2011 is quickly coming to an end…

So… I follow some fun home improvement / decorating blogs and they are all doing their year end posts. “Oh look, my house looked nearly perfect before, and now it looks magazine perfect.” Yeah, not me. I have gotten more behind on everything this year and haven’t tackled any big around the house projects. Oh I did replace the bathroom fan (with some help) and spread some mulch… but yeah, not a great year for projects at the Homestead. Next year though… you just wait…

As I glanced over my journal and my blog from 2011, I came up with one definite theme:  I worked too much and spent the entire year trying to find some balance, without any success. So I do apologize, dear readers, for the number of times you had to hear that. (You will notice I make no promises for next year…)

There have been some other really great things about 2011 (even if it was a dismal NO11 failure): 

1. New and fabulous tiny people in my life (this is just the highlights—there are lots more but I don’t have time to dig out all the pics right now):

2. All of the other tiny people- not so new in my life. Be thankful I am not posting pictures of all of them! That’s a lot of tiny people for one post. I am incredibly blessed by the tiny people in my life. I suppose I should mention the big people too- cause I share my life with a lot of wonderful big people too.  

3.  LOTS of opportunities to grow in knowledge, patience, and holiness--- and I certainly did not use all of them as well as I should have. Nonetheless, God continues to work on me in many, many ways.  As hard as it is sometimes, I am thankful for a Father who loves me enough to walk me through the hard stuff to the joy at the other side. And in the midst of some real struggles, my eyes continue to be opened to the abundant blessings in my life.

4.  Family landmarks-- My baby sister went off to college, and my youngest brother started high school at a real school (Washtenaw Technical Middle College) – this isn’t earth shattering necessarily—but still some important landmarks in the fam. Not to mention the end of my mom’s very long home schooling career. Luckily she’s still teaching at the home school co-op, has grandchildren to keep her entertained, and chickens to keep her company.

5.  Although home has been chaotic and I am way behind on everything, I continue to be thankful for my home, and for the people and critters that share my home. My housemates have put up with a lot this past year (mostly living with an unbalanced and frazzled me and the awesome eating of the trash thing – also mentioned too frequently on this blog). I really can’t put into words how thankful I am for their presence, their patience, their sense of humor, and just being the wonderful and genuine people that they are.  And I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am for a low-drama household in an otherwise high-drama season of my life. God is good!  

6. Travels – I did manage to do a bit of traveling this year, in spite of working all the time. Not as adventurous as some years, but I managed to get a few good trips in. I made it out to Washington State twice to visit my sweeties out there. One whirlwind trip to Maryland/Virginia. A bridesmaid weekend in Chicago. A wedding weekend in Peoria. And some Michigan travels to Long Lake, St. Joe, and maybe a few other Michigan destinations.

Okay, I think that’s all I’ve got for now. 2011 is coming to a close…. and it’s good to see it go. It was a hard year, a good year, a year of blessing. I am confident that God has big things in store for me next year and I am eagerly anticipating all that He will do.  Happy End of 2011 friends.  

Quick Takes from the Homestead

1. You know you had caffeine too late in the day when it is 1.43 am and you are up writing a blog post instead of sleeping… and honestly had no idea it was this late. 

2. My house looks like Christmas has barfed all over it… there are Christmas gifts and projects strewn on the dining room table. Christmas baking all over the kitchen (not all mine, but plenty to go around). Empty decoration boxes in the living room. Must. Clean. House.

3. This is the third week in a row I was determined to cut my hours to something reasonable… naturally I aim for 40 hours, but when most of my days are 9-10 hours, it is hard to make that goal. Instead I managed the escape at 48 hours , 47 hours , and this week… 45. I managed to leave “early” today at 4. Oooh. Not to mention there is work drama going down. I suppose once No Drama November was over it was inevitable, but I really wasn’t planning on Double Drama December. Ah well. I’m happy to be off for a few days before more drama hits. 

