Friends are the Best

I've had some really nice emails and phone calls from my friends. Lots of sympathy about my job loss. Today one of my BFFs bought me lunch. Two friends came to lunch and both wanted details about my "package" and shared info about what was happening at my former office. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. Bits of information keep popping up. The names of people no longer there. The new jobs that people have been slotted into. I'm not sure that I would like working there any more. It seems that people have been haphazardly tossed about into different teams and positions like so many mix and match Legos. The new reality of corporate IT hell. IT wasn't the only area with major cuts. The denizens of bldg 2 who produced a brilliant product that hasn't totally worked out suffered the same or worse cuts than bldg 1. That's just the location that I worked at. There are many more buildings on the sites in Dallas proper.

I'm getting used to being an outsider (to my former company). It's different but the stress and anxiety of wondering what was going to happen and when have all vanished. I'm hopeful that my job situation will work out for the best. I'm not one of those people who say, "Everything happens for a reason." I don't believe in that theory of life. I guess I'm more of the school of chaos theory. There is no such thing as fate or good/bad/mysterious reasons for things to happen. We make our own way in the world. The future happens one day at a time. It's up to me to determine my course of action. I can do it. I'm a survivor and veteran of many crisis' past. So, I'm optimistic that I'll learn some new lessons along the way and somehow things will get better. And I'll be happy that I have friends who care!!!!

Living Through A Historic Day

I can't believe that this day has come finally. It's one of those moments in history that we'll be reminded of again later. Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. I watched his swearing in and speech.

It's the first time that I've cared enough to find a TV and watch this type of event. What does that say about me? Usually I pass on all political speeches. I did hear Bush's post-9/11 speech sitting in our rental car on our honeymoon in Hawaii. The juxtaposition of being at one of the most beautiful beaches and listening to the President address the nation made it one of my personal historic moments.

Today is different. It's a NATIONAL historic day. Our President is now someone who will stand against torture. Hopefully he will bring our long and agonizing war in the Middle East to an end. We all pray that he and his administration can pull our nation out of this devastating economic crisis. We have HIGH HOPES for the future. I pray that we see those hopes become reality.

Two of these things have something in common: water heater, my left foot, my laptop

Do you remember those pictures from your childhood? Which of these things belong together? Well my water heater broke last week and so did my laptop (hard drive, yes, backed-up, being restored by an IT professional as we speak). My foot however was judged to be merely sprained yesterday during my two hour visit to Prima-Care near my home. Thank God, for them, otherwise I might still be hobbling around thinking I might have a broken foot bone. It hurt enough sometimes to be broken. But himself said that it wasn't. I decided to let a DOCTOR decide if it is or not. Yeah!!!

I Gotta Hippopotamus for Christmas!

Story and photos to follow. I just had to POST that line. It was my Hallmark surprise ornament from my dear Chuck. It's darling.

More later about our long and eventful (cooking and cooking) Christmas Day!

'Twas the Day before Christmas

(With apologies to Clement Moore!)

It 'twas the day before Christmas,
and I was quite panic'd
nothing was wrapped
and not soul had gone manic'd.

The tree and the stockings
were in boxes (in the garage)
and my Dear darling
had hinted quite large!

Off to the wrapping paper
Likes elves I flew
With a twinkle I delt with it
Bows and a few.

Now everything is done
and even the cat is content
so I must stop
for good intent.

Christmas Memories

Here are some of my random memories of Christmas growing up in the 60's and 70's... and a few of later years.
1. My grandmother's white flocked artificial tree and color wheel.
2. Putting up our silver artificial tree and color wheel. (My mother was allergic to pine trees.)
3. Red glass ornaments on the silver tree.
4. Antique German glass ornaments from my parents early days together in the 50's... I have several of them packed away as they are very fragile.
5. Bubble lights on Aunt Marge & Uncle Jack's tree... I have a few sets collected in the 80's when these lights made a come back. As they heat up, the liquid in a glass cyllinder bubbles. (They were the Aunt & Uncle of my college roommate Jane... I sort of adopted them as an extra Aunt & Uncle. Sadly they both passed away in 2007, but I have great memories of them.)
6. Silver tinsel tossed on a real tree.
7. Coming out on Christmas morning to find the presents from Santa (unwrapped of course) and the wrapped ones from Mom and Dad.
8. Having to wrestle my baby sister to keep her in bed so that Mom & Dad could have a cup of coffee before she attacked the presents under the tree.
9. Collecting special ornaments during my lifetime. These include those made by friends & relatives and special ones received as gifts or purchased to remember some place special.
10. The red felt stocking with sequined animals and tree made lovingly for me by my Great-Aunt Pallie. I also have several wonderful old ornaments made by her. She was the creative one in the family.
11. The small tree of my father's old age that I took him in the nursing home.
12. My hi-tech fiber optic lighted med. size tree... that I need to put up soon.
13. Getting real greenery wreaths from a local Boy Scout.
14. Christmas dinner with my entire childhood family: Mom, Dad, Granny, Pop pop and little sister Beckie. Complete with turkey, corn bread dressing (regular and a special bowl of oyster dressing for me), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, relish trays, pecan pie made by Mom, canned chilled asparagus (I know... yuck!), bake & serve dinner rolls, Mrs. Smith's pies, giblet gravy made with lots of extra giblets.
15. Uncle Harley visiting and bringing me a few more presents. I think he had a silver tree too at one point.
16. Sometimes, we had Christmas at home in the morning, then went across town to my grandparent's house for Christmas dinner. Granny probably cooked more dishes than Mom did for the big dinner.
17. Watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on the color TV.
18. Playing my few Christmas records over and over. One favorite is The Christmas Cowboy with Gene Autry singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
19. Having my washing machine pipe freeze on Christmas night... flooding the apartment below in 1983.
20. Special ornaments given to me by Florence & Dad after I moved to Plano.
21. Getting the flu and having my Dad drive me back to Plano from San Antonio in 1982! (My 1st month on my new job up here.)
22. Going to East Texas to a tree farm to cut down a live tree with Barbara while we were roommates.
23. Egg nog!
24. Hosting wonder Christmas dinners in our home now for friends and family.
25. THE BEST MEMORY of ALL....
The marriage proposal from Chuck to marry him on Christmas in 2000. A James Avery ring with Hebrew writing on it along with a "recipe" for love & marriage. He is SO romantic.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

