Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Guess I'll go eat worms

As promised, a picture of Chelsea with her woolly worm. If you click on the picture, it will open in a larger picture for you to get a good look at him; it's pretty cool. Clicking the "Back" button will bring you back to this page after you have finished checking out the bug.

Title: The children's song "Nobody Likes Me" I can't imagine that I'm the only one who knows this song, but if you need a refresher in how it goes (or how it ends with eating worms) let me know the next time you see me!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Happy Holidays!

Well, we've survived almost all of Hallothankmas Eve here at the Melton Point, with just New Years to go (and thanks to J's work schedule lately, I think that will come and go with little notice!). We had a great trip down to western KY to vist our folks and ended up with several 'out of the mouths of babes' moments to share. (Note to all of my sisters-in-law--children have not been left out for any particular reason; we love them all!)

First, I've got to share about J's oldest nephew, who we learned has decided he would like to be a puppy dog. Apparently, he's had enough of this 'human being' thing. Not a bad idea, actually...

Second up, my own nephew, who lived in Kuwait for a year before moving to Georgia this summer. This nephew and his little sister lived in Lexington for a year prior to moving to Kuwait and I used to see them quite a bit. As it has been about a year and a half since I last saw these guys, I was a bit aprehensive. It turned out to be the correct emotion as my dear nephew walked up to me and immediately asked if I was pregnant. (Now, we've discussed kids on this blog before, and I'm sure you all agree with J and I that the world is not ready for mini-meez, so we all know that the response is in the negative--my darling husband and I have just gained, ahem, several pounds since the wedding.) I decided that honesty, being the best policy, would suffice and replied, "No, I'm just fat." (You know, it sounded better when Eva Longoria said it.) Dear nephew responded, "Oh. You used to be skinnier." (No kidding. Thanks for noticing.) Needless to say, I'll be back at the gym this week, and probably calling up Jenny Craig, too.

My neice, who happens to be young enough to not notice such things as her Auntie's weight (or at least is too polite to mention it), gave me her own scare on this vacation. I woke up the second night of our stay to the sound of a little voice calling for "Mommy". After some time of calling with no answer, she got up and walked out of her room (I know this because I listened carefully to the thump of her little bed as she got up, the creak of the door hinges as she opened her door and the pitter-patter of her little feet as she wandered down the hall.). After the sound of her walking around was not joined by the sound of her parents, I began to wonder exactly where she was going. Now, again, we don't spend a lot of nights with little ones around, so I really have no idea what kind of trouble a toddler can get herself into. I do know, though, that the ones who end up on the news generally wander outside to play frogger in busy streets or to fall down open wells. With my anxiety in full-blown effect, I quickly jumped up and stepped into the hallway to 'rescue' my neice, who was standing in full Cindy-Lou Who fashion, hands behind her back, staring at the door to my brother's bedroom. Turns out my intrepid sibling and his wife sleep with earplugs (that's one to put away for future use) and hadn't heard the little one at all.

Last story isn't so much about what one said, but rather what one did. J has a pretty creative neice who ended up being the subject of an oft-told story this Christmas, and I decided it was worth telling one more time. C, who is seven, visited an exhibit of bugs made of sticks, twigs and other lumber earlier this fall at her community's botanical garden. Inspired by the exhibit, and by her art teacher, she made her own bug (a wooly worm) out of recycled materials. The art teacher was so impressed, she entered the bug in a Crayola contest. C's bug went on to win 9th place in this nation-wide contest and will be featured in a book to be published sometime in 2009. If I can get my hands on a picture, I'll be sure to share!

That's it for today, though stay tuned for posts with more pictures! J's folks were kind enough to give me a digital camera for Christmas, which I'll be able to keep on hand to snap as the mood strikes, rather than planning ahead as I have been!

Title: Happy Holidays, by Bing Crosby

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

This and That, Part 2: People who drive convertibles shouldn't assume they don't need an ice scraper

That should really be enough of an explanation, shouldn't it?

If not, the next line would be that I 'scraped' my car windows with a credit card and sentd up many thanks for buying a car with a rear-window defrost, as it had melted the ice on the back glass by the time I brushed off the two inches of snow. The windshield and windows went a bit more slowly, but after 20 minutes, I was in the car toasting my cold, red hands!

And now I'm going in search of my ice scraper, which I am sure I didn't give away with my old car!

