Willow Grace

Cool Like Dat

2010-01-29T00:38:00.000-08:00

I'm usually self-conscious taking photos of strangers, but this time I couldn't resist. These 3 guys were so freakin' hip and I can only hope to be cool like dat when I'm their age.I know it's hard to tell in this photo, but both of the guys on the right are on their laptops. Sharing not only photos, but other miscellaneous technical information with each other. Sweet.

Jimmy and I finally celebrated our anniversary last weekend. We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Palo Alto then headed to San Francisco for ice cream at...Ghirardelli Square, of course! We drove around the city for 4 hours, going to miscellaneous "Points of Interest" on the GPS, which included the Grateful Dead home near the corner of Haight and Ashbury, Billy Goat Hill Park - a park on the side of a high hill, new-to-us vista points in the Presidio, Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park and a lot more, finally getting home just after 2am. But if any of you notice the times I usually post my blogs, after 2am isn't late for us.

While we were in SF, we stopped by AT&T Park.We'll be back there all day Saturday to watch Supercross races. It'll be fun as long as it doesn't rain. I'm bringing my Kindle because I'll be interested for 5 of the 10 hours, but my mind will wander a lot, that I know for sure. I'm reading "The Lovely Bones" because I considered going to the movies to watch it, but decided to read the book first.
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Valentine's Heart Wreath

2010-01-23T03:37:00.000-08:00

I saw this idea at The Paper Source a couple of weeks ago and knew that I had to make one for myself. Sure I could have bought the kit, but I knew that it was simple enough for me to make it with my own supplies.

The basic ingredients are a wreath base and a bunch of hearts. 12 large hearts form the base of the wreath, 4 of 3 different colors.

I did buy the wreath base from the Paper Source. But I want to make more than 1 of these, so I also bought a package of 12" cake circles from Michaels. I used the wreath base as a template, and penciled in the inner circle so I could cut it out...

like this.

Then all you do is start gluing your big hearts your wreath base. There are 12 hearts, so just think of a clock and glue one heart per "number" so they're spaced equally. Glue all of the same colored hearts opposite each other.

Keep working around the base. You may have to do a little adjusting in your overlapping so your base doesn't show.

Before you glue on your last heart, wrap an 18"-20" (eyeball it) ribbon around the base and center it between 2 hearts. Glue it in place then glue your last heart on top of it to hide the ribbon.

Voila! In less than 10 minutes, you've got your heart wreath!

Gather a bunch of smaller hearts in 3 different sizes. I have 12 hearts per color here, but I didn't use them all. You can either freehand cut them, or use a printed template as a guide that you printed from your computer, or punch them w/ various heart punches.

I used my Cuttlebug and a Tipsy Heart Sizzix die to cut all my hearts. I lurve all my crafting tools.

I used 3D foam tape on all of the hearts. On a few of the hearts, I doubled the foam tape to raise them even higher. That's the bottle of glue I used to glue the hearts and ribbon to the base. My favorite liquid glue.

Then it's just a matter of adhering all the hearts in a random way all around the wreath.

Make your center dangle just by gluing a piece of thin ribbon to the back of a heart. Layer another heart on top of it, just because you can. Then glue it to the back of the wreath, directly on the main ribbon so when it hangs, it's centered below your hanging ribbon.

And your done! A super cute paper wreath finished in 30 minutes or less.

And of course, I'm gonna have to make one with lots of glitter too because doesn't Valentine + hearts = sparkle?
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The Boring Life of a Sicko

2010-01-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

We've had a deluge of rain for the past 5 days, which is good as long as there isn't any flooding. However, there's been quite a bit of flooding in the Bay Area. There was even a tornado warning in South San Jose. Ok, I can deal with the earthquakes but I'd really rather not have to worry about tornadoes, too. I don't like driving in the rain, but the plus side of that is I've been a sicko since Sunday and didn't leave the house for 4 days. I finally had to go out today, despite the rain, because groceries don't magically appear in my fridge unfortunately. On a normal day I dislike grocery shopping so on a day when the weather is wet and I'm still not quite feeling right, I dread it. But I must admit that getting out of the house was nice because I was getting a bit of the cabin fever so there was a bright side to the re-stocking of our bread, milk and cheese.

