this image makes me happy:

and serina asked about my cleaning schedule. fortunately for me, this schedule is extremely flexible and it still works when i don't get around to doing ti all, every day. because in reality, every day is full of surprises. like yesterday, i had three loads of laundry planned, but our pipe froze (it did last year in single digit temps, so i should have known!), so the first load resulted in a floor full of water. so here it is...

Liz's Very Flexible Cleaning Schedule

Monday:
Launder sheets from all beds (guest room bed if overnight guests from the weekend)
Launder towels
Reorganize/straighten back porch, office and kitchen

Tuesday:
Launder boys' clothes
Clean upstairs bathroom (tub, floor, toilet, sink)
Reorganize/straighten upstairs

Wednesday:
Launder Liz and Kenny's clothes
Launder kitchen towels
Clean downstairs laundry room/bathroom

Thursday:
Vacuum downstairs
Dust upstairs

Friday:
Vacuum upstairs
Dust downstairs

Saturday:
NOTHING!

Sunday:
NOTHING!

On Sunday evenings, I look at our week and adjust the cleaning schedule as need, around the errands I need to run. For instance, this is how this week looks:

Monday:
Grocery shopping
Launder boys' sheets and guest room sheets (we had an overnight guest this weekend)
Launder all towels
Clean laundry room
(but Monday's schedule changed because of a frozen pipe in the laundry room. It thawed by early-afternoon, so I was only able to do the towels, so we readjust today's schedule to fit into the next few days).

Tuesday:
Launder Liz and Kenny's clothes (and boys' sheets)
Dust downstairs
Vacuum upstairs

Wednesday:
Library day! Return books-on-tape (the boys have been listening to the Frances books - or in their words, "Frahnces" because the narrator is British)
Launder guest room sheets
Dust upstairs
Vacuum downstairs

Thursday:
Catch up on cleaning (if I didn't get to any, this is the day I fill in)
Launder Liz and Kenny's sheets

Friday:
More catch-up!

This morning, I found Adam reorganizing my small pantry for me:

Now all the asian ingredients are in with the baking ingredients. i don't have the heart to re-reorganize. he WILL notice. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

april from SALT for the spirit tagged me for a little meme. it was fun to stretch my mind around this one...thanks, april!

Love/ Hate Meme
I love to eat: meat (i'm a true carnivore...see above); death by chocolate (i'm a true addict).
I hate to eat: wet eggs. scramble the heck out of them for me, please!
I love to go: on vacation with my man. and the boys.
I hate to go: shopping between thanksgiving and christmas.
I love it when: all five of us are piled on the bed, reading, watching tv, chatting....
I hate it when: "The Office" is a rerun YET AGAIN.
I love to see: the older boys playing with adam, teaching him their games - they're great little teachers!
I hate to see: the weekly forecast in january and february; a snow storm in late-march;
I love to hear: adam's waking up words: "uh, oh mamamama! uh, oh dadadada!" (that's "hello!" not a true "uh oh!"); owls chatting at night;
I hate to hear: "mommy, i just don't feel so good"

i tag...stephanie for this one! and anyone else who wants to post it in their own blogs. let me know if you post it!

yesterday (saturday), when everyone woke up, kenny and i were planning what to do for the day. i suggested that we take the tree down (yes, our live tree was still up, dropping needles like crazy since we stopped watering it ages ago) and rowan burst into tears. he did not want the tree to go any where. ever.

we talked to him a bit about how christmas will return next year, but we have to get that (dead!) tree out of our house in order for christmas to return. and then we went into how much we have to look forward to...easter! spring! summer! LENT! finally he agreed to let us take the tree down (whew!), but not yesterday. he told us we had to wait until today. normally we don't let our kids dictate our daily lives, but it sounded like a better idea any way, so we relented.

instead, we went to a "winter party!" at our library where we made some snowman and bird feeder crafts and checked out some more books. i'm in love with Flannel Kisses. if you can check out the artwork in that book - the cozy feeling that each page gives...it's a great winter read! the older boys then spent a good while walking through pop-pop's woods with kenny and pop-pop in the afternoon.

