathroom, and probably should... but instead I read. Last night I tossed a book in my purse and read while Kate played ball. I guess it's the ultimate leisure activity for me, so it helps me feel leisurely, even when things are busy. Tip from me to you. 

Important to have a good book, of course. I gave up on The Shores of Tripoli because life's too short to read books that aren't captivating. Sorry, Mom, I hope you liked it (I gave it to her for Christmas last year and she passed it back to me). Instead, I'm revisiting something from my childhood: Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt. This was my favorite book of all time, forever, until I discovered Jane Eyre, I guess. I got it for Kate to read since I was about her age when I read it... and she almost picked it up a few weeks ago, but went for a graphic novel instead. Not sure how I feel about that and I hope she won't skip it entirely. But I am LOVING IT. I remember nothing about it, really, except that I thought it was very deep and wise, back then. And it's a 3-book series, so now I have plenty to dig into slash take with me on our upcoming road trip...

to Grand Nationals! A phrase we knew not, until 6 months ago. Bands of America's final marching band competition of the year is held in Indianapolis, and this year our band is participating. Hoping to take home a trophy! And we decided to go to support them, as a family. I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime trip for Alex, since the band doesn't go every year. So yeah, I want us to be there. 

We're having quite a countdown, with flurries of messages and emails from the Band Boosters, events and practices and send-offs and goody bags and so much to do. Ironing the uniforms, gah! A full-day mini-camp for the marchers tomorrow, and a Parent Performance at the end of it. Not to mention a bit of drama from Kate about missing two days of school. Pfft, get over it, child, you get two days out of school! I can sense the beginnings of a small panic about packing, and about all the other stuff we have to do because the days leading up to the trip are just NORMAL DAYS... and and and... stopping to breathe now. 

I want to think about my Thanksgiving menu, and I have, a little bit -- mostly desserts. Really, I can't think about it until after this trip. Still, here are the three things I want to maybe make this year. Three desserts?? For 6 of us? Yes, maybe. 

1. A Cherry Pie. Because we don't really like pumpkin pie, and you know who likes cherry? My Dad. And me. 

2. S's pumpkin bars!! I am super excited to discover this recipe and definitely want to make them instead of p. pie. 

3. Maybe something chocolate. I can't remember if I have a trifle bowl. Maybe...? If so, this looks easy and yummy. Or possibly something more cake-like. 

The dinner menu is so defined, not much room to wiggle, you know? So desserts are what's up. ;) 

Okay, I really should get to work, eek. Happy Friday, people! 

Halloween is not my favorite, as a grown-up

...and yet, here I am at work, in my long black skirt, black shirt, spiderweb earrings and very tall witch hat (a leftover from one of Kate's costumes so it's small-ish around, and gives me a headache). The boss said "best costume wins a prize" and I don't know why I felt compelled to agree to it. Gotta show the appropriate amount of team spirit, I guess. There'll be pizza later, woo. But I have never really liked dressing up, as an adult.

When the kids were smaller, I also dreaded the walk around the neighborhood, trying to keep up with them. Plus, other peoples' kids acted like hooligans, running and yelling. Yuck. Shhhh. And back then, dinner was wrecked, bedtime was wrecked ... it was a whole thing. I usually end up having fun, but anticipating it, no thank you.

I mean, yes, the pre-party was/is usually fun(ish) -- moreso now that we like our neighbors -- and it's cute when they're little and everyone "awwwwws" at their costumes. Let's see if I can remember what mine dressed up as (somehow I didn't catalog it every year in the blog! What?!):

Alex's first Halloween... he was 3 months old, I'm not sure if we dressed him up. We did take him to a party.
Kate's first, she was a little gray bat.
at age 2... Alex was a brown doggie, and Kate wore a Braves shirt and a baseball cap.
3-4-5... I know there were Wolverine, HeatBlast (a cartoon character Alex loved), Blue the dog, and maybe IronMan in there. and Kate was a Princess, Princess, and a Princess. ;) (Belle, Sleeping Beauty, and probably Rapunzel.)
6-7-8... Kate was a witch one year, and then an angel the next, LOL so fitting. Oh, and a blue Power Ranger. I think Alex might have been a Power Ranger, too. He was a grim reaper once, but I feel like that was later, more like 7th grade. It's sad that I don't remember every year specifically. Sometimes, I do recall Alex would want to go as some anime character who wore a bandana and a blue hoodie.... and no one at all would know he was really dressed up. I was slightly embarassed for him those years. ;) Kate had me buy a $35 "Goddess" costume once... that one was a head-scratcher, too.

