What are they thinking?

Have you ever hurt yourself and let out an audible little "ouch" or something only to have a family member from another room respond back with, "don't hurt yourself." As opposed to what, "try harder next time" or something to that affect? I mean really...what are they thinking!

This just gets me going at my house if someone makes that mistake with me after one of my own little oopsies. Then the lecture begins; 'So you are implying that the alternative is that I was trying to hurt myself and that I'm so prone to this behavior that you need to remind me that this shouldn't be my objective.' This is only level one of the lecture, because the recipient of said lecture almost always responds with a, "well, no." Which opens the door to level two.

Level two then goes on to point out the facts that somehow eluded the well-wisher which include, but are not limited to the following: I'm an adult, this is not the first time I've performed this task, If you had fixed it in the first place..., of course I wasn't TRYING to hurt myself--are you implying that I'm incompetent? and so on. Level two is usually accompanied by a louder version than level one as well.

The solution is simple; upon hearing someones mishap, respond rather with a question like, "do you need help" or " can I get you anything." Now you are part of the solution and not the problem.

Happy Holidays y'all!

Did you Trick or Treat?

Well, this season came too quickly this year. Seems that it's happening like that more and more each year now. Funny how that was NEVER the case when we were kids! Remember counting the days until your birthday or Christmas? And time seemed to reverse if you were watching the clock trying to get out of school. Suddenly it seems to just fly by and all I hear are friends, co-workers and peers all asking for more of it because there just never seems to be enough to get everything done in a single day.

Huh, a single day...Why do we want to do so much in so little? My kids think I'm crazy when they hear me mumble something similar to that request 'for more time' every now and again. They just cock their heads and furrow their bows in a quizzical nature. What happened to getting our work day done and then debating how much rippin' and runnin' we could do before we HAD to go to work all over again the next morning? And why aren't sleep-in-Sunday's still in effect? I remember at one point in my life, they were mandatory!

Well Fall fell and Hallows Eve has past. Hearken the call of Tom turkey and get out your best pie recipes because in just three weekends, Thanksgiving will have descended on us and without waring, Christmas will all to soon follow, as it always does. (So much for getting in a few winks of shuteye.) Seems there is always some pressing 'emergency' with more family oriented events so close together. Fair thee well weary readers, fair thee well.

Is it Christmas Yet?

With the cool nip of fall in the morning air, a sudden urge to create takes over my being and I find my days turning into flights of fancy driven by compulsion.

Between fits of binge cooking for a week in advance, then spring cleaning on a weekly basis for some reason, I'm also feeling the deadline of Christmas fastly approaching, so I'm forced to address my mountain of sewing tasks that I have all but forgotten during those long & lazy warm summer months.

With eight children, and now three of them with significant others and my first grandchild on the way, my normally daunting tasks have exploded this year into herculean proportions! So it's off to sew, but I have a few other interests to occupy my down time such as: cabinetry, candle making and jewelry crafts, so idle hands will not be an issue this year! (Pray for me).

Cabinetry you ask, well, new grand child needs dressers, and the kids like their furnishing in the Log Cabin motif, so how much wood can this old woodchuck chuck? A four drawer and a three drawer chest of drawers worth, that's how much! In my living room no less. Did I mention it was getting colder, so the non heated detached garage is just out of the question.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that 10K bug? Well, turns out I've signed up for two more 5K events and I'm going to do two half marathons in 2011. I have two certain friends to thank for this new found self imposed bench marking, and you know who you are!

See you in the funny papers~

Here's What's Cookin!

Weather is about to change and I have seized the opportunity to dust-off the ole crock pot. A petite rump roast, that I dry aged for three days in a savory rub, went in and I covered that with petite red potatoes, carrots, yellow onion coarsely chopped and celery. (Someone went to the farm this week). Had some leftover purple pole beans that I threw in for good measure and poured in an organic low-sodium beef broth and seasoned with a blend of magic herbs & spices then called it good! It smells divine throughout the house right now. (She says as her stomach growls in anticipation).

Yet another child's birthday tomorrow and I should be cleaning house, but I finished a great book last night and I'm clamoring for more, so I've opted to go to the library instead. (Shame on me, I know). Well, I'll make the cheesecake tonight, sew some communion cloths for the church and make the beds. If I have any times left, I'll vacuum and clean the toilet. That should be semi-productive enough for one fine fall crisp day. I've already completed two loads of laundry,washed the dishes, cleaned the counter tops and wrapped the presents. Sounds like something, but we all know it was piddly.

Back to the salt mines~

What's Up!

Well, completed my FIRST EVER 10K Sunday in Astoria, Oregon, thanks to some very supportive friends. It was fantastic and I hated it, and I loved it, and I never want to do it again, and now I think I might want to do several more. Well, as you can see, I'm a woman in transition at the moment. I would never have thought that I would ever do something like that in my life and now I find myself setting the bar a little higher for my next go around.

These days find me sewing more, which is fantastic, but generating less corporate structured outputs, which is disheartening. I truly love to work, but at the moment, I just have to reorganize my environment to suit my drive and passion without receiving a salary for it.

There just never seems to be enough hours in the day or enough energy to stay up all night anymore, so I took a nod from a dear friend and started listening to books during my chores and workouts. Great fun, but with only limited title options, so this won't last long. In five weeks I will have exhausted the entire library's selection. What to do, what to do?

My hopes are to look back on this in one year and know that I have completed at least two more events and have lost 60 more pounds. Fingers crossed! (Twenty-three-pounds and counting!)