Archive for November, 2011

“Advent”

What I’m doing this week:
  • Trying to keep the steam rolling under the piles of work rather than have panic attacks over it.
  • Scheduling more Christmas events into Advent than humanly possible, and hating it both because it’s liturgically wrong and because I’m an introvert who can only handle so many social gatherings in a month.
  • Making a summer no-bake cheesecake.
  • Reading through several hundred pages of materials in preparation for my December CPH board meeting.
  • Keeping up on piles of laundry and getting ready to deliver my semi-annual “stop being lazy and throwing clean clothes into the wash” lecture to the family.
What I wish I were doing this week:
  • Making Advent wreaths with my friends.
  • Baking cookies, or at least a wintery peppermint-chocolate cheesecake.
  • Listening to the Kantorei sing Advent hymns.
  • Reading mind-candy books under the twinkling lights.
  • Finishing my mosaics.
  • Watching “Love, Actually.”
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November 29th, 2011
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Black Friday on Market Square

I wanted to post a recap of Thanksgiving, but

  • None of my pictures turned out.
  • I don’t know how to capture, in pictures and words, how wonderful it is to have so many great friends to celebrate the day with. Our tradition started six years ago with one family. Sophia was just three days old, neither of the guys had beards, and we only had 2.5 children between us. This year we had 24 people (9 of them children), three turkeys, a million side dishes, and approximately 20,000 calories’ worth of pie.

Thanksgiving 2006, when everyone was much younger.

The food was amazing. Every last bit of it–from the smoked and fried turkeys, mashed and sweet potatoes, pecan-strawberry-spinach salad, pumpkin knot rolls, creamed corn, broccoli cole slaw, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, four kinds of pie and a cheesecake, cake pops decorated as turkeys, and so much more–was totally lip-smacking. And hip-settling, but that’s another story.

I will simply sum it up by saying: We are blessed.

Just one of many great moments from this year.

This afternoon, we went down to Market Square for the annual tree-lighting ceremony. It’s always fun, with free hot chocolate, roasting marshmallows, an appearance by Santa, and live bluegrass. This year, the entire city got the memo that Black Friday at Market Square is much nicer than Black Friday at Wal-Mart. There were definitely moments, trying to move through the crowds, that I felt like hyperventilating, or at least “accidentally” elbowing a few pushy people who were practically stepping on my kids while wildly sloshing their free hot chocolate.

But it got better once we’d fought our way to the front of the live music. Luckily, we got there just when Kate’s piano teacher’s bad started playing. She’s the adorable redhead playing the piano and singing on the left. Kate’s wearing an army green and pink jacket (from Bridget) and Sophia’s in the dark blue coat (also from Bridget!).

So, we’ve done Christmas on Market Square. Now it’s time to back up and prepare for Advent. (I’m starting by changing my blog’s colors to royal Purple and Blue for the season.)

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November 25th, 2011
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Look what I made, Ma! (Part 2)

It turns out grouting is not as bad as I feared.

My mosaic turned out pretty darn well if I do say so myself:

But I’m jumping ahead. Let’s walk through the process. First, I mixed (way too much) grout.

Then I dolloped a few spoonfuls onto the tiles and tried not to panic.

I spread it around, pushing it down into the cracks with a special rubber paddle thingy. It was during this step that my heart palpitations quit and I realized it was all going to come together.

Behold, the grout is in. After all the cracks were filled, I scraped off the excess and waited two hours.

Then I cleaned it with a slightly-damp sponge and needled a toothpick around in areas where grout had caked up.

Forty-eight hours later, when the grout was completely dry, I sealed it with a grout sealer. Done!

Now I’ve got two more trays to go…before Christmas. The countdown begins. Derek wants, some day, to do liturgical mosaics, so I generously offered to show him the ropes and make him my apprentice this month. :)

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November 25th, 2011
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Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

After working all morning, I’m busy making pies, setting up the house, and otherwise getting ready for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving is one of my favorite moments of the year, with the bluegrass playing in the background and the kids running around the kitchen helping me cook (aka licking the bowls).

My mom made this video based on the hymn, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” Watch it. The music and artwork are beautiful.

I’m thankful for so much, this year and every year. Our wonderful church and church and school families, our real families scattered all over the world (I wouldn’t have to say that, except for my dad!), our beautiful house that I’m still in love with six years later, this gorgeous city, my amazing husband and kids…. I could go on and on, but I have to go check my pies.

A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you all.

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November 23rd, 2011
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M&M Turkeys

Coming on the heels of my “I’m not crafty” post, I realize the following is ironic. But.

  1. I’m still not crafty.
  2. My mom taught me how to do these. I never would have made them up myself, but they’re easy so even I can do them.
  3. The girls love making them, too. (I think the M&Ms have a little something to do with that.)
  4. I like the 70s look of them. A wiggly eye on orange, red and yellow pipe cleaners…can you dig it?

