Shroedinger and the Christmas tree

On Thanksgiving, I put the tree up.  I also went to Garden Ridge and found a billion people there.  Who knew?  I didn’t even realize they were open, and it’s apparently a favorite pasttime of many.  I bought an awesome doormat, a really great Nativity candle holder, and some other stuff.  Probably shouldn’t have spent extra money, but it happened and it’s over.  I’m not going back to Garden Ridge with, like, a doormat and the receipt.  I will just have to enjoy my doormat and be happy about life.

Finally got out and had some fun this weekend.  Went to Frankie’s Fun Park yesterday, where I lost at everything from skee ball to trivia.  I did all right in one game of air hockey, two rounds of basketball, and the water shooting game (because the other machine was broken).  It was fun, though.  I made some lasagna with not enough cheese (that’s a new one for me) and I saw Ninja Assassin, which was really, really, really good.  It was nice to be dressed in real clothes (as opposed to scrubs, workout gear, or pajamas), and out in civilization.  But the dog was pissed about it. 

One holiday down, one big one to go.  I am thinking about going to see the Christmas Spectacular at the Bi-Lo Center if I can find the extra money in the budget.  I’ve wanted to go for years, and haven’t found anyone to go with in all this time.  Maybe it’s time to just scrap the idea altogether, and go by myself.  Not that big a deal.  And then I have to look into buying my ticket for Wicked at the Peace Center, because I’m not missing that!  Birthday present to meeeee.  lol

That’s really all for now.  I have a movie from Netflix waiting to be watched (Waiting, ironically).  It was supposed to be funny, so I may go lay down for awhile and watch it.  There’s nothing on the DVR.  I’ll be sure to report back.

Bo is now a Baron , He is the long distance member at this time.He is from Salmon Idaho. Baron Larry using his secret formula for membership has declared Bo a Baron.Bo has along list of Hot Rods, but it will be hard to beat his 29 vette.We hope to see him in the flat lands for our Rumbles this summer. The tree on top of his coupe is not a normal feature. He was in the parade with the Patty’s Burger Time entry. He bought his tree at Joel the parkers tree lot at Burger Time. Buy a burger ,a tree, great coffee from coffee time and bench racing, now that is multi tasking.

Oh Christmas Tree!

It’s officially up! This picture is pre-ornamentation I am wearing my favorite North Face fleece and Christmas sweats that require my pulling them up constantly. But when it comes to sweatpants, the bigger the better, right?

Yesterday, the fam-damily and I ventured out to find a pair of shoes for Winter Formal next Saturday, ate a quick lunch at Whole Foods , saw The Blind Side (highly recommended), purchased groceries, and our Xmas Tree!

twas colorful and delicious.This morning’s breakfast:

Pumpkin Cream of Wheat, seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and stevia, topped with a chopped Fuji and an Adam’s PB spoon.

DAYUM! This bowl had volume. It took me 30 minutes to finish. Regardless, I enjoyed every bite.

QUESTION:

Do your pictures ever lose quality once you post your post? When I upload my pictures while creating a post, they look good… then I post them, and it’s almost as if they’ve gone blurry. Any tips/suggestions?

More about that later…

My cat got stuck in our Christmas tree.  Talk about a cliche, except for one thing: our tree is artificial.  I just put that up (with the help of my kids and a friend of Thing 2) the day before.

Last year the cat, Rin, was really well behaved around the Christmas tree.  Of course, I doubt that she was able to get  close to it often as our old dog used to attack her viciously whenever we weren’t around.

This year, with just the one dog who’s rather afraid of her, Rin has decided that the tree is a giant cat toy composed of many other cat toys.  It took her less than an hour to start knocking off  all the bottom ornaments.  I don’t have many glass ornaments, but I made sure the few I have are higher up the tree now.

I didn’t actually witness the stuck-in-a-tree incident.  Thing 1 said that she was playing video games when she heard the cat incessintly meowing.  Thing 1 went over and freed Rin.

It’s rather hilarious.  She’s not the most cat-like cat.  She’s not even a little graceful. She will come when she’s called (but she won’t come all the way, and she won’t come quickly, unless there’s food involved and then she’ll race over with all the lack of dignity of a dog).  She will sort of walk on a leash. Although, I guess, getting stuck in a tree is a cat cliche.

