Quick Takes Friday

1-
I really might as well have gone to a four am black Friday sale...I honestly had a terrible time sleeping last night.  When I got up the second time (at 3 am) I noticed that our living room, which is on a different heating system of the house was still 70 degrees (the programmable thermostat goes to 62 at 10pm) which leads me to believe that hubby set the temperature in the main part of the house way too high because my family is sleeping in our usually a little cold basement.  I turned the heat WAY down at 3, and tried to go to sleep again around 4 am - succeeded, and here it is before 8, I am up so that I can be a nice host to my family.

2-
Speaking of black Friday sales - I had originally intended to go to Wal-Mart for their 10 pm start of toys, etc.  but in the end I wimped out on the two hours of driving, and my SIL who lives in the same town as Wal-Mart volunteered to go for me - in the end, she didn't get there in time for the Wii game that Eva really wants - and she called to let me know it was crazy.  Apparently she saw women throwing punches over a trampoline.  I don't know if she got anything (though I assume she probably found some of the items) and she is going this morning with a friend to  a real city to go to craft stores for their sales.

3-
Thanksgiving went well.  My turkey got done over an hour before I expected it to - but I left it in for an additional 30 minutes just to make sure it was okay.  We had 21 people and 5 dogs.  I had a little bit of a freak out a few days ago about dessert, because I wasn't sure if anyone was bringing any, so I called my mom and switched her from relish tray to pie.  They stopped at Village Inn on their way down and brought two pies.  Hubby's aunt who usually brings pie brought 2 pies.  MIL brought 2 pies because she knew I was worried about it - and I had a pumpkin cheesecake.  No lack of dessert - although 4 of the pies were varieties of pecan pie.

4-
I really haven't had much of a week off considering we took the whole week off school between having the girl's pictures done, cleaning and cooking...hopefully we have a nice quiet weekend.  My family will be heading home today after lunch, and I really don't plan to do much before Monday.

5-
I never did find a good deal on a banquet table - but in the end, we rented some tables from the local hardware store (that I need to drive in and return later today).  The lady who we talked to when we reserved them said she didn't know if they were 6 ft or 8 ft or 10 ft.  I thought that was a pretty big range.  They turned out to be 6 ft, so we rented two and put them side by side in our living room.  I figure $10 wasn't a terrible price for a decent, sturdy second table.

6-
Some of the thanksgiving activities that were enjoyed here were: blowing up a barrel with explosives, trap shooting (hubby's family), playing several games of bananagrams, some fairy uno (little girls and whatever adults they could sucker into playing), pet detectives (same thing), lots of Wii games - Just Dance and Mario Kart being the most popular, watching the movie Monsters vs. Aliens, reading books and napping on the couch.  Thanksgiving generally begins at around noon, and lasts ALL DAY  -  I think that the last people not staying overnight left when I told the girls it was time to go to bed around 8:30 or 9 pm.

7-
Being the dork that I am, I have been doing some black Friday shopping online - but there is not much I want to get.  MIL is trying to buy a new TV for SIL - so I keep calling to tell her to look at different deals, but generally she misses them.  Just found one at Amazon, called her and she answered her phone.  Of course, it's been live for 3 minutes and is 37% gone, so we'll see if she manages this one or not.  I guess I just love an excuse to look on Amazon about every 10 minutes all morning.

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Charlotte is 5 now...5!  I'm having trouble getting over that fact.  She had a really fun swimming party on Saturday, which we then followed with a trip out of town for a visit to the library, church and dinner at her favorite restaurant (she's 5, so it's probably no shock that her favorite restaurant is McDonalds.)  A pretty awesome day all around until we got home and took her temperature because she was acting really fussy, and found out it was 103.  But, we got it down, sent her to bed and she was fine the next day.

2-
This week was insanely busy - Charlotte had an extra day of preschool (for their Thanksgiving feast), we all had dentist appointments, and then there was Catechism classes, Girl Scouts, Bible study, and hubby had an eye appointment.  That's a lot of driving around.  Good news is: today is our last day of school until after Thanksgiving.  That being said, I guess I'm not feeling too ambitious today, since it is now 1 1/2 hours after our normal school starting time, and the girls are happily playing in the playroom (and I am happily playing on the computer!)  But, since we don't have to leave the house today, I have ALL afternoon to do school (YEAH!)

3-
Well, we don't HAVE to leave the house today, but Puss in Boots (in 3D) is showing at the movie theatre in town, so we may leave the house this evening to celebrate the beginning of our Thanksgiving break!  Bonus for me, maybe I can convince the family that popcorn is a legitimate dinner option.

4-
We are finally starting EPIC, a study of church history this weekend.  Not really sure how many people are going to be able to come this first time, but EPIC has 20 sessions, and we are planning on once a month - of course, taking off time for summer and harvest most likely, so I think it will be about a 3 year study.  I guess that works out fine, because right now we are doing Volume 2 of Connecting with History, and it is used in Volume 3, and I assume will be used in Volume 4.

5-
Monday will be Homeschool Picture Day - sad news is that I usually schedule it during our planned school time, so the girls usually get an unexpected day off.  This year, I managed to schedule it for during our break.  It should be fun, though.  The girls have very pretty purple dresses, and I am contemplating taking in their pink Christmas tree (that Eva bought on clearance last year) for the pictures, or is that too much?  We'll also be doing birthday pictures, so I still need to figure out what the girls will wear for those.  I'm only 2 1/2 months late on Eva's birthday, but for the first time, Charlotte is getting her birthday pictures taken AFTER her birthday!

