…if the snow is any sign of what to expect. The snow outside is as tall as Little One.  I didn’t finish half the things on my list from last week.  I got most of the important stuff taken care of.  I still have my resumé and taxes to finish up. I never did get around to Thankful Friday either. I am not stressing about that.  On top of it, I have a kid with a stuffy nose. It doesn’t bother her during the day and she is her usual self. When it is time to sleep, the problems start. She wakes up several times because of it. I use Johnson’s soothing vapor bath and Vick Baby Rub before bedtime and it really makes a difference. Usually only takes a pat on the back or a kiss for her to go back to sleep. For this week, I need to:

1. Finish my resume

2. Finish and send in my taxes

3. Finish knitting Little One’s mittens

4. Get everything sent in so I can transfer/renew my teaching certificate

5. Finish up the Valentine’s day presents for Little One and the Niece

And to round out this rather random post, pictures of what 36 hours of snow can look like.

I have a whole list of things I HAVE to get taken care of this week. I will evidently forget one if I don’t start a list while I am thinking of everything.

1. Resume

2. More pictures of Little One on facebook, there you go Elizabeth, just for you

3. Taxes

4. Finish at least one sleeve on my February Lady Sweater.

5. Call and make dental appointment

6. Copies of test results and last check up

7. Email

8. Clean bathroom

9. Blog about knitting and Little One’s budding photography interest

10. (just in case I remember something later)

I have this yarn, a worsted weight (more DK) cotton boucle, that took a while for it to tell me what it wanted to be. I tried several other patterns first, would get a few rows in and realize it wasn’t going to work. I was playing on ravelry a couple of nights ago, yeah for insomnia, looking through patterns. Ended up at the Harlot’s Unoriginal Hat and knew it was the pattern for this yarn. I am not a hat person, so I knew this would be for Little One. Because of that, any hat needs ties and earflaps.  I knit 4 stitch I-cord, increased at both end every other row until I had 14 stitches then knit every row until big enough to cover her ear.  Cast on 28 stitches between each ear flap. Knit three repeats of the pattern , decrease, finish, and photograph.

This week can be summed up as same shit, different day. The situation that started last week has not improved. I am holding out hope that something will be done. The person at the root of this still believes they have done nothing wrong and are able to justify everything they have done. Stereotypical drug addict behavior. Though this person says they aren’t a addicted to any drugs because ordained ministers can’t become addicted.

1. I am thankful that Little One never had the chance to get attached to this person. It use to hurt my feelings as a mother that Little One was never included and the Niece was. Now I am glad because Little One doesn’t realize anything different since I keep her away from this person

2. I am thankful for Gmail chat so I have a way to talk to my siblings

3. I am thankful my sister Joanna got overtime at work this weekend. It will give her the chance to catch up on her bills, finally.

4. I am really thankful that Little One’s ear tubing and eyelid surgery have been considered successes by her doctors. It cuts down the number of doctor appointments we have to go to. Both surgeries have greatly improved her life and her development.

5. Tonight is pizza night. My sister bought cookie bars stuff for tonight as well. Throw is some frosty beverages after the kids are in bed and it will be an awesome night.

I am finding it very difficult to be thankful for anything this week.  A week full of broken trust, lies, more lies, anger, stealing, and drugs. I for one am very, VERY pissed off and this is something that will never blow over. The person at the heart of all of this seems to think nothing wrong has been done and everyone will forget about it in a day or two. I am distancing myself and my daughter from this person. Even if changes are made, changes that would be seen for the positive, I do not want my child around this type of person. I have managed to find a few things to be thankful for.

1.Snuggles and kisses from Little One.

2.The manicure my sister gave me the other night. She is in cosmetology school and is practicing before she is moved “on the floor” and before her state boards.

3. An awesome dinner with my sisters, daughter, and niece for company.

4. Movie night with an accompanying frosty beverage.

5. My real family and friends.

It has been pointed out to me at various points in my life that I am what is called “organized”. My sisters and brother prefer something more like “crazy OCD b$#&*%” when I am in a cleaning mood. Personally, I just like things put away in an order so I can find what I am looking for quickly. I get frustrated quickly if I can’t find what I am looking for and with mommy brain worse than teacher brain, it can get ugly fast.

Since the kitchen in a communal area and I have been trying to get better about asking for help with the kitchen. The cabinets and pantry can get cluttered and messy pretty quickly.

Last week, I was able to take some time and straighten up the big cabinet and the pantry. It wasn’t a major overhaul, but it was enough that you don’t have to dig to find the lid to a container or the box you are looking for.

This is the only cleaning going on. The Christmas tree has been taken down, all the ornaments put away until next year. I figured since I had to take the time to clean up all the pine needles, I should do the job right. So I pulled out all the furniture. This involved cleaning all the toys and crap from under, vacuuming underneath, and dusting all the baseboards. It was totally worth it.

Continuing with the cleaning madness I have a to-do list for next week. I want to get the downstairs hallway cleaned out finally.

I also need to the get frig and the bathroom cleaned. And I want to give the upstairs a through vacuuming. The moving furniture, get the baseboards, and clean the corners kind of vacuuming.

There seems to be a theme of snow pictures in the blog world. So here are a few from Western Maryland. Taken while driving to get Little One to one of her post-op appointments.

This week has just seemed to fly by. There were some moments. My niece had a very rough day. Still have plenty of things to be thankful for.

1. I am so very, VERY thankful that the washing machine was fixed the day the service man got here.

2. Yesterday was sunshiny fantastic. After nothing but cloudy/partly cloudy and snow for several weeks, sunshine was needed. It was so needed that even Little One didn’t mind going outside to run around for a little while.

3. That I am learning that it is ok to leave the breakfast dishes until lunch and spend that time with the girls instead. (We have the old fashioned manual dishwasher, takes a little longer than loading dishes and pressing a button)

4. That my personal to-do list for the day has a very good chance of being finished today.

5. For this book

with the recipe to make this chocolate cake

which was needed after a very trying day

It started snowing here around Christmas and has snowed everyday until, supposedly this afternoon. Will have to wait and see, I don’t believe it. Until then, I am finding ways to keep the girls occupied. The Niece doesn’t mind going outside in the cold and the wind and the snow. She loves it. Little One is her mother’s daughter and can’t abide being out in that nonsense unless there is a very good reason. While the neighbor kids were still on vacation (or it was a snow day), a couple of them came over. So we did some finger painting.

I have to say that this week as been a good week overall. When you have one kid heading into the “terrible twos” and one on the way out, there are moments and days that make you want to think about turning in your mommy license and finding another line of work. You can’t dwell on those moments too long though. So five things I am thankful for this week.

1. Adam Joseph Wright made his appearance on Tuesday morning. Both baby and mommy are doing fine at home.

2. Little One got a good post-op report from the dr.

3. So far, a single email (or facebook comment) a day seems to be working. Hopefully I can add blog comments to this as well.

4. Finding time to knit. The kitchen floor doesn’t get swept several times a day which is needed now. Others in the house are being asked to help out more, which involves some nagging from me. But that 30 mins or so I have to knit is a real stress reliever.

5. That the simplest solution sometimes works even though it seems the most far-fetched at the time. Little One is showing interest in going potty and the signs of physical readiness. Niece on the other hand, showing signs of physical readiness but not at all interested. That was until sparkly stickers. Each girl gets a sparkly sticker every time they sit on the potty like a big girl. Plus they get a sparkly sticker on their reward chart. When the chart is full (25 stickers total) they get two temporary tattoos.  Who knew?!?!?!