Forget the Weatherman, asked the Weathered Man

So apparently last week there was a magnificent Sun Dog around the sun at sunset.

But since I live in the middle of the city . . .I didn't get to see it. Rats.

Last night my dad told me that seeing a sun dog means that there will be an abrupt change in the weather. A.K.A. our little 'heat wave' we are experiencing today of 30+ degrees.

I've decided that I'm not going to listed to the weather man anymore . . .I'm just going to buy myself a Farmer's Almanac. Did you know the old saying that 90 days after a fog there will be bad weather? I didn't, but My dad made the announcement in church one foggy Sunday that they would have no church on Christmas because it was foggy out. I really wish he wouldn't have been right about the weather on that particular item.

I'll trust a farmer who can lose his money over not watching the weather over the meteorologist that makes money to take guesses any day of the week.

And a thought for the day . . .
When you park beside a vehicle that is really, really close to the line in the parking stall beside you . . .do you adjust your vehicle around their position? Or do you park as straight as you can ni your stall and take a quick inventory of any dings on your car and memorize their make and model for the possible police report that could follow?

Crowns, Latkes, and Socks

It has been an interesting last 24 hours.

Jeff called yesterday to say that Alaina's friend Fee (nickname) was coming over for a playdate while her parent's went to see Sherlock Holmes. If I was one of those people who is into labels, Fee would be Alaina's 'best friend.' But since I'm not into labels and they are only three years old, Fee is just a good friend.

They played games . . . .

Tried on the princess hat that Alaina made last week . . . .

And pretty much just had tons of fun. I got tired of chasing them around - which I had to do because having two three-year-olds in the house means that someone is going to get hurt. (Thank goodness it was my child who beaned herself on the table.) To get them to sit down, I bribed them with chocolate chip muffins, and devised a craft.

Cut the center out of a paper plate and glue things to it and TADA! You have a crown!

What are those little squares, you ask? They are my obsession. When a fashion designer draws the design for a dress, they attach the little 'swatch' of fabric so that the person looking at it can get an idea of the flow, color, and style of the cloth. While taking costuming classes in college, we had access to dozens of boxes of fabric scraps which the teacher encouraged us to use for swatches. And because I'm a bit crazy, I took a garbage bag full of them home.

And I have FINALLY found a use for them! Cut them up into tiny squares and they can be used to decorate any kids craft known to man! Anyone want some swatches for their very own? I'd love to share!

Alaina FINALLY got to go out and play in the snow since the temp was above frickin freezing (a very technical term) and she took her work horse formerly known as daddy with her. Fun was had by all, especially me who got to watch from inside the house.

After Alaina fell asleep for her much deserved afternoon nap, I ran some errands around town. If I had thought about it, I would have stayed home because everyone else with cabin fever was out running errands today. But I got them done and had some fun along the way. While buying half priced calendars at the big-evil-corporate-book-store I found this book that I had to buy.

"The Latke who couldn't stop screaming." First I loved the title, then I loved the snarky talking pine tree on page 33. I suppose this is supposed to be a fun story about Hanukkah - but I find it to be a bitter tale of religious intolerance. Basically, the snobby pancake is made fun of by ignorant Christmas decorations because they don't understand that there can be another holiday at the same time as Christmas, and the foolish pine tree tries to tell the snobby pancake that some holidays have been blended together, but the Latke won't listen. In the end the snobby Latke get his respect, but the author speaks of the stress of always being misunderstood and how everyone should be welcome somewhere.

I liked the overall message, and the tree talking about pagan rituals made me giggle.

And the parting thought for today. Why the heck do they make socks that supposedly fit show sizes 4-10? Are we seriously supposed to believe that a person with a teeny-tiny foot can wear the same sock comfortably as a person with size tens?

AllI know is that I wear size 8-9 shoes and this is how those stupid socks fit. Look at how high that stupid heel is up the back of my foot!!! Are people with size 4 feet supposed to fold them in half? And before you ask, no they aren't stretched out or have bad elastic, this is how they fit out of the bag. I stupidly thought that they would shrink in the wash.

