Christmas Photos

The traditional Christmas Eve reading of "Hurry Santa" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Caitlin and Nicki. Caitlin turned 16 on 12/26 and Nicki turned 21 on 12/21. Nicki is a Junior at Unity College in Maine. She likes to entertain us with some of the non-traditional activities that happen at the college. One of the things she has to take back to school this semester is her cross-bow!

Jenny is in her second year of law school at CWRU. She graduated from NYU in 2005. She is Zachariah's godmother. Here she is thoroughly enjoying reading a Klutz book that Santa brought Zachariah. Jenny, Nicki and Caitlin are my younger brother's daughters.

Erich and Ryan. Erich is in the Marines and is based currently in North Carolina. Ryan has enlisted in the Air Force but doesn't start basic training until February. They are my younger sister's youngest sons. Her oldest son, Tommy, is in the Navy and is currently cruising somewhere . . . he does cryptology . . . very hush-hush.

Sarah and Caitlin did a great job at winning at Texas Hold'm. The guys were in shock!!

Zeke, Mary, MacKenzie and Sarah. Sarah and Mary are my younger sister, Jacquie's youngest children. Sarah is married to Zeke and MacKenzie is their daughter.
Hayden. Hayden was born on December 1. Sarah and Zeke are his parents. He is beautiful. He is being held by my sister, Jacquie. He is her youngest grandchild. Mary (the cute little blonde in the pics just above and below) is his aunt. She will be give in April.

And of course then there is Mary, Lindsey and Zachariah. My younger sister Jacquie and I (and, of course, our husbands), adopted siblings. Lindsey joined us when she was 22 months old. Zachariah joined us when he was four months old. Mary joined Jacquie and her family when she was six weeks old.


Lindsey does know the relationship between the three of them. When Jacquie and Mike adopted Mary, she was thrilled because she not only got another cousin but a sister too! When Zachariah and Mary are old enough to understand, we will share the entire relationship and circumstances with them.

It isn't the best of photos, but here is a pic of my sore thumb. I decided that I would try to work on Lindsey's scarf. It became a real challenge. The whole tip across the top is numb which makes it very difficult to much of anything but I figured it couldn't possibly make that much of a difference! HA! I finally put a rubberized thimble over the thumb which works okay and I thought was protecting the thumb. Until I pealed the thimble off and part of the scab came with it. Hmmmm. So it is back to the drawing board. I have two projects that absolutely have to get done sooner than later . . . a bag for the Knit Mitt swap and Zachariah's sweater. His birthday is January 18. I do need to get his sweater done. Someday, he will grow.

Timing is everything, I guess

About two months ago or so, a co-worker asked me about Weight Watchers @ Work. Our previous administrator would never allow us to do it but she retired last year. I told my co-worker that I was going to check with the new administrator but, as part of our United Way program, we were doing a weight loss challenge which ends at the end of November. I thought we should wait until it was over and maybe start with the new year.

A couple of things here. I like this woman. A couple of my other co-workers said that she is ummmm sneaky and backstabbing. I never saw it and had worked with her on a couple of other projects. Keeping all this in mind, I was nevertheless surprised when she informed me that she had contacted the administrator who: a) was very excited about it, b) gave her permission and c) congratulated my co-worker on taking the initiative . . . and she told me this and then asked me to send out an email to those I knew who were interested. WTF.

So, we have had three meetings. You cannot imagine my suprise at my weight. I've known that something was going on but my clothes fit, I was just incredibly uncomfortable . . . all the time. I missed last week's meeting because of a funeral. I attended yesterday and have lost 10.4 pounds. Now, I know that part of the weight loss is water and that the more you have to lose the faster the stuff comes off in the BEGINNING. I also know that I have been religious about staying on top of this, journalling, drinking water and staying right on target with my points.

Getting back to my crabbing, my co-worker who has organized this emailed me yesterday morning to find out if I would collect the leader in reception because "she had other plans" and would just stop in towards the end of the meeting. Because we want to be sure to get the "meat" of the meeting in, we have decided to do the "celebrations" at the end. So after our leader ended the meeting, she asked if anyone had anything to celebrate. I did. I did indeed. So I announced that I had lost 10.4 pounds. Later I get an email from my coworker telling me that there are a couple of people who are "uncomfortable" with the celebrations at the meeting, oh, and she wanted to know if I could book the conference rooms in my boss' name so that we can get a better room with less chance of getting bounced.

