Rowan as Santa Claus supervises present opening on Christmas morning
Rowan's new Christmas outfit from Grandma and Papa
Pop and Rowan open baby's first remote control with buttons that make noise!
Nicole prepares to decorate sugar cookies. The green sugar is particularly popular this season :-)

A great holiday week but I am now officially exhausted! Rowan arrived with a cold and ear ache so now all of us have colds to match his. He has left to go home but his virus remains :-)

The people had a good time but not the cats. Nicole's cats and mine had some serious issues this visit. Although they've been together before, it has been a while. Merry was particularly annoying and slightly stalkerish. Much hissing ensued. Occasional growling and batting took place over the course of the week. Unfortunately Pippin and Micah somehow became entangled and each suffered a broken claw and bleeding on Christmas Eve day. $275 for an emergency vet visit later, both were treated, disinfected and given antibiotics. We won't be trying this again!

The week went much too fast and I abandoned my Weight Watchers log about 3 days ago. The kids all headed home today so the house has become very quiet. Back to reality tomorrow. Hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday too!

Almost ready

My grandson just finally fell asleep and reminded me why having children is a younger person's game! Thank goodness he's so cute.

Cookies are baked and presents are wrapped.

My nose is starting to stuff up and my throat was sore this morning. Sounds like a typical Christmas :-)

Nicole's cats have mostly quit fighting with mine (except for the occasional snarl or growl) I figure they will all be getting along famously by the time hers go home.

HoHoHo and Merry Christmas.

Family arrives soon!!!

Sorry for not posting for a while. I got distracted by work and trying to make a dent in my messy house. I decided tonight that I absolutely will not get everything clean and tidy before the kids get in. I'll just keep working at it and do what I can. As I get older I'm looser about such things. After all, my kids grew up in this house and they know my lack of housekeeping interest :-)

The tree is up but only half the ornaments are on it. I can't find the stocking hangers or the rest of the Christmas decorations. Breathe deeply and go with the flow - breathe. . . .

Cards are mostly out and my dad's box is sent. Most of the Christmas shopping is done but I still need to wrap. I've been through the recipes and bought most of the baking ingredients. Decided to wait to bake until company comes. I'm now approaching 25 lbs of weight loss and don't want to be too tempted by all those goodies.

Tomorrow my partners and I are going to lunch and celebrating our first full year of business. We each made low 4 figures this year from the business but we paid the bills and are growing a little. We'll keep moving forward - slow and steady.

So excited to have all of the kids here, including our friend Briana, who will soon be leaving on a plane from Ghana! Rowan will be here on Sunday (with his parents). I bought baby food tonight for the first time in about 22 years. Too much fun.

Off to hang a few more ornaments

Procrastinating

I could be working on finishing Christmas cards tonight. I could also be wrapping Christmas presents. I don't feel like doing either. Think I'll watch the Phoenix Suns instead and play on the computer instead.

It's been cold in the desert this weekend. That may sound like whining to those who live in snowy country but morning lows in the high 30's are chilly. We finally got to light the fireplace and enjoy the play of flames. The cats like to sit on the hearth and gaze in to the fire. It feels very cozy.

Not much new on the knitting front. Since I decided not to do Christmas knitting this year I haven't made much progress in anything. I might do one more hat for Rowan - one with ear flaps for those frigid Iowa winds.

That's all for now - hope your week gets off to a good start!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Back from 4 days in California visiting family. Daughter Nicole and her boyfriend met us over so we had a great time being together. The Iowa crew including Rowan had to stay home this year and we missed them a lot.

Had a lazy time over the weekend - just what we needed. We all went to see The Blindside on Friday and really enjoyed it. We laughed, we cried and we repeated quotes from the movie all day yesterday. Go see it! Last night we watched The Wrestler - good but kind of a downer.

Tonight I'm preparing for the busy week ahead instead of knitting. The real world sucks.

Hope you and yours had a wonderful time over the weekend.

Just me and the cats

It's a quiet Saturday night with Guitar Guy out doing a gig. Sitting on the couch surrounded by sleeping cats - I don't think they miss him a bit :-) I haven't told them yet that we are headed out for a family Thanksgiving weekend and leaving them behind. I'm sure they'll figure it out when the suitcases start appearing.

I think I will finish the socks I'm working on and watch some episodes of Heroes Season 2. Netflix streaming to my computer makes it so easy to catch up. I'm also reading The Lost Symbol. I know, it isn't great literature but my husband bought it and I was bored. I have to read something while waiting for Rampant to get published!
And just to give you a fix of baby cuteness. . .

I have a plan

Well, since last week I have a plan for the holidays. We have all agreed on a minimalist Christmas since none of us have a lot of money this year. I have a gift list created for everyone and have about half of the stuff ordered.

The new washer and dryer come tomorrow. Tomorrow morning will be spent trying to create a path for the delivery guys to get through. I meant to get that garage cleaned out but, um, it didn't happen. Now I pay for my laziness. On the bright side, I'll have a dryer that doesn't make ghastly grinding noises.

I created my Christmas cards on Shutterfly this week and they've already arrived. Lots of pictures of baby Rowan and his adoring family :-) I even have the mailing labels printed and ready to apply. I might just get those puppies about by Thanksgiving so I can forget about them.

Had a great time in Phoenix last weekend. We ate Thai, Chinese Dim Sum and Nicole's boyfriend made us Chicken Marsala. I am pleased to announce that despite the gluttony, I still lost .8 lbs. this week. I'm at about the 18 lbs point in my weight loss (we won't discuss how far I have to go). People are starting to notice, which is always affirming. I'm happy if I make it through the holidays without gaining and hit it hard again in January.

I got a lecture from my physician today about eating less carbs and exercising more. This man truly believes a life without carbs and sugar is worth living! I already know I won't maintain a lifestyle of chicken, fish and veggies so I'm not going to make myself crazy trying. He's been giving me that same speech for about 20 years and hasn't worked yet. What is it they say about taking the same action and expecting a different result :-)