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I just went back to look at 2007's last entry and read my words in regards to my wishes for 2008...
"I want to look at a messy collage of photos from the year and feel as happy as I do today"
I truly got what I wished for...looking back I am ridiculously grateful to have had a year filled with so much fun...2008 was just damn good.
Now it's time for 2009 and I have big plans...and immense hope to reach the end of these next 365 days so much closer to whom I ultimately want to be.
I noticed yesterday as Mac was spending the night at my sister's house that his room is looking especially disastrous...
Surely I've mentioned this before, but I am still grappling with the fact that, almost 12.5 years ago, I somehow gave birth to a messy pack-rat.
It really has developed with a fervor in the last two years and I am attempting to develop the maternal wisdom it will take for me not to strangle him because of it...
-Yes, he will (begrudgingly) clean it up when asked.
-Surely it's a phase.
-I'll just close the door and pretend like it's not happening.
-He will learn eventually.
-It's his own space and at this age and stage I shouldn't micromanage it with my beloved label maker.
Any other maternal wisdom you might have to offer is welcomed...and wishes for heaps of patience are appreciated too. :)
It's been frustrating around here today since we hit a major snag with the rearranging...the red squarewill probably need a fresh coat of paint which has me totally grumpy (a.k.a. both Sean and I threw a high holy hissy fit with each other). I should have known something like this was going to happen since all the furniture came together way too easily.
Oh well instead bemoaning house disasters I will discuss perceived successes...for instance my mantle. In the last year it has become like a scrapbook page to me...something to mix and match and try something different...it has been my new favorite place in the house. Actually it has always been a favorite place in the house, but one that I didn't realize I was kind of neglecting over the years.
Enough rambling...here's mylittle gathering for the new year...just pulled together with stuff from around the house...
Can you tell I was on a green kick yesterday?
So now that we've discussed happier house thoughts I can share the other little Christmas crafting project I forgot to share..
I saw this a couple of days before Christmas and decided I had to try it...I attempted more intensive photoshop skills than I'm used to having and employed my fancy new printer to make one for my mom and then one as a stocking stuffer for Sean...
Now I want one for myself too.
You know how you keep meaning to sit down and write a blog entry...and you have plenty of things to talk about...and technically you even have time to do it...yet you just don't get there?
Yeah, that's where I've been.
I have been wholeheartedly attempting to embrace the after-Christmas time that usually nudges me into a depressive state...for the most part it's worked. I'm trying to concentrate on everything being new and fresh instead of mourning the fact that our house will no longer be filled with twinkling lights and gifts tucked under the tree.
And that fancy paragraph just means one thing...it's time for the great Griffin House Rearranging '08. The only thing that will shake me out of the post-holiday blues is moving stuff around somewhere new...works every time. (as evidenced in 2005, 2006, and 2007).
Other than that I've been scrapbooking...
I've been utilizing the holy-crap-I haven't-really-scrapbooked-since-this-summer technique which means I'm feeling really rusty at it and am trying to keep things simple that way they actually get finished.
So the stuff that I've been thinking about and not posting...first the final Christmas gift crafting...
I decided a couple of months ago to gather recipes into a binder for my brother and sister's Christmas gift. Of course I only got over to my mom's to actually collect up the recipes on the Saturday before Christmas. I had originally planned on typing everything out until I saw all the scraps of paper that had my mom's handwriting and my grandma's writing and even my grandfather's...the project changed and I became even more fortunate to have this to use...
I was able to scan in everything and print it out beautifully...I was absolutely giddy when I saw the first recipes start to print (I did almost fifty altogether)
Second thing I've been totally excited about is Mac getting new glasses a couple of days before Christmas...he just looks like a whole new kid to me...except he still has the same cheesy photo smile...
Third thing I'm excited about as I start looking at 2009 is this event...
Karen and Susan are two the most highly-productive and detail-orientated women I've ever known so this event is sure to be amazing...and I'll be lucky enough to help out in part of the event so I really am looking forward to it.
