April First

Oh April! The month of warm gentle rains and light winds fragrant with daffodils and cherry blossoms... I am the consumate April Fool.



The reward for my wishful thinking?

Today we have high winds, freezing rain, and snow showers.

Happy Spring!

Random Ramblings About Nothing Much

How do I explain why I've only written three posts in the last two months? I don't. Instead I give you a list of a bunch of junk that I didn't write about while I wasn't writing. Do with it what you wish. Just don't throw things at me. I'm delicate. Like a flower... a weedy little flower that just keeps coming back no matter how many times the lawn mower runs it over. Yeah, something like that..

Signs of Almost Spring:

Washington is not normal. In the last three days we have had bright sunny skies, torrential rain, hail, lightening, light snow, heavy snow, and fog. Often in the same hour. Despite the crazy weather I did find signs of spring when I went looking a little while ago. My yard is greening nicely as the moss creeps toward my front porch and on the back patio the algae is in bloom! I would take pictures but I don't want to make you all jealous.

My dogs are incapable of reproducing through normal means so they have conspired to create puppies out of their own shedding hair. Dust Bunnies are nothing! Despite daily vacuuming we are in danger of being over-run by litters of fur puppies. The weather simply makes things worse by being warm and sunny for three days, encouraging loose hairs to jump off the dogs in anticipation of summer, and then snowing for a week so that the dogs grow new fur to keep them warm.

Delaney's school has a yearly spring play. Traditionally it is an elaborate production with roles for a hundred kids plus at least one scene with teachers, principal, and occasionally the district superintendent. It's a spectacular show. This year, instead of using a purchased script the director and a few others actually wrote the show. Last week I joined two other Moms and the art teacher to turn pictures drawn by third graders into scenery for the show. We had a lot of fun painting rolling hills, squat hen houses, leaning skyscrapers, and a huge rainbow. I wish I could share pictures here but it's a SECRET. It's like Christmas morning and the theater is a big present in the hall closet. Parents aren't allowed in... and it's driving some of them insane! (and I do mean insane.. one of them had a fit yesterday when she was told she could not watch rehearsal) Opening night is Thursday!

Signs of the Apocalypse / Signs of Recovery:

It's hard not to shake in your boots when the stock for the company your livelihood depends on goes into a spiraling nosedive and loses half of it's value in the first two months of the year.. after losing two thirds of it's value in the last three months of the previous year... but the day that the closing price is 6.66 certainly feels like the end of the world. Of course, it's not. Although the rain, hail, snow, fog of the weekend didn't do much to relieve me... and the fur puppies were approaching the size of small horses... Oh! and the earthquake! Did I mention we had an earthquake too? It was just a tiny one. I'm sure there really isn't anything to worry about. However, if you hear that a volcano in Washington state has erupted without warning you might want to find your Bibles and start reading. Oh, and pray for my soul, because we are right in the path of the pyroclastic flow if Mt. Rainier blows.

Despite the moss, algae, dog hair, insane weather, and shadow of the volcano business, I really do love my home and my neighborhood. We live very close to the largest Army base in the country and a huge percentage of my neighbors are military. They are fantastic neighbors. However, when they are transferred they have to sell their houses and go, no matter how bad the economy is. Our neighborhood is large and the builders (three separate companies) are still building new homes. In January great big yellow AUCTION signs started appearing on the streets where the model homes are and the paper published an article about foreclosures in our neighborhood.. not on individual homes but on the builders lots and models. So I was feeling awfully bad for the four neighbors on my street trying to sell their houses in this mess. Then.. in the last two weeks the signs went away, the builders started three new houses, and all four of the houses on my street sold. I don't know if it is really a sign that things are getting better.. but I sure am glad that the bright yellow signs of despair have been taken down.

Signs of Change:

Bob left yesterday for his first business trip since the accident. It was hard for me to let him walk out the door and head for the airport but I am so glad that he is able to.

