Family Day

Yesterday Katie tested for her Tae Kwon Do orange belt.  The form or pattern that she had to learn while a yellow belt is the form that she has learned the quickest and the best.  She is also getting very strong and fast on her one steps.  I am not exaggerating when I say that of all the Little Dragons, she does the strongest take down.

Last night was the Christmas parade in Anson, which we drove in to see.  It was chilly last night and Katie ended up wearing three sweaters.  She got bucket loads of candy because she finally figured out that if she waved and loudly said, "Merry Christmas!" they would throw candy to her.  After the parade we went over to the pump house.  Rick had a few small things to which to tend.  I packed sandwiches and sodas and Katie packed her markers and colored pencils.  While Rick was working, Katie and I colored wooden ornaments that I had bought from Hobby Lobby. 

Today I started putting up the Christmas decorations.  I got the fireplace done and a few other spots, but there is still so much to do.  I don't want to put the tree up until the house is done, so I better get cracking.  Regardless, our tree will be put up earlier than normal for Rick actually has been on vacation since the 6th and will be so until after the New Year.  He had oodles of accrued vacation time and was losing days because he did not take them.  It's good to have him home, but it will be hard to get used to his traveling schedule once his vacation is over.

Below are the pictures from yesterday.

 Katie standing at attention with fellow Little Dragons before her orange belt testing.

 Bundled up for the Christmas parade.  She wore a pair of light-up antlers.

 Here's the annual blurred picture of the Court House in its holiday lights.

A decorated fire truck from the parade

Katie in the pump house.

The last picture is from earlier last week after I started feeling better.  Katie and I are making a garland string for her bedroom.  Please excuse my hair-do and lounge wear.

The Dentist, The Princess and The Elf

(Another title of a post that sounds like the start of a joke.)

I haven't posted again in awhile.  I have been having dental work done.  Not fun.  Yesterday's appointment was the worse.  My entire mouth was numb and I kept on thinking that I would swallow my tongue--it was hard to swallow.  On the ride home, I started gagging every time I swallowed, so of course I threw up like crazy when I got home.  I am still not 100% chipper and I have never had this reaction before from Novocaine or nitrous oxide.  There's a good possibility that I have the flu because of the chills, sweats, aching and headaches on top of the mouth soreness.  I have done nothing but lie around last night and poor Rick has had to pick up the slack, which means running Katie to Tae Kwon Do and ballet.  Because my husband does not cook, Katie and he have been doing McDonald's for dinner.  Not crazy about it, but I seriously couldn't cook right now.  It hurts to stand up, not to mention the feeling of being on the verge of throwing up is constantly present.  At least it is before Christmas.

I am very slowly decorating the house.  I have only gone through two of toters.  Eight more huge ones to go!

Now for the Katie pictures. . .

If I recall correctly, Katie said this was her Christmas bride outfit.  I think the sunglasses add a nice touch.

Here she is looking model fierce.

 We bought a microwave for the lake house.  Once Katie saw the big, empty box, she requested that Rick and I pack her in it and ship her to the North Pole.  We of course obliged.  Here she is waiting outside at 8:00 pm for Joyce, our mail lady, to pick her up.  We even turned the porch light off and went inside.  Pretty soon we heard a big ripping sound.  Katie decided against making the trip.  I think it was because I put four Goldfish crackers through the slot and told her that was all she was going to have to eat on the trip.  As a side note, it is great having a fearless child.

 Here's another Christmas Princess.  She nabbed the garland when I was decorating the house.  I don't know what it is about that kid, but everything has to go on her head.

I bought an Elf On The Shelf for Katie.  The Elf watches Katie all day and flies at night to the North Pole to report to Santa if Katie has been naughty or nice.  The next day he flies back from the North Pole and hides somewhere else in the house and Katie must find him.  She is not allowed to touch him because if she does, he loses his magic.  I have caught her singing to Elfie--yes, quite the original name that she gave him--reading to Elfie and writing a letter for him to bring to Santa.  Unfortunately, he did not leave last night because she was naughty and Elfie didn't want to disappoint Santa with the bad news.  She had a few slip ups today, but I think he will report to Santa.  Katie really gets into the concept of Elfie and gets tragically upset if we tell her that she is on Santa's Naughty List.

