Christmas Time and the Living is Easy, But the Travelin' Ain't!

Saturday Night. Christmas Night. All is calm, all is bright? Oy! After close to twelve hours of fighting on again off again with our wireless connection, I am finally snuggled in a flannel sheet clad twin bed next to my dear sweet hubby, also in a flannel clad twin bed in my old bedroom. The child passed out on the living room floor with her new Tangled horse, Maximus. Not the most cuddly of new toys... Last night I had to share said flannel clad bed with my dear sweet 5 year old. The dear child IS A BED HOG!! Tonight, I am exhausted, but of course I'll have trouble going to sleep. The kid was understandably up before dawn showed it's crack. I mean, before the crack of dawn! Yesterday I was a very patient and understanding mother and wife. I tend to freak out a little when we travel. I kinda hoped that we'd be on the road by say, 11am. That did not happen. I even posted on Facebook that I expected us to finally get around to leaving the house around 2pm. According to the clock in my car (which is 6 minutes fast) we left at 2:06pm. We rolled into my parents house around 6pm. Before we left I let my husband check, double check and triple check the house to make sure everything was off. I allowed our child to have a complete meltdown over which outfit she wasn't going to wear. I even made sure I laughed at the situation. Enough to keep me from going over the edge, but not so much to piss off the kid even more... I made chicken sandwiches for the road but forgot the salt and pepper - and napkins. I didn't freak out when it took us 15 minutes to get out of the gas station. I didn't freak out when the dog was whining and the kid was barking while hubby was in the beer store. We had Christmas burritos to look forward to - and I knew there would be champagne. We'll get there when we get there. The crazy kid greeted Oma and Papa wearing her dreaded traveling outfit and her reindeer antlers made in school of construction paper before she ran upstairs to change into her red velvet Christmas dress. The red velvet Christmas dress was made for me when I was Emma's age by my Mom. It is so pretty. There is a little white eyelet frock that goes with it - but Emma never liked that part of it. It looks too much like an apron. So, I have to say - I'm pretty proud of myself and my not freaking out! Saturday was mostly nice. My Father and I played a couple of games of double nines dominoes. Neither of us had played in years and years. I found out (like I really had any doubt) that my Father has no trouble calling me names and cursing at me. I kicked ass in the first hand - total annihilation! And, I did go on to win the game, too. I wonder if that's the reason my Daddy was cursing at me?! The child was pretty much out of control most of the day. I don't like the way she acts when she gets like this, but I completely get it. She's just so excited that she can't contain herself. The kid is in bed with me again tonight. Just since I started writing this, actually. Scott had lugged the sleeping kid up to her nest in Oma and Papa's room. She settled right in and seemed to be fine. Within an hour I heard the pitter patter of sweet little feet. She was headed right down stairs. I stopped her - what was I thinking?! She climbed right into my bed and snuggled in and passed out again. Sleeping this close to her and being as uncomfortable as I was did allow me to sleep lightly enough to hear all her nighttime mumblings. She talks a lot in her sleep. What I like the most is when she giggles in her sleep. She's a good, happy kid. Sunday morning when she had me up before dawn she did tell me that she tried to give me more space so that I would be more comfortable. Sweet girl! Sunday. Not a totally horrible day. Rough start... but, we dusted ourselves off and went on with our day, eventually. Mom made an as always wonderful breakfast. Emma, with her new notepad and pen in hand went around to take our egg orders. I was reminded of SNL's "Cheeseburger" sketch. We each ordered our eggs done differently - so we all got scrambled! Our eggs, that is! Scott and Jazzy and I left soon after. We spent too much time at the over priced and over crowded mall in Ithaca before making our way home. As we were cresting one of the hills before our home we witnessed one of the most beautiful wintry scenes. The trees were all white and frosty. It was still daylight - but not by much, and so cloudy and overcast that is was just grey. But, it all lent itself to the crisp frigid white trees. We saw a pick up pulled into a little driveway in the woods with a bunch of people just hanging out. Some were sitting on the tailgate and a few were just standing around. They waved vigorously to us. You could see that they were happy people. Happy people hanging out with people they love. It didn't matter where they were, it mattered who they were with. I miss my kid, but she'll be enjoying her winter break with with Oma and Papa. After all, I'm sure she could use the break from us! I'm just happy to be back home, mostly...more on that later.

A pEaCeFuL Day at Home with the Kid! hahahaha!!!

She actually let me sleep in. The dog was stretched out next to me, the cat never moved from his desk chair and the kid was playing Rudolph. When I finally woke up I called the kid in to see me. I asked her if she was a good girl. She said yes. I asked her what she was doing. She said playing. I asked if she had made a mess and would I freak out when I got out there. She said no. This might just be a pretty darned good day! I went potty, because you needed to know that, and went to the living room to survey the damage. "See... There's my sleigh. Nothing to freak out about, right?" You're correct, child. But, if my darling husband reads this he can freak out - because I'm running the washer and the dryer AT THE SAME TIME!!!! (Insert evil laugh here) Off to fold laundry now.

yup, I should be blogging

...but, I'm opting to sit in front of the tv and veg out. I'm tired, long day...