today, we finally took the ornaments off the tree, gathered up the lights and other decorations from locations in the house only the boys could know about, and took the tree out to the woods. i've never seen so many needles inside in all my life. this was truly the deadest tree we've ever taken down. i think we'll stick with frasier firs in the future as they barely drop needles (in our experience...and all of the douglas firs we've gotten have dropped many needles and they're more prickly than frasiers!). with each ornament taken down, sawyer and rowan exclaimed how great a christmas it had been. and how pretty the tree was...and how unpretty it was now that it didn't have any ornaments left hanging on it. they are two very nostalgic boys. they definitely take after their mama (any college friends reading this?).

some great news on the Smith family side: a New Nephew was born! our niece, hannah (adam's age) is now the big sister of a baby brother: Shane Logan was born last Friday morning.

for some reason unbeknownst to me, i was eager to bake something today. i checked the pantry and decided on texas sheet cake. you know, that extremely rich chocolate cake with extremely double rich chocolate frosting? anyone want to come over and eat it for us? because you know, we've recently joined the local YMCA and kenny and i are enjoying many evenings working out and then swimming with the boys in the family pool. it's a fabulous way to spend these long, cold, winter evenings. the exercise makes my brain think that i'm as active as i am in summer and that must mean warm weather is right around the corner.  but i also have a theory: since we have to put the boys in a supervised play area (free childcare for an hour, every other day!), they're no doubt, picking up germs that they wouldn't if we were cooped up all winter long. however...since we go swimming after our workouts, the chlorine kills off any germs they pick up. isn't that a great theory? doesn't it sound like i'm right? can someone verify this for me, please?

this was the first week back to normal since the holidays began way at the end of last year. kenny was back to work fulltime; my errands are back in full swing (meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, cooking, baking, reading, learning...) i know kenny must be taking a double-take at that list since i included "cleaning" and i admit, cleaning is not my strong suit. but i'm bound and determined to keep a schedule instead of having deep-cleans every now and then. i figured if i give a cleaning schedule a try, i will only have to straighten up for my normal reasons to deep-clean the house (overnight visitors, parties, playgroups, etc...).  if you're interested, i'll post my new schedule, but from what i gather, my blog readers are not interested in things like that.

i'm gathering a few sewing projects to keep me busy on the nights i'm not dead tired from swimming. the first is a reversible table runner for my mom and dad's new dining room. mom and i picked out some great fabric over the weekend and i'm ready to start fabric-cutting! i'm also bound and determined to sew something for me: a skirt or dress for easter sunday. we'll see if i can find an easy pattern or easy tutorial on such a thing. i just added this book to my wishlist and a library hold list. (sewing and knitting books are always a long wait at the library. i put Last Minute Knitted Gifts on my library hold list and about a month later it was "ready for pick-up" only to be "ready for pick-up" shorter than normal due to a high demand on the book. so i missed my chance at looking through it.)

and i just finished a novel: The Time Traveler's Wife. I've heard so many opinions about this book and it's just one of those books that you love or you hate. there is no in-between of this book. i adored it and am sad that i'm not reading about these characters any more. i loved them, and they're still walking around inside my thoughts. i'm so excited to see that it's going to be made into a movie. i'll go see it, but i'm sure it won't be nearly as good as the book.

i've started a new novel already. and even though clare and henry are still my closest friends right now, i'm ready to welcome in another cast of characters to get to know.

i think that brings us up to speed.

it is night and snow is falling. sounds like the perfect backdrop to some reading by the fire...

i had grand plans for us to celebrate epiphany this year: our nativity scene was set out at the beginning of Advent with only a few animals and an empty manger inside (or since it was only the animals - they're feeding stall). Mary and Joseph were somewhere else in the house, as were the wisemen and a shepherd: all were making their way to the creche; Mary and Joseph were to arrive on christmas eve and the wisemen were to arrive on Epiphany (today!).

i looked up different recipes to bake a King's Cake to be eaten at some point today (never got around to making one).

and lest you think the computer overtook my blog post title today and printed something in some software language, it didn't. the C and the M and the B are said to stand for the names of the Three Kings - Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. some say it could also stand for Christus Mansionem Benedicat, which means "may Christ bless this dwelling." you are to write this code with chalk on doorways of friends the evening before Epiphany (i was going to post that last night, but never made it back to the computer after crawling into bed early and not wanting to get back out!).

after we put the boys to bed this evening, and we did our normal sabbath evening ritual of Putting The Garbage Out For the Garbage Truck Which Arrives VERYLOUDLY At 3:30 a.m Every Monday Morning, i noticed the empty creche. Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus were there, but the wisemen were still somewhere else in the house. they never made it to see Jesus in the smith family epiphany. i quickly found them, and stood them around the replica of the manger (removing a santa ornament that made its way there mysteriously!).

