A Moment In Time

A gift just dropped in my lap!

*plop*

Husband took the three little ladies out for some bouncing. I was unprepared for such a gift. My first moments of quiet in.... in a long time! I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought, but I'm going to leave you all to dig in on photos. I'm three months behind and the year end tomorrow! ACK!

Thieves

Oh the thieves! 

I know it's the holiday season, and people sometimes don't make the best decisions when it comes to gift preparations. There has been a rash of package thefts in our neighborhood; packages removed from front porches. I have been victim. 

So when I received my message Friday afternoon that my package was delivered at the front door, at 10 am, I was a little nervous. Fast forward 8 hours and guess what isn't waiting at the front door. 

Shocker!

Thankfully Christmas was saved by a generous order replacement and rush shipping after a painless chat session. The grandmothers will be pleased. I am pleased, but my mind is boggled. 

When choosing to steal a usually unmarked box from someone's porch, what are your criteria? Thing of real value usually require signature. I order *tons* of things through amaz.on that are shipped in plain brown amaz.on boxes of varying size. Amaz.on is a crap shoot, you could find something valuable or maybe just dog treats. Today I received: 

Not much use to anyone unless you're aiming to build a snowman or like the Clockwork Orange look. However when my mug was stolen, they physically tore the mug from the packaging. I guess a mug would make a nice enough gift, I was going to gift it myself. So what's the point in taking the gamble? Seems like a waste of time for all involved. 

Furthermore, a box from a picture company? You can't pass out other peoples' pictures! Turns out they delivered it next door, my giant house numbers must be impossible to read. So after I came to terms with my guilt from having jumped to conclusions, I'm still left wondering what to do with these extra picture books. 

Anyone want a book of my family? :)

Pick Me Up

The grind of daily life, especially in December, can be overwhelming. For us it is concert season for the hubs and me hustling to get things in place for the holiday and it's various happenings. Thrown into the mix is a very needy dog and the after affects of school, all leading to a slightly frazzled Mama! Thankfully I've found a new midday indulgence. 

A little slice of heaven, warm and covered with salted caramel. *swoon*

I think the only thing that may top this, if I bring some cocoa, would be Brownie-in-a-Mug with an ever so slight scoop of ice cream. The best part, there is no evidence and questions of sharing. Bwhahahaha! 

I know I can't be the only one getting cartoon hearts over simple pleasures. 

What's your simple pick-me-up these days?

Pick Me Up

The grind of daily life, especially in December, can be overwhelming. For us it is concert season for the hubs and me hustling to get things in place for the holiday and it's various happenings. Thrown into the mix is a very needy dog and the after affects of school, all leading to a slightly frazzled Mama! Thankfully I've found a new midday indulgence. 

A little slice of heaven, warm and covered with salted caramel. *swoon*

I think the only thing that may top this, if I bring some cocoa, would be Brownie-in-a-Mug with an ever so slight scoop of ice cream. The best part, there is no evidence and questions of sharing. Bwhahahaha! 

I know I can't be the only one getting cartoon hearts over simple pleasures. 

What's your simple pick-me-up these days?

Saturday Snapshots : Looking For Beauty

Photo Overload! 

Late to the party as usual, we had our annual Christmas party Saturday. 

I really struggled with beauty. Am I alone here? I think it's because I have soooooo many pictures of the ladies.

How can people pass by this and not gasp? Worse, how can they bag them up??

Everyone else takes pictures of the ship, but that mast against the clouds?! Gorgeous.  #elevatetheordinary

Again, looking all around. 

Even graffiti on historic structures has a small bit of beauty in it. 

Contrast. 

The next three are all from Brooklyn. They are all considered graffiti and vandalism, but are based on a declaration of love. 

Swoon

The beauty here is of my perseverance and accomplishment. I built a shed!

Lastly, this isn't about the beauties before you but rather the beauty in trusting them and the confidence they hold for themselves. 

Favorites? 

Head over to check out Marcia and join in! 

Baby's Stories and Mr. Kringle

Let me being by introducing you to Baby.

For being so tiny, and clearly so young, she has live quite the bold and adventurous life. One of my favorite pastimes, and something I hope lasts a bit longer, is to hear baby stories. They go on and on, proof of an active imagination. Although sometimes it's mocking of real life is a bit... creepy. This morning while doing hair I was treated to another gem, a day in the life of Baby: 

This one time, at baby and my's house, a deer ate all the food in the pantry. There was a deer in your house?It jumped through the glass in the door. We kept the baby deer. You kept a deer as a pet? Was it a mama deer and her baby that jumped through? Yes. No it was a daddy deer. And he jumped through the door and got very badly hurt. And he died. So we took him to the vet so he could be burned by fire like Orion did. And we buried him in Moose Munch cemetery. Did the baby have a mama? Shouldn't you return it to it's mother?Yes. But she ran away. She left her baby!?Yes, for us to take care of. And she ran away but was hit by car. And she died. So the police put up yellow tape and cones so no more cars would hit the deer. 

What interests me most is how she reworks recent events into Baby's life. Jumped through the glass in the door is what our dog did last week. We cremated our other dog two months ago, a process I now regret explaining because I am reminded of it EVERY MORNING as we pass the cemetery. Moose Munch was a school fundraiser. Deer in the road we pass regularly but the most recent one was fresh and involved, you guessed it, police, yellow tape, and cones.

