2011 Resolutions

Final score from 2010: 140 points out of 250 points.  Still over half (didn't count Sept or Oct.), but still not quite what I would like.  So this year I shall try to make the resolutions more do-able.  Without further ado, they are:

Cara's 2011 Resolutions

• To not text while driving.  Have you seen Jane Lynch's TV commercials on this subject?  Terrible thing to do and one that I am determined to stop.  I thought about adding chatting on the phone as well, but seriously, that is so not do-able.
• To get some form of exercise daily (10 minutes at least), whether it is walking the dog or performing jumping jacks.  Now that my weight has decreased I really must maintain that, and exercising is a better way of going about it then how I lost it in the first place.  My real goal is getting back to the gym, but under the current circumstances, I thought I should start low and aim high.
• To finish my slide project and to get important photos on CD's to have for... prosperity?  I don't know this is just something I'm into doing right now and in writing about some of the memories it got me thinking that I should scan photos as well.  Not all of them, but those of substance.  Perhaps they could be gifts?
• And to continue to work on toning down the potty mouth.  This one is becoming like the birthday card resolution.  I'm determined to resolve this one, but the fact that I never mastered getting out birthday cards on time is making me think this one isn't going to be do-able either.  But then again, "toning down" gives me some leeway, huh?

Out of the mouths of my babes

Me:  "Kelly is on the phone and wants to know if you want to earn some money."

Darcy:  "Sure!"

Me:  "Uh, Kelly, as her manager I must ask how she will be earning this money."

Kelly:  "Cleaning bathrooms."

Me:  "You have to help Kelly clean the church bathrooms."

Darcy:  "How much will I make?"

Me:  "Well, Kelly is volunteering her time to clean these bathrooms.  She isn't getting paid.  She is doing this out of the kindness of her heart for Jesus.  Remember the lesson we just had at church this week?  Perhaps you should think about this and realize that you too should help Kelly clean these bathrooms as a volunteer....for Jesus Christ the Savior."

Darcy:  "What if I'm Jewish?"

Last check of 2010 resolutions

Because September and October were crazy months I didn't check in with how well I was doing on my 2010 resolutions, and because September and October were crazy months I'm not even counting them.  I'll admit it now.  I don't think I did a thing toward maintaining those resolutions during those months.  And because I'm in charge of this blog, as well as those resolutions, I can do what I want.  So there.

But here is my 12 month check on how well I did:

* To study one subject (can be anything) once a month -I can honestly say that I learned quite a bit about the Florida senior health care system in the past two months.  Score: 10
* To see a movie once a month - Nope, didn't happen for November.  Just eeked in a movie this month this week by seeing Tangled, which I loved!  Don't care what people say...Disney does it right no matter the project.  Score: 5
* To get into a cleaning routine and keep my house straightened - Nope, never happened. I would like to blame this too on the learning of the health care system, but seriously, I just didn't care.  Score: 0
* To relax in general and to not react hysterically, especially when it comes to the dog - Oh, yeah, baby, this one is a touchdown!  I love that damn dog.  I can't live without him.  He follows me everywhere and knows who will listen to him when no one else will.  And I'm okay with that now.   Score: 10
* To tone down the potty mouth - Oh, hell, no that didn't happen.  At all.   Score:0

Total Score:  25 (out of 50) - It was a trying time, so there! If I had been a better person, one that was put together and able to handle stress, perhaps things would have worked out differently.  C'est la vie

A day well spent

While my family was here over the holiday break we had a fabulous day with 70 degree sunny weather.  My sister-in-law's body craves sunshine and so she was up at 8:30 in the morning and outside by my pool deck in her bikini.  By the time I joined her, the sun was high in the sky and we decided to load the girls into the car and head to the beach.

The area was quite empty with a few sunbathers in chairs and on towels.  No one was in the 60 degree water except the sea gulls, and there were very few of them floating around.

 The girls played games on the sand before heading closer to the water.  Darcy wanted to build a castle and Gabby wanted to dig a gigantic hole, both of which were accomplished with team work.

Susan and I sat watching them and talking.  Susan alternated from the ground to a beach chair, and also took a little beach walk.  I sat in my beach chair and listened to music while photographing the girls.  I did not stick my foot in the water, but appreciated its beauty from afar.

