Various Sundries for the Mondays

It is amazingly cold here today. The kiddo still desperately wanted to ride his bike outside though, so we bundled up as best as we could and I let him have at it. I think he lasted about 10 minutes before a huge gust of wind scared him and he wanted "up please!" with great fervor. So we ran back inside and that was that.

We started our morning with a Christmas party for moms and kiddos (sponsored by our MOPS group). It was fun, but just when I'd started thinking that maybe I just needed to give it more time/more chances/whatever no one spoke to me for the 2 hours we were there. (Other than a hi - and when I tried to stretch it into more - and I did try - it was the desperate glancing around for someone they needed to talk to. Maybe I need better deodorant?) I'm not even positive the doodle enjoyed anything other than the singing at the end (and that he loved - our music minister rocks.)

After the party, we ran out to the post office for my sister. Because I am the world's greatest younger sister. (Seriously, ask yourself who could get you to go to the post office at noon in December? Yeah, I was hard pressed to come up with anyone other than her or my parents as well.) As it turned out, I went to two different post offices because the first, smaller one, was so crowded people were double parking. It was a mess. And they have no automated machines there, so I went to the bigger one where I managed to snag a parking spot. I considered the line for about a second since it was out the door but ended up opting for the machine, even if it meant I paid more than I needed to for a package (because I could totally have sent it media mail if I'd wanted to stand in line.)

Then we get back to the amazingly cold bit and the bike riding and so on and so forth.

Tomorrow is my first ever cookie exchange. I'm guessing this is similar to a white elephant exchange, but I don't have any idea other than that I needed to bring 3 dozen cookies with me. So that was my post-naptime activity with the kiddo. He had a good time stirring the dough and helping shape little balls to put on the cookie sheets but he declared the cherries that are in the cookies to be "icky" and said that he therefore didn't like them. More for me, I guess.

The kiddo and I have been reading How to Train Your Dragon as part of his bedtime routine. It's his first real chapter book experience and he seems to be enjoying the story and remembering what happened yesterday and so forth. We get through a section at a time (so not necessarily a chapter) because he still wants his Dr. Seuss and his Bible stories (and I'm ok with that) so it will, most likely, take us a long while - but gosh it's a cute book. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with the equally cute movie by the same name from what I can tell so far. Other than the names of the characters. I hate it when they do that.

The PhD study prep continues - and I think I'm making progress. So that's lovely. I've still got my fingers crossed that it will actually take place - it's that twice shy thing, I suspect.

And that pretty much summarizes things.