Auld Lang Syne

I have always wondered what the words were to this song, and what it's true meaning was. So I went to one of my favorite websites, Wikipedia, and did a little research. Here is what I found out. For one thing, this song is a lot older than I ever thought it was!

Auld Lang Syne is a Scottish poem written by a man named Robert Burns in 1788. It was set to the tune of a traditional folk song. The title can be meant to say "old long since" , "long long ago" or "days gone by". The first verse actually bears a strong resemblance to another poem written in 1711, but the rest of the poem appears to have been written by Burns. Although back in the day, they wrote down old songs sung by men in pubs that were traditional folk songs passed down through the ages and then just took credit for it.

Here are the Scottish lyrics and then the English version.

Scottish Version.....

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,And never brought to mind ?Should auld acquaintance be forgot,And days o' lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !And surely I’ll be mine !And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,For auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We twa hae run about the braes,And pu’d the gowans fine ;But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot,Sin auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,Frae morning sun till dine ;But seas between us braid hae roar’dSin auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !And gie's a hand o’ thine !And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,For auld lang syne.
CHORUS

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English Version....

Should old acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind ?Should old acquaintance be forgot,and old times since ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !And surely I’ll buy mine !And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,for auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,and picked the daisies fine ;But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,from morning sun till dine† ;But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend !And give us a hand o’ thine !And we’ll take a right good-will draught,for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

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So take a cup of kindness yet for Auld Lang Syne.........

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

~BARB~

A Box & A Shredder

2008 is coming to a close. What an interesting year, to say the least. There have been fantastic events, and absolutely horrible events in my life. I have made mistakes, and I have been blamed for things that I did not do. But that is all behind me now. I am trying something new to end this year. I have a box and a shredder. In the box I am putting all the fantastic things that happened. I can open this box whenever I want. I can look at all the wonderful things that have come my way this year. I still have the same family members with me. And they all mean so much to me. I have good friends who have been with me for over 30 years, or some a few months. I took a fantastic trip to Europe, and had a lot of fun camping ones. I even had a fantastic weekend at a women's retreat! There was so much fun and excitement in 2008. Not even a few years ago would I have ever thought that I would be standing in Switzerland and looking at the Matterhorn. That trip is something that I will never forget a moment of. Something else that is going in the box is a name. Barack Obama. I want to remember this year for what I believe to be a new beginning for our Nation. I have so much hope and I do not want to be disappointed. I know there will be bumps in the road, as no one can be President without having a few mistakes or things happen that are out of their control. But it is how he deals with it that I have to have hope in.

In the shredder is going the things that I am putting behind me forever. Things that I will not deal with anymore. Things that I will be completely over with. Like Bush. I am done with him. How people perceive me. Done with it. If some do not know what type of person I am by now, then they never really tried to know me to begin with. Putting trust in people that I really do not know. Not doing that again either.

Some of the things going in the shredder will remain a secret just for me. Personal things. But they are going in there. I am hoping to make a lot of new and long lasting changes in the coming year. I will blog about them when I feel the need to share. Other things will just remain with me. I have been hurt to badly this year to share everything about myself from now on. I was too open this year with some, and I know now what a mistake that was. I don't want to hurt like that again. I don't know. Maybe someday I will trust again. But for now, some things will just be kept to myself.

2008 also marked the 10th Anniversary of my brothers death. It's so hard to think that it has been 10 years. Well actually 11 years in only 20 days. I still miss him so very much. I feel like our white Christmas was a gift from him. Whenever I see snow now it reminds me of him. A portion of his last week with us was spent at our house playing in the snow. The last pictures that were taken of him were of him sledding and having so much fun with the kids. One of those pictures still sits in a beautiful frame on my nightstand next to my bed. I will never forget him or the circumstances surrounding his death. Even though I would like to put portions of those memories in the shredder, I won't. I need to remember those. I need to hold on to those. Even though it hurts.

So here is to the end of 2008. Here is to the good times. Here is to saying goodbye forever to the bad times.

And now here is to everyone finding what they need to make their lives better. Here is to making friendships stronger. Here is everyone being healthy, wealthy and wise!

Here is to a new beginning.

Here is to 2009.....