That's it for now.  Hopefully by this time tomorrow most of the house will be decorated and I will be able to eat.  Cheerio!

Matching Gummies

Katie takes gummi vitamins and the current ones are Toy Story themed.  The interesting point is that when I fetch her two out of the bottle, they must match in shape and color.  Many a morning I have all of the vitamins dumped on the counter as I search for two identical ones.  **Sigh**  She is her father's daughter.

Turkey Day and Misc. Stuff

We had a good Thanksgiving.  Katie helped me prepare the turkey for cooking.  She gently washed the bird and then patted him dry.  After his bath, Katie said he was her friend.  Perhaps that explains why she did not eat any turkey!

 Katie bathing the turkey.  Sorry for the crappy picture.  The flash blew out the picture.

Our friends Don and Gerri came over for the feast.  I had made some appetizers, one of which was crab dip.  I think I finally got the recipe right.  A friend used to make the dip around the holidays and I loved, loved, loved it.  However, she has since passed and I never got the recipe.  So, the crab dip was a success and Rick ate too much of the pre-Turkey munchies.  This is the first year that he did not gorge himself on turkey.

Speaking of gorging, our first Thanksgiving together was also our first as a married couple.  We were supposed to drive up to my parents, but the weather was not cooperating.  At last minute we decided to stay in Lansing and I threw a Thanksgiving dinner together at the last minute.  We invited our neighbors over and had a festive time.  Frankly, it was one of the best Thanksgivings ever.  Back to gorging.  Rick was cutting the turkey and putting meat on a plate.  Pretty soon the plate was piled high.  When I said I could put the plate on the table and people could grab what they wanted, he informed me that it was not the table plate but his plate!  He wasn't joking.  Needless to say, he was one moaning and groaning puppy after he was done eating.

I have gotten a lot of the Christmas shopping for Katie done, but I have not started on anyone else.  I am also working on Katie's calendar.  Each year I give immediate members of our families a calendar with a new picture of Katie for each month.

On Black Friday, I don't do the "get up at the crack of dawn, fight the crowds to save $50" exercise.  However, Katie and I did go to see Tangled in Abilene.  I was shooting for the 12:15 pm showing, but we arrived early and the theater wasn't mobbed, she we saw the 11:35 am showing.  We saw the 3D version of Tangled and thoroughly enjoyed it.  And yes, Katie tried to grab some of the objects that appeared to travel outside of the screen.  There is a lot of humor in the movie and I found myself genuinely laughing.  We will be getting it when it comes out on Blu-ray.

Last week I had the first of three dental appointments.  The first went well, but that was only because a gel was swabbed on my gums before he shot them up with Novocaine.  I also took the nitrous oxide.  Did I ever mention that I get anxious visiting the dentist?  It is a result of my younger years.  My first dentist was forced into the profession by his parents.  He ended up losing his license when it was discovered that he was nipping at a bottle before seeing each patient.  Dentist number two kept on giving my teeth a clean bill of health.  After seeing him for years, he retired and I had a new dentist.  The new dentist discovered a ton of cavities.  Apparently dentist #2 didn't like his job either.  In college I went to one of those dental clinics and that hack fixed a cavity for me, but his filling was a mess.  In addition, he drilled too much into the tooth and it ended up cracking.  Like I said, I get anxious about dental appointments and don't trust tooth doctors.  However, this new dentist, Dr. Toogood--real name and no, he is not American Indian--I do like.

Mom is fairing okay in rehab.  Her Alzheimer's has her thinking that she had a stroke.  She has also been claiming that she hit her head from the fall and that is why her memory is bad.  In reality, she didn't hit her head, but it is her way of not facing the fact that she has that horrible disease.

I am not too pleased with Ballet Abilene.  I drove Katie to class last Tuesday evening, only to find the place closed up.  Apparently they are closed the entire Thanksgiving week.  I have no clue how I was supposed to know that.  I have no calendar for them, no email was sent, nothing was mentioned in the newsletter and there was no sign on the door.  I'll deal with that tomorrow.

I have a few errands to run, so I'll sign off. I don't have any type of MOPS function today, so I feel as if I am on vacation.

