Almost made it a year...

Well, I almost made it a full year of writing "Three Simple Things" each day. But I found that I was not enjoying the pressure of having to come up with three things every day.

I'll still post stuff occasionally on my original blog, bfmomma's spot, but it won't be daily. :)

2/26/09

1. Was able to stay home today (was supposed to go in to shadow) since I felt really awful. I actually still feel pretty yucky, but am hoping I can sleep it off.

2. Mom came over for coffee, talk, and help folding laundry.

3. C. is very excited about a weekend away with one of the friends she made at Student Council camp--we set up the details today.

2/25/09

1. Everyone got up and ready and out the door--even without me to direct them! (lol)

2. Made it through my first day of long-term subbing, which was actually just shadowing the teacher I'll be replacing.

3. Got a $165 gift certificate from Tupperware for all the Rock N Serves that I returned and stopped using when I realized the dangers of microwaving in plastic. Now what to spend it on?

4. Flowers from my mom, in honor of my first day of work.

2/24/09

1. Productive morning of running errands on my one "day off" for the week.

2. (Relatively) clean house--and supper made (seems so long since I've been the least bit domestic).

3. Knitting Club at the new place. Although it's a bit more crowded, and kinda noisy, the food is better, the atmosphere is cooler, and it's next door to a yarn shop, so I'm pretty happy with it!

2/23/09

1. Had my physical/drug test/TB test this morning. It's so odd to have to do all these things, but I guess it's been 16 years since my last job application! It makes everything more "real".

2. Met with my Graduate Advisor so she could sign a financial aid form, and so we could talk about what project I might want to work on. She just wrote a grant for a new study that sounds really cool! If she gets the funding (she'll find out in June), I should be able to be in on the project almost from the beginning.

3. Three good tutoring sessions tonight.

2/22/09

1. G. woke up not fully recovered, but MUCH better.

2. I did some spring cleaning early--disinfecting the entire upstairs!

3. Went to a going-away party for one of my neighbors. Her going away is not a happy thing, but the nice party with so many of her local friends WAS a happy thing.

2/21/09

1. C. made it home safely when the bus to their Forensics meet had to turn around due to poor visibility (we got probably 10 inches of snow).

2. T's team won the indoor championship game! (T's the one with the blurry arm)
3. Although G's been VERY sick all day, at the time I'm writing this, he is (at least) not any worse. Hopefully he'll improve overnight.

2/20/09

1. I (finally) got a good night's sleep last night and feel caught-up on sleep!

2. Got some great news from the district I'm going to sub for--they will pay me for prep time, so my pay rate will be half again as high as if I were just a "regular" sub.

3. M's first Girl Scout Sock Hop! The whole family went to Culver's for "burgers and malts" before the sock hop and then G. and I (and C.) chaperoned the dance.

2/19/09

1. My "interview" at Nicolet went well and I will be subbing there sometime in March!

2. Better yet, I will get to shadow the teacher two days next week, so I'll see how he teaches, will get to meet the students, etc. It sounds like just a wonderful situation all around.

3. Block book club--discussing Twilight. Always a nice time.

2/18/09

1. First K5 coffee; though the word didn't get out to as many people as I'd hoped, we had a nice group and I think we'll continue doing it! :)

2. Lazy afternoon--I exercised, knit, and watched TV.

3. The "major snowstorm" that was predicted never materialized, which was VERY nice. :)

2/17/09

1. Finally got my (ruined) rain boots and (dangerous) Tupperware mailed to the return departments. Now I hope both companies do the right thing and refund my money...

2. Ran to Target to pick up a few things and...SURPRISE! Valentine's was 75% off! That was fun.

3. Came home to a phonecall from the principal of a local high school interested in hiring me for a long-term sub position to start in March. The best part was that he spoke to the principal of the HS where I used to teach, and he said he heard nothing but positives about me. :)

4. Final Knitting Club at Schwartz's... I know it'll be fun at the new location, but it won't be the same.

2/16/09

1. Started the day by going, with M. and C., to decorate M's poodle skirt for Friday's Girl Scout Sock Hop.

2. Went out for Indian buffet with Mom and the kids. Yummy, though I'm still too full to move.

3. First trip of the year to the zoo. We added Mom to our membership, too, with a "nanny pass". I think I'll refer to her as the nanny from now on ;)
The spider monkeys and the baby gibbon were HYSTERICAL! The spider monkeys are always funny, but the baby gibbon was driving his father nuts, I think. He kept hanging on him and swinging on him, and then when his father was kind of ignoring him, he stuck his foot in Dad's mouth! Very amusing.

