Christmas tidbits

I’ve had a pair of Christmas earrings since high school that were a bunch of those tiny light bulbs in a clump. They are tacky but I always wear them on Christmas, it’s tradition (or something). Then I was in Aco a week ago and found even more tacky earrings Christmas and marked way down! What could I do? (I know Stacy, Clinton, John and Lex would not approve, but still…) These ones have smaller light bulbs and a battery-holding bulb so that they blink. That’s right, blinking Christmas light earrings!! Does it get tackier than that??? I pulled them out of my purse and was putting the batteries in when my cousin Gina, age 4, came over to see what I was doing. I told her I had the tackiest earrings yet and would she like to see them?
Gina: Yeth
Reen: Will you tell me if they look ridiculous?
Gina: Okay (she shrugs her little shoulders)
Reenie turns out these horribly tacky earrings and the look on her face was priceless, wide eyes and mouth as she watched the blinking, in a trance.
Reen: So? Are they ridiculous??
Gina, shaking her head: I can’t really tell…

For the record, they are ridiculous. Sadly, no picture can really capture just how ridiculous. I guess you’ll have to just see them for yourselves some time.

Alan was around for Christmas and seemed to enjoy it immensely. He’s such a sweet kid with a big smile for everyone! Ben, my four year old nephew, really seemed to take a liking to him and kept going over to lean on the arm of the chair and talk to him. Ben likes a captive audience to talk to and certainly found that in Alan (who spent a good bit of the day in the big comfy chair). Not to mention Alan enjoyed the pop-gun almost as much as the other kids.

Alan got several gifts and was so delighted. He got a new shirt or two, I made him a pair of flannel pants with extra wide legs to accommodate his braces, and he got a basketball. He was very excited about all of them, but especially the basketball. While recovering in the hospital, he discovered the joy of the Big Ten Network that played games around the clock. He is determined to play basketball, especially now that he’s had surgery and will someday be able to stand!! I was a little nervous Alan would be overwhelmed by all the Christmas insanity at the Cous farm, but he took it all in stride, grinning from ear to ear and happy to be part of the crowd. What fun!! Since Ira didn’t make an appearance, I did get a few pictures of his first American Christmas ;)

My dad and Alan have bonded for a lot of reasons. But it really struck me today that Alan’s dad died a long time ago—he’s a boy without a dad, and what a gift that we have been able to share my dad with Alan. What a gift for Alan, I’m sure! And a good reminder to me to be thankful for the gift of my dad, my mom, my family, the many gifts I’ve been given that I take for granted so often.

For the cousin gift exchange after a big Christmas dinner, we did a white elephant exchange for all the kids 12 and older. This was our first year doing this (rather than just picking names) and from what I can tell, I think it was a success. My gift was a tacky Christmas sweater and an uncle john’s bathroom reader. My favorite uncle (who just finally got rid of his tacky Christmas sweater collection and the guy who inspired my purchase) let me talk him into picking my gift. Pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself, although at the end of the exchange, he traded it to Fiona for a model car.

I got a wooden duck decoy with a long history. Brendan got it from my grandpa on the other side who has hundreds of duck things. My cousin Zach stole it and sent him a ransom notice with a pic of the duck tied up or blindfolded or something. Then Hannah (when she was engaged to Bren) helped steal it back at thanksgiving. Then for Christmas Brendan gave it to Zach and this year Zach gave it in the white elephant exchange… I have a feeling this is the gift that never stops giving…

What I’m hoping is not the gift that never stops giving is the cold that some of my nieces have and a few other people. I am a sucker when it comes to cute kids who don’t feel good and just want to sit with you and snuggle. They may wipe snot all over me and get me sick, but I can’t say no. So I’m drinking lots of juice with vitamin C and hoping to ward off the cold… so far so good, although I’m not sure how long I can hold off… I’ve already missed the last few bugs that have gone through my family and friends… for today, I’m happy to be healthy.

Lazy lazy lazy

I don't know what is wrong with me!! I am usually uber-productive... and yet yesterday and today I cannot seem to focus or get anything done!!!! This is really bad timing since a good friend and her family are coming this afternoon and will be spending the night here, so you'd think that would be real incentive to clean my house... but between yesterday and today I've had the dickens of a time getting anything done- I just want to sit and stare into the distance and vegetate. Sigh.

I've gotten the living room and kitchen done (yesterday), laundry folded but not put away. Bedrooms mostly ready for guests. but still need to do a few important areas, like the dining room- currently covered with gifts, wrapping supplies, magazines, junk mail, dog hair... ugh... Can't. Get. Up.

So much to do, so little motivation...

"A memorable gift for your pet"

I’ve been hearing these ridiculous commercials for weeks “Give your pet a memorable Christmas”… every time I heard the commercial it cracked me up. Memorable? For your pet? Are you kidding me?? I was glad to see someone else found this to be a ridiculous ad campaign (thanks Karen).

Although Maggie likes to prove me wrong by clearly “remembering” the stockings sniffing them daily in search of a bone she remembers appears there approximately once a year. Other than the stocking rawhides, I think I may have hit on the most “memorable” gift yet. New cushions for the dog beds.

Maggie is a stuffing fiend, so anything stuffed gets unstuffed usually within hours (or minutes) of being put into use. This has meant that the dogs do not get particularly comfortable beds - old comforters, pillows, etc that are good for most dogs are unaccepatable because they will simply be unstuffed, which makes a huge mess, makes me mad, and clearly isn’t worth the hassle. Instead they get a couple old blankets stuffed inside their cute pillowcases that match the dining room.

