Knitting Feverishly For a Very Special Birthday

What was the Housewife up to last night when she should have been bloggin'?

Shh . . . it's a surprise!  Don't print this post out, Daddy!

I started this very special birthday present last January, made a few too many mistakes, got frustrated with unknitting to undo the oops, and tossed it in the knitting bin with the rest of the unfinished and yet-to-be-started projects.

It took 12 whole months for me to finally pick it up again, and then I decided to skip the unknitting aggravation, I wanted it to be a bit wider anyway, so I unraveled all three feet of it, rolled up multiple yarn balls, and started over again.

It's coming along nicely, but if I want to get it done in time for a very special birthday, I've got to keep the needles movin'!

Checklist Time for Weeks Men

One of my ADD coping techniques is following routines, especially in the morning, when this night owl is still half asleep and lacking Adderall and caffeine.

Most mornings Weeksworld runs pretty smoothly - boys get dressed & fed, lunches & backpacks get packed - but when The Weeks Express jumps the track things can get pretty scary.

Shenanigans, scuffles, stress and screeching are not a good school day send off.

This morning things were chugging along smoothly, but when the phone rang three minutes before our usual departure time things quickly turned ugly, and the Weeks boys arrived late to school for the first time this school year.

I'm not one for making parenting charts or checklists, I make enough lists - groceries, errands, chores, projects & posts - I don't need more lists to tend, but today's morning stress-fest inspired me to finally put the boys' daily routines (morning, afternoon & bedtime) into checklist form.

A few laminating sheets, a couple of clipboards and a dry erase pen - we're ready to tackle tomorrow morning with a whole new approach.

I have no idea how this checklist thing will go over with the boys, but it's worth a shot, right?

What are your sanity-saver tricks of the Momming trade?

P.S. I posted 5 days last week (yeah, me!), then the Handsome Husband ditch me & the boys for a weekend of skiing with his crew from work, the Weeksworld schedule was packed with parties and practices, so I gave myself the weekends off from "daily posting".

Tasty & Wholesome Blueberry-Banana Whole Wheat Muffins

The Handsome Husband's heading north tomorrow for a company ski trip, and the boys & I are heading to Aunti's house for a sleepover -- muffins are requred! So this evening I poured myself a glass of bubbly, preheated the oven, and whipped up a quadruple batch of Blueberry-Banana Whole Wheat Muffins, a Weeksworld favorite.

Bubbly & Baking . . . not a bad way to end a day in the momming trenches.
     Thanks, for the B & B idea, Miss Lena!

Blueberry-Banana Whole-Wheat Muffins

I promise to share the recipe very soon, but it's late and this lady's pooped and her arms are limp after hand-mixing batter for four dozen muffins -- that much dough is too much dough for my humble Kitchenaid.

Another Year Thyroid Cancer Free & the Search for a Sweet New Scent

Today was my annual not-a-spa-day at Mass General Hospital to check on the lymph nodes that remained behind after they popped my cancerous thyroid out of my neck a few years ago.

Ok gang, take a breath, don't start worrying about lil' ol' me. I'm A-okay.

Several years ago I wasn't feeling like myself, I knew something wasn't right, and after multiple doc appointments and "normal" test results, a biopsy finally discovered my thyroid had morphed into something that looked like the Wicked Witch's ugly stepsister.

If you're gonna get cancer, papillary carcinoma is the one you want, or so the doctors told me. Sure, when they use the "c" word, there are moments you can't keep yourself from slipping into the dark & twisty places in your mind, but in the grand scheme of "c", thyroid cancer almost is a day at the spa - there is no chemo, no hair loss, no radiation (just a dose or two of radioactive iodine that buys you a five days of solo time to protect the innocent from your green glowing self - no you don't actually glow).

Two years ago, they discovered a few former-thyroid-neighbor lymph nodes had been harboring a gang of fugitive cancer cells, so one again I had a date with the surgeon's scalpel. He opened my neck like a Pez dispenser, popped those suckers out & sent me on my merry way.

And now I get to have the pleasure of a standing annual reservation with my endocrinologist for ultrasound and blood work fun. It's no big deal (other then the blood draw from a gal that HATES needles),  it's really just an inconvenience (fighting the traffic from my peaceful 'burb into the heart of Boston), but it's also an annual reminder that I had cancer and it could come visiting again someday.

As I drove homeward, I heard that dark & twisty place quietly beckoning me, then I saw it just ahead -- the mall -- the place of bright lights, soft muzak and endless retail therapy opportunities. I need a fresh tube of mascara and my favorite lipstick has gone MIA, afterall.

I wandered through the kaleidoscope of matte and frost, shadows and glosses, and then I caught a sweet, flowery whiff and my eyes widened at the sight of the expanse of colorful bottles. My mother once accused me of being "fragrance boring", wearing the same favorite fragrances for years and years -- Eternity, Issey Miyake, Bvlgari, Rain -- so I decided to explore the wall of unfamiliar bottles. Who knew Jennifer Aniston had a perfume!

The Bvlgari bottle on my dresser is almost empty, so I grabbed one of those -- sorry, Mom, I still love it -- then I began to spritz & sniff my way down the wall. Joan came to my aid, making suggestions based on what I was liking and what I turned my nose up at, and I finally took the plunge with small bottles of Marchesa and Clean's Rain.

Then Joan helped me find a new waterproof mascara, and showed me Josie Maran's new argan oil-infused skincare - "When you want to look like her," she said, pointing to the 20-something model in the promo poster. "We haven't looked like that in YEARS," I quipped. We shared a laugh, and compared our thyroidectomy scars -- what fun to talk skincare, makeup and dysfunctional thyroids with someone that wasn't the same age as the model on that poster!

