We survived a night of gale force, swirling, howling winds and blowing snow. Actually went outside and stood in it for a few minutes just to see what it was like - nasty. Like having dermabrasion on your face with ice pellets. We had no power for a couple hours - that was great! Last year it was 6 days...not a fun time.

We still cannot wash clothes, take baths, long hot showers or use the dishwasher!!! The line from the house to the septic tank has a plug. Ed has called some roto rooter guy who has a "poop eye" to spy out the problem and fix it. That was 4 days ago. How would you like to tell folks you were a "poop eye" operator? What a job! But this no water is really getting old and the laundry piles up and the roads are too slickery to take it anywhere to wash it.

And now my daughter from Durham and her hubby are coming here today. They are supposed to be in Portland but that airport was closed. So, here they will come and we have no water useage. What's next! And now I have to wash my kitchen floor and clean both bathrooms and I don't know what we will all eat. I do have a lot of potatoes plus veggies that are frozen into the ground in the garden. Guess we'll make borscht.

Lost two squirrel guards to the storm - completely split apart and blew away. Large limb came down - missed the house by 5 feet. Quite a night. Holly, Sam and I sat on the couch with the lights off watching the swirling snow and wind - a hypnotic experience.

Hope everyone else survived all right. Poop Eye supposed to show up this morning...wanna bet? $25.00 says he doesn't show.

Well it is very cold outside and finally I have a bit of time to write. I fell on my _ _ _ a couple days ago in the middle of the street and am stiff and hobbly. Landed on the old tailbone...which was fortunately broken once before 29 years ago and so it didn't need to break again. It's just a lovely shade of black and blue.
The wind is howling outside and is expected to remove us all from the face of the earth starting around 8:00 pm. We are as ready as we can be I guess.Had 6 inches of snow but that has been blown all around so it's hard to tell right now.

I had so much to say before I started to write...and I still haven't wrapped a single present. I hope I have purchased them all. Wooooo that was a big gust "you're a little early there wind".

Havin' a little old Tater Tot Casserole in honor of Aunt Ernie tonight. Somethin' comfortable and hot to eat. Got to check on it...needs 10 more.

Well, keep warm everyone. I hope to be back online after the storm quits.

Winter at 3 am

Well, it's three in the morning and Ed stepped in the cat's water dish and woke me up so here I am. It's a little chilly however, so this might be short. It's hugely howling windy outside and snowing to boot. We have about an inch on the ground - I'm surprised there's any at all with this wind. Should just be blown to China!

Ramblings: I am impulsive, I like to be right, I like to be in charge of stuff, I get an idea and I just like to run with it - so sometimes I'm not a good team player. I like to have things done before they are due and have plenty of time to work on them whether it's art or music or ESL lessons or what. I don't like being a last minuter. I scored a 43 on Dr Phil's internet test. I love children and usually relate better to them than to adults. I also love helping others especially in secret. I like my job at church. hate making small talk and am not good at it but I can smile and be friendly. I am 59 years old. My husband and I are living together as friends which seems to be okay for now. I absolutely love brainstorming about creative projects. I don't trust my memory so being a Eucharistic minister sounds scary but I might go for it anyway. Certain people are quite irritating to me at the moment and shall remain anonymous. Adult men who regress to the age of 5 being at the top of the list. And passive-aggressives , but can do this behavior too,

I feel like stretching my wings. I also think I would enjoy having a job outside my home. Unit coordinator in a clinic or hospital. Piano teaching might be good (except I worry that I'm not very good because I'm not an accomplished performing pianist. But I am good at teaching others - I'm just not a performer. I wonder if that's okay? (but no health insurance there) Quandary time. I say let's put this worry capsule on the back burner until after Christmas.

Christmas is different. My little kids are all grown up and living their own lives. I still grieve this loss but maybe am ready to accept things as they are and move forward in a new way. Decorating just isn't the same. I want things to have meaning - not just clutter or old memories; doing things the same way over and over as when the kids were little; something new maybe out of the old. Just a few favorites. We'll see. I'm not stressed out yet! Getting a little cranky though. I want to find a way to wrap stuff that works because I absolutely hate wrapping presents! My mom does such a beautiful job and everything is coordinated and all...I just didn't inherit that talent/patience. Maybe festive brown paper bags? Maybe unfestive bags. pieces of cloth and string... totally not wrapped - just pulled out of a box at the last minute? The wind seems to have died down a bit now - maybe I can go back to sleep. Thank God for little helping pills, too. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr my feet be's cold. Later................................................................

The Seasonings

These are cool horse deevers we had at Thanksgiving at Dan's.





Today I made fruit cakes and on Friday I made something else that I just realized I cannot talk about here because some of the people who read this blog will get some for Christmas. That was a close call!

Christmas and I are doing fairly well so far. I have managed to stay out of the "I am responsible for the family's happiness at the holidays", the "we don't have enough $", the "I don't have enough time", and the "I wonder if I got them that before" traps. Feel like I am tap dancing around the quicksand of my mind, like a "Chipmunk roasting on an open fire...". I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

We have no decorations up yet, no tree and no lights - I should be upset, but I cannot question the wisdom of my self. I am making some gifts and just focusing on one day at a time. Went to a nice party last night and saw Teesha's cool and very HUGE art studio. Envy, envy.

This season just makes my juices flow. Why is it so short? I want to arrange a couple songs and quilt and bake and make cool, artsy gifts and go to parties and celebrate.....and now I need a nap!

Septic Christmas

Today we literally flushed our Christmas present money down the toilet! Had to have the septic tank pumped to the tune of over $400.00. Yikes! That's some expensive shit! And we had a blockage in the main pipe that runs under the driveway to the tank. We think this is due to the fact that we had been using 'Charmin' which is soft but horribly pluggy to pipes. Ed cleaned it all out (we hope) with a large, black, rubber thing that expanded in there with hose water. We're still in the process of testing this - I'm doing a load of wash to see what happens. Fun, huh? If it doesn't work, all the stuff will spew out into Sam and Aaron's bathroom through their toilet and into the tub. I guess they had noticed that their bathroom floor was wet all week but they didn't say anything until yesterday when it ran out their bathroom door. Eeeeeuuuuwww talk about unsanitary. So that's our pre-holiday fun!

Here is the cover for the Advent meditation/reflection booklet for St Clare's Episcopal Church. I used the colors from magazines and mod podge. I really like how it came out. This font is a little weird today - ? Doesn't some of it look smaller to you?

Oh, well.

I have a lot to catch up on here - been a long time and things have been happening. Right now there is a cat howling outside and I must see...