I’ve had some old foam couch cushions in the basement from a couch that I got rid of a few years back. So this week I trimmed two of the cushions down to crate size and wrapped a piece of fleece over each to make new comfy dog beds. Mind you, I wasn't sure if Maggie would just rip the foam to pieces (just like stuffing) so I didn't sew the fleece or anything, just wrapped the cushions for a trial run. And as it turns out, I think they like them! Suzie even left the room I was in so as to nap on the new bed! Suzie typically would rather be in the room with me than anywhere else, no matter how uncomfortable. Maggie never cares where I am but seems to love the bed and hasn’t attempted to chew the foam (fingers crossed) which probably means she loves the comfort of 4 inches of foam between her and the hard floor. We'll see if it lasts.

I think I got them a memorable gift after all… or maybe it's not really memorable after all, just comfortable. (And the best part of this memorable gift is that I didn't spend anything on it, the fleece was in the sewing stack and the cushions were in the basement. My only problem is that the fleece doesn't match the dining room... one is black, which is fine and I can stack the cute pillowcase on top, the other is green, which is completely the wrong color scheme... so we'll see how long I can let it go before buying matching fleece...)

And while I'm boring you with tales about my dogs (bet you can't wait till I have kids... the details I will recount... heh heh heh)... here's more: When Maggie was a puppy she LOVED rawhide bones and would rip through them in no time at all. Now she’s got a much shorter rawhide tolerance, she usually just chews for a few minutes before losing interest or her gums start bleeding and she gives up. Suzie is still a voracious rawhide chewer. Guess we’ll know when she leaves puppyhood behind when she slows down on the rawhides. (She’ll be four next week and shows no signs so far…)

As usual, the dogs each got a rawhide in their stocking for Christmas. Maggie, who had been sniffing the stockings for days, was just as excited as Suzie for her rawhide and chewed it for over an hour Christmas morning before I took them away. I guess she really got into the Christmas spirit (although I’m not sure the real Christmas spirit has anything to do with rawhide). Typically, I have a 20 minute rawhide rule in our house because of the fumes that follow if they have them longer. But it was Christmas and Maggie was ripping through her rawhide like she was young again (awwww) so I let them have them much longer… which has proven to be a mistake. 36 hours later, I’m still smelling the results… and it is much worse than usual, probably because Maggie has a very low rawhide tolerance… she is particularly pungent. Sadly tomorrow I will give Suze her rawhide again because we will have small children visiting, and Suzie + rawhide = perfectly kid friendly without overwhelming licking. Maggie isn’t getting the rest of hers until she can go a few days without farting from the last dose.

TMI? I'm sure it is. Merry Christmas from the BOC. and just be thankful you aren't here to experience all the "merriment" :D

Christmas Morning at the Nichols Homestead

More on the epic tale

No more visits from George while I was around, though that isn't saying much since I don't live there. Nonetheless, I thought you'd want to know.

Allan had surgery on both of his legs last Monday. A week before the surgery I'm on the phone with my mom asking how it's going to work, what the recovery looks like, etc.
She kept saying "Oh I don't know, I guess we'll find out next week after the surgery."
Me: "Um, if he's going to be at your house for recovery, you need to know AHEAD OF TIME what he's going to need, what to expect, etc."
Mama: "Well, that would be nice, i guess we'll see."
This is a perfect illustration of the difference between a "P" and a "J". And I am an extreme J twitching uncontrollably after such an open ended conversation!! (And I'm sure my "P" mother wonders what is wrong with me.)

A few days later I hear that the plan was for him to go to Foundation Lady's (FL from here forth) house to recover. So my parents located a hospital bed, got it all set up at her house, etc. In the meantime I keep wondering how this is actually going to work. I mean FL meant to host him before but couldn't do it, why would a post-op Allan be better than a pre-op Allan? In my head, I'm quite confident that he'll be at my parents and I encourage them to be part of any pre-op meetings with the surgeons, etc.

Allan's surgery apparently went well, he was at the hospital for a few days, and then, sure enough, went home to my parents (after they went back to FL's house, disassembled the hospital bed, set it up in my parents' living room). I'm actually glad he's with them. Clearly he has bonded with my family and that is his American "home"... if it were me, I'd rather go home than to someone else's house especially after major surgery! Besides he has physical therapy appointments almost every day and my dad is the one to take him since it requires some lifting, etc to get him in and out of the car. At some point soon, he'll also have surgery on his non-functioning arm, though I'm not sure if that is scheduled yet.

At the gingerbread house party, Allan was obviously a little overwhelmed by all of the activity and opted to stay in bed and watch from the living room- I can't say I blame him. I do wonder what he'll think of a Cousino Christmas Marathon... and it makes me wonder who else will be included in our family Christmas, I mean, my parents randomly adopt all sorts of people, especially for the holidays, so it could make for an interesting crowd. Maybe George will make an appearance with the camcorder again...

Oh yeah, and Allan's English is improving all the time. I wouldn't say he's fluent, but he has picked up a lot and you can tell he understands a lot better too.

And so, the adventure continues...

A Christmas Eve Morning Edition of The Good, the bad and the ugly...

The Good...

-A day off today!! Actually nearly 2 weeks off, with a few working spurts as I need to go in and get mail and check messages! I'm ready for the break.

-Last night I was supposed to hang out with some good friends, but the weather (more snow) made the roads bad and I decided to stay home rather than fight the roads and traffic. It was a good decision and I got all the family calendars finished and several ready to mail (today maybe) and 2 other gifts made (for Owen and Alan). It was a cozy evening to stay home and project like a nutcase.

-I love my Christmas tree. I love having the house all decorated for Christmas. I love this season- though, as usual, Advent flew by all to fast. I love Christmas Eve Mass. I love Christmas celebrations. I love that God sent His only Son so that we might have Life!

