Happy and Saf Holidays to All!!!!

What a downer

Got a phone call from my aunt today. That is never good.

She called to tell me my cousin has passed away this weekend.

My older cousin. He grew up in Texas and I grew up in Illinois and California.

But we were there at least every other year.

And I know I drove him nuts following him around.

And he devilled me.

Of course he did. He was older. I was the youngest cousin (at that time). And the only girl (at that time).

So sad.

That side of the family is getting smaller and smaller. His mom and dad are both gone, as is his step mom.

This is my mom's side of the family and I only have one uncle left. At one time there were two girls and two boys (of the surviving children). Now there is only my Uncle Bill, his wife Aunt Sybil, their daughter (the youngest of the the cousins) and my cousin Bob.

Bob's parents are gone, as are mine.

Sad, and hard, when your own generation is slowly becoming the elders. (On my dad's side of the family there are only two sisters left).

But he has quite the family waiting for him.....and family here missing and mourning him.

Rest In Peace Ken. Your life was not an easy one, hope you had lots of happiness to balance it out.

Rockettes

NYC at Christmas time is on my "Bucket List".

Would love to see the Thanksgiving Parade.....the tree at Rockerfeller Center.....lot of things but especially the Rockette's Christmas Show.

Guess what? They were touring the west coast this year - mentioned it to hubby but he didnt sound very excited plus we had already bought tickets to see Shrek: The Musical.

But he knew I wanted to see them....so we went. And I really didnt have any idea what to expect. The show was fun. Would I see it again? Definitely in NYC! If they tour here next year? Probably not.

What amazed me were the people who came in late and were so rude about it....the woman sitting next to me (and by woman, I am saying she was in her 40's probably) who was texting the entire time - never once looked up at the show - and only put here phone away when the show was over and it was time to leave. Why bother to even attend???

So mcuh fun to see all the little grls dressed up in their Christmas dresses - coats - gloves, etc. So cute!

Birthday Month...AKA December!

Happy happy birthday to son in law.....daughter.....and hubby!

LOVE you all!

Left my heart.....

Not as cold as usual, but still had to stop here so Tom could have his Irish coffee! Justifies the cable car ride which we both love!

Gotta get our calamari.....

when we visit here.....also a stop at Boudins for some Christmas cookies and my Panetonne (have been enjoying it toasted for breakfast the last two days...YUM!)

We often do something random. One year we did the whole tourist thing and did a bus tour of SF. Saw areas that we hadnt seen in....well, decades. And learned new stuff. This time we read about the Holiday Light Tour and how the wheeled (but authentic) cable car takes you around to see the decorations.....not quite what we expected.....but you know what, we still learned some things about SF we hadnt known.....so it was okay. Recovered from the noisy little yuppie/preppies in the car with a drink at the Starlight Room after. And wanted to tell this middle aged couple - enough with the PDA! - I personally think it was an affair.....

Hubby wanted to see this. So we went. And it was enjoyable and funny......the one phrase we both have taken away from it (because we both think it describes ourself) is "crackpot magnet"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some photos from our annual December trip to SF! More to come. Had fun - got lots of shopping done - some prety good food too!

Happy Thanksgiving

I am freezing tonight! Maybe cause I am tired (worked a double yesterday and picked up an extra 8 hours tomorrow since we are not having our Thanksgiving dinner until Sunday) and because I just ran outside to cover up some of the plants cause it is supposed to get down into the 20's tonight. Of course, it was all put into perspective when I talked to my daughter in NV and she said when she got home this AM from work it was 8 degrees outside!

And before I forget it - HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And I wont even subject you to my tirade on how retailers have corrupted Thanksgiving and consumers have (literally and figuratively) bought into it.

If you are part of the crazy hoard that participates in Black Friday....well, just know that tirade explains why I typically work on Black Friday...

So apparently said daughter in Nevada had a run in with a deer on the way home. Smashed up her car, but did not total it - and she is unhurt. That makes me very thankful TODAY!

Luckily they have very good insurance. But what has her the most upset is that today she is going for her interview for a position she wants very very badly - and not only is she afraid the accident was an omen - it shook her up - and she didnt get any sleep today. And her SO missed out on extra pay, OT etc because she needed him home. So, as you read this - please say a prayer for them!

