I have always loved New Year's Eve. It seems big. A new year. I always feel like it should be fresh and new. We never celebrate in any big fashion, but the kids are allowed to stay up (if they can) to ring in the new year. So tonight, we are hanging out as a family, Kiddo is playing Lego Harry Potter (my Christmas gift) with Daddy, Kutey is beading, and I am, well, I am relaxing.
I hope your New Year's Eve is all you wish for!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Ducks realigned, mostly
After all the frustration of having a lost package it turns out it was delivered to the neighbor! She didn't notice right away, but once she did, she brought it over. I was much relieved! So the Christmas Ducks were lined up again, no thanks to UPS!
There is still one duck that has decided that "arrives by Christmas" is a relative statement, with "by" meaning any day near Christmas, which includes AFTER Christmas. Thankfully it is a gift for an adult who can hopefully handle the fact that it will not be in her hands on Christmas Day.
There is still one duck that has decided that "arrives by Christmas" is a relative statement, with "by" meaning any day near Christmas, which includes AFTER Christmas. Thankfully it is a gift for an adult who can hopefully handle the fact that it will not be in her hands on Christmas Day.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas Ducks
Christmas, in case you weren't paying attention, is only 4 days away. Your shopping is done, right? No?
I thought I had my Christmas Ducks in a row, gifts are either stashed away or scheduled to be delivered the next couple of days--and only 2 at that!--but UPS has totally messed it up. Knocked those ducks totally out of the line. One of them even got lost.
You see, my kids asked for very little. Kutey? All she wanted were princesses and a pink soft blanket. That was easy enough. Kiddo? He picked out two games (Rush Hour and Blokus To Go) and a marble track. That's it. Santa *should* be able to oblige, right? The marble track was the trickiest. It was specific. Add to that the fact that I have done the majority of my shopping online, and it got trickier. I did go out looking for one, but Toy* R Us apparently stocks nothing in their store, and the other 3 stores I checked didn't have one either. In fact, they had no marble tracks. Who knew this was going to be such a tricky request? Amazon was out of the one he wanted, but I found it through Toy* R Us online. So I ordered it. Cost more, but it was the one he wanted. Then all that was left was the waiting...
It was scheduled to be delivered today. But we had snow (yes, AGAIN), so I really didn't expect it would show up. I checked tracking tonight at about nine. They said it was delivered at 3:04 pm and left at the front door. So I checked again. Mind you, I had the kids I babysit today, they left through that door at 6, hubby arrived home at 4 and came in through that door, then went back out to shovel, twice. There is no package at my door.
I called the less than helpful UPS people. They'll contact the driver (who delivered what, 200 packages today? You REALLY think he is going to remember anything about my package? I doubt it) to see if he can give me any direction as to where he left it. Um, excuse me? It said front door. Exactly how big do you think my front doorway is? Add to that the fact that my working doorbell never rang, and my ever vigilant dog who barks when a delivery person delivers a package next door never barked, and, well, let's just say I am skeptical that the package made it anywhere near my front door. While I was waiting to be transferred to a supervisor (the first woman sounded like she was talking to me from her kitchen on a terrible headset that I could barely understand her through), I put my shoes on and went outside. I looked around the ENTIRE front of my house--well, at least where one could reasonably anticipate stepping, what with the three feet of snow on the ground. Nope, there is no package there. Supervisor says she'll send the message to the local to "see if they can talk to the driver." No, they WILL talk to the driver. This is simply not acceptable. Yes, they will talk to the driver and call you back tomorrow--sometime. Great, says me. So I have to sit around my house waiting for a call? Sigh. If they can't do anything (and she really didn't sound like they were even going to try), I'd have to contact Toy* R Us.
I then went out and looked around the neighborhood, just to see if I could see the box at a neighbors. I would think they would have brought it over, but, well, who knows. I didn't see anything, so I called Toy* R Us. I'm not waiting around for UPS to decide they can't help me. Yeah, they can't do much. They'll file a carrier claim and start the investigation. Yeah, great. I did get a refund for the shipping, and he knocked $10 off the price. Great. He would have shipped a new one to me, but, surprise surprise, they are out. I can get a refund of the entire amount if it turns out they can't find it at all, so there is that. But now what?
