Last Days of January 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday evening, I met with the Inkaholics middle school group because we had rescheduled. It was kind of nice to meet later in the weekend. The kids were much fun as usual! (As NOT evidenced by the photo below. They were concentrating.)



Monday, January 30, 2012
I snapped this after school sometime that day. I love how Midget's captioned it when I showed her the picture later: I shall tolerate your presence for three seconds longer, mortal!



We had chicken and gravy and mashed potatoes for dinner. The next day, we went to the library. All other details for the month may only be extracted from my brain through hypnotism. :-P

3 Days in January: Arts & Cats

Tuesday, January 17, 2012
It was frosty out that morning, but I made it in to the church office anyway after taking the kids to school. After working my hours at the church and coming home, I spent some time designing the cover for the Inkaholics 007 book, which was long overdue for completion.



Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Julie had recently picked up a how-to drawing book from the library that featured lots of cartoon animals. She had a great time that night drawing and practicing all the little characters. With some practice, she could get to be really good for her age!




Thursday, January 19, 2012
We stopped by the new bookstore after getting Julie from the bus stop. George Wilikers was there as usual, being cute and frisky.




I love that bookstore. It's so cozy and inviting. I think I'll be stopping by there tomorrow to get some work done.

Determined Movie Night

Tuesday was another overall great day. I got up relatively early to meet up with Legolas at Panera Bread for some work time (and their delicious hazelnut coffee). I continued work on the church magazine and sent out quite a few work-related emails. Headed back home around 11:00 so I could take the kids to an afternoon movie.



We waited in line and got all the way to the front, only to find that the 11:55 showing had sold out. Rats! It IS the $1.00 ticket day though. We went ahead and purchased tickets for the next showing at 4:45 and went home again. The kids were disappointed, but it turned out for the best. I was able to get some more work done, and they got to have a healthier lunch and more playtime before the movie.

At one point during playtime, the kids were "selling" gold coins that were leftover from Everest's birthday party. First they were 25 cents each, but the price got lowered to 2 cents when they had no buyers.



At last, the movie time came, and we went early to make sure we got good seats. It's always packed on $1.00 ticket days. We got there before they started seating, so we had our pick of spots by time it opened. The movie was Dolphin Tale, a very touching story based on a real-life dolphin named Winter.



The kids adored it! Julie wants a copy for her birthday. :o) We picked up Chick-fil-A for dinner on the way home and watched some clips on YouTube of the real Winter at her home in Florida's Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They went to bed with such little resistance, I wondered if someone slipped something into their chocolate milk. I guess it was just a good and busy day for them.

I spent the evening cleaning up the house and folding laundry (a never-ending battle). When Heath got home, we just watched a couple shows together, and he has turned in for the night. I'll be following suit here soon enough...

Parting Shot
My sweet but cowardly kitty.

First Family Day of 2012

Sunday, after seeing Jerri off and taking Piper home, the kids decided that we should do a big family day rather than have individual dates. We started out by having a late breakfast at Denny's downtown. A fun treat for all! Everest was very wise and didn't get the pancakes that had sprinkles, telling us that he "doesn't need all that sugar in the morning." Well, good for you, buddy!




We drove through downtown and out to a park in Manitou afterwards. The kids played there for over an hour! It was an incredible little playground--all wood with nooks and crannies and surprises around every corner, maintained completely by neighbors and volunteers. Tons of fun. Heath and I chatted and watched the kids and talked with a mom who was there with her daughter, a girl Julie's age.





Once the sun had dipped below the closest horizon and put us in the shade, we took off for another park (which was still in the sunshine). The kids played for another 30 minutes or so there, ending with a little hop around the Julie Penrose fountain. They were starting to get cold and tired by that point, so we headed back home.





