Christmas Carol Countdown: 4 Days to Go!

I thought I’d start off today with a big chuckle. Many families like to re-enact the nativity story for Christmas. Our family has been no exception and you’re so lucky: I have Pictures!

1986 Family Nativity: Nancy Drew as Mary,
TGS as Joseph

I’ve never been this late in my life! I still have Christmas shopping to do. Here’s the kicker…I don’t know who I still need to shop for!

I’m knuckling down this afternoon and delving into the Christmas gift box. I am going to find out who’s getting a present and who’s getting an empty box!

Tomorrow promises to be a busy day of buying…and I’m sure I’ll be kept company by hundreds of others like me. **Sigh**

I found a real gem for today’s carol. I can guarantee you haven’t seen this before. And, no, it’s not a video of my children singing when they were young. It’s “Go Tell It On The Mountain” but played in a very different way.




I’ve been nattering on about gifts and I love to get them. Still I always keep in mind the gift that was given to all on Christmas Day.





Don't forget to come back every day to see the next Christmas Carol Countdown. If you've missed any, click on the badge near the top of the right sidebar!

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 6 Days to Go!

Every year, I count on my calendar, I count on my fingers and then I do it three times more! How can I not figure out how many days to Christmas? A little adjustment needed to be made. Today it is 6 days until Christmas.

This morning in my email, Nancy Drew sent me a link to her “new favorite Christmas song.” Isn’t that how favorites work?

What was your favorite color when you were young? What is it now?

And especially fun: What was your favorite piece of clothing when you were young?! What is it now?

My Christmas carol favorites change from year to year. This year, I’m with Nancy Drew, this is my new favorite: "Hallelujah Christmas."






For those of you familiar with the original song, or heard it in the first Shrek movie, this is a re-write of the words.

A couple of days back, a blogger friend asked me if I would include her favorite: Mary, Did You Know? It’s another of my Christmas favorites too. 

The first time I heard "Mary, Did You Know?" it was sung by Kathy Mattea. In the following video, Kathy says that "Mary, Did You Know?" is her favorite.

So, Libby, here is your favorite Christmas Carol!

I also found a new version done by Pentatonix, a vocal acapella group. Last year I had their carol, "Little Drummer Boy", on my countdown. I hope you enjoy this one also.

Merry Christmas to all who read and visit my blog. I hope you have all your shopping done; I know I haven’t! Argghh!

A Christmas Design Wall

It was June of this year. Hot. Bright sun. Long days.

My quilty friend, JP, and I decided to make Christmas tree skirts. JP and I get together every Monday to quilt and in June decided to do a mutual project.

I was happy to get such an early start on these two skirts. I knew that they would be done well before Christmas. (Can you tell something is coming?)

Last year I had made a Christmas tree skirt for Noel Heart. You can read the story here and see the gorgeous quilt. I finished it right before Christmas, but it took real hustle to do it.

This year, I said with satisfaction, I’ll finish way before the Thanksgiving holiday. In our house, at Thanksgiving, I give each of my kids a Christmas decoration for the house. It’s a tradition I’m carrying forth from my Mom.

Fast forward to after Thanksgiving. Say, this past week. I finally finished the skirt for Nancy Drew. Phew! But, at least it’s done!

The photos are a little light or dark, depending on which one you look at. It was night. I was using my "good" camera. It tends to make pictures that are not the correct brightness (or darkness)!

This is the back, but both sides can be used for under the tree.

I'm hooking up with the parties on the right column! You won't be sorry if you go and visit each of them. There are a lot of creative quilters out  there!

Don't miss my Christmas Carol Countdown 2014. It started on Monday and will continue to Christmas Eve. Lots of great carols, stories and videos. You do not want to miss it this year! Just click on the badge on the top right each day!

Happy New Years to All!

Happy New Years. And I hope you haven't spent it like I did!

Christmas morning I was "sick". New Years Day I was sick.

Interestingly enough (at least for you, my lovely readers) is that we have a family tradition of someone being sick on Christmas Day. Not every Christmas, but enough to make us sick of it (sick humor) (more sick humor) (...)

