Holiday Roundup

We survived the rush of Christmas week. Between Nora's Birthday and assorted family get-togethers it was a bit of a whirl. Here's a few photos to give you the gist:

A Few Days In the Frozen North

I had some extra vacation days saved up and so after Jason's final final and before Nora's birthday, we took a quick run up to Chicago to check out the Christmas Market, Santa at Macy's and a few sights. We had a great time, although Nora greatly preferred the luxurious Best Western with it's indoor pool to doing anything else in town. I found it amazing that we could find a hotel room in Chicago the week before Christmas cheaper than a cabin in the Carbondale vicinity but I'm glad we did because we had a great time. It was nice to get away for a few days before the craziness of a combined birthday/holiday set in.



Writing a letter to Santa at Macys.

In line to see Santa at Macys (she asked for gingerbread and candy).


Freezing at the Christmas market
Filling up the suitcase so we can't pack to go home.

Yearning To Go Anywhere

I've been making all sorts of travel arrangements lately, unfortunately, none of them are for me. Jason is off to Chicago next weekend for the Central APA and then to New York the following weekend, for the BIG sub-conference which is held in the middle of the Economists doing their thing. He's taking the train to Chicago and staying in nicer hotels cheaply thanks to last minute trips. While I know he won't be doing all sorts of touristy wonderful things (instead he'll be sitting inside hotel meeting rooms talking to others of his ilk), and it's north and therefore probably miserable weather anyway, I'm still consumed with jealousy because he is going and I am staying. The only thing on my agenda is a conference at the lake in April (I hate going to Tan Tar A) and possibly the TESOL convention in Devner(which is both up in the air and work). Jason's spring break is the second week of March and while we keep toying with going somewhere, it doesn't seem to be happening. And frankly, multiple days in the car with a three year old who is still potty learning doesn't seem really relaxing. I really need a healthy dose of sunshine right now. Can someone invent one of those easy transporter things and send the three of us to the beach?

Sleigh Ride

We took some video during the snow days and here's one of Grammy and Nora going down the front yard. Unfortunately no footage exists of Dad pulling Nora and Mom around while Mom yells "slow down!".

Snow Day

Today I'm home since it's been sleeting and snowing since last night. But I've been really busy. It seems like snow days are the only days I really get things done. This morning, Nora and I went out and helped Grand Marshall clear the sidewalk and driveway. Nora is such a snow baby, it seems like the cold never bothers her and we were ready to go in long before she was.

We came in for a snack of pretzels and cocoa. The pretzels were some we made this weekend from Vegan Lunch Box, but really they taste best when they are hot.
This afternoon, Grammy put Nora down for a nap and I got to work on a project I've been wanting to do for years. Jason's office chair was banished to the garage at the last house, and the deal we struck for bringing it in here was that I got to recover it. Here's the before (actually middle, I had disassembled it to figure out how to best make the cover)

and you can see that it was uglier than Jason's soccer shirts, but at least it was pretty easy to recover. On the bottom I just stapled onto over the old fabric with that Amy Butler pattern (I think it's called "coriander") that I bought last year. The top I had to slipcover since the metal brace was not removable from the back. Now we have another problem:
I like it so much I want to keep it for myself. Don't you think it matches my new file cabinet well?

Cakes, Cookies and Presents

For Nora's birthday we had some friends and family over and I made cakes. Two to be exact. I had planned on making cupcakes, but then I saw this star form pan on super-duper clearance and then there was the problem of locating the large cupcake tins (with the combined household, we have enough tins to make over 7 dozen mini-muffins without re-using a tin, but my regular sized muffin tins are packed and Mom can't find hers), so it turned out to be two, two layer star cakes. One was chocolate with pink icing and the other coconut with white coconut icing. I adapted Isa's chocolate cupcakes and "buttercream" icing from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and her Coconut Heaven cupcakes and icing from Vegan with a Vengeance. I even broke out the pastry bags and icing tips for my first ever attemp at cake decorating. It wasn't Martha Stewart, but Nora was really happy as was I. Here's a really bad picture of a partial coconut cake and the pink cake after a star point was cut off. (I have no idea why I don't have a picture of just the cakes).
She had a really great time and everyone brought her too many wonderful presents. One of the many downsides of having a birthday right before Christmas is that all of your loot comes in one fell swoop, and it's hard to not get overwhelmed. On the upside, Jason and I will probably always be off for her birthday and we'll do our best to make sure her day isn't lost in the big holiday hubbub.

The Saturday before, Nora, Laura, Grammy and I made cookies - here Nora and I are working on the gingerbread cutouts (we used a doctored up recipe from Vegan Lunchbox) she really loved decorating them BEFORE they went into the oven (so, yes, they are safe to eat despite a three year old's hands being on them). She also loved tasting the dough, sprinkles, red hots, and sanding sugars as well as the finished product. We also made the Lemony Cutout cookies from Vegan With A Vengeance, but we just dropped them, flattened them and added sprinkles.

