Think this must be the month of "supposed to", maybe it's the January thing, kinda thinking it's just me but only a few of my intentions have actually been checked off the list. Put my nose to the grindstone yesterday and did manage to order Kylie's summer wardrobe for Grammie's house ... her closet at home is filled with perfect little dresses, Meme takes care of that but I kinda think that 4 yr olds need comfort clothes, shorts and tops that they can wear to dig in the dirt, catch lizards and climb trees, Gymboree fits the bill perfectly so Pops takes a hit to his bank account a few times a year. LOL, of course Meme kinda has issues with "clothes that everybody has" but sorry Meme but our girl sure loves her chihuahua shirt and we've gotta keep her happy.

Knocked out the laundry, grocery and JoAnn's. Fridge is stocked with soups and sandwich meats and I'm planning on a long weekend of playtime ~ my goal is to actually make the window treatments for my sanctuary and figure out what to do with one of these old picture frames I have. Real toss-up on bulletin board, chalkboard or picture collage. Might be nice if I finished off the picture grouping I have planned for Jim's office to. Fingers crossed that I do actually get some things checked off the list.

Of course January does stand out as Jacob's birthday month.In celebration of "the baby" making 22, Jerry took half the day off and we followed tradition with shopping, lunch at Dixie Chicken and Ribs and the movie "Bedtime Stories". Our arrival home was met by the delightful sight of Jim cooking birthday boy's favorite meal, steak and chicken cooked fajita style but served on a bed of wild rice, boiled new potatoes and roasted corn. Josh, Kristie and Kylie decided to stay the night turning it into a slumber party and yet another opportunity for Kylie to watch her new favorite movie, "Labyrinth". Snort, you can sure tell Kylie has uncles that are concerned with her artistic tastes. Both Jerry and Jacob were worried that "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" was her current fav and they are horrified at the thought that she lives in the same house as a copy of "High School Musical", so they have set out on the mission to educate the little one. Sigh, I was not a happy camper when they first introduced her to "Labyrinth", especially since she called it "the goblins take the baby" but no nightmares ensued and she now calls it "David Bowie and the goblins". On a brighter note, for Christmas I did order 2 copies of Samantha's favorite childhood book, "My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes", one for Samantha and one for Kylie and sure enough, Kylie loves the book and quickly had it memorized. Guess I should just be thankful that she's not running around singing Tube Snake Boogie, Unc had Samantha singing that constantly when she was little.

Off to play, wish me luck, I'm going to cut the fabric for my valances and hold my breath while I tea dye it. Oh and thought I'd share the recipe my poor frozen little bunny called form

Chicago wanting, Baked Potato Soup.

2 large baking potatoes
2 cooked chicken breasts
1/3 cup butter
1/4 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup shredded velveeta
8 green onions
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups milk (I use half milk, half cream
4 slices crisp bacon (I use jar bacon bits)
shredded cheddar for garnish
Directions
Bake potatoes in microwave, let cool, peel and dice.
Cube and cook chic or use leftovers.
In large pot, cook green onions in butter til tender. Stir in flour, dill, salt and pepper, blend. Add milk all at once, cook while stirring well for one minute more. Add velveeta, stir til cheese melts, add potato and chicken, simmer til heated through. Garnish with bacon, cheddar and additional green onions if desired.

Guess I should at least post some pictures of our holidays and not just bitch.

Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year!!!

Don't you just love the passing on of family traditions. This was the year for Joshua to introduce Kylie to the wonderful world of pyromania.

OK, that's it, New Year's, fresh start, new beginnings, baahumbug!
You're gonna need the back story on this one... it was yet another quiet redneck Christmas. Kinda hard to have an open house or sit down meal when you still have no walls, the table is in pieces and the chairs are in the garage holding boxes of new flooring. So out again came the "salute to yats" aluminum tree, the decorations stayed packed away and we gathered around the coffee table. A small semblance of evil satisfaction was had when Jim attempted to help in the kitchen and dropped his whipped egg whites for the eggnog AND the string bean casserole straight out of the oven, he just hasn't been in the kitchen enough in the past 16 months to get the hang of balancing pots on top of the coffee pot or propping the cookie sheet across the sink to use as counter space. Samantha stayed in the frozen north where they evidently live like humans. Jerry, Jake, Jim and I spent Christmas Eve playing boardgames and getting a tad silly on eggnog (good thing I bought extra eggs) and Poma. Josh's little family finally made it over for presents and a late Christmas evening dinner. Kylie was to wound up and excited over her new doll house so insited on staying the night. Which meant a day of giggles and playing and wearing Grammie and Popsy (her new nickname for Jim) out.
Saturday I woke up energized and excited, Jim would be staying home for the week and I planned on rearranging the scraproom around my new desk and making curtains with my new sewing machine and just really giving the top floor a good cleaning and putting some finishing touches on the decor while he finished up the wiring, insulated the walls and put in the much anticipated call to my dream man Harold. Sigh, how I dream of the day that Harold graces my doorstep, Harold, the man of my fantasies, Harold, the sheetrock installer. Um, nope, a strange kinda malaise sets in when your husband spends day in and day out, sprawled out on his recliner watching football games. So I bided my time and took xanax and naps and whoomping big glasses of wine. And this morning, Jim went to work. Eleven days off , he installed one outlet, filed 1 yr of back taxes, watched countless football games and checked out all local places that have been featured on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives. I just kinda hung out and waited and waited and waited and today, hopped out of bed and attempted to capture that enthusiasm for making 2009 a wonderful, productive new year. My first load of laundry turned undershirts, socks and underwear pink...totally missed Kylie's pink satin fairy slipper that found it's way into that basket. While cleaning the antique desk with Murphy's Oil Soap, caused some kinda reaction that entailed 45 minutes of squirting, scrubbing, drying and repeat and repeat and repeat, now just leaving the desk kinda sticky feeling. Decided to clean the windows. Haven't done the top floor windows in years, all the rooms were inhabited by kids, all had shades and curtains so just never gave the top floor much thought. Well now that my bedroom and scraproom are upstairs, I can't escape the fact that the windows are disgusting. Humpth, kinda forgot that these were the old windows, installed about 25 yrs ago, when all you worried about was double paned and used to, I paid neighborhood college students to clean the windows every spring. Did the inside just fine, was able to manage the top pane on the outside without falling out the window and killing myself but how the hell do you do the outside of the bottom pane??? I have a power washer but sorry, just doesn't do the trick like vinegar and newspaper and I have no intention of climbing a ladder outside and we don't have anymore desperate college students in the neighborhood. GGGrrrrr, think I'll go make a martini, climb in a bubble bath and maybe shift my 2009 goals more in the direction of improving my mind....I can sit on my arse to do that.