11 Years!

It has been a LONG time since I have written. So much has happened and yet much is still the same. Life, right? I've been thinking about starting this up again. I think I miss the process of documenting. Maybe I will start again. Maybe this is me starting again. Let's see.
They say that one should write everyday, even just a little to get in the habit and get better at it.  They say that about reading, cooking, exercising, baking, sewing, crocheting and just about everything else. And then they say to sleep 8 hours. Do they realize, we aren't all independently wealthy and have to you know work for the man for a living to be able to do a few of those other things on any type of regular basis? There never seem to be enough hours for it all. Let's see what rhythm I can get into.
There are also places to go and things to do and people to see. And don't forget those roses that we have to stop and smell.
My husband always shakes his head at me complaining that I want to do it all and can't. I need to pick and choose. I'm not convinced. I think it can all get done just not at the same time. The picking and choosing is about when and how not what. So let's see if I get back into blogging and documenting some of these things I am choosing to do in all this free time. Let's see.
The new year is just around the corner. My calendar isn't very blank. Let's see.

What a fly may hear.

A fly on the wall at my house would have heard a conversation like this a few days ago.

Sensible Me: What do you have to do before you go on your trip?

H: I have to take the car for an oil change (we had an appointment for 3PM the next day), buy chlorine tablets for the pool (I had told him to get them on the way home today but he chose not to and I chose not to remind him of the fact), vacuum the pool, pack my clothes, pack and ship the printer and scanner, go to the bank, plus work. I guess I will pack in the morning after I drop you off at work, then I can pack the office equipment and get some work done, then go to the pool...".

Sensible Me: I stopped him there. Too many flaws with the plan already to let him continue down this slippery slope. "Why don't you vacuum the pool now before going in while the sun is going down? It won't be so hot and draining and then you can cross it off your list."

H: "No." Shaking his head offering no reason

Me: "Why not, is that too sensible? To work in the yard while its cooler?"

H: laughing, "Yea, that's sensible, we can't have that. Prohibited with a capital P!"

Sensible Me: laughing but not giving up, "Why don't you pack tonight?"

H: "Can't yet. I may need to buy some things for the trip."

Sensible Me: "Well, then you should at least get all the stuff together after dinner so that if you do need something, you'll know and then you can get it on your way home after you drop me off at work."

H: "Hmm, you think so? Think things are open that early? You think that would work?"

Sensible Me: "I know. It sounds to sensible to be true doesn't it." as I continue to list the stores that are open and en route in the morning. Will they never learn that sometimes, I really know what I'm doing?

H: "Sensible! Can't have that! Absolutely not with a capital A!" He laughs. Thinks he's cute. LOL!

Look Up (a.k.a. Don't Look Down)

My house has been a busy busy hub of activity lately. Hubby is once again on a business trip and so I am with the boys trying to get everything done. All of the must do's and wanna do's plus the relax and enjoy stuff too.

So far I think I am doing pretty good. All the things that needed to get paid have been paid, I've attended all the family functions including an impromptu visit from my dad taking us to dinner for my bday and the washing is done and all the groceries and I even went to an exercise class (more on that later) and the pool is clean. The only thing that hasn't been done are the floors which brings me to the title of this post.

I'm thinking that its ok for a bit because we should be looking up and not down, right? Work with me people, looking down is always considered a bit depressing. You're down and out and told to chin up etc. If looking down doesn't bring you down then it most certainly will if you look down while visiting my home because the floors have not been cleaned everything else has and so something had to give. I actually had a bit of time and did the bathroom floors but didn't have time for the whole house because ya know it's a bigger area and takes a block of time that I just haven't had. Everything I have done has been in spurts with a little here and a little there until it all gets done.

I don't know how the floors are even going to get done because my calendar doesn't have any white space until Friday night and who the heck I ask you wants to spend their Friday night cleaning floors? Certainly, not I but I may have to because if I don't I may not only be able to look down but I may not be able to look at myself in the mirror. *sigh*

Time or Energy?

Wow, time flies when you're having fun. I have been busy and yet I have been finding time on my hands and still haven't been able to get things done. The list of things to do doesn't seem to shorten at all and I know I have been doing things.

