Fun, Over

Fun - A source of enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure.

December 28, 2009

Yeah, it's pretty much Mario Kart 24/7 at our house. We are all developing large thumbs and are getting locked into the above positions. Thank goodness for the banana chairs from my parents - who knows how hunched over we would be without them.

Over - Having come or been brought to a conclusion.
December 30, 2009

It's over. When Christmas is done, I am SO in a mood to just get it cleaned up and put away. If it was up to me, I would put Christmas up on November 1 and take it down on the evening of December 25. When it's over, it's over and it's time to move on. So we got it all cleaned up this evening and carried downstairs. I need Lane to put it back in the storage space under the stairs, and he was asleep while we were putting it all away - convenient, huh? No, that's rude. He was up all day shoveling and chauffeuring me around in the snow, so he had to go to sleep sometime so he could go to work tonight. So it was just the kids and I who got it all boxed up, and now we leave it for Lane to put away and to carry down the artificial tree and to dispose of the real tree. Then it's back to the regularly-scheduled January need to sort and organize and de-clutter everything in the house. Which lasts about 3 days. Then I get distracted by something shiny and all my good intentions are forgotten until next January. Which is a waste of a perfectly good month. January has no redeeming qualities - NONE, I assure you - so what better time to focus on things like organizing and de-cluttering? And for the larger question - how do I end up with so much junk? I like to blame it on the kids.

Only one more picture to take. 364 photographs in the bag. I never thought last January 1 that it would be so hard to come up with a photograph every day for a whole year. And for almost all of those 365 days, the picture was true to that day. I cheated once in a while, and took 2 pictures in a day to make up for a day skipped, but mostly it was every day. Whew! That's not a project I'm likely to take on again in the foreseeable future. But it was a good experience for anyone out there who wants to take it on.

Dinosaur

Dinosaur - One that is hopelessly outmoded or unwieldy.

December 28, 2009

My computer is dying. It's true. She is old, almost 6 I think, and she has fought the good fight. We are trying to make her last days as comfortable as possible. Everyone is under strict orders to speak only kind words to her, and to stroke her gently 3 times each day. I no longer dare power her down for fear she will not power back up, and I'm not yet prepared to say goodbye - which means that everything is not yet succesfully backed up. She has served our family well, but is surely so virus-ridden and memory-deprived that watching her suffer is painful for us all. Sob. She is feeling some better this evening, as I am not asking too much of her. No multi-tasking tonight. No running of multiple programs. And in her gratitude, she is chugging along at as fast a pace as her 504 MB of RAM will allow. Good girl. Just a little longer, please. I still need to back up some information and find the ever evasive Free Computer Store. And all the CDs needed to reload all my programs on the New Computer. Don't give up just yet. I like to procrastinate mundane chores, like loading software. And shopping for computers. Just keep working. It's so little to ask.

Inherit, Journal

Inherit - obtain from someone after their death.

December 26, 2009

This is something else that I got from my Grandma Whaley's house after she died. It used to sit on the end table in her living room, right next to her couch. She also had a larger ceramic tree, part of the same set, that had Christmas lights on the ends of the branches and it lit up. I don't know what happened to that. I'm too sentimental for my own good sometimes, which is why I have this little set. I guess no one else wanted it and since I always remember it from Grandma's house, I just couldn't let it go to the DI. Grandma wouldn't like that. Sometimes I catch Addie playing with it, just like I used to.

Journal - A personal record of occurances, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis; a diary.

