Monday, December 29, 2008

Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out

I know you're chomping at the bit for a new post - and I've got several in the "edit" column...but for now, just enjoy this tidbit of my life.

Today I've been backing up my photos etc., preparing to purchase a new computer - hopefully this week. In the process I came across this gem from 2006 when my oldest son was barely 9 years old. At the time, I didn't know he'd taken this footage until I uploaded my photos and viewed it on my computer. My jaw hit the desk in amazement that 1.) he hadn't totally ruined and waterlogged my camera and B.) I didn't have an unquenchable urge to murder him. Something about him just gets me right here...

Did you ever go in your bathroom and wonder why the soap dispenser was empty when you just filled it a week before... Or see a scratch on your photos and then check your camera and wonder how in the world the little scratches got there?

Sweet, huh?

Who even talks like that??? The kid is homeschooled and it ain't his mom and dad!

Never leave a child unattended with your camera!

Stay tuned for more fun - Mommy got a digital video camera for Christmas...

Note: I've been trying all day to upload the three videos spliced into one...for some unknown reason, only one video uploads even though my photo editor shows the three spliced together - so if you want the full effect you have to watch all three...

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Winner, Say What? and Easy Way Out

Beach is one of my favorite friends to laugh with. When I went over to grab her blog addy to link her as winner of my Blog-iversary drawing I read that she thinks I have a "Power Blog". Good thing I was wearing my Depends when I read that... I've been such a poor blogger and I apologize to the four of you that are reading - or at least looking for something new to read. If you want links to some interesting blogs, just take a look at my "friends" list over there on the right. I enjoy making the rounds with them.

I'd say that my fingers have been stuck together and I've been unable to type - but...that's not true. We've just been so busy with the holiday prep. There's still a lot to do, but it will all be done by next Sunday when I have a few (more than my living room will hold) friends coming over for a gift wrapping party.

I was quite pleased to return from an all day church board meeting on Sunday to find my boys on the roof with their dad expertly outlining the house with Christmas lights! I jumped right in with them and we put a whole bunch more on the landscaping around our house (on the ground... I'm not a rooftop kinda gal.)

A bit later I sat in my living room, feet up, enjoying my TV program and a warm bowl of potato soup, admiring my pre-lit tree and the soft glow coming through the front windows. Suddenly the room (and the yard) went black. No tree, no TV, no glow. Seems we overloaded the circuits a teensy bit.
Until some of the cords are moved from the plugs on the front of the house to the back of the house, we'll only have the house lit. The landscaping will have to wait a bit.

It's time to get on to the meat of this post. I've got quite a day today - lots of last minute baking, shopping, crafting to do before the big party of the season - Homeschool Mom's Meeting. Almost all my favorite peers under one roof, laughing, eating, praying and holding each other up. Several of us put our heads together and have a plan for a humdinger of an evening that I've been looking forward to since last year's party. And no, not to avenge the taking of my Wood Wick candle in the gift exchange game.

In the interest of simplifying my life (and since a few minutes ago I fell asleep on my space bar and have had to figure a major edit without the aid of an "un-do" button,) I'll be doing a "canned" post today. Then maybe I can grab a quick nap before the troops roll out of bed!

Today I present some of my "Christmas Traditions":

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper only under my tree. Too many peekers... For friend or party game gifts I often use bags simply because I'm running behind.

Real tree or Artificial? This year I've gone Hollywood - Plastic all the way, baby. I miss the smell of the fresh cut greens, but after my allergic friend is done visiting I'll be adding some.

When do you put up the tree? I've been known to clear the Thanksgiving dishes and pull out the Christmas boxes...

When do you take the tree down? Yea... I'm going to plead the 5th here... I will confess that it's been up as late as March 16th before...

Do you like eggnog? As a child I did - now, not so much.

Favorite gift received as a child? My Dollhouse kit

Hardest person to buy for? My mother

Easiest person to buy for? Myself. Or my sister in law - we like a lot of the same stuff :0)

Do you have a nativity scene? Yes - a few. One big one on the fireplace, one collectible thimble sized one, and one that my mom and I made (I painted details and she artistically machine quilted) way back before I had kids that was made for them to play with. Sometimes we pack it up and take it to church as a "quiet" toy.

Mail or email Christmas cards? I used to write, or rather my cat used to write a lengthy Christmas letter and send it out faithfully every year. Since she's been gone the letter hasn't gotten written and the cards haven't gotten sent. I guess that proves that she really WAS writing the letter. I've had good intentions since then and actually purchased enough pictures of my kids in front of the Christmas tree to wallpaper a large bathroom, but just haven't sent them out for whatever reason.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A HUGE doorstop that looked like a mouse wearing a "Mammy" dress and dust cap.

Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story ("I can't put my arms down")

When do you start shopping for Christmas? December 26.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not one from you...

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies that only get made this time of year like those Russian tea cookies or Snowballs, or whatever you call those cookies that are basically butter, flour and pecans rolled in powdered sugar! I really miss my Gramma's spiced pecans. I think that was part of my grieving her - when she had been asleep in Jesus for 8 months when Christmas rolled around and no spiced nuts came in the mail. That was 8 years ago, now. This year I have her recipe and I think I may give them a shot...

