Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Weekend in review (and Monday too!)

More spine-tingling excitement from the Falco clan!

The major fun Saturday was the washing of the kids bed linens and pillows, 7 loads of wash required for this and it ran for a good part of the day. LOADS of fun...pun intended!

I also went online and did all my Christmas shopping for the three kids, and all this via Amazon.com. Being a member of their prime service is certainly worth it, particularly around the holidays. All 2 day shipping is free, and overnight shipping upgrades are available for $3.99.

Sunday I took the kids to the mall, making them get up early, so we could be there for the 10 AM opening. This is the fourth year I have done 99% of all my Christmas shopping on line. This year due to financial constraints I won't go into here, only family, I am very sad to say, will be getting presents. (Note though in my spirit of giving I am happy to take your presents!) So anyway, unlike their Dad, the kids still need to have a trip out to procure some or most of their items.

So, I had no problem with this, but did not want to have to deal with crowds just so they could sleep in as is their habit. So, Danielle was awakened at 8:45 (her choice so she could straighten her hair) and Scott around 9:00, so we could be out of the house on time.

Scott still groused a bit about the early wake up call, adding that people would still be in church at 10 AM, but I hate crowds at the mall, and having to wait in line to pay for purchases, so, we went. We arrived about 10 minutes before the stores opened so we used the time to part and walk to the first store we would be shopping at.

The mall was indeed not crowded at all, I don't know if this was due to people being at church, the economic state of things, a combination of the two, but for whatever reasons we got in and out rather quickly, even having time to stop for a pretzel at Auntie Em's before heading out. Total time in the mall was less than two hours!

Sunday the weather warmed up and the temperature rose into the low 40's. It has also risen to about 35 on Saturday. While the driveway pretty much lost the inch of ice it had the roof only shed about half of it's icy covering.

I made homemade chicken soup for dinner Sunday, timing it to be ready after Scott's friend Alex had departed, and because the X had been sick for a couple of days, I made her a container and ran it over to her. She was most pleased, and Scott tells me she had the second serving for lunch on Monday. Scott, Danielle, and I had it for dinner last night too. It was delicious!

I had Monday off of work for personal reasons I won't go into, but I did go out and do the majority of the staple shopping for Christmas dinner. Since I painted myself into a corner I will be making Lasagna and Turkey for 10 people, I think I am going to make the Lasagna Christmas Eve day or there is no way I can pull this off, particularly with my small stove! I planned on getting the turkey too, but I wanted a Butterball, and the only ones that had were either too small or too big.

Danielle and I watched the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, and I was quite surprised how much better this was than I had anticipated. We did not go to see it, and I am very pleased we watched it. Great viewing for kids of all ages, particularly older ones like myself who remember the cartoons and Christmas albums. Note the link above takes you to a history of the Chipmunks but has links to the cartoons and movie.

Danielle continued to impress me with her video gaming. She and I have moved from Easy to Moderate difficulty on Left 4 Dead and have been having great fun over the weekend and last night playing it.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Chris,

Imagine this: It is 29° at this time (7:05 AM), and it may SNOW here this week! Great Scott!

- David

Cristina -n- Charlie said...

So now I see what you're doing when you're at work! (smile) I'm finally online (YAY!) and love to read your blog as well. Nice that Brian could use your Jurassic Park, and his little one is almost as sweet as mine. Sorry I missed the latest DVD give-away, but we've got the Charlie Brown DVD with us and Charlie is alternating between Max & Ruby, Madagascar and Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin.

Sorry you're stuck in the cold, but I promise to get plenty of sun and warmth for you and the kids!

XOXO,

CC

Blandishment Blog said...

CC, The more hectic the day, the more I enjoy doing a blog post or answering comments when I take a lunch break at work.

Glad you are on-line and enjoying your time off, plus the warm weather.

I have been watching quite a few children's specials these past days for the holidays. The kids have lost interest in most of these, but, I still love them.

Danielle and I did watch a movie called "Holiday in Handcuffs" where the actress who played Sabrina The Teenage Witch panics and kidnaps some guy and takes him home for the holiday to meet her overbearing parents. We both loved it.

Take care!

Blandishment Blog said...

David, Imagine just how badly I feel about your cold weather situation, particularly in light of today's and tomorrow's weather forecast!

Unknown said...

Chris,

Just knowing that you are even colder than I is somewhat encouraging!

Nonetheless, I am anticipating leaving the warmth of my office with great dread!

- David