Christmas meant even more presents to open, including the whole Santa mythology which continues in our house thanks to Dad and I (Mom and Jason are really not into it).
Santa, with the help of Elves, Todd and Natascha who made a trip to Ikea, brought this fabulous easel. It's been one of the most popular gifts this year:
Along with Steve, Barbie's dog who's been born with a plastic heart on his abdomen and came with a complete pink and purple vet kit (thanks Mom). I don't know why Nora named him Steve. Lastly, I have my Aunt to thank again for this:
This is Penny. And actually I belive my cousin Ellen might be the responsible party, because believe it or not, this is a My Pretty Pony Newborn. Yes, I know it's blue, its eyes are too big (this is a big selling point with Nora) and it's hair is rainbow colored and it has a pacifier, but nevertheless its a horse and now its also beloved and must sleep with us. Her ears are not very nice to roll over on, but I think Penny is here to stay.

Molasses

The Solstice, Nora's birthday, Christmas and New Years has come and gone. I've been on vacation and while I've been having a good time, I don't feel like I've really gotten anything accomplished. Family was visited, cookies made, presents wrapped, there was good cheer. I read and enjoyed both of the Sarah Vowell books I gave my father (Assassination Vacation and The Wordy Shipmates). But I'm due back at work on Monday and I still haven't unpacked anything since we moved in, other than the basics we took out that first week. There's people I should have called, thank you notes I should have written, projects I wanted to at least begin, and now its the new year, and while that should hold promise, all it really seems to hold is the prospect of time moving ever more swiftly.

crappy day turns into crafty day

Today began with lots of sleet hitting the window pane at 5 am and continuing until we hauled ourselves out of bed. I didn't expect our university to call since they never do, and the TV confirmed this hypothesis. It didn't matter anyway since I had a meeting downtown that unless it was terribly dreadful, I felt like I couldn't miss. So Nora and Jason got bundled out the door (SLU hadn't called either) and off to Grammy's and I slithered down the alley and took the city streets into downtown since the TV did tell me that all of the highways were a mess and to keep off of them if we could. The city streets weren't all that great either. As I rode the escalator up to the meeting at the hotel, I checked my cell phone thinking I might need to call and find out where the meeting was (they change it all the time) and I realized that I had a text message. I never get text messages. So I checked it. The university closed at 9:30 and day and evening classes were canceled. Well, that meant that I technically didn't have to be here, but since I was already and the meeting was sort of important, I thought I'd stay. Needless to say I soon came to regret that. Most of the local people didn't show or came late, the folks who had come in from the other side of the state the night before and stayed at the hotel were there and bizarrely, one of our Illinois folks decided to brave the bridge and came in too. So I guess I was happy that I at least showed up for them. We spent too much time re-hashing old business that we've covered for the past several meetings and then we moved on to ego enhancement and micromanaging of other people's project areas. All the while we are meeting in a cavernous ballroom with windows all around showing us the continued sleeting snow-scape outside. Um, folks if you just shut up we could all go home! Oh, and did I mention that the room is freezing! Half of us have on our coats and gloves. It just goes on and on. Finally we break for lunch at 1:00 and I excuse myself claiming the need to pick up Nora early. Our chair understands but I think wishes I'd take her with me....

After a white knuckle drive out to mom and dads, during which I continue to mentally rail at my colleagues and and then proceed to verbally continue my rant once I get inside, I get some lunch and calm down. Nora is asleep so I decide to set up the sewing machine and start on of the projects I've been meaning to get to since I bought this retro, cute, bunny fabric the other week. This is normally a very bad idea. If I'm in a bad mood, the last thing I should usually do is attempt something like sewing. But today it turns out great. Mom helps me finish off the project, mainly because she thinks that they need to be a little more neatly done, but I am very happy with them, even is she isn't. So without further ado, BEHOLD, Nora's new potholders for her kitchen. You can't tell here, but they are filled with a cute quilted fabric on the inside so they feel like actual potholders and not flat one-layer mittens, although I don't actually think that they are fat enough to serve in actual hot pot-holding but Nora is too young to use the stove anyway. The mitts were actually more difficult than I anticipated especially without a pattern and I just drew around my hand, although in the completed form they are size of children's mittens.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I feel like I should be doing some sort of countdown list of the good and bad of 2007, or posting my resolutions for this next year, but really I haven't had the blogging spirit for awhile. This December, I was awash in Christmas spirit for the first time in years, and it resulted in actually doing not one but two advent calendars with Nora which was really fun and I'm happy we did it, although it did result in a let down for her when they were all over. I also minimally decorated (owl tree, stockings, a few bowls of holiday decorative things, and wreath on door) which is more than I've done for several years as well - although not all of my family appreciated my efforts. But then we all got sick and crabby and Christmas sort of faded away as did New Years. Jason did make a resolution, and that was to use up all these bottles of lotion we have laying around the house this year, but that was sort of the extent of it. I know Tree and PD have a very extensive goal setting session over the new year, so maybe they will post an instruction manual for the rest of us.