Ian called me on Saturday to ask for advice. He wasn't sure if he should pay $16 a week for health insurance through his new job. I'm so happy that he's going to have insurance and even happier that he has worked at a company long enough to qualify for it.

Signs that it's time to stop rambling:

It's 1:30 and I've got to vacuum and get dinner started before heading to the theater for a dress rehearsal. If you made it this far, thank you! You are a true and wonderful friend for still being around to read my ramblings even though I just abandoned you for a few months. I promise to be a better blogger in the future... at least as long as that volcano stays dormant!

Valentine's Day Meme

I've been having a tough time coming up with things to blog about lately so I've borrowed this Meme from Leeann @ Is It Morning Already?

♥ How long have you been together? 24 years, married for 21.
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? A few weeks.
♥ Who asked who out? Bob asked me out.
♥ How old are each of you? 44
♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? When we lived in CA we saw my siblings most but now that we live in WA it's about equal.
♥ Do you have any children together? Yes, Ian, 19, Zane, 15, Taylor, 13, Delaney, 10.
♥ What about pets? 2 dogs, 1 cat, 4 hermit crabs, 1 large lizard, 2 mice.
♥ Did you go to the same school? Yes we attended the same college briefly.
♥ Are you from the same home town? No, we are from opposite coasts. I grew up in San Jose, CA and he grew up near Boston, MA
♥ Who is the smartest? I think we are very evenly matched but we have different areas of expertise.
♥ Who is the most sensitive? Hmm.. I'm not sure.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? As a couple we don't eat out anywhere. I don't think we have been out alone once in the last five years.
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Pisa, Lucca, and Florence, Italy.
♥ Who has the worst temper? I do. I get angry over stupid little things all the time. Bob is much slower to anger but I think he hangs onto it longer.
♥ Who does the cooking? It used to be pretty equal but since his accident I do all the cooking.
♥ Who is more social? Definitely Bob! If it wasn't for him I would probably be a hermit.
♥Who is the neat freak? Hahahahaha! Neither of us.
♥ Who is the more stubborn? Bob. When he makes up his mind he is like a brick wall. Our son Zane is just like him.
♥ Who hogs the bed? The dogs! For 19 years we had a no dogs on the bed rule and then I lost my mind and let the puppy sleep with us.
♥ Who wakes up earlier? Definitely Bob. He has always been a morning person. I will never be a morning person.
♥ Where was your first date? I spent most of the evening sitting on the porch with his Mom and dogs while he helped his Dad set up a stereo. After that we went to Round Table for pizza. It was a preview of our exciting future together!
♥ Who has the bigger family? We have an equal number of siblings but I have a bigger extended family.
♥ Do you get flowers often? No but that's because years ago I asked him not to get me flowers. Every once in awhile he will and I love it. I guess it's more special because flowers aren't his automatic gift idea.
♥ How long did it take to get serious? Oh, he was serious before we even went out! He didn't ask me on a date he said he was looking for someone to build a life with. Pretty major stuff for a nineteen year old! I laughed at him and said I would go out on a date but I wasn't making any promises. I'm not sure how long it took me to decide I was going to marry him.
♥ Who does/ did the laundry? Me. ick.
♥ Who’s better with the computer? His life is computers but I get to say that I taught him how to use his first one. A week later he knew twice as much as I did about computers and he has been learning ever since.
♥ Who drives when you are together? Well, since his accident I do but before that he did most of the driving.

We didn't do anything for Valentine's Day. I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone who just read my fascinating list! However, we did have plans to go out to dinner and the movies but Taylor, Delaney and I all have the flu so we stayed home and ate pizza.

I did have a Valentine's date though... yesterday Ian took me out to lunch! We had a very pleasant visit. He talked about his job, his cats, cooking... It was a very comfortable, adult conversation. I'm praying that we will have many more lunches like this in the future.

So that's all the news that's fit to tell tonight... I'm off to find some cough medicine.

We have a right to write...