On Tuesday, Jimmy and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. 19 on the 19th. It really is hard to believe that we've been married that long. We celebrated by eating Campbell's Chicken Soup and staying in pajamas all day.

We're headed to the hideaway tomorrow. We haven't been since right after Christmas and it'll be a cold snowy wonderland. But before I got sick, we spent some time picking out stuff for the new bathroom. It was a whole lotta fun!

This isn't the vanity we're picking. We were all happy with this choice, but it's going to be flush against one wall. But see how the detailing of the wood on the bottom comes out about 1/2"? That's gonna be a problem if it's against the wall. So hopefully we'll find something very similar to this that's flush. And it won't be a double sink, it'll be a smaller vanity, 36" instead of this pictured 60". And we're picking a different counter, too.

This is the mirror that matches the above vanity. Since we're not getting that vanity, we won't get this exact mirror, but it's the style we're looking for.

We'll also put a little cabinet above the toilet.

Above the mirror we'll put up these light fixtures with...

these bells. I lurve these bells. It's hard to tell in this photo, but there are very very subtle pink, blue and green hues in the glass. It's mostly a honey color with those cool scallops, and the different colors might not even show with the bulb, but I think it's beautiful. Jimmy was the 1st one to notice them and I fell in love with them as soon as he pointed them out.

The vanity counter top will be made of Swanstone and will look like this but in a different color. We picked "Cloud White" which is mostly white with very subtle tan or off-white granite-like marbling throughout.

This is the vanity faucet we picked. We wanted a high faucet head because it bugs both of us when we wash our hands and we hit the back of the sink.

We'll have a full shower in the new bathroom and it'll also be made of Swanstone in the same Cloud White color. We haven't picked shower doors yet.

But we did pick out the shower faucet.Pretty basic.

We'll also add a solar tube in the new bathroom. Basically, it's a small skylight. The new bathroom doesn't have a window so adding this small skylight will bring in a tiny bit of natural light in.

So far, this has been the funnest part of the remodel. It's so cool to be able to design everything ourselves. I'm surprised at how easy it is. It's fun to go out with Jimmy shopping for this stuff and amazingly agreeing on everything and surprisingly not even coming close to any...um...creative arguments. lol.

In other boring news, I gave in and read the 1st Twilight book. I give it an "eh." But I'm intrigued enough to want to see the 1st movie before ~~wasting~~ spending several hours reading the next saga. Mostly, I want to see how the movie translates how Edward is effected in the sunlight.

I hope you read all that right before bedtime. I'm sure it will help you fall asleep.
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The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog

2010-01-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

Let the Good Times Roll

2010-01-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had a fun New Year's GTG with the Purple Magma group which now consists of 10 adults and 9 kids. It's so much fun watching the kids grow up and play whenever we all get together.
And it's also fun to hang out with good friends who we've known for over 15 years.
I love how this group organizes our meals. Gotta give kudos to Whitney for this one b/c I think she's the one who started it this way and we've just stuck with it every time we get together. There are 5 families so we always split up the "pot luck" with someone bringing a)appetizers, b) main entree, c&d)2 sides and e)dessert. The host family usually does the entree and beverages then the rest of the families pick which part of the meal they want to bring. I think its brilliant. We had veggies, cheese and crackers for appetizers; a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes and green salad for our main meal; then a choice of mini-cupcakes, chocolate dipped rice crispy bars or peanut butter and jelly bars for dessert. Good friends and good food!

If you'd like to see all the pics, they're here.
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To-Do Dry Erase Board

2010-01-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

What a fun project we did at stamp club this week!Kristina taught us this supah kute "To-Do" dry erase board.

