It's not like re-gifting. The gifts inside are new. Because of other hoo-ha going on, I only mailed packages out yesterday. They went to NV, NJ, NH and SC, and covered Christmas and three birthdays, the 24th, 27th and 31st. Today is my birthday, thank goodness I didn't have to mail myself a gift. I think I would have sent me a lump of coal. December hits us hard.
Reboxing is where you have to unpack the boxes that were shipped to your house in order to have the boxes you need to ship stuff out in(out-in, good.) The first people who ship can't take advantage of this. Be it known that those who shipped in those little foam angel farts have recieved their own farts in return. With more static added!
Those who didn't ship in farts but by nesessity received farts, got theirs bagged and contained so there will not be a mess. Little staticky angel farts popping out of the box and clinging to everything but the waste-basket would put some people over the edge. Those people know who they are.
No pictures today, though I have finished up a couple of projects. They are gifts, so I can't put the pictures here in case the recipients take a peek. Like ANYONE acutally reads my blog!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Saying goodbye to friends
Above and beyond the holiday rush, we have had some major problems to overcome, and an unusual number of trivial bothersome things. And then we lost Harley, of indeterminate age and unknown causes. The burial service was yesterday.
My friend Denise lost her Davey today. Davey had a working life pulling carriages of tourists on pavement before being retired and sold to Indian Hill Ranch where he was a pet and took small children on their first rides. The pavement took it's toll.
Remember to enjoy the things you have today, because you may not have them tomorrow. Hamsters and horses live for today. People too often live for the past or the future, mysef included.
My friend Denise lost her Davey today. Davey had a working life pulling carriages of tourists on pavement before being retired and sold to Indian Hill Ranch where he was a pet and took small children on their first rides. The pavement took it's toll.
Remember to enjoy the things you have today, because you may not have them tomorrow. Hamsters and horses live for today. People too often live for the past or the future, mysef included.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Lights! Camera! Power Tools!
Dave and Joseph put the lights up last weekend. I got a little behind at uploading from the camera.
It took a team effort to get them up so far into the magnolia tree. I wonder what the resident hummingbirds thought abou that!
Mary Shelley has not spent quite as much time in the tree this year as she has in the previous 7 Christmas seasons in her life. It's a good thing too, since Dave is a ball of nerves due to starting a new job today. He can handle it, but he doesn't know that for certain and he is not one to go for uncertainties.
However.....a friend of mine has four cats. Her son rescued and bottle fed them as kittens last summer....... They like the tree. She finally got tired of picking up the mess, so she screwed the tree stand into the floor!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
1st, there was fire. Then, there was Home Depot
The finished fireplace! Just in time the The Season
A season of panic, last minute buying, errands we wouldn't dream of trying to squish in if it were June. A season of mud that soaks the heat out of your feet, and wool socks.
Dave should add wool socks to his Favorite Christmas Memories. You know the kind of socks......Can't wash in the washer or dry in the dryer or they will shrink...... I wash them in the bathroom sink. He doesn't understand why I don't wash them in a bucket, we have so many. It's simple, every time a bring a new bucket home, I find it later with an icky toilet plunger parked in it. I'm not putting my socks in THOSE! So he wakes up mid-morning and wanders into the bathroom and there they are, soaking. There are worse things....
As I reminded my mother at Thanksgiving, it could be worse. She complains that 'they' always leave the toilet seat. I don't remember when she didn't complain about it. I don't think she does either. Since my father has his own bathroom now, I can't see the problem, but old habits die hard and she can't stop complaining. So, I told her, it could be worse. 'They' could just not put it up in the first place and get pee all over the seat. I didn't even get an eye roll for that one.
Joseph and I have started our annual Christmas light charting. We do it each year, and have since grade K. We drive around the neighborhood in December and record which houses have lights up. This year we are counting by street, there are six, and comparing them. Who is winning? Riviera looks good this year.
