"That which does not kill you makes you stronger" Friedrich Nietzsche

After I posted Friday I did indeed catch a couple ponies and go riding.  I rode for nearly four hours, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

Saturday Alan and I finished up the attic and put everything back.  Now I can re-arrange the upstairs a bit, so that Beth and I have a more useable space for weaving, and she can sleep up there too.

Saturday was my aunt's funeral.  Papa and I got there a few minutes late, but no one noticed.  There were no spats with anyone, and Papa didn't want to stay long, which was fine by me. 

I was really surprised that there were no cousins at the funeral besides my aunts kids.  But Sunday morning I got a call from another cousin, who said she hadn't been told Barbara had passed.  Apparently hardly anyone knew.

She and I talked genealogy a while, and discussed a family reunion later this year.  We will do it here, since we have lots of room (outside) and it's so easy to get to.  We haven't had a reunion for about 12 years, though a lot of relatives showed up for me and Alan's wedding in 2003. 

Wow.  I just can't write this morning.  I'll drink more coffee and add to this later.

Well, the holidays are over.  I managed to get everything bought, baked, wrapped, arranged, decided on, and generally taken care of in time. 

Christmas Eve with my sister was pretty good.  Kelly was actually almost in a good mood, and when she tried to go off on a major bitching/freaking out spree, everyone gave her a bad time and she quit.  Yay!

The salmon (AKA: The Great White Shark) was awesome, but took longer to cook than I supposed.  That was okay though..... we had more time to visit.  Mason was perfect, in spite of Kelly's initial announcment that her place is not baby-proof.  And I got some great pictures of him on Great Grandpa's lap, drinking a bottle and looking serious.  (He is good at that... looking serious)

Christmas Eve started early for Alan and I.  I had to bake two pies (cuz I nearly forgot them!) that morning, AND get the braskfast casseroles ready for Christmas Morning.  Alan offered to help, and with the two of us in the kitchen, I had an apple pie and a pumpkin pie in the oven in less than an hour. 

Alan spent that time sauteing sausage, onions, mushrooms, and peppers.  Then we cubed bread, grated cheese, and beat eggs into half and half.  When everything was in the baking pans, we covered them and put them in the fridge.  Done!

We picked up Christina and the boys, cramming them into our Focus, carseats, presents, food, and all.  (Steven worked, and went direct from there) Mark picked up Papa, and they were at Kelly's when we got there.  Beth and sons arrived later. 

So, Christmas Eve was busy, and fun.  And I slept like the dead when I finally hit the hay at 11:30PM.

Christmas morning the kids came over, as did Beth and the boys, and Mark once again brought Papa, though he didn't stay long.  Alan took him home to spend time with Louisa and her boys.  Mark ended up staying here overnight, hanging out with me until the wee hours.  That was fun!

All kinds of toys for the boys made everything fun for everyone.  Air rockets, blocks, balls, a jack-in-the-box and tons of paper and boxes were two feet deep all over the livingroom.  Only one ornament got broken, amazing given our living room is 13x14. 

We had ham, and home made scalloped potatoes which were absolutely heavenly.   Peas, sweet potaoes, lefse, and all the pickles, olives, etc.  We all ate until miserable, and then ate pie.  Beth had brought a cheese cake which turned out to be yucky... soggy crust, and funny tasting filling.  Not bad, per se, just not quite right.  It went to the chickens.

New Years Eve was a bust.  Alan had taken five days off for various reasons, and ended up getting sick.  So did I.  So we missed the neighborhood gang dinner, but got left-overs, and then a private dinner!  Nice.

And of course, being the age we are, there were two deaths in the family this year.  Again.  First was Alan's uncle, who had a massive coronary while traveling home with his daughter.  It was so bad that while he made it to the hospital alive, there was nothing they could do for him.  He was on full life support with no hope of recovery.  He said his good-byes, and had the docs pull the plug.  He was 83.

Then, my aunt passed away.  She's been gone a long time, and my cousin just moved her into a hospice facility about a week before.  She hadn't known anyone for a few years, so it was a blessing.  I am going to her funeral tomorrow.  With Papa.  And I hope all goes well.

