Time Management

I'm hoping for some more time and energy to start blogging a bit more and putting up pictures.

All of my free time has been sucked up in either working or getting Christmas stuff together. Today I got my knitting gifts out the door to the post office at 4:47 p.m. Whew! I'm so glad those are done!

My to do list is still fairly long though:
Knit hat for other grandma (I honestly don't think I'll finish this in time)
Sew dh's new fleece blanket (fabric is hidden at my parent's, still need to wash it and need to sneak my sewing machine over there without dh noticing)
Wrap presents
Baking day on Wednesday
Major grocery shopping before it gets too crazy in the stores

Sweetness

I live in a small little town that isn't the greatest neighborhood. One thing I really like about this town though is that they really make an effort to be really friendly and to build a sense of community.

When we first moved here 3 1/2 years ago a police officer came to the door to welcome us to town. I also absolutely adore our post master who is so funny and nice that I love going in there just to hear the sound of his voice. Last year for our town's corn festival parade, the post master was riding a horse, dressed in full cowboy and kept saying over and over again, "The Pony Express! Get it?" So funny. We have a great skateboard park here and you can hear the teens going up and down our road all day long on their skateboards, which always make me smile.

The only grocery store in town is going out of business. They stopped restocking their shelves quite a while ago and I think are just trying to clear out their inventory before shutting down, which makes me so sad. I remember my mom driving to this town when I was little so she could grocery shop there because it was a Thriftway at that time and they had some good deals. What was once a pretty hopping little grocery store is now nearly abandoned. Whenever we have to run up there for last-minute items or treats, the owner always gives us a big thank you for supporting their business.

Last Saturday we heard loud fire truck sirens as Santa Claus went by on a fire truck. Behind him were several people dressed up as elves handing out bags full of oranges, peanuts and candy to the neighborhood kids, which I thought was just the sweetest thing.

Baby It's Cold Outside

It's been cold. Very cold. I'm a little nervous about the electric bill that will be coming shortly. We added plastic to some additional windows, I made some draft blockers from my IKEA fabric scraps (during which I managed to somehow cut my tape measure with my new super-sharp rotary cutter) and we've been packing on the layers. Well, most of us anyway...somebody in this house is a bit of a nudist and refuses to put on clothes most days.

I'm still scrambling to get all of my Christmas knitting done. I need to run a few errands for some last-minute Christmas gifts that I dreamed up after watching some episodes of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Most food shows focus a lot on the meat ingredients, which almost makes me want to eat meat...almost. I have to admit that I've recently been craving meat nearly to the point of eating some of the weird ingredients he has on his show, but I don't think there's anyway that I could do it. Some of that stuff turns my stomach, but dang - I love learning about food! <3

Vegan Yum Yum Yummy

This recipe for Vegan Yum Yum's Hurry Up Alfredo is so delicious. It is by far my favorite vegan pasta and cheese recipe. I've tried a mac and cheese recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance that was heavy on the nutritional yeast and tasted strange, but this alfredo recipe is creamy and so rich. I think I like it better than regular dairy recipes!

Breastfeeding Ribbons!

6 weeks
3 months
6 months
9 months
12 months
18 months
2 years
3 years

Finding A Rhythm

I'm struggling to find our family's rhythm. Just when I think I've got it down something changes.

When dh was off of work a lot, it really threw things out of whack. Dd was often up very late with us, woke up late in the mornings and had late naps. It wasn't much of a problem and I was grateful for not having to battle her over going to bed. But, dh has been working pretty consistently the last several months and needs to be in bed early and the house needs to be fairly quiet for him.

Dd has never slept really well, but now sleeps about 10 hours a night. Lately though, she seems like she might be trying to drop a nap here and there. Most days she is uninterested in taking a nap until she has been up for 4-5 hours, but taking a nap that late in the day means she will be up until 11:00 p.m. (if not later) guaranteed.

We are usually up between 8:30-10:00 (I say we because she rarely stays asleep if I leave the bed), which puts her often asking for a nap somewhere between 2:00 and 5:00. I've tried pushing her a bit to see if we can get through the day without a nap with disastrous results of her sometimes taking short naps even as late as 8:00 p.m. and then crawling out of bed telling us "I'm done!" Oh boy.

I'm considering starting to wake her at 7:00 a.m. and doing that for a week and see if that will readjust things a bit. I'd be grateful for earlier mornings and not-so-late nights.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I'm so grateful for:
Amazing family that we love dearly
Good food
Cooking together in a crowded kitchen and all the hijinks that ensue
Cute pugs running around the house
Hard apple cider
Guitar Hero
Stuffed mushrooms
Laughs
Glee