12.31.2010 Friday New Year's Eve

Cole finished out his overnight with Chickie Nuggets for breakfast and playing outside because the weather is squirrely at 60º.  No snow left on the ground and I have an extreme headache.  I called for a Girls' Road Trip to the outlet mall in Edinburgh in search of the traditional first Christmas gift for the newly weds.  We laughed all the way there and all the way back.  It was great!  Even if the stories were re-told, I definitely needed some light-heartedness this holiday season.  I'm glad to end the year on an upbeat.  I'll have to follow Holly's lead and do a recount in a later post.  We are on the way to Gilbert Street to see who is awake to see the new year in.  It will be good to close the book on 2010.  I hope it was a low point and that it's uphill from here. 

12.30.2010 Thursday

Kenzer explored the art supplies on Royal Oak.  She used stencils, puzzles, scissors, markers, crayons, magnets, popsicle sticks, hole punches and colored pencils.  I think she enjoyed herself.  She wanted a tiger dance dress, so the fold over elastic I ordered arrived yesterday, so we got a black lycra dress with zebra trim.  (as close as I could find to tiger).  Altered a red petticoat for dance use also, as I figured it would be duet rather than a solo performance.

  Couldn't figure out the link to Aaron Gnap's video but he has the dancing girls on his phone and shared on Facebook.  We spent most of the afternoon in the Studio and then Kenzer took a huge nap.  She was still asleep when the next handoff occurred.  Cole was ready for his turn.  He went to bed at 9:00pm so it was a early evening. 

12.29.2010 Wednesday

Kendall needed a warmer top at our house, so she picked a multicolored polar fleece.  She seemed to really like it and wore it all day.  We didn't make it to the Studio, but just stayed in the house.  Made a fabulous roast in the Baby George.  We didn't have the crowd anticipated, so there will be plenty of left overs.  Swapped kids in the evening and Kenzer was packed for Nacation.  Nice evening and everyone stayed up too late. 

12.28.2010 Tuesday

Got started on my all-encompassing to do stickers.  Did a couple of the big bottlenecks although I never made it to the studio other than to turn on the heat.  You can see where some progress was made.  Day started to turn south in the afternoon.  James' knee may result in surgery at the worst and some sort of therapy or conditioning at the best.  Kelly gave up the battle over outside employment and left her job so that means James doesn't have a job either.  It would have been a easy descent into despair but we didn't go there. 

We had a nice Italian dinner.  Holly and Kristen helped in the kitchen and baked brownies.  Kelly brought Kendall for an over night and James is talking about finding an online degree.  Actually everything is looking up instead of down.  We all had a nice evening packed into the media room.

12.27.2010 Monday

Went to Anderson with Den for breakfast and in search of photo book covers without the insides.  We may have found them at Star Photo (or not).  Did get a hint of an internet source.  Took a long nap, then the travelers started to come back to town.  Gilbert Street arrived first and then Indy.  We had an impromptu buffet tonight on Royal Oak with Back to the Future Marathon.  The Christmas thing is starting to fade.  I'm going to have to isolate the cause of it.  It's either total ecstasy or the pit of dispare.  There doesn't seem to be a middle ground and there has to be because every year can't be at either extreme.  This would be good to plan for next year.

12.26.2010 Sunday

Dennis left to video tape at church and woke me up right before he left.  I got ready to go, but just didn't.  Still feeling the funk of yesterday.  Kristen stayed at Gilbert Street.  We three had lunch on Royal Oak and just did the veg thing with TV and Colts Football.  Doesn't feel like the day after Christmas, doesn't feel like Sunday....just feels like winter with no agenda.  Made myself a post-it page full of notes of things that need to be accomplished prior to January 11th (the start of school).  May be a tad overwhelmed with the sheer volume of notes and tasks.  Need to just pick one and start.  

12.25.2010 Saturday Christmas Day

Joe remarked yesterday during a Skype that their house "smelled like Christmas" after Heidi baked some dinner rolls.  I too was trying to capture that "Christmas" illusion by trying cinnamon rolls in the toaster over.  This was a glorious fully raised batch and unfortunately the height of the oven couldn't handle the top of the rolls and they were charred on the corners. The burned smell didn't totally block out the cinnamon and they still tasted good.  Just a bit disappointing to know that it didn't work as expected. 

