Slowed Down by a Virus

Rats and mice! A cold caught up with me and has laid me low! Forced rest, forced non-productivity, forced sleep! Hmmmm. What is so bad about all that? Not much. It seems I run on fumes as Christmas approaches and almost every year I end up sick about this time! Do you think there might be a correlation?! Good grief - you would think I'd learn, but noooooo! Anyway, this gives me an excuse to work on crafts and doze and read books and watch movies. I watched Mama Mia yesterday - very cute - very much a chick flick! Well, off to make a cup of tea!

Christmas 2008 pics

Merry Christmas Times

We had a great Christmas with our family - John & Trish, John Jr. & Hannah, Brian and Trish's brother's dad, Jay. We are known for our unorthodox approach to holidays, so we made our own pizzas! Yummmmmmy! The kids, who are 3 and 15 mo. had a great time and got some fun stuff. The hit of the day was the drum set for little John! He would just get such a determinded set to his mouth and wail away! Hannah got a bike and rode it around the house! Too much snow and too cold to do it outside! Instead of buying gifts for each of the adults, we each just bring one "nice" gift and do a white elephant exchange later in the day while the kids either play with their new things or watch us! We talked to the other grandkids and heard all about their fun day, too! The oldest is 13 and she got a snowboard and an MP3 player. She is going to have a lot of fun this winter!

I got chilled feeling as the day went on and woke up feeling like I am coming down with a cold. No fair! I'm glad I can just take it easy for a few days. Saturday we are going up to see great-grandma Cora in Lynnwood. They had so much snow that nobody could go get her for Christmas, so we are all going up there to celebrate a few days late. I hope I'm not yucky or I may have to stay home.

All in all, we had a really nice Christmas, very merry and filled with joy!

A Few More Snowy Pics

This is our car and the entrance to our house! It was really coming down and we had fun walking in the snow and watching the crazy kids sledding down the hill by us.

To the right is the potting shed in the back yard. We sure have had the snow this year already!

Who knows if we will be able to make it to John's house for Christmas or not! More snow is predicted for tonight, although not as much as before. John, however, lives at 600 feet and more is predicted for above 500 feet!

Well, we'll see! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve already! Hooray! Happy Birthday, Jesus! Merry Christmas everyone!

Snow Angel

We had a "wing it" sort of church service this morning. We had planned to have a light breakfast and sing carols, etc. Well, the storm put a crimp in that plan! There was food already there and about 70 people showed up, which was quite surprising! We had a great time of singing and will do the better planned event next week!

Here are pictures of the snow angel that the pastor's wife and another lady (both my age!) made out on the church lawn! I told them it wasn't theologically correct, but they didn't even care! What can you do!? As you can tell, she has a brooch and some other "bling" for facial features. We figured the askew halo was pretty appropriate, though!

We had a thin sheet of ice on top of the snow and that made for great wings!

Christmas Cards

I love getting Christmas cards! This year I have had the hardest time getting my act together, but I enjoy receiving updates on others! There are some that we exchange cards once a year but don't have contact any other time of the year, those whom we are frequently in contact with, and then there are the ones that come back. Those can be good - someone has moved and now, thankfully, we have their new address. Then there are those that you have no idea what happened. Did they die? Move away and not want to be found? This year I got one back from someone we knew when we lived in Klamath Falls and thankfully the new address was on the yellow sticker when it came back! Rejoicing! They actually live closer now and that was a happy thing! Then I got one back from my biological aunt in Seattle. No forwarding address, which tells me she moved some time ago. Or died. Or is in assisted living. That makes me feel badly that we didn't see her more often. I still hope to get word about her. So, Christmas cards are something I cherish about this season! Merry Christmas!

Snow Daze

Wow! It is really a snowy, wintery wonderland around here! Today was a breather of sorts before the next round, complete with high winds in the foothills tomorrow evening. I suspect church will be just whoever has a four wheel drive!

Here are a few pictures just from our yard:

Snow Day Sort Of

It's snowin' and blowin' and miserable out there! Bill's school district delayed school for two hours. Most districts cancelled completely because of the impending storm and possible accumulation of snow. Oh, well, one less day they have to make up in June! Go for it! Subarus are wonderful cars. Bill took ours so I am "stranded" at home! Oh, but I am going to just revel in a "snow day"! I am just on the edge of not feeling well, and I think a day at home to rest and get caught up on things here is just what the doctor ordered! I can update the church website from home and already did the cancellation thing for today's date on the calendar. Maybe I'll get some cool snow pics today!

