tables

office / crafting den
We have been buying tables galore here at CdT. More specifically  I have been buying them. And I've only bought two, so I'm not sure galore applies. But I bought them within days of each other for the same room, so that seems a bit galorish to me. Plus, I facilitated in Mom buying a new kitchen table.

First, I bought a table that I thought I could use as my sewing table. I measured my space and the table before I bought it, but what I didn't think of was the weight the extending table arms would bear on a constant basis. Both sides of the table can be lowered, making it a compact cabinet should I ever choose to go that route. The sides can definitely bear the weight of the machines for a period of time (weeks, months), but were they to be the permanent home for my sewing machine and serger, there would start to be sagging/problems. So it's now where I keep my paper cutter. I use the large paper cutter (thank you Dag & Rosie!) surprisingly often. Up until now I haven't had a flat surface on which to store it permanently, so it's been stored against the wall in various locations. I also use the surface when I'm doing a project to lay out my bits to be assembled. It's working very nicely.

And since, when I'm actually sewing, I like having the machine out and easily available, I needed some sort of table for them. So I looked on Craig's List and found this craft table. It's made of melamine, so it's very sturdy and well made. D was horrified as he thinks it's really ugly, but I'm all about functionality. So far it's working very nicely, though I haven't actually sewn* at it yet. I have used it to do some paper crafting and it works very nicely. The stools below also work quite well. The space on the left is Avery's desk in my office so she has a place to do her stuff when I'm in here.

The slots below the table will eventually house some wooden crates I bought. I measured the space and came up with the following dimensions as an ideal container: 11" x 10.5" x 2.75". I thought there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to find anything close to that size. I entered the size into Google and hoped for the best. I found the EXACT measurements I was looking for. Exact. I was just hoping to find some cardboard boxes I could cut down and re-cover, but wooden crates are even better. And the right size. Be still my beating heart.

I also got around to storing my fabric in a way that will allow me to see what I have more easily. I blogged about this method back when I bought the scanner that allowed me to go paperless. It's embarrassing the amount of fabric I have given the small number of projects I've actually done. Also, don't look closely at the fabric since most of it is quite hideous. Some was picked by Avery, some was bought because it was on sale, and some I have no idea how I ended up with it.

* It's been a long time since I've done any sewing. I find I really enjoy it when I do it, but I have trouble starting new projects.

thanksgiving
Mom joined the three of us for Thanksgiving this year. It was a really good Thanksgiving. D volunteered to cook, so he did the bulk of the cooking work. I did the stuffing-substitute and the clean-up. Mom cooked the pie and cheesecake, helped with clean-up, and took Avery out for a nice, long walk whilst D and I napped after eating. Pretty much a darn near perfect Thanksgiving in my book.

For the stuffing-substitute, I decided to go with risotto. That sounds really weird until you eat risotto with turkey and discover that it has the same comforting effect that stuffing does. So we had baked risotto (sooooo much easier than making it the usual way) with our turkey. I do miss real stuffing, but what can I do?

Mom made a gluten-free apple pie. I greatly appreciate it since the GF dough is a pain in the butt for Mom to work with. It's apparently just harder to manipulate. However, both D and I prefer the GF crust to a regular crust, so it works out nicely for us. Thanks, Mom!

ranking
I asked Avery to rank her current four activities in order of preference. I explained that I would try to schedule as many activities as I could, but that sometimes the class times conflict with each other or other activities, so I needed her ranking. Her results:

1. ballet (no surprise there)
2. kung fu (I was surprised this was #2)
3. soccer (I was shocked this was #3 - I expected it to be last)
4. gymnastics (I expected this to be #2)

I'm glad she's enjoying kung fu so much. 

pre-orders

holidays
I've pre-ordered a brined turkey from New Seasons for Thanksgiving. I'm in the process of pre-ordering our Christmas tree and arranging for delivery. I decided to get a real tree this year. I don't know why except that I'm tired of our plastic tree. The fact that I could pay $25 to have it delivered to the house is definitely a factor. I don't have to go pick it out (though I could have opted to pick it out myself) or figure out how to get it home. I got a grand fir because it's the most fragrant.

Mom will be joining us for Thanksgiving. D volunteered to cook the dinner if I do the cleaning up. Done and done! Mom is, of course, assigned dessert duty.

Christmas dinner will be done with the G's. Location of that is TBD.


sandy
I'm reading some of the analysis of why Romney lost. One factor that keeps coming up is Hurricane Sandy. It very well may have helped Obama win. What I find amusing is that Sandy was declared by Christian extremists to be retribution for the US support of a homosexual agenda. So the fact that ultimate result of Sandy may very well have been the re-election of Obama means that God approves of the "homosexual agenda" (aka equal rights for all people). I always wonder how the crazy Christian extremist interpret the tea leaves of all this. Do they just assume homosexuality is always at the top of the list as to why we have weather events? What about adultery? What about all those coveters out there?

minutia
I spent the morning cleaning and getting things almost back to the way they were before the party. I've had plenty of opportunity to do this before now, but today was the first day I felt like doing it.

I watched Witness: Juarez last night. It's an HBO mini-documentary about a photojournalist's journey to photograph the situation in Juarez, Mexico. Two things stood out to me:

1. I find it hard to believe there's any real effort on the part of the Mexican government to battle the cartels. The "war" has claimed 100 Mexican soldiers and 19,000 Mexican citizens. Only 100 soldiers lost in a war with so many citizen victims? Even if a lot of those victims are involved in the drug trade, surely the army isn't actually attempting to physically stop the cartels?
2. El Paso, Texas is right over the border and is the 3rd safest city in America. Ciudad Juarez is the 6th most dangerous city in the world. 