Now I'm back at work and after two absolutely freezing days (it was 52 degrees INSIDE my office), I'm sort of thinking about what needs to be done this year, which for work is quite substantial, and so I'm somehow not so much thinking about my world outside of work.

I guess I have thought about goals Nora-wise. So, in order to make me a better parent and keep me on task, here they are: 1. night weening in the next month or as soon as everyone is no longer sick (this is really more about me and my need for sleep than better parenting), 2. cooking more healthfully for her (and us) 3. keeping a better schedule, especially sleep schedule since the past two weeks of her night waking has been killing us 4. (which is related to 3) much less TV. We used to be better about this, but during the month of illnesses that was December, Nora (and I) spent way too much time in front of the TV and it is disturbing to me both how much she asks for it and how much she knows about the characters on that magical screen. I'm also disturbed that I actually looked at new TV's for us since I was shopping for a new DVD player (ours is dying) and that I even ordered my vouchers for the converter boxes for the changeover in 2009, despite the fact that I've got a lot of other things to do which should be priorities. I need to get back to watching only what I really want to watch and not just whatever is on and limiting Nora to watching TV only when I really need to get something else done and not on just to keep her from whining about it or just because I don't feel like playing with her right then or because I want to play on-line. I guess my rant on TV is getting a little off topic here, so I'll try to move on. 5. Play with Nora more and especially, get outside more. This is a fun one, so there is no excuse for me dodging it!

That's it for my '08 goals. What does '08 hold for you?

Week of Troubles

Since I've last posted it seems like we've had one thing after another. First I was sick (again!), and Nora had the croup (again), which evolved into the stomach flu last weekend, which resulted in me not cleaning (again). But the worst day was Monday. Just as Nora was getting over the flu (no barfing in almost 24 hours), we were rushing off to our Monday morning routine, and Jason slipped on the ice and fell down the front steps with Nora. I was right behind them and in my haste to help, I hurried after them and fell on top of them. Jason and I were fine, but Nora to a nasty konk on the head and we rushed her to the emergency room in possibly the most panic-frenzied state of our lives. After several hours there and a CAT scan, we found out she's fine, but we're still a little shaken and guilt-ridden. Fortunately her bruise isn't as horrible as I feared it would be and she's back to her normal self. But between the croup. flu, and concussion she lost 2 pounds, which wouldn't be a big deal for adults but it's quite a bit for a already-light-for-her age 24 now 22 lbs little girl.

The one upside to Nora's flu was that last Saturday we did watch an entire day of Rankin and Bass stop action animation holiday features and Nora learned a whole new vocabulary - "Rudolph", "Santa", "Reindeer", "Vixen", "snowman", "Heat Miser/Snow Miser", and most unfortunately, "barf", which punctuated our day of TV excess. For those of you who may only be familiar with Rankin & Bass's "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer", I can highly recommend several of their other features, most notably, the surreal "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" based on a Frank Baum book, the historically laughable "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" which features Ben Franklin and Caveman Ug helping Rudolf save Baby New Year, the biographical "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" or as Todd calls it "Glen Cambell Claus" showing the early years of of a very red haired Santa and his efforts to thwart the toy-destroying Burgermeister Meisterburger. But best of all was my personal favorite " A Year Without Santa Claus" featuring those trouble-making siblings - Heat Miser and Snow Miser. There were also several less thrilling features - Nestor the Long Eared Donkey and Pinocchio's Christmas. For those of you who missed it, I understand the Family Channel does this every year and that they will also show them throughout the month of December as well. All this Family Channel watching also resulted in me having to tune in on Sunday to the much advertised and anticipated Family Channel Holiday Special, Holiday in Handcuffs, featuring Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina) and Mario Lopez of Dancing with the Stars fame (but I know him from Pet Star on Animal Planet). Jason commented that it was much better than expected.

The other event of note is that my aunt has bought Nora yet another pink pony that she can sit on and it neighs and plays music. This one has wheels instead of a rocker. It was supposed to be out at my parents but somehow it made it's way here, and now there are TWO singing pink ponies in my living room. I need a stable.

re: my previous post

So my boss is taking a week to go to Ireland later this month and I am so very jealous. We traveled there in early March '02 and Christmas '04. Both times, it mild and and green despite the winter months. In the above picture, while not very green, was taken somewhere between Dingle and Galway, and as you can see there were people out swimming (granted in wetsuits) in the surf. It was glorious and I wish we were there now. Heres some green pictures for you from the same trip.

Outside

It's been so cold lately, we're all pining for warmer weather and maybe a day at the zoo. It's just the beginning of February, and it looks like we've got weeks yet to go.