Merry Christmas - Happy Solstice - Blessed New Year!

What a winter it has been....nice and wet so far! And pretty darn cold too!

Christmas Day was noisy and busy and lovely. Son and granddog were here - along with daughter and her family. Now we are awaiting other daughter and her family to come up - and to have New Years with us! That will involve lots more lovely noisiness!

 From a swap partner extraordinaire - Jennifew was wonderful! I have already made and gifted the bootees - worn the mobius/infinity scarf (so warm and snuggly!) and used the mug and the bowl (for those of you who cant tell what it is - is a yarn bowl - something I have longed for but wouldnt buy for myself AND it was made by her niece! Super special!!)

 I like to think this scarf sums me up - at least most of the time!

And these? Yum! Saving them for my work lunches - not pictured is the jerky that my husband ate well before Christmas Day and the apple butter - which reminds me, I need to make some bread to eat the apple butter with....maybe tomorrow!

 

New Years resolutions - this year I have a ton of them - wonder how many of them will make it past a month?

 

1. No more stockpiling/losing/forgetting presents - that has been very humiliating and humbling this year as I have been unearthing many from years gone by [and jsut found even more today] - been giving them out too rather than taking a chance on losing them again! And yet I just placed an order for some for 2013 cause the sale was too good to pass up! But this time they are immediately going into my database that lists what and for whom - and WHERE THEY ARE!!!!

 

2. Time to declutter - got piles of things for a yard sale already, and others are going on freecycle and to the thrift shops. Organize organize organize - and even more importantly - stay organized!

3. I would like to keep the dining room table cleaned off and useable...

4. Really need to get around to organizing 'my room' so that I can locate all my craft needs and supplies and USE THEM UP!!! (I have been trying - making small things from stash yarn and sending them to charities but it is slow going - have 6 teddy bears made for my friend to take to Africa with her next March - need to get some done!)

5. Become more social - stay more in touch with friends and not just be the usual recluse that I am (am looking forward to a get together Jan 19 with a lot of friends!)

6. Keep going thru more books than I buy or accumulate - read them and get rid of them before I get more!

7. Get more done on the house that needs to be done - and on me! - including exercising! Cant wait for the 24H Fitness to open next to my job (March they are saying) cause then I could at least do 1/2 hour most days! Better than what I am doing now!)

Busy Week!

Monday was our son-in-laws birthday - happy birthday Earl!

Tuesday I gave my first lecture...

Wednesday was oldest daughter's birthday - happy birthday Jessyca!

Thursday was the 4th grade class's presentation of The Nutcracker; The Musical with oldest grandson (the ones fripping his sword with great intent!) as a soldier - this is one of the best grade school shows we have been to!

 

 Friday was hubby's birthday! And oldest daughter, and her 3 boys, picked him up and then me, and we went to the Winter Wonderland whatever at Great America in Santa Clara. The boys had a great time - personally, altho the lights were fantastic, it was a bit lame...

 The peacock was absolutely awesome - especially when all the colors flashed!

 Note the car Mom chose when the 2 oldest boys and PaPa joined her in Bumper Cars!

Saturday was rainy and cold.....today we went to Berkeley and checked out some of the dogs for adoption at the BACS and Bad Rap...came very close to 2 totally different dogs, but we are still dogless....sigh....

Feeling Happy About the Little Things

I have finished 3 projects for gifts this year. And I only remembered to take a photo of one before I packaged them up...

Not that I could show them to you until after Christmas anyway.....but I can tell you about them....

1. I finished a %^#%$&#^$# for a friend - something I started a couple of years ago - something easy but not my usual cup of tea so I quickly got bored with it, put it away, and of course, forgot about it. I am very pleased with how it turned out and I hope she is too!

2. And then there is the ^%#&%#*^%# for my swap partner! Something that turned a little bit more challenging than I expected - did not come out quite as well as I had hoped but still, it is done, wrapped, and close to being ready to mail!

3. And then there is a kit I recieved for Christmas last year - a cute little $#&%@#$^@ for ^&$%^#&%$#......just finished it off tonight. Will wrap it up later this week....

See? The little things can make you happy!

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Well, I thought I had some Thanksgiving type photos saved, and I dont. So will use this fall one from the Liverty Tavern in WDW and my beautiful granddaughter - this was a rough Thanksgiving for my daughter - but she says it is countdown time until she sees her family again - one month!