Chris Matthews is an idiot who should be fired. Who says he's glad a storm of this magnitude happens? It's not a slip of the tongue, it reveals he really is glad the hurricane wreaked the havoc it did (and still is wreaking).

This Kenyan mother named her twins Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. WTF is she thinking? The poor kid who ended up being Mitt Romney is going to be all sorts of messed up. I guess maybe kids growing in Africa (depending up where in Africa, of course) have things a bit more challenging than their names to worry about, but still. It's like naming one kid Winner and the other Loser. Especially when you consider that Obama is so loved in Kenya. Weird woman.

avoidance

election avoidance
The next few days will be an exercise in avoiding all news sites and TV coverage of the election. I can't stand to see headlines where Obama's winning (don't want to get my hopes up) or where he's losing (don't want to deal with the pain if he loses until it happens). So I am just avoiding it all. None of it is as bad as it was last time around when I was so very emotionally invested in the outcome. Plus, there's no Sarah Palin in the race and that makes all the difference. I still loathe her to the core of my being.

I told D that Tuesday we'd not have the TV on for election coverage when I was in the room. That's when he reminded me that he'll be on a plane then. And then I remembered Avery and I leave to join him in NYC on Wednesday (D was originally scheduled to fly with us on Wednesday, but had to change his flight to leave a day earlier).

guy fawkes party
We hosted about 80 people for D's annual Guy Fawkes party. In reality this event has nothing to do with Guy Fawkes except that it's British holiday and D's British. The party went well, I think. I had a good time when I did interact. When the number of people overwhelmed me, I hid in my bedroom for a bit, then came back out. I did this a few times until hitting the sack at a respectable time (if you're 80). There was lots of laughter until the last people left around 1:30.

I just sorted through all the trash from the party so I could pull out recyclables and compostables. It left us with surprisingly little trash all things considered. We still have the tent set up on the back deck and tables and chairs from the rental company scattered on the deck, in the garage, and in the house, but overall the house is in a livable state. Rental stuff will be picked up tomorrow, so no big deal.

My hostess gift for the evening: two boxes of fruit rollups. Perfection. I suspect someone reads my blog.

nyc
Our trip is still on as long as we have a hotel room. We have a reservation, but given that the city's hotel rooms seem to be bursting at the seams, I'm wondering if they will bump us or something.

fawkes

guy fawkes
Tomorrow is our annual Guy Fawkes party for D's office. This will be the last year of hosting at our house since we're already going to be bursting at the seams, depending upon how many people come.

I scheduled the cleaners to come today so the house will be clean for tomorrow night. And RHG just canceled their date night, so I won't have to clean up after the kids tonight - woohoo! Avery will be at the G's house for an overnight tomorrow night during the party. I heart the Gs.

nyc
We're still scheduled to go to NYC. D and I wondered via email a few days ago whether we (Avery and I) should still go, but we haven't had time since them to discuss in person. I lean strongly towards going even if it's not quite as smooth as it would have been had Sandy not hit. I'm assuming, of course, that all power will have been restored by this weekend so things will be fairly on-track by the time we get there late next week.

avery & fits
She's been doing really, really well lately regarding fits. She has been able to get upset within what I'd consider an acceptable range and deal with whatever was upsetting her. Massive improvement. I'm so pleased. One of the moments she had particular trouble dealing with before was when I'd get angry with the way she was speaking to me. I never yelled at her, but even just looking at her with a stern face would make her start crying and moving toward fit mode. This morning, she was able to take a moment then say she was sorry and we moved on. Massive improvement.

halloween
Avery dressed as Merida (from Brave) for her school Halloween parade, but chose to go as Jessie (from Toy Story) for the evening trick-or-treating. I'm not sure why she made that choice. I wasn't really up for trick-or-treating that night, so I asked D to go with her. He went around with Lily & Grace and their parents for 45 minutes or so of trick-or-treating. Avery came home with a perfectly reasonable amount of candy. It's funny because I don't think she even knows that other kids might eat more than one piece of candy that night. She asked to eat one then she asked to go to bed and it was an evening like any other. I stashed away all that candy in the treat drawer and she gets to pick one a day for lunches.

While Avery was totally reasonable and balanced in her consumption of Halloween candy, I was less than stellar. I at least had the good sense to buy mostly Kit Kats as the type for us to give out. Since I can't eat Kit Kats, those are still in plentiful supply. I also bought York Peppermint Patties, which I will eat once in a while, but would never eat more than one and can easily avoid them for months. Unfortunately, I also bought a bag of miniature peanut butter cups. I took the whole bag upstairs before bed and ate about half of it. I left the other half sitting on my nightstand. The next morning, Avery found the peanut butter cups on my nightstand. She said, "Mommy, if you eat all these at once, you'll get a stomach ache. I'll take them downstairs." I said, "Oh, you're right, Avery. Thank you." She was so very grown up about it. Thankfully, not grown up enough to look in the trash can and see what I inhaled the night before. She has always believed us that she'll get a stomach ache if she eats too much candy. I wonder when she'll finally test this theory, or bug us to let her test it. Soon no doubt. (Oh and yes, I did eat the other half yesterday while she was in school.)

avery & sleeping
Since we've returned from England, Avery has been going to sleep early and amazingly fast. We've been laying with her in bed until she falls asleep because we did it the first few nights we were back and it is working great, so why not. She falls asleep within 5 minutes of us saying "time to go to sleep." She's also been asking to go up to bed earlier than we were going up before England. Clearly, I love my daughter's non-resistance of bedtime. More often than not, she's the one who says she's ready for bed.

