Snow!

I came from a place where it never snowed. How I lived without it for all those years I do not know. We are currently experiencing our first snow of the season. It is almost 11pm and I just got back from taking a walk in our neighborhood with the boys. It is magical out there. Max took some long exposure pictures from our porch:




Everything is glowing and so beautiful.

Here We Go

Here is the Christmas decorating progress so far:



I just had to go back to this post so I could see where I put what last year. It is still November so I am getting an early start on the decorating this year.

By the way, Thanksgiving (it seems a lot longer than 3 days ago) was a big success! We are still working our way through the leftovers, it was mostly all really good. And by mostly I mean that the stuffing sucked!

Anyway, my big plans to have the house all decorated this weekend are falling through fast. But that's okay, because except for the boys, my christmas shopping is done! Since we are going down to California for Christmas this year, I ordered all my family's gifts online and had them shipped to my sister's house. Just another reason to love the internet! So far the best most appropriate gift I bought is for my nephew and his wife.

IF YOUR NAME IS JEREMY SEEBA OR JENNY SEEBA, DO NOT CLICK THE LINK!! I mean it!! You will only be spoiling your christmas. I know, because I found my christmas gifts in my sister's closet when I was 12 and I peeked and it was clothes and they were ugly and my christmas was ruined! SO DON'T CLICK IT JEREMY AND JENNY!!

Everyone else click here.

Awesome, huh? You just can't find that stuff outside of the internet!

OK I have spent enough time on here, time to decorate!

Gearing Up

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

So last night I started cooking. I made the stuffing and also the spinach dip. I was totally stressed out because I have little idea about cooking and no creativity. Plus, I am trying to replicate my sister's thanksgiving dishes, so the pressure is on. So naturally, when I'm having a cracker crisis in the middle of Rosauers, my sister is nowhere to be reached! In fact, she was unreachable the whole night! The nerve!!! I mean, how am I supposed to know if she puts water chestnuts (which according to the recipe, are optional) in her spinach dip if she won't pick up the phone!! So I just took deep breaths and soldiered on. The main reason I got through cooking at all last night is because I played Wild Planet by The B-52's, it calmed me right down and got me singing, and by the time the CD was over, everything was made!

Look, real ingredients in my trash can, not just fast food wrappers--



Oh yeah, that little Snickers bar helped me get through it too.

So this morning I am not too stressed out because we are Rotissering the turkey. Steve is taking care of it, so all I have to do is Set It And Forget It!! I'm putting the sweet potatoes in the oven at noon and everything else after that. I just have to clean up a bit and them I am set. I may need some more good music to get me through the gravy making portion of the program. I'm thinking DEVO.

Hope everything goes well in your kitchens today and that you are with people you love! Happy Happy!

Grace

Grace is our cat who had the leg that stopped working and for a minute we thought it was going to be amputated but now she seems to be doing better. At first she just dragged the leg behind her, but now she is walking on it pretty well.

At the time we took her to the vet, he told us that we should stop feeding her canned cat food because she is too fat for a cat. She was skinny when we brought her home from the shelter but she eats every meal like it's the only one she's ever going to get. She eats her food and the other two cats' leftovers, not stopping until it's all gone. Well, at least that is how it was with the canned food. Now that we have switched to dry food only for all the cats, she doesn't seem to be eating as much as she used to. This has led to a change in her behavior.

Grace has become a beggar.

Whenever we are making something in the kitchen, Grace is now there too, staring at the food and meowing. Sometimes she is subtle: She will meow to get my attention and then once I'm looking at her she just stares at the food and then back at me. Other times she is more blatant:



It's kind of funny but sad at the same time. Max tried to give her a noodle but she didn't like it. She just misses her canned food! Max wants to get Grace a can of cat food for Christmas but I think that would be torturous to her. Meanwhile, we are all getting tired of the begging. Suggestions, anyone?

The Importance Of Writing Things Down

Today is Thursday and I should be at work except for I was throwing up in the middle of the night so I thought it best to stay home. I don't feel too bad right now, but not great either. I feel well enough to blog but not well enough to get dressed. So here I am.

Today I would like to talk about writing stuff down. I am glad I have this blog because every so often I read it and then I remember what I did and when I did it. I have discovered to my dismay that my memory is shot. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I smoked huge amounts of weed every day for 10 years while my brain was forming as a teen. But it is what it is.

