Exhausting weekend (without hockey!)

I have no idea why, but G and I were both tired and cranky practically the whole weekend. We played Mario Party 8 most of the weekend, which honestly was way fun, but I had to cut him off after Saturday morning until his friend arrived for a playdate. (He was going to sleep over, but apparently changed his mind.) He was like an addict--"Why can't I play before W comes? If I do X, can I play? What if I do Y?" which only made me more sure I made the right choice. I also have started doing 3-minute breaks when he bursts into tears while playing. We had one of those on Saturday, and after he went into his room, shrieking with rage and frustration, he settled down and read a book for a while. Good choice.

I did some cooking--finally got it together and made the Curried Split Pea Soup from a vegetarian pressure-cooker cookbook Dharma gave me (was it a loan, D? I could mail it to you...). It turned out great. I had some more today. Just terrific. I minced the ginger very finely and yet it still turns up in tiny bits in your mouth to add a wonderful zing of flavor. (I omitted fennel and black mustard seeds--eew.)

I also made some bread dough for rolls for the Thanksgiving Dinner at our church. I had neglected to sign up last Sunday for the dinner, so I called the coordinator; he said no one was bringing rolls. Ah, a lovely excuse to bake! The first rolls I made, I put on the cookie sheets well floured and let them rise on the stove for a while. They seemed kind of dry on the outside when I put them in, and after they came out again, they were like crispy pebbles--soft inside, but not enough to overcome the unpleasant crackle of the outside. I put some more ingredients into the breadmaker to make a second batch of dough, but not until 9PM. I was falling into bed when I realized I needed to take the dough out and set it out to rise, at least, when it was done (and just now, as I'm typing, I realized I could have just refrigerated it overnight). I set my alarm to wake up in an hour...and woke up in the morning to dough spilling over the edges of the bread pan. Sigh. So we had Trader Joe's rolls at the dinner. I do like to bake, but I like to bake successfully.

Sunday morning, I woke up and was getting things going just fine until push came to shove and I was in front of the bathroom sink at 9:25 with wet hair, realizing I needed to be at church at 9:30 with my flute, ready to play. Ugh. Fortunately, the rehearsal went very well. Just a few tiny flubs, which completely disappeared in the performance. I was playing a flute accompaniment to Simple Thanks sung by the choir. It was lovely.

Had a bit of a bad shock when our church sexton was reading the announcements and announced that our family was hosting the coffee hour in honor of G's first time as an acolyte. I had been ready to get G into the acolyte gear (note for next time: bring a comb!), but had absolutely, completely forgotten about food for the coffee hour. After the choir piece, I changed out of my robe, grabbed my keys, and headed out to Trader Joe's for food. I think I made it in and out of there in less than 15 minutes, which must be a record for me. As I got back, I found tons of food already there! A woman from our church is active in the local education foundations and there was extra food from a Saturday meeting--small sandwiches, a veggie platter (to which I simply added a dip), hummus and pita wedges, and delicious meatballs in tomato sauce, which we heated and served with toothpicks. She anxiously asked if I could return the TJs stuff. Sure! I ended up keeping it, though, as I put out some of it and the rest will keep at home, as most of the items are things we eat anyway.

I was meant to go to a spinning afternoon that day, but since I'd failed to get childcare (W's mom couldn't take him) and was exhausted from the morning, we stayed home and played a little bit more Wii and I knat and rested in my room. Finally, after the starting time for the dinner, we got out of the house with the rolls and joined our churchmembers. I was really glad I'd gone, mostly because it was also a time to say goodbye to our previous accompanist, who had pretty much taken me under her wing with regard to playing flute in our church. She is a sweetheart and will definitely be missed.

We left right after dessert, came home, and practically fell into bed. I found out later that the hockey game was very short-staffed, which is too bad; I was sorry to have missed it anyway, and that made me a bit sadder. But at least I have childcare set up for next game and, I think, the game after that already. Go, Melancholy Spleen!

Update on us

Let's see. I lost my Friday-night-ace-in-the-hole childcare opportunity when the local gym shortened their Parents Night Out from 6-11 to 6-10:30. Having depended on this, I was left high & dry with a Friday night game that I just had to bow out of. (Dang it.) The other Friday night games, I'll arrange a sleepover at a friend's house or a late-night babysitter.

I did get to last Tuesday's game, though, and it was a great game. I realized that I finally feel like I am doing things in the games; when I first started in Red, I would go out for a shift on the ice and come back thinking that not only did I never touch the puck, I didn't really do anything. Yay! Now to take more shots. And do even better on getting on and off the ice at a good moment and quickly. And pay attention (dammit!) for penalty periods (I really screwed up on one of those).

But things are really going well. I'm still walking G to school just about every single morning, and walking to pick him up most days, too. I am loving that time together, no distractions, just the two of us. He is getting his homework all done, most days, at Y-Kids, so I have nothing to worry about in the evenings except getting him fed and getting him to bed, and usually something fun in between. Tonight, we're having made-at-home pizza with TJ's pizza dough and sauce. We'll do the same as last time: pineapple, cut-up meatballs, and red bell pepper. (Hey, just give it a try.)