She's also, for the past couple of months, been coming into our bed in the middle of the night about 50% of the time. I actually rather like it, so I don't feel compelled to do anything about it. She's quiet (usually) when she comes in. Typically brings her blanket so she doesn't get under our blanket and just snuggles in between us. D may have a different version of this story, but for me, it's nice.

refugee family sponsorship
Amber, Christie, Stacey and I are sponsoring a couple of refugee families for Christmas again this year. This year one family is Bhutanese and one is Somalian. All members of both families need winter coats. Several bikes were requested. Then there are various items requested within the household. The list provided is just a wish list and we are in no way obligated to get all things on the list, but I would love to get each item. We'll see what we can do.

mom's back
My mom is back from her visit to Colorado and Wyoming. It's nice to have her home. She came inside for just a bit after I picked her up for the airport (her car was parked here while she was away, and Barkley was here, too). While she was in the bathroom, Avery asked if she could share her Halloween candy with Nain. She gave Nain a Kit Kat (from her stash, not from the stuff we have left) and had a bag of Skittles for herself. It was so grown up the way she shared. Melted my (so non-sentimental) heart.

Valentine

V-Day

Valentine's Day was just perfect yesterday. Avery thoroughly loved the card that D gave her, as well as the flowers. He also got her - and us - tickets to the Cirque de Soleil show coming to town. She wasn't enthusiastic about that, but she also wasn't enthusiastic about Disneyland until she saw it. 

D bought both Avery and I flowers. But he mixed them up when he ordered. So Avery opened a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses while I opened up a beautiful, but not quite as bold, bouquet of pastel-colored roses and some other flowers. I thought it was a bit odd for him to choose the flowers he did. D didn't have a clear recollection which flowers her ordered for which of us, but I realized he definitely switched them when the pastel-colored roses came with a vase with hearts on it. There's no way he would order a vase, and certainly not a vase such as that, for me. So my dozen red roses are sitting up in Avery's room and her pastel-colored roses are sitting in our living room. 

I made cards for D and Avery. See what I did there? I saved a cool $6 on cards for this holiday. My Silhouette is almost paid off!

One

I'm here! I'm here! I'm going to try to blog every day this year. So I figured I'd better at least do a post on the first day of the year before I blow it.

We're spending the first day of the year planning our upcoming vacations. What else should be done on the first day of the year?

I'm so out of blogging practice. There's been so much going on, so many first activities with Avery, yet I'm struggling with finding words to write.

Christmas in Colorado & Wyoming - part I
We flew into Denver on the 23rd. That afternoon we drove up to my mom's house and met up with Damian's brother and his wife and their son (Justin, Caroline, Olly). It was a tight squeeze to fit us all in my mom's house, but it also had a nice cozy feeling to it.

Christmas Eve we all drove up to Collin & Denise's cabin in Wyoming to spend the day with family and friends: Collin & Denise & Dylan; Dad and Joy; Mom; Justin & Caroline & Olly; Katherine & Andrew (family friends with whom I've spent more holidays than I can count); Damian & Avery & me. Denise and Collin did an amazing amount of work to prepare their cabin to host so many people for the afternoon and evening. The cabin, which they bought this past summer and spent the summer and fall renovating, is beautiful. It's truly an inviting and beautiful space. Following dinner, we opened presents as a family, with most presents being opened by the three children (Olly-7 yo, Avery-4 yo, Dylan-3.5yo). That evening, we (Damian, Avery, and I) stayed overnight at the cabin with Justin, Caroline & Olly. The rest of the family headed to Collin and Denise's house in Cheyenne.

Christmas morning we opened presents from Santa at the cabin, then headed to Cheyenne to say hi/bye to C&D&D and Dad & Joy. The two Smith families and Mom then drove back to Mom's house in Eaton to open more presents.

Post-Christmas in Colorado - part II
The day after Christmas (aka my birthday) we drove up to the house near Winter Park for a weeklong stay with Vic & Mike & Bear. Joining us there, for parts of that week, were Mom and Mike's parents.

Mom, Avery, and I only skied one day. I know that's pathetic, but I don't regret not pushing myself to go more. The truth is I'm just more a laze about the cabin type person than a let's get out on the slopes type person. Avery did great in ski school and made it through the whole lesson. She said she enjoyed it, but didn't want to go again and I didn't want to push too hard.

We also went tubing one day. That was way more fun than I was expecting. Avery really enjoyed it, too.

The rest of the time at the cabin in Colorado was spent lounging about, reading, napping, eating, and visiting. Really, it was quite ideal.

Redo

Built-ins in the living room
We're finally going to put built-ins on either side of the fireplace in our living room. It's something that we've intended to do since we moved in, but it is just now taking priority. I'm so very excited. I totally messed up my sleep for the week staying up late on Sunday night drawing a mockup of what I want in the built-ins. I couldn't stop thinking about it until I'd drawn it with enough detail to sufficiently relay my requests to a contractor. I don't have Visio on my computer, I had to draw it in Google Docs. That is to say that it's not nearly as clean as it'd be if I could have done it in Visio. Here it is (clicking that link seems to download a .png file rather than load it in another window - I don't know - just go with it).

I was inspired in particular by the layout of this unit, and the black interior of the shelves in this unit (second picture down).

