November 2006 Archives

Gracie has recovered well from her last asthma incident. Steven had what was the beginnings of a runny nose which suddenly because a sinus infection that morphed into an ear infection. Yaaayyy for me! I have not slept in months. I don't know why this makes much difference but getting little sleep then going to getting no sleep is a drastic change! I am a zombie. During the waking hours when I have not been holding a whining, fretting, fevered baby we have been decorating for my favorite time of the year. These are the Christmas trees we have put up and decorated in this old house. The girls put this little tree in their bathroom. There is one in my bathroom as well but I forgot to make a photo.
The tree in the kitchen is decorated with ornaments collected from places we have visited but they all have a kitchen theme. Pots, pans, candy, cooks, cookies, etc. they all have a place on this tree.
The tree in Colby's bedroom is decorated mostly with gold and white ornaments.
J's tree is blue and silver.
Gracie's tree is pink and white.
Steven's tree is red and green with ornaments more fitting a boy. Rustic looking items made from pinecones and wooden ornaments.
The tree in the upstairs front hall.
My large tree in the living room.
The trees in the kids bedrooms are six feet tall but they don't look it in the photos. The hall tree and the livingroom tree is 7 feet tall. The ceilings are a different height upstairs -they are lower than the downstairs ceilings. Each year we add new ornaments to the Christmas tree. This year the girls have been asked to make each other ornaments for their trees. It has been a really fun project. Colby blew a dozen eggs and is painting them. J has been quilling her ornaments. Gracie put together snowmen from a kit. I crocheted santa faces for Steven's offering. I also made some lace angels for my own addition. So far Steve hasn't added anything but we are excusing him because he has been working 14 hour days. The wreaths are up. the garlands are on the fence. We have stockings hung on the staircase. The mantle is bedecked. Two nativities are set up. I do have to hang the garlands for the front door and set out the Christmas village pieces. I thought I would add one more of the front stairscase.
I'll try to post more photos tomorrow of all the things we are doing. Have you started your decorating yet? Can we see photos? If so, leave a link and we will come visit.

After a week of doctor appointments, living by the clock with medicines, dosage changes and orders for a 9 year old to do nothing more strenuous than watching movies we are now on the good side of "everything is returning to normal" -whatever normal is. Gracie is now taking an inhaled medication twice daily to help prevent these sudden onset asthmatic events. The doctor says that even though she did not test positive in any of her tests for asthma that Gracie is presenting classic asthma for a child. It could be the big change in the weather that set her off or the fact that she is getting close to puberty age. (sob) So what do you do when trying to keep a very active girl in a very non-active mode? Well, we are not having Thanksgiving at home this week. We are going to my in-laws. So .... (do not shout at me) ... we started working on some homemade Christmas decorations. It takes time to make an ornament for everyone in the family (14 of us on Steve's side) (7 on mine). We made snowmen. I got this craft kit for a song. $2.95 for enough materials to make 12 of these snowmen. I bought 2 packs, we are making 24 ornaments (for the neighbors too). These are not small. They end up about six inches in length and it is all wood, fabric, jingle bells and ribbon. We also began to make these angels. Simple crocheted lace, beads, buttons, ribbons and heart shaped jewels. $5 to make 12. Not nearly the deal I got with the snowmen. We have also been making these santa faces for door decorations. Isn't it cute what can be done with some yarn, felt, fabric, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, an old bleach bottle and small hands that need to be kept busy. Thank you all for your prayers. Gracie is amazingly well today. I am not foolish enough to think that it was only medicines that got her to where she I now. I can't thenak you enough for being our prayer warriors. Grace has two days of school this week. Colby has one class tonight. We will spend this week getting ready for Thanksgiving and making account of what decorations are going up this year. I did all of my shopping online last week. Almost everything is due to be delivered today or tommorrow. Yayyyyyy for free shipping. And remember .... It's the most wonderful time of the year ...

Grace had a major asthma attack. We have been to the wall with meds, doctors and treatments. Please keep her in your prayers. NOTHING I have ever experienced in my life has prepared me for seeing my child gasping for air and there is nothing I can do to aid her. Being at the mercy of medicine is not fun in any way. Steven has a cold, too. No sleep + many meds + much worry / lots of snot = motherhood/ no NaNoWriMo updates. I will try later this week to catch up. I do have lots to share!

