Talk About Tuesday - New Nativity

When I was growing up, my mom had a Nativity that I really liked. All the pieces were made of felt and Styrofoam, so it was light and easy for me to handle (and Mom didn't care if I played with it). When she started getting the Christmas decorations out, she would set the Nativity pieces out on a low table covered in a white sheet...all except for the Baby Jesus. He would always be hidden away somewhere close by.

My mom sang in the church choir, so we usually went to the Midnight Mass because that's when the choir sang. At one point in the service, they would always turn off the lights and everyone in the church would have a lit candle. It was beautiful. Once the service was over, we would head home to get ready for bed. But since it was after midnight (and therefore Christmas Day), it would be my job to go get the Baby Jesus and put him in the manger.

Last year for Christmas, my mom gave me a box of fabric. Being that I don't sew AT ALL I was really confused. She explained that she was going to make me a Nativity just like hers, but she didn't have time to get it done. The fabric was what she was going to use to make it, so I needed to give it back to her. So I did, and then quickly forgot about it.

Last week, my mom shows up at my house with a box. I asked her what it was and she said it was my Christmas gift from last year. I had no idea what she was talking about so when I opened it, I was really surprised to see the Nativity she had made...and it looked exactly like the one I played with when I was growing up.

After she had gone, I found a low table and covered it with a blanket. I put it near the tree and set up all the pieces...except for the Baby Jesus. That'll be Jake & Emma's job come Christmas Eve.

Here's a picture of the complete set. That Baby Jesus is there purely for the picture. He is currently tucked away in a hiding spot, waiting for Jake and Emma to put him to bed on Christmas Eve. There are 3 Wise Men, 1 Shepherd (complete with white lamb tucked under his arm,) Mary, Joseph (and his pipe cleaner staff), and of course the manger and Jesus. The whole things weighs about a pound since it's all felt, Styrofoam, and pantyhose to cover the heads. The straw in the manger is just yarn glued to a piece of cardboard.

And here's a closeup of Baby Jesus!

Visit The Lazy Organizer for more Talk About Tuesday

Um...

I just couldn't think of a clever title. My brain hurts. I've got so much on my plate over the next week and a half that I can't even begin to right a post on anything in particular. So revel in these random happenings of the past weekend and marvel at our upcoming schedule...

• Jacob is old enough this year to participate in this year's Christmas pageant at church. It was this past weekend (dress rehearsal on Friday, performance on Saturday, and performance on Sunday). I was one of the 2 helpers that blindly volunteered to lead the preschool group for the performance. Dave taped parts of the show and there are a lot of cute shots of the kids and my butt while I try to keep the kids from running willy nilly on the stage.
• Our church youth program has a fundraiser every year called Stop, Drop and Shop. It was on Saturday morning. You drop your kids off at the church for 4 hours and they babysit while you go out and shop....or get a massage like my friend did. Whatever.
• We spent 45 minutes of that 4 hour chunk in line at the post office to correct the fact that they had stopped our mail almost 2 weeks before i told them they needed to. Great fun when you are expecting Christmas presents in the mail.
• I went to the grocery.
• Today was lunch with Santa. Well, actually, it was lunch with the parents and then after lunch Santa came and read everybody a story and passed out presents to all the kids. As soon as Jake heard he was going to get a present, he said "Will it be my color-by-numbers??" which is the ONLY THING he has asked for for Christmas. He got a puzzle.

• Barring any snow delays, we have school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
• On Friday, we have rehearsal for our choir cantata.
• On Saturday, we are going out to dinner and going to see Sweeny Todd.
• On Sunday, we have our choir cantata in the early evening immediately followed by cookies and caroling at the church.
• Monday and Tuesday involves packing and we leave on Wednesday for Illinois for Christmas
• We get back to Ohio on Christmas Eve day and then sing at church at 8pm (after a 7 hour car ride).
  

Why didn't I think of that...

Dave and I had a date night this weekend...it's seems like it's been 452 years since that's happened but whatever. Anyway...

We have this place in town called Movie Tavern. And honestly, this is the best idea for Folks with Kids that I've seen in a long time. Basically, you can watch a movie and eat dinner ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Genius, I tell ya. And this is first run theatre, no less!

Dave and I had never been here before so we had no idea what to expect. We thought we had read a review that said you eat IN the theatre, so we were a little confused when the restaurant was actually in the lobby. That's right, instead of annoying arcade games, there was a RESTAURANT in the lobby. We were a little concerned, though, because the movie was at 7:55 and we didn't get there until 7:40. That's obviously not enough time to eat a sit down dinner, so we were hoping to at least get a tub of popcorn somewhere.