Kiddo has his heart set on a marble track. I know he will be incredibly disappointed on Christmas morning if there isn't one under the tree. I don't know that I can get one here--even the wrong one--in time for Christmas. And remember, I have already looked at most of the stores in my area. There is one that I am told has marble tracks, so I might have to venture there tomorrow and check it out. Of course, I can't do that until evening. Amazon's 2-day shipping might work, too, but it will have to be the wrong one. Ugh, I just don't know what to do. Suggestions?
I thought I had my Christmas Ducks in a row, gifts are either stashed away or scheduled to be delivered the next couple of days--and only 2 at that!--but UPS has totally messed it up. Knocked those ducks totally out of the line. One of them even got lost.
You see, my kids asked for very little. Kutey? All she wanted were princesses and a pink soft blanket. That was easy enough. Kiddo? He picked out two games (Rush Hour and Blokus To Go) and a marble track. That's it. Santa *should* be able to oblige, right? The marble track was the trickiest. It was specific. Add to that the fact that I have done the majority of my shopping online, and it got trickier. I did go out looking for one, but Toy* R Us apparently stocks nothing in their store, and the other 3 stores I checked didn't have one either. In fact, they had no marble tracks. Who knew this was going to be such a tricky request? Amazon was out of the one he wanted, but I found it through Toy* R Us online. So I ordered it. Cost more, but it was the one he wanted. Then all that was left was the waiting...
It was scheduled to be delivered today. But we had snow (yes, AGAIN), so I really didn't expect it would show up. I checked tracking tonight at about nine. They said it was delivered at 3:04 pm and left at the front door. So I checked again. Mind you, I had the kids I babysit today, they left through that door at 6, hubby arrived home at 4 and came in through that door, then went back out to shovel, twice. There is no package at my door.
I called the less than helpful UPS people. They'll contact the driver (who delivered what, 200 packages today? You REALLY think he is going to remember anything about my package? I doubt it) to see if he can give me any direction as to where he left it. Um, excuse me? It said front door. Exactly how big do you think my front doorway is? Add to that the fact that my working doorbell never rang, and my ever vigilant dog who barks when a delivery person delivers a package next door never barked, and, well, let's just say I am skeptical that the package made it anywhere near my front door. While I was waiting to be transferred to a supervisor (the first woman sounded like she was talking to me from her kitchen on a terrible headset that I could barely understand her through), I put my shoes on and went outside. I looked around the ENTIRE front of my house--well, at least where one could reasonably anticipate stepping, what with the three feet of snow on the ground. Nope, there is no package there. Supervisor says she'll send the message to the local to "see if they can talk to the driver." No, they WILL talk to the driver. This is simply not acceptable. Yes, they will talk to the driver and call you back tomorrow--sometime. Great, says me. So I have to sit around my house waiting for a call? Sigh. If they can't do anything (and she really didn't sound like they were even going to try), I'd have to contact Toy* R Us.
I then went out and looked around the neighborhood, just to see if I could see the box at a neighbors. I would think they would have brought it over, but, well, who knows. I didn't see anything, so I called Toy* R Us. I'm not waiting around for UPS to decide they can't help me. Yeah, they can't do much. They'll file a carrier claim and start the investigation. Yeah, great. I did get a refund for the shipping, and he knocked $10 off the price. Great. He would have shipped a new one to me, but, surprise surprise, they are out. I can get a refund of the entire amount if it turns out they can't find it at all, so there is that. But now what?
Kiddo has his heart set on a marble track. I know he will be incredibly disappointed on Christmas morning if there isn't one under the tree. I don't know that I can get one here--even the wrong one--in time for Christmas. And remember, I have already looked at most of the stores in my area. There is one that I am told has marble tracks, so I might have to venture there tomorrow and check it out. Of course, I can't do that until evening. Amazon's 2-day shipping might work, too, but it will have to be the wrong one. Ugh, I just don't know what to do. Suggestions?
Friday, December 17, 2010
Recently at my house...
Me: Why are there balls all over the floor?
Kiddo: They're the stars!
Please tell me this isn't one of those things that I think is perfectly normal but happens at no one else's house! Your kids do this too, right?