Merry Christmas!

I haven’t put up our real Christmas tree yet.  I did, however set up an artificial one that my mom bought for us last year.  The boys were anxious to decorate.  It didn’t take long for me to put the tree together and it was nice that the fake tree came with the lights pre strung. After plugging the tree into the wall, I let the boys have at it.  They hung plastic shiny balls on the tree.  It was beautiful………and then they found it…….tinsel. 

The 2 packages of tinsel that I stuffed away in the cubboard last year had been discovered. Why didn’t I just toss that out when I had the chance?  The boys were extremely excited about the 2 bags, especially Matthew since he is so partial to shiny things.  As bad as I wanted to shout, “no tinsel!”, I couldn’t because I promised they could decorate that tree however they wanted. 

They were so proud when they finished.  They love the tree.  I like it too, even though it looks like it threw up.

Spent over an hour at Handy’s Tavern in Marion, Mass., yesterday, photographing the Sippican Women’s Club’s display of 50-60 themed trees for their holiday house tour this year.

Click on image to order prints or note cards on Redbubble.

Christmas ornament

Some people wanted to go skating tonight. Like ice skating. I haven’t been ice skating since I was 10 or so! And yesterday at the ice hockey game I saw just how skilled you need to be to pull of the real moves. Check out this video from last night (not that it shows awesome moves but still) …

But then I found at that this had to be the REAL Christmas event of the year in Toronto. As you might have read earlier on my blog I went to the illuminite event on Dundas Square some weeks ago to see the lightening of a Christmas tree. And that was so disappointing.

This time it was much better! A real tree and very nice live, Christmas music + classy skating rink.

This event ended with some of the best fireworks I’ve ever seen! It was very well put together with the rockets going off in sync with the music. It was all in front of the new city hall in Toronto which is a very fancy building in itself. With the fireworks all around it, firing from the bottom of it and off of the top it looked amazing!

So now, even though I’m not staying for New Year’s Eve, I got to see some fireworks in Toronto

P.S. It seems that when I watch the videos the quality isn’t that good – Sorry! Hope you still can sort of feel it

Have I ever mentioned that I love, love, love Christmas?  I do! And one of my favorite parts of getting ready for the best holiday of the year is putting up the tree.  Well, to be honest, it’s actually having the tree up, decorated and lighting up it’s corner of the room, but the trimming part is necessary for that to be a reality.

Thanksgiving night, we headed out for our tree.  This is the 2nd year we have had a real Christmas tree and I don’t think we will ever go back.  We took the family to the lot and picked out our perfect evergreen.

Here it is in it’s “natural habitat”.  Sorry about Abe’s nose picking – what can you do?

That evening, Brad stood that baby up in our family room and the draping of light strands commenced.  Then early the next morning we created our very own version of Black Friday.

It was time to decorate our gorgeous tree.  And it was a task.  Primarily because everyone was more interested in getting to the top of the ladder to place that special ornament in a place that they could never reach if their feet stayed on the ground than anything else.

I loved it, actually, even if I did prepare myself mentally for the possibility of a quick trip to the ER and had to break out the superglue more than once to rescue fallen ornaments.

I didn’t even cry over the spilled glitter from the last remaining snowglobe I owned.  By the way, if anyone had the idea to do so, please do not give any occupant of this house a snowglobe made of glass, ever.  Thanks.

OK, for the results…

The boys had to have a small tree for their room.  Mainly because Joseph wants to test out a science experiment on it and turn it purple.  Gotta get some food coloring.

And the Princess could not be outdone.  This pink tree was unbelievably up her ally & she adores it!  I think it’s kind of cute as well, truth be told.

And the family tree…

It is fabulous!

And will be enjoyed by all of us throughout the entire season.

Merry Christmas.

and Christmas has started. If you already don’t know, Chrstmas is my favorite holiday, not because of the presents, but because it seems like the time people are their happiest and I really love the music. Anyway, this year is really important, becuase this year is the last year I will be home for the holidays (next year Christmas is in Vegas and the year after that I will be in college).