4. A good friend and I decided on Wednesday (after a rough week or so for both) that we should declare it No Cry Wednesday and celebrate with Christmas projects and a bottle of cheap wine if we managed it. I am proud to report that No Cry Wednesday was a great success for both of us, although apparently her kids didn’t get the memo. Maybe in addition to my monthly themes (No Drama November, Delirious December), I’ll start adding in special themes for days of the week. Suggestions are always welcome… and by all means, feel free to join us for the next No Cry Wednesday.   Weepless Wednesday? Yeah, still working on a catchy title.

5. I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year, which was kind of awesome. The packages have been arriving one by one—even those last minute ones! Today I drove by Meijer, knowing I needed to stop for fondue supplies for Christmas, but the sight of the full parking lot made me turn right around. Made me appreciate my online shopping even more… and thank God for Country Market, which was delightfully uncrowded and allowed for a quick fondue supply trip. 

6. Blessing in disguise:  Every year I do this family calendar for my dad’s side of the family. It is a lot of work to put together (there are a lot of people to calendarize) but it is enjoyed by everyone year after year and isn’t something I can skip. Anyway, this year I was debating about what to do. In the past, I’ve printed them and copied them and bound them myself. This year I don’t have access to the same resources and I’ve been feeling generally overworked anyway, and it was feeling like just one more thing… so I broke down. A local office supply company had an in-store printed calendar special, a few bucks more than I pay for supplies when I do it all myself, but delightfully eliminating hours of calendar assembly (often on Christmas Eve). Seeing as I get 30 calendars printed, it wasn’t going to be cheap, but it seemed worth it to me. I got the calendar design finished and off to the printer last Sunday, calling to make sure they received the order and they assured me it would be ready for pick up on Thursday. I stopped at said office chain today and there was much confusion and whispering over the order. Finally they determined that they weren’t printed. Naturally concerned, I asked what we could do. They would start right now and have them ready tomorrow. Whew. Okay. I walked away a little disappointed at needing to do another trip, but happy they could still accommodate the large order. Just before I walked out, the manager came after me and informed me that because it was their major screw up, my order would be free. All 30 calendars!!  God is good.  As little as it was, I felt like it was a reminder from a Father that loves me that He is taking care of me- even in the little things. Thank you Lord for the reminder and for the free calendars (and please let them be done tomorrow).

7. I love the readings and prayers, especially in the liturgy, leading up to Christmas. Such beautiful reminders of our real focus for this season. The decorations are fun, the activities are great, but they are all meant to help us enter into the Mystery and the glory of the Incarnation. God becoming Man. And what that means that God truly chose to come as one of us, to be our Savior. To redeem mankind.  Let’s not lose sight of our real purpose here… the real reason for all of it. May He enter our hearts more deeply during this holy time!

Merry Christmas from all of us at the Homestead!

Awkward family photos

I know there is an entire website dedicated to awkward family photos, but I thought I'd share a few here, just for laughs. I was going through a stack of old photos the other day scanning some favorites and stumbled upon this one. Probably one of my favorite photos of all time as far as entertainment value. We used to tease the naked brother mercilessly whenever we found this photo too, so there's some good memories in that as well. Anyway, I bring you Christmas memories:

That is my mom changing baby Garrett on the floor while someone else (you do the math) waits for his turn...

In more optimistic news...

Although my job is killing me lately, I've got a lot of wonderful things and wonderful people in my life to be thankful for. Things I'm loving right now:

- Advent -- everything about Advent!

- The new Mass translation-- there's a lot of talk out there about if it is or isn't a good thing. But I really love it. The prayers have added depth, and though my response is typically "And also... with your spirit" I am beginning to catch on.

- Decorating for Christmas -- it's mostly there, but I've got a couple things I still need to find in the depths of the Christmas boxes. It's starting to look pretty, although the chaos of empty boxes and shipping boxes may be detracting from the overall look.

- Friends... I am blessed with so many incredible friends! And I am blessed by them in too many ways to even recount here.