And finally the fourth thing I'm excited about...as I obsessively check my grades at CSUF pretty much twice a day...is that I'm 3/4 of the way to a 4.0 for the semester...that last class grade I'm waiting to hear about might not get me there, but oh am I hoping at this point.
So that's pretty much everything that's been on my mind in one big post...gotta get back to the rearrange-athon...
This was Mac and Paddington about twenty minutes ago after a day full of plain old Christmas wonderfulness.
Sean's finishing up the last few dishes in the sink after a house full of friends and family eating dinner and playing games. Soon he and I will have our yearly tradition of opening our gifts for each other in the very last moments of Christmas...the best way to end a night. :)
Sending many wishes for a holiday that is merry and bright...
Merry Christmas.
I said it last year that the 23rd is just my very favorite day...and one of my favorite things today has been hanging more cards from family and friends on ribbons in the dining room window...not at all an original idea since lots of people hang their cards, but it is something new I tried this year and I have loved having them there.
So I have been busy trying to finish up all the last minute holiday stuff...some of which shouldn't have been saved for the last minute, but that darn school thing got in the way earlier in the month...I will definitely have a little gift craftiness to share after the holiday...I'd share now except I have to get back to making more stuff.
Night...
Friday being the very first day of vacation was really great BUT tonight might be better...just because it's a Sunday night and I'm technically not under the gun to finish anything. Earlier today I naturally thought to myself, "Crap, what schoolwork do I have to do???" it's like an inadvertent Sunday reflex...it felt weird that the answer will be nothing for the next six weeks...weird, but good. :)
So this weekend we accomplished some of the fun Christmas to-do's...we went to see the Christmas light neighborhood and we went with my mom and took my nephew to see the Christmas train...
This morning Sean, Mac and I went to the cemetery to decorate Griffin's grave...just the same old simple decorations...and just like last year his neighbors had much more impressive holiday decor...this year some had real trees with solar lights...
Later today I got our Christmas thank you notes made...
And Mac made his too...
Mac went off to a party with his dad's family for the night and Sean and I are attempting to bake candy cane cookies and hopefully getting a chance to watch Christmas Vacation which is Sean's yearly tradition to watch when his Christmas vacation starts.
I just wish it would go on forever...at least on the first day of vacation it feels like it might.
Mac and I had a great day at home in a pajamas with a trip through the McDonald's drive-through and a picnic at home while we watched this week's episode of Top Chef.
I have a few little things to surprise him with while were at home for the next several days...it's an attempt to ward off boredom (or watching 8 hours of television daily)...
Today it was a Santa house kit that I built with him...we laughed a lot over the thought that it said on the box age 4 and up...I could barely assemble the darn thing.
We also got more peppermint bark and tiger butter packaged up...this time it was for the volunteers at the place where Mac gets tutored every week...
Okay we're going to head out for a walk...I'm always more enthused about walking this time of year with the cool air and Christmas lights...it's a good thing too considering another one of today's activities was baking red velvet cupcakes.
I can't believe it's the last little installment of my crazy idea...thanks for being with me as I've preparedfor Christmas all these weeks.
So it's a big day around here...the Christmas cards officially went in out in the mail...
Here they are...
And here's the person who helped me mail them in his pajamas and robe since he had a Polar Express party on his last day of school...
Off to eat some dinner and be on our way to Mac's school Christmas program.
My two last papers are due tomorrow and I just electronically turned them both in about an hour ago...
I am done.
No more homework...reading...note-taking...statistical analysis...paper writing...citation making...or anything else untilJanuary 27th.
I can't wrap my head around it quite yet.
Instead it's onto the next project...frantic Christmas card making...Sean and I are trying to complete one crafty task after another for them tonight...my goal is that there are in the mail on Friday.
Other stuff I got done at the last minute is making little packages. A couple of Christmas votive candles for the three directors at Mac's school and tiger butter for all the volunteer's at his karate classes...
