Par-tay!

What a week! All the new furniture and moving of old stuff with a big deadline of " THE KINDERGARDEN PARENTS"!!! Of course the kids wouldn't care if the party was in a barn (cool idea) but this was the first time I was meeting some of the parents, so I wanted to make the good first impression. *sigh*

So ALL kids were late. RATHER late. I knew our friends the M-As would be late, they had soccer etc. But kid #1 showed up about 45 minutes late (with dad and brother). great - they seem really nice and I was sorry mom couldn't come - she had to work. Jim and the dad hit it off and went out on the porch to gab while the boys all played in the bedroom.

Then Kid #2 showed up with sister, her mom just dropped them off. Do you find this odd? I can't believe she didn't at least call to let me know, but maybe this is standard protocol with older kid birthdays. I mean, I had NEVER met this woman or her husband (someone else picks up the kids at school). Whatever.

Kid #3 got there about an hour late, she came with little brother and mom. The kids all played in Ds room for a while (and the new bed etc was a huge success) Then they colored pumpkin gourds. I decided we HAD to do the scavenger hunt then, so I explained the rules and handed out sacks. They had to find a pine cone (I know, the ground is carpeted in them!), piece of mica (shiny rock), colorful leaf (harder here, but lots of bushes) and a stick with lichens. We were hiking back about a 1/4 mile down our property to a little creek and back. Along the way I had 4 checkpoints with prizes, glowsticks, candys, lanterns (all from the dollar store!). The weather was FABULOUS - clear blue blue skys and crisp air but not too cold - couldn't have asked for better~

THen back for presents, cake and ice cream. The drop-off girls were kind of a pain, wanting their candies exchanged for other ones, and special ice cream - like that yummy ice cream cake wasn't good enough. But only minor annoyances. People left about 2 hours after they came, perfect. Because it was my neighbor's birthday too, and we had invited them (3) for dinner and a movie on the big screen! But that was no stress at all compared - dinner was fun and we watched the new Pink Panther with Kevin Kline and Steve Martin, very funny.

Tonight Jim's friend is turning 50 so they are coming for dinner and a movie - seems that we are a popular destination now!

popcorn balls

Ok, I thought popcorn balls would be a great treat to bring for Ds birthday - wholesome natural food, right? Well, maybe there was a reason MY mom never did popcorn balls (that I remember!).

I got a recipe online, sugar sugar sugar! SO much for avoiding sugary food. But it said they wouldn't stick unless you used the real sugar jello, so I decided to just make it. Everything went ok until I spilled popcorn (pouring from the giant Costco bag I just dumped it everywhere!) seeds all over the floor. Of course this is happening RIGHT when the goop was ready - and it said you had to make the balls quickly. So I let Jim sweep up the corn and I thrust my hands into the hot popcorn/goop bowl - big mistake! Fortunately I didn't burn my hands much. So I got a big spoon which worked much better.

I am very worried about doing it quickly (as the recipe said!) and I start plopping out little "balls". Only they looked more like crumbling rock walls in ancient Ireland. This would have been a great history lesson, but of course I was panicking. Stupid balls. I try to mold them with my hands, but they stick to me - of course I have no grease or butter, but I sprayed Pam all over my hands (nasty feeling) repeatedly and that seemed to work. Turns out they have to cool down a bit before they will stay ina shape, and even then they fell apart, but it is gooey candy and the kids will love it.

Glad we did it, probably I wouldn't choose to do this again, but at least now I know what to expect!

insanity reigns

It seems the week is over and an new one beginning...I had such great plans! But we did get the "home theater" set up, Jim is all happy and we watched a couple of movies. It really is pretty cool, although still nothing I would ever buy on my own!

Ds bday is Friday, and I suppose I must decide about bringing treats to school. I seem to fantasize about making all these different wonderful treats! I am going insane trying to be a perfect mom. I also (perhaps foolishly) told him to invite his classmates (there are only 4) and their families to our house on Saturday for a party. Now that was really insane - our house does look BETTER, but it is not exactly BH&G. I'm trying not to get sucked into the cheap birthday party crap vortex, and buy a bunch of junk. I think I will get some little pumpkins for them to decorate with markers, and if the weather is good we can go on a hike down the back of our property. I am trying to think of how to have little prizes or something along the way, like markers on a trail?

