Homecomings and Birthdays

Hubby arrived home tonight. We were rather worried the weather in Chicago would delay him as he had to fly through there. Fortunately, Chicago airport was closed BEFORE he left Pittsburgh, so he ended up on a direct flight to Orlando. The 4 hour round trip put a crimp in my carefully laid out plans, but was worth it as the alternative was him not being here. The girls are thrilled to see him and we celebrated the Imp's birthday with her opening presents from us. Her big gift was texting. She's been wanting it for quite a while. The beauty of not giving things when first asked for is the appreciation shown once they are given. She couldn't believe it. We'd had her convinced she wouldn't get it. I love surprises.

Her party was a huge success. Fortunately, only 10 girls (not 15) came. Much more manageable. The cake only took 2 days to make. The turrets are formed from 2 cake cones end-to-end and topped with a sugar cone. Cover the whole thing in white chocolate, then put an additional coat of white chocolate mixed with black coloring. The castle proper took 3 cake mixes. The Imp added the alligator to the moat.
















I drew a castle on her Birthday tablecloth to mark this year.



Now I have tomorrow to finish getting ready for Christmas! But it will be okay since Hubby is home.

Unexpected Happenings

Hubby's mom had a mild heart-attack last Wednesday. It's always hard to find out what's really going on when she's 1000 miles away. But the information given to us Thursday had his mom in the hospital for another 6 days to monitor new drugs being given. After looking at everything, we decided to send Hubby to PA to help out his dad while his mom's in the hospital (They're 86 years old). So Friday and yesterday were full of trying to get as much done as possible before he left town. He flew out this morning and is due back Wednesday evening. So he left me here to pull off a birthday party and finish Christmas preparations. I wasn't looking forward to it, but felt up to the challenge. So today's schedule had me baking 3 cake mixes for the castle cake and making 4 turrets for the corners. So I start off making a cake. Have the batter in the pan and am going to put it in the oven. Well, I was already thinking of the next task and I "missed" the oven rack and dumped 1/2 the batter in the oven (on the door and down between the door and oven and into the drawer beneath the oven). An hour later, I was ready to start over, except all I really wanted to do was call it quits. But here I am, a mere 14 hours later and I've completed my tasks for the day. The cake is assembled with the base coat of icing and the turrets are made. The Singer, to be helpful, made dinner tonight. Egg rolls. Half-way through rolling them, she needed assistance, so I rolled the rest and somehow I got the pleasure of cleaning up the kitchen afterwards. Oil was splattered far and wide. But the kitchen is cleaned, and the egg rolls were very tasty. Tomorrow's schedule includes a dentist appointment early, mopping the kitchen floor, finishing the castle decorations, and making a sample 'gingerbread' house. The Imp and I assembled 16 houses Friday night. After tomorrow, I could stay out of the kitchen for quite a while, except that Christmas is fast approaching.
The good news is that Hubby is safely in PA and his mom was released from the hospital today. Not sure of the details yet, but he's got a list of house cleaning and errands that will help his mom catch up on her Christmas preparations.
The weather's turned cool, finally. It's actually starting to feel like Christmas. Hubby is dealing with temps in the 20's and 30's. He really hates the cold. I bought him a new sweatshirt to keep him warm.
Gotta go make the girls settle down and sleep, then I'll turn in.

Wii, Roosters and Froot-Cakes

I really like playing video games. Not the 'action' ones like Mortal Force or such, but ones that are more similar to the ones of the 80's. Hubby and I were on an extremely tight budget when we first got married. Our Saturday mornings consisted of going to the laundry mat and having an extra $2 to play video games in the deli next door. Galaga and Q-bert were our favorites. As we became parents are enjoyment of these games did not diminish. I was always envious of the kids who got the newest gaming systems the year they were released.

We got Super Nintendo the year before GameCube was released and finally got GameCube a few years later. My kids think it's funny that they can come home to find Mom and Dad dueling it out in Donkey Kong or racing in Mario Cart Bros. They tell us that none of their friends' parents play video games (I'm not convinced that's true, but they're probably closet players). But for all that I enjoy games we really don't play that often and, they just aren't worth the money when there are so many other things I'd rather have and use much more often. Having said all that, I REALLY, REALLY want a Wii. I have dreamed of getting one since day one. Santa almost always brings a 'family' gift, but they tend to be things like tickets to see "Wicked" at the Performing Arts Center, or Bush Garden passes. The rest of my family would have fun playing with a Wii, but would never think of putting on their top 10 list. Hubby and I get reward points from our credit card that we can use at the rewards online store. I discovered last night that they have Wii. We don't use our credit card enough to rack up points shamelessly and maybe one day we'll sit down and figure out how to get the most points from our card, but for now our points always seem to be a little bonus. We got a 15" TV, an electric grill fork with temperature read-out, and the like.
I was doing some stocking-stuffer shopping when I discovered the Wii.


I have a new goal. I will figure out exactly how much I have to spend on my Visa in order to get my Wii for free (mind you, I'm not talking about racking up debt, but simply using my Visa card for purchases that I'll pay off before the end of the month...so Dad, don't worry). I have a new mission! Of course, I also want many of the accessories and add-ons as well. And what I really want is the new Mario Bros game that all 4 people can play simultaneously. 2010 is holding great promise.

