New Years Eve

What to do on New Years Eve at 33 weeks pregnant and with a two year old when the friends we have spent this holiday with for the past eight years have a 16 month old? They won't sleep well at our house, Adelaide still wakes up at night, and Toby is well past the pack n play stage but not quite at a sleepover place yet.


So we will travel north to see them on Saturday afternoon and spend the early afternoon perusing LL Bean before getting in a Rick Cherette concert and some 6pm New Years fireworks designed for little kids bedtimes. Then we'll come home, put Toby to bed and fall asleep to a movie sometime around 9pm.


Missing the midnight festivities? Nope - quite content with where we are actually.

Reflecting on the Resolutions of 2011

I don't usually make resolutions, but I know I did last year and I wonder where I ended up. Off the top of my head I certainly can't remember what they were, good thing I have a blog to remind me about things like that.


1. Pilates - 3-5 times a week should once more reduce my baby belly, a few pounds lost in the process might be nice but I seek the tone and flexibility I had when I was doing this regularly. Hmmm, this certainly didn't stay with me! I didn't even do the Pregnancy DVDs I got when intending to have a healthier pregnancy with Charlie! STRIKE ONE.


2. Cholesterol - lower it again. I picked up some bad habits while pregnant and never really dropped the snacking from my diet. I need to lower my cholesterol for Toby if not for myself. This one fell by the wayside too. I found out I was pregnant in May so I had five months to correct bad habits before getting my excuse back. Maybe next year!


3. Read - Yes I want to scrapbook, crochet, play Trucks with Toby, hike with Husby, keep a clean house, bake more, make a dress, fit a new bathtub and dozens of other things but this year I resolve to restore reading to my life. I've done a pretty good job so far starting with Anna Karenina, now I just need to continue with it. I can't say that I read as much this year as I have in years past but I have certainly read with more variety and less snobbishness than previously. Having already finished the book Husby bought me for Christmas, I am content that I restored reading to my life!


4. Correspond. I will revive the ancient art of letter writing, ensuring that far flung relatives who do not enjoy the interwebs will have news and pictures of Toby on a more regular basis. There's something about putting a stamp on an envelope that I just love. I may pull out the typewriter for this, my handwriting tends to scrawl after a while! If I manage one a week I will be amazed, one a fortnight I will be happy and one a month I will be satisfied! This didn't last beyond February, I have no comment. I did remember more birthday cards in 2011 than in 2010 so I'm quite happy with that! I am glad I managed to do this a few times for my Nan before she died, she wasn't much for the internet and used to send me letters when I first moved here eight years ago.


5. Read the Bible - our church is doing weekly readings in 2011 so we are all reading the same things at the same time. It will get us through the Bible in a year. It will be nice to be literally on the same page as everyone else. This one sadly only lasted about 3 weeks, I still have yet to find a study plan I can commit to each day or even each week. I loved the Lutheran Advent plan (even though I neglected December 24) and need to find something simple and concise like that. I also need to not feel the need to catch up when it's been a few days, because then I just fall behind even more trying to catch up!


This week I need to think about what I want from 2012. Not necessarily resolutions, but things I hope to look back on with contentment.

Mastering the craft of my Nan

My Nan (grandmother to those who think I'm talking about my Nancy) is an expert knitter. Years before I had Toby she was knitting for her great grandchildren, I'm her only grandchild. So when I found out I was pregnant she already had two suitcases full to the brim of baby clothes. She knits for friends, she knits for family and she still knits even though her body can't quite keep up with her as it used to.


She taught me when I was younger, but I was always too scared to go beyond a scarf. So scared of messing up in fact that she always cast on for me. I only just learned how to do that in 2003.


Fear still keeps me away from her craft. I have embraced the crochet hook instead of the knitting needles. I can fix anything in crochet but when I drop a stitch in knitting I panic and unpick the whole thing.


