Time Marches On

Well, here it is December already; and I'm sure we all have a million things on our chore list for this month in prep of the fast approaching holidays! The last few weeks here at my ranch have been pretty much a mix of a daze and whirlwind. Our son's wife passed away on Nov. 16th, only 22 days after finding out about her cancer. I'm sure she is in a better place now and thankful that she did not have to suffer long, but her quick departure from our family has left a big adjustment in front of our son at only 31 years old. We girls held the fort down here in the south while my DH accompanied our son north into the Virginias to arrange and have her funeral back where she was from. All are back home now and we had Thanksgiving together, but the reality of this unplanned change in life is just beginning to sink in on our son. We are trying to help him adjust by merely staying close and making sure he stays in a normal daily routine which includes his work and some social activities with the rest of us. I'm cooking extra and making sure he has enough on hand at his house already prepared to eat, although I know his appetite and sleep patterns are not normal right now. He is a Christian of strong faith, so I know he will be fine in time.

My granddaughter had her 3rd birthday in the meantime on the 19th, and she had a glorious Barbie themed party with all of her little cousins there to play. Barbie's dream-house was a huge success, and all the kids enjoyed crawling around through it and totally got involved in arranging and rearranging all the pieces parts! It was hysterical to watch!

After that every member of the family has come down with the "change of weather" bad cold, so we are all running around taking mucho antihistamines and cough syrups and have pockets bulging with tissues! Yuck! Thank goodness for Lysol and Clorox!!

I managed to learn how to get some music put onto this blog, yeah for me! The player is at the bottom of the whole page, and if it annoys you please feel free to turn it off while you read. I like a wide range of music, so you may hear just about anything on here from time to time! Heehee!

I've been doing some yarn work trying to get a few large afghans finished in time for Christmas gifts since they were begun early on this year with that in mind. Where does the time go?? Thank goodness for my very comfortable large hand-carved wooden crochet hook that I adore using for these afghans. It makes the stitches a pleasure to perform! I'm going to try to remember to put that website here soon so you can check out this gentleman's carved hooks for yourself, and I will also include my great easy pattern to the afghans I am currently making. Stay tuned as these will no doubt be in some after Christmas postings as we roll into 2009.

I've taken a tremendous amount of comfort in the last few weeks with all this trauma going on in our daily life in my digital scrapbooking. I've managed to accomplish wonders in a small amount of time each night preparing a very organized Christmas gift list of printed albums, and I'm feeling super good about these as my gifts for so many this year. I hope the recipients will feel the same when all is said and done. Heehee! The hobby is a joy to do, and I've met so many wonderful designers online. It's very addictive but very relaxing also! The best part for me this year is that this new hobby negated me having to get out there and be a part of the wild "Black Friday" shopping madness! Yipee! Yes, this lady was out last year in the middle of the night (3 a.m.) standing in a long line (5th position to be exact) in a local store to obtain the "deal of a lifetime" on a laptop for a Christmas gift. Mind you, this is not a normal pattern for me, but I had an inside lead on a secret item not published in the printed ads, and there were only to be six distributed at this sale price in our local store. So I was determined to jockey myself into a decent pole position for this type of savings, and my mission was in fact accomplished! I have no desire to attempt that type of shopping too many more times in my lifetime!

Meanwhile, I've got to turn my thoughts toward erecting the Christmas tree and house decor. We just had a weekend of nonstop rain for two days, and it was quite dreary looking and gray out there. Today it cleared and the sun returned. Tonight the moon is crescent and Venus and Jupiter are clearly visible beneath the moon. It is an awesome sight rarely seen, so I hope you could see it from your location!

Take care, and enjoy your holiday preparations! I'll be back soon to share a few more scrapped holiday recipes with you! Chow!