City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks

 We are smack dab in the middle of a very busy two weeks, and during the height of the Christmas season, things really can’t get much more hectic for us. (Note: We’d wanted a relaxed Christmas season. Well, as with many things that happen in life, what we wanted and what we got were two different things. It’s all about how you react, though!) A few weeks ago, John was notified that he would need to step and do the lighting design and implementation at the band’s Christmas concerts. This meant that he had to track down all the lighting equipment and inventory and test it. He then designed the lighting for the entire 2.5 hour show, and now he’s managing the lighting and his crew during all six concerts across the country this month. So far he’s knocked out 4 and he’ll be done with the final two after this weekend. All this extra time away from home has given me time to hang out with some of the other wives from John’s unit, which has been a lot of fun, but I definitely haven’t been having the relaxing evenings home alone that I had envisioned. Where to start?

Last week, John had a concert on Monday or Tuesday (I’m losing track now); Wednesday was his unit’s Christmas party and I volunteered to bring cupcakes for the kids; Thursday morning (all morning) was my glucose screening; Thursday night, John had another concert that a friend and I attended; Friday and Saturday were spent cleaning and cooking in preparation for hosting a couple of friends for dinner; Sunday, John had another concert, and I spent the day grocery shopping, baking, doing dishes and running errands; and yesterday, John had another concert and I went downtown to go shopping with two friends. Phew! Can I collapse yet?

All of this activity has meant that I have been on my toes a lot more than normal, and I have noticed an unfortunate side effect: swollen feet. More specifically, I have noticed that my toes look like little sausages by the end of the day. The bottoms of my feet also feel like they’re being hammered. The upside? I hope to better appreciate the days when my feet don’t hurt by nightfall and when my toes aren’t twice their normal size.

So other than the aforementioned activities, I’ve also managed to knock out the following in the past week:

• Monkey’s laundry. All his clothes, blankets, Boppy covers, etc. are washed. I do still need to prep his diapers, though.
• A few loads of John’s and my laundry
• Umpteen loads of dishes
• Baked…a lot
  • Hi Ho cookies (my grandmother’s recipe involving crackers, peanut butter and white chocolate…YUM!)
  • Mexican Wedding Cake cookies
  • Ginger Creams (my great grandmother’s recipe and a favorite of mine as well as my maternal grandmother’s)
  • Three Chip English Toffee, which involves about 40 minutes of continuous stirring…Yikes

Tonight, we are heading down to a wonderful German store that specializes in all things Christmas: Käthe Wohlfahrt. I don’t know if it’s this pregnancy or a panic that we’re leaving here soon (or perhaps a mixture of the two), but I want to buy up the whole store. I theoretically spent a couple hundred Euro while there last night but walked out empty handed. I’m bringing John back with me tonight to help make purchases and keep me in line. But really, how can I resist pretzel ornaments, genuine Nutcrackers and whimsical little boy-themed Christmas ornaments? It’s going to be tough! I also realized we don’t have any snowflakes or angel ornaments for our tree. I spotted several in the store that need a home. Maybe they’ll be on our tree tonight. While we’re down there, we’ll also make the rounds to the market once again. We must stop by the best crepe maker in Germany’s stand again. I will really miss his Nutella and cinnamon sugar crepes. Drool.