Looks like my short - but well enjoyed - career as a Clinical Instuctor is over. We have come to a parting of the ways because at this point in my life and career I am just not interested in orienting to another hospital in order to spend 6 - 12 hours/week doing things their way while we are still going thru so many changes where I work (they are trying to find a new clinical site because of our small patient census - yet they are negotiating with an institution that had jsut as small a census last year as we did!).

Plus, the cut in pay just makes it not worthwhile, yada yada yada. I hope they find someone to take my place - I told them a month ago that I probably would not be doing it and they just got around to meeting with me today. And the rotation starts at the end of January. (What is more sad, is they need to find a new Director for the program and they will be offering approx $30,000/year less than any other school around - they want to pay $70,000/year for a very stressful and more than full time job - when you can do bedside nursing 3 shifts/week and make more than a $100,000! Good luck with that!)

Anyway, what has me upset is that apparently they had some complaints from me from staff members. Yeah, the people I work with year round. They complained that I wasnt at bedside with the students 100% of the time. Really? 10 students spread between Pediatrics, Nursery, and Post Partum? And I wasnt with the students 100% of the time? Amazing how they could be in one area making that comment without knowing what I was doing in the other areas. And espcially considering that 1/2 the semester I had a student that I had to spend almost 1:1 time with every time she was on the unit.

But has me upset with this - is they couldnt say anything to me about it at the time. My co workers I mean. They didnt say it to me, but they commented on it to the school.....and then the school waits how many months to bring it up to me? Oh well, I will "Let It Go" because altho I enjoyed the student interaction it was very stressful to me and not financially worthwhile and it will be nice to have my life back next January - May for the first time in 3? 4? years.

So I leave you again with a Happy Thanksgiving and yet another request - as you come across people and situations that add to your thankfulness through out the year - please let them know about it. It will make their day, and yours!

Changes

Finally - after approx 20 years in this house and hating the palm trees all that time - we are finally getting rid of them. We started off with 5 - 3 in the front and 2 in the back. Not sure why ANYONE would plant that many on this small of a lot.

Got rid of one in the back many many years ago and it really traumatized the guy - cause it was so full of animals and birds and nests and baby birds.....Never could really find any one else to take down the rest that we could afford.


The most difficult one is left to come down. And that is cause it is growing up between a bunch of wires.

Our new front door is in. Will be delivered Tuesday.

Guess we have to find the hardware for it. And also order an address plaque for the house since we will not longer be able to use "the house with the 3 palms in the front yard"!!!

Damn

new driveway poured - check

new weatherstripping for door....ummm, I mean, new front door ordered - check

lots of pellets in the garage for winter - check

guy giving us the estimate to cutdown all those godforsaken palm trees in the front yard - what do you mean you cant do it now? Your cousin promised us......you came over and assured us you could do it, you just needed to price it out....

damn

Sunday

Isn't this pretty? This is in front of the house along Carmel Beach - I was parked in front of it for lunch.







Ok - I cannot believe how crazy these kids are! Swimming in the cold Pacific Ocean in October!!!!!








Up not quite so early Sunday - no free breakfast for us - HAD to go to our favorite donut shop to p/u donuts to 'pay' our son for dog sitting - so might as well eat there!

Then dropped off some 'maters at a friends house and sat an caught up with him and his son for awhile. Decided to head out for the BBQ - walked outside and it was pouring down raining!!!



Went to the BBQ anyway - there was some covered areas there. It was pretty miserable to start - cold and wet and all. But the rain eventually stopped and it got better. The food was pretty good too!

Headed home late afternoon - vegged out at home - and slept in the next day. Too much partying for this old gal.....and when I thought back over it - the entire weekend - I had a total of 4 glasses of wine! WOOHOO! Party animal!!! LOL

(BTW, I finished that scarf - which I started Sat - Monday night - and meanwhile ordered 3 more skeins of the yarn to make 3 more Christmas presents!)

Saturday

So up bright and early Sat AM. Breakfast at the complimentary breakfast in the lobby - not too bad. And headed down to Carmel Valley to drop hubby off at Rancho Canada for gold with class mates.









I went to a garage sale in Carmel. Nothing great. And drove around the beach a bit. Then into Pebble Beach for a garage sale - another great buy on a Longaberger basket - $1!!!!

Wanted a rusted out old lantern - thought it would look cool with a potted plant just sitting in it. But they wanted $5 for this hunkajunk.






So walked away from that and drove around 17 Mile Drive taking photos and enjoying the view.

