Prayers for my friend

Way back when, when I was in college, I met a girl who turned out to be one of my best friends. We stayed in touch for years, I was in her wedding, she came to mine. But, as often happens, we emailed a bit, called once or twice, and eventually I stopped hearing from her.

No big crisis. No falling out. Just life.

Well, this past Christmas I didn't send her a Christmas card. I'd sent one every year and for the past 3 or 4, didn't get one back. (So, I'm a slow learner!) I did put a note in her mom's card, though, asking/hoping she was okay and asking Mom to forward my email address to her.

Lo and behold, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from her, with just a sentence or two to catch me up on all I'd missed.

Then today, a missive, all about how the boys are 15 and 13 and taller than her (OMG!), how her husband is doing well and luckily for her, able to be home to help her out when she needs it. He's helping out, too, with the boys, getting them where they need to go, when they need to go, getting them up in the morning and out to the bus stop by 6:05am...

All of this struck a chord with me. Why is she making such a point of him doing his fatherly/husbandly duties? Shouldn't it be like that anyway? Then I remembered previous letters, saying how he was in this band and in this orchestra, and teaching this class and that course...

Then the paragraph that took my breath away.

She has breast cancer. She was diagnosed last August. THAT'S why her mom didn't include an update about K and her family in her Christmas card, as I'd asked.

She started chemo, finished January 1st. She started radiation today. She was able to work throughout the chemo and is planning to continue working through the radiation. Then she'll start hormone therapy.

"Other than being overweight and bald," apparently she's "fine." The prognosis is good. [THANK.YOU.GOD.]

I walk every year in the Susan B. Koman Cancer Walk. Thankfully, I've been lucky enough not to know anyone with breast cancer. My husband's grandmother died of it many, many years ago, when he was a young boy.

Now it's personal.

Now it's K.

I will be walking for her. For her as somone with breast cancer. For her as a survivor. And I ask you all, each and every one of you, if you can, if you would, PLEASE PRAY FOR MY FRIEND, K. And if you can help support the fight against breast cancer, please do. For me. For K. For our daughters and sisters and mothers and aunts and grandmothers and neighbors and babysitters and dogwalkers and cashiers and bank tellers - for all those women who do not deserve to suffer from this horrible, horrible disease.

We need to do whatever it takes to eradicate it (along with other cancers and diseases, of course). But now, this fight is personal.

Please explain this to me...

Didn't someone promise less spending? Or was I listening to someone else's campaign promises?

$819 BILLION. With a B.

Unanimously rejected by the Republicans (thank you, guys!). Passed, obviously, by the Democrats. With the possibility of increasing this spending/port bill by ANOTHER $71 BILLION when it gets to the Senate.

Supposedly too much spending, not enough tax cuts.

Well, where would he get the money to distribute if he actually cut our taxes?

I missed the number of pages: 600+? 800+?

As I've mentioned before, I don't believe in a single party system. We have multiple parties for a reason. Someone has to ride herd on the other party (regardless of which way it goes: Republican > Democrat or Democrat > Republican).

I'll be voting party line this next election, just to be sure that he doesn't have free reign.

Remember "checks and balances"?

Nothing to blog about so...

Here's what makes me happy - in no particular order, just sort of stream of consciousness... (got this idea from Pike's Pickles)...

1. family, present and past
2. Jack
3. friends
4. books
5. reading
6. flowers - especially irises, and especially NOT carnations
7. my faith
8. my homes
9. work (most days!)
10. pizza
11. unsweetened iced tea
12. Clint Eastwood
13. Dan Fogelberg
14. movies
15. TV
16. the smell of garlic and onions cooking - smells like home
17. pumpkin pie
18. cinammon anything
19. coffee
20. puppies and dogs
21. scrapping
22. creating
23. decorating
24. blogging
25. reading blogs
26. children
27. my neighbors
28. my in-laws
29. reading to my first graders (I volunteer every other week)
30. traveling
31. cruising
32. flying
33. being a tourist
34. weddings
35. good news
36. stationery
37. notebooks
38. pens and markers (not a big fan of pencils, I must admit)
39. techno-anything - with a little education I could seriously be a computer geek! (from the operational side, not the programming/repair side!)
40. writing letters
41. getting cards in the mail
42. the idea of retiring in a few years
43. diamonds
44. amethysts
45. the color purple
46. the color green
47. the color yellow
48. losing weight
49. salad
50. wearing a smaller size
51. sweatpants
52. freshly laundered sheets
53. fresh air
54. parties
55. eating outside
56. BBQ
57. having someone cook for me
58. Christmas
59. Thanksgiving
60. my birthday
61. working on the computer...

Gotta run - my ride's coming to pick me up!

What makes YOU happy????

???

Please explain this to me.

President Obama invited some people to the White House (or the Capitol, wherever) to discuss his trillion dollar stimulus package (think I'll get more than $1 this time?!?!?).

He plans to increase benefits for low-income workers who pay no income taxes.

WTF???

And who is paying for this? Me. And you. Those of us who actually are paying their income taxes will have to pay more so that he can give more benefits to low income workers who pay no income taxes.

I have a huge problem with this. It just doesn't jive with my "help those who help themselves" philosophy. What it does is reward those who work the system.

Please don't jump down my throat about those low-income people who can't afford to pay all those taxes and live in this country 'cause it's too expensive. I don't buy designer clothes or name brand anything unless I can afford it, and yet I'm behind a guy paying with foodstamps who's wearing $100 sneakers and a $300 leather jacket. Me? My $8 Wal-Mart winter jacket. Hmmm.

Fair Tax please. Just read it. If you buy it, you pay tax on it. If you don't, you don't. You get to bring home your salary. What a concept! Get what you earn, instead of thousands of dollars less.

And by the way, "don't listen to Limbaugh"??? [Insert another WTF??? here!!!] Last I checked, this is America. I can say anything I want, so can Rush, and if I choose to listen to him, you have NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT.

It's a sad day...

My friend Alan passed away this morning.

I met him when Jack got nominated and elected to the credit union's board; Alan was married to Gail, and she's a teacher and board member. We've vacationed with them several times and this last time, I was truly blessed to spend some quality time with my friend Gen and Alan. We'd go for coffee every morning, just sit outside the cafe and people watch and talk. He was such a good man.

Alan suffered for many years from brain tumors. He'd have surgery and bounce back.

And the tumors would bounce back, too.

He was a true miracle man, surviving countless surgeries and so many sessions of radiation and chemotherapy. Even his wife really believed he would beat it again; we just couldn't believe it would finally get him.

This last session was different. It seemed to weaken him more, take him further along in the disease. He wound up this time in a coma, then he came out of it, then he was moved to a care facility for 24-hour care, then he became unresponsive again.

Gail would sit by his side all day, every day. She would sprinkle him with holy water, pray with him and for him. She has such faith.

But I worry that this might truly be more than she can handle. She and Alan met when they were older, rather than younger. They were so much in love, they were so perfect for each other. He cared for her, about her - it was so obvious. He was her life.

And when I say this, I don't mean he was her life (or she was his) to the exclusion of all else. They just truly personified love. They were the perfect example of a happily married couple.

Alan retired two or three years ago, along with Gail. They spent every minute of every day together, I believe, either at their mountain hideaway in PA or traveling to the Caribbean or to Vegas. They so loved to travel together!

This next journey is going to be a tough one for Gail. She's going to have to go it alone. And I am worried about her. We all said she's so strong, going through all this over and over again, but she had Alan then. And he fought with her and for her and she fought with him and for him.

She's lucky - she has phenomenal family and great friends. And we'll be there to help her any way we can. But we're not Alan.

