What's Up

Life around here is busy. Computer issues (thank goodness Jim fixed it) and a sick Meg have kept me from blogging or even checking email for the past several days. I just logged on for the first time in 3 days. Believe it or not, I've not checked my email since Saturday. I was starting to have real withdrawal symptoms.

Anyway, here is what has kept us so busy since last we met . . .

I kept my sunglasses.

Some lady came to my door selling cleaning products (Clean & Simple -- consider yourself warned!). She came at the worst time of day . . . I was trying to get the girls ready for bed . . . but I was too nice to slam the door in her very pushy face. I ended up with some ridiculous cleaning products that I could easily live without, and I felt bad for about 2 days for spending the money on the product. I was so embarrassed -- what was I thinking?! Jim has forgiven me, but I'm still trying to forgive myself.

Jim left for a Sunday-Thursday trip. And when he returns on Thursday night, I'm off for a weekend trip with my dad. Just the two of us, taking some time to ourselves to enjoy each others company and kinda put some of 2009 behind us. It will be a very nice weekend with my Daddy. (Though I'll miss Jim and the girls a lot.)

Meg and Kate both have survived some serious chest congestion over the last week. They have not been "sick sick", just coughy, wheezy, and whiny. No real fever, just not quite themselves. And this time, Meg was the one who got the worst of it. Blech. But hey -- I learned that kids can throw up when the mucus in their chest gets to be too much for them . . . who knew?

Kate is the hostess for the Thanksgiving Feast in her MMO class on Thursday morning. And by Kate hosting . . . I really mean that I am hosting. Must make orange rice krispie treats tomorrow for the affair. I had one heck of a time finding Thanksgiving themed plates/napkins for the shindig . . . seems like many stores go straight from Halloween to the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Thanksgiving, stuck smack in the middle of two very retailer-lucrative holidays, has apparently become the red-headed stepchild of seasonal merchandise.

Nana and Papa Dahlby arrive this weekend (while I'm away) for the Thanksgiving week. In preparation for their arrival, I have used my aforementioned too-expensive all-purpose cleaning product to clean my stove top, my oven, all my baseboards, my blinds, and my carpets. I guess new products plus the motivation of having my in-laws land here for more than a week is a good thing . . . by the time my cleaning lady comes and goes on Thursday afternoon, my house will be really very clean.

We have officially kicked off the holiday season at the Dahlby household. We tagged along with some friends and went to check out Santa at Phipps Plaza last week. NO -- we didn't see him yet -- we just checked him out from afar and started gearing Meg up to actually sit with him this year. And while we were in the area . . .

we rode the Pink Pig. In November (okay, in early November). It was awesome . . . the girls loved it, and there was no crowd. Too early or not to early, you can't argue with doing something when it's easy.

And speaking of holidays too early . . . we put our tree up last weekend. Okay, that one I'll give you . . . I know it's early. But with me leaving town for the weekend and Thanksgiving banging on the door as soon as I return, it just seemed like we needed to get the tree up or risk not being able to do it as a family (just the four of us, I mean) during Thanksgiving week. So last Friday night, we ate take-out and decorated the tree while watching Frosty the Snowman on DVD. It was a great night.

The early arrival of the Dahlby tree allowed me to dig out the Holiday jammies I had purchased on super-clearance at the end of last season. They'll get to wear them for a few extra weeks . . . so see, I'm trying to make the most of my money in some areas. :)

And that's what's up around here.