So to start off with my year of “last Christmas traditions”, I had my mom buy a Christmas tree (the old one was too big to fit into the house). Due to the fact that no one in my house likes to put up the christmas tree, I had to do it by myself, and even though the tree is a little crooked (don’t ask me how it got like that, becuase I don’t know), I think it looks really nice.

The next thing on my Christmas to do list, is to get the Mother Joy’s gingerbread cookies (yes it has to be that specific kind), due to the fact that I couldn’t find them anywhere last year and they are the best gingerbread cookies ever. That’s it for my Christmas plans so far, but I think this Christmas will be better than the ones before.

Song of the post: “The Chistmas Song” by Nat King Cole

Hey hey late night friends!?  Sorry for the late post however The Man and I have been busy bees all night gettin’ a start on this

That’s right friends, it’s our very first Christmas tree together and that makes me   We have a ways to go, however we got a great start tonight!

I also got in a great workout using The Man’s P90X Kenpo DVD… oh yea, kickboxing inspired moves, this sesh was crucial!

But let’s back-track it up to dinner shall we?

I must have been inspired by today’s Cooking with Herbs class and the tarragon infused vinegar we learned how to make…

… bc tonight I decided to leverage off a recipe from my girl over @SimplySavor for a side dish to go with our pork tenderolin using none other than lady tarragon herself!

Tarragon Dijon Potatoes!

Here were the key players for this lower fat potato dish

• 2 russet potatoes
• Oikos greek yogurt, plain, 1 container
• Dijon mustard, 2 tsp (used the Cinnamon, Apple & Ginger Napa Valley)
• Dried Tarragon, 1 tsp
• Salt/Pepper
• EVOO, 1 tblsp
• 1 clove garlic (unpictured)

First I washed, peeled and sliced up the potatoes into about 1/3″ slices.

Then I added 1 tblsp EVOO to a hot pan (medium) and added the potatoes in a layer… don’t touch ‘em for a few, you want to hear the snap crackle pop, that’s what is going to give the outsides that “crunch”!  

After a few minutes I gave them a flip and also added 1 clove chopped garlic.

At this point I added some water to the pan and covered it so they could steam away and cook through.

In the meantime I whipped up the sauce using the Oikos, dijon mustard, tarragon, salt & pepper.

Once the potatoes were ready, I added in the creamy dijon sauce and let it warm through.  Voila!

Friends, I know it isn’t pretty — but trust me, the flavor was fantastic!  Next time I’m adding some wine or milk in the mix, would have benefitted from some more liquid ‘me thinks’

We also had a peppercorn pork tenderloin to go with, one of those pre-marinated guys (hey friends, it was a good deal and easy peasy, I’ve never tried one either so I was curious)

Ummm hello yum, nice to meet you.  I will never judge again….

Served buffet style (we love to do that in this house) along with some leftover cranberry apple relish and veggies of course

All nice n’ purty on my plate

Yummy in my tummy (did I just say that for real?)

Anywho, I hope everyone has/had a great Saturday night!… I am tiredddddddd to say the least so time to cozy up in bed.  See ya’ll tomorrow for a fun soup cooking adventure (hint:  pumpkin and coconut are involved!)

Til then, later friends!

When I initially brainstormed ideas for how to celebrate this holiday earlier this month, I had planned to visit a “metaphysical” shop on State Street that offers readings with one of three psychics. I had this all figured out: I’d stop in at Mimosa and meet with Patti Bee for a psychic reading. I figured at some point in the appointment my aura would come up.

However, I am not in Madison this weekend, so I had to look elsewhere for metaphysical inspiration today. (Though I WILL get a psychic reading one of these days–maybe December!) This afternoon, my parents and I headed out to Williams Tree Farm in Illinois. Neither they nor I were planning to come home with a tree today. We were headed out there to walk around, have a cup of wassail, and pick up some homemade fudge. We went out to Williams to cut down a tree pretty much every year when I was a kid, but I haven’t been there in a couple of years.

The place was crazy busy today. Practically everywhere you stepped you were tripping over kids and golden retrievers (the farm has 13 of them that run around and interact with customers). After perusing the extensive ornament shop and sipping down the obligatory wassail, we headed out to the fields of pine trees. It was much quieter out there and not very cold, so we were more than comfortable wandering around the trails between a variety of pines.