6-
I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year, so I am excited about having everyone over.  My parents and brother are even coming down (and my brother finally found a job after being unemployed more than 2 years!  Yeah!)  We will have 21 people, which isn't that big of a deal (I don't think I've had a holiday with much fewer than 15 since we've been married) but we are having difficulty figuring out what to do for tables.  I'd like to get a big folding banquet table (like 8 feet long) but they all appear to be around $150.  I can find 6 ft tables for under $40, so I was contemplating getting two of those, but I bought tablecloths for Thanksgiving (because I don't own any, and I hate having to borrow and iron MIL's tablecloths) and the bigger one I bought is too short for two 6 foot tables (120 in).  We will just have to see if I find a creative solution that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!

7-
Hubby's grandpa is so funny.  He is always worried about how much I spend when we host Thanksgiving - last time, he tried to give me money for the meal (and to be honest, I think I spent less than $50 last time - since everyone always wants to bring stuff, I don't have to make too much stuff), and this time, he asked hubby if I had bought the turkey yet.  Well, no - because we just got a huge amount of beef in our freezer, and haven't had time to use it - so grandpa said that he'd buy the turkey.  Not only that, he called hubby a few hours later to ask him if a 14 lb turkey would be enough or if he should buy two (since it was the biggest one he could find).  Since I have MIL bringing an extra meat (not sure if it will be ham or prime rib, or what) I think 14 lbs will be more than enough.  So, basically, I am down to making stuffing and a pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake (with the pumpkin Charlotte got at preschool) and cooking the turkey - so I think I'll buy some wine this year!

Quick Takes Friday

Still busy, busy, busy around here!

Roman Centurion Helmets

1 -
Charlotte is almost 5...5! That means that I have been blogging (or not blogging all that often) for more than 5 years. She's very excited to be having a pool party a week from tomorrow. I think it should be fun, too. The good news is it doesn't require too much out of me. Grandma will make some sort of cake, and other than writing a check and providing juice boxes, all I have to do is enjoy the pool. (Okay, there's the small matter of addressing and mailing the invitations that haven't been hand delivered...)

Simba, who wanted petting, not photographing

2-
In our super busy life right now (I am spending at minimum 15 hours per week in the car/in town) I was kind of lamenting that the girls weren't going outside to play very often at home. That all changed recently. Sadly, one of our two outdoor cats died, and we ended up getting a new cat. The girls named him Simba, and they pretty much are driving me crazy asking if they can go outside and play with the cats. On the plus side, they are finally getting outside regularly without me forcing them to go. On the down side, I know that eventually the novelty will wear off.

Rapunzel (for Charlotte) and Tinkerbell (for Eva)

3-
I really do enjoy many things about girl scouts. I think it is good for both of my girls, and I enjoy working with the girls (I'm usually pretty exhausted after meetings, because Daisies and Brownies are so hyper!) but last night hubby just delivered the last of the fall fundraiser stuff (nuts and candy) last night, and on Monday, I have to drive 1 1/2 hours with some other leaders to cookie training...Cookies start in January...that means I have two months between fundraisers. Our troop does need the money (patches are expensive, books are expensive, and some of the families have trouble even paying the state registration fees.) but I'd like a little bit of downtime between them. To be fair, I probably should have delivered the candy several weeks ago, but oh well.

Eva as Tinkerbell

4.
This is supposed to be our last week of quarter 1 for school. Things are not quite going according to plans. I don't know why I am surprised by this...I am very glad that most subjects I didn't plan out by weeks, because those that I did plan like that, I am behind in. Okay, I am behind in the ones I didn't plan out by weeks, too, but I don't feel like I am! I should finish up at least 2 weeks of science today, and Eva has a lapbook that she needs to finish up - we haven't made about 1/2 the mini books yet, but if we put our minds to it, I'm sure we can finish that up. History is a subject I didn't plan by weeks, but I had a general plan. I think there are 7 units in Connecting With History Volume 1, so I had figured on doing 2 units during 1st quarter. I'm not even halfway done with unit 1, so it looks like I probably will be carrying some of it over to next year unless I really get my butt in gear. Besides the running around all the time portion of this year, I have to admit that IEW's Primary Arts of Language is the other reason we are behind in everything. It is great - I love it, the girls love it, but it takes time - as in most of every morning. Probably 1 1/2 to 2 hours per day by the time we do the reading lesson together, play the games for 30 mins, Charlotte does her work page, Eva does her writing page, and Eva and I do All About Spelling. I guess that morning section also includes some work in their Handwriting Without Tears workbooks, but that's a pretty minimal amount of time.

Charlotte as Princess Belle

5-
Hubby offered to buy me a nice new bookcase for my birthday, but in the end I decided that it was too much money. Now I am looking around my house and kicking myself for saying that - it probably was too much money, but the books are piling up. So, my new mantra involves some nice bookcases when we get our tax refund in the new year...and maybe a new recliner, since the one we inherited from hubby's grandma keeps having random screws pop out of places.

At the park with Bubba, the pug who loves hugs...

6-
Speaking of furniture, I have a seam that has come out of a leather ottoman, and a rip in both of our couches where the back cushions attach to the back of the couch (thanks to our dog lying on top of the cushions) and I have absolutely no knowledge of upholstery repair. Any tips on what to do? I'm wondering if I can sew them all, but I know that my SIL had sewed the rip on one of the couches before for me, and it came out. My other idea is slipcovers. If there is a slipcover over the rips and seams that are coming out, I won't notice it. Of course, slipcovers aren't exactly a dime a dozen. I really should go see if I can find a youtube video on repairing upholstered furniture.

Older pic, but someone is having a growth spurt again.

7-
With about a zillion things to do this month, I decided it was about time for me to host Thanksgiving again. Actually, it worked out better than I thought it would. The preschool has the week of Thanksgiving off entirely, and I had scheduled to take it off, so other than the Christmas/Birthday pictures I have scheduled for the 21st, I have the whole week to cook and clean.

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!