Oh, and don't you love Alaina's face in the pic of her wearing her crown? That's what I got when I asked her to smile . . .and yes, that is my awesome blue-chinese-peacock wallpaper behind her.

Confession

When I haven't blogged in a while, I feel like I'm going to confession.

As in, having to admit everything that's happened for an unreasonably long time while only one person listens.

So enjoy this update whomever you may be.

Christmas was a wonderful experience being snowed in at my parents house. I know that from now on at every family Christmas there will be two things that are never forgotten.

Red Wine and Hard Liquor.

We all got along remarkably well and when things started to get a little edgy, they'd lay down for a nap. There were enough adults to watch all the little ones successfully with little incident . . .

Even though my niece almost drank a handful of toilet water on my watch.

ALMOST! I SAID ALMOST! I had her take a bath with her cousin instead so that they could suck the icky bath water out of their washcloths instead, well that's what my baby does anyway. . .

To top things off, we went to stay with the in-laws the next weekend, after I checked to make sure there wasn't a chance of getting snowed in away from home again. However, apparently a 20% chance of snow has become a sure thing in Nebraska, because there was a light snow the entire time we were there. And I KNOW they don't have enough supplies to get my family through a snow in.

Well I've run out of cohesive thoughts due to the nasty weather so I'll sum up:
- WiiFit is the devil, but I can beat everyone except my Dad at Wii golf.

- Baby K is going to be my calm child, she's started going to sleep without fussing.

- My in-laws are beginning to understand parenting again, and probably why they only had one child.

- Our Christmas tree is still up, because the lights help warm up our frigid living room.

- I've finally found the right volume on the baby monitor that I don't hear every squeak, but will wake up when her cries begin to sound distressed.

- There may have to be some heavy bribes involved if we have discussion on a third child before baby K is 5.

I'll leave you with a question to ponder that came to me as I listened to a story told by a friend at our bowl game party.

Is it just a little bit sad to admit that you try to whip kitties/spin donuts in snowy parking lots when you are over the age of 30? Or has it progressed to full blown pathetic?

The funeral was beautiful, heart breaking, with little bits of wit and wisdom thrown in.

Everything a funeral service should be.

My MIL requested that I sit beside her since Jeff and my FIL were pallbearers and would be seated in the first row. I was just a teeny bit uncomfortable sitting in the middle of her and her sisters, but not in a bad way. I just felt a little bit like an outsider even though I was requested to join them.

Time will hopefully heal the family and here's to hoping they don't all associate Christmas with Grandma's passing.


Moving on to other things.

Our water heater has gone out leading to the one thing no one wants at the holidays.
Unplanned expenses.

Ick.

And I guess that's all I have to say today.

Sympathies

Jeff's grandma passed away yesterday.

I'm sorry for the pain that his family is feeling at the loss, but I'm glad that is grandmother's pain wasn't prolonged.

As is pretty much the rest of NE, we are snowed in, even the cat won't leave the house.

We celebrated the early close of work yesterday by foolishly driving 3 blocks to target to buy the new Harry Potter movie and snow boots for Alaina.

And by "we" I should say "I."

And then we had guests for supper. Guests who willingly, in fact they eagerly, drove through the mess of 10+ inches of snow to get to our house for supper. We tried to reschedule, but they wouldn't hear of it.

Our guests were a pastor and his wife who used to minister at Jeff's hometown Methodist church. They are very nice, but they have a bit if an agenda for us. He desperately wants Jeff to help lead his worship band and youth ministry. There are several reasons that Jeff won't be doing this, the main one being his decision to become an atheist.

Do you become an atheist or do you just decide to give up religion? I'm not sure about that one, because things work better if we don't mention the fact that I still believe in a higher power while Jeff finds me to be a fool.

Anyway, it was nice to have them over, but a tiny bit uncomfortable because of the subtle hints to help him get the new church up and running. And kudos to Jeff for having told the pastor of his newfound beliefs which have left Jeff wide open to be a 'saved' soul.