But let's just hurry past that and go to the happy news: I had the blessed opportunity to spend Christmas with Nancy Drew, SWH, Sweetie and Curly. I haven't spent Christmas with my family for six years. Phew. This year Nancy Drew and her family moved to Utah which is much closer to us. Hurrah!

I flew in on Monday. It was euphoric...only a 90-minute flight. Now contrast with the flight to the East Coast: 9 hours. I was doing the happy dance down the corridor in Utah.

That night we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It is always spectacular. The most beautiful, Christmas-y thing you've seen!

First stop: The two lovebirds posing in front of Joseph and Emma Smith statue.

Many nativities. This one Peruvian? I think. These were about 3 feet tall.

Japanese, so cute. These were between 4 and 5 feet tall!

Curly in front of the Reflecting Pool

Sweetie at other side of Reflecting Pool

Looking up at a lit-up tree!

Even a bag-piper playing Christmas Carols.

Nancy Drew and I in front of a Temple window.

Sweetie took a pic of us off guard!

We had a wonderful dinner that my daughter prepared after getting home from work. Home-made mashed potatoes! What a joy to stay up the next night, Christmas Eve, putting out presents and stockings!

SWH's family has a Christmas breakfast every year. It starts at ten, but he was doing the cooking and had to leave early. Christmas Eve ND & SWH set the wake-up time at 5:30 in order to get all the presents opened before the breakfast. Imagine my surprise and delight when I was woken up at 6:30! I think it was the first time I ever saw parents waking their children up for Christmas morning!

There is so much joy watching a three-year-old, with wonder in her eyes, walk out of her bedroom that morning! It was just as much fun with our 11-year-old Sweetie. She was ecstatic and enthusiastic about every gift! She got a bike and she was bouncing all over, eyes shining.

Sweetie with bike

Sweetie with Zebra (her fave!) bedding

Curly showing her Dad the Princess Sophia doll

Curly playing with her V Tech learning pad

New outfits

Sweetie trying out her new manicure nail dryer

For the especially observant, the Happy Birthday banner is for Nancy Drew. She was born on December 26.

I'm sharing this over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Pop over to see more fun! Badge in right sidebar.

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Christmas Carol Countdown: 6 Days to Go!

Yesterday I got my Christmas gifts mailed east to TGS & OSLW.

I'm still working on the mystery gift. That has to be done by Saturday. I have another gift that I'm making and it has to be finished by Sunday. I would feel better if I also didn't have deadlines at work. By the time I get to Friday, I'm definitely going to need the vacation!


I'm winging out to Utah on Monday to Nancy Drew's house. Speaking of Nancy Drew, it brings up the Carol for today. My daughter was not supposed to come around Christmas.
She was supposed to come around Thanksgiving! If any of you've ever carried a baby past due date, you'll know what a stressful and disheartening time it is. 


Nancy Drew was born on December 26. Hmphh. 

Me and you-know-who Christmas Eve

As soon as my daughter could understand my sentiments, I told her, "Don't you ever whine to me about your birthday being the day after Christmas! I was ready to have you three-and-a-half weeks before then. You shouldn't have even been born in December!" Actually, she likes her birthday being the day after Christmas, which is good, very good.


Today's carol is sung by John Denver. He is my all-time favorite singer/songwriter. Just as I grew up listening to Johnny Mathis on my Mom's stereo, my kids grew up hearing John Denver. I played guitar and his songs were the backbone of my repetoire. His songs and music are woven through our family life. We had a canary named JD, short for John Denver. 

We had a password so that the children would know if I sent someone to pick them up, that the person was safe. The password was John Denver and Annie. (Annie was his wife). My husband says that whenever I got mad at him, I'd play John Denver on the stereo. Many of his songs have helped me through difficult times in my life. My sister and I sang his song, Perhaps Love, at our mother's funeral. My grandfather's favorite song for me to play on the guitar was Calypso, a song John Denver wrote about Jacques Cousteau.