See, Papa thoroughly pissed off my cousin by refusing to visit Aunt B.  He didn't want to see her at the end, in fact, he'd stopped visiting her a couple years ago after she didn't know who he was anymore.  He didn't want to remember her that way.

My cousin was livid. He didn't understand why Papa wouldn't want to see his favorite sister on her death-bed. 

I completely understand both sides.  And there is no solution, really.  It's one of those situations that must be personal, and won't make eveyone happy.  I just hope they both mind their manners tomorrow.  I can always shove Papa in th car and leave if things get ugly, which is the main reason I offered to take Papa with me.

On to more mundane things:

The weather has been cold, clear, windy, and weird.  We normally get 10 inches of rain in December, and only managed about 3 this year.  We've had fog, a lot.  We've had freezing fog.  Frost too!  More frost than I have seen in 11 years here.

We've put a serious dent in the woodshed supply.  We'll have enough though. 

Alan finally managed to fix the insulation in the attic.  This evening we will put everything back in, including the Christmas decorations.  The insulation had started falling from the inside of the roof, so Alan stapled tarp over everything.  It looks like a big tent up there nnow, which is cool, I think.  Warmer and quieter too.

And I am pleased to write that Mark and I figured out the electrical problem with the truck!  It now starts every time!  Yay!  Wednesday I used to to move the horse trailer into the driveway in front of the shop.  We can use it as storage, or as a place to work on projects, until spring when we will do some repair work prior to using it for its intended purpose:  hauling horses! 

Speaking of horses, I have all six in the corral, easy to catch.  So.....   I'm going riding!

and I've got lots to do.

Sometimes I think I was better organized and more enegetic when I was still working.  I used to get all the shopping done in October and November.  The baking too.  Not every year, but more often than not.

Now, I do less, and don't get done until the last minute. 

I know, it's not a big deal, but it bugs me.  I've been thinking a lot about my life lately, and there are things that need changing.  A lot of little things that will add up to big changes at the end of the day.  Am I up to the challenge?  I'd like to think so. 

There are things about my past self that I have kinda lost. ( Energy, discipline) And things about my present self that need to be used more often. ( Insight, empathy, organization) There's some bad habits to be dealt with, (smoking, forgetting my vitamins, too much online time) and an older body that needs attention. (I'm damn near 50!)

These things have all been banging around in my head lately, and I've started paying attention.  I can improve myself in the areas that need improving, and be better for it.  Just as importantly, I'll be a better mom, wife, and friend to those people in my life that I care for.  That's a pretty good stack of reasons for improvement, don't you think?

Well, the wind quit for a couple days, but now it's back, along with fairly cold temps.  Nothing major, just cold enough to put 1/2 inch of ice on the water buckets overnight.  And it goes along with bright sunshine, so I won't complain.  But it is kinda unusual to have this much wind and cold this time of year.  Normally November and December are incredubly wet, gray, and very dreary.

I had an odd thought the other night.  I was watching a documentary and the narrator said something about this place (I don't remember where now) getting over 6 feet of rain a year.  At first I was thinking, 'Wow! Really?!"  but quickly realized it's not anything amazing.  We get seven and a half feet here.  Rain measured in feet just sounds like a lot more than rain measured in inches.  Or maybe it's just me.

Over the weekend, Alan and I cleaned up the bottom pasture, cutting up the cedar tree we had to cut down (due to rot), all the storm mess, and lots of dead maple limbs from the huge, gigantic, enormous Big Leaf Maple tree that resides in our SE corner.  It's very old, and showing it.  In it's center is a huge upright trunk, now broken off and full of bird holes, that routinely fills with rainwater.  Very cool, but deadly for that venerable old matriarch.  Luckily she won't have to be removed.  She can live out her days with quiet dignity, losing her large limbs to snow, ice, wind, and rain, until she finally falls over completely.  Only then will she be subjected to the saw.  With luck, it will be my kids and grandkids that get that task.

We built a huge bonfire with all the debris and had it all but gone in a few short hours.  It was a wonderful hot fire, snapping mightily with cedar, and hissing dramatically whenever we put frsh cedar branches in the flames.  All we needed was some bratwurst!  But......