A few weeks ago Kelly, of Don Mills Diva, was featured in an article at the London Times On-line. She wasn't interviewed for the article. The authors actually "borrowed" her interview from a Canadian paper and directly from a few posts on her blog and tied them together to make it look as if they had interviewed her. It's an infuriating story, and one that Kelly tells much better than I would, so I'm going to ask you to click on the link and go read what she has to say.

The article was about the dangers of blogging, the loss of privacy, the online predators, and the potential psychological trauma we may cause our families and ourselves when we choose bare it all and seek attention on the web. Some of it is true but most is overblown hyperbole aimed at denigrating bloggers. Because many journalists have the misguided opinion that what they do is write and what we do is wrong. As Kelly pointed out, there are a whole lot of journalists out there who think that Bloggers are ruining journalism. So, she has asked other bloggers to join the Respect the Blog movement and write about what makes us and our blogs worthy of respect. I'm going to do that... but first I'm going to take a few paragraphs to address what is truly ruining journalism.

Newspapers have been losing readership for decades and they continue to point fingers at other media sources as the root of the problem. Radio, television, the Internet, and now blogging, have been blamed for the fact that newspapers are faltering. Heck, if you looked back far enough I bet you could find some ancient newspaper editor complaining that the town crier was impacting his business! Unfortunately, the cause isn't simply competition. Journalists need to take a hard look at themselves and their industry to find the real problem.

Newspapers are unique. When done right they are a cross between timely reporting and measured evaluation. They could have a virtual lock on local news and the ability to connect global events to neighborhood issues. Unfortunately, most local papers have been swallowed up by large conglomerates which eliminated local reporting and centralized national reporting. Newspapers, which used to reflect the personality of their communities, now all look alike. The consumer has very little reason to value their local paper. With this generic focus newspapers are just another version of the TV, radio, and Internet news.. all of them reporting the same stories. Of course newspaper readership has dropped off, the only thing they offer that you can't get anywhere else is ink stains on your cuffs.

Once upon a time you could find everything; unbiased news reporting, birth announcements, a review of the high school play, city council meetings, Mr. Jacob's travel adventures, recipes for the green tomatoes that wouldn't ripen because of the early freeze, plus editorials and letters to the editor that made world news feel more personal, in the paper that waited on your doorstep every morning. Much of the content that made these papers unique wasn't written by the staff of the paper. It was content contributed by the community. Was it all important? Probably not, but it was the kind of news that held communities together. My generation has never had a good source for that kind of specific local news but we haven't lost the desire to connect in a more personal manner with the news. In the last few decades there have been many forms of media that attempted to fill the void, community access TV and radio, newsletters, websites, and now blogs.

A blog is news on a very personal level. It is narrowly focused and interesting to a small group of people. Much of it is trivial and opinionated but it fills a need that we humans have to connect with others. Bloggers aren't competing with journalists. A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoint that is not biased. (Wikipedia) A blog is often the opposite of journalism. The people who write blogs are creating a community with their words and it is a mostly positive and supportive community. Those words have value and their creators deserve respect and recognition. They deserve the same respect granted to other writers; credit for their work, proper citation, and protection from plagiarism. It is a very simple concept, one that every high school student has beat into their heads whenever a paper is assigned. You don't steal other people's words or ideas. Whether that person is a journalist, a novelist, a memoirist, or a blogger.

I write for myself, to help organize and solidify my thoughts. I write for others, because what I learn, or don't learn, might be helpful to someone else. I write for my family so that they will know me better. I write because I love writing. I write a blog because it's the most convienent and efficient way to do all of these things at once. I don't feel an urge to defend my choice to blog. I am a writer and this blog is one of the things I write.

Respect the Writer!

Adventures in Healthcare - episode XIIV

I promise this will not be a long, drawn out, frighteningly TMI post about universal healthcare. I know in the past I have ranted hysterically but I won't do that today. I won't do that because I have fantastic insurance now. I love my insurance so much I would marry it if I wasn't already married to Bob. However, I am married to Bob and some of you may remember that I almost lost him in September.


