Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, Monday, December 2, 2013

Outside my window...  cold and snowy.  Sadly (from the boys' perspective) it's not "play-able" snow, but hallelujah (from my perspective) the roads are still just wet, as Wyatt and I need to go out tonight for our last Messiah rehearsal, which means 30+ miles of driving NOT in snow!

Hearing...  snow dripping.  Okay, make that melting snow, dripping.  And may the temps stay above freezing... I hope.

Pondering...  what a slacker blogger I am.  Most people have been blogging cheerily about their Thanksgiving weekend (ours was great) and I've been silent.  Too many things I really can't put on the blog.  But there's a good one, just below...

Praying...  about a LOCAL job opportunity for Kerry.  Please pray with us!  The local university is hiring a staff architect and it would be a great fit for him.

Thankful...  okay, not so thankful that our washing machine finally bit the dust early last week.  Apparently that sound that I thought was somebody dropping ALL the pots and pans in the kitchen was the washer's final death throes.  To be fair, it's been living on borrowed time for over a year (ball bearings went out - do NOT buy a front-loader - they're not made to be repaired, but I digress...) and has been eating up electricity (hard to turn that big drum without the ball bearings' help) and LOUD (90-95 decibels - I measured it).  (Parentheses, much???)  BUT... unable to deal with any more financial stress I threw the situation into Kerry's lap, and he just up and bought a new washer.  Put it on the credit card, which didn't help my stress level.  (Okay, I'm getting to the thankful part...)  The day the washer was being delivered, our chapel showed up at our door with a check - a gift - that more than covered the washer, and they didn't even know.  I cry every time I think of it.

Also thankful for a fun Thanksgiving gathering.  Although I am apparently unable to be both the hostess and the photographer, as I managed to get a few pictures before everyone arrived, and then a couple of my brother and my niece, who has learned to blow kisses.  And that's all.  Grandma Grasshopper took a couple of everyone at the table, but knowing how much we all love to look at pictures or people shoveling food into their mouths I'll spare you ;D She got a cute one of Naomi, though :D

See?  All pretty and ready for guests.

A place for everyone...

... and everyone in his place.

Well, where's my food?

Blowing kisses...

Mwaaaah.

And then there's this mysterious artwork that someone (*ahem, TATE*) left for me in the schoolroom.

I have NO IDEA what it means.  Nero for president?

Wearing...  jeans, wool socks, t-shirt, blue turtleneck, blue/green sweater.  It's COLD.  And tomorrow is supposed to be much colder and much windier.  Fabulous...

Creating...  HA!  If I can just get through this week with my head on straight I'll be thrilled.

Going...  crazy, be back soon.  (I wish I was kidding...)

Reading...  just starting The Ides of April with Gunnar.

Looking forward to...  slowing down the pace next week :D

In the kitchen...  used up the last leftover turkey and made Turkey Taquitos... yum!

In the learning rooms...  we have a standing agreement that we cancel school for playable snow.  However, while the falling snow was distracting, it wasn't enough to make us quit.

Around the house...  I'm making the switch over from fall to Christmas, but it's going to take awhile.
This helps:

The Mother Load...  is all about Christmas.  I had hoped... well, that doesn't matter.  While we had planned Thanksgiving with my side of the family, my in-laws decided to come to town and we spent part of Wednesday and all of Friday with them, which changed my plans.  Moving on...

A favorite quote for today...

I pray.  I meditate.  I drink green tea.

And I still want to slap somebody.

Do you ever have days like that?  I mean, today is actually going well, but I've had my share of those days...

One of my favorite things...  cocoa with Gunnar after our morning walk.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  buckle your seat-belts, ladies and gentlemen, and start your engines...

• Saturday - choir concert
• Yesterday - church and Sing-a-long Messiah
• Monday - last Messiah rehearsal
• Tuesday - CAP and pick up my sister at the airport... at midnight!  (Fun!)  (I'm kidding.)  (About the fun part, not the midnight part.)  Also, make something to put in eight gift-baskets for older folks from the chapel.
• Wednesday - youthgroup, packing up gift-baskets.
• Thursday - Kerry has an upper endoscopy, and he's always slow to come out of anesthesia...
• Friday - Messiah performance, 2 1/2 hours.
• Saturday - Tuba Christmas, 2nd Messiah performance, walk/caroling in Christmas parade, sing carols at Christmas Tree lighting
• Sunday - collapse in quivering heap AND get/decorate Christmas tree, unless we can somehow pull that off earlier in the week... maybe Thursday?  (Of course, on Thursday Kerry won't be able to drive and could be prone to wander off if he's still sedated, so that might be more adventure than I'm probably up for *sigh*)  And what do you bet Kerry will ask me if I want to have someone over for lunch after church?

A peek into my world...