I was having this conversation with my in-laws the other day about time. FIL was joking about when he worked full time and he had so much to do he could hardly get anything done and now he's semi-retired and still doesn't have time to do things. I argued that I think it has more to do with energy than time. There are days/weeks when I feel energized and I get more things done than I do in other months just because I seem to poop out and can't get to everything because I simply don't have the energy and need to rest and therefore find I don't have the time. He thought that had something to do with it but still thinks that time is the problem.

He also says that the more you have to do the more you get done. I do agree with that because I think you tend to organize yourself better and plan better to get it all done whereas when you only have a little to do then you feel you have all the time in the world to do it and postpone it and poof you run out of time to get it done or have to scramble at the last minute and complain you didn't have enough time to do it.

Whatever the real culprit is time or energy that's why I haven't posted lately. I will try to add more things to my list so I can organize myself better and blog more. Hmmm... that really doesn't even sound right, does it? *sigh*

I know one thing I have to do in the next couple of days is get into 20's room and clean it before he gets here and brings all his stuff home which could be any day now so that its all ready for him for the summer.

I obviously also need to figure out what's going on this Sunday for Father's Day and get ready for that. Those are the 2 big things on the horizon. There's lots of little stuff and I hope to get to some of that too. Crossing my fingers.

April

Here we go it's April. Tonight I will make the birthday cards for the month and pull out the supplies for the gift making for this month. There isn't took much going on this month other than getting ready for May really. Actually what I will be doing the most of is picking people up and dropping them off at airports and seaports. It seems everyone is coming and going. I have already taken hubby to the airport today. On Saturday I pick up SIL and family from the seaport. Then I will hopefully be picking up hubby from the airport and the following week MIL from the airport.

Easter didn't require any making of anything because all of the small ones were away on vacations. The youngest child at the small family gathering was 17. And although some coaxed and teased to go hide in another room while we hid eggs, he didn't budge. There was no hunt this Easter. It was still nice.

Hubby who was here for the weekend headed back to NY for another 10 days. At least that's the plan but we already know that's a moving target so we will have to wait and see. I did send him back with a Thank You card for the folks at the deli he eats at (with the exception of his birthday) for indulging me with his birthday cupcakes.

May will be a busy month as 17 is graduating. There will be awards ceremonies, graduation mass, and the big day itself, and the party that we must have to celebrate the milestone. To that end I have to finish up his scrapbook. So, I will be doing lots of that in the days to come. I really want to get it all done. So, I will be organizing those things this evening as well.

I see an evening of planning and scheduling to make sure its all done it time.

Calendaring

I am going though and updating my calendar which is now on my phone. I have spent time entering birthdays, anniversaries, and upcoming events. I'm getting all organized and know what's coming up when and now all I have to do is refer to the calendar and make plans accordingly. It sounds simple enough but I forget to do that sometimes. If my gift giving plan has any chance of working I need to make sure I refer to it and plan, plan, plan!

I was happy to see that there is only one anniversary in January and well I think they are going to get a phone call and a card because its just way too soon. The other thing that occurred to me was maybe having them over for dinner on the weekend. That would be nice. I gotta check to see if we are all available this weekend.

I do need to look ahead to next month. As far as I know I have two birthdays. I need to start thinking about what I am going to make them. Hmmm...I think I have some good pictures of one person with different family members. I could do some sort of collage or something and frame it. That's what I will do tonight is look for pictures. Right now I am clueless for the other person. This is going to be hard.

Resolution time!

It's the time of year again when we look back and look ahead and think of ways to revamp our lives.

Last year I didn't have a resolution to abandon 2 weeks into the new year. I came up with a theme which was Comfort and Joy. I have been thinking about that a lot the past couple of weeks. It's not that the whole year was just peachy there were plenty of moments when I was in the pits. It's just I tried to focus on the comfort and joy I found in things and that I gave (hopefully) to others. Right now that idea is feeling kinda lame, bland and maybe even cheesy.

This year I think the theme needs to be action oriented. A verb if you will not a noun. I thought of Comfort and Joy as nouns - the comfort and joy I felt or brought to others. I don't think that's going to cut the mustard this year. I need verbs; I realize to joy doesn't work but to comfort does. I'm not sure what the final verb will be but I have decided the theme will be to ??? (insert verb here) not a noun. That's as far as I have come after 2 weeks of mulling it over. If its taking me this long to think of 'the' verb I can't imagine how long its going to take me to actually do it. Thank goodness I have a whole year.