A Land in Constant Turmoil

There is bombing going on in Gaza again. I have been trying to read up on this, but honestly, I just don't get it. I have been on Wikipedia this morning trying to read up on this conflict. From what I think I can understand now, the Jewish people were thrown out of The Land of Israel somewhere around the year 132 BC. And they have been fighting to get back since. In the 12th Century the Jews fled Europe because of Catholic persecution and settled again in the Holy Land. More came in the 15th after fleeing Spain, and still more in the 16th and 18th Centuries. And then in 1881 the Jews fled Eastern Europe. And it continued up through WWII. So many countries denied Jewish refugees. So they just kept fleeing to Israel. In 1947 the United Nations divided the area into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. The Arabs did not approve and refused to recognize it. This in turn caused Israel to start a war with the Arabs, which they won, and they took over more lands than what the UN set them up with. And here we are today. War after war after war still going on.
I just don't understand this whole thing. Why did the UN feel the need to "give" Jews their own State taking away lands from the Arabs? Why were the Jews thrown out of there to begin with? What is so horribly wrong with the religion of Judaism that almost the entire world has not been able to tolerate them for thousands and thousands of years? This has been going on way before the birth of Jesus, so how can some say it is because of the death of this prophet? Why are they still fighting? We are a few days away from the year 2009. Are people in the Middle East still so unprogressed in their thinking that they can not get past the whole "This is my land and I am not going to share it with a Jew."
I was raised a Catholic, but I no longer follow any type of religion. There has been so much death and destruction over religion for so many years that I just can not believe in it any longer. I do not think that people who need religion in their lives are wrong. That is for them. I just do not want it in mine. I believe that people should live their lives honestly with respect for all people. But it just does not happen. I know Born Again Christians who say that if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are going to hell. Some people honestly believe that you are going to hell! Gee....how Christian of you.
I did not raise my children under any type of religion. I believed it to be brainwashing to teach that at such a young age. Children believe what you tell them. I still to this day can not walk into a Catholic church without feeling the need to dip my fingers in Holy Water and do the sign of the cross before sitting in the pew. I feel like I am doing something wrong by not doing it. I decided that my children could do their own research when they were adults. My kids were going to be given the opportunity to choose, or not choose to follow whatever religion fit them. So far they have no interest. Most if not all of their friends are the same way.
I believe that organized religion is slowly disappearing as people become more educated about it's roots and they see how it continues to be the main cause of death and destruction throughout the world. I am not saying that religious people are not educated. I'm saying that some just believe what is told to them without looking into it and educating themselves. They believe it because that is what they were taught. If as an adult you have read about, or spoken to people of other religious backgrounds and you have made a decision that a certain religion is for you, then I respect you for it.
I have no hope for the Middle East though. How tragic that an area of our world can not progress enough as a people to just live and let live.

My Year in Movies

First off I just have to say what a disappointment movies were this year. There really are not very many that stand out to me. I had to go to a website that listed all of the movies released this year just to be reminded of what I saw. So here is my list with occasional comments.....
* (not seen in theater but on dvd or on a plane)
27 Dresses (fun light comedy)
*Cassandra's Dream (bought dvd)
*In Bruges (on the plane)
Jumper
*Vantage Point (bought dvd. very very very intense the entire movie)
The Other Boleyn Girl (loved it. bought it)
*10,000 BC (on plane. fell asleep)
*Miss Pettigrew lives for a day (on plane)
*Flawless (on plane)
Smart People
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Baby Mama (funny)
Deception (saw with mom. totally embarrassing. whole first half is all sex)
Iron Man
Made of Honor (got for Christmas!)
What Happens in Vegas
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (suffers from Stephen King type ending)
Sex and the City:The Movie (got for Christmas!)
The Strangers (saw this by myself in the theater. no one in there but me. how stupid of me!)
Kung Fu Panda (or as Katie and I call it...Kung Pu Fanda)
*The Happening (on plane. stupid)
Get Smart (bought dvd. funny)
Hancock
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Dark Knight (Heath will win the Oscar for Supporting Actor)
Mamma Mia (got for Christmas! Love it!)
Brideshead Revisited (kind of a bummer movie)
*Step Brothers (dvd. Robert got for Christmas. Funny scene with a drum set!)
The Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Tropic Thunder (i know people were boycotting it, but hubby wanted to see it)
Vicky Christina Barcelona (one of my favs of the year)
Burn After Reading (funny)
The Duchess (good)
Nights in Rodanthe ( ok movie)
Body of Lies (good)
The Changeling (good)
Zack and Miri make a Porno (funny)
Bolt (cute..."I'll get my ball!")
Australia (ugh....the first half drove me nuts. loved the second half)
Four Christmases (funny in parts)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (really good)