Our tree went up last night. Joseph got some of the ornaments on. When Dave walked in, he said "I'm sick of this cat-in-the-tree business!" Sure enough, Mary Shelley was in the tree, about half-way up. She loves Christmas!
A season of panic, last minute buying, errands we wouldn't dream of trying to squish in if it were June. A season of mud that soaks the heat out of your feet, and wool socks.
Dave should add wool socks to his Favorite Christmas Memories. You know the kind of socks......Can't wash in the washer or dry in the dryer or they will shrink...... I wash them in the bathroom sink. He doesn't understand why I don't wash them in a bucket, we have so many. It's simple, every time a bring a new bucket home, I find it later with an icky toilet plunger parked in it. I'm not putting my socks in THOSE! So he wakes up mid-morning and wanders into the bathroom and there they are, soaking. There are worse things....
As I reminded my mother at Thanksgiving, it could be worse. She complains that 'they' always leave the toilet seat. I don't remember when she didn't complain about it. I don't think she does either. Since my father has his own bathroom now, I can't see the problem, but old habits die hard and she can't stop complaining. So, I told her, it could be worse. 'They' could just not put it up in the first place and get pee all over the seat. I didn't even get an eye roll for that one.
Joseph and I have started our annual Christmas light charting. We do it each year, and have since grade K. We drive around the neighborhood in December and record which houses have lights up. This year we are counting by street, there are six, and comparing them. Who is winning? Riviera looks good this year.
Our tree went up last night. Joseph got some of the ornaments on. When Dave walked in, he said "I'm sick of this cat-in-the-tree business!" Sure enough, Mary Shelley was in the tree, about half-way up. She loves Christmas!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
"Lord Love a Duck"
"Lord Love a Duck!"
My mother used to say that when I was little, referring to something ridiculous. It didn't make much sense to me way back then. It doesn't make much sense to me now. I think that's part of what it means.
Anyway, this car was parked at the feedstore on Main Street when I went in. It's not the kind of car you expect to see parked at the feedstore. Amazingly, the first thing I noticed about the car was that it was a Datsun. How long has it been since you really noticed a Datsun? My roomate at Cal Poly had a Datsun B210. Hers was brown. This one may have been that color.....once.
And then.....
I drove Ms. Maultsby's 5th/6th grade class, well 3 of them anyway, on a field trip to Christmas in the Park, a San Jose Tradition. It was pretty interesting, probably better at night with all the lights. They covered the grass with white fuzzy sheet things, nailed down. It's the best they can do for snow in Silicon Valley. They put up Christmas trees which different organizations had sponsored and decorated; businesses, scout troops, schools, FFA, Red Hats chapters, Las Madres, etc.
I didn't take my Camera. Lucky for you!
That is why there isn't a picture of my favorite tree, sponsored and decorated by Ryker Endoscopy. Yep! It was decorated with laminated photographs.
You are SO lucky I didn't take my camera!
My mother used to say that when I was little, referring to something ridiculous. It didn't make much sense to me way back then. It doesn't make much sense to me now. I think that's part of what it means.
Anyway, this car was parked at the feedstore on Main Street when I went in. It's not the kind of car you expect to see parked at the feedstore. Amazingly, the first thing I noticed about the car was that it was a Datsun. How long has it been since you really noticed a Datsun? My roomate at Cal Poly had a Datsun B210. Hers was brown. This one may have been that color.....once.
And then.....
I drove Ms. Maultsby's 5th/6th grade class, well 3 of them anyway, on a field trip to Christmas in the Park, a San Jose Tradition. It was pretty interesting, probably better at night with all the lights. They covered the grass with white fuzzy sheet things, nailed down. It's the best they can do for snow in Silicon Valley. They put up Christmas trees which different organizations had sponsored and decorated; businesses, scout troops, schools, FFA, Red Hats chapters, Las Madres, etc.
I didn't take my Camera. Lucky for you!
That is why there isn't a picture of my favorite tree, sponsored and decorated by Ryker Endoscopy. Yep! It was decorated with laminated photographs.
