Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
My New Friend is Ugly!
No, really! He's a one-of-a kind, custom made "Ugly Doll". He was a gift from Minda & Erin and he's splendid. He comes with his own Red Bull camo backpack. He got to dance on the web cam for Dave today.
Yesterday evening was really great. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
P.S. This is Post #100! Yay me!
Yesterday evening was really great. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
P.S. This is Post #100! Yay me!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas
"Through the years, we all will be together,
if the fates allow....
until then, we'll have to muddle through, somehow.
So have your self a merry little Christmas, now."
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Christmas with Dave's Family
Yesterday Dave's family celebrated Christmas at Chris & Jamie's. Dave was able to call and talk to everyone. It was ok. There were a couple of times that people said some really stupid things that I choked on a little, but I tried not to let it bother me.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
New Toy!
I got to open my Christmas gift from Dave, and I got a Wishblade! I'm pretty darn excited. I figured out how to teach it new shapes, and I made a bull patch. Ok, I think that's really cool. I had made one with an x-acto knife and that was a major pain in the you-know-what.
My New Year's resolution is to not buy ANY patterned paper until I complete 2 new albums (normal sized). But cardstock... hmm....
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
This Week
It's Thursday already... 10 days until Christmas. I'm doing much better now that I have gotten over most of the bug I picked up last week. I really appreciated all of the kind words from so many people asking if I was feeling better.
Monday night, Karlene & I went to see The Nativity movie. I enjoyed it. Just recently I've been in on a lot of discussions about who Mary was, and I liked seeing the visual image. I think my favorite thing was seeing the journey from Nazareth to Bethelehem. Some of the aspects at the end did seem a little hokey, but I don't know how it could have been done differently. As usual, the movie was good, the book is better.
Tuesday night after working at Too, I went over and hung out with the family. We laughed so hard... I got to bed a smidge later than usual. Dave scolded me for not getting enough sleep, but I told him it was worth it.
Last night I worked at Too again. We had cake! It's a good thing that I run around the store a lot to burn off a few of the calories from the various holiday parties.
And saving the best for last, the news about Dave: he will be leaving Iraq sooner than expected! He has about 2 months left there. When he comes back to the US, he will be sent to Pennsylvania until May or so.
Dave's Christmas Corner!
Monday night, Karlene & I went to see The Nativity movie. I enjoyed it. Just recently I've been in on a lot of discussions about who Mary was, and I liked seeing the visual image. I think my favorite thing was seeing the journey from Nazareth to Bethelehem. Some of the aspects at the end did seem a little hokey, but I don't know how it could have been done differently. As usual, the movie was good, the book is better.
Tuesday night after working at Too, I went over and hung out with the family. We laughed so hard... I got to bed a smidge later than usual. Dave scolded me for not getting enough sleep, but I told him it was worth it.
Last night I worked at Too again. We had cake! It's a good thing that I run around the store a lot to burn off a few of the calories from the various holiday parties.
And saving the best for last, the news about Dave: he will be leaving Iraq sooner than expected! He has about 2 months left there. When he comes back to the US, he will be sent to Pennsylvania until May or so.
Dave's Christmas Corner!
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A Toast
To Gary--
I will never forget how you always showed a genuine interest in me, you were never impatient and never unkind. You are sorely missed.
I will never forget how you always showed a genuine interest in me, you were never impatient and never unkind. You are sorely missed.
The Laundry Basket
The other day, I tackled something that had become an obstacle. Instead of making a mountain out of a molehill, I made a mountain out of a laundry basket in the closet.
When I looked at that pile of clothes, I realized that I didn't feel busyness or laziness, I felt fear. And this is why:
After Dave went back to Iraq in August, I washed and folded his clothes, and put them in the closet in the laundry basket. At the time, I thought, how sad it was to put his clothes away. I will do it later. So the "deal with it later" basket was born. Over time, I added shirts that needed ironing, summer clothes that needed to be packed away, socks that needed matching, and on and on, until the pile grew large enough to fill several laundry baskets, and I kept running out of socks. I would look at the basket, and tell myself every negative thing I could think of, to support the fear.
Finally, I felt feisty enough to fight. I sorted my clothes, and put them away. As I got to Dave's clothes, I understood, the laundry basket is not the monster in the closet, the sadness is. I was afraid to face the sadness. I cannot imagine how hard it is to box up the clothes of a loved one after they have passed away. The sadness of putting away his clothes is nothing compared to that. Still, it occured to me that I could have asked for help. If I had asked a friend to talk to me while I put away his clothes, sure, they might have found the request odd, but they would have been there for me.
At the bottom of the laundry basket, I found a sweatshirt that I had missed since July. And I found that I'm just a bit stronger and smarter than I had been.
