december day two.

When I came downstairs this morning, Nemo was awake and had already opened the second advent box...my little note said that he and Mia would go pick out gifts for each other and they had to keep them a secret. On the table was my little note and Nemo's response: he wrote on a separate square of paper "I will keep it a secret!". A smile first thing in the morning is always perfect.

Ian and Mia and I spent the day taking care of some errands...a stop at Fred Meyer where Mia picked out her gift for Nemo (which she later, without hesitation, announced at the dinner table what that gift was) and Ian picked up supplies for his craft show this Sunday. We drove down to Bob's Red Mill for lunch and so I could scope out the very large selection of flour and grains and beans and oats and etc, etc...a little overwhelming to know where to start. I settled for a bag of unbleached white (for bread baking) and old-fashioned rolled oats...oh, and a bag of fresh-baked cookies. Conveniently, the Nature Bake outlet store is right across the street, so we wandered over there to buy some (very cheap) frozen Dave's Killer Bread. We stocked our freezer for awhile. This will hold us while I become a master bread maker.

We enjoyed a quiet afternoon of just hanging out at home...Mia got a new Backyardigan's DVD from the library, so that captured her attention for a bit.


Ian picked up a rotisserie chicken and I roasted potatoes and prepared a salad. I had a bag of organic romaine in the crisper drawer (about a week old) and I decided enough with the procrastination. Just wash the lettuce, Michelle...don't let this bag go to waste. So I did. It was one of the best parts of my day. There was so much dirt on this lettuce that I could smell it and it left a gritty layer on the bottom of my sink...but I stood there thinking, "Oh yeah...this lettuce really did come from the ground. It grew somewhere. It didn't just appear prewashed and bagged and ready for my convenient use. (well, it did come in a bag, but you get the idea). It was really nice because I didn't expect it to be. OK...definitely need to start growing some of my own food.

happy christmas.

the kids (and I, of course), are getting in the spirit around here. day one of december found me putting the finishing touches on the advent calendar. this is the new and improved version, and though it felt a bit "piece-mealy" putting it together, it will serve it's purpose, and I am moving on.


I stapled four pieces of cork together, then stapled strips of patterned paper over the seams, then arranged all the boxes and attached them to the cork with thumbtacks. Last year's version was simply stuck on the wall with poster putty, but I found that I was always picking up those darn boxes off the floor and adding more putty. So, this'll do for this year.

The advent activity for the first was to make a special Christmas treat with Mom. Both kids like to help in the kitchen...Mia takes any opportunity to request "can you bring the yellow chair in the kitchen?" I always know what that means...I've got a helper whether I want one or not!

So, here we are making those delicious "out of the box" brownies with liberal Christmas sprinkles.


After children's bedtime, Ian and I continued on with season 3 of LOST...this show is pretty addicting to say the least. And I'm thinking the only way to watch it is on DVD. Instant gratification. I dream about this program way too often. Just something about it.