Recently though, I have felt the urge to knit. There's something therapeutic about it that I no longer get from crocheting. My friend handed me a pattern for a knit washcloth. It looked complicated. Mostly knit, it had a cute little border and was knit on the diagonal meaning I would have to learn how to increase and decrease - two whole new stitches to add to the two I already have (knit and a very cautious purl). I still have palpitations whenever I bind off a scarf so this was really adventurous for me.

Well, I did it. I learned the stitches, I made the washcloth and I didn't let fear of the finishing sequence deter me from actually finishing this. My first knitted project that wasn't a scarf. It's lovely, it's easy and I'm already on my second, dreaming about knitting a sweater for Charlie. I'm sending it to my Nan, she doesn't read my blog so shhh don't tell her. My plan is to replace all Toby's old washcloths with nice knitted ones but it seems only right that the first creation go to my Nan. I hope someday I can knit half as well, and as quickly, as she does.

Post Christmas Fall Out

Post Christmas this year is an interesting time. Christmas Eve was not as planned, Christmas Day was fantastic beyond my wildest dreams, Boxing Day was a bit of a let down, mostly because I had no energy due to being 32 weeks pregnant and contracting a cold.


Today I had my placenta previa ultrasound, woo hoo it finally moved far enough out of the way that we don't have to worry about bedrest and c-sections. Showed up for my appointment half an hour early intending to knit, it's a good thing I did because I had the time wrong and was actually a minute or two late!


Am currently chowing down on California Rolls from the Grocery Store and loving every brown riced, fake crabbed bite.


Slipped on the ice as I got to work today and had to file worker's comp because I pulled something. The Tylenol I'm taking for my cold seems to be helping with that so I remain hopeful that there will be no last minute trip to the Dr.


Toby is at home with Grandma as daycare is closed till Thursday. He was very excited about that this morning and will be even more so when he realises that lunch with Pepere is on the cards.


Everyone from small group, past and present are coming over tonight for yankee swap and sandwiches. I may bail on them and end up fast asleep in some corner of the house. The house is currently trashed and I don't care that we have company coming over. I'm either growing or Husby is slipping something into my tea!


One minute he's a jerk, one minute I blame my hormones. It's an even balance that I'm learning to live with but I feel that we are back to our pre-Boston-mini-break doldrums. Could just be the amount of wrapping paper still littering my house and the fact that Charlie gets here really really soon.


For right now I have decided that I never want to be pregnant again. I'm missing wrestling with Toby, I'm missing having a clean house in a way that only I can clean it, I'm missing having any energy, I'm missing not having to nag to get anything done, I'm missing playing full tilt with Toby and not feeling tired after five minutes, I miss my underbelly! Ask me again when Charlie is two and I have no one to put in sweater dresses and I may have a different comment for you.


Cricut cartridges that were not received as Christmas presents are now on the way using Amazon Affiliates money that I was going to use to pay down the credit card bill, ah well, once a year I can splurge!


Post Christmas = scatter brained.

Christmas Eve

I had a plan. I was going to make cookies all week. Husby and I were going to stay on top of all the chores, I was going to do some last minute crafting and hanging out in Starbucks on the 23rd. The house would be therefore spotless and smelling delicious by Christmas Eve. At this point we were going to spend a lovely three days doing very little but enjoying our family.

I long ago gave up expectations of Christmas. Moving 3,000 miles from home and the traditions I grew up with made Christmas into an entirely different animal. I love the family here dearly, but it's still different after all these years. After a few years of being not quite happy at Christmas I gave up expectations of the old country and began thoroughly enjoying myself. Like everything I do, if I avoid stress and just ride it out, I have fun. the second I start putting constraints and ideals on something, I screw it up and have less fun.

So here's what we did today instead.