But when the usher lady took our tickets, she handed us 2 menus. Things were looking up! As you walk down the hall past all the theatres, there were waiters walking up and down the hallway with you carrying huge trays of food. We weren't sure what to do so we just found our theatre and grabbed a seat.

You sit in these huge leather rolling office chairs, and it's like you are sitting at a bar; you have this long counter top in front of you. In front of every set of chairs, there was a little red button. Before we had a chance to push it (never mind that we had no idea what it was for), a waiter showed up and took our order. And it was a full service menu, full bar, and they had dessert, too. You order your food, and as the movie is playing, you eat it. Heaven. Just heaven.

We found out that the little red button was to call your waiter. So if you needed something in the middle of the movie like a refill or say...DESSERT...you just press the red button and it puts a light off in the kitchen and your waiter comes out to get whatever you need. Seriously...genius.

I really don't know why there are not more of these out there. Right now, they're mainly in Texas, with one in Colorado, one in Kentucky, and one in Ohio. How random is that??

So I ask you...WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT!

Rock on!

I'm running a little low on blog fodder today...time for a MEME!!


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Missy Santa Fe


2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Chocolate Chip Thin Mint (I'm telling ya, I'll have the freshest breath on the block)

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)T-Rud

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Horse

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Ann Columbus (with a name like that, I have to be the walk on character at the coffee shop. How boring!)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Rudthe (to be a Star Wars name, it would have to be pronounced Roodthay...otherwise it just sounds like you've got a lisp)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Green Kahlua and Cream

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Dominic Christ (this is not a misprint, my grandfather's name is actually pronounced "Chris". Teachers always thought I was trying to be clever whenever I had to write my grandfather's name)

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Juniper Breeze Butterfinger (Um, no)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Rose Hedegard


11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Strati Sacramento


12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Fall Tulip

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Orange Shorty


14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Cream of Wheat Weeping Willow (that's actually an excellent hippy name)


15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Scrapbooking Snow Tour


Wanna play along? Leave me a comment and I'll come visit!

One for the record books

Sometimes when I do scrapbooking, I'll make theme albums (as opposed to just the everyday pics of us in the backyard). I've done a couple already and I have plans to do 2 or 3 more. I have started one for Jacob's school years and am going to make one for Emma's school years, too. Also, I really, REALLY need to do my my wedding album. I think 6.5 years is a long enough wait, don't you?

Well, I've got an all day crop coming up at the end of the month so I thought I would get my backside in gear and buy all the stuff I needed to do the albums. When I do a theme album, I came up with one layout that I use on every page. I also use all the same materials on each page so that when all I have to do is put the pictures in. Basically, every page is the same except for the pictures. It sounds boring, but it actually looks kind of nice.

Anyway, I went to the store to buy all the paper I would need for 2 theme albums. I bought multiple sheets of 4 different patterned papers. When it was all said and done, I had 103 pieces of paper in my cart.

And the cashier? Yeah, she rang up every single one...individually. She literally put each piece of my 103 papers through the scanner. I couldn't believe it. And the conversation Emma and I had going was riveting, I tell ya.

Emma: What's that sound?
Me: It's the cash register.
Emma: What she dooying?
Me: Ringing up my paper so I can pay for it.
Emma: What's that sound?
Me: It's the cash register.
Emma: What she dooying?
Me: Ringing up my paper so I can pay for it.

She literally kept asking the same 2 questions the entire time. And I'm not even exaggerating for the sake of a good story. The exact same 2 questions for what seemed like 4 hours straight. O.K., now that was an exaggeration. Really it was 6 hours straight. When the cashier was all done ringing up 103 pieces of paper, it took her 30 minutes to fold the receipt up into a small enough wad to fit in my purse.

So what do I do when I get home? Take a picture of course! The first one of the receipt all by its lonesome on my counter didn't quite have the effect that I wanted, so I forced payed asked the kids to lay down next to it. Now that is one LOOOOOOOONG receipt!

YouTube Fun

Turn It On Again

I'm a big 'ol Phil Collins and Genesis fan. It's something that I kind of "inherited" from my sister since she's an even bigger Phil Fan. We went to together to see Genesis when the came to town 15 years ago for their We Can't Dance Tour. We went together when Phil came through on his First Final Farewell Tour 2 years ago.


So when we heard that Genesis was reuniting for their first tour in 15 years (aptly named The Turn It On Again Tour) AND coming to the States AND coming to our town...well, you probably heard the screams around the world. Immediately followed by tears. Immediately followed by us checking the funds in our respective bank accounts. Because if we had to give blood every day in order to pay for the tickets, well, we better get going...