When the sun began going behind the clouds early evening we packed up and heading home for showers.  Once dressed we headed out to our favorite local restaurant, E&E Stakeout Grill, which serves the best steak in town, not to mention heavily tequila margaritas.

Rusty, Connie, and Kelly joined us for the evening, which Rusty tweeted about endlessly as he drank margarita after margarita, extolling the gifted talents of Chef Erwin's creations.

We started out with appetizers of a shrimp martini and my favorite, shrimp piccata, which is grilled shrimp, fried eggplant, feta cheese, and added goodies.  Delicious and yummy!  A meal itself.

Most everyone ordered steaks with the E&E famous Caesar salad, even the kids.  Rusty kept ordering up more margaritas, and then in his drunken state, paid the entire bill.

Turns out he wasn't as drunk as we thought he was...we found out later he used Grandma Connie's credit card!

Monday morning sports recap

Didn't really get to see the Steelers game as we had Christmas at Connie's that night, but my new IPhone with its ESPN app alerted me each time someone scored and then at each quarter so I was kept abreast.  By the time I got home and turned on the NFL Network there were two minutes left and Big Ben was taking a knee.  Did enjoy all the hoopla after the game, however.

Steelers game:

• Obviously the boys took my advice via my blog and my twittering and got back into playing their game.  Ben had his nose hit again, but he mopped up the blood and got right back in again.  Good to see that they want that 2nd position in the AFC.  But really...Carolina had only won two games all year.
• Hate seeing Troy dressed in street clothes on the sidelines, but he looks as good in a Steelers jacket and hood as he does in uniform.  That's important, insightful sports information by the way.
• Annoying that the defense let the Panthers score, missing out on shutout, but they are beating themselves up over it so I hope this just fires them up for next Sunday.
• Great to see Heath Miller back in action after his concussion.  We need him up the middle.

Before I move on I want to give a shout out to the players for participating in caroling for all of us in Steeler Nation.  Especially cracked up near the end as the booze must have been taking affect.  If you haven't seen it, it is worth checking out here.  But the best was Coach Dick LaBeau reciting Twas the Night Before Christmas.  What a great job.  I'm sure his grandchildren love crawling up into his lap for story time.  He acted it out nicely, and I loved the beginning portion which he wrote here.

And another thing...I watched the Top Ten Pittsburgh Steelers in history last night, recorded from Thursday night's NFL Network, and I have to say that 8 out of those 10 selected have also made the walls of my Steelers room.  Not sure I would agree with the order of #1 and #2, but I named 9 of those on the list, impressing my daughter who lasted through # 5. 

Others:

• I'm tired of the "will he or won't he" Brett Favre show now.  Put a fork in the guy.  The more he continues on he just gets more pitiful, and that is a shame for a great quarterback who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.  But seriously, sending pictures of parts of his anatomy to young girls, watching him  hobble off the field, and his woe is me press conferences are just plain sad.  Call it quits Favre, get some professional help, and try to salvage what is left of your marriage and your life.
• I'm also tired of listening to all the Floridians whining about Urban Meyers leaving the Gators.  So he quit, then said, "oh, sorry, just kidding" and coached again, and then he quit again.  The man has health issues and made the first decision because he was scared.  Then for whatever reason, people freaking out, people telling him he was wrong, players guilt-ing him, his wife realizing he would be home, he changed his mind and coached this year.  Okay, well, now he knows he was wrong and he is done.  People make mistakes, have an oops moment.  Get over it.  I'm tired of reading about it and hearing about despite the fact that it gives me something to blog about.
• Does Jason Garret really believe he has a chance as the head coach of the Cowboys?  How can anyone believe in anything when it comes to Jerry Jones?  I hope he is just going along doing the best he can, which is pretty darn impressive considering their play the beginning of the year, not expecting anything from the Cowboy organization, or at best hoping other teams see what he can do.
• Terry Bradshaw reminds me more and more of my Dad.  When he sat back in his chair telling the boys behind the desk something and reached up and scratched his ear I swear I saw Russ Mason.
• I understand that at times receivers have to run sideways to escape a tackle, but more and more I'm watching them run sideways and backwards hoping for an advantage.  In the Bears/Jets game I watched two receivers run sideways on a 1st and 2nd down, the 2nd down going for 1 yd.  Neither time did that work.  Hello?  Forward, boys, forward!
• Enough of the Coors Light commercials!  Do these coaches really like seeing themselves answering these idiotic questions?  This is like the stuff we use to do as kids, turn down the sound on the TV and voice the characters on the screen.  Once is funny, but Herm Edwards just came across as pitiful.
• Whereas Peyton Manning can't make a bad commercial in my opinion.  How great is his newest one with Jim Nantz for Sony?  Oh, there is the stuff about how Nantz shouldn't have done it, which I consider a bit silly, but it is quick and to the point with Peyton wearing that bubble wrap shoulder pads.  Hilarious!
• Got kind of a kick out of Ted Ginn of the San Francisco 49ers rubbing the towel in the face of quarterback Troy Smith while he argued with soon to be fired head coach, Mike Singletary.  He was trying to remind him to respect the coach because no good comes out of screaming at the man who makes the decisions on which quarterback plays on any given day.  Then Ginn decided Singletary was mouthing off too much and he yells at him.  All mute in the end because Singletary was fired later that evening.
• And speaking of that firing...rumor had it Singletary didn't get along with his quarterbacks or players.  Are you listening and taking notes over there in Washington Mike Shanahan?

