Holidays and such

Mr. H's favorite gift from Santa, fake doggy poo. It sums up the last week pretty well. Our holiday started with my getting called to pick up Mr. H from the last day of school early as he had a temperature of 102.9. It only lasted 24 hours, now he has a cough and hives but the other two have had runny noses and phlegmy coughs the whole holiday. As a result no one wants to be around us. Mr. A and Mr. P. are both on antibiotics and Mr. A is negative for covid, Mr. P being too little to test. 

So, plans with my family were canceled.  My husband's brother from out of town didn't come as their daughter has tested positive for the second time. We did have a small Christmas eve with inlaws and then again for an hour or so on Christmas day. But it's mostly been just us for the last week. I'm not going to lie, I understand this is out of my control but I'm still feeling a little bitter about things.  I'm sad that my kids haven't had the big Christmases I had with family when I was little. And I'm sad that because they're growing up with Covid isolations they don't know the difference. 

They made all of the tree decorations this year.

And some other fun ones.

Mr. P is deeply in love with vaccum cleaners so Santa brought him his own. He vacuumed for the next 48 hours straight. Mr. A's favorite toy is a little whack a mole game.  It was a sweet Christmas day. 

Bee took a wall with me the other day. The weather has been rainy and cold. If we were having the same in the spring (below freezing at night, warm days) we would be getting our sap buckets ready. The kids and I can't wait to do this and I've been having them save fallen sticks in a pile for our fire.

These have arrived in the mail. This spring will be a chance to start from scratch with both the chickens and garden. We do enjoy having both but the last couple of years have been a disaster.  I have some things to think about.

Speaking of thinking, this card came from Malaysia this week:

There are so many questions here. This guy looks happy? What happened that he needs a sling AND a fire extinguisher? AND a hard hat with a head lamp?? 

Here is the back:

It's a good way of thinking and absolutely not American. In 2022 I'd like to start donating blood again.

Now it is dinner time. Homemade stuffed crust pizza just came out of the oven and it's time to pry the kids off the tv and make the middle one put some pants on.  Break time is over.

11.5 of 12

This spring I set a goal with Goodreads to read 12 books in the 12 months of this year. It seemed impossible at times but here are the ones that I finished. 11.5  They are, I think, in order.  It's interesting to see how the year progressed. 

Things started out relatively light (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - I cried) 

To Yikes (Poachers has one story at the end that pretty much ensures the reader will never, EVER violate a fish  & game law)

Still Life with Breadcrumbs was enjoyable but not unforgettable.  Miss Peregrine' Home was the same.

Station 11 was an apocalyptic story but it was unique in the presentation.  It opens with the night the virus comes to New York. It is also the night a 10 year old actress witnesses the onstage death of an actor during their production of King Lear. It skips over the bloody aftermath of the population destruction and the story really starts 15 years after the event.  There is one line in the story that makes me tear up just thinking of it all these months later. I just read this is being turned into an HBO series.

The Rayond Carver collection, I enjoyed reading it bit don't remember a single story. 

Another apocalyptic story, this one completely different for the genre.  (The Age of Miracles) A story told by a teenage girl, it's not a virus that kills everyone but the rotation of the earth starts to slow - it is story utterly without hope.

Salavage the Bones was just sad. Beautiful but sad.

I've read Silence of the Lambs every October for years now. Dr. Lecter's character is... well, I like Dr. Lecter. Having read the entire series helps, you get a lot more of his background and he why he develops a quiet fondness for Clarisse. 

 Then came Deeply Disturbing (Night of the Hunter) We have seen this movie a hundred times but reading it was different- Preachers unrelenting mental manipulation of the children made it hard to stomach, or read. Usually even a noir story gives you small breaks of sanity but this story never let up with the horror.

Then, almost blessedly, it went to Dumb. Chuck Palahniuk crashed and burned with Damned (I gave it a 1 star Goodreads review, really)  and although I love most of Tracy Chevalier's writing Virgin Blue was awful.  Couldn't finish it, thus my 11.5 instead of 12. Close enough. 

Here is my helper. Baby P is walking! He still drops and crawls if he means business and needs speed but we officially have a little toddler.

This will probably be finished in 2022. My husband suprised me with this one for my birthday. 

Tom Hanks is pretty famous with typewriter collectors. Not only does he have an impressive collection he obviously treasures but he's generous with gifting machines. And it seems to be a well-known secret that if you type him a letter to talk about whatever, he will take the time to sit down and type one to you in return. I've never tried but may now that my 1939 Royal is finally up and running.  Anyway, each of these stories involves a typewriter in some capacity.  I've read the first one and it was downright entertaining.  We are off to a good start.

As an update to the last post, Mr. H tested negative for Covid but by policy had to miss a week of school anyway. As did we assume some of his classmates. This is the same week the school district decided children are no longer required to wear masks.  No joke. Luckily Mr H is now double vaccinated and insists on still wearing his mask because, quote, "I'm used to it". So, good for him. 

 

Hello 42, hello quarantine

My new prism from my sister in the kitchen window.

Someone turned 42 yesterday. Everyone made it a very nice day.

My in-laws sent me for a pedicure. I got a really nice champagne colored gel polish, hopefully it will stay awhile. The gentleman who was taking care of my feet and I fell into an easy and fun conversation.  Turns out we both love fishing, especially for trout and panfish and we agreed that carp are a ton of fun to catch but fiddly to cook.  He grew up on a farm in Vietnam and his parents grew rice, coffee and sugarcane. I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot about coffee. He has two children in college. 

My feet walked out of there as soft and pink as Baby P's. I immediately shoved them into muck boots and took a walk around a reservoir. 

It was bitter cold and windy. The walk was less than a mile but it was head clearing. Birthdays aren't difficult exactly but it seems like this day has turned into my yearly self-review. I'm happy with my progress in a couple of areas in my life, but Lord, I feel like I'm just barely getting by in others. Why is it so difficult to change things we know aren't working? 

Hello, gifts. My sister got me this Chakras workbook. I don't know anything about those but the workpages seem like they're going to be very helpful for just working on self awareness and accountability.  My husband did a great job with some not pictured books and also helping the kids make shrinky dink jewelry.  I can't believe they kept it a secret. 

Mr. H. made the best earrings. 

The kids are going to make more Christmas ornaments tonight and help me with Christmas cards..

Edit to add that I had to go get Mr. H from school today, one of his near seat mates tested positive mid-day for Covid after being at school that morning.  So now he is quarantined at home until at least Monday. The irony is that he already his first shot and is scheduled to get his second on Friday. Oh, why could this not have happened next Monday when he would be fully protected. 

Just in time for the holidays

First off, a big "thank you" to whomever donated this to our local Goodwill.  This set.... wow. We are SO happy to have it. My husband and I, I mean. The kids aren't really old enough to care but I'm sure they will at some point. 

And now, some holiday recipes for you from my Grandmother.

Before the farmhouse was auctioned I dumped my grandma's recipe drawer into a plastic bag and took it home with me. Last month I was sorting through it and tagged extended family on Facebook; was there any recipe of grandma's they wanted me to look out for? Hands down, everyone wanted to know how to make her Christmas fudge. And while I'm not certain these are it, they are both kitchen stained enough to make me think they might be "the good ones".