Merry Christmas

Merry to all

Off to midnight mass at the Mission at Santa Clara to enjoy the music and come out blessed ro the misty morn and appreciate the silent night and the lights...a spiritual momentthen I have an invitation to Caro's for dinner.

I'm making scallaped potatoes, macarroni and cheese and ham with pineapple in brown sugar and butter; along with yeast rolls. YUM!

Twas the night before Christmas

I need a lanyard for my glasses and the remote control.

Monterey

Caro and I drove down to Monterey about an hour 's drive s. It was clear and a nice day. It sure was dark by 5 though. Dinner was nothing spectacular.
Iy was a beautiful clear night.

We stopped in at Goodwill. It depressed me. Caro found some bargins including a platter from Italy.

For dinner Caro had lamb with fingerling potatoes. I had scallops and risotto. She had a gran manier souffle for dessert and I had creme brulee. She started with crab cakes and I got something....

What I remember is the great Cosmopolitan. Thank you Michael and Bob.

We walked afterwards on the pier. They couldn't five away their clab chowder the place was dead.

I am so glad I am not traveling in the snow and weather. I wanted to be there but given the delays this is not a good week.

I got my retirement papers. On my birthday I hit the magic number. In June I will be vested. It's nice to know you get a certain amount per month for life.

Baking

At the potluck no one ate my cake. Maybe it was the persimmons vs. carrots. I didn't want to make it. There was not the same type of good this time as around Halloween. Every one's too busy and too tired. Too many sweets.

Someone gives a gift and you feel obligated to bake something for them. Why? I appreciate getting the chocolate camel bark with nuts from Ann but I don't want to bake for her and the secretaries and so forth....

I think the kuds stole the candy when they cleaned out my car along with some money.
Do they want that sugar? There is cranberry bread....but cranberries are out of season. i made 2 more more for me on New Year/s morning.


I thought to make lemon bars, a recipe from a blog I follow from Spain..the problem is the measurements need to be converted.
Tomorrow I'm at a conference all day.

My aide played hooky on his 6th day of work and called in sick on a day when he had a meeting to do training to work on his school assignments. I think.

I'm off tomorrow to the DRC to work on the District library plan. I have a sub.

I'm on it off I go to bake...again.

I got a refund today

Not all of my Teen Read Week Books have been refunded, but over 6-700.00 which is a start.

I still haven't turned the heat on and I didn't last year either but it's been so cold that it kicks on at 55. I'm wrapped under a king size down comforter from the moment I come home and wear a fleece jacket over my nightgown. I've got bed sock's and slippers.

Tomorrow is a potluck at school. I think I'm making something with permissons or pomigranetes. or this salad I like a lot with Romaine, blue cheese crutons, pine nuts, and cranberries dried on top.

Happy Birthday to me

The kids are out cleaning out my car which means I will have everything in boxes and never know where anything is. But at least they wanted to do something or get out of being my TA for a period.
Yesterday was too rainy to drive all the way to Monterey for dinner so we put it off for another day and today I'm feeling left out and put off. Mary Helen sent me a card as she always does and Marilyn sent me a scarf and hat she either knit or crocheted. I can't tell the difference.

I decided I'm doing to pack up a poncho Mom knit, a suit and send them to Gwen. I'm not sure they will fit her but they did me for awhile when I was size 8. I wish I still had her knitting bag, There were counters and patterns and needles galore. I used to want her to knit me Navy blue sweaters and she did royal blue and gold and a navy ear cover and mittens. Little did I appreciate how difficult it is to see the little stuff at 55! I used to laugh when she wanted me to thread a needle. I also have a sweater I bought for Gwen in Italy to send on to Clare. That's my playing it forward.

A good thing happened this morning even though I left the raspberries and blueberries on the counter, I found my glasses. I heard a clunk around 6:30 before Lacey and I unsnuggled. I figured it was my glasses that were on the pillow. I couldn't find them this morning once I started looking so I started going through glass cases and found my lost glasses hanging out in a case. I don't remember putting them there. Good news. The old prescription wasn't doing it for me.

I think I'll stop by Il Fornaio tonight on the way home to pick up some risotto. It's cold and rainy out.

