Happy New Year

~~~~~~ New York! ~~~~~~

Just kissed my sweet hubby and we are enjoying the V. Sattui Moscato - a delicious sparkling wine.....

I doubt I will be vertical when the west coast hits midnight - so we're celebrating now.

2012 is going to be a great year - 2011 was great in many ways and very challenging in others. SomeMany of those challenges are resolved and/or resolving which should make this coming year a little easier -

I start this year totally immersed in gratefulness for my many blessings. Have abundant love in my life and so many other blessings - truly, we are so incredibly blessed. God is so good.

Two days left of our wonderful seventeen day vacation - a stay-cation of the finest kind.

Happy New Year, everyone - may 2012 bring you any and all things you desire - blessings to you and yours from me and mine.

Christmas 2011

Awesome, wonderful day finishing up here. We're still waiting for dinner to be done - I am starting to think our oven temp is off by about 50 degrees or so. The prime rib is out and looks delicious. Side dishes and rolls are in the oven. Pie is awaiting top crust, milk wash, light sprinkling of sugar and then a bake while we eat. It's blackberry and it's going to be delicious!

Santa was very good to us and J. and I are both loving our new Kindle Fires. I LOVE being able to have access to recipes online without printing - it will save a lot of time, paper and clutter to just look up recipes and use the Kindle right in the kitchen. I bought FOUR books for $1.99 - all four for 50 cents each! It's a new series and seems interesting. Vampires. I know. What is it about that 'theme'? But it's entertaining and a nice escape which is what reading is for me. This series is about a housewife/mom who is attacked and becomes a vampire - and then started being a private investigator so she could work out of her home. It's fun already - looking forward to all the books in the series.

The boys have been quietly ensconced upstairs most of the day - H.'s room got some 'spiffing up' in the form of a lava lamp and black light - which he is crazy about. I gave the OK for he and his friends to 'graffiti' one of his walls as long as it's not anything obscene or bad language. He's excited about that - fluorescent paint! A project to keep him busy before the next semester of school starts.

B. got a running gadget that he's very excited about - it syncs his music to his pace and he loves it!

We had a wonderfully fun morning with lots of laughs. Chloe got her annual packet of toys and was so excited - as always!

It's been a beautiful Christmas and I'm looking forward to snuggling with my Kindle shortly after dinner. The dishwasher is on it's 3rd run of the day and one more to go. We have leftover homemade quiches for breakfast tomorrow - and cinnamon rolls, too!

This week, we plan to head to Livermore for a Casa O dinner - Santa brought us gift cards!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day....Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Eve 2011

Church was lovely - but not as lovely as in the past. No communion which really disappointed me. One of my favorite parts has been singing "Silent Night" with just candle light and feeling the warmth of communion. They skipped it - we had the candlelight but they handed us our candles as we came in - though our pastor said 'come back at 11PM - we're serving communion at that service'. It was a long service even without communion - so I sort of see why they skipped. But it's disappointing. Change is always hard - I'm always saying that, I know - and it feels so different with our new music director. I just don't like his 'style' - it's hard to describe - but I don't care for it. I want the music to speak for itself - and he talks a lot. 'Preaches' a lot - which I don't feel is his 'role'. I know it seems 'judgy' - it feels 'judgy'....but I don't want every song to be interspersed with him. I want the music to be THE MUSIC - and that is enough.

He did a very 'upbeat' fast-paced 'Oh Holy Night' - my favorite of all Christmas carols - but it should be reverent and grand. Not fast and lively. It felt totally wrong to me. Really disappointing.

On a great note, though - for the first time I can ever recall - I did not have an ounce of sadness in my heart. We honored our parents with poinsettias on the altar (as we do every year) and I really, truly felt they were right there with us. Not one choked up moment or any teary eyes. Just the joy of celebrating the birthday of Jesus - it felt great! I miss my mom - but I felt her with me....and I haven't felt that in a long time. That part was lovely.

The boys came home and H. went out to visit a friend who is Muslim. They spend Christmas Eve together every year. He just got home. B. watched a little bit of The Santa Clause and he went upstairs. J. is putting the finishing touches on getting stuff ready - and I'm heading up to bed soon. Hoping to be up around 7ish to put on a big pot of coffee and get a couple home-made quiches in the oven for breakfast.

We invented a new beverage - from scratch hot cocoa with eggnog and just a teeny bit of brandy! (The boys didn't have the brandy part....just me and J.). It was delicious!

Tomorrow's dinner is prime rib, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, crescent rolls and blackberry pie for dessert. Or cobbler. Haven't decided which one.

Looking forward to our happy morning - Christmas is always one of the best days of the year. It's fun and relaxing and always worth all the effort.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Blessings to you all - near and far.

Peace on Earth

Pannini

I have no idea how to spell pannini - and it's not in the dictionary. I'm referring to the delicious, grilled sandwich not an Italian painter.

Anyway....things are humming along here today. We got out the pannini grill and whipped up delicious sandwiches - just like Raley's only better! Yummy! I'm picturing toasted Nutella sandwiches for breakfast tomorrow - we don't have Nutella and have never had Nutella but a friend of mine raves about it and can't keep it in her house 'cuz she will eat the entire jar with a spoon - that sounds pretty delicious! So I'm convinced we need to try it - and intend to get some at the grocery later today.

The tree is finally 'finished' - and my sweet husband took the time to set up my beautiful nativity scene. I will post a pic soon - it is one of my all time favorite things in my life. The pieces are stored individually in their boxes protected by styrofoam. It's not easy to get them all unpacked and repacked each year - but it's so pretty. I finished the collection via e-Bay the year I had been laid off from my banking job. Spending money on things was the absolute LAST thing I should have been doing at that point - but I found a bunch of pieces on eBay I never knew existed (it's an Avon set) and so I bought every one I didn't have. It's complete....and a family treasure, I hope.

