New Year’s Wishes ~~

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-enterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber and the I.R.S.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May New Year's Eve find you seated around the table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and your budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.

And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of God's love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.

(courtesy of Image Source Page: http://llerrah.com/newyearwishes.htm)

I am so happy to have all of you in my life. You are a loved extended family, and in my case, my only family so that makes the love even greater.  Here’s hoping that 2011 will be a year of prosperity and abundance in all facets of our lives.

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XOXOXO

“And Now For Our Latest Weather, Meteorologist (insert name here) Reporting” ~~

Yesterday’s weather forecasters were so funny, but I don’t think they meant to be.  In the course of an hour, the first one said, “Oh, it looks like a blizzard is going to pound our city.”  About 15 minutes later on his next report, he said, “Well, folks, I don’t think we’ll see more than a couple of inches of the white stuff, so no worry after all.”  On his next appearance, he said, “The satellite programs are now showing that the storm is going to miss us completely, but the coastline will see some snow.”  This morning’s paper ran this very short blurb, “I blew it, yes, I blew it.”

It started snowing a little after 2pm yesterday and has never stopped. The news says we’re at almost a visibility of 0, but I can see up the street, into my back yard, my neighbors, and even the squirrel that’s running the cable wire. Maybe that newscaster is the same person doing the weather from yesterday.  Well, he’s having fun so we’ll leave him alone.  I will mention that yesterday before the snow even dropped the first flake, our governor declared a state of emergency. I am still laughing. Watching all the affiliates of major stations on our local system is like watching a game of Can You Top This.

Now the snow is coming down fast and furiously and it’s very beautiful, but the newest report is calling for another 6 inches of the stuff today. In this latest report, the weatherman said, “Did you know that historically we only see a white Christmas here every 20 years or so”, only to be followed up by his cohort saying in the same breath, “Well, if you recall, last year at Christmas we had over 30 inches of snow”, and the first weatherman could only reply, “Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, there goes that theory.” I tell you, the news has been a joy to watch today and I’ve gotten some great chuckles.  I’m giving today’s prize to guy #2.

The little birds are struggling hard to find food today.  I could see them under the Leland Cypress scratching away at the snow for a glimpse of a seed or two.  I went outside on my back porch and took a big platter of seed and a couple of saucers of water for them.  One of them must have been a lookout and sounded the announcement to the rest because about 5 minutes later, my porch was swamped with all sorts of birds.  Darn shame I couldn’t get a photo of them without them flying away. I tried and tried but they always saw that camera.  It’s ok. They have food now and Sam and Lucy have something to watch to occupy their time.  They were sick of the TV weathermen anyway.

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XOXOXO

A Most Unforgettable Dinner Party ~~

You have to know I would have a Christmas story for you, and it is completely true and authentic as all the rest of my family stories have been. It was my neighbor, Laura,  today that reminded me of this and said, “Jen, you really must blog this” so here I am and here’s the story:

Once upon a time, there was a Christmas when I was in my later teens and my mother decided to do her one and only dinner party.  It wasn’t even a large dinner party, but when you read what happened, you’ll understand why she said, “Never again”, and stuck by that.

So many of Mom’s friends had hosted these wonderful, and sometimes even lavish Christmas dinners for their friends. As the years went by, Mom got a case of the guilts and knew she really had to do the same. Mom had never had any kind of party at the house and so, understandably, she was very nervous.  She decided to make it a very, small dinner party for 8, and if it worked, she’d make it larger the following year.  She made lists, she planned, she made invitations, she plotted out the menu so that there would be no mistakes, and she made our family recipe for the best darn eggnog in the entire world.  Invitations were mailed and everyone rsvp’d with a yes.  Mom was smiling and thinking, “This is working out so easily; yes, I can do this”.

