Here’s to 2007. A year, like most others, of laughing and crying and a little more drama than was perhaps necessary. But a good year, nonetheless. Remember it with me by heading over to the Mix Tape page and checking out my soundtrack for the year that was.

Cheers!

This was on my iGoogle page a few days ago:

“I love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I’m awake.” Ernest Hemingway

Now that’s True.

I’ve just finished the Anne of Green Gables series, again. If I read Harry Potter to escape, I read Anne to come home. There is Truth in these stories - capital T truth - Truth about everyday life and the ways of people, Truth about love and gardens and dreams. It has been far too long since my last reading, far too long since I remembered how much I love that little, red-haired, orphan girl.

Here are two of my favorite quotes:

“There’s such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I’m such a troublesome person. If I were just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn’t be half so interesting.” - Anne of Green Gables

“You don’t chatter as much as you used to, Anne, nor use half as many big words. What has come over you?”

Anne colored and laughed a little, as she dropped her book and looked dreamily out of the window, where big fat red buds were bursting out on the creeper in response to the lure of the spring sunshine.

“I don’t know - I don’t want to talk as much,” she said, denting her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger. “It’s nicer to think dear, pretty thoughts and keep them in one’s heart, like treasures. I don’t like to have them laughed at or wondered over.” - Anne of Avonlea

I included the series in the Book List, it gets lots of stars.

We had a rollicking good Christmas this year!

Christmas Eve with Justin’s family.

Playing Santa after Andrew went to sleep.

He’s a nerd. But he’s a useful nerd.

Christmas morning with my family.

And even some Christmas Day snow!

The rest of our pictures are here. Cheers!

I’m a Christmas Eve girl. I love the waiting, the stillness, the anticipation. Everyone waits for something on Christmas Eve - for a Saviour, for Santa, for the New Year, for company, for solitude - we wait and hope and wish. We wait, but some things don’t turn out the way we planned.

This past year was one of waiting for me, one of waiting and learning to accept changes to my plans. I have a bevy of New Year’s posts in my head - posts about new beginnings, new charts and graphs, new schemes, new names for the same old things. And while I look forward to those things, Christmas Eve is a night for remembrance. The wonders of the past year are too often overlooked in my cynical mind, so, tonight, I am going to pair them with hope in the form of Longfellow’s timeless verse. It speaks of longing and of hoping, the waiting that we all do this time of year, and the searching for something more.

May this peace be with you tonight.

Andrew painted with brushes for the first time last week! Prior to this he kept away from the art room, telling me that he was afraid of the paints. He is such a brave boy, in his own little way.

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“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6.

I’ve heard this verse a thousand times. I still twitch a little bit, thinking of the hanging up the cardboard trains bearing this inscription, trying to sell overpriced Jesus-junk in the children’s section of Family Christian Store. It had become one of those guilty, horrible, voices in my head. He is different from the other kids. He doesn’t do things the right way. You should make him do the things that other kids do. It’s because of you. Because you aren’t training him right.

Then I read the comments at the bottom of the page in my Bible.

Train. May include the idea of dedicate as well as educate. in the way he should go. Lit., according to his way; i.e., the child’s habits and interests. The instruction must take into account his individuality and inclinations and be in keeping with his degree of physical and mental development.

I have been so frustrated with Andrew lately, frustrated with the very Andrew-ness of his being. When I started writing this post, at the beginning of the week, I wrote a list of things that annoyed me about him. And while the writing of that list may have been therapeutic, the preserving of it was not. Because by nature or by nurture, he is what he is and I can choose to fight that, try to change him and, if I work hard enough at it, kill his spirit completely, or I can accept who he is and work to enjoy life at his pace.

I know there are families that have a much harder time than I do. I know there are kids that are much more trying, much more sensitive, much more than Andrew ever will be. I don’t want to exaggerate my experience or diminish theirs, but I need to acknowledge that there are times that my experience is difficult. I need to acknowledge that, at times, I am limited by what my child can or can not handle. I need to not resent him when those limits keep us from doing something fun.

Some of the best advice I never took is that I need to parent the child that I have, not the one I wish I had.

I must figure out how to remember that.

I love shopping at Metropolitan Market. Most of the time I just go in and walk around because, well, I can’t afford to buy many things there. But the atmosphere and lovely things they have to look at make it an enjoyable outing nonetheless.

