White Elephant Gift Exchange

We had a white elephant gift exchange at my Mom's Christmas party. I had never participated in one before and was a bit confused by the concept at first. I wasn't sure what to contribute - a bag of unmatched white athletic socks? Pants that were now too small for my husband? Candles without wicks (we have a LOT of those) Finally we hit on a good gift - a $10 gift card to a movie theater (we checked, the balance was still good). I was eager to play now! We all drew numbers and on our turn we could choose an unwrapped gift to open or steal a previously opened gift. Our gift was opened first, followed by a popcorn popper, a scrapbooking kit, and a 12 pack of Coke. Of course, I had to steal the Coke! I had to sweat out the last few turns - which revealed a set of hurricane lamps, a big band music cd, a small leather watch box and an "Office Space" cubicle decorating kit. Luckily no one stole the pop though! My 16 year old opened the popcorn popper which was cool - that was the only other gift I would've wanted. I almost stole it until my husband reminded me that it would be going to our house either way!

We had so much fun we will probably do it again next year. That gives me plenty of time to figure out the next white elephant gift!

Wonderful Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas this year! My husband's family came to town on the 23rd bearing soooooo many gifts. The older kids received gift cards and hoodies - and the next day the gift cards were quickly redeemed. My son bought more clothes and my daughter bought a digital camera! She's had so much fun snapping pictures. The little kids did well too - my 5 year old got tons of pirate things - figures, a boat, a dress up kit, books... not to mention clothes and a Spirograph (retro cool! I had one decades ago...) The baby got the coolest "little Mommy" set - twin dolls that came with a stroller, a bassinet, a backpack and a swing. She loves it! She likes doting on the little dolls - covering them with blankets or putting hats on their little heads. She doesn't really put them in the swing though - she likes balancing other things in that. And this was just day one - the kids had TWO more days of presents and family and fun ... we drove up to my Grandma's on Monday, went to my Mother's on Monday night and had Christmas on Tuesday morning. All in all - an awesome Christmas!

Christmas is coming

Almost done with the shopping! I only have a couple of things left to buy and I'm very happy with what we've bought so far. I also have to pick up a few more grocery items for our Christmas feast - a couple of pies and maybe some stuffing or potatoes. Giant Eagle has been soooooo crazy crowded lately I'm putting off going to the store as long as possible! Last week Giant Eagle charged my debit card twice for my groceries - apparently it wasn't just me but all customers who bought between 4-6 pm Friday. Luckily I only spent $50 that trip - it easily could've been two or three times that! They finally credited my account yesterday (after 2 calls to corporate and a dispute filed with the bank). Not the sort of thing we need this time of year when every dollar counts!

Tomorrow my sisters in law are coming down to visit. Monday we go to my parent's house for a White Elephant exchange. I've never participated in one before but I think I have the perfect gift - a $10 gift card to a movie theater that my husband and I have had for 4 years. We checked - it still carries a $10 balance. And then on Tuesday the kids will open their gifts - I can't wait to see their faces when they see what Santa has brought! I keep teasing my 5 year old that Santa is bringing him potatoes...

Facebook Fun

I was a little hesitant to sign up for Facebook at first - I wasn't sure what to DO with it. But I'm glad I was prodded into joining - I've reconnected with two good friends from high school that I haven't spoken to in years. I also enjoy killing time decorating my Christmas tree and my gingerbread house and throwing virtual snowballs at my friends. Plus, I get to stay in contact with my teenager who sends me messages about what time he'll be home, etc. I completely missed out on the Myspace fad but I'm glad I signed up for Facebook!

Nor'easter

There's another winter storm headed our way. The snow has finally all melted from last week's big storm - just in time for a new storm. It's supposed to hit around 5 pm tomorrow so I hit the store tonight to stock up - me and everyone else in town! I had to drive around the parking lot twice to find a spot at all. I did forget to pick up a can of tomato soup and a can of kidney beans so I need to go back out before the storm hits. But otherwise we are set - plenty to eat, plenty to drink and snacks! And more medicine for poor baby Lorene who is still sniffling. My niece Megan's birthday party is Sunday - poor kid, I know it is rough having a winter birthday. More than once my birthday party was cancelled due to poor weather. I'm glad none of my kids have a winter birthday (although that was by chance not design)!