-I have the house to myself for a few days, which as you probably know, I always enjoy. I'm not sure what it is about an empty house, but I absolutely love it!! It's probably the result from growing up in a large family and never having a quiet house, or years and years of roommates, but somehow the quiet house is one of my favorite things. (And by quiet it just means I'm on my own with the BOC, it isn't always quiet. In fact, as I drink my coffee and write this, I hear the lovely crunch of toenails as Suze works on hers).

-My brother Garrett is flying in this evening from New Orleans, I'm excited to see him!! and I'm praying the weather doesn't prevent his coming.

The Bad...

-"Wintry mix" 'nuff said.

-Overachievers who take their dog out for a walk early each morning, making it harder to shovel sidewalks and making some people feel guilty about not walking the dogs at all in days, maybe even weeks... hmmm.

-Thinking I will be able to do make a whole bunch of Christmas gifts and getting all excited for them... and then the reality of limited time and skill kicking in and having to change plans.

-My bruised knee still hurts from my crash on the icy patio 2 weeks ago. It's finally faded to a pale yellow/green, but it still hurts whenever I kneel on it.

The Ugly...

-My bootivity (a gift from my grandparents a few years ago). As ugly as it is though, it always brings a smile to my face! Seriously, check this thing out. Why on earth would Grandma say "I saw it and it reminded me of you because it's so unique, just like you!"

-My living room and family room are a disasterous array of projecting stuff that needs to get cleaned up.

-my kitchen floor (still ugly after all these years).

-I make a point not to shop on Christmas Eve if I can help it. I hate the crowds, the rush, the insanity. But in a case of bad planning, I will be completely out of dog food after dinner tonight and I'm out of bread and need to pick up some stuff for my part of Christmas dinner. Bad bad planning Reens.

-Suzie trying to itch all the fur off her face again, not a good look Suze.

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

An Epic Tale

Other stories I’ve been meaning to tell…

My parents randomly have a Ugandan boy living with them. A few weeks ago, on a day we had a big deadline looming, my dad suddenly gets a phone call and heads out, telling me he’s picking up someone from the airport. Okay… not ideal, but okay. I assume he’ll be back shortly. An hour goes by. Bren and I are waiting, working on the parts of the project we can without Ken, but anxious for Ken’s return since he’s doing a big piece of this project. Two hours pass. Three. Four. Finally I call his cell phone and he tells me he’s leaving home and on his way back in. Okay. When he arrived, we didn’t have time for questions and got right to work to meet the deadline.

A day or two later, he casually mentions Allan (a name I don’t know) and something about him being at the house. Who’s Allan?? I ask. Little did I realize where this was headed…

It turns out a woman who lives around here, who I’ve seen around but don’t know and didn’t realize my parents knew her either. Anyway she has some foundation or something that she runs to connect kids in third world countries who need surgeries with wealthy American doctors willing to donate their services. I vaguely remember seeing some blip in the parish bulletin a few months before asking for help (both monetary and physical). Anyway, apparently my dad sees this woman at Mass, and being the super-extrovert that he is, is chatting with her and the subject comes up. Also because he’s my dad, he says they could help in some small way if need be. So she calls the day Allan arrives from Uganda needing help getting him from the airport, thus the lengthy absence. Allan is twelve years old and has cerebral palsy. He has one arm that is fully functioning and one he can’t use. He’s never stood before, his legs are totally useless. This woman has lined up surgeries to repair his arm and legs to at least allow him some use of them. So my dad was asked to help since Alan needs to be lifted in and out of his wheelchair, the car, etc.

I’m still fuzzy on the details here, but next thing we know, Allan is living with my parents. It was apparently also a shock to them. I guess foundation lady thought she’d get a lot more volunteers to host him for a week at a time, etc. and she thought she could host him in the gaps. As it turns out, she’s caring for her elderly mother and can’t take him and hasn’t lined up anywhere for this poor kid to stay, so she asks if my parents can take care of him for the time being. Naturally, because they are very generous and also very “P” (more comfortable with flexibility than with a plan), they said he could.

Since they didn’t plan in advance to have him, there were some immediate adjustments, things that could have been planned for, had this been communicated. Luckily my parents are very flexible and started making adjustments as needed. Allan is used to being pretty independent and so it was tough for him to need help using the toilet, getting into the huge guest bed, going down the stairs, etc. Apparently though, he only needed help the first few times and after that was determined to do it on his own. Did I also mention he doesn’t speak English? Well, that’s another interesting factor here. He does understand a lot of English, and could say “yes” and “no” but couldn’t really communicate much more than that at first.

Allan comes from a tiny village in Uganda and attends school there. His father died when he was very young and when his mother re-married. I guess he lives with an uncle and spends most of his time at school (from what I can gather anyway). Allan is the same age as my youngest brother Owen, and I think it’s really cool they’ve become friends. I also think it’s great that my family can reach out and help this kid who clearly needs a family (here) and a home in the midst of surgeries and recovery and all of this (the time frame of his visit is till unclear as well).

I had the pleasure of meeting Allan a few days after his arrival when my little sister invited me to dinner. She was cooking the whole meal herself and invited my grandpa and some of my other siblings. I walk into the kitchen and am greeted by an older gentleman with a camcorder. “Hi!” he says. My mom introduces me as her daughter, and he says “Oh, well I didn’t see you here yesterday.” Me: “Um I don’t live here anymore.” No more information is currently given to me, just the name “This is George.” George is standing in the cluttered kitchen, among the chaos, chatting, filming, and really hyped up about Alan.

George googles Alan’s school and shows Alan the pictures “Are these your friends Alan?”
Alan: “yes”
George, with camcorder running: “Look, here’s Alan looking at his friends pictures on the internet!!” (takes shots of Alan’s smile, the pictures on the screen).
Me (in my head): Seriously, who is this guy???

