SHEs Organized

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful time visiting family yesterday. It is always so good to see everyone, & I love the hustle & bustle of so many kids running around. It was our first Christmas since ddad passed so there was some sadness, but we enjoyed sharing our memories of him.

Today dh & I relaxed -- walked ddog, fed the birds, had breakfast & opened gifts. We puttered around the rest of the afternoon & napped before dinner. I have some leftover turkey from yesterday so will make some sides to go with that for dinner tomorrow.

Harriet, congratulations to your dd14! Wonderful news, & being above the fold, too ! Glad your ddad was OK after his fall.

Lilac, I stopped to pray as soon as I read your first post about dgd16. So glad to read a later post that it was nothing serious & that she was no longer in pain. Poor sweetie.

OKay, forgive me for giggling that LO ordered a years worth of Looney Tunes! Enjoy your snow!

Helia, I'm the one with the hagelslag & Leyden cheese (my parents were born & raised in Holland & moved here after WWII). Years ago dsis found a store that sold several Dutch food items including the hagelslag & she has kept me well supplied. They closed last year & I will have to look for an online store to get more in future. The kaas is a result of excellent customer service on the part of Wegmans grocery store. When they opened around here a few years ago I went to check it out & they have a huge cheese section with employees just for that department. They didn't have any Leyden cheese, & it wasn't on their list at all, but the woman said if I wanted some she would order it just for me! I was amazed & delighted .

My parents used to visit relatives once a year & always brought an extra suitcase to lug home misc food including, always, an entire wheel of cheese -- & this was in the days before suitcases had wheels ! You reminded me that I want to find out what catalog my dmom orders from -- she gets the dgkids Dutch letters every Christmas & dbro, dsis & I Speculaas cookies (My favorite -- yum!).

One of the ornaments Santa left in my stocking reminded me so much of Indi when I opened it. It just made me happy & I will think of her every year when I put it on the tree. Here's a link to a picture of it:

http://www.hookedonhallmark.com/2012-Me ... 34145.html

Dh is calling --good night dear friends!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone here.


I must say, just in case none of you realize it, that this is the nicest message board on the internet.


I don't come around often enough, but even when I just pop in to read, this site calms me down and encourages me to bring out my domestic Goddess even when she has absolutely no desire to lift her lazy little fingers and pick up after herself or others.

Thank you all for being here.

Hugs and kisses from Cathy (and Mike)

I mentioned our breakfast "worthy of Tara" in J&C...
Just to let y'all know how my mother does Christmas -- and you'll see, my lack of domestic skills is not for lack of good "home training" -- rather, in the words of Merle Haggard, "Mama Tried" but it just didn't take in my case.
This was breakfast/brunch:
Country-style ham
Bacon
AND
Sausage
Biscuits, with butter, and I believe, 6 different choices of jellies/jams
Scrambled eggs
Citrus salad of grapefruit, oranges, and cherries
Cinnamon rolls

LOL... I know... y'all are wondering how we all managed not to have heart attacks from all the cholesterol.

Dmom also made a fruit salad that is in HIGH demand for our extended family gathering -- oranges, apples, pecans, grapes, and bananas. I think that's all she puts in it, plus maybe just a dab of sugar. We all love it so much that I had to have it at my wedding reception. Otherwise, she only does it at Christmas. My cousins don't think we've celebrated the holiday if she doesn't have it. She said she spent 2.5 hours straight, just peeling & slicing fruit. I could definitely have helped with that if she had done it on the 23rd, and she says she could have done the oranges & grapefruit that much ahead of time. NEXT YEAR... I WILL be more helpful.
Of course, I did not lie around eating bon bons all weekend. We were gone all day the 22nd, and on the 23rd, I spent 4 hours + baking cookies!
Dmom also made a cheese ball, but that took maybe 20 minutes.

* Editing to say, I did not touch the sausage or eggs... but I probably had more than my share of the ham, bacon, and biscuits... plus one cinnamon roll.

Happy birthday, Norma!!!

Harriet, I don't mean to break one of the commandments, but I must confess I am just envious of your ability w/these fonts and designs...

Maybe not envious... I wouldn't want to have your ability if it meant YOU would no longer have your ability. I just want talent LIKE yours!

lucylee, I don't think lack of kitchen skills quite equates to getting sent up the river like in Merle Haggard's song! Somehow, I think your mother is very proud of you and is happy to take credit for you.

LOL, Harriet -- I guess no one ever was sent to prison for eating too much fast food. (and thank you so much for the sweet words! I guess you're right; I think my mom will keep me.)