Alan and I also had a Christmas Cocktail party to attend.  That was nice.  Just us crazy neighbors..... The Gang.  Tons of wine (Southern Comfort for me) and lots of awesome goodies to eat. 

Sunday, my sister, her husband, Stina, Steven and the boys, and Beth all came over and decorated Christmas cookies.  We had a blast.  Alan had to work, so he missed out, but I think he was glad of it.  My sister is a trial for everyone, and Sunday was no exception. 

After she and her sainted husband left, Stina and fam were not far behind.  Then it was just Alan, Beth and I.  We watched part of Planet Earth until we all hit the hay.

Yesterday Beth and I decided to take the whole day off.  It was cold and windy, so we did chores together, then hung the storm door on the east side of the house.  Then we spent the entire day watching movies.  Seriously.  Three movies and two disks of Planet Earth.  It was awesome.

And apparently just what we both needed.  We both were up and running this morning, doing dishes, taking showers, switching laundry, doing chores, hauling firewood, yapping and drinking coffee all the while.  Everything done by 10:30, she left to do some shopping and I am going to be making presents for the rest of the day.  Life is good.

The wind is HOWLING!  It started cranking up yesterday and it's just gotten stronger and stronger.  I always get a chuckle out of news reports from anywhere that talk of "windstorms".  We live with it all the time.  I was surprised to learn that "gale force" winds start at 39mh.  Big deal!

Anyway, the wind is part of the reason for what happened yesterday.  Alan surprised me by coming home early.  He had planned on doing some Christmas shopping, but really he just wanted to play hookey.  When he arrived, I was raking leaves/needles from the driveway, and after I dumped my load, I caught the rabbit that runs around in the yard.

Alan took him from me, and we wandered around a bit, just talking and enjoying the sunshine.  After awhile, Alan put the rabbit down and we visited the goats and ponies.  As we headed for the house, Alan picked up some pieces of firewood that were laying on the ground, left-overs from some project where the firewood had been used for props.  As he was picking it all up, a big gust of wind blew a bunch of gravel, sawdust and who-knows-what in my face.

Something ended up in my eye.

First off, I should tell you that I have VERY UN-sensitive eyes.  I can have crap in my eyes that other people can SEE, and I won't know it's there.  So, when I get something in there, and it hurts, I know it's bad.

And this hurt.  Like the proverbial son-of-a-bitch.

Alan guided me to the house, and we tryed for several minutes to locate and remove whatever was in my eye.  We had no luck at all, which is weird.  Man! did it hurt!!  Finally I admitted defeat and called the doc.  Luckily they could get me right in.

And luckily, she was able to find the offending bit (after staining my eye with dye) and get it out.  It was a piece of glass and it was lodged under my upper lid, where it had caused many fine scratches on my cornea.  I could have kissed her when she put the numbing drops in my eye!  Seriously, what a relief!

She gave me some antibiotic ointment, and sent me on my merry way.  I'll be going back to see her soon... she checked our insurance coverage, and we DO have coverage for glasses!  Not a lot, but certainly enough for an exam and a pair of readers.  That was a nice surprise.

On the way home, Alan and I stopped at the new head shop (do they still call them that?  I know I'm dating myself) in town, and he got me a grinder/keif box for Christmas.  So naturally, when we got home, I had to try it out. *smile*  It helps glaucoma patients, it's gotta be good for eye scratches, right?

It is.

And so I spent a nice evening pleasantly stoned, ignoring my eye and dozing by the fire.  Not the way I had intended to spend my afternoon/evening, but very nice all the same. 

Jeeez!  Look at the time! I gotta get busy!

and we all know what day that is, don't we?

So, I have really dropped the ball with posting here, haven't I?  Tis the season.  (Though that's really not much of an axcuse, is it?) 

The tree is up, and gorgeous.  Shopping is ongoing.  Baking is ongoing. 

Beth brought over her loom, and she and I spent a day cleaning it, and then setting it up upstairs.  It's got a few parts missing, but nothing we can't make ourselves, being the clever types that we are. *grin*

We sure had fun!  Beth is learning fast!  I sent a couple of weaving books home with her, so she can learn more, now that she knows what all the parts are, and has a good idea of what weaving involves.  We are looking forward to weaving together, with our looms side by side in our tiny upstairs. 

