ChrissieRocks!

The Superheroes

Here's video of Christmas day with the girls in their new superhero costumes.
For the un-initiated Leina is Wonder Woman and Kulia is Robin (Batman's sidekick) aka "Baby Robin"

Aren't they cute?

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EjxBCI2lbU

Fantabulous

And so 2007 ends.

We had a fantabulous Christmas this year, thankyouverymuch. I managed to finish all the gifts on time and they came out just as sweet as I hoped. The girls didn't get lost in an avalance of presents. Instead, we had a very modest stack under our tree for which I was thankful. The big hit were the superhero costumes. I must post the pictures for you of Wonder Woman Leina and Baby Robin Kulia. They are to die for.

As I speak (type?), Kevin is pulling down lights and shelving boxes. Good bye Christmas decorations! Goodbye tree! Goodbye moving reindeer, snowmen, snowflakes, trees, signs, and house lights! (Phew.) I don't know if I'm going to make a resolution this year. I never keep them, really. I'll be glad if next year is as good to me as this year was. I really can't ask for much more.

So tonight, it's rootbeer floats and a new calendar to hang on the wall. Horray!

Whipping Along

Kevin took the girls up to the mountain today to play in the snow. They looked so cute in their snow bibs and coats. It's horrible cold and rainy down here. I made Kevin take chains. I hope they make it!

I have been working feverishly here in the quiet of an empty house. It struck me last night as I looked over my to-do list that I had forgotten Leina's teacher. Ack! I immediately thought of a Starbuck's gift card. But as I thrashed around my little desk, I came across an old neglected pattern for a candle coaster. And since I have all this wool felt and ample time, I thought I'd add it to my Christmas craft list. (Can you say fool of a Took?)

It's done. Now I'm seriously behind. It's also beyond cute and I covet it for myself. I'm thinking next year, this may be the present dujour. What do you think?

Of course, I have no cute tea light holder so it looks like I'm braving the rain to hit the Dollar Tree/Target. I have 101 tea light holders somewhere. Why is it when I need one, they have all magically disappeared?!?!

OK, back to the sewing machine. I have one last holiday banner to crank out. Wish me luck.

Take 2

I was tempted to use this photo for our Christmas cards. The caption could read...

Merry Christmas from a tempermental 4 year old and a rascally 2 year old!

Thank goodness for chocolate santas. It put a smile on Leina's face and focused Kulia's energy just enough for me to get a money shot. Watch your mailbox for the final product!

Threes

Friday was Kevin's last day at work until Jan 3rd! Can you believe it? As we speak, he is downstairs fixing me dinner and cleaning the kitchen. Heavenly, I tell you. I foresee much leisure time for me in the next few days. Yes!

On Saturday, I met up with Liza and Traci for breakfast at Mother's and a Powell's run. This was Traci's first time ever at Powell's. And I was there to witness it! I feel so blessed. A good time was had all around but the highlight for me was bumping into the Barefoot Contessa herself. Yes, Ina and her husband were buying cookbooks at Powell's and I did a double take when I saw them walk by. It's very odd when someone who lives on the TV suddenly appears next to you. Very odd indeed.

Driving up to Natalie's for Owen's 1st birthday, I started thinking and realized I like the number 3 for women. Now, shopping with your best friend cannot be beat but when it comes to socializing, I think women do best in three. Any more, and you get groups and odd girls out. But with three, there's enough conversation and laughing to go around. Yes, it was very nice.

On the home front, we are slowly plowing along. We took our Christmas picture today so the cards may be late, but they are coming! Kevin finished hanging the lights on the house and my list of craft presents is moving along very nicely. Of course getting the girls to sit and smile was a real pain. Kulia, rascal that she is, was the most difficult. I'm almost tempted to send this as our Christmas card. That would teach her!

Pictures

Alright, here they are. The big reveal of the kitchen re-do. I beg of you, please bear in mind that this is most definitely a work in progress. Kindly erase the piles of junk and the chaos you will see in your mind's eye. Focus on the bones, as they say.

