Christmas in Georgia 12/20

Isaiah looks like he was caught sneaking Cheerios in this shot Sarah, Dave and the kids arrived late on the 19th. Tuesday was a chilling out around the house day

Sleeping Quarters

Thought it might make Ellen feel more comfortable if she could see her sleeping quarters for the Christmas week. I am SOOOO excited

The Stroller- finally assembled

Believe it or not the cup holder was THE hardest part of assembly. The manufacturers did not believe in a teeny tiny fraction of an inch too much screw!!!

Visit with Anne and Mark

Got to visit with Anne (and Mark for awhile before he went to work) on Monday night and to see all the wonderful ways they are making their house their home. I love the piece of furniture they got for the hallway by the stairs AND the kitchen is more gorgeous in person then from the pictures Anne posted (which were great pictures, Anne, not saying they weren't, I just really like what you all have done with the kitchen when I see it in real life). Got to see all the classy ways that Anne has decorated for Christmas. AND I got to see a surprise, which I think might not be a surprise anymore.... Anne can only keep secrets for so long :-) What do you think Mark????

Special

I was reading through a journal I was working in a couple of years ago and was reminded of a time when I was feeling especially down and beating myself up with a ton of negative self talk. I thought up an acronym, special, for all the areas in my life that I wanted to grow. I have been beyond lazy in this area and think I will start again. Reminder that these are all goals (go after laughing) S- Sexy - what woman doesn't want to think she is sexy - do something to feel sexy everyday P- Physically fit - really plays into "s" but I really like to be able to hike and play with the grandkids without feeling so out of shape. I realize that I will never look again like I did in high school, but I would like to be a little closer to that size again. this can take a variety of experiences- yoga, walking, nordic track, but need to do something to improve and then maintain E- Emotionally healthy (addressing issues before they get out of hand) C- Creative - I really like to read and write poetry and need to do it more often - but this can also involve creative problem solving or just feeding the creative part of my soul I- Intelligent - do something every day to stimulate my intelligence- to grow mentally A- Attentive - actually listening to people- instead of waiting to share my part when they are done speaking- work on active listening L- loving- focus on a loving act for those around me daily. I really want to focus on positive thoughts about who I am and remember that I am 'special' and I am thinking that if I can do positive things in this area it will help me to be special.

Our first wee bit of ice

Caught me a little off guard. Looks gorgeous but glad I don't need to go anywhere this morning. Think I'd better park the car down the hill for tomorrow.

Icey leaf mosaics

This morning while walking to work in Niagara Falls, I saw the most beautiful Leaf mosaics in little frozen puddles. The leaves were a glorious fall mix of oranges, reds, yellows and some greens all with a thin sheen of ice covering them. Kind of look like a very large shiny autumn placemat on the ground. Now it is getting close to time to walk home and it has started to snow.... horizontally. (ie that means it is very windy too) Good thing it is only about a 15 minute walk or I would be a little frozen Barbara fall decoration.

Inspiration

Been running into a few road blocks at work lately and was reminded when I couldn't sleep Sunday night of Good ol' Abe Lincoln and all the defeats he met in his life, but just kept rebounding, because (I hope) he wanted to make a difference. I keep thinking I'll just stop banging into this particular roadblock and go do something else. But then I wonder who will make where I am a better place? I really feel like I have a mission and maybe I am too intense about it, but do think I am making and can continue to make a difference, behind the scenes in my job, just because I do care. Anyway road blocks are just challenges to get through in order to continue to the destination, right?

Visit with Jill and Gavin

Wood and I went to CA recently for a conference and enjoyed a delicious and relaxing breakfast with Jill and Gavin. Boy do they really KNOW how to make a GREAT cup of joe!

On the ground with lots of cool pictures

This is Bry taking pictures of me taking pictures of him. He got lots of great aerial shots of our house. Funny thing the hill isn't so tall from the sky and the drive way is rather long instead of steep.

from beginning to end part 2

From Beginning to end

Bryan the pilot

Bryan took his first flight lesson Saturday. I think he had a great time, but I think what he really likes is the same thing I like about flying... looking out the window and seeing clouds and landscape/terrain and imagining how it all got that way and why people settled where they did... but don't let me put words in your mouth Bry :-)

