Gotta love friends

WaHOOOO! Tonight my friend Lori has invited our kidlets over for a Christmas Party/Sleepover! So I will be picking up the Paytons' kids and driving both sets of kids down to Lacey to spend the night.

Oooo what to do with this rarely-realized-but-much-coveted NIGHT OFF FROM THE KIDS?

Stay in, of course! ;)

Actually, Andy and I plan to polish off the Christmas shopping and then enjoy a nice steak dinner at home.

And it's nice to have leverage too... whereas some days it's a real challenge to motivate David and Sammie to clean their rooms, today it's no problem: "well, I guess you don't want to go to the party bad enough to get your room ready..."

After rooms are clean, we will put lights on the Christmas tree and some decorations. I also have some gingerbread dough chilling right now, for cutout cookies later.

Meanwhile, I've a voice recital to play for on Sunday afternoon--for PAY, even! oOOoo. And had I known how much work I was going to have to put into Strauss's Zuignung I would have charged even more. :p I thought it would just be a "pick-up-and-play" piece, but it hasn't been the case. Fortunately the other pieces I'm playing are easy enough.

It's so warm today that I have the windows open. 61º and raining, so much better than the usual 45-50.

It's quiet in the house. Bet me that the kids have sneaked out of their respective rooms and have turned on the TV oh-so-discreetly.


....Well forgive me, I misjudged them! Instead they were sitting on the couch, reading their science books. Can't fault them for that! However, that room of David's does need help, so I sent him back into his room for 10 minutes or four "alphabet pickups," whichever is fastest, then he can read some more. Alphabet pickups are an easy way for the kids to pick up 26 items and put them away, by saying (audibly) a letter for each item. It makes the time go faster, it's measurable, and there's a definite beginning and ending so the kids stay focused. If David does four alphabet pickups, his room should be just about squared away. (David is currently on "f," he just told me.)

And it works for me too. If I do an alphabet pickup, it's amazing how much different a room will look. It's something I adapted from Flylady. (I love her!)

What is the appropriate way to end a blog entry? Just quit when you've said enough, I suppose.

Portland, Oregon, September, 2004

Taken during our rendezvous with our good friends the Efaws. They used to live in Old Town Tacoma, but alas, now live in Pit Stop Denver. And actually, Andy Efaw is now in Iraq for a year, leaving Amy behind to write her next novel, run 5 miles a day, and run after 5 children.

But this is what we look like. Sorry.

I am INSPIRED

...at least at present. My dear friend Amy has started a blog of her own. However, she, unlike me, has an experience to write about: her life with 5 children whilst her husband is in Iraq for a year. But she has been faithful in writing daily, and hence has inspired me to at least strive for the same.

Let's see. If I were to write daily, an average day would look something like this:
"Woke up. Drank coffee. Read scripture. Thought about exercising. Hounded by children about breakfast. Drank more coffee. Got distracted by computer. Split up fighting children. Did schoolwork with kids. Fought with kids about practicing piano. Forgot lunch. Remembered lunch right before having to leave for karate..." etc.

I have a Christmas tree all bucketed and ready to come into the house, so that will no doubt be the focus of the afternoon: get the living room ready to accommodate a tree. Where to put the loveseat, though? Probably in my bedroom, in front of the closet. So that means getting the bedroom ready to accommodate a couch. And that means....ironing. *heavy sigh* NOoooo! Anything but that!!!