Our holiday

We had three Christmas celebrations this year.  We had one with Grandma Boos, who decided to head to Chicago this season for the big day, one with Rusty and family, who decided to finally spend the big day at home for the first time ever, and one on the big day with the usual suspects.  Three Christmases just triples the fun!

Christmas with Grandma Boos:

We and Tom's sister, Julie and family, all headed to Grandma's new townhouse for a Christmas celebration.  Mary Anne always has her place decorated to the hilt with beautiful Christmas charm and she had really done a beautiful job on her mantel, which for some reason I didn't photograph, but you can sort of see in the background of this picture.

We had a beef dinner with veggies and a salad, followed by Grandma's homemade spritz cookies in colors of red and green.  She also had mini peppermint cupcakes which the children devoured in minutes.  We opened gifts in the living room.  Having a three year old among us was a joy to watch.  Brea, Julie's daughter, got a Christmas blanket from Grandma and spent the rest of the evening having the best time with this blanket.  She walked around with it on her head.  She crumbled it into her arms and lay on the floor sucking her thumb.  She and Madison spent tons of time rolling the blanket and unrolling the blanket.  She asked to be covered with the blanket.  When her brother also received a blanket she could hardly control her excitement, and when I too received a blanket I thought she would keel over and die from it all.

After the Christmas celebration, we moved on to celebrating Julie's son's birthday.  He was born the day after Christmas and so we brought his gift for him to open.  He enjoyed it much more then his blanket, as the girls picked out a Nerf gun with the capability of shutting multiple bullets.  This is a big activity for all of the cousins when they are together....attacking one another with Nerf guns.

We ended the night by Skyp-ing Aunt Beth on the web cam we got Grandma Boos.  It was a nice get together, made even nicer by the gift I received from Mary Anne....money to travel to Pittsburgh to see a Steelers game! Whoo Hoo!

Christmas with Rusty & Family:

Each year Rusty and family are gone for the holidays.  Most of the time they are in Evansville with Susan's family, and last year they were here for Christmas, and so they promised their children that this year they would have Christmas day at home.  So they came the days before the holiday to spend time with Grandma Connie and us.  The night before they left we all went to Grandma Connie's condo to have Christmas.

Susan, Kelly and I cooked up a big batch of tacos and rice which we scarfed down in record time.  Grandma held court in our way, she in her wheelchair directing from behind us no matter where we stood.

We opened presents later in the evening before we ate cupcakes for dessert.  We got Grandma a web cam so that she could chat with Rusty and clan, if she ever makes it back to her computer.  She in turn handed out monetary gifts and little gifts purchased by me in her behalf.  I said I felt a little like my Aunt Lorene, who had the job of Christmas shopping for her father, my grandfather, each year.  She always got the greatest gifts for me from my grandfather.

It was a nice time as Grandma felt decent.  The mood was cheery and the minimal decorations were warming.  We only wished they could have stayed for the real holiday!