December 27, 2009

For some years now I have been working on typing Lane's Grandma Funk's journal. I can only manage to do 2 years every year. I finished 1993 today, so I still have some years to go. I'm not sure how long she kept a journal prior to her death 2 years ago. She wrote faithfully every day, sometimes not much more than "I went to church," but she did write pretty much every single day. In my Full Blown Christmas Panic stage, I turned it over to Taylor and asked her to just type as much as she could. She doesn't type as fast as I do, nor is she as accustomed to reading "old lady cursive," which led to quite a bit of entertainment tonight when I was proofreading it. My favorite was at one entry, where Taylor had skipped a line and typed "Bret came over and cut down my tree, so Brent came over and shot him." It's funny that skipping a line still made the entry make sense, but that's, of course, not what happened. Bret had come over to cut down a tree, and some raccoons had been discovered, so Brent came over and shot THEM, the raccoons, not Bret. But we laughed about it for a long time this evening. Another favorite was when Taylor typed that someone had prepared a dinner and invited Grandma and 10 other people. Instead of typing "It was a lovely dinner," Taylor typed "It was a lonely dinner." And there were a few more instances like that which kept us laughing.

Collection, Cozy, Happy, Vast

Collection - A number of things assembled together.

December 22, 2009

When Taylor was a baby, I started collecting Christmas books. Over the years our collection has gotten quite large. I started out with just the Scholastic books because they are affordable, but with the aforementioned Polar Express, I decided to step it up a notch. We got a lovely hardbound copy of the Christmas Oranges as a gift one year, and then that was followed by other nice copies of bookes in subsequent years. Even the older kids enjoy getting the books out every year, but it was Addie who read each book to her dolls. Every day she would read a bunch of them, and some of her favorites I think she read every single day, holding the pictures up like her teacher does at school.

Cozy - Snug, comfortable, and warm.

December 23, 2009

A couple of fleece blankets I finished just in time.

Happy - Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy.

December 24, 2009

Everyone is happy on Christmas Eve. Even those who try to act like they are getting to cool for silly traditions. She likes it all, no matter what she says. No really, she doesn't complain much, but does like to act like she doesn't get as excited as the other 2. Well guess what? She does.

Vast - of very great size or amount.

December 25, 2009

I wanted to use shrapnel, or carnage, to reflect the heap of paper, ribbons, boxes, gifts, etc. that was left after the gift-opening, but both of those definitions referred to blood, war, and massacre. Not excatly Christmas-y thoughts. Everyone seemed to be happy with their Christmas goods.


We spent a perfect Christmas at home. Our kids didn't get up until 7:30. We had intentions to go out and doing the normal visiting, but it just never happened. We stayed home and welcomed a few visitors, played the fun board games Santa brought and my sister's family in Wisconsin sent, had way too much fun with our new Mario Kart (where has that been hiding all my life??? FUN!!!). At the end of the day, I thought I should feel bad about our lack of socialness, but in the end, yeah, I really don't. We had so much fun at home just playing around and laughing all day long. We don't do that nearly enough. Please come and play Mario Kart with us. It's the funnest game EVER!!!

Flaming, Wintry, Evergreen, Gathering

Fiery - Of, containing, or composed of fire.

December 18, 2009

After going to my cousin's wedding reception with Calvin & Angie, we stopped for something to eat. The wedding reception was in Springville so we were free to go to those restaurants in the part of the county we just never get to because it's "too far." We ended up at a restaurant on University Parkway in Orem, that I don't really know the name of, so I call it Soduku Samarai. It's one of those places where they cook your food right in front of you and throw shrimp at you to catch in your mouth. Not me, of course. People who EAT shrimp and can catch. I don't do either. I'm a dropper. But I digress. I've been there a bunch of times, but seriously, I don't know the name. It's good and I recommend it, or I would . . . if I knew the name.

Wintry - Belonging to or characteristic of winter; cold.

December 19, 2009

Evergreen - A tree, shrub or plant having foliage that persists and remains green throughout the year.

December 20, 2009

I love my Christmas tree. There is something very soothing about Christmas lights and the smell of evergreen. If only they could make an artificial tree smell like a real one. We'll go back to artificial trees next year, but I have enjoyed the evergreen smell this year.

Gathering - A group of persons gathered together in one place.