Last week, my mom stopped in to the Met on her way over here to pick up some flour. She grabbed the cheapest bag off the shelf and headed to the register. The cashier rang up her purchase and asked if she had ever used King Arthur Flour. My mom said that the hadn’t. The cashier went on and on about how great it was and asked my mom if she wanted to try some. My mom, unsure of what to do, said, “Ummm. Sure. I guess.” The cashier went back and grabbed a bag for her. As my mom got her wallet out, still confused over what was happening and why she wasn’t in the car with her cheap flour, the cashier stopped her. “Oh, no.” the cashier said, “You already paid for the other one. Just take this one too and try it. If you like it, you can buy a bag next time you need flour.”

I think King Arthur would be proud.

Andrew adds his own details to the story of the birth of Christ.

Well, it had to end sometime. The 5-star streak is shattered by The White Masai by Corinne Hofmann. Go to the book list for all the details.

I ran my second 5k was Saturday morning. I intended to skip the hype and see if I couldn’t avoid some of the emotional roller coaster of the last race. (In case you missed that crazy ride, you can read it here, here, here and here.) But when it took them over 48 hours to publish the official results, I got a little antsy.

(For the record, I give huge props to City of Kent employee Mark Hendrickson, who kindly emailed me the results this afternoon before they were put up on the website. I take back every mean thing I may have said to Jen this morning about the lowly peon who was too underpaid to get his lazy ass off the internet and start doing some real work like putting the results up in a timely manner. I was not in my right mind when I made those comments. He went above and beyond the call of duty.)

My friend of 24 years, Nichole, ran with me. This was her first race. She was all signed up to run with me in March, but when another friend, Linda, told me about this race, I peer pressured Nichole in to doing it with me as a warm-up.

We had to take our picture in the car because it was so bloody cold outside!

After the last couple weeks filled with emotional and relational mayhem, massive overtime (for Justin at work and, thus, me at home), and a child who finally decided to act like a bratty two-year-old, all I felt like doing on Saturday was curling up in bed and reading my book. But that wasn’t an option. I knew I needed to get outside and run. I knew I needed to get out of my own head.

The day was perfect, clear and freaking cold! It was barely over freezing and all the left-over puddles from the downpour of last week were topped with a thick layer of ice, the grass crunched under our feet as we approached the start. I learned a few things from the last race and found a place near the front of the crowd at the starting line. We took off and I could run at my pace without having to resort to a well placed elbow, thrown in a desperate attempt to move a stroller out of the way. I hit the halfway point at 14:48, a little tired but feeling good. I have run enough, and read enough, to know that there comes a point in every run where you feel like you have to stop, I slowed down a little bit when I reached this point but kept running. Of course, I regretted the slow down later, but that is just one of the mind games that I need to learn to play. I checked my watch at the last corner and saw that I was just over 28 minutes, with the finish line in sight I passed the lady I had been following for most of the race and finished at 30.43! 18th out of 38 in my age group!!!!!!

It was a great race! Competitive enough to be interesting, but still the fun and supportive atmosphere that makes sports great. Nichole, despite what she might say, kicked ass and could have caught up with me if she had not stopped to save a worm along the route - even with the worm incident she finished at 31.44 (22nd in our bracket). We are SO going to break 30 minutes on St Pattys Day.

Running is fun again!

I’ve been haunting the results site for my 5k yesterday. I was trying to play it cool and wait to post anything until the results were up in hopes of avoiding the insanity that the last race produced, but I am being thwarted in my efforts!

WHERE ARE MY EFFING RESULTS?

Wow. That was strangely helpful.

I’ll let you know as soon as I get them.

The recipe this week was Spicy Mexican Skillet Chicken. I usually concoct an elaborate marinade for chicken to use in fajitas, but the simplicity of the seasonings in this recipe allowed the good chicken taste to come through and still had enough of a kick to be interesting. High approval ratings all around!

It’s cold this time of year.

Sunrise makes the best colors.

Since I started losing weight cottage cheese has been a staple of my diet. It is chockablock full of lean protein and calcium, two things everyone can usually use a bit more of in their day. However, I hear a lot of people say they don’t like cottage cheese. I have one friend who throws up a little bit in her mouth whenever cottage cheese is mentioned. This may not help her, but the rest of you might benefit from some of these suggestions.

1) Not all cottage cheese is created equal. I prefer Trader Joe’s lowfat or Wilcox dairy lowfat, find one that pleases you in taste and texture.