After his accident he was transported by ambulance to a local hospital ($798), then airlifted to the regional trauma center in Seattle ($14,000). I wasn't there, of course, and he wasn't conscious, so we didn't know that there was another ambulance at the end of the helicopter ride to transport him emergency room of the hospital. I never would have expected that. Since the landing pad is on top of the garage directly across from the hospital, and there are several walkways from the garage to the hospital, I just assumed that there was an elevator and hallway into the emergency room.


I was amazed to learn that they actually landed and then loaded his stretcher into an ambulance with an entirely different crew who then drove around the block and into the ambulance bay of the hospital. It doesn't even make sense but that's how they do it. I'm sure that there must be good reasons for this... far be it from me to question the gods of trauma medicine. (The same gods who missed not one, not two, but four additional injuries and discharged him after three days of observation with an undiagnosed BROKEN NECK.)


Whatever the reason.. the multiple ambulance procedure is how it's done. Apparently the final ambulance company didn't get our correct insurance information so a few weeks ago I received a bill from them ($859 for one block) which I forwarded to our new insurance company.

Yesterday I got a love note notice from the beloved insurance company. They have denied the claim for the final ambulance ride. When I called them, to inquire why they had withdrawn their loving support, I was told that there is a limit to how much emergency treatment you can receive in one day and we had one transport too many on that day. The customer service agent actually asked me, after I explained the whole thing, "Did you call for the ambulance to transport him to the trauma center?" I think he was a bit bothered by my maniacal laughter. He transferred me to a supervisor who has promised to have the claim reviewed.

Feel the love.

One World - One Heart: Two give-aways

And the Winners are...

(order assigned by RNG)

For the Green set:
Jamaise @ Wishing Penny

For the Blue:
Marie at My Little World

And for the one that I haven't made yet...
Coralie at The Charms of Ordinary Days

Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who entered. This has been a fun couple of weeks and it's been so nice "meeting" everyone and seeing all of your work.

Vallen at Queenly Things was the first person to tell me about the One World - One Heart give-away that Lisa at A Whimsical Bohemian hosts every year. After browsing through the various items that people were offering I wanted to enter all 500+ drawings! There are some incredibly beautiful items being given away.

Now I truly believe that if you want something it is very good luck to give something of your own and, since one of my goals for this year is to complete a project every week, I actually have something of my own to give away!

The green necklace is glass and brass beads strung on cotton cord, the earrings are glass and brass on gold filled wires.

The blue necklace is a handmade heart pendant with glass and silver plated beads on cotton cord, the matching earrings are glass and silver on stainless wires.

My give-away is open to anyone, regardless of location. You don't have to have a blog or be participating in OWOH. Simply leave a comment on this post by February 11th and, on February 12th, I will place all the names in a hat and one of my kids loyal apprentices will draw the winners. After you have entered, click on the One World icon and it will take you to a magical place where you can find hundreds of other give-aways to enter.

Good luck!

Please make sure I have a way to contact you.. if you don't have a blog leave your email address.

1/29 amendment - We still have two weeks until the drawing so I've decided that I will add a third prize if I get more than 300 comments. It will be another set similar to the first two but either pink or yellow. gina

2/12/09 7am: Comments are now closed. I will be chosing three winners using a random number generator and will post them by 5pm today.

Wandering in a Fog

It's a little foggy in Washington lately.

Every morning.
Every evening.
All week long.
Is it any wonder my brain is getting mushy?

Putting aside childish things...

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.
President Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009

I was so proud of my country today and so proud of the man that we elected. President Obama gives me hope for the future. I am ready to follow his lead. Ready to make hard choices and help prepare our nation for a new age!

Right after I finish being childish one last time...

Design Dissatisfaction

Have you ever looked at your blog and felt like it just doesn't represent you well? That's how I'm feeling right now. I've played with different designs for two days now and I just don't like any of them. I'm not sure what I'll try next. However, in the depths of my ennui a ray of light brightened my day.

Bellezza, the most charming hostess of Dolce Bellezza, has honored me with the Premio Dardos award.



