The Beginning of Christmas

My nephew's Christmas gift:

Copied from here.

Jac's job was to sort out all the Lego pieces into their individual figures.  Then we disassembled them before putting them in the little boxes.

This thing has to go all the way to California.  I did tell my sister-in-law that I am not mailing a tree branch.  Hopefully, she will send me a picture of how they displayed it. (hint)

It didn't take all that long to make, the process is just kind of monotonous.  I need to make 2 more for my own kids.  They will probably just get chocolate.

One random picture from Thanksgiving weekend:

Christmas Switch

 

 

My "It's time to get ready for Christmas switch" got switched to "on" this week.  I've got plans and need time, so I'm thankful it happened before Thanksgiving this year.  ;-)  (One year, probably 4 years ago, it didn't happen until about 4 days before the big day.  That didn't turn out so well.)

 

 

(Click on it so you can see it, Grandma.)



 

 

I mentioned awhile ago I had a woodshop project going on in my living room.  It's the project that won't end.  Mostly, because I lost interest in it.  That's sort of a theme in my life.  Of course, when I made Jac an armoire, I made it in a day.  Please know I've been frequently reminded of that during the building process of this one.  I was trying to talk up the "let's not put doors on this".  Umm...she wants doors.  Hmm...at least it's no longer in the living room?  Maybe I'll bring myself to make the doors for it this week.  We'll see.

Knitting!  I've really only ever knitted socks and gloves, but I'm all gung ho to make a sweater.  This is not a sweater.  Will be a gift for someone if I can finish it before I lose interest in it.

Ahh...so excited about this project.  I need to make 75 of these little, pyramid boxes for it, though.  So far, I have 16 of them, lol.  Still...must finish this project.  I'm going to love it if it turns out like it looks in my mind.

Yada Girls

 

Surely, by now, y'all have figured out I'm pretty much out somewhere every night, right?

 

Occasionally, I meet up with adults.

 

I have this little Wednesday group I've been going to for a couple of years: Yada Girls.  (Which sort of morphed into Yada Girls + 1 Guy and now is maybe going to be Yada Girls + A Couple of Guys.  Which is all good... I love it.  :-)  )  On the surface, this group is kind of unstructured (as compared to my other adult group) and loose and you never really know what's going to happen.  Honestly?  There have been times I didn't really know what to do in a group like that.  (Despite all appearances, I need structure.  Or thought I did?  Hmm...who even knows what I need?  Surely, not I.  See?  I'm learning.)  

 

Figuratively (I'm going to use food, because I love food.), I can be starving to death and not even know it.  Sometimes, I get busy and literally forget to eat.  Why should my figurative world be any different?  Sigh...nevermind me.  I know what I'm talking about and am only writing this part down for me, really.  Anyway...sometimes I need someone to remind me to eat.  Even though I love eating.  I know it doesn't make sense, but it is what it is.  For whatever reason, I sometimes don't think about being hungry until someone tells me.  Both figuratively and literally.  Carry on.

 

My friend Nell's house reminds me of an Anthropologie catalog.  I always tell her that.

 

It was a good night.  And I'm glad for the reminder to eat.  Because I am starving.

 

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Literal dinner=Acorn Squash stuffed with an herbed bread and sauteed onion/kale stuffing.

1st Boy Scout Meeting

We have a deal in this house...basically it boils down to "I don't do Boy Scouts."  But...I ended up there tonight.  It's not my thing, so hopefully my kid remembers I took him.  To bake desserts.  In the dark.  In the rain.  Where I stood amongst the chaos of teenaged (and younger) boys and their crude whipped cream jokes.

 

I noticed there were not a lot of moms there.

 

What you should know is all the cool guys wear coon hunting lanterns on their heads at these events.  I was trying to get a picture of them en masse, but I couldn't do it without looking all obvious and people were probably getting annoyed by my flash. 

I found it a little amusing when this guy said "O.K. boys.  Let's figure out how to make a pie plate out of tin foil."  Really?  You are cooking with a Betty Crocker cake mix and your plan was to craft a pan?  So weird.  For the record, the recipe only said "cake mix" which meant they didn't bring the eggs or the oil...  I think they borrowed from the next table or something.

Jac's team made pineapple upside down cake.  It was an "Iron Chef" type of competition.

I think this was some kind of peach cobbler or something.

Cooking...

The finished project.  Except it wasn't exactly finished.  They ate it anyway. 

On the way home, Jac asked if we could make one at home.  That is all the way cooked.  Who would turn down a request like that?

Random observation: Most of the grown men were in full uniform.  The kids...not so much. 

Occasionally

Occasionally, I have one of those days where everything has to stop while I stay home and take care of stuff that never gets taken care of.  Because I'm always running around like a crazy person and starting projects.  It was a day of decluttering, a trip to Goodwill, a little painting (Because I sort of have this woodshop situation going on in my living room--Who even says stuff like that?-- and the kids are going to want to put the Christmas tree up in a couple of weeks which means I need to get that project finished.), laundry...you know, fun stuff.  Staying home and not going anywhere (other than the aforementioned trip to Goodwill) is weird.

Occasionally, I cook something everyone decides they like (after I spend a while trying to convince them I'm not trying to poison them). 

Dinner=Pasta mixed with chickpeas and kale sauteed with garlic/onions/sea salt and sriracha topped with a roasted butternut squash/garlic sauce. Wishing the picture wasn't blurry.