The concert was this past weekend. And can I just say....SHUT UP! Oh my God, it was so good. It kind of sucked when the lady down the row from us threatened to call security if my sister and I didn't sit down. But you know what? It's a concert! A Genesis concert! The first Genesis concert in 15 YEARS! And we were going to stand if we wanted to! At least until we both thought that if it came down to standing up or getting beer thrown on us, maybe sitting wasn't so bad. We did pop up for a few songs, but I have never seen so many people sitting before! It was nuts.


They played the familiar songs from the 80s mixed in with some ones I wasn't so familiar with (mostly from the early days), and of course there was the drum battle/duet between Phil and Chester Thompson. I'm telling you, I would pay top dollar just to hear the two of them go at it for 2.5 hours. They rock...if you'll pardon the expression.


Anyway, a good time was had by all and I'm glad that we shelled out the money to go see them. There's something about seeing a band on their last tour (poopy patrons and all) that just can't compare with many other things.


On a totally unrelated note, the answer was indeed wigs. Why on God's green earth would someone buy a wig for a dog? Do they really have that much disposable income that they are buying hair pieces for their pooch? Again...SERIOUSLY??

Seriously???

The following article ran this past weekend in my local paper. I like dogs, but this is a little bit whacky, if you ask me. Just to make it fun, you get to GUESS what this lady is making. Leave me your best guess in the comments!

"The must-have accessory for canines -- _______ -- made its debut this summer at the New York International Gift Fair.

Credit Ruth Regina. While visiting a posh boutique, she noticed people paying good money for tiaras, Chanel bags or dressy outfits for dogs.

"I said, 'Why not ______ for dogs?' " she said from her______boutique (for humans) in Bay Harbor Islands, Fla.

Her 50-year career in _______ ranges from stints with the Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan shows to her work with Elvis Presley and the Beatles to her status as a ________ for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Heidi Klum and Kate Moss -- and, perhaps soon, their dogs.

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association says Americans will spend $41 billion on their pets this year, from basic veterinary care to doggie beds.

Last fall, after Regina appeared on Late Show With David Letterman with only a product prototype, her Web site -- ___________ -- received so many hits that it crashed.

________, starting at $29, are made of washable synthetic material but can be made with _______ "to match the owner's," she said."

Coming Soon To a Blog Near You!

Quite a few things coming up here in the next few weeks. Well, o.k. I guess I only really know of 2, but if I had to venture a guess there's a lot more than that. Anyway.

Next Wednesday (September 19th) is the official start of the new challenge over at Tales from the Scales. Beth has named it "Look Great in 2008". How catchy is she? Quite, I think. And I will be continuing my job as regular contributor, every Thursday. Thea Thursdays. It's alliteration at it's finest folks! Dust off those scales, food journals and treadmills and join us, won't you? So, are you in?

And Katrina over at Callapidder Days is starting a new reading challenge on September 23rd! Basically, make a list of books that you would like to read during the challenge (which runs September 23rd to December 21st), write a post about it, and then link up to Callapidder Days on the 23rd. I did my first challenge in the Spring, and I was amazed at how much more I was able to read during that time. It's a lot of fun!

Do you know of any interesting challenges, carnivals, or contests going on? Leave me a comment and I'll check it out. I'm all about the challenge!!

Unbelievable

I'm an old pro at taking Jacob to preschool. I've had 2 years of going through the drop off line and having the teachers take him out of the car. Easy, breezy.

But that first day, 2 years, when they took him out of the car...whoa, boy. I immediately pulled off into the parking lot and bawled my eyes out. I called Dave and he talked me down. I just wasn't prepared for that.

Just like I wasn't prepared for it this morning when they took Emma out of the car for her first full day of preschool. I thought I had this thing down! I was excited to have a few hours to myself! I was looking forward to cleaning! NO, REALLY! And still, I pulled off into the parking lot and bawled my eyes out (again). I called Dave and he talked me down (again).

Could it really be that my little girl is going to school? Could it really be that her book bag is actually a little bigger than she is? Could it really be her walking into that building, without so much as a glance back at the car (just like Jake did 2 years ago)?

Truly, truly unbelievable.

Wordless Wednesday

Come on, Get Happy!

For more pics, visit WW or 5 Minutes for Mom

The Chlorine Fog

Did you miss me horribly over the weekend? I thought you may have so I decided to take a quick second to post tonight despite the fact that I feel like I am going to fall on my face.

Can it really be that we only went out of town for about 36 hours? 36 HOURS??? That's not even two full days. But we are exhausted. Dave hit the nail on the head when he said he was "beach tired". But we weren't at the beach so I am dubbing this feeling "The Chlorine Fog".

