It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Winter

It's looking very stark and wintery outside. I'm fighting my usual winter blahs with continuing to workout. My energy is high, I don't get out of breath as easily, and I'm up to 3-4 miles a day with the Walk Away the Pounds tapes. I don't see any huge changes in my appearance, but the increase in my overall sense of well being is greatly improved.
I think the leaves are finally all down, and we're still working like mad people to get them all bagged up, raked up, mulched up, whatever. Those three mammoth maples in our yard produce enough leaves to cover the entire neighborhood and then some. I raked Saturday for over an hour, and on Sunday my body reminded me just how many muscle groups is involved in raking. Egads! I appreciated my heating pad after that experience!
Well, on to work. We've got a manager on vacation, which means I get some of his work load in his absence. It's mainly keeping track of customer inventory levels and various other fun numbers, but every extra task means rearranging my priorities a bit to get it all done. No sense letting my work pile up in the process.
Hopefully I can find more time to write later this week. I'm finding myself more and more eager to write. It's just great stress release.

Getting Out of the House

Well, we got out of the house for a few hours. We went to visit Robert's mom, and of course, like all good moms, she had to sort of lecture us about visiting her more. She's right, of course. We work too hard. We don't visit enough. We don't bring the kids over hardly ever. Perhaps when they're grown ups and we're no longer trying to squeeze something meaningful into every second, we'll sit around and wonder why they don't visit us more often. But maybe not right at first. Maybe we'll breathe a collective sigh of relief that they made it to adulthood. That's my prayer. And maybe we'll go on a cruise. Right now we'll settle for an occasional date night. The comedy club date night in September was such a good one it should carry us for a little while.

Anyway, Robert, the boys and I went to Big Lots and bought a few items for the house...nothing major. Hangers, trash bags, WD40, necessities. I looked at ornaments, but didn't buy anything yet. It feels rather extravagant to buy ornaments for a tree when I have boxes of ornaments packed up that I haven't opened yet. Where they are exactly in our storage room in the city house is a mystery, but we still own them, and I feel like buying more is just....wasteful. Maybe next year we'll have unpacked. But I won't hold my breath.

After Big Lots we headed out to Ponderosa, which is a bit of a drive from us, but worth it to eat anything but Thanksgiving type food. That was a peaceful meal. No arguing. Usually if there are two kids, fighting is reduced. Add that third kid and someone has to disagree about something. We did a lot of talking, reminiscing. Josh is going through a phase where he is focused on how fast time goes by, and has been in the mood to talk about the past. Perhaps losing his grandmothers so quickly has triggered that. I am more than happy to indulge this talkative side of his personality, since he is usally so tight lipped. I'd say it was overall a sweet, peaceful evening. What's weird is that it feels like Sunday night, as I've had two days off. But I don't have to go back to work tomorrow. I can sleep in again. Eight o'clock, at least. I can scrapbook tomorrow, hopefully. Maybe do more organizing and cleaning. Putter around the house....maybe even work on this blog again. After all, I have all day. Today I skipped my workout, but I should make that priority tomorrow. I've been doing too well to stop now. So, that's 45 minutes of the day....the rest is up in the air. I've washed many of our comforters and pillows and throw rugs....if this keeps up, I'll be taking down curtains and pulling out the ironing board....

Naaah....scrapbooking sounds like a much better idea. The ironing board has been in the closet for the last 8 years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Who irons anymore, anyway? I've got a dryer and a full bottle of wrinkle relaxer. What more could I ask for?

Second Day of Four Days Off

I am enjoying the second day off in a series of four. Yesterday, aside from alot of kitchen duty, I have a pretty restful day. We shared the cooking. The kids got in on the act. Jess made the deviled eggs. Josh made the potato salad, and Jo helped me with the tarts and the pumpkin pie. Robert cooked the turkey and heated the ham, I did the sweet pototoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, baked the rolls and made cherry tarts and pumpkin pie for dessert. I only ate once, around noon, and didn't eat the rest of the day. That one meal was enough.

