OH yeah

I have a blog! I knew there was something I was forgetting! Too much Wii on the brain I guess!
I will come back later today to upload Christmas pictures (but honestly did not take many) - but for now I leave you with this...something I NEED to remember more often.
Slow Down

Slow down
God is still in heaven. You are not responsible for doing it all yourself.
Remember a happy, peaceful time in your past. Rest there.
Each moment has richness that takes a lifetime to savor.
Set your own pace. When someone is pushing you, it's OK to tell them they're pushing.
Take nothing for granted: watch water flow, the corn grow, the leaves blow, your neighbor mow. Taste your food. God gives it to delight as well as to nourish.
Notice the sun and the moon as they rise and set. They are remarkable for their steady pattern of movement, not their speed.
Quit planning how you're going to use what you know, learn, or possess. God's gifts just are; be grateful and their purpose will be clear.
When you talk with someone, don't think about what you'll say next. Thoughts will spring up naturally if you let them.
Talk and play with children. It will bring out the unhurried little person inside you.
Create a place in your home...at your work...in your heart...where you can go for quiet and recollection. You deserve it.
Allow yourself time to be lazy and unproductive. Rest isn't luxury; it's a necessity.
Listen to the wind blow. It carries a message of yesterday and tomorrow-and now. NOW counts. Rest on your laurels. They bring comfort whatever their size, age, or condition.
Talk slower. Talk less. Don't talk. Communication isn't measured by words.
Give yourself permission to be late sometimes. Life is for living, not scheduling.
Listen to the song of a bird; the complete song. Music and nature are gifts, but only if you are willing to receive them.
Take time just to think. Action is good and necessary, but it's fruitful only if we muse, ponder, and mull.
Make time for play — the things you like to do. Whatever your age, your inner child needs re-creation.
Watch and listen to the night sky. It speaks.
Listen to the words you speak, especially in prayer.
Learn to stand back and let others take their turn as leaders. There will always be new opportunities for you to step out in front again.
Divide big jobs into little jobs. If God took six days to create the universe, can you hope to do any better?
When you find yourself rushing and anxious, stop. Ask yourself "WHY?" you are rushing and anxious. The reasons may improve your self-understanding.
Take time to read the Bible. Thoughtful reading is enriching reading.
Direct your life with purposeful choices, not with speed and efficiency. The best musician is one who plays with expression and meaning, not the one who finishes first.
Take a day off alone; make a retreat. You can learn from monks and hermits without becoming one.
Pet a furry friend. You will give and get the gift of now.
Work with your hands. It frees the mind.
Take time to wonder. Without wonder, life is merely existence.
Sit in the dark. It will teach you to see and hear, taste and smell.
Once in a while, turn down the lights, the volume, the throttle, the invitations. Less really can be more.
Let go. Nothing is usually the hardest thing to do - but often it is the best.
Take a walk-but don't go anywhere. If you walk just to get somewhere, you sacrifice the walking Count your friends. If you have one, you are lucky. If you have more, you are blessed. Bless them in return.
Count your blessings - one at a time and slow.

Meet......

Duncan Bob Oodles - our elf.

(funny how he is "my" elf, and yet, has name from everyone but me - but I digress)

I cheated, these are from the website..but I will post other pictures of our elf as he explores the house.

I spotted him at Hallmark today. My heart skipped a beat.

My grandmother had two elves almost exactly like him, that she always put out on Christmas. I was immediately 7 again, and remember playing with those elves. Thier little legs folded up under their arms. I hemmed and hawed about getting it. K. talked me into it and told me I should spend the money on myself and buy something that "brought me joy", her words. So I caved on the impulse and paid, ::gasp::: full price, and she even told the sales lady that I was buying myself some joy. Gosh I love that kid.

This one of course is much smaller than my grandmother's, and doesn't have a bell on his hat. when I asked her a few years ago where she had gotten her's because I wanted one, I believe she told me she had gotten them attached to Christmas candy or something one year.

I had no idea there is actually a little elf tradition. this little guy, after you name him for your family, supposedly, according to the storybook that came with him, travels to the North Pole every night to give report to Santa about who has been good and not so good. He then returns to your house, and sits somewhere new. The kids are then supposed to find him in the morning, but not touch him, cause that may drain his magic. The kids love the idea, altho K reports that his eyes creep her out and he better not move at night. (Little does she know her door knob may be the first place he reappears tomorrow morning::insert evil mommy laugh here::) I have always wanted to start some sort of yearly tradition with the kids for Christmas count down and while they are way to old to believe he goes to the North Pole, just the fun of moving him every night is enough to bring a smile to thier faces.

I am seriously thinking after Christmas when they are on sale, I should go buy one for each of them, so when they have their first baby, I can gift their families with an elf too.