Steven has now been napping for two hours! Incredible! I have managed to use that time to address all of my Thanksgiving (15) and Christmas (100) cards and to write this post. I did not use this time to write more for NaNoWriMo. I do plan to to do that later today or tonight. For those who asked about saving shopping carts: If you have a log in account with different online stores such as Amazon, Walmart, J.C. Penney and many other department stores you can save your shopping cart for later.

1. Home alone from 7:30 am until 9 or 10 pm for the past 2 days. No help whatsoever with a baby who doesn't want to take a nap, refuses to take a nap and as soon as I do get him to take a nap someone who lives in this house calls and wakes him up at the very beginning of the nap!! Arrghhh! Note: I am NOT complaining about the baby I am pissed off about the damn phone callers who KNOW not to call in the middle of the afternoon unless it is a life threatening emergency situation. 2. NaNoWriMO? Hahahahaha! See #1. I am going to try and crank out some more words today. I'll try (I said TRY) to post what I have for the last four days sometime this afternoon. 3. Trying to get ahead with my Christmas organization. Ordered my cards and they have been delivered. When will I get them addressed? Hahahahaha! See #1 and #2. 4. I have chosen and ordered the kids Christmas pajamas. For those who are new here every Christmas the kids get new pajamas just for Christmas morning. This year we are doing plaid. When Colby and Grace were little I made all the pajamas and pj's for my neices and nephews as well. Now it is easier to buy them because the flanel material I have seen and used in the past few years has been poor quality that for unexplained reasons blew a hole after a couple washings. What is up with that? 5. I have items in the shopping carts of a couple websites for all my Christmas gifts from Santa. I just need to review, type in the credit card information and be done with my Christmas shopping for the season. Free shipping! Saves me a huge amount of trouble! 6. Thanksgiving will be with my in-laws. We are bringing the dessert. I plan to go get me some more of those stayman apples. I am in love with this apple. Steve has asked about planting a tree or two as I am smitten with them. I will be taking apple pies and pumpkin bread as my offering. 7. Which do you think Steve would like more - a plow or a disk harrow from Santa? Isn't that a damn fine and romantic Christmas present? 8. While I do spend a huge amount of time planning and preparing for Christmas I anticipate Thanksgiving just as much. It is the gateway to the most wonderful time of the year. I get so excited watching old Thanksgiving and Christmas TV specials. 9. I need to cut the grass one last time before everything is put away for the season. Good thing it is raining because I am not in the mood for grass cutting today. Maybe I will get a chance to come around and visit your journals today. 10. Do you plan ahead or wait till the last minute for your holiday preparations? I will post the prime rib/standing rib roast recipe on the recipe journal. Updated: Standing Rib Roast Recipe

... and then I'll tell you how much I love you," I said to Steve Sunday afternoon. He looked up from his laptop and said, "I love you so much it is unquantifiable." "Oh," I turned from my place in front of the fire, "mine is quantifiable and two words. Apple. Pie." The light bulb went on and his eyes gleamed. Yes, he is spoiled. I made his favorite for Sunday supper dessert -apple pie. I used the Virginia Staymans. Goodness but that is a most excellent apple. We also are had roasted potatoes, salad and a standing rib roast served with horseradish. Mmmmmmm mmmm.

...Or Why do I Punish Myself With Ridiculous Goals During One of the Busiest Months of My Year I have been trying to decide if I would or would not share my feeble attempt at NaNoWriMo this year as last year ended way short of my goal of producing some sort of fictional offering equaling 50,000 or more words. I guess the decision has been made because I am posting a link to where the last 3 days of writing can be found. As I am a glutton for punishment the story I started and never finshed last year can be found here as well. All I can think is I need to crank out at least another 1666 words today to stay on goal.

Hallowe'en was a fun evening in our village. Hundreds of kids swarm the street in a variety of costumes. My scarecrow and my pumpkin Steve and Steven were dressed as a scarecrow and a pumpkin. The baby is so cute I could just gobble him up whole. After everyone had their supper and all were dressed the sun went down and the magic hour had come. The baby was excited. I think he knew something was going on. He was ready to go sitting like a big boy in his wagon. About a half an hour was all he lasted. Dad brought him home sleeping in his red wagon.