Ordinary Time

When I figured out that I didn't have to squeeze in all the holiday fun before Christmas, it felt like a huge relief. I also couldn't believe it took me so long to figure out something so simple. So now, if we don't get to cookie decorating before Christmas, we do it after the big day. It is no less fun and actually more relaxing. Y. mostly made the cookies, with a little help at the end from G. and L.  Another thing that happened is that J. painted the corner of the kitchen that still had the bruise colored walls. I can't believe how much better and brighter this corner looks now. The cabinets, light fixtures, and counter tops are still not wonderful, but the walls are now all a decent color. It's all about positive movement, right? I also did a lot of fiber-type things but have decided that I'll save all of that for Mondays, so as not to inundate the uninterested. I am a little sad (okay, a lot sad) that our week of total free time is coming to an end. I am re...

This is the weather that my children were desperately hoping would come before Christmas. It was just a little late. Of course, it was the same day that I desperately needed to go to the grocery store. I also was informed that some children need hats and gloves (and at least one needs snow boots). I thought I had taken care of all that earlier. It seems that actual snow has jogged some memories. Don't worry, we are making due and everyone who wanted was able to play in the snow. The first snow of the season is always so pretty.

I had a very fiber arts related Christmas. TM surprised me by giving me the rigid heddle loom that I had been wanting. I was very much not expecting it. It seems I gave him a bad turn when I enlisted his help to go and collect the floor loom I bought a couple of weeks ago. Since the two looms are very different things, I see no repetition at all. I just have more and different things to play with.  Yesterday I spent getting my new loom ready to put together. They come disassembled and unfinished, so I needed to seal the wood. That was yesterday's project. There is also a yarn swift in that pile which J. gave me. H. may be as excited about that particular item as I am since she is usually the one who ends up holding my skeins of yarn as I wind them into balls. The swift will save H.'s arms. Since I had the wood finishing wax out, I decided I would also really clean the floor loom. I cut off the old warm and took nearly everything apart and gave it a good cleaning and waxing. I...

The best way to sum up the holiday is to say we are abundantly blessed in so many different ways. We had a lovely day with all of our children begin present at one time or another during the day. The day was filled with plenty... food, family, gifts, love, and laughter.  The table set for Christmas Eve dinner. Ready for the morning Waiting to come downstairs We were having such a nice time that I pretty much have zero pictures of the festivities. I do have some animal pictures I can share. G. had made horse muffins for the horses, and they got to enjoy their treats on Christmas morning. Bristol Java She liked them! Emmy Java hoping there were more treats she could take from Emmy. Vienna was very excited about her treats. And we brought Kenzie's beanbag (yes, it's his now, no children sit in it) so he could be comfortable during the present opening. And how crazy is this? As we were cooking lunch, the kitchen got hot so we opened a sliding door. The weather is just bizarre for t...

I am going to go out on a limb here and say, very tentatively, that I think we have turned a corner with R. Last night getting her to bed was dreadful, but then she slept all night in her own bed, something that hasn't happened for nearly a week now. This morning was once again, dreadful, but she was able to come back from the abyss and had a fairly normal day. This would be a fantastic Christmas present if she could maintain baseline over the holidays. So that was positive... after a while. On top of the positive trend with R., I have to say that this is most relaxed I've felt on December 23 since I had children. I keep wondering what major thing I have forgotten, but can't think of anything. I guess it is the combination of paring down holiday obligations to a manageable amount combined with children who have pretty much become extremely capable.  This afternoon, D. helped wrapped some gifts for me while I sat and read my mystery novel. ( Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowit...

TM said at dinner tonight that he can't wait until the night of December 25 because it is the best sleeping night of the year. I have to say I agree with him. While I love Christmas and love celebrating the day, there is a lot running around my head the weeks previous. This is even after I have significantly pared down my own expectations around the holiday. Looked at objectively, things here are well under control. I have plenty of time to do what I need to do and only have a handful of errands left. But creating Christmas for 16 people, even a modest one, has a lot of moving parts, the majority of which live inside my head. There were years when W. and B. and A. were the only ones when I had years of December induced insomnia coupled with nightmares when I did sleep of having forgotten to get ready for Christmas and suddenly is was Christmas Day. I had a lot of unrealistic expectations paired with some pretty untethered perfectionism happening during those early years of my paren...

TM went to collect D. from school and they made it home this evening. Because I needed a Christmas card picture, I bribed everyone with dinner and we managed to get a picture where everyone looks pretty good and is looking at the camera. This is about the best we hope for everyone. We don't dress up, we don't worry about it looking perfect, we set up the timer and hope for the best.  All sixteen of us all together. I love these people. And here is the picture we won't be using for Christmas cards this year, though it makes me laugh.

