Christmas ~ 2010

Oh that Christmas "Rush"... I sense I "thrive" on it!

In my mind, this is what I ALWAYS vision Christmas to be like...

or this...

maybe next year!!! 

Merry Christmas!!!

Amazon!

It's beginning to look like an Amazon Christmas... I will do ANYTHING to not step in a mall this year!  I've had nothing but great luck with Amazon, easy to search, flawless... works for me!

Trivia from WIKIPEDIA:  Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is a US-based multinational electronic commerce company. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, it is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples, Inc., as of January 2010.[3]

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and launched it online in 1995. The company was originally named Cadabra, Inc., but the name was changed when it was discovered that people sometimes heard the name as "Cadaver." The name Amazon.com was chosen because the Amazon River is the largest river in the world, and so the name suggests large size, and also in part because it starts with 'A' and therefore would show up near the beginning of alphabetical lists. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, and toys. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and China. It also provides international shipping to certain countries for some of its products. A 2009 survey found that Amazon was the UK's favorite music and video retailer, and third overall retailer.[4]

Don't mess with the pecan pie!

Tradition... it's what makes me tick, our own and listening to others! Collard greens and green beans cooked in Ham Hogs? Yep, to a few women I work with... (whatever) Pasta before turkey...that tradition really amazes me - I won't even serve appetizers because I want everyone to eat their dinner (and, it's what my mom does)... This year I was going to skip the creamed onions... until two days before Thanksgiving when  my sister tells me it's one of her 2 favorite things to eat... (of course I ran to purchase the onions...how can I NOT serve them)...

My favorite....pecan pie - I'll ONLY make it once a year, is anything more fattening??? This year I decided to try a new recipe, cheese cake bottom, with pecans on top...my lesson ... keep the tradition - creamed onions and "don't mess with the pecan pie"!

Where were you 47 years ago?

I was in the first grade;  I can still identify the seat and row I was sitting in.  Our teacher, Sister Paul told us to all pray, our president was shot.  At 6 years old it was a hard concept to understand.  We were all dismissed, I remember my mother coming to get me and my sister, she was crying and I knew it was significant.  My family with neighbors watched it around the clock on TV.  After five days, I asked my mother "will cartoons ever be back on TV again"?  Where were you?

Forgiveness: the most profound healing power...

I came across this website that had famous quotes on forgiveness; I posted my favorites - I'm forever fascinated by the Amish, the tragedy they faced in 2006 when they experienced an open fire in a school house.  This senseless incident generated stories and articles about the depth of their forgiveness ~
So inspiring is this NPR article, 1 year after the shooting incident:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14900930

• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.-- Mahatma Gandhi
• To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.—Unknown
• Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. --Cherie Carter-Scott
• The offender never pardons. --George Herbert
• He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.--George Herbert
• Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.—Unknown
• Forgiveness is giving up the possibility of a better past. --Unknown
• Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. --William A. Ward
• You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well. --Lewis B. Smedes
• What we forgive too freely doesn't stay forgiven. --Mignon McLaughlin
• It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. --William Blake:
• We frequently forgive those who bore us, but cannot forgive those whom we bore. –Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
• It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own. --Jessamyn West
• Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever. --Lord Chesterfield
• Don't tell friends their social faults; they will cure the fault and never forgive you. --Logan Pearsall Smith
• Without deep humility, true forgiveness is impossible…and will never happen. --Martha Kilpatrick
• Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me. --Anonymous
• Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury. --E. H. Chapin
• Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?-- Abraham Lincoln
• There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.-- Josh Billings
• Always forgive your enemies--nothing annoys them so much.-- Oscar Wilde
• Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another. --Jean Paul Richter
• Yes, this is what good is: to forgive evil. There is no other good. --Antonio Porchia
• A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. --Robert Quillen
• Forgiveness is the final form of love. --Reinhold Niebuhr
• One forgives to the degree that one loves. --Francois de La Rochefoucauld
• 'Tis the most tender part of love, each other to forgive. --John Sheffield
• Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness. --H. Jackson Brown
• Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. --George MacDonald
• It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited. Louis B. Smedes
• To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Louis B. Smedes

Lady GaGa!

SHE seems to be the costume of this season... I "think" I just WISH I could pull it off... I LOVE Halloween. NO candy in the house yet...for obvious reasons... Maybe I'll do what my Irish Dad did when we ran out of candy... he gave out potatoes!

