"Rocker Mom"

I got an iPod Shuffle for Christmas - How much fun is that?!?! Even though they officially gave it to me, My Wonderful Sons are somewhat dubious about this. I'm getting some serious sideways scrutiny as I go through their music on iTunes and put some of it on my new little bit of technology.  Emphasis on "some". Most of their music I don't care for, but yes, some of it is cool enough for me.  I did hear one of them mutter, "We've got a rocker mom."  heh heh heh  I love to ruin their staid image of me from time to time...not in a bad way, of course.  Oh, and now I can believe that they really DIDN'T hear me when I was talking or calling them while they had their earbuds in. Yes, it's a nice isolated feeling that I must not let myself like too much.

(Don't I look FIERCE in that photo above??  hahahaha  It's not me....you knew that!)

Last Sweets in the House

These are NOT extremely flat biscuits, as you might be thinking. They are glorious sugar cookies that I cut with a biscuit cutter which has wonderful flute-y edges. (I have the best recipe in the entire world. Let me know if you want it.) They made nice-looking Christmas balls, I think. There's hardly anything more calming and therapeutic than rolling and cutting Christmas sugar cookies....even if it is after Christmas.

And icing them, well, I do love that. The big icing bag was not necessary this year; I used  a ziplock bag with a tiny hole in one bottom corner. Yeah - I hate cleaning out the icing bag! I stayed in my pajamas and did these on New Year's Eve day. What extravagant luxury! 

Now, how can I behave properly in January with these in the house??? But they are too precious to just dump!  If any of you lived within walking distance, I'd leave them on your doorstep, in a lovely tin. True friends share their calories! (Especially in January!)

Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them...

1 Corinthians 6:13a

Smashing the Old Year

This is our second year making a gingerbread house.  Last year it was an end-of-the-year homeschool project, complete with homemade gingerbread dough, templates, warped walls and singed shingles.  I found this "from scratch" deal to be highly stressful, even though it did pull lots of subject areas for a practical, educational project.  We marked it with the year 2007, and it hung around the house for a couple of weeks, gathering dust.  I won't tell you what else it gathered, OK? By the time the New Year's Eve came around, I was trying to think of a non-offensive way to get rid of the thing. We came up with the idea of SMASHING it at the New Year's Eve party!  Sort of smashing the old year, and eating a triumphant bit at the same time. So we took it to our friends' house and announced our intention. I don't need to tell you how the other kids reacted, do I? Allowed to smash something...make a huge mess....with permission? YES!!  So at midnight, after the poppers (are those ever messy) and the sparkling grape juice, we let all the kids smash the 2007 house. They all scrambled for pieces to eat afterward, eating, as children will, right off the floor.  You know they do.

This year, I got smarter and bought a kit from Sam's.  Wow, so much smarter! No, it wasn't an educational project, but then, most of the rest of life is, so it all shakes out in the end. The whole thing was finished in one night, and then went on into glory last night at the party. It's the only thing that all ages of kids actually wanted to participate in! Smashing out the old year! Yeah! It was pretty, though:

Sam's - $9.95 - priceless memories.  Do it!