What was happenening in 1953...
Eisenhower was President
GE promised to fire all Communist employees!
Here to Eternity was the best film
Audrey Hepburn won Best Actress for Roman Holiday
a gallon of milk was .94 not 3.83!
a gallon of gas was.22 I remember .29! and now is 1.70
A new auto $1,850.00 not 23,225 or more...
a new house was 17,400.00 now it's 500,00.00 and falling
lets not talk about the dow jones....

Cold here means 40's....but dropping this week. My blood has thinned.

so cold

I had a hat and gloves on at the farmer's market. I must get the down too.. fleese isn't enought today. With the rain moisture in the it it penetrates. Burrrrrrr!!

Time to make my carrot birthday cake.

The Christmas party

At 4 or so I drove over to Eric's house and as he prepped the outside fire pit I talked with 2 of the English teachers. One just got married. It turns out they are all related sorta. Carl married Jill's sister. Susan just married someones brother in law...too close. The all work in the sa,e school and live close to one another.
They were amazed I was here with all my family ON the East coast.

With staff dues we paid for 2 guys to cook and prepare tacos. Now these are authentic. grilled carne asada, pork and chicken. then grilled chicken and onions, tiny grilled tortillas and add lime, cilantro, onion, salsa or salsa verde... too hot for me, and radishes. There was rice and beans too. Yum. There were lots of left overs since I helped clean up, and I got to take some home which fed me today..along with sour svream and avocado. There were tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole, veggies and dip. Afterwards, there were 2 trays of cookies. 400 dollars

No potluck yeah!

The white elephant was fun. There was a color printer and a foot soaker and I got a girls gone wild t shirt. There was this huge coconut size fruit prickly that smells and tastes terrible. Like last year I was no. 1.

I stayed about 4 hrs.

It was cold. The doors were open. Outside there was a firepit. There were 34-40 people there.

U got home by 9 or so and slept in till 1

The heater kicked on no more 20 dollar gas bills. One that came today was 19. gas and 12 electric. Mt heat doesn't go on till it drops to 55 inside. I've been under a down comforter with Lacey on top of me all day. I finished my book and napped.

Lacey on my lap is a new behavior for her.

Holiday party

It was warm 40 -69 today...

This afternoon, starting at 4 our Christmas party starts. I forgot the candle and the food for the food barrel and am stopping at Safeway to get a live crab and will shread newspaper and put it in a cardboard box. I almost forgot the whole thing like I did bowling night.

The kids are flocking in to get books and I am really glad because I need those circulation numbers up. Next year I'll write a grant so the teachers can read the books over summer vacation. Teen read week can then be held before Thanksgiving.

Things I'm Thankful for:

I got my new library assistant Ramses on Wed.
Teen Read Week is over and the kids are coming in to get books and are excited.
My circ. statistics are up.
I have a parent volunteer! She is great! They both are Spanish speakers.
I'm defrosting the refrigerator in the library.
I made butternut squash ravoli with Alfredo sauce last nice and shrimp scampi.
Lacey snuggles
Carolina
Marilyn
Kim

I can see my breath in the morning

Not that I've ever burned anything but a gas log in 30 years but...The Bay Area Air District has issued a Winter Spare the Air Alert for Wednesday, December 10, which bans wood burning both indoors and outdoors through noon tomorrow.

Air quality in the Bay Area is forecast to be unhealthy. It is illegal for Bay Area residents and businesses to burn wood in fireplaces, wood stoves and inserts, pellet stoves, and outdoor fire-pits. This wood-burning ban will be in effect for Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southern Sonoma and southwestern Solano Counties.

Winter air pollution is mainly caused by small particle pollution or particulate matter (PM) from wood smoke. Smoke from wood-burning fires is linked to illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and lung disease, and is especially harmful for children and the elderly.

For more information about the wood burning rule, or to check before you burn, visit www.sparetheair.org or call 1-877-4-NO-BURN. Any one else experiencing this in their area?

It's 39 in the morning and 60 in the afternoon. I hear VA is in the &)'s today. What crazy weather. This weekend it's suposted to be rainy and cold. My least favorite type of weather.

I'm on my way to the district give away and then at 7 a PTA meeting...my first to ask for help on my book sale in Jan.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

I sendt off my musical Christmas cards to Clare with Dora saying Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas and Sesame Street Elmo for Wesley talking and giggling enough to make Gwen and Mario cringe. I even bought a few Christmas stamps but that's the end of Christmas puerchasing and mailing. Fa La La La LA LA la la LA.