Everybody is arriving, Fiona is finishing dinner, we set the table, and sit down. Alan wasn’t hungry having eaten his first American pizza after his doctors appointment that day so he stayed at the computer. I imagine he needed some space in the midst of the commotion as well. Grandpa is telling stories in his usual style, George is talking away at the other end of the table, and mostly I’m just a bit confused by this whole thing. When dessert came out, we convinced Alan to come join us. George had to grab the camcorder to record his first drink of chocolate milk: “Oh my, he’s never had chocolate milk before! Wow, Alan, how was that? Your first drink of chocolate milk!!!” And the camcorder and excited running commentary reappeared for the first bite of apple pie, and the second bite of ice cream since my mom jumped the gun on the bite before his camera was ready. Meanwhile I’m watching this whole thing in awe and confusion over who this guy is. Does excited older gentleman now live here too?

It was actually several days later that I got the scoop from my dad. George is a member of a rotary group that raised some money to bring Alan here. And he is apparently quite excited and wants to record it.

Well this has been long enough for segment one… stay tuned for more…

It begins…

Today began the Marathon of Family Events… really I guess it’s more the Marathon of Celebratory Events (and a lot of them happen to be family). I love this time of year, I love the celebrations, I love the time spent with family and friends… but it is exhausting after awhile. And tonight, realizing it has begun, I’m feeling tired already…

Today was the gingerbread (actually graham cracker) house party. About 25 family and friends gathered to create ingenious structures and cover them with candy. At first I was uninspired trying to think of what to make, but then I had an idea, and made a train, in honor of my favorite train fan Anthony. Here are some pictures for you buddy.

Other impressive entries included Michael Mish and his prison. Collin and his always elaborate creation. Nick and Katie and their cool… whatever it is… Sam and Brigette and their house o’love. Mommy Mish and her own house. Katie’s terrarium. Lindsey’s Aspen Chase apartments. Owen making a very tall unnamed (and mostly undecorated) tower. Sara's school complete with playground and children. Dan, Mark, and Lauren and their coast guard ship. and more. Quite impressive!!

It was bitterly cold outside yesterday and something was up with my parents' finicky heating system. It was quite cold the entire time!! and after several hours there, I was really ready to head home to my well-heated home and try to defrost. I am not a girl who handles being cold very well. I spent the end of the evening at home, in double layers, savoring the warmth of my own cozy house, watching a movie, and thanking God for the little things like heat and long underwear.

So it has begun…
The next week is going to be insane. The introvert in me is exhausted just thinking about it. And the other part is excited because I love Christmas, I love seeing out-of-town friends and in-town friends, I love celebrating with family, immediate and extended. It isn't that I want to skip any of it, but it sure does make me tired... and then I will be distinctly anti-social for about a month to recover, so somewhere end of February, beginning of March, I'll be ready for interaction again.

Sometimes it is easy to be distracted by all the happenings and forget what we are really celebrating- that God became Man, Emmanuel, God with us. May we all remember to take time to ponder, wonder at, and celebrate that amazing mystery.

Snow Day

We are in the midst of a big snowstorm here in Michigan. I always find it rather amusing the amount of hype the newscasters make about snow. Any snow, really. Seriously people, we live in Michigan. It snows here. The last snow earlier in the week got a lot of hype that was uncalled for 3-5 inches is not worth a huge deal. Today's 10 inches deserves a little more hype, but not so much on the shock scale. Again, we live in Michigan and it's winter. Oh well. This morning my housemate and I ventured out and shoveled the driveway and sidewalks together. By the time I showered and returned outside, my car had iced over from the precipitation falling in the form of ice/sleet. Now it's back to snow. There are days it is not advantageous to work only 1.5 miles from the office. There really is no excuse, especially since I have some reports I have to get out today. Sigh. Otherwise I'd be home for sure.


Other things... I have two packages to send out before Christmas... one is pretty much ready to go. The other isn't even close- I haven't finished a project I'm doing that belongs in one of them. I'm really a failure at getting it all done well in advance. Tonight I'm doing Christmas cards and maybe the project to go in said package. I am determined to mail packages tomorrow!! We shall see if I make it.

Rattling around

I've got a lot rattling around in my brain today... it's hard to sort it all out. Lots of deep, life and death thoughts.

A colleague from work died yesterday. We've worked in close contact with him over the past 5 years and will miss him greatly. In the last few months of his life, he was fighting cancer and my dad began asking questions about his faith life. He was a fallen away Catholic and was eager to listen, learn, and reconcile. It is truly beautiful to see someone humbly come back, to repent, to reconcile past hurts, and to get ready for your final moments, for judgement. He has certainly done that and it really is miraculous to see the changes he's made in the last few months. Thanks be to God!! My dad was visiting him in the hospital and bringing him communion the last few days and spent time with him yesterday before he died and said it was a peaceful and beautiful thing to witness. May God rest his soul.

Life is so fragile. Suffering is so present in so many lives. Above it all, God is so faithful. His Love endures forever.

It's snowing outside. Michigan is a strange place sometimes, from raining and yucky on Sunday to freezing yesterday to at least a few inches of snow last night, never a dull moment. Why are my feet always always always cold??? I want some of those knee high fleece boots to wear non-stop for the next 6 months.

Christmas is eight days away. Where does time go??? Tonight I am determined to sit down with my laptop and finish the family calendar (the computer part anyway). I can't put it off any longer!! I also need to finish the box to mail to my out of state family.