Toby slept in till 8, unheard of, and we watched Christmas movies and had breakfast together. I took a shower and shaved my legs. That was the downfall. Being 32 weeks pregnant I rarely think about my legs beyond wondering how swollen they are right now. Yesterdays little craft excursion had tired me out, wrapping gifts all night further added to it and standing in the shower, precariously balanced with a dull blade and can of Barbasol did not agree with me. I was exhausted by the end of it and had to sit down before I could even think of drying myself off. So then the whole day was thrown off by the fact that I am 32 weeks pregnant and not Superwoman. Husby never got to shower because I needed to lie down. I didn't make Christmas Tree crafts with Toby because I was too swollen. Toby wouldn't nap and ended up pooping like he hasn't since he was a newborn, we're talking up the onesie people.

After planning Christmas dinner for weeks and being determined to get a nice roast from the Butchers, we ended up at the grocery store at 4pm buying one of two they had plus a roasting chicken. 8 people and a three pound roast ain't gonna cut it in the Pinault house! We were all out of PJs by this point of course, PJs being integral to the three days of nothing plan.

Now I'm uploading pictures to Toby's baby blog, listening to carols, digesting Chinese Food and trying not to nag Husby to do the fifty things that "Santa" needs to do tonight. I don't want to nag but my goodness there's so much to do and my body won't let me dammit!

No Vodka for me, so a Mock Seabreeze it is.

On the plus side, Husby just bought in my gift from the garage and it hasn't been nibbled by mice - score!

Merry Christmas Everyone. Rest if you can, scream like a banshee if you can't!

Oh and my point is, I tried to put a "no expectations" expectation on Christmas weekend and it bit me in the behind.

Next year. Turkey sandwiches all round!

This weekend

This weekend I was determined to be as festive as possible.


I finally managed to decorate my "mantle." Toby's favourite thing is Snoopy's house, he asks for it every morning and uses it as a prop for his wooden train set. I am slowly catching up on my advent candle.


I made a strand of paper chains to hang in the living room. I had wanted to hang them in the kitchen but with the wood stove blazing all weekend Husby wasn't keen on the idea.


I hung all my Christmas cards, I just need more mini pegs in case we get anymore.


I couldn't find a tree topper I liked anywhere so I made my own, much to the delight of Toby.

I made the first of five batches of cookies I hope to make this week. I used Bakerella's triple chip cookie recipe BUT I halved the recipe and cut the amount of chips to a quarter, that woman wants everyone to be huge! They weren't the best choc chip cookies I have had, I may adapt another recipe to the three kinds of chip at a later date.


We had a visit from Father Christmas this weekend. Toby was a little hesitant at first but was soon showing him every toy he could lay his hands on. He sat on his lap beautifully, and even read a little book with him. He didn't stop talking about it all day. Such a shame Pepere had to miss it again this year ;-)

Most of this was done with a Christmas movie playing in the background. Or Lord of The Rings - that counts right?

The Post Office

This morning I had to run to the post office. A package needed to get to England and another to Philadelphia.


I went to the little post office in the town that I work in. They are notoriously slow, have awfully picky customers but are usually pretty empty. There were about thirty picky people in the slow line, being waited on by two people. So I took the best option and drove a few miles to the main post office one town over. Still thirty people in line, but these are people who want to get in and out, these are city folk. There were also four or five people working. I was in and out of the second place I want faster than getting halfway through the line at the first.


The real nightmare was realising, while standing in line, that there was a third package at home that still needed wrapping and mailing to Connecticut! So now I have to do that all again tomorrow!

