Christmas Eve and all is calm

I am doing something I have no memory of ever doing before- sitting and resting on Christmas eve. All the presents I need for the evening are wrapped. All that I need to have cooked is finished. My clothes are ready for Christmas eve church, so here I am on the computer. I thought I would fill out the Journal Questions Charla put up on their blog.

Journal Questions
1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. On the 18th page, the 4th line says“…according to the Bible's last book, Death, Famine, War, and.'"
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What can you touch? the desk and computer screen
3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis
4. Without looking, guess what time it is. 4:25 pm.
5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time? 4:34 p.m.
6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? the television- Alan Ladd-Paratrooper
7. When did you last step outside and what were you doing? About 45 minutes ago. I went to the jewelry store to pick up a necklace I was having repaired.
8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at? email and blogs
9. What are you wearing? long sleeved Christmas shirt, jeans, black leather shoes
10. Did you dream last night? Not that I remember.
11. When did you last laugh? During Sunday school this morning. Our teacher has some great Texas euphemisms (sp?)
12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?I'm in the office and the only thing currently hanging on the light green walls is an incredibly big shoulder mount of a mule deer- looking over my shoulder out the window!!
13. Seen anything weird lately? That deer is kind of weird if you think about it!
14. What do you think of this quiz? Ditto Charla-Great excuse not to pick up my house.
15.- don't know what this was, it wasn't on Charla's blog.
16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? a newer vehicle and a back porch
17. Tell me something about you that I don’t know. My favorite place to get away from my brothers when I was little was in a brushy area about 100 yds from the house. I had designed rooms within the brush and would play house there.
18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do? I would want to bring more kindness to the world
19. Do you like to dance? Yes,
20. George Bush: A tough job. I think he is an honorable man.
21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? Charla
22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him? Will
23. Would you ever consider living abroad? Yes, especially if one of my kids is living abroad too.
24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates? I'm glad you're here.
25. Four or five people who must also do this quiz in their journal. I don’t pass these things on. If you want to do it, please feel free. If not, no pressure. (my sentiments too Charla)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

Ok Charla, now there's a new title

The Fighting Aggie Band marching up Congress Avenue- November 24, 2006

While we were with Charla this weekend, she hinted that maybe I needed to write something on our blog since the last posting was about going to Washington and dated October 3rd. So, here it is almost midnight and I should be in bed. But, the brain is whizzing with nothingness and I can't sleep. Ray has a terrible cold so I am trying to avoid him by sleeping in another room. Today was warm enough to necessitate turning on the AC for a while this evening. But I hear that we should be having 20 degree weather by the end of the week. I will have to get busy and put my plants in the greenhouse tomorrow or Wednesday. Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed the two days in Austin as well as the two days at home. Watching the Aggie Corps of Cadets along with the Fighting Aggie Band march up Congress Avenue to the Capitol was a definite high spot. I was surprised to see many Longhorns there as well. I wonder, do you think Aggies would come to watch Longhorns march up Congress Avenue???? Best get on to bed. G-nite all.

48 Hours and Counting

In approximately 48 hours we will be landing in Portland, Oregon. This is a city and state I have never seen. Unfortunately it will be dark when we arrive and the drive to Lacey will also be in the dark. But, in my mind I can already feel the cool crisp of the fall in the North West. I realized today that part of my expectation comes from the fact that we didn't go north this summer. My childhood and most of my adult life always included summer trips to somewhere north of Texas. My association with "vacation" is the first cool crisp morning on our northward trek. Am I going to be disappointed if I step outside my first morning in Washington and it is balmy and overcast...... maybe a little bit. But I know any disappointment will be quickly replaced with the excitement of exploring a new place- seeing family- visiting places Ray enjoyed when he was stationed at Ft. Lewis. My suitcases are filling. My lesson plans are written. My camera is charging. This is going to be great.

Polos

My newest fun snack/desert. I took them tonight to our Delta Kappa Gamma supper.

Polos

mini-pretzels
Rolos
pecan halves

pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. place the mini-pretzels on a cookie sheet. top each one with a Rolo (biggest headache is unwrapping each Rolo if you buy the big bag for a larger group) place the cookie sheet in the oven for 3-5 minutes, until the Rolos are soft. Remove from oven and press a pecan half into each one. Let them cool.

For a party I think it would be fun to buy the mini-pretzels that are shaped like Texas (or any other shapes you can find).

Enjoy!!!!!

