NaMoBloPo

Well - I made it - I posted once a day for 30 days straight! I'm sure it's not a coincidence, but I have tendinitis or something in my wrist now, so I may be taking some time off! Maybe not, we'll see. But I'll try to go for quality over quantity and just throw some pictures on if I ever remember to put my memory card back into my camera.

Coming soon:
Pumpkin cake near disaster details
Stuffing Redux

Penultimate November Post

I was really excited to do my last post of November and say, "Woo hoo! I posted every day in November!" But then I realized it's only the 29th.

See you tomorrow!

Trimming the Tree

Luke and I decorated the tree this afternoon. Last year we got a small live tree and put it in the bay window behind the couch because certain 1 year olds couldn't be trusted with a tree and ornaments.

This year we got out the big, lovely, fake tree and we had room for all the ornaments. We decorated it while Jack was sleeping, and I pretty much let Luke have free reign. (Partially because I got paged in the middle of it and had to work. Booo!!!!) The only direction I gave was to say that anything breakable had to be out of Jack's reach. Luke has an interesting tree decorating strategy. He likes to put things together in groups. So all the little glass balls are together, all the star wars ornaments are together, all the John Deere ornaments are together, and so on. (Yes, our ornaments are awesome.) It's an interesting effect. I call it, "Vintage 6 Year Old."

And yes, I did spend a few minutes thinking about cropping the Precious Moments ornament out of the photo, but it's a very special God Parent ornament that Grandma says is from Uncle John, and Luke likes it.

Speaking of Cold Turkey...

With all the crying, and fever, and vomiting, and needing to be held by Mommy or Daddy Jack did not use or mention his pacifier for 30 hours straight over Thanksgiving. This morning, when he woke up as his happy, but still slightly congested self, he said, "Blanket! Stuffie! Boppy???" I pretending I didn't hear that last part and whisked him out of his room.

So far so good.

Until nap time.

Interestingly, he didn't ask for it, but I had the most difficult time getting him down for a nap. I tried to use the bulb sucker, which set of a crying jag, which required a book and singing to calm down, which made him ready for sleep, which made me lay him down, which made him suffer from his stuffy nose, which set of a crying jag, which required a book and singing to calm down, which made him actually fall asleep, which made me lay him down, which made him suffer from his stuffy nose,which set of a crying jag, which required a book and singing to calm down, which made him ready for sleep, which made me lay him down, which made him suffer from his stuffy nose, which made me almost consider digging out the hidden pacifier, which would have made all that for nothing.

So I did the next best thing. I gave up and decided to nap with him. We fell asleep in my bed, and all was well until his snoring woke me up. Yes, I did attempt to bulb suck his nose at that time, but after one nostril yielded such unsatisfactory results, I gave up.

Nap without the pacifier though... that is big!

And by bedtime, Dave will be home so I am not even going to worry about that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even when I am cleaning up throw up in the hours before Thanksgiving morning, I feel thankful for my wonderful life and happy family, and the health that we enjoy most of the time.

And when my baby only wants mommy, I am so thankful that Grandmom and Grandad are here to flip pancakes.

And when I can't figure out what is wrong with the pumpkin cake, I am thankful that I discovered that I forgot the flour when the cake was only in the oven for a minute.

I am lucky, lucky, lucky! (I am not being sarcastic even a little!)

Neti - Reprise

Neti tip #1: You can greatly reduce the chances of pouring salt water down your throat by way of your nose, if you don't try to see what you look like in the mirror while using a neti pot. Know that it looks really weird, and just keep your head down! (So I have read.)

Another advantage to the Neti pot is this: Threatening your children. Any complaints about any ailments and I just say, "You know what might help that? The neti pot. Want me to try it on you?" Last time I hear that complaint for a while!.

Oh, and I added another verse to my song. I think it will be the last, because I am ready to get this song out of my head. Because I was really missing singing "Down down baby, Elmo do karate."

Oh Neti, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind! Hey Neti!
Oh Neti, you're so gross, you're so gross you blow my nose! Hey Neti!
Oh Neti, hit the spot, clean my nose and drain my snot!

Hey Neti, Hey hey hey Neti!

This cold has been around all month, and that's a little long
Boogers, mucus, snot, now you're in my song!
I'm miserable all right, this cold has done me wrong!
I want to sleep at night, so help me clear my nose, Neti!

Cause now the mucus spills, though skeptics say it won't
My cold gives me the chills, baby please, baby don't
Every night you still, leave me booger free, Neti!

Oh Neti, what a pity, I don't understand
Which way to hold my head with the Neti in my hand.

Oh Neti, You're so Fine, You're so Fine You Blow My Mind

Hey Neti, hey hey hey Neti!