And the movies that I still want to see in the theater but may miss and have to watch on cable or dvd.....
Revolutionary Road
Valkyrie (ugh....Tom Cruise is the only drawback)
Marley & Me
Seven Pounds
Frost/Nixon
The Wrestler
Gran Torino
Quantum of Solace
Twilight
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
Religulous
The Secret Life of Bees
Young at Heart (Bryan said this will make me cry)
Good (Bryan just showed me the trailer for this. Looks really good)

All-in-all I think the moves this year were a disappointment. Mom and I skipped many Fridays and did not even go to a movie, or we missed because I was gone camping. I do wish I had seen the following though....
Sick Nurses
Zombie Strippers
Autotron Transfusion
Shutter
Blonde Ambition
The Hottie and The Nottie

I will blog sometime in January my Oscar choices. I still have a lot of movies to see that I think are contenders!

A Little Taste of My Christmas

Aly getting into the presents!

Our tree

Bryan, Celina, Robert & Aly

My mommy!

Katie & Timmy

Here are a few pictures of my Christmas. As soon as we are past New Years I will go back to just regular ol blogs....

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

~Barb~

The Day After.....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did. We had our first White Christmas. It snowed pretty hard for a couple hours in the morning. It was so beautiful. I took pictures all day long, but I was at my sisters until late last night, and then I had to drive my mom home in the snow. Pretty scary, but I did it. So I did not have a chance to upload any of the pictures. I will do it tonight for tomorrows blog.
Robert surprised me yesterday by giving me a gift of a framed copy my favorite Europe picture that I took. He wanted to frame a large copy of it, but he only had access to the one online that I had reduced. He didn't want to ask me for my cd of all of my pictures. It would have ruined the surprise. He told me that if I would give him the cd he will make a bigger copy for me. I loved it. He also gave me a digital frame. We are only suppose to exchange gifts with each other that fit in our stockings, but we both bought each other stuff that was too big to fit in them! Our big gift to each other this year is to remodel the craft room. I know that sounds like it's just a gift for me, but he's tired of looking at all of my stuff just shoved in there! That room is actually organized right now though because Bryan and Celina wanted to sleep in there instead of in the Family Room like they have been.
Yesterday at my sisters house we had a good time. My nephew was there with his baby Richie. He is so freaking cute! My god that kid is adorable. I don't think his mommy Melissa would want his picture on here or I would post one. But yesterday they surprised us by having him recite the poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. The kid is a year and 8 months! He can do the whole poem. It was so cute. James has it all on video and we are trying to convince them to send it in to America's Funniest Home Videos, but they won't do it. We told them that it could be his college education all paid for, but James said "I won't exploit my child for money!" And then he would crack up. We will all work on them to get it sent in. Another thing they would do with Richie is to say "Richie...you have the most beautiful eyes!" to which he would bat his eyelashes. It was so cute.
So I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! I did!
~Barb~

"Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?"

Who better to explain Christmas than Peanuts.
Enjoy....
Merry Christmas to All!!!!!!
~Barb~

Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

~BARB~

A little Hilarity to ease my Stress.....

There is also a website for Simon's Cat but it is down for maintenance until January. Here is the link for you to bookmark....
www.simonscat.com
Enjoy!
~Barb~

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like.....The North Pole!

I'm sorry kids. Christmas may be canceled. It's crazy out there. When they were predicting the storm of the century here, well they were not kidding. But then of course this century is only 8 years old! We, thank goodness, did not get the high winds and freezing rain on top of the first 8" of snow. We did get 1/4" of ice, but that can be dealt with. But yesterday we got another 2" of snow, and over night there was another 2". So we now have a grand total 12"!!!!! We have not had this much snow since I was a kid. I think the reports in the paper said we had something like 15" one year when I was 4 or 5. We have had a couple really nasty Silver Thaws, where you get a inch or more of ice. In fact, we had enough ice in the street one year where Robert and Bryan went out and played ice hockey in front of the house.

