Ending on a happy note...

Back from San Diego and a wonderful time was had by all. I enjoyed being with my daughter and her family. Did some baking and candy=making with my grandson; went shopping and out to dinner. Bill arrived with his Christmas shopping to be done on Christmas eve day and that was exciting! and not complete without a trip to the Western store to buy a western shirt for Karl and a bolo as a gag gift..."from one cowboy to another".

Christmas eve we met some friends for fish and chips, an annual tradition. and then went to 10:00 midnight Mass. We woke around 8:00 and waited for my son in law's mother, Mary, to arrive to open our gifts. Guitar hero was a gift the children received and they had quite a great time with that. Monica got out her karaoke system and I was amazed at what a beautiful voice she has. We watched a few good movies and then we also went to the beach although it was pretty cool. It was a children's beach which has been taken over by the seals. They were all lying out sleeping while we were there. A few of them did get up and go in the water.

I bought matching outfits for Christmas eve for the "girls" of the family (My daughter, grand daughter, myself, Mary). We put them on and declared ourselves the Snow Monkey Band Note the picture. A great time was had by all. Thursday I jammed all my clothes in the carry=on bag and loaded my gifts and my brothers (who had only brought a carry on bag) in the two bags I had brought clothes in and we headed for the airport at 6:00 am San Diego time - which was 4:00 Houston time. We arrived home 1:00 Houston time and were glad to be back home.

My gift from Bill arrived while I was gone and what a nice one it was...a Bose Wave radio with CD and ipod player. Perfect and just what I wanted. He really does spoil me and I am very grateful to have such a thoughtful brother. Tomorrow he is going out playing in his Mule (the Kawasaki mule) and taking chili which he made today on his camping stove. It was pretty tasty.

He's quite a character.

My Christmas Advice:- Make Good Memories

I leave for the airport in about twenty minutes but I wanted to take a few minutes to wish all of you a happy and sane Christmas and a holiday season filled with love, fun, good times and whatever it is that makes it special for you. This is what memories are made of so make some good ones. I intend to. I finished the nativity and sent it to my son for Christmas. Made potica and sent it to my brother who called in tital surprise and was very pleased and happy. So if doing the special things is what Christmas is about, I'm off to a good start. Bill found an album for a friend and bought software that allowed him to hook up his receiver to his coomputer and make thee album intoo a CD. He made an old album of mine into a CD...special present for me from my brother....and he loved his cowboy rain slicker which I found at a cowboy store. M y friend Karen bought him a bronze cowboy on horse which is gorgeous and he surprised her with a GPS (what wouldn't a cab driver love aboout that) and made a deal...gave her a card and offered to trade it for the "box" (which had the gps). She took the box and was thrilled. We had a fun time. Dinner at Fuddruckers and she takes us to the airport and picks us up. Well my chariot awaits for the airport. I hopee that you all make good memories.. Love to you all..

The Day's Dilemma is the Sock!

YES, EXCEPT FOR THE BOTTOM COLOR, THAT IS IDENTICAL TO OUR CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS! -- I HAD TO HAVE THEM: BILL BEING SUCH A COWBOY AT HEART. -- NOW FOR MY DILEMMA.

Does anybody else object to having to do their own Christmas stocking? Maybe I should see it as a great opportunity to buy frivolous things I want...but I would like someone to surprise me!

Dare I suggest that my brother add it to the list of other things he has to do tomorrow????

Tomorrow is make potica day. Bill is going to finally put lights on the house...and I told him not to bother bringing the tree decorations home now...I see no sense putting up the tree on Saturday when I am leaving on Thursday to come home and take it down the following Thursday. And we're leaving the dogs alone in the house while we're gone. The pet sitter will come three times a day. I would feel better about it if someone were sleeping in the house at night and may still ask Ruth if she would stay here at night..... aND Bill has to shop for the get together with Ruth's family which is now set for Sunday...a lot of shopping...Ruth, Teddie & Tony, John & Allison, and the twin daughters age ten. I haven't mentioned to him what we are doing about each other...or told anyone what I want. Good luck figuring it out. ha ha. Actually, I figure he bought the tickets to San Diego and that is a present enough for me.

Well just checking in...time for bed...and while Susan, the new cleaning lady worked today, I worked on the nativity set for my son and it is finished and didn't it turn out nice. I'll post some pictures as soon as my brother gets them on the computer.

Making Potica & Other Christmas Stuff

Not me in the picture, but this is what "making potica" looks like!

Try as I might, I cannot dismiss the younger daughter's "silence". I believe it is an underlying stress for me right now and I am clueless how to relieve it. I have recited the Serenity Prayer numberless times, but applying it is another matter, it seems. I get stuck on the "accept the things I cannot change". The logic is there, but the heart will have none of it. The latest report is that her best friend went to the house to see if she could talk to her and my daughter TEXTED HER ON HER CELL PHONE: "GET OFF MY PROPERTY. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.". This is just a further sign to me that she is mentally unstable. I also heard that Taylor, the stepdaughter who she had promised she would still come and pick up, etc...that "nothing would change with her dad's death," she is also ignoring and the poor little girl is in therapy as she is not coping at all well. Doesn't understand why my daughter has abandoned her. I am going to call her mother and ask if it will help or hinder things if I remember her on her birthday and if I were to keep in touch with her. I feel badly. I sent an email to my daughte appealing to her on Taylor's behalf; however, I'm not holding any hope.

Well, the porcelain spray came in the mail which means I can now finish the ceramic nativity set I am working on for my son for Christmas. I only have about five pieces left to chalk and then I need to put the little jewells on the wisemen and their camels.

