where did the time go?

It is so hard to believe this is my son's 3rd Christmas, he is such a toddler, no more baby :( , has to "do it all by myself" as he likes to say.....this is the first gift giving experience where he actually opened gifts himself and went from zero to overload in about 1 gift, when we told him he needed to stop playing with it to open the next gift he had a tantrum, we had to hide the item from him and then he kept asking for it, it was a tool kit, and he is obsessed with tools and how things work, so we also did not start with the right gift, he has had two bad nights of sleep, not that any are great, but christmas eve he slept a broken 6 hours and then christmas night was a broken 3 hours....culminating with a bath at 5am after vomiting and then he was up playing and vomiting until 10am when he napped for about 3 hours, just now got him to fall asleep and i looked at him sleeping with naked feet, because he is hot, no temp , just bodily warm to the touch, his feet are HUGE they look like little boy feet gone are those baby feet, where did they go? how does it happen so fast you just turn around and suddenly they are almost 3 years old and slowly needing you less each day....i miss the baby and watch in wonder as this little boy shows us the man he is becoming.

Merry Christmas!

No doubt we are having a white christmas, it has been snowing and snowing and snowing, supposed to get a foot christmas eve, but then again it was not supposed to start snowing until 6pm, rather it started at 6am.........my son asked me where the sun was! Wishing you and yours a safe and warm holiday spent with those you love!

stressful business

I feel an urgency these past two days, so much to do, while we got our tree, it was very dry and needs lots of water, so we have been giving it as much as it will take, so far about 4 liters....we have yet to hand lights or decorations on it, hopefully later today, but I need to make 2 batches of dog treats, one of delcos, then hang some ceiling tiles, move a hanging lamp upstairs and a floor lamp downstairs, the hanging lamp is an antique and cannot be stored in any position other than hung or it will stress the glass......and I am so stressed to find all my hidden surprises for the family and wrap them then put them under the decorated tree......just feels like there is not enough time, since we are both working this week and have a charity dinner tuesday night and then christmas celebrations with my family christmas eve, this all needs to be done before tuesday night! not to mention the normal 3 meals a day, laundry, baths and keeping it sll together, oh and i still have some dvds to make as well!

we finally got our tree

I have been accused of many thing and one of them validly, I am a control freak, I have this order of things in my head that must happen, sometimes I express it verbally, sometimes not, after more than one bickering match, I finally let my husband in on some part of my christmas secret code, my christmas cards must be done first, and i prefer they mail on the 10th, I was late this year, then I bake or make items as gifts, some flop so we have to eat them, sad us, lol, then at some point around the 15th i like to get a tree, preferably tall and skinny or at least not 85 foot in diameter at the bottom, then after the tree is trimmed, i wrap presents since I now have somewhere to put them, why wrap them just to hide them in a closet or pile them in an unused room? We got our tree, it will be decorated today and i can then wrap and artfully place the gifts, which are not going to fit where they need to as it is, we have gotten a small tree and put it on our hearth, so there is limited space in which to place the gifts, so I am having to move some hearth items to the laundry room, mostly......thankfully the tree will only be up about a week, so less mess we can hope!

snow snow snow and boys

I have icicles hanging off the roof, the deck, the truck, heck even me, it is bitterly cold, that dry cold that makes your lungs hurt to breathe.....what we got today was all powder...pure perfect powder flakes that keep coming even now but not as large and heavy, we live in the mountains in a neighborhood where most of the homes sit empty as 2nd or vacation homes for bay area residents, some homes are vacation rentals and I think in this housing glut some are being rented yearround to the young 20ish kids that snowboard and seem to be mostly guys, well the house beyond a vacant wooded lot from us just rented last week to 4 of them, i think the home is maybe 1000 square foot, so yesterday when the snow began to fall they put a ramp, my husband said a half pipe and let the snow cover it and then today they spent the better part of the day, 5-6 hours, shoveling snow into a full on half pipe, now they have a subaru with a tow rope and a snowboard connected guy that gets towed up the street then back down at about 40 mph then the snowboarder lets go and goes up the ramp and back down, but to me it looks like they are trying to get air.......they groom the slope and have industrial lights out to light it, just wild! my fear is I have a son, how long until I am worried about him and his hijinks?

my mind lets go a thousand things....

like dates of wars and deaths of kings, yet remembers.....this very bower..... THE world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; 10 So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. 1806. why are wordsworth's words stuck in my head today???? Could the hub ub over the holidays and the purchases made be driving me to remember that once during the Romantic Age some fine scholarly men, and women, less famous, thought their society had run amuck......well here I am saying society has run amuck!!!

moon photography

For whatever reason, I had a nutty time, while doing dishes I spotted the clouds breaking over the trees and an almost full moon emerging, the urge hit me to try to play with the settings on the camera and capture this oak moon, this bitter cold, huge moon of december......having battled the camera last sunday and then again today with the effect being NO photos of my son with santa, I was in for it.....first trip out front the camera will not leave aperture mode, becomes frozen and even after turning it off and on again no photo taking ability, yet the battery reads full.....decided to swap out the batteries........I came into the house a partial icicle to discover that the spare batteries were not where they should be...in the camera bag, remembering my issues last sunday, I looked in my purse.....not there......then tore through the diaper bag, the back of the truck, a toy box, a bin of rubber stamping supplies....no batteries, in my utter annoyance my husband offers to help look, he begins tearing apart things, so then my son thinking it is fun, dumps all his toys from the toy box.....I ask my husband to go through my purse.......after his 2nd try he finds them and i have a small purse but he always jokes it is like mary poppins carpet bag cause it looks small but i manage to pull things out of it all the time that should not fit! Batteries changed i reset the camera to night landscape mode and clicked about 30 photos from the front yard......of course i had to wait a few times for the clouds to thin out, then hubby tried from the backyard but our motion lights made lighting an issue......I thought some turned out best and surprisingly the best mood shots were the ones with clouds glowing pink!