So I am posting a couple more pics from this morning. I'm sure whoever stops by is getting tired of seeing my snow pictures, but this is epic!

Stay Safe!

~Barb~

There's Got to Be a Morning After.....

Robin Redbreast sitting in the holly tree.

Anyone want to roast some marshmallows????

This is what 8" of snow looks like!

Katie last night on our walk.

Doing Marge from Fargo! "Gonna barf...." I have sweats on over jeans. Makes me look kinda big! LOL!

WOW! Snow is so beautiful. I love it. Thank goodness this all happened on the weekend. Robert had to get up at 3AM this morning to take Katie and my mom to work. They both are price changers so they had Sunday ads to set. Both of them had to be to work by 4AM. Mom was a half hour late, which was fine. Most likely there will be a ton of people calling in saying that they can not get into work. The area that we live in is very hilly. So you have to have snow routes. Katie and Mom's snow routes are "Call Robert to take me to work!" Actually, Katie drove over here yesterday afternoon when we only had about 4" on snow. She didn't even have to put the chains on her car. She said it only got bad when she was about a mile from the house. Last night Katie and I took a nice walk in the snow. It was not too cold, just really hard to walk in 8" of snow! We walked over to a small hill and watched a guy take a little girl down the hill on a sled. She was giggling. It was so cute. I love to hear kids giggle! This hill is perfect for little kids. It's just big enough to give them a thrill, and it goes right into a big field, so no chance of ending up in the street. And the hill is too small for the bigger kids to care about. There is a park down the street where we started going to sled when the kids were in high school. That is a good one for the bigger kids! Katie is thinking about going there with her snowboard after work! Fun stuff....

Not so fun stuff now is the 1/4" of ice. We really lucked out that we did not get the freezing rain that they had predicted. A 1/4" just breaks. It did make it kind of hard for me to walk out and try to take some pictures. The plan was to go to the end of the backyard and take pics from there, but...yeh...not happening. I could not even get off the deck!

Today will be a great day to just sit and finish the scrapbooks. I think I have everything I need to finish the 14 and then start on the baby one! YAY! Wish me luck and productivity!

Last snow pics for today....

There is now 8" at 9PM. It is still snowing. Have no idea what we will be waking up to!

And more pics! Be sure to look at the other ones too!

Front yard around 3PM

Neighborhood

Front yard

Backyard

Backyard

More snow pics!

WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! SNOW!

Aly likes the snow~

Kodi...ummmmm...not so much!

He would not let me put him down the second time I tried to take him out~

And this is where he ended up as soon as he got back in the house!

"I'll wash my hair in snow!"

Pics of the yard and neighborhood just now

Pics from work yesterday

We are suppose to get the mother of all snow storms tonight. They have predicted blizzard type conditions starting around 4PM. We're not suppose to get it as bad as the Seattle area though. They are going to get up to 75 mph winds. Our winds will get up to about 50. But still! And we are suppose to get 6-10" of snow. It is snowing right now. But we only have about an inch or so. I will update today with more pictures if it really starts getting good. If I don't....it's because we have lost our power!

Stay safe everyone!

~Barb~

**a cyber prize to anyone who can name the movie my tag line is from!**

a little extra fun!

Check out this video from the baby elephant at our Portland Zoo! Too cute!

http://www.kgw.com/video/video-index.html?nvid=314823&shu=1

Sorry. There was only a link. No video code. But enjoy!

~Barb~

My Mother....The Artist

I wish I had even half of my mothers talent for drawing. She is really quite good when it comes to painting and drawing. I doodle, but I am no where near my mom. Give me paper and scissors and I can whip up something good. But give my mom a rock, a piece of wood or a blank canvas and she will give you art. Whenever we go to the beach she will pick up a piece a driftwood and say something like "Do you see Santa?" What??? "Right here." And she will proceed to point out his beard and big belly and his face in the wood. "There...do you see his eyes?" She can see art in everything. I love that about her. I few years ago we used to have a table at some of the local Holiday Bazaars. I loved doing it, but you spent so much money making things just to see all of mom's stuff sell and your stuff just kind of trickle out. People would come to our table every year just to see what mom had made for that years ornament. I loved a set that she did one year that I bought one of just about every pattern. But then again, mom always made each ornament unique. They may all have a Santa face, but she would change it up. And then there was the year she made the pins. God I love those pins. One of them was a "goof" according to her. It is my favorite one of all. It is a Santa face with a wreath of holly around his head. I love that you can see the wood on his face instead of the cream colored background that she used on all of the other ones. She kicks herself for not keeping any for herself. She may have a pin, but I know she did not keep any of the earrings that she made. They are funny. She took mini baseball bats and drew Santa on them. So cute. I get asked all the time where I got them. "My mommy made them!" I'm always so proud to say that. I get asked about her pins too. I rotate them and wear them every year to work. I told her she can have some of them back if she wants, since she did not keep any for herself. Her response is that she can just make them if she wanted them that badly! Oh to be that talented!

