10 Things I Love to Share

First, let me say that there are many noteworthy items that I have wanted to share, and this week has been incredibly exhausting that I just haven't been able to sit down and share. Make sure you have 10 minutes before you continue on reading...


1. We started it. We started the renovation of our daughter's bedroom. When we bought the house 8 years ago, I painted her room. See the stenciling on the wall? All of it done by hand. It took me two days to do that. Well, now our girl wants to change her room, including the walls. So, rather than just painting the walls, my husband and I tore out the carpeting and decided to refinish the floors. We started the project last week - when we had all the snow. I am sharing photos of the project - the before, during and more during photos since we are not done yet - not even close to being done. All we have done right now are the floors and those aren't even done yet...it took my husband a good 10 hours just to remove all the stain and sand the floors. the stain was thick and old. We still are going to strip the wood baseboards, the doors and the trim around the window. Painting the walls will come next followed by making the wood beautiful by varnishing it. I know it is a lot to do, but we've been wanting to do this anyway. No time like the present.

2. I created and ordered my Christmas cards before Thanksgiving this year. My kids helped me address them (I did the writing, they did the stickers- stamps and return address labels) and we have them all mailed out! There was a lesson I learned about having kids help with the stamps. Let them know that the big sticker is NOT a stamp, but just a sticker to show what the stamp looks like. Those were very difficult to remove from the envelopes. In addition, they are not stickers for the room either. Note: remove the light switch plate and soak with fingernail polish remover.

3. I've begun and exercising program. One, I'm over-weight and need to be more in shape. Two, I should do it - it is good for me. Three - our new health insurance has a way for us to reduce our premiums by $800/year if we do certain things - one of which was to get into a regular exercising program. Our school district is offering spinning classes taught by our own faculty. I get up at 4:20 am two days a week, drive to Plymouth and get on a bike for 45 minutes with others from our district. (It is a 5 am class) We sweat! My legs get weak and I get an awesome workout! This is my first time spinning and I tell you, it is a really, really, really good workout!

4. Last weekend, with all the snow, Alex had much to do for snow removal. He's the one that operates the snowblower until he teaches me how to use it (it is new - for us). Anyway, I took a few pictures. I need to share the one I took of Alex and our daughter shoveling. Notice the winter wear that each chooses to do the job. If my husband wears a t-shirt, shorts and sandals (do you see those sandals???) for shoveling are you wondering what is worn when the grass is being cut?

5. Let me talk about St. Nick. When I was a kid, there was no St. Nick in our house. Alex's family embraced it as he was a child. Well, we have a situation now. You need to know that I get my way - and I think St. Nick is one more hype to take away from the spirit of Christmas which is not about Santa but the birth of our Christ. This is why our kids may ask for Santa three gifts for Christmas, to represent the three gifts given to Jesus by the three wise men. Off on a tangent here...so I would rather not have St. Nick visit, but our school did something. The teachers talk about St. Nick. The administration send home a "calendar" of activities for the grade school kids and on that list (can you guess what I am going to say next?) is ST NICK! So now our kids are talking about it, talking about writing letters and planning what they want. I dislike that kind of behavior. Need to nip this and nip it soon. Anyway, I didn't get my way. St. Nick came to our house.

6. My son decided he wants to learn chess. Cool! Oh yeah, no one here knows how to play chess so, now what? Well, he's started playing it online. The computer will not let him make certain moves so essentially it is teaching him some of the rules (I hope). I went to a book party about a week ago; I ordered a "rules of chess" book for him. Then just this week, we receive an e-mail from the school. KSD is starting a chess club for JK to 12th grade. He went to his first club meeting and LOVED it! He's been asking when the chess club will meet again. My mom has this handled as his birthday will be coming in January. Thanks Mom! Besides getting the e-mail from school about the chess thing, we received a letter from Human Services in regards to our son. Yikes! It seems the school did a vision screening and his eye sight is not good. I didn't know that. We have an appointment set for this week for our son to see the eye doctor.

7. I am trying to be a proactive social planner at work - I organized this year's secret Santa. I put a twist on it, with the help of last year's planner. We have themed days this year. One day will be the "Warm and Fuzzy Tree Day" where we will donate kids winter-wear in the name of our secret Santa recipient. Another day is "Sweet and Sassy Day" - we are not to obey any diet rules and make, bake or buy sweet treats. A third is "White Elephant Day" and there we recycle a bad gift and pass it on to the recipient. Fourth is "Make a Play Date" and here we give the gift of a game like sudoku books, lottery tickets, something fun. Our final day is when we meet our secret Santa and give a nice gift that they would like.

8. I am happy. I'm happy for lots of things but for entry #8, I am happy because we finally have a date night set with my friend Annie and her hubby. It's been a long time coming. Many back and forth-s (is that a word?) saying let's look at the calendar. It's done! Let's hope a snow storm does not ruin it for us.

9. I went to my scrap night last night. I was exhausted because I was up at 4:20 for my spinning class (mentioned above in #3), taught an entire day, then off to scrap. I have been falling asleep on the couch every night this week from exhaustion. I didn't think I would be able to sit up straight to scrap. I got really tired about 6 pm, but then more of the girls arrived and we began to talk. Oh, we were all funny and sharing and laughing and I got my second wind! Didn't do much for scrapping. I really need to do more scrapping. I missed the last two months, but I think that is why I did so much talking. There were others there in the same boat - they have missed a month or two and we just needed time to catch up on all our stories or vent or laugh. Thank you girls!

10. I received an e-mail today from my cousin in North Carolina, Melissa. It was nice to hear from her. She had seen the Christmas card we sent and e-mailed us of what is new. Thank you Melissa! Oh, I did receive those pictures of Grandma - I had saved them to our computer. When the computer crashed, the Geek squad was able to recover all our photos (Whew!). I am so happy that you have Grandma's china. I was not in NC often for those holiday celebrations, but was there enough to remember what it looks like. I am going to post a picture from our last visit to NC. Melissa, my aunt Toni, aunt Missy, my Grandma, my kids and me are all in this picture. Melissa - keep those e-mails coming or leave a comment!