One of Tom's Christmas presents beside socks and long underwear, was a USB headphone set to use for Skype . This is a free online phone service that allows us to talk with our extended family all over, even in India, for free!!! We have had so much fun with this. If the connection isn't coming through well, you still have the ability to IM instead. I am so loving technology. I can see how one could get so wrapped up in it. Especially when it doesn't cost!! The cost of the headset has already been paid for in just one phone call to India! Unfortunately we are only confined to those who have Skype. If our friends who live out of down would down load for free, we would be able to talk to you!!! No, this isn't a plug for Skype. Just for the free factor.

New Years Eve is approaching and it is strange that there isn't any snow on the ground. The gardener that I am, I enjoy the smell of the partial thawing earth. Worms. It smells like worms. But we need snow.




I have been spending hours making chain. I practice for hours with craft wire until I feel confidant that I can move on to the silver. not there yet. I am nuts about silver. I have never been a yellow gold woman and I never will be. My next temptation is to work with Turquoise and silver.

I started squirreling away some extra cash so I can take my husband to Chicago for his birthday in January. Trying to find some decent entertainment during that month has been difficult. I think we might just have to settle for local talent and dinner. I think we can make it work. Just getting away for the two of us is present enough.

"A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life." --Henri Frederic Amiel

The Clef Necklace

Christmas has come and gone. The traditions of church and travels on Christmas eve has changed for the better. Usually change would bug me. It used to really effect the way I made important decisions in my younger adulthood which always came back to bite me in the ass. But now at 45 I find change to be freedom. Freedom to experience the freshness life has to offer if you just let go. I didn't close any personal doors this christmas. I found 'it' sitting there on the cusp, waiting for me just incase I needed to fall back on it. That too needed to change. I've been looking at the light at the end of that tunnel for too long now. It's time for blue skies or cloudy, it doesn't matter. It just time. Next is my own personal space in which I live in. That's right! my personal physical health will in one way or another take first place where it should have been. I'm not going to go nuts and try a Krispy cream diet or anything, Just the old standby, eat right and get moving!!!! My body is screaming for some consistancy. The key to this will be to do it alone. Something I've never done before. I can't wait for someone else to come along and motivate me. I should be enough.

As you can see above, I made a necklace for myself. Thank you! Thank you! yes, it is sbout time! maybe I'll even wear it!!!

Mezuzah: God's Word on the Doorpost

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

The Mezuzah signifies the sanctity and blessing of the Jewish home. Actually it is a portion of the Holy Torah, inscribed in the same manner and script as a Torah. It is an "original" sanctified document in accord with laws and precepts that dare not be compromised.

On this sacred scroll of parchment are inscribed two passages from the Torah, "Shema Yisroel" and "Vehaya" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) are rolled up placed behind the Mezuzah when attached to the doorpost.

It is customary, upon entering or leaving a residence, to touch the Mezuzah. This reverence acknowledges our belief in the "Shema Yisroel," the Jewish declaration of faith, which expresses the unity of G-D, the duty of loving and serving Him with our whole being, and our obligation to observe the mitzvoth in and out of the home.


A gift given by the Taylors of Middlebury a year after we moved into our home.

Concede, religuish & Peace

The girls wanted to decorate the Christmas tree last night. I sat in my chair drinking my coffee as the girls unwrapped years of Christmas past memories. This Santa is for our bathroom and still has the sticker on it from the Hornbeck family Christmas gathering here last year. Ron felt that this Santa was looking at him while he was in there. ~ I had to.
I sat, letting the girls take control of all the Christmas decorating of the tree and mantel with all the Christmas cha cha's we have. It was such a relief not having to take it upon myself to do it or have to do it. (religuish) They did such beautiful job!!!!

Spent most of my morning helping my foster mother unpack and arrange her home to prepare it for the onslaught of 22 family members visiting for the holidays. She has so much 'stuff'. The amount of items she has kept over her lifetime raises so many flags of emotional attachments it is almost scary. But as I get older and things of life seem to be slipping by faster and faster I find myself wanting to hold on to the items for her and for myself. I will not be in Ca-hoots with the family members this year in making fun of all the things she can't and won't let go of. We all have our emotional attachments in some form or another. (concede)

I found (peace) in the Christmas season this year. I feel it has a lot to do with letting go of expectations, wants and needs. attached to Jealousy and insecurities. The simplicities of life itself can be very freeing. I hope I can continue to hold onto it.


