family, woodworking, photography, K-pop
We’re getting ready order some gifts for our nieces and nephews. Here are some of the things on Amazon that caught my eye.
Boxed Set Featuring Little Pea, Little Hoot, Little Oink – $13I know that time’s starting to run out for ordering things online but I thought I’d post some gift ideas over the next couple of days. (Basically this is just an excuse for me to waste time trawling the internet for things I like.) Up today is affordable art. I think everything except for the typography temple print is around $40 or under.
After much thought and discussion we’ve decided to send E to a daycare/preschool for two mornings a week. The main reasons behind my decision are 1) my work has really ramped up lately and I sometimes need to go into the office for meetings or spend a few hours at a time on my reports 2) E enjoys socializing with other kids and as an only child doesn’t get many chances to do so 3) the daycare I found comes highly recommended by a friend; it’s run by Kids on the Move (the county’s child occupational therapy program) and has a strong focus on activities (they don’t even have a tv).
Even though I feel that this is a good choice for E and our family, I’ve agonized over the decision. In general I’m not one for hand-wringing, but I do feel a bit guilty. I really enjoy being a mother but I like working too. I’m pretty good at what I do, I feel appreciated by my team at work, and the extra money is nice. And most of the time I’m able to manage watching E and working at the same time quite well (i.e. I usually work when he naps.)
But I have to admit that on the occasions when work gets really crazy E spends entirely too much time watching tv, sometimes several hours a morning. I think that sending him to daycare for a few hours a week is preferable to that. I’d rather get him on a routine where he can go and hang out with other kids and I can take care of my work at the same time. Then on the days he’s home I’ll have more time to focus on doing fun stuff with him.
While I feel like I’m making a good choice I have to admit that I’m a little apprehensive about being judged by other moms. Not many mothers with young children in my neighborhood work. I can’t think of anyone else who only has one kid and who sends them to daycare. I know I shouldn’t let it bother me but I feel a vague unease when I wonder how other people will perceive my actions.
Having said all that, the most important thing to me is that E does well. I truthfully think he will like it but if he has issues or doesn’t thrive I can take him out and figure something else out.
Dear E,
This month has been amazing. Your verbal skills have burst into being like some violent tropical flower that blooms overnight. You’ve become quite the little parrot and love trying out new words and phrases. When you hear a sound in the distance like the trains that run near our house you’ll cup your hand around an ear and shout, “Listen!…train!”
Your improved verbal skills have opened up a whole new world of embarrassing social situations. You never saw our little mouse visitor but listening to your dad and I talk about it along with watching an episode of Wonder Pets that featured a mouse has cemented mice as one of your favorite topics of conversation. “Mouse!” is one of the first things you say when I get you up. At first it freaked me out because I thought that you had seen a mouse in your room but no, you just like talking about them. In fact when we were at the neighborhood Christmas party you struck up a conversation about mice with one of our neighbors, apropos of nothing. We then had to explain about our little Thanksgiving adventure. So, um, thanks for that! I have a feeling it won’t be the last time your mouth gets us in an embarrassing situation.
Take for instance your sometimes spotty enunciation. You like pointing out trucks as we drive down the freeway but you have some predictable (but pretty funny) problems saying “truck.” I try not to laugh but sometimes it’s pretty hard.
You’re really interested in lights and the dark. Almost every time we turn off a light you exclaim, “Oh, no! It’s dark!” and then mumble some additional unintelligible commentary. Since you’re still enamored with the moon I bought you a yellow crescent shaped lamp and every night we read books by its light and then afterward you flip the switch and turn it off. Sometimes you like to stall and complain about turning it off but if I just hold you close and talk to you about how it’s time to go to bed you always turn it off yourself. It’s very sweet.
I know that parental navel-gazing is pretty annoying so I try not to bore other adults by recapping the latest cute/funny thing you did. But sometimes after you’ve gone to sleep your dad and I will talk about the day and indulge ourselves by discussing the cute and funny things you did that day. In the middle of such moments I feel the love of our little family wrap around me and I marvel at our blessings.
Love,
Mama
Random.org selected comment #5, so congratulations to The Charm!
Email me with 1) the name you’d like Richard to inscribe the book with and 2) the address to which you’d like it mailed.
Didn’t win? I’m having another giveaway next week. It’s looking like the cutting board I made will be ready by then. So check back later!
…to kick off your Friday. Have a great weekend!