A little side note...each of my children have a song. I didn't start out intending it to be that way, it just happened. My oldest daughter's song is a lullaby I sang to her hundreds of times. It is from a musical written by Carol Lynne Pearson called "My Turn On Earth." The lullaby, "Angel Song," became her song because it reminded me of the time when she was a newborn. After that, there was a song for each child that just came about that reminded me of them as a newborn.

John Denver wrote a song called, "A Baby Just Like You", about his son Zachary. It is a Christmas themed song and very sweet. Because of my daughter's birthday, "A Baby Just 
Like You," became her song; many of the sentiments in the song express how I felt about 

Noel Heart & Nancy Drew

her. One line in the song has the words: "Merry Christmas, little Zachary," which I changed when I sang it to: "Merry Christmas, little Andrea." It is another song from the first John Denver Christmas special with the Muppets.

I want to do two carols today, because I'm just that kind of care-free, kick-up-your-heels type of person at Christmas.

I was on YouTube (again) today. Watch out! This may be habit forming! I like to go through the "Mormon Messages," that are there. I also spent quite a while watching live performances of Neil Diamond. Eclectic, to say the least!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings "What Shall We Give to the Babe in the Manger?" It's a beautiful and thought provoking song. We are reminded that the greatest gift we can give the Savior is to love him and serve others. This version of that carol reminds us of what Christmas is about.







God Bless.

Christmas Carol Countdown: 7 days to go!

What A Momentous Day for Me!!!! This is my 100th post. I am very excited. And grateful. Thank you to everyone who takes time to read my blog. It is a precious gift.  

Can it be? Three more days to vacation? Eight days to Christmas? I told my hubby tonight that we have some gift wrapping to do. I've got to get the east coast packages out of here!

It's fun wrapping with my husband...his way of wrapping is definitely his own unique style and the kids love getting packages wrapped by him. During the early years of our marriage, he wrapped everything in newspaper. Now that we no longer get a newspaper delivered, he's ventured into foil! Imported straight from the kitchen, no less. I've also seen packages with a ripped-off corner of wrapping paper taped on the outside of the box. The more presents he wraps the more minimalist he gets!

He's also a pro at guessing what he's being given. I gave up after a couple of years of trying to just put a wrapped present under the tree. I became creative. I put the wrong names on all the packages so he wouldn't know which one was his. That was dreadful, because then I forgot who the packages really went to. Then I went to disguising the present; you know, wrapping it in different sized boxes, putting marbles and nails inside, putting in a huge brick, etc. 

I think the best year was several years ago. I went to Big Lots and bought one of those humongous Christmas stockings. They must have stolen it from Big Foot. My big idea was to put all his wrapped presents inside so he couldn't see them. It ended up not being big enough, but that didn't stop me. I cut a slit down the back of the stocking and sewed in a "gusset," an extra piece of material so that the stocking was wider. I got all the presents inside, including a last-minute impulse buy: a Wii. We had played it for the first time at someone's house over Thanksgiving and had lots of fun.

He's so devious. On Christmas Eve, when we open presents, about the third gift he handed me was a package from him. I ripped off the foil and saw the box: it was a Wii. I about fainted. So I started blurbering the whole thing about how I had gotten him a Wii also. That was when he told me to open the box. Surprise! There wasn't a Wii inside, it was another gift for me. He proceeded to tell me, with a wolfish grin, how he figured I would get a Wii. Someone at work had gotten a Wii the week before and he asked to borrow the box to play a joke on me. That man! His ability to guess presents is the bane of my life!

My youngest daughter was born the day after Christmas. I've always managed to get birthday gifts for her, but most often forget to buy birthday gift wrap. I discovered that most Christmas wrap is white on the opposite side. Poor kid, she gets her presents wrapped in white paper. Once she pulls it off, it is revealed: plain ol' Christmas wrap!

Tonight's carol is one by Alan Jackson. My son gave me his Christmas album quite a few years ago. This song was an instant favorite. I was driving down to Southern California during December and had just gotten the CD. As soon as I heard Track Five I wanted to memorize the song. For mile upon mile, as I rolled down I-5, I played and replayed that song trying to memorize it.