Side note: this is the first time EVER I have run the spell check and it has found no misspellings! Cool way to end the year!

What?!

I can't hear you over the cacophony of thoughts in my head. The loop de loop that is the list of things I want to do. It's as if there was a scratch in the record and it just keeps replaying the same part over and over again. It pretty much sounds like this: clean this, bake/make that, wrap something, clean this, bake/make that, wrap something....

Gratefully, friends came over on Sunday and even though I know I talked about baking I didn't. I truly disconnected for a while at least. I sat, talked and laughed. Imagine, I enjoyed some downtime with a friend. How awesome is that? Of course, as soon as they left I cleaned something, wrapped something and planned the next day's baking (all the making is done!). To give you a clue as to exactly how much this has taken over my brain. I found myself (I think I was sleep walking) in the kitchen at 2:45 standing in front of the open refrigerator. I don't know why exactly but this morning when I actually woke up I felt a compelling urge to check the supply of milk on hand. Who knows.

I have also started thinking about next year because apparently I don't have enough on my plate trying to finish this year that I feel I must start with the next one. What do I want to do next year? Am I happy with what I 'did' this year? Should I set goals or just let the year roll however it wants, as if my goals could actually alter that anyway. But I want to do so much baking before then, hmmm maybe I should start baking for next holiday at the start of the new year. Can I freeze things for a whole year? Will they be any good? Maybe I should research that a little in all my free time? I'd really hate to do the work and freeze the stuff and then it would be bad next December and I would feel even more pressure than I do now. OK, I need to stop thinking about January and focus on the 3 days I have left. Yes, I can do math! I know that Christmas is the 25th but we have our big celebration on the 24th and since I have to work on the 24th, I need to have everything finished before going to bed on the 23rd. So, 3 days left to do whatever is going to be done.

The trick is to get it done I need to shut my brain off so that I stop thinking all these other miscellaneous and assorted rambling thoughts and focus on the day I we are in right this very minute. I don't know how to do this.

So, tonight the kitchen goals are: chocolate crinkle cookies, mix & refrigerate pie crust, mix & bake a batch of sugar cookies and refrigerate another batch, make coconut macaroons, make truffles (maybe), make biscotti (maybe), make a grocery list for hubby to buy final ingredients needed for holiday desserts that I was assigned to take for the 24th plus what I am taking on the 25th.

Tomorrow's goals are: Wrap a bottle of wine, box & tag the final cookie gifts, go to coffee with girlfriends

Wednesday's goals are: Bake 2 desserts for Xmas eve and any remaining cookies.

You will note that I have truffles and biscotti as maybes. I have all the ingredients at home for both. These are both new items that I have never made and been wanting to try. I actually already mixed the truffles and the batch is sitting in the fridge so that has a better chance at getting done albeit maybe not in time for Xmas but for New Year's Eve. We shall see. I have an assortment of things to coat them in such as cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, Xmas sprinkles, 2 colors of sanding sugar and pecans. Why so many well its simple I couldn't decide so I got them all and figured I'd decide when the time came and its almost here and I still don't know what I'll do. Who knows? not me.

So, like I said lots going on but really its mostly in my head. LOL!

I am NOT! I am!

I am not going out this weekend. I am not running any errands this weekend. I am not leaving my house this weekend. I am not going out this weekend.

There! It's in writing and on the Internet, therefore, it must be true.

I am going to stay home this weekend. I am going to finish my gift sewing this weekend. I am going to do all the Xmas cards this weekend. I am going to start wrapping this weekend (especially those that must be mailed). I am going to get lots and lots of baking done this weekend. I am going to be exhausted and satisfied after this weekend.

At least that last line if true... Tis the season people! Gimme patience for all this comfort and joy!

Last minutes...

Sunday 19 is leaving and its nephew's bday soI won't get anything done and Saturday I am going to a BBQ at 3. So that means this whole dang list has to get done between now and 3 tomorrow! and I am sitting here at work! OMG! How is this going to happen? Some one please 'splain this to me.

How does that saying go...if it weren't for the last minute, I'd get nothing done. This weekend will be the definition of that because there will be many lat minutes between now and 3PM Saturday.

Then will come Monday...it will be strange without 19 home again and then the school routine for 17.