First, the new floors. I don't find them "red" as Kevin and my dad kept saying. They have a very strong grain to them, however and I do not like how they look next to the existing cabinets. But that will be dealt with. Later.

Next, the bathroom tile. Which I adore. Absolutely. What a difference from the crappy, err, junk linoleum that used to live here. I've already decided Kevin is doing this to every bathroom in the house. Poor man.

And finally, the new cabinets that are half-way installed. I have called a truce on this project as it was far to destructive to deal with right now. We hung a new cabinet next to the sink in the former blank spot where the snack shelves used to live. This will be the size of all the kitchen cabinets -all the way to the ceiling, thankyouverymuch. The others, however, will have a sold panel door. My cupboard shelves tend to be a mite, err, messy.

Then, the new kitchen desk. The cupboards are final but the base is still unfinished. It will, eventually, have a countertop and be the same width as the cabinets above with some lighting. But for now, you get the idea. After putting this in, I realized that this unit is the exact amount of storage I have in my kitchen - four cupboards and two drawer units. So with this addition, I will have doubled my space. Is that amazing or what? I love the beadboard doors up above. Those are actually separate and getting this whole monster to level together was a nightmare and then some. Turns out neither our walls or ceiling are level! Who knew? But I'm pleased as punch with the result.

Now all I need is a countertop and I'm ready to go. Of course, I then have to replace the rest of the existing kitchen but that's minor. Really.

Sigh.

Ok, that's all I've got. You have work to do, Traci, so get to it! And Tutu, you seriously need to get Elmo to overhaul your bathroom. Seriously!

My Bad

Been a bit spotty on the posts lately and I apoligize. I remember all to well that last torturous week of work before Christmas. You were either insanely busy or mind-numbingly bored. If the later, you are probably trolling the Internet looking for something, anything, to whittle away the hours until you are free. I simpathize. I should have been better about posting this week but I have a few very well rehearsed excuses to offer you.

First, I may not have mentioned this yet, but I'm trying to do a hand made Chrismas this year. To clarify, that would be hand made by me. Kevin has spend the last few days wandering around in a daze as no fresh underwear has appeared in his drawer, we've been eating bagged salads which he has to open himself, and he has been left in charge of the children for hours on end. Poor man is a little dazed to say the least. Fortunately, he falls into the bored to tears category at work so his stress level is very low. While mine remains frightenly high. I either have too many friends and family or I didn't quite budget enough time to complete my projects. Sigh. Spilled milk really.

Second, we are all suffering from a mild stomach bug. No vomiting, thank goodnes. Instead we are all listing about muttering that we have a stomach ache are running to the pot every hour or so. Thank goodness Kulia is still in diapers because we only have 3 toilets and sometimes that are all full. Of course, when I'm changing her horrid diaper I'm not quite as thankful. There have been times during the last few days when poor Leina has had to run from room to room looking for a free toilet. But perhaps this topic is a bit indelicate. Needless to say, we are suffering.

But do not worry, the spirit of Christmas is alive and well. Our tree is up. The Christmas music has been located and is in constant play. My children are watching the required Christmas movies. In fact, last night Leina decided she wanted to go caroling. She would not take no for an answer. Kulia dug out some bells from the music instrument box, Kevin bundled them up, and out they went. They hit all the neighbors and sang them a very special McLaughlin version of Jingle Bells. After serenading the cul-du-sac, Leina wanted to head out and accost, er, I mean, entertain total strangers. It took the promise of hot cocoa and a christmas video to get them to head home. Kevin said it was the most fun he has had in a long time.

The clock is ticking and my stomach is churning so I must dash. I think the downstairs toilet just opened up. It has the best reading material you know. Ok, enough, get back to work. But maybe pictures tomorrow? If there is a demand for them, perhaps? Hum?

I Believe, I Belive

I have one more gift to craft and then it's off to the post office. Yippee! This means if you live outside the Portland/Vancouver area, you are getting a Xmas present this year. For those of you who live closer to me. Well. Yeah. Still working on those. But hitting the post office on the 9th of Dec? Definitely a world record.