Please keep Alan and Gail in your prayers for me.

I won't be discussing yesterday yet...

All it's going to do is cause me to have to defend my feelings and I don't think I should have to do that.

Suffice it to say that I did NOT enjoy the reference to "3 First Ladies," I did NOT enjoy Aretha's version of My Country 'Tis of Thee, I did NOT like the poet, her reading or her poem, and I REALLY did not like the benediction. I thought MB looked lovely, and the girls looked so cute! I resented the hugeness of the inauguration - I thought he wanted to spread the wealth, not spend the wealth. I think personally they're a lovely family - I liked seeing his daughter give her dad the thumbs up and take pictures with her tiny camera. I liked seeing his wife lean forward to put her hand on his shoulder and give her husband a little squeeze. They truly looked so happy together while dancing at the balls last night. (Although I didn't like her gown.)

I hope with all my heart that he does a good job. I don't believe in him or in his plans. I think he has a lot of people fooled. I think he will make decisions that the people do not like, even his own supporters, once he's in office and privy to all the information. And for that I'm truly sorry. There are a lot of people in for, in my humble opinion, a huge disappointment.

But if we're all very lucky, he'll do a good job, make good decisions, not steal from me to give to those who didn't work as hard as I did to have what I have now. GWB has already begun to implement the return of our troops, and BO will be taking full credit for it once it happens 'cause it will/might happen on his watch. And that's how it goes. The one to blame is gone, and the one taking all the credit for what's been already started will be there to take that credit.

He is the President, though, and I will support my president as I believe all Americans should have supported GWB during his administration. I will most assuredly be critical when I don't agree, but this is America and I am allowed.

I'm off to find an email address for GWB - I want to send him a thank you note.

P.S. Those of you who know me know what I think about reading. I read anytime, anywhere, anythingl. Well, I read a great blog post today and I wanted to share it with you... Go to Zen Habits and read what Leo Babauta wrote about learning to enjoy reading.

I saw it after it happened...

My office is a cubicle but I'm at the windows and I face the Hudson River. I've spent the last three days in meetings and this afternoon, during our E-line and R-line meetings, we heard all the sirens.

We're in Hoboken. We hear sirens all the time. We really didn't think anything of it. I didn't hear a crash.

But when I got back to my desk, the plane had already crashed. It was somewhere up around the 50's, pretty much across from Jack's school if it were riverfront, maybe a bit higher, but the currents were so strong the plane was drifting south really quickly. I could almost make out the people standing on the wings, but I'm not sure if I really saw it or if I knew they were there 'cause we were watching it live on the computer.

We were plastered to the windows. People were running out onto Pier A, and uptown, onto Pier B, just to watch. By the time the plane drifted even closer, all the passengers and crew had been rescued.

Thank you, God. They couldn't have done it without you.

It was 18 degrees this morning, real feel 10 degrees with the wind chill. The Hudson River was really cold. I heard later 60 people were in the water. And aside from some rather minor injuries, considering, so far, at least, everyone is okay.

They said the pilot made a heroic and perfect landing under the circumstances. There were 2 pilots on board, according to the news.

I beg to differ. God was their co-pilot today. They couldn't have done it without Him.

We'll be glued to the news tonight, just to make sure that the people are all okay.

President Bush is speaking - I'm going to go and listen. Tomorrow I'm sending him a thank you note, if I can find an email address for him. He deserves it!

There's a new guy...

...in my daughter's life. Not yet serious, she says. Nice guy, she says. A year older than her, she says. Lives a mile away from her, she says. A supervisor for NJ Transit, she says.

We went to the Board meeting after dinner (It passed! It passed! Jack will no longer be working without a contract if it now gets ratified.). The new guy came to pick her up. She kissed us goodbye (we waited out front with her so she didn't have to wait alone) and ran and got in the car and they drove away. We went back into the school to walk out the back door and go home. Jack was on the phone with a friend. DD called. Come out front, she said. He wants to meet you, she said.

No chance to brush my teeth or see if the hair helmet was holding up - he double parked his car in the bus stop to run in and say, "Hi, it's nice to meet the parents." Hmmm, not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Now as we all know, manners matter to me. And the ex had manners. With us, anyway. This one's cuter, in my humble opinion, and has manners. Risked a ticket to meet us. One point for him. Nice smile. And when I said, "We'll have to do dinner," he said, "Sure!" Two more points for him.

Sales Conference

No, I'm not dead.

I'm starting Sales Conference.

I will be in meetings from 9am to 4:30pm, today, tomorrow and Thursday.

Tonight I have dinner at Anthony David's in Hoboken.

Tomorrow I have dinner at Court Street in Hoboken (yummm!!!).

Thursday I have a manicure appointment at 6:30pm.

Friday Jack and I have dinner at Frank's Waterside in North Bergen.

I have sporadic access to voice mail and email, and unless I stay up really late and fall asleep during the meetings, virtually no access to the Internet and this blog.

Until the weekend. When it turns C.O.L.D. When double digits would feel like summer (or at least spring). When I have a three day weekend. When I take Mom's laptop to the lake and hack into my neighbor's wireless.

OH. BIG NEWS! You all know how much I miss my mom (she's in AZ visiting my sister P - who, by the way, I also miss, bigtime!).

I GOT TO SEE MY MOM THE OTHER NIGHT!!! P got herself a webcam and with Mom's laptop we were able to video chat. Okay, I can handle Mom visiting P if we can do this once in a while. Just for the record. (Although I'd still like her home, she can stay by you for a while longer, P!)

This has pretty much decided it for me. It's time for me to get either a webcam for my desktop, which will most likely be the route we go, or a laptop (which I'm resisting simply 'cause I hate their keyboards and the darn non-mouse-pad). And Mom, you'll just HAVE to leave your house once a week or so to come over to mine and you can video chat with P, a NICE change from "just" a daily phone call (or three!).

Words to live by...

From Stuff Happens (and then you fix it!): 9 Reality Rules to Steer Your Life Back in the Right Direction, by John Alston and Lloyd Thaxton

1. Learn to say "thank you" when you wake up in the morning. After all, if you woke up you're still alive and in the game!
2. You must never forget that life is a gift, don't trash it.
3. Shout "Why me?" when good things happen.
4. Every day walk around with your head up and a smile on your face shouting "I am the greatest."
5. The most important gift you have is your mind. Use it and your life experiences to grow.
6. No problem is bigger than you are and you have all the resources to make your life work.
7. Find out what you're good at, develop it and give it back to the world. The world is waiting for your contribution.
8. Always be the most decent human being that you can be... and
9. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

I found these 9 rules when I first started working here at my current job. I've had them hung up in my cubby for the past 4-1/2 years and since I was rearranging the stuff on my cubby walls today, I thought I'd share them with you!

And then I found something else... Procrastination is a bit of a problem for me. Even though I.HATE.BEING.LATE.FOR.ANYTHING, I have no problem putting little things off until I sometimes have to scramble to get them done by their deadlines. I'm going to scrap these on a page and create something to hang in my office... (I have no idea where I found these; I would credit the author if I did.)

OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION
1. Do it once.
2. Clear your mind.
3. Solve problems while they're still small.
4. Reduce interruptions.
5. Clean up backlogs.
6. Start operating toward the future instead of the past.
7. Stop worrying about it.
8. Now, feel better about yourself.

My new mantra, borrowed from Leo Babauta at ZenHabits. Found him on Ali Edwards' blog.

Stop waiting for happiness. Happiness is right here, right now.

Love this!!!

Since Miss Hope likes her some photos...