Behold our M&M Turkeys, made for each attendee (all 23!) at our Thanksgiving feast this year. [Disclaimer: I take very little responsibility for the weirdness in the photo colors. The counter seems to alternate between  bluish and brownish hues. I'm blaming the different times of day/lighting.]

First, we assembled our materials, which consist of cut-up pipe cleaners and model heads from previous years.

Next,we roll the orange pipe cleaners into heads and glue on the gobblers and beaks.

Here come the eyeballs. We got a little carried away with the size this year, so the turkeys look bug-eyed. They’re probably in shock that they’re about to be eaten. You can see the “normal” size at the top of the picture.

The girls are having fun, and we haven’t even opened the M&Ms yet!

This is more like it. Measure out 1/4 cup of M&Ms into tulle. Pop an M&M into your mouth with every measure, just for good measure.

Tie them up….

and we’ve got 23 of these cuties.

(Plus one angry little boy who saw the M&Ms and Did Not Understand why he couldn’t eat them all.)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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November 22nd, 2011
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I can’t craft, but…look what I made, ma!

DeAnn got me thinking in her comment about people who can craft and say they can’t (why? Perhaps they don’t have the time or patience, and saying “I’m not crafty” is a good excuse for not doing it) versus people who can’t craft and say so.

I’m definitely in the latter camp. My problem is a lack of unfettered creativity. I think most crafts require a good eye for design and form, and I’m all function–How does it work? Can I put the pieces together? I never was good at starting from scratch. I love looking at and enjoying things other people have crafted, but darned if I can come up with fantabulous Etsy-worthy ideas myself.

But my sister challenged all of us to do crafts for Christmas this year. I’ve wanted to learn how to do mosaic tiling ever since I wrote a story about it for Cooking Light back in 2007, so I decided to just go for it.

The thing about mosaics is that they are mostly function. By that I mean, once you have a design, the rest is mostly process. That’s a craft I can get behind.

****Mom, Sarah, and Trina: if you don’t want to ruin your Christmas surprise, stop reading. Pics to follow.****

First, I made a pattern and traced it onto my trays. (This was the hardest part…see NOT CREATIVE, above.) I kept it really simple so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed with my first stab at mosaics.

I used graphite transfer paper.

Next, I painted the trays. I wasn’t sure whether to do this step first (to avoid getting paint on the mosaic) or last (to avoid getting grout on the paint). I did it first. The results aren’t in yet as to whether that was a good idea.

I ordered a bunch of tiles online.

And laid them out on the tray.

But I didn’t really like those gold-black tiles much. They looked better on my computer screen. Let’s try this again:

Much better. Next, I started work cutting and gluing the tiles. This first tray took weeks because I would do a little section at a time whenever Jonathan and I went down to do laundry. After about 10 minutes, he starts pulling cords, getting into my wine rack, and climbing the stairs, so I have to give it up until the next day.

Finally, all the tiles are glued in.

Now it’s time to grout. I’ve never grouted anything before, and I’m scared that I’ll ruin the whole thing. (Mommy!)

TO BE CONTINUED….

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November 21st, 2011
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My favorite cleaning product, hands down (by request)

Why? It does absolutely everything, including

  • Floors
  • Fruits and veggies
  • Stinky towels
  • Coffee makers
  • Windows
  • Glasses
  • Sticky refrigerators
  • Changing mats
  • Sinks and tubs and toilets
  • Countertops
  • And much, much more.*

And, if my kid gets into it, he won’t die of chemical poisoning. He will just smell like a pickle.

I also love that it doesn’t trigger my migraines like most cleaning products. I don’t even use anything else these days, except in case of emergency (like puke on the rug).

Oh, did I mention that vinegar is incredibly cheap? I buy big jugs of it at Sam’s Club for a few bucks.

Sophia and I love the smell of vinegar (we also use it liberally on our spinach); Derek is neutral, and Kate hates it. She complains like the house has been gassed with sewer fumes when she smells vinegar mist in the air. To me, it’s the smell of clean; glorious, tangy, cheap clean.

*Full disclosure: I am paid millions by the vinegar industry for this endorsement.

Update: Great minds think alike.

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November 20th, 2011
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My big almost-five-year-old

Sophia turns five tomorrow, so we had a little lunch party with her friends today. But first, we went to Claire’s to get her ears pierced. She was very excited.

But a little girl got hers done first. She screamed and screamed, and it scared Sophia. She started to get nervous.

The assistant manager marked her ears with little dots. Sophia thought this part might hurt.

But it didn’t. The next part did, though.

And she still had one ear to go!

When it was all over, she was glad she’d done it. It’s probably the first of many times my little girl will go through pain to look pretty. And she is pretty.

Next up: Kate. The backstory on Kate is she also did hers at age 5, but they got terribly infected and she had to grow her holes in. Today, the saleslady told me she might be allergic to nickel and stainless steel, but if we forked out the $50 for the gold, Kate could possibly handle it. After weeks–literally weeks–of ad nauseum conversations about why Sophia gets to do this and even though it’s not fair, it’s also not fair to not let her just because Kate had bad luck with it, I thought the $50 might be a worthwhile gamble.