Super simple but packs a great impact! Just make sure that you buy a frame with real glass then decorate it as you wish.
Here's a link to Kristina's sample.
And here's a link to our friend, Chris' sample.
Everyone's turned out different even though we started with the same format and idea.
A fun project that will actually get used!
And don't you think it'll be a great gift, too?

During club, one of my crafting friends gave me this really cute desk calendar that she made:
Too cute!! It's a little over 4" high and 7" wide so will fit nicely on any desk.
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Remembering a Favorite Teacher

2010-01-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned once or twice that I was part of the auxiliary unit of my High School Marching Band. I was in Tall Flags and I'm still best friends with one of the girls from our unit.
Photo from Victorville Christmas Parade 1984.

On December 27, our band director, Mr. Robert Nygaard, died. I've thought about him so many times in the past 20+ years. He was that beloved teacher who pushed you beyond your limits and the rewards were worth it. Because of his direction, we worked at being the best and took pride in our accomplishments. When we failed to perform, he did not sugar coat the discipline. But we were the greatest (subjective of course, but backed by lots of trophies!hee)band in our division (AA) and won not just 1st Place trophies over and over again, but Sweepstakes, consistently, year after year.

I have lots and lots of favorite memories, but this one stands out because I remember how proud I was after I overhead it. We were at a field competition, just marching from our buses to the field and I overheard a woman telling her husband "Their band is huge! I thought Apple Valley was a small desert town." We made a big impression to those who never heard of us. We were the biggest competition for the other bands who tried to follow our lead.

There's been an amazing rally of people on Facebook getting back in touch and remembering the great times we had and the amazing values Mr. Nygaard instilled in us. Our closest friends in high school of course were part of the band. But inevitably almost all of us lost contact with each other. But Mr. Nygaard is still bringing us together, like the family that we were.

This one is from the Apple Valley Pow Wow Days Parade.

There have been so many great photos and videos that people are sharing on Facebook. Watching some of the videos made me bawl like a baby. Especially the one with the performance of "Only Time Will Tell". I still get goosebumps whenever I hear that song. Unfortunately, that video is only on FB, but here are a few from Youtube that I found:

Here's one from a parade in Chino. Let's see if you can spot me. LOL! It's probably impossible because the video is grainy, remember that was 1986. But I can pick out my BFF cuz she's tall and was always front and center. This year, I was usually on the left, 3rd row, but really, it's impossible to tell which one is me.

I wish I could find a video of a field competition from my, eh hem...era. But here's one from 1990, still under Mr. Nygaard's direction.

And another one from the Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1990. We were invited to this parade every year. Good times, good times. You'll see Mr. Nygaard marching in his suit lookin' all serious next to the band. What a man.
Part 1:

Part 2:

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Christmas Prank

2010-01-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

This is awesome in the silliest way.

I hate wrapping presents, so I can't even imagine the work that went into this. There's a link to Louie's reaction at the end.

Pretty clever those pranksters!

Twenty Ten

2010-01-01T14:17:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!! It's so hard to believe that it's 2010! Doesn't it seem like just a moment ago when so many people were fearful about the 1999-2000 changeover? That Y2K panic? Well, not only did we survive that transition, we survived the past 10 years. And there's always something to look forward for the next 10 years, opportunities to make changes for the better, to continue growing and learning.

Well, Jimmy and I couldn't have rung in the new year any better. It's awesome to be able to start a new year with the dearest of friends.

We went to dinner at the Bowens and stayed till the clock struck midnight.We played several rounds of Apples to Apples - so fun, especially when I was the judge and my word was "Spicy" and someone put down "Keanu Reeves". So funny! Miss A won that green card, heehee!!

It was the 1st time Miss A stayed awake all the way till midnight! So exciting to be able to celebrate with her. Sweet Prince W almost made it, but fell asleep while we watched tv and was out cold around 11:40pm. He got so close!

