Snow melting...slowly...

It seems that the snow is finally melting and we are back to our usual winter weather of RAIN! Here are a couple of shots from Christmas...

A downpour(?) of snow?

Tried to get a shot of Tom jumping, but it's hard with the digital camera, so we opted for a pose instead.

Christmas Came and Went...

Our Christmas celebration this year was so much different than any other Christmas, it was weird, but nice.

We had our usual Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast along with our coffee before opening our gifts. The foods that we choose at Christmas is always a treat - so Cinnamon Rolls are a nice treat and tradition. So easy and quite tasty. We'll have to bake up the remaining rolls and take them to church!

Gifts were good...just 3 a piece and no stockings. That really cut down on the "stuff" that we would normally have strewn about the living room and other areas so I didn't miss that. Surprisingly, we did manage to fill up the giant Recycle Bag that I brought home from work for our gift wrap, boxes etc. Those bags have got to be the best thing ever! I have extra bags to store just in case the Solid Waste Department doesn't bring any to the station next year.

My favorite gift would have to be (and this is stupid) - the charger for my iPod Shuffle. Now I can charge my iPod in my car or at work instead of plugging it into the computer at home.

My favorite gift that I gave Tom would be the Riedel Vivant Pinot Noir wine glasses....thems are fancy....we are not!

The afternoon was very relaxing and I worked on a sewing project that I should have finished by the end of the weekend and we watched LOTR after we had our mini ham sandwiches, mashed potatoes gratin and waldorf salad for a early dinner. Decaf spent the day sleeping in front of the fire and occasionally relocating to the TV room to cool off as the fire was really blazing for a while. He was happy to be left out on the main floor and sleeping in front of the fire all night.

So we are looking forward to New Years and hopefully we'll do the First Day Run in Portland...that's just a few days away...I'm psyched! With my stress fracture I think I'll have to stick with the 1.5 mile route. After New Years I'll probably start running very short distances, nothing more than a mile for a couple of weeks and go from there...

Happy Christmas Eve!

I have almost no enthusiasm for Christmas tomorrow - it just doesn't seem like it should be Christmas already and I LOVE Christmas! This week has been all messed up because of the weather. Our get together with Mark & Robin on Saturday was cut short - sick kid and too nasty out to drive around the neighborhoods to look at lights, Christmas Eve services were cancelled so we are home. This is the first time in 17 years that we haven't had a Christmas Eve service (as far as I know).

Can't even get myself to want to do anything at this point, but it will be nice to have a day off tomorrow and hang out at home with Tom. If we get tired of looking at each other we may head over to Mark & Robin's for a little while and stare at them for a while.

At some point I'll snap out of this funk - maybe opening presents in the morning will help...yeah, presents, that's the ticket!

I think it's time to watch a Christmas Story...

Christmas Time is Here Again Charlie Brown

Let it SNOW!

It's been a few years since there was snow this close to Christmas - and really, any snow that lasted for more than a day. We lived thru yet another week of Winter Storm hype and there still isn't much snow on the ground, for that I am grateful. What we do have looks pretty nice out on our property. Took these pictures from the comfort of the front and back doors...before going out and mucking up stuff!

Looking toward the west - Nice looking pear tree!

To our neighbor's house on the east side Looking North Looking out the front door - check out our little Christmas Tree that we have had for YEARS - we probably hauled that thing into the house 3 years in a row and after Christmas promptly put it back outside and neglected it for the year before bringing it in again. We finally decided to put it in a permanent place a couple of years ago.

Calvin & Hobbes Snowmen

(Click pic to Enlarge)

Christmas TV Specials

Was listening to NPR's Talk of the Nation during lunch - today's topic was Christmas Specials that you watch year after year...traditions you might say. So I was thinking about the shows I used to watch as a kid then the first caller said something about the Star Wars Christmas Special. Since I wasn't really paying attention, I didn't get the first part of his conversation. I was a little stunned to have heard that Star Wars did a Christmas special so I had to look it up on YouTube on my return to work. The host of the show had Carrie Fisher as a guest earlier in the week - which I missed - and he quoted her saying that after this special anyone would need therapy. After watching it I could see why...

The Law Of The Garbage Truck

I have mentioned before that driving is one my least favorite activities in my world. I am such an angry little person when other drivers do the stupidest stuff I have ever seen, or just don't follow the basic traffic laws. The other thing that gets me worked up is the blatant rudeness of people (i.e. grocery stores and other retail places). It seems that the people around me are too busy being in their own little world using their stupid loser cell phones and other pieces of technology that they forget that they are affecting people around them. I like this saying - "The Masses are Asses" - I won't say who has said that, I just like it. This person also says that there is a lot of rage out there. Maybe there is maybe there isn't - it could be that or I am just a little too polite.

As a kid my mom always told me to watch out for the people and to not get in their way, I guess that stuck. If I'm in the store, pushing a cart around and I turn into an aisle and encounter another shopper I'll probably be the one who apologizes first...I have found that other people rarely do. Who raised these people?! When did it become okay to be rude? Maybe I'm not so much angry as I am annoyed.