That brings up the question, how come I still know every word to Johnny Mathis songs my mom played on the record player when I was a little kid, but can't learn the words to songs now? At least I can play the song over and over and over and over!

God Bless.

Christmas Carol Countdown: 9 Days to Christmas

Each time I type the title with the days left till Christmas, I have this inward shudder. Many of you probably share this dreaded countdown with me. How many days left until everything has to make it in the mail to get to the __________. These past few years the blank has been filled in with "East Coast." My son, TGS, is living on the "opposite" coast with his new bride. Up until October of this year, my daughter, Nancy Drew, lived on the east coast also.  The gifts have made it every year with some room to spare, but it's always a gnawing in my stomach until I leave the post office with their packages on the way!

My current situation is, admittedly, much better than four years ago when the same daughter as above was deployed and in Germany. But that was still fairly simple because of the military mail system. I only had to mail her things to San Francisco!

By far the worst location and, unfortunately, the worst turn-out was the year my son was stationed in Korea (Army) and same daughter was serving a mission for our church in Japan. (Is it just me or does it seem that the two of them are in "cohoots" to live far away?) 

It was getting close to Christmas and time to mail packages. My son's were easy, he was in the military, but my daughter's had to go through the regular mail system, and that is very, very expensive. I decided to send my daughter's Christmas box via military mail to my son in Korea. From there he could mail it to Japan, just a hop, skip and a jump over the little bit of ocean! 

The plan proceeded well until Christmas Day when my daughter got to call home. She reported that no Christmas box had arrived from me. That was truly dreadful. Here she was far, far away in Japan. First Christmas without family. And no Christmas presents from home. It was agonizing.

Then January came and went. No Christmas box. February, the same. Finally the Christmas box shows up...at my son's "doorstep" in Korea. I don't know where that package had been for almost three months; I hope it had a good time.

Now the best plan was for my son to mail the package through military mail back to me. I then sent it through U.S. mail to Korea. Into the next month...Easter arrives in Japan. My daughter finally receives her Christmas box...the same day the Easter box arrives from home!

I'd like to believe that it was "all for the best." But it's going to be a hard sell!

Here is a carol I discovered a few years back and it quickly made it to my favorites list. It's done by a group called MercyMe. This carol, written by a member of the group, reflects on Joseph's feelings towards his newborn son.

I searched through all the videos I could find for one that I liked to illustrate the song. None of them were perfect. Each one had something beautiful and right, each one had a part or two that didn't fit for me. Here is the one that I finally picked. The song is so tender and filled with the love of a father. Here is "Joseph's Lullaby."

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

My sister, on right, and myself at Christmas in 1962.

My mom would always start singing that popular song, "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" around the beginning of December. It has stuck with me through all these years, and although I don't know most of the words, I always have to hum it when I start seeing Christmas lights on houses.

The weather here in California is cooperating for the beginning of December and the Christmas season. It's been cold, very cold, in fact. We've been getting frost!

I love the Christmas season. The joy, the giving, but mostly children. I had so much fun when my children were little. In the coming days, I'm going to share things that we did when my kids were little.

Last year at this time, two of my three children lived on the East coast. My daughter, Nancy Drew, and her family, including my new grandbaby. Curly was 2 years old. My son, TGS, also lived on the East coast with his new bride.

An event that our family had been anticipating for five years finally happened. Nancy Drew and her family moved to Utah! I live in Northern California. We are only 12-14 hours away from each other. Nancy Drew moved at the beginning of September. In the Veteran Admin. where she and her hubby work, they get almost every holiday off. In October, she got Columbus Day off and so did her older daughter. She added a day to the long weekend and came out to visit for the weekend.

Next came Thanksgiving and her family, my oldest daughter and her new hubby came to dinner! I'm heading to Utah for Christmas. This is so much better than a visit once a year. And I get to spend Christmas with children. I'm very excited, to say the least.

Now on to Christmas...

