Christmas was here! The children were all snuggled in their beds, and then Santa came! No toys to put together this year...just lots of "stuff". The kids get bigger and the presents get smaller; Ipods, Nintendo Wii, Wii games, DVD's, CD's and the like. They take up alot less room than the toys, but boy are they more expensive. Here is my mom at our annual Christmas Eve dinner. My whole family was here as well as my wonderful mother in law in from Albuquerque New Mexico. The menu consisted of Southern stuffed ham, potatoes, roast beef, jello salad (you gotta have it, you know), my famous ceaser salad and of course, cookies.

Here is some of the gang out on the back porch. There is Ted (married to sister Erin), sister in law Kim, Dane the spouse, Brant (married to sister Megan), Chris my brother (Kim's husband) and family friend, Brian. This represents just a small portion of who was there, and we all had a wonderful time with each other.
More pictures coming...my computer takes forever to upload. Merry Christmas to all my friends!

Ok--So I hit the wrong button and the blog posted before I could finish...those pictures you see at the end of the previous post are my two beautiful daughters baking for me. Mary, the older one, LOVES to bake and is good at it...I'll have to share her recipe for "Christmas Crunch". Delia, the younger is a wonderful help as well. You can see by the ingredients that we have alot of baking to do. We love it...I love it, especially since I now have kids that can do it...
Merry merry my friends!!!!!!!!!

A much happier blog post today. Not that things have changed all that much...well, I guess we are now "hopeful". He (the spouse) came home Tuesday and said that after thinking about it, he realized how badly I had been feeling and that he would do ANYTHING to make the situation better. Even "change", I said...to which he responded..."yep, even that". Of course saying it and doing it are two different things...but for now I'll take the stop gap measure and see where it leads. OK--so on to the CHRISTMAS BLOG!
Here is one of my Dept. 56 houses...its Ralphie's house from "A Christmas story". See the leg lamp in the window. I found these a couple of years ago and just love them. In addition to Ralphie's house I have the Cleveland School, Higbees and the Chop Suey Palace (you rememeber: "Its Smiling at me!")

Then there are the trees. The fiber optic tree in the bathroom which is kinda hypnotic if truth be told. Sometimes I just go in and stare at it. A definite sign that I am losing it.

Then there is the "official" tree which to me looks more like a bush. I do not go on this foray to get the tree--that is not the tradition in our family. I stay home, make dinner and get all the trimmings ready. I keep telling my family--tall and thin, guys, tall and thin. They always come back with short and fat, short and fat. Then there is the annual argument over the tree topper. I would like an angel or a star even...but NOOOO, every year the kids take down that beautiful angel and up goes the miniature Broncos helmet. There have actually been tears about this. You can see that I have artfully placed angels around the helmet, but somehow I still think the message has been skewed. Oh well, pick your battles that's what I say.


Then there is the feather tree that sits on top of the piano. This is another "find" and the ornaments were last year's after Christmas 80% off at our local Christmas store.
Then there is the trees that are around the mirror on the mantle. The golden one I got at a local thrift shop--for $1--gotta love it. The other is an oldie but a goodie, filled with those Natalie Silitch angels that I love. Speaking of Natalie Silitch, she did a thing at the White House for Laura Bush and 20 of her closest friends. They are unique and folk-arty and very festive. Yep, you guessed it...make up roses. I will be firm in my decision to re-negotiate my marriage contract, flowers or no...they are pretty though, aren't they. This is my desk with all my magazines and wishlists.

SO, does anyone out there know a good divorce attorney??

Ok, so that isn't the most joyous of blog titles. But is sure is how I feel and not the "I am just so spitting angry at my spouse that I am sick and tired of it" kind of feeling...no, its the "I really pretty much feel like crap most of the time, and I've tried to tell him what is going on and he has flat out stated that its all me and he's NEVER going to change and this is your life" kind of feeling. So how did this all start...well not sure about that but I can sure tell you when it ended. That would be last night driving home from a friend's house when I (stupidly) brought up (again) the fact that he (the spouse) never does ANYTHING to help with Christmas. This spouse feels that its all unnecessary and therefore I should have NO expectations from him. He went on to further state that he doesn't care if we even have decorations or a tree. He actually gets angry about it and when you try to tell him how you feel, he pretty much tells you that your feelings are wrong.