Reality check

Had to share this.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Earl Nightingale :
Learn to enjoy every minute of your life.
Be happy now.
Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future.
Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family.
Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Count life's blessing today.
I believe the patient I am seeing right now who just retired -
is supposed ot be traveling and enjoying his wife and grandchildren -
but instead is fighting a brain tumor that will most likely take his life, and could have been removed had it been diagnosed properly a year ago -
would agree with this sentiment.
I believe the number of women I have heard about in the last few weeks that have suddenly lost their young husbands to tragic unexpected illnesses would agree with this sentiment.
I believe every family that has lost someone in Iraq this year would agree with this sentiment.

My goal today is to "let go" of life's petty annoyances that I let get me down, and truly honestly try to be happy with the wonderful blessed beautiful life God has blessed me with. Wish me luck as I will be navigating the over stuffed holiday mall today!

Finally!

I am online again! Four clean up programs and HOURS of scanning and deleting, God bless AdAware techhelp, my computer is clean again.

Not keeping up with the photo a day as I would like but I am doing pretty good.

Here are some more from the last few weeks. :)

My new favorite decorations at the moment. Aren't they cute? Picked them up at a cute craft store while in NC for Thanksgiving. They make me smile.

These are what happens at 2 am, after the Starbuck's barista obviously screwed up my "decaf" order! These are altered paint cans. I am going to fill with peanut brittle or homemade hot chocolate mix and give to C's teachers and the staff at my office.

Cookies yesterday while it was sleeting and yucky outside! C was my little Emeril, K not so interested this year. But did stay in the room with us and chat while we baked.

I have a ton of "heavy" thoughts in my head right now concerning "God's plan" and "God's will" but I will save it for another day. Would you believe 4 different people in the last three days have broached that subject with me. So of course lots of thoughts have been drifting around in the ol' noggin' that I am sure will eventually spill out here.

And this would be C getting ready to "help" daddy sharpen his hatchet. Been driving him crazy since they tried to split wood last week and the hatchet was dull. He is certainly his father's child.

So that is all for now. This weekend is the "oh my gosh what do I still need to do" weekend..lots of errands. Will post some more photos soon!

I'm back

I HOPE!
It has taken a week, and four seperate scan/delete programs to get rid of this trojan spyware I had. Still waiting for tech support in Sweden to get back to be about my latest Hijack log to be sure that everything is gone. No way to contact them than email. And of course they are in a different time zone! Thankfully the virus, or shall I say viruses, were just an annoyance that kept locking my computer up, and not damaging, but I still did not have HOURS to spend right now fixing it! Altho can I get a small woot woot, for the fact that , first I did not fall for the gimick, spotted it right away, and stuck with it, and found the right support to fix it MYSELF! me. My self. Pretty proud of that! Got sick on top of it all. And I can tell you that none of it has helped my Christmas spirit at all! Shopping still needs done. No cookies made yet. Not one card made, and dare I say I don't think they are going to get out this year. Ack! But ohwell. Christmas will come no matter what. And it will be great, no matter what, and cookiesor no cookies.

So today it is sleeting yucky. I have two patient's this morning and everyone else rescheduled for tomorrow...so hopefully I will get on and post some photos and catch up. I am 50/50 with the photo a day thing...but I'll take it!

Photo a day!

I am back and up an running...seems adding "debugging a computer virus" was necessary in my busy schedule.

But I did still take photos of everything else we have been up to!

This has been decided by unanimous vote to be a new family tradition. Sunday in the sleet and rain, we stayed in a built houses! C. was very disappointed to find out we wouldn't be immdiately eating our creations but he got over it quickly. As you can tell also, a good bit of the candy got consumed during construction. The hardest part was getting J. to back off and let the kids do what they wanted to do, not what he thought they should do. The kids were also shocked that I got for myself! But of course!

I am not sure what order these are going to post....the one with the snowy roof and yellow circle windows is K's, the one with the twizzler framed door is mine, and the one with the half and half roof is C's. We had so much fun watching Christmas dvd's and constructing.

The last night we finally got around to the tree. So finally at least the family room is settled and glittery. Helped a little bit with my mood. How could you not smile at all that glittery glowiness? I love the traditional look we get with the lace bows,popcorn, red balls and candy canes. The mantel lace was given to us by good friends last year since they no longer have a fireplace.I wasn't sure how I was going to like it. I love it actually. did treat us to new stockings though this year - to *go with* the new look of the mantel. ::teehee:::

A photo a day

I am setting a goal for myself to post photo a day in December.

So here is what I will call "ready, set...."

This is the tidiest part of the house right now. Boxes boxes everywhere.

Awful yucky weather supposed to some tomorrow..so by this time tomorrow these boxes should be gone and beautiful decorations in their place!