2) Drain some of the extra liquid out, if you need too. Sometimes cottage cheese, especially lowfat cottage cheese, is really runny. If you are turned off by the consistency, use cheesecloth or a very fine wire strainer to get rid of some of the extra liquid.

3) Spice it up a bit. Add things to your cottage cheese to make it more interesting. Spices, such as cumin or paprika, can give it a nice kick. Slivered almonds or hard crackers break up the monotony of its texture. Or, as a mild cheese, it pairs well with fruits such as peaches, apples or berries. I especially like applesauce and cottage cheese mixed together. (Hey, don’t knock it until you have tried it!)

4) When all else fails, just down it. This is one of those foods that is so good for you, it is worth it to just grit your teeth and eat it. One half-cup serving is not very much to just put in your mouth, chew, and swallow - a couple bites and you are done.

5) Pack it up. Cottage cheese travels pretty easily in a tupperware container and, as mid-afternoon snack it can’t be beat. Just remember to bring a utensil with you. (I speak from experience here. It’s not fun to drink cottage cheese.)

Ok, that’s my advice column for the day. Do you have any cottage cheese tips that I missed? Leave them in the comments.

We have a bifurcated tree this year. I decorated the top with my lovely glass bubbles and Andrew did the bottom with all of his favorite things.

It’s really Christmas now.

I just finished Strivers Row by Kevin Baker. Check out my comments on the Book List.

This is Heidi’s write up of the cyclocross race. (In case you didn’t see it in the comments. She has pictures too!)

It was so rad. I got excited again just reading her post.

I’m still high from the extra endorphins floating around in the air, or maybe it was all that Duraflame smoke…

Sometimes I forget that Justin and I are not wild party-ers (partiers?). When this lapse in memory occurs, we end up with a weekend like this last one.

Saturday 7:00pm - Justin’s office Christmas party. Ho-hum. Smile. Shake hands. Buffet. Drink tickets. Mock people with hilarious co-workers. Marvel at the needle drops in the restroom at the casino (Really? There were that many needles in the bathroom that they needed a needle drop?). Yep, it was a regular work party. We introverts came home drained and tired.

Sunday 5:30am - Drive to Portland in blinding snow/sleet/rain storm.

Sunday 8:30am to 3:30pm - Stand outside during the “Storm of the Decade”. The weather forecasters had their normal field day with this particular storm, but they may have had a point. Rain, rain, wind, rain and more wind and rain. Perfect weather for Heidi and Sal’s last cyclocross race this season.

Cyclocross, for those of you that don’t know, is an insane combination of mud, bikes, obstacles, mud, beer, speed, whiskey, blood, mud, guts, barbeque, and more mud. It is really big in Portland, you can read about the Portland scene here. The races were fantastic! What an atmosphere! What a party! We spent the whole day in typhoon-like conditions but the company, many good beers and a roaring fire in our tent made the weather bearable. You can see all my pictures from the race here.

Sunday 4:00pm to 7:00pm - Nap under my favorite down comforter in the world. Dinner. Yum.

Sunday 7:00pm to 9:00pm - Attend end of season cyclocross prom-themed extravaganza. Slow dance to Can You Feel The Love Tonight. Cheer like crazy when Heidi gets her medal, placing third in her division!

Sunday 9:30 to 11:00pm - Try to see Iron and Wine at the Crystal Ballroom. Realize that it is a stand up show (read: no chairs for us to collapse in). Admit we are a group of sad, old, tired, wimps (its always best to admit these things in groups). Go back to Heidi and Sal’s. Crash.

Monday 7:00am - Drive home from Portland.

Yes, folks, it was a wild weekend. One thing I know, cyclocross might be just the incentive I need to become a better bike rider. It looked like so much fun!

Insanity. I’m going to bed.

Friday night is our date night. Usually we give in to our laziness and sit on the couch watching shows we have recorded over the week, sometimes we get crazy and do some housework or go shopping at Costco.

And people wonder why we go through some rough spots in our relationship.

Yesterday, the fates conspired against me. I wrote a post about enjoying the good things in life and then life went and threw me a curveball. In the grand scheme of things, it will be okay, but it was still a curveball. I needed to think.

After we dropped Andrew off with my parents and finished our Costco shopping, we were at a loss with what to for the rest of the evening. Then I realized that the gym is open until 9:30pm. We went to work out together and, after a really good 5k on the treadmill, I wasn’t any closer to a real answer. But I felt better anyways.

So I’ll agree with Justin, best date ever is an overstatement, but, for yesterday, it sure helped.