Man, this post is almost like therapy. I guess I owe blogger a hundred bucks!

The following is from an email that I received at work the other day - it helps me to put things into perspective. Maybe I'll be less annoyed now...garbage is what it is...

****************************************

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy; and I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...... 'Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.'

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it.

Christmas Ad from 1975

I ACTUALLY REMEMBER THIS AD!

Advent Conspiracy, Part 3

The cool thing about this Christmas is that we started thinking about it a few months ago when Advent Conspiracy was first introduced to the church. The focus has been to Worship More, Spend Less (on gifts), Give More (of ourselves) and Love All. Since the beginning of the school year we have heard a few messages from Pastor Scott about AC and had 3 different projects presented that we all, as a church, can participate in.

The first was Operation Christmas Child - which we did on November 8. See my previous post on this one....our final total for the morning was 376 boxes and raised more money than needed for shipping (an amount which escapes me now) - in this way we gave of ourselves and our resources.

Our second project will be the H2O project. This coming Sunday there will be a special offering for AC and all the funds that are donated will go to Living Water International so that a water source can be provided for a community that does not have clean running water for drinking, cooking, bathing etc. - this way is from spending less (or in Tom's case working more)

Project #3 will be in January...more details on that later.

As for Christmas here at home Tom and I are spending less on each other and we have decided to exchange 3 gifts each with a spending limit of $100. I got the idea of 3 gifts from our medical supplies rep that visits the station occasionally - and he is a Christian incidently. Last Christmas as we were visiting he shared with me how he and his family have been celebrating christmas and the gift thing really stuck with me. He and his wife have always given their boys 3 gifts each to represent the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh that were brought to Jesus at his birth. Very cool! I'll have to let Chad know when he comes in next time how we changed our gift giving this year.

Today is my day to shop for Tom and I have everything all planned out - the weather looks like it will cooperate so that won't slow me down.

We Were "Blessed" this morning...

This our way of saying we were messed with.

Tom and I were heading out from church and we spied this on the antenna -

There is no sense in placing blame...all of our friends would claim innocence.

We have become far too complacent.

Tree Trimming and General Messy-ness

This week the living room has been in disarray - I'm not exactly the tidiest person around, but I also don't like boxes and non-everyday stuff sitting here and there....I suppose this isn't so bad, but it bothers me when things are out of place and or unusable (notice all the stuff in the chairs)

These are my Hallmark Ornaments...these are the ones that go on the real treeI have a friend who also has a few Hallmark ornaments, but she does not keep the boxes. I guess that's just my weird thing.

Tom even has a collection of Hallmark ornaments that he has selected over the years...mostly trains, planes and automobiles - with the occasional piece of heavy equipment

We use this artificial tree for his

Even Mr. Decaf has a tree, but it's easy - it's a patio tree that already has lights and
there is ONE ornament

Veggie Tales Christmas - Silly Songs with Larry

Charlie Brown Christmas

Luke 1:8-14

The Tree Has Been Illuminated!

The tree is finally all a-glow with a bazillion lights! Slight exaggeration, but it's ready for decorating - FINALLY!

Tomorrow I'll schlep the ornaments up from the basement and start hanging some in the evening. No sense in rushing things at this point....although, I would like to have my living room back in order.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Every year we go and "tree hunt" on the first Saturday in December - this year will be no different, but we will be going later in the day than in the morning. Our hunting buddies have another commitment this morning and if I reveal what I have been doing this morning I will be giving away what my gifts are so ZIP - All I can say is that Advent Conspiracy is going to be the theme from this Christmas on ;)

I'm looking forward to getting the tree and decorating and moving things around the house. This gives me an opportunity to do some cleaning too...WOO HOO!

Thanksgiving - whatever...

It seems like Thanksgiving was a long time ago so post at this point seems kind of stupid - here are some photos instead. Besides, with this cold, I'm not feeling terribly creative. Enjoy...

A stop at Starbucks - Downtown Naperville, IL: Me & Marcia

Tom & Marcia

Thanksgiving Day in Downtown Chicago getting ready for the parade I got to be a banner girl! OOOH - Bob the Builder

A post parade pick-me-up at where else...Starbucks!

Check this monster out - 27 pounds! This was given to Marcia by her boss who had to leave town unexpectedly - I guess we were lucky. My goodness that is one BIG BIRD.

Post Thanksgiving - Gobble

My goodness, I spent most of yesterday catching up on stuff around here. Unpacking, laundry, cooking - mmmm, real food! We left the house to grocery shop and we have been on the go all day long. Hopefully I'll have a little time to post about our trip to Naperville - we did so much! It's hard to remember all that we did. That's the cool thing about visiting Marcia & Teddy, always on the go - bad thing...we come home tired and I have a cold of sorts. Although I am not feeling horrible or anything, just tired of the scratchy throat and runny nose.

More to come - soon!