Christmas Fun

Thanks to Meagan over at Chesterrific  for this idea. I love easy solutions to things I want to say!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?  Hot Chocolate (Mint if available!)
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?  Wrapped.
3. Colored or white lights on the tree and house?  Colored on one, white on the other.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?  Nope
5. When do you put up your decorations?  The weekend after Thanksgiving, we usually get the tree on Friday.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?  My mum's Christmas morning sandwiches - Bacon and Fried Egg.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?  Oh so many! Probably visiting Father Christmas and The Shoe People in Birmingham.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?  When I was 10. I had sent a gift to Father Christmas the year before and found it in my dad's sock drawer, along with all my letters, when getting him socks one day.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  We do indeed
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?  Bells and non breakables at the bottom, my favourites at the top. We haven't used all our ornaments since Toby was born  as I have a LOT of glass baubles. 
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?  Love it, but ask again in February!
12. Can you ice skate?  No - I fall over every time!
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?  A Keyboard from my Grandad
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?  Family.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?  Mint Chocolate Cookies
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?  New PJs on Christmas eve, a Christmas movie after Toby is asleep, oh and PRESENTS!
17. What tops your tree?  Nothing at the moment, our tree topper broke in the flood a few years back. I'm on the hunt for the perfect star.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving gifts?  Both.
19. Candy canes ... yuck or yum?  YUM.
20. Favorite Christmas show?  My season usually starts with Home Alone and ends with It's a Wonderful Life
21. Saddest Christmas song?  Lonely this Christmas by MUD
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? White Christmas by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters and Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin Stevens

Occupation

I have very little patience with any of the Occupy movements across the country. When it was Occupy Wall Street, sure I could see their point, relate to their protest and appreciate what they were doing. It was a great protest. Then people started camping out across the country. In our state, two underage girls ran away from home and were found hiding out in the camp with a 20 year old guy. Homelessness has always been a problem in Portland Maine, now the homeless are using the movement as a reason to camp illegally in a public park. The movement is mad that the City has asked them to not camp overnight, there are even suing for a breach of constitutional rights. It's ludicrous. Don't break the law!


I am sick of 15% of the 99% speaking for everyone. STOP with the 99%. My husband and I have a mortgage, we each have a good job, we have a son and another on the way. We have health insurance, we have car payments credit card debt and student loans. We are definitely not in the 1% that these people are going on about, yet every day that I see these people in the news I grow more and more sympathetic to the Republican party and less and less sympathetic towards the protesters.


See, this post started as a way to tell you a cool Alec Baldwin story but I get so mad at this whole thing.


Back when this whole thing started a friend's son decided he wanted to know what it was all about, and not just what the media was feeding him. So he traveled down to NYC and found someone amongst the crowd who knew. Feeling satisfied with what they said and fully supporting them he asked what he could do. That day he handed out hundreds of sandwiches that had been donated to the protesters. Well part way through the day he handed someone a sandwich and when he looked up it was Alec Baldwin. Alec passed the sandwich to the next person in line and said "What can I do to help?" Lovely boy that he is, my friend's son gave him the box of sandwiches and said hand these out for a minute. So while Alec Baldwin handed out sandwiches to protesters, he ran to his contact and told her who was here and asked what to do with him. Well this was the day when people started erecting tents, and the police were getting antsy because they were being put up in an illegal space. Many protesters had asked the campers to move to the designated space but to no avail. However, if you are asked very charmingly by Alec Baldwin to move just fifty feet, then why not! So Alec asked them to move, and they moved.


I just think that's cool. I like it when people whose names mean something do something real.

Advent

Last year we began an Advent tradition with our son. Chocolate. Every day, a piece of chocolate. I blame his Nanny, she sent over an Advent tree filled with Chocolates, lovely British Chocolates. He loved it of course, and everyday we took a picture of him eating the chocolate. If someone happened to be visiting that day, then they got to open the drawer with him. In return we made an Advent book for Nanny. 24 pages, each a full size picture of the delight of the day. It's very cute.

This year we are trying to do the same thing again, only this year he knows what the tree means. It's the "Treat Tree" and he remembers. If he has his advent chocolate in the morning and asks again at night, we tell him he has to wait until morning, then it's the first thing he asks for. If he forgets in the morning then it is used as a bribe in the evening when tantrums get thrown.


I may have to take all Christmas decorations down on Christmas eve so that he doesn't ask for his treat on Christmas Day!