I told her that I would continue to celebrate. Whether it is losing 1 pound or only gaining 1 or 2 pounds over the holidays as opposed to my usual 10 to 15! I also booked all the conference rooms for future meetings.

I know this is minor things. On the other hand, being the B%$CH that I am, her weird attitude is enough to keep me on track . . . if nothing else just to have something to celebrate each week!

What kind of reader am I?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

http://www.gotoquiz.com/results/what_kind_of_reader_are_you

I knew it! Do you suppose this is why the librarians at our local public library know me by my first name??

Almost there, seriously

I cannot count it the holidays until I have finished my final, final for the Fall semester. We have a finance final and international business (IB or Idiot Broad) final on Saturday, December 16!!!!



Have I mentioned how much I despise my IB teacher. She makes me crazed. We have to prepare three case studies over the course. This is a 10 week course. Three case studies, a mid-term and final is a tad excessive. Worse yet is that IB complains about how BUSY SHE IS. Hello???? You teach TWO classes. Two identical classes. Do not complain because you find reading 63 various versions of the same papers boring, especially when you have to do this three times because you ASSIGNED them. Dolt!



But the best was that she returned our latest paper. I got a big old smiley face on mine. Oh, joy. So, when I got it home, I put it on the fridge.

The problem is that this class is such a waste of time. She has given us assigned seats by first name because she was going to give us credit for participation . . . oh, that is too hard so she is not doing that either.


Finance on the other hand is super fabulous!! Go ahead, ask me about NPV!!! This prof gives us a test every week . . . one or two problems. Of course, one of the problems this past Saturday took two pieces of paper. But I know NPV (in case you are wondering the NPV of an annuity is PMT[1-1/(1+r)n/r] . . . yeah and I didn't even look in the book for it . . . of course, I'm dreaming this stuff. It is so sad.

On the upside of things, it is all coming to an end. I've am getting to the finals . . . and not just the tests. This was the FINAL Fall semester I will register for. This will be the FINAL Christmas that I spend Sundays studying instead of making Christmas cookies.

It is amazing. After 32 years (with a major break), I am down to the final FINALS.

Two weeks before Christmas & Miscellaneous other stuff

I've changed the look of my blog and have yet to decide whether I like it. The pic of the Grand Canyon, Lindsey took at sunrise this past summer. We spent three days camping at the North Rim and the last morning, Dave woke the girls at 5:00 a.m. so they could capture some early morning rays! She has a great eye for color and depth. She took eight pics within a very short period of time. I'm going to make a collage of the photos for her for Christmas.

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While I don't recommend it, there is a definite advantage of slicing off a chunk of thumb. It creates the perfect excuse to not have to finish anything for Christmas.

I have officially decided that I am overwhelmed. Four masters classes (two finals on December 16). One involves essay questions, and, as you can guess, I can do well with essay questions. The other, however, is financial . . . formulas, formulas, formulas . . . and specific steps for doing things.

Again, while cutting a chunk out of my thumb did take the pressure off of my knitting for Christmas, the drugs for pain are not educational and memory enhancing.

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A co-worker and I were planning our floor's "whatever the reason for the season" gathering. There are 34 lawyers and 27 staff on the floor. Three lawyers responded and seven staff. We needed to order the food yesterday. It is a lot of work, including buying all the paper stuff, decorating the conference room, getting the food, setting up and cleaning up. Due to the lack of response, we cancelled it. One lawyer asked me if my intention was to create a "firestorm." Jerk. The invitation was sent via email. The response would take seconds: "yes, count me in" or "bugger off." Either one. I was told that we didn't send enough reminders (these are adults after all). I was called Scrooge. And, when one person asked that we do it anyway, and I suggested that they do it, I was told "no way, that's too much work and I don't have enough time." To the lawyer that suggested that I was starting a firestorm, I did reply that "I was too busy for anyone to tell me that they were too busy to reply to an email."

A couple of us are going to lunch on Wednesday. It will be a lovely thing.

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We have had several lake effect storms this week. The weather people anticipated that we were going to have another one last night/early this morning. My husband's school cancelled classes in anticipation and the fact that the principal and three of the teachers were going to be out at a workshop. I told my husband that if it was "bad" in the morning . . . and given my sense of exhaustion, a dusting of snow would be classified as "bad" . . . I was not going to work and just climbing back into bed. You cannot imagine my disappointment when I woke to discover that not only was there not a dusting . . . there wasn't any snow. Bah humbug!