It's Tuesday, no Monday, no Tuesday, no Monday, no...

This is a post I wrote a week ago and haven't found time to actually post. It was a crazy day. I will write more soon. L

Have you ever had a Tuesday that was supposed to be a Monday? Or maybe I should ask, have you ever had a Tuesday that turned out to be a Monday? This morning my goal was to be at school extra early because we were going to have to train a full-time substitute teacher in one of our art positions...... yeah, two weeks into the new school year our newest art teacher decided it was physically, emotionally, and spiritually too much for her. So, here we are with 6 classes of Art 1 and no teacher. So, I'm headed to school early.... or so I thought. Carry everything to the car, insert the key, turn, nothing...... not even a whimper. Ray, of course, is 40 miles away and no hope of him coming to drive me to school. Cindy to the rescue- fortunately she had not left the house yet and could come to pick me up. That put a hectic beginning to the day. By day's end though, we had a light misty rain falling. Right now we are sitting in the house with all of the windows open enjoying the cooler/cleaner sky. I'm afraid that is all we will get, but we can keep our fingers crossed.
The latest completion in the remodeling.... staining the beadboard in the kitchen. It is called Culinary Cream- a creamy pickled stain. I'm not sure how well it will show up in the picture, but here it is.

BW

And here he is- BW (bright white) will write more later.

it's healing

that's enough of that. i removed the picture of my hand from my last post because i am ready for it to be a forgotten stupidity. we are headed to Austin for Walt's made-it-to-60 party. Ray has some work to do at Texas Dept. of Ag on Monday morning, then home again to continue the painting, sorting, moving..... today's pic is of Ray in his office. After working for Del Monte 16 years, he finally took me to the inside of the plant. I had never seen his office in the plant. As soon as I saw it I knew it was his.... wonder how??? the server is down right now. i'll put the pic up later.

dumb stunt of the year

My dumb stunt of the year..... I wrestled with an avocado and the avocado won. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! I was making salad July 4th at Cecily and Farris' party house. Cut the avocado in half then attempted to remove the seed with the tip of my knife (while still holding the avacado in my hand). The seed slipped and I gouged a half inch deep by one and a half inch long slice into the palm of my hand. Being late evening on the 4th of July and not wanting to sit eons in the ER..... I also didn't want anyone by Dr. G to work on it if there had to be any work done.... we cleaned it up with peroxide and packed it with gauze until the next morning. Surprisingly it didn't bleed much and really didn't hurt much. Dr. G was in surgery all morning so he finally saw me at 2:00...... opened the wound and basically told me I should have had it sutured the evening before for optimal results in healing. Seems I cut the nerves to the lower part of my index finger and cut through a vein, both of which will heal over time. Good news was that I had not severed a tendon. Really the main reason I even went to the DR was for antibiotics. Today the hand is stiff and has 4 sutures on the outside. I think he put 3 or 4 inside as well. I guess that's about all from here. Back to painting cabinets in the utility room.

Doing dishes

This week's quote of the week: We arrived home from being gone for a long weekend. Ray said
"This sounds strange, but, are the dishes in the bathtub clean?" Yes, in the bathtub. But now I have access to a wonderful new sink. By the middle of next week I hope to have hot water with it. Here is a peek at how the new kitchen is coming along.



I picked up the glass front doors that go over the shelves. The glass is clear, but has bubbles in it to make it look old. I sealed grout Thursday evening, but have not yet finished. I will have to seal the grout around the bathtub too. I will put more pictures up soon.







Plata is having a hard time getting used to all of the ceramic tile and the hardwood in the den. She can't get the same traction to be able to jump up on the sofa or in my lap when I am sitting down. She will get the hang of it I'm sure.

Plata's Birthday-Flag Day June 14th

Charla directed me to adding a second day. I also have a second blog, because I didn't know exactly how to get to this. I will have to delete the second blog. I enjoyed having comments posted with my first day. And yes, Corrie, the schnauzer baby is Plata. She is now 4 years old- her birthday is today, June 14th. I am posting a new picture of her. I have also posted a picture of her best buddy- Mayday. We are not sure what her breed is. We rescued her from the Animal Shelter on May 1st, 1999...... hence her name, Mayday.

The Beginning

Charla and Amy both encouraged me to try to create a blog as a way to keep the family updated on what we are doing. There are times that the challenge of new technology is exciting. Then there are times the challenge is so frustrating it is easier to ignore it than to try. We will see how far I get with this.