A Weekend at Home

It was awesome being at home for a weekend and getting little things taken care of. It's just hitting me that in the next week, at some point, I'm going away and won't really be back again until 2009. I think my kitchen deserves one last 2008 cleaning. It's earned it. In the past year, it's seen cake pops, a barbie cake, a sprint Thanksgiving dinner, several large batches of taco soup, innumerable cookies and brownies, and even a piece or two of salmon. Yeah, it's earned it.

But instead of cleaning my kitchen (whatever would I do with my Monday night?), I did a few other must-do things, like the proverbial ton of laundry that had piled up, over the few days off. I also did a second run through my closet. In the first pass, last week, I pulled out things that I know I didn't want to keep, mostly for fit or poor-taste purposes, but this time I had a new tactic: If I hadn't work it all year, then it was out. My cleaning out is pretty noncommittal. Instead of boxing it up, I just move it to the other closet, so there's no real harm in deciding to give things away. Really they're just (literally) hanging in purgatory, so I can always go back and rescue them as needed.

Whew, I'm over-thinking this. Maybe I need a pet.

Anyway, I got some good cleaning and cleaning out done, then a few wedding-related errands taken care of. Apparently, at Bromberg's, you don't register for specific silver serving pieces, but rather just specify that you want some, and then they let people pick from within their budget. Intriguing. No time to think that one through, but still seems... intriguing.

Saturday night I hung out with my baking buddy J while she made truffles (yes, truffles) and then headed home, where I woke up Sunday morning to the news of my new nephew. Ee! Wish I could go meet him today with my mom.

Sunday night, the girls and I got together for our mini-Christmas. Our real gift to each other was accidentally adopting three angels from the angel tree. Well, we meant to adopt one, and then two, but then our angel picker-upper L discovered upon check out that there was actually a third sibling attached. Best phone call yet. "Please don't be mad... I got three." We had such fun shopping for their "wants" and "needs" a few weeks ago (Need: pants. Want: Dora tshirt). Luckily she avoided the one that said, "Need: Nintendo DS. Want: Shoes." Crafty kids.

So we shopped a few weeks ago, then treated ourselves to dinner and a movie last night. Four Christmases was cute, if a little more introspective than I anticipated, and a sushi dinner always hits the spot, even after a bottomless bucket of popcorn.

I've had trouble this year getting reved up for Christmas, maybe because I'm weaning myself off the colorful holiday sock addiction (ok, throwing one tattered pair out of 12 away isn't much self-denial, I'll admit), but I think it's also being away from church so much this season. Thanksgiving was so close to Christmas, which threw off my calendar and with travel and new babies, I've missed most of advent. I'm sorry--I need candle lighting and carol singing, which makes me happy (ah ha! Gifts are the main point to me!), but frustrated too because there doesn't seem to be enough time to do it all before the season ends.

I'm really just excited for 4:30 tomorrow, when B finishes his final exam. Once I get him home and the baking started, somehow I think the spirit will come right in.