sigh. i've failed as an episcopalian mom.

after a beautiful epiphany-heavy church service this morning ("We Three Kings" and the Nunc Dimitus, "Lord, let now thy servant depart in peace") i was blessed to spend the afternoon in the company of friends and family at a house blessing, traditionally done on Epiphany Sunday, for my friend Margaret. her friends and family gathered over food and drink and in prayers and blessing for each of the rooms in her new home. kenny and i have long discussed having our own house blessing since moving here. after today's service, i'm even more excited to plan our own. among my favorite of the prayers spoken on her home today:

i'm really enjoying all the resolution and non-resolution promises i'm reading in blogland today. so much so that i feel as though i don't have to do my own list. (whew!)

we spent the eve of the new year with friends. today, we spend it in our pjs (still! it's 2:00 pm!), with family, over a grilled pork loin and traditional saurkraut (and mashed potatoes and applesauce - a very bland looking but delicious meal!). it's snowing outside - we're supposed to get a few inches by tomorrow. i resolve to be more happy about the snow. because it makes the boys so happy and excited.

the house has been used so much since thanksgiving. it needs a total spa treatment. although yesterday, after a quick vacuum of only two of our rooms (as opposed to a deep clean vacuum of all of the rooms), i was a sneezy, wheezy mess from 4:00 until 10:30. i had 1.5 benedryl early in the evening and was out cold by 10:45. it was almost worth missing the new year just for the relief (i also learned to snort salt water!). i guess i have a slight allergy to dust. that's a great excuse to get rid of all the carpet and go to hardwood, right? i guess i should resolve to start a regular cleaning schedule, and not just a clean-when-we-have-guests schedule.

favorite smithical posts from 2007
a re-blog of the i am from "essay" i did. hey - do your own now if you haven't already! blog it!
helping hands (and feet!)
a birthday surprise from my hsuband!
my first (and only?) works-for-me-wednesday contribution
cute easter sunday pictures
i'm already longing for spring as i re-read this one
the beginning of my new-found love of sewing
ahhhh...relaxing!
i think i really am going to miss these "baby" days!
the beach!
my niece sadie guest-blogs

happy new year, everyone. may 2008 be chock-full of goodness, comfort, and joy for all of you!

...we lost a chicken.

and i don't mean "finally!" as in "we were eagerly awaiting the death of one of our poultry." i mean it in a very realistic sense: we can't believe that all fifteen of our chickens lasted eight whole months!  when we brought the day-old chicks home, way back in april, we thought for sure a chick or maybe two would die that first night. that's what you hear about happening. or sometimes you hear that the chicks arrive through the mail with one or two dead already. so we ordered extra.

then, when they were several weeks old and we put them into their coop, we thought for sure a raccoon would smell them from the woods and gobble them up. or the bear that we see evidence of...or the hawks flying above our grounds. we thought for sure we'd lose at least four (five?) by now.

these chickens are free range, and they take advantage of this status by wandering all over our acreage and into our neighbors' acreage, across the street to my parents acreage, and even across a busier street DOWN THE ROAD. you'd think by now, a car would have gotten one? or two?

we were beginning to think that our chickens were supernatural. especially since we're still getting 9-10 eggs a day - and the days have been getting shorter and are already getting longer again.

but today, when kenny went out to feed the chickens before dinner, he noticed 14 nervous chickens running around as though they'd seen a ghost. then he noticed the LARGE (18 inches tall, perhaps taller?) hawk in the front of our woods rustling around with some golden feathers. it got one of our golden buffs. we have six of those. we only have three of each of the wyandottes, buff orpingtons, and araucanas. so at least the hawk chose wisely.

i thought i'd be a bit more sad, but i think since it was a natural event, i'm fine. kenny's fine. my dad's a bit sad, but i think he'll get over it after he lays the chicken out in a cordial gathering and buries it where he'll bury his dog eventually. 

fortunately, i think the hawk will have disposed of the chicken by morning.

snowplay is not one of my favorite things. but it's something the boys love to do. every once in a while, you'll hear rowan say, "i LOVE the grass! where's the grass? i miss the grass!" and i couldn't agree more. but they are all over running around making tracks in the snow, eating the snow, packing the snow into snowballs, eating the snow, throwing snowballs, making snowmen and EATING the snow.