Jack opening one of his stocking stuffers... He's always complaining he has no energy so I bought him a bottle of One a Day Vitamins formulated for increased Energy!
This is my sister C and her beau, T. He really seems to be a nice guy. He cares a lot for her and for her kids, despite their less than enthusiastic reception of his place in their lives. And he gave C a beautiful emerald and diamond band for Christmas!

These are the beautiful flowers I got for my birthday from my sister and my mom and from the girls at the office. (This year Jack gets a failing mark for no flowers!) And sorry, P, I realized after I took this picture, that it's another one where you can't see the purple flowers in the arrangement! They were there! I swear!

Here's Maria, opening one of her presents Christmas afternoon. When she opened it, she smiled big and said, "I KNEW I could count on you for a great sweater!" As boring as it sounds when I read it here, there was such enthusiasm in her voice! It's a good thing! (I didn't take a picture of the set of knives I bought her. Knives that were identical to the knives her mother bought her that she opened earlier in the morning. Darn it! So I'm returning them and contributing to Maria's Ugg cause...)

Isn't he just one of the handsomest boys you've ever seen? This is my nephew, J. There aren't a lot of pictures of him where he's just genuinely him, no sneer, no sarcastic expression in his eyes, just J. Love him so much!

And this beauty is my niece, A. Gorgeous, right?! Another of those rare photos, a real smile, happy, carefree, no teen angst... (These last two pictures were taken in our house on Christmas Eve.)

And here's this year's mini-tree. I bought this little 5' tree for the lake. I used to stand it on a coffee table in front of the picture window, but this year, it took the place of our "real" tree in Clifton. We went looking for a 9' prelit artificial tree post-holiday. And we found one. Beautiful. Perfect for our 9' ceilings. P.S. When you have 9' ceilings, a 9' tree doesn't work 'cause the 9' refers to the height of the tree not.counting.the.stand. We now have big gouges in our library ceiling where we tried to set up the new tree we bought on a non-returnable basis at 50% off... (Thank goodness I bleach blonde highlights into my hair: I played the blonde card at Home Depot and said, "My husband said our ceilings were 9' high but I didn't know that the tree height didn't include the stand and $150 is a lot of money to spend on a tree I can't use! Can't I please return it? I just bought it this morning!..." And he let me return it!)
This was our dining room table set up for Christmas Eve dinner. And yes, baby Jesus is in the manger even though he technically wasn't born yet... And yes, those are paper plates. Boy, was this an easy holiday! Minimal dishwashing, just sweep off the table and toss in the trash!!!

Sometime in the next few weeks, I'm going to post some pictures taken in my home so you can sort of peek into my house... Another blogger did this and it was so much fun to see how others live. It was like peeking in their windows but with permission!!!

Resolutions v.2009

I usually make really sincere resolutions that deep in my heart and in my mind, honest injun, I know I'm not going to keep: be a better wife/daughter/sister/cook/housekeeper, be sure to attend Mass on every Holy Day of Obligation, budget and save more money, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. (hmmm, now I want to sit down and watch Yul Brynner in The King and I!)


This year I'm going to do something different. I'm going to make some resolutions that I know I can keep. And I resolve, too, that I won't beat myself up when I slip up and do something or forget to do something...

• I'm NOT going to spend a lot of money on useless crap (okay, well, once the mail orders I placed over the past two or three days are delivered, I won't spend a lot of money on useless crap...)
• I'm NOT going to buy something I don't need every time I set foot in a Wal-Mart
• I AM going to save more money
• I AM going to try to keep a neater home
• I WILL downsize my scrapping supplies (part of my goal as a student of BPS' Get Organized, Be Inspired class)
• I WILL cook more at home and eat out less
• I WILL try to be a better person
• I WILL donate more to charity
• I WILL NOT allow my moods to control me

There now, don't these sound a lot more reasonable and easier to actually achieve than "I'm going to reach goal weight," "I'm going to go sky-diving," or "I'll sew new curtains for the scrap room since I can't find any I like in a store"??

Right now...

I was catching up on some blogs I read and I happened across this on Lisa Bearnson's blog. She got a holiday letter from a friend of hers that included a bunch of right nows...


Right Now:
Out of my window: the Manhattan skyline - I'm at work, admittedly goofing off a little.
I am wearing: black jeans, a white tank, and a gray sweater that Jack bought me for Christmas.
I am hearing: my colleage E talking to someone on the phone.
I am thinking: about all the things I have to do this week - play catch up here at work, go to the movies, go to a scrapping bingo night, go to Michael's with my neighbor to plan a scrapping project as a gift for her dad, clean my kitchen so it does justice to the rest of the house (which is still clean from the holidays!), and clean the two guest rooms which are where I threw everything to make the rest of the house look neat!
I am thankful for: my family and friends, my mom's good health, my husband and my children, that I have a job in this troubled economy, my faith
I am creating: perhaps this should read "I am planning to create" some scrapbook pages from Christmas and Hanukkah and Gedalia's 1st birthday party, some handmade cards for my Soulology pals (sort of promised to do that for the holidays but...)
I am going: to Bloomingdale's for my make-up, then to my sister-in-law's for our traditional Monday dessert night, and to the movies tomorrow, to Michael's on Wednesday, to bingo on Thursday, and to the lake on Friday
I am hoping: I can keep to my unpublished and not-too-difficult-guess New Year's resolutions.
I am reading: Running Hot, by Jayne Ann Krentz
Around the house: it must be sort of quiet, I'm not there! The only sound you should be hearing there right now is the sound of the steam radiators as the thermostat prompts them to start heating the house in preparation for our return home.
One of my favorite things: Reading. Books. Words. (Wait, that's three!)
A few plans for the rest of the week: See "I am thinking" and "I am going" above...

If you feel up to it, take this challenge and do a "Right Now" entry. Imagine comparing it to "Right now" next year at this time...

Another Award?!? You're jesting!

You're kidding, Miss Hope!! Miss Hope has passed along this One Lovely Blog Award to me, lil'ole'me! She received it over the holidays and part of the deal is that you pass it along to seven other bloggers; she chose me to be one of the recipients! Miss Hope certainly did deserve this award, that's for sure. She shares with us her love and pride of family and country, her faith, her steadfastness in the face of some trials and tribulations. She's going to help out a lot of people whose children have ADHD as she shares her story about her wonderful son...

I'm just going to scan my "list of blogs I read each day" and start passing the love along...

Erika Martin's Stampin' Mama Designs is one of my favorite scrapping blogs. Why? Because she is one talented lady, that's why! And she shares so much of herself in her blog and on her pages and I truly admire her and her work! I've taken one class with her and am waiting patiently for her Journaling 101 class to start on 01/26/09. She's got a way of making you really look inside yourself, but without a shred of pain or self-doubt! Thanks, Erika!

Kim at Parachuting without a Net deserves this award, too, for a number of reasons. She has shared with us her heartbreak over losing her two daughters a year ago in an horrific car crash, but rather than that devastation, what comes across in her blog is her love for her daughters, her caring love for the daughter still here, grieving with her, and her love for her new fiance... We're all looking forward to reading all about her wedding plans, etc.

Jeanette at A Passion for Scrapbooking, Decorating & Shopping also gets my vote. Talk about a lovely blog!!! She shares her decorating skills, her internet finds, her planning and implementation of home projects - I've gotten some lovely ideas from her blog... now if only I could get those ideas to translate into reality in my house...

