Friday, December 30, 2011

7 Quick Takes Friday–The Last of 2011

This is the last time I’ll do a “7 Quick Takes Friday” this year!  Can you believe that we’re already to December 30?  It seems like we were just welcoming in 2011 and now we’re telling it good-bye.  Well, here are 7 highlights of the last couple of weeks.

1. Christmas Eve was as busy as usual for PWM, Rosie Girl and Wild Man.  PWM did sound for the three church services, while Wild Man played percussion and Rosie Girl played keyboard.  I, on the other hand, had a migraine all day and didn’t make it to any of the church services.  Yippee.

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2. Christmas Day, though, was wonderful!  I made scarves for both kids using a double knitting technique so that both sides have the same design, but in opposite colors.  Rosie Girl has a keyboard design while Wild Man has the silhouette of his bass guitar.

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3. Wild Man was excited because he finally got his own ipod.  Rosie Girl got some money from Santa.  She added that to some of her own money and went with PWM on Monday to buy herself a guitar – it’s a classical, nylon string acoustic electric with a built-in tuner.  She’s a very happy young woman.

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4. One of our Christmas traditions is to have tomato soup (actually a ham and tomato cream soup) during the week of Christmas.  We eat ham during the first or second week of December then during the week of Christmas, I use the ham bone to make the stock for the soup and make a huge pot of soup so we don’t have to worry about cooking.  Things were no different this year.  Easy and delicious!

5. We don’t have much of a tradition for Christmas dinner except that we don’t do it on Christmas Day.  We do our Christmas Dinner on the day after Christmas so we can enjoy Christmas day with each other and not stress about cooking.  We decide each year what we want to eat, and it’s rarely turkey since we have that on Thanksgiving.  We were going to do lamb until we realized how expensive it would be.  Instead, we decided on individual Beef Wellingtons.  Unfortunately, they were overcooked – the casualty of an oven that isn’t very consistent.  We had leftover roast and filling (the recipe called for a mushroom filling instead of a liver pate), so we tried again on the 27th and they were much better.

6. Rosie Girl has found some added benefits to working at a cheese factory, even if she is working just in the retail portion.  She got a cash Christmas bonus and a HUGE box of cheese and chocolates!  Very nice!!

7. We don’t usually watch football except for Packers and LSU, but we turned it on the other day and watched the Saints game (partly because we knew that PWM’s brother was at the game).  It turned out to be the game where Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s record for single season passing yards!  Talk about good timing!

So, what’s up with you?  How have your holidays been going?  Check out Conversion Diary to see what others have been up to!

 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

7 Quick Takes Friday–December 10, 2011

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Yep, I missed Friday again.  I guess I didn’t completely miss it.  I mean, I was here.  I just forgot to do any blogging.  But, I’ve remembered now and I’ve got plenty to say!

1. Last Sunday, Wild Man played Congas (hand drums) to accompany two singers and a guitar player at our church’s Women’s Christmas Tea.  What a wonderful job they all did!  It’s hard to believe sometimes that he’s just 13.

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2. On Thursday night, Wild Man played percussion with the rest of the 7th and 8th grade band at the Middle School.  It was a wonderful concert!!

 

3. Rosie Girl got her PSAT scores yesterday and they were quite good, particularly the reading and writing scores.

 

4. Wild Man was in the other room playing bass guitar when Rosie Girl got home yesterday.  She went in to show him her scores and he was very excited for her.  I love seeing my kids happy for each other!

 

5. Wild Man is playing drums today at a Christian camp Christmas event – I’m sure he’s having a blast.  He’s such a performer at heart.

 

6. Rosie Girl was sick last week and only got to work a couple of hours (and missed her piano recital, although she wasn’t too terribly upset since performance isn’t her favorite thing), but she’s working a full day today which will make her bank account happy!

 

7. I’m still slowly increasing my Topamax.  I think the migraines are marginally better, but the side effects are annoying (well, except for the loss of appetite).

 

So, how was your week?!  Anything exciting?!  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!