Okay back to card making...so much more fun than paper writing. :)
I finally got the packages of gifts mailed off this afternoon right in the nick of time. There was a big box off to my dad's house and to my in-laws which included a "tool box" of scrap supplies for my mother-in-law...
Then I sent three little packages off to my good friends who are scattered around the country...I always get them a random little something that I've found handy and this year it was little tape measurers to keep in their purses that I found at Pottery Barn this summer. At the last minute I decided to try wrapping their gifts with messy crafted felt envelopes...I'm pretty sure it's now my new favorite thing to do...
Finishing up more stuff tomorrow...
So thankful to be tucked inside the house today with the Christmas lights glowing and the fireplace on...especially since it's been looking like this outside...
This weekend I spent one day getting ready for our neighborhood progressive dinner party and one day being way too lazy after the party was all done.
So all I have to offer you is freaky Santa...
He wasn't freaky until last night. He usually resides at one of my neighbor's front door...then last night he suddenly arrived on our porch...apparently she decided he needed to be at the party. I'm not going to lie Iwas pretty taken aback by the life-size Santa arriving on our porch, but there was nothing I could do. Except during the party start a conversation with one of the teenage boys on our block...
Nora: (jokingly) "Hey ____ you think I'm totally cool and would pretty much do whatever I asked you to, right?"
Teenage boy: (confused) "Uh...yeah???"
Nora: (seriously) "When the party's over at this house can you quietly carry freaky Santa there on the porch back down to ____'s house, please?
Teenage boy: (still a little confused) "Sure, okay"
Nora: (extremely relieved) "Oh my goodness thank you"
My fear was the rain that's been forcasted to last for days would start and Santa would have to hang out in our garage...and that would just be too scary when I need to grab a diet coke out of the fridge.
So rest assured that Santa is back where he belongs.
This week includes finishing two papers and heading to school for the last time this semester. I also must finally start on Christmas cards and get them in the mail...along with packages of gifts that need to be shipped. After that I can relax for a couple of minutes...I absolutely cannot wait.
So far I've only finished one tiny little crafty thing this week...I quickly decorated little thank you bags of homemade "candy" for three classmates I worked with on a group project.
So the "candy" (I put into quotations since I kind of feel like I'm cheating since it doesn't require fancy stuff like candy thermometer or anything) is candy cane bark and tiger butter...
Candy cane bark is just white Wilton's candy melts (follow the directions on the package to melt it) and crushed candy cane mixed together then spread out onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Cool it in the fridge and then break it apart into pieces.
Tiger butter needs two bags of the white Wilton's candy melted down and is mixed with approximately a cup of peanut butter. Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Melt about a cup and a half of chocolate chips and drizzle it over the peanut butter mixture then swirl through it all with a knife. Cool it in the fridge and then break it apart into pieces.
Then snack on the leftovers as you write papers. :)
I just finished writing another paper so I'm resting for a bit before I head back the land of schoolwork.
At this point I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed...pulled in two directions...trying to find balance among the school responsibilities and the Christmas to-do's...
For instance this tree that now has a pile of a dozen gifts sitting just on top of the coffee table waiting for the tags I've yet to make (which I find ironic considering I was just teaching a class on making them mere weeks ago...I already used up what I made)...our progressive dinner party is Saturday and I don't even have a list of what appetizers we're going to make let alone all the ingredients...then there's the 60 Christmas cards that need to be crafted up that are currently just a big pile of supplies. But don't worry because tomorrow will be my 12 days of Christmas post and I'll "seem" all put together again. Just keep in mind now you know the truth. :) I'm waaaaay behind.
Then there's school which feels as if I may never be done. I've written one paper, a draft of another and have a third ten-page paper yet to tackle. On the bright side all four of my presentations are done though.
Speaking of which my Motherhood and the Internet presentation went really well last week thanks again to all of you. I was asked several times about sharing my findings from the survey...I have mostly the demographic statistics and just a couple of results of the tests I ran with the data...the rest of the presentation was sharing a few of your images that corresponded with your answers.
I still cannot thank everyone enough for all of your time and help with this project...I absolutely could not have done it without you.
Okay break time is over...onto the next assignment. :)
Since I'm basically trapped at my desk until further notice...I'm really getting to enjoy the pompom garland I finished up on Friday night...
It was the perfect thing to do while paper writing...the basket just sat on my desk among the piles of schoolwork...write a few sentences...string some pompoms...repeat. Now I'm working an a red, green and white one for Mac's room...because it's not like I could actually write a whole paragraph at a time or something. :)
I like yesterday...yesterday was just good old fashioned family fun...and since today has been good old fashioned research paper writing we'll concentrate on yesterday instead...
The Build-a-Bear surprise was a success...Mac named him "ChristMoose"...his antlers light up and he ended up being on sale so we were all very happy :)
Had to take some more photos...especially an ornament reflection attempt
Then we wandered around and got a little more Christmas shopping done...while I found a gift for my Dad I couldn't resist these...I've had them on all day today and they're the fluffiest/not too warm/most perfect slippers ever...made all the schoolwork just a little more bearable....
Okay I have a holiday to-do list...not the "grocery shop & wrap the gifts" kind...more of the "make fun plans" kind...I've had them before...pretty much every year just trying to collect up some ideas for Christmas fun...
Mac will get this card (an older Paper Source note-card that I stamped on top of) when we are here on Saturday afternoon to surprise him with this. I'm usually the mean mom questioning his need for yet another stuffed animal, but he still loves them so I hoping he'll be excited.
I want to go together to see the holiday train...we went several years ago and it was so cute.
We have to make our annual trek to the Christmas light neighborhood...this was from a couple of years ago...
Mac and I have plans to make stuff out of this book. I was going to tell you what exactly what, but it's missing from the shelf and I'm guessing it might have been snuck off to school in Mac's backpack since he's been eager to help his teachers plan a school-wide holiday boutique.
I am dying to try to bake cookies like these...my grandmother used to and they were SO good...I haven't had one since I was a little girl.
I am also really wanting to finally craft up one of these garlands...right after I'm done with my school work...
It's getting to really enjoy these types of "to-do"s that makes seeming like a crazy person when I shop for gifts in August and wrap them in October totally worth it...it means I get to do the super fun stuff now. :)
I think I've inadvertently decided for now to share our Christmas decorations just a photo at a time...here's the mantle this year...the usual stockings and garland...a couple of framed old Saturday Evening Post covers I found at this great antique mall on our trip a couple of summer ago and a plastic Santa I found at an antique store in Texas this past summer...oh and the little patterned paper creation I made a couple of years ago (inspired by this).
Okay back to the subject at hand..."pulling a Nora". I bet you didn't know about it, because I didn't either until I was on the phone with a friend yesterday afternoon and she informed that she had "pulled a Nora". Which she explain meant she spent the entire day at home in her pajamas with no bra on. Awesome. Good to know that that's what my name conjures up.
But to be honest with you today I'm totally "pulling a Nora"...just sitting around getting schoolwork done...making the mad-dash out to the mailbox before any neighbors see me since I'm in a tank top, capri pajama pants and fuzzy socks...and of course I have no bra on.
Probably not exactly what you were hoping to know if you clicked on here today...but at least I'm not sitting here crying to you about schoolwork like I had warned might happen...I'm hanging in there...literally.
After all, I have no bra on. :)
As I did my daily perusing I noticed a bunch of blogs are all super cute today with Christmas celebrations...several adorable 12 days of Christmas themes.
Then there's this old place...where I might be doing a dozen days of crying...or at the very least some quality whining since I have an enormous amount of school work standing between me and December 19th. I've had an easy semester all things considered and that's because it's about the grand finale this time...four presentations and three papers...and they all start up tomorrow.
So bear with me...I do have fun Christmas stuff to share but it just might be intermixed with some school-induced tears. :)