 

We had a lovely dinner at my daughter and son-in-laws house. She did most of it - we brought pies, 24 hr salad, and stuffing. Her SIL brought a salad and french bread - and her MIL brought her special stuffing. But the rest they did - and it was lovely! 

 

And not - there was no shopping on Friday - oh, I take that back, we did go to the grocery store! Also went to the movies - 3d time in a week - and all 3 were good!

 

Last weekend we were in Monterey area for a wedding. Rained on Friday and Satuday - all the way up to 2 hours before the wedding! It was a nice time.

 

Spent time yesterday and today rearranging the living room in anticipation of decorating for Christmas. Did some shopping on Small Business Saturday - local donut shop! Farmers Market, library bookstore, and went downtown and spent money at one store.

 

Came home and sewed the %%%^#$*&^ for the hand knit %$*^^$ that I made for a swap partner! Sorry, photos and info will have to wait until after Christmas. Can I just say tho, that I hate sewing. My mom did not instill that in me (and she was great at it!)

 

 

 

Now, whoever reads this blog, please send some prayers, good thoughts, healing powers for this guy. This is my granddog who just last week was diagnosed with lymphoma. Altho Hyde is 11 years old (so hard to believe) the vet and my son have decided to try chemotherapy. It is expensive, but as my son says - this is not jsut a dog - it is his best friend, who has been with him thru bad times and thru good - has helped my son survive some of those bad times. And the vet said he is otherwise in such great shape that it is worth a try. Had his first dose last week - and my son was warned that that evening and the next day were going to be bad. But they werent. Hyde only thru up once - otherwise was tired but that was about it. This Tuesday he gets labs and hopefully his next dose on Wednesday. So yes, even with all that is going on in the world today, I am asking this for a 4 legged animal. We couldnt save our Jack, or our granddog Althea, so lets hope we can save this guy - at least for a while longer!

Friday at WDW

I didnt have as many photos of this day as I thought. This was our 'free day'. Each family chose to go back to wherever they wanted to go to. Hubby and I chose to go back to Epcot - the one place we did NOT go back to was Mission to Mars!

 

 

 Wandered thru some of the countries we missed before. Ate in China - not too bad - especially topped off with some Tsing Tao beer! Stood thru the 360 degree movie in China again - and also watched Martin Short in the the movie about Canada.

 This is where we ate that night - even if they no longer have my favorite dish - a seafood dish in a luscious lobster sauce. Dinner was lovely as was the sparkling wine (not champagne). Hubby was silly - as the hostess showed us to our table he responded Bonjour to her - and she proceeded to speak to him in French! Too funny since bonjour was about the only word he knew....

Mid afternoon we went back to the hotel and went swimming for awhle. Then went back to Epcot and when we came out of the Canadian movie we knew the storm was going to hit soon - wind and clouds and all....Sat thru dinner and kept expecting the storm to hit...

Finished dinner and started backtracking to a couple of countries we missed - and oh yes, the Werther candy shop again! And the storm finally hit! And me in my sandals again....so we decided to forego Japan and a couple of repeats and just head back to the room...

Look at all those orbs! HA! More like raindrops and splashes on my lens!
Our last night at WDW....

Thursday at WDW

Thursday we spent at the waterpark, Typhoon Lagoon. Even our son was able to spend time with us there before his flight left later that afternoon.

 

 I do not remember the name of this waterslide - but in our family it is known as The Enema. I dont really know, because I do not go down this - but apparently the water goes....well, where you would think, and totally dislodges your swimsuit (see son? see daughter trying to hide?)

 The Lazy River is my favorite. Just tootle around and around...totally relaxed...doesnt matter if it is raining or not (no, it didnt rain this time - the last time hubby & I were there it did) cause you are already wet!

 I think this was the favorite for this little guy - he would get off, run around and get back on again. There were other things there he was able to do, and he did, but I think this was his all time favorite!

 And this was the favorite of this guy and his older brother - they totally loved it!

After we left, and got changed back in the room - son left for home - the rest of us went our merry ways. Hubby and I went to downtown Disney and we ate at this most fantastic place:

 Beautiful place - great music - great food.

 This was a fantastic dipping sauce for the best Irish Soda bread I have ever had in my life. Instead of oil and balsamic - this was oil, with a mixture of honey and Guiness. I barely refrained from licking the plate!