Kate was way more motivated than Sophia to get this done without a peep.

She was one happy little eight-year-old with her second chance at pierced ears.

I hope these white-gold earrings do the trick.

Afterwards, Sophia and her friend Julia did a little shopping.

And then we went out for lunch and a birthday cake with her friends.

I took a tired little boy home for a nap, and Derek took the girls to Target so Sophia could spend her gift cards from both sets of grandparents. She already knew what she wanted: a big Clifford stuffed animal.

Happy birthday, sweet Sophia. We love you.

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November 19th, 2011
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Looking ahead

I hate spending $23 on what amounts to a giant laminated piece of paper, especially when the most stylish in the group of ugly wall calendars is still this…err…industrial-looking thing. But what’s better than being able to look at your whole year on the wall? My life changed when I started using these things.

That’s worth $23.

In other news…

  • Sophia is turning 5 on Sunday. I’m still in denial.
  • We had unseasonably warm weather for a few days here, and then a cold rain blew through and I’m chilled to the core. (Which reminds me of Kramer on Seinfeld. “I can’t get my core temperature back up!”)
  • I’m still waist-deep in this copywriting project, which means I’m working every night and brain dead because all my writing energy goes there.
  • When I get 5 minutes in the basement while slogging through the interminable loads of laundry generated by a family of five, I’ve been slowly putting together my crafty Christmas gifts for my mom and sisters. They’re looking pretty good, especially considering I can’t craft. I’m taking photos as I go and will put up a post when they’re finished.
  • It’s 10 p.m. and I’m hungry for Moroccan Roasted Chicken, Preserved Lemons, Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, Butternut Squash and Black Bean Burritos, and a lot of other recipes I’m working on tonight.
  • I got a contract to create recipes for a client through 2012, which made me realize that if I go to law school, I’ll have to begin tying up the loose ends of this career I’ve had for so long, and that it will be harder than I imagine it will be on days when I’m desperate to get out of it.
  • Speaking of law school, the University of Alabama offered me a full ride plus stipend. Georgia also offered some scholarship money. No word from UT yet. I feel like the girl waiting to be asked to the prom by That Boy, but only nerdy boys are asking.
  • Did I mention this little girl is turning 5? Sniff.

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November 17th, 2011
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Just Say No

Besides getting to read Little House together, one of the things I enjoy most about Kate’s new 8 p.m. bedtime is that we often end up talking about very serious issues in our half-hour without the little ones. Kate is mature for her age, and incredibly empathetic toward other people. This combination makes her something of an old but naive soul, so when we talked tonight about Saturday’s shopping trip, it quickly got deep and complicated.

We live in an urban neighborhood, and our local grocery store is full of…errr…interesting people. Its nickname is the “Fellini Kroger.” Apparently some Italian director named Fellini was known for his colorful characters, and it’s not a stretch to say that the people at our Kroger would make unique extras in any movie.

When you live quite near the homeless missions, you encounter many people with sad stories. At first, we were shocked and horrified, and we gladly opened our wallets to anyone who asked for a bite to eat or a gallon of gas. But after awhile, the stories began to sound the same. The third or fourth time we heard the exact same story about a flat tire, a wife and kid waiting in the car a few streets away, and the desperate need for $20, we began to be wary. Soon we found out from more experienced neighbors that many of these people had access to food and shelter via the homeless missions, but sadly were addicts who told stories for a few bucks for drugs.

As a Christian, I struggled terribly saying no to people who were so clearly in need. But knowing that our money was very likely going to drugs–when we already pay exorbitant self-employment taxes that contributes to medicaid, welfare, food stamps, and other programs for those who are down and out–woke me up a bit. Our church makes and serves a meal at the Rescue Mission every sixth Saturday, and my eyes were opened further when I would kindly refer hungry people who asked me for money in the Kroger parking lot to the Mission down the street for a hot meal, and they would practically spit in my face and walk away toward someone else in search of cash.

So I struggle with this issue, because I want to err on the side of generosity, but I don’t want to aid and abet a terrible habit. It would be easier to just shop at the “Disney Kroger” a few miles up the road–the one that’s brand new, has everything, and seems to attract only suburban middle-class folks. But I don’t.

And when Kate has her own serious questions about the homeless and the Sheep and the Goats passage in Matthew 25, I realize how utterly inadequate my explanations are. No matter how I rationalize it, it looks bad. It is bad.

I’m not going to shield our kids from drug users who are homeless because of their life choices. It’s good to talk about how bad choices can wreck your life, and we have ample proof all around us. But it’s also hard to tell our kids that we can’t help, because the only kind of help they want is a kind we’re not willing to give.

I always thought that as a parent I could give my kids black and white answers. But darn it if they don’t hone in on the stuff I myself find to be impossibly gray.

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November 14th, 2011
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