The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Good news -- Ally passed her driver's license test!  Bad news... the rains have been so heavy for a week that police are telling people to stay off the roads unless unavoidable.  Where are you sunshine?  Why can't I find you?!  I guess it's better than a blizzard, though.  Sea World is closed today, and there are floods and mudslides everywhere.  The freeways are very hazardous.  Of course, I still have a little shopping to do for Christmas, so I will venture to the mall today.  Fortunately it's very close to work and, besides, it is unavoidable... I MUST SHOP!

Ally had to take her test in the rain as well.  She said it only rains two days a year, and it had to rain during her test!  I said, well maybe they will be more lenient with you...

Our roof is also leaking.  Fortunately that's the HOA's responsibility.  It is not too bad yet, a couple water stains on our master bedroom ceiling.  Same thing that happened in Ally's room last year.  The HOA fixed the roof that time, but fiddled around so long with the inside ceiling repair, we finally had it done when we remodeled her room.  We were scraping the acoustic texture off anyway.

Just a couple days until Christmas.  This has been such a nice Christmas season.  Since the kids are older, there is no much less to do for Christmas.  We still have our traditions, but there is not the school Christmas programs, the church Christmas programs, and so on.  I miss it a little, but not that much!  I am sick with a cold, but hoping it will be gone by Christmas.  Dayquil has been perking me up a little.  That and shopping...

Just For Me

There are two sacred things to me on this earth that have nothing to do with my work, church, or family -- it's just for me.  If you know me at all I am sure you already guessed the one -- Starbucks!  It's not just their delish drinks and the fact that they make lots of them "light" or "skinny" -- it's the whole atmosphere of the Starbucks store... kinda like a get-away or a sanctuary to me.  Somewhere I can read, catch up on email and Facebook, study, play games on my iPad... whatever I want!

The other is playing volleyball.  I'm no professional, but I can hold my own and have a blast.  It's a bonus that Ally loves it too -- but I'd do it without her too, and she knows it:)  Don't mess with my Thursday nights.  We had a great player and friend from Brazil join us this past year while he (Israel) was working in the US.  He flies back on Saturday -- we will miss those good times.

Israel and Ally

Some of the peeps I play volleyball with each week

I finally had enough pics to finish this scrapbooking page

We have lots of packages around the house this time of year... which the cats love.  They also love eating the icicle tinsle thingies off the tree, so we had to pull those off the bottom two feet of the tree.

Made up about 15 boxes of my home made candies this week and shipped 8 boxes.  My friend Lory in Pennsylvania said she got hers today... and they arrived in good shape.   I have about 10 more boxes to make up before Christmas... good thing I love doing it!  And good thing I love making them more than I love eating them!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Which is all we can do in this heat.  Actually it has cooled off to the 70's and is supposed to stay cooler for the rest of the week.  We went to see Christmas lights and visit the local tree farm -- with the windows rolled down!  That's a first.  What's not a first is me falling flat on my back.  Yep, stepped in a hole (more like a trench) at the tree farm and fell down.  Wasn't injured and laughing so hard I could barely get up.  I was holding Ally's nice camera at the time.  I didn't drop it, but it did get a lens error and quit working.  But later at home I was able to fix it by getting tips online.

Chris and Connie at the tree farm

Amy and Ally

We watched Christmas Vacation this weekend, too.  A classic -- doesn't everyone have a Cousin Eddie?

Felt a couple earthquakes this week.  One was a 4.9 in Baja that woke me up at 5 a.m.  I was making the bed when I got up and found a bullet and full cartridge in the bed with me.  Guess that's better than rolling over on a gun in the middle of the night.  I guess Chris was protecting me even while at work.  Although I don't know what I would do -- throw the cartridge at a robber's eye?

We saw Red at the movies last week.  Very fun movie.  There was only one other couple in the theater... we (Chris, Ally, and I) almost had it to ourselves!  We will probably see a couple more movies over the holidays... Narnia and Harry Potter is on my list.

Got my Christmas cards mailed out, and tonight I will box up candies to send out.

Ally went to the doctor again last night.  This is the fourth set of xrays.  Her bone is healing, but since it was so many fractures, and because it is the big toe, they said we have to be extra careful.  They gave her a wooden walking shoe and she is to alternate between that and the boot however she wants for another MONTH!  Back in two weeks for more xrays.  Ugh -- when will it be over?  But we must focus on the good -- no surgery needed, no more crutches unless she feels she needs them, and no cast.

Got some shopping finished up this week... not buying much since we all agreed to get a big screen TV.  Will most likely get that at Costco next week.  Can't wait!

C's Candy

I've been making tons of goodies over the last week... bonbons, cookies, biscotti, chocolates and more!  Some of these I will ship (though I must wait until the temp drops about ten degrees to at least 70!) and some I will give away to friends here at Christmas...

Cinnamon hard tack candies


White chocolate rice crisp snowmen


Sugar cookies


White chocolate peanut butter filled bonbons


Chocolate presents with orange creme filling



YUMMY!

Cause for Celebration!

We are celebrating for several reasons... other than Christmas!

It was looking like Ally was going to have surgery after all on her foot, but when they removed the cast to take a third and final set of unobstucted x-rays, it turned out the reason it looked like her bones had moved was because of the angle the second set of x-rays was taken at. So no surgery after all -- and she now has a walking boot (and crutches if she needs them) for another 4 weeks or so. We were very happy about that!

I am also celebrating because, after all my doctor appointments, sleep class, and monitoring, I was diagnosed as apnea-free! Which means, I do not stop breathing in my sleep, and I do not need a machine to assist me breathing at night. WOO HOO! My nasal spray is helping with my snoring, but if it doesn't clear up to suit Chris, I will go back to the doctor to have a camera inserted, I guess into my nasal passages, to see what is going on.