And Suzanne at Let's Talk Organizing - she SOOO deserves this award, too! Her lovely blog has made me a more organized, in control worker, and I'm taking what I read here and applying it to my home office - Suzanne: you'll be happy to know I've started off 2009 unencumbered by 2 LARGE bags of trash and two more bags are waiting to be burned in the wood stove this weekend (no shredding for me!)! And what a sense of accomplishment when I downsized to ONE calendar - okay, I admit I still have one on the wall in my house and on my desk at work, but I have only one planner... I'm going to try my best to use my Franklin Covey planner again this year, but I switched to weekly rather than daily - planning is more my problem than recording what I've done which is what I was doing with a whole page per day... If it doesn't work, I have a back-up plan: I have a monthly calendar that is just ready to step into the breach...

And Kristina Werner's kwernerdesignblog - SO many lovely scrapping and cardmaking ideas! Kristina deserves this award just for the sheer lovliness of her blog, to say nothing of her creativity! I've learned so much from her weekly videos - she makes new techniques so easy and so many of her ideas are just milling around in my brain, just waiting for an opportunity to be put to paper!!!

There are probably many more blogs that deserve the Lovely Blog award, but I'm back at work and I have to begin actually working...

Later!

Happy 2009!!! (4 days late!!!)

When I scheduled my vacation, I thought, "Man, am I going to have so much time off! J and I will probably kill each other 'cause we're going to be spending so much time together! What am I going to do for all that time? I have SO much time off!"

I.WAS.SO.WRONG.

I have to go back to work tomorrow. Nose to the grindstone.

I can't believe it.

It's 2009. It's been 2009 for 4 days already and I haven't done a single thing on my list. I was going to set up the calendar for 2009. I was going to clean out the 2 guest rooms. I was going to rearrange the kitchen (although that's still on my list for this afternoon...)

All I can say at this point is: I hope 2009 is more productive for you than it's been for me (so far!) and I wish you all health, happiness, and if not prosperity, at least not the poorhouse! Don't forget, you'll be distributing your wealth to those who have less but want more. (I couldn't pass up the chance to toss that in there!!!)

Seriously - my only resolution this year, and it's one I hope I can do, is to live a good life, a better life, than I did last year.

Post-Christmas Update

Well, I'm at the lake, borrowing some wifi from someone... using mom's laptop...

Santa was so good to me! Not only did I get some great gifts, I got to spend Christmas Eve with my sister and her kids, and her boyfriend and his son. Then we went to bed early, got up on Christmas morning, went to Mass and waited for DSD to arrive. We went to my SIL's house, had breakfast, opened gifts then went home.

We opened some more gifts then made dinner. We ate. We talked. We ate some more. M stayed 'til about 7/7:15, which was LOVELY! Then she was off to see her cousin; his b'day is Christmas Day and they usually go out in the evening...

We went shopping for a Christmas Tree on the 26th. We decided it was time to get a real artificial tree, instead of the short, 5' fake tree we have now. We didn't find any within my budget that were nice, but then yesterday, Jack found one at Home Depot. 9' tall, Frasier Fir. Next season I will buy a revolving stand, if we can use it (the tree might be too tall). If it works, I'll return it and buy it 1/2-price after next Christmas. And I know some people who read this blog frown on this practice but I don't have $150 to spend on a tree stand. $75 for a revolving tree stand is a bit more palatable but if I wait to buy it post- holiday, it's non-returnable. This way I'll buy it, see if it works and then return it and buy it for real at 1/2 price.

Guess what I got for my b'day! The 1st season of WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD!! LOVE that show!

All the holiday foodstuffs turned out great; of course, they would since Jack cooked them all! We had cavatelli and broccoli, peppers and onions, tuna, pierogi with onions in butter, pumpkin pie for dessert... I forgot to take the cream puffs out of the freezer so we'll have them when Mom returns.

Her schedule has changed, too - she's now coming home February 3, instead of January 9th or 10th, as originally planned. Her accupuncturist recommended a few more sessions and since they seem to be helping mom's arthritic back, she delayed her return... Amtrak reduced her penalty from $85 to $3.50 if she delayed her return by 3 or 4 weeks...

Well, I've been paged - we're building the built-in bookshelves for the sitting room and I have to go help put the shelves together. Pictures after the New Year, when I have access to the desktop again!

Happy New Year, to come! (In case I'm not blogging before 2009!)

Christmas Eve in my house

While I was growing up, we spent each and every Christmas Eve at my grandparents' house. Those memories will always bring me comfort and a sense of love and family. The warmth of their home, the love they felt for all of us, the joy they got from having their family together under one roof to celebrate the holiday - that will always mean Christmas to me.

This year Christmas Eve will be at my house again. I only wish I was as good a cook as my Babci was! I'll cheat a little and buy homemade pierogis at Stephan's in Clifton. We won't have as much food as I remember, and there won't be as many people, but I hope my sister and her children remember these few hours in my house as filled with love and respect and family. I know that as long as I can make a happy, fun, loving evening for them and for me, it'll be a success.

We'll share the oplatek (Communion host), breaking off pieces and sharing with each other. We'll wish each other well, and then we'll eat. And then we'll clean up and we'll wait for Santa to come down the street on the firetruck. And then we'll open our presents. And then everyone will split and go home, and there'll be a hole in my heart and in my home.

I don't ever want them to leave. I love the noise and the people and the wrapping paper and the smells, sounds and sights of family. I like finding pieces of tape stuck to the floor. We have a large home for just 2 people. I'm never happier than when my family is there with me. I wish my home was always topsy-turvy, loud and crazy.

I don't know how often I'll be able to post during the holidays; I'll be at the lake without online access (unless I can hack into my neighbor's wireless with my mom's laptop!) so updates might be few and far between until 2009!

I wish you all HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Power Shopping

Okay, I admit it.

I'm not ready for Christmas.

THERE, I said it. And I survived.

I can remember the days I started shopping early, started decorating even earlier than that! I used to have Christmas cards written out and mailed the Friday after Thanksgiving. Then it slipped to Thanksgiving weekend. Then I was glad when I go them done in November....

Now. Not glad about much! Cards aren't done. Shopping's not done. Wrapping's not done. Decorating's as done as it's going to be. Cleaning's not done. (Heck, it's barely started!)

Today we're in the middle of our first bad winter storm. There's about 6 inches of snow outside; there's probably around 8 to 12 at the lake house. Hoboken didn't shut down the schools so Jack couldn't shut down his after school program so he's just leaving NOW for the trip home. The roads are icy, treacherous. I've been watching the news - there are accidents and stuck cars all over.

This morning, when the storm first started, I was out shopping. I took the day off to shop. To be able to buy Jack something other than the paperback version of Marley and Me that he'll probably return 'cause the print is so small... And I power-shopped (hence the title of this post...): $170 in Target in an hour, and another $180 in Costco in another hour. (Although I did forget to pick up my pills at the pharmacy counter in Costco so they'd better be open tomorrow!)

Costco is 1 mile from my house.

It took me an hour to get home.

1/2 an hour to get out of the parking lot, another 1/2 hour to drive the two streets to my house. 1/2 an hour and two accidents, two stuck cars, and innumerable crazy-a-s drivers!!!

But I'm home, safe and sound. Now let's keep our fingers crossed Jack gets here in the same condition!

Once he gets home, we'll heat up leftover pizza (he had 28 pies delivered to school for his after-school party), then he'll shovel us out (at least I put a dent in it earlier today) and then we'll drive over to my mom's house to clean the sidewalks, shovel a path to her side door and feed her cats, and then we'll go over to KD's mom's house to shovel her out. Then we'll come home and collapse into a big, cold, wet, snowy heap! I'll make hot tea, he'll fall asleep without drinking it...

I hope we're home in time for Numbers on TV tonight. He really likes that show, almost as much as I like Criminal Minds... I'd like him to just sit and relax...

