It's A Rather Blustery Day Emily 6:25 PM

The winds today were unbelievable! I was worried the roof of my house might get ripped to shreds. This sounds like an exaggeration, but I assure you it's not. Winds reached up to 80 mph today and overturned a semi-truck on I-25. (The driver was uninjured, in case you're wondering.) Where many people had damage to cars, etc, we fared alright. Once we get our neighbors' trampolines and outdoor furniture out of our yard and track down the strangest incident of our uprooted tree that has just gone missing, everything should be back to normal. Heavens knows our fence didn't make it. But that's a whole new tale of woe.  (This picture is one of many like it from the Denver Post.)

Cali's First Birthday Emily 3:22 PM

So today was Cali's (yep, the hamster-the Californian Golden Girl) first birthday. Well, actually it was sometime about 3 weeks ago, but who's counting really? Apparently the girls. They were mortified to learn that we hadn't thrown a party on the special day. So we decided a late party would do. As silly as this little ritual seems, I now think everyone should throw parties for their pets, because its just too darn funny.

She showed us what Cali's cheeks would look like by the end of the party.

Make a wish little hamster...

Her little cake was made of a piece of bread with a layer of cream cheese and topped with a carrot. Tasty.

"I wonder if I can fit da whol' ting in my mouf."

"I'm stuffed."

The girls and I made this house for her. It fits inside her cage. The girls wet cheerios with a little dab of milk and stuck them to the outside - along with carrot and apple pieces.

Cali fell right to sleep afterwards. I think she almost had as much fun as the girls did.

Christmas Recovery Emily 6:26 PM

Today I avoided the shopping madness.  Eric, however, went shopping for a new suit and found a screaming deal on a gorgeous charcoal houndstooth.  The girls and I stayed inside and tackled the endless pile of house chores that have been long neglected - laundry, cleaning the hamster's (Cali's) cage, thank you notes, assembling various pieces to Christmas presents (you know the drill).

After another night of the girls' bedtime bickering, Eric and I have decided to give them their own rooms.  They actually don't bicker too often, but it seems that by the end of the day, as bedtime approaches, tears surface easily. With this comes a mountain of chores, but it provides an opportunity to paint the rooms.  The girls were so excited to hear that they were getting their own rooms and that they would get to vote on color and decor.  I will be prepping the rooms first - organizing toys, making Good Will donations, sketching plans to place all the furniture, carpet shampooing, etc.  I will try to get before and after pictures.  Just don't expect "after" pictures too quickly.

Somewhere in the mix, I have to get back to work.  My website is still sitting at its "under construction" status.  I can create collateral and sales packages for others all day long, but eventually I need marketing materials for my own business.  As always, I have lots of plans for the new year.  Hopefully I can complete them.

I'd like to encourage everyone to make New Year's Resolutions for 2009. I know, I know. We often set goals we just can't manage to complete when things get hectic, but just by setting them, they will be there - floating in your head - reminding you of some of the things that are important to you.  And you never know, you might just surprise yourself. Sometimes even failure can be a good thing.  So what if somewhere in mid-spring you abandoned the 3 times weekly work-out?  Just think of all the months (or weeks) you got the exercise that you might not have if you hadn't set a goal. What is life without ambition and even the occasional failure? Happy New Year!  Don't forget those resolutions!

Christmas Day Emily 11:42 AM

She got a bit gooney by the end of the night. She also got a kazoo in her Christmas Cracker, allowing for a noisier goon.

She got a very suiting eye patch in her Christmas Cracker, as she's still recovering from our neighbor's 7-year-old's golf club swing to the face. (It was an accident. She very sweetly gave her a get-well-soon present.)

All bundled up and ready to go to Grandma's house.

The girls liked their rag doll bunnies.

Eric made sock puppets for the girls.

Dad's tradition. We didn't have a Christmas train, we have an old race car track - the kind that cars fly off from if they get going too fast.

Meesha isn't too sure what to think of the race cars.

Christmas Day was so much fun. The girls woke up before the sun came up. Uggh! They were irresistibly cute and excited when opening their Christmas presents. We had a cheddar egg souffle for breakfast and took a nap. My in-laws, Alan and Kathie came by for a bit to exchange gifts and their visit was a pleasant and quiet one. My dad called from Baghdad. I was so glad to hear from him. Everyone has been missing him terribly. We moseyed on over to Jen's for dinner sometime around 6ish. She made the very best roast ever (lovingly referred to as "roast beastie" around here). It was such a fun visit. About 2 pieces of pie later, (and an hour past the girls' bedtime) craziness began to ensue and we bade our farewells. All-in-all a truly wonderful Christmas.

The December I Never Slept Emily 10:17 AM

As the economy has seemed to hit everyone's Christmas budget hard this year, my mother-in-law decided to encourage everyone to make their gifts this year.  True to form, I latched onto this idea and ran for miles with it.  I look back on it and wonder if I have masochistic tendencies, but I must admit that I think this was one of my favorite Christmases ever.  I must have threatened my sewing machine a million times, but the look of joy on my girls' faces when they received something I made for them was priceless.

Here in Colorado we share Christmas with extended family as well - 5 on my side, 28! and growing on Eric's side.  I should have recognized this as mission impossible from the start.  I can sigh in relief now that we managed to pull it off and now it's over.

This is just a sampling of the gifts made from this year.  Plush toys, nursery watercolor paintings, paper dolls and t-shirts illustrated and designed by me, zines, potter's tool belts, nightgowns for the girls, kids' bathmitts, chemical-free soaps, picnic sets, kids' magnet games of long and short (using watercolor illustrations of various animals), calendars, travel art kits, picture books... a monster sized migraine.  I just can't thank Eric enough for being patient with me through this madness, for all the dinners he cooked, all the kitchen duties he picked up where I slacked off, and especially all the wrapping. (He hates wrapping.)  I love you!

It's About Time Emily 8:56 AM

In an effort to keep long distance loved ones in touch, I'm finally creating a blog.  Since I have a natural abhorrence for Christmas newsletters and fear authorship of boring year summations,  I am instead creating a blog, which hopefully will not wind up being just another Christmas newsletter of epic proportions.