I started making all kinds of Christmas goodies... loving it! We made sugar cookies, dipped in chocolate, and then used what are called chocolate transfer sheets to add the designs to the cookes. So fun and cute!

We got the tree up and decorated yesterday... that's it, I will have to finish putting up the other Christmas things during this week. This is the last year for a pre-lit tree. We have had too many issues with the lights shorting out. There is a trick branch this year -- if the lights go out in a certain section, I have to wiggle the branch. HA HA. Two other sections are out, and we haven't been able to replace bulbs with any results. I strung an extra set of lights on to get us through this year -- shopping for a new tree on December 26, for half off!

Rodney Reindeer has been in our family for many, many years. Amy cried when we put him away with the Christmas stuff when she was little. He is the last thing to go in the tree each year.

Amy practiced some highlights on my hair. I really like them, I think I look younger... maybe even in my thirties... ha!

I did a couple scrapbook pages recently also.

The kitties waiting for breakfast.

I am sure we will be busier and busier in the next few weeks, but will try to find time to post. I am off the week between Christmas and New Year's... yippee!

'Tis the Season (to be Freezin')

Hello Winter!

Yes, it's been below freezing at night here... some people think San Diego is tropical all year, well we live far enough inland that it gets cooooold at night! Better than 100 degrees though!

We did make it to Sedona for the Thanksgiving holiday. We stayed in my friend Thelma's new house. Gorgeous two story house with great views, a wrap around deck, and we had the entire downstairs as living quarters. Ally got a walking shoe on her cast, so she still had to use crutches for things like shopping, but was able to hobble around the house with the cast and shoe on. Tonight she goes to the doctor again, hopefully to get a full-on walking cast.

I found these glass candies for my collection at an antique shop in Cottonwood.

We ate twice at Cracker Barrel while in Arizona. We don't have those in California -- they are a MUST VISIT while out of state. Had chicken friend steak (shared with Ally) once and the french toast (shared with Chris) in Yuma on the way back. I picked up a big jar candle in their shop and went to put it back while holding onto the lid (not advisable), and the whole thing shattered on the floor just missing Ally's toe in her cast! She would only let me hold the sock monkey after that. I love these from their candy shop. I ate these all the time when I was little, but can rarely find them now. I haven't mastered the marshmallow filling technique yet, so I can't make these myself... but someday! They have a little coconut on the top mixed in with the chocolate, so Chris won't eat them. MWAH HA HA!

Weight Watcher's has revamped their entire program. More points are allowed, more activity points are earned, but some foods (less healthy) have more points that before. However, all fruit is now zero points, so I am loading up!

Looking forward to decorating this weekend for Christmas!

On the Mend...

At least I hope we are on the mend. Amy is doing much better, she is planning to go back to work and school after Friday. She has heard a few comments about taking two weeks off just because of her throat. Yeah, those are from people who have not had their tonsils out when they are an adult. It was worse than we ever expected. I did tell Amy that we would have probably said the same thing before we went through it.

Unfortunately, Ally fell down a half flight of stairs at her school with her cast and crutches. Her other ankle is swollen, and she had to CRAWL to the bathroom yesterday. But it looks a little better today. We have been icing it and got an Ace bandage to give it some support. The bad thing is that all of her weight has to be on that ankle, because she is not to put any weight on the cast. We are hoping she will be well enough to travel to Arizona for Thanksgiving next week. She said sadly, "You can go without me." I said, "Ally, we can't leave you if you can't walk on either leg!"

On Tuesday, while we were in the exam room waiting for the doctor to discuss the original injury on the other foot, we pulled up these x-rays of the shattered bone in her toe. I was surprised our cell phones took such good photos. As long as these bones don't move, surgery won't be necessary. That's what we are counting on. Of course, falling down stairs does not bode well for the bones. Ha ha!

I never tire of our cats or taking pics of them. Here's one more of fat Tigger -- he is fat, but not as fat as this angle makes him out to be...



I might not get a chance to post again until after Thanksgiving. Looking forward to the break.

Tough Break

Aaaaahhhhh... good news, Amy is on the mend. Bad news, Ally has broken her left big toe in at least three places. It's pretty much shattered, and we meet with orthopedics in the morning to determine if it will be casted or needs surgery. The pieces are pretty much in place, so the general practioner who looked at it says it might not need surgery, so we are praying for that!

Tigger is happy that Amy lays around all day...

So far, we are still planning to be in Sedona for T-Day. We got two new tires on the Civic and will have the oil and transmission fluid changed this week. Ally will come along on crutches -- that is the plan so far.

Amy was able to come with me to Wal-Mart just to get out of the house. It was her first time out in eight days. We also went to Bob's Big Boy for soup and ice cream, but the soup was too spicy, and she ended up getting salmon instead. I expect she will be back at work and school by the end of the week.

I scanned some pics for posting on Facebook for Veteran's Day. Good memories!

1987/88 just after I got out of the Navy, I was still in the Reserves...

I think 1984, I was 18 or just turned 19 at the time. This is my farewell, leaving Norfolk to join my new hubby in San Diego.

Me and my dad, 1988

1988 Wharton, Ohio -- big time Memorial Day parade.

And I made these candies which had cranberries and crisped rice in them.

I made my first attempt at biscotti also and was it fabulous!

After waiting eight months trying to find just the right corner cabinet with just the right measurements (or close to it), I finally found one on Craig's List. This now sits at the bottom of my stairway. Hurray!

Chris was able to come play volleyball with us for a couple hours on Thursday, and some of us went out to Coco's after... a great time! I am probably best at setting. I rarely miss a serve (underhand), but hitting and spiking, yeah, not my forte -- I usually just bump it over if it's third hit and try for the back lines...

A crazy week and each week gets crazier than the one before!