12/24/09 Christmas Eve

I'm so very excited. Christmas Eve brings me back to my childhood with all the same excitement and wonder. I absolutely adore getting together with my siblings and their families. Can't wait.


Mental Health Examiner: Quest for physical perfection killed former Miss Argentina http://bit.ly/74uT8M

Mental Health Examiner: Drunk four-year-old (Hayden Wright) accused of stealing presents '(video)' http://bit.ly/8q3t2w

Mental Health Examiner: Pets can be a great antidote to holiday stress http://bit.ly/85wdKL

12/26 An almost perfect Christmas

The only thing that would have made it better is if my own kids and their families were with me. Other than that it was wonderful.

Christmas Eve at John and Paulette's new home was so much fun. As always it's great for so many of us to get together, plus there was actually enough space for us. Didn't feel crowded at all. Two highlights of the evening. One, when Aiden and Ty got in the "Christmas closet" and opened presents from their brothers' stockings. They can't read so luckily didn't pick their own. Second, was Joe's line, "I said bidet, sir." Of course it's not funny reading it, but we even laughed at it again last night.

Christmas Day the sisters got together at Jan's which has become a tradition. I rode with Jane and Pete and got to bring Gussie with me, which always makes me happy. Uncle Bill was there too, with his wit intact. :) The meal was superb, despite the fact that my cranberry salad didn't set. We ate it all anyway.

Of course I talked to my kids and grandkids yesterday, which made the day even more special.

Last evening, Jane, Sarah, Jordan, Joe, and Eric came over and played games. Joe hadn't played Wii before, but he's so good at video games that he caught on right away and did very well. It was fun.

Thanks, everyone, for all the thoughtful gifts, but mostly for the gift of the time we spent together.

12/21 Video from You Tube

I got this from a friend on Facebook and it's wonderful. About Jesus, and the season. Hope you enjoy it. (It's nice and short.)



Oh, I published another article, this one about Nontraditional Holiday Traditions.

12/11 Still in St. Louis

I'm at a fancy hotel and in a great training program, but I want to be home with my dog and cats (and my Wii). :)

After our sibling lunch on Sunday, I'm inviting any and all over to play Wii. I do need some competition, you guys. Jeff and Deb, if you come please bring your Wii remote(s). I have two.

Just posted another article. My channel manager just called me. The article tonight is something he suggested, and he called with another good idea. I'm going to write about Manny Pacquiao who just defeated Oscar De LaHoya. Why would I write about this? Because Josh suggested it. And he hasn't steered me wrong yet.

In the meantime I'm still on antibiotics, still coughing, but plan to be totally well by Saturday when I have a work Christmas party.

1/2 Home again

New Year's Day 2008, I'm in the middle with the pink scarf around my neck. Brrrrrr.

January 1 was awesome as usual. Part of the family went to the cemetery to celebrate Mom's and Dad's life, and we toasted them with a beer, like we always do. There were 20 of us there, which was great. It was absolutely freezing--a bitter wind was blowing, but we huddled together and enjoyed the visit.

Then we went back to the old homestead, owned by Joe and Cindy, and ate and ate and ate. We played games all day too. Most of us got very involved in the musical version of Catch Phrase. We played Texas Hold'em too, twice. And I won one of the tournaments, so that was a good pay off. Others played Cattan, which is a game where you build civilizations. Others played Rummikub and Triominoes. It was a super day.




Here's a picture of Rob and me on Christmas day enjoying the scrumptious meal.

12/26 Home again

Flew into New Orleans and drove back to Biloxi. Woke up at 2:30 AM (central time) so I've already put in a full day. Am catching up on some email at the office, and will pick up the puppies at 4. Looking forward to that. I've really missed them.

Yesterday was a great Christmas. Beata, Rob, and I all took part in the cooking (with Bea doing the most). Tom, Catherine, and Beata's friend Tina came for Christmas dinner. It was delicious and I'm still full.

After they left, I packed up, then Rob and I played some more cards. I had trouble sleeping, and when I woke up I heard Dr. Tran crying for me. I'm really going to miss that kitten.

I'm also going to miss the rest of the zoo--Bobby, Bella, Chilli, and Billi. And of course--Rob and Beata. They were so sweet to me the whole time I was there--making Christmas extraordinary.

(Oh, I talked to Jill and the kids yesterday too. Can't wait until my trip to Los Angeles so I can hug those sweeties.)

12/25 Merry Christmas

A very merry Christmas to all! We had a delightful evening full of good food and lots of presents. I woke up at 6 AM, because Dr. Tran was purring and was sitting on my chest. What is this kitten going to do when I'm gone and she can't wake me up any more?

Here's hoping that you and yours have a wonderful and blessed day.

12/23 Another wonderful day

We had fun yesterday and hardly left the house. Rob and I played games most of the day, including online poker. And we played lots of cards, especially Spite and Malice.

Beata had to work from 11-7, so we went to Maurice's so I could buy a pair of jeans. Beatka is a great salesperson. I left with five items--jeans, shirt, camisole, necklace, and earrings. And no buyer's remorse.

