Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus. We are off to PEI, praying for good driving weather! Be back in a week or so!

Four-Eyes!

Oh yes, soon that is what two of my boys will become, four-eyes! (not that you will ever hear me call them that!) My two oldest (10 and 7) have to get glasses...sigh. My youngest has slight astigmatism (hopefully it won't get worse because he doesn't need glasses right now). Their dad has passed on his bad eyes to his boys, but you'll hear him blaming his mother! Not really an expense that I wanted to shell out for after Christmas shopping. Luckily, my husband's grandma sent some Christmas money for the boys. Instead of Christmas presents, great-grandma is helping to provide the gift of better sight. That's not such a bad gift! So I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of this around here:

(Andrew wearing my glasses)

I just have to add one more thing. Andrew was starting to get a bit nervous about wearing glasses this morning and said "I don't want them to take away my cuteness" He is so funny, as if anything could take away his cuteness! (no low self-esteem here!)

Snow Day

Things have been so busy and I've been wishing for an evening off. I guess I got my wish! We were supposed to have our Carol sing at church last night but it is snowing hard and has be postponed. I'm a little disappointed but do look forward to a nice quiet evening at home with the boys. There is a new Muppets Christmas movie coming on tonight but it doesn't start until 9pm local time. I am torn, there are Christmas movies on almost every night right now, but none start until at least 8. I have let the boys stay up until 10pm to watch the movies, but this morning they were so tired and I had trouble getting them out of bed. These TV specials are only on once a year and they only have two more days until Christmas vacation. My dilemma is, do I let them stay up and watch the fun shows, or put them to bed on time so they aren't over tired? I will probably let them stay up, maybe we'll get lucky and school will be canceled tomorrow!

We finally got our Christmas tree up. We were running out of time for a real tree so we decided to put our artificial one up, so we can enjoy the lights for the next week. Any tree looks nice if you put enough lights on it right? That's my theory!

Here are a few pictures of our tree. I didn't get a clear picture so I decided to just make it look like the soft dreamy look of the picture was on purpose, play along, okay?

The First and Last Lobster I Ever Cooked!!!

A friend of ours just came back from PEI and her son is a lobster fisherman. She brought home 61 LIVE lobsters in her trunk. I bought two because the price was right and hey, I live in the Maritimes, have to try cooking a lobster at least once!

I should let you know that I'm kind of scared of creepy things, especially spiders! My husband was in bed sick so I know I was the one who was going to have to deal with these things. When I got home I tried to pull one out of the bag to show the cat but whenever I touched it, IT MOVED!! I stuck them in the fridge until I was ready to deal with them.

I have to admit I was a bit creeped out at the fact that I was going to have to drop these things into a pot of boiling water alive. Poor creepy things. You'll probably see the word creepy many times in this post, because that is what they were! I used a pair of spaghetti tongs to pick the first one up to put him in the water. Actually, the first one wasn't too bad, he didn't put up a fight or anything.

So, now I'm thinking I can actually do this. He didn't fight, no "scream" (that some talked about when I looked online to learn how to cook the creepies), just curled his tail and instantly turned red. Now getting the second lobster was were the comedy started. He really didn't like getting picked up with those tongs and everytime I tried, he'd flip his tail at me and I'd scream and drop him (or her, I have NO idea!). It took about 5 tries to get him into the pot. That was enough excitement for one night so I put them in the fridge until the next day.

Okay, next day and time to eat the creepy lobsters. Ya, those guys are VERY protected in that shell! I was kind of creeped out about pulling the creature apart. Andrew thought it was fun to pull out the antennae and claws so I let him have at it. Joseph pulled a claw and antenna too but Nathanael wanted nothing to do with it! It took a HAMMER, bashing the daylights out of the thing, to get past that shell. All I can say is, all that work and creepiness, wasn't worth it! I know there are lots out there who love lobster. I don't get it.

I can say now that I've done it but I've got no desire to do it again!!!! One more adventure done! The funniest thing (warped sense of humour I guess) is that night I heard Joseph fussing in his room. I went in there and he kept saying "I'm scared of that lobster" in his sleep. I guess I wasn't the only one creeped out!