It's Trying to Snow.....

I have no idea if it will stay around, but we have a trace. We were suppose to get this huge storm yesterday that was suppose to drop 4-6" of snow. Nope. Didn't get it. I was bummed. It did drop about 4" 15 minutes North of us. 15 freaking minutes. But noooooo.....

Oh well. I am off for my monthly massage, lunch with my friend Beth, and then home to finish these 14 scrapbooks! Then I have to make the kidlin one. I can get that single one done pretty quick. It's the 14 that are taking forever. But then again, I have been so busy that I have only really worked on them a few times. A couple hours here and there. But I will get them done!

"That's for me!!!!!"

Presents. Robert says I overdo it every year. How can you "overdo" Christmas? To me it never seems like there is enough. There is always something else to get. Usually for Bryan because I have bought so much for Katie. She is so easy to buy for. She may not like everything I get her, but she WILL wear the clothes I bought her...dang it! LOL! So I was always having to add more for Bryan, and he is hard to buy for. Or was. He just never wants anything. His list is a few things. He never wants clothes, but I always buy some. If I didn't buy him clothes for Christmas he would wear the same thing until it fell off him. This year, even though they are adults, I still asked for lists. I needed ideas. Next year though, 5 things per list, total of the 5 has to be $100 or less. That's it. No more $55 movies. No more $30 video games. If they want those things, then it comes out of their $100. And I'm sticking to that! Or at least I will try to!

I loved Christmas morning when I was a kid. The only presents that went under the tree before Santa came were the ones that us kids gave each other. There were 5 of us so there were quite a few gifts sitting under there. Before we went to bed, we were allowed to open one present. Then off to bed we would go to await the arrival of Santa. And we were never disappointed. There were so many presents that half of the living room would be full! I know I have a picture of one Christmas growing up. I will find it later today and try to upload it tonight or tomorrow. I will upload a picture from Bryan's first Christmas. I have that on myspace, so it was easy to get to it. I was horrible at peeking though. Actually I was a great peeker, I just was horrible for looking! I knew at least one gift every year. I would find the gifts in my parents room and I would find one with my name on it and carefully open one end, see what it was and then carefully tape it back closed. No one ever knew. I was pretty good at it. It took me years to stop peeking. I'm talking being married and having kids and still knowing at least one gift! If I could not find the gifts, I would find receipts! So pathetic.

One year I decided that I wanted to have all the presents under the tree that were for the kids and Robert, except of course the ones from Santa. He doesn't come until Christmas Eve! Anyway, we put all of the gifts under the tree for a couple weeks. Come Christmas morning Robert started passing out gifts. He picked up one for Bryan. And looked kind of confused. He turned it around. Bryan had opened one end. Not just opened the tape, but tore it open then shoved that end back under the tree so that we would not see. Then Robert picked up another present for Bryan. Same thing. One end all torn open. Gift after gift for Bryan was opened on one end and then that end put under the tree so that we would not know. He had opened all of them! And his idea of us not knowing was to hide the opened end. Like we would not see it when it was Christmas morning! Like mother like son.That was the last time I put presents under the tree before the kids went to bed Christmas Eve. Even now I don't put them out. Mostly so that Kodiak & Alyeska don't get into them!

Today is the day......SHOPPING!

**Last Update**
**Updated again**
**Updated**

Shopping. I have to do it today. It's suppose to start snowing tomorrow at 6AM. I have no idea what will happen, and I have very few gifts bought. Like less than ten. So I am off, with lists in hand to buy buy buy. And to top it off....it is 18 degrees outside. Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

I also forgot to bring in the hummingbird feeders last night and they are now frozen. Poor little things. I don't have time to make new food, so I will just have to do it later.