I found a Christmas memory scrap book that I started back in 1994. It just happens to be a beautiful Norman Rockwell Christmas memories scrapbook. This book has the stories for the trees of Christmas, Myths of Holly, The poinsettia, Christmas cards, Yule log, and hanging of the stockings. Also the story of St. Nicholas, Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus, The night before Christmas and of course the Wassil brew recipe!!! woo woo!

I would put in a copy of the Christmas card we sent out that year, recipes we love or I love, along with photos and Christmas letters. They were all placed in between the pages of memories for that year. Here are a few:

1994

~First year in our new home
~Pregnant with Amy
~Tom became a full-time feeder driver
~We bought our first Van (used of course)
~Tom got the big "V"
~Greg Clarks Father died.

1995

~Corrine is pregnant and due in January
~Amy M. is pregnant and due in July
~Elaine and Will were married
~Lisa Kelsch was married
~Lorrine is divorced
~Mike and Elieen are engaged and move to Texas (we miss you)
~Sean Pearmans Father passed away

1996

Sean Pearman's brother died (very sad year)


From there the pages were just stuff with that years Christmas letters, Photos, Deaths and marriages and never recorded. Life just got too busy to take the time.

Sorry Martha Stewart.

Sunday Sunday.

Now this is what I call a Sunday Acitvity!! But instead, we are getting the house ready for Christmas. As usual, we have gotten side tracked 'picking' up the house in order to bring in more stuff. We've dusted, swept, arranged funiture, scrubbed the bathroom and detailed the top of the stove (Tom's issue for which I am grateful). Right now Tom and Amy are making wooden pens for the girls teachers at school for Christmas. Kelsey is hounding me to get going. We have to make a edible cake of a 'cell' for science class and it's due tomorrow. I've told her several times that I'll be ready and that was two hours ago. I refuse to give up the pace I want to set for this family when it comes to our Sundays. I don't want it to end up being the dump all day, It's a day for family and not projects. But when your not told until last night BEFORE bed, you don't have to much room to move around in....EH? Sigh.............I guess we better get going. Boy Tigger, you sure have the life!!

I'm an extraordinary machine

~Fiona Apple



I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes

-And-

I certainly haven't been spreading myself around

I still only travel by foot and by foot, it's a slow climb,

But I'm good at being uncomfortable, so

I can't stop changing all the time



I notice that my opponent is always on the go

-And-

Won't go slow, so's not to focus, and I notice

He'll hitch a ride with any guide, as long as

They go fast from whence he came

- But he's no good at being uncomfortable, so

He can't stop staying exactly the same



If there was a better way to go then it would find me

I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me

Be kind to me, or treat me mean

I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine



I seem to you to seek a new disaster every day

You deem me due to clean my view and be at piece and lay

I mean to prove I mean to move in my own way, and say,

I've been getting along for long before you came into the play



I am the baby of the family, it happens, so

- Everybody cares and wears the sheeps' clothes

While they chaperone

Curious, you looking down your nose at me, while you appease

- Courteous, to try and help - but let me set your

Mind at ease




-Do I so worry you, you need to hurry to my side?

-It's very kind

But it's to no avail; I don't want the bail

I promise you, everything will be just fine



If there was a better way to go then it would find me

I can't help it, the road just rolls out behind me

Be kind to me, or treat me mean

I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine

The first real significant snow. I love the silence that comes when the roads are covered with several inches.
We were all hoping for a snow day to jump start the weekend. No such luck. the season for snow is early. we'll have many more chances I'm sure. I do realize that I NEED snow boots. Clog Berks are not handy in the this kind of snow. I would like to get out and take more photos and being prepared help to motivate and keep the inspiration.

Making a wire wrap bracelet for my next project. The amount and length of wire required is almost too much to handle. I guess it is a good thing that I am using practice wire on my first try. The task has been put on hold due to skin splits on the two most important apendeges needed for wire wrapping. *sigh*.

This weekend is just for us as a family. Looking forward to nothing being scheduled. Good weekend for a book. any suggestions?

"Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths where neither sin nor desire can reach, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way there would be no reason for war, for hatred, for cruelty. . . We would fall down and worship each other."
~ Thomas Merton

The tooth fairy doesn't visit here anymore. Amy just walked right to the tooth fairy box and placed her recent pull with the rest of her and her sister's teeth. I passed her a buck and she said, "thanks." This is a very strange thing I have created, collecting my girls teeth. Maybe I am trying to make up for the lack of a decent childhood photo album?

St. Nicholas day was yesterday. 400 pre-packed bags of candy and gold coins was placed into every child's shoe. Of course I had to stop and start several times in my deliveries to accommodate the special reading classes but all was delivered. It was asked that the junior high not take off their shoes and place them in the hall in fear of stinky shoes. Thank you God.

I stayed to help with Arby's bunday then ate lunch with a few of the 'regulars' that do everything for the school. Sitting there listening to the conversations, I find I can better spend my 'not so negative' energies elsewhere. I can't get too emotionally involved with these women. Some to me just don't have a clue how to pick the important battles. I don't have patience for the petty who said what and whose pissed off at who crap. I just want to run screaming through the halls right out the door to my car. My dose of that comes from my girls and their issues with friends. That I can handle. It is much more natural to me that my girls, at their age, are dealing with this kind of stuff. Not in my peer group.

Down to one car again. All well used items in our lives are coming to a head at the same time! The car, Van, Cordless phone, washer, yes, I flooded the basement again! And the fridge. All on the cusp of Christmas. Figures eh?

Deep breath.

The auction evening was lovely. The necklace had several bids and ended up selling to my Foster Mother for $80.00. It's nice to know it is in the family so I can see it once in a while.

Helped move our Madison friends into their new spacious home. Only if you call us women standing around and OOOH-ing about the house while the men did the heavy work helping. What a cold day it was! Looking forward to the New Years Eve party this year in their banquet size basement. Maybe the band will play? Just kidding.

~"Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route."
~Charles Caleb Colton

This weekend is a very busy. and to top it all off, the Pontiac's brakes went out yesterday. This poor car has 213,000 miles on it. So we will be going in style to the Renaissance Auction tonight with it's non-optional VALET parking, in our HUGH two tone rusty gas guzzling bumper sticker laden van. People will judge us by our vehicle of choice. At least we had half a prayer with the poor old Bonnie! A good sweep job and a car wash, and no one could look beyond the leather seats and pretty dash board lights that the inside of the car has to offer! I could blast the Cake song "Race car Ya-Ya's!"
Needless to say, I don't really care what people think of my car (s). I know better. As Cindy always says when we say something stupid or do something stupid.... "But at least you look good!!!!!" Thanks Cindy.

Amy has Volleyball games for a few more week. Longer than I had originally thought. I am happy about that. I do enjoy the games. Who knew I had a love for Volleyball!!! So today we are at St. Matthews. Then back home to make a necklace to go with my super cool outfit I pickup yesterday. Yes, I was going to wear a the dress that I wore at Ron and Corrines wedding and it fits! Except in the arms!!! Hello? If anything, I thought it would be the ususal hips or thighs, but now its the arms. I had a good laugh and was happy with what I ended up with. But of course shopping at the least minute sucks a lot!!! In the meantime, Tom will start to work on the Bonnie. Let's hope all goes well. We really need this second car. Getting up at 5:30am to pick up my husband at work isn't ideal for me, Although easier these days because of getting my girls up for school. Still, hard when it 16 degrees out.

Tomorrow we help our friends from Wisconsin move into their new home. Burr!! I get to see people I haven't seen in a long time. Too bad everyone has to work the next day. A party sounds good.

Next week is a mellow week. I've been looking forward to this week. My Christmas shopping is done so maybe it's time to work on Christmas decorations. I hope not to spend any money on new decorations. What we have will have to do. The money we have spent the past two weeks has caused me to stress a bit. It's not a hugh amount. Not compared to recent years but spending monies outside of the budget freaks me out these days. I think my husbands mattress stuffing days are rubbing off on me. Who am I kidding? I can spend money as good as the rest. But I do want to get rid of the debt we have accumulated over the past three years. I am motivated by the fact that the balance is still very much in the red. At the same time, life must go on....But responsibly.

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."
--Hamilton Wright Mabie~