Mary Helen send me this parable:

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession :

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.


My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,


Ben Stein


=

Today I went to the back docror

The leaves are falling...it's shirt and sweater weather. The mornings are cool.

She ordered another MRI and suggested perhaps I have a lower disc problem.

It was a more laid back day, Last week was so busy.

I took my Bar Mitzvah outfit back to the store. The mall didn't seem too crowded.

I want to stay out of it. No more shopping for me. It's a meager year.

I need to scan some documents into the computer this week. It requires me going over to the tech center and getting some help. Let me put it under thinhs I need to do cut don't want to....another one.

I made stuffed peppers. The red peppers were sweet. I can see why people take the skin off but I can't be bothered and it doesn't make that much difference to me.

Caro and I are going to see Christmas in the park and driving down to Monterey on Sunday for dinner to Fresh Cream. see freshcream.com

Pearl Harbor Day

I remember taking a launch out to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. You couldn't help but be moved. There was still oil seeping out...eerie... Now its 55 years later.

Living in HI Christmas trees and groceries were expensive. For the past 2 years I had a tiny one. This year I don't think so. I had the little ones in my room and 2 times I cut a limb off my blue spruce in the front yard and had my designer version.

Sift surroundings sends me a 20 dollar birthday coupon that needs to be used by 12/31 so I bought another pair of tencel pants...black this time. I just can't find my other pair of jeans and they were a major part of my wardrobe. They also have these bed socks I love. I do well with this company. I did send back a sweater and a pair of white silk pants. You can see through then. The black I have are fine.

I have 2 wreaths up and 2 baskets out, but that's it.

I got the Patricia Cornwell book

Scarpetta

.

I filled up for 11.00 today.

I go to the back dr. tomorrow.

Cat snuggle

Lacey, my cat snuggles up next to me for warmth but doesn't like to be picked ip pr held and takes off of she see's you coming. I wanted to pick her up when she decided to walk on my laptop keyboard. Like covers, she dug her keys in and popped the u and i key off the keyboard. i found them this morning.
I managed to put the i key back on. Now to repeat when I find the u key again.
I only type on my stomach in my bed. So it's got to be nearby.

I got up at 9 and made breakfast, then came back to bed to bed and read napping until 4.

My bills are doe for all the presents i bought for me. While shipping was still free I got a nightgown from Land's end. I also got some pants, olive tencel and a cream warm snugly sweater from soft surroundings.com. I got 2 blouses from them too one rose and one green tencel and another blue and a denim skirt from coldwatercreek.com.

I need to return the skirt and top I bought for the Jan Bar mitzvah in Charlotte. I can't afford to go. The flights cost 50k miles and i only have 32.

I really wanted to go to the progressive supper in Charleston on the 23rd too. In all the old inn's there were appetizers then a carriage ride to the inn for a 3 course dinner and another ride for dessert and tea. I love these old buildings like in Alexandria in candlelight.

I went to Christmas in the Adobes here in Monterey. It was foggy which added to the ambiance of the old inn's and the decents in period costumes. Thank goodness there was hor cider and hot chocolate.
One year I WENT TO ALL THE BED AND BREAKFAST Victorians. I like PACIFIC Grove.

On my almost birthday, my friend Caro are going for dinner to a place there called sweet cream. yum.................

oops... I forgot Lacey's shots. oh well next week........she won't mind.

It's been a hard week.

Books are still arriving. Ir's been hard to do it all without an assistant,

Now I'm missing 2 keys on my laptop.

I'm glad gas is below 190.

I paid my property tax...1500.

I hung wreaths on the doors tonight.

Teen Read Week in progress

I am so tired. I got everyone scheduled and have given so many book talks I am dead on my feet.

The mayor, other librarians, superintendent, city librarian and the real author of Vampire High, a guy I worked with at biblioteca came.

He was super. He usually charges 3400. a visit.

Kids are checking out books. If they don't go up, I go.

It doesn't help that the books came late.

Make a birthday cake for one of my TA's last night.

I went for an eye exam today. My prescription hasn't changed since last year. I can't find my latest pair of 450 dollar glasses and new frames don't get covered until Oct.

I could get contacts.

I don't have the patience.