December 21, 2009

It was the Walker family Christmas party tonight. There was lots of good food, and lots of people. Everyone who should have been there was there, except Marissa, and I'm not sure where she was. Probably off on a date or something. We played that White Elephant game that is played at lots of parties, and there were some exceptionally good gifts this year. There was a truly heinous tie that my neice brought, I think Calvin ended up with it. That tie will go through a lot of white elephant parties. It was truly awful. Everyone had a good time and went away overly stuffed and full of smiles. My sister in Wisconsin gave us a GORGEOUS cutting board, made by the Amish and constructed of many different kinds of wood, both domestic and exotic. It is more like a work of art than something to use. I wish there was a way to hang it on the wall. Seriously. I would hang it on the wall. We got the game chairs I asked for from my parents. I had worked really hard to get my cruise scrapbook done so I could take that to the party for everyone to look at . . . Yep. I left it at home. Every year we are supposed to write memories on an assigned topic for the family history book. I just did LAST YEAR's about a week ago. So not wanting to be so delinquent again, I got mine done early, photocopied 5 times, all ready to take to the party. . . Yep. I left it at home. I had even thought earlier in the day, "Self, if you don't put those copies in the pile of stuff to take, you're going to forget them." Then my other Self, the overly confident, naughty Self, said "No, you won't forget them. The are right there on the bed, in plain sight. You won't forget." That Other Self if bad. Why do I keep listening to her?

Sparkly, Iridescent

Sparkly - Giving off tiny flashes of light, glittery.

December 16, 2009

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care . . . With hopes that Lane won't burn them up again this year. So far, so good. I cross stitched stockings for us, but since I did them as people arrived in the family, none of them matched. I got a hankerin' for matching stockings so I got these last year (also satisfying my need for all things sparkly). If you remember, Lane promptly burned up 2 (or was it 3?) of them and I had to hurridly replace them. He has been very careful this year every time he has started a fire to make sure the stockings were safely out of the way.

Iridescent - Producing a display of lustrous, rainbowlike colors.

December 17, 2009

Ok, it didn't come out so well on the photograph, but I love these ornaments. The are clear glass, but iridescent, so they look like bubbles on the tree. We lost 2 the year Addie pulled the tree over, but I still have four of them.


I am in full-blown Christmas panic. I got 3 pairs of jammies sewn, and MOST of the other projects. I gave up on the Christmas cross-stitch. It will have to be a gift next year. I realized I just couldn't get it done. I still have 2 more jammies to make, plus one more secret other thing. I have only wrapped about 5 gifts. I did help the kids tonight get their gifts for each other finished. Their gifts for each other cannot come from the store, so it makes it more of a challenge, but it makes it fun too, unless I am the Full Blown Christmas Panic stage. Luckily, everything was pretty easy, and Taylor can do hers without any help now. Why don't I just buy gifts like everyone else? What is wrong with me? I have problems. Lane even offered to help with the wrapping, but since he doesn't do it the right way (meaning, MY WAY) I just can't let him do it. Can you say control freak? I think I need an intervention!

Stinky

Stinky - To be highly offensive or abhorrent.

December 15, 2009

Oh. My. Gosh. After piano lessons and running a few errands, we came home to do our Daily Advent Chain activity (Wii Outdoor Adventures), which required the removal of shoes. I'm not sure what died in Jack's shoes/socks, but something did and it stunk up the house BAD. Having never been a little boy, I'm not entirely sure what goes on with him. His socks are in such a state of grayness, that not even strong bleach can bring them back to white. He can wear holes in even expensive, thick socks, in no time at all. The fronts of all his shirts look terrible because he uses his shirt as a napkin (especially across the belly area). There should be a "Little Boy" class for all us mothers who are constantly bewildered and befudled by these strange little creatures who win our hearts, but destroy everything else in sight. The Boy is constantly hungry, extremely clumsy, unable to recognize a messy room, is not bothered by an unmade bed, willing to wear underwear that is too small rather than discuss getting larger underwear with his mother, and, above all, totally ADORABLE!