For the record, there are also a number of balls sitting on piles of books which I believe are planets. I am afraid to ask, though!
Kiddo: They're the stars!
Please tell me this isn't one of those things that I think is perfectly normal but happens at no one else's house! Your kids do this too, right?
For the record, there are also a number of balls sitting on piles of books which I believe are planets. I am afraid to ask, though!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
American Swedish Institute--Friday History Field Trip #11, on Thursday
(This post is part of the back log I am working on. If you are getting it in a reader, I apologize, things will be out of order!)
We have a play on the schedule for tomorrow, and though we were at the planetarium this morning, I wanted to squeeze in a Friday History Field Trip this week, so we went this afternoon. Part of the reason I wanted to squeeze in a field trip was that I love going to the Swedish Institute at Christmas time. It is such a beautiful house! When it is decorated for Christmas it is that much more lovely.
This time we went at lunch time and hit the cafe first. They have only a small selection of options, but we managed to find something to eat. Then we sat with our A to Z scavenger hunt and selected a few items we wanted to look for as we went through the house. The A to Z scavenger hunt is great, but a bit long. I read through the items and made some suggestions. Having been to the Institute before really helped, too, since many of the things I could remember, making it easier to give hints to the kids.
The one thing Kiddo really wanted to find this time? All 11 kakelugn, the Swedish tile stoves imported for the home. If you follow the link you will see one of the kakelugn. Photographs are not allowed in the institute, so I can't show any more, but the one shown is a favorite anyway. They are really ornate and so much fun to see. We had previously found 9 of them, but the last 2 were elusive. We managed to find all 11 this time! There is a second one in the basement that we did not know about, as well as one in the gift shop that would have been overlooked.
Kutey was very excited when I mentioned there was a picture of a real princess somewhere in the house. For Christmas they set the tables in the tradition of the various scandinavian cultures and this year for Sweden they set the table to look like the wedding table of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who married in June. They had pictures of the royals posted in the room. Kutey was in awe. Pictures of an actual princess. In the new year I hope to pull more information about royalty out for her, especially as Prince William gets married. Maybe we can transition from the love of fairytale princesses to knowledge of real princesses. We shall see.
We spent some time playing in the kids area, which has a small play house complete with clothes to dress-up as Sankta Lucia and toy lussekatt and pepparkakor. Kutey loves to dress up as Lucia when we are here. She was looking for the crown from the moment we got there.
There were two interesting special exhibits going on, one on the history of Sankta Lucia, the other "Santa Claus, Coca-Cola, and Swedish Design." Both were interesting...to an adult. They had lots of Coca-Cola artifacts on display, which the kids enjoyed, but the exhibits are reading intensive and my kids lost interest. As much as they love history, this was just a bit much for them.
As we were leaving, we paused to find the turret on the house, and noted just how deep the snow was along the path. The weekend storm
has made it difficult to get about in the city, even in well-prepared Minnesota. I can't imagine what a storm would do to places less well-equipped to handle it.
We have a play on the schedule for tomorrow, and though we were at the planetarium this morning, I wanted to squeeze in a Friday History Field Trip this week, so we went this afternoon. Part of the reason I wanted to squeeze in a field trip was that I love going to the Swedish Institute at Christmas time. It is such a beautiful house! When it is decorated for Christmas it is that much more lovely.
This time we went at lunch time and hit the cafe first. They have only a small selection of options, but we managed to find something to eat. Then we sat with our A to Z scavenger hunt and selected a few items we wanted to look for as we went through the house. The A to Z scavenger hunt is great, but a bit long. I read through the items and made some suggestions. Having been to the Institute before really helped, too, since many of the things I could remember, making it easier to give hints to the kids.
The one thing Kiddo really wanted to find this time? All 11 kakelugn, the Swedish tile stoves imported for the home. If you follow the link you will see one of the kakelugn. Photographs are not allowed in the institute, so I can't show any more, but the one shown is a favorite anyway. They are really ornate and so much fun to see. We had previously found 9 of them, but the last 2 were elusive. We managed to find all 11 this time! There is a second one in the basement that we did not know about, as well as one in the gift shop that would have been overlooked.
