Tuesday

There's not been much going on of late.  I got the van fixed last week over a 3-day period.  We had dance Thursday, Elan stayed overnight and on Saturday we went to lunch at my father's house.

We were supposed to go to the Solstice Sunrise bonfire at Katy's Saturday as well but when we dropped Elan off with his mom Friday night, Chan and I ran in to Hobby Lobby for some markers she needed to finish a project, she looked at me and said, "I feel a little...RALPH!" She threw up-and had just eaten eggs no less-a 10 foot puddle of puke.  I felt SO horrible, I ran to get paper towels and some lady came over and gave us some wipes for Chan's face and shirt and the manager came and was SO nice.  I know no one thinks a kid is going to throw up for the sheer fun of it, but everyone was amazingly KIND about it.  I was just as green as she was when we left.  I kept apologizing, which probably made Chan feel even worse.  :(

We got home to run her through the wash and Ben was still sacked out-he had actually gone to bed while Elan was over and slept most of the afternoon.  So they both had the punies. I recovered, glad to not really be sick-though my tentative relationship with eggs is back on hold.  I can barely stand to be in the house while Matt makes them. Blech.  So we did not spring up at 4 a.m. the next morning as planned to drive an hour to stand in the damp cold and watch the sky lighten-there was no sunrise in all those clouds.  And I am bummed to have missed it.  We had laid a small bonfire here via clearing some bigger branches we had cut last weekend for fire wood.  It's mostly thin twiggy bits, but it's 6 feet tall and needs to be burned.  Maybe for the new year?  It won't last long, but should be fun for the kids.  We could always burn some hot dogs!

Ben and Chan love these guys!  Russel Stover's Teeny Santas.  They come 60 to a pack.

Matt has these 2 weeks off, we have been staying close to home for the most part.  Over the weekend we took care of a few things needing doing.  Put wood glue on a couple loose joints on various chairs, polished all our leather shoes, sharpened all the scissors, moved all the furniture to vacuum really well, washed bedding and jackets and winter sweaters and fleeces, mittens and hats that often get taken on and off and not actually cleaned in the mix. We took care of a couple small repairs-a leaky toilet flapper got replaced. Nothing major.

We finished the little shopping we did, everyone got a stuffed stocking and one wrapped gift this year. We made it back to a different Hobby Lobby for Chan to get her markers...
Daddy gave the kids a bag with fruit and candy, which they liked a good bit.  I made 4 more gallons of kombucha and jarred the kimchi-which turned out wonderfully.  Food with some neglect built in to the prep seems to be my specialty.  The most difficult part of the last few days has been getting several Butterfinger candy bars home for Ben, unbroken.  He won't eat broken ones, it's his one 'crazy' and everyone gets at least one!  His brother has five or six with regards to food alone.

After a several-day warming trend, we cleaned the wood stove and relit the fire Monday.
Ben was very glad to have the heat back!
Once it's been burning for an hour or so, there's no touching that box!  It's done a good job keeping us from freezing so far.

Everyone is back in full health, we have plans to go see a movie tomorrow or Thursday and eat Greek or Chinese food. Matt is off at the store with Chan to get stuff to make taco salad this afternoon and we have a chocolate surprise cake-the kids very FAVORITE cake-that the bakery had yesterday.  I about fell out, they NEVER have them in the case and I fail to order one in time for events-despite the requests every year.  They need 3 days at least to make one.  We popped in to see about getting some cookies to take home and there it was! I broke out the checkbook immediately and when I walked in the house with the bakery box, there were squeals.  I guess being broke has it's advantages-teenagers filled with total glee over a $20 cake.

I cut it so we can have a slice today and another tomorrow!  That top layer is some kind of chocolate/sugar/caramel combo that nearly does me in.  It's insanely rich and that's coming from me-who often has no idea why other people are falling into a sugar coma because it tastes fine to me.

Only other news is that I am going to the dentist Monday (really, is one of us at the dentist news any more?).  I have been doing battle with that sore tooth via sea salt packs and it's worked AMAZINGLY well, but early this morning I fell-it was a stupid accident thing, we had moved the bed down a few feet cleaning in here and I was stumbling back from the bathroom in the dark and still half-asleep.  I picked up my knee to slide back into the bed and it was too soon.  I fell, smacking my upper arm and the side of my face into the frame.  I knocked my back teeth together hard enough to chip the very tip of a molar and left a decent bruise on my arm, which is still swollen.

Since then, that back tooth I just got the filling redone on (not the chipped one) has THROBBED.  I hope I knocked it loose, make it easier for the oral surgeon next week.  I am not screwing around with a root canal on a tooth that is 75% filling and apparently 25% pain, I'll just have it pulled.  I can open my mouth and just stretching the jaw back there will make it fire pain up into my eye socket.  It's going to be a LONG 6 days until the dentist is open.  I hope the sea salt will start working again as soon as the shock of the impact fades. It's already feeling less painful.  I think about dentures often.  For all 5 of us.  How much easier that would be, plus we could upgrade with bling teeth add-ons.  Maybe a unicorn etched into an eye tooth.  Yeah.

So keep your fingers crossed that our streak of crappy luck will soon be over!  I feel a change in the air...