 Happy Halloween!!! 

Meet Jill!!!

Yup....I'm "blogging" about a blog! 
Please follow a high school classmate, Jill and her journey.
It's been an amazing month following Jill, a physician living in Portland, Oregon and what has inspired her this month, in honor of her mother who recently passed away. 
Click here: The Truth About My Mother « My Month of Hundreds
Additionally: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/10/portland_woman.html
I've not seen Jill since 1975 when we graduated high school, but through facebook I've re-connected with Jill, and many others...
It's been truly wonderful...

My Happy Attic!

The world knows I work part time at Williams Sonoma... just over 2 years.... and I love it (and the discount)! It's NO secret it's NOT a profitable part time gig, I love and want just about everything in the store - and it's fun to purchase nice gifts for family and friends. But, one of my FAVORITE times is when our store wins a corporate contest and employees win STUFF... like this beautiful All-Clad 4-QT. Brushed Stainless Steel Deep Sauté Pan with Splatter Screen!!! Woo Hoo - and it retails for more than ANY of my bi-weekly pay checks too!!!

And where is it going? My attic...someday, someone may want/need it! P.S. ~ it has great company up there! 

Random Thoughts...

• Michael Douglas, while undergoing Chemo - stiIl looks damn good!

• I don't understand WHY some people do not have E-Zpass

• I'm sick of "Dancing with the Stars"

• Just make her (Sarah Palin) GO AWAY

• I want the Yankees to win again and again...

• I STILL much prefer David Letterman over Jay Leno

• Time for other states to catch on to NJ - AND pump our gas!

• My "DREAM" work week would be fit into 4 days.

• You should NOT have to hunt for your glasses to read expiration dates.

• Stop "knocking" face book when you know NOTHING about it!

Don't tell me ~ "I don't share my recipe"!!!!

A new pet peeve.  When people "won't share a recipe".  What's with that?  Are they seriously afraid you'll make it better then them? Afraid you'll market it and they won't get the credit? It always boggles my mind - why people are like that?  I have ALWAYS shared every recipe - if someone likes something - I'm proud of it and happy to share so they can make it, and if they've made a change to it or any improvement - please tell me about it - I want to know too!  Is it their ego?  It actually happens quite frequently... at first I think they are joking "I don't share this recipe".... seriously, how did you make it - then I realize - they ARE serious, they DON'T share the recipe!!!  And let's be honest... I doubt it's an original recipe, how many of your famous creations are totally original?  I don't think ANY of mine are... and I admit it! 

Rugby - Senior Year!!!

Captain's Shake Hands before start of game! 

What will we do next year when our son is no longer playing on a team sport? He LIVES for his team, keeps him disciplined, in great shape and the camaraderie with his teammates and roommates in "The Rugby House" compares to nothing.  The pirates tied Vassar yesterday, one of the best teams in the league and in 4 years, they've never had a win against them...
Yes, a win would have been better, but we'll take a tie!

 

Sad, Senseless and Tragic.

Over 600 Students Attended the prayer service tonight...

Early this morning, a Sophomore from Seton Hall University passed away from a gun shot injury...she was attending an off campus party, 1 mile from campus.  Such a senseless, tragic loss.  All because someone was not welcomed into this party returned with a gun (he was not a SHU Student).  Our son lives off campus, it's very common for upper classmen to move off campus - my heart skipped a beat when I heard about this incident.  I was on campus this morning, security was very tight - I immediately knew something was wrong.  After finding out  about this crime, I called campus security, once assured it was not his house, I finally exhaled... all those other worries I've been consumed with seemed so trivial...the fear of getting "bed bugs", wrong book ordered, stitches from Rugby...  Gene phoned me after he and his roommates attended the prayer service...I was so happy to hear his voice!    Please keep Jessica's family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.

Indian Summer ~ Blah!

"An Indian summer is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs in autumn, in the Northern Hemisphere. It is characterised by a period of sunny, warm weather, after the leaves have turned following an onset of frost, but before the first snowfall."

So.... this 88 degree weather is NOT even an Indian Summer Day... it just feels that way! Call me weird, but, I've never been a fan of Indian Summer Days... once it "starts" to feel like the fall and get cool, don't throw me a curve ball with a "hot" day...

I. Just. Don't. Like. It.

Instant Gratification!

I JUST called one of my sisters, she answer's and I hear the wind blowing...
"Sheila, Where are you"???....

