It's Official...Christmas Has Begun

Cabbage and Beef Stew is simmering on the stove.  Cornbread is going in the oven after I finish this post.  I spent the morning in bed watching movies with my man.  The kids are busy creating things and playing rock band.  Such a lazy day (well in between I am preparing my lesson for church tomorrow).  We did get something accomplished though...we cut down our Christmas tree.  After having a fake tree for 7 years, we decided on a real one last year.  Someone gave us a real tree for free last year and we scoured our Christmas boxes and found lights.  This year, we had to search close to our home.  I didn't want to drive all the way out to Newberg/Sherwood to find a tree and I definitely wasn't going to pay 6.95 a foot at Lee's Farms (What a rip off!!) 

 So we drove through the little town of Willamette and conjured up a beautiful noble for $25.  It's a gorgeous color with a tad bit of blue to it, and it was a mere 15 minutes from our home.  My husband and Christian cut the beauty down with the help of the reciprocating saw.  Now, our family room smells like Christmas.
   



Tomorrow, while we snack on ham and left-over stuffing, we will be decorating our tree.

Freezing My Butt off Along With Laughing My Butt Off

Movies and my family go hand in hand.  We all worked really hard today to make this house shine and as a reward/tradition, we were going to take the whole family out for a movie.  This is something that is so expensive when you have a basketball team worth of kids.  Well, our trusty Movies on 99W was playing MegaMind or Secretariat.   Well, after the slave driving I have been doing, I let the children choose....MegaMind it was.  Piling into the car, the children all sang the 50 Nifty United States in round until Patrick and I were about to stick knives in our ears, but we made it in 40 mins.  

The reason why we go to 99W is because it is cheap.  The snacks are half the price of Regal Cinemas and the admission is less than half the price. But....I think the way they keep the prices so low is because they do not HEAT the theater!  When we were leaving the house, Brighten had a meltdown because she couldn't find a coat.  Patrick, being the almost native Alaskan, thought a coat wasn't necessary.  Well I insisted that everyone had a coat.  As I sat shivering, waiting for the movie to start, I reminded Patrick that sometimes he needs to listen to me.  I usually have really great reasons for the things I insist upon.

The movie was great!  I would watch it again.  Why?  Well the soundtrack was worth it alone.  AC/DC and Guns and Roses provided for a fun backdrop of good vs evil gone awry.  The writing was witty and I actually laughed out loud several times.  This is a fun movie...just don't go see it at 99W unless you wear moon boots, gloves, a fur lined hat, and a parka.  The savings of $5 a person might not be worth the cold butt.

Brrrrrr......

Oregon, did you turn into Idaho this year?  What is with your single digit degrees this week?  Ok, so to make it all even more unbearable, the propane tank was empty Friday night.  No worries.  I laughed.  It's only money right?  268 bucks for 2 weeks of warmth...a price to pay for living out in the country?!  But when Monday rolled around and the propane gods said they couldn't come until Friday, Momma got a little pissed.  Dealing with the cold wasn't so bad because we did have a wood stove that heat the kitchen up somewhat and those little ceramic heaters do a good job heating up the bedrooms upstairs.  Hot water, was a little to hard to come by.  Just when I thought I was finished with my canner, I had to drag it out to boil some water.  My kids can go for days without showers, but Mom and Dad, it's every other day at the very least.  On Tuesday they informed us that they could come give us 125 gallons to get us through the next 3 weeks.  That's right folks, 3 weeks and we will be living down in the valley!!!!  Meanwhile, the chickens are in a makeshift coop in the garage so they wont freeze and that dang rooster got me up at 4:30 this morning (the garage is right underneath our room).  But despite all this frigidness, I am in high spirits.
1. Sold the piano so we can pay for the move, bankruptcy, Christmas, and winter gear for everyone.
2. The Eurovan is back and only cost 500 to fix.  The transmission wasn't going out, it was just a gasket.  Evidently there has to be fluid in it to run properly...YOU THINK?!  That other mechanic was a nut case.
3. Patrick got his promotion last week.  Which means a pay raise and a company car and gas card! Yippee!
4. I am turning in my application for admittance to BYU-I online degree program (not independent study...)
5. I have bought paint for 4 rooms and have already started using the rollers ( haven't touched a paint roller in almost 3 years)!
6. It is so clear and sunny here that you can see Mt. Bachelor!  Really!  
7. We might have this place rented, so we can leave with a light and grateful heart.
Other stuff is happening that is good too, but some of it, I can't really talk about, because it's not mine to share, but needless to say, December is turning out to be a very good month.

Keep warm everyone!