The Dardos Award is in appreciation of the merits - culturally, literary and individually- of every blogger who expresses him/herself on his/her blog. The conditions are to:

Be tickled pink,
Copy and paste the award picture to your blog,
Write down the regulations,
Link the blog who bestowed you the award,
and finally Nominate 15 blogs for the award.

And I am tickled pink.. I even tried on some pink blog designs but they didn't fit. Thank you so much Bellezza!

I am passing the award on to a wonderful group of writers. Some are friends but I seem to pass awards on to the same friends over and over and, while I love everyone's blogs, I am trying to highlight some new blogs today. Others are complete strangers who will wonder why in the world this person who they have never heard from is giving them awards. Their blogs are all wonderful in their own very unique ways. They are blogs I read for ideas and inspiration. Check them out, you might find something new to love.

I hope this Premio Dardos brightens your winter day as much as it did mine.

Lilly Rose @ Lilly Rose Chen
Debbie @ Etc.,Etc.,Etc.
Laura @ CenterDownHome
Kate @ Kate5kiwis
Tiffany @ But I Had A Tiara
Vallen @ Queenly Things
Elaine @ Quixotical
Ms Moon @ Bless Our Hearts
Pen @ Dogtales and Dreams
Michele @ Frugal Granola
Lisa @ The House of Payne
Kyddryn @ Shade and Sweetwater
Rowena @ Rubber Slippers in Italy
Susan @ Farmgirl Fare
Marc @ Mental Masala

Menu Plan Monday

Goal setting, menu planning, house cleaning, I'm just a January Housewife Stereotype. It feels good though. The Christmas stuff has been boxed up and moved to the garage. I am drawing up a garage organization plan and will begin to implement it this week. Then I will move on to another room. This is what I was just starting on when Bob had his accident in September. I have been in a holding pattern long enough. It's time to get moving again.



Bob is still grounded, no travel or physical therapy for another month, but he has been allowed to remove his neck brace. That small change feels like victory. He is making progress. We are both anxiously looking forward to returning to normal life and, even though there is still a lot of work to be done, the removal of that brace is tangible evidence that this stage in our lives will not last forever.

Enough deep stuff.. on to the menu!



Monday - Chicken Sausage, Veggie dogs, Frittata, Biscuits
Tuesday - Lasagna, Bread, Green Beans
Wednesday - Salsa Chicken, Vegetarian Spanish Rice and Beans, Tortillas and Salad
Thursday - Chili stuffed baked potatoes, steamed Broccoli
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Make your own Pizza
Sunday - Tomato soup, Panini, and chips

Locusts!

This year one of our favorite Christmas presents is a quesadilla maker. It is magic! Leftovers become suddenly more desirable when covered with cheese and pressed between two tortillas in it's special heating chamber. Seriously, I haven't seen a kitchen appliance get this much action since the Magic Bullet came to live on my counter.

Last night we really put the little thing to the test. Zane had a group of friends over playing video games so we set up a nacho and quesadilla bar for them. Who knew that six 15 year old boys could consume two pounds of corn chips, a pound and a half of ground beef, six cups of refried beans, two pounds of cheese, two jars of queso dip, two jars of salsa, two avocados, and 30 flour tortillas in less than 20 minutes? And then top it all off with a gallon of ice cream an hour later.

It was glorious!

Setting Goals

Why is it that setting goals always feels to me like self-limitation? I guess it doesn't make much sense but deep down I feel that if I say "I'm going to do thus and such at this specific time" something else will present itself and I will be forced to let one go in order to accomplish the other. So I keep my options open.



But there's a problem with open options. If nothing occurs to fill the empty time then I accomplish nothing. Essentially I am allowing the universe to set goals for me and the universe is annoyingly fickle. Today it wants the laundry done but before the task is complete it will decide that the cat's claws need to be clipped or a dinner for seven must be assembled.

Of course, this is a reoccurring topic for me, because I don't learn from previous mistakes and therefore I must repeat them again and again and... again, but I'm getting too old for this.



