Now I'm Hungry.

Forgot a rather significant part of the weekend: decorating! Decking the halls. Trimming the homestead. Making Mr. Pigs say things like, "If you put one more Christmas thing in here, it's gonna be too much." Or, "How about we skip the Nativity scene this year? I'm afraid Pigpen will throw baby Jesus." (A valid point.) It was bedlam and a whole mess of messes, but it's done. After the boys finished hanging the ornaments all one on top of the other and 4 to a branch, my OCD and I had to sneak back in there after they were done to straighten the mess out. The big news is that this year Pigpen realizes that the balls are for hanging, not for throwing, so we're making real progress!

I've been having a bit too much fun with Simon the elf. In an effort to get Piglet to believe in him, I'm trying to be good about producing elf antics. The boys were wanting to know what his name was, so one night, he did some artwork:

The next night, I didn't get around to finishing folding a load of Piglet's clothes, so Simon got a little playful in the tighty whities. This one actually elicited a laugh from Piglet the Stoic and he even admonished Simon a little bit this morning:

Tonight, I was getting the boys' lunches made for preschool tomorrow (SQUEEEE! Preschool's back! They've been out for 11 days!) and I remembered that elves like to do whatever the kids like to do. In the morning, they will not find Simon until we get in the car for preschool:

Safety and survival first: he's buckled in and has his lunch box. We'll see how that one goes over. Soon, I think he's going to make a trip to the North Pole to report in to Santa and he might need a nap when he gets back. Maybe he'll bed down in the crib. Still seeking ideas of pranks for Simon to play or places for Simon to be found. I'm hesitant to do the really messy ones because my kids aren't old enough to clean it up yet. I know people who put flour on the floor and had them make snow angels and people who wrote their elf's name in lipstick on the mirror. 

Hmmm. in other news, Gus thinks he's a cat. He's taken to stretching out on the arm of "his" chair in an effort to seek solace from Pigpen's loving, but pokey, fingers:

I have scads of things to do this week, SCADS! Gotta wrap up all this Christmas shopping, use all these expiring coupons, and....I'm not sure what I really have to do, but for some reason, my errand list is ridiculously long this week. Hmm. Maybe I should just skip it. If it's not important enough to remember? Anyhoo. I have a book club Christmas party on Friday and I get to take any book I want for the White Elephant exchange. There are so many choices I don't know where to begin! Do I pick a favorite book? A book that's a joke (have a good one in mind for this)? Make a political statement? SO MANY CHOICES. I'll just roam around a book aisle tomorrow. It's been so long since I purchased a book that I'm not really sure where to start. I'm such a PaperBackSwap and library junkie. I heart the waiting list at the library.

This seems like a good place to stop before my head begins to spin out of control. I had just calmed myself down by making a list, my most soothing activity. Oh, except for apparently cooking. Today was one of those 40 degrees and raining kinds of days, and though I ventured to the gym and Kroger this morning with the boys, we were not going anywhere this afternoon. I did everything but stand on my head to entertain them (even an indoor popcorn movie picnic, HELLO? Mother of the Year right here!) and they were still horrible. These boys are such little cavepeople that if they don't get outside at least a couple times a day, they start to regress back down the evolutionary chain. By bedtime, they were pretty much beating their chests and eating raw meat. And, back to my point, to soothe myself, I began cooking. I made roasting chickpeas with parmesan cheese, which are lovely and crunchy and salty. Then I began to clean out the fridge. I chopped and froze all of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I eyed the cranberry sauce for a few minutes before deciding to add it (strained) to banana walnut muffins, which turned out PDA. (Pretty Darn Awesome) I take great satisfaction in using up a good leftover. Like the other night when I learned to make potato patties from leftover mashed potatoes....holy deliciousness! I want those again, but this time with garlic and sour cream and rosemary mixed in. Okay, now I'm destressed, but hungry. Off to the pantry.