Christmas at home:

For the most part we are always home for Christmas morning.  When mother had the house in IN we were there every other year, but since she sold it we have been at home for the big Santa reveal.  Our tradition is for Kelly to spend the night on Christmas Eve.  This year Darcy and I accompanied her to a candlelight service at her church where we sang and sang and listened to the story of Jesus' birth.  The congregation holding all of the candles and singing Silent Night aloud choked me up.  We all hated to extinguish them.

Christmas morning Darcy is up before the birds.  She is a huge believer in the man in the red suit, and he did not disappoint her this year.  She gets up Madison and Kelly and they check out the Santa gifts under the tree.  At seven Darcy wakes me up, and Tom and I drag ourselves out of bed and join them.

Usually Grandma arrives early and we dig into the stockings and presents, but this year we agreed to let her get ready slowly and pick her up later.  That meant we had to wait on the gifts, but we decided to go through our stockings first.  Elliot was first.  Santa brought him some treats and a play toy.  He enjoyed, however, the football that Santa put in Tom's stocking.

There was a slight hitch in getting Grandma, but we finally got her back to the house at about noon.  Kelly and I had made mimosas and breakfast and so we chowed down on that before gathering around the tree for hours of unwrapping.

 Elliot put up with it all, even getting into the spirit of things.  He enjoyed his presents from the neighbors, the cousins, and the family.  But he seemed to enjoy barking at things outside or Grandma's oxygen tank the most.  He slept very well last night.

 We ended the day with a fabulous meal prepared by Kelly.  That shall be tomorrow's blog because I took a lot of photos and because it gives me something else to blog about.  So I shall leave you all with this photo of us gathered around the table, Connie in her chair, ready to dig into the Christmas feast.

A fine Christmas...all three of them!

I did it! I did it!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Christmas Eve Tidbits

10 Things I did before Santa arrived:

1. Dropped off my family at the airport and shed a few tears.  It is always so nice to have them here, but saying good-bye for 6 months is a very hard thing to do.
2. Wrapped the last of the gifts that I ordered from Amazon on the 14th of December, taking advantage of their super saver shipping they heavily advertised.  Bah Humbug on Amazon!
3. Did the Christmas dinner grocery shopping with the girls and Kelly.  Lots of giggles.
4. Took a nap to catch up on the sleep I missed last night tossing and turning and worrying.
5. Went out to breakfast with my family and friend at our local haunt up the street.  A good way to take out the taste of saying good-bye to my family.
6. Showered and dressed in my Christmas sweater that I splurged on years ago and can actually fit in now quite nicely.
7. Attended the candle light service at Kelly's church.
8. Ate fast food for dinner after the service, but was unable to get what we really wanted as a main water pipe had broken in the night and made all the water in three cities undrinkable.
9. Watched the movie Santa Paws with the girls while Kelly painted Darcy's toenails red and green.
10. Talked to mother on the phone and made sure she would be up and ready tomorrow for Christmas.

Christmas memories

Every Christmas my father, our official photographer, took pictures of us on the stairs with all of our presents.  In Indiana the stairs were a tad too narrow as we grew and so he took the photos where ever we would allow.  We griped, of course, but now I love looking back through the pictures and remembering all the gifts I received.

 Christmas 1968

I tried to do the same with my kids, and in the beginning I didn't do such an awful job.  I could maneuver them into place with promises of better things to come or whatever bribery I'm sure I had to use.

Christmas 2002

 But alas, this is the last year I managed to get any photos of the girls with their loot.  I do have pictures of the loot in later years, but somehow it just isn't the same.  I'm not sure what happened, but I so regret not having those photos now.  

Christmas 1971 in NC

 Christmas 1972 in IN

Mostly, I feel guilty that my children will regret not having those photos.  They won't be able to look back and laugh at the goofness (see above) or marvel at the presents and shout, "Oh, I loved that present!" or "I still have that!"  Memories aren't easy to keep in the head, but pictures certainly help.  I wonder if it is too late to start recording now?

 Christmas 1979

 

Won't be in a vegetarian commerical anytime soon

Having just polished off a meal from Wendy's in the car at the beach, I overheard this exchange:

Gabby:  "First one finished! Yum!"

Susan:  "She can't eat a whole chicken sandwich. I'll have a little of the rest."

Gabby:  "I don't eat meat.  I don't eat cow.  Well, except for steak.  Because...well, because it is good."