4. Played catch-up after the long weekend by tutoring three times.

2/15/09

1. I think I picked up a bug and was very achy and cold all day. But it was nice to mostly take it easy.

2. Finished clearing out the attic and moving some outgrown and to-grow-into clothing around. I need to take a trip to Goodwill, too.

3. Both of tonight's tutorings rescheduled for tomorrow. This was nice both because I'm not feeling 100%, and also because then I didn't have a clash with T's soccer game OR with Big Love. :)

4. T's soccer game--they won again! Still the best record of the indoor at this level.

5. Big Love--continually just "wow"!

2/14/09

1. Nice Valentine's Day! M. made me a beautiful necklace in Art class. G., as always, wrote me something (a limerick this time). We found the kids valentines that read, "Choo-choo-choose me", which was pretty exciting.

2. Sweet stay-at-home Valentine's dinner with G. while Mom watched the younger kids. We had steak, shrimp, baked potatoes and green bean amondine--yum!

3. Rock Band/Guitar Hero/American Idol Karoke on the wii after supper--fun!

2/13/09

1. Long weekend, so the kids and I all got to sleep in (and since C. and T. had sleepovers, that was a very good thing!)

2. Trip to the "big" mall with the girls. M. was very cute, carefully spending her money on a Webkinz and two shirts at Justice.

3. Ran into a teacher at the mall, who told me what a great job T. had done on his Science Fair project. This was the third person who specifically described to me what T. had shared and how obvious it was that he enjoyed the project and how much he learned/knew. It makes me realize how far he's come--just a few years ago, he could NOT have spoken so eloquently about his project. :)

2/12/09

1. Coffee out with the fifth grade moms--such a nice bunch and fun, as always.

2. Temps still above freezing.

3. Sleepover parties; T. is at one and C. is having one here.

2/11/09

1. M. woke up, on her own, at 6:13 this morning. Though it was jarring to be woken up by a 6 YO staring me in the face, the rest of the morning went much more smoothly without having to rush her.

2. Great grocery shopping trip--spent $68; saved $42

3. T. participated in the Learning Fair (Science and Social Studies projects) and we were able to see his project, along with projects of his classmates, tonight.

2/10/09

1. Another beautiful spring-like day; temps were at (or near) 60 degrees.

2. I finally bucked down and cleaned my house! It was especially nice because it was warm enough to open the windows and air everything out.

3. M's P-T conference went well, too.

4. Knitting club, as always, was nice.

2/9/09

1. Impromptu coffee out with two great friends.

2. Nice Parent-Teacher conference with T's teacher.

3. Having Mom next door to watch kids and make supper when we have busy evenings.

2/8/09

1. M. had a birthday party half an hour away and I got to drive her and three friends out there and back. It was such fun listening to 6YO talk!

2. T. participated in the "Music for Munchkins" concert at the High School. He was an alien.

3. Another beautiful day--not quite as fabulous as yesterday, but lots more melting occurred and Mom and I were able to sit out on her porch for awhile without coats!

4. Big Love. Wow. Again.

2/7/09

1. The weather! I woke up to 35 degree temps and it warmed up from there to somewhere in the 60's. We had tons of melting (but not crazy, flooding melting) and it just FELT like Spring.

2. Out for coffee w/ G. Love the free mochas.

3. Yummy grilled-outdoor supper; mom made bacon-wrapped tenderloins and I made the balsamic-marinade veggies.

4. T's soccer game; his team now has the best indoor record, but most of all, they're so much fun to watch!

2/6/09

1. Coffee with the 8th grade moms. We decided to move it to Friday mornings, too, which is great!

2. Out to lunch at the new local restaurant with Mom and her friend. It was very busy, and service was slow, but the food was fantastic!

3. The weather was nice enough (and it was light late enough) to grill burgers outside for supper!

(how pitiful is it that all three things today centered around food?)