Sick Baby

Poor Lorene is sick. She went to the Dr yesterday for her 1 year check-up. She's growing fine - 21 1/2 pounds, 31 inches tall - but she has an upper respiratory infection, her ears are congested (although no infection - YET), plus she had to get two immunizations. On top of all that, the Dr. wanted to check her blood for her iron levels. The nurse couldn't get a good sample and had to prick her toe three times! Lorene was a trooper - she didn't even cry and the nurse told her she was very brave. The result came back really weird - it said Lorene has more than double the normal amount of red blood cells. The Dr. thought maybe the machine was broken and sent us to Children's for a retest - so Lorene had to have yet another stick. Again, no tears! We haven't heard back on those lab results. But per online sources, high red blood cell counts are usually caused by such things as alcoholism, drug abuse (esp. steroids) and obesity - none of which Lorene suffers from obviously. The Dr. also told me that with that elevated of a count, Lorene should be very red in appearance but if anything, she's quite pale. Anyhow, the poor baby is miserable and we're hoping she doesn't develop another ear infection!

I should just use an abacus

I feel so computer illiterate it isn't funny! I knew a little about computers oh, around 1998 - I even built my own geocities page and I was so proud of it. I was on list servers and newsgroups .... unfortunately, computer technology has really changed since then but my knowledge has NOT! Anyhow, I spent about an hour trying to add an avatar to my profile on one message board tonight. I just couldn't make it work - even with the FAQs. So I had to call my 16 year old to help - it turns out I was reading the FAQ for adding a personal icon not an avatar... duh! He fixed it in about 5 minutes. He also made a customized personal signature for me for my parenting message board in about 5 minutes AND took out my 5 year old's red eyes. He even helped me when I set up my facebook account. I had reservations about joining facebook - it seemed silly to message someone on facebook so it could email them to check their message when I could simply email them to begin with - but I've been enjoying the applications this weekend. I especially like my snowman and my Christmas tree. And, I admit, it is fun to send drinks and gifts to my friends - not to mention baking them virtual pies or going on virtual sleigh rides!

Go Bobcats!

Tonight was the annual parent's banquet for the Grandview High School football players. It was a delicious spread - rosemary chicken, prime rib, new potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls, and five types of cheesecake. Mmmmm - I had oreo! We watched the tape of the Grandview vs Eastmoor game -what a heartbreaker! We almost won! Then the coaches spoke and handed out awards. I took a bunch of pictures but they didn't turn out too well. Next year when Jared is a senior I'm planning to take my husband and my mom too - they have a special part of the program for the seniors with more heartfelt and personal remarks from the head coach. Jared looked very grown up in his dress shirt, tie and khakis - and he even wore dress shoes! It was a memorable evening for sure.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Santa Claus came to town this morning - to the Grandview Library! I remembered how long the lines were last year so we got there early, about 20 minutes before he was due. Already the line was nearly to the circulation desk! The kids were very good and patient though to my relief. Five minutes before 10, a librarian came through to get the kids all excited about Santa - and then he came in to excited cheers and squeals and applause (and one small girl shrieking "It's really HIM! OH MY GOSH!!!")

The line moved very quickly and there were plenty of little things to distract the children - candy canes, snowman pencils, coloring pages, and a man playing Christmas music on the accordian. After about ten minutes it was our turn. Lorene didn't cry when I put her on Santa's lap but she did stare at him with confusion. PJ wasn't shy at all and told Santa what he wanted. They had their picture taken and the library will email me a copy next week.

I had the kids dressed up in "Sunday School formal" - Lorene wore a red top and red and white flowered pants and her good shoes, PJ wore a rugby shirt and khakis... but I was suprised at how many kids were VERY dressed up. There were little girls in velvet dresses and shiny black shoes and boys in tiny suits. I didn't get that memo! But I'm sure their picture will turn out very cute.

Let it snow!

We might get the first snow of the season tonight - and possibly up to 3 inches by Wednesday. So far it's been a warmer than usual season... this morning was the first time I had to start the car early so it would be nice and warm and defrosted when it was time to leave. I don't work for the next few days so - let it snow! I can stay inside, cozy with a nice cup of cocoa and a stack of books (and blankets) and enjoy watching the snowflakes drift down.

UPDATE: We got about SIX inches! My 5 year old and I had a nice 45 minute snowball fight after lunch.

Marinara sauce - yum!

I am trying something new this week. I have the October issue of Cooking Light magazine (wonderful recipes - highly recommend it) and there is a recipe for a HUGE batch of marinara sauce. The idea is to cook it up over the weekend, then base a week's worth of recipes on the sauce - should make dinner time a little less hectic (which will be MUCH appreciated now that I'm working again). So I bought all the ingredients today - except fennel since my Mom said she had some I could just use - and I'm going to try it this week. I'm pretty excited - I love trying new things and several of the recipes are new to us as well.

If God loves you He'll send you to Disney World!

Last night was a Women's Christmas Dinner at my church. I went with my mom, sister in law, niece and my niece's other grandmother. The dinner was nice - Tuscan chicken, a salad with apples and walnuts, roasted potatoes, dinner rolls, chocolate cake and a wide selection of cofees and teas. After eating and chatting for an hour, we were herded into the sanctuary to sing Christmas carols, watch a short drama about the true meaning of Christmas, and listen to an inspirational speaker.