And a special thank you to Miss Hope, who posted an absolutely lovely entry on her blog wishing me a happy b'day - thanks for being my friend!!!!

20 Little Things to Treasure at Christmas

Melissa at The Inspired Room is incredible. She has a wonderful sense of style, and I don't know where she finds the photos of the rooms that she posts, but my-oh-my could I be happy in those homes!!! And when she shows what she's capable of in her own home? I'm just pea green with jealousy!

But today she posted her 20 Little Things to Treasure at Christmas (click on the link above to read her list!) and she inspired me to create my own list. So here goes:

1. My family - I am lucky to be married to the most wonderful guy in the world, stepmom to two great kids (Johnny, I wish you were reading this!), daughter to the best mom on earth, sister to 2 wonderful women who truly don't know how great they are, aunt to a nephew and a niece I would give my world for, and cousin/in-law/aunt/friend to numerous other people who I am blessed to call family or friends.
2. My faith - By definition, faith is belief that is not based on proof; faith is a belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion, a belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit. Faith is a system of religious belief, the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance. I believe. And now, at Christmas-time, when I sit in church and I listen to the music, and I hear the readings, and I think about God and Jesus - well, that's something I treasure.
3. Those of my family who are gone - Daddy, Babci, Dziadzi, Cioci Eliza, Granddaddy and Grandmommy, Mom and Dad, and all the aunts and uncles I've met and loved since Jack and I married. I miss you every day, but never more so than at this time of year when every twinkling light reminds me of you.
4. My home - filled with the smells and lights and colors of Christmas. If it's standing still, it's decorated! No matter how much time it takes, or how tired I feel, I LOVE decorating!
5. The time I spend looking for that perfect gift, and the feeling that comes over me when I see something that I know will be just right for...
6. White Christmas - the song, the movie, the happy ending.
7. The music - Little Drummer Boy (Bing Crosby and David Bowie's rendition is my favorite!), O Holy Night (with the lights out in church except for the star over the manger - I think my heart stops every year!), The First Christmas Morning (Dan Fogelberg's Christmas album), Hark the Herald Angels Sing, We Three Kings, The First Noel... I could name song after song...
8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - the original version - no one can beat Bela's voice!
9. Having Maria make time to spend with us on the holiday - it's tough, considering...
10. My Santa pin from Patty and my Christmas tree earrings - I never leave home without them! And now I have my blinking necklace to add to the outfit! (Thanks, C!)
11. Snow. And more snow.
12. Driving around, looking at Christmas lights.
13. Cinnamon spice coffee.
14. Wigilia - our Polish Christmas Eve. Sharing oplatek. Tradition.
15. Santa driving down our street on the firetruck at 6pm-ish on Christmas Eve - AND all my Orthodox neighbor children outside waving and laughing at Santa, too, and laughing at me when they see how excited I get about Santa!
16. Sharing my Christmas and sharing their Hanukkah.
17. Midnight Mass - this sort of fits with the music and my faith, but I think it deserves its own entry - being surrounded by so many people in church for the same reason: to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. I'm filled with love and hope and there's never a Midnight Mass where my eyes don't tear up!
18. Celebrating my birthday on the 18th (Happy Birthday to me!)
19. Presents! No matter how small, I love opening them! (Even when I know what they are!)
and
20. Jack. I know I mentioned him in #1, but he deserves a number all his own, and he's the "best for last." I love him. I am thankful for him and for his love. I treasure him.

Tag, I'm It!!!

Okay, although I haven't been officially tagged by the Picture Tag Fairy, here's how it works:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same - NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Well, it's the room we stayed in at Harrah's/Atlantic City in November 2007. Jack had to attend 2 days of seminars for the Credit Union (he's a director on the Board) and as "spouse," I got to tag along for a mini-vacation!!! I lost $40 at the slot machines, and the two days of meetings he was supposed to attend? Well they were done in about 3 hours!!! That's the ONLY reason I only lost $40!!! If I was on my own, left to amuse myself in a casino for two whole days? Well, suffice it to say that I'd have been a bit poorer on the way home!

I know that gambling is not good. I know that many of you will say that you work too darn hard for your money to throw it away in a slot machine.

Let me briefly say, "You're right!"

BUT, what I do is throw my coins in a coffee cup in my desk and whatever is in there when we go to AC or Las Vegas is what I allow myself to gamble with and since I buy breakfast and lunch several times a week, I have lots'o'cups'o'change during the course of the year that I use for other things... It's just the one that's there when we're going on the trip that I offer up to the gambling gods! The year before? I won $400!!! So if you ammortize that over all the years I've gone to AC and LV? I'm way ahead!!!

And by the way, I'm not tagging anyone with this since I tagged myself! But if you decide to play along, leave me a note so I can go see your 4th picture from the 4th folder...

12 Days of Giveaways

YAY! My pal E pointed me in the direction of this awesome blog - 12 Days of Giveaways!
And not only is it fun, it's done so much of my shopping for me!
It gave me some great ideas!
Now all I have to do is take Friday off and implement them!!!
Okay, I will (take Friday off, that is!), if I must...

My Christmas Journal

A couple weeks ago I mentioned my addiction to online scrapping class.

Well, here's proof positive that I'm addicted.

I've attached some photos of the work in progress: I'm taking a Journal Your Christmas class with Shimelle, and here are a couple of pictures of my pages so far...

There will be tons'o'pages, so I won't post them all - suffice it to say that in an effort to get them done ahead of time, I've over committed myself to a 2-page spread for each day, which if I was able to do as I go, I could relocate the new page on the back of an old page, if necessary, but NOOOOO, not me!

I make things hard for myself all the time...

Here's the front cover, all the pages stacked up. You can see how you see page 3 if it's die cut smaller than the previous page - I like that look...

Here's the first spread - sort of a dedication page, a Christmas manifesto, to use their phraseology!

Here's the spread for the 11th day of Christmas. The intention is to talk about your/my Christmas tree - real or artificial? Colored lights vs. white lights? Big or small? Do you even put up a tree? The importance of the tree to your holiday...

Here's the stack of pages from the side - it doesnt' show as much as I'd hoped of the variety of paper, and page sizes... but you can see how much work I've done! I've included paper, acrylic pages, ribbon, embellishments, stickers, stamped images, etc. Some of the pages will have this year's wrapping paper added to them, I'll include this year's Christmas card(s), etc.

I'm really having fun with this project. If I was retired and could spent more time planning and thinking about my work, it would be up to date and more logically laid out... but I'm still proud of it! One of the things I've always had trouble with is combining patterned papers - this is a way to do it without going too nuts over it. Each spread is coordinated but not necessarily with the pages before or after; since some pages are smaller than others, you get that shabby chic, multi-patterned look...

I've been tagged...

I have to come up with 6 things you don't know about me... I was tagged by Suzanne, my AZ friend over at Let's Talk Organizing... Here goes...

1. I skipped senior year in high school to attend college at the University of Delaware's Freshman Honors Program. (I used to be smart... does that count as 2 things???)
2. I've met psychic John Edward several times, and have even been lucky enough to have a private reading with him. I've also been in the audience on his television show. (Hey is that 4 things???)
3. A few jobs ago, I had the opportunities to meet several famous people: Nancy Reagan, Sarah Ferguson (Duchess of York), Ann Margret, Donald Trump, Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Vanna White, Richard Simmons, Jackie Collins and a whole lot of other authors (some famous and some not so).
4. I've had 5 cars: 1977 Buick LeSabre, 1985 Oldsmobile Ciera, 1989 Honda Accord LXi, 2003 Honda Accord DX, and a 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe. I've also driven Jack's Dad's Lincoln and his sister's Lincoln. LOVED the Buick and my '89 Honda and Patty's Lincoln, and I do love my current Santa Fe.
5. I've been on 6 cruises, 5 of them to the Caribbean and my honeymoon cruise which, luckily for me, turned out to be the maiden voyage of the Carnival Triumph to Nova Scotia!
6. My mom was born in Poland, spent years in Siberia, Kenya, Uganda (?), and the UK before she moved to NY, then to NJ, met my dad, married him and had me and my 2 sisters. And my dad admitted to some Dutch and Lenni Lenape ancestry but if you asked him, he was American.

I guess that's it - 6 things you might not know about me, but then again, none of them are any big secrets...

And now, let me tag a few of you out there in Internetland: Anyone who wants to share some things with us, feel free. I'm not going to name names or link to blogs... Just know I'm curious and would love to learn more about you...

Our Family Christmas Party

Yesterday was our family Christmas party, on Jack's mom's side.

Where? Fairfield Fire House
When? 12 noon
Who? 85 adults and 30 kids

We had SUCH a wonderful time! One of Jack's cousins just adopted his 2nd daughter from Kyrgyzstan. Her name is Alyia, and she's named after their translator this trip. Apparently they were originally given another baby who unfortunately was seriously ill and they weren't told this ahead of time. Marlene called her pediatrician who advised her to run, don't walk, away from this adoption. The baby was subject to brain damage they wouldn't be able to see until about two years of age. She said this was the hardest thing they've ever done - this little baby had been "their" daughter for months and all of a sudden, they had to decide whether to take her or not...

They stayed another week and they brought Alyia to them. They couldn't name her the same name they'd picked out for the other little girl, so they had to come up with a different name. They understood their translator to say her name meant "to ascend," to "go home." And since they were deciding to take the baby, they thought that might be appropriate and meaningful...

Well, Marlene gave me the baby to hold - That was it for me! I'm a baby person. Even Jack said to the family, "That's it, she's happy now, she has a baby to hold!" And Marlene let me feed her and hold her for about, oh, a good hour-and-a-half!!! I was in heaven!! She's such a beautiful little girl and I got a smile from her later on, when Marlene was walking around with her. They stopped at our table and I said hello to the baby and she smiled at me! Even her mom said she's so different from her older sister, Kitty (Katherine). Kitty is just a little ray of sunshine and smiles at everyone, but Alyia apparently is a bit less happy... She's 8 months old today and has been through so much in her young life... When she got home they found she was iron-deficient so her hair was very coarse and there were other symptoms; they started her on iron supplements and now she's got that beautiful, wispy, soft-as-down baby hair... But she smiled at me!! I guess she recognized my voice when I spoke to her; I'd been holding her and talking with her for so long just a little earlier... I wish I had a picture of me holding her...

Then we stopped at Target and returned a pillow, bought another, picked up a gift card for the Angel Tree at our church (I'll drop that off this Wednesday), went to the mall and got another sweater for Jack to give me for Christmas... I picked up a little stocking stuffer gift for Carrie; just need one more and she'll be done.

Tonight we're going to my niece's apartment, the apartment she'll be living in with her husband when they get married in July. They want us to see the decorations they put up and all the furniture's been delivered and assembled... Kevin is living there now; Toni will move in once they're married.

Anyway, gotta run - it's time to do some work (after I go get breakfast!)...

I feel sorry for a lot of comedians...

According to CNN, the Bureau of something-and-something else announced earlier this week that, TA-DA! We're in a recession and have been since December 2007!

Duh. I'm no economist but I could have told you that!

Last night I was listening to Mark Levin and he said something that set me thinking... I really feel sorry for a lot of comedians. We're in a recession and in a little over a month, they're going to have nothing to do. No job. No income. And BO will be taking whatever money they've accumulated over their careers so he can spread the wealth...

They will not make fun of BO like they made fun of George Bush, or John McCain, or Sarah Palin. They have not made fun of Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid like they've made fun of Rumsfeld or Cheney.

Whatever will they do? BO will be taking their hard-earned money and giving it to those who have less 'cause it's only fair that we all have the same thing even though all of us didn't earn it. We're all entitled to have what everyone else has 'cause it's not fair that someone can have something bigger and better than someone else, even though he paid for it with his own money. "I want it, so give it to me and give it to me NOW!" (When I was young, that was called either being selfish or stealing!)

I was taught patience. I was taught to work and do a good job and get a salary and save money and when I had enough, I could spend it any way I saw fit and I could buy whatever I wanted for myself. And if I wanted to buy something and give it to someone who had less, I could do that and it made me a good person. That's called sharing and charity.

But having someone TAKE it from me against my will to give it to someone who has done nothing to earn it? THAT is not sharing. THAT is not charity.

THAT is socialism. And socialism, my friends, does NOT belong in the United States of America.

From Wikipedia:
Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and an egalitarian society characterized by equal opportunities for all individuals. Modern socialism originated in the late nineteenth-century working class political movement as well as the intellectual movement that criticized the effects of industrialization on society. Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution which represents the transitional stage between capitalism and communism.
Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and creates an unequal society. All socialists advocate the creation of an egalitarian society, in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how, and to what extent this could be achieved.

We HAVE opportunities here in America. That's what makes this country so wonderful. Opportunities, my friend. NOT a free ride.

Non-Turkey Photos

For those of you who like to see photos, even though they're not very good ones...

Here's Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor, a.ka. Jack, repairing our dock. Or at least, stabilizing it for winter! The Lake Commission drops the water level 5' every 5 years so that property owners can do repairs on their docks. When the lake freezes in the winter, the melting ice actually floats into our dock posts and breaks them, damaging the dock as well. We'll try calling the one dock repair company again but they have so much business they don't even bother to return phone calls! (After 26 years in the business world, I don't personally think that's very good business, but who am I?!?)
Here's another view of that same dock, the longer of our two, sans lawn chairs. In spring, summer, and fall, you can usually find me sitting on the dock with a cup of coffee or an iced tea, reading, listening to the sound of the water, watching Jack work at something 'cause the man just doesn't know how to sit still!

Here's a view of the water line on our bulkhead, or our seawall, as Jack likes to call it. (Never mind that we're not living on the sea...). You can really see where the water usually is, right to the bottom of our dock...

Here's are two shots of our other dock, the smaller shorter one. It gets knocked around a bit, too, but this year it didn't suffer as much damage as the larger one, which got pulled right out of the bulkhead.

Journal Your Christmas

In yesterday's post, I attached descriptions of several online scrapping classes I'm taking. There's a real good reason I'm doing this, "this" being overbooking myself during the Christmas holidays with an obligation to record the weeks before and after Christmas.

This is my ALL.TIME.FAVORITE.TIME.OF.YEAR.

Thanksgiving. My birthday. Christmas. New Year's.

It's always been my favorite time of year. So much so that had Jack been willing to add our anniversary to the mix, I'd have gotten married in December, too! (He just didn't want to have to buy me so many presents all at once!!!)

So many things happen around the holidays. And as I get older, there's even more going on and I want to make sure I remember it all. But more importantly, my mom goes away every other winter to spend the holidays with my sister who lives in Arizona. My husband likes to say I'm cranky the whole holiday season 'cause my mom's not around. That's not it. I'm missing her so much, and I miss my sister, too. I want to create a record of this Christmas (without mom here) and I want to do this again next year (with her here in NJ). And I want to see if I really am cranky when she's away - I'll have to journal and record and remember - proof positive, one way or the other, that my Christmas is made better or worse by my missing my mom.

