The Post in Which I Will Enthrall You

Today we had our first snow day, although I think it is probably more appropriate to call it something else.

While there is not much snow to speak of, there is ice.  If you look at the street in front of where Mike's truck is parked you can see it's like a sheet of ice.  And it was bitterly cold; with the wind chill it felt like 0o. 

There are some nutty people who say that Dallas is warm all year.  I beg to differ.

School is out tomorrow, as well.  There are too many roads that are still very bad.  We have a plan around here, though.  We have paint for Christian and Michaela's rooms.  I can only imagine what kind of chaos will ensue with such a project.  It will make a good blog post, though, I would assume.

Since we were stuck in the house today, which hasn't happened yet because I've been driving back and forth between here and the church/school that we used to live so conveniently close to and my life has been turned upside down (I have mentioned that I don't handle change well, haven't I?) (Yes, I know I'm being a total baby about it.), I managed to put a major dent in my laundry, and I didn't even use any explosives.  I think I washed and dried eleven loads.  And I also put most of it away as I went along, rather than my usual leaving six loads on the bed for three weeks (which, of course, over the passing of three weeks turns into eighty-two loads on the bed).  I feel pretty good about this accomplishment.  I can't really tackle and arrange the laundry room until I get rid of the ginormous pile of dirty laundry loitering in the hallway just outside of said room.  It's just the way I feel, man.

This is a picture of the hallway, with the laundry room at the far end.  The wicker basket was full of clothes, sheets, and blankets up the wall at least a foot higher than the top of the wicker lid that is raised.  The black hamper beside the wicker basket was full and overflowing.  On the far side of the wicker basket was a pile of clothes and stuff that was about as wide as a large laundry basket, and covered the entire pink towel that you see there on the floor (that is left from when the carpets were cleaned, but weren't dry and the guys needed to move things in).  This pile was also quite high, maybe up to my knees?  The box you can see in the bottom corner of the photo is full of dirty stuff from the other house.  But at least I got some of the other laundry under control.  The sheets and blanket situation was crazy since we had a house guest for the first two weeks after the kids and I got home from Florida.  Plus, before that Mike's brother and our house guest's house guest had stayed in the other house for several nights.  We had a major sheet back-up.  I guess we have a lot of sheets, though.

Is anyone still reading this riveting material?

Speaking of riveting material, let me tell you that I matched up pillowcases and sheet sets this afternoon and I found an inordinate amount of joy in putting sets together.  I am happy to say that we have at least eight sets of matching pillowcases!  This made me so excited to get like cases together that I almost wet my pants.  I'm glad I didn't, because that would have added more clothes to my dwindling laundry pile.  Which would have totally killed my high from putting my pillowcases with their mates.

I have to finish loading the dishwasher (dessert cups - milkshakes a la Daddy) (a le Daddy?) (I didn't take French for very long) (is that French?), and switch out my laundry at least once more before heading to bed.  I shall end this post with a poem...

It was cold here today in Dallas
So cold I wore leggings with sweats
I had on four socks but my toes felt like ice
Our house was as cold as it gets
I know there are places around
Where the temp drops much lower than this
But zero degrees, no matter where you may be
Is the opposite state of pure bliss!

(Plus, our windows are, let's just say, in need of an update...the wind was just blowing right on in.  Brrr!!!)

(And I'm really not kidding about my toes!)

I Heart Faces-Best of January 2011

I have taken almost no pictures this month.  Between being in Florida and our move, I haven't really picked up the camera, nor have I been motivated to do so.  I tended to take my camera here and there, but not use it.  Like, I would haul it over to Wendy's thinking I would take pictures of the kids playing, but it didn't happen.  Wendy and I would get to talking, the kids would be doing their thing outside, then they would start fussing...

Anyway, I did take a few pictures of a putt-putt outing.  We had never taken the cousins to play putt-putt before.  I think they had all played the game, but not with one another.  It was fun.  I didn't get many great pictures, but one of the better ones is of Eliana.