I think I’ve mentioned before that I love dicey warehouse stores. Last Saturday I went with my friend Stephanie to the Overstock.com warehouse to see what they had. I’ve been twice before but neither previous trip was successful: the first time they were closed because a pipe had burst and the electricity was out, and the second time E threw a massive tantrum and we had to beat a hasty retreat. The store’s only open on Saturdays and is way out by the SLC airport so it was annoying when those two trips were totally unproductive.
But this trip was blessedly E-free thanks to N graciously staying home with the little guy and it was the weekend after Thanksgiving so they were having a great sale. Clothes and shoes were all $5 off with most things being priced under $15 to begin with. The place was insanely packed but we still managed to find some good deals.
I got these boots that run about $50 online for…(wait for it)…$8! There was just one pair and they happened to be in my size. And I found a Michael Kors dress for $12 and a pair of strappy black sandals for $4. It was pretty great. Stephanie found a pair of Big Star jeans (apparently one of the designer brands that the kids are wearing these days) for $9. They still had their original $90 tag on them. She was stoked.
So yeah, it’s kind of ghetto but I love me some warehouse stores.
I’m excited for my very first sponsored giveaway!
A family friend, Richard Rife, recently published a short book of essays about Christmas, Honoring Christmas in My Heart
Its fourteen essays address topics such as giving, Christmas traditions, Christ’s teachings, and the eloquent merits of Dickens’ story The Christmas Carol, which is Rife’s favorite work of fiction. Some of the recollections included are from the years he spent in Korea as a missionary for our church (as my in-laws are doing now). The book is written from an LDS perspective, but its main message is about what Christmas can mean for everyone.
Leave a comment on this post to enter the giveaway and on Monday morning I’ll pick a winner at random. Richard will send the winner a signed copy of the book. It makes a nice little gift, so if you want Richard to inscribe it to someone else, that’s cool too.
With all the hubbub over our surprise visitor I forgot to mention how Thanksgiving dinner went, which was surprising well. The highlights were the turkey and dessert.
It was my first time cooking a turkey and I used this popular Alton Brown recipe which I hereafter pledge my allegiance to. It turned out fantastic–moist and flavorable.
And I made N’s much-wished-for berry pie, complete with star-shaped vents courtesy of a little cutter that came with a Play-doh set E received for his birthday (Thanks, Gwyn!).
It was very sweet and fun to sit down with N and E and eat our own little Thanksgiving meal.
In a lot of ways Utah is a bit of a cultural wasteland, but for ten days in January it becomes the center of the film world which almost makes up for the other 355 days of the year. Last year N and I got a Sundance Film Festival ticket package and saw some great movies. It was a lot of fun. We bought a ticket package again this year and will be seeing at least 6 films. A friend asked me to do a post about some of the ins-and-outs of going to Sundance as a local and while I’m definitely not an expert I’m happy to share what I do know.
There’s a listing of the various types of ticket packages and passes available to Utah locals here. Unfortunately, the Film Lovers Package and the Locals Quick Pass (the two best options if you wanted to go see a lot of films) are already sold out. (I guess I should have done this post sooner–sorry, Erica!)
But don’t dispair, there are still good options left. You can buy individual tickets to screenings at either the Park City or Salt Lake City box office. BUT, you need to register ahead of time and then you’ll be assigned a time to show up at the box office in person. You have until this Friday, December 4th, to register and then you’ll receive an email with your time slot. They won’t let you give a friend your time slot and the address you register with has the match your driver’s license. Basically, if you don’t show up for your time slot you’re out of luck. So if you’re planning on going with a bunch of friends it might be a good idea to have everyone register individually to see who gets the best time slot.
That’s all well and good, you say, but you’re interested in seeing some of the best films from the festival for free? Well there’s a way of doing that too.
Every year they have a few free “Best of the Fest” screenings where they show films that won festival awards to locals. It’s their way of saying thanks for putting up with all the hassle of dealing with the crowds and traffic and such. You have to go line up for tickets in person on January 16th and 17th and they give them out on the first-come-first-served basis. Details are here at the very bottom of the page.
The films will be announced this Wednesday, so check out the web site then. There’s practically guaranteed to be something playing that you’d like to see. So if you’re interested, start making arrangements now to attend a screening (i.e. register before this Friday to buy tickets).
I’ll do another post when N and I make our list of things we want to see.
