Igloo Days and Igloo Nights

On 12-21-12

• I braved the mall! and even at 9:45 am, there is a long line at the JC Penney cashier. Long enough to hear the cashier ask several customers ahead of me whether they'd like to donate to the Salvation army: 44 cents, 43 cents, 38 cents--sounded like random number generation to me. Wondered if his randomizing method increased his success or not.
• I went to the library, found some books I might want to read, found some educational audio books I might force myself to listen to, and made myself get some writing done (a struggle! the spirit is weak!)
• I took my girls Christmas shopping for hours--and nobody even tried on any clothes until our penultimate stop for Becca shoes. (It takes a long time when you get lost in Marymoor park trying to find the mall, and then have to drive around forever to find parking.)
• We saw a loon? heron? cormorant? [I need a birdwatching tutorial from my dad] sitting on a snag in the river in Redmond, neck stretched towards the sky as water rippled around it
• We got Katherine into an extra gymnastics class that was a new challenge for her, Becca joined an evening activity with pizza and Santa, and I nailed down a good draft for my blog post
• Lar took Alex iglooing, an activity which I skipped because I didn't want to wear myself out, only to wonder after hours of shopping and shuttling kids whether I hadn't chosen the harder day!

Becca says

"Are you going to be a mommy forever?"

what a happy thought!

In the Moment

I am sitting half-cross-legged on the hard gymnastics bleachers, on top of a laptop case and a folded sweater for padding, with my laptop perched in front of me on a tiny wooden child's chair. Katherine is trying out the advanced gymnastics class, which astonishingly she fits right into, although I had to restrain myself from racing to shout her off of the tall balance beam with the least amount of padding--you mean she's supposed to walk backwards on that thing? what if she falls? Becca has been adopted into the Parents' Night Out activity downstairs, with coloring, movie, and pizza, a tender mercy which may well be the best Christmas present I'll get this year. It's allowed me to watch and rewatch the gelation section of Harvard Food Science Lecture #8 (2010), even taking notes on big words like cross-linking, as I prepare to write the scientific explanation for a gummi worm blog post for my January blog tour, and while I really, really wish that my headache and I were home on the couch with my brand-new library copy of Freakling, written by a terrific writer I once met in an online critique group, I know that right now (since blog post deadlines are pending!) there's no better place for any of us to be. Except, for me, possibly in a seat with a back.

Loralee's Christmas List

(AKA my have-been-meaning-to-buy-these-all-years list)
The new Shannon Hale book
a necklace organizer
new doormats for upstairs doors (inside doormats)
an umbrella to keep in my car
kitchen towels
comfy yoga/fleece pants for wearing at home
cool chunky necklaces to wear with the colorful sweaters my sisters helped me buy
new cap sleeve shirts that conceal what they ought to (but that may be impossible to find!)
A reference to a trustworthy electrician who does house calls--or even better, an appointment! because if I get the wiring done I can get
More Insulation!

Snip, snip

A year's worth of bangs gone because I didn't react fast enough when my 4-year-old called from the bathroom, "Mommy, I want a haircut. Right now!"

Spelling lessons

You read about Book of Mormon battles in the morning and by the afternoon your four-year-old wants to know how to spell:

"Take persession!"