At the rate I'm going I will be folding towels on my death bed while wondering if I will be able to work on a novel in heaven, or hell. So I resolve to set some goals, to make a schedule, to push myself into making a few decisions. Then I sit and stare at a blank piece of paper and try to figure out how I can possibly commit to steering my own life. It's much easier to deal with consequences when you let the universe decide your fate.



Making decisions means defending my choices and saying "No" to opportunities and, more agonizingly, to those I love who are accustomed to me being available when they might need me.

How do you choose?



Photos courtesty of Flickr and anatomist, 917press, and zen

Where's Gina?

Yesterday was Epiphany, the twelvth day of Christmas, and I ceremoniously kicked the Christmas tree to the curb. Actually I tossed it in the backyard with the intention of dragging it to the curb tomorrow morning before the garbage truck arrives. However, today, the first official post-Christmas day, it has been raining so hard that my back yard is now a couple of inches underwater and I'm not sure I want to slog around back there in the dog poop soup. Perhaps the tree, exposed to all that natural fertilizer and plenty of water will just sprout new roots? Nah, I didn't think so.

It's been strange to so quickly go from the sparkling white snowed-in holidays to this soggy new year. I'm not quite ready to let go of Christmas but it's gone, gone, gone. Today I went to Target and bought some fantastic Christmas decorations for 90% off! I was so excited but the bargain deco high didn't last long. Stuffing new stuff into the Christmas boxes and moving them out to the garage is actually a bit sad.

Time rolls on though. Tonight Taylor had her first Girl Scout cookie meeting. Presales start Friday. The good news is I can finish off the Christmas cookies while contemplating how many boxes of thin mints I need to get through the rest of the year.

Taking the easy way out...

I have been planning on writing a post-Christmas update but every time I sit down to type it out I fall asleep. Is it carbon monoxide from the constantly running heater? Post holiday narcolepsy? Too much rum? Nah.. just Gina being a lazy ass. Anyway, I'm going to take the easy way out and simply answer a few questions and comments and call it a post.

Jason at The Jason Show asks: So what happened? Did you ever make your way out to finish shopping? Was Christmas saved?

We were essentially snowed in for about six days although I did escape between storms to do some shopping. On Dec. 23rd we thought the storm was over and the kids and I unburied the truck (there was at least a foot of snow topped with a half inch of ice on it) and headed out to Target. It was a harrowing experience. The roads were partially clear but the parking lots were treacherous. We managed to buy presents and the Christmas roast. The liquor store, however, was virtually impossible to approach. In Washington you can't buy hard liquor in the grocery store, you have to go to the state run store. At a ratio of approx. 1 store to 30,000 citizens you can imagine what the lines looked like. I was forced to ration my rum... Christmas Eve brought us another storm and five more inches of snow but I had to go out to pick up my eldest.. thank heaven for four wheel drive.. and bring him home for Christmas. So, yes, Christmas was saved!

Vallen at Queenly Things offered her help: "Have a cozy holiday - and let me know. I can always ship in more rum - the USPS supposedly can get through any weather." Alas... this was the year we learned that the USPS does not deliver through any weather. Although they are better than the garbage service. The mail was missing for several days but the garbage truck missed two pick ups.. that's 15 days without garbage service! When that noisy truck finally came slipping and sliding down my street I was so excited.

And finally Debbie at ETC.,ETC.,ETC., asks:

*Did the rum last? Yes, but I was forced to drink an occasional Washington state approved Irish Cream "wine beverage" instead of the demon rum.
*How long did it snow? Ten days, then it started raining... and raining... now my back yard is a giant puddle with a few icebergs.
*Who was sent out to get more provisions? Since I am the only licensed driver in our house who is currently capable of operating a motor vehicle.. that would be me!
*Did you all survive? We did.
*Who was the winner of the games? I think we would have to declare Zane the big winner. On the night we played Monopoly a few of us begged him to just foreclose and end the misery.
*Did that oldest ever make it? This is our Christmas miracle story...

