waiting and more waiting

davis says he keeps "WAITING" on christmas. i'm currently waiting on daddy. waiting on daddy to get home. waiting on daddy's plane to get in. waiting on daddy's one hour commute from the airport to be over. waiting on my laundry to get folded. waiting on my presents to get wrapped. waiting on my dishwasher to get emptied. but they are not getting done by themselves.

one night without daddy throws everyone out of whack. i'm sure daddy's just waiting to get home and get to sleep. we are all "READY" for him to be home.

crazy thing happened to today at the store. standing in line (forever) at sam's to buy two things for office party and one LAST christmas present. look in cart. there are only two things for office in there. ooh! i have to get out of this line and go back for the present. that's not the crazy thing fore-mentioned. retrieve present. come back. get in line again. this time there are two parents and their two toddlers waiting behind us. the mom keeps calling out to the little boy, "william, come here." "william, come back." "william!" i whisper to davis to see if he heard that little boy's name was william too. still standing in line 10-15 minutes later, we get our turn at the register. however, parents behind me decide to split up and the mom takes the kids to the car while dad waits and pays. (been there. done that.) as the mom is walking off with the kids she calls out to the daughter this time, "allison! come on."

huh?!?!?! what? i look back over my shoulder at the dad and ask "are your kids william and allison?" he says yes. i point to my two in the cart and say, "same here. william and allison." he says, "really?" "yes, really. good taste."

we hear of a lot of williams. that's one reason we use davis. but we RARELY hear of any other allisons. but william + allison? that was crazy.

well now, i am ready for bed. and hopefully my little sugar plum fairy will be dancing in my head soon. but of course i cannot log out without sharing her little christmas dance with you, my devoted reader....

...and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

the real thing

santa came to church supper last night. i'm not quite sure which santa describes him best. disco santa? miami vice santa? jersey santa? you see, santa wore sunglasses to cover up his entire face due to keep a low profile amongst our youngest members. these sunglasses were red, plastic, and had a red, plastic grill across each side kind of like this.....

when i asked davis and allison if they wanted to go talk to santa, davis quickly said, "no." when asked why, he explained he liked the macy's santa better than the santa with sunglasses.

i don't see why?

little things i love

.....and i'm not just talking about the kids! i LOVE good things. martha stewart good things. luxurious good things. indulgent good things. simply good things and creative good things.....I REALLY LOVE!

tonight for dinner, i concocted another good thing. and when i find something good, i like to share with others. this is one of those things where you are just trying to come up with something to make for dinner. on a budget. on a dime. on a tight schedule. i'm sure someone, somewhere may have published this for credit. but nothing pleases me most when something so easy comes out really good.

what goes better with a very cold day than a warm bowl of soup and creamy grilled cheese? nothing. so tonight's menu consisted of cream of tomato soup and everyone's favorite toasted sandwich. no, i'm not going to share my recipe for grilled cheese. that could go one forever. but the next time you have change your pocket and no idea what to make for dinner, here is what you do:

1. Combine two 28 ounce cans of good crushed tomatoes with your basic boxed chicken stock. (just one.)

2. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil to taste. I only used a wee little bit!

3. Simmer on low/medium low heat for as long as you can.

4. Right before you're ready to dive in, add cream to taste. I used as little as 1/4 cup.

5. Stir, pour and dip that sandwich!

It's so good, you'll be glad you did.

Now let me introduce to the other good thing we've grown to love around here. His name is Piper and he's our very own house elf! Piper reports to Santa every night at the North Pole to inform Santa of our daily behavior. He returns before we wake up and makes himself at home. Crazy little elf. Caught him going through my cabinets to make s'more soup for breakfast just the other morning. Last night he got his hands all in Zach's tools trying to help fix a cabinet. He has moved around toys and climbed to the top of our tree. And got into Dad's old tackle box to fish for a day. What will he get into next?