Have you seen the commercial for the big box office supply store with the dad prancing and dancing all over the store happy and giddy with joy buying back-to-school supplies for his kids who are standing there with long faces wanting to die rather than go back to school. At my house we love that commercial. We all laugh at it hysterically.

See ya on the flip side....gotta go make a list of things to do so I don't miss anything.....

Miles to go...

Early in June I wrote a list of things to do. I know. I know, I do this often but this was a big list of things to do in and around the house, on my own, with family help or just things I had to coerce others to do. Everything from bathe the dog to paint the bathroom to make 19 write and send out thank you cards. So, long story short this To Do list was 62 items long. I looked at it this morning and we have crossed of quite a few things. It's down to half. There are 31 things left to do on the list and of those 3 are actually planned to get done this week. I am VERY impressed. I think I can coerce the children into completing a couple more and then I will feel this has been a very good summer for accomplishments.

We just came back from the Open House at UCF. My son loved it. He doesn't want to leave FL and has seen 4 schools. He seems positive about the college application process and writing the essay is one of those things on the aforementioned list that I have to coerce him into doing. I am hoping for a rough draft by the weekend. A mom can dream can't she.

This week and weekend is going to be chock full of celebrating because FIL birthday is on Wednesday and we are going over for dinner. GM turns 85 on Saturday, I have to take her a chocolate cake and as of today she has requested Tamales (which I will purchase) and 16 turns 17 on Sunday. I have been told to do nothing for this event. I have offered to do all sorts of celebrating but he wants the day to be free. Fine! Whatever! I am a supportive mom and have the day open to jump through whatever hoop he will surely put in front of me.

Then believe it or not as I am getting half way through this summer list I am feeling the urge to start preparing for Christmas. I feel a list for that coming soon very soon. I'm thinking a list of people with gift suggestions. I think this needs to be done as the month ends because this Christmas will be a very homemade Christmas and I will need lots of time to plan and make the gifts because I expect a lot of trial and error because my ideas are not anything I have done before and so I will be winging it and expect mishaps and we can't give away mishaps now can we. Most likely if you are on my list you will either get something hand/homemade or a book or maybe both. Some kids will still get a toy but I'm thinking books or maybe magazine subscriptions is the way to go this year. Of course, if I win the lotto I will just charter a cruise to somewhere and bring everyone along! LOL!

2-1/2 weeks

Hubby is jetting off to the Big Easy today for 2 1/2 weeks for work. I'm hoping that this time apart will bring us closer together. I already noticed a few things the past few days that make me think it might just happen that way. I don't know. We'll see. I have been scanning airfare to see if I can go up for Memorial weekend and maybe we could have a mini-vacation just the 2 of us. I don't know. We'll see. It's really not that long, 2-1/2 weeks.
When I told hubby that this time apart may bring us closer. He looked skeptical and I told him that old line that goes something like - If its love, set it free and it will come back to you- and he countered with - Out of sight, out of mind. We talked a little bit about it and I don't know, we'll see how things feel later, I guess.

I snuck in a List of Things To Do in his bag. I attached this list to a picture of the whole family from when we went to Key West last year. Here's the list.
1) Work lots and make lots of extra $. :)
2) Go sightseeing and find some places you want to show me.
3) Stroll Bourbon street, people watch and find a place to take me.
4) Try something new and tell me all about it.
5) Find and buy a birthday present for your wife.
6) Have FUN!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch I have an agenda full of things to do and I am trying to prioritize them and squeeze in some quality one-on-one time with 16. It's just the 2 of us and one car so we have to coordinate all our errands, obligations, responsibilities and socializing. It's the end of the school year for him so there are many events and projects and much studying for finals that's going on during this time.

It should be an interesting couple of weeks.

Hot hot hot!

As you saw, I had lots of plans for the weekend and as usual life is a moving target and so I did some and not others.


First, the Alvin Ailey show on Friday night was phenominal. It was like food for my soul. I had a wonderful time. It just made me feel all warm and fuzzy and good. It was beautifula nd awesome in every way. Of course, as usual it made me wish I could get up and move like that. Afterwards we went to get some food for our bodies at Versailles which yummy and fun, as always.


Saturday I ran my errands and did the birthday shopping for my niece, visited my GM but I did not go to the Farmer's Market because the one I planned on going to ended in March. I will find anouther one soon. Saturday night took us to The Palm for dinner. It was far but the food was good. I'm glad we went but is it ever pricey so really, if I'm paying I don't need to go again. If your paying, take me I'll sacrifice myself and eat something.