- Friday night I had dinner with a friend and went to a perfectly awful Christmas play at the local high school. Though the play was truly awful, but it was great to hang out and catch up with one of my good friends who I rarely see.

- My grandparents -- I love those people!! It's been longer than usual since I've been out to have dinner with my mom's parents, so I called and talked to Gram the other night. She's such a gem. I will be heading out for dinner with them next week. And my dad's dad called me out of the blue the other day. He had a great idea for the family calendar that I always make and pictures he wanted me to scan and get in there (this is definitely a first!) So I went out to Northville and scanned some photos with him and then sat down and listened as he told stories. I love that! He also agreed to come live with me if I get my farm :D

- Christmas cards -- though I am not together enough to get started on my own, I am LOVING all the ones coming in the mail. Especially because all of my friends have such cute munchkins. There's nothing like opening a cute munchkin card after a long day to put a smile on my face.

- Suzie (Maggie is off the list over the bathroom garbage at present)-- I do love my pups, even in their current needy state (my fault entirely). They are good company, good listeners, and Suzie is quite the snuggler.

- Weekends!! Yesterday I had a day at home which was marvelous. And then toward the end of the day I opted to go to Sat. evening Mass which was great and leaves today as another home day. Lovely and just what the doctor ordered. So here I am sitting in my sweatpants and three wolf moon sweatshirt boring you with my thankful list :)

- My cordless drill-- haven't used it enough lately but yesterday I had to pull her out to do some repairs and boy I love the old cordless drill -- and the newly repaired baby gate going to the basement.

- My neices and nephews, who I think are 10 of the greatest kids alive (totally unbiased opinion, obviously). It's hard having so many of them far away, but those kids hold such a special place in my heart and in my life. And this week I went to Geno and Lucy's school songfest, which was pretty entertaining. Geno was in the choir. There he was, eyes huge, stiff as a board, collar rumpled, shirt half untucked and looking rather nervous, but obviously the cutest kid up there. He sang beautifully in spite of the nervousness. The kid next to him had us in stitches. Every few seconds she would twitch and move and then scratch either her crotch or her butt, smiling sweetly the entire time. Kids are so entertaining. Then Lucy came out with her class as Tinkerbell. For her part she danced around with Peter Pan and then at the very end, the kids each had a line about the importance of reading- some so faint you couldn't hear them, and Lu had the big finish, loud, clear and concise. That's my girl.

- Christmas projects - yesterday I finished the family calendar. A week before Christmas!!! I also did a couple little sewing projects and have a couple more I hope to finish. I also had a brilliant idea that didn't work at all in practice- so I'm starting over on that one.

Not Pretty

It has been a grueling few weeks at work. Grueling. Awful. I'm buried and feel I will never dig out... I leave work every day feeling inadequate, disheartened, and blah. Two weeks in a row I was determined to leave work at 40 hours... last week I escaped at 48 hours and this week at 47... exhaustified and frustrated myself for not being able to extract myself sooner and cope with it all better.


Not to mention having a bunch of things going on in the evenings this week, so I haven't been home much and, as I have mentioned before, this means Suzie is the neediest critter alive and Maggie is eating the bathroom trash. What? I thought we solved that! Oh yeah. Remember that $13 trash can for peace of mind? Total waste of money apparently. Somehow Maggie has managed to figure out how to open it and continues to eat the bathroom trash. Disgusting.


Apparently, I just need to be home more and find that elusive balance and learn to close the bathroom door- in spite of that new trash can.

The reality isn't pretty these days, but I am hanging on to hope for better days.

Old photos

Here’s one to go with my reminiscing… I know, going through photos of me as a child (and an adult too) is like visiting that awkward family photos website. Still… here’s me and my first dog: Holly.  The one that inspired the next two black lab mutts.  Holly really was the greatest dog ever (shhh, don’t tell Maggie I said that). 

