Happy New Year
A new year! I am very grateful for the poor prophetic skills of the Mayans as I was not ready just yet. I had things to do afterall; the Nutcracker Ballet, Christmas shopping and shipping, baking for the cul de sac treat exchange, and of course work. Lots and lots of work. It is good!
The Nutcracker
What a great experience. I am amazed at the children, the grown ups, the dance teacher and the amazing response from the audience. It was just incredible to see these children care for each other and then care for the grown ups. They are all really quite far ahead of us in many ways. Practices that lasted for hours and hours. Costume fittings and pins and tape and velcro. Little ice skaters crawling all over the floor to find a missing muff. Mother Ginger setting his manhood aside to bring joy and giggles to the little girls under the skirt. Party boys making sure everyones pants were just so and then changing to Russian dancers, helping each other with suspenders and socks. All of this below the excitement of the stage in the confined spaces of the dressing rooms. If grown ups could learn to work and care for each other in this way the world would change. I have been changed and grown even more.
Christmas Shopping, Shipping and Supper
So here is the down low. Some gifts have just been discovered under the tree skirt. Yes, Santa's little joke on me:-) The third and final shipment of delights will head out this weekend. This is 'last call' for being late to just really early for next season. Now I would be glad to say that I 'lost' the gifts, but I believe a little elf was hoping some of them were for him...................I am just sayin. A lovely, quiet, peaceful, restful Christmas was enjoyed with hot dogs and chips for supper. .......ok, New York strip, but it was just about as easy. I did not have to remove a body part from a large hard frozen bird, stuff cook and then prepare the things to go wtih it. So much easier. And the best time was had watching Cody open his gifts. Great things were gained, but in the end......................paper and tape were huge hits. But he is loving those videos now!!
Baking and the Hood
I still enjoy our home and neighbors. We still have a lovely group of neighbors with a few hundred cars and RV's next door. Other than the flat and peeling paint you wouldn't even notice. .......I try not to notice. Pray for me. Ha. Seriously, the cul de sac remains a safe and quiet place and we exchange treats at Christmas. i was so far behind come Christmas that I gratefully accepted their treats as did Rich who I believe secretly feared he would never again see a gluten packed cookie. He has been granted his wish and eaten it all. Now I can not say exactly what his favorites were but a tin can from Texas has not been more than 12 inches from his chair at any one time. And I believe there is ample room for a reload. HINT HINT. I reminded him....'Who loves you baby?' then I remembered, it is his niece Teri. Ha. Anyway, I did finally get a treat made to share with my neighbors for New Years Eve. Can NOT go wrong with Party Mix. Cody loves it and so do I.
The Second Annual New Years Eve Gates Gag
Ok, I can not help it. I like to play tricks and tease. I grew up with it and I understand I owe it all to some great uncles, Arthur and Francis. Nothing like a little funnin with the kids. They were highly competent to the point that Francis, who was missing an arm, convinced one of the kids that he lost it to a rabid chicken. Very convincing in delivery; egg collecting, flew the coop, went clucky. Well you can imagine what that child felt like when as a teen they discovered the details of the traumatic event were not possible let alone factual. And that is the last I want to talk about that. But anyway, Silly String. If you recall we got Master Gates during a New Years Eve family photo last year. This year, the door bell rang. When Master Gates answered dad was outside and unloaded the can. AWESOME! Cody has fun and laughs. He loves a good trick. I expect one day dad and son will exact their revenge, but until they do it is all me.
Work
Of course it is back to the grind. I was sufficiently behind in critical projects, more than 60 days, due to the events of the fall. I struggled to get my mojo back but it is here now. I am getting things together and lined up, back on track I think. I love the job and the build and design that I get to do. I discovered that my creative artsy stampin crafting thinking facilitates creative out of the box thinking for projects of this size. My current work is a program that will affect roughly 20,000 employees. Good stuff. I hope it is meaningful and can survive the test of time cause I ain't doing this again. Ha. All about training and education.
Tomorrow
It is certain to be a great day. First of all it is Friday. I am so happy to have a weekend again. i live for the 'S' days. I know I am not alone. We have our weekly Saturday morning breakfast with Diana, with our favorite waiter Bill, and restaurant friends who are also there every Saturday for more than 10 years. Pretty cool to have a small town feel in a city of 5 million. Then it is off to Ballet class. Love it. Cody not only remembers the dance he learned this summer but is eager to teach it to his peers. He LOVES dance, Miss Caroline and of course his girl Tanya. She was one of the nutcracker dolls in case you saw the show.