Last year, Kate went as a "vampire," but mostly she just put ugly makeup on, "blood" dripping and whatnot, and that was the whole point. This year she's making herself Mike Wyzowski from Monsters, Inc, and is going to be adorable. Alex wore a "This is my Costume" t-shirt last year, and I applauded that. He and Shawn bought alien heads this year (oh please click through, you won't regret it!), in honor of his marching band show theme, and I don't know yet if they're going to wear them tonight. (Alex has band practice until 7:30 anyway, so he likely won't trick or treat).

I agree with this blog post about letting them be kids just a little longer. I love that. But I have a feeling Alex will want to hand out candy instead tonight. Kate will go, with the other girls in the neighborhood, but they're all a couple years younger than she is. It's also supposed to rain, and that's another thing I dislike about Halloween -- when there's bad weather.

Anyway, boo, hiss, cackle cackle. At least we get candy!

Helpful ;)

I have to tell a small, funny tale about Alex. He is SUCH a helpful kid, always willing to do whatever we ask him to do -- which frequently means he's tasked with taking meat out of the freezer in the morning, because he's last to leave home on school days, and I always forget to do it myself.

Yesterday I texted him and said, "There's some chicken in freezer, cut into chunks in a Ziploc -- can u put it in the fridge pls?"

"Yeah"

"Thank you xoxo"

"No prob"

And I didn't think another thing about it. I was planning to make these pretzel-coated chicken nuggets, because I find myself with a ton of pretzels* and no one in my house actually LIKES pretzels.

Imagine my surprise when I got home, and found a Ziploc bag of raspberries in the fridge, and my chicken still solid as a rock in the freezer!

He said he just grabbed the closest Ziploc he could find, and "they looked like they were in chunks, so I assumed it was the right one!"

... We had leftover Easter pork tenderloin, instead. ;)

Raspberries.


Our Easter Sunday dinner was so fun. The neighbors came over, and offered to bring both mashed potatoes and a fruit tray with "fluffy dip" (cream cheese and whipped cream and sugar, YUM). Those contributions reduced my stress level significantly, and it was an otherwise easy meal for me to arrange and prepare:

Cheese and crackers for a small hors d'oeuvre (I forgot to slice the summer sausage)
Pork Tenderloin
Sweet and Sour Green Beans (made the day before)
Bacon-Jalepeno Deviled Eggs (made the day before)
Heat and serve rolls
Peach mimosas (Simply Peach + Stella Rosa Peach)
Strawberry lemonade for the kids
3-ingredient Lemon Cake, which Kate and their daughter, A., decorated with sprinkles in the shape of a cross, so smart and sweet!

They came over at 3:00, we ate ate 3:30, and sadly they had to leave by 5:30 because Mr. Neighbor had to go to the airport for a month-long business trip (military). BUT! This was actually good, because I wouldn't have known what to do if they'd stayed and stayed. Get out the Uno cards? Watch a movie? Sit and talk (for 4 hours??) They kept apologizing but it was a huge relief. We cleaned up, then we did watch a movie slash snooze, and then had more cake for "dinner" around 8:00. Perfect holiday, IMO.

Other dinners planned for this week:
(M - Penne pasta casserole with ground turkey and sausage, red sauce and mozzarella)
W - Pretzel chicken nuggets! Pasta salad with veggies
Th - Oven Chicken Fajitas
F - Pizza, lovingly picked up on the way home from work

I'm at work today with a TON of new tasks, so I'd better get to it.

But here we are on Sunday (I do not care for this photo of me - for one thing, it doesn't show the prettiest part of the dress, which is the bright orange hem and sleeve cuffs):

*So many pretzels because Pinterest encouraged me to make these for Easter. They weren't even a Pinterest-Fail! Aren't they the cutest? I always buy pastel M&Ms anyway, so it was fun, and helped me occupy Kate while she was out of school. Girl always needs a crafty project!

