Typical.

Glarghhhhhhh. It's been two days of hibernation, but today we had to go out. Had a doctor appointment this morning, so there was no choice. We were going out.

Of course it took us like 4 times as long to get out the door. I'd boot, hat, mitten, coat, and scarf one child, then turn to the other. The first took this opportunity to de-scarf, de-hat, de-boot, so I'd have to turn again and start over... you get the idea. Once I finally got everyone ready, we get outside, we buckle in, I go to start the car annnnd... welll. It started, but once I pulled my foot off the clutch it stalled out. Multiple times. Apparently cars don't appreciate temperatures of -40 any more than I do.

Finally made it to doctor, appointment done, but then it was time to go and we had to do the whole hat/coat/boot/mitten routine all over again. GAHHHHHHH.

Since we were out, we also decided to meet some friends at the mall for lunch. Of course, once I got there I found that I had left my wallet at home and had no money with which to buy lunch. Luckily a friend spotted me $20, which was good because at this point it was nearly 12:00 and I had eaten exactly nothing yet all day long. Lunch acquired, tray carried one-handed allll the way across a crowded food court, baby on opposite hip. I made it all the way to our table before I spilled the entire contents of my large iced tea onto my tray, table, seat, self, and floor.

Sigh.

But all in all, a nice morning. It was great to get out of my prison home sweet home and see some actual grown-up people and have at least half-conversations between running to stop 1-yr-olds from throwing themselves from the tops of playground structures and 3-yr-olds from running away to go look at whatever it is that grabs the interest of 3-yr-olds. Which is anything and everything.

I even got smoothies from Orange Julius for the girls on our way out of the mall. And don't worry. When Violet dumped the entire contents of hers out the front of the stroller and onto the floor- I told the mall cleanup guy. He didn't seem to mind. Nor was he surprised.

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Hibernation

It is so cold out.

See? Not making it up. That's really freaking cold. And in case you're trying to do the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion? Don't bother. Because -40 is minus 40 is -40. That's where the scales intersect. It's cold.

So today we stayed in. We baked.

And before you start thinking my blog is turning into one of those shiny ones... Here's the part I hadn't yet taken out of the oven.

Yeah... That cranberry bread is a little... mauled. It really did not look done yet. But apparently it was more than done on the bottom, because I had to yank it out of the pan and it did not turn out well.

Anyways. It still tastes fantastic. Lemon Cranberry Bread with a lemon glaze.... so good. It's cake, posing as bread. But yeah, I'm hoping next time I don't let it get so overdone. 

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In which I am the permissive one.

Today we all napped. And it was glorious. And when we all woke up at 5pm and I really just wanted to finish my book, I let them sit on the kitchen counter and eat cookies and milk (a mere hour before dinner) and shhhh don't tell Nate.


Not very wordy today. Working on getting my 365project going. Setting up a new blog for it. Running into your regular issues- I don't remember who hosts my website, I can't remember any of my passwords, I get error messages of which I understand nothing beyond the "you have an error" bit of it... But I shall persevere! I will add a photo-a-day blog to my every growing list of things to try and keep up with!

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Painty.

Today we tried some new tactics. Namely, a sticker chart for good behavior. How did it go? Well, like pretty much anything else goes with a 3-yr-old. It was CRAZY EXCITING for like a half hour, she was "using good listening" and "being kind to sister" and she even let me "brush hair with no whining" and then it just ceased to motivate her. Apparently we do not have stickers cool enough to warrant "stay[ing] in room during quiet time".

But, we painted this morning. And that was fun.

Not entirely sold on the finger paint just yet.

She realized she looked like the "Wicked Witch of the 'Est" and began cackling.

"Eh, heh heh heh"

Blah, blah, paint on walls/floor/pants/hair/my shirt/the carpet/edge of tub followed by a pre-lunch bath. You know the tune.

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2012.

A new year. A new start.

Or, maybe just more of the same. I kind of half-decided I want to attempt a 365project this year, in order to continuously push myself to become a better photographer. But it's already the 7th and I sort of haven't shot anything yet. Hardly an auspicious beginning.

Also, I have yet to decide on any concrete resolutions. Again, it doesn't bode well for my stick-to-it-ive-ness if it takes me more than a week to even MAKE my resolutions. I guess if I can manage to flounder through another year and keep myself and my children alive, I'll take it as a win?

Today I made my bed. That's good. And cleaned off my desk. A MAJOR accomplishment. Maybe by the time the weekend is out I'll manage grocery shopping? I did a pretty good job clearing out all the food in the house before our trip, which means our meals since we got back two days ago have been... odd, to say the least. Today for lunch we had hot dogs wrapped in tortillas. With peas on the side. I have a feeling we will have to have something delivered for dinner. Again.

Here's to making it through another day!

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