Hope you have a great weekend. Post an update and let me know how you are and what fun or excitement you are having. xo
The Nutcracker
What a great experience. I am amazed at the children, the grown ups, the dance teacher and the amazing response from the audience. It was just incredible to see these children care for each other and then care for the grown ups. They are all really quite far ahead of us in many ways. Practices that lasted for hours and hours. Costume fittings and pins and tape and velcro. Little ice skaters crawling all over the floor to find a missing muff. Mother Ginger setting his manhood aside to bring joy and giggles to the little girls under the skirt. Party boys making sure everyones pants were just so and then changing to Russian dancers, helping each other with suspenders and socks. All of this below the excitement of the stage in the confined spaces of the dressing rooms. If grown ups could learn to work and care for each other in this way the world would change. I have been changed and grown even more.
Christmas Shopping, Shipping and Supper
So here is the down low. Some gifts have just been discovered under the tree skirt. Yes, Santa's little joke on me:-) The third and final shipment of delights will head out this weekend. This is 'last call' for being late to just really early for next season. Now I would be glad to say that I 'lost' the gifts, but I believe a little elf was hoping some of them were for him...................I am just sayin. A lovely, quiet, peaceful, restful Christmas was enjoyed with hot dogs and chips for supper. .......ok, New York strip, but it was just about as easy. I did not have to remove a body part from a large hard frozen bird, stuff cook and then prepare the things to go wtih it. So much easier. And the best time was had watching Cody open his gifts. Great things were gained, but in the end......................paper and tape were huge hits. But he is loving those videos now!!
Baking and the Hood
I still enjoy our home and neighbors. We still have a lovely group of neighbors with a few hundred cars and RV's next door. Other than the flat and peeling paint you wouldn't even notice. .......I try not to notice. Pray for me. Ha. Seriously, the cul de sac remains a safe and quiet place and we exchange treats at Christmas. i was so far behind come Christmas that I gratefully accepted their treats as did Rich who I believe secretly feared he would never again see a gluten packed cookie. He has been granted his wish and eaten it all. Now I can not say exactly what his favorites were but a tin can from Texas has not been more than 12 inches from his chair at any one time. And I believe there is ample room for a reload. HINT HINT. I reminded him....'Who loves you baby?' then I remembered, it is his niece Teri. Ha. Anyway, I did finally get a treat made to share with my neighbors for New Years Eve. Can NOT go wrong with Party Mix. Cody loves it and so do I.
The Second Annual New Years Eve Gates Gag
Ok, I can not help it. I like to play tricks and tease. I grew up with it and I understand I owe it all to some great uncles, Arthur and Francis. Nothing like a little funnin with the kids. They were highly competent to the point that Francis, who was missing an arm, convinced one of the kids that he lost it to a rabid chicken. Very convincing in delivery; egg collecting, flew the coop, went clucky. Well you can imagine what that child felt like when as a teen they discovered the details of the traumatic event were not possible let alone factual. And that is the last I want to talk about that. But anyway, Silly String. If you recall we got Master Gates during a New Years Eve family photo last year. This year, the door bell rang. When Master Gates answered dad was outside and unloaded the can. AWESOME! Cody has fun and laughs. He loves a good trick. I expect one day dad and son will exact their revenge, but until they do it is all me.
Work
Of course it is back to the grind. I was sufficiently behind in critical projects, more than 60 days, due to the events of the fall. I struggled to get my mojo back but it is here now. I am getting things together and lined up, back on track I think. I love the job and the build and design that I get to do. I discovered that my creative artsy stampin crafting thinking facilitates creative out of the box thinking for projects of this size. My current work is a program that will affect roughly 20,000 employees. Good stuff. I hope it is meaningful and can survive the test of time cause I ain't doing this again. Ha. All about training and education.
Tomorrow
It is certain to be a great day. First of all it is Friday. I am so happy to have a weekend again. i live for the 'S' days. I know I am not alone. We have our weekly Saturday morning breakfast with Diana, with our favorite waiter Bill, and restaurant friends who are also there every Saturday for more than 10 years. Pretty cool to have a small town feel in a city of 5 million. Then it is off to Ballet class. Love it. Cody not only remembers the dance he learned this summer but is eager to teach it to his peers. He LOVES dance, Miss Caroline and of course his girl Tanya. She was one of the nutcracker dolls in case you saw the show.
Hope you have a great weekend. Post an update and let me know how you are and what fun or excitement you are having. xo
Love this!! Miss you and Cody SO much!!
ReplyDeleteWe miss you too! Cody talks about his claire and the dog and the toys and the ballet. he wants to visit your fun house again and dance with you again. He misses his happy friends. SO DO I!!!! Love you all so much.
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