When I looked at that pile of clothes, I realized that I didn't feel busyness or laziness, I felt fear. And this is why:
After Dave went back to Iraq in August, I washed and folded his clothes, and put them in the closet in the laundry basket. At the time, I thought, how sad it was to put his clothes away. I will do it later. So the "deal with it later" basket was born. Over time, I added shirts that needed ironing, summer clothes that needed to be packed away, socks that needed matching, and on and on, until the pile grew large enough to fill several laundry baskets, and I kept running out of socks. I would look at the basket, and tell myself every negative thing I could think of, to support the fear.
Finally, I felt feisty enough to fight. I sorted my clothes, and put them away. As I got to Dave's clothes, I understood, the laundry basket is not the monster in the closet, the sadness is. I was afraid to face the sadness. I cannot imagine how hard it is to box up the clothes of a loved one after they have passed away. The sadness of putting away his clothes is nothing compared to that. Still, it occured to me that I could have asked for help. If I had asked a friend to talk to me while I put away his clothes, sure, they might have found the request odd, but they would have been there for me.
At the bottom of the laundry basket, I found a sweatshirt that I had missed since July. And I found that I'm just a bit stronger and smarter than I had been.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Weird
I knew Rufus was weird, but...
A gingerbread latte? He had to get every last drop of a gingerbread latte?
A gingerbread latte? He had to get every last drop of a gingerbread latte?
Problems?
A friend got an email from a co-worker this morning that simply said,
"Are you having problems?"
It was sent to all staff in her area. I THINK he was just intending to isolate a system issue. But she forwarded the response she would have liked to have replied to me, and we played the problems game. She complained about health, family, money, etc, and I complained likewise about the deployment, Christmas, money, friends... back and forth until we found...
we'd run out of things to complain about.
Huh. And when I was thinking about the bad stuff, I kept remembering all the good stuff. Amazing stuff. Wonderful friends, a loving husband, a nice home, a growing faith, and relatively good health (I'm a little sick today).
All that complaining made me happier, and made the person I complained to happier too. Go figure.
"Are you having problems?"
It was sent to all staff in her area. I THINK he was just intending to isolate a system issue. But she forwarded the response she would have liked to have replied to me, and we played the problems game. She complained about health, family, money, etc, and I complained likewise about the deployment, Christmas, money, friends... back and forth until we found...
we'd run out of things to complain about.
Huh. And when I was thinking about the bad stuff, I kept remembering all the good stuff. Amazing stuff. Wonderful friends, a loving husband, a nice home, a growing faith, and relatively good health (I'm a little sick today).
All that complaining made me happier, and made the person I complained to happier too. Go figure.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
December Scrap Club
Last night Scrap Club met and again we had a very fun time. (I refuse to call the group "Minda Scraps", I love ya Minda, but that's just too weird) We had absolutely sinful cookies and wassail and glogwein. Beyond excellent.
The challenge for this month was to use a set sketch and the page kit we received last month. I really enjoyed this because it made me add elements to the page that I really loved - the flowers - that I probably wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.
As you can see, again this month I borrowed somebody else's kid for the subject of the layout. I haven't been inspired by cat or dog pictures recently I guess.
Next month's challenge is to do a page as a gift about another person in the group. Again I'm challenged and excited because my person is somebody I don't know well yet, but what I know I like.
The challenge for this month was to use a set sketch and the page kit we received last month. I really enjoyed this because it made me add elements to the page that I really loved - the flowers - that I probably wouldn't have thought to do otherwise.
As you can see, again this month I borrowed somebody else's kid for the subject of the layout. I haven't been inspired by cat or dog pictures recently I guess.
Next month's challenge is to do a page as a gift about another person in the group. Again I'm challenged and excited because my person is somebody I don't know well yet, but what I know I like.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Three Weeks Until Christmas
It sounds like we may get real snow this week. I neither love nor hate snow. But the neighbor's Christmas decorations on their green, green lawns made me giggle last week.
This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't felt like blogging about it until now. In the beginning of November, we got an offer on Dave's townhouse. Finally! The buyers wanted a couple of things fixed, which was annoying, but eventually the real estate agent took care of it. And then we just needed to wait until the closing on Dec 15.
For some reason, I actually wasn't surprised when the real estate agent called me right before Thanksgiving to say that the buyers had lost their mortgage and were cancelling the purchase. Terribly disappointed, but not surprised. Now that it's getting closer to the 15th, I'm feeling even more bummed about it.
This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't felt like blogging about it until now. In the beginning of November, we got an offer on Dave's townhouse. Finally! The buyers wanted a couple of things fixed, which was annoying, but eventually the real estate agent took care of it. And then we just needed to wait until the closing on Dec 15.
For some reason, I actually wasn't surprised when the real estate agent called me right before Thanksgiving to say that the buyers had lost their mortgage and were cancelling the purchase. Terribly disappointed, but not surprised. Now that it's getting closer to the 15th, I'm feeling even more bummed about it.
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