Yes, I am known to seek alternative medicine at the acupuncturist office, and at the chiropractor and I will drink some nasty tea, and burn moxa, and whatever else, and I have had a lot of success with those doctors. But when they both mentioned I should get a neti pot for my sinus issues, I said politely, "Eww, no way, that's kuckoo."

But now that I have seen a neti pot on both Oprah and Martha Stewart, well, I changed my tune. And by that I mean, I continued singing the same tune that went like this, "Maybe I should get a neti pot, even though the whole concept is disgusting." Except that sort of as a joke, I wrote "neti pot" on the list that Dave took to Target last Sunday. And he bought one! Not a sleek, modern teapot style neti pot that would look beautiful in my bathroom when I don't have it stuck in my nose, but a sort of dorky plastic (see photo). It's of the short and stout line of neti pots.

So, the Neti! It's the best! And I am not even going to go on and on and on about snot and boogers, because I think I'll save that for a later post.

Here is where I insert my hilarious rendition of Mickey, except with lyrics about my neti pot and mucus. Except, it's late and I am working on my ORA-30926 problem, and doing point in time recoveries, blah! On the other hand, while I work on that, I might come up with a few phrases here and there***:

Oh Neti, You're so Fine, You're so Fine You Blow My Mind!
Oh Neti, You're so gross, You're so gross You Blow My Nose!
Oh Neti, Hit the Spot, Clean my nose and drain my snot!

Cause now the mucus spills, though skeptics say it won't
My cold gives me the chills, baby please, baby don't
Every night you still, leave me booger free, Neti!

Oh Neti, what a pity, I don't understand
Which way to hold my head with the Neti in my hand.

*** Work in progress

What Poise, What Grace

I took this video at some point during the 10 day stretch that included Dave's 8 day business trip, 2 sick days for me, Luke's two sick days for potential swine flu that turned out to be a bad cold, and 2 snow days. I was never so happy to go back to work after 8 days at home. As you can see, we put that time to good use.

Still Life: With Grape

We had dinner at Murphy's last Thursday because they have a TV and the Buff''s were on. Luke ordered the grilled cheese, for the last time. He didn't like it because of the "bread" and the "cheese". I have forbidden him from ordering it again, but I should really just be proud of him for ordering the fruit as a side dish instead of the french fries. Fully 25% of his fruit cup, though, was taken up by one grape. It was a really big grape. We were all marveling at it's magnificence when it slipped out of Luke's hands and onto the floor. The 5 second rule does not apply in bars though, so it didn't get eaten. I did, however, agree that if he wanted to, he could bring the grape home and we could continue to think about how it's the biggest grape we've ever seen. I told him to put it with the pumpkins, and he said, "If it gets exposed to the light! It is going to turn into a PRUNE!" I started to remind him that grapes actually turn into raisins, but it seemed silly, since this one would probably, actually, turn into a prune. Except now that I have taken 2 pictures of a grape, and written 214 words about it, I think I should probably just put it in the compost now and forget this whole thing ever happened. But first, the grape with a penny for perspective:

And So It Begins

Last year, when I decided not to get a ski pass, I had a knee injury and a 17 month old who was getting difficult to entertain in the lodge. I had visions of the two of us snuggled up together on cold mornings... visions of sewing, and crafting, and working out and reading while he napped. (In my visions, I'm really motivated and Jack is really tired.)

Apparently my visions also did not account for the fact that my sweet, sweet baby would be 2 by the time the ski season started. And that my knee might heal. And that Jack would want to do everything his big brother is doing.

A few weeks ago, I started to worry about the ski season, and what would happen when Dave and Luke left us every weekend morning. "Where Lukie go? Soccer? I go soccer?" Etc. I thought I was keeping my concerns mostly to myself, until Dave said he wasn't planning on leaving today until Jack was safely napping, so it's not just me.

With Jack asleep, and he skiers on their way up the hill, I headed down to the basement, put on my headphones and got on my exercise bike. I did get off, and stop, and readjust things a few times, so Jack can't have been screaming his head off for long before I heard him. Right? I ran up to his room, and gathered him into my loving arms, and tried to console him like only a mother can. He put his head on my sweaty shoulder and said, "No! No like it! No like it! Daddy daddy daddy daddy." Once I had a blanket barrier between my clammy arms and my poor, sweet, neglected baby, he feel back asleep. Then I decided to lay on the couch for a while and wallow in mild guilt. Apparently there are these things called monitors? I am going to look into the concept of setting one up in the basement, so I can hear crying over the sound of the bike or the sewing machine.

It's only until March - Jack and I can get our 2010 season passes then. I think we will be ready for some spring powder days.