Surveying her domain

Jenny's visit

Tried to post this on Sunday but blogger seemed to be down. As noted on Bry's blog, Wood and I are joyously dog sitting Jenny this weekend. The car trip from Bry and Kim's was a bit of an adventure since Wood and I didn't want to put her back in the cage she traveled in just 12 hours before. So after much clawing and scratching Jenny and I came to the agreement that she really could hang 3/4 of her body out the window, perch on my chest with her back legs and not kill herself. Actually that lasted about 10 or 15 minutes then I decided I was a little tired of my chest as a shelf for her hind legs and rolled up the window to about an inch or two. She calmed down and actually seemed to enjoy the ride. She has been the perfect guest at our house. Wood bought her a 16 foot extendo leash and a brush, both of which she loves. We kept her on the leash out side as we weren't exactly sure if she would stay in the yard. She did make a couple of stupid runs for the edge of the hill but was pulled back short and now she knows not to go too close to the edge. Not to fear. She had a pretty good time exploring and surveying the domain from our hill. After a while we let her off the leash in the back yard and she was very good at staying right on the grass unless we told her she could go elsewhere. We put out her traveling cage and Bry's quilt for her to sleep on and she did for awhile but we heard her click click out in the middle of the night and I found her this morning on the living room rug. What a sleepy little wag of the tail I was greated with this morning. How she is loving the attention and all the rubbing and petting. She loves jumping up on the sheet on my lap (wood's lap too if he has a sheet on it) and puts her paws on either side of my face and licks my chin. (my chin is now very very clean). We let her totally lose today and even kept the back door open. She is still a little timid and really wouldn't go out the back door without us going with her. She loves walking around the decks and peering through them and the fence in the front. She has kept me company the last two afternoons, rocking on the front porch bench. Her nose has to be worn out from all the sniffing she is doing. So many new Georgia smells. We took her for a walk in our neighborhood today and she LOVED it. She had the whole 16 feet extended the entire time and never seemed to run out of steam. She even turned the corner ahead of us coming back and knew right where to go for our house. I LOVE having her visit. Wood does too. Bry and Kim, Jenny can come anytime. Thanks for sharing.

through an airplane window

Blazing coral eye Horizontal blush Divides depthless blue/tumultuous cotton blanket Magnificent sunset

My favorite pictures of the Smoky Mountains

I would love to hike a portion of the Appalachian trail

Smoky Mountain trip

Wood and I took his mom to Gatlinburg and to see the Smoky Mountains. Loved the mountains, not too thrilled with Gatlinburg. If t shirt shops and candy stores are your thing then you would love it there. But you all know mountains ARE my thing

Mums galore and updated house pictures

Knox with his bat mask

Appropriately hanging upside down

The find at Michaels

Nervous breakdown

Last Friday I went to get my hair cut and colored which is always fun at Crazy Dave's . I had a hard time finding anywhere that wasn't too girly to get my hair cut when I first got here and then discovered the perfect place for me. Joelle is Dave's wife and does a great job on my hair. Just the right amount of talking and boy is she quick!!! Her husband Dave is a laugh a minute. He is a unicycle rider/hair stylist/wanna be tv extreme show of any kind contestant. It is quite an enjoyable experience to go. Dave is pretty outspoken and sometimes I just give it right back to him. Joelle is amazingly quiet and we just both kind of grin and roll our eyes good naturedly at some of his comments. It is a great place. Afterwards I went to Michaels to get some frames and was bowled over. Now I know that Joanne's is an artsy craftsy place, but somehow it blew my mind and was SO intimidating to walk into Michaels and be instantly surrounded by all of these craft supplies that I find extremely frustrating because I am just not good at that sort of thing. I saw all kinds of dried flowers for fall arrangements and wanted a spiffy arrangement. Then I spotted the perfect one!! Who cares the price? it would relieve me of the stress and frustration of having to be CREATIVE. I snagged that puppy and went off in my search of frames (5x5 for the Maplethorpe prints that I have - see I am an art appreciator just not CRAFTSY). Anyway I took a wrong turn and ended up with rapid heart beat and beads of sweat breaking out on my neck as I strolled up and down the craft isles!!!! Finally I noticed that if I had take an left turn when I entered instead of right, I would have made my way to the art supplies and frames, whew. I made it to that section of the store and immediately felt more at ease. Found some great frames, a couple of M and M halloween masks for Wood's grandson, Hoss, and headed for the checkout- mission accomplished! without a nervous breakdown. Part deux of nervous break down weekend. I think I almost gave one to Wood. We went to Lowes Saturday and just about bought them out of Chrysanthemum buckets. They were gorgeous and we thought what a treat for the deck to have flowers all about. We also got some pumpkins, gourds (the really ugly kind) some corn and straw bales to decorate the front. It really looks great! Pictures to follow. Wood did suggest that we should probably not stay home for the next several weekends so we can give the ol check book a break ;-) Maybe I'll sign up for a needlepoint class instead.

Wood and his Grandson, Knox

We went to watch Knox at karate a week or so ago and I snapped this great picture of the two of them.

Isaiah at 5 months in 12 months old clothes

My beautiful grandkids

Patty cake with Peter and Mom

Peter is the snow man and Ellen kept Sarah doing this over and over and over again until she had EVERYONE including the fish tank, covered by the song