On the 23rd Ian got a phone call from the owner of a restaurant he had applied to. After many probing questions she asked if he could come in on the 26th for an interview. He agreed. Two hours later she called back and asked if he could come in on the 24th instead. A little bit later she called again and asked for his shirt size. The next morning he walked in and they handed him a shirt and asked if he could work until 3. (This restaurant is next door to a liquor store... so they were busy despite the terrible weather) So, Ian's best Christmas gift was a new job. I picked him up after work and he was happier than I have seen him in a while.

Christmas day was quiet and lazy for us. We were up early to unwrap presents and spent the afternoon watching children nap all over the living room. We've done almost nothing since then either. I've been slowly sliding into post holiday doldrums but that ends today. My Mom and Stepdad are arriving this evening so there are beds to change, floors to vacuum, laundry to hide, and cookies to bake. The holidays aren't over yet! (I really need to come up with a plan to escape the yawning black hole I keep seeing lurking at the end of this season though...)

Spike the Eggnog

I know that in many parts of the country it isn't astounding to look out the front door and see a foot of snow. I spent five years in South Dakota, where a few feet of snow was considered a mild storm, and remember months and months of snow on the ground. I'm not a snow wimp. However, this is Washington and it rarely snows here. People don't know how to drive in snow, cities don't have enough plows to deal with day after day of falling white stuff. A foot of snow is crippling and we are inching toward a foot and a half.

There's still shopping to be done but if the weather reports are correct there is a good chance we won't be going anywhere soon. Tuesday may find me hiking the three miles to the grocery store to buy our Christmas dinner. It's okay though. We have electricity, food, games to play, and movies to watch.

... and the rum's not gone...

Cheers!

Sometimes it's not easy...

On December first I made a commitment to enjoy this Christmas season. To focus on the positive and pay attention to the beauty around me during this month. To remember that Christmas isn't about gifts or expectations but about loving. However, sometimes the world makes it very hard to stay positive and the last few days have been a little harder than most.

When Bob's company announced upcoming lay-offs...

We prayed and then decorated the tree.



The tree is beautiful and I only had a teeny tiny melt-down when I used the pruner to trim the very top in order for the spire to fit... and accidentally cut the light wire in two.


When our oldest son's girlfriend called hysterical because they had been fighting... and when he screamed that he wasn't going to talk to his mother about anything because she doesn't care anyway and hasn't for years... and when he called back later and apologised but said he needs money... and when he called one more time to say he and the girlfriend were going to work things out but can they come over tonight and get money...

I prayed and cooked a nacho fiesta. Then we watched some really bad Christmas Cartoons.



And then when they didn't show up or call for the rest of the weekend...

I prayed some more and photographed a very exciting chess tournament.




Which ended with a wrestling match between Green Mrs. Claus and Red Santa... and two very giggly girls.

When worry about the future tried to shake me I grabbed a fluffy puppy... and prayed again.



And when I felt like I had reached my limit and just couldn't find anything positive and didn't want to pray anymore...



A huge group of complete strangers knocked on my door, sang me a song, handed me a plate of cookies, and invited me to visit their church.

Which I guess should remind me that God is listening... and unpredictable.

(I was too shocked to photograph the carolers and the cookies went really fast!)

Noel

Noël
by Anne Porter


When snow is shaken
From the balsam trees
And they're cut down
And brought into our houses

When clustered sparks
Of many-colored fire
Appear at night
In ordinary windows

We hear and sing
The customary carols

They bring us ragged miracles
And hay and candles
And flowering weeds of poetry
That are loved all the more
Because they are so common

But there are carols
That carry phrases
Of the haunting music
Of the other world
A music wild and dangerous
As a prophet's message

Or the fresh truth of children
Who though they come to us
From our own bodies
Are altogether new
With their small limbs
And birdlike voices

They look at us
With their clear eyes
And ask the piercing questions
God alone can answer.