Ooohhh... thinking of my mom again... she sorta does depend on me in ways I seldom realize... and when I DO realize it, ooohhh... makes my nerves (and my tummy) kinda go flip-flop again.
Today, she & I were alone and I told her that we all really did appreciate all the effort she went to -- that ham & biscuits would be more than plenty for us, she didn't have to do it all like she did, etc... but that NEXT YEAR, I should be of more use to her... and she then went on about ddad -- and how she had told him, "IF you have to have this done (transplant) I hope you can just wait till lucylee gets out of school... everything will be so much easier when lucylee is out of school... or at least in my mind it will be... "
* sigh *
But of course, I said the right thing, and told her that 'lucylee' can get out of school whenever she has to.
In fact, I have enough sick leave built up that I could leave now w/out affecting my retirement at all. Well, maybe I'd lose a month or two credit on my retirement income... but I've got more sick days than we have days of school -- that's what I mean. So... I want to finish out the year, but I'm waaay past the point where I really have to.
But ooohhh... I am sooo NOT ready for what may lie ahead of me.
Y'all just PLEASE keep praying for me.

Happy Birthday Norma! And a Happy Belated Birthday to TwinsMom!

Wanted to tell Dee before I forget, DH had a Pterigium operated on
quite a few years back and it was successful and not a terribly bad time recuperating.

Congratulations to Harriet's DD14 on her success with her art.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates. Tonight I am agreeing with OKay when she said a couple days ago about how tiring being "on" is. I've been "on" since Sunday afternoon and I'm exhausted. I'm trying not to make judgements on everything until I've rested and have more perspective.

(Lucylee) you'll do fine, you always do.

Celebrations at both places were good. 1st place was pretty, friendly, organized, happy. 2nd place was hectic, friendly, funny, and oh-so-busy. I wouldn't trade my time with the grandchildren for anything in the world. Sharing an ear bud with DGS, listening to his music, etc., there's nothing to describe it. Gifts we got everyone were very well received.

DD2 is still in the middle of her remodel, with another phase started with the resulting dust, etc. DH and DSiL and DGS13 installed their new double french doors Mon. and Tue did a bit of framing around them. DD was up all night getting caught up on things, after we wrapped packages till 2AM. Mon. was the turkey DSiL put in the fryer while DD and I made the rest of the dinner.

Lasagna served for our dinner today, I did that as she finished an important bit of computer work that took 4 hours. We left with their dog just before they left for their Christmas trip up into the snow; I'm praying they don't get into weather problems on their way or on their way back.

Downside to the whole thing is DH says a 2-3 hour trip is hard to do now, his problems are getting worse, and he had to take long naps to recover while we were away; and packing the suv to leave room for their dog, I left a couple important sachels behind.

I've organized the mounds of paperwork on my desk and put a bunch of things away, brought in the garbage bin and the mail; we can't celebrate holiday for long as the work catches up...I'll surely enjoy my own bed tonight. At dd1's we slept on very nice thick air mattress which was very COLD; at dd2's we slept on bunk beds with me on the top and that was a chore getting up and down. We will most likely have their dog a couple weeks.

Oh, if anyone is wondering, quilts were a huge hit. They took them around with them all day, laying under them to watch TV; running to get them if someone else was using their space, etc., and I don't think they'll be treasured bedspreads, but I know they'll get used and treasured as "blankies"!

Merry Christmas to all!! Happy birthday to Norma!

Surprised to see that lilac is in KS. I had the wrong location in mind!

scattered, we also saw Les Miserables today! It was really good. Told DD and DH that we were entertained within an inch of our lives!

We opened gifts on Christmas Eve, as always. Then had eggs and cinnamon rolls this morning as we unloaded our stockings. DD is very good with coupons and gets tons of freebies that end up in our stockings. It's so much fun to see what we end up with!

DS and DDIL arrive tomorrow. So we will open more gifts with them. I kind of like stretching out the holiday like this.

Congrats to Harriet's DD14!

I do appreciate your confidence in me, Harmony... and I know that -- at least right now, for the moment, at this very second -- I am holding things together than I might have a few years ago.
I'm almost afraid to type that -- afraid I'll jinx myself -- and I tend to think I am just in denial... that I just STILL can't really believe that anything serious is really happening w/my dad. And I KNOW that it is, b/c my dmom has the strongest faith of anyone I know, but I know this just about has her at the end of her rope. She's got that knot tied, and she is holding on, but she is more anxious about this than I have ever seen her. And I know her own health problems are a part of that, too... and she probably worries that IF she is ever unable to care for ddad herself, what WILL he do w/only me * and dbro 14 hours away * to depend on???
* sigh *
But... sufficient to the day is the evil therof, right...
One day at a time.

Must get off the computer. DH just said, "I think I know why you haven't read the paper in two days..."