Items of note

• Since we'll be moving the TV over the fireplace - which, I want to note is not where I'd ideally like to put the TV, but given the configuration of our room and my desire to see the TV from the kitchen, it's where it's got to be - we want to lower the mantel to get the TV as close to eye level as possible. 
• In one side (1 & 2), there will be a pull out desk to house an eventual family-computer and homework desk for Avery.  There's no goal to see the TV from the desk, so that it's essentially in the same plane as the TV isn't an issue. 
• The other large cabinet will be used for storage of toys, games, whatever. 

Sectional and chairs

We're also looking into replacing our furniture with a new sectional couch and a couple of chairs.  We both think sectionals are exceedingly dull, but it'll give us a lot more seating in our living room. We'll have to spice things up with some colorful throw pillows and maybe a colorful area rug since the sectional will be in a neutral tone (a warm grey being the leading candidate right now). 

Smith Decision-Making Expediency

In true Smith fashion, we decided on a whim to go look at sectionals on Sunday afternoon. By Sunday night, we'd settled (in our heads) on a sectional, two chairs, an ottoman and the fabric for all. It was also on Sunday night that I sent the request to meet with contractors via Service Magic. This week, I've met with four contractors and one A/V guy to take care of the surround sound we'll also be adding with this redo. 

I'd feel better about it if I hadn't strayed from our furniture store of choice to check out another one. The second one is significantly cheaper, but we both still really prefer the fabric of the first one. The first place does their own fabric, so we can't just get the fabric and stick it on another couch. Then there's all this information about the way the couch is made affecting how well it holds up, etc. I have no idea what we should do. There are bigger problems in life. Well, this doesn't even qualify as a problem. Just a decision to be made. 

Avery's Eyes

Last week we had a check up with Avery's eye doctor. She's doing very well. The doctor said we can patch fewer hours per day. I asked if it was bad to patch more because Avery often doesn't want to take off her eye patch. The doctor asked if I could have Avery talk to all of her patients. Patching more is not a problem, so we are doing it about 4 hours per day. 

I gave Avery the choice of not wearing her eye patch to school, but she said she prefers to wear it to school AND not to school. Weird. But I'm sooooooo thankful that the eye patch isn't a battle. She very rarely objects to it and usually is enthusiastic to put it on, partially because she likes to open the package. 

I get asked a lot if Avery will needs surgery. The answer is probably not, assuming she continues to do well with glasses and patching. This article explains Avery's situation very well. Avery has accommodative esotropia. I'm finding that it often says online that  accommodative esotropia should never be treated with surgery. I think that's true as long as patching and glasses work to control the inward turn of the eye. Maybe it's true all the time, but sometimes those with accommodative esotropia sometimes develop additional conditions? I don't know. All I know is the doctor says it's unlikely Avery will need surgery and she's doing great. 

Another question I often get is why some kids have surgery for a lazy eye and others don't. I believe the answer is based on the cause of the lazy eye. Avery's is caused by her farsightedness. 

Finally, the other question I get is how long will she need to patch. I think it's possible that we will be able to stop patching earlier, but it seems like there's little benefit to patching after ages 8 or 9.

Other news

There's not much to report in other news. Avery spent the day after Thanksgiving with Christie & Darren & Henry. She even spent the night there. She had a wonderful time, but she also has a bit of a hero worship thing going on with Christie. I can't tell you how many times she points out that she's wearing a purse "Christie style!" or how when she mismatches her socks on purpose that it's "Christie style!" (Christie does not mismatch her own socks, but often does so with adorable results with young Henry.)  Christie is pretty much the first person Avery always wants to show her new clothes to. 

We spent Thanksgiving with friends in The Couv (that's Vancouver to you outsiders). Avery had a great time playing with a little girl named Riley. Riley actually lives very close to us, but we only know them through friends. Avery did not want to leave. She very much liked Riley and her dad. When we left she said, "But Riley's dad is staying there!" We adults had a nice time chatting with friends and eating, eating, eating. 

The day after Thanksgiving, when Avery was at Christie's, D and I went with friends (same friends from Thanksgiving) in a limo for wine tasting. The limo was a stretch Expedition. I am pretty sure this is the first time I've been in a limo, unless you count a beat up one that was used as a taxi when I was in the Bahamas right out of college.  It had all the things you'd think something as gawdy as a stretch Expedition would have: lights, glasses for champagne, wine, whatever, TVs, etc.  It was, however, an ideal way to go wine tasting. Unfortunately for me, my body was not cool with the idea of me drinking anything on that day, so it was pretty much a taste-free day for me. I did find some yummy salami. Nice. 

Cards

Crafting - Attendance Cards
Christie and Henry came by today so the adults could do some crafting the kids could drive us bonkers while we do so. Christie knitted some items for her FB homemade 2011 exchange. I worked on my first assignment for Avery's preschool.  These are a single card. The red side is for when the child is at home; the white side is for when she/he is at school. I glued the cards together, then glued on the cutouts for the house and school house, then laminated the card, then cut out the names in vinyl, then applied the names to the card.  I figure when the year is done, the vinyl names can be easily removed and then the teacher can reuse the cards in the coming years by just writing the students' names on the laminated card.

Thanksgiving
We're heading to the house of a friend and co-worker of Damian's.  Actually, it's a friend of that guy, but we've met and hung out with this group before, so it's not that distant of a connection. We're supposed to bring a side and a dessert and wine. D is in charge of the side. He's making two: toad in the hole (using chicken sausage) and shredded Brussels sprouts with pine nuts & turkey bacon. I'm making the dessert, which will be lighter-than-air chocolate cake (which is gluten free).