The speaker REALLY annoyed me. She looked cartoony - like a Jessica Simpson clone - busty, big blonde hair, thick Southern drawl. And her talk was irritating for 2 reasons - first, she assumed every woman in the audience was a hyper, type A, uber-organized mess (I'm not at all) and second, she was very "prosperity Gospel" oriented. Apparently, at some point in her life, her family (she's married with 4 kids) was a little broke so she prayed and prayed and voila! God provided her with free accomodations in a Kissimmee Florida time share condo AND six free tickets to Disney World. Isn't God wonderful? As she went on and on I started to think about all the bills *I* have piling up and I thought, huh, well, per her philosophy God must hate me! But, per her suggestion, I did go home and pray for a vacation so we'll see what happens. I'd like to go to Ireland myself....

Book clubs

I belong to a message board for Moms of babies born in November of 2006. They are starting a book club which should be fun. Years ago, a couple friends and I decided to start a book club of our own but all I really remember is drinking Cosmopolitans and watching Ally McBeal so I guess that doesn't count. Anyhow, I'm pushing for the online club to include classics (like "To Kill a Mockingbird" which I just read myself for the first time 2 years ago - why on earth wasn't I required to read it in high school??) and non-fiction (I suggested "Freakonomics" which is an awesome read). The moderator put up a poll and I'm happy that several people have voted for each of my suggestions. It looks like some sort of chick-lit is winning though. I have nothing against chick-lit, I've enjoyed several books in that genre, but I think the discussions would be more interesting if we went with some meatier choices. On my own, I plan to read "Moby Dick" in 2008 and I might try to read "War and Peace" - I've started it at least twice... once when I was a pretentious 6th grader. I'm hoping the new George RR Martin book will FINALLY be out - if so, forget the book club and everything else, I'm reading that!

UPDATE - they chose two selections for December: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd and "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. I read "The Lovely Bones" back in 2005 and I don't think I want to read it again so I will probably pick up the other one at the library (after I finish all my cryptozoology books that is!).

Gaming

Nice 10 sided earrings. I wonder if that means more females are gaming? I seems like it still unusual for women to game. I game about once a month right now - we have a small group (4 regulars and the GM who happens to be my husband) but one of the other gamers is a woman from work. When we played online games more often than not it seemed female avatars were actually played by men. I always had a female avatar - other players truly are more likely to just give you things in game (gold, armor, weapons...) and they seem to expect less. The one time I played a male avatar it seemed other players were much more annoyed when I made a mistake - mistakes they wouldn't even comment on if my female avatar made! My husband usually plays female avatars too for some reason.

Bob!

Guinea pigs are such fun pets! We bought Bob back at the beginning of September. It took a couple of days to find a pet shop that even had guinea pigs in stock - there must have been quite a run on guinea pigs that week. Anyhow, he was the most docile and calm of the guinea pigs that were available. He is still a little shy of us but he is sweet. We have really studied up on guinea pigs to try and be the best owners - I had another guinea pig years ago and now I feel so guilty because I don't think I cared for her properly. For one thing she had an aquarium for a cage which is a no-no and I don't recall ever giving her timothy hay to eat. We are very conscientious about giving Bob his hay and his fresh fruits and veggies. He loves orange wedges and apple slices but he wouldn't even eat the kiwi. Next week I'm going to introduce bananas. He likes hiding in his pigloo and his oatmeal box and he has a couple toy balls to push around. It's so cute to watch him popcorn when he gets excited to see us!

Ligers and tigrons ... oh boy!

Ligers! I've been learning about ligers this week - father is a lion, mother is a tiger. Apparently, male lions have genes for large growth but a mother lion has genes that inhibit them. With a tiger mother, the genes are not inhibited and ligers get HUGE! Crazy huge! 10 -12 feet long, weighing up to 1000 pounds! Ligers seem to only exist in captivity since lions and tigers don't naturally co-exist in the same habitat. Also, because of their large size, they might not fare well in the wild since they would tire easily while chasing prey and require massive amounts of meat.

I had only heard of ligers from watching "Napoleon Dynamite" years ago. Last weekend I read an article about how a local pet lion had escaped his cage and was chasing cars at rush hour. I was surprised to learn that in Ohio it is completely legal to have pet lions and that lion cubs can be purchased for as little as $1000 (which is less than the price of some purebred puppies!). The local lion owner had bought 2 cubs when he suffered from a bout of depression years back. Hmmm many people just take meds.... Anyhow, researching lions led to reading about ligers. (btw - the picture is of Hercules the liger who seems to be something of an internet sensation)