So off I go. I will update later and let you know if I got anything accomplished!

Wish me luck!

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Round 1 is over. I went to the Mall...shiver...

Actually it was not busy at all. Not a good sign for the economy. Get this...Nordstroms did not have anything on sale that I looked at. I guess they are not concerned about making any money this Holiday Season. I filled the trunk of the car, so I came home to drop it off, eat some lunch and go out for Round 2~!

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Round 2 is over. I stopped by the house again to unload the trunk..again. LOL! OK....off for Round 3~!

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Round 3 is over. And now I am all stressed. You would think that having most of the shopping done would be a relief. Nope. Not for me. I stress about what to buy and then I stress about how much I spent. Of course now I feel completely guilty about the amount. I did not even come close to getting the stuff on the kids lists. I realize that they were just giving me ideas, but their wants were uber expensive. I'm going to have to talk to them. Next year they can put 5 things on their list and the total has to be under $100. If they want to have all of it on one gift, then they get one gift. They're adults! I just want everyone to be happy and it stresses me out. And as usual Katie has more than everyone else. I just find so much stuff for her. Dollar wise I think her and Bryan are pretty close. See.....stressing.....I'm done. I can't think about this anymore. I already cried telling Robert how much I spent. He, of course, did not care. Men......

Christmas Memories

I love Christmas. But then again, everyone that I know loves Christmas! But I must say, that it has become so stressful. And only because I make it that way. I try to do too much. For me, it's all about making sure that everyone around me has a wonderful time. I want them to get what they want, or be surprised by something they would have never expected. I end up putting so much pressure on myself. Makes me long for those times when I was a child and everything was so easy. I only had to buy 4 gifts. One for each of the siblings. We were given $4 and taken down to the 88 Cent Store. I loved that store. It was so much fun. It was in downtown Vancouver. The main floor was toiletries, wrapping paper and bows and stuff like that. But the downstairs....well that was the TOYS! And everything was only 88 cents! I loved going down there. And the funnest part was trying to get your gifts picked out without a brother or sister coming around the corner to see what you were getting them! I still remember one of my favorite gifts that my brother Mike gave me. An entire mini tea set. It was so cute! I played with that all the time with my Barbie. Of course it was a little too big for Barbie, but that was during the OLD days when you had to have an imagination! No video games for us! LOL!

I also loved going to both sets of grandparents houses. We always went to Grandma & Grandpa Gus's for Christmas Eve, and to Grandma & Grandpa Miller's for Christmas Day. I posted a pic of G&G Gus in an earlier blog. Christmas Eve was spent running around with cousins in the basement or sitting upstairs and watching the color wheel turn the silver tree all different colors. They would play Christmas Carols on the organ and we would sing. Or they would tell their dog Simone to go play the piano, and the dog would run downstairs and start pounding on the piano keys. Hilarious. The evening always ended with Grandpa getting out is metal Band-Aid container full of nickels to play cards. Which in turn always ended up with someone accusing Grandpa of cheating because the cards were in braille and they said he would feel the corner as he dealt them and would know what everyone had in their hand! He would just laugh.

Christmas day was at my mom's parents house. It was a very small house that my Grandpa built in the 40's. And it was always packed! And hot from the fireplace. When I was really little, I remember sitting on my Grandpa's lap once and he showed me where he was shot in the war, which was WWII. He lifted his shirt and there on his belly was a bullet hole. OK, it was really his belly button, but at the time I thought he had been shot! Grandma always made fudge, divinity and Russian Tea Cakes. I was never a fan of divinity, but my sister Terri loved the stuff. We would exchange gifts that usually were handmade.

Both nights were always totally different, but both were always full of love and laughter. I hope that I have been able to give my kids fond Christmas memories. And someday I hope to do the same with my grandbabies!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Oiy...I need to get moving. There is a new egg already today and I have spent a couple hours that I don't have trying to find it. So I quit for now. I have cards to make, more cookies to bake, and decorations to get out still. So I need to get off this computer!
Have a great day!
~Barb~

Cookie Baking...Round 2

We have a house full! Katie is here to bake cookies. Mara is on the way. Bryan and Celina are down from Seattle to help put up the house lights. Katie's Timmy is on the way. Needless to say....we will be having pizza delivered for lunch! I have the dough for sugar cookies in the fridge. We are about to start making the dough for choco chip. Then we will start on the Oatmeal. There was even a little bit of snow mixed with rain a few minutes ago. This is going to be a great day. I love having my family all around. I may even do Timmy's No Bake cookies today. MARA IS HERE! LOL! Better get going!

** i look like complete crap in that pic but who cares! i don't! **

***and i made it black and white because of the funny christmas story apron. wanted it to look old! hahaha**

Went to my friend Karen's play last night. It was so funny. We had a great time. There were 29 people from work who went. Half of us met at a Mexican place for margaritas and dinner before we needed to be at the theater. The theater is really neat. It's an old house, like the one that I work in, that was converted into a theater years ago. It only seats about 56 people. I had a friend in High School who used to do plays there. That was always fun to go down there and watch her. I was always so amazed that she could act. She was quite good! Karen's play last night was hilarious. It was set in the south with 3 sisters being the center of the story. Karen was one of the sisters. This was part 2 of the 3 part series and apparently after part 1 was over her character was arrested for burning down a trailer park because her guy would not marry her. So all night last night Karen, Twink Futrell, had to wear an orange jail jumpsuit! It was actually a real one borrowed from the County! LOL! One of the other sisters, Honey Ray Futrell, was putting on the local Christmas play. This was Honey Ray's first time being in charge of the play. She made a couple changes, like calling it "Bethlahamapalooza!" Karen's husband was also in the play as the sheriff. His character was corralled into the Christmas play because everyone else got sick with food poisoning. So he had to be Elvis in the Christmas play. The whole play within a play was funny. At one point there is a character who is a rich, ummmm, bitch. Anyway, she is there causing havoc as usual, and gets a headache. She takes some pills thinking they are aspirin, but they are really pain pills. When she doing her part in the Christmas play she is all drugged and starts dancing and twirling around the stage. Everyone was cracking up. You had to be there. She was suppose to be all prim and proper and rich-bitchy, and she ends up singing Up on the House Top dancing around like a reindeer! Hilarious!

In other news....the Christmas Treats poll is over and Sugar Cookies won hands down! Time for a new poll!

It's a Small World after all....

My friend Sandy came over last night. We have been getting together on Wednesday nights to scrapbook. This is her first book, and it's absolutely adorable! Sandy is one of those people who can do anything artsy or decorative. She will just decide one day to paint a room. Yep. She is one of THOSE people! LOL! My friend Beth, who just happens to be Sandy's SIL now is like that too. Long story short....Beth friend for 30+ yrs, Sandy neighbor for 18+ yrs, Beth brother Tim my hubby's friend for 30+ yrs, fixed up Tim & Sandy and they are married for 5+ yrs. LOL! So now you know! Anyway last night when Sandy was leaving she stopped and said "Oh! I got rid of the piano!" She had been trying to get rid of an upright piano that has been taking up space in her living room. I don't even think she tried to sell it. She was trying to give it away, and she couldn't even do that. She told me that her FIL told her to try the Piano Hospital because he used to be friends with the man who started it. What??? What??? I looked at her and asked "Grey knows Emil?" I had no idea that this family that I have been friends with for over 30 years knew someone from my childhood. I was shocked. How could I not know that Grey did things for Emil. You see...My fathers parents who have passed away were both blind. They were very active with the Washington State School for the Blind, and they were best friends with Emil, who was also blind. Emil started the Nationally known, maybe even world renown Piano Hospital. I grew up spending time with Emil at my grandparents house. I was so surprised to find out that Grey used to pick up Emil and help him run errands and to bring him home for dinner and such. I had no idea. Makes me wonder if this happened after my grandparents passed and my dad became such a flake. I know my parents did a lot for Emil because he was Grandma and Grandpa's best friend. There is even a bench in town dedicated to Emil and Grandpa. Anyway, Sandy was able to donate the piano to the hospital. They will use it to help blind people learn the trade of piano tuning.

I find it so fascinating that my best friends family knew someone who was so close to my grandparents. Emil passed quite a few years ago. He outlived my grandparents by about 10-15 years. I can't remember when it was that Emil passed. It was a big deal here in town when he did. He was such a sweet old guy....