Avery's BD Cake
So last year Avery asked for "flowers and ornaments" on her cake. It was an odd looking cake, but it was delicious. This year, I decided we'd just get a cake from Safeway and call it good. I let Avery pick out her cake. She chose a cupcake cake. It's a wedding cupcake cake. I shouldn't be surprised since she is obsessed with weddings and getting married right now. We don't talk about marriage much, nor does she watch TV shows that talk about it. The best theory I have is that we don't have a lot of pictures displayed on the walls and in frames within our house. There are several of them from our wedding.  Anyway, this is why there will be a wedding cake this year at Avery's BD party. One of these years, we'll get a normal cake ... maybe.

Envelopes

365

I thought about signing up to do the blogging everyday this year, but thought, "Why would I do that?  I blog everyday anyway."  Ha.  Goes to show that 2011 is the year everything will change apparently.  The lack of blogging isn't depression or anxiety or even lack of interest.  I don't know what it is.

Grace

I loved this article about grace. 

Diet (and some bitching and moaning)

It's day 12.  I'm still on track.  I'm frustrated because yesterday, after sleeping 12 hours (that is not a typo) on Saturday night, I had to take another hour nap in the morning because I was so exhausted.  My energy was just non-existent all morning.  It rebounded a bit about 7 pm, but I still went to bed exhausted last night.

I would have thought I'd be seeing big changes in my energy by now.  I'm so very frustrated that I'm not.  I think I do have more energy during my waking hours, but the need for excessive sleep is still there and things exhaust me that shouldn't given my age and (new) diet.  Seriously.  I'm pissed off about it.

Yesterday was the first day I came to breaking on the diet, and not because I was craving any sort of food, but merely out of frustration.  Lack of results is frustrating as hell.  Then, it's even worse when I start thinking about the what ifs.  What if the diet doesn't work?  What if I'm still exhausted?  What do I do then?  I've tried the Western medicine route.  After the diet, I'll have given the alternative medicine route a try.  At this point, it's all made worse because I'm not depressed right now.  That means I want to do things, but I can't.  When I'm depressed, the lack of energy is just that.  It's not something that's standing in the way of me doing things since I don't want to do anything due to the depression.  The fatigue without the depression sucks.  

Valentine's Day

I got Avery and D gifts for V-day.  We never do Valentine's Day gifts, but I thought of something, so I got them as gifts: matching official jerseys for the Timbers games.  Since D bought season tickets for he and Avery, I thought they needed matching shirts.

Crazy

The really annoying part of my fatigue is that I usually gain energy about 7 pm - midnight.  Who gets their energy then, I ask?  So, last night I decided to make Valentine's Day cards and envelopes for Avery's preschool class.

I made the envelopes out of wrapping paper.  I tried with just one sheet, but that was too thin.  So then I folded the paper in half and glued it together to make a thicker sheet.  This also means that the inside of the envelopes have the pattern, too!

I then made cards and affixed some hearts to the cards.  Now, Avery and I need to put her name on the cards, then put some stickers on the outside of the envelopes to seal them.

A few things I feel the need to note:

• Yes, I do think Avery should have participated more, however, she is just not into crafts yet.  Her attention span for crafts is less than 30 seconds.  
• Yes, I spent a ton of time doing this and no preschoolers are going to give a crap that I made them cards and envelopes.  I did it because I like to have an activity that focuses on details such that it occupies my mind almost completely.  I say almost because we were watching TV while I did all this.  
• No, the cards are not that impressive from a crafting standpoint, but I wanted to do small ones and well, it's more about the activity than the end results for me. 

Moodiness

Holiday stress is here

I shouldn't be surprised, but Monday marked the return of my usual holiday moodiness.  It's not so much the holiday as the general chaos.  It's not helped by the fact that Eddie has been pooping more in the house after a lovely stint of few accidents over the course of several weeks.  There have been three in house accidents today alone.

It's also not helped by the fact that Eddie is following me around a lot more.  He tends to act strange when Mom is here - either he gets more clingy with me, or he gets clingy with mom, or some other variation.  That he's following me around all the time is driving me more crazy given his nails are so long and he just makes this click, click, click sound constantly.  I know it's so minor.  I shouldn't complain, but if I don't vent here, where will I?  That's right, by yelling even more at Eddie.

Finally, it's not helped by Avery's new found love of saying, "Moooom!" repeatedly in a whiny voice.  I swear, she must say my name 100 times a day. She'll say it even when D is sitting right next to her - as in, she seems to think only I should be asked to attend to her every need. 

Nook

When Avery saw her nook, she was most definitely underwhelmed.  I think she didn't quite know what it was for.  She also seemed a tad bit fearful.  This morning, however, she was thrilled to hear me say she could take her babies and books in there and read to them!  In she went, making sure to tell me that she was safe (hence the reason I think she was scared initially).  It was also a big hit with Elise while she was here for a short playdate this afternoon.  They both went in a closed the door and giggled away.  So cute!

Birthfamily visit

We had a visit with Nikki & Grandma J on Saturday.  It went very well.  Avery and Garrett played and played and played.  Garrett would sing the ABCs and Avery would dance. 

Toothbrush

I am the toothbrush lady!

Each month, Avery comes home with all sorts of new crap in the party favor bag for that month's birthdays at school.  Most of it she forgets about immediately, then I recycle or chuck or store away it to be re-purposed somehow.  I didn't want to contribute to the crap collecting of others, so I informed the (somewhat perplexed) teacher that we'd be doing something different instead of a party favor.  We donated/loaned $50 to two families via Kiva.  I then assembled these cards, with information on front and back, to distribute with the crap/fun stuff in the bags.  D said this is the equivalent of handing out a toothbrush on Halloween.  He's right, but I don't care.  I am the toothbrush lady of party favors!

