Christmas Weekend

Our Christmas weekend was quite nice--we had a few activities planned, got some extra rest, and just enjoyed spending quality time together which we don't always get while busy with work and school. Saskia has been with her mom all week, so it was just Anna, Edwin and I.

Saturday was a typical Saturday until the afternoon, when we decided to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Art for a couple hours. Edwin had comp tickets to see one of the special exhibits, and we hadn't been there for a long time so we decided that would be a good time to go. Anna didn't last very long in the stroller before she wanted to get out and move around on her own. We also let her play in the children's area to burn off some energy. I hope she feels at home at the museum ... I'd taken her there while I was still on maternity leave and she was little enough to be carried in the Baby Bjorn. Sweet memory! That night we went to dinner at Guangs, a Vietnamese restaurant. It was delicious, though Anna didn't care for the rice noodles brought out for her. I guess she is picky about her noodles!

Sunday we strolled around Galleria a little bit and ended up picking out a light fixture for the bathroom at Pottery Barn. Afterward we had lunch at Panera, then took Anna swimming at the YMCA. She was scared at first--the pool we were in was a four foot pool, instead of a kiddie pool. But after a while she was having a great time and would let Edwin lift her up in the air and come splashing down into the pool.

Christmas Eve Edwin made crab cakes for dinner and we watched one of the movies we'd rented--Memoirs of a Geisha and United 93 (see both! the special features on both are definitely worthwhile as well).

I was still debating Anna's gifts to almost the last minute. I ended up taking a couple out for her to receive another time. Christmas day was gorgeous and I insisted we take a walk around Lake Harriet, so we did. That night we went to a dinner party at Laura's house, and Anna had fun and played with a new admirer, Spencer, who's almost three. Spencer loved giving Anna little hugs and kisses, so much so that even Spencer's dad would say to him "Where's your little girlfriend?" when Anna wasn't around.

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Anna wasn't very interested in opening her gifts, but did like them once they were out of the boxes. She loves her Little People house, and the portable radio that plays nursery rhymes. She also got some duckies that light up, a new baby, and a big puzzle of the world which may have to wait until she's a little older. I had gotten her a push toy just before the holiday, and she may still have gifts to open from some of her cousins.

I was thrilled to get new diamond stud earrings from Edwin. I had a pair that I bought years ago as a special gift to myself, after I'd passed the PR bar. They were small and relatively cheap as I'd bought them when I still worked at Kohls. I was wearing them one day when Edwin commented that I should get some that were bigger, but I didn't think much of it. It's pretty easy to think that until you see the price tag! So that's what he got for me and I love them! He went back to the jeweler where he got my engagement ring (and we got our other wedding jewelry there). What a lovely surprise!

I'm almost there!

I have a few more cards to write, but otherwise I think I'm ready for Christmas. In the end I decided not to bake any cookies at all ... there are tons of goodies at work, and a very generous coworker shared with me her bounty from the cookie exchange. Plus, I do still have baby weight to lose, why add more cookies?

My brother Charlie is newly engaged to his fiancee, Sharon. I met her at Thanksgiving and she seems pretty nice and easy to talk to. Good for them! It brings back good memories of that newly-engaged time, before the serious wedding planning begins. That was one of the happiest times of my life.

It snowed yesterday, but we didn't get too much. My commute home from work wasn't that different than most other days. Now everything outside is so pretty, every tiny branch covered with snow. Edwin is home with Anna today and I'm sure he'll play with her in the snow. I set out her snow boots and snow suit, bought long ago. I'm a little jealous that I'll miss it.

I've received all my eBay purchases except for one, a fancy beaded evening purse which I could swear is coming from Asia. I'm trying to be reasonable, knowing that it may take a couple weeks for it to arrive but I'm starting to move into that vague, gray area of wondering if it's ever going to come and have I just been screwed over? I'm giving it until the end of the month.

Saskia and I did a little shopping Monday night, because she hadn't gotten anything for Edwin yet. We went to both Bibelot and Cooks of Crocus Hill and found a few little things I'm sure he'll like. At first she just wanted to buy him coffee, like she did for his birthday, but I said no, she could do better than that. I said she had to try harder--coffee is a gift when you can't find anything else. Sas realized last night she had gotten nothing for Anna, then wondered if she could take back some stuffed animals she had already given her, to wrap as a Christmas gift. I said no. I thought maybe Edwin would have taken care of that, oh well. When she comes back after Christmas she and I can talk about it some more. Still learning.

The bathroom remodel continues, and we've been showering at the Y. I peek in at the bathroom every day to look for progress, and I can usually tell that something has been done. I don't think the tiling is too far away.

