Archive for family
December 25, 2004 at 12:55 am · Filed under family
I came home from church at 11:45, and everyone was asleep. The house was dark except for the twinkle lights, which Pete had left on for me. I was charmed. He had also left me a note saying “hi Santa!” and to wake him if I needed any help filling the kids’ stockings.
The dog’s stocking had already been filled.
I finished up without waking him. Now for a cup of eggnog and the cookie on Santa’s plate. Everything is so quiet. It’s always amazing to me how the traffic and the crowds and the bustle suddenly disappear…I mean, just a few days ago I was dodging shopping carts and rushing to finish everything.
Time for sleep. Merry Christmas, and may it be a day of miracles.
December 23, 2004 at 11:07 am · Filed under family
Gather ’round, while I regale you with the tale of my own Christmas miracle.
Except I can’t go into too many details, since certain offspring of mine are known to look in on this site. Suffice to say that now I know why I wait until the frickin’ last minute to do my shopping… the emotional high when you find a coveted item purely by accident, after making 25 phone calls all over southern Wisconsin and have resigned yourself to wrapping a picture of the elusive object, is addicting.
Oh yes. You see, I decided to pick up a gift certficate after lunch and discovered that one of the longed-for item had arrived in the morning’s shipment. The people right before me almost bought it, but decided on something else… so it was mine mine mine.
I had to hold back from leaping over the counter and hugging the shaggy-haired clerk as I triumphantly handed over my credit card. My exhuberance must have shown, though, because he kept saying, “I’m really happy for you, m’am.”
And the heavens parted, and there was much rejoicing.
December 21, 2004 at 4:01 pm · Filed under family
Okay, Christmas, I’m ready to take you on. In the last 48 hours, Pete and/or I:
- printed mailing labels
- affixed them to envelopes
- signed the cards (which he designed – he had them printed on Friday, but they sat all weekend while we painted)
- stuffed ‘em in the envelopes
- began writing our family newsletter, which I had to lay out using InDesign – no more PageMaker! – learning some new features in the process
- took a few of the photos for the newsletter (yay, digital cameras!)
- finally finished the newsletter, while trying to eat dinner
- took the original to Kinko’s and ended up using a self-service copier
- folded, stuffed, sealed
- went to the post office, bought stamps and found a place to stand and affix said stamps to envelopes
- mailed those suckers
No matter how much we talk about getting an early start, it’s so much more entertaining waiting until Christmas is less than a week away.
December 18, 2004 at 11:43 pm · Filed under family
Most of my day was spent in the basement. Pete and I had bought five gallons of textured primer, and we used almost all of it. Painting is much harder than it looks. At first, we thought we’d prime in the morning and then slap a coat of paint over the primer in the afternoon. Ha, ha! We’ll be high-fiving if we finish the painting tomorrow.
I’m also attempting to get Christmas cards done, not to mention shopping. On Friday I actually placed some wrapped gifts under the Tree of Enlightenment. I high fived myself, because no one else was home.
December 6, 2004 at 9:06 am · Filed under family
Yesterday morning, we decided we really NEEDED to see our new baby nephew before Christmas. And when Menard’s called to reschedule the dropoff of our building materials, we took that as an omen that we ought to go. So we drove almost three hours each way and we rewarded with the angelic countenance of Nephew #2b. He slept nearly the whole time we were there, which made for primo cuddling.
Nephew #2a is an awesome big brother. Helpful, affectionate and protective. Niece #2 apparently asked her parents, “Can we keep him?” after they brought him home. Which is pretty sweet.
November 28, 2004 at 6:22 pm · Filed under family
Our basement project is about to begin. In preparation, Pete packed away the drum set, moved the stereo upstairs, and stacked our various boxes in the corner that isn’t going to be finished off. Other than the piano and the computer, it’s empty now. Oh, and the video collection. I’m planning to box those up this week, as soon as we have some boxes.
All in all, we accomplished quite a lot today. I’d still love to have another four-day weekend, truth be told.
November 26, 2004 at 9:19 am · Filed under family
We had our casual Thanksgiving yesterday, and everything tasted wonderful. Sure, we were running around the kitchen all morning, but that was part of the fun.
We had organic everything from the farm, so it truly was a harvest feast. My parents seemed to enjoy it, too. (But they didn’t have any of the tofurky.)
November 25, 2004 at 12:20 am · Filed under family
Ack! Ack! Ack! How could it be after midnight already? I had a massage, knitted, watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the kids, boiled sweet potatoes and checked my email. There is way too much to do in the morning for me to be lollygagging on the computer.