We left yesterday around 11:30 am and the drive only lasted less than an hour. We got to the lodge around 12:30 and since we knew that we couldn't check-in until 3:30, we decided to have lunch and then just let the kids loose in the attached water park. After all, that was the whole reason we took the trip.

By 1:30, all I wanted to do was take a nap. The place was so warm and the chlorine just hit you in the face. Add to that me having to carry Emma around because she was less than excited about water being randomly dumped on her head, I was exhausted. What can I say? I'm an excitement lightweight.

Dave was in charge of Jacob who was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He was going down slides that I wouldn't have imagined he would. He was dumping water on people. He was getting water dumped on him. Quite surprising for a boy who has to wear goggles in the bath because he can't stand water in his eyes. Oh, how things change once the soap is taken away.

But being the family we are, even in 36 hours we sustained a number of injuries. There were big scrapes on the legs from trying to get out of the metal-framed sofa bed. There were stubbed toes (all on my foot) from slipping on the water slide. There were scratched backs from going down water slides a gabillion times. But the biggest injury of all? Jacob slipped and fell and hurt...take a wild guess. I'll give you a second. You're right! HIS TOOTH! The child is a magnet for tooth injuries. He really is, and I don't know how much more clearer we can be than "Honey, please don't slam your mouth into things". You'd think with 2 emergency dentist visits under his belt, the kid would learn. He is quite stubborn, that one.

But overall, despite the incredibly unhealthy food, lack of naps, chlorine, and injuries, we really did have fun. It was good to get away even if it was only for 36 hours. There was even talk about making it an end of summer tradition. That's cool. That gives me a year to prepare.

Why Dave will be the one helping with math homework

Dave's favorite TV show is Smallville. And I must admit, it is a guilty little pleasure for me, too. Tom Welling, anyone?

We are just finishing up watching Season 5 on DVD. And since we did not see a single episode of Season 6 (it was on at a bad time), we are not quite ready for Season 7 to begin on September 27th. Here is a only slightly paraphrased transcript from an actual discussion we had at 11:15pm last night.

Me: (very excited) We can have a Smallville marathon!

Dave: (brushing his teeth) Huh?

Me: (getting more excited) We can get my parents to take the kids for the weekend and just hole up and have a Season 6 marathon. That way, we'll be all caught up when Season 7 starts!

Dave: (sound of spitting)

Me: How long would we need? (begin talking to myself) 22 episodes at about an hour each. How long is that?

Dave: (long pause) I'll give you just a minute more to figure out 22 x 1.

Me: (realizing my own stupidity) Oh. Right.

What's left...

I'm not entirely sure how my collection started. I remember my boyfriend at the time was named David (not my husband) and I think he was the one who bought me my first one. Then suddenly, people just started buying them for me. The strangest part is, I don't even like the candy.

At the height of my collection, I had well over 200 Pez Dispensers. Although I had 200 of them, I only had about 110 unique dispensers. That means for 90 of the designs, I had multiple dispensers. Those were the ones I was most proud of. I would look at my display and think how lucky I was to have two Snowman Dispensers, one loose and one in it's original blister pack. I would laugh at people who would ask why it was important I had two of each (that was my ultimate goal) and think, "Well isn't it obvious? I want them...just BECAUSE". How clever I was.

Several months after I had started collecting, my family took a trip to California to celebrate my brother's graduation from grad school. And before we left, I knew that I would be making a little side trip. Never mind the fact that my siblings were making fun of me. Never mind the fact that I was the only one who wanted to go. Never mind the fact that it was a good 45 minutes away from where we were. How could I visit California without visiting my mecca? I knew that come hell or high water, I would be visiting the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia.

I slowly came to realize that while I liked the dispensers, I didn't really know why I was collecting them. It wasn't a collection I had started for myself. It was if someone said "You should collect these" and I just blindly agreed. This realization came very soon after I had stopped dating the David who had started my collection. Coincidence? Probably not.

I eventually took down the display in my bedroom, but I had a hard time actually getting rid of the dispensers. I had spent a lot of money on them (relatively speaking, of course) and I had grown a little attached to them. After they stayed in a box in my basement for well over a year, I finally parted with them. There were some specific designs that I gave away to other collectors. I sold a few on Ebay. I even gave away one of my favorite motorized dispensers at a Christmas party. But the majority of the collection ended up in the dumpster.

There were several that I couldn't part with. My daughter, Emma, has laid claim to what's left and they have become one of her favorite pasttimes. As I sit at the computer, she loves dumping the basket out and asking me the name of each dispenser. While the collection was someone else's idea of what I should be interested in, they really do make me smile.