4. OK, one more... T. and I played some Guitar Hero World Tour tonight after supper. He hadn't played with me for a long time. Though the rest of the gig was truly awful, we did get to play "Crazy Train". :)

2/5/09

1. Coffee with Mom and one of her friends, who is visiting from Up North. Fun/funny time!

2. The Village came by with a front-end loader and removed the HUGE snowbanks in front of the sewer drains. This may seem like a silly "happy" entry, but if you read here about what happened last February--when G. and I had to dig out the sewers by hand, you'll know that I am very very happy! (It's supposed to be in the 40's and rainy this weekend)

3. C. got her Science placement for next year and made it into Biology!

4. I found C's lost cell phone.

2/4/09

1. Late start day, so the kids (and I) got to sleep in.

2. Fun lunch day--so I only had to pack one lunch ;)

3. Though C. has still not found her (new) cell phone, AT&T did not charge us for a new SIM card to make her old phone work so that she has a working phone of some sort.

2/3/09

1. New socks! :) I decided to use my GAP gift card (from MyPoints) to buy some fun new socks (for me and for M):
2. T. has the Iowa/CoGAT tests this week, so no homework. He's worked hard on his Science Fair project and tonight FINISHED IT! (and, of course, the bigger "kid" projects often end up being "parent" projects, so G. and I are done, too ;))

3. PTC meeting was canceled, so I got to go to Knitting Club (which was a lot of fun--as always).

2/2/09

1. Relatively easy morning, despite three different starting times and a last-minute homework panic. I like having G. start work later on Mondays!

2. Big Love... OMG, that show has always been fantastic, but it just keeps getting better.

3. Found a new winter jacket for G. so he will (maybe?) stop wearing the same one he's had for the last 20 years.

2/1/09

1. January is GONE! I know that February and March can still be brutal weather-wise, but there's something about being done with January that makes things more tolerable.

2. The whole house is CLEAN! And this is because:

3. We had some of G's work friends over for a Super Bowl party. Many of them were out of town during his 40th birthday party, so it was nice to get to see many of them. And the yummy food didn't hurt either. ;)

1/31/09

1. Coffee with a friend who I hadn't seen for a long time!

2. Awesome grocery store trip--spent $20 and saved $22 :)

3. C. had a good Forensics meet--getting a blue ribbon and her highest scores yet!

4. De-stashing a TON of yarn to donate

5. Beautiful weather with the temps above freezing for the first time since January 6th.

6. T's soccer game--they won! It was a very exciting, back-and-forth game.

1/30/09

1. The kids had a half day of school (end of the semester), and we went out for lunch to celebrate (mmm... Culver's Ultimate Grilled Cheese)

2. Worked on T's Learning Fair (ie: Science Fair) project. It's not done yet, but we made some good headway.

3. Went through all my old, "scrap" yarn--acrylics that I'll never use, and some other yarn I'd inherited--and pulled out stuff to donate, and threw a bunch more away.

4. (Free) coffee out with G. Caribou was celebrating still offering decaf coffee in the afternoons (I guess Starbucks is not anymore) and was giving coffee away.

1/29/09

1. Got my hair cut today--just a trim, but got rid of some of the frizzies and also bought a new shampoo and conditioner to "repair" my damaged hair. ugh... Hope it works!

2. While searching for a new winter jacket for G., I saw a "sale" sign at a luggage store. Half an hour later, I came out with a Vera Bradley purse--for half price. I still probably paid more for it than all other purses I've ever owned, but I reallllllly like it! It's very bright and spring-y.

3. Made a yummy supper tonight--chicken parmesan--that everyone ate. :)

1/28/09

1. Everyone was up BEFORE they had to be up this morning, which meant that the whole morning routine went much more smoothly. In addition, I had time to exercise and shower before M. even left for school!

2. Elementary School Spelling Bee; T. was one of the 15 competitors (chosen by a written test) and though he was not one of the top 5, he did a great job.

3. Tutoring--last session for finals week! I enjoy finals week (especially seeing the students often get that ah-ha! moment when they realized that the whole semester really DID build on the earlier stuff and that they now understand the earlier stuff SO much better), but it is also mentally exhausting! In five days, I tutored 14 hours. OK, so that's less than 3 hours a day, but for ME that's a lot! ;)

1/27/09

1. Tenth day in a row with NO measurable snowfall! (have to look at the silver lining when you live in WI in January)

2. Afternoon tutoring so I was able to attend...

3. C's Choir concert. The new Middle School choir director is a great guy, and he chooses entertaining music, and you can tell that the kids are all really having fun when they're on stage. All the choirs (6th, 7th and 8th, plus Women's Choir and Men's Choir) were wonderful, but I was again floored by how beautiful the Chamber Choir was.

4. I was still craving Indian food, so I picked up some packages and naan at Trader Joe's and made rice and samosas from scratch.