The advent calendar and the Twelve Days of Christmas have always been heartily celebrated in our family. More details in the days to come! My countdown to Christmas for this blog is going to be sharing some of my favorite carols sung by the artist I think did it best! Music has such a wonderful way of bringing the Spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of Christ, into our lives. We feel the warmth of the spirit and it makes us vow to do more, help more, give more.

My first choice for Christmas Carol Countdown is by the Norwegian singer, Sissel. She has a truly incredible voice; it makes you think of angels! A few years back, she was the guest artist on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was the first time I had heard her and I was entranced. The selection today is Angels from the Realms of Glory. And don't be too surprised if Sissel shows up later this month in the carol list.

Remember to check every day until Christmas for the Christmas Carol Countdown!

I'm Home! Whoo-Hoo!

It's crazy what people will look like when they celebrate!

I'm back from a two-week vacation to the East Coast to see my dear son and dear daughter and their families. It's an annual pilgrimage after school lets out. I get to see Curly and Sweetie and how much they've grown and changed in one year. I get to see Nancy Drew and TGS and enjoy being in their homes.

Okay, okay...some explanation for the picture above. Nancy Drew and SWH participated in the wildly popular Warrior's Challenge. It's an obstacle race that has fun stuff like jumping over fire, cargo climb, storming Normandy and lots and lots of MUD! Brave contestants work through Army-like obstacles through the mud, "run" between obstacles in mud that is sometimes knee deep and at the end wade through a ... hmm...how can I describe it...ahh...mud puddle that is around 5+ feet deep. Did I mention there was mud? And more mud?

The pic above is my daughter (on the left), in the mud and yellow shirt, with two friends at the "finish line".

What a crazy way to spend a Saturday morning! I chose the better part. I stayed with darling Curly and tried to stay cool in the 90' weather with 90% humidity. I definitely knew I was the smarter one in the family when Nancy Drew said the mud smelled like cow poo. Yummy!

Sorry about the photo overflowing into the right column. The stupid thing just wanted to take up the biggest space it could...it's irritating when the pictures take control!

Above: right to left
Top Row: Before Picture--Nancy Drew in yellow, SWH far right, After Picture
Middle Row: Beginning of race after first mud "puddle." Notice the mud is above the knee!, Curly hangs out in the shade with me, SWH jumping over the fire
Bottom row:  Nancy Drew & SWH displaying medals, which were bottle openers, sporting their hats. Somehow Curly managed to sneak in the photo. Curly and Nancy Drew in hats.

It was a fantastic day.

If I was waiting for my family to finish the "Dash", and I didn't have Curly, here's how I would have spent the waiting time:

Linking up with:

Whoop! Whoop! Fridays

Mother's Day in Retrospect

Whooppeee! I love being a mom and grandma!

The other day Nancy Drew, now 32, and I were going through a box of mementos she had left at our house. We were Skyping and I was showing her the things in the box so she could choose things she wanted me to send.

Lo and behold I found some awesome treasures! Mother's Day cards from the past. I confiscated them and put them up in my quilting room. I think I love them more now than then!

Feast your eyes!

1986: 6-years old. And a blast from the past of what wallpaper looked like back then. Yeech!

 

 

 

1987: 7-years-old with a huge heart!

And what did I spy inside? Coupons that I never used. Darn! I told Nancy Drew I was going to redeem them right now...and I had a plethora of choices. (I love the word plethora. It's a cool word and I love the way it rolls off the tongue). But I digress. I figured if I redeemed all of them right now that Andi would be here, in my home, for eight lovely days! I'd even pay the air fare.  My coupon choices were:  Making a cake, running an erin, (dig that spelling!), making a pie, breakfast in bed, making dinner 1 night, an extra chore, a hug and a kiss, and a sholder masash!

I can't believe I didn't cash in on those! Dummy. The first thing was the masash, yummm.

Another Mother's Day Card

 And now the next, third, generation. Here are two cards sent from Nancy Drew's daughter, Curly. She is almost three. I had hinted, very unsubtly, that I would love "one of those hand-print cards from my grandchildren", this came in the mail. Curly didn't want to do a hand-print, so she did her version in the right hand corner.