I went back to bed and slept very late.  Dennis and Chewy were watching Westerns on TV when I woke up and so I suggested that he go to Gilbert Street to watch an action video and he and Kristen had requested that was due tonight.  I wasn't in the mood for shoot-em-up, and so I decided to try to get the book printed and ready to bind.  That turned into an all afternoon job.  My mom's cell phone photo printing also needed some technology tweaking so I was glad to learn what it takes to save cell phone photos to the card and to get them into a computer.  Mom invited us to Pat's house this evening, but it was like the Fox, duck and corn puzzle to figure out how to drive north and still get the animals cared for with no one left in here alone, so we declined. 

I fixed scalloped potatoes for Christmas dinner and then decided to have Den and Kristen just come back to Royal Oak for dinner.  We finished out the night with the last of the DVD's of Season One of Modern Family.  That made for a good evening. 

Kristen is back on Gilbert Street.  Den is in bed and I'm blogging, desktop publishing and maybe cutting out a t-shirt quilt.  My studio door is frozen shut so I couldn't have worked out there today if I wanted to.  I'll have to figure out a way to rig up a tiny little gutter system to keep the melting snow from forming an ice ridge on the step.  That may be a challenge. 

Christmas without family is not right.  I'm seeing the wisdom in not celebrating birthdays.  My mom always said that most people can't help and didn't have much to do with being born, so why the big ta-do?  I'm starting to re-think (or more accurately would be to THINK) traditions that our both cultural and religious.  Good night loyal reader, I hope your holiday was all that you hoped for and more positive than negative.  It is what it is. 

12.24.2010 Friday James 21st Birthday Christmas Eve

The plan was to go out to breakfast with James/Holly before they go to Indy.  When I found out that the Kenzer Hat and Scarf had not been delivered, I jumped into the car to try to catch Gnaps before they headed for Ohio, but of course, they left at least an hour early so she didn't have her hat and scarf.  I came back to the house and just went back to bed because everyone else had a late night.  Now with James and his bum knee Holly has to load everything and get everything ready for their Indy trip.  We do all manage to go to Bob Evans for a late lunch/breakfast and James really seemed to like the Superheros Popup Book I got him (in October).  That was that....his birthday was over and done. 

I ran last minute errands thinking I would make the best of 3 days in a row with no commitments.  I was one of the last people in Lowe's and Walmart tonight.  I got everything except a Christmas Tree.  I tripped over the cat three times trying to get out of the house for Christmas eve service where Wade pointed out that Christmas isn't in the Bible and that it was a pagan holiday and only Roman's were garish enough to celebrate their birthdays.  I also whacked the daylights out of my knee cap on the stupid hymnal rack at the video station.  The next time I go to church I'm taking a screwdriver and taking that off.  It's a menace. 

We drove the car on 0 miles to the gas station and I ordered Chinese for 3 and then went back to Gilbert Street to keep Kristen company with movies.  Kelly Jones joined us and we got her hooked on Modern Family.  Kristen stayed there and we got home about midnight. 

12.23.2010 Thursday

Coleman slept in this morning because of his late busy night last night.  He had a great self initiated pee on the potty and was very proud of himself.  He and I worked in the studio this morning and he stayed engaged with a magnet set for quite a long time until he started to unload the notions in my sewing table.  I got quite a bit done in making more room and putting some stuff away, but that was about it. 

Dennis took him home for a nap so I could get a massage.  Man I needed a massage and Angie was gracious and rescheduled it from last week so that I could get a paper finished.  It was wonderful.  I ran errands afterward and decided to see what I could find in the snowpants arena before I made them.  Found deals at Kohl's and TJMaxx so all the Gilbert Street gang own brand new snow jackets and pants of their very own.  The kids (and Kelly) were really surprised and happy about them.  The only disappoinment was that Kenzer's didn't come with a scarf and hat.  So when I got home later, I made those and Kristen agreed to drop them off at Gilbert Street when she accompanied James on his midnight birthday rendezvous with his buddies.  The winter accessories drop off didn't happen , but James' night out did.  His friends bought him enough libation to make the right of passage memorable and after a particularly good pool shot, he hurt his left knee again.  Kristen got him home and he and Holly spent the night in the media room. 
It seems like a long time ago that he was born and it seems like a minute.  He was very happy to celebrate with friends.  I think even more than being 21.  It was the idea that someone acknowledged his birthday besides us. 

12.22.2010 Wednesday

Switched kids at dinner time so Kendall could make cookies on Gilbert Street.  Cole was packed and waiting by the door (almost).  He definitely understands a pecking order.  He went a mile-a-minute most of the evening and didn't argue about going to bed.  I laid down with him and he took about 10 minutes and then was out.  I'm not getting much done, but I'm glad to have the chance to hang with the kids.