I just heard a comforting thought courtesy of our local radio news.
A very sweet female news anchor read the following advisory: "And Denver police would like to remind you again NOT to fire guns into the air tonight."

After a big rush to Christmas, since we left home for the holidays on the 17th, we had a number of holiday adventures.

Our flight in on the 17th was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately, the traffic getting away from SFO was not so dull. After a crazy path weaving through the city streets of SF, we finally made it out of the city and towards our goal. After a stop at In and Out for dinner, we arrived home at the same time as my brother and sister-in-law and my nephews.

It was pleasant to spend time with my in-laws and nephews. My nephews are all-boy and very energetic. I needed those extra Christmas cookies to keep up with them. We exchanged gifts early, did family photos, and the So Cal contingent took off on the 19th. We had a couple extra days alone with Daemein's Mom. Daemein was able to see Durodragon, and the MIL and I went off for a little shopping expedition into downtown Petaluma which has the most excellent heirloom seed store called The Seed Bank. I picked up 3 different kinds of tomato seeds, purple kohlrabi seeds, and seeds for a black hollyhock flower. They had A TON of different kinds of seeds. It was awesome. We also enjoyed a nearby vintage shop.

On Tuesday, in an even split, my Dad came and picked us up. We had a wonderful time finishing up Christmas preparations and spending time with family. My sister flew in on the 23rd. We had a lovely Christmas, and thanks to my father we had a low stress Christmas dinner because he ordered a pre-made dinner. It saved a lot of time and struggle!. We all flew out on the 27th; my sister early in the morning and the two of us late in the evening. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed, and then the gate was moved. We finally got off the ground an hour and 35 minutes late, but the flight itself was uneventful. The flight-crew on our Southwest flight was an absolute hoot, and we had more than one chuckle. Once we got off the plane though, the transportation trains which take you from terminal to terminal were not working, and there is no other way to get from terminals out without those trains (I suppose there is an emergency way, but nobody knows what it is..). We stood on the platform for about a half an hour waiting. Thankfully, there was no trouble getting our luggage, and my Uncle kept to his word and picked us up from the airport despite the fact that we arrived home at about 2 AM. Poor uncle! :(

And now we are home safe and sound and tired.
And I have 4 days to unpack, clean the house and put together a New Year's party. Thankfully it's only for a few people, and it's pot-luck, but still!!

Happy Holidays!!

This weekend was a whirlwind of shopping and holiday activity. Here are the highlights:

On Saturday we were out the door before 10 AM. We went straight to the clinic for our H1N1 shots, and sat there for almost 2 hours. We got vaccinated as luck would have it by a nurse who graduated from Amador high in 1993! How small world is that?
Then a return, lunch, and marathon shopping. We crisscrossed the area looking in every shop we could think of for difficult to find gifts. We took a break around 6 stopping at a pet store for some fuzz therapy and then went on to Panera for dinner. After more crisscrossing across town, we had some success and called it a night at 10.

Sunday we were up early for church. After services I had coffee duty for the fellowship ministry. Then we hurried home to give some of my homemade candy out to neighbors. After that, we ate a quick lunch, made a quick grocery list and hit the road. We got our groceries, did a couple of errands, and met with some friends to go to the ChristKrindel Mart in Downtown Denver. We looked at the cute little shops, enjoyed hot chocolate, cinnamon toasted nuts and being pelted by snow pellets.

And that about covers it.

And the rush is on to Christmas!

It's about 6 degrees out right now, so I wasn't really happy about going out and shoveling my driveway, walk, and corner lot of sidewalks, but I suited up and got out there, and just after I started the son/grandson of the ladies who live across the street came over with his snowblower and did the whole thing for me. He wouldn't even take the home-made candy I offered him, and when I thanked him, he repeatedly said it was nothing. Well,maybe not to him, but he probably saved me a half hour of freezing my tush off out there, so it was to me! People can be awesome!

Well, my Dad came out to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a really nice visit. We went out to see my Grandmother a couple times, and to visit my Mom's grave. We put flowers out there and did a little information gathering about getting a stone. He seems to like the Colorado mined granite with pink flecks in it.