Just a couple of updates!

• The price for daycare that Trish was quoted was for a single mother. So, it will change some depending on where John lands for a job.
• Which brings me to the next update - he didn't get the job he interviewed for last week, but is still looking. He does have a job, so that is a good thing, but it isn't the best.
• John Jr. got a new cast put on and while it is up higher on his leg, he is doing really well on it. He is walking and even spinning around in circles. Kids!
• It is COLD! Snow expected on Wednesday and Thursday and even colder. Brrrrr!

Sugar Cookies and Estrogen

Now, I don't know what possessed me to make rolled out sugar cookies on Friday night, but I did. I don't normally like to make that sort of cookie. Never have. Give me a good old drop cookie (chocolate chip the best of course) or a bar cookie, but rolling out sugar cookie dough is time consuming and messy. I cannot bake without flour everywhere, so you can only imagine the mess! They actually turned out pretty good and I will take a plate of them to a potluck tomorrow.

My only explanation for this madness - I think the extra estrogen floating around our family right now with two more females (Trish and Hannah) around is having some sort of domestic affect on me! Scary!

More good news!

It is almost 7:30 p.m. and my Christmas cards are all in their envelopes! Now they just need to be sealed and stamped! The envelope glue is really nasty!

Excellent news: Trish can go ahead with her new job because she will only need to pay a $15 co-pay for the first 2 months and then $50 each month after that as long as she works for this temp agency! Wow!

Then, John interviewed for another job this afternoon! It is a better one with better pay and better benefits as well as a 401K plan (for what that is worth these days!)! He will know more tomorrow. If that doesn't work out, he will keep looking. At least he has a job! Trucking jobs in this area should be plentiful I would think!

And last but not least, Bill is feeling SO much better today! Hooray! No more pain pills! He will need more surgery in a few months, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it!

Gingerbread House

On a cheerier note, here is the gingerbread house that Trish, Hannah and I built in November! We had a decorating party at church - Extreme Gingerbread House Makeover - and it was a blast! The organizer (who was a week from delivering her second baby!) had recipes and templates available for several weeks ahead. Trish and I made our own gingerbread and had to sample it in cookie form - quality control you know! It went together pretty well and I still have it sitting on the table. I really should throw it away! I have a train kit that I could put together now! Having raised boys, it was such a treat to have that time with my daughter in law and granddaughter!

Cloves in the side wall.The back patio! The windows are made from crushed lifesavers and Jolly Ranchers! You sprinkle them in the openings when the gingerbread is almost done and let it cook for just a few minutes to melt. Pretty cool, huh?

Health & Wellness

Well, the long awaited day for Bill to get the stent out has arrived! Out it came and hopefully he will start to feel better soon. To catch you up to speed, he had some minor surgery a few weeks ago to blast kidney stones in his bladder and ureter. After that a stent was inserted that went from the bladder to the kidney. It has caused some nasty pain and he has needed more than Advil from time to time. We saw the urologist today and he was pleased and removed the stent. Office procedure and Bill said it wasn't really painful, just a weird sensation. He started hurting though a little later, so off to bed early. Again. I'm not sure how I ended up the night owl and him the lark, but the roles have been reversed! Anyway, he should be feeling better soon and that can only be a good thing! We are both ready!

(See what happens when you reach a "certain age"? You start to compare notes on your health. Yuck!)

God blesses abundantly!

Well, our youngest son left his truck in Colorado. Not at all like leaving your heart in San Francisco, but leave it he did! It had become less than reliable and he was afraid it would break down on him out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a blizzard! (He drives - make that drove - long haul out of Colorado). It finally started giving him the truck death rattle and he decided that was it! He parked it at a friend's house who works on trucks, got his Durango packed up and headed home! He got home yesterday and has a new job starting tomorrow! He had applied at a trucking firm in Kent when they first moved up here last month and thought he had an owner operator job lined up, but when he called to check on it, they were laying people off, so no job. Rats and mice! They called him yesterday and wanted to know if he was still interested? Well, he didn't have a truck anymore and would need to be a driver for someone else. They "just happened" to have a spot open and he starts tomorrow!! This has benefits which they certainly need with kids!

