....did you just hear that?
That blood curdling scream heard around the world?
That's was me.
As I sat down to write this post about our perfect family Sunday in our little winter wonderland, I received a text message that school is cancelled tomorrow.
DAMN YOU, SCHOOL DEPT!
Damn you in your little quest to keep our kids safe & sound at home on Monday. Don't you know how much I have to do? Gifts to wrap? Trimming to trim? Eggs to nog? Hey I have an idea, how 'bout I send my cherubs over to your house? DAMN YOU!
Evidently after our Halloween Extravaganza, the neighbors expected some serious yard jingle from us this year. But the reality is that besides the hanging of the annual wreath-made-out-of-old bicycle-wheel and a couple strands of blinkies, we're low on the neighborhood jingle meter.
As a matter of fact, excluding the spooktacular month of October, we fall short of keeping up with our neighbors in any aspect. Oh sure, they send us their signals....like the time last spring when a neighbor showed up at my door with some left over lawn fertilizer, and then offered to spread it for us too.
To make matters worse, this Christmas we've embraced extreme minimalism...meaning opting out of the traditional Christmas tree (no big statement here, just lack of time and frankly I loath fallen needles), and replacing it with four tiny table top trees, yes...one for each kid. And they picked out some real beauties....
But I'm getting the message that this really effected the neighborhood jingle.....perhaps it was the subtle hints, for example last night when one of my neighbors made a surprise delivery, a tree....complete with lights and stand...did someone order some jingle?
* My (Regency Era) BFF
"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them" -Jane Austen
I just know that if 195 years didn't separate our birthdays, Jane (Austen) and I would have been, like, totally and completely best friends.
Her biting wit and sly sarcasm would have made us like two peas in a pod...can't you just see it?
Sleepovers at Steventon Rectory, giggling all night like school girls, mocking our neighbors and coming up with imaginary, super-hot boyfriends with names like, say, Fitzwilliam Darcy.
...sigh.....
Happy Birthday, Jane.
There's nothing that quite bums out the house of Spiderbyte more than when we realize summer is really over. Despite all the jingle that the holidays bring, there is no denying that winter weather really dampens our spirits.
As a matter of fact, as I walked out of the house this weekend wearing ripped jeans, boots, a flannel shirt, my favorite Maple Leaf scarf, and a winter scowl which complimented my pasty white, vitamin D lacking complexion, Spiderdad launched a sarcastic grenade, "Wow, you're a vision of Canadian beauty!"...."Real nice, dork", I answered.
And that is sort of how winter goes around this house.
I intended to post a nice 12th birthday photo of Bobby, but I guess one of the common traits of the 'tween species is shunning excessive use of photos. I am permitted, however, to post photos of his birthday loot....including his racey new bmx tires and and seat, which are "beast" (translation depending on your decade: cool/hot/far out).
This bike was a rummage sale find and slowly but surely has been the recipient of a full makeover by Spiderdad/Jason...who, by the way, is clearly living out his own 'tween fantasies. Must run in the family.
And lucky for us, twelve year olds don't seem to want big birthday shenanigans either. It was a crazy week, so taking the family out and grabbing some slices at our favorite local pizza joint was enough of a party (alas, having a big family pays off).
Happy 12th birthday Bobby, you are like, totally beast.
Jason and I were granted a 24 hr leave on Friday, when Nona & Papa signed on for kid wrangling duty and we stayed overnight at the Liberty Hotel and attended a swanky holiday sioree. Of course, the highlight of the entire experience was the simple pleasure of sleeping in...if you have kids, I need not explain this further. It was also a nice break from other things....things like whining/bickering/asking me if tomorrow is Christmas. Or, say, working on the family video.
Ah, the family video....where do I start?
Every year we peruse all of our videos/photos of the extended Spiderbyte family and wrap it all into a pretty 30+ minute package, complete with a soundtrack of our favorite songs of the year. And we always love the finished product...but getting there, well it's a dark place.
Every night, we stay up until wee hours selecting/editing/dissecting videos/photos/themes/music. We eat take out and drink cheap beer and disagree about whether to include useless close-ups of the jellyfish tank at the aquarium rather than cute, relevant footage of our friends and family (*ahem*).
Anyway, it was good to take a break for a night before we jumped right back into that cold, dark place.
I'm having a love affair with my new sneaks...lovely purple mid-cuts (which appear blue in this pic...but trust me, they're beautifully purple).
The last thing I need is new sneakers, as I'm already dangerously at risk of being remembered as the Imelda Marcos of athletic footwear. But let me justify...I work from home and rarely need to dress above business casual (by the way, Adidas Sambas= biz casual). And frankly, I never know when I may need to break into a sprint (...child running into the road?....sibling executing a headlock?...impending arrival of projectile vomit?).
And sneakers make me happy. Especially my new purple ones.
A Tofurkey is a relatively easy lump of soy to cook. As a matter of fact, you don't even have to cook it. You could just leave it on the counter until it reaches room temperature and you're good to go.
A real turkey?
Well, that's a bird of a different color.
Since it's B.Y.O.T(urkey) in this house, my brother was kind enough to volunteer to cook a real turkey (of the non-soy variety) for the carnivorous guests. He & the family arrived in the morning to allow plenty of cooking time before our 3:00 dinner. But when 2:00 came and went and that cute little turkey carcass was still luke warm, we knew we had problems. Stove problems.
The guests had two choices. Eat our Tofurkey or wait it out for the real deal. Can you guess what they chose?
But there was a silver lining to waiting out that extra three hours. It was the most leisurely holiday we've ever had, in which we found plenty of other things to do besides actually eating Thanksgiving dinner.
We chilled. No agenda, just good old family hang out time. A Thanksgiving miracle!
All those extra hours gave me plenty of time to be reminded of all the things for which I'm thankful:
