Today

Today was busy, but not necessarily blog worthy. However, since I have nothing else to share, I will elaborate.

Many of you know that my grandfather has Alzheimer's. About a month ago, he and my grandmother moved to a special facility that specializes in the care of Alzheimer's patients. However, in the last few weeks his memory has declined rapidly and it has caused us to make a few decisions to make sure that both he and my grandmother receive the best care that is available. The main two are he is now receiving hospice services and they gave up their suite and are now in two separate rooms. Today was full of moving furniture and their belongings.

On a lighter note...tonight, I took a CPR class. It is something that I have needed to do for some time, but just have never made the time to take. I did some investigating before I came home and found a local instructor here in Texas and she was offering a class this evening. So, as of 9:00 pm tonight I am BLS (Basic Life Support) certified. Basically that includes CPR for all ages, Heimlich for all ages, and the use of AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) device.

Well, I need to head upstairs and begin packing. I am flying to Nashville tomorrow night where I will spend a few days with my friends that live there. Then on Saturday I will head back to Tampa and return to my life. As much as I have loved being home, I will confess that I am looking to relaxing in TN for a few days.

A Date

Tonight I went on a date. Okay, so I had to pick him up, I paid, we ate at Chick-Fil-A, and he had to sit in the backseat in his booster seat, but I did get a good night kiss and a marriage proposal!

Man, that kid cracks me up. And he can asks some questions that are almost more than you can handle!

Tonight he asked me when my anniversary was. I explained that you had to be married to have an anniversary. (We have had a couple of questions and discussions about marriage during this trip.) He then announced we would have to work on that part. From there he informed me that I needed to cancel my birthday this year (an earlier conversation we had in the car about birthday parties and the fact that I will be turning 30 in less than 2 weeks). I asked him why would I need to do that. He said, that if I canceled my birthday then I could wait a while and then he would marry me.

Of course the next question was, "Aunt Jane, what was the weather like in Bethlehem when Jesus was born?" I told him we would have to Google that when we got back to his house. In case you are wondering, today the high was 55 and it rained!

Time Flies

I can't believe that I have been in Texas for 4 days. Time has really flown. I have stayed pretty busy spending time with family and friends. Instead of boring you with details about the past several days, I'll post a few pictures. Before I do, let me just explain that my favorite 5 year-old confiscated my camera on Christmas Eve and discovered the Photo Booth program on my Mac.

He wanted to take a picture of our shoes b/c we were both wearing Skechers.

All I can say is that this is the ceiling and top of the fireplace.

An attempt at taking his own picture?

I have absolutely no clue.

Why not take a picture of the TV!?!?!

If two heads are better than one...what is three?

He did not like it when our pictures looked monster like. He preferred multiple heads.

Or swirly heads.

The only semi-serious one that was taken...I have lots of him sticking out his tongue though!

Home

I made it.

On the 10:00 news tonight they showed Santa getting his physical. What made me laugh was the footage of him leaving a local clinic. He donned his black cowboy hat and climbed into a Tahoe. Only in Texas!!!

And I Think I Saw Jerry Springer

Over the last few days I have broken a rule in my life.

Are you ready?

I have been to the mall just days before Christmas. On Saturday I ran in really quickly to pick up a few things...then ended up doing the same thing on Sunday. Today I ended up back at the mall to return a few things. Tomorrow...well, I still have one quick trip to make. The shirt that I bought yesterday still has the ink tag on it. How I managed to get out of the store with it, well, I'll never know.

The highlights to all this...I have gotten unbelievable parking spaces with each trip. And today...I think I saw Jerry Springer!

And A Diva Was Born

We live in a world of equal opportunity...and sometimes Baby Jesus is actually a girl!

And sometimes Mary and Joseph are in their 30s!

And Mary's hair is actually red and Joseph, well I won't go there!

And sometimes Baby Jesus prefers "his" feet to hang out of the manger.

She smiled, she cooed, she performed...And a diva was born!

He's also one handsome dude! I can't wait to hang out with these two next week! :)

Conundrum

Here is my conundrum of the day...On the short trek from my car to my apartment I found some money on the ground. What should I do? I can tell you that is not my roommate's. I asked her. Any thoughts?