The night of the party arrived and Mom was looking like an absolute dream as she greeted the guests and showed them into the living room. She had set up a beautiful table with lots of gorgeous Christmassy bites to eat and a giant punch bowl full of the essence of nog to die for.  Our pets had been secured in another room so as not to sit up and beg for morsels. Everyone remarked how beautiful the house looked and how beautiful Mom was.  She was beaming. The guests all made their way to the eggnog and settled themselves into the sofas and chairs and conversation was sparkling. Mom was glowing and checking the progress of her giant standing rib roast and all the side dishes she’d done from scratch.  Yes, everything was timed perfectly.  Her last trip to the kitchen was to pull the roast out of the oven, platter it and set it on the dining room table to rest for the next 10 minutes before carving.  The dining room was bathed in candlelight and all of Mom’s best dishes were gleaming in readiness for the feast.  She went back to the kitchen to assemble the last of the meal and asked me to get something she needed from upstairs.  As I was getting ready to bring this back down to her, I heard this blood curdling yell and I almost fell down the steps trying to get to Mom.  There she was in the dining room, eyes almost rolling back into her head, as our cat had broken out of the secured room, smelled the roast, climbed a cabinet, and flown in mid-air to land right on top of that roast on the table.  He was growling, hissing, and fighting that piece of beef for all he was worth.  We saw him roll off the table with the roast still in his grip as the guests all ran to the room.  It was pure pandemonium!  The roast was ruined and Mom told Dad to head to the store and find something, ANYTHING, to feed everyone.  Off he went and returned with 2 packages of …….get ready…..hot dogs!  Mom was dying a thousand deaths but had no more choices.  Now, at this point, the guests are so good natured that they are laughing and saying they’ll never forget this evening, but, that wasn’t even to be the end.  Mom cooked the hot dogs and yes, put them on a platter in the hopes they’d look like a roast.  Everyone got their plates loaded with anything they could find and were still laughing over the situation, when all of a sudden, our Irish Setter comes barreling around the corner, into the dining room and skids right into the wall. The poor dog gave out a YELP and headed for the kitchen where once again he couldn’t make the corner and fell into a cabinet. He jumped up and ran towards the living room and smack dab into the TV and toppled it to the floor.  As we all ran to the living room, there was our dog, a crumpled mess in the Christmas tree and drunk on his hind end. It seems that while we were in the dining room, old Rusty had broken free after the cat did and he’d made his way around the living room drinking up all the eggnog.  Well, everyone stood there with their mouths open and in shock at this sight, but the next sound just topped the cake.  It was the retching sound of a dog getting ready to give all that eggnog back.  There is nothing to do but end this story here as all the guests decided it was a very good time to call it a night.  As for Mom?  There was never, ever another party in this house.  As for the dog? I never saw a worse hangover.  As for the cat? The next day, he still had pieces of that roast hidden in the oddest places and you could hear the faint, rumbling sound of growling if you happened near his territory.  

  

                                             

Just Who Is Mr. Doppler?

As I look out my window and see the snow melting away, I hear the news on TV making their newest predictions for the upcoming week.  At first I found myself getting so excited until I heard the entire thing.  The announcer said something like this:  “Yes, it’s a little warmer today and even a little warmer tomorrow, but folks, don’t get too comfortable because we are in for yet another cold front and more snow!  Our Doppler radar is showing the march east of our next batch of winter weather and it’s due here on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day!  Yes, we have the distinct possibility of a white Christmas!  Now let’s track this for the week (and his voice picks up speed).  Monday, a bit warmer than today with highs around 40. Tuesday, highs approaching 40 again and clear skies.  Wednesday the temps drop a few degrees but still clear.  Thursday, the clouds begin to build and roll in and the high will be around 38. For Friday, more cloud cover is forecast, and dropping temperatures and a chance of snow that carries on into Saturday, Christmas day. Yes, we have the chance of a white Christmas!  Chances for snow both days is……30%.”  I am thinking, what’s wrong with this picture?  Why even bother to get hopes up for a white Christmas with a 30% chance of snow?  That’s a 70% of no snow!  Which holds the greater weight? Shoot, my excited anticipation was for naught.  Well, one thing I can do is drive out this evening and see if I can get some night shots of a few of the houses on my street.  I’ve never tried night shots so I don’t know what will happen, but I’m going to try it.  Cross your fingers for me.  If it works, the next part of this entry will be the pictures.  Now to sit and wait for the dark..…..

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Darn the dark.  I tried and tried. I even tried the video camera. Nothing. I know there’s a trick to taking pictures in the dark but I don’t know what they are.  The darn snow was all slushy, too. I should have stayed in and looked for great night photos from Photobucket -- just kidding.  You’d know those pictures weren’t mine right away because they’d be too good!  So, here’s one without the snow and one with the slushy mess.  Tomorrow I’m going to look for that camera manual and maybe it will tell me what to do.

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Good thing I put up that little video about the Spirit of Christmas to remind myself, because this sure isn’t doing it for me.  If one of you knows the trick to a setting for nighttime shots, please tell me.

I may not be around to be first to comment on your newest entries because I have a couple of things to get ready.  There’s a dinner Tuesday night and then another on Wednesday night.  The one on Wednesday is a big affair done by a couple down the street every year.  It is super good fun and includes a cocktail party and then a huge dinner.  Because there are so many people, everyone chips in and brings a dish or two and also adds to the wine to help out. The hostess is doing some big standing rib roasts, shrimp, and other things. The rest of us are doing vegetables, salads, and desserts.  Can’t wait; they are the greatest couple. So, I’ll be in and out and run by as soon as I can to see what you’re up to. I really hate getting behind, don’t you?  Now it’s 7:30 and time to round up some dinner and some snugglin’ time with Sam & Lucy.  I’ll sign off with this photo of the 2 of them in their regular sleeping positions:

                  

…and, yes, they really are asleep in that last photo.

This last photo has nothing to do with anything.  It’s for Marge and she’ll know what it is.  **waving to Marge**:

 Nothing like the old friends, is there, Marge

XOXOXO