Had lunch with Liza and she managed to rekindle my Christmas spirit a bit. She bit her tongue and didn't even mention all the Halloween decorations although she did seem a bit horrified that we didn't have a tree yet. To keep that tiny ember burning, I informed Kevin that he needed to be in bed with a bowl of popcorn at 10pm because we were going to watch a Christmas movie. Did you know that before Kevin started hanging out with me he had never seen Miracle on 34th Street? Or White Christmas? I know! Good thing he found me, eh?

I will try and take some good shots of the floors and cabinets. It's pretty grey and miserable today so I cannot guarantee how the pictures will turn out but I will try.

This weekend is crazy Christmas busy. Chop down a tree, decorate the house, hang lights, round up the reindeer herd for the front lawm, visit Santa, birthday party for Jerry, Hanukkah dinner with Liza. Yup. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Now, if I could just figure out which storage box holds all the Christmas CD's I'd be set.

Drying Off

OK, the rains have stopped and I'm no longer frantically treading water. I seemed to have dragged my bedraggled self to the shore and am now lying on the shoreline in the surf gasping for breath.

The Halloween decorations are packed away. (Except for the stuff on our porch. It is too wet/cold to go out there. Gasp. Gasp.)

All the suitcases are unpacked. (Except for the smallest one. Full of Kulia's clothes that need to be hung, folded, and tucked away. Gasp. Gasp.)

The new kitchen cabinets/desk are installed. At least temporarily. Now I have to fill them up and rearrange everything to my liking. (You guessed it, more gasping.)

The fridge is stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. When questioned, Kevin admitted that he only fruit and/or veggie he bought while I was gone was a bag of pre-made salad. And some tomatoes. So for the last few days my girls have been begging me for an apple or banana or grapes or carrots and I've shoved crackers and cookies into their hands and told them to go away. - mommy is busy trying to tread water. The result, of course, is that now when I offer them an apple or banana the insist that all they want are Cheetos. Or cookies. (Gasp. Gasp.)

And the Christmas presents? Well, those are actually moving right along. If I can convince my girls to entertain themselves for four more days I should be able to get everything into the mail and sent. Yippee!

Except for our Christmas cards. I totally forgot about our Christmas cards. Drat. Maybe I have a few more yards to haul myself before I'm truly on the beach and out of the water.

Gasp.

Gasp.

Under Water

We are back home but I'm barely afloat. No, I'm not referring to the torrential rains that are lashing out little house right now. I actually heard earlier that the only way to travel from Portland to Seattle was via plane because every major freeway was shut down due to flooding or car crashes. How crazy is that? The rain is hard and angry right now. Sometimes I think there is someone on our roof actively chucking buckets of water over our gutters. Every now and then it changes over to snow but so far we have stayed a little too warm for the white stuff. Just lots and lots of rain.

I am, however, underwater and overwhelmed when it comes to my home right now. I still haven't unpacked all of our suitcases or started on the laundry. My Christmas craft table isn't even visible right now and Kevin has had to prop it up with additional pieces of lumber due to it's enormous weight load. We still have our Halloween decorations up people!

Why the sad state of my house? Well, Kevin decided to surprise me on Friday. When I got home, not only did I have a new floor, I also had a new kitchen! Or at least new cabinets. In boxes. All over the house. Yes, Kevin visited IKEA and brought home Phase 1 of the great kitchen re-do. For the last three days we have been constructing, hanging, leveling, re-hanging, returning and exchanging cabinets. On Sunday, I actually spent over 4 hours driving back and forth and back and forth to IKEA due to various returns and snafus. As much as I love the new look, trying to do this right in the middle of the Christmas rush is pretty tough.

All is not lost, however. Tonight we broke out the footie pj's for Kulia. Is there anything cuter than a little girl running around in pink footie pj's? I think not.

Tonight I pass the mantle of cabinet installation to Kevin. I will be braving the rain for a grocery run as we have absolutely no food in the fridge. I have no idea what Kevin has been eating the last week but there isn't a fresh fruit or veggie to be found in this house.

No time for pictures. Maybe once the rain stops pounding. Right now, it's nose to the grindstone time people! Christmas is peeking around the corner and will be there before you know it.