I will desperately miss this when the children outgrow this stage, so I'm desperately enjoying it now. This dude appeared on Jeremy's cologne bottle a few days after N & J received the bins of interesting crafting stuff from Jennifer for our Early Christmas (Artisan: Justus):
Here is a new Santa for Elaine's collection, crafted by N:
Justus practiced his piano assignment one day with a monkey on his back.
I have been negligent in getting pictures of our house posted.... I figured decorated for Christmas is a fine time to take and post pictures...?? (Some might be rather duplicative 'cause I know I've posted some....) Of more interest will be the pictures of the actual events for which I was preparing (Natasha's birthday party on Saturday afternoon 12/19, we hosted Teen Time on Sunday evening 12/20, and Scott & Amanda arrived for Christmas week on Monday evening 12/21!!)
Oh, no, wait! Let me dim the overhead light, for ambiance! ;)
Oh, but before we leave the kitchen, a story I feel compelled to share because of its level of frustration & idiocy.... Sssso, ever since we moved in I have had the sundry parts & pieces to our Magic Bullet in a convenient place, but haven't found the base! The motor!! Argh! I was ready to start contacting the company to ask if we could buy a new base!!!!!!!!!! Then I found it. (blink) Of course, right where I put it when we moved in ... but completely forgot I put it there, at the spot of the house where I spend the most hours other than the bed. (ARGH!!!) Singing: "Do you see what I see?"
No? Yeah ... me either ... for six months!
Still no? TRUST ME, I UNDERSTAND. Maybe a closer-yet shot will reveal the hiding place of our Magic Bullet base....
Now a little house tour headed down the stairs. We put up curtains at the entry to the family room to provide some privacy for our house guests.
This is the hide-a-bed. (Which is terrible and half of our guests just put the mattresses (hide-a-bed mattress plus air mattress...) on the floor; thankfully there is space to do that!
Wwwwwwwonderful book shelves gifted to us at the time of this move from a church friend. :) :)
Wwwwwwonderful TV handed down to us from some church friends, in a TV trade (Our old one works better for them.)
The downstairs bathroom & laundry room. (The utilities are behind the folding doors.)
Funnies:
In a discussion about Thailand I mentioned that the country's original name is Siam. Natasha said, "I'm playing 'We Are Siamese If You Please' on the piano!" I said, "Right. Siam is the country that type of cat was named after. Conjoined twins (about which Natasha read an article in a Reader's Digest last year) were originally named after the same country, and were called Siamese twins." Justus added two cents: "So now you know Siamese cats are twins!"
I got some sparkling apple cider for us to use in our fancy stemware glasses for a 4-way New Year's Eve toast. :) Jeremy told Justus, "Tonight I'm going to teach you how to lead a toast." Justus said, "We gotta PRAY?"
We let the children stay up on New Year's Eve, but it was 12:01 and we hadn't realized the new year had come. Then, out of the blue, Justus said in a monotone, bored voice: "Happy Thanksgiving, Natasha."
Friday, January 1, 2010
Gettin' Ready for Three Company Events!
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4 comments:
Your kids are just completely hilarious. The cologne man and santa are great. Monkey on the back - cracks me up. The funnies.... oh, man. They just slayed me. Thanks for sharing!!!
HOW IN THE WORLD do you keep your kitchen counters so clutter/stuff free!!!!??? My counters are just covered...sometimes it's just plain old clutter...well, okay, MOST of the time it is. But I'd say about 40% of the stuff on my counters simply doesn't have another home to go to! I must say, I'm jealous! :)
Amanda, ARE YOU KIDDING??????? You think the kitchen counters are *always* this clutter-free????? HHHHHA! Why do you think it took me five months to get a picture of the kitchen posted online that I'm willing for the whole world to possibly see????!!!! LOL
In all honesty, I rrrrreally like clear kitchen counters. They are a key to my sanity (what sanity there is...). In the past three houses we've lived in there has been precious little counter space, so what there is has to be kept clear for working. It is a bit of a priority for me ... but it in real life it's never *quite* as nice as it was for that picture; proof in point: That picture is currently my wall paper!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!
I like Flylady's rule; it makes excellent sense: Every item on the counter (kitchen, bathroom, flat surfaces in the bedroom, family room, etc.) earns its right to live there by being useful enough that you need it every.single.day ... as a rule.
I have made a couple exceptions.... The toaster oven we use probably every 2-3 days, but it's too heavy to move around. The actual toaster, strangely, is used only maybe once every 1-2 weeks, but it stays on the counter because it's the best place for me to air-dry my sharp knives that I hand-wash and am too lazy/in a hurry to towel-dry.... I'm weird, I know.... Flour/sugar canisters are too heavy to keep elsewhere compared to how often I use them, and plus I have to use that corner space for *something*....
Moving as often as we have has definitely kept to a minimum items we have but don't use much/at all; that allows me to use the space I would use for those items we no longer have, 'cause we didn't use them, for items that otherwise would be cluttering my precious counter space. I keep the Crock-Pot, Cuisinart, electric frying pan, blender, can opener, etc. in other locations (cabinets, or pantry -- which in this house is the shelves Jeremy built for me in the garage right outside the kitchen door...); it's a tiny bit more trouble to get them each time I need them, but it's sssso worth the space(!), annnnnnd it keeps the kitchen more clean 'cause I get to wipe the whole counter clean every day with ease AND those items stay so much more clean 'cause they're away from the nasty sticky kitchen grime, the bane of my existence. :)
The End. (Sorry if this glimpse into the mind of this crazy person was frightening...!! ;) lol Hey, you brought it up!)
WHEW!!! You had me worried for a moment that someone came in over Christmas and swiped the Sunny that I knew and loved! Welcome back, fellow clutter-bug! :)
Seriously, on my counters I have a drain-board beside the Brita water container which is in front of the answering machine (would REALLY like to find a new home for that thing!). Across the sink from those items is the coffee pot...which is hanging from a cabinet (finally!) but still takes up "space" from about 6" off the top of the counter. The two little counters by the stove hold my knive block and my Pampered Chef utensil caddy, along with my cast iron skillets that have never found a cabinet home. :(
My island....now that is my down-side. :( That thing takes off to Alaska more times per month than I care to admit! I can have it alllll clean (like it is now) with only a fruit bowl and a couple bottles of vitamins on it and within a week it's covered again with a mish-mash of items. Ugh. I truly hate it.
My toaster gets used daily around here, but oddly I can keep it and the crock pot off on a little shelf all by themselves. And when we moved into this house, I promised myself that the ONLY appliance that would sit ON the counters all the time would be the coffee pot. Period. So far, that has worked. I just didn't promise myself anything about the junk that lands on the island! :~(
Ah well....I *did* ask for a look into your crazy mind, but alas I have found that it's not too far off in comparison to MY crazy mind. :)
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