Category Archives: Events

Winter Weather in the South

Posted on by
Reply

It’s March 1st and we are having our first real “Winter Storm” of the year. It’s been Spring-like for a while, many things are blooming. It’s been raining since Friday night (and had some lightning/thunder as well) –off and on, and the ground is mushy and over-wet, even more than that in places, deep puddles and near rivers in places in the backyard … but now it’s different. The temperature is 41 degrees F. out on the front porch, and the “rain” is now frozen granules. It’s collecting on roofs, play structures, decks, etc. thus far, since the air temperature is above freezing, but I do project that the temperature will be falling, it “feels” like that, and so it is. (Experience shows this as thus.)

Our ornamental cherry tree (in the backyard) has been blooming for over a week, but just getting near peak after the rain from a whole day, and now (with this freezing stuff) we’ll just see if we get to see the tree in full peak bloom for a nice photo with the sun shining and the sky nice and blue … :(

Update: It’s been snowing, from big flakes with granules of snow for a bit, then more BIGGER flakes, then to all bigger traditional first snow flakes, dropping heavily … to full out snowing, to now snowing thickly for a long while, snow is building up … it’s 2:13pm and it’s snowing thickly in the South, First snow in over a year, it didn’t snow in 2008 at all here. Can’t quite recall if it snowed at all in Dec. 2007, I don’t think it did, and I can’t recall when it really did snow this much in years here, not since the children were much younger, this is really nice. Usually we have an ice storm, not a nice snow storm. :)

Frank’s 2008 B-Day

Posted on by
Reply

For Frank’s birthday yesterday I made cupcakes. Usually we don’t make cakes for his birthday, not regular cakes. In the past I would often make a cheesecake for his birthday, or nothing, since he didn’t care as much about cakes as, say, the children would for their birthdays. Frank doesn’t care much for holiday trappings, would do fine without them, so he says and acts, but if I have the energy to do something, he doesn’t mind, I suppose. Maybe actually likes it.

Holiday stuff for us is just “us” having no external family in the area we live in. THis makes it harder for me to get into all of it, compared to what I desire to have done, and could do when I was younger/single especially. Being older and a Mama of younger children is a hard job and something has to give.

I had planned to do a couple of firework things we had leftover from our New Year’s home show. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do that, it was raining/drizzling/dripping out most of the late afternoon, and even at 8:30pm when I last had checked, but I was hopeful that when 9pm rolled around there wouldn’t be wet stuff coming down at all, and it did work out that way! That was nice, a couple of TNT “Cuckoo” fountains and some flashing little things. Just something special, nothing big, something different.

I hadn’t made anything cake-wise since I had made a cheesecake for Baby Q’s first birthday on June 23, not that long before. We didn’t want another so soon. So when it came time to make dinner I finally decided that wasn’t what I wanted and was inspired to make cupcakes.

I made vanilla cupcakes and chocolate frosting. Nothing fancy, just simple homemade cupcakes, delicate and moist, with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. Simply frosted.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

We had them after the fireworks, we didn’t do any candles on the cupcakes, not for big Frank. It was nice though, Happy Birthday singing was loud and full, the children really joining in for the first time for his birthday, so vibrantly at the least.

We all made him cards. That was our gift to him. We didn’t make anything else, but will get him something later, something that he’ll appreciate, like something Tiger’s related (MLB)

Happy New Year

Posted on by
2

2007 is gone. 2008 is here. We had “fireworks” out front on New Years Eve to mark the occasion (Costco sells big packs of “fountain” type fireworks made by TNT, this time of year and around the 4th of July.) We’ve gotten this sort of thing for the 4th starting in 2006, continued it in 2007, and now have added New Years Eve to the schedule.

In GA things that fly up are basically not for sale, of course people do buy them in the neighboring states, like S. Car., Tenn., or Ala.

We just stick to what’s available here, thus far we have, that is. I love fireworks, firecrackers, etc.

We bought the biggest package Costco was selling this time, and it’s the biggest we’ve ever bought. It had many more larger type fountains than previous packs. We thoroughly enjoyed the show, including our dear little 6 month old. He fell asleep near the end, but watched intently through most of the “show”.