Beth is bringing over a small table loom soon, as well as a couple more boxes of shuttles and thread.  And I have two HUGE bags of yarn my sister gave me when I last saw her. (She's giving up on her crocheting... it makes her thumb hurt.  I swear she's gonna get to the point where she just dies from lack of use) 

But I need to call her and have her over for a visit... I forgot the three huge bags of plastic bags she saved for me for weaving rugs. *sigh*

It's looking like winter here lately.  This morning included frozen fog, and then freezing rain.  It's warmed up a bit now, so ice is falling from the trees.

I spent the last few days re-loading the OS onto my computer.  Something was wrong, and I couldn't figure out what, so I erased everything and started over.  In all my years of having macs, and that's been since 1984, I have rarely had to do this.  Honestly, I think I've had to do it three times.  Not bad.

I didn't upgrade to the newest OS, Lion.  The reviews so far have been mediocre at best, so I stuck with Snow Leopard, which I love.  I just wish we had a better WiFi connection here.  Our little time-warp neighborhood seems to actively resist all new technologies, I swear!

I must get busy.  I'll be back soon, now that there are no gliches in my computer to drive me nuts.

Happy Holidays!

Over the weekend Alan worked on the truck a bit.  The alternator is fine, as is the battery, so it's a wiring problem *sigh*  But the truck does start and run, as long as you remember that you only get 4-5 starts off of a charged battery.  It'll get Alan to work if it snows, and that's what his boss wants, so there we are.  Alan will likely work on it more, or we'll take it in to the shop IF we get some money together.

I hate money.

Sunday Beth came over and went with me to Mason's birthday party.  We didn't stay long.  I wanted to give Michael a chance to hang out, and I didn't want to hang with him.  We said Hi to each other, and that was it.

Mason got clothes and toys.  I made him an adorable set of over-alls, with matching bibs that snap onto the shoulder straps.  Cute!  He also got a couple of hand puppets, which completely entranced him.

When confronted with a small cake complete with lit candle, he immediately grabbed the candle (no ouchie though... we lucked out) then played with the paper plate it was on until he discovered how wonderful it is to smear frosting all over.  I don't think he ate any of it! *grin*

When Beth and I got home, she and I and Alan watched the very last Harry Potter movie.  I must say that while I enjoyed them all, the first four are my favorites.

Monday Beth left fairly early, as she wasn't feeling very well.  Christina was coming over to make lefse, and I realized as soon as I woke up that I had been an idiot, not having made the dough the day before!  So, coffee in hand, I quicly peeled the potatoes, boiled and mashed them, and got the dough ready, using rye flour instead of wheat, since it's far less sticky and doesn't require overnight chilling to be handled.

Stina laughed when I told her what I had done..... it isn't like I haven't made lefse every year for the past two decades!

This was the first year I got to use my great-grandmothers lefse rolling pin.  It was hand made in Norway over 100 years ago.  My grand mother didn't want to part with it when she handed over the making of lefse to me.  She bought a modern lefse pin, but gave me the lefse griddle, and the turning sticks my great grandfather had made in Norway before they immigrated to Canada in 1924.

My mom had the old lefse pin after Grandma passed last year.  I brought it home this past spring, after Mark and I visited her in Montana.  It took me a few minutes to get used to it.  It's a solid pin, so rolling with it is a bit different, but I soon discovered it rolled the lefse super thin much easier than the modern pin.  Very nice.

Hmmmm... the spell checker doesn't like lefse.  Imagine that!

Tuesday I cleaned house.  Making lefse gets flour all over the place!  And I made some awesome pizza from scratch. Yum!

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment.  I met my new doctor, who is from Kenya.  I wish I had had a chance to talk with her more... I was curious about her life before she came here 9 years ago.   But that wasn't why I was there, was it? *grin*

So far, my tests have been normal, and I'll let you know if anything is amiss.

Christina, Beth and I are getting our plans made for Thanksgiving.  Cooking and baking will begin a couple days prior, and I have to be available to help Carlo castrate calves at some point during that time period.  Weeee!  Mucking about in the mud, wrestling calves, sounds like fun doesn't it!? *grin*

Okay, I better get busy.  I have a huge steaming cup of espresso Staring at me, and I need to call my sister.  Seeya!