1/26/09

1. Actually got some cleaning done today. G's back to work and while I miss him, I do much better when the "routine" is going.

2. Watched last night's Big Love. Wow. Wowowowowowow... Love that show!

3. Pot roast at Mom's before tutoring. What did I do before she lived down here?

1/25/09

1. Sunday morning laziness--reading the paper over homemade donuts and mochas. (the donuts were okay...found the recipe last weekend when I watched so much Food Network. Here's the recipe if anyone wants to try. They were certainly EASY and the kids liked them.)

2. Indian buffet was canceled, which was a bummer, but that left me with time to help C. with her Inauguration extra credit and studying for her Algebra exam and to help T. with his Science Fair project before having to tutor.

3. LOTS of tutorings today. I almost felt like I had a *real* job, I worked so much! :)

1/24/09

1. C's first Forensics meet of the year. She's doing Solo Humorous and has memorized a few bits written by Jim Gaffigan. She was happy with her scores, too.

2. Tutoring a client from last year. She wanted some help right before exams, so I met with her for a few hours. She's a really sweet kid, and I like her mom a lot, too, so it was nice to visit with her.

3. Out with G's parents and siblings for his parents' anniversary. We've done this for several years and it's so nice for us adults to get together without the distraction of kids! :)

1/23/09

1. Coffee (here) with a friend who I hadn't seen for a LONG time! It's always fun to catch up, and we're never at a loss for things to talk about.

2. Big trip to Costco and other stores in the area. I didn't really need much, but never fail to find things to buy anyway.

3. Our new washer and dryer arrived! If I try not to think about how expensive they were, I can be very excited about them. :) In actuality, they are very cool. I can't believe how quiet they are! And I feel good about how much more energy efficient they are.

4. A couple hours of playing Guitar Hero with G. and later with T., too. I hadn't played for a LONG time and forgot how much fun it is.

1/22/09

1. G. got up with the kids (including doing the morning carpools) and I was able to sleep in nice and late...

2. I spent the afternoon at the mall, spending my birthday gift card! I got what I hope is a cute outfit that I hope to wear this weekend.

3. M. had the first (of the year) school day playdate here with a new friend. It was very cute to see/hear the girls playing and fun, too, for them to go to Grandma's house for an after-school snack.

4. T. made it into the school spelling bee! He got 42 out of 50 words on the written part. The oral part will be on Wednesday and parents get to attend.

5. Thursday night TV! I'm still behind on ER and Gray's Anatomy, but did spend some time watching TV.

1/21/09

1. Temps above freezing today--and sunshine galore!

2. Out for lunch w/ G. and a trip to Home Depot to get laundry detergent for our new washer and dryer, which arrive on Friday (it's a HE machine, and they don't sell the Tide Free for HE many places).

3. Two of my dearest friends took me out to supper (CPK) for my birthday. Yummy food and wonderful conversation was so rejuvenating!

1/20/09

1. Obama's speech, and seeing ALL those people (I think I heard an estimate of 2 million? is that possible?) who were there. Some of my favorite parts of his speech:
*We will restore science to its rightful place,
*a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous
*We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers.
*we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
*we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders

2. W. flying away in a helicopter (to the tune of thousands singing, "Na Na, Hey Hey, Goodbye")

3. Wonderful, large knitting group, and lots of knitting done today (between knitting group and the inauguration). I finished the baby kimono and hat for the kids' art teacher:

1/19/09

1. Three "surprise" tutorings today.

2. G. and I went washer and dryer shopping (NOT fun) but we found what I hope will be a good set on sale, with an additional 10% off, free delivery, set-up and haul-away and 12 months 0% financing. It's this washer and this dryer.

3. Swung by Sears on the way back and bought a pub height 3 pc. table set for our bedroom computer desk:

1/18/09

My birthday and all the spoiling that comes with it! ;)

1. Last morning at the resort--we used the whirlpool one last time.

2. Stopping for (free) coffee at Caribou on the way home.

3. Connecting and using my iTouch for the first time (it's SO much fun!)

4. Biscotti dropped off as a surprise gift from a friend (yay for tomorrow's breakfast!)

5. Finished Twilight (which I started yesterday)

6. Supper at Mom's--she made stir fry and trifle for dessert (yum!)

7. Third season premiere of Big Love--which was amazing!

1/17/09

1. Temps actually got above zero today!

2. Another "fun" workout followed by a swim and the hot tub. ;)

3. Unbelievably nice, relaxing, lazy day spent knitting socks, watching FoodNetwork, and reading Twilight!

4. Second day staying at the Osthoff...LOVE the whirlpool suite!

1/16/09

1. Another day off school, so everyone was able to sleep in. We had low temps of 13 below, but wind chills were supposedly about 30 below.