Along with a new year are new temperatures. It was a tad nippy that night, and only getting colder ever since. The sun has been out though, so it’s pleasant, unlike the few days before with gloomy gray skies and rain off and on, the temperatures then weren’t that cold either. It’s been a very mild “winter” whereas it’s usually nice enough to turn the A/C off in September or October, and start fireplace fires in November and more of them in December and into Jan. & Feb. … this year we have had the A/C off and on through December. A few fires, one early, it wasn’t THAT cold but was cold enough “just to do it” and one other time or two since then before Christmas. We had fires for Christmas just to have fires, but we didn’t NEED to have them, it was warm enough to live without them (heat pump working in the warmer cool temperature just fine.)

So now 2008 has brought us to the “we need a fire to be warm enough” place. Reported temperature right now is 32 degrees F. It was well colder than that over night and most of today.

Temperatures are often mild in Georgia, over winter, but times of very cold, snow, ice do occur, but last winter 2006/2007 we had nothing. I’m wondering what’s to come in 2008, since both ends of 2007 were very mild. FWIW.

November – Holiday Season begins

Posted on by
3

Holiday Season is right around the corner. It’s November now, which means in our household we have Thanksgiving and then our DD’s Birthday, or visa-versa, depending on the year. (She was born in 1998 on the 25th, the day before Thanksgiving.) This year Thanksgiving is three days before her b-day.

It always makes for a more hectic last-half-of-November than ever since 1998.

I’m in the mood for Pumpkin Pie, which it doesn’t have to be Turkey Day, November or December to have, but I haven’t made any “out of season” this year, I haven’t done much cooking overall (with a new baby in the house!) At this point I consider it best to wait until Thanksgiving Day to have Pumpkin Pie, but the urge is so strong to have some NOW so I don’t know what I’ll do in the coming days leading up to TD. Why do I consider it best to wait? So I’m not “Pumkined OUT” by TD, which is possible if I give in to my urge now. FWIW. :blush:

The weather has been cooler lately. Finally Summer has broken in NE Georgia. It’s still getting quite warm, into the 70′s, some days, but getting down in the 60′s at the most at night, all the way down way into the 40′s many nights. This makes things seem more Fall-like, and gets me in the mood for Autumn/Winter thicker clothing, crisp new clothes that just wouldn’t work in the Summer, no way. Boots are my love, for instance, and jackets.

I’m still not fitting into my old things to wear, post-pardum 4-months, so I’m going through my things and trying to figure out what I’m going to do about it. I hate buying “fat skirts” and such, when I know they won’t be needed. I’ve gotten away with wearing my summer skirts just not done up, they stay on and the openings don’t show with my Nursing (BF) Blouses usually covering them up fine. That won’t cut it for the cooler times outside, nor inside the house eventually (as Winter sets in.)

I’ve been Dresses/Skirts only for quite a few years, and did cave to wear pants sometimes when I was pregnant (starting in late ’06) and have a couple of pairs of jeans now for the “transition” but I don’t like them, I am supposing I wouldn’t mind some jeans now if they fit me nicely, but none actually do (since I’m still toting baby fat, which is alright since I am BF the baby, of course. It’d just be nice to have something to wear that looked good and fit nice. :rolleyes: Especially for “winter” wear.)

My DD got a toy sewing machine last Nov. for her BD, but since I was newly preggo then and since and also now have a still “little” baby, I hadn’t showed her how to use it yet … but the other day she was bugging me about it and I told her to just get it out and read the booklet about it. So she did that and started pestering me about this and that in the booklet, and I finally just had her get the machine by me and I showed her some stuff … and thus I now also have the ‘sewing’ bug and want to find a place to put my big machine so that i can use it. Lastly I used it way back in 2000/2001 when I had my 3rd baby, to sew for.

I have had the idea to make nice simple things for DD and myself all along, but I just “haven’t” done that. I really want to and now that I am so blah shaped, it’d be nice to have skirts that worked the way I need them to, you know, custom made by one’s self. I’m going to do that, therefore. I have gotten my DD to want to make T-Shirt Dresses since I told her how easy they are to make, and she wants to get a purple T-shirt for that purpose and is nearly wearing me thin talking about it, so I will have to be sure to find her one ASAP – and get to a fabric store as well.

I did get some Hanna Andersson dresses and tights and leggings and socks and clogs, this week, for DD. Every thing like that has “Blossoming Pink” in it. Also got another skirt and blouse that are not “pink” at all. So a custom made T-Shirt dress that has a purple top will have to have NO PINK in the skirt at all, IMO. In any case, the HA stuff is really nice, a good base for getting more things to mix and match with, every day wear. The blouse I got is has a peter pan collar and buttons up the front. It’s white Pima interlock cotton, long sleeves, very fine yet not “too fine” and will go well under the winter jumpers she has (I bought them a couple of years ago, big on purpose to have later, and later is now!)

