11.27.2014

currently / Happy Thanksgiving / link up


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Harvesting Kale.

This week's themes: 
picking, reading, watching, rushing, planning

I'm 36 years old and I am a turkey cooking virgin. But we're hosting tonight for some friends and so this week I was Picking out my first Thanksgiving turkey. I got a hot tip from a friend that Costco had organic turkeys and Holy Pricey Bird, Batman! Anyways, wish me luck today, friends.

Otto and I have been Reading the third book in the Little House series at bedtime, Farmer Boy. As with the first two, I'm a bit mortified by the child abuse and racism in these books. But, by editing on the fly, Otto is just getting the benefit of hearing about how self-sufficient life used to be and how different childhood used to be. "Doesn't seem like much of a fun life," he said. Ha. Werd. But it's also so fascinating. The books are so procedural, I feel like if I needed to make cheese, maple syrup, or plant a field of potatoes, I could do it now.  

We will all be Watching the Macy's Parade in a few hours! Having the parade on while I cook is MANDATORY.

This week all the Rushing around that seemed to make the whole summer give me anxiety kind of melted away on a sea of Hershey candy cane kisses and slowly enjoyed cups of coffee. Un-rushing.  

We are Planning to get a real Christmas tree this year, probably this weekend. And are planning to take the kids to Big Hero 6. That's it for planning. Happy weekend.

Next week's theme's:
dancing, cooking, losing, clearing, sharing 

11.20.2014

currently - link up


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Harvesting Kale.

This week's themes: 
finding, writing, dressing, thinking, beginning

I am Finding myself in a rut between Cautious and Safe versus Following Your Heart lately and truthfully I've been in this rut for months and months now. It's basically the end of 2014 and the small business that I intended to kick off back in January still lives in my head only. I keep waiting for that moment of extreme energy and boldness to hit me when I will run with this thing but the sad fact is all I feel most days is completely energy drained and a little panicky about money. Maybe this is a bad time in our lives for me to take on something new? But then if I wait, well, I just don't want to wait. But then every day I wait another day.

Otto has continued Writing his epic list for Santa. Now it's up to Rob and me to start getting a little family Christmas planned and some gifts and stocking stuffers gathered. I'm so excited to plan our Christmas breakfast and lunch. Thanksgiving is amazing and I love it...and need to get that planned as well. But I also just love the idea of a warm and easy Christmas day where the food is slower and simpler. I'm thinking a cheese-based soup, fresh bread, cinnamon rolls, and maybe hot toddies or cider drinks for the grownups. Mmm.

We have all been Dressing in layers. Cold came a little early this year! We are trying to be a bit Scroogey with the house heat as our bills were ridiculous last year. So we're all bundled and huddled under blankets.

Loretta has been Thinking that we are a bunch of dumb dumbs who can't understand a word she says. We also cramp her style. Also she adores us. She is a woman of intense love and fierce independence. I think she is on the brink of a leap in speech skills. She speaks so well, long detailed sentences, but her pronunciation is still mumbled and then she gets irate when misunderstood. I predict a happier little jabber jaw sometime soon. In the meantime, poor thing is frequently annoyed with us all when we don't understand her right away. She says, "I'm very very frustrated!" it breaks my heart.

We are Beginning to play a few boardgames as a legit family with all of us able to participate (Hi Ho Cherry Oh and Trouble) and also Beginning to be able to play some actual, real board games with Otto too. We got Quirkle over the weekend and I'm so excited about it.

Next week's theme's:
picking, reading, watching, rushing, planning 

11.13.2014

currently - link up


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Harvesting Kale.

This week's themes: 
laughing, crying, cooking, looking, planning

This week we are Laughing at Otto's thick Christmas list. Rob told Otto, "You only get about 1 out of every 4 things on your list." Well between that open-ended advice and all of the catalogs that have been hitting our mailbox lately, Otto's list is at 30ish pages! We've filled him in on the secret that Santa only brings 2 or 3 gifts but he is now in a copying frenzy. I remember being obsessed with things like this as a kid too. It's great handwriting and reading practice so no big whoop. Except now we have to ask round-about questions like, "What are like the top 4 things on this list?" And of course it's a shrug.