Darcy:  "You just ate chicken!"

Gabby:  "Chicken is meat?" Silence.  "Well, it's good too."

Signs of Christmas

 Candy making with Kelly

 Eating Candy that we made with Kelly

 Decorating the gingerbread house

 Having the house actually stay up

 Wrapping presents

Lounging by the Christmas tree

Beaching it

Putting a Christmas hat on Connie!

Monday Morning Sports Recap

Short post this morning as yesterday afternoon was spent Christmas shopping before the Steelers game and thus I missed quite a bit of NFL football.

Steelers:

• Without Troy Polamalu our defense (and offense) is lost.  Word on the street is that he is out until playoffs, but at this rate I'm not sure we will make the playoffs.
• That being said, I'm told via Steelers twitter page that we have made the playoffs due to our schedule and tiebreaker situations.  ???  I don't want to make the playoffs that way.  I want to go in as a winner of the division!  And the Ravens are breathing down our necks.
• Three flags just fall out of the refs' pockets with no penalties being called?  Sigh.  This league is falling apart slowly at the seams.
• Who called the running play that resulted in a safety?  Had he not scouted the Jets?
• Why didn't Ben run on that last play?  He ain't exactly Mike Vick, but he could have hauled five guys into the end zone if he wanted to.  Sad way to end a game.

Others:

• Kudos to the Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team.  They tied an NCAA record for 88 straight wins set by the UCLA men's basketball team.  I'm a Tennessee fan when it comes to women's bball, but the Huskies are amazing considering its almost two different teams that have continued the streak.
• Best game yesterday?  The Eagles huge comeback against the New York Giants.  And I might add that they won because Michael Vick RAN to get that important first down.  Okay, maybe it didn't earn them the win, but it got them where they needed to be to win.
• However, I would have liked to have seen the ball fall out of DeSean Jackson's arms as he farted around before running into the end zone.  I hope Tim Reid chewed his ass out for that little bit of showmanship.  Eventually that kind of nonsense comes to bite you in the butt.
• Donovan McNabb sits out, but he is still made to walk the field to handle the coin toss?  I'm telling you that that man has got to get some backbone.  His treatment has been horrendous, but at some point he has got to stand up and say enough is enough.  Maybe his signing a $78 million five year extension to stand on the sidelines IS his way....

Connie's Weekly Foot Photo

The wound is healing quite nicely according to the hottie foot doc.  He ordered some collagen cream to be applied every other day, and he dressed another spot on her other foot.  Then he signed the orders for her to return home with home health care and physical therapy.  She returned to her condo on Wednesday and is slowly trying to get into a routine.  So far...so good.

I do believe...

Before I had children, I worked for a recreation department in one of the many cities in our county.  I worked at the pool teaching and life guarding, but we also had a staff recreation specialist whose job it was to come up with all these different activities, most of which we found crazy considering we were a swimming facility.  Nine months out of the year we were an outdoor facility, the other three our pool was covered with an inflatable bubble that was kept up by constant fans blowing in cold air.  It was a very moist facility during those three months.

When the bubble was up it was during the winter months and so we decorated the outside area with Christmas stuff for whatever idea the recreation specialist would come up with for the holidays.  One year she put together "Christmas under the bubble" which was a free night of swimming, but kids would also get to meet Santa.  We had to decorate a chair for Santa and bring in a Christmas tree that would all have to be taken down by the next day or it would end up a soggy mess.  A Santa suit was rented and reservations were taken.  Somewhere along the lines the person who was to play Santa couldn't make it and so our boss, Larry, was used as a substitute.

Larry had Santa's figure, but he had red hair and no facial hair.  That was easily solved with a red hat and fake beard, but when he sat down in the chair I began to panic because he looked like Larry.  On the list of reservations was one of our favorite little boys, Robert, who was in Larry's swim class, and I just knew that he was going to know Santa was really Larry once he climbed up on his lap.  He was going to know him from his eyes and his voice, I just knew it.  I kept agonizing over the whole thing as we prepared the bubble for the big night, and I finally decided that Larry needed to wear sunglasses.  He tried on his sunglasses, but they were too light.  We eventually had to settle for a pair I had in my locker, the only problem being that in the bottom corner of the glasses they said, "shit happens".  We decided he couldn't get too close to the parents just in case.  He spent all day practicing his "Santa voice."