How did you ring in the New Year?

Growing up, my mom had a few New Year's traditions/superstitions. The 1st was to always make sure the house was clean then your house would be clean the whole year. Um. I so did not follow that tradition. Ever. Right now, I have shipping boxes piled in the living room that need to be cut down for recycling. Dishes in the sink. Piles of paper everywhere.

Another one of her traditions/superstitions was to not spend any money on New Year's Day otherwise you'll be spending money throughout the whole year. This one I'm pretty good at following. Mostly because I just like staying home on New Years Day.

She had another tradition of eating rice or beans or leafy greens. I can't remember which, but I think it's suppose to bring you luck and health. I don't adhere to any food related traditions today. I'm making turkey tacos for dinner...there can't be any significance to that.

Do you have any New Year's traditions?
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Goodbye Aughts!

2009-12-31T15:55:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

I got this idea to reminisce about the past 10 years from my cousin. How do you summarize 10 years? 3650 days? Plus a couple of days to account for leap years. I don't think it's possible in a short post, but I'll give it a go! Of course, there were lots and lots of challenges and losses that happened along the way, but I try to keep it positive here, so I might gloss over those, but they certainly won't take center stage.

(click on image to enlarge if you wanna read text)

2000
-1st year at the hideaway
-emotional trip to the Philippines after my mom died

2001
-celebrated our 10 year anniversary
-vacations to Kauai and Vancouver
-Jimmy went blonde for a few days, then purple
-1st nephew graduated high school, 4th nephew born, BFF Jeff got married, BFF Bowen Couple had their 1st baby - the 1st in our closest friends
-a heightened awareness of how important family and friends are after 9/11

2002
-fractured/cracked rib while snowboarding
-Jimmy did a motorcycle adventure in Baja, Mexico
-Jimmy = too many hand surgeries
-BFF Monica had baby, SIL Lauree got married in Catalina, 1st niece graduated high school

2003
-evicted from condo in Mountain View, moved to San Jose
-Jimmy = knee surgery
-Chancey couple had twins, BFF Danielle got married, 5th nephew born, Shy SIL got graduate degree

2004
-Yuen Wedding, Cousin wedding, 2nd niece and 2nd nephew graduated high school, Bowen baby 2 born
-vacation in New York & Boston, Alaska cruise

2005
-BFF Danielle's 1st baby born, 6th nephew born
-vacation in Seattle, Washington DC, Kauai
-Bye-bye Fangboy Kitty

2006
-Yuen's 1st baby, Cousin's 1st baby, Brewer's 1st baby, 1st niece graduated SDSU
-vacation in Dallas, Seattle, Kauai
-start of annual Camp Retzlaff @ hideaway
-walk/jog 1st 5k at Disneyland
-Cross country road trip w/ SIL Molly

2007
-1st nephew graduated UCSD, childhood BFF Bridget's wedding, BIL John's wedding in Alaska
-vacation in Alaska for wedding, Seattle x2

2008
-Yuen's twins born, Cousin's 2nd baby, Brewer's 2nd baby, BFF Danielle's 2nd baby, 2nd niece graduated Claremont College
-vacation in Chicago, NYC, Sedona
-Jimmy and I celebrated our 40th birthdays
-cabin chimney remodel
-fractured right foot

2009
-Bye-bye Billy Kitty
-vacation in Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix
-Rhino adventures
-wow, no births, weddings or graduations in 2009

Reminiscing like this is a good way to remember that it is a wonderful life. Ya take the bad with the good, but focus on the good and life will just go so much smoother.

Jimmy and I wish everyone a very happy and safe New Year's Eve!!
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Counting down the last few hours of 2009

2009-12-30T23:13:00.000-08:00

I can't be absolutely certain, but I think this photo was taken during a New Years Eve party. I was 2 1/2 years old. No wonder I look so sleepy!
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Christmas Lights at the Hideaway

2009-12-29T23:15:00.001-08:00

we're back in the bay area for a while. it'll actually be good to stay local for a couple of weeks hopefully.