I woke up this morning with my stomach growling. Today I've nibbled here and there, but I mainly cleaned, did laundry and cleaned more. What I love the most about yesterday was that I didn't GO anywhere. I didn't rip and run all day, I got to stay home and kick back. I got my Christmas cards done, which just needed signing and sealed, labels slapped on and special notes written where applicable. I love days where I don't have to put on makeup and I can just sit around in sweats and look like a homebody. It makes all the other days when I DO have to do get dressed and look presentable more tolerable.

Robert is working the shop today, and we're having a pretty busy day he says. Jess went with him to help out and the boys stayed home with me. Jess wants to spend the night with one of her friends that she met at the shop several months ago. This just means more peace for us, so we both agreed. This will be the second time she's gone to this girl's house, and having gotten to know her mom, I know she's in good hands. We've had her friend over once, and they seem to get along pretty well.

Robert says he wants to go shopping tonight, just to get that holiday feel going. I put up Mom's little fiberoptic tree today, added a few decorations and plugged it in. I pulled out some of Mom's decorations as well, including the little pixies sitting on pointsettas that we've had since probably before I was even thought of. I found a huge stack of holiday kitchen towels and potholders, which I put out. I used to buy Mom kitchen towels all the time, and she always acted thrilled, saying how much she needed them. Then when I was going through her stuff after she died, I found box after box of towels that she never opened up or used. Perhaps she was saving them for a special occasion. Or maybe she just didn't want to hurt my feelings.

Most of our holiday stuff and non-essentials are still packed up at our "city" house. I'm thinking a lot of that stuff is going to be yard sale relegated real soon. It's that whole "haven't used it, get rid of it philosophy." I wish I could be more faithful to that creed.

Well, on to bigger and better things. I suppose I will have to actually comb my hair if we go out shopping. I guess ya can't win 'em all. I wouldn't want to scare any hapless shoppers with my no makeup, wild hair persona. That kind of trauma could ruin a person's holiday spirit.

A Beautiful Sky

Yesterday the sky was beautiful as we made the mile treck to the ancient Native American burial ground where, in the surrounding area, we found a quiet area to bury mom's ashes. From there we had the memorial service, which was truly touching. I was impressed with how well done everything was, from the compilation of pictures to the timing of the music and the song selection.

Here's a picture of the sky, which I thank God for. This was the first service I've ever been to that the weather cooperated. It was unseasonably warm and breezy, a truly nice day for walking.

Taz the Court Jester

I've decided to go with my moods for awhile in an effort to get through this new phase of grief in my life. My little baby puppy, Taz, who we got in August, has been like a psychologist, psychiatrist, grief counselor, comic relief specialist and court jester to me. When he got sick with Parvo, I quickly realized how much I missed him when he was in the hospital on an i.v. drip for a week. I am so happy to have my little lap dog again. I know now even partially immunized puppies are at risk, and the disease can live for months in the atmosphere. Scary stuff.

Anyway, he's part Chihuahua and part Blue Heeler, which is hilarious. He tries to herd the cats, and since they're 3 times bigger than him, they don't go for it. He was so little when we got him that the herding instinct almost got him hurt since he was constantly running under our feet. We finally got him some bells for his collar, which was his saving grace.

The Chihuahua in him, I've noticed, gives him the shivering thing, even though he has fluffy hair; so I got out my measuring tape and called upon both my 4-H sewing skills from way back in my childhood as well as my grandmom's stash of thread and fabric and fumbled around until I had made a little jacket for him. I have to finish it yet, but it's nearly there, complete with convenient snaps for putting it on him. It has gotten so cold outside this week, that until I get that done he's been banned from outdoor potty breaks and the puppy pads are it for him. He can't stand using the puppy pads; he looks from the door to me like I'm playing some sort of cruel joke on him. He'll hold it until he realizes he isn't going out, and then he'll reluctantly use the pads.

When I was making the jacket, Jo-Jo said, "Mom, make him some boots, too." I don't think the boots are going to happen, but I was thinking, "What's next? A scarf? A warm up suit?" Little dogs in spiffy little outfits always used to annoy me, but I've made him something basic just to keep him warm. I still can't believe I'm a dog person now. How he creeped up on me and took my heart is still a mystery to me.

I thought I'd share a photo of the little guy. Maybe later, just so they don't get jealous, I'll post some photos of the cat clan. Wouldn't want them to feel left out, since at heart, I really still am a cat person. Really.