This little project did convince me that I need a paper cutter. I cannot explain how bothered I was that I couldn't cut the lines perfectly straight, except to say I'm seriously considering buying myself a paper cutter for the next time I need to cut a straight line.

Congo family

I dropped the presents off for the refugee family we sponsored for the holidays.  I meant to take a picture of all the presents so I could post it, but I forgot.  Envision the back of my sweet ride full of gifts and that's about right.  When I told D that I'd signed us up to do this, his immediate instructions were, "Make sure you get the kids fun things in addition to the functional items requested."  And this is one of the many reasons I love D: his desire to give the children something fun, despite the increased cost.  I spent $100 more than I intended, but it was so.much.fun to shop for a family in need that I couldn't help it.  I fully intend to do this every year.

When I dropped the presents off I didn't get to meet the volunteer coordinator, so I emailed her to ask more details about the family.  She forwarded my email to their caseworker who gave me some basics.  Then she said they could really use an American friend to help them learn English and adapt to the culture.  I emailed back immediately and said I'd love to help.  I'm so very excited.  I'm not quite sure how one goes about helping non-English speakers become English speakers, but I'll figure it out somehow.  Right now my plan is just to talk really, really loud and see if that helps.

Nutcracker

When I saw the deal on Groupon for 2 tickets to the Nutcracker for $22, I felt it must be fate.  So I bought a total of 4 tickets so we can all go to the ballet on Monday night.  I feel all fancy saying we're going to the ballet - a bit like discussing the symphony or the opera.  The fourth in our usual trio is my mom!  She arrives in just a few hours.  I wanted to have the house perfectly clean for her arrival.  It's not going to be because I'm blogging.  Fortunately, I have a rocking mom who never criticizes my housekeeping skills or the state of the house upon her arrival.  She rocks!

Jam packed

We've got a jam packed schedule this week: a holiday party via our adoption agency; a visit to Zoolights with Aunt Aly, her bf, and Garrett; a visit with Nikki & Mike and others; a cookie exchange; a messy art class, followed by lunch and gift exchange; babysitting the G kids on Friday; a date night with my mom on Saturday night (D will be at the Blazer's game for both the Gs date night and my date night); the aforementioned Nutcracker; and, of course, Avery's BD!  Then Vic and Mike arrive and (prescheduled) things slow down.  Sweet!

Congo

Refugee family details

I received the details about the refugee family for whom we're buying gifts.  They're from the Congo.  The most needed clothing items are coats and pants.  I'm excited to shop for them. I also confirmed that I can give them a gently used coat since I have so many winter coats upstairs.  For some reason, we are just brimming with coats that have barely been worn.  Giving them one of my coats means I can spend more on the other items.  Woohoo!

Electronic cigarettes

Did you know these existed?  Me neither.  You can get them with or without nicotine.  The "smoke" is water vapor.  Yes, you have to charge the cigarettes up.  So weird. Now you, too, can look like this douche bag.  Though, to be fair, I'd rather sit next to this tool than someone who is actually smoking since smoke bothers me, but I can shake off a tool.

Nook

The nook doesn't exactly have the kind of awe-inspiring creativity I'd hoped it would.  Part of the problem is the rug I bought ($25!) is a very ugly tan, especially under fluorescent lighting, which is the lighting in the nook.  It also clashes with the pink I chose for the walls. However, I think Avery will totally love it.  I need to buy some bolster pillows to line the sides where the carpet doesn't quite reach.  I was also thinking of buying some magnetic paint for some areas of the nook.  We'll see.  I've decided against putting up the bumblebee lights due to safety concerns.  They would have looked so cute, so I'm bummed that my instincts are telling me the risk is not worth the cuteness.

Relatives

My uncle (my mom's brother) and aunt were here last night.  They live in eastern Oregon and often stay at our house when in Portland for medical appointments.  It was good to catch up, though I did a pathetic job of providing dinner last night.  I ended up buying a rotisserie chicken, making plain pasta, and cooking frozen veg.  Ah well, 'tis the way it goes. 

Charity

FYI, on Monday, Groupon will have a deal to buy a $25 gift certificate to Kiva for $15.  Unfortunately, there's a limit of 1/customer.  I do love Kiva!

There's a new website called GiveBack.org.  It's basically a way to keep track of your charitable giving to make taxes easier.  You can add funds directly to the account, or you can earn money buy shopping at various sponsors who will donate from 1-15% of the amount of your purchase to your account.  It's a non-profit, so sign up is free and there's no charge for the service.  It seems a little unnecessary from a tax perspective to me, though I don't do our taxes, D does. However, if I am going to shop at the online stores listed anyway, I would like funds to go to a charity.  Also, for signing up, you get $5 to start with, so that's worth signing up alone!  I believe the site was started by the guy who won Oprah's reality show The Big Give.

Paint

Nook update

I painted the nook this afternoon.  Unfortunately, when I bought the paint, I thought I had all needed supplies at home.  I had everything but the pad to go on the roller.  As a result, I painted the whole nook using just a paintbrush.  If I hadn't done that, I think I would have run out of paint, so it worked out all right in the end.  It took me about two hours, which was a bit uncomfortable given the small, awkward-shaped space. 