Here’s a clue

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

I tried to mail myself to my sister at college… had to settle for cookies instead:

Last weekend we went to get the tree with the usual crowd (Brendan and the kids, Donal and Lindsey): 

Lindsey had to test each tree to find the perfect one:

I spent a ridiculous amount of time getting lights on just right:

Jenny did a fabulous job adding all the ornaments:

I made copious amounts of cookie dough and Leslie helped make them:

(Bonus points if you know why this makes me think of Betsy and chuckle):

And no baking day is complete without accessories (or a mousetrap to insure the dogs don’t steal anything):

There was an awesome Christmas party:

And some crafting at the Homestead:

Happy Advent!!

Christmas Crafting

Back in the day (probably starting when we were 9-10 years old), my sister and I would create a little craft station in the back room of the basement. We'd set up the crusty old card table, get out our glue guns, and get our craft on. We'd make all kinds of little things for the relatives. One year we made tons of plaster of Paris magnets, molded into little shapes and painted. Another year we made these little noodle angel ornaments. Another year doily angel ornaments. We would craft away, burning away all the feeling in our fingers with that hot glue gun and loving every minute of it (well I did anyway). I still have a couple survivors…

Every year I wish I could do all homemade Christmas gifts. But reality catches up with me instead. This year I'm not doing much homemade, so I'm remembering those days of the basement craft station fondly and missing my sister. And working on the family photo calendar, which is almost homemade... at least it takes FOREVER to put together and is most certainly a labor of love. Okay, that's homemade enough for me.

Also... if you ever want to make a legion of noodle angels, I can hook you up :)

Christmases Past

My homies and I were talking about Christmas traditions the other day, which really got me thinking. You know those traditions when you are a kid that you dream will never change. Those things that really make Christmas special, so "Christmas"? And then you get older, and traditions evolve. They have to. Life evolves and changes, the situation is different, there are different people involved (and lots of them!) ... Still I think it is cool to take a few moments to reflect on where we've come from, memories and traditions from childhood, and to remember what is important and special about Christmas now.

Ahem.

My childhood. My earliest Christmas memories as a kid are at the old, old house (we moved from there when I was 5). I remember the Christmas tree in the corner. I remember sneaking down the stairs to see it. I remember matching pajamas (the pictures do help jog that memory). And that's about it from those earliest memories. Just some random snapshot Christmas moments in that house.

As I got a little older, we always drew names among the siblings (or at least since the timesI have clear memories). We would try to keep it a secret, who had who, but someone would always squeal. And I used to find out who had who on a regular basis. Information is power. Or not, but it was always kind of a thrill to know when not everyone knew. And we would open our gifts from each other on Christmas eve. Oooh ahhh. I remember the excitement and anticipation-- gifts were simple and inexpensive, but important. We would agonize over what to get each other and enlist help, and sit barely able to wait our turn to give our gift to our beloved sibling.

I remember years of going to Mass on Christmas morning, and then loading the station wagon, the red van, the blue van, the red and gray van (so many vans) and hoofing it to Monroe for brunch and presents with my mom's family, and from there heading to Dearborn for Christmas with my dad's family. The whole day was a delightful flurry of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, car rides listening to Christmas carols, presents, candy... all around magical... for us kids anyway.

Some Christmas gifts really stand out in my memories:

I remember being quite young and participating in the Christmas pageant at my mom's family Christmas. One of the uncles was the donkey, I was Mary, Kathleen was an angel, Collin was Joseph, and my brand new Christmas doll Rachel got to play the baby Jesus. Vivid and important memories. Rachel was the first brand new doll I'd ever gotten and when you turned her over, she cried "waahh." I was thrilled. Coolest toy ever. I still have Rachel. Her hair isn't nice. The original clothes are long gone. The "waaahh" became a faint sqeak only when you punched her stomach, and eventually became complete silence. Her lips are still a faint green from the time my brother and his friends colored them green with a marker. And yet that doll still carries some important memories for me and I can't quite give her up (though I don't attempt to sleep with her anymore).