Saturday-before-last, our church had its annual Hometown Halloween party. It's a very cool, fun time, with dinner and entertainment. It's our church's biggest fundraiser of the year, and the gal who ran it convinced me to knit things for the auction. I ended up knitting a shawl in a soft nylon tape yarn (as opposed to tapeworms, you know you were thinking it, A.T.) in autumn colors, and a scarf in a rainbow ribbon with silky gold trim. They both were bid on several times, which was certainly good for my ego! G was Harry Potter this year, and I spray-painted his hair black, drew a lightning bolt on his forehead, and made him pipe-cleaner glasses. He found a perfect twig for a wand, wore a white dress shirt and black sweatpants with white socks and black dress shoes, and threw on a cape we'd been given by a friend, with silver moons and stars on it. The Haunted House this year was "Haunted Hogwarts Castle," with the youth group playing most of the parts. G asked if he could be the Harry Potter for it, and the youth group leader kindly agreed. He was given lines that he practiced... but when the time came, he was speaking so softly that I was the only one who knew he was even talking! He did look cute, though, and all the kids got to make a "love potion" that they then drank (water with a little of that water-bottle-flavorer powder in it), and then their parents said how much they loved them suddenly! (folks were very good to pass on to the parents that they should be effusive afterwards) It really was lots of fun.

I had talked to parents of his friends before the event, encouraging them to come, and although most said, yes, definitely, they'd be interested, none actually came in the end. One friend was interested, but his mom had a dinner date that night. Initially, he was going to go with his mother, but then he changed his mind: I invited him to go with us sans his mom, and he agreed. G's other good friend is Chinese, and there are sometimes language barriers: I had thought they would come, but on Friday, she said, nope, they weren't. I offered to take just W with us, and she happily agreed.

So there I was, walking to our church with rubber skeleton mask on (a Pirate of the Carribbean), Spiderman, Army Guy, and Harry Potter in tow. It was actually pretty fun!

The kids got tired about 8:30 or 9 and we made a quick exit. I didn't find out later that I'd won a tea basket I'd bid on, and it turned out to be great. That reminds me; I still need to try the blackberry/honey mixture that came with it.

G slept in my bed that night and when he woke up, he looked like a chimney sweep: the temporary hair color came off all over his face, neck, hands, pillowcase, and sheets. Good thing I was planning to change them that day anyway. When he again became HP on Halloween, I insisted he go right into the bath and wash that night. Thankfully, I saw that the stuff washes out very well with regular shampoo. I should have taken a picture of the tub, though. Yoiks.

We continue to enjoy our Wii system, with Wii Sports and now with a loaned copy of the SpongeBob game (which is bizarre but at least doable, although I have to pitch in periodically for G on some moves--and other moves, he is better than me at). We've also borrowed some games from our video store, which is great for trying them out before I buy one for Christmas. Sonic? Way too hard. Neither of us could get past the 4th screen. We'll see how Mario Party 8 is. The ad on Nintendo's site is a scream.

I still miss my Maddy girl every single day. It is so odd to get up and have the house still be silent. She got up slower as the days went on, but she always stirred when I woke up. Damn.

Let's see, house, dog, kid, work... Oh! Holidays. We'll be going up to my mom's for Thanksgiving this year. She offered to fly us up. Usually, she drives out to Portland (2.5 hrs one way) to pick us up, and then we are restricted to one car the entire time. This time, I Pricelined a rental car for the entire weekend. Then I thought, "What if she was really looking forward to coming out to pick us up?" and she emailed, saying she was so glad she didn't have to drive out to get us, as it was such a tiring drive and she'd done it twice in the past couple of weeks. Score! Then we can also get around on our own as we need to, like to visit the kitschy funny store I loved as a kid that G also loves, and Mom would rather have a root canal than visit. I'm really looking forward to the visit, and then (sigh) I can bury Maddy's ashes near where Max's are buried.

For Christmas, we'll be staying home this year. I had planned to stay home, then G wanted to visit his cousins in OR, but it turns out they'll be in Mexico with their dad anyway. So we'll have Christmas at home and I'll be able to go to Christmas-eve services at our church for only the second time ever. We'll do day trips to do fun things, like visit SF or go skiing or maybe Monterey. Now I have to put together a list of all those things we haven't done because it's too far, etc. I think it'll be great fun!

They don't call me Renaissance Woman for nothing

Went home at lunchtime, plunged and snaked our toilet, and plunged it again. Good for getting out frustrations; not so good for clearing clogs. Made an appointment with the plumber for Monday (God forbid one could actually be available for a short job on the same day).

Then instead of knitting, I set up the ironing board and ironed fabric for napkins and a dress I'll be making.

Maybe tonight I'll learn welding.

It's dark outside.

I do hate Daylight Savings Time. Working when it's so dark outside always makes me think I'm working really late. Bleah.

Like mother, like son

G's teacher made a comment when she saw me knitting while walking. "This kid couldn't do that!" Thought she was talking about G, who can most certainly multitask; nope, she was talking about herself.

I love getting some knitting done while walking to/from school. Finished my sister's Christmas scarf already!

So, to add to the multitasking walk, my son has decided to take some pages from his puzzle book (best $10 I ever spent at Costco; pages are already perfed!) on a clipboard and doing those while we walk. (chuckle) Hey, he likes it and it does lead to discussions. He was supposed to write down the names of 5 different, pictured chairs and under the stuffed chair, he wrote 'couch.' Well, it's not a couch nor a loveseat, but what is that kind of chair called? I said an easy chair. It's as if I wasn't raised speaking English.

Anyway, it was fun and it does make me chuckle.