FNAR, Random Thoughts the Week Before Christmas

Easiest Nativity ever?  I think I need something like this...

I have this fantasy that I'm a really organized, on-top-of-things person.

Maybe, on my better days that's true.  But this week?  I don't think I've ever felt so scattered.  I think my cluttered office is contributing to a cluttered mind, y'know?  I just about had it all cleaned up and then I needed to sew something, and out came the sewing machine and bits of fabric, and scissors and cutting mats, etc.  And then I needed to wrap something and out came the tissue paper, and rolls of wrap, and ribbons and bows and tags and tape, etc.  And I'm not done with our Christmas cards, so there sits the cards, the letters, stamps, addresses, pens, etc.

It's the "etc." that kills me ;D

And how is it possible that there are four more loads of laundry to fold?  Wait.  I know how.  I can just see my mom disapproving, because she can go a week on one pair of pants and two or three shirts.  But she's not a hormonal teen-age boy.  (What is it about adolescents boys and that funky aroma?)  We should all be thankful they're NOT going a week on one pair of jeans and three t-shirts.

And speaking of those boys... we attended the CAP "Dining Out" last night.  More on that later.  But could someone please explain to me how it came to be a military tradition to drink disgusting looking "swamp water" punch out of a toilet?!  I know, I know, they could tell me, but they they'd probably have to shoot me.  At least I didn't have to drink it!

Also, why is it that I will go spend good money to buy nice soap dispensers for the kitchen, kind of like this...

and think that I'm really stylin'.  But they will break after a couple of months.  Meanwhile, I'll buy cheap soap for a buck, like this...

toss it in the boys' bathroom, where it gets (*ahem*) heavy use (you know, like the equivalent of three gorillas using it), and we will keep refilling it and the dumb container will last for years.  YEARS, I tell you.  But the pretty one?  No.

In another part of my brain...  the author of a quilt blog I like to read posed an interesting question.  When you make (sew) a gift for someone, how much do you tailor it to the recipient's likes/colors etc., and how much of "you" do you put into it?  Interesting comments.  It can be hard to work on something you don't personally like, but (IMHO) ultimately it's a gift.  If you ask for their preferences you ought to listen.  Fresh in my mind because I was at the fabric store with a pregnant friend today :D

And here you see how scattered I am... from Nativities to laundry to quilts to drinking from a toilet.  Good grief.  Meanwhile, we're hosting a neighborhood Christmas party on Saturday, and I have NOT ONE CHRISTMAS COOKIE MADE.  This is a crisis, in the eyes of the boys, and must be rectified immediately.   Working on that...

But I did do a really cool science experiment with Tate yesterday.  We extracted DNA from split peas.  For real.  We felt so awesomely science-y.  Thank you, Apologia.  It's important to have these little moments of success when everything seems to be spinning out of control.

So, I'll end with this.  I'm hanging onto this motto.  Reminds me of one of my grandmas.  She was definitely in this tribe.

Six more days until Christmas!