Look at all the legs and Antennae, too spidery for me!

Eww, the beady eyes, which sink in when you blow on them. Kids had fun with that.

First one done! I did it and survived to tell the story!

Like A Chicken With Her Head Cut Off?

It is Monday again. Hmmm, link up to Make Me Laugh Monday? Ya, no time to find funny things this last week.

Oh, Link up to Menu Plan Monday. Yaaaa, I haven't even gone grocery shopping in so long that I was forced to take a can of beans to work for lunch today...seriously!

As a pastor's wife, my schedule this time of year tends to get kind of full and if I wasn't busy enough, I joined a choir for a Christmas pagent too. I have something going on tonight (Monday), tomorrow, Wednesday, Friday (Church dinner to cook for on Thursday). I have I have three singing events from the 16th to the 21st. I still need to get the boy's picture printed and to get my Christmas cards done and sent and I haven't even started shopping and no tree up yet! Whew...breathe...ahh. It is only for a short time every year and I'm going to follow Sarah's lead and "enjoy the madness of it all. Cramming in all the fun, and trying to savor every last second...not feeling guilty." That is a direct quote from her blog and she is a fellow Pastor's wife and mom of boys so I think I'm drawing wisdom from the right person!

At least (hopefully, if the weather cooperates) we will be going over to PEI on the 23rd and spending Christmas with some dear friends. That takes the pressure off me to be cleaning, cooking and such for Christmas but I will lend a hand!

Oh and here is a picture to prove I did infact get my decorating done, except the tree. I have to squeeze some time in for that somehow!

6 Random Facts

I was tagged by Peanut last weekend for this meme where I list 6 random facts about myself. I had to think about this one for a bit. Not sure I have anything too interesting about me to share but I'll give it a shot. Here goes nothing!

1. I have a strange OCD thing with the tv. When I turn the volume up or down, it must stop on an even number. 2, 4, 6, 8, 24, you get the idea. I don't know why and my boys think I'm strange. I guess I am.

2. It really bothers me if something isn't symmetrical. I once gave away a loveseat because one of the buttons fell off and it was no longer the same on each side. But as far as OCD's go, that is pretty much it. I wish I had a bit of the OCD's where everything must be neat, or organized or I must be thin. Nope, none of those!

3. I have bad hay fever. I'm allergic to spring, fall, summer, dust and my cat. I insist on keeping my cat, don't seem to clean the dust as much as I should and would even like to get a dog someday. I have to take allergy pills every morning and night or else live with a permanent head cold!

4. I live over 6000kms (over 3900miles) from most of my family and close friends. I do find it hard. I miss them all and my boys don't know many members of my family. I am thankful to live in a time when technology allows us to keep in touch with our families and friends on a regular basis.

5. I find being a working mother the hardest thing I've done in my life. I was a stay at home mom for 8yrs and have been working full time now for 2yrs. I thought I was balancing it all alright until a few days ago when my youngest was crying and said that I never play with him and he was upset that I was having to go out for the third night in a row. I am also a pastor's wife so my schedule is busy. I was able to shuffle and reschedule a few things so I could spend some quality time with my boys and I realize I need to make that more of a priority.

6. I prefer to live in small towns. I am not a city girl AT ALL! I am so directionally challenged and still have to trace a path in my head when I first walk into Walmart so I go the right way to get where I want to go. I have been shopping at our Walmart for almost 6yrs. Sad I know, now imagine me driving around a big city.

Well, that's it. That is a hint of me. Now, who to pass this meme on to. I don't really know many bloggers well enough to tag so if you want to participate, do so and let me know in a comment so I can check it out! I will tag Canadian Southern Mommy since I know her!

Thanks for reading!

Make Me Laugh Monday

It's been a while since I linked up to Jenny on the Spot for Make Me Laugh Monday (but I definitely didn't stop reading!) but I have a few Jimmy the Janitor clips stored up that are worth a few chuckles so check them out:


Clip One

Clip Two

Clip Three

Clip Four

Clip Five

To have some more laughs, visit Jenny's Make Me Laugh Monday, you'll be glad you did!