I remember the year we got our puppy on Christmas- best Christmas ever (I was 9 at the time)! Holly was a black lab mutt (this habit started young). I remember opening the big mysterious box in my grandparent's basement and how excited my dad was. A puppy!! No one had even hinted about a puppy!! Our very own puppy?!?! I remember riding from Grandma's to the other Grandma's passing the dog between the big kids and discussing names. Kathleen wanted to name her Black Beauty. I don't remember what I wanted. And then my dad suggested Holly. Perfect!! So Christmasy and yet the perfect dog name. I loved that pooch from the start and she quickly became "my dog." Oh she was everyone's dog but very much my dog at the same time. I remember my two year old brother Neil spending a lot of time torturing her and eating her food. Those early weeks of potty training, she endeared herself to my poor mom by consistently pooping under the Christmas tree. And as she got a little older, I loved training her. Teaching her to sit, to walk on a leash, to roll over, to stop jumping up. Gosh I loved that dog. She gave me a lot of purpose in life. She was one of the first real "projects" I remember truly investing in and I remember being so proud as she'd learn new tricks and pass important milestones. Holly was such a faithful dog right to the end. The gift that keeps on giving for years and years and years.

And here's a random one: my parents often gave us really useful gifts like towels, pajamas, and socks. I remember the year Kathleen and I got large brand new bath towels. They were light blue striped and matched the wall paper in our room (which had light blue stripes on it). I know it's ridiculous, but I remember those towels vividly and remember hoarding them proudly, keeping them hanging in our bedroom away from the little boys who would use whatever towel was closest when they ran naked out of the tub. Our very own towels!!

Okay, I'll let it go there for now... thanks for walking down memory lane with me. What are some of your favorite Christmas memories?

Just because you can...

Using the ipad as a camera in a wedding. There you are, third row from the front, wanting to capture those beautiful moments of the bride and groom promising their lives to one another. So you lift your 8x10 inch electronic device high over your head, so everyone behind you can no longer see the actual moment, just your attempt to capture it. Or maybe you just wander through the reception, ipad in hand, pausing every few minutes to ask someone to pose while you again lift your large and awesome electronic device that can not only snap pictures, but record your health history, keep track of your groceries, and probably clean your house too.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should...

More punishment

It sure didn't take Maggie long... without the bathroom garbage to eat and no more prescription drugs within reach...

Thursday night, Geno, Lucy and Jane came for the evening. Just before leaving they changed into PJs and loaded their clothes into the same bag and then forgot the bag on the way out the door. Oops. Thinking I'd just leave it there in the hall lest their mother decide to pick it up while I wasn't home, I unwittingly provided the next phase of the punishment: Eating children's toothbrushes and an unopened box of mac and cheese.

My roommate Leslie was the one to find the growling Maggie, standing over the empty mac and cheese box (no sign of noodles or any trace of a cheese packet) and some chewed up toothbrushes. Apparently Maggie doesn't like the toothpaste though, because after a good chomp, she decided to leave the rest. We wouldn't want to destroy things AND have good breath.

And the punishment goes on...

Homecoming

No homecoming is complete without Maggie punishing me for being gone. Mind you, she barely notices that I was gone. Her BFF Leslie was around and taking care of her all week, but my homecoming did inspire a stand up hug when I first arrived (it usually takes me being gone for at least 3 days to merit a Maggie hug). Suzie was close to wetting herself with excitement but we managed to make it outside just in time. She is beside herself happy to see me and have me home. She’s shadowing my every move and licking me every chance she gets (lovely).

I should mention that the housemates much prefer dealing with Maggie, especially in my absence. Suzie is the world’s neediest critter and as much as she loves everyone, she is most certainly MY dog and she is a mess when I am gone. Maggie, on the other hand, is her usual stand-off-ish, only-wants-a-moment-of-your-time bitch. Easy. 