We all rested a little bit when we got home, then Heath took off to go rock climbing. The kids and I had a quick dinner of hot dogs, spaghetti, and fruit. We had talked about going to see a cheap movie; Julie even gathered a bunch of change to purchase the tickets. But it was getting late, and everyone was tired. Also, if we go on Tuesday, the tickets are actually only 75 cents, so it would be better to wait. She set aside the money to save for Tuesday, and she will definitely not forget!



After dinner was done and cleaned up, the kids wanted to do a game Julie calls "Wig Down Show Town," where she and Everest wear different wigs and perform dances and songs. I had them get in jammies and brush up first, but later got to watch a few performances. It was rather hilarious!




We played ball on the stairs with Everest's new soft soccer ball from Nana and Papa, then it was at last time for bed. Julie had a little hard time falling asleep, but she finally did give it up. She had to be tired after such a long day.

Heath returned from climbing, only to find some last minute projects sitting in his email. SIGH. So he is currently taking a nap so he can get up in the middle of the night and get all this stuff done before class starts in the morning. I've been happily catching up on emails and blogs tonight. Work starts again tomorrow, and it's magazine week.

Oh, and by the way, I started Project 365 again for 2012.

Parting Shot
Julie had a cat on either side of her, asking for pets tonight. They really do seem to adore her. :o)

Impromptu Date with the Boy

Friday, I ended up spending the morning with Everest. We went to the gym almost first thing (FINALLY), then had lunch together at Fazolis. We stopped by Village Inn to pick up something to take to Heath at the school, and got a candy cane pie while we were at it. (Nothing like a pie to follow up a workout! XD)

Above: Snowflake in the window; taken by Everest

When we got home, I did finally get a few things done for work. We later picked up Julie and went to Walmart for a few things we needed--one being a turtleneck for Julie's choir concert. Dinner was picked up at Papa Murphys. (I really need to be cooking at home more often. :oP)



We had a pretty relaxed evening. Muse was canceled, and I ended up reading and going to bed early, which was definitely a good thing. Sleep has been somewhat elusive lately.

Parting Shot
Our tortie really makes it difficult to get anything done sometimes.

Week-length Blur

Monday, I worked and wrote busily all day. That evening, I finally moved on the next step of a project we have been doing in the kids room. We've been talking about putting up a partition in the middle of the room so they could each have privacy when they wanted it.

Over the weekend, we moved furniture, and I started getting some hooks up in the walls for a clothesline sort of deal. We later got some curtains (or curtain substitutes) from my mom's stash of Goodwill fodder, and Monday, I sewed slots in them for the wire. YES! I actually got the sewing machine out. Miracles of miracles!




The front "hall" curtains got hung up, and the kids absolutely loved it. They spent quite a bit of time practicing what to do when a person is "on red" (do not disturb) or "on blue" (come in). It was really sweet.

Tuesday, I took a half-day off to write, write, write like a mad woman, PLUS work on the church magazine. I also had another 2-hour tutoring appointment in the evening. The kids were champs though and (for the most part) didn't disturb me while I was on Skype. Whew!

Wednesday, I spent the morning finishing my NaNo novel, then working on church work stuff. I took the kids out for ice cream in the afternoon because they had been so patient with all my crazy schedules and needing to write and stuff in the last several days.



That evening, I put up the final, center curtain in their room. They were so excited that they had a hard time getting to sleep. Ack. Not the best night to do that because I had young wrimos coming over for our last write-in of the season. They eventually settled though, and I had a great time with the girls who came. Even Legolas stopped by later to write with us. Fun times!

Thursday, it was very cold and snowing, but not enough to delay school. After trudging the kids in, I went to the church to work on the magazine and print bulletins. I ended up moving the collating meeting to Friday night because I didn't know if it was going to get icy by evening or not. (We sorely need snow tires!) Turns out, it probably would have been fine, but it was definitely very chilly out there. Best to just stay inside.

I made a creamy turkey veggie soup for dinner and watched two movies with the kids. I was so exhausted after putting them down for bed that I actually fell asleep while waiting for them to settle. Got up around 9:30 though to do the dishes, and now I'm awake again! Still planning on going to bed whenever Heath does. Hopefully not too late...