Improvisational Thigh-Hi

Here's another quick post.  Sometimes I wear hose when I have on a dress and I tend to wear thigh-hi stockings.  (I cannot stand the waist band of pantyhose.  It makes me feel like a sausage.)  Today Katie was in our master bedroom's closet.  When I asked her what she was doing, she quickly closed the door.  Upon investigation, I found Katie with my black, knee-hi boots on her feet; one of my dresses on her body that had a deep, scoop neckline so that her belly button was showing a la J-Lo and thigh-his on her legs.  I did a double take of the thigh-his because they seemed to fit her very well.  Then I did another double take because I remembered that I do not have beige thigh-his.  After a closer look . . .

I realized she had my knee-his on.  She looked so darn silly that I took her outside so Rick could see her.  Also, she really is a smart pumpkin.  I wonder how many "thigh-his" she tried on before she found a pair that fit.

Week Round-Up

My mom ended up going into a rehab facility.  While in the hospital her shoulder popped out again and they feared she would try to use that arm if she went home.  She is supposed to be at the rehab facility for a couple of weeks.  The exact length depends on how well she does in physical therapy.  She is bored out of her mind  since she has no one with whom to talk.  The rehab facility also is an old folks home, so it has long term residents that can no longer live by themselves.  Most of them are off in the la-la land of old age.  Mom cannot wait to go home.  She would rather talk with my father who cannot speak than converse with fellow patients that are out of touch.

As for my dad, my sister Linda did an amazing job getting him situated.  She set up home health care for him, as well as meals on wheels.  Dad has been fairing pretty well.  My mother always said she had to do certain things for him, such as helping him put on his shirt.  So far, Dad has been putting a new shirt on everyday.  What can you say.  My father is a stubborn Finlander and is displaying what we call sisu.  The other day he asked his home health care person if he could get a Life Alert, so they are ordering one for him.

Katie and I went to The Nutcracker at the Paramount Theater in Abilene.  It is a gorgeous theater, but surprisingly small.  The Calumet Theater in the town in which I grew up is similar to the Paramount but bigger and slightly more classy.  (Again click the name to be taken to their website.  Back to the ballet, Katie and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  We were five rows back, so Katie got to see all of their fancy foot work close up.  Also, Katie's two ballet teachers performed and Katie was so excited when she spotted them.  The Nutcracker performed by Abilene Ballet Theater is no rinky-dink, small town show.  The costumes were gorgeous and the back drops massive and rich.  I was impressed.  As for the dancing, the part that I liked the most and that I consider the most beautiful is the Peacock's Dance.  Katie's teacher Mary Elizabeth Walker danced that part, as well as several others.  She was graceful and flowing as the Peacock.  From my limited knowledge of ballet, I thought she was the best dancer of the evening.

Now for a few pictures.

We bought Katie a zebra print office chair for her desk in her room.  She is quite proud of her chair for now she is like mommy and daddy, she has a desk, chair and computer.  In the above picture, she is wearing my reading glasses.  According to Katie, she had work to do at her desk and it was extremely important.  Since Rick wears readers when he works, Katie figured that is was a requirement for working.  I was surprised that she did not get a headache from wearing the glasses.  Rick is worried that they could actually harm her eyesight so I have hidden all of my readers.

This picture above is Katie and I ready to go to the ballet.  Actually, we stopped at the mall first to watch a Team Chip Tae Kwon Do demonstration and to do a little shopping.  I had Katie wear pants with her dress because I knew she would want to go to the mall's play area and that girl is not bashful about showing her underwear to the world.  I had Katie take her pants off in the car before we began our short walk to the theater.  Speaking of a short walk, we arrived about 50 minutes before the ballet started.  Parking in downtown Abilene is scarce.  I wasn't looking forward to hunting for a spot, but by getting there early, we only had to park one short block from the theater.  Since we had time to burn, we went into the Texas Star Trading Company (Click the name to be taken to their website.)  They have various items that celebrate Texas.  I picked up some pecan popcorn.  Oh man, was it good.  The fact that I had not eaten yet that day had something to do with the fact that I basically inhaled the popcorn.

The next few pictures are of Katie at a Tae Kwon Do class. The first two pictures crack me up.  In the first picture Katie and her fellow classmates are patiently waiting for class to begin.  In the second picture, I don't know what the boy next to her said or did, but the look on her face is as if he farted.  And no, you are not seeing double.  Katie is sitting between two twin brothers, a bad place for her because the twins have a hard time concentrating, standing still and obeying.  Katie actually gets irritated with them.