My favourite thing about the advent tree should be that it allows us to teach our young son about the coming of Christ. My favourite thing about the advent tree is actually that the back of each drawer is the piece of a Christmas Tree puzzle. I had great fun with him last year on Christmas Eve when he finally got to put the pieces together.


For my part I have an advent candle that is burned a little each day, and as of Sunday (11 days late) I am following the devotional for the Lutheran Christmas before I go to sleep. I need to make myself slow down and appreciate this time of year before it passes me by.

This Year's Christmas Card

This year's Christmas card was an argument with myself. I wanted to send proper cards like I used to in England, but then I do so love sending photos with each card and a photo card is such a nice easy way to do that.


I ended up doing a little of both. For my family and friends in England I used cards that you actually put a photograph in. So you still get the photo but there's also a card to open and write a message inside. There were a lot more work than I had thought about and so for everyone over here I decided to do a snapfish special again.


Last year, after ordering cards, I found a style that I really loved. Thankfully I remembered that this year and used it when designing this years card: 12 months with Toby.

It's the last year of just us and Toby, so I guess it's the best time to do something like this. Two kids would make for very small faces on this kind of card. I also used the premise of 12 pictures to send my first Christmas letter giving a run down of Toby's year, each month in just a sentence of two. A few highlights, though not necessarily corresponding to the picture.


Again, I couldn't bring myself to get free cards by blogging about Shutterfly when Snapfish is my go to photo center. I had an excellent coupon code so they were even cheaper than last year. If I can go the expense, I'd use stationary stock next year instead of photo paper. We have received several this year on the stationary card and it's really wonderful.


I'm hoping someone has a photo link up party this year because I'd really love to see everyone else's cards. I need a whole new scrapbook just for the ones we receive from friends!

Etsy Dreams

I had grandiose dreams this year. Back in October I started working on this year's crocheted Santa Hat. 

I had been watching PDF patterns on Etsy go for $5 a pop and thought I'd take a stab at it. I would write down my pattern this year and sell it online, which goes against all previously held pattern standards I had set for myself. But if I want to stay home with my boys once Charlie gets here, big IF, then every penny counts, and Etsy seemed like a good way to supplement our income.


Well I figured out the pattern but it never got past the chicken scratch stage. I tested it and it works a second and third time. But it never got posted and Christmas is in two weeks, too late to put on Etsy?


I also had high hopes of making twenty of these and selling them too, that never happened so the few that I did make have gone to the heads of children I love. 

I won't despair, they have bought joy to those wearing them, though I will be working on them year round in 2012 to have a stall at our Church's craft fair next year!

He's on my side

This morning we sat down in the kitchen for a family breakfast of Waffles and juice. These days, Toby's preferred breakfast is a bowl of Cheerios topped with an English Muffin, for this you sit on the couch while a parent (they are mostly interchangeable) reads the same Dr Seuss book four or five times. For the most part it is One Fish, Two Fish or The Thinks you can Think, affectionately requested by Toby as "Thinks Think Mummy, Thinks Think." This week we read The Cat in the Hat for the first time. What can I say he likes ridiculous and he likes it to rhyme.


But today we go tup in plenty of time for home made waffles and so we sat at the table. I got up to go Iron a shirt for Husby, who quickly took my chair. We have mismatched Kitchen chairs and I had the comfy one! Toby was picking at and looking at his waffle and started to sing to himself, as he often does.


"La la la, Daddy's in trouble, La la la, Daddy's in Trouble, Mummy's Chair, Daddy's in Trouble, chair Mummy, La la la Daddy's in trouble"


With a smile on his face Husby asked "Buddy, what's up?"


Toby stopped picking, looked up, smiled a big smile and said "Mummy's chair"


He is definitely on my side!

Need a hassle free dessert this holiday season?

Well pull out your crockpot and give this a whirl.


1 box chocolate cake mix
1 small box chocolate, instant pudding mix
1 cup water
3/4 cup of oil
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup chocolate chips.


Mix all the ingredients together in the crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.
You won't regret it, I promise you.