H. is helping me clean out cupboards and drawers in all the bathrooms. He's also doing yard work, etc. I know it sounds like he's just the best kid ever (and he IS a wonderful person with a great heart and a keen mind - he is very smart and his first semester of college seems to have solidified that for him, which is great!) but he's really motivated by needing money. So it's a win-win. He helps me with chores that are time consuming and hard - and we have beautifully organized bathroom cupboards and tons of trash stuff culled out! It's great!

There are Amazon packages everywhere and wrapping tables set up in two rooms upstairs. We've shipped most of the gifts - thought we were done and then J. had to get things from his brother for the nieces so we need to get those in the mail tomorrow - they won't make it there by Sunday but they will arrive Monday or Tuesday. I did my best to not be irritated that we had just shipped our gifts to the same two girls the day before - planning is not a family strength, apparently.

I worked a bit on Tuesday - arrived just in time to have the custodial staff be starting the process of cleaning the carpets - so I went next door and my boss was working - he was ready for lunch so we had a pleasant, delicious meal at a sushi place that we don't get to often. Back to the office for a couple of hours of tidying up - not enough to 'count' and yet good to feel like I was culling/tidying out there, too. I don't plan to work much this week but will work a bit next week. And I'm OK with that...have many projects looming and the more I get going on them, the less torturous January will be.

Heading back upstairs to continue culling the boys bathroom. I found a ton of those 'fizzy' bath things - H. is so excited. He LOVES putting those fizzy balls in his bath -

And every day so far this break, he has lovingly traveled to Starbucks to get his mama a daily Trenta iced tea. I could brew it here but it's a 'treat' - and since I'm not spending my usual $3 at McDonald's everyday (egg burrito and two large iced teas), I can 'splurge' on one awesome iced tea.

It's going to be a great Christmas. I can feel it!

Happiness

Earlier this week, I lunched with a former co-worker. His role in our district was an interim Administrator and he's moved on to his next assignment. He's currently working at the other school district in my town so it was a great opportunity to visit with him while he's still nearby.

He gives good counsel and is someone I admire and respect. He's had so many things in his life that could color his glasses a dull shade of gray - but he lives a happy, blessed, meaningful life....in spite of it all. He is one of the most selfless, ego-less people I've ever met and his desire to do the right thing just shines through in all he does.

We had a great time reminiscing about his stint in our district....catching up on all the happenings since he left.

And we talked about being happy.

Do you ever wonder why some people manage to be so miserably unhappy day after day after day? We've all met them - probably even worked with them. Maybe even lived with them. They (apparently) wake up every single day and look for something to be pissed off about. They find reasons to be miserable. They create crisis because as long as there's something for them to moan and groan about, they feel 'good' about their days.

I think I sort of used to be like that - my younger years were fraught with tons of drama. Every little thing a crisis. And then I grew up and 'matured' (whatever that means). And I also learned to step outside my perspective and my experiences and consider someone else's. Crisis creators can't do that very well. They can't step outside their box.....

Every single day, we wake up with the opportunity to start over. Every single day is a fresh start. I love how God has provided such a wonderful gift - sleep to restore and refresh us and the day starting anew every 24 hours. Whatever happened yesterday is done and over and mute. And today is just full of new opportunities and new possibilities. A chance for happy every single moment of every single day.

And happy starts with awaking and choosing to be happy. It is a choice.

Sure, some days you just can't get past it all. Been there....recently, in fact. But most days, I wake up choosing to give myself a fresh start. Choosing to forget whatever happened the day before (or the day before that....etc.) that had me so flummoxed. Maybe waning memory skills as we age is another of God's gifts 'cuz the forgetting does seem to be easier.

My friend reminded me to cut myself some slack...and to start anew everyday. And to forgive those around me who find happiness to be such a challenge. They just haven't learned how to 'reset' each day - and maybe they never will. Leading by example is the best thing I can do for them - and for myself.

Hump Day

We're so close to the break, we can almost....taste it? Feel it? Believe it may actually, truly be HERE? Today and tomorrow are meeting days and Friday is a catch-up day with few scheduled things - and then it's home free.....

I've done most of our shopping on the Internet so the entry way and living room are littered with a wide variety of packages. Looking forward to an evening at home this evening (and hopefully getting home by 4ish which I have not been able to do in some time) and starting to get things unboxed and wrapped. This weekend, we will ship to family and hope they make it in time. I think most will -

I've got another 'ear thing' which I'm attempting to ignore. I have an appointment Monday with the ENT and there's nothing I'd love more than to arrive with an ear infection and show her that THIS is what I'm talking about - lingering, ongoing symptoms that leave me feeling malaised and exhausted - and won't resolve without antibiotics. So I sort of hope to continue the (fairly) mild symptoms until that appointment on Monday - which will include a throat scope because I still maintain that the source of the issue is in my voice box area...where no doctor can see without special tools....

We have our work party tomorrow evening and I am still debating about my White Elephant gift - I have no idea what to get for a gift when it's supposed to be stupid, pointless and meaningless. It just seems wrong - but we have been gifting our recipient for a couple weeks with little surprises here and there....so perhaps ending with something totally ridiculous isn't that 'wrong'. It's just hard for me to gift something like that.....

That's it for now - time to head out into the cold to defrost the ice off the car windows. Three car garage and no cars in it....something's wrong with that....