2. Stopped at Target, Michael's and Costco on my way up to Elkhart Lake for our weekend away. I swear Target had everything in the store at 75% off. And Costco had the iTouch back in stock, so I got one (my birthday gift).

3. Beautiful drive up--the sun was so bright and the roads were clear. It's amazing how much affect the sun has on my mood.

4. The whole "weekend away" thing. I'm posting pics here. So far, so good! And I have to say that I love exercising while watching TV, then cooling down with a swim, and relaxing in a hot tub afterwards. I'd never complain about exercising again if it was always like this! :)

1/15/08

1. School was canceled (cold day; awful wind chills, etc.), and we knew about it last night. T&M went to my Mom's for the night and C. had a friend sleep over.

2. Due to the cold, it was a mostly lazy day, though C. and I did run to Kohl's briefly--and both vehicles started, despite the extreme cold!

3. Book Club--we read The Pact by Jodi Picoult. As always, it was fun, and I love the excuse to "have" to read!

1/14/08

1. Got up early and got most of my exercising done before the kids even left for school. (then I got the rest in by shoveling snow--yuck!)

2. I received a 30% off coupon for Kohl's and I went this morning. Maybe it was the cold, but it was very empty and I had plenty of time (and space) to browse the whole store. I found a lot of good deals, too!

3. Open House and information session at the High School. It's hard to believe that I'll have a high schooler next fall! But neat, too. They had a great setup with all the clubs, activities and sports displaying information. C. already signed up for several things (including choir, drama, Key Club and the Democrat Club!)

1/13/09

1. Woke up to weather not-as-cold as it was predicted to be. That made shoveling much less annoying.

2. Out to lunch with my sister-in-law. She was in town for a funeral, which isn't fun, but we did get some much-needed SIL bonding time, which *was* nice!

3. To Mom's for supper--enchiladas, which are her specialty!

4. Knitting Club--which I had missed for many weeks in a row. It's always fun, with such a great group of people. AND I got lots done on the Xmas IOU socks I'm making for G.

1/12/09

1. G. got up with the kids to get them ready for school. I even had time to exercise this morning.

2. Went shopping for some furniture for Mom. She found a coffee table, end table, and dining room table/chair/bench set! All are cool, too.

3. Only one tutoring session tonight; which was nice as it started snowing about 5:30. Blecchhhh....

1/11/09

1. Usual Sunday morning laziness and paper-reading.

2. I got over a dozen emails with coupons and free stuff for my birthday (in one week) and I dutifully printed almost all of them out. If I used them all, we'd be eating out for every meal for a week, and shopping at almost every store in the area. Fun! ;)

3. Tutoring. it's funny that tutoring has become one of the highlights of my week. I do hate venturing out after dark when it's so cold, but I have such a great group of kids that I work with this year, so it's a good time.

1/10/09

1. Tutored a student I haven't worked with in a year--he needed to catch up on some work. It was good to see him, and nice to make a bit of unexpected money.

2. M's first gymnastics class of the season. She was so excited to be doing gymnastics again.

3. C. was able to go to a reunion for her summer camp today. She wasn't going to be able to go, but a series of events made it possible and she was very happy to go.

4. T. had a soccer game tonight and his team played really, really well! The game was so much fun to watch as the score went back and forth throughout the whole game. In the end, T's team won, but it was the most fun to watch them playing so well.

1/9/09

1. Out for coffee for Mom's birthday with some of my friends (who are now her friends, too).

2. I got all my blood test results and I'm (at least in this arena) perfectly normal. This was my first-ever cholesterol test, so it's nice to know that my numbers are quite low (except for LDL, where they are quite high, as they should be).

3. Went to Mom's for a yummy supper of spaghetti. Her kitchen has come together SO nicely!

1/8/09

1. Coffee with the 5th grade moms--such a fun group!

2. Second day of exercising. Today I did some wii Fit and then G. and I took a walk. The first half of the walk was beautiful--kinda chilly, but sunny and nice. The second half, however, was brutal, as we had to walk home into the wind!

