Miss Artist’s Christmas secret

 

Miss A has been asking for a certain something for a few years.  Another musical instrument.  Every so often Tim would spend time scouring Craigslist for a used one. 

In December Tim found one in the Milwaukee area.  {His mom lives between Madison and Milwaukee ~ and we were planning a trip there for Christmas}

When he talked to the owner, Tim learned that they even drove to Watertown every Tuesday for other music lessons {W’town is just seven miles from Tim’s mom’s house} ~ at the Bible college there.  Unfortunately, we weren’t in Wisconsin until Thursday night.  So Friday we drove over to East Troy to meet the owners of this lovely instrument ~ and to buy it from them!

The only glitch was getting the harp back to Iowa.  It was a crazy 24 hours of puzzling.  Being a man of action, Tim opted to remove the back bench, loaded up Abby and her harp, and drove to Iowa on Christmas Eve.  They were up again early Sunday morning to get back to Grandma’s house for a bite of breakfast before church.  {It’s 300 miles ~ about a 5 hour drive one-way} 

This last Monday I took Miss A and Miss Music Box for Miss A’s first “get-to-know-each-other-sort” of lesson with Marie, who lives near Bondurant. 

Exciting, yes?!

 

         

 

on the go!

No pictures.  No Live Writer {this time}.  And not much umph.  Just a quick Hello!  And here's why...

Monday ~ After errands in town, it was off to Bondurant for ____{surprise-post to come} and Ankeny {Kohl's} with my two young ladies.

Tuesday ~ Almost posted, but ran out of time.  B/c it was another outing for the evening with Tim in DesMoines.  Bought a used treadmill, had dinner at Applebee's, and shopped the furniture store.

Wednesday ~ More errands, including a haircut for me : )  And out for the evening at church.

Thursday {today!} ~ Off again with the whole family to the chiropractor, shopping at Sam's & Theisen's, then dinner at El Azteca {where a dear lady at the next table was treated to a sombrero on her head while the waiters sang Happy Birthday in Spanish ~ Not me, says I.}

Tomorrow ~ It's piano/grocery day with several errands I've been putting off.

Now that I've finally checked the mountain of school papers, I am OFF to sleep!  g'night!

january via the camera

 

Continuing the wading game through the hundreds of pictures…

{for this post I downloaded Windows Live Writer again, Jodi!  Happy day!}

 

WEEK FOUR

• Along about New Year’s Day, the older girls finished their To Do Lists.  Monday morning they opened their Christmas gifts.

The Popper gave Miss Music Box (Kate) a pretty necklace.  And she got several more from G&G  : )

               

Kate gave Miss Artist a Sugar Shack mocha java candle and a music CD (Kaffeemusik) in this pretty package.  

          

 

Miss A is also enjoying a new digital camera…

 

• the Breakfast Feast

          

 

• Books ~ the Computer Geek read Tim’s new book

                                   

 

• More game time ~ Note: Do not set up the game like this again!

       

• Tuesday brought Back to School and work (and the old computer went to visit Mr. Fix-It… and has yet to come home)

 

WEEK FIVE

• Organizing in the garage ~ building shelves (begun Dec 30)

                      

Luci likes to supervise… sometimes with her eyes closed.

                    

 

• The boys helped to remove the lights and haul the tree outside (and mop the spilled water and sweep the dropped needles)

                         

 

WEEK SIX

• We picked up the order of laminate and Tim began to prepare the floor…

         

Sanding the high spots, cutting out the rotted wood (Remember the house had no roof for much of our first winter’s snow.)

    

• Friday afternoon  (Jan 20) Tim began to lay the laminate! It was a loooong weekend of late nights.

                     

                                

 

• Saturday they took a break to play in the snow.

   

   

Luci preferred to not ride the sled.

 

 

WEEK SEVEN

• Rearranging… and new rugs!

             

   

 

• Sewing projects ~ my first attempt at a tag blanket.

     

 

• When kiwi is on sale, Miss A makes pavlova – yum.

                

 

• Pressing on… (or trim and snap and lock)

                     

 

• Ciabatta & Panini

            

  

(Nice panini press, eh?  It also works well enough just to press it with the flat spatula or your hand ~ just be sure to wait to butter that side.)

The batch of ciabatta only made two little loaves, so I made some Italian herb bread too. 

It was all good ~ except for the sun-dried tomatoes. Next time I’ll use fresh tomatoes for this smoked turkey club panini. Yum. 

Y’all come!

seven weeks

...of pictures on my camera!  with an average of almost 60 (sixty) photos each week.  Oh my.  I did trim the collection down to 391 pictures before I downloaded them onto this new computer.

But first I downloaded Picasa 3.9.  Because someday I just might decide to spend some time editing photos.  Someday.  Maybe.  While this new hard drive is still functioning.  That gives me a few years, right?  Maybe.

What have we been doing in those seven weeks?

WEEK ONE (Dec 12)

• "Finishing" Luci's dog house... (it still needs siding, but it's mostly weatherproof)

• Baking cinnamon rolls for the dentist and her crew who blessed us with free services...

• Making a spinach/fruit smoothie

• The Cattleman was hamming it up for his sister (I think I deleted two, which leaves a series of 19 photos ~ so this is just a sample)  

   

• Preparing a duet for the Sunday school Christmas program (and then forgetting the music at home)

 

WEEK TWO

• the Christmas program (Dec 18)

• Celebrating the seventeenth birthday for Miss Artist

• Watching the amaryllis

• Chocolate goodies!

•  Candy cane cookies with Tim

• getting closer...

• At Grandma's house for Christmas (five days)

WEEK THREE (should be its own post!)

•  December 26 ~ Christmas at Home!

I think I got a little carried away with the stocking stuffers this year ~ but it was too much fun!

• Sibling gifts

a game from the Cattleman to the Popper ~

a magazine subscription from the Cowgirl to the Cattleman ~

a fleece jacket from the Computer Geek to the Cowgirl ~

a fancy patchwork package from Miss Artist to the Computer Geek ~

  (with a book and DVD inside)

• And much, much more...

I gave Tim a photo book (which was his idea to do for my folks) ~ You might be able to see it here.

SeaFarers for Settlers of Catan ~

 


Each of the girls got a  Lilla Rose flexi-clip in her stocking ~

 

Tim bought a package of rawhide bones for Luci ~

• Cut-out cookies (finally)

• And the frosting... 

Miss A's broken teapot, but so cute!  : )

 (guess who got a digital camera for Christmas?)

•  the Popper's jewelry kit ~

• the Cowgirl was rug-hooking while the Popper tied knots

 ...which brings us to the end of 2011... so I will save the last four weeks for another post!  whew.