This is a slideshow of some of the ornaments and decorations we have this year. I love snowmen, can you tell?
The shrinky dink snowman is special. I remember making several of these with my brother one year. You draw on plastic, cut it out and shrink it in the oven. If I ever find another shrinky dink kit I will make more!
I will be posting many pics in the upcoming weeks. In the past three days, I’ve taken nearly 400 pictures.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine blatter…
Tomorrow begins the Advent season. I enjoy this time of year tremendously. Unfortunately, the last couple of years, Advent has sped by, colorful, yet out of focus. By the time Christmas rolled around, I was frazzled, worn out and ready for it all to be over.
It is my intention, my prayer, my hope, that this year I can invest myself in Advent, eager with the anticipation of all Advent can teach me and all I can then, in turn, teach others.
I have two absolute Christmas carols I enjoy above all others. The first is, “Silent Night.” I suppose it captures the essence of the moment of the birth of Christ for me and it is a beautiful melody as well.
The second favorite Christmas carol is, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Whenever I sing it, truly sing it, I can feel the hunger and anticipation of its lyrics. Sometimes, I feel the desperation of the song and I feel like screaming it. “Please come! Rescue me!”
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransome captive, Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
I believe when I can truly feel that hunger and anticipation, Advent will soak into every part of me, and finally, everything will come into focus.
Today was a fun, relaxing day. We started out with breakfast around eleven, then met Robin at Luby’s for a late lunch at 3 p.m. (Thanks, Robin, for lunch!) We stopped by to say hello to our favorite little girls and their families, then came back to watch tv and chill.
The Colts are playing… and so far, the monkeys are not pleased.
Jene’ has to work tomorrow, the busiest day of the retail year. I will be decorating the Christmas tree and chilling out at the house.
The only items cooked in our kitchen today were sausage rolls and eggs for breakfast, and between breakfast and lunch, Jene’ made us a banana cream pie for dessert.
This pie was made completely from scratch from bottom to top. Because it’s made from scratch it has significantly less sugar and at least twice the protein of an ordinary banana cream pie which makes it the perfect dessert for me. It’s not too rich or sugary and an hour later, I don’t have the “you really shouldn’t have eaten that…” headache.
Here is a photo essay of the creation of the banana cream pie.
And, now that I’m sitting in here and my nose is cold, I’m going to dig out my new electric blanket and get toasty… and hopefully the Colts will make the monkeys happy soon.
Today I was presented with a cake on my next to the last day at my soon to be old job. It was a marble cake with fluffy white and pink icing. Of course, as great as it tasted, I didn’t want to take it home and have it tempt me all weekend, so I started giving it away.
This is my friend Phoebe. Phoebe always smiles and is like the brightest sun even on a rainy day. We laugh a lot together and I will miss seeing her every day.
Phoebe is generous and thought she’d take her mom a piece of cake, too. Trouble was figuring out how to carry it along with the drink she had. She stacked them as you see above, and the picture below shows what happened when the stack shifted.
Yeah. It always lands icing down.
Thanks, Phoebe for the memory!
…STAYS IN GALVESTON…
Dana, Candie and I had a great time in Galveston today. It was the second day of the Lone Star Bike Rally so the streets were lined with every kind of motorcycle you can imagine.
We ate lunch at Fish Tales on the Seawall. I had the most amazing crab cake sandwich! The motorcycles would rumble by, but whenever Dana tried to talk, they were the loudest. It was funny. Poor Dana.
I love having a zoom lens… this was a great shot.
We cruised The Strand then went to the beach for a short break. We took some pictures and relaxed and I dug my toenails into the sand.
While we walked, I found this great conch shell. I stuck it into the sand. I didn’t bring it home… I’m trying to cut back on what I bring home from the beach.
Conch Shell
Seawall
A feathered friend.
The best news of all… I was in the sun for more than a half hour and didn’t burst into flames! Seriously, though, I had a blast with two great friends and we laughed until our stomachs hurt. That’s my idea of a good time.
I see my fair share of nativities this time of year, and it never ceases to amaze me how different Jesus looks in all of them. Eventually, they get nicknamed (i.e. “Alien Jesus”) and become known by those names*.
* The names attached to these photos is in no way meant to be blasphemous, but are intended for descriptive puposes only.
Another gorgeous, cloudless sky…another day out with the camera. I drove through the neighborhood and took pictures of the fall and Halloween decor. I have made a note of where I was driving and want to go back to see how they decorate for Christmas.
Snapshots from January’s Super Bowl Shrine
I might be able to sleep now.
Colts 29
Jaguars 7
That is all.
When the sky looks like this, you have to go outside, but when the sky looks like this, it’s fall, and I’m paying for going out now by sneezing. It was worth it!
I took my recycling to the center on Wespark, then drove around a bit. I saw a few fun things while I was out, but am not adept at taking pics while driving, and didn’t really see places to stop and take the pics. I did, however, see this during my travels and was able to take a pic during a red light.
I am looking forward to the cooler temps we’re supposed to have on Monday. I hope it helps my allergies. My allergies make me so tired, I’ve been typing things like “wasn’t don’t” for “doesn’t want” and I’m surprised none of those fun phrases have made it to print in my diminished state.
When I got home, I was greeted with the good news that I have jury duty in about three weeks. Joy of joys. 8 AM downtown. Too bad they won’t let me take a camera.
This morning started off in the usual way. It’s October, my allergies are berzerk, and therefore I awoke with a sore throat and severe congestion. I hadn’t gotten much sleep, so factor sleepiness in with dizziness and my usual morning clumsiness was amplifed by 1000. Yes indeed, this morning started off in the usual way.
At about 9:03 AM, my morning took a turn for the ridiculous.
I had a full cup of coffee on my desk, which I had set by my monitor, far away from my mouse and a safe distance from the many invoices that were being tossed about. Unfortunately my tissue box is next to my monitor, and at 9:03, when I had the urge to sneeze, I drowsily reached out for a tissue and…
…spilled my full cup of coffee… over the entirety of my desk.
I called out for Mark, who was in the next room, and he sprang into action. As only a father of two small children can, he assessed the spillage in a matter of nanoseconds, grabbed a roll of paper towels, tossed me some paper towels, and saved my stack of invoices, the phone, and my keyboard from the expanding coffee puddle.
The only casualty was my mouse pad. May it rest in peace.
Even though I jumped back from the calamity, I hadn’t moved quickly enough and a waterall of coffee baptized my new jeans. Thank goodness that coffee had been sitting for a while – it wasn’t scalding hot.
I decided I didn’t want to smell like Folgers all day, so I went down to the bathroom to assess the damage and see what I could do about it. My jeans finally dried, and other than a faint whiff of Folgers, no one could tell I’d spilled coffee all over my leg.
As I was cleaning up the mess, I found myself laughing and shaking my head. I didn’t let the accident get to me, I didn’t let it ruin my day. In fact, I took the picture to commemorate the occasion and have now shared it with many.
I’m glad I’ve learned to laugh at myself and can let people laugh with me. It’s definitely a happier way to live.
And I never did sneeze… at least not this morning.
Sassy Dreams Awake 