When was the last time you heard anyone say, “lollygagging”?
I’m actually looking forward to the day, though. My parents are joining us for tofurky, and my mom’s bringing chocolate pie. Pete and I are going to make a pumpkin pie (oh, we baked the pumpkin tonight, too), candied sweet potatoes and garlic mashed potatoes. We’ll also heat up some frozen green beans from the summer’s produce stash. The tofurky is the easiest part — just throw it in the oven and heat up the gravy.
Oh, the pictures I’ll take.
November 20, 2004 at 10:34 am · Filed under moon (rachel)
The parent-teacher conference yesterday didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but sometimes it’s nice to hear people confirm that your kid is awesome and smart. Afterwards I came home and spent quality time with Moon (who had the day off school), watching the first few episodes of BtVS Season 6. I actually had planned to visit my friend Theresa and talk about businessy things, but we ended up rescheduling.
Have I mentioned my new business? I’m doing web design part-time at home. Theresa inspired me. I’ve set up as a LLC, and my site is up. It’s still very much in the beginning stages.
Anyway, I’m once again enjoying a typical lazy Saturday morning, still in my pajamas. The timer for my coffee just went off. Life is good.
November 8, 2004 at 9:23 am · Filed under moon (rachel)
We spent yesterday afternoon at the Master Class sponsored by Good ‘n Loud Music, where Moon takes bass lessons. The students took home CDs of the play list several weeks ago. During the class, the teachers would call out the name of a song, and anyone who wanted to play could come up. (Of course, we heard each song numerous times so that everyone had a chance. Not bad when it’s the Kinks, Beatles, Green Day, Alice in Chains, etc.)
Moon was a bit nervous at first, but once she got going, she was surprised by how much fun it was. I can’t describe how cool it was to hear her bass line. *flicks Bic lighter*
One guy (not sure if he’s an instructor) did almost all the singing. SpiritMan went up and did backup for him to give him a bit of support.
Moon mentioned that there were many hot guys. I was struck by how much they looked like the boys I went to high school with in the ’70s. The hair is back!
October 31, 2004 at 11:28 pm · Filed under family
Well, Halloween 2004 is history. Moon announced that she probably won’t trick-or-treat next year, as the party she went to last night was much more fun that walking from house to house asking for candy. Of course, she was up all night and didn’t have so much energy today.
Turbo and his friend threw together last-minute ensembles just so they could do the candy thing. Pete also bought way more candy than we needed for the trick-or-treaters. I baked cutout cookies and oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, so we have a scarily abundant supply of sugary goodness in our kitchen right now.
I managed to work out this evening, but I’m not sure it’ll make up for all the Tootsie Rolls the kids gave to me. (They know TRs are my favorite. Aren’t they generous?)
October 31, 2004 at 1:01 am · Filed under moon (rachel)
Yeah, I’m still up, but hey… I’m gaining an hour tonight. Woo! Moon is staying over at Nicole’s house. (Birthday/Halloween party.) She wore her costume, which was completed this afternoon when we pushed our way through the throngs at Party City and purchased a pair of vampire teeth. Yesterday we went to the Homestead to pick up her black trenchcoat. Thank goodness for grammas who can sew and are willing to hem things for their grandkids.
While we were there, we talked knitting. I left with two pounds of dark green yarn and lots of encouragement. Pete’s mom is a needlework whiz. Now that I’ve made some feeble attempts of my own, I’m even more awestruck.
On the way home, we stopped at Hot Topic to look at boots. Moon ended up with a pair of chunky black boots with silver skulls on the buckles. “They’re kinda dressy,” she said. “Hey, I can wear them for graduation.” She’ll be all ready for those high school dances next year.
October 29, 2004 at 12:05 am · Filed under moon (rachel)
I had to work this morning, so I missed out on the chance to see John Kerry and Bruce Springsteen when they were in town. But Moon, she was the lucky recipient of a last-minute call from Vicki, who was taking Nicole and Aimee downtown for the big rally.
Of course, Moon was still in bed (because the kids are off school for the state teachers’ convention). I shook her and asked if she was interested. Her eyes flew open. “How many people are going to be there?” she asked. “Thousands,” I answered. She jumped out of bed. “Cool!”
I think she likes crowds.
Anyway, she was totally thrilled with the experience (she and Nicole were able to get pretty close to the stage!) and I’m glad she was able to go. It was almost as good as being able to go there myself.