We got the boys a few new things from Osh Kosh this past week, as well. Jeans and shirts. The baby too, as well as Carters for the baby. All three of the boys have shirts from Osh Kosh that match each other. A is 7 years old and I have determined (since last year) that he actually looks great in Orange, so he has an orange plaid flannel shirt, R is 11 years old, he and Baby Q both are blonde haired with blue eyes and have fair blue-toned skin and look awesome in blue, so they have the same dark blue plaid flannel shirt as each other, in respective sizes, R has 12 and Baby Q has 6m :) All three have neat Osh Kosh jeans too, so I hope to get a nice Brothers photo with them wearing all that stuff, very soon.

I haven’t uploaded any baby pictures to the web still, as I haven’t yet gotten those announcements sent out :veryshocked: I’m appalled at myself for this. I have finally determined that I like one photo I have from September, right after Baby Q turned 3 months old, which I like enough to duplicate, so I’ll use that one, or maybe take something in the next couple of days that will be good enough, and more recent … and have wallet or some other small-ish size photos printed out at a shop, to include with the announcements. I really, really, really intend to get this done THIS COMING WEEK!!! I hope I can do so.

So with all that pressure, needing to get some sort of warmer clothing figured out for me, get the right clothing ready for the children, and get the announcements mailed, and plan Thanksgiving and V’s 9th Birthday, plus wishing to really start sewing parts of us girl’s wardrobe, and bake for the holidays and get things ready for Christmas, which hopefully will be a Christmas Card that will get mailed this year (for the first time in many) … pressure … it’s heavy, tight, pressing down.

On a good note though, I have a more comfortable bed now: we got a topper for the mattress at Costco this week. It’s a micro filled top with something like 3 inches of memory foam beneath that. It was a pain to open and unfold … the foam was vacuum sealed into a tiny (for it) package. Literally the hardest work I’ve done all week, or in many, many, months. That is on the mattress and I have a waterproof/allergy cover over that (it goes around the whole mattress, zips up to keep all ickies out of the bed) then a thin mattress cover and the sheets. The next thing I want then is a memory foam pillow (with an allergy cover sealing it) as the memory foam is a dream to be on, no pressure points. Lovely to sit up in bed and feed the baby now, just need to get the pillow situation fixed to complete the comfort. Sleeping is nice too, no need to shift around finding a comfy way to be, I mean, just choose what direction to lay in, and if it’s the way you want to be, it’s comfy now.

A second good note: I now have a chair in the “dining room/living area” next to the kitchen. The couch was moved downstairs and I was without a nice place to be with the baby (not liking the “basement” as it is currently) and wanting to be on the main level with the baby mostly anyhow.

So I now have an Ektorp chair and a Bromma foot stool, with white covers. From IKEA, for those not familiar with those product names. Our couch is an Ektorp Corner sofa 2+2. (corner seat with 2 seats on each side, a couch with 5 seat cushions that can hold up to 6 people if you don’t mind sitting right by someone, not bad for visiting, just annoying for basic TV watching, reading, with children, everyone wanting lounging space.)

What is so great about that IKEA Ektorp line? The styling is classically beautiful, in my mind’s eye, and the outside of the couches and chairs are slipcovers entirely, so it’s easy to get a clean couch when needed or wanted. Unzip all the cushions and take the cover off of the frame, into the washer, then drier, then back onto the frame and cushions. It’s work, but worth it. The chair is even easier since it’s just a chair, compared to the corner 2+2 couch. Not only that though, the next best thing is: extra slip covers. The white is cheap, $29 to get an extra set. Other colors start at $79 and go up. The couch, we can get a color we like for $199,a complete new set of slipcovers, making the couch so versatile, brand new-like when wanted. We only have one set of slipcovers for the couch and also the chair right now, but will be getting extra’s sometime sooner than later, I hope. I also want to get an Ektorp Loveseat, which has a really cheap white slipcover set, just $11 … FWIW

To have all this furniture it will be separated in the house we live in now, but I hope to have a house with a very large family room someday …

For now though, I’m more comfy in the main living area again. A place to rest, feed the baby day or night other than in bed, watch TV, read, or even nap … a nice chair that is Mama’s and no one else may sit in it unless I say they may, which is no one. :smile: