Last Random Dozen of 2009

The Last Random Dozen of 2009!

Lid over at 2nd Cup of Coffee gives us our very last Random Dozen for 2009.

1. Do you find it gross to share drinks with family? Friends?
Nope! If they are sneezing or runny nose, I avoid it, otherwise, I figure there are enough good germs in me to kill anything they have.

2. What have you learned this year? (You didn't see a question of that weight coming, did you? At least not for #2.)
Not sure...I guess I have re-learned that I am not in control of my DDs lives and I can't make their decisions and and by golly, they make some pretty good ones on their own. Imagine that!


3. When do you dismantle the Christmas decorations?
Usually after Epiphany...Jan. 5th or so...sometimes as late as the 8th or so...


4. Something you wish to accomplish before the end of 2009 is:
can't think of anything


5. How do you feel about winter (after Christmas)
I love it until about March when I am WAY ready for green.


6. Have you participated in after-Christmas sales?
Nope - I work retail and try to avoid shopping.


7. Do you have plans for New Year's Eve?
Maybe. For the last 37 years I have hosted a party for college friends. This year another friend is hosting the party at their home so our DD can host a party here for HER college friends... the circle of life.


8. Is there anything special awaiting you in January?
Birthdays for both DDs and my mom


9. If your life this year was a movie, what category or genre would it be? (Romance, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Suspense, Farcical, etc.)
Farce! Absolutely. Fortunately I like farce.


10. How much time per day do you spend blogging? Please do not lie. I will know.
not daily - about 3-4 hours a week


11. Who runs your household?
definite joint effort. Whoever has the time does what needs done.


12. Share one hope/dream for 2010.
I would love to see DD1 gainfully employed and attending church regularly....but really I can't control that so. . . MY dream/hope is to lose another 30 or so pounds.

out with the old, in with the new

Family visits, Christmas and work have kept me from my blog, so...here goes.

I have never really done New Year's resolutions. I try to always improve myself...not saying I succeed, but I try. But I find that what I have a problem with is letting go sometimes. Not just of the bad stuff. Sometimes even good stuff becomes too much stuff.
Soooo... I am going to try to rid myself of some of the old stuff and welcome the new.

Out with Gramma's braided rug (60 years old and still beautiful if you know someone who wants it!)
Out with all the old towels I NEVER use. (OK I will keep a couple for when the dog gets sprayed again! :D)
Out with clothes I haven't worn in over 2 years.
Out with boxes of stuff I haven't even looked in or missed in over 5 years!

In with new attitudes about who my children should be.
In with more letting go of things I do not need to control.
In with hope for a better today and tomorrow. (When I googled images of Hope, I found this and it spoke to my feelings of hope, so I thought I would share it with you. It is by Exper Giovanni Rubaltelli of Abstract Design. I hope I credited that correctly. There is a poem that goes with it that I liked also, but not with this theme, so maybe you will want to go check it out yourself.)



I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and may 2010 be a wonderful year for everyone!

Thanksgiving 2009 - memories

LIST OF THANKS
1 - Sisters who help me paint!
2 - Heat in my bedroom
3 - My anole
4 - 2 beautiful daughters who are fast becoming 2 beautiful women
5 - Fried eggs and cheese sandwiches
6 - Breakfast for dinner
7 - SUNSHINE!!! YAY!!!
8 - cell phones that let me talk to hubby and the girls
9 - 2 new members to our Girl Scout group!!!!
10 - Hot water on demand
11 - Veterans and those who have given all to give me freedom
12 - For a house full of memories
13 - For my Thanksgiving cactus that is blooming!
14 - For pets who love me like God - unconditionally
15 - An AWESOME church service
16 - An education and ALL that entails
17 - the bestest, best in-laws in the world
18 - Music - all of it - all the time
19 - YAY - 7 new GS leaders to train!
20 - For Thanksgiving lasagna
21 - God loving even un-loveable me!
22 - An aunt who helps rake leaves because I needed help. Thank you indeed!
23 - For strawberries in November!
24 - Friends who call - just to chat
25 - A day off work - WITH pay !!! now I can cook, clean and get ready! :D
26 - Thanks-giving all day long for a wonderful family, good food, safe parade...and God's grace

Random Dozen - Christmas edition

OK what better way to jumo back into blogland than with the latest Random Dozen from 2nd Cup of Coffee. Hubby has been home for a week and half - I am almost re-nourished hug-wise! And I need to be here at the computer while the Christmas letter is printing out! :D

1. Gingerbread: For or against? Discuss.
I LOVE gingerbread. But I like it to eat, not necessarily to decorate. When I was growing up, my gramma would make it during my summer visit and we would decorate them with the leftover frostings she had in the fridge. (She did cakes) She had all the great tips for making roses and stuff and I thought it was great to decorate the gingerbread man that we always made. One of my father's brothers had made a good-size cookie cutter of a gingerbread man in his shop class so we always used it. And the decorating was fun, but it was only in later years that I realized that I always eat the ones with little or NO frosting and in reality I do not like frosting. Go figure. My Girl Scout service unit (the adult leaders) just decorated 5 dozen of them for the local Family Mission.