One thing that sucks is that I don't recall a whole lot of my kids' childhoods. I look at pictures and I can remember them little but as far as remembering day to day events from the past, I'm not so good at that. Certain incidents are embedded in my memory for sure, like the time I caught Max at age 3 chewing a giant wad of gum at the store. When I asked him where he got it, he pointed to the floor. I freaked out, and that's probably why it made an impression on my memory. But the things they said that I swore I would remember because they were so hilarious, I have forgitten most of them. Except the ones I wrote down. Here is the best one, from Leo, age 3, while sitting on my lap and patting my boob.

"Mom, I don't play with boobs anymore."
(pause)
"But I touch them a lot!"
(pause)
"I pet them like they're dogs."

I think that is pretty darn insightful for a three year old. And if I hadn't written it down at the time, I may not have that memory to cherish today.

So people, if you want to remember stuff, write it down!

Thank you.

I Think That's Everything

1) I have been feeling like winter is dragging it's heels, but this morning it was 24 degrees outside, so I guess it will be here soon enough.

2) My kids have a ridiculously long list of dishes they want me to make for Thanksgiving. I cannot believe the extent of their delusions, they act as if I can cook or something. Actually, I CAN do most of the stuff on the list, except for the stuff I have never made. Like turkey. And yams. And gravy. Other than that, everything will be just fine!

3) One of the things I like about my job is that I get to use highlighters and post-it notes a lot. Little splashes of color that brighten my day.

4) Leo's slippers are almost done! In fact, I could probably finish them tonight, if I wanted to. But you know I won't!

5) Three dinners were cooked in my kitchen tonight. First I made a pot of spaghetti for Max. Then I made taters for me and Leo, which is basically fried potatoes with bacon, eggs and cheese. How can something that tastes so good be so bad for you? Then Max made another batch of spaghetti because he didn't like the one I made. So now I am stuck eating a ton of pasta for a week. Oh well, there's worse things I guess.

6) Still attempting to listen to Led Zeppelin on XM. It kind of sucks because they seem to play the same 20 songs over and over. I still haven't heard "That's The Way" or "Since I've Been Loving You" or "Achilles Last Stand". I have, however, heard "Kashmir" 27 times.

7) OK, now you're all caught up.

The Best News I've Heard All Week

This week has been crazy busy, both in and out of work. I have been feeling completely overwhelmed by work and social commitments, and I don't see it letting up until maybe Christmas. So tonight at about 9pm I am finally coming home after being gone since 7:30 this morning. Any time I can get alone in the car is good time, because I have XM and I can listen to it loud without kids complaining about how they are not deaf yet and could I turn it down. I swear they are channeling my mom. So I'm in the car and I look at the XM display and it says this:

Channel 59
Led Zeppelin 24/7

I screamed and almost ran off the freeway! I started hyperventilating and tried not to wreck the car while I fumbled in the dark for channel 59, hoping that it was true, and it is true! XM has a dedicated Zep channel for the next six months!! I don't care if I have all their CD's, this is awesome!

If you had told me when I was a teenager that in the future there would be a Led Zeppelin channel, or that Devo and the English Beat would play in restaurants, I would have laughed in your face. Well, the future is here and I'm happy to be in it. Led Zeppelin on XM is like an oasis in my crazy desert. Life is good.

It really takes so little to make me happy!

What-EVER! I Knit What I Want!

South Park fans may recognize the title of this post, changed ever so slightly.

So anyway-

I have a knitting blog but I don't post on it anymore especially since I got in to Ravelry. So I will make my confession here.

I have been cheating.

A while ago, well, quite a while ago, I told the boys that I would knit them each a pair of slippers. I started with Leo. I asked him what color he wanted his slipper to be and he said red. ARRRRGGGGH!! I hate red! But they are his slippers, so red it was. I got one slipper knitted but not seamed together.



I started the other one but I am not very far along. So a lot of time has passed and now it is almost winter and Leo wants his slippers. I tell him that I am working on them, which I am, just hardly ever, that is the part I leave out. Meanwhile, I have been working on (and finishing) other projects that I like better.

A scarf for myself:



And these awesome wrist warmers, also for myself:



By now Leo is pretty irritated with me, so when I knit in his presence, I work on his slipper, but during my lunch hour at work:



I am knitting this cute hat for, you guessed it, me!

I am cheating on Leo's slipper with a hat!

I feel so much better for having confessed. Leo is sleeping over at a friend's house tonight -- I hear my hat calling...