I'm kinda at a loss on what to write today, but if I can write something for 2 more days, then I'll have blogged every single day this month. That will be my 1st time in the 4 1/2 years that I've been blogging. Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging that long already. Time flies.

Anyhoo...I thought I'd share some of the pics of our neighbors lights at the hideaway. Which one do you prefer?
the crisp, not blurry one?

or the blurry one?
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Christmas Dinner

2009-12-28T23:11:00.000-08:00

It could have been assumed that our Christmas dinner would have been a prim and proper event. Now it was pretty darn serious when we first started chowing down, because we were all ready to scarf the delicious prime rib, scalloped potatoes, homemade bread, salad, asparagus and corn. But after that initial silence of all 16 of us enjoying those first few bites, our silly spirits came back.
Jimmy took all of these photos. He took this cool shot of the food, table, serving & drinking hands and so on. I love the perspective. But you can also spot middle nephew hiding behind his glass while jimmy took the photo.

That started the shenannigans.

They boys pretended that they didn't want to get their photo taken.
Big Brother R "hides" behind his soda bottle. Such a cute shot, yes?

Youngest D 'struggles' with his cousin so he couldn't get his photo taken. lol!!!

Then it was time to pump everyone up with more sugar!Yummy Christmas cookies...because we weren't already wired enough!

What did you and your family have for Christmas dinner?
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Christmas Smiles

2009-12-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

It doesn't take a lot to be able to tell the difference between a posed smile vs. a sincere smile, but we were blessed with the most sincerely happy smiles on Christmas morning. Here are a handful of my favorites:

Some of the biggest smiles were from watching others opening presents.

You just can't beat the glimmer in a 4 year old boy's eyes who just got a box of Hot Wheels.
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Challenge Complete!

2009-12-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I officially blogged every day from Dec. 1-25th so I'm off the hook on my commitment, but since I've gotten into the routine of posting every day, I might as well try to continue till the 31st.

Don't you think that December 26th is one of the slowest days in the whole year? After a whole month of rush rush rushing till the excitement of Christmas day, then suddenly blammo - nothing to do.

Anyhoo...we are back to the hideway tomorrow-Sunday. Construction finally started on the 2nd bathroom. Steve and Max slept in a room that was torn apart, but thankfully the contractor is a perfectionist and tidied everything up nicely.

I can't remember if I've already shared the floor plans of the construction.

I'm pretty open about my information, but it's kinda weird putting these floor plans on my blog for anyone to see. I was gonna put the whole house on here, but decided against it at the last minute. But I know a few friends and family members lurk here, and this visual will help them figure out the layout. The solid black walls will be new construction.

Here's a view looking into the back bedroom from the hallway. You can see the construction of the 2nd bathroom. When all is said and done, the doorway will be gone because a stairway will go up on the left to the 2nd floor just on the other side of it, creating a small hallway.

Here's another view of the bathroom. I'm standing where the stairs will be. The door you see on the right will be gone because that's where the small hallway will start.

A long view of the bathroom. We had to move the window over to put in that wall. The ceiling light will have to move over, too.

That wall with the window will be torn down. If you look through the window, you'll see a back room with a water heater in it. That's currently the mud room. The new bedroom will extend back to those other windows. The room will be long and skinny and probably quite a bit smaller than what it was, but we're willing to sacrifice that space for another bathroom.

It might seem odd to put a bathroom right next to the other one. We considered putting a bathroom upstairs, but aside from sleeping, no one ever stays up there. We considered making the bathroom private for the back bedroom. But when we have people over, sometimes there's quite a few of us, and having both bathrooms available to everyone without worrying about privacy seemed more ideal.

We'll also remodel the current bathroom. It's got pink linoleum-like wainscoting from the 60s. I've lived with that for 10 years and I'm so ready for it to be gone. But we'll finish the new bath before starting it so we'll always have one to use during construction.