As an appetizer we shared an order of Lump Crab Cocktail which was lovely. With it came a basket of saltine crackers and what looked like a fish spread. Since I tend to like everything, I served myself a liberal amount of spread on a cracker and had at it. All oxygen was sucked out of me and out my ears and the heat went down to my core and then back up the back of my throat to the tip of my nose and my optical nerve making my eyes water. As quickly as I could I stuffed the second saltine cracker in my mouth and with great effort forced myself to move my jaw up and down in a chewing motion to down the cracker. When I could breathe again I took a small sip of wine and a deep breath. Hubby who is always leary of new foods only dipped the tip of the tines of his fork into the spread and his eyebrows shot up when he tried it. He asked, What is that?! I, still trying to collect bring my breathing to normal levels, calmly said, horseradish! Bwahahaha! Serves me right for diving in like that. It has been said before and that only proves the point. I will die by mouth. I swear if I would have exhaled, dragon fire would have come out of my mouth. I am telling you I loaded it on the cracker.

Next, was the salad course. Hubby had the ceasar salad which he said was good. I had a hearts of palm salad served with wedged tomatoes, hard boiled egg and some kalamata olives on a bed of green leaf lettuce and a dressing of oil and balsamic vinegar.

The main course was NY strip for hubby and Filet Mignon for me. Both were cooked perfectly medium well and medium rare, respectively. Mine was like butter. Very tasty. The family-style sides we ordered were hash browns and sauteed asparagus with garlic. The harshbrowns were nice and crunchy on the outside and sofe and tender on the inside. the aspragus was perfect and the whole garlic cloves melted in my mouth.

For dessert we shared a slice of key lime pie which was uber-rich, homemade with condensed milk. Fresh whipped cream topeed witha strawberry was on the side. I had coffee to help it all go down.

Again, it was all good but very pricey. Good steak can be had for less. I'm glad we had a gift card that covered more than half the bill.

Sunday was going to be lazy day at home but I ended up meeting SIL and MILs to go to her niece's house and look at photo albums of the pictures taken of her 15s back in December. It was a nice afternoon. then it was home to watch Tivo, fix dinner and relax.

Monday was a lot more of nothing stressfull, just TV and magazine reading.

I need more days like the past few, horseradish and all. LOL!

Weekend things

Lot's going on this weekend to top off what has been a busy week.

I am super excited about tonight. I am going with a friend to see Alvin Ailey. I haven't seen them since I was a teenager and that was only a dress rehearsal not an actual show. I am really looking forward to that.

Saturday, I have some shopping to do for birthday presents, I want to go to a farmers market, I have to visit my GM, I want to make Mother's Day cards and then its dinner reservations at The Palm.

Sunday I hope to do some sewing, some photo organizing, some closet cleaning and some cooking. All home stuff that makes me happy. We'll see how much of all that I actually get done but for now I will look forward to Alvin Ailey tonight!

Tax man cometh!

Hope you got your taxes in on time! This is not a good day for most people. But it's working for me. For the first time we filed electronically this year. Woo Hoo! This year we are also getting an unexpected refund. Can I head another Woo HOO!? Thank you son for going to college and getting us that needed tax credit. Woo Hoo!

So, now the money that we had budgeted to pay the taxes is sitting there. But have no fear we already found something to spend it on. Car repairs. OK, so this all worked out. I am grateful that we have the money to repair the car because it's the only car we have. The other transportation we have is hubby work truck which is not supposed to be used for personal use. So, the car needs to be taken care of and the previously set aside tax $ will be used to pay for it.

More good news. Today is my dad's girlfriend's bday. I always remember it because hey, it's tax day who could forget. I have to call her. Hopefully I won't forget to do that.

And even more good news. The car repairs seem to be all done and guess what the total cost has been less that what was budgeted for the taxes. So, it looks like we actually came out ahead there. WOO HOO! Now we get to think of what to do with the rest of it. Fun! I have to convince hubby to donate some of it in thanks for the refund and for the affordable car repairs. I have to think. Maybe I can find a cause that would interest him. Gotta think.

Also good today is that I am meeting up with a friend after work and we are going to a presentation about Cuban Art. I honestly know nothing about the subject and am really looking forward to going.