Speaking of out of state family, yesterday my day was made by my 3 year old nephew who called to chat. I always feel a little bad because he is very difficult to understand on the phone, but I think I hid that fact since he chattered on and on. I did get his exuberant "You my bestest aunt!" (Although it took me a few tries to figure out that's what he was saying.) What a cutie. I told him I was sending him a present, and he kept telling me that he already has presents! Oh okay. St Nick was very generous and Guill was anxious to tell me all about his "lightsaber" and that it's an outside toy. Nephews are pretty great, and definitely always put a smile on my face.

Whew

You know you're an introvert when, after a long, social, fun weekend, you find yourself totally exhausted on Sunday night and just wanting some peace and quiet and alone time.

It was a great weekend!

Friday night murder mystery with friends. Great fun though rather confusing.

Saturday watching Owen in the Wizard of Oz -- he stole the show in his many roles: farmhand, coroner of the munchkins, and my favorite, flying monkey. Awesome. Then some shopping to purchase the gifts for giving tree that i'd taken and forgotten. Ahh.

The Thomm's Christmas party that evening was great fun, as always.

Sunday Mass, coffee & donuts at church, Monica's baptism, baptism party. (It was deacon Mark's first baptism, pretty cool!!)


On the way home I stopped at Brendan's to borrow his truck to get Christmas tree. Geno had made me a beautiful paper chain for my tree. We were negotiating who was getting the tree with me (Geno went with Bren for their tree, so Lucy would go with me). I said I may need some help getting the tree set up in the stand since that's definitely a two-person job. Geno chimed right in, eager to help and wanting an excuse to come along: "Sure, I can help you!" I didn't have the heart to tell him it might be a two-adult job ;) So it was agree Lu would get the tree with me and then Brendan and Geno would come over to help me set it up and, of course, install the lovely paper chain.

And then to end the day, listening to Christmas music and stringing lots of lights onto the beautiful tree (and not getting it together enough to actually do any more decorating than that).

Quick Takes Friday #1

I like this idea (thanks Love Life who got it from Conversion Diary). Here's my quick takes, in no particular order:

1. My driver’s side lock is frozen. Again. This is inconvenient. I drive a Honda that tries to save you from your own stupidity, you can’t just easily lock the driver’s side door. You have to either hold the handle open and push down the lock, or use your key to lock the door. I typically (habitually) shut the door and lock it with the key. Now that the lock is frozen shut, it just adds complication. To unlock: I go out to the car, try the lock unsuccessfully (duh), walk around the car and unlock the passenger side, walk back around the car, climb into my seat. To lock: I get out of the car, slam the door, put the key in lock, realize it’s still frozen, open the door, hold open the handle, press down the lock, move on with my life. It's not a big deal, but it is annoying.

2. I’m having a murder mystery dinner tonight with some of my friends, the younger crowd. It should be a blast. I am a reporter and found a ladies wool suit (skirt and jacket), the perfect costume, at the Saline Goodwill store yesterday for $1, I won’t wear it out of the houe ;) Awesome. Also purchased, a bright green corduroy suit- disgusting and awesome at the same time. Perfect costume for something or to turn into a project.

3. Last night I was attempting to get things in order, made parts of dinner tonight so I can just throw them in the oven tonight, straightening the house- and suddenly had the urge to wash all the slipcovers in the living room (to basically de-cat the house now that the cat has been adopted)… washing all the slipcovers is a rather big project since all the furniture in there is slipcovered. Half of it is back together, but the couch slipcovers are still in the dryer… so I really just made tonight more complicated, not less so, oops. But I will know how clean the furniture is, so it’s worth it. I’m also a little self conscious that the cute quilted dog blankets are in the laundry, so my guests will see the yucky non-matching dog blankets in use. Not good planning at all.

4. I need to get a load of firewood sometime soon. I’m out and it’s definitely fire-in-the-fireplace season. And speaking of the fireplace, the stockings are now hanging- and Maggie definitely gets on the hearth and sniffs them daily - she remembers that at least one day a year those stockings hold something delicious for her. Suzie has no clue, she'd rather have her belly scratched (shocker, I know).

5. I’ve been trying to do Christmas stuff since October. I was determined not to put the family calendar together at the last minute like last year, to not have to shop anytime in December, to basically get Christmas stuff all done so I could just have a leisurely unstressed advent. I failed miserably. Most of my shopping is done (I didn’t have tons to do), but the projects are not even close, the calendar isn’t even started, the Christmas cards are not sent, and Christmas is two weeks away.

6. I think the cold makes me tired. Or maybe just being me makes me tired. I haven’t been able to get up for Mass most mornings this week. Ugh. Next week I am determined to do better.

7. One of my favorite fall / winter foods: Cranberry applesauce. Basically you buy a bag of whole cranberries, follow the instructions for whole cranberry sauce (usually 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar- although I use less sugar). Mix that with a jar of your homemade applesauce. Delicious! I like it better than cranberry sauce alone because you can only eat a small amount of that because it’s so strong. Cran-apple-sauce is less strong but no less delicious. I love it.

The Official End of Operation Kitten

I guess I haven't said much about it here in awhile but for anyone who is dying of curiosity (or makes the mistake of reading my blog) here's the story about Killian and my new friend.

I have a new friend. We'll just call her Katie for the sake of anonymity. She's very cool. Pretty quiet and laid back. It is still strange how we decided to become friends and then just suddenly were friends (I don't know how introverts like us managed that). Anyway, I'm a big fan and definitely enjoying my new friend. Anyway, I mentioned to said new friend that I needed to find a home for my cat. She casually mentioned that she's been considering getting a cat, but that her last experience of fostering 2 cats for a friend was not good- apparently these friends' fostered cats ran her life and were way too high maintenance for easy-going Katie. Not wanting to push my cat off on a new friend, I played it cool and didn't say much.