I truly have lost track at this point, I'm quite sure we are in the double digits and may even be into the twenties. Who knows? I stopped counting quite a few years ago. Today it was R.'s turn. Again. She has been a little off for the past couple of days, so J. took her with him on some errands he had to run since I had to teach a lesson. They managed, but J. felt as though things were starting to fall apart near the end of the errands. But they get home about the same time I am finishing up with my lesson. As I'm standing in our parking area chatting with my friend whose daughter had a lesson, I realize that R. has fallen face first on the gravel and is having a seizure.  I call for J. and he gets her turned around and her face is pretty beat up. My first question is, "Does she have all her teeth?" Eventually we saw that this time she had not knocked any teeth out, but there was one cut that we looked at and both realized needed stitches. (We're rather pros...

And suddenly, it is a week before Christmas. December does fly by, doesn't it? Writing out that little fact might panic me more if I wasn't 95% done with my Christmas shopping.  H. and I are finishing up with the Christmas cards. Then, when D. gets home on Sunday, we'll take the family picture and get them all sent. No, I haven't wrapped a single thing. Why rush into these things? I did buy wrapping paper at the dollar store today. I discovered, though, that it needs to change its name as suddenly there are multiple products which are $1.25 and not a dollar there now. They are labelled. Sort of. If you're looking. I realize it's only a quarter, but still. My most recent library book to arrive on the hold shelf is titled, How to do Nothing. It is perhaps not the ideal book to start reading the week before Christmas. Not if I want to pull off any sort of Christmas, that is. H. spent the morning at her the Rising Lights Project . I think I've mentioned this gro...

Thursdays always do me in. They are our co-op day, so it is a combination of leaving early (which means getting to the barn earlier than usual), making sure everyone has everything, being gone all day, and teaching three classes. I do a lot of sitting and resting once we get home and I've taken care of the horses. It is also why there are sometimes no posts on Thursdays; I just don't have it in me. Today would have been more of the same except that K., H., and Y. have provided some blog fodder in terms of their art work.  Here are the paintings they finished in their art class today. I love them and am going to find frames for them.  Y. H. K. These are drawings which are then painted with different dilutions of coffee. I love each of them. I love how they each took the same idea and did something unique with it. 

or the shopping list for that matter. But when you have been looking for something and you see what you realize is an incredible deal, you go a take a look. See what I brought home today... This is a little floor loom. I thought it was going to be a jack look, but it turns out to be a four shaft counter-balance loom. (The details are for my few readers who know anything about looms.) It is a fifty year old homemade loom and I got to meet the owner when I went to get it. She used it a lot, so I know it works. (And I checked it all out before I bought it.) My only concern is that I foresee the shafts begin a little fiddly and I will have to use the treadles to move the shafts back up into position. For what I paid, it is a small irritation.  I really want to play with it, but so far I've just kind of poked around at it and figured out how everything moves. It is currently warped, but I know the warp thread is at least thirty years old and might be too brittle to work. I should probab...

I don't know about you, but I am spending far too much time these days thinking about Christmas gifts. I think I am about 90% done at this point. This is one of those tasks which take far more time than you expect it to, both the thinking of ideas and the acquiring of stuff. Since one of the gifts (a game, which is what most family gifts are around here) I had planned to get for the family is currently sold out and 3rd party sellers are selling new ones are selling new copies at exorbitant prices, I won't be getting it. Maybe some other time. No one will be lacking. I got home today from my riding lesson to find many children all playing a game together. It was one that I love, but hadn't been out in a while. It made me think, with all of the bizarre supply chain problems (for instance, why can my Aldi not keep frozen corn or peas on the shelf?!), maybe some of you are searching for ideas to finish off your Christmas shopping. Plus, I haven't done a game round up of som...

December 13 is the day set aside to remember the economic, historic, and cultural contributions equines have made. In honor of the day, I thought I would share some pictures from the past year of my equines. I will admit I still pinch myself a bit when I realize I have a horse... and not just one horse, but four of them. It feels like an embarrassment of riches. Horses have made me healthier, both physically and emotionally. Spending time with them is calming. It is the very rare day that I don't don't feel better after having spent some time with them. I truly believe that horses help us to regulate ourselves. Just as I use co-regulation to help calm my disregulated children, horses can co-regulate the people around them. I've seen anxious children and adults become calmer in their presence. Horses can help us to be more mindful of the present, letting go of past concerns and future worries. Horses are beautiful. Nearly every person who has come spent time with these horse...

  Not much to report from today. We got everything picked up from our party yesterday and are looking very festive. TM has spent the past two days making lovely mugs of Mexican hot cocoa which I have been enjoying very much. There is Christmas music on all the time, sometime different music in different rooms combined with someone playing carols on the piano. It is a little crazy making. I was able to spend some time spinning this afternoon and people are waiting for me to watch another Christmas move together. It's been a good weekend.  But here is something that I find vaguely disturbing. I am currently reading an Agatha Christie mystery because I find I can't concentrate on anything too serious in December. My brain is too full of too many other things. I happened to glance at the copyright date of the book because I was curious. It is 1926. In four years it will be 100 years old. I don't know about you, but I'm reeling a little bit at thinking of Agatha Christie...