a white christmas is probable

winter feels like it has set in, that full moon beckoned us to look to the sky, it was a huge moon a few nights ago, making me unable to sleep but with more energy than usual, and now, we cannot see the sky for the clouds and snow falling, windy last night, forcing us to bring in our holiday decor, and now just icy crunching and cold darkness that makes you colder for noticing that you cannot see the mountains.

christmas cards

sorry but this year they feel like work, just no fun, i have about 6 left to make, I am so tired my eyes hurt......just hands all inky and dirty, so many margins left uneven and bad trimming on the wallets, I find it obvious that I am not into the greeting of the season this year, usually I feel the love for each person as I make them, so each one is always unique and like a little gift to that family friend, but not this year, just wham bam get the stamp on it and send it, sorry all! they are all unique, imperfect in their own way this year!

the tenth of december

my cards are not done, 7 ready to go 2 in the 80 percent range, another 60ish to make.....and just basic double faced taping photos of son to green pre-folded cards and then rubber stamping a few things on the paper, not much effort this year, sorry all.......i will finish them this week but worry our friend overseas will get them late......bear photo in the paper this week was taken on our street, the bear looks very large and was climbing down a tree a few blocks away, so much for them being in hibernation.......at least i do not have to make a card for them! off to try to sleep!

photo tag

this is my 4th photo in my 4th file, emerson's 1st santa picture at mom's old work, the elf is mom's old boss, kathy we love her! I cannot get the linky thing to work, so this is a tag from my life in germany....4th photo 4 file

My life in Germany: Random Facts Tag - thanks Crystal!

My life in Germany: Random Facts Tag - thanks Crystal! Random Facts Tag Here are the rules: 1) Link to the person who tagged you (check out her beautiful belly!) 2) Post the rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6) 3) Write 6 random things about yourself 4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them 5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog 6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up. So here goes: 1) I love the smell of coffee, but do not drink it 2) I am not in the mood for holiday cheer 3) I am currently baking a berry galette 4) I cannot find any red pens in the house for my christmas card creation 5) I stub or hurt my toes at least once a day 6) we are watching the bbc news on bbc america right now

just cannot get in the mood

I seem to be languishing in some form of denial , I mean Christmas is less than 20 days away and I cannot get one christmas card made, addressed or even thought about, it seems like the older I get the sooner the season seems to be marketed, and when i saw christmas goods on the shelves before back to school this year, that meant august! it just made me ignore it all the more, maybe next weekend i will put up a tree and getting out some of our decor might boost me, but somehow I need to get these cards made and mailed before the 10th, I had some wallet sized pics printed, so might just tape them to some holidayesque paper and call it good! here is hoping the funk lifts and i get some cheer!

eating pecans at 4am

what is wrong with me? I slept precisely 7 hours and 6 minutes, cannot sleep, just tossing and turning and uninspired to make the christmas cards that i try to send by the 10th of december, i even had my son color the background paper, but no themes are coming no sentiments to share, just a big blank! I was craving strawberries, out of season, so i mixed some strawberry preserves into some plain yogurt and after eating about 8 ounces was still hungry saw the jar of pecans in the fridge and ate about 3 handfuls, and i still feel hungry! I decided to clean the stove in hopes of my cooking adventure today, it makes it easier to have an empty sink and clean stove like a new pallate that i will mess up soon enough! thankfully boys still asleep, i miss our dog, she went to the grandparents for a visit, they decided to keep her an extra night, she would be up with me laying on my feet while i type. It is now 530 am and i am on my second cup of tea, thinking i might just send photo cards, but cannot even fill out the greeting in the online card customizer, ugh but i do want to make ginger ale/beer today my bug is ready to go! and cornbread and beans, but i did not soak them overnight, will try the quick soak cook method......and i am craving lemon cream pie, so i will attempt some kind of lemon curd from the lemons i have and hope it is enough for a pie.....and am also craving delco cookies or rugalah or whatever that fab kosher bakery called them, the cream cheese based cookie/pastry wrapped around a fruity filling.....every time i make them i eat more dough raw than i eat cooked......but they make nice fancy presents, who do i want to give some to though? me me me!

I love apple!

Ok, I freely admit I doubted we would have our laptop back before christmas, it just flat out died on the wednesday before thanksgiving, hubby arranged for it to be picked up under warranty, i wondered what week the empty box to put it in would show up, to my surprise it was the friday after thanksgiving, and we were home! we packed it and called fedex for the pickup, they picked it up before 3pm that same day! The repair location in Texas got it monday am and reshipped it repaired that same day, we got it tuesday before noon, so literally under a week with a HOLIDAY....wow and it works like a charm and we lost no date or picture or videos!!! thank heaven for that, we need to back it up properly now! Thank you gods of the orchard for your whiz bang service!