Kutey was very excited when I mentioned there was a picture of a real princess somewhere in the house. For Christmas they set the tables in the tradition of the various scandinavian cultures and this year for Sweden they set the table to look like the wedding table of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who married in June. They had pictures of the royals posted in the room. Kutey was in awe. Pictures of an actual princess. In the new year I hope to pull more information about royalty out for her, especially as Prince William gets married. Maybe we can transition from the love of fairytale princesses to knowledge of real princesses. We shall see.
We spent some time playing in the kids area, which has a small play house complete with clothes to dress-up as Sankta Lucia and toy lussekatt and pepparkakor. Kutey loves to dress up as Lucia when we are here. She was looking for the crown from the moment we got there.
There were two interesting special exhibits going on, one on the history of Sankta Lucia, the other "Santa Claus, Coca-Cola, and Swedish Design." Both were interesting...to an adult. They had lots of Coca-Cola artifacts on display, which the kids enjoyed, but the exhibits are reading intensive and my kids lost interest. As much as they love history, this was just a bit much for them.
As we were leaving, we paused to find the turret on the house, and noted just how deep the snow was along the path. The weekend storm
has made it difficult to get about in the city, even in well-prepared Minnesota. I can't imagine what a storm would do to places less well-equipped to handle it.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Due to the Snowstorm
Due to the storm, our regularly scheduled football game has been rescheduled. Oh, yeah, and MOVED to Detroit!
An Old-fashioned Minnesota Snow Storm
We had a big snow storm yesterday. Over a foot and a half of snow fell over 24 hours. Combine that with wind that caused the snow to drift and drift and drift and...you get the idea. Visibility was less than one-tenth of a mile, best we could tell. We are stranded at my dad's house for the time being, my van is stranded at my sister's house. She brought us here in her 4-wheel drive vehicle, but even it couldn't get us back there last night. We tried, the roads were treacherous at best, but her driveway was so full of snow there was not a chance we could turn into it. So back to my dad's we went. We are fine, warm, and in good company, though, so I can't complain.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Alexander Ramsey House--Friday History Field Trip #10
(This post is part of the back log I am working on. If you are getting it in a reader, I apologize, things will be out of order!)
After three weeks off for illness and holidays, we were ready for another Friday History Field Trip! I was really excited about this one. We were headed to Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul for a Victorian Christmas.
This was another new to me site. Though it was a beautiful house and we should go back when it is not decorated for Christmas, I think it will be a while. An incident there left me a bit less than comfortable with the site in general. Nothing serious, mind you, just something handled poorly.
On to the site.
The house was built from 1868 to 1872 by Alexander Ramsey. Ramsey was appointed Territorial Governor of Minnesota in 1849 and brought his family family here to MN. The house was built much later and occupied largely by Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey. Though they had 3 children, only 1 survived to adulthood. When she married, she moved out of the area. She did return, with her children, later when her husband fell ill and was institutionalized. Her daughters never married and lived in the house until they passed away and donated the house to the Minnesota Historical Society. Because they knew it would one day be a museum, they kept everything. When they took out the original bathtub, they kept it so it could be returned. Most items in the house, therefore, actually belonged to the Ramsey family. In fact, there are over 13,000 artifacts!
The house was built with all the modern conveniences of the time. It had both hot and cold running water, impressive at the time. The furnishings were purchased in New York. It is said that Anna Ramsey (Alexander Ramsey's wife) went on a shopping spree and bought enough to fill 2 box cars! Crazy! But the house is 3 stories. The third story is the servants quarters, where there is no heat, no light, and no running water, as there was in the rest of the house. Still, the average stay of a servant was 10 years! The third floor is also home to the nursery, where the grandchildren played. In it there is a replica doll house built for Laura Furness, Alexander Ramsey's granddaughter. It was built by the same master carpenter as the house, and is built to resemble the house in some ways.
Ramsey was not only territorial governor, he was also the second governor of the state, mayor of St. Paul, U.S. Senator, and secretary of war under President Hayes. He was a very prominent citizen of the state in his time. He is a contemporary of William LeDuc, so it was fun to visit the house for that comparison! I stumped one of the guides when I asked if President Hayes visited the Ramseys and the LeDucs on the same trip. Another guide who overheard chuckled a bit as she said yes, that she believed the President had lunch at the LeDuc House and dinner at the Ramsey House.