I made dinner. At Rob's request I made sloppy joes. Yeah, a real gourmet meal. Made some vegetarian sloppy joes too. We stayed up until after midnight playing poker.

And I didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning. Can't believe I slept 9 hours.

12/20 Rain rain go away

Wow, it's been pouring all day. There's hail right off the coast but that hasn't hit us. Thank God. I've done a lot of driving today (and eaten a lot of holiday fare). But luckily I managed to traverse the worst of the huge puddles without problem.

The roads are hazardous too. But the good news is that it's almost done. And when I take off tomorrow morning for North Carolina, the weather is supposed to be perfect. That certainly makes me smile.

The puppies are at Pampered Pets and I miss them already. Tonight I must do laundry and pack. And clean dog hair off the Christmas presents I'm taking with me on the plane.

Can't wait to see Rob, Beata, and the zoo. It'll be great!

12/18 Good, bad, sad

The good is I'm just about done with my Christmas shopping. Also, it's good that I'm leaving in a few days for Christmas with Rob and Beata.

The bad is that I was in meetings all day and didn't get any real work done. Am too tired to do any tonight.

The sad is that Dan Fogelberg died. I fell in love with his music (and him) in 1978. The first album I bought was the one he did with Tim Weisberg--Twin Sons of Different Mothers. It remains one of my favorites, even though it's mostly instrumental.

He wrote one of the most romantic songs of all times--Longer Than...
(Sorry, I know I don't have all the words right.)

Longer than there've been fishes in the ocean
Higher than any bird ever flew
Longer than there've been stars up in the heavens
I've been in love with you.

I'll bring fire in the winter
You'll send showers in the spring
We'll climb through the falls and summers
With love on our wings

Taller than any mountain cathedral
Truer than any tree ever grew
Deeper than any forest primeval
I've been in love with you

12/16 Christmas presents

Just returned from Caroline's. It was fun, and I made out like a bandit.

Genia me a beautiful blue silk scarf. Can't wait to wear it--it's gorgeous.

Cyndi gave me the cutest stone coasters--they have Texas Hold'Em and cards on them. Love them.

Caroline put together a bag of goodies--what a nice surprise. Bones for my dogs, candy, a Christmas kitchen towel, two decks of cards, a huge cookie, some chilli sauce, a magnetic shopping list, Santa earrings, and a "casino collection" which included six hors d'ouerves picks and a holder for them.

What a fun evening!

12/15 No more anonymous

No more anonymous comments for me! I turned on the new Blogger feature where anyone with an "Open ID" blog ID (from Blogger, AOL, Wordpress, etc.) can leave a comment. And anyone with a Google or Yahoo ID can leave one too. So if you have a blog identity anywhere, or you have a gmail address you can leave a comment.

Please don't let this stop you from leaving a comment. It's quite easy to register. This is one way I can stop spam comments without having folks go through the confirmation process of trying to figure out what the heck those letters and numbers are.

I've been wrapping presents to take to NC and to Quincy. And also a few to take to a gift exchange at Caroline's tomorrow night.

Soon I need to get the dogs out for their walks, but right now they're both sleeping, so maybe it would be a good idea for me to lie down too!

12/10 Summertime

That's what it felt like. It was nearly 80 and after the early morning fog lifted it was so clear you could see forever. Driving along Beach Boulevard all the way to Bay St. Louis was an even bigger treat than usual.

And when I got to the funders' table at the Long Term Recovery Committee it was rewarding when my company was the only one that could pay for a certain item. It was only $300, but no one else was authorized to purchase it. It was the high point of my day.

Tomorrow is a Christmas party at Camp Biloxi. Everyone's bringing a gift and we're playing Dirty Santa. (Sounds naughty, huh?) But it just means that you can take a gift that someone else has already chosen.

Then tomorrow night it's cards at Caroline's. That's always fun.

12/9 Presents

I shopped for more presents today. Chose two angels from the Salvation Army in Bay St. Louis, and bought presents for two girls. One is very young and wanted a Bratz doll, so I got her that and a beautiful, fluffy pink robe to surprise her. The other girl is a bit older and wanted a DVD of High School Musical. They won't be in the stores until Tuesday, so I got her a gift card for it, and also bought her a beautiful pair of pink pajamas.

This felt better than all the other shopping I've done. There's so much need all over the world, but we really see it up close where we live. (A collective "we," not just me.) It's everywhere, isn't it? We can't fix it all. But the little bit we can do is at least something....

I loved Mass today. We sang some beautiful songs, and afterward we drew names for our Christmas party. I won't be here for it, but wanted to participate anyway. After that I went to the rectory to meet Brother Gene's Labrador Retriever, Pepper. Pepper is 10 years old and is so calm and well-behaved. Some day.... :)

Planted some pansies while my dogs were being walked. Hope they "take." They've been sitting outside waiting to be planted since Jan was here. Today was actually hot--not warm, hot. So it was a good day to be out.