Our final turn around the field must have put us directly west, because it was hard to look at my parents without losing them in a haze of mid-afternoon sun. But wait–maybe I was wrong, maybe we were headed north or east. Maybe I wasn’t losing them in the sun at all. Maybe, just maybe I was staring directly into the depths of their auras, at least the auras they were presenting today. It was a glorious moment of looking at my parents’ essence. I had to know what it meant.

According to Victoria Anisman-Reiner,

Your aura, the field of energy around your body, is like an energetic ‘blueprint’ for who you are. The outer layers carry information about a person’s mood and well-being in the moment; middle layers portray your health, emotional patterns, relationships and your strengths and vulnerabilities; and at the most profound layers of the aura, your true self and your life purpose are revealed. (Thanks, Suite101.)

Anisman-Reiner lists aura colors and the characteristics supposedly associated with them. Yellow is associated with energy, playfulness, optimism, and the belief that life is meant to be fun. I’d say everyone had fun today and certainly had plenty of energy to run around those trees. And our happy day most certainly affected our inner psychic selves, which bathed us in a warm sea of yellow that I hope will carry us forward for days to come. (See? I hope = optimism.) How lovely–my awareness of our auras has led to a deeper, more spiritual understanding in myself of our emotional states.

And the western sun didn’t hurt, either.

Weekly Winners for November 22 – 28, 2009.

Photos taken with a Canon Rebel XTi.

Morning Light Melts the Frost

Frosted Edges

Won’t be Long till it’s Full

 First Bokeh of the Season

Can’t Get Enough of It

Shining Brightly at the Top

Weekly Winners is hosted every week by Lotus.  Stop by her site to see all this week’s entries.

Check out these photos and more on my flickr photostream.

]]> http://happycorey.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/about-300-people-were-here-for-tree-lighting/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:05:39 +0000 Corey Kaster http://happycorey.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/about-300-people-were-here-for-tree-lighting/

Δε ξερω τι συμβολαια εχετε εσεις στην Ελλαδα με τον θεο του καλοκαιριου, εδω ομως ο Νοεμβρης ειναι αρκετα κρυος.  Αναβουμε το τζακι.  Το τετραημερο των ευχαριστιων ειναι ισως το πιο ξεκουραστο διαλειμμα πριν αρχισει η τρελλα των Χριστουγεννων.  Και την Παρασκευη παντα αρχιζουμε να στολιζουμε το σπιτι για τις γιορτες.  Πριν ακομα αρχισω να φορτωνω το δενδρο με τα στολιδια του, προσπαθω να το φωτογραφισω τη νυχτα.  Τελικα πρεπει να το παρω αποφαση, αν δε παρω μια πιο καλη μηχανη, καθαρες φωτογραφιες τη νυχτα δε θα μπορεσω να βγαλω. Δε πειραζει,  φερνω ενα θαμπο λαμπυρισμα απο τα φωτακια ετσι για να αρχισουμε να αισθανομαστε Χριστουγεννα.

Φερνω το κουτσουρο να καιγεται στο τζακι

Φερνω το δεντρο με τα φωτακια να αντικατοπτριζεται στο παραθυρο

Παιζω με τα χρωματα για να φιαξω κατι παραμυθενιο

Αυριο θα στολισω το δενδρο

Σηκωνω τα ματια στον φεγγιτη και βλεπω τα φωτακια του δενδρου, και το φεγγαρι απο πανω να μας κοιτα!

Αυτη την αναρτηση αρχισα να τη γραφω χτες και δεν την δημοσιευσα γιατι με πηρε ο υπνος γλυκα διπλα στη φωτια.  Απο τοτε ως σημερα το δεντρο στολιστηκε.  Εγιναν ενα σωρο δουλειες, ψωνια για Χριστουγεννιατικα δωρα, λιστες και προγραμματα. Εγιναν σχεδια για ταξιδακι τον Δεκεμβρη. Παλι βραδακι εδω,  παλι η φλογα καιει, παλι το φεγγαρακι γλυστρα μεσα.  Παλι τα ματια κλεινουν.  Οχ ι ομως πριν γραψω οτι..

Σας φιλω γλυκα!