It's a good day!

Another New Project

I am not going list the piles of photos waiting to be scrapped or the stacks of fabric waiting to be cut and sewn into dresses and blouses not the stacks of magazines waiting to be culled or the bag of scraps waiting to become a quilt or needless to say the stacks and piles of book to be read. Instead I am going to ell you about a new project I feel must be done (read: started). Gathering and organizing recipes. Why, should this be done now? Because I lost or shall I say can't find because it's probably buried or attached or stuck in some cookbook somewhere a recipe. My carrot cake recipe. It was a photo copy of a handwritten recipe card of the wife of someone that hubby used to work with. I've had it and been making it for Easter for I don't know maybe 10, 12 years until this Easter. I couldn't find it anywhere. I spent 4 evenings looking for it. Nada. I remember most of the ingredients but not the measurements and so began my search on the Internet. Gratefully, I found what I thought was a comparable recipe. Crisis averted. The key to this recipe is baby food. It makes it sooo moist and yummy. I made it and am told that it was a success. I don't particularly like carrot cake but I tried it and it wasn't horrible so that would be good for everyone else.

Now, I realize I don't have babies and don't buy baby food on a regular basis but let me just say Boy! have things changed! I remember their being 3 stages of food and 2 maybe 3 brands. Stage 1 was completely strained, 2 was strained but a few little chucks to start giving them some texture and maybe learn to chew a bit but they really didn't have to if they didn't want to and 3 they had to chew if was babied down real food. Now there are like 1/2 dozen brands including organic and since its on the same shelf space the variety has been greatly reduced. I could not find my stage 2 carrots! I needed strained with little bits in it. Not happening! Only strained carrots were to be found. So, I ended up grating real carrots AND using the baby food to get the texture I wanted in the cake. More work than I had bargained for but apparently worth it.

I was given an altered composition book quite some time ago designed to put family recipes in but honestly I haven't used it because its so pretty. I have only stuffed it with the scraps of paper that I find recipes on after the family has tried and approved them into the pages of the book. It's like I don't want to mess up the book by actually writing on the pages. I want to leave the possibility for fantasticness. If I write in it then the magic of how great it could be will be gone and then what?! I had this same problem as a kid with my Disney princess coloring books. I would color the entire book except for the one introducing the princess in her dress. I could never bring myself to color the dress because I might mess it up. What if I didn't pick the bestest combination of colors, shade it right, color it even, make it beautiful enough? If I colored it, it would be a done deal. As long as it remained uncolored the possibility for unsurpassed beauty, creativity and the perfect princess dress were still an option.

So, I am going to bite the bullet and write in and put tried and true recipes in the book that was made for me with love for that purpose. At least that's the idea for the new project. I'll let you know how it goes.

The gift of go out and do something.

I had so much fun this weekend buying things! I didn't buy things to clutter a table or closet. I bought things to go do things. I love it!

It was friend's 50th birthday. I didn't get him a shirt or picture frame. I got him a gift card at a great Argentine restaurant so that he could go out and celebrate with dinner. Love it!

Then there was a sale at the Performing Arts Center and I went to buy tickets for a show for MIL for Mother's Day and ended up buying her 2 tickets, hubby's aunt 2 tickets, myself 2 tickets for another show, Fuerza Bruta, on my birthday and 2 tickets for me and a friend to see Alvin Ailey. I had a blast just buying the tickets. Imagine how much fun I will have going to the show.
Plus all the tickets were Buy one Get one Free. Well, except for Alvin Ailey but the rest were. So, how could I NOT get them. I had to. They practically forced me. You weren't there honest. I just couldn't say no. I am so looking forward to it.
Woo Hoo!

What to do? What to do? Start something new!

I have an assortment of projects going on and don't know what to do first or next.

I have some pictures that I want to order to scrap a mini-brag book for a friend who just had a baby. I already have a table full of photos from last May and papers and and embellishments waiting to be scrapped. I have a blouse already cut waiting to be sewn. A stack of fabric waiting to be cut and sewn into a jumper for my niece, blouses for me and oh yeah the fabric to re-cover the chair in the office and then there' s the quilt project for 16. And the book I just started that I left in the car and am not reading right this minute.

So, this weekend I think I'm going to cook and bake. I heard that. I know, I have so many other things started I can't decide which one to do, so I'll just do something else. That usually works. I'll make 16 some Valentine sugar cookies for starters. That's what I'm gonna do.