A few weeks later, Katie mentioned wanting a cat again. I mentioned Killian was up for grabs still. Katie considered it some more and asked if Killian is high maintenance. Uh oh. I get all panicky trying to answer that question. I mean, Killian isn't high maintenance at my house, she's bottom pet on the totem pole in fact, the other two high maintenance pets don't allow her to be even medium maintenance. But what if I tell new friend she's not high maintenance and then she takes her and she is high maintenance as an only pet?!? As you can imagine, these thoughts tortured me for days. I told Katie I didn't find her to be high maintenance, but that I have 2 high maintenance dogs, so I might not actually know. Katie agreed to take her on a trial basis, sort of a test run.

Killian left with Katie a few days after Thanksgiving. I was both sad and happy to see her go. Happy she's got a great new home and my home can be cat-allergy-free again. and sad because she was such a sweet little companion cat. At the same time, I've been a bit nervous... what if Killian drives Katie crazy? Would Katie really tell me? We haven't been friends that long. What if she has accidents in the house? (though she never did for me, who knows in a new place) What if she is high maintenance and Katie hates me now for making her so? What if the BOC and I created a monster of a cat?? The what ifs have been killing me, mostly just because I don't want to put my new friend in an awkward position or jeopardize said new friendship. Although I've gotten a few email updates on the cat transition and some funny pictures, I was still a bit nervous.

Today's email from my new friend makes my day and calms my fears (I asked her if Killian is high maintenance):

Killian certainly craves attention and playtime, but overall I don't think she's high maintenance. We're getting along swimmingly. She does run around meowing and chirping when I'm getting ready in the morning: "Wouldn't you rather play with me? How 'bout now?" She runs past the bathroom door into the living room an rolls around on the rug near her feather or ribbon until I come out and move it.

This morning I was making a call for work from home, and I had the laptop on the dining room table to review a website. Killian jumped up on the table and rolled around right next to the computer, purring up a storm. Then we spent a solid 10 - 15 minutes scritching behind her ears n such. That was lovely.

She's a keeper. I think you can consider her adopted.

(Pics of Killian from new friend's webcam)

Hurray!!!

As for the transition at the Nichols homestead: Maggie still races downstairs to check for a litter box whenever the gate is open. Suzie still occasionally checks under the couch. Favorite Aunt still thinks it is quiet around without a talkative cat and a lot of dog-chase-cat chasing or cat-pounce-on-dog's-face moments. All in all, I'm pretty pleased at how this has turned out thus far.

PS. I cannot believe you read all the way to the bottom of this, wow. Get a life already.

The reason they hate...

Matching hats for the Christmas card photo... need I say more?

Visiting Christmas

The other night I went to visit Christmas. Christmas lives at my friend's house beginning after Thanksgiving. It just so happens this particular friend's hobby is Christmas, which makes for an amazingly decorated abode and lots of material for harassment :) and one more excuse to play with my camera and bore my readers...

Some highlights:

Friend: I can still see holes... (where there should be more ornaments)

Me: I can't even see TREE!!

Friend: Well, those ornaments have the gold hooks.

Me: Um, you have different kinds of hooks??

Friend: Of course. There are the big silver hooks, the gold hooks which are my favorite, and the small hooks when you don't want the ornament to dangle too far down. If the ornament is more silver themed, I use the silver hooks. and see these little ones, these ones need the little hooks...

(notice the friend's bedroom closet is even decorated!!)
Friend: When I was a kid, sometimes I'd decorate my whole room for Christmas in the middle of July. Then a few days later, I'd take it all down again. My mom would get really mad sometimes.

Note: Today I did begin pulling out my own decorations and made room in the living room to get a tree. Somehow visiting Christmas did inspire me to begin my own humble decorating process, which is barely even like decorating compared to my Christmas fanatic friend, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

See Friend, I didn't even use your name or gender, aren't I so nice? Of course, any of my readers who know you can probably figure out who the Christmas fanatic is...

The new camera

After much research and confusion and debating... I did it. I bought a new digital SLR camera, a huge step for me! But since my film camera got stolen and I was planning to use Christmas money to make the upgrade anyway, this just made it imperative. I bought the Nikon D80 and I do love it!! I got it on Black Friday, so i got a good deal ($100+ cheaper than usual) plus a free printer, free memory cards, and free digital camera classes at Ritz (which I'm pretty excited to take). Anyway, I've been playing with it and though I have A LOT to learn, I'm loving the quality, the camera, the subjects...

Here's a few shots from my first day with the camera. These are my Love-buddies. I'm sure you'll be seeing more from the camera as I have time to download and post...

Advent blessings

I absolutely love the blessing that is prayed over the Church at the end of each Sunday Mass in Advent:

You believe that the Son of God once came to us; you look for Him to come again. May His coming bring you the light of His holiness and His blessing bring you freedom. Amen.

May God make you steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and untiring in love all the days of your life. Amen.

You rejoice that our Redeemer came to live with us as man. When He comes again in glory, may He reward you with endless life. Amen.

Every single word in this blessing strikes such a chord in my heart, that is exactly what my prayer is. I particularly love the line about "steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and untiring in love"... in my weakness, I often feel so lacking in all of those things, and praying this every Sunday during advent is such a great way to remind me to think about these things, pray for these virtues, live each day in them.

Happy Advent!

Thankful

It seems so cliche to write a Thanksgiving post about what I'm thankful for... and yet, it seems wrong not to. So here goes, please keep in mind this list is not in any sort of order and I'm sure I am forgetting something:

I am thankful for:
1. Friends -- I am soooooo blessed with an abundance of incredible friends, both near and far. I can't possibly express what each one means to me- that would take forever! But I am incredibly blessed with the BEST friends in the whole world - I'm thankful for each one of you!