In a bit I'll take the carpet upstairs to see how it fits.  I'm hoping it's a good snug fit, but I think it's going to be an inch or two too long on either side.  Hard to know because the measurements on the rug I bought were not specific. 

Christmas ... excited?!  WTF?

I'm actually excited for Christmas this year.  I know, I can't believe it either.  Most of it is a result of Avery's sheer enthusiasm.  Some of it is because I feel like I have things a bit more under control this year: I started planning Avery's BD party very early, I have been doing my shopping way earlier than usual, and I'm not putting unrealistic expectations on things. 

The excitement has only increased since our friends Vic & Mike are going to join us for the holidays!  Barring any illness, they're going to drive up from Colorado so they can bring their dog ... who gets carsick.  Yeah, doesn't sound like a fun drive to me, either, but I don't care because I'm just happy they're coming! Woohoo!

Avery and school

For a month or two, Avery went through a phase where she'd cry when I dropped her off at school.  Teacher Carlya said she always stopped about 30 seconds after I left, so I wasn't overly troubled by it.  Nonetheless, it's nice that she seems to be through that phase for the moment.  She happily runs into school - which she did even when she would cling to me when I left - and then yells, "Bye, Mom!" when I leave.  

Avery and sleep

The sleep chart worked quite well, but I fell off the charting wagon when we left for Mexico and haven't got back on it.  She managed to stay in her bed all night on Saturday night, so before bed last night, I got out a star sticker and said she could earn another one if she stayed in bed all night again. She didn't.  Then she asked me for a star this morning and I said no and explained why.  To which she answered, "OK, Mom.  I will try again tonight." 

Birthfamily visit

Avery's aunt (her birthfather's sister) and her grandmother (her birthfather's mom) are coming for a visit - their first time meeting Avery and D and me - on Saturday.  Aly friended me on FB and that got us communicating.  I'm excited to meet both of them.  I'm not nervous yet, but I know I'll be anxious before they get here.  I am so thankful that this visit was set up via FB and email.  So much easier to set things up that way - at least for me.

Turkey

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving yesterday, I decided to make my first pie ... ever.  I've never made a pie before.  When you have a mom who makes the most excellent pies ever, there's really no reason to do it yourself.  However, she wasn't here this year and I wanted to have some buttermilk pie, so I baked my first pie.  And I put whiskey in it!  And I put vodka in the crust!  And I had TWO beers at Thanksgiving dinner, which made me very, very tipsy indeed.  Then, being the classy guest I am, immediately after dinner, I headed up to the Gs' guest room and took a nap.  Yep, I'm so very classy like that.

I must elaborate on the beers.  I found the only beer that I like at New Seasons: Frambozen.  They only make it around the holidays and they typically run out of it by mid-December.  I haven't been able to find it in years.  I was so happy that I bought two six packs.  Yes, two! 

We spent most of the afternoon and early evening at the Gs' house enjoying dinner and chatting.  Dinner was delicious.  I ate way too much.  Way, way too much.  But Thanksgiving dinner is my absolute favorite, so it had to be done. 

Three kids

The Gs had their date night tonight.  D went to the Trailblazer's game, so I was on solo duty with the three kids.  Thankfully, it was a piece o' cake.  Everyone ate very well and followed instructions.  When it was time to put Nolan down, I told him to say goodnight to Elise and Avery, so he turned waved night-night to both of them, then grabbed my hand and happily led me to "his" room.  After he drank a couple of bottles of milk, I put him in the crib fully awake, he rolled right over and then went to sleep.  The girls also went to sleep very, very easily tonight.  In fact, all kids were asleep by 7:30.  I run a tight ship here at CdT. 

Holiday spirit

Dare I say I've got some holiday spirit?  We put the tree up this morning.  I even put on Christmas music at Avery's request - not too loud, of course.  Tonight, after the kids were asleep, I made gift tags.  Finally! A use for scrapbooking tools.  I am not a scrapbooker at all, but I love the tools and supplies, so I'm always searching for a use for them.  Turns out, I like make gift tags.  Who knew?  They're pretty rudimentary, but I can see them getting a bit fancier the more I do them.  Or not.  I'm crazy like that.

Nook

Avery's BD nook is coming along.  I have the paint and carpet.  I first tried Target for the carpet, but the carpets were $160 and up for the size I need.  I found one at Ross for $25 - much more reasonable. I also remembered that I bought a couple of strings of lights shaped like bumblebees a year or so ago thinking I'd find some way to use them for Avery.  The nook will be the perfect place for them!

Both D and my mom expressed minor concern of what happens if Avery gets stuck in the nook, so I'm going to buy a wireless intercom system as a precaution.  Plus, I'm quite sure Avery will have hours and hours of fun playing with the intercom. 

Tangled

We saw Tangled this afternoon.  Avery enjoyed it, as did D and I.  I particularly liked that Rapunzel was so very capable even though she thought she wasn't.

The trailer for a new Yogi bear movie played before Tangled.  In the car on the way home, Avery repeated a few lines from the trailer, so I think it's a good bet we'll end up seeing that movie, too. 

Spirit

Baby steps in holiday spirit

I have actually started to buy some things for Avery for Christmas.  For me, this is exceptionally early.  I am also looking forward to buying her more stuff.  Again, for me, this is exceptional.  Part of my excitement is because you can't really go wrong buying a three-year-old presents.  At least, you can't with Avery.  I swear I could wrap up dirt and she'd be thrilled with it.

