And, There Ya Go

I got up at 7:00 this morning, threw in the first of six loads of laundry, got the coffee to perculatin' and started Christmas Bakapalooza 2015.

Spicy ginger-molasses cookies, drop sugar cookies, chocolate chippers, and oatmeal raisin cookies (affectionately know around these parts as Son-in-Law cookies) are now done and I am exhausted.

Tomorrow evening, I will make two kinds of fudge and some chocolate covered pretzels. Tuesday evening, I plan to do the cut-sugar cookies. Wednesday, M&M cookies, Thursday, pizelles, and, Saturday, frosting for the cut sugar cookies, spritz cookies, and, possibly, some banana and pumpkin breads.

I am taking Friday night off for the Man-Cub's basketball game, and, because, by then, I will probably be soaked in vanilla and in need of a break.

Next year, please remind me that procrastination is not my friend and that holiday baking should be a marathon and not a sprint, please.

Now, I am going to tidy up the kitchen before The Teenager arrives for an overnight visit; we are going out for Chinese and then to view the light display at the local botanic gardens.

Mama needs a little breather.

Still No Cookies

But!

I did manage to go from this

to this

It took hours, but I got everything wrapped and ready to load into the car for the trip to Mayberry. The Man-Cub was bummed that there are no presents under the tree, but, I decided to spare myself having to move them twice, and, I stacked them in the mudroom, where they will be easily transferred to the car.

I have a few last-minute gifts that will join the pile prior to the trip, but, all in all, I have the majority of this chore accomplished.

Which, really leaves me no excuses for not baking cookies tomorrow.

(Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something).

So, This Is Christmas

I am so behind.

Christmas is two weeks away and I have not baked a single cookie. At this point, I am debating the merits of taking the holiday off, completely. Lord knows my ass doesn't need the calories, anyway.

And, we are visiting Mayberry for Christmas, there will be plenty of goodies at my mom's. Skipping the baking won't be a big deal. Heck, I bet no one even notices...

... yeah. Who am I kidding?

So, tomorrow I bake.

Le sigh.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending some uninterrupted quality time with the Man-Cub. We went Christmas shopping, which, probably wasn't exactly what the Cub would define as quality time, but, he made out like a bandit, so, I didn't hear him complaining.

After I had dragged him to three stores, we made a quick stop at the Hellmouth to pick up a few odds and ends. While we were there, I saw my friend, the Booster Club president, who happens to work in the store. Her duty for the day was to man a camera perched atop a tripod, taking pictures of....wait for it...kids sitting on Santa's lap!

The second the Cub saw the Big Guy, he turned on his heels and made a beeline for the electronics section like his ass was on fire, but, it was too late; his momma was on a mission, and that mission involved his ass sitting on Santa's knee, whether it was on fire or not.

As you may imagine, he was...reluctant.

I am not too proud to admit that I begged.

I pleaded with the kid for five minutes for just one last photo with Santa. Just one! He logically reminded me that he had, just the night before, refused to put his Christmas letter under his pillow; did I really think he was going to sit on the guy's lap?

Yes, yes I did.

And, I wasn't afraid to employ any means necessary to get my way. I reminded the Cub that, on that Christmas list, was a rather expensive gaming system, a gaming system that he desperately wanted and, finally, after promising to put in a good word for him with the other big guy (the one who controls the credit cards), the Cub sighed the sigh of defeat and...

My life is complete.

Happy Saint Nick's Day

Today is the day set aside to honor Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children (and, of repentant thieves, go figure). Not many people celebrate this day, but, it has always held a special place in my heart. Longtime readers of this blog (Hi, Mom!) may recall that my grandfather's name was Nickolas; he was named for the saint upon his birth, which was on December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day.

When my kids were quite small, I decided to honor both my grandfather and the original Saint Nicholas (yes, my grandfather was a saint, no one can tell me differently) by leaving coins for them to wake up to on the morning of December 6th, as was the tradition during Saint Nick's lifetime.

Of course, being me, I couldn't go the full traditional route (St. Nick left coins in the children's shoes), so, I made the practice a bit more unique to our family; I asked the kids to write their letters to Santa and to place them underneath their pillows on the night of the 5th. Sometime during the night, I told them, Santa's elves would steal into their rooms to gather the letters for Santa. We would know the elves had visited by the trail of elf dust that they left in each of the kids' bedrooms, as well as by the absence of the letters and the magical appearance of chocolate coins.

The kids loved this tradition and we kept it up long after the magic of Santa had faded.

Last night, I cajoled the Cub into writing his letter. He humored me with that part but flat out refused to place it under his pillow. Maybe something about a grown-ass adult sneaking into his room to dig underneath his pillow while he slept creeps him out. Maybe I can't blame him for that.