Did end up at the yarn shop - Monarch Knitting and Quilts in Pacific Grove - GREAT shop!!!! And a couple of thrift shops. Then decided to get a sandwich from Troia's and took it back to Carmel - sat at the beach, ate, and started knitting a new scarf.





Then picked up hubby - back to hotel - shower time while hubby took a nap. Then to the reunion. Was able to wear heels only because I wore boots which covered up my elastic ankle support!
The food was pretty darn good for hotel type food! Actually had a pretty good time but stayed up way too late for this old lady!

Reunion Weekend - Friday

Coast photos 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach - yes it was an overcast day.



















One of my interesting signs....turn left to go into Rancho Canada Golf Course....right to go to Church....if the end were really near, I know I would choose to go right!







I love fog. Talking to people at the reunion who now live in hot areas, their one concern about moving back to the area is the weather....fog and overcast....all the lovliness of living by the coast. I would hate to give up the fall and spring weather when it is warm during the day but cool at night. But I definitely would take the fog over hear any day!

So - it was hubby's high school reunion this past weekend. His 40th. Yeah, I made fun of him until I realized that next year will be MY 40th reunion! OUCH!

So we went down Friday. Had several errands to run including getting the new lease signed by the tenants. Checked into the hotel (same hotel as the reunion was at). To find it over run by women dressed in red. A convention of Republican women - OMG!!!!!! Even hubby walked around muttering about wishing he could find a Jerry button! And I was wishing I had some blue clothes with me!

And speaking about clothes....I am unpacking my stuff while hubby is chilling on the couch watching something on TV....when I realize I do not see the clothes he was going to wear the next night! The clothes he HUNG BACK IN HIS CLOSET cause he didnt want to wrinkle them before he hung them up in the car!!!!!!! Yep, they were still hanging in the closet - AT HOME!

So made a trip to Del Monte Center and Macy's. Found him some nice pants and 2 different shirts. I really really REALLY tried my darnedest not to laugh too loudly about all this....

Enjoyed dinner at Ablonetti's (as usual) and then back to the room to watch some b'ball. Went to the bar to watch the end of it and nighty night for an early morning the next day!

Winter preparation

Well, we took a break from winterizing the house - maybe cause it is summer again? Yep, temps in the high 80 - low 90 this week. Went with daughter and her 3 sons to the corn maze. (www.gmfarms.com) again. Look what someone had the time and inclination to do - braid some of the corn hair!!! It was fun, but a bit hot out there in the midst of the maze.

One of the issues is the weatherstripping at the bottom of the front door is worn out. An easy repair, right?????? HA!!! 3 trips back and forth to Home Depot......finally got a bottom thing on, but with the rubber stripping inside, the door wont close! So we now have a nice gap at the bottom. So hubby's wish is coming true...we are shopping for a new door. And he is insisting on a new sidelight too. The only reason I am giving in is the framing ( or jamb or whatever) around the sidelight and all looks awful. But it is killing me how much it is costing....

The other thing is our patio cover. Anyone know of any contests to win a re-do of the backyard??? We have the ugliest backyard ever. Have hated it since we moved in and not only have not had the money - but just cant come up with ideas of what to do + the time and energy to do it.

So we have this long patio. Which could be nice except for this rather low tin roofed cover. And last winter we ended up having to put the outdoor chairs on top of the tin to keep it all from blowing off. So this week we took care of it - mostly hubby but he did get me up on (shudder) a ladder to help out. He nailed down the worst spots and replaced some rotted roof.

We are looking into getting the palm trees chopped down finally. Have someone who may be reasonable - but the problem is our new waste management is outrageously expensive - which we knew was going to happen when they came in with hybrid vehicles etc. And these palms are very tall (never did figure out how to kill them off when they were shorter) so they will result in a lot of waste. They are lovely homes for birds, rats, and squirrels so we will hopefully be turning into bad landlords and evicting them all without notice!

Next weekend is hubby's 40th (yep, that is FORTIETH) high school class reunion. I was picking on him and making fun of him until I realized that means mine is next year - OUCH! So next weekend we will be down in Monterey ( a rough life, but someone has to do it) - golf for hubby on Saturday morning - the reunion that evening - and then a BBQ on Sunday.

Oops

What happened to the comments under my last 2 photos in the last post??
Guess i have to try again.

