Grandma is addicted to SKYPE!!!!!

I miss my mommy :(

We had a great visit when she came out from New Jersey for 10 days.  Her annual trip to Alaska...braving the single digits and cat hair on the couch!  The weather was not very co-operative this time.  We hadn't gotten any fresh snow and after a mini-thaw what snow we did have was old and and hard.  Not very conducive to the snow shoeing she was so hoping to be able to do.  But she did take lots of walks and played outside with Lo.  I had to work a few of those days and Mom was happy to hang around the house cleaning(She LOVES this) and dinking with the cats.  And, MAN ALIVE, it was a treat to come home to a super spic-and-span house!

We had a couple days to ourselves while the girls were in school.  It was fun to check out the stores and to show her the 3 galleries in town where I'm showing my work.  After a trip to the make-up counter at Nordstroms(I need to learn me some updated techniques and palates for the fancy-shmance shin-dig Huz and I were going to!)we had a fantastic lunch at a wine bistro called Crush.  Perfect and appropriate portion sizes, great marriage of flavors and I REALLY enjoyed my heady Portuguese Dao.  To DIE.

So, on a slow day I hooked Mom up with Skype, threw the last year's of photos on her laptop and make her around 10 cds worth of killer mixes.  From classical to Fergie.  Now that she's home, my mother is COO-COO for the SKYPE.  Three times a day.  It REALLY is very cool to be able to communicate like this!  The other day she brought her laptop outside to show us all the snow they'd gotten.  Lo loves to grab random toys, pictures, and artwork to show and tell with Grandma.  Mom's looking forward to seeing the girls grow and change with this wacky technology. 

 I'm in the process of loosing my father-too many emotions to wade through....but I feel I'm gaining more of my mother.  And I need that.

Here's a peek at some of the stuff we did with Grandma:

A visit to Lo's classroom

Teaching Mom some healthy recipes...and then indulging with good friends

Lo's swim lesson

Viewing one of my Buddha paintings at Dos Manos Gallery

Hanging at a sports bar to watch the playoffs



Don't you just want to CHOKE eateries that serve 6 year olds a glass that size?!?!?!??!



Introducing Grandma to AVATAR

AND....Twas also time for the annual New York Life Kickoff Dinner!  Froo-froo time!  Grandma and Dea babysat Lo so that Huz and I could stay the night at the hotel where the dinner took place.  This year I went for the risky dress!  I've worked my ass off-both of us have-the last few months and goddamn I went for it!  And I didn't even need SPANX nylons!!!!!!  It may have taken 41 years...but I can honestly say I feel comfortable in my skin...The cool thing is that I started to feel this way when I was 25 pounds heavier.  An acceptance of myself on some level that I've never experienced.  And now that I'm healthier with the weight off...and feeling fit and athletic again, my self confidence is only enhanced.  It's a fekkin AWESOME feeling!  And my sweetie.....lookin' HOT, too!

EATS of the 2010 winter holiday season!

Yeah, yeah....I know I'm late with all this stuff...but there was no way I was going to take time out of celebrations to hop on the box and post our going-ons WHILE they were going on.  We BASKED in it!  And now, a couple weeks after the fact, I find some time.

Butter spritz cookies!

 You wouldn't know it from the looks of things here, but Huz and I actually swore of fats, alcohol, sugar and carbs after 4pm for the month of December. INSANE, I know. TORTURE, yes. But, if we could get through this time of year restricting our diet, any other time of year would be cake-parden the pun. We had 3 cheat days-my Birthday and Christmas eve/day. I'm proud to say we both have lost 20 pounds since the end of summer. This is my first public fessing up to a mortifying 25 pound weight gain from my 1.5 years on Adderall/Wellbutrin for my ADD. THANK you, Adderall, for the sketched out EXHAUSTION.......and thank YOU, Wellbutrin, for making me not give a shit that I was packing on the fat! Neither of which did DICK for my ADD, btw. And then there was the 4 months of debilitating low back pain and double bursitis in the shoulders last year... I swear, I hit 40 and the curse BEGAN!!!!! Anyhoo... FU, curse, it's OVER. I have svelted and I'm back to being ME.

LET'S EAT!!!!!

Converting a recipe



Whole lotta baking goin' on!



The perfect apple peel spiral



The innards of my cranberry-apple streusel pie.



Chocolate-cranberry bread



Dea's coconut cream pie



My pie





King crab, mashed potots, green bean almondine, and a lovely 2005 Franciscan Oakville Estate Cab



FINI



Recycle your Christmas tree for next year!!!

First off....if anyone knows WHY some of my friggin photos are posting sideways and HOW I can fix that , it would be much appreciated!!!!  Since Blogger's editing page changed I've had tons of trouble and is one reason I rarely post!!!!  UPDATE: Here is one possible answer:  http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=3dadabf526cdd529&hl=en

Ok, back to fun.  Here is our 2010 tree:

For Christmas 2009, we  bought our very first LIVE tree.  It was gorgeous and glorious and OUTRAGEOUSLY priced.  I promised my husband that to get our money's worth,  I would SOMEHOW recycle it to get 2 Christmases out of the thang.  And that I did!  After we un-decorated it, I hung it from our clothes line outside.  There it stayed all year long-through all kinds of weather.  We hung some peanut butter/birdseed pine cones in it last summer and the birdies really dug it!  After Thanksgiving, when it was time to trim the tree I -not so simply,but it can be done!!!- did the following:

Donned a pair of gloves and pulled ALL those niggling needles off:

Pruned off half the branches:

Spray painted it green.   If you're not into that, nix the paint and you can later burn the tree in your wood stove or what ev:

Threw on some tinsel and lights and VOILA!!!!!  The perfect ornament hanger!

We are now in the process of un-decorating it for the last time-Epiphany has passed- and I will then launch our tree into the woods of our back yard and return it to the earth.  Of course, I'm regretting painting it-there really was no need.

So much to be thankful for...

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Health

Daughters who make my heart burst as I watch them engaged in the simplest things in life.

A wonderful, supportive, handsome, sweet, funny, wise-ass husband and best friend.

Warm and fuzzy kitties.

A naked frog that lives on and on.

GREAT, dynamic, fun friends to share good food and rough terrain with.

2 fulfilling professions....the chance to help heal and the ability to create art.

A simple yet comfortable lifestyle.

The financial and physical ability to expand our home just enough to offer more breathing room.

The view from our windows

An unencumbered ability to feel and give love.....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!!!!!
Since we STILL do not have a finished addition or dinning room-MAN!  I had hoped to be able to sit at our new dinning room table today and have friends come for T-dinner-we'll be packing up and trekking out to our friends house on the other side of the mountains for food and football.  At least we can sit back and not cook!  All we had to make where the pies!  Cheers!

Lanterns revisited

Light....for this darkening time of year:

(Click here)WINTER VESSELS OF LIGHT