And aren't I the charmed Nonnie? An art work done by Curly. Guess where they're at? Yes, on the fridge! Where else?


Here's a picture of my two precious granddaughters: Sweetie and Curly.

 Now dash over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict to savor other's whoopees! Grab the Whoop! Whoop! badge in right column. Also hooking up with Link A Finish here

Three-day weekend ahead! Whooppe-kiyi-aaaaaaa!

Glorious Saturday! and Quilts from My Sewing Machine #2: 42 Stars & NH quilt

Things are going swell in my neck of the woods. TGS & OSLW here. Gardening happening.

Hubby putting in shower in 2nd bathroom. Finished a great read and started another. It's just like laying in a hammock under a canopy of trees.

We're having a little down time here. OSLW is reading, TGS & Hubby are working on his car. I've been reading blogs and now am writing mine.

I thought I'd start sharing quilts I have made every once in a while. I don't want to tie myself down with an uncompromising schedule. It'll happen. Sometime or other.

TGS holding quilt I made in 1977

I'll start with one of my earliest quilts. A little back story. My Aunt Marie (read about her here) was a quilter extraordinaire. I grew up with her quilts on my bed. I was taught what it took to make a quilt. Aunt Marie was born in 1905, learned to quilt at eight, so everything part of making the quilt was done by hand. Lamentably, I didn't learn to quilt from her. However I always felt a part of quilting because of her.

A Quilt I Made for Noel Heart in 1979

I made "quilts" when I was in college and when I had babies. They were single fabric front and back and tied. My first real quilt rolled around when I had my first grandchild. Four years later, Nancy Drew got married and I started on a wedding quilt for her. It took me two years to make and it arrived on her doorstep on her first anniversary.

In August 2005, Nancy Drew and SWH became engaged to be married March 10, 2007. Of course I planned to make them a wedding quilt...but what timing! I was working on Nancy Drew's Christmas present: the Kimono quilt and then when it was finished it was three months to their wedding.

I had a time finding a quilt pattern, as Andrea does not like flower fabric or overtly feminine fabrics. I chose a beautiful quilt from an Australian Quilting Magazine and chose the fabrics with as little flowers and emphasis on green, yellow and cream colors.

While I visited Nancy Drew and future SWH in Germany during the summer of 2006, we happened to find one quilt store. I paid attention to what fabrics Andrea liked. I realized my first choice wasn't going to do it. I decided to do a quilt with Amish colors because I felt it would fit with Andrea's taste.

I found a pretty block on Quilter's Cache called Amish Star. It is a variation on a Sawtooth Star. Unwittingly I had chosen a time intensive block for a beginner. In fact I have avoided quilts with flying geese or half square triangles until just the past year!


I worked fiendishly through the Fall and into the Winter until I realized it wouldn't be done in time for their wedding. Nancy Drew, who had seen the first few blocks at Christmas, was understanding.

During Spring Break 2007, I spent every single day sewing blocks and got all the 72 blocks finished. I also got burnt out and it lay around until the end of summer. I got it together and a local FMQ quilter and friend quilted it. She did a wonderful job quilting it loosely and with curving pattern as I had asked.

I finished the binding at the end of February 2008 with time to show it to my guild on the March 5th meeting. Right before I packaged it for mailing, I realized I had no pictures of it. Being made for a California King bed, it was indeed substantial.

I decided to lay it out on the lawn and take a picture of it by standing on a ladder. On the right you can see the sheets I laid down to protect the quilt from the grass. If you peer closely you can see the cat-helper Daytona.

Once I shooed Daytona off the sheets, I laid the quilt down. Daytona immediately saw that I needed her immeasurable help and quickly came. Daytona to the rescue!

  
As I started to put the binding on, I had noticed one defective star. (Manufacturer's fault). It was the corner block. Now that the quilt was quilted, finished and bound it was a done deal. But not for enterprising me. I embroidered the block to look like a house. Put in some flowers, some curtains and embroidered on the roof: House of Bleak (pronounced like the ea in steak) and their wedding date. SWH refers to his daughter as a princess from the House of Bleak. Worked well for me.

