Happy Valentine's Day!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday, spent with your significant other, your family, and/or your own lovely self! I adore you all, by the way!

Here's a picture of the valentines my girls gave out. The one of Penguin is a preliminary version - the final one had five hearts going down the left side, reading "Happy" "Valentine's" "Day" "From" Penguin. I can't take credit for the idea.  I first saw it on Filth Wizardry, but it's all over Pinterest now, too.  So fun!  Plus, even Penguin's 4- and 5-year old classmates know who it's from without having to try to puzzle out a name.

Why, hello there!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Yes, I still love you all. No, I haven't forgotten one of my goals for this year was to post weekly. Do I have a good excuse? No, not really. Just "life."

So, bits and pieces is what you're getting today 'cuz I hope that's better than nothing! :)

I've recently started doing lunch & recess duty at school. A couple other moms from Penguin's class do it, so she's MORE than happy to run around with those two classmates before the big kids come down, to eat with Pumpkin, and to get to go out to the school playground, too. It's technically a paid position, so I technically have a job again. I guess.

We have our first non-backyard family camping trip scheduled for this June! I got myself a sleeping bag with some of my Xmas money (Thanks, Mom & Dad!), now I just need to get a good pad/mattress for underneath. So exciting!

I got these rabbit & bear egg molds. They are fun.  They're also available from Amazon, which is where I got mine to bump my sleeping bag purchase over into free super-saver-shipping territory.  I have ordered some cute bento lunch boxes from this site & was very pleased with them - these in pink & orange are my current favs.

In other "yay!" purchases, I got a local basket-weaving lady to make me a quarter-circle basket for my keys-n-crap to replace the square one I had on my quarter-circle shelves.  It's a little thing, but makes me happy.

Yesterday I fell asleep on the couch rather than do my scheduled run, but other than that I've been very good with getting 3 runs in every week, plus Wednesday night community ed dance class.  Even so, if I shift my running schedule just a bit, I should still be able to do all 3 this week.  Still on track for three 5Ks this year!

Ok, speaking of lunch duty, I'd better grab Penguin's lunch box & snow pants & head out the door into the 40F weather.  (What is UP with that, by the way?!)

WW - It's Snow Fun

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

WW - Last Friday was Super Hero Day!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Little Miss Manners Remembers Them All

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Penguin is a big fan of writing thank yous. She's got all of hers done from Christmas already while the rest of us are about half-way done. (Of course, the ones Pumpkin has done aren't the same ones that I've done... so none of them are out the door yet, but progress had been made, really.)

We were going through the list we'd jotted down of which presents came from which loved ones, and I told her she was done.

"No, I'm not!" she insisted.
"I think you are, honey. Who do you think we've missed?"

Oh, yeah. I suppose The Jolly Man in Red does deserve a thanks, too, doesn't he? Bet the number of wish lists he receives every December rather outstrips the number of thank you letters that arrive in January though.

New Year's Resolutions - 2012

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Happy New Year! Let's start this year out right! I've already run this morning & now I'm posting, plus I did a bit of decluttering/sorting. Don't worry - I'm not working so hard that I'm going to burn myself out the first week or anything, but well-begun is half-done, right?

My resolutions for 2012 fall into three main areas.

Improving Myself - I think I'm far from the only one who wants to get more healthy and/or lose a bit of weight.  My third one is more about getting out of a rut...and being a little vain.  :)

• Run in three 5K races this year.  I've done two in each of the past two years, so I see this as reasonable.
• More water; less alcohol.  I'm going to drink water with more meals, particularly supper. (Breakfast, of course, gets coffee!  *grin*)
• Do my hair a different way at least once each week.  I always just do it the same way, so maybe a headband or straightening it or a barrette or ponytail or anything.

Improving  My Relationships - I think I've become more isolated this year, so I want to make a point to counteract that.

• Post at least once a week... and not just pictures.  I began this blog back when we lived overseas as a way to keep in touch with the folks back home, mostly in MN.  Well, now we're in WI, still far away from any family & our old friends.  I'm not one to pick up the phone and call, so this is a good tool for me.  Plus, it helps me keep a record of memories.
• Mr. Kluges and I have started trying to reserve Saturday nights for "us time."  Sometimes Rarely it's a date night out; often it's a movie or board game together.  The point is if we don't set aside time, we don't take it.
• Spend time with my children separately doing fun stuff.  They are growing up quickly & I tend to do stuff with them together.  I'd like to do more one-on-one time with them each - at least every other month I'd like to do something with just one of them.
• Speak up - respectfully, assertively, & in a timely manner - when I need to to get my needs met.

Improving My Environment

• Keep going with Flylady.  I do a fair amount of her routines & such already... and they help a lot.  Specifically, I want to spend 2 minutes on a hot spot every day, and 15 minutes of decluttering at least once a week.
• Speaking of decluttering, I'm going to make a point to get the decluttered STUFF out of the house sooner.  I've got STUFF waiting to be brought to the resale shop or to get posted on Craig's List or to be donated or that I just don't know what to do with but we don't want it anymore.  It might be sorted, but it's still in the house.  Let's get it gone.
• Get the attic room into shape so I can USE it.  That's going to be my away/crafting/sewing/project area, much like my husband has a basement workroom & a garage stall work space.  Sure, I have to take into account some filing cabinets and stuff, and it's a tiny room, but it's going to be MINE.

How about you?  Are you making any resolutions this year?

Dance recitals and concerts and speaking parts, oh my!

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

NaBloPoMo #30 - WW - Pudding... just like Grandma's

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

NaBloPoMo #29 - Orange Cranberry Sauce

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Is November done yet?

No, it's ok, but I can tell I'm WAY not used to churning out a post every day. Still, I'm glad for the kick-in-the... uh, kick-start & I do plan to blog more often than the, oh, pretty much never that I'd fallen into.

Today, rather than blathering over here, I posted a recipe over at Recipeeps that Gramma Yori made at Thanksgiving for Orange Cranberry Sauce and shared with me. It's yummy... and reminds me that I need to also someday post the recipe for an uncooked cranberry orange relish my mom makes sometimes! So, if you're looking for a pretty, tasty side, here you go!

NaBloPoMo #28 - Really?! Really?!

(c) 2011 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Who doesn't need a little more humor in their lives?  I saw this SNL skit via Cool Mom Picks & figured it was worth sharing!  C'mon, it's got Seth Meyers and our beloved Kermit the Frog discussing the whole "Congress says pizza is a vegetable" issue.  Awesome.