2. Family -- Again, words cannot express what my family means to me, immediate, extended, adopted... wow!! Although it can be crazy at times and we certainly do not all do a good job of keeping in touch or being supportive, we do love each other. I'm thankful for each of my siblings, my brother- and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents-- what am amazing, inspiring, and quirky bunch. I can't imagine what life would be without a single one of them. I am very blessed.

3. Nieces and Nephews, actually all the munckins in my life! -- although they are part of the "family" category, and some are part of the "friends" catagory, I'd be remiss in not giving them their own item. I AM SO THANKFUL for all of the terrific munchkins in my life :) They bring me sooo much joy and remind me to not take life too seriously. Being an aunt rocks my world.

4. My home and the bitches -- My "unit"... I'm thankful for my home, for a roof over my head, a yard, endless projects, my safe place. I'm thankful for the BOC, who drive me crazy with a constant stream of dog hair, affectionate licking, dead animals in the backyard, their constant need for attention, and more. They keep me sane. They always welcome me home with exuberance, are my constant companions and always keep me entertained.

5. My faith -- this would be first if it were a list in order. I'm thankful to have been raised in a community of believers, who handed down the faith to me. I'm thankful to be a Catholic, part of that Light in the Darkness that is continually called to deeper communion in Christ, deeper holiness, deeper community. I'm thankful for an amazing parish, an amazing pastor, other amazing priests, people that call me on, friends to read and discuss encyclicals with, you name it! I am thankful.

6. Random stuff that brings me joy -- pumpkin pie, a good cup of coffee, houseplants, warm sweaters, falling leaves, flowers, a good book with a good cup of coffee, mornings to sleep in (rare though they are), the muffler on my car, gardens, matching dog pillows, my stripey couch, personality / temperment discussions and books, a good cup of coffee, cute aprons, baking, homemade applesauce, clean floors, live-in laundry facilities, clean sheets, cozy blankets, big fun coffee mugs (with coffee in them, preferably), my new Bible (thanks Loves!), the insane animal chase happening before my eyes (2 dogs and a cat all over the house - going berserk), the sun peeking from behind clouds, and more... I AM THANKFUL!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Worth the Hype

Worth the hype: the brother who comes over for a haircut and agrees to pick up dead animal pieces from the yard.

I was getting all set to go out there and pick up animal pieces, when I looked out the window and saw Maggie chewing on a bloody carcas... enter gag reflex... Emmet had asked if he could come for a haircut today, so I asked if he'd be willing to pick up dead animal because I am a wuss. He agreed and did the noble deed after the haircut. "What was it?" I asked when he returned. "It was a rabbit (gestures to his midsection) from here up. and I looked around the yard and didn't find anything else." Lovely.

Worth the hype: Emmet, my hero

Dogs are gross

My plan for this morning (Saturday) was to spend a couple hours finishing up some yard clean up before heading in to hang out with a cute baby and make some pies. Now I am trying to put it off as long as possible...

The last couple days, Maggie has been up to something in the far corner of the yard. Unfortunately, I've noticed this a couple days in a row at night, and my one quick trip out there just proved it was too dark to see anything. Last night she brough part of it up close to the patio-- it's part of a dead animal. Yuck. Dogs are so gross. I really want to return to the last 5 years of no dead animals- and finish this year of a dead animal a month (or more some months). This particular dead animal is going to be worse than the other bunnies and squirrels because I know it is in pieces. *shiver* and as much as I hate to admit to being a wussy girl, dead animals in pieces really really really disgust me. Okay, I'm going out there...

Sunflower

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

"When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."

Saline Thugs

I was robbed and I'm mad.


I'd gotten my car fixed Tuesday afternoon, and had grabbed one of my canvas bags with my bible, journal, a book or two, my camera, a coffee mug, etc. Tues evening my dad dropped me to get my car and naturally I had my purse and the canvas bag with important stuff in it. When I got home, I thought I carried both into the house with me. But the next morning, I didn't see the canvas bag, so I figured I'd left it in the car. Sure enough, I went out to the car, and the middle console was open (like it had been rummaged through), my glasses case (from said console) was open on the front seat, and the canvas bag was nowhere to be found. I searched the house again to no avail. As I drove into work, I realized the passenger door was also open. Grrr. Keep in mind they didn't want my cds or the discman with car kit- that is still there, but my bible is gone...


Yesterday I made a police report. I was considering filing a homeowner's insurance claim, except that I have a $500 deductible... all the stuff that was stolen was definitely less than that, so there is no point.

The worst part was realizing my life insurance application was in there, all filled out and ready to mail. Not only does that mean I have to start over with a new 30-page application, but it also means the thugs have a lot of important information- soc security #, birthdate, address, etc. ... ARGH. Luckily a month ago I signed up for identity theft insurance, so I this morning I filed a claim alerting them, put an alert on my credit report, and am praying no one tries to open a credit card or something in my name. Argh. I want to leave a note on my car or my garage door or somewhere for the stupid thugs. "Give it back meanie" but I figure it will puzzle my neighbors and they already think I'm strange enough...

Although I am mad about the whole thing, I do recognize it could be worse. I'm mad at myself that I forgot the bag in the car. I'm mad that I thought Saline was safe and I never lock my car (although I don't usually leave my camera in it). I'm mad that they stole my camera, my bible, my journal. And for crying out loud, it was my favorite bag too! I'm definitely mad about that insurance application. Grrr. On a brighter note, my favorite travel mug had fallen out of the bag, so I still have that.

