Day 4: Making Christmas

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     Friday, December 14, 2012 was a sobering day for us as Americans, us as humans, and us as a family. Innocent children lost their lives and families lost their loved ones. Kids had to watch their teachers and best friends die in front of them and they were stripped of any innocence they had left, at only five and six years old.  We read statements and articles in tears, horrified by the reality of the situation, and with crystalline awareness that it could have been any of our kids, any one of our own babies in school, no matter how old. Anyone who thought their child was safe behind the closed doors of his classroom. Anyone expecting one more week of school and then a nice long winter break spent making memories of family gatherings, baking with young children, the pure innocent joy of being five, six, or seven and seeing what waits under the Christmas tree on the morning of the 25th.   
 
    
     So we decided to spend the weekend making Christmas. It's hard as a mom to wholeheartedly engage in the holiday spirit with the knowledge that there are other mothers right now planning exactly which day this holiday season will be best to lay her own child to rest. Other mothers with a pile of hidden presents for her daughter, her son, with no idea what to do with them now. But I'm not those moms. And those were not my kids. I have to remember that. We all do - as moms, as dads, as parents to our own children who are in the here and now. They don't understand our sadness over children we don't know. They don't comprehend our lack of enthusiasm over a holiday for which they overflow with excitement. And for that reason, I put the bad aside. Does that mean I don't think about it? No. I have plenty of time at work for quiet thought and working out my own issues with that situation. It means that I choose my child. I choose to treasure and value every single moment I have with him because you don't know when it might be your last. And I choose to look at the excitement and joy he has in his eyes because it won't be long before current events dampen his unadulterated innocence. I choose to make Christmas with J because I want him to have the same amazing memories I have of my childhood. I want him to look back and tell his kids that we had great times when he was little, and I want him to do the same for his own babies.
 
MAKING CHRISTMAS


 
 


What in the world?

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Well, now THIS is confusing. I step away for a little year and all of a sudden this blogging thing gets more difficult. Hopefully I'll understand this new layout soon.

Day 3: Feet

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I hate feet. I don't mean I have a general dislike for them. I hate them. They're icky, smelly, sticky, ugly.... blech! I really don't understand people with foot fetishes. At all. Maybe it's because my feet are so weird-looking. Maybe it's because I've smelled too many nasty ones. Maybe it's because certain people like(d) to put their feet on my bare skin when they were at their sweatiest/driest. I don't know. All I know is the only feet I want anywhere near me are my own or Jaden's... until he's about 8, and then I'll be telling him the same thing I tell everyone else. "Get your smelly, nasty, sweaty, bunion-laden, callous-crusted, snaggle-nailed paws OFF OF ME!!!!!

Day 2: wet cat

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Jaden's cat came from the general direction of the bathroom, soaking wet. When I asked him what he did to his cat, this was the response I got: "I'm not gonna tell you!" That brought up a string of questions as I explored the possible source of wet cat.

"Did you put him in the tub?" There is no water in the tub, so that was a dumb question, I know.
"No."
"Did you put him in the mop water?"
"No." He honestly didn't smell like PineSol, but you never know.
"Did you pour water on him?"
"No."
"Did you put him in the toilet?" Seems like a logical question to me. I mean, how many more possibilities are there?
"No."
"Well, he got soaked somehow, and you're the only one who knows. Why is your cat SOAKING WET?!?!"
"First I put-ed him in the sink. And then I turned the water on. And I washded him all over, like this." As he demonstrated the manner in which he washed his kitty, all I could think was:

"G-d, you're lucky that cat has patience with your 4-year-old antics and whims. Because THIS could've ended very badly. And bloody." This was taken a little after he had started to dry out.

Day 1: meet the "photographer"

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365 Day Photo Challenge is a challenge on Facebook that is pretty simple. All you do is create a blog (lucky me, mine is pre-existing), post a photo and blog about it, and then link the post to Facebook. Easy, right? This post originally linked to a 30 day challenge, but I've decided that it wasn't challenging enough. Since this blog is sort of on the back burner, I thought it would be a good way to do this challenge and get some use out of the blog I created specifically for photos. Now, if I can actually remember to do the damn thing.


Day 1: a photo of yourself with 10 facts




















Fact 1: That is me. Up there. In the picture.

Fact 2: I hate getting my picture taken.

Fact 3: I have a scar a la Luke Perry over my right eyebrow from being very young and very stupid.

Fact 4: I have a ton of ambition and no follow-through.

Fact 5: I typically get around 4 or 5 hours of sleep every night. I work 9 1/2 hours most days. BUT I can't stay awake at home unless I keep myself occupied.

Fact 6: It's hard coming up with ten facts about yourself.

Fact 7: I want to have a summer challenge in which we barbeque absolutely everything all summer long. Now that it looks like it's warming up, maybe I can get started on it. If charcoal wasn't so expensive.

Fact 8: I hate wearing shoes.

Fact 9: If I had a fire pit, I would only use paper plates and cups and forks and then burn them. And I'd grill everything. I hate dishes.

Fact 10: I would rather do dishes than fold laundry.

After the Snow

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I didn't even know it was supposed to snow. It did, and I had a nice LONG drive in to work yesterday. At least it kept things interesting, I guess.

One day soon I'll get out of the car and actually get a good picture of the river. Here you can barely see it. It's mostly frozen and snowy with the very middle still fast-moving and free-flowing. Not a bad place to have to wait while some geniuses try to push a car out of a snow bank with a truck.

The rest of these are all along one road, which was, thankfully, plowed and clear for the return trip!


These last couple are a huge icicle on the top/side of the house. I'm not really sure why the snow there didn't just slide off in a huge clump like it usually does, but here it is...

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Post deep freeze. The water came back on and we showered. We got out of the house cuz we weren't smelly anymore.

 Despite how nice and toasty it looks outside, it was definitely not sweatshirt weather. In fact, it was still downright COLD.

He kind of missed the point of his fork. Twirling spaghetti around the fork? Why would I do that? I have spoon and knife! Still, it was a good day, and really nice to get out for a little bit.

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