It's late. I have been on the computer doing research, checking in with friends on facebook and trying to create a simple website. I always have good intentions about blogging, but my life is so hectic at times and there just aren't enough hours in the day. I have had the opportunity to finally enjoy some outings with my family and have enjoyed every moment. Richard and I have been taking an occasional Sunday drive with no particular destination in mind. We drove up to St. Simon's Island, Ga one Sunday, thinking it was such a beautiful day, although by the time we got there a front was blowing through and it was gray skies, windy and very chilly. We didn't let that spoil it for us though. We walked around for a bit and had lunch. It was good just to get out. Valentines Day this year was a day trip to St. Augustine where we had a great lunch, then spent the rest of the day walking around and doing a little shopping in some of the shops in the historic district. We finally got to take another camping trip to Salt Springs. We had a great time with the kids, just relaxing, enjoying the outdoors. I even saw a meteorite blazing across the sky one night! We roasted marshmallows, made s'mores and drank wine by a fire. How great is that! Then in April, Richard and I celebrated our 21st anniversary. He surprised me by reserving a room downtown at the Plaza Suites on the river. Now that was a nice weekend! We took a river taxi across to the Jacksonville Landing, where we had a wonderful dinner at Benny's Steak House. After dinner we went for a walk along the river, walked through the little landing mall where I spent a little time checking out a little book shop. We took the water taxi back to the hotel and sat on the balcony and had a drink and stared out at the beautiful skyline of downtown Jacksonville. The next morning after breakfast, we took off to the beach for the Beaches Opening and had lunch at Sneaker's and watched the Beaches Opening Parade. This week I had a reunion with a couple of friends, Mindy and Randy, from high school. We met at Olive Garden, had a great dinner and talked about our lives since school, about friends, kids, and had a great time. It was so hard to break away and say goodbye. Mindy lives in Norway, so thank heavens for facebook and e-mail! So, between our little adventures around the state and work and responsibilities at home, and a new Jack Russel puppy named Ziggy, we've been very busy. So now I am going to have to spend some weekend's at home catching up on a lot of chores here at home. I bought flowers to plant in the back yard, so tomorrow will be yard work and some house cleaning. I did of course visit one of my favorite spots today, Peb's Book Store & Paperback Exchange. I picked up a book for Matthew, Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card. It's part of the Ender's series that he loves. I purchased Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert because I have been hearing what a great book it is. I also ordered the latest Elizabeth Berg novel. She is my favorite author; I have read almost every book she has written. The latest is "Home Safe", and I am looking forward to starting it next week when it arrives.

The Flu Bug Has Invaded

Talk about bad timing. I had planned to go to The Great Jacksonville Book Sale today, but those plans had to be cancelled. I have come down with the flu which led to bronchitis and a horrible sinus infection. I hope to be able to get to the sale tomorrow afternoon to see what is left. That's it for today, just not feeling up to posting much right now.

WE LOVE OUR ALFREDO
My son Matthew and I love our Chicken Tortellini (or Fettucini) Alfredo. This is a perfect example of just how far Matthew will go to protect his leftovers for the next days lunch. A few weeks ago, we made some Chicken Tortellini Alfredo and there was some leftover, which I took to work with me the next day. Matthew was not happy about it. So, the next time we made some, he hid the leftovers from me and this is what I found in the refrigerator the next morning

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Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone! We rang in the new year at home. We had a great dinner, watched Mama Mia, what a fun movie, had some wine and watched the fireworks set off by various neighbors. We watched the ball drop in Times Square and I personally went to bed shortly after. I had had a long day and was very tired. Today I am just relaxing, just sitting around the house in my flannel pj's, sipping hot chocolate, reading Marley and Me, checking e-mails, checking in on facebook to see what others are up to. My idea of a perfect day, well almost, perfect would be about 75 degrees outside and me sitting out on the back porch with my book. But this is close enough for now. Our new years dinner will be chicken wings, steamed squash and carrots and probably some rolls or bread sticks. Sorry folks, I'm just not one for the tradtional black eyed peas and ham, the ham is good, but I personally can't stand black eyed peas.

Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2009!