Gingerbread Memories

When Zane was in fifth grade we had been homeschooling, with some help from the public school district, for a few years. It was an arrangement that my more experienced homeschooling and unschooling friends found too restrictive but I really needed the structure and reassurance. I chose the curriculum and the district supplied the textbooks, some enrichment classes, and teacher support. All they asked was that I agree to teach to the district standards and check in with an education coordinator for a review once a month. However, by December of the year Zane was in fifth grade things were changing. We had an arrangement... I wrote out a daily agenda with a detailed explaination of the work I wanted him to do. He would sit down for breakfast, quickly scan my carefully prepared list, and then tear through the work as fast as humanly possible with as little help from me as he could manage. I wasn't really teaching, most of the time I was just verifying that he learned what he was supposed to. Usually he was done by lunchtime and the rest of the day was spent goofing off. But, the one thing that would slow down and really concentrate on was history. He loved history and, in the fifth grade, California expects children to do a history unit on the California Missions. I saw an opportunity to do something more interesting than just flipping pages.

At the beginning of December I told our education coordinator that we were already halfway through the textbooks for the school year and we were going to take a month off to study missions. She was super supportive and we had an amazing month. Looking back on it I can say without a doubt it was my shining moment as a "teacher". We read about adobe construction, studied maps of California, learned how ocean currents effected the Spanish colonization, learned a little Spanish, talked about the Catholic church, read Island of the Blue Dolphins.. which was probably a strange choice but he liked it and it was the right time period and location, attended mass at a real Mission and toured the grounds, and we finished the month with the construction of a model mission... out of gingerbread.




I'm not sure which of us learned more but it sure was fun. This year I'm hoping to have enough time before Christmas to work on another Gingerbread creation just for fun.

Tree Wranglers

Today was Christmas Tree Day. In a normal year it would take most of the day to stalk a wild tree, take it down, and drag it home. However, this year we needed to get done fast so we chose a nice, docile, precut tree. A friendly boy scout wrapped it up tightly...



and when we got home we discovered that even a domesticated tree needs a little wrangling to get it ready for Christmas.




Eventually it was subdued.

Tomorrow we will attempt to saddle it with lights.

Crazy Busy

Friday was a teacher "in-service" day for our district and we had such a busy and fun day at home. Taylor has been bugging me to color her hair again so Friday morning we both picked out new colors and had some fun sprucing ourselves up. Taylor really wanted to get rid of her natural red highlights (why? I don't know.. because she's 13 and beautiful but doesn't know it?) so we picked a color with that goal in mind. It didn't work. Her hair still has lovely red highlights even though it's now a shade or two darker than natural. I covered up all of my gray with a nice reddish brown (because I like my red highlights!). I think we both went a little bit too dark but it's temporary color so it will fade fast. I have a friend who is a bit scandalized that I change my hair color on a whim and actually allow my daughter to do the same but if it washes out in a few weeks then what's the big deal?

In the afternoon we hosted an impromptu Pokemon tournament for Zane's friends. Six fifteen and sixteen year olds who spent the day pretending to be ten again. They battled with their Pokemon cards, played video games, and turned Zane's entire bedroom into a fort with sheets draped over strategically placed furniture. Of course, while they were all in the fort, one of them farted and they all had to come running downstairs to tell me about it. It was truly hilarious to see these big boys having so much fun acting like little boys. I don't think they planned it that way.. it was a spontaneous mass regression. For dinner we made "build your own" pizza. The boys ate ten of them and were still looking for more.

Taylor left for a sleep-over and Delaney was a little sad to have nothing to do so we invited the girl next door over to bake and decorate cookies. They did a fantastic job cutting out snowmen and Christmas trees but frosting them was a pretty messy. Then the boys came back downstairs and devoured the freshly frosted masterpieces.

By ten everyone had gone home and it was just me and my dirty kitchen.. and the realization that I didn't take a single picture to document all of the fun. I guess we'll just have to do it again...

Today I should have done laundry and at least vacuumed but instead I went Christmas shopping for awhile and then came home and painted gifts for my neices and nephews. I guess it's been a rather productive weekend. Tomorrow we will go to get our tree and I promise to take at least one picture!