Beneath the Surface

Elder daughter told me today that I need more CDs. This occurred to her because the CD changer is only about a quarter full (it holds 400). I think it also occurred to her that if I got more CDs, there'd be more CDs for her to borrow.

But right now I'm not in the market--sometimes I spend a lot of time listening to music I already have, but lately I've preferred radio (well, if you count XM as radio, which I guess you have to--we only have it because we have DirecTV but I can certainly see the appeal), music where I don't know exactly what's coming up next.

Currently my musical tastes are broader than hers. I like most of what she likes (I like a lot of music), but she considers a lot of what I like to be too old. She by definition doesn't care for anything that's older than she is, which I find kind of amusing. She tends toward popular music, I guess--favorites include Rihanna and Kanye West--which isn't surprising since she is thirteen and that's what many of her friends like. (She still likes Green Day but considers them a bit old as well, which I suppose they are to a thirteen-year-old.)

You know, they always say how fascinating it is to see how the little kids grow and change. I think it's more interesting to see how older kids do so.

Yule quilt progress as of today: 56/64

I'm so not tired. Long nap. Dan has also had a long nap, hope he turns it into a long night of sleep.

I'm just about done with holiday shopping (yay!).

The girls have only a week of holiday break this year, presumably because they started later than usual (after Labor Day). :( Not a fun thing, I'd rather have them home longer. (Possibly I will change my mind on that poing if they don't quite squabbling after Giftmas...)

I'm less tired now, therefore more cheerful. :)

I had an awesome Yule but I'm sure glad we only do that once a year!

Our official weather-to-be:

Lake effect snow showers will increase in intensity this evening
and will become heavy at times through Tuesday morning. Snowfall
rates may exceed 2 inches per hour at times tonight and Tuesday
morning. Gusty north winds in open areas will also create blowing and
drifting snow... occasionally reducing visibilities below one quarter
of a mile. Look for additional accumulations of 6 to 10 inches
tonight and 4 to 8 inches Tuesday.

I think they're going to throw me out of the moms union, I like it when the kids have a snow day. I don't really expect it tomorrow but it would be nice to have them home :).

We now have an ex-hamster. :( Elder daughter is all right, she's sad of course, but she knows they don't live a long time and she's had him for quite a while. She doesn't want another hamster--maybe mice, or maybe those miniature hamsters (hard to imagine a smaller hamster...)--which is understandable. He was a decent hamster. I guess we'll be having a hamster funeral sometime this weekend, which will be much easier since the ground hasn't frozen yet. (Wouldn't have enjoyed storing him for a spring burial...)

Right now she's making popcorn for them to eat while watching a Pink Panther movie. We watched Arsenic and Old Lace first, which I enjoyed but which 5-year-olds can apparently take or leave. Earlier I made banana pudding, but it's not chilled enough yet, so popcorn it is. I've made chocolate banana pudding before, but never the traditional one. (And actually, since I skipped the meringue, this one isn't exactly traditional either. )

Because, you know, domesticity appears at random moments. :)

I realized (okay, I already knew this, I think I was consciously forgetting it) that if I want the next Lake Effect (local pagan newsletter) out on time I have to get a lot of it ready before we leave, because I'll only have a couple of days once we get back. So I've been working on that. Luckily it's small, so I think a general piece on different harvest holidays and one on Lugh ("Putting Lugh Back into Lughnasadh"--but I'll refrain from being too obnoxious about that one :)) should do me. I think I'm supposed to be getting some poetry in as well, so will leave room for that when it arrives.

What I'd like to include is something about Finnish paganism--with our large Finnish population, I think that would be of interest to folks--but I haven't managed to find any decent resources on it yet.

And I made a blueberry pie (it's Dan's birthday and he doesn't like cake) today with some help from younger daughter.

The girls are playing the Sims on the PS2 this afternoon--actually elder daughter has convinced younger daughter to torment the little virtual creatures by removing doors and so forth. Generally she just likes building stuff.

The freezer is full of ice cream and the little girls are happy. Ice cream is good :).

Elder daughter has gone to visit a friend from school, and younger daughter and Dan are heading down to Wal-Mart, so I've got the music on too loud :).

I finished a skein of yarn last night, got ready to attach the next one and discovered that I had not purchased four, I had purchased three, and I needed four. Grrr. So last night I started another project (using #4 needles, the smallest I have tried personally, and I'm impressed with how little trouble I had adjusting :)). And today I went online to order another skein of the green silk tweed I need to finish the other thing; on the front page of the store site I saw that they had heavy Icelandic wool, which would be great for Dan to use for naalbinding, so we are getting some of that as well. It looks like good stuff, although you have to figure that the colors are always going to be a bit off from what you see online.

I did not, BTW, have any luck finding Lady with a Mead Cup. I'll keep looking, but I think it'll be a while before I manage to locate one, and I suppose I might never find an affordable one. It's kind of disappointing because there really aren't that many good (or even potentially good) books on heathen subjects. (Unlike books on Hellenic religion, which I am constantly finding to add to my Gotta Have It list!)

We're waiting for younger daughter's playdate to arrive; she's been helping me in the kitchen while I made muffins (new recipe, chocolate oatmeal raisin, hope they're good), put a stew in the oven for supper, and started the bread machine.

One of those 5-year-old moments I hope to remember--I looked over and she was watching through the bread machine's viewing window, fascinated--doing this little dance along with the bread :). I like being a stay-at-home mom, but some days I love it :)

Elder daughter has pretty well appropriated the Sims game :); that's all right, she's enjoying herself.

Tomorrow I go to the doctor, going to find out if I keep taking the beta blockers or not (and I'm dreading having blood pressure taken--I can't stand having that done, I'd rather be stuck with ten needles than have that blood pressure cuff put on me once!--this of course does not bode well for good blood pressure figures, lol!); not sure what to hope for, really.

And I think I know what all I'm making for New Year's, or rather I know what I'm going to go buy ingredients to make--whether it all gets made depends on how much time I end up with (I'd forgotten about Pagan Coffee Night tomorrow, so I don't have that time to work with--but I think I can probably get it all done regardless, just won't be quite such a leisurely schedule of cooking :)).

I'm tired. Slept late today and am still tired. Life is dull after the last month's flurry of activity, maybe that's got something to do with it :).

My nine-year-old asked to borrow my Ramonesmania CD and is playing it on her computer. (No big surprise, I guess, it's practically all I listened to when I was pregnant with her! :))