Lights on the tree? All white - except for my boys tree that has some blue lights along with their baby ornies.

Favorite Christmas song? It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - My first solo at the age of 7 with a halo of tree garland on my head...

Travel at Christmas or stay home? I prefer home - we just have so many traditions that aren't the same anywhere else.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yup. Even Donder - yes - d-o-n-D-e-r. Check the original poem...and it's called "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" not "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Angel on the tree top or a star? Star on my main tree, snowman angel on my snowman tree, angel on my boys' tree, and on my daughter's tree, star on my froo froo girly tree in my bedroom, used to be a cow angel on my cowboy tree in the kitchen, but just got a rusty star for it this year and nothing on the new tree in the dinning room (which my DH STILL hasn't noticed...it's 6.5 feet and stands at his end of the table... This is why my Christmas list gets put in his lunchbox...)

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? If you're opening your presents on Christmas Eve you just need to STOP IT. When's the last time you bought a Christmas Eve card? or wished someone a Merry Christmas Eve. Just STOP IT. If you have to, you may open one gift on Christmas Eve - but it has to be once sent from out of town or new pj's so you don't look like an urchin in the photos the next morning. Otherwise, everything else is opened Christmas morning. End of discussion.

Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The songs, Feliz Navidad, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, The Hippo Song, and fruitcake.

Favorite ornament theme or color? Deep red hearts. That's the predominant theme on our main tree (which is otherwise mostly Hallmark ornies.)

Favorite for Christmas dinner? Mom's brisket with horseradish sauce.

What do you want for Christmas this year? This is about gifts, right? This isn't some sappy question about peace on earth... I want a new computer, and if Santa can't swing that, then I want a Bind It All machine (and accessories...) and I've printed him a 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon with which to purchase it...

I lifted this from Beach, who lifted it from P.S. He Loves You because it looked like an easy post on a busy day :0)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Stuck On Christmas

I had a brief encounter with an old friend today – one I first made acquaintance with in the 70’s. My old friend Super Glue…

Not so “super”.

Why is it that Super Glue works better on soft tissue than it does the broken glass stuff that you’re trying to repair???

Someone (nameless – but shorter than me and not a licensed driver) broke the wings off of our Christmas “Activity Scene” angel. You know the Activity Scene… you probably have one… with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus lying in the manger with the three Wise Guys looking on… It sits in a little wooden half-barn with moss hot-glued to the roof.

Anyhow – I decided to do a quick repair job on the angels’ wings while it was quiet and nobody would bother me. Quiet doesn’t always mean they’re “into something” around here. Lately it just means they’ve sneaked out of our classroom and back down the hall to their bedrooms or gone outside to play rather than do school work. And if they’re very, very quiet mommy will forget to get them back on task. Most times I let them sneak away for a bit – simply because I love the quiet. Or sometimes it’s just because I’ve gotten distracted myself. Now where was I??

Oh yes – the “Super Glue”.
So I have the angel wing pieces in my left palm and I’m holding the tube in my right hand and opening the tube with the thumb and index finger of my left hand. (Just so you know – I’m typing this myself…so it all ended OK…)

This wasn’t my first ever encounter with Super Glue – I’ve been making little (usually unsuccessful) repairs to broken stuff, including fingernails, for a long time now. I know it sticks and it sticks fast (but only if it’s something you don’t want stuck. Then it’s a forever bond!)

How ever experienced I was, when I removed the cap the glue shot from the little tube like a small child had jumped on the end of it and it splatted across the base of the fingers of my left hand and all over the wing pieces.

Of course I grabbed the angel wings, now dripping with “Super Glue” and for a millisecond tried to figure how to get the glue from my hand onto the broken edge of the wings so that it wouldn’t be wasted. I decided instead that I should get if OFF quick and then just reapply it when I had more time to think.

It was at that moment that my cell phone rang. Against my better judgment I answered it, knowing by the ring that it was my friend Grateful and she’d get a kick out of knowing I was having a super glue crisis. Ever so briefly the thought that I would be stuck talking to her forever (and ever) flashed through my brain and I quickly disconnected with the promise to call back later.

When I arrived in my bathroom 4.3 seconds later I was already unable to put down the angel wings OR the tube of Super Glue and I was painfully aware that my fingers were now completely fused giving me a webbed hand – and not in a good Super Hero kind of way. I'd have taken a picture for you - but I didn't want to hold my camera forever either.

The good news is I’ll never have to worry about losing the diamonds or sapphires out of my anniversary ring and my wedding band will never ever get lost (just wish they’d be rotated in the right direction rather than upside down on my hand). Also – this would be a great time to go out and rob a bank – since I no longer have any fingerprints.

I know you can remove it with nail polish remover (the reason I ran to the bathroom) but forgot that it can’t be non-acetone nail polish remover. You can try the non-acetone stuff, but really all you’ll get is chemical burns – a nice companion to winter-dry skin.

Hours later I had the bulk of the glue scraped and “peeled” from my hand. A warning to all the fourth grade boys out there – this is not as much fun as peeling Elmer’s from your hand. That part you get that looks like your skin IS your skin.

I did finally get the Activity Angel’s wings glued back on. But they’ve since broken again. When I find out what the anti-venom for Gorilla Glue is I might give that a shot.
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