Yes, I know I said I would post photos of the hair and deck. I haven't taken them yet. Back off! Oh, sorry. I guess I'm a little stressed. Thanksgiving came so late in the year this time around that I'm feeling all out of sorts because Christmas is just around the corner and I've vowed to make most of the gifts this year and, naturally, I couldn't start making them before Thanksgiving (that would be way too organized) so I'm feeling a bit of a time crunch. I did manage to get the gifts mailed off to Ireland yesterday. So now I can start on gifts for the stateside people in my life. But first I have to finish the newsletter I edit for the writers group I belong to and then I have to write an article for our neighborhood paper. And do laundry. And wash dishes. And finish the robe I started making for Jerry. And--you get the picture. Stress.
The good news is that we're going to a cookie party/sleep over at Violet's house today. So I can forget about all of those things until Sunday afternoon. Last night we baked a bunch of chocolate chip cookies, ate a bunch of dough (which I seriously regret now) and we're baking and decorating sugar cookies this morning. Then we're off to--well, I don't actually know where it is. It's far. And it's close to San Diego. I do know it's going to be fun and that's all that really matters!
Which reminds me...we had another great "Family Fun Day" this week. It was Jerry's turn to choose how we spent the day so we stayed home and put up Christmas decorations, made some origami ninja stars (in red and green, of course), made paper airplanes and threw them off the deck to see whose was best (Jerry's) and worst (mine). We watched "The Cat Returns" and an episode of Total Drama Island--Jerry paused it frequently to give us a rundown on all the characters. We baked and decorated cookies; did some reading; Jerry made a Christmas stocking for Patsy (our dog) and Warren made a cat toy for Charlie and Ravenpaw. I was the consultant for both projects. It was really fun. Jerry captured the putting up of our tree in stop motion and, later, Warren edited in some music and titles. Have a look:
And have a great weekend!!
Showing posts with label family fun day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family fun day. Show all posts
December 13, 2008
December 5, 2008
Photos & Family Fun
Here's a quick photo round up of what's been going on in our house since my last post.
We spent Thanksgiving at home with Warren's mom, his sister, and her family. Rock Band was a big hit.
The day after Thanksgiving I got very crafty. I made this skirt for my niece.
And this knight outfit for my nephew. I've vowed to make as many gifts as I can this year and I'm off to a good start.
Jerry made a hat for the dog. She didn't seem too thrilled about it.
She resigned to herself to wearing it, though. She's so good.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving a little box of bolts
and a bigger box of steel cables
brought us to the end of the interminably long process of building a deck (two, actually) off the back of our house.
We just had to string the cables through the holes
and screw on the bolts
and voila! The deck was finished!! Yippee!! Hooray!! Wahoo!!
Jerry and Charlie relaxed on the rocking chair after all the work was done.
Warren and I poured some 1988 Perrier Jouet for ourselves (and milk for Jerry).
But guess what? It turns out champagne doesn't stand up too well to many, many years in a hot kitchen with no air conditioning. It tasted like vinegar. Sweet vinegar. But still...vinegar.
We were not to be deterred, however. We opened a bottle of wine instead and the celebration continued.
Of course, I haven't managed to get my butt out back to take a picture of the whole deck (it's a double-decker deck) in all it's glory but I will. It's a beautiful thing. Now we have loads of landscaping to do. I've been pouring over books about California natives until my eyes are ready to pop out of my head. I think I might go down to good old Theodore Payne today for some face to face help deciding what to plant next to the deck. There are waaaay too many choices when it comes to plants.
However, there don't seem to be any choices at all when it comes to living a dairy-free life. Two days ago I decided to cut out dairy and (horror of horrors!) wine from my diet. Honestly, I don't know which is worse. At least I don't miss wine until dinner time, though. I miss dairy all. Day. Long. The thing is, I'm tired of blowing my nose every three seconds (Warren has threatened to make me a tissue holster) and I think dairy is the culprit. Also, I've noticed that when I drink wine (especially red wine) before bed, the stuffy nose gets worse. And it's keeping me awake at night. And then once I'm awake I can't stop thinking about things like the fact that I probably have cancer and will die an untimely death, forcing Jerry to go to school and Warren into complete despair because then he'll have to sort through all the crap that's piling up in our office and garage without me. And also because he'll miss me. For the record, I have not been diagnosed with any kind of cancer. It's just a general feeling of cancer that's keeping me awake.
In other news, as soon as I posted about Jerry's excessive screen time he started spending less time in front of the screen. How does that happen? Also, we've instituted a new weekly event called "Family Fun Day." The idea is that it happens once a week. It's screen-free. And each of us takes turns choosing how we'll spend the day. I know what you're thinking. You're imagining me standing over Jerry shouting "You will start having fun right this instant! It's Family Fun Day God Dammit!!" And to be honest it could have gone that way. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed and said he was boycotting Family Fun Day.
Instead of panicking, however, I just sat with him on the couch and we talked. Not about Family Fun day. Just about stuff. And then he was fine. And the day was great. We visited our 93-year-old friend Sol (he had a job offer for Jerry), then went to JoAnne's for fabric for a robe I'm making for Jerry, then went to one of our favorite state parks, Will Rogers State Historic Park. We played frisbee, and walked around and sat in silence, then headed home where we ate dinner and sat in the living room reading. At the end of it Jerry said the only thing he didn't like about it was the no screen thing. But when I asked if the day would have been as special if we'd had screen time (it was no screen for all of us) he said no, it wouldn't have. So I think it was a success, and I think it was right to make it screen-free. Next week it's Jerry's turn to pick the activity. He's decided we'll all stay home and decorate the house for Christmas. If he wants to do a screenish activity together that's fine but the idea is that we do it together. I hope all the rest of the Family Fun Days go as well as the first. Of course, with a name like Family Fun Day, things could go horribly wrong. It's almost like we're tempting fate to make it something other than "fun." Still, I'm optimistic.