That will be in between visiting a friend who's in the hospital and wishing them well. HMmmm...maybe I'll make them something too. If he goes home tomorrow, I will definitely make them something. But what? Decisions, decisions....
The good news is...I'm coming out of my funk...climbing out of that bowl of pits. woo hoo!

'Tis the season!

Where have I been?, you ask. Well, I've been shopping that's where. I started Black Friday and have been at it since yesterday. I'm done now. Did you hear that? I am done with the gift shopping now I begin baking. Yea! I love this season of giving. I craft, I buy, I bake, I cook all the fun things!

I made one girlfriend a cake which I gave her for Thanksgiving. Now I will make goodies for the neighbors and other girlfriends and a few of 16s teachers.

I also made my seasonal charitable donation to 2 teacher proposals through Donor Choose. I have the button there on the sidebar. I really like this site because it funds specific requests that teachers want for their classes but due to budgetary restraints they can't fund them. Take a look. You may find something that moves you to give.

I have made batches of Creme de Vie (see: http://cubanfood.blogspot.com/ ) for recipe. Now I will start on cookies and cakes and pies and I am going to make meringues with the egg whites from the creme de vie and GM asked for banana bread not too Christmasy I know but she asked so I'll make it for her.

Speaking of GM the boys went with me over the weekend to see her. She was thrilled to see them. We had a very nice visit and I got some great pictures one of which I already enlarged 5x7 and framed. It will be one of her Xmas gifts plus her chocolate covered cherries (a must) and a new nightgown and robe and some lottery tickets. She's back in the hospital again. She's calm this time. They have found a tumor in her uterus and her cumedin (sp?) levels were high. They are getting her blood levels back to normal and meanwhile they are checking her pacemaker again. We'll see if she agrees to the operation to remove the tumor. That will be tonight's adventure. I'm leaving it in God's hands.

So, tonight after visiting and dealing with GM, I will finish wrapping and settling the gifts under the unadorned tree. It has lights but no ornaments. I have some loose ornaments in a drawer that were purchased throughout the year I will hang those tonight to see if hubby gets the hint and brings the rest of the stuff down from the attic. This weekend the baking begins in earnest. I'm looking forward to it.

There are so many things that I want to do this season that I have a list (duh!) I''m list lady. Let's see how much I get done. The only thing that didn't get done for Thanksgiving was getting my nails done. I spruced them up a tad at home but they weren't done. We'll see how much I get done on the Xmas list.

Long weekend

It's been a few days I know but I have been going through various levels of Dante's Inferno with my GM. She has taken things to a new level and pushed not only my last button but the last button of others who have been trying to assist her all along. Having said that I won't go into it because it exhausts me to even think about rehashing it. Suffice it to say that may get legal...

Meanwhile back at the ranch....have you ever gone to a Cross Country Meet? You know running 5k. Well, 16 has been training forever (read: a year) and we went to his 2nd race this past Sunday. It almost killed me. It is SO hard for me to watch the physical exertion that all those kids put out to finish. He ran a personal record, taking a little less than a minute off of his time. He finished 74th in a field of 198 runners and he scored points for his team by being the 5th man in the JV to come in. The JV placed 4th out of 27 schools. As he came around the last quarter mile to the finish line, he dug deep down and from out of no where kicked in some speed. His face showed all that effort being forced through his body. I cried. It's do hard to watch. Of course, everyone teased me and said but you have a son who plays football! That's so much easier than this, I told them. They have pads on to protect them, they wear helmets, they are down on a field where I can't see his face, playing with teammates that help him make his plays. Running is you and a pair of shoes on your own against everyone. You can share a tackle you can't share a finish in running. In football each play lasts a few seconds and then they regroup. In running you are on your own pounding it out for 15/20 minutes. The coach came over to me and just put his arm around me and said "Thanks for coming." We all laughed.

There's another meet today and then another one on Saturday. He has goals to PR each time.

I am going to try to schedule my life a little better. I know things come up and plans change but I have so many things that I want to do. I think I need better time management. I have to work on this. I am sure you will hear more about it. I am going to start with a list of stuff, broad idea of what I want to do. Then I will try to see how I parcel out time to do each of these things on a regular basis. I have to noodle this some more.