Well, the year, productively speaking, is over. The girls get out of school in less than an hour, and the Christmas vacation begins. By the time it ends, it will be a new year.
I finished all my Christmas preparations, aside from a few shipping snafus, earlier this week. All the gifts are bought, presents wrapped, cookies baked, and carols sung. Now, you'll just have to take my word for this, because I have not taken one single picture of this holiday season. So, here's a variation on the old bear in the woods question - if there's not a page about it in the scrapbook, did it really happen? Like I said, you'll just have to take my word for it.
All rambling comments aside though, this year has gone by in a flash. I think we all know that as you get older, time goes by faster. Then there's the whole old job/new job/moving factor. That adds some speed too. Each year I think maybe we'll have a boring year that will move slower, but it never happens. I guess it never will until the inevitable happens and we move into eternity. That happened for a family member this week. My Great-Aunt Charlotte passed away. Although she had lived a long life, it is always a sad occasion when you lose a family member. It seems though that this is happening more frequently lately, partly because (again) we are getting older, and also because our families seem to be genetically predisposed to long lives, so we are just now losing our "great" generation. I know it's inevitable, yet I just can't bring myself to think about losing those I love. As a card that my roommate in college gave me when I had to have my appendix out said, "You realize this comes as a great shock to those of us who thought you were invincible."
Well, I don't really have anything else of consequence to say, I just didn't want you guys to think I'd dropped off the face of the earth during this blessed holiday season. Enjoy your Christmas, and be safe!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Oh, the weather outside is FRIGHTFUL!
Well, as you more than likely have heard, Oklahoma has turned into a deep freeze once again. Here's our view of it:
The icy weather started on Sunday morning with a little snow, then a little sleet, then a lot of rain complete with thunder and lightning. Then it froze, then it rained, then it froze, then it rained, then it froze (are you getting the picture yet?) By Monday morning there was about a 1/2-inch thick sheet of ice on everything. The school closed down, much to the delight of my children, but Jerry's work didn't, so he left for work before 7:00. At about 8:15, we lost power, thanks to a large ice-covered tree limb two doors down that got heavy enough to touch the power lines. As the hours crept by our house cooled down and our refrigerator heated up. When it got to 43 degrees inside the fridge, the girls and I unloaded all our food from the refrigerator and transferred it to our front porch, where it was a chilly 35 degrees. The girls had a great time playing, and I watched the limbs fall off the trees and the icicles grow. Here's some photos:
Somehow, I don't think those herbs are going to make a comeback. I tried to get the mail, but the ice had sealed the box shut. I got out the hammer and busted the ice to get the mail (how did he get it in there anyway?) and then dragged a large limb that had fallen from our tree into the middle of the driveway out of the way so Jerry would be able to get to the garage when he came home. (You can see the base of the limb up there in the first photo in the background.) It was slicker than snot out there on the ice, and all that ice is heavy! I was sweating up a storm by the time I got back in the house.
Our electricity was restored after 5 hours, and we relocated the groceries back into the refrigerator. The girls played some more, and then we tackled going through Maggie's toys and weeding out stuff to make room for the new toys Santa (and the Grandparents) will undoubtedly bring. After that, I didn't have the energy to do Gracie's room.
I put the girls in bed at their regular school bedtime, hopeful that there would be school tomorrow, since the temps were back up above freezing, but alas, Gracie's prayers were answered, and they had no school today either. The roads are pretty clear, as I found out when I went this morning to do my civic duty and vote, but the ice-laden branches hang so low that I have to steer around them in the minivan - I'm sure a bus would do terrible damage if it came down our street. Oh well - that gives me the opportunity to help Gracie with her room today.
One last picture and I'll be gone:
Everyone stay safe and warm!
The icy weather started on Sunday morning with a little snow, then a little sleet, then a lot of rain complete with thunder and lightning. Then it froze, then it rained, then it froze, then it rained, then it froze (are you getting the picture yet?) By Monday morning there was about a 1/2-inch thick sheet of ice on everything. The school closed down, much to the delight of my children, but Jerry's work didn't, so he left for work before 7:00. At about 8:15, we lost power, thanks to a large ice-covered tree limb two doors down that got heavy enough to touch the power lines. As the hours crept by our house cooled down and our refrigerator heated up. When it got to 43 degrees inside the fridge, the girls and I unloaded all our food from the refrigerator and transferred it to our front porch, where it was a chilly 35 degrees. The girls had a great time playing, and I watched the limbs fall off the trees and the icicles grow. Here's some photos:
Somehow, I don't think those herbs are going to make a comeback. I tried to get the mail, but the ice had sealed the box shut. I got out the hammer and busted the ice to get the mail (how did he get it in there anyway?) and then dragged a large limb that had fallen from our tree into the middle of the driveway out of the way so Jerry would be able to get to the garage when he came home. (You can see the base of the limb up there in the first photo in the background.) It was slicker than snot out there on the ice, and all that ice is heavy! I was sweating up a storm by the time I got back in the house.
Our electricity was restored after 5 hours, and we relocated the groceries back into the refrigerator. The girls played some more, and then we tackled going through Maggie's toys and weeding out stuff to make room for the new toys Santa (and the Grandparents) will undoubtedly bring. After that, I didn't have the energy to do Gracie's room.