Today is my second Grandson's First Birthday.  Happy Birthday Mason!

I just finished putting away a ton of groceries, mostly staples.  It sure felt good to buy stuff and cram it in the pantry.  And I had a pleasant surprise in a box waiting by the door when I arrived:  The two one gallon jars I ordered yesterday morning!  Seriously, how did they do that so fast!

I have another jar coming.  It's a two gallon version of the ones I got today.  I'll put whole wheat flour in it.  My white flour is now in the big flour drawer in my beloved Hoosier, where it belongs.  There is something very cool about having 35-40 pounds of flour so handy.  I like it. *smile*

The two smaller jars have sugar, and cornmeal in them.  They look nice in the Hoosier next to my red mixer.  It'll look even cooler when the big jar is there too, instead of a two gallon bucket.  It's a nice bucket, with a gamma seal on it, but still: It's a bucket.  I normally use buckets for storage in the pantry (and bought a couple gamma seals for them too)

I picked the truck up from the shop this morning, where they successfully fixed the carb and distributor.  My Green Bean is running again!  But.  Oh yeah, there's a but.  Either my battery is shot, or the alternator isn't working.  I am guessing it's the alt, since I can hear a funny whining noise from that general direction.  It harmonizes wonderfully with the exhaust leak on that side. *grin*

The next two weeks will be busy.  Mason's birthday party is Sunday, and I will be baking cake and cupcakes.  Monday Stina is coming over to make lefse.  Wednesday I have a doctor's appointment.  Thursday Stina has one.  Friday I get my hair re-permed. *sigh*  The following Monday Stina and I will be baking pies for Thanksgiving.  Then the cooking will begin for Thanksgiving.  Weee!

I've got weaving to do.  And sewing.  And I'd love to get another kitchen cupboard finished before Thanksgiving, though before Christmas is more likely.  And I need to paint the bathroom.  Sheesh!  Woman's work is never done.

Friday I busted my ass doing housework.  Since my back has been bothering me, I quit about 2:30, had an early dinner, then watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Not the new American version, but the Swedish version, with subtitles.  Excellent movie!  I have the two sequels on my Netflix list and I am looking forward to watching them.

Alan came home just before the movie ended.  Since I had cooked a ton of food, he ate, and then we decided it was time to have some fun.  And so we did! *grin*

Then we watched a couple more movies before going to bed.  It was a great day.

Saturday morning Beth showed up as expected.  What wasn't expected was Alan and I still being in bed!  We slept until after 8AM.  But that was nice too.  By the time he and I got up and moving, and made coffee, Beth had the chores finished.

The three of us got the dish cabinet mounted on the wall.  Beth and I had a blast putting the shelf liner on, and loading all the dishes on it.  It looks AWESOME!



Of course I once again found myself standing in the kitchen, staring at this wonderful work of art, with an idiotic grin on my face.

Saturday afternoon Beth and I headed to a neighbor's place to pick grapes.  We were thrilled to discover the vine absolutely loaded with huge clusters of grapes.  Unfortunately, they weren't ripe! 

So we came home and watched The Two Towers, and Return of the King, both extended.  Yep, that took the rest of the day and then some. 

Sunday Beth went home mid-morning.  Alan had to go to work for a bit, and he stopped by Mark's to take him some cold medicine, etc.  Poor Mark had been sick for three days.  He's back at work though, and feeling much better.

I took down the window screens, washed the windows inside and out, washed the storm windows and put them up.  And as usual, it made a big difference.  It's quieter and warmer in here now, and the sun shines through the windows with a vengeance.  I like to enjoy whatever sun we get in the winter, not be disgusted by my filthy windows. *grin*

And I got all the laundry caught up.

Yesterday Stina and the boys came over and spent the whole day.  I made potato soup, rye bread, and a big batch of pancake mix.  Stina and Tristan baked peanut butter cookies.  Mason toddled all over, getting lessons in what he shouldn't touch.  It was a fun day.

The sun is shining today, and I have stuff to do.  I'm off!