Under Construction
OK, so I have moved to WordPress.
So far though, this is like a house that has the frame, but still hasn’t been made into a home quite yet.
Please excuse the dust as I remodel and make things a bit more comfy.
Thanks for coming along
2006 Year In Review : Part I
There are certain things that I will miss from 2006. Not many. And really I guess it is more about things that have changed more than things left behind. Any parent knows the feeling. The “where does the time go” feeling. It just seemed so accelerated this year.
Gone are the days of kiddie pools, or “having to” go swimming with LatteGirl. She can swim… well. No more inflatable arm bands, silly little inflatables or other such “baby toys.” Now she swims on her own and those silly little toys have been replaced with diving sticks, underwater hoops for swimming through and other “big kid” toys.
Gone this year is the simple version of soccer that was just more like us kicking a ball back and forth. Now we run drills in the yard (her choice), have orange cones (her choice), and she sets up a goal so she can (try) to shoot it past me.
The Christmas wishlist also changed quite dramatically. Gone are Color Wonder Books, Wiggles Videos, Barbie Stylin’ Heads and Play-Doh. This year the requests were things like a Pottery Wheel, a telescope, a Chemistry Kit (“My First Chemistry kit” not a real chemistry set), and Leapster Math Games. Where toys were requested, they were more mature, including (one of my old favorites) MouseTrap. She also got a FurReal Friends Chimp, but that was TheWife’s idea and wasn’t actually a requested toy.
I know they grow up, and we can’t stop them. And I am sure I will lament this again many times in the future in a similar fashion. But somehow I think I will always look back at this particular year as the end point of my “baby” and the begining of the years I can call “my young little lady.”
A Jell-O mold like Holiday Recap…
(Sort of looks like a post, but is tenuous at best in its construction, with lots of odd things thrown it).
LatteGirl did not feel well, and was a bit off right up and through Christmas Eve. By Christmas Even she even seemed a bit depressed. By being ill for the past week, she sort of felt like she missed the “run up” to Christmas, and several times lamented how Christmas seemed to come way too fast this year. (What child complains about Christmas arriving too quickly? Really!)
By Christmas morning however, whatever has been keeping her down was gone. She was her bright chipper self. Full of enthusiasm, excitement and awake far too early in the morning for my tastes (and it should be noted… I am a morning person in general). I will go more into the specifics about present and such later (with photos).
When I was a younger lad (way back when), the running “joke” (meaning every parent had been burned by it at least once), was the dreaded, “*batteries not included.” While I have been snagged by that once or twice myself, it is nothing that a quick run to the corner store, while other gifts are being played with that cannot be remedied quickly. No, that is not it. For me the bane of my Christmas Eve life as a parent can be pointed to three different little words. Words that seem to apply to at least one gift a year. Those words that make me shudder… “some assembly required.”
Our car broke down on Saturday. The Saturday before Christmas. Water Pump and Timing Chain went. We needed a vehicle so we decided to rent on for the weekend. Have you ever tried to find an open Car Rental Place on a Saturday afternoon of a three day holiday weekend? 23 places need to be called before we found one open.
As it turns out, that event was almost a blessing in disguise. LatteGirl’s haul from my mother’s house (my mother, my aunt, and my sister) never would have fit in the trunk of our car, so at least we reaped that benefit from having the rental car. But I think I would have happily traded having to make an extra trip back to go get the remaining goodies rather than spending $600 in car repairs, and another $150 (or so) on the rental.
TheWife and I “agreed” no not buy presents for each other this year as “we” (read: she) wants a new painting for above the sofa in the living room. She got me CSI Season 6, and a Chiminea that I had my eye on for the deck. I bought her, a bracelet (which unfortunately did not arrive in time), a vegetable steamer (she wanted one), a Target GiftCard (’cause what woman doesn’t enjoy shopping?), and a pair of diamond earring set in white gold (she is now on a kick where she doesn’t want anything “yellow”). So obviously… we both broke our “agreement.” As it turns out that probably was a good thing, because the money we would have spent on a print for the living room (She wants a “Kinkaide”) is now going into her car for repairs.
I started baking on Friday evening when I got home from work, and didn’t stop until around dinner time on Christmas Eve. I was exhausted by the time I was done (which was not a good thing to be, when I had “some assembly required” gifts to…er… assemble once I could get LatteGirl off to bed), but the house smelled fantastic. I was a bit behind because of LatteGirl not wanting to bake this week since she was under the weather, but I did manage to complete all the cookies I promised people here I would send out. In the end I wound up baking about 16 dozen cookies and a couple of cakes.
I took time out from baking Sunday, to go to church (it didn’t burst into flames and burn down… who knew), so I could see LatteGirl and her Sunday School class perform a nativity scene play. LatteGirl was one of the 3 Kings. She was thrilled to be the one presenting Gold. TheWife however did not find it amusing when I kept referring to her as “the king presenting the bling.”
Fortunately (for us), we no longer have any family members that actually still make the Jello mold for the holidays. (Although we still have a party with TheWife’s family on Saturday, so I may be a bit premature). But I have to ask. Who the heck looks a Jell-O and thinks… “that needs carrot slivers in it”?)
I hope you got everything you wanted from Santa. (If not, the post-holiday sales start today 
I must have wronged somebody, somewhere.
That is the only explanation I can come up with. I did all my Christmas Shopping, late as usual but with more than enough time to get everything here for the holidays. Then, once those deadlines for shipping have passed, the e-mail start rolling in. “Sorry out of Stock,” “Shipment Delayed,” etc. etc. So now, to fill the void, the weekend before Christmas, I still have to go shopping!
This is so unfair. I swear this is some sort of Karma kickback for something I did to somebody. I even considered looking towards the Bible for some answers. What did I find? “…Latte Man the cross maker was the richest man in all of Galilee…” Ah… That explains it.
Oh well, a shopping I will go. Wish me luck. Oh, and in case this is the last time we see each other before then (or I get trampled at the mall) . Best wishes to you and yours for this Holiday Season.
Picture Perfect Thursday XIII – Happy Holidays
From Our Family To Yours
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