And it's a nice record of the holiday itself: the decorations, the preparations, the people, the presents, the food - all those things I swear each year I will never forget.

Guess what. I can't remember what I gave people as gifts last year. So let me warn you now, folks, if you're on my list, there might be some repeats!!! (But next year??? Uh-uh. 'Cause I'll have a record, you see, of what I did this holiday!!!)

Online Classes

I have a new addition.

Online classes.

I'm signed up for four of them right now: Soulology Project, Stories in Hand, Journal Your Christmas, and Get Organized, Be Inspired. One was free and three had fees attached.

Here's a brief description of each:

Soulology Project/Hosted by Erika Martin: "Many times, we find ourselves behind the camera, but hardly in front of it. We create beautiful pages about holidays, milestones, children, family and everyday life, but often times, we’re missing from those pages. Sure, our creativity and journaling went into the pages, and in that sense, we’re present on those pages but our actual presence is often what’s missing. If you think about the pages of the albums that you’ve completed (or are still working on….let’s admit it, our albums are a constant work in progress), really think about them, how often do you find pictures of yourself, along with journaling ABOUT yourself, on those pages? Probably a lot less than you think. That’s what this course is all about. Getting yourself on your pages….not just in your creative presence, but your actual presence in photos and journaling about what makes you who you are. This course is an exercise to get you started on a journey that I hope will far outlast this online course experience. It will be eye-opening, joyful, full of discoveries, sometimes painful, surprising and it will definitely be liberating. It’s time to tell your story. It’s time to leave your legacy. It’s time to dig deep and share your soul."

Stories in Hand/Hosted by Jessica Sprague: "I am so excited to go on this journey with you! I have been thinking a lot in the past few months about stories. As I've looked through my scrapbook albums, I have realized that while I've told many of the stories I've wanted, there are SO MANY MORE stories in my head and my heart that need telling. I decided to create a system for capturing the stories I would like to tell, so that when I sit down to storytell (whether that's scrapbooking, taking photos, blogging, or any other of the various ways I can record the stories of my life), I can have some stories in hand. This class is really not about writing, or about scrapbooking, but about the gathering process. About the remembering process. About collecting the experiences, big and small, that have shaped us and made us who we are. The stories worth telling. I anticipate that this will be a life-changing experience for all of us, and I am so excited that you've made the decision to join me on this journey!... What you have to say matters. The things you think, the experiences you've had, the people and places and things you love, and why, are worth talking about. I believe that. And I believe that each of us has a story to contribute. I'm often reminded as I go throughout my days of experiences I've been through, or little moments I've savored, that I've never written down or told anyone. Stories in Hand is a system I created in late 2008, to help me gather the stories of my life that I wanted to tell. I decided to create a class to share this system with you, to help you tell the stories that matter most to you. Stories in Hand is not a journal, but a companion to your storytelling. It is not a place to write, but a tool to get inspiration, a guide to spark memories you've forgotten, and a system to organize and gather the stories you want to tell. It's designed to sit right alongside whatever method you currently use (or would LIKE to use) to tell your stories."

Journal Your Christmas/Hosted by Shimelle: "The holidays are just around the corner and in my world that means one thing for certain: it’s time to journal even more. It’s something that started small. One year it was just me and my pen and my book, trying to take back Christmas and rediscover my love of the holiday after a few years when Christmas lacked a certain sparkle. The second Christmas, I shared the idea with a small group of crafty friends, just to see if this reclaiming idea was something that made sense outside of my head. It did. And from there, Journal your Christmas became an online class that I shared with the rest of the world. And by ‘rest of the world’, I mean we now have Christmas journallers from more than forty countries. This is the most magical time of the year, so it’s time to make Journal your Christmas just a bit more magical yet. Like every year, Journal your Christmas includes daily prompts from the 1st of December to the 6th of January, the twelfth day of Christmas. The 37 illustrated PDF files are delivered straight to your inbox so you can read them over your first cup of coffee and mull over each topic for a full day. There’s also an archive of the class materials online in case you can’t get to your email or in case something dreadful happens to your computer. And like every year, you can go it alone or be as social as you like, with a private discussion forum where you’ll find other Christmas journallers who will cheer you on and share your excitement, but if you prefer to stick to the prompts only, that’s completely fine too. And like every year, if you’re participated once, you can join us every Christmas for as long as you like at no extra cost. But what’s not like every year? Well, there’s definitely a bit of extra kick this year. A few kicks, perhaps. A kick-start for your writing… Journal your Christmas isn’t just for crafty types. If you love to write or want to improve your writing, you’ll have thirty-seven different topics for daily journal entries, whether you use your favourite pen, a typewriter ribbon or a blog to compile your stories. Each prompt offers a few quick tips for making your story that little bit more memorable. A kick-start for your photography… Rather document Christmas through your viewfinder than by picking up a pen every day? Or just wishing your Christmas photos had a bit more sparkle? This year we’ve got experts on board! Fabulous photographers share their secrets for taking your holiday photos to the next level, from family portraits to Christmas lights to making Christmas morning photos into works of art. A kick-start for your crafting… For the past few years, the daily prompts have featured one or two scrapbook pages per day to provide visual stimulation for you crafty types. This year the visuals get a big kick: you’ll see more than 250 amazing pages over the 37 days, and that doesn’t include the hundreds more you can view in real time as participants share their work online."

Get Organized, Be Inspired/Hosted by Wendy Smedley and Big Picture Scrapbooking: "Do you wish your scrapbooking space were more organized and user friendly? Are you drowning in piles of paper, a slew of supplies, or an explosion of embellishments? Do you want to be organized but don't know where to start? If so, don't despair; help is on the way! In this three-month class, expert Wendy Smedley takes you on a guided journey to understanding your scrapbooking approach and organizational needs. Using her book The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker as a resource, Wendy will help you create a space that is organized to fit your unique approach. In addition, she will help you understand what inspires you, and she will teach you how to organize that inspiration so you can actually use it!... Join us on this organizational journey that will help you scrapbook more efficiently as you work in a space that is based on how you work. During innovative "Super Saturday" events, we'll bring together hundreds of scrapbookers working and organizing LIVE with Wendy. You'll even receive bonus storage and labeling downloads to use in customizing your space, making it all your own and one you love to work in! Wendy's class includes:

• Weekly reminder e-mails when the classroom is refreshed
• Weekly audio messages guiding you through each week's assignment, available as streaming audio, downloadable MP3 files and transcripts
• Colorful, step-by-step instructions for each lesson/project
• Two live "Super Saturday" events designed to direct you through purging, sorting and storing your supplies
• Video-enhanced presentations illustrating key topics, plus guided video tours of real scrapbookers' spaces
• Friendly, step-by-step instructions and bonus downloads for customizing your storage containers
• Multiple ideas for recognizing and displaying your inspiration
• Monthly online chats
• Insight into other BPS experts' and teachers' scrapbooking goals and approaches
• "Ask Wendy" feature on message board where you can seek organizational and inspirational advice from your instructor
• Community building private message board to share thoughts with other students
• Weekly supply lists for each project
• Private posting gallery for posting your assignments and viewing those of other students."

So that's it - they're all scrapping-oriented. I'm not going to save the world, cure cancer, or convince anyone that global warming is a bunch of whooie. But I will have a chance to expand my creative right brain, learn some techniques, write more, put all that stuff I bought for scrapping to good use, and (bonus!) get that scrap-room-to-be done!!!

OMG. Don't watch this video on a weak stomach.