2. Is it important to you to always stay (live) close to family?
Very mixed answer. I am surrounded by relatives. Aunt, uncles and cousins all live around me, since my hubby and I bought the 'family home.' But my sisters and mom are a LONG ways away. Mom is a permanent RVer and one never knows where she will be from month to month. And 2 sisters are on the opposite end of the continent from me, so...we have learned to deal with it by linking weekly on-line and 'chatting' for an hour about what is happening in our lives and with our kids. It is not the best, but it helps.

3. Which holiday pretend character do you wish really existed?
Clarence

4. Which holiday movie best represents how you feel about Christmas or life?
I like all of them. It's a Wonderful Life, The Bishop's Wife, The Preacher's Wife, Santa Claus the Movie, and White Christmas


5. Is there a particular Christmas song that you're enjoying now? Any that you're tired of?
There's a Song in the Air is a favorite and I am so tired of whatever that one in it that says I gave you my heart and the very next day you gave it away... it seems like it plays ALL the time at work.

6. What is your favorite way to remember those less fortunate at Christmastime?
I have rung bells for the Salvation Army, helped pay off bills, Toys for Tots and Heifer Project...I guess the last may be my favorite. My Scouts for the last several years have voted NOT to exchange presents but to donate money to the Heifer Project. At our party each year we pull out the catalog and count up the money and then decide what to 'give' away this year. It is fun to watch them think about someone else.

7. Does it upset you to see "Xmas" instead of Christmas? How about "Happy Holidays" etc., instead of "Merry Christmas?"
It used to bother me, but then I got to thinking about that 'x' and realized that it is a cross - the very symbol of my faith and suddenly it didn't bother me anymore. I say Merry Christmas mostly, though if I know the person is not Christian (perhaps Jewish or Muslim) I might say Happy Holidays.

8. How many Christmas programs are you attending this month?
None. Kids are too old and no grandkids at this stage.


9. Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Any chance of that dream becoming a reality?
Yes I would like a white Christmas and it is possible...we shall see if it happens. :D


10. Tell me about a Christmas present you received as a child. Pics are always nice.
Oddly enough I can't think of too many. I know I received a ton each year. Always more than I expected...but nothing stands out...what I remember is the family and the sharing and the going around and seeing what everyone else got.


11. How many Christmas parties are you attending this month?
None, being unemployed or under-employed does tend to simplify your life.


12. How do you keep yourself centered on the significance of Christmas?
I smile. I think of Mary and I smile. I think of Jesus and I smile. I think of Joseph and I smile. When I smile I think about the great gift I have been given and it just makes me smile more...one of those unending circle things. :D

He's home!!!

Hubby is home after 2 and a half months out of state working. Too much catching up to do...more later. :D Wheeeee!!!!

Lid from 2nd cup of coffee has once again challenged us to the Random Dozen... here goes.
1. Which Wizard of Oz character are you most like?
My Girl Scout Troop just saw Wicked so I am having trouble remembering who is who in the original....let me see, I guess I would be...the con guy in the wagon. Kindly and trying to help, but maybe also a little bit of a fraud?
2. When you're deciding what you're going to wear each morning, which item do you select first? Why?
The clean one...because it's clean, duh.

3. What kind of animal do you think the world could live without?
I guess I agree with Kim over at http://kimfromthesouth.blogspot.com there are some insects I could live without, but our Scouts have been talking about how everything intertwines with everything else, so I am more than a little afraid that eliminating even the mosquito may damage something that I truly adore in this world.


4. How many Christmas trees are in your home?
One big tree in the living room. Sometimes a tiny tree in an antique German music box holder. The DDs have discussed having their own upstairs each year, but always end up putting their ornaments on the family tree...this year DD1 is living away from home and is talking about taking at least some of her ornaments with her...the ones the cats can't break.

5. Would you prefer to be emotionless if it mean you didn't have to feel a heartbreak?
No NO NO NO!

6. Do you ever experience holiday let-down or depression?
Occasionally, but it is brief - usually only a few minutes at most....like when I am stuck taking down the Christmas tree by myself!

7. Do you like Michael Jackson's music?
Some of the early stuff and the Jackson 5, but haven't heard much in YEARS.

8. Why is it that we never judge people who have their teeth fixed for cosmetic reasons, but every other cosmetic procedure has a stigma?
Maybe because we don't even know half the people have false teeth?

9. Enjoy horseback riding?
Nope never did. Have done it, can do it, don't enjoy it.

10. Shoes--practical or stylish?
Practical for my feet, but I love looking at the cute shoes on other (younger) women's feet.

11. What was the name of your first pet? Feel free to post a pic.
Kitty, He was a large orange tiger cat and I was 2 or 3 - hence, Kitty. And I don't think we ever had a picture of him.

12. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done?
I think I must be approaching the 50% mark, but haven't really laid it out to enumerate.