Christmas shopping is almost completed and I have wrapped what needs to be mailed except the items I am waiting for in the mail. Today I am going to make potica. That is a Slovenian nut bread that is made on Christmas, New Years and Easter. It's an all-day project. Yeast dough rolled out on the table paper thin. Covered with melted butter, warmed cream, warmed honey, cinnamon, cloves and 2 pounds of chopped walnuts and golden raisins. Then roll up like a jelly roll. Put in pan and let rise and bake. I'm going to make two of them ... so that is probably two days work. That plus finishing the nativity and getting the boxes in the mail and packing for San Diego. And one more shopping trip out of the house to get ready for our exchange with close friends should keep me busy to the time I board a plane on the 20th. I won't have time to be in a down mood as I was last week....that's the good news. Now, if I could just get that daughter of mine to communicate!

I HEAR RINGING IN MY EARS! MAKE IT STOP!!!

My brother has not come to conciousness from the Christmas party of last night and his blackberry alarm is going off on snooze alarm every 10 minutes! It has a regular telephone ring. ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I hate to admit defeat and, further, ignorance to the operation of this machine, but I cannot get it turned off and I cannot get my brother to wake up and do the same. I have tried putting it by his head and he is sleeping right through it! This has been going on for two and a half hours now and my patience -- and ears -- and nerves -- had just about had it when, all of a sudden, it just melted into the background noise of the TV which I turned on. Blessed relief. One thing is for certain...when said brother awakes, he will show me how to disable that thing for the future.

I have been busy working on Christmas shopping online, and a Christmas project for my son ...

a ceramic nativity. I'm doing it in chalks...a technique where it is sprayed with porcelain spray and the pastel chalks are applied with a brush and then sprayed and then more chalk and more spray until you get the desired tone. It's a rather large set, three camels, three wisemen, three shepherds, two donkeys, a cow, a goat, a sheep, Mary, Joseph and the baby. I hope to finish it today or tomorrow. I'm also using metallic paints on the camels and wisemen along with some jewels. The figures stand about 5 inches tall. So far so good except for some trouble with one piece yesterday when the spray started acting strange. I will have to get a new bottle of spray.

Finished a book by Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer. She is a good writer, so I went and bought The Poisonwood Bible. The book is good, but I'm not going through it so fast. I also picked up a book by Joyce Carol Oates Missing Mom. Middle Age was a good one by her. I usually like her writing. A not so new author but interesting book was Johnathan Franzen's The Corrections. If you like historical fiction, the books by Phillipa Gregory are good reading, like The Other Boleyn Girl. I also have been reading poetry of Bukowski, Ferlinghetti, Merritt Malloy, and the illusionist poets. Anybody read anything good lately?

I still haven't heard from the youngest daughter. It worries me and I'm not sleeping.. Don't know if there is a connection there or not. My brother did make reservations for us to go to San Diego for Christmas so we will have the house sitters for the dogs. It will be fun to see my daughter and her family and, hopefully, it won't be colder in San Diego than in Houston!

I'm off to work on the ceramics. Peace to all of you. In the midst of this I finally managed to waken my brother and he turned off that DAMNED BLACKBERRY ALARM!

What a difference a Day Makes

Yesterday I had the energy of two people. Today I can barely get o ut of bed. I watched two movies and played Free Cell until 2 pm in my pajamas and finally drug myself to get dressed after which I played on the computer until 5:15. Then there was the panic as Bill was going to be home for dinner and I hadn't defrosted anything, let alone started cooking! I defrosted some brauts in the microwave and put them in the oven, threw some potatoes in a pot to boil, put some green beans in a pan and made a salad. Fortunately, he called and wanted to know if he had time to get a haircut. Saved! I did get a shot of energy once I started rushing around the kitchen in panic mode...of course I didn't take my pills until 4:00 which might have something to do with it...I don't know why my moods are jumping around from high to low...maybe I'm bipolar or something. HA!


What a difference a day makes
Today's mood tumbling
like the autumn leaves
in myriad hues.
Mine is mostly shades of brown,
dipping down down down
falling further faster
plummeting to the ground.
What I would give for some Exuberance!

Christmas is Improving My Mood

I've begun the Christmas shopping -- online and in the store. Today, quite by accident, while picking up the heartworm prevention pills at the vet, I noted a new gift store in the strip mall where the vet is located. What a neat place with very different things. I found a men's shaving kit designed for carrying the small (miniature) toiletries which my brother carries in a plastic bag in his carry-on luggage. It's a small version of the shaving kit in leather - sort of tubular. Nict for tucking into a carry on bag. Granted, he will still have to put them in the plastic bag according to airline regs but it will be a lot nicer looking in the suitcase. Bought one for my son-in-law who occasionally makes overnight trips also. So that was the exciting part of my errand-running day which also included going to the lab for blood work, the office supply for a printer cartridge, the post office, the bank, the nail salon for manicure and pedicure and then on home to change my brother's bed and put the presents that are going to California in a suitcase. I packed up a box that is going to New York to my mother-in-law and called my son once again to inquire as to the size of his fiance. I'm guessing an 8 but I wouldn't want to be wrong. I finally decided on something for the brother who has everything....I ordered a rain slicker from the cowboy store -- Yes, a rain slicker like the cowboys wear. He lost his awhile ago and if he decides to replace it between now and Christmas he's dead! The man is impossible to buy for as he buys everything he wants. Well, I'm off to iron the pillowcases to finish making the bed.