Little bit of this, little bit of that

First, I hadn't realizd just how my the blog had become a part of my everyday thinking until I discovered I was blogging in my head. Unfortunately, the computer issues kept me from getting each 'post-in-my-head" to the computer in time to share before another came along. As a result, now that I have time to enjoy my half-snow day, I've got lots of pieces of blog posts to share. That's right, I said 'half-snow day". The snow and ice that blanketed our region closed my office for the morning. I have to report at noon, but get to wait until the salt has had a chance to work. J, of course, slipped and slid off to work at the usual hour this morning.

We had a similar experience a little over a week ago with the slippery weather, too. J and I headed out last Saturday morning (he for a haircut, me to the gym) in clear, cool weather. By the time we had finished our respective errands and had breakfast, we were in the midst of wuite a little snow storm that took us, and the city road department, quite by surprise! It took an hour to get home from the east side of town (usually a 25 minute drive), and we dodged folks sliding all over the place. We learned the next day that more than 200 wrecks had been reported that Saturday, and, thanks to the observance of one driver at the four-way stop we slid through, were thankful we weren't one of them.

Given the crazy weather, and J's busier work schedule, I've spent lots of time at home getting ready for Christmas. I hosted my annual Cookie Swap last night, and finally took time to take a few pictures. Of course, I forgot to take picturs before the swap, so please just imagine how the tables looked with trays full of cookies/food!

I'll start with the mantel. I've seen many of these ornament trees in the stores this year, and as the intrepid crafter I seem to be, felt confident I could make one myself. It isn't great, but for a first try, I'm pretty pleased that I covered most of the foam base and even snuck in a pattern of matte vs. shiny balls. If anyone wants one, I'm happy to oblige for $25, and I'm fairly certain a second attempt would look even better!

Also handmade on the mantel (or rather, hanging from the mantel) are two stockings. The one on the right was made by my mom for me many years ago. When J and I married, she packed it up with my ornaments and sent it to live with me. J didn't bring his own stocking to our marriage, so I offered to make one. He requested 'blue' and 'classy' so I set off to the fabric store in search of navy (UK blue does not qualify as 'classy' in my mind.) velvet. I made a pattern using my stocking as a model and cut out the fabric. Then I set it aside for a couple of weeks, waiting for the right time to tackle actually sewing it together. Last week, in the midst of a sick day, I decided to whip the stocking up (as well as the second stocking I bought fabric for--we can't have clashing stockings on the mantel now, can we?). Two days, phone calls to my mother and both of my grandmothers (apologies to Mur for implying she should understand the problem since my machine is from her 'era'), re-threading the entire machine, replacing a broken needle, reading through the instruction manual three times... Well, you get the picture. I ended up with one, mis-shapen stocking. My darling husband has assured me this is okay as "it will hold candy!" When the bobbin ran out, I called it quits, and hung my mis-matched stockings on the mantel. I'll try to sew the other stocking when I have thoroughly forgotten this experience.

Other craftiness I've been up to--a non-traditional wreath on our front door and my favorite part of the holidays--wrapping the gifts! I'm going with a red and gold theme this year, but when I found wide red velvet ribbon on sale at Michaels, I had to pull out my trusty kraft paper. I'm particularly proud of the package wrapped to look like a hand-bag for my neice Elizabeth!

The red and gold theme spilled over to our kitchen, where a centerpiece of antique glass ornaments looked great, I though, my my silver and china last night. They sparkled just as much as the 'sugared' apple ornaments I bought last summer for my kitchen cabinets!

I think that's it for this post, which I'm sure you appreciate since it's gone entirely too long! The rest of this week holds an RMH dinner for me, dinner with my folks on Thursday when they come to town for their annual Christmas trip to Lexington, J and I are going to see the TransSiberian Orchestra Friday night (yay!!) and then hitting the cookie room, I mean, visiting with Carter and Michelle at her parents' open house on Saturday night. It's definitely the holidays at the Melton Point!!

Title: Little Bit of this, Little Bit of that, by Carolyn Dawn Johnson

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Where, oh where, can we be?

We've fallen off the blogging wagon again, and I do apologize for that--this computer screen issue has really cut into my time on the computer!

In the mean time, we've been busy working, getting ready for Christmas (well, I have been making Christmas decorations and gifts...haven't made it to the actual decorating phase yet), and trying to stay warm!

We hope that you are all staying warm as well and enjoying the spirit of the season!

Title: Oh Where has my little dog gone?, a children's song with no readily apparent author, twisted a bit for the purposes of my title!