For Thanksgiving we invited Dad's single sister to join us, and for the first year since we arrived she came. She seemed to have a good time, and except for a small incident where she kept eating the raw cranberries (which I didn't have enough of in the first place) it was surprisingly smooth sailing.

We took him out to Hammond's Candy factory on Friday where they make fancy candy canes, ribbon candy and art candy (the kind with little picture in it). He really seemed to enjoy the factory tour where you get to see how they make the confections. We bought our yearly stocking stuffer candy canes. This year we went with cranberry, chocolate filled cherry and sugar plum. And Dad picked up some for a bunch of his friends back in CA. All in all it was great to have him come visit. I was really sad when he left, but I will see him again for Christmas, so I guess it's not so bad.

My fledgling entrance to social networking via Facebook has left me pondering the nature of the word friend.

The usual crowd of high school and college friends were no surprise, and Facebook does make it easier for me to keep up with what everyone is up to. Beyond that I have been able to locate a few long lost pals and reconnect with them, and that has also been wonderful.

But, the further I venture in, the murkier it feels. I have "friended" a number of people who were more like acquaintances from different eras of my life, and now I am getting requests from people who I don't think would have ever called me friend back in the day. Now, I've been told that etiquette wise, I am under no obligation to accept friend requests from these people, but I haven't had the heart to hit ignore yet. I think about all the playmates of my childhood who were too cool for me by high school who I have wondered about over the years. If I sent them a friend request, how would I feel if they just hit ignore? I wonder if perhaps these were people who I knew at one time, and my holey memory has allowed to slip through the cracks, if these were people who I meant more to than they meant to me, or if they are just friend whores who are just seeking the biggest friend number they can manage. And how does one know the difference? Do these people really care that I just made soup or that my Dad is flying in for Thanksgiving? And if they do, what does that say about them..? Do I really want the whole world to know these details about me? Not really....

I just used Facebook to offer an apology to a boyfriend from the distant past who I had hurt deeply. Now he wants to friend me. Oh dear. I was right to offer the apology, it was long overdue, but the consequences have me puzzled. Do I really want my former paramour to have a window into my current life? On the other hand, if I ignore his request, does that negate the apology I offered?

I think the 21st century is just too complicated for me. *sigh*

Ok, I finally joined the 21st century.
I'm now on facebook...

The recent snow is long gone and I was able to have the windows open today!
Tomorrow is supposed to be a high of 78!!
Yay!
What a great day to rake leaves!

Imagine, it's Halloween night, you hear a knock at your door.
You open it to find a 3 foot version of Death on your doorstep.
Instead of the usual: "Trick or treat!",
he says: "I had an accident, I tripped over my scythe..."
OMG!
It was so funny and cute.
ROFL!
Poor Death.
He's having a rough night.

Just in time for Halloween, my house is buried in 3 feet of snow.
It looks like January out there, not October!
I'm guessing we're not getting many trick-or-treaters...

Merry Halloween everybody!

Hey folks.
Some interesting monetary info has come my way. I feel like I need to share.
In the last 12 months the money supply in this country has increased 120%.
In general, the effects of printing money (inflation) lags behind the printing 1-2 years, so sometime between now and one year from now, the effects should start showing.

What's the big deal you ask?

To put things in perspective, in the 1970's the US printed money for 2 years.
Now, once the effects of inflation started showing, the Fed had to raise interest rates to slow the effect of inflation.
The idea is to raise interest rates so that when you pay back money you owe, you pay more dollars back to the Fed in order to pull back in all those extra printed dollars so they can be removed from circulation. Now between the effects of inflation (your dollar buys less) and the high interest rates (you have to pay back more) it got pretty uncomfortable for a while in the 1970's. Ask your parents.
Back in the 1970's interest rates were hovering below 20%, and it wasn't fun.
That was caused because the money supply increased 13%.

Um, wanna take a guess as to what kind of interest rates would be needed to fend off hyper-inflation with a 120% increase??
Projections have it at a MINIMUM of 30-40%!!
Ow, ow, ow, ow...

Seriously people, please shore up what you can, pay off unsecured debts, and be super careful about investments.

Well, it is officially slipping from fall towards winter.
It is snowy and slushy outside today.
I figure it is a perfect day to swap out the bed linens; from light weight pastels to deeper richer colored flannels.
I also figure it is a good day to catch up on my ironing. Not my favorite chore, but at least it's warm.
And to roast a chicken.
Mmmm mmm mmm!