In addition, I have to do all my music stuff, redo a poster for the Madrigal Singers, and oh yeah, I joined weight watchers! I am really trying to fit that in, because it seems important to not die of being a fat slob at 42. *sigh* The plan seems good, like you would be able to work it around what you eat if you plan carefully, but right now I just want them to give me a box of food and say, here's your food for the day!

stuff stuff stuff

Well, we are just going insane here on Mica Peak. No, the orange shag carpet is still here, but other things are changing.

When my dad was here we took two big loads of trash to the dump - one of which included the nasty couch in the basement. Jim had always envisioned a movie room in the basement with a projection tv and all that surround sound stuff. Well, we were in Costco the other day and one of their offerings was an 80" projection tv! I thought we were ok, because we had driven the convertible, but Jim is a master of loading, and we soon aquired a big tv. Actually a big screen and a little box, otherwise it would never have fit.

So the next day we go to Furniture Row, where we had seen a couch we really liked about a month ago but we wanted to look around more. Our neighbor said they were having a sale on, and we went into the "tent of values" out in the parking lot - and there was a couch just like we had picked! The only thing wrong was one of the pillows (attached) was understuffed, but we could either rip a seam and stuff it, or just plop a decorator pillow there - it is not noticable to look at. AND it came with a matching loveseat for the same price as a regular sofa alone. So we bought it. Yay. Here's what it looks like (ours is sage green) http://www.furniturerow.com/group_detail/brand/sofa_mart/id/497/

Of course Jim could hardly wait to hook everything up, and I was amazed at how fast he did it - we had movies last night! And his $20 sound stuff he'd been hording for years (in a pile under the table) worked great. So all you friends and reletives, come visit!

Kitchen pics

Yay, for those of you who have seen the sad little 70s kitchen, here it is in all its lovely glory. NO comments on the clutter on the counter, it is MUCH better than usual! I am very proud of how it turned out - we did the paint, cupboards (knobs, my favorite coppery knobs), ceiling fan, wainscoting, and floor. And it only took 3 years!

more grampa!

This week Jim's dad came to visit - he managed to mostly avoid the camera but we had a great time. No big remodeling stuff this week, but some great visiting time before he heads down to sunny Arizona for the winter.

Grampa visit

It is so fun having my dad here - Dan is excited to read to him instead of boring old mom and dad!

New Floor!!!

Yay - the floor is finally in, although we still have to do the edging. But I'm not complaining about that! Please ignore the piles on the counters - we have no storage in the kitchen right now. But I am so excited we just ran the first load of dishes though the new dishwasher.

Here is a pic of Jim squished in the dishwasher hole, I hope we never have to replace this sucker!

grampa!

This has already been a busy week as my dad is here! He is supposedly going to do everything on my "list" that Jim never has time for - already we have decided to focus on one thing. The kitchen floor is actually nearly done! And the dishwasher (NEW NEW NEW) was being plumbed in when I decided to come hide in the basement. I love my office space.

If we get time, we will get molding for the floor edges although I don't think we can get them painted and in before my dad goes home Friday. But progress is being made. And I am inspired to work on Ds room, get the antique double bed out and put in the bunk and desk set uncle Gene and aunt Alex gave us. Also I have a bookshelf and I want to get another rod (lower) for the closet. I may leave the rocking chair in there as it is nice for bedtime stories, and if there is room I might keep the art table (our old kitchen table) because he loves it. It would make a great fort too, with blankets over the edges.

The other thing I was hoping to get to (which I don't think we can) is the ancient couch in the basement (goodwill or dump)- move nasty upstairs couch down to basement, buy lovely NEW couch for upstairs. But it will happen sometime soon. For now I will go gaze upon my delightful fake wood floors.