Post Holiday Update

Oh my gosh. I can't believe we survived the holidays. Yes, yes, there's Hogmanay (the New Year) right around the corner but that is the cap on the pressure valve being released. There's still residual anxiety over whether family and friends actually liked their gifts or not, but overall, I've got a great feeling about this past holiday rush. It was fun.

I got some very awesome presents this year. Not a lot, but what I got was just wonderful. Some favorites:

Black Carhartt vest and cowboy hat! I'm so city it's not even funny, but Marv delights in gifting me with these things and I so love it. They're my shiny and I love them. See? The hemp bracelet on my wrist was made by my sister Stacey. She's so talented!


J.R. Ward's The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide. When I finally stopped drooling long enough to crack it open, I haven't been able to put it down.

Gratitude Games - Honestly, I really need to write up an entire blog post about this alone, and I will later tonight. Gratitude Games are so so fun, and have been teaching my girls a usually hard to grasp concept quite quickly, and has really brought MarvMan and I closer together. More on that later. But they're so amazing and I do promise a post all for that alone.

Of course, now, we've taken down the tree and the house is (mostly) back to normal. MarvMan is still off work, which is nice, so we've been spending time together and relaxing as much as we can. We went off road yesterday to take the kids sledding and saw some awesome views. It was great, really.



How can you not enjoy it with views like this? What I should point out is that around our actual house, the snow is extremely bare. Out where we were driving around, we were looking at 2 inches of previous snowfall with a good inch or so more of fresh powder on top. It was very nice and the kids had a blast in the snow.

I'm really looking forward to the new year, though. The new year means school will be starting for me - I'm finally going back to college, yay! And we'll be starting some new pre-K curriculum for Anaya. It also means tax time is around the corner and I've got my fingers crossed for a decent return. I've got plans for small portions of that money.

But overall, I'm really quite content with the way this past year has gone. I'm sure there will be more reflective posts to come prior to the actual end of the year. I might even wax poetic about my newfound loves for alpaca wool yarn and assorted types of coffee. Mmm... Speaking of, I believe I need a refill.

Gingerbread House, Part 1

I'm really not sure what got into me. A few days ago, I got this wild and crazy idea that I was going to make a gingerbread house. Now, there are a lot of factors that come into play when considering this. Most of the work would have to be done during the day, and I've got two small ones who love grabbing things. Luckily, we do have gates in place to keep them out of the kitchen.

However, and quite possibly the more important factor, I've never done a gingerbread house on my own. In years past I've always had help. This year would be the most intimidating it's ever been, considering it would be all on me. I knew all the techniques and tricks I wanted to use, but I was more than a little concerned.

But when I thought about it, I realized it might not be that bad. I've got a definite proficiency in the kitchen, even though I'm nowhere near professional chef status, and I love baking. I'm also quite creative. (See how this was an ego boost for me?) Besides, in previous years there were disasters upon disasters that occurred in the kitchen, leaving all but one of the houses unfinished. Surely I could do better.

And so I set out to do just that. Given that in prior years either we never got around to applying the roof or planned a house without one (giving way to gum paste furniture and decorations), this year I decided come hell or high water, this one would have a roof. Here's what's turned out so far.


Later on today, I'll post a photo tutorial about how I did the windows. And then another when it's done being decorated. What? Of course it's not done. You know me. I like to go all out. Simplicity is all fine and dandy. Until it comes to a gingerbread house. Then, at least as long as you're not going to a competition, the object of the game is to apply as many seemingly extraneous pieces of candy to the components in order to achieve a sugar induced coma when you finally eat it.

The Great Santa Debate

So I am very much on the fence in regards to telling my girls about Santa. For reference throughout this post, Anaya is 3 and Breanne is 1. Not quite old enough to fully understand, but one would assume that at least Anaya is old enough to grasp the concept.

Well, either we just don't talk it up enough, or Anaya really doesn't get it. Because she hasn't been asking about Santa. Just like she hasn't been asking for a Bratz doll or anything like that. We're a television free household until Daddy gets home in the evenings. There is the occasional movie and of course some PBS here and there. But all that's done is make Anaya's favorite show "Word World".

I digress. As MarvMan has been wrapping the presents, he's been putting them directly under the tree. Not that he's been wrapping a lot of presents, but you get the idea. Presents come in from his family, and they're directly under the tree. Which leaves me sitting here going...

Have we ruined Santa for the girls?

I remember sitting up when I was younger, staring at the bare spots beneath the tree and willing them to fill up with presents. As though even back then I believed I had some sort of advanced mind control powers. Here's where the whole image gets me, though...