Below Katie is doing an cross arm/punch exercise and each time she throws her fist out, she did her Tae Kwon Do yell.  You can see her open mouth in this picture.

Below is Katie working on kicks with Mr. Kyle.

Here is Katie listening so intently to Mr. Kyle critique her kicks.

In other news, I am cooking a 21# turkey tomorrow.  We have some neighbors coming over and I am so looking forward for the Holidays to begin.  This really is a warm, nostalgic time of the year.  Any hoodle, Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoy your turkey, as well as the turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey casserole that you will be eating for the next week and a half.  Gooble, gooble!

Mom, Birthday and a Marriage

Tuesday evening I received a phone call from my Aunt Fern that my mom had fallen and was in the hospital.  She slipped on the snowy, slushy steps of an office building.  She managed to fall on her stomach and also managed to dislocate her shoulder and crack her pelvis.  A man in the building saw my mom lying outside and my mom had the presence of mind to have him call my Aunt Fern and an ambulance.

As of today she is still in the hospital and her shoulder has dislocated again, so they want to do a procedure.  Tomorrow she is being moved to a rehab center for "a few weeks".  This means my dad will be at home alone, which is not a good thing considering he cannot speak or use his right arm due to a stroke.  So he can't drive, talk on the phone and has trouble putting his shirt on and zipping his jacket.  My sister Linda is trying to set up meals-on-wheels for him, as well as home health care.

I'll have a better idea tomorrow as to where my mother is going and for how long.  The other day she was adamant that she was going home.  She is terribly worried about my dad.  Even though being in a rehab facility for a few weeks will create a harried situation for my mom and dad, it is the best way to get her healed and walking and the best way to prevent a permanent move to an old folks home. 

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a ho-hum day because of so many things on my mind.  In the evening Gerri, one of our neighbors, came over for cake, ice cream and two bottles of wine.  Rick and Katie went to bed and Gerri and I continued chatting and sipping until past midnight.  I think I needed that.

For my birthday, Rick got me a beautiful diamond necklace that is a key with hearts and the number two.  It means key to my heart.  Rick had to point out the number two since I didn't see it right away.  Below is a picture of it.  Rick also got me a dozen, red roses.  Gerri got me some bath products from Pier One and Katie got me a trampoline.  Yes, I said a trampoline.  It is a clear case of Katie getting me what she wanted.  I told Rick this morning that the trampoline needs to go back since I don't think I will be able to use it.  I have been having problems with vertigo and it doesn't take much for me to get sick to my stomach and out of sorts from movement.  Anyway, Katie is disappointed that it needs to go back.  I fear I have hurt her feelings by telling her that I have to return her gift.  Considering the stress in my life right now, it was a good birthday.

As I had posted previously, Katie and I went to the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea at Abilene Women's Club.  Being the outstanding momma that I am, I didn't bring my camera, so there are no pictures of Katie with ballerinas.  However, we did have our picture taken before we left the house.  Don't I look thrilled?  Katie was being, as we politely call it, a handful that day.  Katie is wearing her first pair of high heels and her first pair of pantyhose.  She has worn tights before, but they were not as amazing to her as the pantyhose.  While at the tea, I purchased tickets for Katie and I to attend The Nutcracker performed by Abilene Ballet Theater on this Saturday afternoon.  I opted to purchase patron seats so Katie can see the ballerinas.

And here is America's Next Top Ham.

 

About six months ago, I tried on my wedding dress, tiara, veil, shoes and jewelery for Katie.  She was awe struck and since then she is obsessed with veils and being married.  Yesterday, she wanted me to perform a marriage ceremony for her bear and her.  This is when I found out that the big bear that her Pop Pop brought to the hospital when she was born is called Ricky, Mr. Ricky Bear.  The above picture is when they were standing at the "altar" before the ceremony.  When I finished with "you may now kiss your bride", I was instructed to leave the room.  Apparently it was not to be viewed by anyone, including the preacher.  After the ceremony she proceeded to dance and twirl around the living room with her husband, Mr. Ricky Bear.  I guess that was the reception.

So that's the news around here.  I was so looking forward to this holiday season, but that kind of fizzled.  Take and ciao.