It's good to see construction going again. Unfortunately we lost the whole summer. We're patient and know it will take a long time because or contractor works alone and is extremely precise, but seeing stuff happening certainly feels good.
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Christmas Day (Daily December 25}

2009-12-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

I hope you had a lovely Christmas day. Ours started at 9:30ish - breakfast before opening presents. Of course the kids were anxious to start as soon as possible so when the last waffle was finished, we all gathered around the tree for the presentation of presents. heehee. No one was disappointed.

Then most of us went out to play with the popular Nerf guns.Oh boy. Don't mess with these 3!

But Uncle Jimmy was up for the challenge...

Till the boys 13 year old cousin came in attack and pummeled Uncle Jimmy with her automatic nerf rifle.

Jimmy was toast and ran a fast retreat!

I actually put the camera down for a little bit and even though it was futile, I tried to take on the nieces and nephews. But that middle nephew, he's no dummy. He had an automatic that held 20 nerf bullets. My nerf rifle only held 6, but i had already lost 1. He just stood there with a big dimpled grin and took all 5 of my bullets. Then came after me with his 20. I was toast, too. But a 20 clip gun takes longer to refill than a 6 clip, so I got back at him once till I had to put up the white flag and surrender.

We all worked up an appetite by the time dinner was ready.For just a moment, our group of 16 was quiet during the first few delicious bites.

I suspect everyone will sleep well tonight.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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Twas the night before Christmas {Daily December 24}

2009-12-24T23:29:00.000-08:00

We're back in the Bay Area, home from a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at the parentals with 16. My favorite moment was sitting at the table after dinner watching the siblings talking and laughing and joking with their dad. Another favorite moment was watching the 5 cousins talking in the den. The youngest cousins were hanging on every word that the oldest cousin said. A good moment to be an observer. I love Christmas, and I love this family. I'm so happy to be a part of it.

We Wish You a Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...

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That good kind of fall on your face tired {Daily December 23}

2009-12-23T23:11:00.000-08:00

Whenever Steve's family comes up to visit, we're guaranteed an active time. It's great, because we're pretty sedentary, but we love doing stuff and being w/ the fam. Today we went sledding at Pinecrest Lake. It's the same lake we go to with them in the summer when we're in the boat, but it gets drained in the winter.

The boat launch makes a great slope for sledding.Steve and Middle J take a ride down the hill.

And Max, their mom, sleds down with Big Brother R.

The first 1/2 hr, Youngest D at 4 years old wouldn't even consider going on a sled. But once he took his 1st ride with dad, you couldn't get him off the hill. He even went down the sled by himself several times. Unfortunately, my camera battery died. boo on me for not recharging my battery. I know better.

We were there 3 hours and on the 1/2 hr ride home, all 3 boys passed out in the car, exhausted by all the fun and activity. We couldn't believe it was only 3:30 when we had to wake them up when we got home. It felt like 7pm. But they were hungry and cold! So we had some snacks and hot chocolate, stoked the fire then ordered pizza for dinner.

Max and Steve have always been very generous with their cooking whenever they come up to visit. They do 99.9% of the cooking. So tonight, I wanted to share one of my recipes that my mom passed down to me, fried wontons. Would you believe that Big Brother R wanted to help make them? Freakin' awesome I tell ya!

A couple hours after dinner, I overheard R whispering into his dads ear, "What's for dessert?" So I asked him, "Do you like chocolate covered pretzels?" He smiled and answered "Yes!" So, you guessed it...we made my famous Pretzel Kisses and his 2 younger brothers were so excited to help, too! I can't tell you how much I love seeing the grins on those boys. And then to have them want to do stuff that I like doing? You know that heart of mine? It grew three sizes larger. Altho, I hope it wasn't 2 sizes too small to start with!
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Winter Blessings {Daily December 22}

2009-12-22T22:46:00.000-08:00

I ended last nights post by hoping that the gentle snowfall would last throughtout the night. We woke up to 2" of fresh snow. I think the following photos will show whether or not the boys thought it was a winter wonderland or not.

