Crafty... or... not.

I don't know if I've mentioned yet that the sisters and I are doing homemade Christmas gifts for each other this year, but we are. And I'm crazy-excited about it, but also a little bit nervous. The last time we did this (three years ago), I made scarves. I had just learned to knit, and was extremely proud to be able to create something warm and pretty for my sisters.

This year, I'm trying something a little bit more difficult. Not only am I knitting something for each of them, but I'm also making things that require ingredients! (Not food... don't worry). Anyway, I won't go into detail about what I'm making (yet), because I have this weird fear that one of my lovely sisters might happen upon this blog and I want my gifts to be a surprise. However, here's a picture of some of the things I'll need to put these presents together.

I'm gonna be a busy girl this month and next. Eesh.

Ch...ch...ch...ch...chaaaanges

I'm wearing a suit today. As in, black dress pants, a black and white button up blouse (with ruffles! I don't even know if they're in our out, and I don't care!) and a black suit coat. Oh, also high heeled boots, except those are mostly hidden by my pants. Why the detailed description of my clothing, you ask? Mostly because I've gotten comments all frickin' day long about it. "Why are you so dressed up?" (I didn't think I WAS.) "Are you going somewhere special after work?" (Um, I get out of work at 8, and I'm a little old lady, so no. Definitely not.) "You look really nice today." (I swear to God I don't look like a scrub all the other days... at least I don't THINK I do.)

Anyway.

I've decided that I need to work a little harder at being spontaneous. I've been a single mom for four years now, and I've managed to get myself and the kiddos into a pretty strict routine. And when someone tries to change it... well, I kind of... resist.

Last Thursday, I went to Bill's, thinking just the two of us were hanging out. Except that when I got there, his cousin and a friend of theirs had already taken over the place. Everyone had a drink in hand, and the music was cranked up. There seemed to be a little party in progress, and I'd had no warning. So I had a mini freak-out.

And seriously... what kind of reaction is THAT? There were only two extra people at Bill's house, and they were both people I've met and like. And yet, when I saw that they were there, I ALMOST turned around and left. Bill talked me into staying, but it took quite a bit of convincing. So why wasn't I able to just take things in stride like a normal person? Is it because I'm so used to being on my own? Is it because just about every other Thursday of the past 4 years, I've gone home, turned on the tv, made myself a bowl of ramen noodles, and vegged until bedtime? Probably.

It's definitely time to start embracing this sudden (wonderful) change in my life. It just might take a little bit of effort.

Before and after

(Photography courtesy of my totally awesome 2.0 megapixel cell phone.)

Before:


After:


I admit, it could have been better, but for a morning's work? Not too shabby.

Halleluja (or however you spell it)

Oh, lovely holidays. They're wonderful, but they make it pretty darn hard to return to work the next day. Oof.

Yesterday was more productive than I had planned for it to be. In the morning, the kids and I went over their bedroom with a fine-toothed comb, and apparently reading that picture book beforehand helped, because they were actually willing (WILLING!) to get rid of some of their toys. And the result, while not perfect, is SO much better. I can actually walk across the room without stepping on 356 toys on my way through. Definite success.

Afterwards, as a reward, we went to Funspot. Oodles of fun for the kids, tiring for me. But they totally deserved it.

And THEN, I made pork chops for dinner (a first for me, so they were nothing fancy), but I did make homemade applesauce to go along with them, so I was feeling quite proud of myself. And the kids ate every bite! Score!

I am thanking my lucky stars that I have a three-day weekend (with no plans whatsoever) coming up.

Phew phew phew.

Clean clean clean (I hope)

We got this book in the library the other day. It's a story about a little boy whose toys kind of take over the entire house, until his mother finally decides that it's time for him to give some of them away. Of course, the little boy doesn't want to get rid of a single one.

The story reminded me so much of my own children, that I decided to bring it home and read it to them before starting on our own purging project. That project begins now. (Can you tell I'm procrastinating a bit?)

I leave you with a before picture, and hopefully there will be an "after" which shows that some progress was actually made.

However, I'll be working with a 5 and 7 year old who would rather be doing just about anything else on their day off from school, so I guess we'll see.




P.S. Happy Veteran's Day. And thank you thank you thank you to all those who fight and who have fought for our freedom.

None of your busy-ness

Aw crap crap crap crap crap.

I missed another day.

I should probably just abandon this NaBloPoMo thing altogether, and just blog when I WANT to instead, huh?

*Sigh*

As you can probably guess, my weekend was incredibly busy (and it feels like it's still not quite over, since I have tomorrow off as well)... yay!

It was nice to hang out with everyone on Saturday evening at Shea's. She and Paul have just finished their basement (the last piece of furniture came in on Saturday), so we all sat down there, watching "Bee Movie" on their projecter screen. Totally and completely awesome. It was almost like being in the movie theater, except the picture was better and the seats were more comfortable. Also, we could bring in our own food. Which... I guess I do at the real movie theater too, but I didn't feel all guilty about it this time.

Anyway, here's hoping tomorrow is a LITTLE less busy.

Phew.

Shopaholic Takes On Kohl's

Omigosh, I love Kohl's. Late-ish last night, Jenni, Bill and I went shopping. Well, technically Jenni and I went shopping, and Bill watched... being very careful not to say anything negative about the things we were trying on. And I must say, he did an excellent job. With one small exception. I was trying on a belted blouse (Jenni told me not to use that word, but I am anyway. So THERE, Jenni) and Bill commented that he thought the belt was too high. (Bless his heart, the boy lives in Carhart, so I didn't actually take note of his worry about the height of the belt).

As we were checking out, the girl behind the register joked around with us, and gave us more of a discount than she was supposed to because we were basically the only customers in the store, and she was bored. Which means I bought 5 shirts and sweaters and one pair of black dress pants for a grand total of $63.00. Awesome.

And tonight, we're all off to Shea's house, to finish off the sister-boyfriend introductions.

Phew.