But we'll have to see if he ever reveals that to his parents.

Cold-heart versus Rock

I feel the need to just articulate/pontificate/ expound for a while . . .

Here's a little history:

Jeff's maternal grandmother raised five daughters all by herself, loosing her husband to a car accident while she was pregnant with the fifth. My MIL is the oldest and Jeff's aunt R is the youngest.

Jeff's grandmother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's for about 4 years or so. Its amazing to see how medicine may not have cured it yet, but it gave her a higher quality of living by improving her social interaction.
Translation: She may not have known my name, but she always liked to sit and talk to me for a while. My favorite moment being earlier this year when Kayla was 2 weeks old and she asked me when I was due. I just laughed and pointed out my new baby across the room and she laughed along with me.

But it appears that cancer has entered the picture and the family feels that it won't be long before she moves on. Everyone is taking it really hard, especially my MIL and Aunt R, who assumed responsibility of their mother, moved in with her and has taken care of herself ever since she couldn't do it herself.

I have no idea how to react. I am at peace with her passing, and Jeff seems to be as well. So when everyone get misty and choked up, I feel like a cold hearted woman patting their hand. I asked if there was anything we could do and the answer was "pray."

I immediately asked, "For what?"

I thought that sounded mean as soon as I said it, but I guess I was asking what stage of grief they were at. If they wanted me to pray for her to get better, things were going to get really ugly in the next few weeks.

But since they asked for me to pray for her comfort, I think the family is going to stay strong and count their blessings in the short time they have left.

I worry that I might seem too insensitive, but sometimes I feel like I've been down the road of grief more that other's my age, so I'm a little bit more staid in my grief. We haven't had a lot of deaths in the family, but being such a close family, losing my grandfathers in slow battles and one uncle in the blink of an eye has helped me adopt a calmer facet during the grieving process.

I don't know, I guess maybe I never was a big crying in my grief. I'm hard pressed to remember being distraught with grief at a funeral, I can remember crying for sure, but never loud sobs. Mom, any input into my ponderings?

Anyway, thanks for listening as I rambled my way around.

Wisdom for my daughter

I was looking at pictures the other day and I came across my favorite one of my sister and I just before our high school graduation ceremony. I thought about what I had learned since then and any regrets/wisdom I wanted to pass along to my daughter.

1. Alway study hard. As much as it sucks, you will be judged by that stupid little letter/number on that report card by nearly EVERYONE!

2. If you are going to go out for sports, give it your all. Then, win or lose, you will know that you did your best.

3. Always think before you act. SERIOUSLY! This applies to even the little idiotic things like calling and hanging up on that cute boy from the neighboring town because 10 years later you will realize that he knew it was you and you will still be embarrassed about it.

4. Boys are for later. Don't waste your time on them before you are settled into college. How many relationships survive the high school to college transition anyway? (Don't say Mimi and Papa or their neighbors . . .that's cheating and they don't count.)

5. Don't ever take someone from a different school to a school dance. You feel like you are babysitting the entire night, or they accuse you of ignoring them to hang out with friends.

6. Be nice to EVERYONE. Not just the so called 'cool kids' but to everyone! That shy boy that sits next to you might be the next president, your boss, or a Husker quarterback and won't you feel good when you can say you know him.

7. Be adventurous. Try new foods, meet new people, learn a foreign language.

8. Think about the future. What do you want to be? Its never to early to think about those kinds of things.

9. Don't give up on something just because its tough. Things I regret giving up or not making more time for . . .Piano, dance, yearbook, speech, drama. I loved them all but didn't try to excel at any.

10. Manage your money! Have a dollar? Save it! I'm terrible with money and your father is great with it. Learn from him please.

11. Don't be in a hurry to grow up. Once you leave a stage behind there's no going back. For everything that you gain as you move on, something else will get left behind.

Any other recommendations?
I think I'll keep a running tally of things to tell my daughters as they grow up and then every year on their birthdays I'll read it too them after they turn 7.

Once they turn 12, I'll read it every month. : )