In the sense of Minnesota History this was a great place to visit, but it is probably not one of my favorite sites. The kids enjoyed it, though I think we had more fun in the carriage house looking at the books and toys!
After three weeks off for illness and holidays, we were ready for another Friday History Field Trip! I was really excited about this one. We were headed to Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul for a Victorian Christmas.
This was another new to me site. Though it was a beautiful house and we should go back when it is not decorated for Christmas, I think it will be a while. An incident there left me a bit less than comfortable with the site in general. Nothing serious, mind you, just something handled poorly.
On to the site.
The house was built from 1868 to 1872 by Alexander Ramsey. Ramsey was appointed Territorial Governor of Minnesota in 1849 and brought his family family here to MN. The house was built much later and occupied largely by Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey. Though they had 3 children, only 1 survived to adulthood. When she married, she moved out of the area. She did return, with her children, later when her husband fell ill and was institutionalized. Her daughters never married and lived in the house until they passed away and donated the house to the Minnesota Historical Society. Because they knew it would one day be a museum, they kept everything. When they took out the original bathtub, they kept it so it could be returned. Most items in the house, therefore, actually belonged to the Ramsey family. In fact, there are over 13,000 artifacts!
The house was built with all the modern conveniences of the time. It had both hot and cold running water, impressive at the time. The furnishings were purchased in New York. It is said that Anna Ramsey (Alexander Ramsey's wife) went on a shopping spree and bought enough to fill 2 box cars! Crazy! But the house is 3 stories. The third story is the servants quarters, where there is no heat, no light, and no running water, as there was in the rest of the house. Still, the average stay of a servant was 10 years! The third floor is also home to the nursery, where the grandchildren played. In it there is a replica doll house built for Laura Furness, Alexander Ramsey's granddaughter. It was built by the same master carpenter as the house, and is built to resemble the house in some ways.
Ramsey was not only territorial governor, he was also the second governor of the state, mayor of St. Paul, U.S. Senator, and secretary of war under President Hayes. He was a very prominent citizen of the state in his time. He is a contemporary of William LeDuc, so it was fun to visit the house for that comparison! I stumped one of the guides when I asked if President Hayes visited the Ramseys and the LeDucs on the same trip. Another guide who overheard chuckled a bit as she said yes, that she believed the President had lunch at the LeDuc House and dinner at the Ramsey House.
In the sense of Minnesota History this was a great place to visit, but it is probably not one of my favorite sites. The kids enjoyed it, though I think we had more fun in the carriage house looking at the books and toys!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Favorite Christmas Ornaments
Jolanthe over at No Ordinary Moments is hosting a "Christmas Ornaments Show and Tell." I couldn't resist!
I love decorating our tree each year. When we got married, we pulled together all of our ornaments--mine from my childhood, and many of my husbands family ornaments from childhood as well. Then we started collecting our own. I will admit that the first year or two I went a bit crazy and bought way to many ornaments. It was just so much fun to select things that were just for us.
This ornament is one that I bought the year we were married. It is a Swarovski limited edition ornament. They make one every year. I bought them for a few years, then realized (once kiddo was born) that if I bought too many, our tree would be covered in crystal, not exactly what I was going for. So I bought just the ones for special years--so far, the years my kids were born. I'll add as I see fit. My kids love these ornaments because they cast rainbows about the whole room when the sun hits them.
One of the fondest memories I have of my childhood Christmas trees is getting to put my very own ornaments on the tree. I wanted to pass that on to my kids, so they have been collecting their own ornaments from birth. They both have this one, from their very first Christmas. They are engraved on the heart with their names and birth date.
When my grandparents downsized from their house to an apartment, they also downsized their Christmas ornament collection. I was the lucky recipient of this wise man. He was part of a set (my sisters received the other parts) and I remember them hanging on their tree. It brings back tons of wonderful Christmas memories.
This is one I have had forever. It was made for me when I was young by my great aunt. It has always been one of my favorite ornaments. I have tried to duplicate the pattern--without success--so I can give one to each of my children along with the other children I give ornaments every year. One of these years I will figure it out!
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