Clutching my Sephora bag, I walked back to the Mom-mobile with a fresh scent swirling around me and a brighter outlook that chased away the dark & twisty.

Sometimes it really is the simple things that can turn a girl's day around.

What are you allergic to?

The Handsome Husband's recently a variant of the above witticism in a text message from a colleague.

The quip came without any credit to the acerbic mind behind it, but I loved the sentiment and wanted to share it with y'all. I did a little poking around the internet, seems it's not terribly new, there are version of it available on t-shirts, coffee mugs & signs, but I couldn't find an author to give credit. If you know the author behind it, please do share the intel with me.

Making History & Memories

While many watched history being made in Washington D.C., we opted to make a few memories of our own today.

Another great ski day @ Wachusett Mountain with two of my favorite ski dates.

Don't worry, thanks to the trusty DVR, we watched the momentous occasion, in our PJ while eating pizza.

We Now Resume Regularly Scheduled Programming

It's been 28 days since I last published a post. I started this one back on January 2nd, the Fortuitous Hosuewife's 2nd blogging anniversary, unfortunately this innocent post has languished in post purgatory for 18 days.

Last night I posed the following query...

Friends, both bloggerly and not, chimed in with kind words, encouragement and not-so-gentle cyber nudging. (Thanks, ladies!) One blogging pal said I could get away with six month (she did), then minutes later she suggested I try posting everyday for awhile to get myself out of the non-posting rut and get my bloggerly mojo flowing.

Ok, I'm game! I'll try to post something everyday for a while. Should be interesting to what I come up with everyday and just how long I can stick with it.

So what has this blogger been up to while not blogging?

Sinus Malady

Halfway thru the Thanksgiving to Christmas marathon a sinus infection settled in, and, in spite of antibiotics, lingered for weeks. My head felt like a concrete block trapped inside a high school marching band bass drum (thump, thump, thump), and the congestion in my chest left me with little breath to power my usually booming voice.

Harried Holiday Hysteria

Tree trimming, doughnut frying and cookie baking, holiday cards, class parties, Christmas lists and Christmas shopping, menu planning and grocery shopping all while under the influence of decongestants and antihistamines just ain't fun.

I also managed to purge the playroom and my three massive & overflowing recipe binders!

Am I the only one that sometimes feel like The Holidays are a bunch of holly-jolly, merry-making terrorists that creep into our lives under the cover of darkness (or when you're deep in a post-Thanksgiving turkey coma), and refuse to leave until you relinquish control of your carefully orchestrated life and tenuous grasp sanity?

Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday season, I love watching my guys ride the holiday season tsunami of anticipation & excitement, but their joy also makes me a bit wistful for those long ago holidays of my own childhood, when Christmas time was full of fun that just magically happened. Despite my annual good intentions, The Holidays always seem to get the upper hand on me.

Christmas Eve came to a close with unwrapped presents scattered on my basement floor, the Christmas Spode was still packed away, and nothing prepped for the next days culinary orgy.

By 3:30a.m. Christmas morn' I had lost all hope for dancing sugar plum fairies in my head, and dragged myself downstairs. Thank God the Handsome Husband heard me bumping around downstairs, put on his shiny armor, and came to my aid. With his gallant help, we saved Weeksworld's Christmas, and even squeezed in a power nap before the Baron of Boredom and Master of Mischief woke us as they raced downstairs.

Weeksworld was blessed with family, fun & food on Christmas Day, and Mama managed to maintain her composure while slaving in the kitchen, thanks to the HH and my friend, the Mega Mimosa. 

Ringin' in the New Year

Still voiceless and dragging my sorry elf ass, I managed to organize my troops for not one, but two, treks north to ski with friends in VT & NH. Everyone one had a ball -- kids ages two to 10 and they all got along great (no tantrums or skirmishes, except between siblings) and super skiing (both the boys conquered new, more difficult terrain).

We arrived home late New Year's Day, tossed suitcases and ski bags in a pile on the kitchen floor and crawled up to bed.

Two Years of Blogging Bliss

So we're back to where we started this "3-hour tour" (Thanks for stickin' with me on this one!), with me sitting down in my little office on January 2nd to write this anniversary post.

24 months, 104 weeks, 188 posts -- some savory, some sweet, some sophomoric, some shouting, some just plain silly.

Image credit: ruthblack / 123RF Stock Photo

But instead of blogging (reviewing, reminiscing, ruminating and resolving), I've spent too many days digging out from under the post-sickly, post-Holiday mountain of vacationing laundry, chores, piles of mail, 100's of emails and de-Christmasing Weeksworld all while trying to keep up with the usual routine of chores, errands, cooking, play dates & chauffeuring.

Everytime I sat down to finish this post I either ran out of time, or the right words remained elusive, or I just couldn't settle my mind to the task.

I realized a few months ago that I was working feverishly at too much stuff I didn't really care all that much about and losing touch with what was most important to me. My ADD had shifted into overload, I was running around in circles, not accomplishing much of anything, feeling defeated, and my poor family got dragged along or left behind.

No more, I said! I've spent the last few months stripping away what wasn't important, saying "no" to most everything, focusing on making time for those I love, and fighting the urge to lay any guilt trips on myself for not doing & accomplishing more.

It took 2+ weeks for me to finally dig myself out of the holiday hole, but when I still didn't have anything much to write I skipped the usual guilt trip and gave myself permission to do as I pleased.

Now the freezer is stocked with batches of Minestrone, Super-Veggie Beef Stew & Manicotti, and my knitting needles are stichin' away once again!

I'm not sure how the next few weeks of blogging will unfold, but I'm looking forward to treading a little water and seeing where the tides take me. Hope y'all come along for the ride.