7 Quick Takes

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Guess what? It’s only a week until Advent! Are you ready?

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I finished making our list of Advent calendar activities a couple of days ago, and I’m very excited about it. We’re going to do some new things this year–as the kids are getting older, we can transition away from busy work and do some things have more substance. We’ll celebrate the saint days this year, and we’ll do some stargazing. (Crossing my fingers that the weather cooperates on that one.)

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Speaking of magical items….the writing is on the wall. “Mommy, who puts the pieces of paper in the Advent calendar?” Alex asked me yesterday.

“Who do you think does it?”

Alex grinned. “You?”

“Yup.” I wagged my finger. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you ahead of time.”

Santa, thy days are numbered….

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Speaking of Advent…is anyone else ready to tear their hair out that the bleedthrough of the shopping season has pulled back onto Thanksgiving Day? One has to wonder if Thanksgiving will no longer even be a holiday, for all intents and purposes, within a few years.

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Perhaps you will not be surprised to hear that we did not shop at six, nine, or midnight. In fact, we’re not shopping at all today, with the possible exception of a grocery store run, because we’re out of eggs. No, instead of pursuing (not-so) hot deals, we went to bed at 9:30 last night. I slept until quarter of seven this morning. I can’t tell you the last time I slept more than 8 hours. I subsist routinely on six.

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I’ve been doing Jazzercise lately. A friend of mine has been recommending it for exercise, and I was very skeptical, but there was a Groupon last week, and I decided it was worth a try. Day 1, I felt like it was exercising my brain more than my body, it was so hard to keep up. Day 2, I thought my head would explode. Day 3, however, I actually enjoyed it. And it burns a LOT of calories. Jazzercise advertises “up to 600.” Online sources are more moderate, giving a number of 380. That’s the number I’m taking, but it’s still more than twice what I burn walking, bike riding, or on the Nordic Track.

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This has been quite a week for heavy-duty posts. I fussed about “experts” who (in my opinion) overstep the bounds of their areas of advice, and, more importantly, I talked about the difficulty of keeping patience as the number of children grows. Don’t you all have trouble keeping your temper about little things? I was hoping some of the more experienced moms would weigh in, but perhaps my timing–the day before Thanksgiving–was not the best. Hoping I can convince some of you with big families or older families to weigh in today! Hint, hint! 🙂

Have a great rest of the holiday weekend!