Christmas and FiRE!

Hey ya'll!  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas day.  We've had a great week (busy!), and have totally been getting in the spirit.  We started with a choir field trip to Shiloh Health and Rehab on Monday:

Even the facility was beautiful!  Aren't the wreaths in those big windows pretty?  Yes, Mary Claire is the one in white.  I'd like to think she did it to stand out..but she had to go check her blood right before the field trip, and forgot to go back to put on her blue choir shirt!

Still sings just as well without it. ; )

The kids were drawn to their big gingerbread house!  I think I'll build one like this next year.  I'll add it to my To-Do List. ; )  (it was made from cardboard and foil, but covered in Nilla Wafers and candy)

Choir is huge this year!  Love these sweet singers.

And then on Monday afternoon, we had the kids' Christmas parties.  For Mary Claire's party, we spent some time thinking of our furry friends!  We made doggie treats, tied edges on fleece blankets for the animals, and crafted little Shrinky Dink bone (collar) ornaments.  It was fun, and great to focus on others-what Christmas is all about!  We had to bake the puppy treats at home Monday night, but then we took them all to donate them on Tuesday..we even had donations from the kids' families for the shelter-BiG bags of dog food, more snacks, toys, and blankets! : )  I wish the entire class could have all gone with us to donate everything.  I hope the kids know they are appreciated. : )


Wednesday we stayed home to clean, do laundry, and got ready for another busy day: Thursday!  We took a family trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Ches' birthday.  We saw the new movie, Tin Tin, at the Imax in 3D!  It was a great movie..millions times better than Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked. ; )  Then we shopped at Babies R Us (still looking for a stroller/car seat!), had dinner...and picked up my new khaki linen swivel glider at Pottery Barn Kids!


I'd had a discount for 20% off anything IN the store..so I called to see if they had a rocker.  Long story..they did, but I couldn't use the discount on it..but it WAS 20% off since it was a floor model. : )  I bought it!  And then couldn't wait to get it. ; )  (and it's perfect!)

We saw Santa on Friday, and the kids each opened a gift early. ; )  Then we had Christmas Eve Mass together-love the church all decorated for Christmas!

Ethan opened a new Angry Birds game!  (Ches' and the kids' newest love!)

Fast forward to yesterday..I made a coconut cream pie, and needed to toast some coconut for the top (to make it prettier!).  I put it in a new cookie sheet, and put it under the broiler.  I got it too dark on the first try, so I kept the lighter brown bits, and trashed the rest.  Then, I tried again.  This time I set the timer for two minutes, and checked it at one minute (still white).  I started to eat some breakfast, and the next thing I knew...my oven was on FIRE!  I opened it up, and flames came out!  I guess the sweetened coconut had ignited?  (Is that possible?)  I started screaming for Ches to get in there (he was asleep!), and grabbed the fire extinguisher.  (I've never actually used one!)  I pulled the pin, aimed, and (wow!) put the fire out.

It was quite dramatic.  And then the smoke alarms went off, the kids were just sure fire trucks were coming, and then Ches came around. ; )  I had him take the burned coconut/pan out to the deck.  (It was so stinky and smokey!)  We opened the doors and windows, turned off the heat, and tried not to breathe in!


Then I had to google how to clean up after a fire in your oven (and how to clean up the fire extinguisher mess most of all!).  Come to find out..you can't use your self-clean oven feature.  You have to have the foam, and hand-scrub it.  I posted on Facebook that I needed oven cleaner..and a friend brought me some!  I know..Awesome! : )  She happened to be at Walgreen's right then (the ONLY place open!), and then brought it by since she lives pretty close.  What a blessing! : )


It totally threw off our plans for an on-time lunch, but we persevered.  After cleaning it up, we made some cinnamon toast (to absorb any odors and make it smell better!) and threw it away.  Then, on to our spiral-cut ham and sweet potato casserole! : )


Just thankful for good food, a working oven, friends (and Facebook?), joyful kids, and for babies.  Especially Jesus, the reason for our special season. 

I've never complained about a boring life.  Never will..ha!  We live quite an adventure here!


Hope your Christmas was especially merry.  Sending hugs and peace for a blessed new year.  : ) 

Four Bags

Four bags of trash-that's what I hauled out of Clay's room today.  I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of him not cleaning his room.  It was okay on the surface, but I pulled back the curtain on the side of his bed to walk down along the wall to make the bed, and wrappers.  I saw trash, valentines, candy, just junk, and dirty socks.  Awful.  I sat down and cried in his room.  There were literally hundreds of food wrappers stuffed under the bed, desk, corners, everywhere.  I was so stressed that they'd draw mice.  I had to get it together and eliminate the offensive.  I didn't have time to worry and be upset-time is too valuable.

I got started around 9:30 and cleaned until 2.  It is like eating an elephant--one bite at a time.  I picked up all the stuff in one corner (even dead bugs..no, not spiders or creepy things, but his icky bug-crumble collection.  June bugs, cricket legs, huge Japanese beetles, a massive moth minus a wing.  Gross stuff.)  I figure if they were really important to him, he wouldn't let their body parts get ground into the carpet (and be buried by trashy wrappers).  Anyway, I cleaned, vacuumed, and organized, until it was clean again.

If I'd have realized how far I'd go, I would have taken before and after pictures. I even washed his bedding this afternoon, and he ended up getting the last two pieces of his Lionel train track (I had him pay for it out of his stock money-E*Trade returned our $115 last week.  You have to have at least $500 in your account, or they close it.  So much for a young, first-time investor.) so we put the track into a figure-eight.  He was even unhappy about that.  He was frustrated that I wanted to plug the big (heavy!) control box away from the walkway, so I don't bump into it each and every day.  He was upset I threw away some valentines, but I didn't get ruffled.  I think I should be thankful I'm too tired to get worked up!

