January 23, 2012

Monday Musings

1. This was our family Christmas photo.  We cut our Christmas card list in half in 2010.  This year we cut it in half again.  With the cost of postage rising, something had to give.  Forgive me if you didn't get a card this year.  Consider this your card (with much love)  I meant to post it earlier with a "Merry Christmas" message but it never got done.  Since we're way past New Years, how about this:  
Happy Winter from the NEM family!!!

2. Friday night I had the house to myself for the entire night.  I don't think that has happened in over 12 years.  My boys went on a duck hunt at the coast; my oldest (why don't I like the word eldest?  It bothers me...)  went on a ski trip and my other sweet girl had a sleepover with a friend.
Oh the glorious silence!  I met friends for dinner and then came home to watch a movie.  Alone.  With the volume turned up.

My movie of choice was The Help.  Have you seen it?  Read the book first.  Loved it.  Sometimes I am disappointed with movies if I've read the book.  Not this one.  Such a good chic flick!

3. I really enjoyed having a whole day with just one daughter.  We gave each other the spa treatment, played with the puppies and had my favorite kind of dinner:
 whateveryoucanfind
When I said "whatever you can find" I meant a bowl of cereal or something of that nature.  I heard my 10 year old banging around in the kitchen and later asked, "so what did you have?"
Her reply, "cantaloupe, pickles, and chips."
Don't be jealous.  You know I just won mother-of-the-year award.

4. Upon returning from a weekend with 50 middle schoolers, my daughter asked, "when do boys stop being weird and acting gross?"
My immediate answer was, "when you're 30."  My friend with 3 grown boys said I should have answered, "never."

5. I firmly believe in Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.  My afternoon has proven it golden.  I love listening to my children play together.  The office has been transformed into a dentist office; the dining room is a doctor's office and my daughter's room is library.
Please call to make an appointment.
I'm enjoying a cup of joy joe by the fire.

Happy Monday!

9 comments:

Kimberly said...

LOVE!!!

Thoughts for the day said...

Great lunch or dinner idea Ha ha... at my age I could not get away with that.
Glad you had a nice quiet day we all need those.

Learning as we Live said...

I need a "like" button! I have a comment for each number!

Bo said...

Hi Gretchen,

I know what you mean about postage costs. My family is military which means we have moved often and collected friends around the globe. When our Christmas card costs started topping $200 we looked at each other and said enough. We now email a Christmas message to everyone with as many colored pictures as we want. The whole process is so much easier, joyful and smart. I love it.
As always your posts are lovely. It's great to hear posts from a good woman who is keeping it real.

Regards,
Bo

Amy said...

Great picture!! The Help is one of the rare movies I have seen in the theater over the last 5 years. It certainly met my expectation.

We have a name for whateveryoucanfind. It's "scrounge around," which is especially cute when someone sweetly requests "scrounge 'round" for dinner. They thought it was the name of a take-out restaurant the first time I mentioned it. Oops!

Mich said...

Beautiful picture of the family.

Little Oak Table said...

That sounds so relaxing!

We had a Help dinner party. Our 2 couple friends we lead community group with came over. We wore pearls and learned how to fry chicken together and make homemade biscuits.

The kids just ran around for 3 1/2 hours while we cooked. We fried A LOT of chicken. So good and tasty!

Mom said...

I love to hear them play too! It amazes me how they all play together so great & use their imaginations to create their own fun.

Rebecca said...

i love 'the help'. watched it again for the 3rd time last weekend. best movie i've seen since 'walk the line.'
oh...and like the happy winter card too! ;)