I tend to stay up way too late this time of year. Sometimes, I'm being Santa's helper but I also just get revved up and have a hard time sleeping. Even when I stay up late, my eyes pop open early. Last night I was up obscenely late, even for me, and would have probably slept until 9 this morning except a rooster woke me up. Now, I must say that I heard the rooster in my sleep and dismissed it, but after the 10th time of the fellow crowing, I was awake. Of course, by the time I was actually having conscious thought, the rooster was silent. I lay there trying to figure out what had woke me up (awakened me?) and when my subconscious told me I had heard a rooster, I tried to figure out what could sound like a rooster in suburbia Tampa. Certainly a real rooster was out of the picture. 30 minutes after I was up, I heard it again. It was a rooster. I'm still not sure who has a rooster, but I'm certain it must be a few streets away, as I live is a pre-fab subdivision. I stand out with my vegetable garden.


I saw a few minutes of "the Doctors" yesterday, and wished I hadn't. The were discussing the lawsuit being brought against Kellogg s for misleading the public and failing to maintain truth in advertising. And how had Kellogg's misled this poor gentleman? By naming its cereal "Froot Loops". The fellow claimed he thought it was made from real fruit! After researching, I found the suit was deemed frivolous, but from watching "the Doctors", I wouldn't have known that. The doctors were all serious about how important it was for products to have clear labeling, etc., and how parents are being misled that sugar cereals are good for their children with the labels stating how many nutrients are found in the box. Be real already! Kids' cereals are boxes of sugar. Everyone knows that! That's why they're for Christmas and birthdays. I'm not even a health-nut by any stretch of the imagination and I didn't let my kids have Froot Loops. Yes, I agree, a product should not be allowed to say "Real Fruit" unless there is real fruit in the product, but the consumer has to have a little responsibility...and the lady at McDonald's didn't know the coffee was hot!

December Birthday Party

It's December. My favorite month, although also my most stressful...much of it self-imposed. I love ALL the Christmas traditions. My girls, being incredibly like me, especially in areas I wish they weren't, want to embrace and celebrate and duplicate every tradition, treat and song during this time of year. There are so many treats they want baked, and traditions they want to recreate, that it would take the entire month of December with doing nothing else but Christmas stuff, to bring to life their desires. On top of that, the Imp's birthday is the 22nd. She'll be 16 this year. It seems the Imp's birthday parties have always been smaller and less spectacular than her sister's. While I'm not in the camp of "what one get the other gets," I do try to be somewhat equitable. I now remember why this apparent discrepancy exists. First, the Imp is a more no-frills kind of kid, while her sister, the Singer, is always up for a production, the more frills, the better. Second, the Singer has always had a small group of close friends, making my demand for a small gathering very easy for her (invite list of 8 or less). The Imp has always been a floater. That is, she is friends with multiply people from multiple "groups". So when given the directive, "Keep it under 8 people," she can never succeed. "But if I invite Suzie, I have to invite Jane" or worse "I can't invite Jane because she hates Suzie, but I don't want Jane's group to think I like Suzie's group more..." The Imp's heart is sooo big. She is always for the underdog and works very hard at making sure no one's feelings are hurt. So many years she had only 1 or 2 friends over, or simply skipped the friends' party altogether when it came to her party. But she'll be 16 this year, and being caught in an alternate reality, I told her she could invite who she wanted. Her list was 25 people! My house isn't that big. I made her trim and trim, until she actually invited 17 people to her party. Thus far, only 1 regret. I'm not sure this was a wise decision. Additionally, the Imp decided she wanted a fancy cake....a castle cake...not like her sister's Tinkerbell castle cake of pink, but, in her words, "Think Narnia!" R...i...g...h...t...

Sample ideas. Final product some kind of combination











































































Then she says, "I'd like to do a craft." So we decide on making 12 sided paper ornaments out of Christmas paper. So I cut out (with a punch, not by hand) 400 circles, and mark them to be folded as pentagons. Not a small feat. Then she says, "Do you think we can make graham cracker gingerbread houses?" Uuuhh, okay? Yep, I said okay. So now I've committed to have 16 girls making gingerbread houses. So I'll be making the structures the day before, so the girls can decorate them during the party.















































































All while I'm making a castle cake with draw-bridge and moat (using boiled sugar water dyed blue) AND still getting ready for Christmas. Whose idea was it to have a kid 3 days before Christmas? And just so you know, she wasn't due until January 8! And while all of this sounds daunting and outlandish to many, I love doing these things, just not all at the same time. The girls are looking for me to make geiba, a homemade sweet Polish bread that takes all day. They also asked about clothespin cookies...another incredibly time-intensive endeavor. My own tradition, is that they always get something homemade from me for Christmas. I can't say what I'm making them (I just found out the Singer does occasionally read my blog as she commented that she knew what was really in the attic a few months ago), but the girls will be pleased and it required days of sewing. One day, I'll start my Christmas projects the previous March like serious crafters do, but for now, I'll cram as much as humanly possible into the 4 weeks of December.

A Different Christmas Poem

To All our Military, those who are serving and those who have served, THANK YOU!

"A Different Christmas Poem"

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."