Wednesday, December 24, 2008

christmas eve

Corner of our home. I'm thrilled with the tree this year. I *slathered* this small tree with lights. It's been snowing and snowing. We've had no mail delivery for days now. What happened to the USPS motto of rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night...what are the words? Anyway, what's up with that? No mail? And um, we have equally important bills and Christmas cards to get out (and receive). Sigh.
This shot from when I finished wrapping the lights all around.
There's already another couple of inches of snow on top of this. The roads are so washboardy out there. We are traveling as little as possible.
Projects are being slowly completed about the house. Finished re-doing the couch pillows (my goodness but the ones that came with the couch were *hideous*), you can catch a glimpse of the new and improved ones in the photo of the ornamented tree up top. A couple of Santa hats for LM. Unraveling thrift store sweaters (mom has been helping a lot with that). Knitting Christmas gifts. Sewing Christmas gifts. Knocking the snow off all the trees and shrubs to keep the branches from breaking under all that weight. Reading lots of stories aloud. Drinking cup after cup of hot lattes (decaf). I so am going to be more on top of this handmade Holiday next year. :)
Very disappointed in Obama's choice of Rick Warren as invocation minister. He's the kind of guy who would have spoken against interracial marriage 40-50 years ago too. He's just not the compassionate guy I hope for in a pastor (or you know, a random human).

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

100 thankful things

so i've only seen this on sproutgirl's blog, however, she says it's floating around the blogworld (i'm sure it's true, maybe you've seen it elsewhere, and maybe one day i will too). i too am joining in that list! 100 is the norm, but others have detoured & done their own thing of course. you are inevitably supposed to tag, i'm not going to this time, but if you do it, please comment and link to your list, i love lists (who doesn't?)
~little man
~c
~my family
~my in-laws
~baby's first christmas photo cards i picked up this morning
~artfest
~flickr
~hymn sings
~npr
~podcasts
~trader joe's
~pcc
~the tolt pipeline
~paper (all kinds, beautiful scrapbooking designs, vintage ledger, wrapping...)
~yarn (all natural kinds, especially good deals at yard sales and thrift stores)
~estate sales
~filtered water
~my stainless steel water bottle
~steno pads
~painting
~michael's 40% off coupons
~ravelry
~ribbons
~our new washer & dryer (we're doing a lot of laundry around here these days)
~nov. 4, 2008
~berkeley's gourmet ghetto (especially the cheeseboard & cesar's)
~canoeing
~swimming
~glitter
~bird art
~nests & nesting
~christmas
~fresh snow fall
~the colour of autumn leaves
~the public library (within walking distance)
~good friends
~art days
~advent calendars
~recycling wool sweaters
~dyeing my own yarn
~Half Moon Bay
~friends vacation homes
~BBQing
~Third Place Books, Powell's & other awesome independent bookstores
~garage door opener
~canvas bags
~a winning lottery ticket ($50 4 years ago when we really needed $50, the ticket was a Christmas gift)
~little man's fuzzy head nestled just under my chin when he sleeps
~long walks/hikes with c, solving the world's problems, planning meals, just connecting
~a gas fireplace
~Winter Wineland
~white Christmas lights
~baby monitors
~staying up late making art
~sunsets
~sunrises
~the mist coming of the water
~concerts in the park
~bartering for stoles
~East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use (oh, how I miss you!)

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die


~king babar (and queen celeste - we need to find a queen celeste stuffie, E has two king babar stuffies, they need their mates)
~hanna andersson outlet
~lucy neatby knitting DVDs
~netflix
~6 hours of sleep in a row (i remember them fondly)
~old-fashioned popcorn with butter & salt
~our kitchen
~an outdoor bonfire
~tidepools
~golden paints
~eggnog latte with nutmeg
~my sewing machine
~creating stuffies
~clear containers
~a good haircut
~a good movie theatre seat
~nap on a thick patch of green grass
~hulu for my MSNBC fix
~Redmond Farmer's Market (San Mateo's I miss, especially the Kung Pao Tofu)
~handwritten letters and little goodie boxes
~bandanas as bibs
~morning pages (The Artist's Way - haven't practiced this for a while)
~self-serve mailing stations at the Post Office
~Pacific School of Religion
~Anne LaMott
~freshly painted walls
~the soft shade of the walls in our dining, living room, kitchen & entry way.
~small pieces of art nestled in the larger pieces
~mountain views
~Japanese dollar stores
~magazines (especially Martha Stewart, Oprah, Home Companion, Cloth, Paper, Scissors, Art Jewelry, Sunset, Dwell, any Somerset Studio)
~the silk scraps I picked up at East Bay Depot a couple of years ago