See hubby's face? The last time we were here Pleasure Island was a totally different - amazing - fun place for adults. It was a one price entree fee and then you could wander from bar to bar to bar. A comedy club.....a beach bar (which we didnt go into) and what we loved the best: Kungaloosh - The Adventurers Club! It was so much fun we spent most of the night there.....Unfortunately, this is no more. It is just simply more shops and restaurants. Rather boring and disappointing after you had experienced the real Pleasure Island!

Wednesday - Kaia's Birthday and Lunch at the Castle

 This was after her birthday makeover....while we were dealing with the ever and always late and slow buses, the guys (most of them anyway) were playing miniature golf

 1/2 the family went to Space Mountain - the other 1/2 of us were wandering down Main Street until this happened....I was under a kinda leaky awning with a sleeping Luke in the stroller. So I jsut thru one of our ponchos over him and stayed there.
The fun came when the rain stopped and we needed to get to the Castle for what we thought was our lunch reservation. Becuase of events, they had the easiest route to the castle shut off.....so we had to slog our way all around...and I stupidly was wearing my Birkies which, when they get wet get very slippery INSIDE the sandals....so I couldnt run....But we all made it there from various points in time for what we thought was our lunch reservation.

  So when it is the time that you made your reservation, you get to go inside and have photos made with this lovely Princess....well, the taller of the two! LOL. We got a lovely packet of photos with the entire family with her - jsut the grandkids with her - and our lovely princess with her. This was the only one I could get with my camera.
And then we were herded out of the way to wait....and to wait....and to wait....while many other groups were being seated. Finally we sicced the newest Bulldog (as our friend calls her) on the issue....well, because of the rain, people did not leave their tables immediatly so they were backed up ....because we were a large group....really? All those families of 2 and 4, put those tables together and there would have been a big enough table! They kept promising to send the manager out to talk, but that never happened (maybe we were in Never Never Land and not a Castle?). They finally decided to make it 'right' by giving us a table by the window....

 Yeah, 4 of the group got the table by the window. And really, all you could see was the partioned off area that is becoming the new Fantasyland. And because so many of us had the light behind us, it messed up photo taking. So Kaia got to see a lot of Princesses, but Memaw only got a few useable photos when she was able to hand the camera off to someone else to use...

 Here is the rest of us....lets see, people all around were getting their orders taken...except for us....people all around were getting their food....except for us....people all around were getting refills on their drinks....except for us.

 So we jsut kept trying to remind ourselves that thie VERY EXPENSIVE and VERY MUCH LESS THAN A DSINEY EXPERIENCE meal was not for us, but for this little Snow White who was haviing the time of her life!

 Even the boys didnt mind meeting some of the Princesses - especially since they got manly (or should I say Princely) swords to take home.

And see this concotion? I was so excited to hear that dessert could be pumpkin cheesecake....I really think I should have called Public Health about this since obviously they were not maintaining the proper storage temperature. I think this about sums up the whole experience - a near miss!

And Tuesday was Epcot

Just starting to walk thru to Epcot and we run into photo ops...

 Didnt realize until later that I actually got some family in this photo...

Bruce was hungry this day...

 ...and got to eat a lot of appetizers!

 Yup, it rained.....while it was raining it then started to thunder and lightening which meant the so-called smarter ones of us ran to find some place to go into....2 of the grands, my SIL, hubby and I ducked into Mission To Mars......HUGE MISTAKE.....hubby was in such a hhurry to get inside that we went into the worst ride ever....All I can say is that I survived...BARELY... and will never ever go on that ride again!!!!

 These two were so disappointed in how this ride changed. This was one of their very favorite rides as kids....we were surviving the rain - but it was hard for them to survive this disappointment (which they are STILL talking about!)

 This was a mural on the wall as we were waiting to go on the ride in Norway. The little guy in the blue cap - dead on ringer for my grandson!!!!!

 This was the BEST EVER! In fact the first time we went in, I was so overwhelmed I had no idea what to get....but the second time we went in I knew exactly what I wanted and got it - ate it on the plane ride home!!!!

It may have been raining - but today was their anniversary - and they got to spend a minute or so on a bridge in Italy (we didnt realize they were waiting for us to hurry up and take photos so they could block off the bridge before the fireworks that night!)