The focus was never on Santa. Where was it? On the question "what am I gonna get?" What's the fat man gonna bring me?

Which - if you've been chatting with me recently, you'll know this already - has been making me question the entire concept of Santa all together. It's not about the altruism of a jolly saint anymore. It's not about being grateful that you've got something - which means you were on the good list. Remember, if you ever believed in Santa, all the anxiety associated with Christmas Eve? You may have thought you were on the good list, but suddenly all your bad deeds of the past year have come back to haunt you. Had you made right on them enough to get that ten speed mountain bike?

Now, every kid gets a present. We can't not give a child a present. Even if they've been a heinous beast all year, we don't want to damage their precious self-image. There's no fear of not getting anything. They see the catalogs and the sales, they hear Mommy and Daddy fighting about the credit card bills. They know this is the one holiday that just might beat out their birthday. And that's all they care about. Getting the next big toy, more toys than their friends, and the "gimme gimme gimme".

The actors may have changed, but the special effects are still just that. Effects and photoshopping and CGI. It's lost all magic, all appeal and, quite frankly, is making me consider not celebrating Christmas at all. Yule would be much more honorific to our German heritage anyway. Santa seems to have become just like gift giving was - over commercialized, over sold, with too much flash and lights.

Gift giving had been wearing me out until I discovered the joy of making gifts for my family members. More on that in another post, though.

Now, though, I've got to close to get back to house work and the wrapping of Christmas presents. But until then, I'm left with more questions.
How can I solve my Santa conundrum?
Is there anyone else out there who feels like this?

Oh the things I've been up to today.

So this morning I got a wild and crazy idea. I got my sleepy butt up outta bed at 5:30. Why, you might ask? So I could make homemade tortillas for my husband to eat for breakfast and take to work. I think everyone gets those moments. Where you want to do something nice right before your husband goes off to work so he'll go and talk to all his buddies out in the smoke pit. Man, my wife is so awesome, she did (insert task here) for me this morning! Response: Yeah, your wife is really awesome! I wish my wife did (insert task here)!

And then your husband comes home at the end of the day and says, "Honey, all the guys were jealous of me at work." Your reply is, of course, "Oh, well I can share the recipe with their wives."

But in your head, you're so thinking: Damn skippy they're jealous of you.

So I made the tortillas. For those wanting to play the home game, here's the recipe. Though I can't take credit for it. My awesome neighbor Donna gave this recipe to me from her mother.
2 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp shortening
1/2 - 3/4 C warm water

Combine all your dry ingredients, then cut in the shortening. It's not a lot so don't expect corn meal consistency. Just do your best to mix it in. Add the water. NOTE: Start with just 1/2 cup then add a Tbsp at a time until you get a doughy consistency. Pinch off wee chunks, roll out paper thin, introduce to a griddle for 2-3 minutes each side (w/ griddle temp at about 350-400) and you've got yourself some tortillas!


And then came time for the chocolate baton cookies. These things were tedious, but so far they look well worth it. The recipe is here, but I veered off the beaten path. They didn't hold shape well out of the piping bag and I nixed the sprinkles in favor of more chocolate. The result?


Perfect for dipping into coffee, no? I'll let you know next blog post. But damn skippy you're jealous. Until you make some of your own. Then we're back on even footing.

In Memoriam.

It was beautiful while it lasted...

There are three reasons for breast-feeding: the milk is always at the right temperature; it comes in attractive containers; and the cat can't get it.
~Irena Chalmers

It started when Washburn chewed a hole in her Boppy. And she didn't like Anaya's old Boppy and Anaya didn't like Breanne using her Boppy. We'd cut down to morning, afternoon and bedtime. Then it was just afternoon and bedtime. And then just bedtime.

And now it's been over a week since Breanne last nursed. It's so bittersweet.

My opinion is that anybody offended by breastfeeding is staring too hard. ~David Allen

Three months spent sleeping on a futon or the sofa downstairs in our house in WA so I had immediate access to the kitchen, bathroom and computer for nights that she didn't want to sleep or wanted nothing else but to be rocked and nursed. Finally finding confidence in myself nursing in public. Battling and justifying to my mother when she came out to visit. Marv stepping in and telling my mother what's what when I was nursing in plain view at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Seven weeks of dirty looks, complaints and battling my entire family when we went out to visit in April. After all the whining and complaints, threatening Marv that I was done when she reverted to a newborn's nursing schedule after the move to Nevada.