Anyway, we got through my first evening home without a hitch. I tasked around the house a bit, fell asleep on the couch in spite of the licking, and I was lulled into a false sense of security.  The next morning I came downstairs to find this:

That’s right, Maggie stole Leslie’s prescription drugs out of her purse, chewed the bottle to pieces, and left them on the front rug for me to find – Thanks Mag, I get it, you don’t appreciate me leaving.

That very evening, in an attempt to curb Maggie’s other current punishment trends, I stopped at Target and bought a trash can with a secure lid for the downstairs bathroom. I decided it simply wasn’t worth fighting that fight, or finding more half eaten trash. So. Not. Worth. It.

And now, for exactly $13, I have peace of mind that Maggie is done with the disgusting bathroom trash eating disgusting habit and will now have to spend her energy thinking up new and unpleasant punishments for me… Welcome home Reenie.

Food for the soul

Warning:  This post is abnormally long and contains a lot of aunt mush. and lots of pictures. and more aunt mush. don’t say you weren’t warned.  

I got to spend Thanksgiving week with my sister and her family in Richland, WA. I flew out late Monday night, and, because my life is such an adventure, I decided to meet up with my friend Angelique during my layover in Minneapolis. So she paid for me to catch a cab to another friend, Mark’s birthday party where I got to visit with Mark and Betsy and their cute munchkins and Angelique for an hour before heading back to the airport. So awesome. Of course we ran into traffic at the airport at 9 pm so I almost missed my next flight, running through the airport to the furthest possible gate and boarding just before they closed the doors. Whew.

I arrived at the Veens to find the kids had decorated for me. Awww.

We did some photos … seriously, are they cute or what?

I got the family to myself Tuesday and Wednesday before the rest of the company arrived for the weekend. Kathleen and I did a lot of cooking and baking to prep for a house full for the rest of the weekend. Not to mention reading stories, playing in the leaves (68 degrees and sunny!!), and snuggling the new girlie. Eeeeee. She is smiling and just starting to coo. Did I mention how darling she is???

Lisa and Glen and their four girlies arrived early on Thursday morning coming all the way from Montana. So much fun!! And Mark & Lisa’s parents, Fred and Anne arrived around noon on Thursday. Thursday was a busy day (8 kids, ages 7 and under always makes for a busy day). So much fun. We all made it to Mass in the morning and then on for a day of kid fun, diaper changing, nap rotating, food prep, and eating. When Kathleen and I were planning the menu for everything, I did note we had more dishes planned for Thanksgiving than people at the table. It was quite a spread!! Lisa brought her largest turkey raised in their yard. Everything was delicious and the company was spectacular.  So great to spend time with family and extended family. 

Saturday was Mary Grace’s baptism. Another great addition to God’s family!! Mark’s sister Paula and her family came down for the baptism and party – it was great to visit with them and fun for all the cousins to be together. 

 

(Cool fact: Mary Grace wore the same dress my mom made and Kathleen, Fiona, and I were all baptized in. Aawww)

Can you tell that Grandpa Fred is a favorite? (Okay I totally love him too).

It was a weekend of a whole lot of cute…

Lisa and Glen and their family headed back to Montana and Paula and Eric and their family headed back to northern Washington on Saturday night.  Fred and Anne stayed for brunch and a card game Sunday and headed out. So Sunday afternoon and Monday were back to just the little family.

I flew out at the buttcrack of dawn on Tuesday. It was a long uncomfortable flight back since I’d managed to throw my back out again at some point over the weekend, but great to finally arrive home, in spite of the 36 degrees and rain. Oh Michigan. I miss my WA family already, but it’s still great to be home.

I am so thankful I could go meet Mary Grace and spend time with my sister and her darling family. I’m thankful I got to see Lisa and her family too. And it was delightful to be away from the office for a few days. I am so blessed!!

So there you have it – Thanksgiving adventures and Auntie mush.  Don’t say you weren’t warned.