We did fine, the kids played outside, had dinner, and we played more cards, had baths, read books.  A great evening.  I only realized we'd missed dance at seven-too late. : (  And she just got the okay to go back to dance!

I'll leave you with a list I found in Clay's room.  I'm really hoping that it's old (based on the spelling and the 15 minutes of FiRE!) (Number two:)

Keep your room clean...or I just might have to come visit! : )

Putting Out Fires

Potatoes blow up! Like popcorn, they can literally blow up-All OVER the inside of your oven! Well, I can tell you this only with the seasoned experience that comes with age (and ignorance?). The "recipe" for the perfect baked potatoes says to wash them, prick each side once, and bake *right on the rack* for an hour at 425 degrees. I've made these tons of times (I mean, at least 30 or 40 times!) and I've NeVeR had one blow up. But then, I must have done something wrong to deserve the horrible mess (and the Worse Mess after someone made a french bread pizza after I forgot to clean up the potato bits, and it was black, crunchy, and stinky!). So, this morning I have cleaned up the yuck (yes, I had put aluminum foil under my burner at the bottom, and I change it every now and again, but there was potato on the ToP, and the SiDeS of the oven!). I had to use gloves and paper towels, and bring the crumb-y dried bits to the front. And then. I found out there is a deep recess between the oven and the door that humans can't reach. And it had stuff in it. Ugh. I brought in the vacuum, but it couldn't get down there. I invented a suction device (also known as wrap your fingers around the hose in the crack so as to limit suction to only a tiny area at a time-hard to describe, huh?), and got it pretty clean. Oh, and the fire. When I discovered the grossness the day before, I reached down with my mitt on, and lifted up the *hot* electric burner thing, to reach under it-Ha! Don't try this at home, ladies and gentlemen. It caught on fire! I don't know what I was thinking. "The gloves are my insurance"? "425 degrees and fabric gloves do indeed mix"? Yeah, well I've learned. My potatoes just might be clad in the foil that the recipe says definitely not to use.

So, this other fire I kinda caused. I am all caught up in my new book, and not letting anyone take advantage, and only living up to my own expectations (and not everyone else's-very liberating, btw), and only doing the things that help my family... you get the idea. Well. I have a wonderful friend (I mean, so sweet, helps everyone, cares, has amazing kids-so she's doing her job, supportive, just a great friend), and she is a great delegator (if there is such a word, and it may end in -er, but it seems closer to senator than leader). Well, I had been feeling like I was more a worker than her confidante, and I was all caught up in my Mom book, so I told her. Mind you, against the advice of my mom and husband (I'd already requested advice since I had feelings and didn't know what exactly to say). Now I get it, but I felt like I should say something BeCaUSe she was such a great friend. I didn't want to harbor icky feelings. I should say I've done this once before, and it didn't work out, but my mind was temporarily blocked from that memory. Anyway, it was yucky, and should not have come out of my mouth, but somehow I like fairness (reciprocity?) in a friendship. ...Well, honestly, I like to indulge my friends in the ways I like to indulge them. Dinner, gifts, clothes, monogramming, time together, etc. I can see now that they don't want what I can give, they want what they need at the time. So I end up feeling like I've given tons (by my choice, sometimes), and gotten less in return. So, back to Square One. I still want to be friends with her-she's a great person. I think I just needed her to hear me, like I hear her when she's stressed (or she hears me on other days when I'm stressed). It's just hard when it's about yourself, and I get that.

In my Mom book, they say to stop saying that you feel guilty all the time, about going to the gym, reading a book, sitting to watch five minutes of tv, going the the doctor (alone!). But then afterwards, do you REGRET it? If you say no, then No Guilt. So, do I regret saying what I did?

I regret not praying beforehand for the right words. Matthew 18:15 tells us to tell the person, so I was more focused on that liberating bit of scripture than my Psalm 19:14 'Let my words be acceptable to you'. So, yes some guilt. And a fire still burning. Let me get my oven mitts, but let it cool before I lift it up to clean.

Christmas Tree Lights Not Working?

I was busy complaining about the upper two-thirds of our big Christmas tree lights not working (after we invested in the huge, prelit tree), when Ches decided to let me in on why they pooped out on us. (Go with it, it's just in my vocab lately.) He holds up the cord-see pix to the right-and says that the freakin' fuse has either caught fire or heated up thoroughly enough to BURN a HOLE through the plug!!! (Freakin-my word.) It actually melted the plug end of the extension cord that attached it to the wall. No, I didn't have 18 strands of lights on it, JUST the tree. (So, it's not the same as the front 18 strands that blew my front porch outlet.) This was a fire in action. We turn them on every morning, and turn them off at bedtime. I think maybe it was starting to melt/catch fire when we turned if off two nights ago. And to think, some people leave their lights on all night. Just know, even when they are new, the cords still aren't fireproof. I thought only real trees and old light strands caught fire. Ha! I've been given a lesson.

Does this call for just a letter to the company and a picture of the plug or an attorney to make them recall the trees/lights? I don't want money-apparently I had some amazing angels and saints saying some heavy duty prayers and watching over me, and God spared us-that I believe. Seriously. He either knew I didn't have the ability to save all the children, and He has more plans for us, or he knew I couldn't handle one more huge thing. Both?

I'll sure be a little less light-y next year.
Take care of your family. : )