7 Quick Takes: Low Standards (or..How To Get Some Peace and Semi-Quiet)

1. Brad wasn't able to take off any time for Christmas, so it's been me and the kiddos allllllllll day, alllllll week long. Breakfast has been a most nutritious affair, involving the locust-like consumption of the cinnamon rolls left from Christmas am.

2. When Dominic wakes at the sprightly hour of 6 am after harassing me most of the night for mawKKKK I'm not ready to get up yet. I'm just not. So I've been dragging my pillow, Linus-style, into G's room and dumping any set of toys on the floor that I think will entertain my little hooligan, including but not limited to battery-operated devices that, being in my right-mind and well-rested, I would normally eschew. Then I crawl into G's bottom bunk and basically pass out.

3. In order to buy some peace and quiet, I allowed the following to occur. It will be so fun peeling all those stickers off a year from now when I finally get around to it and I give a care.

4. In order to celebrate the Christmas season (12 days peeps. Even though the stores have Valentine crap up already) we left our tree up and all that jazz but mostly...I've been allowing daily viewings of Elmo's Christmas Countdown. Every time I have to listen to Anne Hathaway sing "I want a Snufflelufugus for Christmas" a part of me dies inside.

5. We had popcorn for a snack yesterday afternoon (popped on the stove....the kids think I am magical) and Dominic dumped his bowl on the floor. I was a teensy irritated, and handed him the dust pan and small brush to sweep it up, and when I checked on him next he had carefully swept everything into the dust pan and was then eating the popcorn out of it. So gross. So funny.

He ate it all.

6. Whilst wearing their hats and gloves (why? I'll never understand) I let them take every last piece of Tupperware out of the cabinets and chuck it all over the kitchen.

7. We took the kids to Chipotle for dinner last night because I decided to clock out at about 4 pm. The kids were being very cute and very funny, most especially Doms, who by the end of the meal was crawling on the floor RAAAARRRRING at people like a lion. We allowed it because we were laughing so hard we couldn't do anything about it. I'm sure the other patrons thought our little lovey was just brilliant.

 More quick takes here and Happy New Year. I should have done 7 New Year's resolutions but the only two resolutions I had last year were failures (learn to sew HA and garden NOPE.) So. Meh.

7 Quick Takes: Twas The Night Before The Night Before Christmas

1. My in-laws are coming today and this place is straight up trashed. Basically, I didn't do anything to clean all week because I figured it would just get trashed again. So now I have a whole lot of cleaning to do on top of everything else. Prognosis is not good, because here I sit, dallying on the computer and my kids are running the vacuum. I just hope they don't accidentally suck all the needles off the tree.

2. Despite the fact that I have not even completed ONE Christmas stocking, I refuse to believe I won't finish at least two of them so the kids at least will have stockings. Brad thinks I am delusional, but this is the season of hope after all.....I will finish them.

3. I want to share one of my favorite children's books this time of year. It is a must.


The illustrations are wonderful, and so is the story. Ironically enough, I introduced this book to Brad (he is a Jewish convert). I think it's a great way to introduce the kids to the Jewish roots of our faith, and, as I said, it's just a really well-written children's book.

4. Also on my to-do list in the next 24ish hours.....make biscotti and cinnamon rolls from scratch (because I like to punish myself.) The biscotti will be Christmas gifts. The cinnamon rolls will be consumed by me us Christmas morning.

5. We are taking the kids to Midnight Mass. I have fantasies of Dominic sleeping peacefully through the whole thing without once screaming "MAWKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!" and Gianna sitting quietly immobilized in a combination of sleepy stupor and childlike wonderment. In reality....this could get crazy. Actually, it probably will get crazy.

6. I spent $32.98 on Snow crab claws for dinner tomorrow. I know that sounds insane, but I think I showed great restraint. When I mentioned I was from Alaska and bemoaned the difficulty of getting good seafood in the Nati, the manager of the fish market beckoned me to the freezer where he unveiled a box of  King crab legs flown in from Dutch Harbor. They glowed softly in the dim light of the freezer....they beckoned to me. But I resisted. Those babies were $38 a pound and you know I would have needed more than one pound. So you see. Will of steel.

7. We unabashedly wish you a blessed and Merry Christmas from our crazy house to yours!

 More 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!