I put the girls in bed at their regular school bedtime, hopeful that there would be school tomorrow, since the temps were back up above freezing, but alas, Gracie's prayers were answered, and they had no school today either. The roads are pretty clear, as I found out when I went this morning to do my civic duty and vote, but the ice-laden branches hang so low that I have to steer around them in the minivan - I'm sure a bus would do terrible damage if it came down our street. Oh well - that gives me the opportunity to help Gracie with her room today.
One last picture and I'll be gone:
Everyone stay safe and warm!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Ho, Ho, Ho. . .
Well, it's beginning to look a bit more like Christmas around here. After listening to Gracie pray for several nights that we would decorate our gingerbread houses soon, I spent Wednesday afternoon putting together the houses so we could put the decorations on when the girls got home from school that day instead of waiting until this weekend, as was my original plan. Here's our final results:
I decided that the girls were pretty self-directed at this age, and it would be okay for me to make my very own house instead of trying to influence the girls to do it a certain way. Not that they ever did what I said. "It's my house, and I'll do it the way I want!" was a common refrain from years past, so I figured I'd make one the way I wanted this year! As you might see in the photo, our icing was a bit on the thin side, so the doors / tree, etc. kind of slipped down the side of the houses during the drying time. See if you can guess which one is who's house!
I decided that the girls were pretty self-directed at this age, and it would be okay for me to make my very own house instead of trying to influence the girls to do it a certain way. Not that they ever did what I said. "It's my house, and I'll do it the way I want!" was a common refrain from years past, so I figured I'd make one the way I wanted this year! As you might see in the photo, our icing was a bit on the thin side, so the doors / tree, etc. kind of slipped down the side of the houses during the drying time. See if you can guess which one is who's house!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Full of the Christmas Spirit - NOT!
Ah, the holiday season is upon us, and I am dangerously close to losing the Christmas spirit already! This is mostly due to run-ins with the retailing giant we all know and either love or tolerate as a necessary evil, Wal-Mart. Let's just say that now that they are online, they have two ways to make my head spin, and leave it at that. I called my sister with the whole sordid tale, and informed her that I'm ready to take back everything I've bought from Wal-mart for this Christmas, and re-shop somewhere else, because - gosh darn it - it's just the principle of the thing! As usual, Amy got right to the point and informed me that my principles were going to give me ulcers. She's right, so I got in the car, returned merely two expensive things (and bought one cheap one, and several groceries, because let's face it, Oklahoma is a grocery-store wasteland. Why doesn't Kroger expand here?????)
All shopping frustrations aside - and there are plenty - I'm trying really hard to get over my post-Disney let down and become jolly for the season. It's hard though. We are trying to nail down plans for the holidays, and I as try to juggle three families (four if you count us - and why shouldn't we count?) and their respective dinners I find myself having to remember that YES, this IS why I wanted to move closer. Don't get me wrong - I do want to see all of our families, but why, oh Why is this one day the mecca of family gatherings? Like, if I don't see you on Christmas, but see you the day after, it's somehow less of a family gathering? Anyone who doesn't see us on Christmas or Christmas Eve is somehow "shorted" and will bring it up next year so they get juggled to a better spot on the schedule. Jerry and I did try several weeks ago to nip this in the bud by scheduling Christmas in various locations for the next three years, but my sister spoke up again (who would have thought she'd end up being my voice of reason?). She said she can't commit to what they'll want to do next year, as she doesn't know how having two babies will be like when one is already a challenge. (Sigh.)
Luckily for me, I'm almost finished with my Christmas shopping - a few more stops and a few more boxes on the doorstep and I'll have the rest of December to stoke the fires of Christmas Spirit, and my girls are eager to help. We've got our Gingerbread houses to make, Santa to see, and presents to wrap. We've begun the marathon of Christmas movies that come out only between Christmas and New Years. I love looking at the holiday through their eyes, and remembering when December 25 seemed to take forever to get here. Now it comes much to fast, and, truth be told, is over much too soon. Because once I get my Christmas Spirit going - It's a great thing, and I wish it could last all year through.
All shopping frustrations aside - and there are plenty - I'm trying really hard to get over my post-Disney let down and become jolly for the season. It's hard though. We are trying to nail down plans for the holidays, and I as try to juggle three families (four if you count us - and why shouldn't we count?) and their respective dinners I find myself having to remember that YES, this IS why I wanted to move closer. Don't get me wrong - I do want to see all of our families, but why, oh Why is this one day the mecca of family gatherings? Like, if I don't see you on Christmas, but see you the day after, it's somehow less of a family gathering? Anyone who doesn't see us on Christmas or Christmas Eve is somehow "shorted" and will bring it up next year so they get juggled to a better spot on the schedule. Jerry and I did try several weeks ago to nip this in the bud by scheduling Christmas in various locations for the next three years, but my sister spoke up again (who would have thought she'd end up being my voice of reason?). She said she can't commit to what they'll want to do next year, as she doesn't know how having two babies will be like when one is already a challenge. (Sigh.)
Luckily for me, I'm almost finished with my Christmas shopping - a few more stops and a few more boxes on the doorstep and I'll have the rest of December to stoke the fires of Christmas Spirit, and my girls are eager to help. We've got our Gingerbread houses to make, Santa to see, and presents to wrap. We've begun the marathon of Christmas movies that come out only between Christmas and New Years. I love looking at the holiday through their eyes, and remembering when December 25 seemed to take forever to get here. Now it comes much to fast, and, truth be told, is over much too soon. Because once I get my Christmas Spirit going - It's a great thing, and I wish it could last all year through.
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