After taking a break from Downton Abbey I've found myself with some quiet evenings to myself again lately and oh you guys, the Crying. So much ugly crying in the dark, haha. But so so good.

The kids have been Cooking, well baking really, every weekend lately. I hate making sandwiches for lunches. There, I've said it. Making sandwiches is a drag and it brings me down. I am missing the sandwich-making gene of motherhood. So we've been making vegetable breads and hippied-out cakes and things on the weekend so I can put those into their lunches instead of having to make sandwiches. Otto cuts fruit and veggies, measures, and stirs. Loretta stirs and measures too and if we can see a devilish look in her eye, well then she gets a "rodeo clown" bowl of her own to stir. Anyways, it's been great fun and saved me from making wompy ass sandwiches. Win times 1,000.

I have been Looking at Pinterest quite a bit lately. Funny how it goes in spells. Somewhere between trying to figure out how to love my wardrobe without buying anything new and what to make food-wise now that it's casserole and bread season, I'm back on the P.

We are all Planning for our first quiet little Thanksgiving/Christmas at home in a long while. Otto has changed his Thanksgiving dessert request from popsicles to cheesecake thank goodness! He'd also like to go pick out a real tree this year. I'm starting to think about buying gifts and making Thanksgiving dinner. I'd like to see Big Hero 6 at some point. And maybe a daytrip to Portland to see our friends there. And take the kids to the Nutcracker if it's not too expensive. And evenings at home with popcorn and all the important holiday movies (Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Rudolph, Charlie Brown) and then I need my annual Love Actually to happen, duh. Oh and Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses are here! They're here! Let the season begin!

Next week's theme's:
finding, writing, dressing, thinking, beginning 

11.05.2014

currently - link up


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Harvesting Kale.

This week's themes: 
reading, running, sending, liking, valuing

This week we finished Reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and have BIG PLANS to watch the movie this weekend. That is about all the BIG PLANS I can handle after last weekend. Somewhere between Halloween excitement and Daylight Savings I'm just absolutely stupid tired, stupid overwhelmed, and stupid stupid. Loretta has been waking up at 4am and yelling at us for no reason about everything, all day long, every day this week. Harry Potter Weekend 2014 is calling my name hard.

Last Friday night the kids were Running from house to house spreading delight in exchange for candy. Loretta was a trick-or-treating rock star. Cowgirl nailed it and gave every single house a goodbye, "Yeehaw!" Amazing. Otto has always been a little awkward with the whole "trick or treat" exchange. People get really excited about his costume and want to compliment him and talk to him but he is all business. I always forget about this but every year we have to have these conversations about smiling, saying thank you, just being a normal and friendly guy. Meanwhile, what a freaking cute little happy Ghostbuster when not being asked to socialize with the nice people who fuel his candy pipeline.

If we are Sending holiday cards this year I guess we'd better try to coordinate some kind of family photo or picture of the kids where their outfits kind of match. Consider this a PSA if you put it off and do a janky job like us every year. Time to get on it, slacker.

I have not had time to be Liking anything. I haven't watched tv, read a book, cooked a decent meal, or anything all week. I have been liking being at work best because Loretta has been yelling at us at home. She is a gnarly two year old.

Valuing friendships. Somehow I have been lucky enough to find "lifer" friends in every place we have lived over the past decade. I truly didn't expect to find that type of friendship here in Eugene. This was going to be a five year blip that I (dumbly) thought would fly by. It hasn't flown. It's been difficult financially, physically, and mostly emotionally... It's just been a challenge and brought me to my knees so many times. But one really golden thing that's come of it is I've met some women I love. Women who inspire and challenge me and make me laugh and have gotten me through some tough days. Let's hear it for the girls.

Next week's theme's:
laughing, crying, cooking, looking, planning