Baking

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Saturdays??? Today hasn't been particularly productive, which I don't like, but so far it's still been a good Saturday. One thing I love about Saturdays when it's cold: baking. So far I made pumpkin muffins for breakfast, banana bread (to use the bananas that were going south), and cookie dough. There's something terrific about putting on your apron, rolling up your sleeves, and making a baking mess :) not to mention that the house smells AMAZING when you're done. Sad to say, I love the baking process more than I actually like baked goods.

The pumpkin muffins were good, but not the best I ever had. I should have been more liberal with the spices I put in to give it some kick. Oh well, that's part of the fun of trying new recipies. I don't even like eating banana bread, but I love baking it and can always find someone to pawn it off on. And rumor has it I do make good banana bread. Besides, I have enough of my frugal mother in me to require me to use the overripe bananas, rather than throwing them out. Thanks Mama. :)

I'm considering trying a recipie I found for crockpot pumpkin pudding since now I have half a can of pumpkin that needs to be used... hmmmm... that would add another amazing smell to this already great smelling kitchen... although it's almost 3 pm and I haven't really done much in the way of chores, repairs, or projects... maybe I should go do some laundry before I contemplate my next kitchen mess.

Musings

Today is one of those days I have a lot happening in my head... you may not want to read further...

-People are fascinating creatures. In my women's group, we just finished reading and discussing the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. He talks about the ways that we give and receive love. I've read this book before and it has triggered many a fascinating discussion about how each of us gives and receives love in different ways. It was interesting to me how one's family of origin seems to affect how we expect love and many of our love languages... that was kind of a surprise to me. If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. Fascinating stuff. It really calls me on to really think about the people I'm trying to love, and reminds me to work on speaking love to them in their own language, rather than my own. And in case you're wondering, my primary love languages are Quality Time and Acts of Service. You?

-Now we are reading and discussing the four temperments. The Temperment God Gave You by Art & Laraine Bennet (I think). Also fascinating stuff, mostly a review for me, but a great topic to delve into and I learn something every single time I do :) I'm a Meloncholic Choleric, as far as I can tell. It is fascinating to read and study temperment, and to also realize we aren't just stuck with a temperment, we have grace to help us lead a life of holiness, sometimes aided by our natural temperment, sometimes hindered by it. I am encouraged too, because it is amazing to look back over my life and see the growth-- virtues I have worked really hard on beginning to become like second-nature, weaknesses I've worked to overcome by the grace of God. Not to say I'm done, I have a long way to go... and yet, it is good to be able to look back in my life and see the hand of God, the mercy of God throughout the years.

-Winter. Favorite Aunt does not like winter. She tries very hard not to complain all the time, and to find things to be thankful for in spite of winter, and yet, she really really does not like winter. Things I like about winter: sweaters and scarves, cozy evenings, hot chocolate, a warm bed, slippers, Christmas, baking... what do you like about winter??

-Perfectionism. I definitely struggle with perfectionism. I take on too many projects, too many hobbies, too many responsibilities, and then I feel like a failure because I can't do them all 100% perfect. Lately I feel particularly overwhelmed by a lot of stuff I need to do at home and just can't seem to find the time to do because I overcommit in every aspect of my life. It's very humbling and quite frustrating for my inner perfectionist!

- Life Teen. This weekend is the Life teen retreat. It's wierd to not be going, and yet a huge blessing at the same time. Although I miss the core team and the teens, the amount of peace I have with not being in LT, not being on Core team, not being overcommitted there as well is definitely a good sign that I am doing the right thing. Nonetheless, I'm praying for the team as they prep for retreat and all the teens as they go on retreat... and I'm reveling in the fact that I'll be at home this weekend :)

- Work. Ugh. So much to do, so little brain function.

A Munchkins Weekend

I am quite pleased to report the weekend with the munchkins went well. Although for some reason I do feel guilty when a kid bursts into tears at the sight of their parents coming to take them home... I guess if that is any indication, we did all have a good time.

Overheard from the living room where the kids had the play mobil guys out in full force, the castle, dollhouse, stuffed animals, etc--

Ben: "Ellie, it's okay, these are the good guys. See? they are wearing shoes. All the good guys wear shoes. The bad guys wear boots."

Reen: Okay kiddo's, what would you like for breakfast? We have oatmeal, pancakes, toast,...

Ellie: I like YOGIT!

...a few hours later... lunch...

Reen: What would you like for lunch, peanut butter sandwich, grilled cheese, yogert...

Ellie: Yayayay! I like YOGIT!

...a few hours later, snack after nap...

Reen: How about some animal crackers and an apple?

Ellie, grinning excitedly: I like Yoooo git!

by dinner Aunt Reenie realized she shouldn't offer choices since Ellie had probably already had twice her daily quota of yogert-- and although Ellie was hoping for "yo-git" she settled for the lasanga and garlic bread and applesauce, since there was no yogert in sight.

I had two rosaries in my purse and I let Ellie hold them and play with them during Mass on Sunday. She would run her fingers through them, loop them on her arm, hide them under her skirt, and other respectful things. When Mass was over, I couldn't find the nicer of the two rosaries, a long one with beautiful beads. I looked in the diaper bag, my purse, Ellie's backpack, coat pockets, the floor, everywhere and couldn't find the rosary. Finally I just decided to check lost and found later in the week and the kids and I left. When we got home and made our group potty stop, I pulled off Ellie's boots and there was the missing rosary, stuffed in her boot that whole time :)

In addition to all the taking-care-of-kids stuff, I accomplished a few things:

- folded laundry

- washed the kitchen floor (hands and knees style for a really thorough clean-- FINALLY)

- made several lasangas for the freezer

- made spinach dip for the freezer for some upcoming events

- cooked 3 pie pumkins (still need to puree the insides and freeze)

- started organizing some sewing stuff, but didn't get very far on the rest of the downstairs closet