You are SO lucky I didn't take my camera!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Christmas trees
Getting closer to done.
I belong to an online group of artists. Someone posted a few questions about Christmas trees, just for the fun of seeing everyone's answers.
She asked:
How many trees go up in your home?
Are they up already?
Do you do them with primitives?
How long do you keep them up?
Real tree or fake?
Decorate by yourself or as a family?
Cedara
She answered them first herself.
How many trees go up in your home?
One...sometimes two if I am feeling full of energy! LOL
Are they up already?
Usually yes but the kitten is into EVERYTHING and she is making me really nervous about putting a tree up!
Do you do them with primitives?
YUP! If I am putting the decor up...then I get to pick the style and so the last few years...PRIM ALL THE WAY! LOL
How long do you keep them up?
Till the first weekend of Jan
Real tree or fake?
Fake....Mom is too nervous about a fire to have a real tree. We do put real boughs around our big window and door though with red bows!
Decorate by yourself or as a family?
I put it all up myself as everyone else can't do it anymore. They treat me to supper that day out! LOL
So, of course, I answered them.
How many trees go up in your home?
One, but it goes up many times. Mary Shelley does the happy kitty dance when she sees a tree come in, then she lives in it. That would work out OK, except Hub gets nervous that she is in there and in the ensuing fight over occupancy, it falls over many times. One year he put it up on the coffee table to make it harder to climb. You should have seen the mess when it came down! Another year he wrapped it in bird netting to keep her out. She got in anyway and when he tried to chase her out, she got trapped inside the netting and panicked.
Are they up already?
No. too early.
Do you do them with primitives?
We decorate with anything. Many of our decorations are the happy meal toys that we had so many of but that I wasn't allowed to throw out. I hung them on the tree, then packed them away in the ornament box. They come out every year and have fond memories.
How long do you keep them up?
Until Jan 1
Real tree or fake?
We have a new fake one that we got a 5 finger discount on when hubs company went out of business. (We also go all the office lobby plants.) This one had the lights already installed in the branches.The last time we had a real tree was when we were remodeling and funrniture was everywhere. We got a real one so we could cut the branches off of one side and push it closer to the wall. It's the only way we could fit it in.
Decorate by yourself or as a family?
Usually together. We bicker at the same time. The bickering begins over whether or not it is time to put the tree up, and if we should all decorate it together, and if we should do it all at once or ration it out so the deocrating lasts longer, and
"Who is clumping the ornaments? NO CLUMPING!"
"Put all the breakable ones up high so Mary Shelley can't get them."
"No, put them down low so that when the tree falls over they won't break."
"I thought we weren't allowed to clump them!"
"You can clump only when Dad authorizes it."
"Ok. Dad, can I clump the ugly ones in the back?"
"Yes, but that one's not ugly."
"It is too ugly!"
"No, it's not."
"Is too!"
It only comes once a year.
Visit Cedara's blog
I belong to an online group of artists. Someone posted a few questions about Christmas trees, just for the fun of seeing everyone's answers.
She asked:
How many trees go up in your home?
Are they up already?
Do you do them with primitives?
How long do you keep them up?
Real tree or fake?
Decorate by yourself or as a family?
Cedara
She answered them first herself.
How many trees go up in your home?
One...sometimes two if I am feeling full of energy! LOL
Are they up already?
Usually yes but the kitten is into EVERYTHING and she is making me really nervous about putting a tree up!
Do you do them with primitives?
YUP! If I am putting the decor up...then I get to pick the style and so the last few years...PRIM ALL THE WAY! LOL
How long do you keep them up?
Till the first weekend of Jan
Real tree or fake?
Fake....Mom is too nervous about a fire to have a real tree. We do put real boughs around our big window and door though with red bows!
Decorate by yourself or as a family?
I put it all up myself as everyone else can't do it anymore. They treat me to supper that day out! LOL
So, of course, I answered them.
How many trees go up in your home?