Parting Shot
This is so stinkin' cute, I don't even know what to say.

Ventures & Misadventures

Tuesday, I didn't have my usual meetings because the pastors are all away this week. Turned out to be a good thing though because Everest slept in until just after 9:00 a.m.! He never sleeps in--unless he's going through a growth spurt or he's feeling sick.

Thankfully it was just that he must be growing because he was in good spirits when he awoke. He's also been eating like crazy this week. I was able to stay on task all day with my magazine stuff. Wahoo!

We went out to run errands in the early afternoon because Julie had Student Council and didn't need to be picked up until later. When we were at the print shop, I was gathering my purse and stuff as Everest climbed out of the car. He closed the door, and I heard a cry. Looking in the sideview mirror, I saw his face scrunched up in pain.

I rushed around the car just as he yanked his thumb out from the crack of the car door. Yikes! We sat down on the curb, and he cried it out, then I checked his thumb. It looked okay though the nail was a bit bent. Buzz Lightyear band-aids were on hand to help save the day. He complained of it hurting a bit more throughout the day, but it doesn't appear that anything was permanently damaged.

When we went to the church, Everest laid down on the couch and played with my iPod the entire time. He was (thankfully) very calm and patient while I printed the bulletins.



My parents were nice enough to fill our gas tank that afternoon, so we got to see them briefly before heading home. Everest is always up for seeing Nana and Papa. :o)



After we got Julie, we came home to get homework done and make dinner. Heath was home for the evening after being in meetings all day. The kids went down all right, and I went to Village Inn with Legolas to work on the magazine as well as do some prep for my next young writers group that would start the next day.



We left there a little after midnight, and the snow was coming down something fierce. Legolas had to get out the ice scraper to brush off all the accumulated snow before we could go anywhere. And even then, by time she finished one side, it had covered the other again. Thank goodness the roads were still warm enough that it didn't get icy.




Once I got home, I did some more work on the magazine into the night. But at least almost all the articles got laid out, putting me ahead of where I usually am by Tuesday night.

Parting Shot
Simon takes full advantage of sitting in any unusual spots he can find. He doesn't seem to care if he'll only get to sit there for three minutes; he just plops down wherever he wants to.

So much for sleep

Monday began my busiest week of the month--magazine week. Of course, I had a zillion other things to do before I could even get started on the church magazine. After Heath took Julie to school, I decided to switch up the normal Monday morning routine and get an hour or so of work done first, THEN do breakfast. Everest was content to have apples and oranges while he watched an episode of Sesame Street.

Around 11:00, we went to the gym with Legolas to get at least one workout out of the way. It was a really good one; we did the treadmill and the elliptical. I also did abs and back extensions. Whew!



After Everest and I returned home, I made us some lunch, and he rested for a little while as I got some more work tasks done. Soon it was time for Julie to come home, and we met her on the way to the bus stop. She finished up her homework hurriedly because Heath was taking her out on a date that afternoon.

I finished up what I was doing on the computer, then Everest and I did some preschool pages together. We got dinner going too--chili dogs with peas and tater tots. Oh yeah, the dinner of champions.




Heath got the kids in bed while I happily cleaned up the kitchen. (A MUCH easier task if you ask me.) I had enough time to read the kids their bedtime story before the Monday night chat began. It was a crazy busy chat, with Christopher Hopper and Wayne Thomas Batson. Those guys are a riot! The chatters really enjoyed them and their banter.

Once the kids were asleep, Heath took off to go rock climbing, and I continued working on various things to get ready to start the magazine. That was the day, and will probably be the week as well. Work, work, work. But hey--ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Parting Shot
I had some tuna in my salad for lunch, and the cats were more than willing to drink up the tuna-infused water from the can.



Hmm...seeing them all together like this kind of makes me feel like a crazy cat lady. o.O