Ok, so that is pretty much it. When I tried to tell him that I feel very disregarded, his response was to be shocked. "Huh?" I believe was his response. When I cited specific examples he pretty much intimated that I was making it up. So, at the end of the "discussion" he stated unequivocally that he was not going to change, wouldn't even consider changing and that as far as he was concerned life was perfect. I still cannot figure that out. How can one person be fine and the other completely devastated. So, what to do now? Pretty much I guess I have to figure this out for myself. Of course we have younger kids and that makes things even more difficult. I guess its a good thing to truly know where your spouse is coming from....it certainly makes certain things easier, but other things that much harder.

Ok, so that's the depressing blog for the day...........pray for me out there in cyber space...I sure need it now!

So sorry, its been over a week. I have been busy, as I assume you all are with Christmas and all the attending festivities. I just LOVE this time of year...really I do! I spent all weekend at the Springhill CFD Designer Show House. I was the docent at the main door. The house was just beautiful and the room were incredible. I came home with alot of ideas and started re-arranging furniture right then and there. Of course, my house still doesn't look like a designer walked in and decorated, but it looks a little fresher.

Saturday night was the Annapolis Parade of Lights. This is for all those boaters to decorate their boats and coast around City Dock. We were at my friend's house which is right downtown and we had a perfect view of everything. Of course, like a idiot, I did not take my camera (still a newbie at this blog stuff--you gotta carry that camera EVERYWHERE!) I know someone who did, so here are some pictures of that. Check out her web page: www.dropshots.com/usna2010

In the meantime, I have been knitting.....Christmas knitting that is...here is a hat being blocked. I am making two of these for my daughter and her best friend. The star will be appliqued to the front of the hat. The other hat will have a yellow stripe with the orange star. These knit up fast and the pattern is easy...got it from Knitting Central in Connecticut. I had trouble with one spot and called the shop. The nice lady walked me through everything...now that's customer service.

Will post later...going to give blood. Give if you can.......they really need it.

Christmas is coming...check out these vintage cardboard houses I found while "antiquing" on the Eastern shore of Maryland. I went to several antique stores and eventually found these at a Salvation Army thrift shop for.....$1.oo apiece. Isn't that great---I love when I can find a deal like this. They were all spread out in the store so I had to go through a lot of, what I shall call, "stuff" to get to these treasures. Last year in Martha Stewart Living, she had an entire article devoted to these heirlooms. I am so happy they have found a home with me and I think they look beautiful on my mantle. Calling on all green thumbs...here is my fern brought in from its home on the screened porch to my living room--so we have gas forced air heat..and that means..yep, you guessed, very dry air. I have set up a humidifier near the plant and am hoping that this will help. I REALLY want it to survive the winter. Its so BIG--does anyone have any advice about what to do?



Just finished our Fall Production this past weekend. My son was in the show and gave out awards which were pretty funny. This was his first high school show and I think he really like it, even with his mom being the Director.

He was hilarious!

I guess I should get my ducks in a row here. So, I have been planning some Christmas knitting. Not a ton this year. So I have these Star hats for my daughter and her friend. They "disapproved" of the colors I picked out (a beautiful eggplant color with deep green accent) and instead picked these colors. Its all about them, right! Then there is the baby hat I have been "commissioned" to make for a friend's new grandchild. They call this baby the "bean" and so I will adapt this pattern for the little one...will post as that comes along.

And lastly there is the Mason Dixon Knit-a-long which I joined. Its all dishcloths and so much fun...just perfect for those with attention disorders....in the meantime, I am just letting my fingers do the walking with Christmas shopping, clicking away at the computer. However, I was just outbid on the Nintendo Wii system for my kids...yikes. Gotta go get that thing....HELP!

Hope all is well with everyone. Please keep Ben's family in your thoughts and prayers. As well as praying for all those who are in harms way.