The 12 Days of Christmas

A certain someone or someone's did a really nice thing for me this year. I was in a pretty grumpy mood and pretty depressed. Our family has been through a lot the last couple of years and I was not at all in the Christmas spirit. Then, one morning about 2 weeks ago, Richard opened the front door and found two gift bags sitting on the front porch. He brought them and and said they were for me. I was puzzled and a little curious. Each note had a little card, one said, "the 1st day of Christmas", and of course the other "the 2nd day of Christmas". The first had a silly ornament, a chubby mermaid in in sunglasses and holding a drink. The second gift was 2 pairs of thick fuzzy socks, the kind I like to wear around the house when it gets cold. I had no idea who could have left the gifts, I thought at first my daughter Sara, she swears she had nothing to do with it. The next night, Sara came home and brought in another gift bag, "Mom, this was on the front porch for you." Now I was very curious, who could this secret santa be? The 3rd gift was a large Princess House mug with a package of tea and a tea infuser. Well, now I'm beginning to have a few clues as to who the culprit is, I have a very good friend who happens to be a Princess House rep. Two days later, guess they got busy the previous night, but this would become the pattern now, every other night. This 4th package included, 4 candles and 4 candle holders. Whoever was doing this was really good at sneaking up on us without being caught, especially with someone almost constantly in the front living room. There is a large window in my front living room and right outside is a bench in plain view where most of the gifts were found. One was found just outside the garage, I suspect maybe they were afraid of being seen and dropped it and ran. I was amazed that this person was never caught in the act, they were very sneaky. My "secret stealth santa". The next 2 packages included a 2 liter Dr. Pepper and a hershey's cookies and cream candy bar, okay, now I think there are a couple of people in on this, certain people know I love my Dr. Pepper. Matthew of course also being a Dr. Pepper addict and having a sweet tooth said, "you are going to share, right?" The other gifts that night were a set of 4 books by Karen Kingsbury and a set of planters, as I love plants and gardening. A couple of nights later the next gifts arrived, a tin of cookies, potatoe chips, goldfish, some Peterbrook chocolates...yuuuuum, large box of raisins and an apple. We were beginning to have a lot of laughs over this, and really enjoying the goodies. A couple of nights later and my list of potential suspects grows based on the contents of the bags. A 5 lb bag of sugar, 5lb bag of flour, baking soda, baking powder, walnuts, a bag of chocolate chips, brown sugar and some gardening gloves? I'm thinking they were supposed to be in the bag with the planters. But suffice it to say, I'll be doing some baking very soon. A couple of days later and the final packages arrive, last night I received 4 movies, the book "The Love Dare", if you saw the movie Fireproof, you'd know what that is about, a journal and pen, (I used to journal on a regular basis and mentioned to someone that I'd gotten out of the habit. Along with those items was 4 bags of my favorite popcorn and 4 boxes of assorted chocolates and candies and some Lindor's chocolates. Looks like we're going to have a movie night. I can honestly say whoever was behind this scheme certainly brightened my holidays and brought me a lot of smiles, some laughs and probably a few extra pounds. I tried to get a few friends to fess up, but they all insist they know nothing and that maybe some things just aren't meant to be found out. So, I'll just say how greatful for the blessing of good friends and some wonderful gifts that I will certainly enjoy and share with others. And next year if I know someone who is facing a difficult time and needs a little cheering up, what a great idea this would be. Thank you, whoever you are, for blessing me with your friendship and your gifts. You made this a Christmas to remember.

Christmas 2007

I know, I know, what am I doing on the computer on Christmas day? This is one of very few days during the year that I refuse to be on a schedule. We used to spend our Christmas holidays like a lot of families, Christmas Eve was spent at my sister-in-laws where we stuffed ourselves and exchanged gifts, Santa came to visit the kids and hand out more presents, that is the gathering I do miss. Then, we would get up before the sun Christmas morning to open presents with the kids, eat breakfast, get dressed and it was off to the grandparents and friends houses to visit and exchange gifts. Although it is always good to spend the holidays with friends and family, the schedule could be stressful and exhausting. So, since my sister-in-law and her husband sold their house to purchase an RV and travel, we began to change the routine. Christmas dinner was moved to Christmas Eve, this left more time to just relax the next day and take a nap! Now that my husbands parents have passed, Christmas day is even quieter.
We are having Christmas dinner tonight, it's just the four of us and we'll eat when it's ready.
With working full time, 2 teenagers, one having a very busy schedule with school, work, church and her social life, life is stressful. So, we decided to not be on a schedule this year. Last night, after wrapping presents, we put on a movie, had nachos, homemade cookies and other munchies. It was very relaxing. Today, we can stay in our PJ's all day if we like, I can take this time to work on my blog, which I want to edit and add and change features to and link up with others out there. And of course, my daughter has a boyfriend and is splitting her time between here and there. I guess I always knew this day would come, but I didn't say I would have to like it. One other things is really different about this year. I think it's the first time since the birth of my children that I didn't have someone waking me up in the predawn hours giddy with excitement and ready to tear open Christmas presents. I thought my son would wake us bright and early, he was so excited. Matt was inspecting presents, picking up what was obviously a CD, "Gee mom, wonder what that is?" Then he inspected another package, "Let's see, it's kind of big, it gives a little, so it's not electronic." I pleaded with him as I do every year to leave the packages alone until morning.....why do we do that? Do we really think they aren't going to try to figure out what it is they are getting? Of course, in years past I have tricked them by putting bricks in boxes, marbles or other items that would make noise so that they wouldn't be able to figure out what was inside, putting items in boxes that aren't what the contents say. However, it was amusing when my son unwrapped a box with a picture of an Immersion Blender, (a hand held blender) and said to me, "I know this can't be a hand blender.....he opened the box to find a hand held blender and looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Mom, why did you buy me a hand held blender?" I told him it was because he loves to make milkshakes a lot and other frothy drinks. To which he smiled and said thanks and thought it was pretty cool. My 17 year old daughter Sara, who normally is not a morning person was so wired on cold medicine and caffeine this morning, that and giddy because her boyfriend had given her a Christmas morning wake up call. I have to say, she really scored some points with mom today. My present from her is a ticket to see Micheal Buble in concert this February, my friend Maggie got the other ticket, so it'll be a girls night out! Now there's something I haven't done in a while. Our dog Lula was very happy with her stocking full of new toys, one of which she is peacefully sleeping next to at my feet. My husband was happy with his new coffee pot, which he'd been saying for weeks he needed a new one. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to the gift card to the hair stylist. You see, we are coming off a very difficult year, especially the last few months and have been left in a bit of a financial bind, so I have put off getting a haircut, besides, Matt needed it more, he was beginning to look like cousin IT from The Munsters. But, I have to admit, I am excited about it now, having my hair done is high on the list of relaxing things I love to do. I always tell the girl that does my hair to just take her time so that I can savor these few moments spent on myself.
Well, time to think about putting that rib-roast in the oven. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Staying Connected