East Rivendell Farm

 

I wasn't planning on taking any pictures of this place.  I was just going to go in there, get my groceries and go on home.  It was getting dark.  Hmm...couldn't resist.

1.  You all already know I'm picky about knowing where my food comes from and what is in it.

2.  The elections just happened and I've been listening to nearly all of you whine about the economy while you do the bulk of your shopping at Wal-Mart and Big Box Warehouse places.  Hmm....DUH?

3. This place really has nearly enough for you to complete your weekly grocery needs (Unless you want processed crap with unidentifiable ingredients-they don't have that.); chicken, beef, milk, cheese, fruits, vegetables, fresh baked breads, honey, preserves of different types....they even have giftable things like handmade cards, soaps, textiles, lip balms, candles, etc....ALL GROWN AND MADE HERE.  How awesome is that?  Oh.  And they are nice. :-)

4.  Best part?  10 minutes from my house.  Second best part?  Not commercial (while pretending they aren't...no surprise "Made in China" stickers when you get home.) like that other place 10 minutes from my house in the other direction.

I keep a stocked pantry of the basics, so mostly my weekly shopping is just to buy the fresh stuff.  I bought a chicken.  I can't remember the last time I bought a piece of raw meat. 

Dinner=Roasted beet, red quinoa and wilted kale salad with a balsamic reduction and raw pumpkin seeds.  I thought there would be leftovers.  Ummm...totally wrong?  I don't normally cook dinner on Friday nights, but I couldn't resist.

Mini Testimony

 

So...what I really had envisioned (a couple of months ago) was this day coming and me being able to say "I survived".  Well...I survived?  Turns out, survival wasn't the point.

 

Last weekend, when I was making my millionth "Hurricane Sandy" trip to the store to buy essentials (such as cartloads of junkfood), I ran into my friend Lee.  He said to me "I'd like to hear more about that."  I was all ???  He said "Cheerleading."  Because, we all know I'm the least likely candidate ever to become a cheer coach?  (A coach of anything, for that matter?) 

 

Reality is there is too much of that story to tell. 

 

The short of it is I ignored the first (and the second and the third) call asking for someone to be their coach.

 

That sort of thing is for other people, you know.  And I have spent most of my life not "getting" what the point of cheerleading is.  I'm not anti-cheerleaders, but,  I mean...it's 2012.  Why are we putting girls on the sidelines of athletic achievement to look all cute while cheering on boys?  Don't even get me started on the whole image thing.  Suffice it to say I know too many girls and grown women who have fallen victim to the trap of not ever being visually good enough...huge, life controlling trap.  Blah. (I feel the need to maybe apologize for possibly being offensive.  I don't mean to be.  Just being honest with where I was.  Not exactly in that same spot anymore.  It's possible I took 1 step from that spot.  A small step.)

 

At some point, though, I became acutely aware I was supposed to do it.  And subsequently freaked out and argued with God saying crazy things like "Can't I just go to Africa or something?"  You know it's not going to be a comfortable place when you'd rather go to some third world place where bathing probably doesn't happen daily and you'd probably be fed questionable animals.  Bathing and knowing what I'm eating are important to me.

 

Sigh...I said "yes".  Because you can argue with God if you want to, but you aren't going to win.  Disobedience=Misery.  Been there, done that.  I don't recommend it.  Still...I left Africa on the table just in case.

 

I'm not going to pretend I suddenly get the point of cheerleading.  Because, I don't.  Not in itself, anyway.  Turns out, the purpose wasn't to make me get that point.  It wasn't even about cheerleading.  Cheerleading was just the venue.  I did get the point of why I had to do it.  The answer to that is too much for here.

 

The "take away" I will share is that God knows what He's doing and He's always right on time.  In my mind, I had made it a situation where I was going to be the one doing the giving.  I had approached it with the attitude of "I am only doing this, because you will make me miserable if I don't."  (Because it's all about me?)  It's more than humbling to walk away from it knowing the giving didn't come from me.  What I received was way more than I could ever give.  Stuff I didn't even know I needed.  Exactly when I needed it.  More interesting (because it isn't all about me), is witnessing someone else be the recipient of that giving.  I don't think they realized it, at that moment in time (or maybe even now), but I saw it...and knew exactly what was happening in the moment it was happening. Sigh...does it get any better than that?

 

So...yeah...I survived.  More than survived.  It's kind of early to be saying such things, but...I might be going to cheer camp this summer.  To learn about stunting.  Because, honestly?  Stunting totally freaks me out.

 

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Getting ready to go to dinner with them soon.  It's probably the last time I'll be together with all of them this year.  I made them these little books.  They are having a sleepover and I thought they could write little notes to each other. 

 

Forgive the pictures.  The light is kind of funky in my house today.

It figures I picked one with imperfect binding to photograph, right?  Will fix that before I leave.  I bought a binding thingie for this project, but haven't taken the time to properly learn how to use it.


(Click on the pictures to make them big, Grandma.  :-) )

1st page...I left the inside front cover blank in case they have some kind of momento/picture they want to glue in there.

Pages 2/3...blank spaces/tags to write on...

Pages 4/5...team picture and more pockets/tags/etc...to write on...

The last page/back cover...I wrote them each a little note for the envelope.  P.S...my note to her gets nicer?  I give her a hard time all the time about not being interested in the content of my class.  It's kind of a joke now between us.  ;-)  Don't want anyone thinking I'm mean...

I hope they like them.