Odds and Ends

****I'm short.

I drive a 12 passenger van as my everyday ride.

A telescoping window ice scraper seems genius.

Concept, excellent.

Actual execution, not so spectacular.

I'm still short.

Now I'm short with a sore back.

****Public health.

I see the point. I understand the purpose.

8:AM, double digits below zero, 2 kids under 3, still not loving it.

There will never, ever be enough hand sanitizer to make it seem okay.

****Buying ice.

It's a personal pet peeve. Like buying water, only worse. And yet today, at minus frostbite temperatures I bought a bag. I don't drink anything on ice with the exception of a restaurant or bar. I just don't. My freezer is full. I keep what I like to drink cold and the rest I drink at room temperature. I'm an odd ball, I guess. And for The Mr., the sound of ice rubbing together or being cracked out of trays is the same as nails on a chalk board for you and me. The kids have all been raised without. They'll probably grow up to be ice-aholics.

All that said, I bought ice in a bag today. For good reason though, we're having a little social tomorrow night and the juice is all room temperature. Oh well. At least I have the red party cups.

****Shopping accomplished.

Now on to the massive to do list. Somehow in the last few days I had gotten peacefully lulled into a sense of accomplishment, almost as if I were done and ready for this silly old holiday. But early this morning, and I do mean early, say round about 3:AM-ish, I realized I have all sorts of things to finish up. Lots of photos to pull together, ornaments to finish, meals to plan, cook and freeze, gifts that still need wrapping and, well, oh my, there is just a lot more to do.

****Christmas cards.

They're arriving in my mail box. I'm delighted. I'm a junkie. I especially love the photos and crazy letters. I love them all, from the catalog type that tells you everything that happened to everyone month by month for the whole year to the crazy, creative ones that have silly themes or are just really out there. I love, love, love the photo cards too. It always makes my heart stop for just a beat to see how much we've all changed in a year.

The changes are especially dramatic if you do Christmas cards the way we do. It seems we pull it together and get out a photo or a crazy letter once every couple of years and we hit somewhere in the window of 2 months before Christmas and 6 months after it's all over. In my mind, I like to think of the surprised faces on all our friends and relatives when they open up one of our rogue holiday mailers.

Yes, I do have "that sort" of humor outlook on life. It's just to short and too hard to be that insanely serious about yourself and everything else that much of the time.*

*Not to be dissing the Savior and the Real Deal of the holiday, but shouldn't we all be living that daily? I know, it's the season to play it up, live it out loud a little more and shake up all the "others" but you know, if you live it, you live it, 24/7, not just on the Eve.

****I'm hooked on sweet, sassy potatoes.

That would be roasted sweet potatoes, seasoned with salt, black pepper, cinnamon and chili powder. I'm loving them with everything from chicken to steak and left over with everything else.

Give me a few weeks and I'll have moved on to another food obsession, I'm sure. It doesn't take much for me.

****2010 could be the year of the adoption.

Yes it could. We'll know more soon, but it's looking like there is a good chance the appeal will not stand and we'll be able to petition for an adoption date soon.

****Boys cannot feel temperatures below zero.

My boys just came to me now, at 6PM and asked to go out to play. It's dark. It's in the minus 20-something range. Yesterday, on the snow day, one of them was wearing shorts. That one frequently has bare feet inside his winter boots too.

They seriously just do not feel the cold.

****I feel the cold.

Just last night I wore flannel pj's to bed, long sleeves and long legs, plus socks. I also had 3 blankets on my bed, one of which is the heavy sort. The old fashioned heavy, like you lay down, pull the blanket up and then you can't move for the rest of the night because it's heavy.

****I wore a hat today.

Yes, this is news. The last time I wore a hat really seriously on purpose by choice with the intent to be warm and not caring how I looked was back around 1990 while I was a student at UW-O and walking across campus through what I always called the wind tunnel. Just plain stupid cold.

I've owned hats. I've been given quite a few hats in the last few years. I have a hood on my coat.

Today while out shopping at the local cheep mart, I bought one. When I got to the car, I took it out of the bag, ripped the tags off and put it on. It's not pretty. It's not fashionable. It's not stylish. But it was warm. Really warm. Toasty.

I plan to keep on wearing it until Christmas Eve. Then it will make it's way into my stocking along with the other goodies I picked up to put in there. Ah, Mr. you've done a good job filling the sock this year. I can assure you, I'll be happy with the contents. Thanks.

****Decorator decals are cool.

So I found one of those things at the garden store while I was getting pricey bows for my garage and a wreath for my door. It's a ridiculously simple and cool thing. It's a great big sticker or decal and you peal it off and stick it on to the wall. It's super cool looking. Like you had some pro come in and do some real fancy decor work up there over the mantle or wherever you stick it. I'm seriously impressed with my $3 purchase.

After the season, I just might look into those for the rest of the house for regular decor. How cool would it be to decorate your house with words!!

Just the thought makes me slightly giddy.