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Home Full of Family {Daily December 21}

2009-12-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

We're at the hideaway and Steve's family arrived just moments ago. Boys were sleepy from their 7 hour drive so are already on couches in the living room in dreamland. They have the toastiest room in the house, right next to the fireplace.
When we got here, it was raining. But now gentle snowflakes are falling from the sky. Hopefully it will continue through the night and the boys will wake up to a white winter wonderland.

photo from Thanksgiving of youngest nephews with their cousin, oldest nephew.
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Visions of Sugar Plums {Daily December 21}

2009-12-20T23:41:00.000-08:00

I ventured out into the big bad world today and was surprised at how calm it was. I was doing a jig inside my head. Of course, I didn't go to the mall or Costco or Target, but I did go to 2 grocery stores, the post office, the car wash and a craft store.
We are headed to the hideaway in the morning. We're there till the morning of Christmas Eve, then back to the bay area in time to pick up oldest niece from the airport then head to the parentals for dinner. Then home for a not so long winters nap, back to the parentals in the morning. Children age 4, 6, 8, 12 and nearly 14 will be waiting anxiously to open presents.

I may not get the chance to update daily while we're at the hideaway. I hope to, but can't count on it. So for now I leave you with:
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"
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Silent Monks Sing Halleluia

2009-12-20T01:24:00.001-08:00

My SIL sent this link to me last week but I didn't get a chance to look at it till tonight. It's funny! Check it out if you find a spare 3 minutes out of your busy day. At first you'll be like "whaat?" then it just gets funnier and funnier.

Merry Christmas!
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Calendar, check. Cards, check. {Daily December 19}

2009-12-19T23:43:00.001-08:00

It's 11:45pm and I never even left the house today. Didn't even check the mail. I suppose I should and will as soon as I'm finished here. But I'm feeling much relief because all of the calendars are printed and bound and all my Christmas cards are signed, sealed and stamped, ready to be mailed on Monday, which hopefully means they'll get to their destinations by the 24th. I'm not sure I've ever mailed my cards this late. I still need to wrap presents, but I'm not even worried about those because i can always wrap them right before Santa comes down the chimney. Can you believe I went this whole holiday season without ever going to the mall? Yay me!
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I see the light {Daily December 18}

2009-12-18T23:38:00.000-08:00

I think I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. I finished the yearly family calendar at 5pm tonight. Now we just need to print and bind 13 copies before Sunday night. I wanted to get my Christmas cards in the mail today, but that didn't happen. I'm working on them now and watching Elf. Elf will bring me back in the Christmas spirit. I'm counting on it.

Maybe now I'll be able to sleep.
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Thank God for The Magic {Daily December 17}

2009-12-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

I was having a rough day. I didn't get any sleep and woke up cranky as an alligator who just came back from the dentist. whaattttt? The day was productive, but the cloud persisted.

On my way out this evening, Jimmy pulled into the driveway just as I was pulling out. We rolled down our windows and chatted for a minute, each in our own car. He was spirited. I was grumpy. I told him "I'm having a bad day." I was struggling w/ keeping the meaning of Christmas in my heart.

But I was on my way to a Christmas dinner w/ my crafting friends. I knew I'd have a good time. I knew being with them would get me out of my funk. And it did! A great group of women I tell ya. Nothing like the power of friendship to help the holiday blues.

Then! I got another magical surprise!! My 3.5 year old nephew called me. I usually don't hear my phone ringing when I'm out, but I know there was a reason I heard it this time. That boy, lemme tell ya, he's so full of happiness and sunshine that even on the coldest, gloomiest, grayest day, he'll brighten it up.

Thank you friends and family for the Magic of Christmas.
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