Wednesday, December 22, 2010

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...

My Sig

Friday, December 17, 2010

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!

My Sig

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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!

My Sig

Monday, December 13, 2010

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!

My Sig

Monday, December 06, 2010

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!


My Sig