One, but it goes up many times. Mary Shelley does the happy kitty dance when she sees a tree come in, then she lives in it. That would work out OK, except Hub gets nervous that she is in there and in the ensuing fight over occupancy, it falls over many times. One year he put it up on the coffee table to make it harder to climb. You should have seen the mess when it came down! Another year he wrapped it in bird netting to keep her out. She got in anyway and when he tried to chase her out, she got trapped inside the netting and panicked.
Are they up already?
No. too early.
Do you do them with primitives?
We decorate with anything. Many of our decorations are the happy meal toys that we had so many of but that I wasn't allowed to throw out. I hung them on the tree, then packed them away in the ornament box. They come out every year and have fond memories.
How long do you keep them up?
Until Jan 1
Real tree or fake?
We have a new fake one that we got a 5 finger discount on when hubs company went out of business. (We also go all the office lobby plants.) This one had the lights already installed in the branches.The last time we had a real tree was when we were remodeling and funrniture was everywhere. We got a real one so we could cut the branches off of one side and push it closer to the wall. It's the only way we could fit it in.
Decorate by yourself or as a family?
Usually together. We bicker at the same time. The bickering begins over whether or not it is time to put the tree up, and if we should all decorate it together, and if we should do it all at once or ration it out so the deocrating lasts longer, and
"Who is clumping the ornaments? NO CLUMPING!"
"Put all the breakable ones up high so Mary Shelley can't get them."
"No, put them down low so that when the tree falls over they won't break."
"I thought we weren't allowed to clump them!"
"You can clump only when Dad authorizes it."
"Ok. Dad, can I clump the ugly ones in the back?"
"Yes, but that one's not ugly."
"It is too ugly!"
"No, it's not."
"Is too!"
It only comes once a year.
Visit Cedara's blog
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Peter at Peete's
Good friends are the best part of life. Peter comes to visit occaisionally, reminding me that another good part of life is living in a developed country.
This picure was taken at Peete's Coffee in San Ramon. It's not a movie set, it's a real place. Really, I was there, I should know.
I practiced my photoshop on it. It's different, but which is better? Did I fix it up or mess it up?
And while I was taking time out for fun, grass grew in the bed of my truck.
Again.
This picure was taken at Peete's Coffee in San Ramon. It's not a movie set, it's a real place. Really, I was there, I should know.
I practiced my photoshop on it. It's different, but which is better? Did I fix it up or mess it up?
And while I was taking time out for fun, grass grew in the bed of my truck.
Again.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Sketches
Instead of reading a book before bed, Joseph wanted to drew pictures together. This is what we drew.
His is the one that looks real, mine is the one that looks real deranged.
I have been working hard on my website and I think I've made some good changes. I figured out how to shrink the file size of pictures without reducing the pixel size and turning them into specks that load fast. Now I wish I could do something about the fast loading specks at my house. NOT make them bigger, make them load slower!
I fixed new backgrounds that I hope are better. If you have a chance, please check it out and get back to me.
I am considereing advertising on the Gomilpitas.com site. That's got me quaking in my boots. I'm not afraid of failure as long as I know I didn't do my best. But if I give it all I've got and then fail, that would be hard. Very hard.
I want to sew again, but haven't hardly done any of that! It has taken a lot of time to learn photoshop and I still continue to polish that little bitty piece of html that I have.
His is the one that looks real, mine is the one that looks real deranged.
I have been working hard on my website and I think I've made some good changes. I figured out how to shrink the file size of pictures without reducing the pixel size and turning them into specks that load fast. Now I wish I could do something about the fast loading specks at my house. NOT make them bigger, make them load slower!
I fixed new backgrounds that I hope are better. If you have a chance, please check it out and get back to me.
I am considereing advertising on the Gomilpitas.com site. That's got me quaking in my boots. I'm not afraid of failure as long as I know I didn't do my best. But if I give it all I've got and then fail, that would be hard. Very hard.
I want to sew again, but haven't hardly done any of that! It has taken a lot of time to learn photoshop and I still continue to polish that little bitty piece of html that I have.
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