The big night arrived and the few kids we had strolled in and waited in line to sit on Santa's lap.  When it was finally Robert's turn he crawled into Santa Larry's lap, his eye wide with excitement.  He stared into Santa's face and listened to Larry tell him what a good boy he had been all year.  It was then I realized that it didn't matter who played Santa because children really believe in the whole magic of him at Christmas time.  Robert didn't have a clue that the man before him was really his swimming teacher, not even after Larry took off the shit happens sunglasses.

Robert:  "Why are you wearing sunglasses, Santa?"

Santa Larry:  "Ho, Ho, Ho, Robert, that is a good question." (dirty look at me) "But Santa knows that Florida is very sunny."

Robert:  "But it's night time."

Santa Larry:  "So it is Robert, and these glasses are getting quite foggy here inside this bubble."

Robert spent quite some time talking to Santa without his glasses and never once did he not believe.  Kid after kid after kid climbed into Santa Larry's lap and gave him their Christmas list, not questioning why Santa was sitting inside a bubble covering a swimming pool.  Santa was there to talk to them and that is all they cared about.  It was a big moment in my life, realizing how big Santa Claus was to children.

Which leads me to this picture that I found in going through my slides.  I hadn't noticed it when I first put these on my computer, but in searching for a photo for my random photo of the day I noticed that this Santa, who appeared at my house in 1971, looks an awful lot like someone I know...

Trip out west 1972

Not long after we moved to Indiana my grandfather asked my mother to take him on a trip out west.  He would pay the way if she would do the planning and the driving.  She took him up on the offer and he, my step grandmother, her granddaughter, my mother and I set off from Indiana heading west.

Like all of my childhood memories, I have them, but they don't necessary match up with others who shared the experience.  Some of the time I'm not sure if they are my memories or just pictures my Dad took.  I have a few memories of the trip out west, and coming across these slides made me relive some of those times.  (Just the fact that we have photos is cool as my Dad was the photographer in our family, and he was not on this trip)

One of the things we did was visit each National Park as we traveled.  I had a booklet that I had stamped at each park.  Don't know what happened to the booklet, but for years I had a handful of the pamphlets I collected.  We visited Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Glacier, Zion, the Redwood Forest, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. My mother's big thing was education.  She wanted my cousin and I to learn from this trip.  We just wanted to play Barbies in the back of the station wagon and have fun.  We were 7 and 8 years old, I believe.

 I remember talk about riding the mules down into the canyon and being very afraid of having to do that.  No one cared that I didn't want to leave my life in the hoofs of a mule.  I was afraid of heights (still am) and had no intention of riding mule back.  Once we got there the age to ride was 12 and so we had to walk instead.

I also remember that my grandfather slipped while we were descending and almost toppled over the edge.  My grandmother fussed over him and we girls cried.  My mother says both of those memories are hogwash.

This was my favorite slide.  We are sitting in front of the largest redwood tree ever and neither one of us cares, obviously from our expressions.  I remember this being a cool place weather-wise with lots of large trees.

Yellowstone smelled.  The springs were beautiful and interesting, but the sulfur smell made us gag, and I worried all the time about stepping off of the path and getting sprayed.  There were signs telling us how dangerous this was, and so I worried if someone stepped forward to take a photo.

Old faithful was the big draw.  I don't know if she erupted while I was there or not.  I'm sure Connie made us wait until she did.  Not sure if this is a picture of her or not.

Seem to have more of a memory of the parking lot at Mt. Rushmore and talking to some stranger, but I'm not sure if that is a memory of something else.

Before we entered Yellowstone park the back window of our station wagon wouldn't close.  We never figured out what the problem was, but we worried because it was well known that bears came up to the cars.  Jessica and I had some cards stuck into some grooves above the window, and when I removed them the window went up.  I always kept that to myself, not wanting to get in trouble for putting the cards there, but I don't think it had anything at all to do with the window problem.

Lucky for us the window went up because we had a bear visit us car side.  That I remember quite well.  I think we had two bears actually and one came to the back window.

It was a good trip.  I think we were gone two or more weeks.  I have only 50 slides of the trip, and I wish I had more.  Brings back memories....