Found this at The Man on the Edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8

All this does for me (other than give me a stomach ache) is offer more proof that there were too many people voting who had no idea what or who they were voting for. [And I'm not apologizing for ending that sentence with a preposition!] And this is not a slam against Obama (even though we all know I'm going to be riding that "I told you so" train throughout his administration). I'm quite sure there were many McCain/Republican/conservative voters who were equally uninformed. But their candidate is not going to be in charge of this great country. He's not going to be the one who runs it into the ground. And he was not elected because of his skin color. Or because "it was time for a change." [Note to all who used that as a reason to vote for BO: you voted against Bush, rather than for Obama. Anyone who is not Bush would have been a "change" - why vote for someone who's going to hurt this country???]

And admittedly, I am no expert. And there are a lot of people out there who know more than I do about the Republicans, conservatives, McCain, etc. What I know is I voted for the person whose morals, ethics, goals, experience all were most in line with mine. There were plenty of places where I didn't agree with McCain, but there were more where I did.

At least I knew who I was voting for, and who I was voting against.

And for the record, Tina Fey DOES.NOT.EQUAL. Sarah Palin.

My favorite scrapping room

I'm sorry to the lucky owner of this beautiful room - I copied these pictures into my file so I could create a page about my dream scrapping room, and I did. Create the page, that is. But I never took a picture of the page, so instead of pasting a copy of my layout here on my blog, I'm posting the beautiful photos of this lucky lady's room!!! (I promised to post a picture of my layout in my comment on Aby's blog (Creative Organizing) this morning...
I'll take a picture of my page this weekend (if I remember!) and replace these photos at a later date..
While I'm lucky enough to be working on my own scrapping room, it's never going to look like this one...

Things I've done, and more that I haven't!!!

I saw this over at Deb's Postcards from the Edge.

If it's highlighted in red boldface, I've done it!!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower - We were outside waiting to see it, but didn't - does that count?
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris - Does the Paris Hotel in Vegas count?!?
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse - On TV - not sure if I've ever seen a total eclipse in person...
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - Again, does the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel in Vegas count?!?!?
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain - and in the shower (thanks for this answer, Deb!)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check - Only by accident.
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - I've been laid off, then hired back
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Pick me! Pick me!

Nikki commented on my blog and invited me over to hers to check out her 1st giveaway - so here it is: Project Domestic Bliss.

She's giving away a year's subscription to Woman's Day magazine. I will admit: I'm a magazine junkie! I don't even know how many subscriptions I have but I DO know I don't have one to Woman's Day! I buy one at the cash register probably every other month or so...

I hope I win!!!

We didn't go to the lake today - woke up, it was pouring rain, so we slept in for another hour and then picked up Mom for breakfast.

Spent 3 blissful hours in the hot tub at T's house last night. We had such a great time, just relaxing in the water. He is trying all sorts of new things; last night he tried some foaming agent in the water so we had bubbles to play with, too! The water was 100 degrees - a little too hot for E, she said, but I LOVED IT!!

From www.Shelf-Awareness.com, Thursday, November 13, 2008:

Besides Random House and quite a few bloggers mentioned here yesterday, two other important organizations are promoting books as an excellent holiday gift.

"Holiday IndieBound" is offering a range of materials for booksellers to create posters, bookmarks, ads for websites and newsletters and more that emphasize "the value of the book."

Among the messages:
"A Book. Longer-lasting than a fruitcake, cheaper than a flat screen, more fun than a partridge in a pear tree."
"Shop Indie: nuture your community this season."
"Books: return dividends for life."
"Why a book?: Because a new tie never changed anyone's life."
"Affordable. Portable. Memorable. Books are a gift beyond measure."
"Give love. Give time. Give joy. Give books."
"A Book: The perfect gift for someone who has everything. The perfect gift for someone who has nothing."

(And I've marked my favorites in bold type and red font!)

I was reading Elizabeth Dillow's blog and despite all the me vs. you, us vs. them, red vs. blue, I really liked this site she sent me to...

http://www.zefrank.com/from52to48withlove/index.html

Honor. Valor. Bravery.

"Happy" Veterans' Day?

How about "Thank You, Veterans, Day"?

Personally I'm not too happy that we lost millions of brave men and women who put themselves in harms way and who sacrificed, along with their families, so that we didn't have to. (Yea, I know, I shouldn't have ended that sentence with a preposition.)

My father was a veteran. My father-in-law was a veteran. I have two cousins who are veterans.

And I'd like to personally thank them and all the rest of the veterans.

Today the President will be in NYC to officially re-open the Intrepid, which recently returned to her berth at Pier 86. They've refurbished her, added some airplanes and helicopters to her collection, and basically spiffed her up to her former glory.

I watched her come home on October 2; I'd also watched her leave for her overhaul a couple of years ago. It was a stirring sight - I was teary-eyed and proud.

We're in for a BUMPY ride!!!!

For the next four years I will be riding the "I told you so" bus and waving the "Don't cry to me, I voted for McCain" flag.

Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States. And what's the 1st and 2nd scary things I've heard since 11pm last night???

First: And I freely admit I don't know if this is true; I can't find a reference to it. His grandmother died the day before election day and when asked if he would be attending her funeral, BO's supposed response was, "It depends on the outcome of the election." Now I don't know about you, but this is 2008. There are such things as airplanes. There is NOTHING, repeat, NOTHING that could keep me away from my grandmother's funeral. But don't forget, he's already announced that he consciously separated himself from her when he was only 13: "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."-Truth!This is an accurate quote from the introduction to Dreams from My Father. The book chronicles Obama's experience as the son of an African father and an American mother. (From www.truthorfiction.com)

And second: They're already talking about his potential Cabinet. And the name they're tossing around for Secretary of the Treasury? Jon Corzine. Governor of New Jersey.

WWWWHHHHAAAATTTT????

Proof positive he's nuts. Corzine is one of the most liberal, spending governors - oh, wait, THAT'S why. He needs someone to back his spending. Now I get it.

Listen to me and listen to me good.

Your taxes will go up. Government spending will go up. Gas prices will skyrocket again.

This is the WORST decision American voters have made since they elected Jimmy Carter in 1976.

"All men are created equal." YES. This means that all men, women, blacks, whites, Catholics, Jews, gays, straights - we all have the same opportunities.

The bottom line is WHAT.WE.DO.WITH.THEM.

And as someone who's paid her taxes, worked two jobs, paid for her college education for 10 years, saved for her homes and her cars - I resent the idea that everyone is "entitled" to the same things I have. NO. You are entitled to earn them, the same way I did. I don't believe in a free ride. Do not take what I have worked long and hard for just to give it to someone who doesn't have just 'cause they don't have it. This is what BO wants to do. Take from the rich and give to the poor? No, no, a thousand times no. Everyone has the right and the opportunity to work and accomplish whatever they set their minds to achieve - NO ONE IS ENTITLED TO GET IT FOR NOTHING.

The fact that BO is black is irrelevant to me. I don't care if you're black, white, green, or purple IF YOU ARE QUALIFIED. I have STILL not heard one thing he's done as a community organizer that qualifies him to be President. What did he organize? A parade? Just tell me. And his "present" votes in Congress? Talk about a wasted vote. Does he not have any convictions at all? And how can you vote to allow babies born to term to be left to die?

I am sick. Sick to my stomach. As much as I've never been an "I told you so" kind of gal, go back and read my first paragraph again. And know this: our Founding Fathers created the idea of checks and balances FOR A REASON. I am telling you this now: I will be doing something I swore I would never do. I will be voting party line for the next several local and federal elections until the balance of power shifts and the President is working with a Republican Congress.

Obama, Reid, Pelosi???? Oh, my God, help us.