3. Out for Mom's birthday to Qdoba. I also put together a before-and-after book of photos of Mom's house for her. The pictures don't really do it justice, but it is fun to see all the changes in just six months!

1/7/09

1. G. let me sleep in and got the kids ready for school (including making breakfast and lunches!). YAY!

2. Started my "exercise routine". Maybe if I post here, I'll be more likely to keep up with it. Dr. J. said I should be exercising half an hour a day. Today I shoveled snow for 20 minutes and did wii Fit for 15. I'm just going to try to do SOMEthing for half an hour. Walking counts, wii Fit counts, shoveling counts, etc.

3. Had family friends over for the LAST celebration of Xmas. It was a lot of fun. This is a family that we used to get together with every week, but busy schedules (and older and more kids) have made our gatherings less frequent. Still, it is fun when we manage to fit it in.

We also did M's birthday cake tonight, since she got a sundae yesterday when we went out. Here she is, blowing out the candles:
(Looks like one boyfriend...)

1/6/09

1. My "baby" is now 6 years old!

2. Target *finally* went 90% off on Christmas stuff. There was not much left, either. I got some re-useable Xmas tags (to go with the cloth gift bags) and a few packs of icicle lights to replace our old ones that are wearing out, but there was not much there. (Just as well financially, I guess)

3. M. has a classmate (a boy, P.) who was also in her class last year. P. just adores M. and P's mom told me today that he's been counting down the days to M's birthday. When M. came out of school, she was carrying a gift bag--gifts from P., including a penguin cookie and a card and pom-pom penguin that he had made for her. It's just *so* cute!

4. Out (to Culver's) for M's birthday. It was nice to not have to cook ;) and I love Culver's fish sandwiches.

1/5/09

1. Though the actual doctor appointment (including fasting) was not fun, and I was poked repeatedly while the tech tried to draw my blood, the doctor eventually *did* get a line in me--which is more than what happened last year at my annual exam.

2. I heard from the Mom of two of my former tutoring clients (I hadn't heard from her in almost a year) and she's doing well and she asked if I could help out and see her son a few times this month. January is a good time for me to pick up some extra sessions, so it should work out very well.

3. I picked up photos at Costco, some scrapbooking things at Michael's and assembled a Scrapbook of our American Girl trip this afternoon and evening. I can see how scrapbooking could be relaxing if you have more than a few hours to make 20 pages! And now M. can bring it to school tomorrow for her special sharing day.

1/4/09

1. Breakfast at Mom's house! She got to cook her first full meal in her new kitchen. Then G. and I hung around and fixed up a few little things (he installed the last two lights and I installed the three shades that we'd bought months ago).

2. Tutoring; though it's over winter break, the Chemistry students got a BIG extra credit packet and so I was able to help two of them with the packet today.

3. LLL Book Club; I've missed this Book Club so much since they meet on Sunday and I tutor almost every Sunday night. I love my local (block) book club, too, but it was so nice to get together with my "old" friends!

1/3/09

1. I finally got a good night's sleep!

2. Some time shopping this morning at Kohl's; I found some amazing deals on tops for T. (he's outgrowing the clothes he has)

3. T. had his first indoor soccer game of the season. His coach ordered them really cool non-MKSC soccer jerseys. Despite how well T. played, his team lost. As we were walking out the door to get to his game, the phone rang and it was the 7/8 grade girls' team, asking if C. could sub for them today. She did--right after T's game--and had fun. Unfortunately, the girls lost as well. It was fun to get to see both of the kids play, though.

4. Out to dinner (at Chili's) for M's birthday with G's parents. I'm feeling so spoiled for not having to cook much of anything these last few days.

1/2/09

I can't really list 3 things that made me happy today, as the whole day was very joyful ;)

Today C., M., my mom and I took the train to Chicago and spent the day at American Girl Place.

M. summed it up by continually saying, "this is even better than I thought it would be!"

Despite the horrifying display of excessive consumerism, it was truly a day that she'll remember forever.

I'll end with some photos of our day:

1/1/09

1. 2008 is over! Though there were some bright spots, it was not a fantastic year.

2. Coffee at Mom's house--which was so nice both because Mom finally has a kitchen, and because it was Mom and two of my dearest friends.

3. G. and I did some "shopping" and info-gathering about washers and dryers. Both of ours are on their last legs, and it would be nice to replace them before they actually die. Nothing bought yet, but we at least feel better educated!

4. Black Eyed peas for good luck in the new year!