December 08, 2003
Weekend Miracles
Sometimes, things happen that surprise me.
Miracle #1: We went to a friend's to bake cookies over the weekend. We had a ton of dough, and ended up with so many cookies. Abby, especially, was in heaven, as she loves to eat the dough, and there was no one paying very much attention to how much she was eating. The miracle? By the end of the night, she said she didn't want to eat another cookie!
We made lots of cute cookies. Or, I should say, other people made lots of cute cookies. I made one, compared it to the others, and decided that cookie decorating was not for me!
Cookie pictures:
(This last one is baby Jesus in a manger. Baby Jesus started out his life as a teddy bear, but by cutting off the ears, he was able to lay down his sweet head just like he was supposed to do.)
Miracle #2: Saturday night, after the cookie-making extravaganza, we were mostly all quite tired. (Except for Katrina, who couldn't really understand why Abby and I were answering her interesting conversational topics with grunts, eventually she gave up.) So we were watching a movie, and I was drinking some red wine. (Which I hardly ever do, and I was about to learn why.)
I turned to make sure it was still sitting on my nightstand, and it was, but it was in the process of falling off, as my blanket was knocking it over. Like in the movies, when everything goes slow-motion, I reached for it, but it was too late. It went splat, all over the floor.
We went into carpet cleaning mode, which was challenging, as my desk was right there, and I was afraid the liquid had soaked underneath the edge of the desk, so I had to move it, and there was really no place to move it. I did some blotting with clothes, and sent Abby for the orange cleaner and Katrina to go mix up some oxy-clean.
I cleaned with the orange cleaner first, and it helped a lot, but it was still stained. Then I drenched a cloth in the oxy-clean mixture, and wiped it over the stain. An audible gasp was heard in the room. It was like magic. As soon as I wiped it with the cloth, the stain was gone. We spent the next few minutes marvelling over it, and then finished the movie.
Miracle #3: We got our Christmas tree today, from the traditional Woodinville lot, where you get to go and cut down your own. And let me tell you, today was a fine day for tromping down the dirt roads and into the field, what with all the rain. At one point, Abby asked what that smell was, and I told her she just didn't want to think about it.
We got our tree, and it was very nice, and I got it cut down just as the guy who was thinking I was probably going to need some help cutting it down was asking me if, I did, in fact, need help. And then, we got it put in the car and discovered the miracle of the bungee cord.
Last year, being less prepared, I tied the trunk shut with the only string I could find -- curling ribbon. Now, curling ribbon is not (you'll be surprised to hear this) the sturdiest string in the world, so it broke before we even made it past the ice cream place that always looks good but have never stopped at. This year, we made sure to take along an assortment of bungee cords, and I just fastened it down, and off we went, without a single worry (okay, a little bit of worrying, but not at all like last year) of the tree falling out into the road and causing horrible accidents.
Miracle #4: It's quite likely that my office location will be moving from up on the hill to closer to downtown, in the next month or so. I was wailing and wringing my hands, as I have a good, free, parking situation now, and was not looking forward to that coming to an end.
So tonight, I started looking at bus schedules, which, for me, is quite the miracle. It's not that I'm not a fan of public transportation in general, but when it comes to me, specifically, navigating the routes, well, let's just say that I've had a couple of bad experiences -- and not with people who also use public transportation, but with my ability to get on the right bus.
But, I found that I can park at the park and ride lot near Microsoft and take an express bus downtown that would drop me off right near my new office building, and it runs every half-hour and takes only 25 minutes, which isn't bad at all.
So, I, who am quite afraid of public transportation, am thinking that this will be my best option, especially as I can get a free bus pass from work. Maybe I can even get some extra reading done.
Now watch, now that I've figured out what to do, they'll decide we won't be switching buildings after all. (Yes, it is always about me!)
Miracle #5: A couple-three weeks ago, I was at my Aunt Margaret's house, and she was saying that she kept potting plants and they kept growing, and there were so many of them. I volunteered to take one off her hands, as a non-dying plant is exactly what I need, because I'm very good at killing them.
She carefully potted one up for me, and I verified that she would not be upset if I killed it, as that's a very likely result.
That night got a little bit hectic, as I ended up needing to unexpectedly pick up the girls, and because I'd taken my computer with me (the desktop, not the laptop!) there was a lot to haul in and it was sort of late by the time I got home, and I completely forgot about the plant.
Last week, I had an idle thought that hey, didn't Aunt Margaret say she was going to send home a plant with me? I must have forgotten to take it.
Today, the girls cleaned out the trunk of the car, and there was the poor little plant, carefully wrapped up in plastic wrap. I unwrapped it, and Katrina was sure it would be dead, but it didn't look like it had been bothered at all. We set it on the bookshelf by the window, where I will continue attempting to kill it.
I may have my work cut out for me.
A random conversation from the car today:
A: "I just saw another police car!"
Me: "Was he making faces at you?"
K: "No! Although we could make faces at him!"
A: "No, then he might arrest us and take us to jail."
K: "Can they do that?"
Me: "If he did, he'd be violating your civil rights."
A: "You mean, then another policeman could arrest the first policeman for being a bad policeman?"
Me: "Yep."
A: "Wow, this world just gets better and better."
And for those keeping score: I have been using my trampoline regularly, and seem to be past injuring myself every time I use it now. I did discover that it is not, in fact, a silent exercise, as my downstairs neighbors let me know by pounding forcefully on their ceiling when I was exercising at midnight. Oops.
Posted by Rachel at December 8, 2003 02:39 AM