October 17, 2004 at 9:26 pm · Filed under moon (rachel)
Michael Moore came to Madison last night, for a rally outdoors at the UW Memorial Union. Moon begged me to take her to see him. “He’s one of my heroes!” she implored. Sure, I was hacking up a lung, but what kind of mom would I be if mere cold and crowds prevented me from offering her this once-in-a-lifetime experience?
Peter insisted on coming along, because it sounded like an adventure. Of course, after parking, then walking several blocks against the icy wind, he had second thoughts. (Pete was too slow getting ready and was left behind at home.) Somehow we found Moon’s best friend Nicole in the crowd of more than 5,000. (Our view was pretty good, too. See dark, blurry photo here.)
It was an awesome experience, and I’m glad we went. But I’m still coughing.
October 14, 2004 at 11:40 pm · Filed under moon (rachel)
Well, I made it through a whole day at work (9-6!) but Pete ended up at home. So although I was dragging, I picked up our final produce box of the season and stopped at the grocery store for a few provisions.
Tonight was fairly uneventful until about an hour ago, when Moon was trying to write supporting information for her persuasive paper defending gay marriage. She asked for help and became frustrated with our attempts at giving advice, which made us frustrated. She left the room, and I found her on her bed, in tears. Basically, the homework closing in on her in all directions is becoming quite overwhelming.
My challenge as her mom is to be supportive and yet resist rushing in with too much advice. She’s an extremely capable person, and does not need me to spring into action. But ohhhhh I wish I could just take the stress away and make everything the way it should be. Meaning: perfect, with all bowing down before my princess’ beauty, intellect and integrity.
I haven’t even gone into the whole boy thing, and suffice to say that if it were up to me, they’d all be following her around in awestruck wonder. (Or maybe that would just be asking for trouble. Never mind.)
Enjoy the picture of my groceries.
October 11, 2004 at 9:27 pm · Filed under family
One of the highlights of yesterday’s trip to the in-laws’ was getting to see the neighbors’ kittens. Peter has always had a special love for cats, and he was in his element with the babies.
I even came out from under the blankets on the sofa to see this. (See more kitty pictures here.)
October 8, 2004 at 11:02 pm · Filed under peter
Peter didn’t want me riding the bus with him to school. I compromised by getting on at a different bus stop, and not sitting with him (he was hunched under his sweatshirt hood, and I couldn’t see him anyway). As we waited to get in the school, I saw a little boy with a nosebleed, which had gone all over his face and hands–I took him into school and found a teacher who could get him into the nurse’s office.
And that was before the field trip even started.
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October 6, 2004 at 5:51 pm · Filed under peter
Yesterday evening we went to an open house at Peter’s school. He was eager to go…because he had heard about an abundance of cookies that would be offered in the gym. Going to the classroom to talk with his teacher hadn’t even entered his mind.
So we dragged him down the hall (not physically, mind you and entered the esteemed temple of learning that is Ms. A’s 4th & 5th grade classroom. Immediately we noticed a large chart on the wall listing the names of kids who had make-up work to hand in. Our boy was the obvious winner, since his name was on every single list. Ms. A was surprised that we hadn’t seen anything in Peter’s take-home folder. The mystery was solved when we looked in his desk and found a pile of papers shoved under his folders. He’ll be busy the next few evenings.
On the way home, Peter told me that they still needed chaperones for tomorrow’s field trip. And would I please, please do it, because he really wanted me to go. Today I called Ms. A to find out how dire their need was in reality. Turns out that Peter’s facts were straight (although his timing could have been better). Fortunately, I have some flexibility at work and was able to arrange a day off. So tomorrow I’ll be guiding 10-year-olds through the marsh.
October 3, 2004 at 8:29 pm · Filed under family
Yesterday I went with Patti to kickboxing class, and afterwards she asked me to help her pick up some packages from the office at her apartment complex. I obliged, of course, and when we walked into that office we were met with the unmistakable smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
It’s been on my mind ever since. So today I whipped up a batch, which filled our house with that yummy aroma. Pete and I put together a double-crust apple crisp as the cookies were baking. We also made a potato-kohlrabi au gratin casserole. The cookies and apple crisp were outstanding; the casserole was just okay. But at least we used up the kohlrabi.
The kids, they want me to continue this baking spree. We made tentative plans to bake something every weekend, but only if they serve as my special assistants.
Moon can be special assistant in charge of recipe selection and adding extra ingredients. Peter will be special assistant in charge of taste-testing.
Foxxi will continue her post of special assistant in charge of stuff that falls onto the floor.
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