if i had my act togehter, this would be our christmas card picture this year. they all climbed up on the table without me asking. i grabbed the camera and snapped this. sawyer looks like quite the ringleader in this photo!

we had such big plans for the day: cutting down our christmas tree to trim tomorrow (rose sunday!), decorate the inside and outside of the house, attend our saturday service at church with a great ham and potato dinner to follow (with lemon-sauce gingerbread for dessert!)...but snow came. and snow has a habit of changing even the best laid plans.

our house is almost decorated, but there is no tree. the christmas tree farm that we drove to this morning at 9:42 a.m. wasn't open until 1:00. and adam slept until 3:00 at which point it had been snowing already for half an hour. at which point it had been decided that the saturday evening service will be canceled.

the snow is heavy: it's an icy snow, gorgeous, and has blanketed all other sound except for the snow falling on the bare tree branches. and our busy day has halted into a day of cooped-upness. it's darkening outside now, and the twinkle lights that we do have up...the rearrangement of the furniture in the living room allowing room for a christmas tree...the fireplace in the back of the house...the tea kettle steaming for yet another cup of tea...it's all adding up to a cozy evening inside, warm and safe.

my dad and kenny have just returned with some takeout and beer from the local watering hole. i'll put on some christmas music and maybe whip up a batch of gingerbread for our home enjoyment.

advent is for waiting and preparing. maybe a day of canceled plans helps us to sit back and wait again, refocusing our thoughts on what is to come....

advent sundays are so fun...they're feast days, so fun happens.  last week we spent sunday afternoon with my parents and yesterday our friends traveled from the big city to eat and fellowship with us.

this morning, it was grey all morning long. the forecast called for nothing but grey. fortunately, i had a whole hour to plan the day between the time kenny left for work and when the boys woke up. and here's how our day went down:

we were out of milk (the milkman comes every monday around 8:30) so breakfast was muffins and apple juice. i found a chicken carcass (lovely word, i know) in the freezer, so i decided to make chicken soup for dinner. i found a fabulous recipe for dumplings or homemade noodles (there is a fine line between the two and i would call what i ended up making dumplings, and not noodles. but they were fantastic nonetheless - the only thing that all three boys inhaled) from the boomama soup carnival. so i started the pot-o-broth with some additional frozen vegetable cuttings i had stored and continued cleaning the kitchen while the boys ate their breakfast.

after getting dressed, we all headed to michaels. it was a grey morning, but that didn't stop us from bringing some color inside! i had started clipping strips for the construction-paper-garland (that we all did as kids - but rowan and sawyer don't remember doing it last year, so it's new to them!) this morning, and we needed just a few other supplies for more kid-friendly christmas decorations.

i don't know about other moms with kids who like to make things and like to craft...but i always have an idea in my head about how something will turn out and it just doesn't turn out quite as i had planned. but i'm learning to let go of this and embrace my kids (very eager and yet oh-so-young) artistic endeavors. for instance...

i planned to make these with the boys:

instead, we ate gumdrops until we were sick worked hard and ended up with these treasures (with a lack of reds and purples. hrmmmm...):

after dinner this evening, we dug out our christmas stockings and hung them from the living room mantle. we set out our creche, only adding the animals and empty manger (the expectant family, kings, shepherd and angel are all the way back in the office starting their journey toward the creche set up in the living room).

rowan and sawyer have waited very patiently (okay, somewhat patiently) to eat their "bishop cookies." i made the recipe included in my last post on monday and we've been rolling and cutting out bishops everyday since then - adding smaller cutouts along the way to whet their appetite. the cookie is really good, by the way - it's not gingerbread, it's spice and goes really well with tea and coffee.

kenny and i are supposed to be imbibing in some mulled wine or cider right now - a traditional drink of st. nicholas eve. but honestly, we just finished preparing for the big breakfast we have planned tomorrow (stuffed french toast, cream cheese coffeecake, oranges, clementines and decorated bishop cookies), and we're exhausted already. it's a lovely 14 degrees outside and the flannel sheets on the bed are calling out LOUDLY.

happy st. nick's day! i hope to share a picture or two of our first family st. nicholas breakfast celebration sometime later this week. until then...enjoy your continued first week in advent!