Then, in the It Never Rains But it Pours department, Trish has also gotten herself a job. Unfortunately, it will be the same hours as his job and the day care center she looked into charges $1200 a month. Yikes! So one of them needs an evening shift. I can help on Fridays, but that's it for now! I wish she didn't have to work at all, but they have a load of debt they need to pay down. It will all work out. I plan to make a few calls and see if anyone I know has any info on childcare that would be a little less expensive.

So, we are very relieved that John has work and Trish has until the 18th to figure out child care. Life is never dull, is it?! God is good!

Christmas picture

I have not bought Christmas cards yet and thought about sending photo cards. I thought maybe since we were all dressed up yesterday for the funeral that perhaps that would be a good time. The tree is up and it would have made a good back drop at church. Nope. Then maybe today after church? Nope. So I just set the camera on the edge of the sofa and here we are! I bought a cute Hallmark card that you put a picture in and record a greeting and then it sings Jingle Bells! Too cute - I thought we could send it to the North Carolina grandkids. It is hardly professional!

But there we are!

Bad kitty!

Well, wouldn't you know it?! The cat, Pippi by name, decided she just had to check out the Christmas tree a little closer and CRASH! Down it went! Did I mention it was a tad bit wobbly anyway?! I was not very happy with her. Here is a picture of her "before" the incident! I think she was plotting the demise of the tree even then!

Closure of sorts

Today was the funeral for one of our dear saints of the church. It was a very traditional funeral with the casket (open!) and the whole nine yards. She had been ill for awhile and it was no surprise when it was time for her to go Home to Jesus! Everyone was all decked out in their finery. She was a real lady. The old fashioned kind who dressed to the nines every Sunday, heels and all no matter what! She was kind and funny and had such stories to tell! I will miss her a lot as she was an integral part of my Bible Study on Tuesdays. I always sort of dread these things, but it was well done and I what I could to help. The funeral home sent a couple of guys of course and they passed out the folders that I had made! My co-worker and I actually, and we had kind of wanted to do that - to greet people and all. Oh, well, there was plenty of other stuff to keep an eye on! I think having the body at the church, while rather morbid in my way of thinking, did help bring closure. Once she became ill enough to be in the hospital, she didn't really want visitors. She was very prideful of her appearance, which is a shame in that we didn't get to rally round and lend our support. So, after having her be gone for several months, it was hard to wrap our minds around the fact that she was really dead! All in all, it was a good experience and I know she is rejoicing in Heaven with all the saints!

Makin' progress!

I watched the grandkids this morning while Trish took a test for a job. Little John is getting around pretty well on his cast. He had only taken a few steps at home according to Trish, but he was up and at 'em here! It was nice to have a sunny day, even if chilly, so we could go outside for awhile. Hannah wanted to plant dead leaves, twigs, whatever was handy! Her hands got so cold playing in the dirt! Kids! She didn't even want to wear a jacket, but Grandma's rules prevailed! If Trish gets the job, I will probably watch them every Friday for her. We'll see how it all works out.

Pretty Proud of Myself!

Can I brag for just a second? I am pretty impressed that I was able to change the layout to this very cheery background! Riva, your site inspired me! I told you I like technological stuff! Watch out world, this Granny is going for it!

The tree is up!

Well, such as it is.... I usually put up our 4.5 foot artificial tree but I just don't have it in me this year, so I got one of those table top artificial already lit in a basket wobbly as all get out trees. It is pretty cute. In a Charlie Brown sort of way!!

(That door is seldom used by the way! I'm really not blocking the way out!)

Tough Day

Some days are just better than others. We are in the midst of planning a funeral for a dear saint at the church. It was a long battle, but the Lord finally called her home on Friday. Today my co-worker was on the phone off and on with her daughter and others from the church working out the details. Then my co-worker went with her husband to his endoscopy appointment where they learned that the mass in his esophagus that was discovered last week is probably malignant. Crummy deal! There are more tests to be done, but it looks like a long road ahead for them now. Her health isn't perfect either - well, whose is? Anyway, I am feeling a little down tonight. We are getting to an age where we will see more of our friends pass away. Not looking forward to that, thank you very much! Facing one's own mortality is never a pleasant thing, but does make you take stock of your life and evaluate whether you are where you want or should be. All part of the perfecting work of Jesus - making us fit for heaven and eternity! Save me a seat!