Last night I finished watching the PBS shows I'd taped about the influenza outbreak of 1918. Years ago I'd missed this American Experience show and have been waiting for it to be shown again. It is very good, and very shocking how many people died. More people died in this outbreak than did in all the 20th Century wars. Most of the victims were young adults and children. They'd be healthy one minute, and die quickly an excruciating death. The writer Katherine Anne Porter came down with influenza and the show said that her fevers were so high that her hair turned white and fell out. She survived. After this show, there was another related show called Secrets of the Dead which was also incredibly interesting. They said that at the time, microscopes were not strong enough to see viruses, so the groups of scientists driving themselves to respond to the outbreak had no chance to do any good because they couldn't pinpoint the cause. The investigators on this show shared their theories of where the virus originated (France, in 1916), how it originated (large group of soldiers, pigs, and birds in close proximity), and that since most victims were young (strong) people, the older generations must have had some immunity due to a prior strain of the virus. Anyway, fascinating show.

That is all.

From Writers' Almanac Today

In the northern hemisphere, today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history. Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. Many of the most ancient stone structures made by human beings were designed to pinpoint the precise date of the solstice. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.

Ancient peoples believed that because daylight was waning, it might go away forever, so they lit huge bonfires to tempt the sun to come back. The tradition of decorating our houses and our trees with lights at this time of year is passed down from those ancient bonfires.

Progress Feels Good!

A couple days ago Brad C. started to work on remodeling our bathroom. Yay! As of now, the bathroom is completely gutted except for the shower, tub and radiator. We've been able to continue using the shower through the weekend, which has been nice but it'll be gone tomorrow. We knew this time was coming, and we're just anxious to get it over. Brad has help for this project, so he expects it'll go faster than first thought. We may only be without a shower/tub for a few days, rather than over a week which is excellent news. We belong to the Y and there's one across the road from work so we know we'll be able to get by.

I'm just about ready for Christmas, we finally got our Christmas card order so we started on those yesterday. I'm excited to watch Anna open her gifts, I've picked out a few toys I know she will love, including a new baby which is just her size. I need to take another look at what I've purchased for Edwin to see if I need to add to it all or leave as is. I feel far more motivation this weekend than I've felt in a long time.

There are a couple days coming up quickly that we won't have childcare for Anna but Edwin has already offered to stay home with her those days, which is a great relief. I've been juggling my work time a lot just recently with all the days that I've needed to stay home with her, so I'm happy not to have to worry about it this time around. It'll be much, much easier when I get my new vacation time at the beginning of 2007 ... only two weeks away!

Due to the bathroom remodel, there's a dumpster (tub-sized) on our front boulevard. We've also been throwing out some of the furniture left from the last owners of the house. It feels so good to clean up the basement a little bit more. Some guy already stopped by this morning to check out the contents, I don't know what he was hoping to find but I don't think he ended up pulling anything out. I watched!

We had the Children's Party at work yesterday, so more Christmas cookies, ice cream and treats for us. There was a band, arts and crafts, a magician, and face painting. Anna even sat still long enough to get a Christmas tree and star painted on her cheek! Both girls were able to get a gift, the cut-off age is ten so next year Saskia will be out of luck. The line to see Santa Claus was ridiculously long, I didn't even consider waiting in it for Anna. There will be plenty of other opportunities for that.

Time Well Spent

On Monday I had my first apheresis (platelet donation) appointment. Overall it went well, though it is not a matter to take lightly. I chose the St. Paul Red Cross location since they have so many time slots to choose from and it is closest to work.

All the things I was told would happen, happened. I got cold during the donation and needed a ridiculous number of blankets on me. I also got the buzzing feeling around my mouth and needed extra calcium. Toward the end, I got pretty uncomfortable so the last 20-25 minutes or so were agonizingly slow.

I was hooked up to the machine for 100 minutes, completely unable to move my arms. I had brought along a couple of the DVDs I'd taken out from the library, and ended up watching Before Sunset while I was there. Note to self, don't choose a movie so dependent on dialogue to watch next time. Toward the end I was able to watch the machine's monitor, which showed the time remaining and had a changing diagram which showed the progress I was making toward my goal. This totally reminded me of the screen they have on the airplanes, showing a map of your flight's progress. Though it changes slowly, you can't help but stare at it to pass the time.

I don't know how long a single donation would have taken, but I was told that since my platelet count was so high they were going to do a triple donation with me, and they did. I guess that means the total amount they took from me could be used for three different units. If we were all going through the hassle they might as well take all that they can, make my time there as worthwhile as possible. I'll have to ask more about it next time, I'm a little vague on some of the specifics.

Afterward I took my time in the recovery area and then headed to work. It's been years since I've driven some of those roads. During my drive I had a couple cars suddenly brake in front of me to make right-hand turns, scared me half to death. No time is a good time to be in a car accident, but certainly not after having made a triple donation of your own platelets!

Now I seem to be coming down with a cold, and Anna has something going on with her as well. So far I just think it's a cold, and that she has more days of it under her belt than I do.

Anyone want my Christmas tree??

I have decided to give away my full-sized Christmas tree, if anyone would like it, send me an email and I'm sure we can work out a way of getting it to you. It's pretty simple--it assembles in two pieces and then into the tree stand. I would say it is six feet tall, not very wide, it was perfect when I lived in my studio apartment.

I expect I'll use my new, three-foot-silver tree for the next couple years. When I decide we're ready to go back to a full-sized tree, I'm determined to get one with lights already attached.

Good Deals Make Me Happy!