I sit here and stare at the empty box on my blog screen and can't even think of what to say.
This is all new to me. This blogging thing is pretty incredible when you think about it. It wasn't so long ago when I first heard the term "blog". I remember thinking, "what the heck is a blog?"
A local soldier was "blogging" about his experiences in Iraq to the people at home and his blogs were being published in the local newspaper. I remember thinking what a great idea that was. Blogging and e-mail are in my opinion 2 of the best things about the internet. What a great way for family and friends to stay connected. About 10 years ago, (wow, has it been that long?) e-mail became a vital part of my life and the life of my in-laws. When my kids were younger and my husband's parents were still with us, we e-mailed nearly every day. We wrote what we often referred to as "the dailies". These were letters back and forth about the daily grind. I would talk about what the kids and I had done each day, visits to the park, the beach, school events, and all the silly and not so silly things they were up to. Being able to send pictures over the internet was the best so that we could see how all the kids were growing. We could see how Cathy's garden was growing and Carol's place on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Butch could send us pictures of his progress with the airplane he was building. (Note: unfortunately the newly finished airplane was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina). I used to love getting my sister-in-law Cathy's gardening stories, even though she thought they were pretty boring. They were always dealing with critters getting into their gardens and some of the deterrents they would use were amusing, especially the ones of Alex fighting off snakes with a stick and pine-sol spray. Oma loved getting her e-mail every night so she could hear about what the kids were up to. If for some reason I didn't get around to writing for a couple of days she would call and want to know when her next story was coming. It didn't matter how insignificant it might seem to me, it meant a lot to her and Opa. They said it made them feel like they were more a part of our lives and that was very important to them. As the kids got a little older, they were able to e-mail their own notes to Oma and Opa. That wasn't always a good thing for me. I got a call from Oma one day that Sara had written her a note about me and that she was told what a mean momma I was because she had gotten in trouble. We giggled over that one for a while. Then as Oma and Opa grew older and their health failed, e-mail became a lifeline. Oma and Opa had a growing list of health problems which left them in need of a lot of assistance. As we were the only family that lived in the same city, it was up to us to take on a good bit of the responsibility for a while. We shopped for them, did housecleaning, repairs from time to time, took them to doctors appointments and sometimes just a social visit to let the kids spend time with their grandparents. As their health declined and more specialized care was needed, and more frequent visits to check on them, I e-mailed other family members almost daily with news of how their parents were really doing. I kept them informed about what doctors were saying, medicines they were taking, discontinuing, and changing. They called them often, but Oma and Opa weren't always forthcoming with information. So it was up to me to give the real scoop. Now Oma and Opa have passed, the kids are teenagers and our lives have gotten so much busier we we're not writing "the dailies" anymore and I miss that. I still have copies of a lot of those e-mails and from time to time I get them out and read them and wonder how I didn't lose my sanity. I think it was because through it all, we stayed connected by sharing with each other. Many years ago, the indians would sit around the campfire and share stories, there was a sense of family. Maybe we didn't sit around the campfire and share our stories, but we did sit around our PC's waiting for the next e-mail to come.