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Friday, December 26, 2014

The Last Ten Things of Thankful List For 2014

Ruby is on my bed, playing with what appears to be a twig, about four inches long. She is tossing it up in the air and pouncing on it when it lands. I'm curious as to where she found this stick, and I suspect it was once part of some Christmas decoration that was within her reach, but as long as it isn't a snake, I'm good with it. Now for this week's Ten Things of Thankful:

1. I rescued a dog this week, and this time, I didn't kidnap the neighbor's dog by mistake - this one was really lost!




2. I finally got past Level 460 in Candy Crush.

3. We decided to go to the 10:30 p.m. handbell choir concert at our church on Christmas Eve, followed by the 11:00 p.m. service. It seemed like a good idea earlier in the day, but I was so tired by the time 10:30 rolled around, I could barely keep my eyes open. (By the way, handbells have a very soothing sound and a sleepy person cannot be expected to sit through a thirty minute concert AND an hour long church service without the expectation that she might fall asleep.) About halfway through the service, when I thought I was either going to have to go out into the library area and take a nap on the couch or go to my preschool classroom and lie down on the rug in the home living center, I got my second wind and made it through the service. (I can neither admit nor deny that I may have taken a little, tiny cat nap during a prayer that served to rejuvenate me.)

4. Santa was good to everyone this year, and only one gift needs to be returned.




5. Benefit POREfessional balm. Hides pores and feels luscious as it goes on. Expensive, but worth it.




6. Chips and salsa.

7. Some of you will find the following incomprehensible, but I have already taken down all my Christmas decorations and PUT THEM IN THE ATTIC. Once the gifts are opened, I'm kind of over it all anyway, and since I'm going out of town for a few days, I didn't want to come home after the first of the year to a house still decorated for Christmas. It feels good to have the house back to normal.

8. One more batch of caramel popcorn, and I am done, done, DONE for the season! I wish I had kept track of how many pounds of popcorn I have made since Thanksgiving.

9. We made it through the entire holiday season without Ruby climbing the Christmas tree.

10. I videoed my kids trying to figure out a pictogram riddle telling them what one of their Christmas presents was. Watch the following video and see for yourself how much trouble a couple of gifted geniuses had with it, bearing in mind this had been going on for several minutes when I decided it was worth recording.  You can visibly see my son figure it out; my daughter takes a little longer....





Ruby has taken her prize stick in her mouth like a dog with a bone and trotted down the hallway with it. I have no idea where she's going to take it, but I can be assured I will find it with my bare feet at some point this weekend. Until that happens, I will be waiting anxiously for you to post YOUR Ten Things of Thankful list (the LAST ONE for 2014).



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24 comments:

  1. Oh your daughter is SO adorable! Once I realized what it was I was yelling at my computer :-) Glad you had a nice Christmas, and I totally get taking down the decorations already. We'll be doing it this weekend and it's just as big of a job as putting them up, only not as fun.

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    1. Thank you! Love that you were yelling the answer at your computer. Too bad she didn't hear you!
      I always feel like the Little Red Hen when I am putting the decorations up and taking them down. Everyone likes the house decorated, and they like it when it's back to normal, but no one wants to help me get there.

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  2. Your kids must love how fun you make life. Yay! I leave my decorations up till way past New Year's because after that, there's only winter.

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    1. Aw, thanks! And I decorate with snowmen after Christmas. Wintery and cheerful.

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  3. Ruby stayed out of the tree the entire season? No wonder you were in a hurry to get the decorations down--no need to tempt fate!

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    1. The most she did was stick her front half in the day we were decorating. To the best of our knowledge, she did not get in the tree any other time. Maybe she DOES remember last year's fiasco? And yes, all the more reason to get it down, although she pulled my living room curtains down this morning chasing snowflakes, so there's always something.

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  4. Nope not interested in taking down decorations yet. I am notorious for leaving them up forever.

    That video was great!

    Also Yes it is the job of the cat to leave things out or vomit where you will step on it in the middle of the night.

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    1. I decorate with snowmen after Christmas until the end of February, so I don't mind putting the Christmas stuff away.
      I LOVE that video!
      I found the stick on the kitchen floor, next to the food dish.

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  5. I read your post earlier about saving the slobbering hound but I was on my slobbering phone that doesnt allow me to comment without screaming obscenities at it and I was in public... I love that you did and cont to do that despite having also read the kidnapping story! and may I say ... RUBY!!!!!!

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    1. And yet my family STILL accused me of kidnapping another dog.