In the last couple days I've won some great auctions on eBay. I'm so excited for things to start arriving in the mail!

First I found a couple 12-18 month outfits for Anna. I've gotten many of her clothes on eBay, mostly Gymboree NWT items. I've finally caught on to how a few brands run as far as sizing ... Carter's has worked perfectly, Old Navy runs small, Gymboree runs large for her. Etc. These additional outfits should get her to spring, as she's started to grow out of some of her fall/winter clothes already.

For me I found a Coach wallet! Ever since my wallet was drenched with Method cleaner a couple months ago I've been keeping my eyes open for a new one. Initially even the prices on eBay seemed too high, though I'm sure they're a deal by Coach standards. Anyway, so I bid as high as I felt comfortable and ended up getting a second chance after the winner backed out. Yay! I've checked the price I'm paying against others paid recently and I not only got a great deal by Coach standards, but also compared to other eBay auctions. I'm thrilled!

I'm always trying to get a deal, always trying to see if I can do better with a price, use coupons, etc. I want quality, but not pay quality prices. So I'm very happy right now.

I backed out of my work cookie exchange last week. I would still like to make Christmas cookies, but to bake for 13 other people is just way too much. I suggested that we all exchange a half dozen cookies but that idea was shot down. Whatever.

The days keep zipping along. We haven't started our Christmas cards yet. We had ordered them from Unicef, but found out that they're on backorder! LOL! Edwin called their customer service and was assured they'd arrive before Christmas, to which we had a good laugh. I would be fine with just buying some cards in the store and using these cards next year, so we'll see. It just figures that one more seemingly simple task would throw us for a loop.

I have the television on in the background and School of Rock is coming up next! Yay! I have some tedious work to do after this so that will help.

Monday, Monday

We had a great weekend, so it's hard to go back to work this week.

Friday night I went with Edwin to his work holiday party. Lucy came to babysit both Saskia and Anna this time, and Anna went right to her to play before we left so it was very easy for me to leave. The party was held at the History Center, which I love. The views of the Capitol, the Cathedral, and downtown are pretty impressive at night. It was a nice time, I met several new people from Findlaw and felt I had good conversations with most of them. It just felt good to dress up and get out of the house.

On Saturday we all went to the Sinterklaas party. I'd gone with Edwin and Saskia in the past, but it had been a few years and this was our first time with Anna. She had a blast! Lots of room for her to crawl around and explore, lots of other kids to observe, and lots of cookies for her to eat. We were pretty surprised because by the time it came to sit on Sinterklaas' lap she wasn't scared at all. I will have to post some pictures after we fix them up.

Thank God for Technology! I am so thankful we have a digital camera, and a few programs on our computer to edit the pictures after they've been taken. Practically every picture of Anna and Saskia has horrible red eyes, but we should be able to fix them all. The only trick is finding the time to do it.

Last evening I was able to get out of the house for a couple hours to go to the movie/documentary Shut Up and Sing about what happened to the Dixie Chicks after lead singer Natalie Maines made a comment about President Bush while on tour a couple years ago. I have their current album, which has a song in response to their experience called "Not Ready to Make Nice" and overall the album is excellent. It's unbelievable to me how nasty people got about it all, they even received death threats because they dared criticize President Bush. Of course people have the right to boycott their music and not want to listen to them anymore, but to physically threaten them? Call them traitors? Demand they be tried for treason? Just because NM said she was ashamed he was also from Texas? Yes people, ignore the enormous mess in Iraq and the death counts every day and stomp on your Dixie Chicks CDs, that really supports the troops! The current CD is called "Long Way Home" and I highly recommend it. The movie is good as well, but really only if you're interested in the topic. Shut Up and Sing is only playing at the Lagoon right now, and I've seen posters for it at the Edina theater. If anything, I enjoyed learning how they were inspired to write most of the songs on the album, to witness the collaboration.

After the movie I finished putting plastic on the worst of the windows, just in time for the cold. Brrr! One of the things we'd like Brad to do is help us fix the radiator in our bedroom. Funny, out of all the rooms in the house, the radiator in our bedroom is the smallest. I am anxious to get some help swapping it for a larger one, our room gets way too cold.

Brad thinks he may be able to start work on our bathroom later this week. We have hit a snag in ordering our medicine cabinet--the one I finally broke down and chose (and the most expensive, ouch!) is not available until January. WTF? We hope Brad can start work despite this--I see it as a sign to go with our second choice, Edwin's not so sure. Our first choice is described as "inspired by the Art Moderne movement of the 30s and 40s, this cabinet heralds high style and beauty" and as our house was built in the mid-30s I think that was a sign to Edwin for us to chose that one. Stay tuned!

I just got a few new movies to watch while Edwin is out of town this week--Oceans Eleven, Before Sunrise, The Birds, and About Schmidt. I've seen them all before except for The Birds. If you have never seen About Schmidt, you need to see it. It stars Jack Nicholson, so if you are a fan you have it made right there. It's got incredibly funny parts, and very sad parts as you can imagine his situation as his retired life unfolds. I look forward to seeing it again, it'll also make you think.

Stay warm everybody!