lesson of the day

When the world is too much, and you've just had enough......put your head down and go to sleep. It doesn't matter that the french fries are ready. They will still be there when you get up.

The Imposter

Nina received an American Girl doll for Christmas. Santa brought it. He's one smart fellow, that guy. Kaya, the Native American doll came to live in Nina's room, along with her tee-pee and her forest friends, which consists of a deer, bear, and rabbit.

This past Saturday, Nina was forced to play in her room, by herself (the horror!) because Blake and I could not do one more craft kit, nor play one more game of Scrabble Junior. Neglectful, I know, but there is a limit. She nicely arranged the tee-pee and all of her forest friends around the fire pit. Kaya, the doll was noticeably absent, as she needed to rest in the ridiculously overpriced bed that we bought for the other AG doll. Whatever - pick your battles.

After all the arranging, Nina needed a snack, so downstairs we went. Upon coming back upstairs, she went back to her room. I immediately heard her crying and went to investigate. Squashed inside the tee-pee was her 20 lbs. orange cat (Kit), but he couldn't fit all the way in, so his behind, back legs and tail were sticking out. He was completely, and totally zonked out. Nina was beside herself. Apparently, Kit did not qualify as one of the forest friends, but he is too big for her to evict by herself. I pulled him out, and he sat next to the rabbit (an approved forest friend) blinking his sleepy eyes. I then took a moment to notice that her stuffed penguin and blue ice skating teddy bear were added to the lineup of "friends". Why a big, fat opportunistic cat can't be a forest friend, but a penguin and ice skating bear can, is beyond me, but most 6 year old logic is.

Ring in the New

Happy New Year! I am working on my year-long to do list because it sounds better than a resolution. I'm more task orientated, so it helps to stick to a list that I can cross off. I'll post it here in a few days, so maybe you can keep track with me.

This year promises to be one filled with changes, and my utmost priority is to be as positive as I can about all of them. Giving into the Eeyore tendencies is all too easy and it affects how the rest of my family deals with things. Happy, happy girl. That's me.

We had a nice day. Blake's mom gave us a Holiday gift of babysitting, with money for a movie and dinner. In my opinion, it's the perfect gift. We saw a matinee of the Benjamin Button movie (very good) and split a steak for dinner because red meat is not usually our friend and we both really, really wanted dessert. The kiddos had a nice afternoon, and now they're tucked in bed and everyone is happy - us because we had a break, and the kids because we're back home. Children are really weird little creatures of habit.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy start to 2009. Here's a little of what I have on the horizon:

1. we're moving. I hope this happens sooner rather than later because I dislike living in limbo

2. it's my 20th high school reunion this year. How that much time has passed it totally beyond me, and I'm amazed at how little has happened in that time, with the exclusion of big things like marriage and kids. I was never a big dreamer, nor did I ever expect myself to do great, history-making things, but really......what is there going to be to talk about?

3. I'm applying to get into the Philadelphia Museum's Craft Show. It's competitive, which by nature I am not, so I'm hoping that my skills will speak for themselves.

Christmakah

I am slowly, slowly starting to see an end to the enormous list of tasks that need to be accomplished in the next few days. It's always hard when Christmas and Hanukkah happen at the same time because there's just so "much" going on. It's an overload of the senses, and by this time of the season, all the Holiday joy has been sucked out of me.

Nina is super duper excited. She's barely sleeping. Asher is oblivious and just plain bad. I taught him to say, "Bad, bad baby", and he uses the phrase appropriately....just when he's about to do something naughty. Nina had dress rehearsal for the ice show tonight, and while she was skating, Asher ran away from me. He didn't just run across the gym. He decided that he needed to run across the indoor soccer field, while a game was taking place. Everyone laughed and thought it was cute. I, however, did not. I'm so sick and freaking tired of chasing this kid all over creation. Of course, if I were nice and skinny, then I could say something witty, "Oh, he keeps me fit". I'm not skinny and he's still bad. That's just the way it goes.

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and all that other nonsense. Blake asked me what I wanted for a gift, and I said that it would be nice to have some time for myself. He looked at me incredulously and said, "You just got your hair cut last week"! Oh yeah, that hour and a half really fit the bill. Apparently, labor laws do not apply to Motherhood.

The season is all about the ones we love, and these are a few of them:

Chicken Pot Stickers

My scrapbooky friend, Monica, made these for book club one month. They make a TON, so it's good for book club, parties, or freezing. We were reading an Asian book, so we always have a bunch of munchies at the meeting that go along with the theme. It's really just an excuse to eat non-kid food. Both of my kids like these, but only because I give them gross names like "chicken poop biscuits". Weird what kids will eat. When Blake and I eat them for dinner, I serve them with rice and steamed veggies. They are really, really good.