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  6. Christmas morning vids...priceless! Thanks for sharing Dyanne although I don't know if your daughter feels the same lol
    Good for you for staying awake for the service!! I'm applauding loudly. It's been many a year since I've attended a midnight anything let alone Christmas service.
    Chips and salsa. A unique TToT fo sure.
    Congrats on crushing the Candy!

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    1. I'm glad I had enough sense to turn on the video when I did. Definitely something for the highlight reel.
      I'm pretty sure I nodded off once. Briefly.
      Chips and salsa = always good
      Wheee!

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  7. We really wondered if she was pulling our leg for a few minutes, but then it was obvious that the poor girl really had no idea what the riddle said.
    It was a stick. I stepped on it this morning, in the kitchen.

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  8. Bells most certainly have a calming to the point of sleeping effect on people. Until this year, the kids' Christmas concert started with half an hour of chimes/bells. Problem is, it also makes little kids in the audience say things like, "I'm booooored".

    Our tree stays up. It's still the Christmas season after all! My dad never took his down last year. He did take the ornaments off, but the tree stayed all year long. For my sister's baby shower, my stepmom decorated it with baby items. I don't keep mine up that long. :)

    Glad Ruby stayed out of the tree, but we can't say she's an angel, now can we? I saw the post about the curtains and what happened while you were putting the curtains back up.

    The video was hilarious. Poor girl. I hate when my brain freezes like that.

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    1. This may be the first and last time I make it to the late service. The rest of the family had been lounging around all day. I was on my feet, non-stop, getting ready for Christmas. Maybe I'll just send THEM next year and stay home and relax.
      I would have left it up longer, had I not been leaving town, but not MUCH longer. I'm just so over it by a few days after Christmas.
      Still a positive that Ruby didn't climb the the tree or get in it other than the one time she stuck her front half in while we were decorating. She found other ways to get herself into trouble, obviously.
      She spent 6 years in gifted class doing these very puzzles. And she couldn't get this one?!

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  9. You know that the longer the clue solving took, the less willing her brain was to cooperate! THIS is why I will never make my fortune on Jeopardy!

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    1. I was flashing back to the days of Concentration. I was really good at that show!

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  10. That video! "Is it exciting? Is everyone happy?" hahahaha oh brothers and sisters. I trust the pictograph didn't involve the level of math she thought it did :)
    Chips and salsa. I GET IT! One of my favorite things, plus avocado! And cheese and beans when I can get that, too, but I'll settle for chips and salsa.
    I don't find it incomprehensible to be done with Christmas when it's DONE. My (now) 3 yr old's birthday is December 28th, so on the 27th (because we had to go visit family on the 26th) we totally UN-DID all the Christmas and started to decorate and prepare for BIRTHDAY. It's a nice motivator to get it all put it away quickly, before anyone can be sad that's it OVER for another entire year. It's nice. Once it's all away :)
    What a great list. Sounds like a magical, wonderful holiday for all!

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    1. p.s. I pinned that Pore-fessional product, thanks for the tip! I've put something similar in TToT last year, but mine is by Clinique so it's super expensive. Worth it, and it lasts a long time, but I would LOVE to try something else! Ordered a sample from e-bay for $2.99 w/free shipping. Woo hoo! My pores are ridiculous, I look like Spongebob.

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    2. There was NO math involved. And this from the girl who has over 100% in Algebra II.
      Chips and salsa are always tasty. I know we annoy waiters in Mexican restaurants by our over indulgence in them.
      You have a great excuse to be done with Christmas! I don't. From now on, I'll tell everyone I'm taking them down to prepare for your kid's birthday :)
      Love the Porefessional! It's $31 for a tube, but completely worth it. 54 and no estrogen in my body and I STILL have oily skin with pores like grapefruit peel.

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  11. No cats in the tree and no dog-napping charges - a great week!
    Chips and salsa are always awesome. Always.
    I am starting to itch for the house to be back to normal - especially since the weather today is sort of early springlike. But I will hold off until Epiphany next weekend - I'm a big proponent of Christmas BEGINS on the 25th and we celebrate the 12 days so I'm not quite ready yet. If I wait past that, though, it stays up all year. But I can definitely see not wanting to return after the first to a huge job. If you're really good at the cleanup, perhaps you should come do mine...
    I have always liked the idea of snowmen and winter décor after Christmas...I've been slowly accumulating a few cute ones and I hope to check out some sales yet this week.

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    1. I stayed out of animal jail THIS week, although after Ruby pulled down the living room curtains trying to catch passing snowflakes, SHE nearly went there.
      I love having the house decorated for Christmas, and I love putting it all back to normal when it's over. I have pulled out all the snowman stuff that isn't Christmasy over the past few years and use that for decorating in January and February. Then the house isn't so shockingly bare after the holidays.

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