Project Alicia

DAY 346

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." Burton Hillis

We spent the afternoon wrapping gifts for families far away so we could box them and get them ready to ship. The kids got way into it, so if we have you this year... don't be surprised if it's not my normal wrap job. I decided it would be good to help them learn how to size the paper up and fold the ends and tie a bow. Simple enough, but believe it or not- some people just don't know. We helped some missionaries with a family last year and as we were wrapping gifts I realized that one of them had for sure never wrapped a present in his life. I decided my kids should know before they were 19. With both of us coming from large families I'm so glad we draw names.

I was all excited to try out this new cider recipe I heard about. Then I went in search of Brach's cinnamon hard candies and found out that everyone on planet earth already knew about this one. After more than a week of searching we found a bag at the new Hy-Vee. Just incase you're in the dark like I was, it's 1 gallon of apple juice and 4 brach candies warmed in a pot. Can't wait.

This is one talented handy man. So, he attempted to fix the snow blower Tuesday if you remember with no success. So, today he disassembled it again and found a tiny piece the size of my pinky finger (no joke) and determined that it must be clogged. I asked him how he knew that was the problem and he told me that it wasn't anything else. He said it was "verdigris"... new vocabulary word for the day. (Verdigris is the common name for the green coating formed when copper is weathered and exposed to air over a period of time.) He got some carburator cleaner and flushed it out and problem fixed.

We all headed out to do a few errands. I wanted to return a sweater vest I got for Little Man to Kohl's that was too small. Boy do I have bad timing. We must have been in that parking lot for an hour. We stopped and had lunch and then got back in line. (Lunch not included in waiting time.) I managed to return the item in the back of the store and Haldan was still in a line waiting to get out of that plaza. Beware: The Christmas crazies are out. I'm glad I'm almost done shopping. I only need to work on Haldan's b-day now. The photo above is Pokey trying to entertain herself.

Today Pokey asked me the definition of three new words. She has been very inquistive lately. On the way home from her flu shots she asked what ironic meant totally out of the blue. Turns out it's the name of a song (that has many examples of things that are not actually ironic). I couldn't figure out how to explain it to her, so I called Haldan who also struggled. We had to look it up. Sad, I know.

Ironic: (urban dictionary)

1. A situation where the result is a complete reverse (and practical mockery) of what was expected.

2. A word heavily misused and abused in conversation today, mostly by people who think that using the word in any way will automatically make them seem intelligent. The word is usually misused to exactly mean "coincidental" or "tragic", when again it doesn't mean this.

She also asked what vegetarian and soliciting meant, which are both a little easier to explain.