Amnesia is total or partial loss of memory.  I am pretty sure that I have had several bouts of amnesia and a condition that I refer to as “Mommy Brain.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember much from when I was four years old and younger.  I have previously talked to my ob doctor several times about how the hormones that are released after a woman gives birth cause her to forget the pain and agony of giving birth to a child.  Why else would any sane woman what to keep having children?  I’ve done it three times over and I am glad that for that amnesia!

Today I was puting decorations on the Christmas tree and Eliana kept pulling decorations off the tree.  I kept correcting her over and over and over.  I would sit her down, take the ornament away and tell her “No, no Eliana.” This went on several times, too many times to count, and I started to get frustrated.

I went into the office to vent to James and his reply was, “You have to deal with it. You’ve done this before.”  I wish I could confess that a light went on and I had an epiphany, but I wanted there to be something different about training my almost 1-year-old in comparison with her brothers.  I decided the only difference between then and now is that I had amnesia.  The boys’ birthdays are Sept. and Jan. so they were both right around the same age that Eliana is now when they first learned to leave the tree alone.  I have done this before!

In this case I think “Mommy brain,” is to blame for my forgetting.  ”Mommy brain” is the forgetting that happens when you become a mom and you cannot remember the littlest things because you have so many things to do each and every day to ensure the survival of your children and your own mental sanity.  Just google “mommy brain” if you don’t believe me!

Since my first battles earlier today t o correct Eliana, I’ve only had to correct her  a few times today about leaving the Christmas ornaments and the tree alone.  I’m glad too because I have heard of parents who could not get their kids to leave the tree alone putting the tree in a playpen and I’m not about to do that!  It’s okay for her to look just not to touch!

When you think of “Black Friday” what comes to mind?  Of course…the Friday after Thanksgiving with all of the sales and mad-dash, crazy, early morning shopping with thousands of your closest friends…or somewhere in that vicinity.

I had a different kind of black friday and maybe you’ve been there or are there right now. 

I spent most of the day beating myself up over past failures.  The enemy wanted me black and blue and in a non-functioning capacity and for some reason, I let him.  I have been forgiven by the Lord yet I could not seem to forgive myself and let it go.  My past kept coming back again and again to haunt me.  Been there?

I didn’t do the usual “if only” chants in my mind.  It was more like spending time feeling like the biggest failure on the planet.  As a mother, I felt like I had let my kids down.  As a wife, a failure because I had not been able to help my husband provide for this family and have made poor choices along the way.  A failure as a Christian because I have let God down (not that we ever could—He knows what we are going to do before we do it and nothing surprises Him).   But yet, in my mind, that broken record of “you’re a failure” and “you’re a screw up” kept playing over and over.

This morning I kicked myself around some more.  I spent time wondering and praying and crying.  We may lose our home.  So are millions of other Americans, big deal.  It IS a big deal to me. But yet I felt so much like I was dealing with this problem alone.  My husband seemed to just go on about his day and nothing bothered him.  God didn’t seem to answer me.

I have a few close friends that know what is going on and one suggested I go to the church and ask for help.  NOT what I wanted to hear or do.  At first I thought it was pride keeping me back but it is more like shame.  After prayerful consideration, I contacted the person that is head of that department and was told there is a process to go through. OK. Got that out of the way and cried some more.

As I read posts on Facebook about shopping excursions, my heart sank more and more because I didn’t have any money to shop, much less put gas in my van for the week.  I had to borrow money from my son to pay a bill and then when I went to pick up prescriptions, they were way more than I anticipated and it just added to the stress.

My other friend seems to think that all of this has nothing to do with me and that God is dealing with someone else through this situation.  My husband?  My kids?  I don’t know.  This is such a test of trust and faith in God.  He only promised our daily bread and it is hard for me to function at that level. 

I have been trying to get a job as an administrative assistant but was told yesterday in a round about way that “no, you’re not getting one.  It’s not that easy.”  He is not going to give me an easy “fix” financially.  Sure, having a steady income every two weeks would fix a lot of things but would it increase my dependency and faith on Him?  No.  

