Everyone is back!
I thought that the board had been abandoned for the last two days. There were no posts after the cat! It's lovely to read everyone's posts, even a day (or two) late.
Anna, don't be such a stranger. It's great that they finally figured out the diet and medications for you. Although that diet doesn't sound like much fun, it's got to be better than being sick.
Jean, great news about the shoulder. Keep working on it.
Sri Lanka? Wow! What is the weather like there?
For those of you who have not seen it, HGTV did a piece on the White House Christmas Tree in the blue room. Each congressman invited an artist to make an ornament. There are almost 400 ornaments, all hand made on the tree. This site allows you to click on a state, and then a district, to view each ornament.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/2008/ornamentsbystate/index.htmlWe had a lovely Christmas here. Dad was feeling distinctly "grinchy" until we went to church Christmas Eve. We too had a children's pageant, and it was "unrehearsed." I thought it went about as well as any rehearsed pageant I'd ever seen, which is to say it was adorable and none of the kids did anything horrible. The only problem with their church is the age of the members, so I don't know where they found all those children! Grandchildren maybe?
After having lost weight last year, I've been giving away clothes and clearing out as much stuff as I can talk DH into getting rid of, and we still have too much. That was why I had the question about the vaccuum storage bags. I'm not using them for my quilts, but they are working great for things like old jeans and flannel shirts that were kept to make a denim quilt. That stuff takes up an incredible amount of room. Maybe I can talk him into donating even more stuff in the next few months.
We're all worried about the economy, but all we can do is pray. I am making an effort to spend what I can afford, since my job is secure. Math teachers with 30 years experience generally don't have too much trouble finding jobs, even in hard times. Our internet business, however, was shaky before the economy went bust. We'll have to see what happens.
Laura in Alabama
Labels: Christmas
Merry Christmas to all!
Doris, your "other project" inspired me to Google photos of snowflakes and I have been having lots of fun surfing and seeing. How they can take photos of such ephemeral things I don't know but I'm glad someone has. I miss snow for Christmas! I realise palm trees etc were in Jerusalem and Bethlehem at the time, but I need a good hard freeze and tingly air to get in the mood.
This yr we won't be going to the inlaws, they insist on a late-night big meal and DH's acid reflux requires him to eat at about 7, very lightly. So I will make a nice lunch for us, no turkey (it makes too much food), just a little roast and some potatoes, and veggies for me. His brother's widow apparently invited his sister and her family for the 25th, not a word has been said to us, but we are not "cut to the quick" as she might imagine. I would much rather stay home with my sweetie than put up with her for a day without her husband to take some of the sting out of her "sweeter" remarks. Both her sons have left her to herself, preferring to spend Christmas with their wife/girlfriend's families...hmmm. I may not be the one with the attitude problem. DH's sister spilled the beans and then tried to backpeddle, but she did not say "come along, I'm sure it will be fine" and we didn't ask. They don't realise we prefer our own company to theirs. Just call us Badger and Mole (from The Wind in the Willows!)
Spoke to Ginny in FL last night, apparently her computer is down with a virus. But she did send regards to all.
My talk on "the Christian quilt" is translated into English, if anyone is interested in seeing it. I ended up interpreting this AM for some Australian people who are working in Milan, Italy. Tiring but fun to see I can still do it. But I do realise that at 45 my brain doesn't take as kindly to thinking in stereo as it did, even 6 years ago. I was all done after about 25 minutes, to think I used to work 5 hours a day and think nothing of it. No wonder they say the primary cause of death among UN and other high-level interpreters is cerebral haemorrage!
One of my tutoring students called before her class Thursday and asked me to meet her downstairs instead of her coming up. I did so, and she announced, "I want to buy you a present!" We went shopping--in English! and she ended up buying me a pair of earrings that look like roses in full bloom. Very sweet and unexpected. I am inviting one of my students for dinner on the 28th, she is from Senegal and actually studying French Lit here (yeah, I know--in Spain???) but she has to do English as her "second" language and we do basic grammar together. I say "second" as she already speaks French, English, Spanish, Wolof, and a couple of other African languages whose names simply don't register when I hear them because I've never heard that combination of sounds before. Another very nice person.
And now I must go and get ready to dive into "slave narratives" for someone who has a term paper due after the break.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
anna in spain
Labels: Christmas