Wow, this is really not how I was expecting to start this week, or any week for that matter.
Um, I don't mean to be all cryptic with you all, but I can't really share the details.
Suffices to say that the two of us are about to go through a really tough time.
Prayers and positive energies appreciated.

Life is largely as usual.

The fuel pump went out on our car, so we had to get that replaced.
Daemein got a raise, but lost his parking stipend and starting next year will be commuting farther, so that's kind of a wash.

Daemein has been enjoying worker appreciation week at work. There have been some events and contests. He came in third in the pie eating contest, and he gets to go to the Aquarium today.

A kind neighbor invited us over for dinner last night. It was lovely to have and evening with her.

We had our first snowfall yesterday. Nothing much. Less than an inch and it's gone already. We're expecting more this weekend.

I think that's all for now.

...on the second day of fall.

Yep, you read that right.
We are expecting our first snowfall overnight tonight, so on the first and second days of fall.

Ha ha!

So, not a whole lot going on around here. Just a string of small things.

Wednesday is the 70th Anniversary of the Wizard of Oz and I am going to go see it with my local vintage enthusiast group.
Daemein's Aunt and Uncle from WA are on a driving tour of the US and plan on swinging by here in the next week or two.
We've made our holiday plans.
We had a little car trouble, but thank God for AAA. Nothing serious, and it has prompted us to see about some car maintenance.

I have checked out a few books on altered book art and transparencies in art and I'm eager to give some of the ideas a try. I just need to figure out where I want to go with it. To that end I picked up a pair of Reader Digest condensed books at the Boy Scout rummage sale this weekend that I won't feel to bad about altering.
We also picked up an old hat, a pair of 1960's gold and sliver heels (that need the heel caps replaced, but at 50 cents for the shoes, I think I can afford that fix) 1965 Better Homes & Garden's book on photography (the pictures are darling), a 1940 copy of the Esquire Bedside reader (the essay on jiggling being my favorite so far), and a pin.

My sister just moved to Michigan and starts a new job soon.

The weather has turned cold and yucky. We went from the 80s this weekend down to the 50s today. Blech. How I yearn for long warm Indian summers. Sigh. It looks like an early winter this year. Too bad.

And that about covers it for now...

I thought I was doing a good job when it came to hand-washing and such, but I spent the last 2 days flat on my back with a stomach bug.
Take care out there.

On Wednesday, September 23rd it will be the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz.
In celebration TCM is sponsoring a one night only special screening of the movie in high def at theaters across the nation!
That's right, you can see The Wizard of Oz on the big screen.
Just search: http://www.ncm.com/Fathom/
for The Wizard of Oz for times and locations!

This last weekend I had such a successful shopping trip that I thought I'd share my luck with all of you.
If you need new clothes, especially summer ones, you might want to take a peek at your local J.C. Penney's.
Mine was doing a clearance blow out. All clearance prices were an extra 75% off.
I came home with 2 pairs of shorts, originally priced at $28 and $36 for $4.97 each. No kidding.
I saw clearance shoes marked at $9.97, clearance bags at $4.97, tops and bottoms at $4.97.
Clearance dresses were marked at $9.97. Clearance costume jewelery was marked $1.97.
I bought a necklace and bracelet originally priced at $28 and $24 for about $4 total!

If you need anything, it might be worth a look.

daemein 's company had a "team-building" activity yesterday. (Read, the economy is bad, so we're taking you to a baseball game instead of having a company picnic) And while my sweetie did remember to take a hat, he did not remember his sunscreen. He walked in the door last night as red as a beet. Legs from the shorts line to the sock line, arms from the T-shirt line, and even his face was burned.

He swore it didn't hurt, so I immediately attacked him with a bottle of vinegar. (Family home remedy for sunburns. Are we the only ones that do this?) And for whatever reason, maybe the vinegar, maybe because he's a freak, he reported no pain from the sunburns all last night. After a cool bath in the evening I used aloe on his sunburns, hoping that would help for the next day. I'm hoping that it worked. Poor guy. Slow roasting is for food, not husbands...