"I'm on my new bike, I just bought it!
You're talking to me while riding a bike? (Come 'on ~  does that NOT sound more dangerous then driving a car)?
Yeah?? Why not??  I love it, it's so pretty, it's yellow and blue - hey, hold on, I'll take a picture and send it to you.
Wah Lah...

In less then 1 minute...it pop's up on my computer....
Who would have ever thought???  Gone are the days of anticipating and waiting for our "pictures to be ready"...

Talk about instant gratification!!!

And... I love it, too!

Fall is in the air!

Official signs of Fall to me...

Cinnamon brooms for sale... (smell them first)

NY Giants on TV (Happy Husband)...

Nothing smells better than a turkey breast in the oven!!

 

Getting dark early... (I love it) 

And, of course... Seton Hall Rugby... Go Pirates... Go Gene!!!

 

"Made in China"

Bought at Staples... Why is it that everything is "made in China"???

Two, too many!

Chocolate Martini!

My favorite "last call drink"... why didn't I stop at ONE...

Two, too many last night...so smooth going down!!!
But, with GREAT company it's so much fun...
Note to self: Don't do it the night before you have a BIG day and interviewing 5 students bright and early!

What's your favorite "night cap"???

I know... So Cliché

Subtle Changes. A turning point summer... my 22 year old showed significant signs of "growing up"... he's leaving to go back to school, his senior year - we'll miss him at home. We've been through this before, and it's always hard for me at first, I'm not GREAT on transition... I know when the back door shuts in a few days it will be quiet, no more sandy feet walking into the house, no more wet towels on his bed, no more empty juice cartons in the fridge and a lot less laundry... how did these college years go so quickly... I know... So Cliché

Sarah's off to college!!!

Another niece is off to college! So excited for Sarah, she is going to her dream school, Catholic University in the heart of Washington, DC!

One of my favorite pictures of Sarah when she was younger!

We can't wait to hear all about it... such an exciting time for you... we'll miss you a lot... glad DC is only a train ride away!!

Note to Self...

Thank-You Self...and Sally!  Last year at the end of a massive painting project I FORCED myself to thoroughly clean the rollers, brushes, pans, etc. This year, as I'm about to venture painting our guest room, I was SO pleasantly surprised when I went into our paint cabinet and found EVERYTHING I need... all I have to purchase are the paint and some blue trim tape! Note to self: "do it again" and thank-you Sally, who encouraged me to clean it well last year... "wow, it works"!!!

Thank You - Harry!!!

Everyone needs a "Harry"....

Gene and my Mom as we were loading Harry's truck!

Not only is Harry an amazing long time friend...he's the most reliable, honest, good guy you'll know... What you see is what you get. Always ready to help, never trying to take "a shortcut"... and with an amazing attitude and style. We were moving things from my sister's yesterday, a few stops - as Harry was humming the tune to "Sanford and Sons" we just kept piling it on... This is a bitter sweet move for everyone - the "party" house is leaving the family - times change, grateful for wonderful memories - a new chapter (another blog topic) ~  But a special thank you to Harry, not only for helping us yesterday but for always being there... physically, emotionally, intellectually!  Harry - usually the first to arrive and the last to leave a party ~ always ready for a good time too!!! 

Support your local farmer's market!!

I've heard about it, but stopped today when I passed it... what a gem, and practically in our back yard..(Ramsey, NJ)  After all we ARE the Garden State... freshly picked corn, tomatoes, beets, etc. The Pickle Man, fresh mozzarella, locally grown flowers (zinnias... so summery)... Breads from a local bakery,  honey, salsa's, pies, health care awareness booths... what a pleasure! Sometimes the best finds and bets are closer then you may think... I'll be back next Sunday - I love to support local merchants, farmers, etc!

http://susanssunnyside.blogspot.com/

Maggie, My Niece Now Certified in Traditional and Wilderness Medicine!

Know of an adventurous teen? I've been following Maggie's Blog for the past few weeks while she is in Belize... she left and met with a group of 10 other teens, none of them knew each other... they all do now! Sounds like the trip of a lifetime, not for everyone... can't wait to hear all about it when she comes home this weekend...
Sharing a few of many photos... if interested - read up on them and their journey in the attached link!

Broadreach Summer Adventures for Teenagers 

Congratulations to all the WFR Graduates!!!