Framing my memories

Surviving Midnight Mass, the first time for the kids. Singing Lo, How a Rose so well (the choir), and Christmas Communion Song, and Silent Night/Night of Silence (the best we've ever done it, I think). 

Ash and his fresh catnip, on Christmas Eve! Having to hide it immediately after taking it out of its package, AND hide their cat stockings, to prevent a potential crash of the stocking-holders in the middle of the night! Crazy kitty!

The happy feeling of seeing my sister when we arrived to pick her up at the airport.

Christmas dinner, a day after - the turkey was delicious, (cooked in the pan Ashley shared with me so generously), I remembered the cranberry jelly just in time, the dressing had red bell pepper in it, so it was bright and festive, the peppermint martinis were strong (and Jilly was honest about not liking them, which made Mom laugh).

Opening presents. Jilly spreading her books out for all of us to choose and unwrap, and the Theo chocolates. Mom stealing Dad's chocolates and not being one bit sorry about it. Mom's Librarian Super Hero that she read us the entire description of, haha! Kate's gift to Jilly: a YETI tumbler, and Jilly not having one (can't believe that)! Jilly really liking the triathlon necklace Shawn got her.

Shawn squeezing fresh juice from Dad's 3 bags (!) of tangerines using the old Jack Lalanne juicer.

Playing Exploding Kittens and Carcassone at the dining room table. Alex wearing the cone of shame. ;)

Making gumbo all together... then not eating it, and going to Macaroni Grill that night (we ate the gumbo the next night, of course)!

Oh, my goodness, the BEST memory: Playing piano duets with Jilly and laughing our heads off when we messed up so much! Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap while Changing Places. ALSO: Kate joining in to play Skip To My Lou! She did great!

The stupid Aquarium crowds. Ugh!! But at least the dolphin show was amazing enough to make me cry, and the OK Cafe lunch afterwards was delicious and very Southern.

Cherries Jubilee, our family tradition. 

Lots of bad football (none of our teams won) and The Incredible Dr. Pol on TV. ha!

---

I write all of this out because I have been focused somewhat on the spaces in between these fun things. I'm not sure why - the responsibility of being the hostess, maybe, or all the dang rain bringing me down! But these things were perfectly lovely and sweet. Treasures.

My goodness, what a happy New Year

Well!

The holidays were a veritable BLINK, weren't they?? I'm sitting here, back at work for reals, on Jan 2nd, and it's all over already!

Thankfully, the days didn't seem to go by quickly when they were happening, just now in retrospect. Mom and Dad arrived on Friday the 21st and are still here (leaving tomorrow, sad face). Jilly arrived on the 26th and left on the 30th; the kids had a dentist appointment this morning and start back with piano lessons tonight, and I suppose it will be good to return to some kind of normal routine soon.

The highlights:

• FOOD: I did, miraculously, have enough energy for hosting and cooking and all, thanks for asking. ;) Our dinner menus were good (I chose The Kitchn's mac and cheese and it was delicious). One unplanned night I made chicken enchiladas, refried beans and a small salad, just using what I had on-hand, and was very proud of that accomplishment. At this point we have nearly exhausted every food supply in the house (we are out of Gatorade, sandwich bread, milk and squeeze butter (don't judge), just to mention a few staples). But we have nearly enough ingredients to make Sloppy Joes tonight. (Thanks, Mom, for making a quick grocery run today for the onion while I'm at work, and for cooking!)
• ACTIVITIES: I was most worried about what we would DO during the break, partly because Jilly was here and 2 years ago when she came, we barely exited the house (rain). We did a little better this time (still with rain): A lunchtime visit to Atlanta's Battery, home of the new Braves' stadium and Wahlbergers, where we had lunch. An Italian dinner at Macaroni Grill that felt special. Also, an ill-fated trip to the GA Aquarium because it was packed to Stupid levels with other people trying to enjoy their days off. Ugh. I am ... not sure I'm glad we went. Glad we made the effort; will know better next time. We did enjoy the dolphin show. We also convinced Kate that Midnight Mass Christmas Eve would be fun. She conceded anyway and we only had to go once that day. Went to a lot of Masses over 2 weeks, though, including yesterday's one for the Holy Day of Obligation (which I normally skip). We have watched a lot of Aerial America, Drain the Oceans, Dr. Pol (Dad's favorite) and football. I finished Pillars of the Earth.
• GIFTS: Everything was well-received, especially Jill's great idea to wrap up all the favorite books she read in 2018 and share them, free-for-all style. Now I have about 8 new things to read, woo hoo, without even trying! She brought the Michelle Obama bio, for one thing, and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which I've already started and love so far. I also got a Keurig! Fun!
• ACCIDENTS: Just one. I stupidly backed my car into Mom and Dad's, forgetting it was in the driveway on their 2nd night here. Gah. My car is in the shop this week and theirs will go as soon as they get home, and my insurance will cover the brunt of it. I was so grateful to have hit the car of someone who loves me, and not a stranger. These things happen I guess. It does make you feel real dumb, though.
• NEW YEAR'S: I feel completely inadequate for New Year's. I don't know why it seems like I should have matching plates/napkins and streamers and noisemakers, and happy board-gaming until midnight and a festive atmosphere... but that's how I feel ... and that's NOT how we generally do it. By that time, I'm usually tapped out on ideas and energy I guess. We did stay awake, all of us, and we played Dos, by the makers of Uno and watched (boring) football... and had champagne/ginger ale to toast. But otherwise I'm beating myself up a little for not making it special enough. I mean, we'd had the same plate of cookies out for a week by New Year's, we just refilled it every so often. Kinda anti-climactic. Maybe next year I need to have a special dessert, I don't know. Even yesterday, our New Year's Day dinner felt more like a regular weeknight supper although it did include lucky black-eyed peas. Oh well. Can't win 'em all. 

I'm so grateful for my parents making the trip up here. One thing I want to resolve in 2019 is to make more effort to visit THEM this year (and my MIL). 

Other things: 

• I've started Dedicate, Yoga with Adriene's 30-day January plan. Got up at 5am today to begin, and glad about it.
• The Whole Life Challenge starts on 1/19 and I'll be doing that with Mom, woo hoo for healthy habits and a food re-boot.
• I'm planning Shawn's party - the Evite goes out today! 

This is already super long so no review this year. 2018 was really good: I accomplished a lot and learned a lot, and I'm ready to bid it good-bye and start fresh. Hope you are, too! xx

Ham Revelation

I've been trying to think about our menus for this Holiday Week since I'm hosting and having guests. I mean, FAMILY guests, and ones who want us to all relax and not feel stressed, but still... I have a built-in desire to impress even my own Mom and Dad (especially them), and to create happy memories of Christmas in the hearts of my children and husband. And include all the correct holiday traditions but not overdose on them, you know? And have it feel somewhat fancy and special, but not overly dramatic... so... no pressure.

:)

One thing that bugs me about having a "tradition" of serving a holiday meal to many, many guests -- because that was always my own family's tradition, both in Texas and in Florida -- is that at my own house we never have many, many guests. Serving a turkey AND a ham are truly overkill for a table of 6, two of whom are small-appetited kids. My solution to this:

Ham on Christmas Eve. Turkey/dressing on Christmas Day. BOOM.

Here's how I think this weekend is going to go.

Friday Dinner -- (21st, the day Mom and Dad arrive) -- Happy Hour, appetizers for dinner. Meaning: Cheeses and Crackers, maybe Smoked Salmon, and maybe some veggies. There's a neighborhood dessert party that I both want and don't want to attend, but will plan on attending (Shawn rightly said, "We have to go to these things, so that we continue to get invited to them." True.) Even though it's a Friday night after a LONG week and before a very busy long weekend. Anyway. We'll go for an hour-ish. I plan to take my Granny's Sand Tarts as my dessert contribution.

Saturday Dinner -- Undecided but my only two tasks for Saturday are 1) Pick up the Honey Baked Ham I pre-ordered, and 2) Get the rest of the Groceries for Christmas Eve/Day. The rest of the day I want to lay around reading and/or wrap the last of the gifts, and I hope that is OK with my family. Let's just assume we're going to order Chinese food and we'll see what happens. ;)

Sunday Dinner -- never mind, I don't know this yet. (Nor any breakfasts or lunches, you might have noticed.)

