Indoor Recreation

 

Days like this are perfect for enjoying winter. From inside, that is.

I did venture out to go to church and the grocery store. And that bright sun sure is misleading. Of course, it would help if I wore a coat or gloves or both. But you know me. If my exposure is less than a minute, I'll be fine with my long sleeves.

For our indoor fun, we watched football – could only catch the scores on the ticker for the Vikings game so we were glad we ended our season with a W. Even though it is the end of the season for us. We'll see how quickly we get a new coach. 

We ventured outside briefly when we went over to Jim's sister's house to deliver her birthday gift.

Oh yes, definitely something warm! Perfect for lazing on the couch to watch her favorite athlete Tom Brady or read a good book. If you see Sherry tomorrow, wish her a happy birthday! (Unrelated... Anyone else need a blankie? My hands don't know what to do with themselves now that Christmas is over!!)

For other indoor fun today, we watched golf – glad that stayed close and interesting – and played a hardcore game of Scrabble. Jim claims he's rarely played that in his life, but he kicked our butts. Mamie came close to catching him but Carter and I were left out in the cold. Well, just the super losers' column!

Capped off the night with some hot chili and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Yum if I may so myself.

It was definitely a good winter's day. From the inside looking out.

Gonna get colder. Be careful out there! 

Getting Shorter

The calendar doesn't lie. My days definitely are getting shorter. Of course, if I rolled out of bed at a decent time, I'd have plenty of hours to get things done.

I was so exhausted after two late nights  followed by two early mornings, that this morning, I just slept until my body was refreshed. Yes, I got up before noon. No, Carter didn't. I had his door open at 11 a.m. and was making some noise but he didn't budge 'til I nudged him after noon. Now the challenge will be falling asleep tonight. (I'm up for the challenge!)

Since my day was short, I had to take advantage of the non-raining daylight hours to get a run/walk in. Then I had some Amish Friendship Bread and Muffins to bake while keeping tabs on the Vikings game. It was not on our network here but we saw updates while watching the Bears blow it in their totally possible game to win against the Packers. Shoot.

Just glad the Vikings won.

After the games I found a few more presents to wrap, then went grocery shopping and made supper. After supper, the three of us played a game each of Scrabble and 10,000 (a dice game). Daddy was the winner of both but graciously thanked Carter and me for inviting him to play. Whatever.

Next time!

We called my parents after that and I was relieved to hear my dad has had 2 good non-painful weeks! Yeah! They enjoyed talking to Carter and I am not sure what they all talked about since I wasn't near him the whole time. I wouldn't be surprised if he mentioned to them, too, that he wants a ping-pong table for Christmas. He is relentless about this and, sadly, it's not going to happen.

Today I reiterated that there just isn't room in our basement so he went downstairs and reorganized even more. I said, "Carter, stop already! It's not happening." Not 10 minutes later he shows me a picture on the computer of something else he wants. Really? Still adding to the list? I said, "You really think Santa's not done shopping yet?"

I could tell he is disappointed about the ping-pong thing. Now, no matter what he gets, it's not going to be as good as he hoped. Oh well, I did break down and got something close to what he wants. But he doesn't have to know that. And I certainly hope he'll be fine with it.

By then, the days will be longer so we'll have plenty of time to find out!

A Cold Day in...

If today hadn't already been a pre-planned No School Day, I wonder if they would have had it anyway. It was bitterly cold and I am not sure it even got to zero or on the positive side of the mercury today. B-r-r. Just b-r-r-r!

Good thing we didn't have a whole lot going on. Hubby had to work so it was just a Carter and Momma day!

We did have to get our "chores" out of the way first. I got my "Saturday" dusting, vacuuming, etc. stuff done since we'll be gone tomorrow. Then I had to go get the oil changed, pick up some groceries and gas up the car. That part was painful.

The only part I was happy about was that no one said, "Cold enough for ya?" 'Cause I think I would have had to hit the first person who asked! Or at least flip them off (which isn't effective when one is wearing mittens anyway). Thankfully, people were too cold to try to be funny.

When I got home, I hit the treadmill awhile while Carter finished up some homework. Then it was couch time! We watched Shrek 4 then Marmaduke. At some point in there, Jim came home from work and then left again to go with friends to see another friend coach a girls basketball team near Madison. I'm glad he got to go because we wouldn't have been good company for him. There's one thing I know: Carter's laziness can match mine on a day off! We were in the relaxation zone and, combined with the need to stay warm, weren't going anywhere!

We did get up off our respective cushions to eat supper and play Scrabble. Now he's in bed, trying not to think about tomorrow's basketball tournament, and I am finally getting around to the one productive thing I had hoped to accomplish today -- downloading pictures off my digital camera and saving them on CDs. I'm pretty sure I was right in my estimation that this is an all-day project. Since I don't have all day, I will have to finish it Sunday.

The forecast looks like that will be another cold day to stay inside and do something (or nothing).

W-I-N (for 5 points)

You know the old adage, "It doesn't matter how you play the game as long as you win"? Oh wait, that's not it. But I can see how it would work in some circumstances.

Today, for example, our Vikings were pitiful against the winless Lions. So pitiful, in fact, we almost gave them their first "W" this afternoon. Almost, but not quite. So we'll take one in the win column and remain on top of our division (dismal all around this year) but certainly won't be bragging about it.

You'd be proud of me, I didn't even call my dad to rub it in that the Vikes had a win while the Pack was handed another loss. See, I told you this wasn't worth the boast. Plus, I'd end up talking to my mother (a fellow lover of English, spelling and all that is grammar) and have to admit to her I can't seem to beat her youngest grandchild in Scrabble.

Now last night, I helped him quite a bit, so he beat me by quite a bit. No surprise he wanted to play again tonight after supper. Of course, I'm happy he wants to play a game where he can "work" on English, but I said I wasn't going to help him this time.

Well I did help him just a little bit and then he won, again, by just a little bit. He had all the good letters! (whine, whine) I have this feeling that if I didn't help him at all, the best I'd do is tie him.

I guess when the real adage says, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game," they're referring to having fun, bonding with your child and figuring out how to make a word with a Q and a J.