At least on the next row over from my cube. They decorated and even had a block party today with lots of gooey treats, hot chocolate and hot cider. I've visited three times for chocolate goodies and assorted other sweets. So I've been enjoying this Christmas season.

Last weekend, I wrapped and wrapped like a mad woman to get packages ready for Chicago (Oak Park), Boston (Roslindale) and San Antonio. Chuck had his own set of packages ready to go to Oregon and California. THEN, my friend in Chicago sent me a card asking if we could scale back on Christmas this year!!!

AFTER I had wrapped about 10 gifts for her AND mailed them to her. You see, we both like opening gifts so we buy many assorted things for each other. I love shopping for odds and ends for her, as she's a bit eccentric and finding just the right things can be quite fun. The gifts must include mustard (her favorite spice), something for the kitchen and a quite odd present. The odd present this year was given to me and immediately I saw the regifting opportunity. My BFF would love it. I'll go into details in a post-Christmas blog in case she's reading this, but it does involve doing almost obscene things to a chicken. :-) Use your imagination!

Holiday Carols Sung By The Fire

Well not exactly! We drove to Houston (Porter specifically) and back home again on Saturday. It's a 4 hour trip each direction. And the music du jour was the new & old Christmas mix CDs created by Chuck from our extensive holiday music collection. We listened and sang our way across Texas. It helped us pass the hours, when we weren't talking. As my friends know, both my husband and I love to talk.
I got to hear a good number of my holiday favorites. I'll need to get out the full CD of some of my all-time favorites to hear the whole thing: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Gene Autry's Christmas Cowboy, The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole. And many more!!!
May the weeks leading up to Christmas, Hannukah and Winter Solstice be merry and bright for all!

Loved the Turkey at 1st Bite

Yesterday, we had our "adopted" Chinese family over for Thanksgiving. Chuck prepared turkey with all the trimmings. And I helped! Let's see - we had cornbread stuffing (my family recipe), green beans with caramelized onions (my friend's recipe), fresh cranberry sauce, sweet potato puffs with pecans, mushroom casserole with spinach, special waldorf salad with cherries PLUS two kinds of pie (baked apple and a mixed berry tart).

We had to explain that over-eating was required. They loved the turkey; it was their 1st time to have it. Two people from China eating turkey in our kitchen. It was an all American holiday served up just for them. Our friends Carl & Lei brought her parents over plus the two children. We had a full house for the evening. Everyone went home full. Even the three year old... he ate a lot. Including several mouthfuls of Redi-whip, courtesy of Uncle Chuck!

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving isn't supposed to be about the FOOD. It's supposed to be about being thankful. I need to stop and reflect about what I'm thankful for this year. Express some gratitude to people in my life that helped me this year.

I'm thankful that when my husband had his heart attacks in March, he didn't die. I'm thankful that his health has continued to improve so much this year because he's been eating less carbs and less in general PLUS he's been religiously working out 3 times per week. I'm very thankful that he's my husband, a wonderful cook, someone with a great sense of humor, someone who loves me with all my flaws and even calls me beautiful.

I'm thankful for my health. I have plenty of health issues, but heart problems were ruled out this year. I'm thankful for great medical care and insurance to be able to afford it. I'm thankful for my great doctor, who really listens to me and helps me when I'm sick. I'm also thankful for my therapist who has taught me a lot about listening to my body and helping to feel better.

I'm thankful that my dear dog is finally at peace. He was part of my life for 18 years. I'm thankful to have had him around so long. I do miss him and cry when I see photos of little Jack Russell puppies (seem to be all over the place). But I'm thankful that he's at peace and no longer in pain. I'm thankful for his vet, Dr. Ward and his staff who were wonderful this year.

I'm thankful for my friends, spread all over the U.S. I love to hear from them either via phone, email or letters/cards. I know that I can call on them when I need them and they will listen.

I'm thankful for my extended family including my step-children and grand-daughter. Riley lights up our life when we get to see her. She'll be 2 years old in a few days.