I'm sure the photo is not prize-worthy, but she has a pretty great face.  I like to take pictures of it.  And I need to take more pictures of it, and the other faces around here, next month! 

I'm entering this photo just for fun.  This week is a "People's Favorite" week, so folks can vote for their favorite pictures/portraits starting tomorrow.  It's always fun to see the faces that other people photograph...they're always lovely.  See for yourself at I Heart Faces!

Mini-Me

People are always commenting on how much Eliana looks like me.  And honestly, I see it more every day...

Do you see it?  The mustache?  It's uncanny how much she resembles her mama.

Happy Birthday, Christian!

Like a good mother, I am writing Christian's birthday post a day late.  (Two days, if you are counting actual 24-hour days)

It really does sound strange that he is eight years old.  Last year I thought that seven sounded so much older than six, but eight just sounds impossible.  It cannot have been eight years ago that I woke up with that feeling...that indescribable yet unmistakable feeling.  I knew.  I took Michaela to her music class and told the other moms there,"I'm in labor."  They looked at me like I was crazy.  But I knew.  I went home and Michaela and I did our normal at-home thing, whatever that was.  I told Mike I was in labor.  He got busy putting the crib together.  I was talking to my mom on the phone and walking through our apartment while I had contractions.  She said,"How far apart are they?"  I timed the following one and said,"Oh!  They're like five minutes apart!"  She cried out,"Get off the phone and go tell Mike!" 

By the time we had someone watching Michaela temporarily, and someone else on the way for the duration, I really knew.  We got in the car and Mike headed for the hospital.  I walked and walked in my room, until they made me get all hooked up so they could monitor things.  I felt good.  I was very alert.  It was completely different from my labor with Michaela.  Pretty soon my midwife said my body was ready and I could push.  I pushed when they told me to, for about twenty minutes, and out popped the prettiest baby I had ever seen.  A short trip down the birth canal will do wonders not only for your complexion but for the shape of your head!

He was so sweet.

Now he's eight.

Not that there is a juxtaposition there.  Ha!  He is still sweet (some of the time).  He is a passionate and complex person.  And he was much easier to photograph when he was a newborn.

I took cupcakes to his class to celebrate, and they sang to him.  I think he likes the limelight.

After school I took him along with his sisters to get ice cream.  I wanted to get a good birthday shot.

I'm pretty certain I didn't exactly accomplish my goal as far as the picture taking goes, but he enjoyed the ice cream.  He went on to earn his next belt in karate that evening, but unfortunately by the time Mike returned with him from the test my brain was all out of working power and I didn't take a picture.  He was excited about it, though.  It was a cool ending to a special day.

Eight years.  What a ride!  Just think, in eight more years he'll be driving.

Help.

Time Keeps on Slippin', Slippin', Slippin'...

There is so much I want to write about!

Christian's birthday is today.  He is eight!  What?!  Yes...eight!  That sounds weird.

There are pictures of the old house.

The gas...it's killing us!  We are going to have to get some things about our schedule really straightened out!  I think I've filled our tank up three times in the last two weeks, and it's already down to around 1/4 tank.  Oh dear.

Why am I so silly and miss a house that I said I hated when I lived there?!  What is wrong with me?!

We have a LOT of small rugs.  They were all bought to go in other houses...it is hard to make things that you bought for other spaces to fit into new spaces.  I can say the same thing about shower caddies.  Who knew that shower caddies were so...fickle?

I have to make Christian a birthday cake before he gets home (not gonna happen, but I'll try) even though he already had cupcakes with his class and then ice cream after school.  Mike said,"It's just one day of the year.  It doesn't matter if he already had a cupcake and ice cream."  I like the way he thinks.  (I'm more likely to say something like,"It's just every other day...")

And now...off to make a cake.  I'm not complaining about that!  I'll be back with real posts soon.

I think.

Edited to add:  Ha!  I got the cake in the oven before Mike got home with Christian...does that count?