Still

Thanks to Mother Pie for including me in pondering what I'm still doing:

Still working for the same woman who hired me over 20 years ago

Still procrastinating about my sewing

Still wondering what I'm really meant to be doing

Still glad I moved South when I did

Still glad I haven't culled anything from my cookbook shelf; if I do, they go in a pile until I can stand it no longer, and return them to their shelf

Still cherishing memories, and finding I don't need physical prompts to jar them as often as I used to

Still wishing I were travelling, and the euro were on parity with the dollar

Still hoping for government that does what it's supposed to, on all levels

Still practicing yoga, for which I am truly thankful

Still grateful I have my little family, and we like being with each other, even in the midst of teenagedom

Still happy D is the driving instructor

Still wondering why fashion trends and I seem to have gone in two different directions.

Still looking forward to another year here!

Thanks, Hattie, for the prompt!

What do you say

when a wonderful person, for whom you've prayed and lit candles and cried for, calls you unexpectedly to say she is going into hospice. And sounds so chipper and asks after you? I wonder if what I had to say was good enough.

new movie

L and I just saw the movie Juno and I highly recommend it. Funny, sweet, great sound track, and the actress who plays the title part is absolutely stupendous.

PS: The movie is much better than this trailer makes it out to be, so.

It's tonight

It's cold enough that the cats clatter at the blind on the door to go out, but once the door is open, and the bracing air hits, they hesitate. And have to be encouraged forward. Bear has decided that the wood ash in the fireplace makes a more-than-satisfactory replacement for her box or using the natural environment, so we must watch that she doesn't skulk over in that direction.

L has been invited to sing this evening, so we will attend the 11:00! I'm always tucked up asleep by then, so this will be a challenge. It will be wonderful to see the church lit by candles. I'll keep my attention skyward tonight, on the way home, just in case.

But for now, there is a cat at the door, asking to be let in . . .

Yes,

our tree is up, thanks to L and D. And without much of a to do, either (no bad words; well, not many). This is the first year I've really felt festive since my mother died, I think. I'm finally ready to get into the spirit. We made polymer clay ornaments today, and had a generally Christmas-tidey time. L made her first batch of gingerbread, and quite delicious too. She even cleaned up. So another big step.



I've got some presents to wrap, and the church to help green tomorrow (even some greenery to contribute, after D lopped off the bottom branches of the tree), so things are going a lot more smoothly, at least internally, than they have the past several years.

And I'm truly thankful for the new friends I've met this year; so talented and endearing, the lot of them.

turtle

I'm wondering if I should change my little turtle image. I think she seems a bit . . . judgmental.

Hurry!

time is running out; so say all the junk mail articles in my inbox and my mailbox. I'm not giving into stress, though. I think my gifts are all in their hiding spot waiting to be wrapped. D and L are out to buy the tree (no, we don't put it up until the last minute) so I'm putting the finishing touches on my copy editing.

Thinking about two friends who are (separately) in the beginning stages of both a divorce and a love affair . . .

knitting

I was glad to see L finally sit down and knit up a skein; she has her scarf now, but needs to weave in the ends. But I'm guessing it will be me doing the weaving.



She is in the middle of finals: two down and three to go next week.

No,

I haven't stopped posting! Thank you for asking, though. It's just I have a job with a deadline, L to cart to her after school job, her finals start Thursday, I had to run errands, my fruitcake is awaiting the candied citron so I can mix it up and bake it, various packages keep arriving and need to be hidden, we haven't even gotten the tree yet, I've promised to go to Studio C tomorrow (maybe I'll remember the camera and post a picture of my weaving--just tabby, but still . . .), I had to attend an open house Friday for Stacie, and another open house on Saturday for Annie. Anyway, I'll be back in! Maybe tomorrow!

I wish I could be good and post a picture a day, but the weather here is freakish, and so I'm not so holiday-ish as confused and manic; 76 degrees F today. As I skulked about in Hobby Lobby, people kept greeting each other, saying, "This weather is just gonna make us all sick!"