Chicken Pot Stickers

1 1/2 lbs. ground chicken
1 sm. red pepper, finely chopped
3 med. scallions, chopped
1/2 cup shredded green or red cabbage
1 egg white
2 tsp. chopped ginger root (optional, but highly recommended)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1 pkg. wonton wrappers
2 cups chicken broth
4 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce

Mix all ingredients EXCEPT wonton wrappers, broth and soy sauce.

Brush wonton wrappers with water (I just dunk them one by one into a bowl filled with water because inevitably a small child will want my cooking brush).

Place some chicken mixture on center and pinch closed.

Spray non-stick skillet with cooking spray

Heat over medium heat

Cook 12 at a time about 3 minutes, until light brown; turn

Stir in 1/2 cup of broth and 1 tsp. soy sauce

Cook (covered) for 5 minutes

Uncover and cook 1 minute or until liquid is evaporated

Repeat with rest of pot stickers

Serve with soy sauce to dip in, or we were Asian/Ginger salad dressing.

Sooooo yummy.

I'm baaaaackkkkkkk

E-gads......has it really been two months since I last posted? My life has been thrown into shambles and for those of you who know me well, you'll recognize my absence as the typical "Rebecca has shut down" mode. I hate that I do that, but it's always been the case. I tend to only focus on the tasks at hand and put blinders on to everything else. In a nutshell, here's what's been happening:

• our house is on the market and we're relocating to New Jersey....the state that everyone says, "But there's nice parts in Jersey", which makes me believe that most of it is crap. Blake has been driving back and forth each day, which is a 2+ hour commute, so we don't really have a choice.


• Nina is getting ready for her first solo skating performance right before Christmas, which she's thrilled about. What that means for ME is that we're at the rink 2-3 times a week, with Asher in tow running around like a maniac.


• Asher is almost 22 months. Enough said on that. He's hell on wheels. He had eye surgery last month to open up a clogged tear duct. His right eye watered constantly, and he needed to have the duct opened before he was two. It was a minor operation, and he recovered really quickly. The freakiest part was that he cried bloody tears for 18 hours, so we took to calling him "our own personal Jesus".


• My business has been fantastic this Holiday season, and if I could figure out a way not to sleep, then I might actually catch up with everything.


• Blake and I are going away ALONE this weekend for the first time in two years. Of course, we're house hunting, but we're hoping to get a nice dinner in and maybe a movie. I also made sure to book a bed and breakfast that does not accept children. Nothing kills a weekend away alone better than someone else's kids. I'm doing everything I can to go into New York on Friday afternoon to get some fabric and notions shopping in, but it seems that despite my best efforts, that might not happen. Blake is an excellent shopper, as long as there's something for him, so fabric/notions shopping is not that thrilling. Most of all, I'm looking forward to having 3-4 hours all to myself, when I don't have to rush to be back home, or have someone whining because I'm taking too long. What I'd really like for the Holidays is a whole weekend in New York by myself, which I know is selfish, but that's what I'd really, really like.

My laptop crashed this weekend. Totally and completely crashed. Without any hope of retrieval. I am in severe, severe mourning over this because, like an idiot, I did not back anything up. Oh - it's on my ever-growing "to do" list, but I just haven't gotten to it. I still have the big computer in my studio, which I'm on now, but it's all different and I don't like it - like going to your in-laws for the first time at Thanksgiving. It's alright, just not where you're comfortable. The keys are harder to press, so I can't type as fast, and I get distracted by all my projects that are due for customers and I just don't feel like working to finish. I procrastinate a lot this time of year because there are a ton of things I'd like to get done for myself, and as much as I vow that I'm not going to be making presents this year, I always have a healthy stack of gifts to make. The worst part is that very few people appreciate the time I take to do this, so this year, only the "craft worthy" are getting things. That cuts the list down significantly to the moms (Blake's and mine), my kids, and Blake might finally get that hat he's been asking me to knit him for the past three years.



I did just win a $50 gift certificate at the local yarn store, so I hired a babysitter and spent a glorious hour picking out yarn to make something for myself. In the 7 years that I've been knitting, I've only made one thing for myself. It's this gorgeous sweater that I just finished, and it took me eight months to accomplish. I love it. At my last craft show, as few weeks ago, someone offered me $250 for it, and I did contemplate selling it, but the shirt I had on underneath was not well........well, it was too clingy and see-through to be worn alone. And I love my sweater. This time, I picked out some beautiful silk/alpaca yarn that's just heaven to work with. I'm itching to get started on it, but it will probably have to wait until we're in Vermont after Christmas.



I will post some pictures the next time because I need to figure out how to plug my camera into this computer. Is everyone done with their Holiday shopping?

Off she goes...

to Kindergarten. How this day came so quickly, is beyond me. She's doing great. I'm very proud of her.