Getting Stuff Done--Whoo!

                 There is nothing more efficient than a mother who is trying to get as much done as possible before the baby wakes up.  I have been running since 6:30 this morning.  It's now about noon as I start to write, and I'm halfway through my second pound of butter, the fifth batch of Chex Mix is in the oven, and I have onions carmelizing in the slow cooker for soup.  I also have all the Christmas cards ready to mail once Fuzzy gets home to take over the kids. 

                If I do everything I plan today, I should get between eight and ten batches of Chex Mix done and the rum balls started, and I'll be done with the big skirt I started yesterday.  After that, I need to locate the good pajama pants pattern and cut out a pair for Fuzzy and a pair for his brother.  Tomorrow, there will be more mix baking and stitching the pants, then some quick wrapping and rum ball production.  I'm hopeful that the heavy lifting will be done by Saturday, when we'll be doing our driving tour of the Bay Area to deliver treats to friends, and that we can just relax after that.

                It isn't actually as much work as it sounds.  The nice thing about Chex Mix is that the vast majority of time spent is the baking time.  You just have to keep stirring it every fifteen minutes, so it's a great task to combine with busy work that can be done at the kitchen table, like assembling Christmas cards and putting together rum balls.  I sometimes have trouble remember which stirring I've just done, so I keep track by moving one magnet from the side of the fridge to the front each time I stir.  When I move the third magnet, I'm going to take the mix out to cool when the timer dings.  Then it spends an hour in the cooling bowl before going into a container for gifting.  It's a simple process, but few people do the baked version nowadays, preferring to microwave it instead.  The baking method is now way down at the bottom of the recipe on the back of the box as an alternate method.  I don't mind.  The house is a little warmer for it, and it's an easy way to feel accomplished.

                It's becoming much more real to me that my mother isn't coming this year.  On an ordinary year, I'd be dropping Kiddo off at school, then proceeding into the city to collect Mom from the airport with her unbelievably carefully packed suitcases (Seriously.  She mystifies airport security on a regular basis.).  We usually do the mix baking over the next few days while chatting, playing solitaire and sodoku, and wrapping presents.  Next year.

                If I get all my work done over the next couple days, I'm going to do my puzzle.  Springbok just came out with a fun Broadway-themed puzzle, and I managed, after a great deal of chasing around the internet, to get one from a local Hallmark store.  It's so soothing to do puzzles, simply because the solution is already in front of me.  I just need to locate it.  I also do a lot of word searches for the same reason.

                If you are wondering, Tiny slept in until 9:30.  I'm currently wondering if she's willing to consider an hour-long nap.  I'm willing to consider a nap, but I'm not being offered one, alas.