7 Quick Takes Friday - #9

OK, now for this week's 7 Quick Takes... and it's gonna be quick.
  1. We made over 300 Christmas cookies this week, and today, just now in fact, we delivered them all to neighbors. I'm trying not to eat them, cause technically, I shouldn't until tomorrow and Sunday, but man, they're good. And cute too.

  2. OK, yeah, I hinted at it up there in #1, but I'm still doing the No S Diet, and loving it. I think I'm down a few pounds, but I don't have a scale to know for certain. But my clothes are looser and I'm happy. This is the most sensible "diet" I've ever heard of. Really, it's not a diet. It's just basically "Self Control and Common Sense 101". And yes, I think even with the occasional Christmas-cookie-slip-up, it's really reasonable for holiday times too.

  3. My 4 year old daughter calls both Zaccheus AND Ikea "I-kee-us". I am fairly confident that she realizes that they are not the same thing, but nevertheless, both are "I-kee-us". Why you need to know this I have no idea, but there it is.

  4. This year, we traded in our 2-foot-tall tabletop Christmas tree for a free-to-us (including multi-colored twinkle lights!!!--YAY!) proper 5-foot tree. But it started out very, very, uh, bare. Last week, (which we'll affectionately title, "every-single-person-in-our-family-got-the-croup-except-my-husband-wonder-how-he-avoided-it-must-be-those-GNC-vitamins-week") we watched a ton of movies and I made about thirty gazillion ornaments. Little squeezable soccer ball toys got covered with fabric and beads... leftover yarn from "Violet's" blanket became 4 star ornaments and 8 stuffed ball ornaments a la Attic24... I even felt like the origami queen there for a day or so. And I used old ribbon stashes to make a chain garland. And now we have quite the homespun tree... the kids are quite enamored with it.

  5. Speaking of Ikea, we live close to one, and we occasionally stop in for a cheap and easy lunch: hot dogs. We joke that the kids will one day make it to adulthood and wonder why anyone would buy furniture from a place that sells hotdogs. Anyone else a fan of cheap food at Ikea?

  6. I've done some reading this year, but not as much as in years past... I'm also in the middle (currently) of about 10 books or so... what about you? Any great books to recommend? I read some that were OK, some that weren't so great, and re-read quite a few this year. I'd love to hear from you about great things you're reading.

  7. Just came across this video: What if Joseph and Mary were on Facebook?

Best wishes for a great Christmas holiday to you and your family. Here's hoping you avoid sickness and make some special memories with your family!

10 comments:

melissa said...

We are a huge fan of Ikea, too, and it's also not very far from us. In fact, I thin that IKEA was one of the first words that my son learned - at two and a half, he loves that place. His favorite - meatballs and french fries. He's never had anything else there. Ha!

Beth Celestin said...

My Silas calls Zaccheus Ikeeus to! It's one of his favorite songs, and he sounds so cute singing it. Hope you guys have a Merry Christmas!
~Beth

Lindsey said...

Oh, we are definitely big Ikea fans here, too. We love to go there for dinner ps. my 3 year old heard someone talk about Santa Claus and now refers to him as "Sam's Club" (the big wholesale store we also frequent for their cheap food ;)) blessings to you and your family

Ruth said...

Jess,
I'm reading a book entitled, "Large Family Logistics." It has been really good. I think I will finish it and start rereading it. There are lots of practical ideas for juggling all the many responsibilities in a large family.

Tara said...

Jess, I love these posts and #3 just cracked me up! We need pics of your homespun tree, btw.

Christine said...

I'm in the middle of Mary Ostyn's book now and love the simplicity and honesty of the book. I recently read a memoir called "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know" by Heather Sellers about her disorder called face blindness. It was really fascinating. Also have been reading "Sabbath" by Wayne Muller and it has some really thought-provoking concepts. Loved "Ministry of Motherhood" by Sally Clarkson too.

Mandi said...

I agree with Tara that we need a picture of your tree!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Anonymous said...

I'm reading One Million Arrows by Julie Ferwerda and I really like it so far. She has a website- onemillionarrows.com

~Shannon

Phyllis said...

When we lived in Moscow, IKEA was the place to meet up for a cheap lunch and place for kids to play. :-) I don't think we ever bought anything other than food there.

darci said...

well I needed to know I-Kee-us! cracked me up! My three year old just went on her first 'date' with daddy, and we got her all excited about going on 'a date'...when they got in the truck she said..'that's not a date, that our TRUCK!" teehee...love them!