It is only in the act of nursing that a woman realizes her motherhood in visible and tangible fashion; it is a joy of every moment.
~Honore de Balzac

All the support that I found at Granola Chicks. The encouragement to keep going because while it may not have been convenient for me, it's what was best for Breanne. All the inspiring stories from all the wonderful mamas who've nursed multiple children, tandem nursed, searched for solutions to issues that have come up, have overcome those issues and pressed on and found the joy in such a beautiful bonding experience. We made it 15 glorious, beautiful, trying, frustrating and fulfilling months. I'm sad to see it end, but so proud of how far we've come.

A newborn baby has only three demands. Their warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.
~Grantly Dick-Read

Wednesday Writing Prompt

It's been a bit since I've updated. I'm horrible about these things, as my interest waxes and wanes so very much. Keeping up with me, I'm sure is like keeping up with ... something flighty. I can't quite think at the moment.

Which is also why I'm blogging. Hoping to stretch the fingers a bit and work out the kinks in the brainpan before I start writing for the day. I've got two projects I'm working on at the moment. One is for me, the other is for a dear dear friend. Every year for the past few years we've been doing a Christmas story exchange. Generally, for ease of writing, it's fanfiction. Also, we split it up into little parcels and start giving each other chunks of the story starting on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) up through Hogmanay (the New Year).

I'm super excited about it. Coming straight off NaNoWriMo, churning it out shouldn't be hard. It's in a new fandom, but I'm also excited about that part, too! My friend shared a small snippet of mine with me and oh, I'm stoked!

The other project is a general fiction sort of project. I haven't quite worked it all out. The opening scene has a woman waking up in a hotel room with a man from a band she went to see the previous night. She was drunk and therefore barely remembers leaving the venue, let alone sleeping with the man. I'm not sure where it's going to go from there, but we'll see. it's slowly rolling along.

I've been trying to keep pace with my 1000 words a day, but with gift making and Christmas coming up, it's decreased to 500. Ah, well, as long as I'm writing something, right?

So... here's my writing prompt for Wednesday (assuming this becomes a regular thing): You (or your character) has a shot at fame and fortune with someone they've been pining after but aren't sure it's love. Why would they turn it down?

Change is good

Especially when it comes in the form of a hair cut. I love the feeling after a hair cut. Actually, I lied. If I could and had reason to, I would probably get my hair cut every week. The whole experience is exhilerating.

I should probably explain that while I don't necessarily choose to be an enormously social person, I do enjoy the opportunity to go out and observe or interact with other people. And a hair salon is this fabulous buffet of people and personalities and oh, the things that go on in there.

So not only do I get to come out of there feeling refreshed and like a new woman, I get some social interaction and to indulge my people watching tendencies. (I should also note that in no way am I one of those "weird" voyeurs. I prefer to watch people in social situations. Restaurants, hair salons, book stores in particular, so on.)

My stylist, Kimmy, was fabulous. I love when the stylist is conversational. And not in a transparently fake Starbucks barista way. Though I'd love to be a barista for a day. Especially for the coffee.

Anyway, before I wax poetic about coffee in general, Kimmy was amazing. Quick with the scissors and oh, my word she's so funny. I think I loved all the women at that shop, actually. I also love my new hair cut.

(later)

I'm noticing most of my blog posts are getting interrupted. This is, of course, not cool. Specifically this one wasn't interrupted by anyone. Instead, it was interrupted by a power outage. Leaving this in closing to remind myself to expound upon my quite possibly immature fear of the dark at a later date.

Friday Blase

I had every intention of posting something deep and insightful today, and possibly including part two of my Mom-pologetics post from yesterday. But yesterday was my birthday and as it turned out nothing like a day of celebrating my birth ought to, I've devoted today to recovering. Which means doing a lot of absolutely nothing.

And that, of course, is a bit of a lie. Because I have brewed some coffee. A whole pot, in fact. Then proceeded to drink most of it on my own, minus the two or so cups that went into the husband's thermos. And I've been listening to Kate Nash. Slowly but surely, my music library is expanding. I'm very excited about the addition of several new female artists. There simply aren't enough in the world.

I also did some laundry. You know, to continue the seven piles's worth of fun I had yesterday. On. My. Birthday.

Isn't it interesting? The older I've gotten the more importance I've placed on my birthdays. And not so much by way of receiving gifts, but every year hoping and praying that I'll get an actual day off to lay around and do absolutely nothing. Sadly, however, since I've moved out of the house, it's neer come true. But the hope remains.

(much later)

Funny how I started this post so much earlier in the day and the rest of it has just slipped by. Amazing how children can do that, make an entire day disappear and before you know it, you're sitting in front of your computer, trying to remember the entire point of what you were writing about in the first place.

So with that final moment of "Huh?" for the evening, I'll sign off and pray I'm more intelligently coherent tomorrow.