This is an entry into Scribbit's monthly Write Away Contest. August's theme was Collections.

Wordless Wednesday - Temporary Solution

For more pics, visit WW or 5 Minutes for Mom

Wordless Wednesday

For more pics, visit WW or 5 Minutes for Mom

Wordless Wednesday

For more pics, visit WW or 5 Minutes for Mom

It's the cheesiest!

Jacob : (reading Children's Bible which has questions at end of each story) Mommy, "What will you give Jesus?"



Me: (Just getting out of shower) Huh?



Jacob: (obviously exasperated) "What will you give Jesus??"



Me: Uh, I will give Jesus my heart. What will you give Jesus?



Jacob: I think I'll give him some macaroni & cheese.

Happy Birthday to....ME!

Well, my birthday is tomorrow, (or today if you are reading this on Thursday) and I'm pretty happy about that. Overall, I say it's pretty cool that I was born. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Dave is out of town so I planned myself a big day for tomorrow (or today)...

1. Take kids to the sitters from 10am-1pm. Hopefully there won't be a spelling lesson.
2. Indulge in reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (I'm one of the crazies who is taking longer than 2 hours to read the 700+ pages)
3. Eat breakfast for lunch. (Drool) Seriously, I may go to Waffle House.
4. Hopefully receive my present from Dave in the mail. (I found out where it's coming from since I'm a freak about checking my card statement)
5. Hopefully go see Evening with some friends...but I have to find a sitter first who can drive so I don't have to wake the kids up at 11pm to take the poor girl home. Claire Danes, Toni Colette, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close....yeah, I really need to find a sitter...

I hope everyone has fun celebrating my birthday in their own special way!

The smallest bedroom

Mary at Owlhaven is hosting a carnival today called My Childhood Home. As soon as I read about it, memories I hadn't dug up in years came flooding back. Some of the bad, but (thankfully) most of them are good.

I could write about the whole house...the ledge in the kitchen that I used to climb on the counter to get to so I could help Mom with the dusting...the chain link fence in the front yard that got knocked down by a car...the sandbox in back that the neighbor cat used as a litter box...my brother's art studio in the basement that used to amaze and scare me at the same time...

But what I remember most is the smallest bedroom. Being the youngest of six kids meant an awful lot of room shuffling as the older ones moved out, and the smallest bedroom was mine for a while. But it was the last occupant that makes the smallest bedroom special for me. It was the first (and only) door on the right at the top of the stairs, and it was his.

In a different life, the room belonged to my sister. It was the only room in the house with cable, which she paid for. Subsequently, she charged us to watch the TV in her room. I remember the little rate sheet and coin box that lived next to the TV. I also remember laughing at her infatuation with Tom Selleck in his Magnum, P.I. days and her obsession with the royal wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, both of which were memorialized in that room.

I'm not sure who had it after she moved out, but eventually it fell into my hands. I remember sitting on the floor, listening to tapes of songs I recorded off the radio and being so mad that the DJs voice is all over the opening instrumental of the song. I would play and rewind a song 100 times trying to write down all the lyrics so I could look cool by knowing all the words.

I remember being allowed to have a TV in my room, an old black and white one that you had to use a pair of needle nose pliers to change the channels. I would feel so grownup as I watched episodes of V and then be too scared to go to sleep.

I remember marveling at the little whole in the floor that the cable for my sister's TV used to run out of. I used to wonder where it led to (nowhere) and if I could tunnel into my sister's neighboring room (I couldn't).

Years later, long after I had claimed another bedroom as my own, my grandfather moved into that room. He had lived in Florida for as long as I could remember but could no longer take care of himself. He wasn't with us for long; he needed assistance in almost everything and it just wasn't something Mom and Dad could handle anymore. But it was how the room looked after his short time there that stays with me.

While he lived with us, I didn't go into his room very often. It seemed disrespectful, although I know he wouldn't have minded. It wasn't until after he died that I really went in there to look around. All I remember is pictures: pictures of him and my grandmother when they were growing up in Denmark, pictures of all the grandkids, pictures of my dad and uncle, old pictures of people I didn't know but were obviously important to him. And the photo albums. They were the old fashioned kind with the black paper pages where the photos were held in with white photo corners. The pages were worn and the pictures faded and to me they were beautiful.

Mom and Dad eventually moved out of that house and took all of my grandfather's things with them. As far as I know, they still have all the pictures and photo albums. To me, that's all that's left of my grandfather.

And on the rare occasion I drive past that old house, the first window I look at is that small bedroom, first door on the right at the top of the stairs.