MONDAY Christmas Eve Dinner -- Honey Baked Ham! Homemade Mac and Cheese -- I may do two versions, one "regular" one that has become a weeknight standard (just milk, butter, salt, and sliced American cheese), and one fancy one, like this from The Kitchn, or maybe this one. I kinda want to do green bean casserole too....too much creamy rich food? Maybe too much. And a light (!) green salad because we must, for our health's sake.

Probably will have a cookie plate for dessert, with coffee so we can make it to Midnight Mass!

(Oh yes, I want to drag my family to Midnight Mass this year. I already have complaints so we will see what happens. I am ... not very hopeful, although I have to be there to sing. After eating loads of cheese. Awesome.)

Tuesday Christmas Morning Breakfast -- My tradition is to make crepes after all the presents have been opened. Usually I serve it with fruit salad, probably also leftover ham, and sometimes with Christmas punch.

Tuesday Christmas Dinner -- (presumably after eating a big breakfast, we won't need lunch) -- Turkey and Dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, Caesar salad, roasted broccoli/sweet potatoes. I think...? I don't know if it's fancy enough. I know. We'll serve Wine!

- Should we fry the turkey or roast it? (Fry it! Yum. Is that possible? Can I get enough peanut oil at Publix?)
- Should we postpone this dinner until Wednesday, actually, after my sister arrives?

I am clearly planning to have tons of energy for all this cooking! Hopefully some of it can be made ahead... and I know I will have help, if only I can ask for/accept it. Hard to do in my own kitchen, but it's more festive if we're ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

I love you, Mom and Dad, Kids and Sister and especially Husband! Forgive me in advance for my mood over those four days (just in case).

TGIF for the holidays

It's not really a stressful week unless I complain about it on my blog, so here goes: It's been A Week.

• One of the main reasons that this week finally got to me, yesterday (a Thursday), is that of course, I let any notion of exercise completely drop. First. The first thing I do is stop doing 10 minutes of exercise and 10 minutes of stretching. If I'm going to feel stressy, I am going to Go For The Gold of stressy and not even help myself. Duh.
• It hasn't been THAT much worse than our regular weeks, honestly. The kids have had after-school activities on T/W/Th of every week this semester. This week we added in an Alex band rehearsal Monday afternoon (requiring pickup), basketball team photos Tuesday at 5, concert Tuesday night, a holiday dinner for my office last night, and Kate's Christmas program tonight. Okay, well, maybe that is a lot of additional stuff. But we managed it fine, really, swapping pick-ups and drop-offs and what-not. I don't know why it felt so HEAVY. It just all happened in the same week, that's what.
• The weather's been crappy, that's another thing. When it is below 30 degrees, I don't feel right making Alex walk to the bus stop, call me crazy. (I WOULD, if the kid would WEAR HIS COAT, but he won't.) And it isn't a huge deal to drop him off at school, but it does push back my work-arrival time a little, which makes me eeeeek. I don't know why, no one cares but me.
• There's been a bit of hurried Christmas-gift-getting at the lunch-hours when I can get out, and the traffic on the street between my suburban office building and the shopping area is Stupid Traffic. I have been able to get most of what I need -- haha, "need", so that the kids have 8 gifts each from Mr. Claus and a few from "us" (does Kate still actually believe or not? The world may never know) -- and also to the UPS store twice, to ship packages to the family we won't see this year. I love the UPS store for how easy they make it, by packing AND shipping, but they do charge an arm and a leg, sheesh. 
• Work. I do actually have a lot of work to do right now, and it's the very definition of soul-sucking: I'm rewriting old website articles and basically keyword-stuffing them. It makes me sad to produce such ugly prose but I am being directed to by one of the 7 agencies that our boss has contracted with, to tell us everything we do wrong. Basically. Anyway, the days are FULL with trying to get all those articles re-worked before our Dec. 14 deadline. Oh, hello, it is today.
• At least I skipped choir this week. Did myself one favor. 
• I also made Kate skip singing in the children's choir at all this year, because I couldn't fathom how to fit it into the schedule. She told me the other day that her choir-friends have solos for Christmas. (And she doesn't.) So now I feel really bad about that, when I was just trying to practice SELF-CARE.

Oh well. It's nearly over. I'm ready for a reset with 8 days off in a row. I can think about holiday menus next week maybe! :)