While I am all for that imagination, I am struggling with Mr. Kringle. I never wanted to raise children with the fantasies of Santa, the easter bunny, and tooth fairy. Society labels me a cold, heartless mother and I was fine with that. What I can't control is other kids. So my children now firmly believe in Santa and all his magic thanks to recess and my husbands love of Rankin and Bass. My reminders of him merely being the mascot of the holiday, of him representing the spirit of Christmas, are falling on deaf ears. This week they came home talking about leaving cookies and milk for Mr. Kringle and a salad bar for his reindeer. Geez!

So I will solider on with my tree of kindness, and make reminders about giving and not receiving. I will be happy to have children who are generous and kind. Most of all I will be happy that I don't have to chase an elf around my house all month or threaten my children with a fictional old man to elicit desired behaviors! HA!

I feel the time ticking down, December is always so long and busy.

Friday Night Bullets

• The dog nearly killed himself yesterday. I nearly killed him for killing himself. There was a large vet bill and home repair bill involved. In addition to stitches and staples, our four legged companion now has two anti-anxiety prescriptions but I think I'm the one who should be taking them. [Side note: I could totally be a CSI!] 
• I was completely flummoxed today. E wanted to know how the soldiers end up at Walter Reed and why they couldn't go home for Christmas. They're at an age of understanding, but I'm not sure how much I'm comfortable sharing. I'm all for explaining the bad things in life but jeeze. Together we worked out that they get hurt fighting in war for our country, and might need stitches and casts and lots of help. Suddenly these cards seems sooo insignificant and my heart is heavy. 
• I'm still struggling with this school business. It feels like such a waste of time. Sooo much busy work and not enough playing. 
• My package that was was not delivered yesterday showed up today, looking like this and full of nothing:

Awesome delivery! Enjoy the mug... #assholes

A photo posted by mandyhosier (@mandyhosier) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:12pm PST

• Christmas is in 20 days and despite starting the month full of hope and feeling accomplished, I have burnt out. December is always hell. 
• Lastly, I made a killer apple crisp tonight and have eaten half of it. Eating your emotions is DELISH!

Happy Weekend!

Advent of Kindness

I *really* wanted to do an advent calendar of exclusively kindness acts. Reality reminded me that we're a family short on time with places to be. I also realized that in years pasted I used things we would already be doing as fillers and these would be expected things. How could I not put down the cousin Christmas party? 

Our Advent Tree. 

I write the tags in the evening before since we now have readers. Not so much to keep things secret, but to prevent the constant flipping and removing. My washi is only re-stickable to a certain point! For things that aren't directly acts of kindness, I'm trying to spin it. 

Four days in and I'm confident we're raising kind and giving children. Last night as we scoured the toy aisle for donations C asked 

"How do I know what to buy if I don't know who I'm buying for?"

While I'm sure the realities of poverty and need are lost on her, I'm glad she understand that these are real people who have tastes and desires just like her. There were no issues parting with the gifts this morning, although they were sure to alert us to some really cool toys in the toy aisle. :)

The count continues...

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas in the making!

Any guesses??

School Nurse

In all the weirdness that is me navigating my way through life as a mother to two newly minted Kindergarteners, it was a welcome surprise to have a fantastic interaction with the School Nurse. I always seem to be on the fence with every. little. thing. regarding with school. Wednesday night I was bottled fury!

My child came home with a chipped tooth! Her explanation; I fell and got an ice pack.

Bruised and scratched gums, wiggly teeth, and a chipped tooth. 

WTH?! Where was a call? A note? Something!

I calmed myself over the long weekend and wrote a short email. I understand that I am only hearing one side, from a five year old. I understand that this is a five year old and sge may be uncomfortable with strangers and may not be as cooperative or forthcoming as she is at home. I also understand that this is a trained and licensed nurse. I just wanted to know what the policy is regarding contacting parents. It's a baby tooth, so there is no real fuss to be made. I just want to know that should this have happened to my 9 year olds' permanent tooth someone would have had the forethought to give me a buzz so I can get the next appointment at the dentist for a crown.

Wouldn't you know she called me within 5 minutes.

Super nice, down to earth, and very apologetic. Neither my dear child nor the class aide made any mention of tooth or mouth injury. They said chin, there was a red mark on chin. Ice was requested and delivered. She treated what she saw and was made aware of, and with another adult backing up the child's claim of a bumped chin why would she feel the need to root around in her mouth? She offered to call me whenever my children show up in her office if it would put me at ease.

I apologized for being that mom, but she thought it was warranted. I think we're secretly BFFs now.

We ended that conversation with me being more comfortable with the school and with me taking myself down a few notches on the that mom scale.

Side note: My children are in the living room playing "Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish..." Another first; thank you playground at school!

Monochrome Monday

Hooray for finally joining in the Monochrome Monday madness. Go check out Marcia and send her some positive, glass-jar finding, vibes. 

Today I took the big camera out before it gathered another layer of dust. I set it to mono and off I went. 

It was 70 degrees on the first of December! Insane, but it made a lovely day to walk the trail. 

I half-heartedly thought about nabbing some of these weeds to plant out back. Just for the fluffy fun. 

Bridge support.

Stream.

Cutie.

Big, gnarly tree. 

Trail.

Sun.

Favorites?

I'm really glad I played with some more B&W. It's not my go to and it's nice to explore. 

Thanks M!