Left to right: Redesigned star to house block, House block zoom out, close-up of an anonymous block and quilt detail.

42 Stars Statistics
Started: November 2006
Finished: March 2008
Size: 122" x 98" (King)
Pieced by myself
Quilted by JP

Whatcha Reading?

Judy, over at Patchwork Times, has started a new weekly feature called, "Whatcha Reading?" Fantastic ! She wanted to do something on Tuesdays and had readers submit ideas for the topic. By vote, What Am I Reading won. Hurrah ! It was the one I voted for. I love to read. It is my first love.

I can't remember when I didn't love to read. By the time I was in third grade I was reading anything I could get my hands on. By fifth I was heavy into Nancy Drew. I bought my books from the Sears Catalog. We lived in rural Northern California and had to drive for almost an hour to get to the Sears outlet to pick up our orders. Guess what I did on the way home?

Today my loves are mysteries, biographies about normal people going through extraordinary times, history, Church books, young adult fiction, well-written novels and the list goes on.

Right now I am reading one of my favorite authors, Sue Grafton. She writes the alphabet mysteries. I started right at the beginning with her first mystery, A is for Alibi. I've worked my way through, waiting impatiently for each new volume to come out. I'm reading V is for Vengeance. I'm almost through and can't wait until tonight when I can get home and finish it.

I don't know what's up next. I honestly have a stack of books, waiting to be read, two feet high next to my bed. And I still keep perusing books sites thinking to buy more !

Coast on over and take a looksie at what others are reading at Patchwork Times (click here).

Hello Life

I'm feeling a little less pitiful about my cat Newt. For the past few days I've been crying whenever I thought of her and when I talked of her. Today was better. I haven't cried, but just feel lifeless.

I officially want to thank Murphy, or is it Mr. Murphy?, for the cold I woke up with this morning. Now I feel lightheaded, sniffy, headachy and tired on top of lifelessness.

This is a list of conclusions from the basic Murphy statement: "If anything can go wrong, it will."

1. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the first one to go wrong.
   Corollary - If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.
2. If several things that could have gone wrong have not gone wrong, it would have been ultimately beneficial for them to have gone wrong.
3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
4. If anything can't go wrong, it will anyway.
5. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop

Here's a song I just love from Michael Buble. I just wish it was a video of him singing, not just a single picture. Oh well....I was having my iPod shuffle songs today and this came up. It's very peppy. If you are experiencing low fog, like here in Northern California, or it's snow or rain, this should get your toes tapping. You might even get up and start dancing around doing the swing by yourself.

Talking about swing reminded me of a couple of things. I learned to swing with my boyfriend in high school. I've always loved it. I taught my kids how to do the basic swing I knew. I can't find the photo of me with Talented Geek Son, which he is probably thankful for. I was teaching him to waltz in the living room when he was about 13.

Then Nancy Drew, my second daughter, learned how to swing. Really swing. Talk about a love affair. That girl had to drive to Sacramento every week for the big dance. It wasn't too bad when Sacramento was a half-hour from where we lived, but when we moved to Santa Rosa... It takes 90-120 minutes one way to get to Sacramento. In Germany she went to several "master" type classes with the legends of swing. She also started teaching swing in Germany and then back home in Massachusetts. She entered a ballroom competition doing the swing. It was great...and that's not just a mom's opinion. I wish I had the video to post. She and her partner took first in their division.

She walked out onto the ballroom floor and my jaw just about hit the floor. She was dressed forty's style, had red lipstick on and when she danced she was sexy. Talk about revelation of seeing your daughter growing up all in one moment.

Here are some documentary pictures to show her progression in dance! (Hi sweetie! I love you!)

Nancy Drew Swings!

Top Left 2005: In her living room swinging with friend the night before she was 

deployed to Germany.

Top Right 2001: Dancing as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, in a skit while on a mission in Japan.

Bottom Left 1997:  In high school play, Guys & Dolls, dancing as Chick, Chick, Chicky

She is last in line, right before the cows.

Bottom Right 2005: In Germany ready to go out and swing, baby!