This afternoon another friend brought an artifical  Christmas tree over for me to use since we didn’t have one. Ours had a short in it last year so I tossed it.  I didn’t have the money to buy another one.   I was having so much of a pity party that I almost didn’t put it up.  As I started going through the ornaments, memories began to flood back of previous Christmas’ and a reminder that each ornament held a special place in my heart.  My spirit began to lift and I put on some Christmas music and sang along. 

You know, I may not know what the future holds but I know WHO holds the future and in order to survive this troubling economy, I have to trust Him.  He is sovereign and He is in control.  I need to make a choice to not wig out and try to fix it myself.  I can only do so much.  But, I can pray.  I love that verse in 2 Timothy1:7 that says, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of self-discipline.”  Isn’t God awesome?

Be blessed in the Lord!

Sheila

Christmas Perspective, originally uploaded by © Don Iannone Photography.

View of the Christmas tree in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio.

Starting yesterday a Christmas Fair was opened in Cismigiu Park - with a Christmas Tree and a lot of small wooden houses where all sorts of Christmas gifts or holiday treats are sold.

I love the days that are both relaxing and productive.

After 8 hours of blissful sleep I got up to start the day. Pricer made me breakfast since I was whining about not having bread for toast. We head off to Home Depot for our Christmas tree.

We got a 5-6′ balsum fir. Much smaller than last year but just as nice. It already makes the apartment smell good.

Then I worked on a paper- last paper!!!! and headed off for lunch. We went to Regal Beagle. A cute place- amazing felted wallpaper- with good food but I suggest that folks go at night if you don’t want to hear kids yelling and their parents begging them to sit, eat, turn around, etc. When did kids become dogs?!?!?

Then off to CVS to develope pictures- fail. After selecting my pictures, editing, and resizing them the machine crashed and I lost my patience. But the afternoon is still saved since we went to Gap and I bought this amazing hat!!! I wore it around the store and embarrassed Price.

 More homework, dinner, and now Pineapple Express while doing more homework.

I have a cold.  Or should I say, all three of us in this house, have the same exact cold.  We’re congested.  It’s become a cough with the boys.  Mine’s in my face.  We’re tired.   We’re not complaining though.  We all feel a bit crummy and know it.  I’m remembering how great I felt a few days ago when preparing for Thanksgiving.  Connected to our health.

The brightside?  We don’t have the piggy flu.  We don’t have upset tummies.  Kev is well enough to play at the park.  We’re well enough to put together two fake trees.  Oops….one arranged wrong for a day.  But not quite motivated to find the dead light on the tree that’s keeping the rest from turning on.  I bought a few gifts this morning at Target.  Starting to connect to Xmas.

Thanksgiving is over, but we’re still thankful.  We’re thankful for our health, even if it means a cold every now and then.  I’m thankful that Kev will only have a sniffle by the time he returns to school on Monday.  Mike’s thankful the cold hit him over the holiday and he’s not having to work with it.  Although he’s put in two round of golf in three days.  I’m thankful I have the luxury to sit down and rest when I get pooped out.  Connected to our blessings.

The Obama’s received their official White House Christmas tree via horsedrawn carriage this weekend. Here’s the Scoop:

WASHINGTON – The White House is open for Christmas.A day after celebrating Thanksgiving, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha received the official White House Christmas tree: an 18 1/2-foot Douglas fir delivered from a farm in Shepherdstown, W.Va., by traditional horse-drawn carriage.

Growers Eric and Gloria Sundback officially presented the tree to the Obamas on Friday.

It’s the fourth time one of their trees has become the official White House tree.

“It’s big enough for Sasha to climb in, I think,” Sundback joked after the Obamas walked from the North Portico of the White House to the driveway where the tree was tied up and lying in the carriage, pulled up the driveway from Pennsylvania Avenue by a pair of Belgian draft horses with red Christmas bows tied to their tails. A sign affixed to the side of the carriage said “White House Christmas Tree 2009.”

“We’re excited,” Mrs. Obama told the Sundbacks.

Asked by reporters whether the tree was the biggest she ever had, the first lady said: “Yeah, I think this wins.”

The 12-foot-wide tree is destined for the oval-shaped Blue Room on the State Floor of the White House, where scores of volunteers will decorate it. The tree is the star attraction of Christmas at the White House, and will be oohed and aahed over by the thousands of people who will stream through in December for holiday parties and public tours of the executive mansion.