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Oh, yeah, and just because I have absolutely nothing else to do and am so thoroughly overwhelmed, I have joined Weight Watchers. Yes, it is two weeks before Christmas. On the other hand, we have a new Weight Watchers @ Work and, as they say, timing is everything. Now, I know it isn't a friggin surprise that I'm fat, but to be totally honest, I was shocked at how truly FAT I am.

Duh, and I forgot to title this one!

I received my package from Leslie my Whoduknit Holiday Swap Secret Pal. As the Whoduknit group is a group of knitters that enjoy mysteries (or is that mystery readers who enjoy knitting?), the holiday swap was to include a mystery, something knitty, a postcard from your city or area.

My Holiday Swap Secret Pal was Leslie (aka hockeymom). She sent me a Dan Brown book (I love Dan Brown . . . and look forward to reading this one). The pics don't show it too well, but I also received a large zippered bag. It will be perfect for my knitting projects. I also received more stitch markers . . . I'm always losing them . . . it is indeed a mystery!

Since I had mentioned that I wanted to learn entrelac, Leslie also sent me directions on how to do entrelac. I think it is something that I need to tackle when I'm home alone, without any music on and no interruptions! Leslie's city doesn't sell postcards, she also sent me information about Troy, Michigan! Thanks so much Leslie. This was fun and you gifted me with useful items that I know I will put to good use!
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I took Friday off from work. I have 1-1/2 days of vacation that I was going to have to use by year end or lose. Let me tell you, there is no way that I am going to lose vacation days!

So on Friday, my oldest daughter and I went shopping and then picked up a friend for lunch. We found a wonderful new bakery which is only two doors down from my most favorite LYS. I bought a loaf of bread (we had wonderful French Toast on Sunday), chocolate toffee sauce and pepper mango jelly . . . both items to be used for Christmas. I also managed to wander around the LYS without buying ANYTHING!!! We then went to lunch at a Victorian Inn. It was wonderful and very relaxing.

Friday evening was my son's Christmas concert at school. It was wonderful. They did the absolute best 12 days of Christmas I have ever heard. Frankly, I hate the song. It just goes on and on and on and on. This production had an individual student from 1st through 12th grade "presenting" the gifts and the rest of the students singing the introductions. The individual students were fantastic. The first grader was as cute as a bug. The 5th grader that did five golden rings though brought down the house. She has the confidence of Barbra Streisand and every single time just wowed us all. The next song was "O Holy Night" sung by an 8th grader. She was fabulous. The largest logistical error was having O Holy Night following the 12 days of Christmas. Anyway, it is amazing the talent in the school. Nevertheless, the parents need to be told to behave. The entire program lasted 30 minutes and there were parents showing up at 7:15 for a program that started at 7:00! Many parents (grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings) were rude during the performance in that they kept talking and chatting. I told Dave that what the director should have done was stop the performance and tell them to be quiet or leave. It might have had sufficient effect.
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Our furnace started misbehaving on Saturday. The furnace repairman came out Monday and we decided that after 30+ years, it was time to replace it. A new furnace is being installed today. We could not have a higher energy efficient furnace installed without moving the location of the furnace (it is currently in the middle of the house). There wasn't anyway they could vent the higher efficiency model. Nevertheless, the salesman insists that we will notice a difference in the heat delivery and lower gas bills. While he was there on Monday evening, I was making pork chops and slicing potatoes for scalloped potatoes. Zachariah wanted to help but I told him that the slicing blade was "way to sharp" and he wasn't allowed to touch. He kept insisting that he could and would be careful. Not to be outdone and to make my point (accidentally of course), I proceeded to slice off a chunk of my left thumb.

Since we were unable to find the chunk of thumb (and seriously, it was a chunk) and they couldn't stitch it (again, the chunk issue), the cauterized (sp?) it, bandaged it and told me not to get it wet. I ended up going to a salon yesterday afternoon to have my hair washed and blown dry. I figured I could afford the luxury. I wonder if I can make a claim on my insurance?

I did try knitting on Lindsey's long suffering scarf last evening. I did one row and decided that that wasn't going to work. I think once I have the bulky bandage off tomorrow, I should be able to do some knitting but the biggest problem is that it throbs. On the other hand, I never realized that I rarely use my left thumb for typing!