Hands off my Toblerone!

If you walk around our house on Christmas Day you will find Toblerones hidden in different select areas. That's so that no one confuses whose Toblerone is whose and believe me, we know!
Mine is usually gone either before or after breakfast.
These stocking stuffers have been a part of the family ever since my family lived in the Azores and mom saw them in the store on base.
When she came back to the states, she was always able to find select stores that would sell them. For about the past ten years or so, you can pretty much find them everywhere.
But in our house, they shall forevermore remain an annual novelty!

Raman for Christmas

So, my brother, Steven, and his family came up north to mom's for Christmas.
Sadly, my four year old nephew promptly got sick. He threw up for over 15 hours which landed him a visit to the Gaylord ER. Poor guy! The next day, my niece got sick.
This led to us all feeling terrible for them and having the conversation about who had or had not been sick on Christmas in the family. To which I said, "I've never been sick on Christmas", and yes there was a touch of pride in my voice when I said it.
Christmas Eve rolled around with best wishes for us all to be able to celebrate the next day together. Not so!
I got sick all through the night and woke up to my mom being sick and unable to get out of bed the entire day. That afternoon my brother got sick.
The only one who managed to not get sick was Bethanne, my sister-in-law. She "says" she did feel pretty queasy at times.......yeah, whatever!
And so began the raman, tea and toast for Christmas. Ever so sadly, the roast got put into the freezer for another day. The next few days were bananas, crackers, pudding, jello and you guessed it, more raman.
I know....... jealous aren't ya?

Merry Christmas!

OK, so I'm a few days late, but then again, that's all in the perspective of when Christmas was actually celebrated. And in our house, that was last night. After a lengthy four days, we were all able to enjoy together the long awaited prime rib & mashed potatoes complete with dessert while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Girard & Ella

I made Girard and Ella for MiAnna & Andre Ross, my niece and nephew.
I really liked making the stuffed animals a lot
and I think I'll try my hand at a few more.
I fell in love with these guys,
but it was more fun seeing them go to their new owners
where I know they will be cared for more enthusiastically ;o)

Meet Room 42!

JeremyZelner

Alfonso

Jalal

Desmond

Darryl

Jamaica

Brittany

Marie

Kabira

Jasmine

Camille

Let's Support Our Own

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ud1Bk3Ns-E

This seems familiar......

We've been taken over by the state and our superintendent is out.
What's new? Been there, done that.
What will it take for a real change to be accomplished?

http://www.wxyz.com/news/story/Calloway-Fired-as-DPS-Superintendent/wdFH3vPuZ0Ogr617I027Fg.cspx

Same Old, Same Old

Ever get tired of being in the same spot?
I think Otto is a bit bored and perhaps, slightly frustrated.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3328480/Otto-the-octopus-wrecks-havoc.html

(I 1st heard about this story on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/ which is one of my favorite podcasts.)

Out with the Old, In with the New

I finished the Dresser!
Off went the shellac, which didn't come off without a fight and made for some extra sanding. I used Jacobean stain and finished it off with satin polyurethane. I'm very happy with the finished product. Taking my clothes out of the rubbermaid and putting them back in the dresser was a definite highlight.

Here's Hoping...

Teachers live for snow days.

So, they predict snow and my thoughts turn to:
"I hope we get at least 4 inches and that the snow hits in the middle of the night so the plows won't have a chance to catch up to it all".
Then I start to make a mental list of all the things I could do with a free day....

Then I go to bed and check out the window. There's nothing.
In the middle of the night I have to go to the bathroom and I check out the window again. There's nothing.

I'm still completely hopeful even so.

Wake up, look out the window and, you guessed it, there's only a dusting. If you can call it that.
Complete disappointment. I wish I were up north.
Once again, everywhere but the Metro Detroit area got lots of snow. Boo Hiss.

But, a glimmer of hope exists. We might get snow on Thursday........