If I Only Had a Brain

I came home to discover that the pinto beans I had carefully soaked last night, then rinsed and placed in the crock pot under the prescribed two inches of water, were actually still cold.

I forgot to turn the crock pot on.

So, I figured I still had time to just boil them. They'd soaked for about 20 hours by then and they should boil up just fine.

I poured the whole mess into a big pot, turned it on and went about my afternoon business. I started to smell the beans and thought I'd better go turn the heat down, but once I walked into the kitchen I realized that my stove top had basically become a bean juice hot tub.

The pot boiled over and then some. I have one of those flat-surface stove tops, and the sides rise up neatly around it, about like the lip of a cookie pan.

I think I should just order a pizza.

Daily Bliss: girls' movie night tonight! on the agenda? Johnny Depp.
Wakeup Playlist: Mumford & Sons, The Cave

New

So, it's a new year.
I have begun a new semester,
still a little unsure.
And I have a new project.

It's a big one, but not so burdensome as that might sound.
The trouble comes in naming a project and then in just starting it up.
I'm nearly there and you'll all be the first to know!

I am looking for new ways to simplify.
The old ones didn't work so well.
Is it possible to simplify without compromising?
I mean to find out, if it's the last thing I do.


Daily Bliss: Grande Americano. Black. I really do love coffee.

Our Technology Tzars gave us a super-cool present this year for Christmas. They set us up to go geocaching. In case you don't want to click on the link to find out what it is, I'll just briefly explain that it's kind of like a treasure hunt. People bury little boxes of fun treasure and hunters use GPS receivers to find them. We decided to look for a bit of treasure while we were in Georgia and our hunt led us to an incredibly old cemetery, hidden in the woods.







We did find the cache, but that had very little to do with the amount of fun we had. Mostly, we had so much fun going on an adventure - just the four of us.

Second Christmas

We met Chris' family halfway for Second Christmas at a Georgia lake house. It's always a little tough to travel during the holidays. I know some people do it every year and it's just what they do and, well, good for them. But it was oh-so-nice to see my darling nephews and visit with Chris' family.







There were some half-attempts made at fishing. Mostly it was fun to be out on the dock.






And beautiful views were to be found everywhere.

Christmas cookies were made. In a big way.
I'm not even kidding.
Christmas Eve, girls gathered at my mom's house to make some good stuff and we over-made some good stuff. But that doesn't matter so much. I have cookies in my freezer now. That's a really good feeling.
I'm making a weird face in this picture because I am trying to boss my little brother about how to use my camera. I decided to post it anyway, since there are four generations of girls in it.




We went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at my grandma's church. That's a tradition we hold to every year and it's my absolute favorite part of the entire season. The quiet worship and the peace of hearing the Word, familiar and true, calm me when I need it most - at the end of the frantic preparations for the next morning. So, yeah. I brought my camera into church. I'm not entirely certain it was the right thing to do, but every year, I wish I could capture those moments of worshiping with my family, so this year I did it. I will never be sorry. Most of what my stealthy snapping gave me will be just for me. It's too precious to share. But here's a bit of what Christmas is to me:






We tucked all the presents under the tree and weren't even up too late. I mean, it was late, but I didn't pull another all-nighter or anything, which was a really nice change.



And, oh yeah. Emma got an electric guitar.



I made loads of stuff for Christmas too. I know I promised I wouldn't. At least most of it was sewn and not knitted. Knitting takes forever. Sadly, I neglected to photograph any of it. I plan to spend a bit of time this week visiting my creations at their new homes and taking pictures of them so I can show them all to you.

Family Christmas Fun

We kicked off our Christmas break with a trip to the Disney Marketplace for some much-needed family fun. The Lego Store is definitely our favorite.





We did a little bit of other shopping too.



Then we took the kids to Disney's Wilderness Lodge for a super yummy dinner and some giant Christmas tree gawking.

Performances

There were lots of performances. Andrew's school band, Emma's school play, my school recital (!) and a recital for the studio where I teach and the kids take lessons. Whew! It was a lot of dressing up and performing! But I will say that I loved every minute of that part. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to be surrounded by Christmas music from October to December - how music had been central to my Christmas spirit for many of my growing-up years. It was like remembering an old friend.