Wordless Wednesday - How I feel about Winter/Christmas/Holiday Break...

I can't bake, but I can POP!

Lately the baking around the Ball house has been a series of tried and failed scientific experiments. Messes occurring before the oven is entered, messes occurring during the baking process, and a disaster when the finished product emerges from the oven. I'm not sure what's wrong with my baking skills as of late, but they pretty much suck.

I think there are several reasons for this inability to create a gastronomical success. Here are my theories:

#1: I didn't get the baking gene from my parents. I mean, seriously, how come my mother and sisters can bake and create beautiful concoctions, have a delectable recipe for everything, and present it in such a Martha Stewart fashion??? Huh, Mom, Teressa, Aly, Emily??? Not.Fair.

#2: I am a HUGE multitasker. I can't even watch TV without having laundry or schoolwork in front of me. So, when I bake, I'm usually doing laundry, the dishes, homework with the kids, cleaning the bathroom - (don't worry, I wash my hands), and getting dinner ready at the same time. I just listen for the timer to go off...

#3: I think people leave out ingredients or one step of the direction just to frustrate me and make my baked goods look like a science project gone wrong. This happened last Sunday when I tried to make a recipe from a certain blog. Let's just say, the blog was a total and complete lie. I think the recipe was made up and the pictures the blogger took were from some other place. My cookies DID NOT look like hers and to show her a thing or two, I deleted her blog from my sidebar. Yes, I am heartless! Nah, nah, nah, nah, naaaaah!

I think those are enough reasons to show my incompetence in the kitchen and around stoves. Suffice it to say that my neighbors will not be receiving anything baked, or anything that has to rise, be creamed, sifted, beaten, rolled out, set to a hard or soft ball stage. Nope. They'll have to wait for another, better neighbor to deliver those things.

However, lest this post seem too negative on my part, I do want to add that even though I may not be the baker in my family,

I can sure pop popcorn!

I can also put carmel on top of it!

And stir it through.

I can put it in cute tins!

I can deliver it to a couple of neighbors
(but only a couple since I ate most of it...).

Yep, that's what I can do this Christmas season.
I hope my mom and sisters can understand.

I'm just saying...

Where has the time gone? My mom used to say that the older you get, the faster time flies. Words of wisdom from a very smart mom!

I've been thinking about my lax blogging lately - due in part to my status obsession with FB. I figure, why do I need to blog when I can write a silly one or two sentence status that no one really cares about? hmmm. That's just it. No one really cares about a FB status and this blog is like my family's journal of the events in our life. So, here I go to get caught up with the happenings in life from the past 2 months. I know a lot of you might not care so you can just go back to check your FB friends' statuses if you want... heehee

The following are a list of things in no particular order that have been on my mind or happening in our life that I think about during the day, or that keep me up when I should be getting my precious 6 hours of sleep each night:

***That my purse is like my life in that it is cluttered, not sure what I'll find in the deep recesses of it, that I would be embarassed if someone peeked into it, starting to get worn out, but I still use it everyday and love the fact that it was a gift from a precious daughter who knows I like nice things to carry stuff in!

***That Thanksgiving dinner was really very tasteless to me. Everything on my plate was a pale color and not very satisfying. We all missed being with our usual company of Jeff, Tresa, Ryan, and Tyler. Her gravy is much better than mine and she decorates the table really cute. I also missed reading her paper and perusing all the ads after stuffing ourselves. Don't go away for Thanksgiving ever again. OK, you guys?
The leftovers we had on Sunday were, however, totally scrumptious! I wonder why that was???

***That I miss Alyssa being home. But when she is home, I worry about her and where she is, who she's with, what she's doing, why she hasn't called to check in, if she's driving safely, etc... That will never change.

***That teaching first grade is such a blessing for me this year! What a 360 degree turn around from the dregs of 5th grade last year. The funny thing is, those 5th graders from last year, who are now in 6th, are so happy to see me in the hall, give me hugs, tell me how great I am and how they miss me.. Um, kids, could we have seen a bit more "love" last year??? Yeah, didn't think so.

***That I feel so blessed to have a healthy family who are capable of playing sports at each season of the year and keep my driving skills up to date by dropping them off at practice, and picking them up, then driving to their games!

(I am serious about them being healthy- we are lucky.)

***That Christmas is going to be here in less than 2 weeks and I'm still not finished with my shopping and hope that I've made everything "fair" with the kids and that I hope I can get my mom's, dad's, and mother in law's gifts sent out so they'll reach them in time! Whew. I can really start to stress myself out at this time of year. I don't think that's the purpose of this season???

***That I can't believe I haven't even done anything for our Christmas cards this year. We took a few pictures downtown on Thanksgiving day but those turned out blechy. I had a clear vision of us standing against the old brick walls of beautiful downtown Boise, looking all perfect and card-ready, but when you don't have someone to tell you to move to the left, or put your foot there, or suck in your gut, or try not to look like a pirate, well, it's dang hard. Alyssa did a great job managing to balance our camera on the tripod on top of a garbage can, however. Self-timer just didn't cut it though, and we turned out grainy and awkwardly posed. We definitely need some re-takes, but Bill isn't as excited about old brick walls like me.

***That if I can never run again I will be the saddest person on the planet. Been too busy to actually schedule a PT appointment, been stretching, doing other exercising, and taking some Advil. Been adjusting the way I sit during long meetings at church, or while I'm on the computer. Been visualizing what it's like to have my legs carry me for miles and miles. Yep, I've been on the edge about this, but maybe once I'm home for more than a couple hours at a time, I'll actually do something about it...

***That I will be glad when Kourtni gets her license. That I will not be glad when Kourtni gets her license. I have very mixed emotions about that girl and her socializing skills. She feels the need to go to parties, bowling, movies, b-ball games, etc... but she has no way to get herself there other than ME! And, after all, I do have awesome driving skills thanks to running her and her siblings around, but, my word! That girl is on the go and that means that I have to be on the go as well. I'm too tired and old to be on the go like that, so it is really nice when another parent chips in to drive but that hasn't happened too much lately. Oh, Kourtni, I love you, I just get tired thinking about taking you places...

***That I live for the weekend. I get giddy when it's Friday! A little more sleep, a little more time at the gym, a little more free time, a little more time with the family. Can you say it with me, "Ahhhhhh!"

***That I love having someone other than me or my kids clean the house. Wow. That's about all I can say. Too cool to come home from work and have your home sparkling. To look at the shower walls and actually see, what looks like, your reflection in them. To have the dust bunnies removed from the ceiling fans. To have mopping done in the laundry room! To have each bedroom vacuumed on one day! To have my toilets look amazing! Wow. I'm definitely thinking about adding this luxury to our budget...Thanks Merry Maids, you did a phenomenal job! Can you come again???

***That it really is ok for us not to have Christmas lights on the house. We can just enjoy our neighbors' lights and imagine what our house would look like if it were trimmed in red and white sparkly orbs...Wow, it would look great! But, this is an extremely busy time of year for he-who-would-get-on-the-house-and-put-up-the-lights, and we're just grateful to see him before 9:00 each weekday night and occasionally on Saturdays. Besides, we don't need any broken bones, sprained joints, or twisted tendons from what might happen if we got up on the roof...

***That I really am grateful to have such a good group of people who surround me each day - my little family rocks! These 5 people in my life are forgiving, patient, obedient, wonderful, funny, smart, amazing, and loving. I don't know what I would do without their support and presence each day. I love my ball babies!