Anyway, I did crack his door open far enough to toss some chocolate coins on the foot of his bed this morning. There will be no elf dust, not just because the Cub doesn't really require it anymore, but, because my supply of elf dust is almost depleted; the small vial cost less than two bucks and lasted about fifteen years, so I can't really complain.

I don't know if the kids will carry on the tradition with their own children (many, many moons from now), but, I'm glad that I had so many years in which to do it for them. The memory of the awe and delight on their faces when they would point out the glistening trail from their windows to their beds will remain forever etched on my brain and, more importantly, in my heart.

That's a pretty good return on a $1.99 investment, in my opinion.

Swish!

We are on the final day of a three-day basketball tournament. The Man-Cub, who you may remember was pulled up to play Varsity, has gotten playing time in each of the first two games.

Last night, he scored five points for the team, including a three-pointer so pretty, it brought tears to the eye. Well, to my eye, anyway.

He also got a technical foul for muttering under his breath about the referee possibly needing new glasses. The ref, whose hearing was clearly better than his eyesight, was not impressed.

While there is no defense for the Cub's statement, he really was innocent of the foul that the ref called on him. In fact, he was the one who took an elbow to the chest, but, that's the way the ball rolls, sometimes.

Anyway, I'm super proud of the Cub and excited to watch him play again, later today.

If he isn't benched as punishment for the technical, that is.

Ahem.

On a side note, after his three-pointer, the mother of his current crush leaned over to say that he might want to hold back a little if he still intends to play for the JV, the coach just might decide to make him a Varsity player, exclusively. We both agreed that the Cub would be devastated if that happened, he really enjoys the JV team and would be bummed to miss out on playing with them.

Of course, two seconds later, both teams were lined up behind the midcourt line while the other team took their technical shots, so, probably no need to worry about the Cub's standing anytime soon.

Serendipity?

Perhaps.

Finishing Touches

We are halfway finished with the last two projects for my scrapbooking room. And, by we, I mean Hugh, because, I'm honest, and, in no way interested in stealing his craftsman thunder.

Ahem.

When last we spoke about the scrapbooking room, I made mention of wanting a table for additional crafting space. I may have also mentioned that I wanted an office chair, or, I may not have; it's really all a blur at this point. Anyhoodle, the chair I pictured in my head for the room was a vintage banker's chair, preferably in white. I started the search for the chair in local stores, coming up empty at every turn. Next, I sourced chairs online, where I found something similar to what I wanted on the Restoration Hardware site...for $495.

DOLLARS

American.

That's....INSANE.

Needless to say, I did not simply enter my credit card digits and hope that Hugh would overlook the bill; I am, after all, well aware that I have champagne tastes on a beer budget...light beer.

So, I got creative; I asked Hugh if it was possible that there might be an old chair lurking somewhere in the darkest recesses of the hardware store. He said no. So, I asked again, was he sure? Like, positive, sure? And, he sighed and told me to look for myself if I didn't believe him, which, I did.

Guess what I found?

The chair, while having seen better days, was exactly the shape I wanted, and, I believed that, given the proper care, it could be a dead ringer for the $495 Restoration Hardware chair. Hugh was less convinced, but, upon seeing how well the chair fit me (Like a glove, people! My ass cheeks fit in the worn grooves of the chair like it had been cradling my backside all it's life!), he reluctantly agreed to take the chair home to see what he could do with it.

Tearing it completely apart was not exactly what I had in mind, but, I had to trust that he had a method to his madness.

While he was working on the chair, I researched the maker's label and learned that the Sheboygan Chair Company, located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, started producing chairs in 1888. The product number on my chair led me to an old catalogue, where I learned that the model was part of an affordable line of office chairs, produced in the 1930's and 1940's.

While technically an antique, the chair doesn't have a great deal of monetary value; given that it had been in the store since the beginning of the business, the sentimental value is, however, priceless. So, I was anxious to see that it retained it's original beauty while being updated for functionality and style. Hugh delivered on every aspect.

After he had deconstructed the chair, Hugh sanded the pieces. He glued areas that required glue and mended a large crack in the seat. Once he had the pieces in shape, he reassembled the chair and painted it to match the cabinets in the scrapbooking room. The metalwork under the seat was spiffed up with black paint, and a new set of casters was attached to the feet, making the chair easier to roll and maneuver around my workspace, as well as sturdier in general.

I love how it turned out.

I also love the price tag: under $75 for all the materials; that beats $495 in more ways than just financially, in my opinion.

Next up: the table I mentioned earlier. Of course, we may have to get through the holidays before Hugh embarks on that little adventure...so...to be continued.