Saturday, December 20, 2008

Picking up the pace

My eldest said to me today, while we were out frantically doing errands, "Christmas just snuck up on me this year." I stopped mid-stride, and said, "Welcome to adulthood." Cracked me up.

While I had thought I was totally devoid of holiday spirit this year, I managed to do one or two things. We made and decorated cookies, and yesterday I gathered the two youngest and we made our way via public transit (oh, the excitement!) to San Francisco, where at the St. Francis hotel we viewed this year's over the top "Sugar Castle."


And tomorrow, we'll probably get our tree. It's taken a week, but we've gone from our front rooms looking like this, as they have since we moved in (except without the ladder and the plastic sheeting and the furniture all shoved together in the middle,


to different combinations of these four colors:


Now it's clear that the dining room will need repainting. But that can wait until after the holiday.

What can't wait, alas, is a new refrigerator. I thought getting the old one repaired would be a good move, but since Thursday, we've been having odd clicks and shorts in the whole house's electrical system, and unplugging the refrigerator fixed it. Then we discovered that everything in the freezer wasn't frozen. . . So, after my much-looked-forward-to solo grocery shopping trip after church tomorrow, we'll go to the appliance store and get another refrigerator, then get a tree, now that the living room is 95% done, then I'll finish writing the cards that arrived from the printer today so I can mail them on Monday, and then we'll probably go out to dinner. And collapse.

It's a good thing I got a run in this morning. It was sad, as befits the first one after a two-month hiatus, but it was a run. I was just underdressed, but that can be remedied. My still-to-be-graded papers can't, though, so I'll slog through them tonight. The term is almost over, so I'll have about a week off of work. The Kauni cardigan is hovering between the armpits and the beginning of the neckline, and I cast on another top-down raglan for my son, out of a two-ply alpaca, and managed to not mess it up too much during the opening night screening of "The Tale of Desperaux" that the young'uns and I went to last night.

Any minute now, I expect things to calm down. I don't know why I do, except that in contrast to the last few (and upcoming few) days, it can't feel more active.

10 comments:

Charity said...

Wow, are you ever busy! Who needs to run, when your whole life is a race? Hang in there, it really will all slow down soon enough.

Carolyn said...

I second that! You do sound busy. Oh, and the alpaca. I bet that is a treat to work with while knitting the Kauni.

Ruby Louise said...

Yay running! I'm glad you felt energetic enough to go for a run, sad though it may have been. Good luck getting through your day! It sounds like it'll be a busy one.

bfmomma said...

Your front rooms look awesome and you get kudos for letting there be flowered wallpaper WAY longer than I did in our house!

Xmas *did* sneak up this year. blechhh... I still haven't baked a thing.

Happy, happy.

suzee said...

"Sleep when you die." You operate like me, and things will NEVER calm down, 'cause you'll always find something to stick in the empty spots.

The room looks great! Looks like we won't make a pre-holiday time for tea (I'm working tomorrow and Tuesday), but let's try for after, OK?

Katherine said...

Hey, we went to see that movie on Friday night. A bit scarier than we thought it would be. Anyway, love your paint colors - what a change! And ugh about the fridge. Ours broke last year, while it was stuffed to the brim. Costly little event, that is. But I hope you get a couple of slowish days soon.

Susan said...

Wow that is some gingerbread house! And your colors look great. I hope by now your fridge and tree are in and you are admiring your tree against the new background. Merry Christmas!

Yarn It said...

The comment from your oldest is hilarious! Merry Christmas!

amanda j said...

Merry Christmas. Isn't it always the way that the fridge will go at the worst possible time!

Hope that you have a relaxed holiday season.

allisonmariecat said...

I'm a bit nostalgic for the magical childhood Christmas, when all the wonderful traditions happen without me. Now it's all to-do lists and responsibilities and checking the tracking on packages. But it's still fun, in its own way.

Love the new paint, but sorry about the fridge.