One final thing. I'm cutting my hair. Short. I think I might do it today. It's all because of Skype. I talk to my sister in Ireland via video chat on Skype. If you've never looked at yourself on a video chat, let me tell you, it's not pretty. Well, for you maybe it's pretty but for me, definitely not. Anyway, looking at myslef on Skype has become too much to bear. Today I actually turned the camera backwards, but my sister said it was disconcerting to be looking at my stove while talking to me. So I think the solution is a hair cut. Yep, I'm pretty sure a hair cut will solve everything. Hopefully it'll cure that cancer, too.
We spent Thanksgiving at home with Warren's mom, his sister, and her family. Rock Band was a big hit.
The day after Thanksgiving I got very crafty. I made this skirt for my niece.
And this knight outfit for my nephew. I've vowed to make as many gifts as I can this year and I'm off to a good start.
Jerry made a hat for the dog. She didn't seem too thrilled about it.
She resigned to herself to wearing it, though. She's so good.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving a little box of bolts
and a bigger box of steel cables
brought us to the end of the interminably long process of building a deck (two, actually) off the back of our house.
We just had to string the cables through the holes
and screw on the bolts
and voila! The deck was finished!! Yippee!! Hooray!! Wahoo!!
Jerry and Charlie relaxed on the rocking chair after all the work was done.
Warren and I poured some 1988 Perrier Jouet for ourselves (and milk for Jerry).
But guess what? It turns out champagne doesn't stand up too well to many, many years in a hot kitchen with no air conditioning. It tasted like vinegar. Sweet vinegar. But still...vinegar.
We were not to be deterred, however. We opened a bottle of wine instead and the celebration continued.
Of course, I haven't managed to get my butt out back to take a picture of the whole deck (it's a double-decker deck) in all it's glory but I will. It's a beautiful thing. Now we have loads of landscaping to do. I've been pouring over books about California natives until my eyes are ready to pop out of my head. I think I might go down to good old Theodore Payne today for some face to face help deciding what to plant next to the deck. There are waaaay too many choices when it comes to plants.However, there don't seem to be any choices at all when it comes to living a dairy-free life. Two days ago I decided to cut out dairy and (horror of horrors!) wine from my diet. Honestly, I don't know which is worse. At least I don't miss wine until dinner time, though. I miss dairy all. Day. Long. The thing is, I'm tired of blowing my nose every three seconds (Warren has threatened to make me a tissue holster) and I think dairy is the culprit. Also, I've noticed that when I drink wine (especially red wine) before bed, the stuffy nose gets worse. And it's keeping me awake at night. And then once I'm awake I can't stop thinking about things like the fact that I probably have cancer and will die an untimely death, forcing Jerry to go to school and Warren into complete despair because then he'll have to sort through all the crap that's piling up in our office and garage without me. And also because he'll miss me. For the record, I have not been diagnosed with any kind of cancer. It's just a general feeling of cancer that's keeping me awake.
In other news, as soon as I posted about Jerry's excessive screen time he started spending less time in front of the screen. How does that happen? Also, we've instituted a new weekly event called "Family Fun Day." The idea is that it happens once a week. It's screen-free. And each of us takes turns choosing how we'll spend the day. I know what you're thinking. You're imagining me standing over Jerry shouting "You will start having fun right this instant! It's Family Fun Day God Dammit!!" And to be honest it could have gone that way. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed and said he was boycotting Family Fun Day.
Instead of panicking, however, I just sat with him on the couch and we talked. Not about Family Fun day. Just about stuff. And then he was fine. And the day was great. We visited our 93-year-old friend Sol (he had a job offer for Jerry), then went to JoAnne's for fabric for a robe I'm making for Jerry, then went to one of our favorite state parks, Will Rogers State Historic Park. We played frisbee, and walked around and sat in silence, then headed home where we ate dinner and sat in the living room reading. At the end of it Jerry said the only thing he didn't like about it was the no screen thing. But when I asked if the day would have been as special if we'd had screen time (it was no screen for all of us) he said no, it wouldn't have. So I think it was a success, and I think it was right to make it screen-free. Next week it's Jerry's turn to pick the activity. He's decided we'll all stay home and decorate the house for Christmas. If he wants to do a screenish activity together that's fine but the idea is that we do it together. I hope all the rest of the Family Fun Days go as well as the first. Of course, with a name like Family Fun Day, things could go horribly wrong. It's almost like we're tempting fate to make it something other than "fun." Still, I'm optimistic.
One final thing. I'm cutting my hair. Short. I think I might do it today. It's all because of Skype. I talk to my sister in Ireland via video chat on Skype. If you've never looked at yourself on a video chat, let me tell you, it's not pretty. Well, for you maybe it's pretty but for me, definitely not. Anyway, looking at myslef on Skype has become too much to bear. Today I actually turned the camera backwards, but my sister said it was disconcerting to be looking at my stove while talking to me. So I think the solution is a hair cut. Yep, I'm pretty sure a hair cut will solve everything. Hopefully it'll cure that cancer, too.
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