December 26, 2008

Christmas was quiet but very nice. Santa was very nice, and he brought cashmere! I received 2 really lovely cashmere sweaters. One I am wearing today and thank goodness because this may be southern CA, but BRRRR! It's suppose to get below freezing tonight, I do not remember it ever being this cold here. Anyway, this pic is of a ring Mamacita gave me. I just love it, it's silver and amber. Santa also brought Michael Kors Bermuda perfume, a yoga mat, yoga dvd, Duffy and John Legend CD, lip gloss, makeup kit, chinese cooking book, Martha Stewart's Cooking School book, martini glasses and a raincheck for a wii fit b/c it was sold out! My brother got a wii console with the sports game package and dang if i can figure out how to set it up. I'll keep trying.

Tom enjoyed us opening presents Christmas morning too.

Here is our tree pre-opening.

This is the only knitted gift I gave this holiday season. It's the wavy lace pattern and it's blocking here. It really was lovely after blocking. It felt really nice and the best part was the recipient absolutely loved it and it looked lovely on her. I knew this was for her after I met her.

We were suppose to go to a family celebration today but Mamacita wasn't feeling well. I'm bummed we missed it. And I just found out that my cousin found out tonight that she is going to be a Grandma! How exciting! I was also suppose to meet a special someone, a new family member at the gathering today. I hope to meet them soon.

And oh, the food! We made lasagna for Christmas eve, Rib Eye roast for Christmas day, tamales Christmas morning. Oh, my poor tummy. I'm not used to eating like this anymore, although I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have acupuncture tomorrow morning. And then Sunday and Monday are the services for my best friend's Father. I'm going to help with the food and set-up on Monday. What a horrible end to the year with his passing. I'm already feeling the new year jitters and all I can say is I'm hoping 2009 has much better things in store for me. For all of us. Seems everyone has been touched by job loss, the sagging economy, just worried about the future. It has to be better, right?

Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!

We just had a lovely dinner. Homemade Mama's lasagna, garlic bread and salad. Mamacita made us a dirty martini before dinner too and boy were we ready for a nice cocktail.

We spent the day trying to put together an Ikea bed for my brother whose bed broke last week. I woke up last weekend to a loud thump and turns out my brothers bed frame which is over 40 years old finally gave way and it didn't seem fixable to Mamacita and me so we bought another one. Easy peasy right, Ikea is great. Ya, great! I think I hate Ikea. I may like the items they have, and the prices, but I do not like the maze they make you go thru to find what you want. Oh, but there are shortcuts, they say. Ya, but if you don't know where you are going, those aren't shortcuts. So we walked thru the whole friggin store to finally find bed frames. And then, you have to go downstairs and find your own crap and then another maze to find the checkout.

Then we tackled putting the stupid thing together this morning and I ended up sweaty, irritated, bloody, and my back went out. I think we only have 3 more screws to tackle and put the base boards in and then make the bed.

My best friend's Father passed away yesterday and my heart just breaks for her and the family. From the time he knew he had cancer, it was 6 weeks and he was gone. Very aggressive. The timing really stinks, but when would be a good time? It was the day after his wife's birthday, I think he tried to wait until after that. He was a really nice man and I have good memories of him. He was handsome and had a full head of hair still and did not go gray. He always wore Van's tennis shoes and he loved to tell stories. He liked to dance with his daughter at parties and he also played the saxophone.

So it's a great time and it's also a sad time.

Enjoy your loved ones, tell them you love them, even if it feels odd for you, put yourself out there and tell people what they mean to you.

I hope you have a blessed holiday season!

December 11, 2008

A man knocked on our door the other day. We don't get many people going door to door anymore so I wasn't sure what to think or who it was. We do get the occasional Jehovah's Witnesses coming around spreading the word. It used to really annoy me when they came to the door but now I just tell them politely as possible that I don't feel comfortable discussing my beliefs with them. They usually are polite too in their reply and offer to leave some reading material which I ask them to just leave for me and then I promptly throw it away. I appreciate that in America we have freedom and are entitled to our beliefs and have the freedom to tell others about it. But I am not comfortable discussing my faith with someone who knocks on my door.

So the gentleman at my door told me he was from ( insert any church name here). He said they wanted to let me know about the church, that it's decorated beautifully for Christmas, and did I know about the church? It happened to be the church I was baptized in, made my first communion in, went to confession, CCD, got married in, and my Father's funeral service was performed from this church. So I blurted the first thing I thought and said, yes, that's my church. But the problem.... it is NOT my church.

When I thought about it later, and it bothered me almost automatically, I felt like a fake, like a liar, like a weak person who was not able to profess my view. And just like I appreciate that you have the right to believe what you want, I have the right to have my beliefs and opinions.

What I said to him in my mind, after he left, was, "That was the church I grew up in, but I do not believe or want to be a part of that church." I have my faith, the church can't take that from me, but I cannot and do not want to be involved with a church that protects pedophiles. That is just wrong.

Maybe next time I will have the strength to say the truth. My truth.

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity" - Swami Vivekananda

December 10, 2008

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity" - Swami Vivekananda

I hope you are enjoying this holiday season. Here's our tree. We went with red and gold this year and I really love it, I love the red poinsettias and the gold garland. We have some lovely glass gold and red balls hanging on the tree. It looks rich and lush to me and it makes me happy!

Tom seems to like it too!

I've had a hard time getting my blogging mojo back. Seems I'd have no problem with having so much time available now. I was thinking why it's been hard to keep up and I could go thru a whole slew of excuses, but really it's not important why. I had an email from a dear friend who said she looked forward to reading my blog. Surprised me, pleasantly and I'd like to post more. It's a creative outlet for me and so I should really try to do it more often.

I am hosting a holiday postcard swap and there are 22 people involved in it. I am making my postcards and I'm heading for a deadline, so I hope to get them done today.

Yesterday I made a batch of peanut brittle, so that means that it is truly Christmas time for our family. It came out well, it's one of those recipes that once you know what you are doing, it's fail proof.

I have been feeling so so. I've been drinking tea of feverfew every day to try to combat my headaches and migraines and I do think it is helping. I've had some sinus headaches, but I haven't had a migraine lately. I'm still going to acupuncture and that is continuing to help my overall health. I've also lost 30 lbs. now and I'm really happy about that.

I still haven't finished my alpaca February Lady Sweater. I need to finish knitting the arms and then weave ends in and do the buttons. I started a pair of socks but ran into a problem and had to frog and there it sits.