The shawl is the GORGEOUS one Mona made and sent to me. The colors are way off in the photo - the purples are much darker - if I was picking out yarn - I would have gone straight for it. It is perfect. www.abstractfiber.com

The other photos are what else she sent. Some chocolate I still havent eaten. Had to pop it into the refrig when it came - duringthe hottest week all year!

The other are some awesome stitch markers. Recycled aluminum! So they are nice and light! And an ingenous design - they are reversible so they can be used on all sizes of needles!

Thank you Mona!

Ok, this doesnt have anything to do with the subject line, but I just love this photo. This was taken at Luke's 2d birthday party!

This is the first Multnomah Shawl. Made it for myself out of some awesome yarn. I loved the pattern so much that I signed up for a swap on Ravelry, where someone made one for you and you made one for them.

So I made this one for Mona up in Oregon. The yarn was some yarn I bought in Oakhurst - a hand dyed alpaca from North Forks. I loved how it turned out. Loved it much more that the one I made for myself...

I dont get it

I really dont.
I am not being judgemental - I just dont understand.

You have a baby who is born prematurily. And is in the hospital for about 2 months so far...

And yet the parents do not come everyday.
So ok, dad is back to work.
And maybe they only have one car.
And they have a 2 year old at home.
I understand that all that can make things complex.

But when the baby was born, there were *&%^LOADS of family visiting.
Most of whom live somewhere in the area.

And the other thing I really really dont get?
We gave you the direct phone number.
And it is not long distance - or in another country - and you rarely if ever call.

I cannot think of anything that explain that one. Cause we know you have a working phone. We have had to use it a few times.

I cannot imagine anything except illness that would keep me away from my baby. I would be there daily - somehow. Whether I had to ride a bus - or beg people to drive me. I would be there.

And when I could not be there?
I would be on the phone - daily - maybe twice daily.

I just dont understand...

Labor Day Weekend Part 1

These are not in the right order because I got distracted by a piece of pie and ice cream.....but bear with me and I will try to tell the story...

Friday we planned to go to Sacramento to the Goldrush Days celebration. Never been - but it sounded fun. It was going to be hot at home - so might as well be hot there - right? Well, on the way there I got the feeling that hubby was not as interested in it as I was so I told him - if you are not that interested, want to go to the foothills? And we went east.....above is some of the scenary you see in the valley and foothills in the midst of heat....golden hills of CA.

Back when we first moved back to CA we went camping in the Sonora/Columbia area. And we discovered this place that sold "mile high apple pies". It was a working orchard with a sales area - a little steam train - barnyard animals and all, called Csonka's. Many many years went by and hubby and I were staying in the area and went looking for Csonka's only to find it had closed. Well Friday we stopped by one of those Tourist Information buildings to ask a question, and found out that the original family had bought back the land and re-opened the bakery. So of course we had to go. They only had frozen pies, so we bought one to take home...

CA bear. The symbol of the State. Seen on a building in Sonora.

The yarn store in Sonora. Did not stop this time. Have been there and it is really nice. And the people are friendly.

I enjoy visiting old cemetaries. Hubby does not. So I snuck off into the Jamestown cemetary. Look at the carving at the top - isnt it beautiful??????? This place was soooooo unbelievably quiet and peaceful. Very nice.

Columbia State Park. Old buildings, being used these days - hotel - places to eat - stores. Very quiet when it is not summer. So there were no takers for the stagecoach.

Love this church in Sonora. The street/highway makes you feel as though you are going to run right into it.

Arent they pretty? And isnt it sad that they are waiting to be auctioned off for slaughter. Once I found out that in 4H you raise the animals to auction off and slaughter, I knew I never could could do that......I know it is different if that is how you are raised.....reading the article about 2 angora goats and how the one was bottle raised from 2 weeks of age and follows her person around like a dog....oh, I hope they arent being auctioned for slaughter!

They are from the Monterey County Fair. Drove down there today. It is nothing like it use to be - but they do have 'grandma cakes' which makes my hubby happy. So small - but the best thing is they do sell some veggies for very very cheap - we bought a bagful for $2!!!!

While down there went to my favorite yarn shop - Monarch Knitting and Quilting in PG. Joan has such a wonderful selection - she is so nice - and love her animals!

I made 2 of these shawls.....this one is mine. I made the other one for a swap. I wont post that photo yet because I havent sent it off. And I LOVED making this one - the feel of the yarn - and the color - but I really like the other one better! LOL

Tomorrow and Monday is the Livermore Harvest Wine Festival. Hopefully it is not too hot or it will be miserable...