Productive Sundays DO Exist! Full Moon?

This has been an exceptionally productive Sunday. Let's attribute it to the full moon. Some very good friends of ours gave us a beautiful bed set for Emma. I was able to totally make over her room and I found un-found space for stuff. Emma has much stuff. But, now her stuff seems to be a bit more manageable - with more manageability to come! She took a very active role in the re-birth of her room. Man, that kid has got opinions! Wonder where that comes from?! So, the weekend so far...

• Cheese got cut without my assistance
• Jewelry has been purchased
• Puttering has been done
• Deer has been got
• Cappuccinos have been drunk
• Bed and dresser have been delivered
• Scott's desk has been relocated (the most emotionally charged event of the weekend!)
• Bed and dresser have been assembled and Emmafied
• Kid has been showered and put to bed with a bedtime story
• Cheesy New Wave music listened to

Yup, a productive weekend indeed. Darling Hubby has just finished making "Many Bean Ham Hock Soupish," and is in the process of baking his non-risen bread, fryin' up some smoked pork chops and re-heating some mashed 'taters. It looks like we will also be joined by some sauteed zucchini and steamed peas. I like my guy. I like him a lot.

We Miss You Bailey and Who Is This Kid?!

We lost our Bailey Black Dog six months ago today. We all miss him so so much. Jazzy is pretty mopey and sticks pretty close to us. Looking at his pictures helps me, but it just upsets Scott. Emma wants to take a picture of Bailey Boy to "sharing day" tomorrow. Actually she wants to take a picture of Bailey, Jazzy and Emma Kitty. I can see the scene unfolding... "Good morning class. Emma has brought us a picture today of her 'Running Dalmatian' Jazzy, her dead dog Bailey and the dead cat that she was named after." I kinda wonder what the teacher thinks of this child... Last week the kid brought home a piece of artwork. Apparently, they're learning about body parts, and she had to draw a picture of hands. I'm really not sure out of what blue yonder this came from, but she drew a picture of herself holding on to jail cell bars! What?!

Kindergarten - Not Like We Remember It!

Emma has started in on her third week of kindergarten. The kid has taken to being a schoolgirl very well. She's very social by nature and truly enjoys learning - school, a perfect fit. On her third day she received a sticker for being the best napper. The best napper! Man, things aren't like they used to be!

The Chalk Family

Times are tight, as they say. Scott has been out of work for over a year now and we could definitely use a few extra bucks. But, we're more fortunate than some - we can almost always pay our bills - and food is never scarce. Nor is a good time! The kid is in a summer program through her soon-to-be-school. The program is from 8-Noon, totally free and they pick her up and drop her off at home on the bus and feed her breakfast and lunch! We're all very excited about it! Scott and I are, so far, pleased to have her in this school district. From what I can tell, by most respects, Emma does not have a lot of toys. And, even though cash is tight, that is not the reason she doesn't have a lot of toys. We choose to not get her much. the Grandparents are great about this too. We've never had a family meeting to discuss our self imposed toy deprivation, but we just have really cool parents that "get it." Please don't think that the kid has no toys, or never gets indulged - because that is far from it! Not to worry, the child does just fine... So, with the kid being back in a school atmosphere I figured she would be exposed to the more material side of life. Not long ago, as we were sitting quietly on the porch listening to and observing the bird, I asked her if there was anything that she wanted or needed that she didn't have. "Well, there is one thing..." she started. I was expecting her to announce her need for some plastic imported piece of junk that can only be purchased by calling an 800 number. But, my sweet, wonderful child proclaimed her need for - no, really - a massage table! I had, moments before, given her a quick little massage at her request. She was achy from having to stand for so long to make her soup. Her soup, you see, is for now made up of trillions of cut up pieces of paper. This has been an on again - off again obsession since Christmas. Her first batch of soup also contained beans (real ones that we planted), beads, buttons, pompoms and a smattering of other miscellaneous little trinkets. But, because that must not have been flavorful enough, she added ripped up pieces of paper towel. You know - the fluff. But, the fluff must have been a little tough, so before our friend Josh could convince her otherwise, she added a couple of Dixie Cups of water to her mixture. Oy! Currently, the kid is entertaining herself with a family of sidewalk chalks. the family is taking a ride in the car - a big stock pot lid. And, because the closest sidewalk is in the little village at the bottom of the mountain about two miles away, we let her color on the porch. And all the rocks are fair game. Recently she colored a big section of the porch purple - because she wanted it to look pretty. The dog likes to lay on the porch... We were left with a lovely lavender tinted polka dotted doggie. Purple dogs, chalk families, massage tables and oodles of cheap plastic toys... We could have more, but we choose to make do with less. I'm pretty sure our kid is better off because of it. Our life is slower than most. And that works for us. Life is good.