Today

1. Slept through alarm
2. Ran
3. Missed new exit on the Veteran's and ended up in S. Tampa. (Opposite direction from where I work.)
4. Packed my desk
5. Saw new office
6. Packed supply closet/work room
7. Moved boxes
8. Mailed Christmas presents
0. Took Aleeve for backache from moving

Why are we moving offices the week before Christmas? When is all the construction going to be finished?

Oh, the questions....

My Top Ten

Tonight I had to run some errands and on my way home I heard three absolutely horrible Christmas songs. Granted I was on a secular station listening to a nationally syndicated program, but nevertheless...So, in the spirit of trying to redeem the 15 minute ride home, I am going to share my top ten favorite Christmas songs (in no particular order).

1. One Wintry Night by David Phelps
2. Magnificat sung by Christy Nockels and on Todd Agnew's "Do You Hear What I Hear"
3. Hallelujah (Light Has Come) by Barlow Girl
4. God Is With Us by Casting Crowns
5. Drummer Boy by Jars of Clay
6. Oh Holy Night by Mandisa
7. Born in Bethlehem by Third Day
8. God With Us/We Three Kings by Todd Agnew
9. O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Selah
10. Ring the Bells by Travis Cottrell

What about you?

Magnificat- Luke 1:46-55

A Christmas Tradition

Over the past few years, I have begun my own little Christmas tradition...I began painting Christmas ornaments and attached them to my families' presents. Each year, I have had an extra, so my Christmas tree benefits. Not only does it give me something special to give my family members, but it gives me a "creative outlet".

2005

2006

2007...Last year I decided they would also serve as the tags for the presents.

The day after Thanksgiving, I found some wooden ornaments at Micheal's. I decided to combine the two idea...an ornament and a tag.

Apparently, from the first picture to the next one of the camera...well, I was very busy! I painted each of the ornaments. My goal was to keep it simple...two colors maximum. I actually also bough two other cutouts that I did not use. One was a present with a box and the other was a bell. They didn't turn out the way I had envisioned them. It took a couple of coats of paint, but I didn't worry to much about making things perfect. Once I was satisfied with the colors, I took some sand paper and "aged" the ornaments. I really worked on the edges so the brown wood would show through.

I was really pleased with the way they all turned out, but my favorite is the candy cane. Because it is so thin, it had to be either for my mom or my dad. There is no way I cold have squeezed "Madeline" in there!

I chose a very basic paper. Originally I had wanted a plaid, but I found this simple blue paper with some holly, birds, and snowflakes at Wal-Mart. My favorite part is that printed on the paper is "We are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3" I kept the bow very simple as well by using brown raffia.

Now, if I would only finish my Christmas shopping, then I could get all these tags attached and hit the UPS store!

Mustard, Oven Cleaner, and Cloves

You might wonder what those three things have in common. Give up? Actually those are the three things that were on my list when I went to the store. I know, it is kind of sad, but it is what it is.

Cloves actually bring back childhood memories. The pain. Who knew such a task could be such a pain...literally! My mom would have me stick the cloves in the orange for her wassail recipe. But I am getting off track a little. You see, I needed cloves...and I mean a lot of cloves for a little project that I am working on. Let me show you exactly how many cloves I am talking about.

My guess is that this will make about three of...well...what I am making. You'll just have to check back in the next day or so to figure what I am going to do with approximately 1 1/2 cups of cloves!

Oh, the mustard is because I was out and the oven cleaner is because last week when I made this...

Well, it made a mess in the bottom of the oven, but homemade pumpkin cheesecake sure was worth it.

Really, it was!!!

Craftiness

There is something about this time of year that makes me want to be crafty. I pulled out my paints earlier in the week and I have been working on a little project this week. I finished it earlier this morning and will try to post some pictures tomorrow. I have another semi-crafty project that I began last night, but I ran out of cloves, so I have to make another trip to the store. I will also post pictures of this project as well. There is a third project that I may pull out of the depths of the closet. It was started two years ago, but never finished. I am beginning to think this might be the year that it gets marked off my "to-do" list.

Does anyone else feel the need to be especially crafty around Christmas?

God Is With Us