I also know what I'm giving her for her birthday.  We have two nooks, with doors on them, off of an area in our master bedroom.  For some reason, the builder finished the walls of the interior of these spaces even though they're just storage spaces.  I'm going to make one of those spaces a place for Avery to play.  I need to paint the walls (pink, of course), buy some carpet, buy some pillow covers (I have lots of pillows to go in there already), and buy some things to hang on the wall. I'm going to designate it as a space where Avery can write on the walls if she wants.  I know I would have loved a place like that to play when I was a kid, so hopefully Avery feels the same way.

In addition to those two baby steps, I have another plan in place.  I was pondering buying a real Christmas tree this year, but I don't think I'm ready for that hassle in the living room.  So what I've decided to do is buy a fairly small tree that we'll put in the foyer, then decorate that tree with ornaments that we make together.  If it's fun, it can be a yearly tradition.  If it's not, we'll drop it.   My idea for the ornaments as of now is to take old CDs and glue jewels and beads to them.  Maybe put glitter on them, etc.  If anyone has any old CDs, send 'em my way!

Giddy

Since Eddie started pooping in the house regularly, I've been struggling to keep up a supply of plastic bags.  In line with this, I have found I get practically giddy when I find the ideal plastic bag for poop pick ups.  Yes, I really do.  For example, when I finish a bag of bagels, I grin knowing that bag will be perfect for picking up those turds.  Likewise, preschooler clothing ordered online is often delivered in the perfect plastic bags for poop scoop duty.

After being miserable about the poop accidents, I have reached a point of acceptance with them.  The turning point was our return from Mexico.  Before I dropped the dogs at the G's house, I assembled two poop clean up kits: one for accidents on hardwoods and one for accidents on carpet.  Those clean up kits came back virtually unused since Eddie was so often outside at their house.  However, those kits have dramatically reduced my stress about the accidents.  Why I didn't think to gather all the things needed to easily clean up accidents before, I do not know.  But having everything I need to efficiently and effectively clean up the accidents is so much easier.

Eddie had been sleeping in the garage before this cold snap.  Now that we're in the cold weather, he's back in the house at night (and during the day, of course).  This means a daily in-house accident is practically a guarantee.

Overall, Eddie's doing well.  He is becoming less active during the day, but still enjoys the short walks we do occasionally.  He's also starting to seek his pain medication more regularly.  I am very confident that he knows the pills dull pain.  I suspect they also make him feel groggy or something like that because he will sometimes just refuse to take the pills.  I used to make him take them anyway, but now I just offer him the pills and if he wants them, he takes them; if he doesn't, he turns his head and I let it go.  Sometimes, he'll go stand next to the cabinet where the pills are kept and wait for me.  Then I know he wants more pills.  There's one pill that we're allowed to give him quite a few of, so I just give him that one and he goes back to his crate.

Eye roll

I get emails from babycenter.com about once a week.  Most of the time, I immediately delete them.  Some of the time, I click to a link and glance over the topic.  Today's email was centered around "is your child gifted."  I glance through the bullet points and assess Avery's not gifted (which is not to say I don't think she's a smart cookie - I do - but based on those bullet points, she's not gifted).  Anyway, I see there's a poll as to whether your child is gifted.  I click over to view the results.  72% of 32,000+ voters said yes.  Are our eyes really that clouded about our children?  Wow. 

Hunt

HOA Hunt

Our HOA sponsored an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids in the community this morning.  Avery had a good time hunting for eggs, but it was really, really cold.  As I expected, she did not like the dude dressed up as a bunny.  It was interesting because she didn't like being near the bunny, but each time we'd walk away, she'd want to get back a little closer to try getting close to him again.  I love this natural trait in Avery's personality: the desire to keep trying something even when she's scared.  She admits she's scared, wants us to pick her up, but also wants to keep trying to get over the fear.

Of course, I didn't even think to get her a basket for picking up the eggs.  Duh.  I grabbed a clear plastic purse thing as we left that house and that worked out well enough.  Some other kids had makeshift baskets, too.  I'm never going to be the mom who is so excited about some holiday.  There are aspects I enjoy, but I just can't force myself to get jazzed up about them.  Fortunately, I have friends who get jazzed about holidays, so Avery doesn't get completely left out!  We decorated eggs at Christie's house on Friday (a last minute decision when it turned out OMSI was packed on Friday).  Tomorrow we have the G's Easter Brunch where there will be an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids.  And come on, the G's brunch?  There really are no other brunches to compare to this thing.

When we got home, she had a great time opening the eggs to retrieve the toy or piece of candy.  We let her have a piece of candy, but told her the rest she had to save for another day.  So she would put her newly acquired toys in one pile, then put the pieces of candy in another and say, "Another piece of candy. We'll save for later."  Her favorite toy thus far is a little plastic watch.  She likes to put it on and take it off and put it on and take it off ...

Lazy Day

We didn't do much of anything today.  After the hunt, we went to have lunch downtown, then picked up some coffee from Stumptown for a friend in Denver.  After her nap, Avery and I headed to Blockbuster and the grocery store.  We rented the first two discs of Mad Men (season 3) for viewing tonight and tomorrow.  Yes, we'll probably get through both.  When we got home, we made a fort in Avery's room and had a good time playing in that.  D's about ready to take Avery upstairs for bedtime.

Avery should be very full.  We had steak and broccoli and potatoes.  Avery loves steak and broccoli, so that is an ideal dinner for her.  The potatoes she isn't that interested in, unless they come in fry form, then she loves 'em.  Interestingly, she's starting to stack foods on her fork like D and I do.  So she'll spear a bite of steak, then put a floret of broccoli on it and eat it all at once like we do.