Hasta la vista!

We are off for the next ten days to Tucson, for some family time, some golf and some tamales. May I wish you all in advance a very happy New Year. See you in 2007!

Merry Christmas

A foggy Christmas morning. Lots of presents and even more love. The boys are here, and seem happy with their gifts. Grant spoiled me like crazy and I tried to spoil him in return. Yes, I did give him underwear, but he really wanted some. Later today, we will go over to my sister-on-law's for Christmas dinner. My yams with pecan topping and Grand Marnier were specially requested. In two days, we're off to Arizona for more presents and more love. And probably some tears and drama, but that's part of Christmas too.

Hope your holiday is everything you hoped for. With love from me and mine to you and yours.

We are not crafty people

But we are surrounded at every turn by those who knit, who quill, who aspire to be Martha's bitch. The pressure is enormous.

So now, I say to you "Ha!"

Yes, you heard me right-- "Ha!"

We made scented candles yesterday: French Vanilla, to be exact. In attractive containers. All by ourselves. Take that, crafty people!

Next, we conquer the world of bath salts. Bwahahaha!

End of the Year Meme

Borrowed from Hugo

1) Harken back to your archives.
2) Collect the first sentence you wrote every month for the whole year.
3) Entertain us.


January
We arrived in Kailuum just at sunset, exhausted and a little nervous about what we would find.

February
A year ago, Grant and I started the South Beach diet.

March
Luckily it wasn't in front of my students, but it was pretty touch and go for a bit.

April
About a week ago, I opened my mailbox to see one of those keys that tells me I have a package waiting.

May
I can't sing anymore.

June
I am Anne Boleyn

July
Actual post to come, but for now we are off to the boat for the next few days!!

August
After the heat and bustle of Rome, we looked forward to Rimini, a resort on the Adriatic coast.

September
I could not get to sleep last night until nearly 5 am.

October
Well, as you can see, I chose not to participate in the October Blogfest.

November
For those of you wondering which chili heating option I chose...I heat it in a pan.

December
Well, not me.

In my opinion

Lime jello is simply the best flavour of jello. No other jello even comes close.



Well, maybe lemon.

Traditions

As much as I admire those who do a special theme or designer tree each year, I freely admit--not for me. I am all about pulling out the same old ornaments year after year. My Christmas tradition is deeply rooted in my family's tradition. The tree was loaded with ornaments of every size and shape; the Austrian blown glass nestled next to the plastic painted disk my sister created in Kindergarten. The tree itself was artificial. Not just artifictial; it featured giant flocked needles that no real fir tree every imagined. But I loved it.

My own tree is a green tree. I opted for artificial several years ago, when my allergies got the better of me. I covet one of the trees like my friend Marsh has, but I am happy with the tree we bought at Walmart when I first came to Canada. I don't shop at Walmart anymore, for various reasons, but they do have nice artifical trees. Even if they do treat their employees more like indentured servants than free people.

This year, a few ornaments missed the Christmas tree cut, but generally, every thing in the box goes on the tree. Last year, I got a bit stressed with the responsibility of finding a place for each and every single ornament I have accumulated and I started purging. But, I still have most of the purged ornaments packed away. I suspect a second tree in somewhere in my future.

The picture doesn't do my beautiful tree justice. You should really come and see it in person.

An Accidental Haven

As part our fall cleanup, Grant and I ended up rearranging our bedroom. I had been vaguely wanting to do something with that room for quite a while, but as we were limited in how we could arrange our furniture, I didn't pursue it. But the acquisition of a new television and stand for our living room necessitated that we move our pine armoire...somewhere.

For an armoire, it's not all that large, but getting it downstairs to the basement proved impossible. My stepson happily volunteered to take it to his room over at his mother's, but I found myself oddly reluctant to let this piece of furniture go. We lugged it upstairs and put it in the spare bedroom. And I pondered.

I finally suggested to Grant that if we tried by putting the head of the bed across the corner, we might make enough room for the armoire. So we did.

Here is the result.





I find this arrangement deeply satisfying. I enjoy spending time in my bedroom now (aside from the usual time I spend sleeping and in other activities). In fact, I like it so much that I have convinced Grant that we need a new television for the bedroom. I envision much DVD watching while snuggled in my quilt.

My friends, The Bears, may also notice another addition to my bedroom.

The large Bear in the middle is B.B. Bear, the smaller one is Troy Bear and the third one is simply Monkey. (Monkey came with Grant, but when I asked what his name was, Grant couldn't actually remember. So we asked the monkey. He thought we were pretty dumb.) I am sorry to say that in the past, they spent nearly all their time on the bottom of the comforter rack that stands in the corner. But now they have a new home and lots of DVDs to watch while Grant and I are at work!

Even Lucy seems to like it better now. She keeps sneaking upstairs to take naps.

Things we can count on

While Christmas shopping,

• You will always find terrific things to buy...for yourself
  
• As soon as you purchase a gift for someone, everything else you see in the store will be perfect...for that someone
  
• You will make it all the way out to the car before remembering that you meant to buy new wrapping paper
  
• Somebody's version of Winter Wonderland will be playing

Please feel free to add to the list. I suspect it will evolve throughout the season.

Now if the aliens would only burst into song...

I finally got around to spending the Amazon gift certificate that my sister sent me for my birthday. My presents arrived today: Battlestar Galactica 2.5 and the Wicked original cast album.

My inner sci-fi and Broadway geeks are very happy.

And it's a lovely shade of green, too!

In other food news, in addition to last night's chile verde, I made lime jello. I haven't made jello in years. No, seriously, I think I was still in high school. I imagine I put some sort of fruit in it back then, but currently I am a purist.

At any rate, I find myself completely charmed by the way it delicately jiggles everytime I open the refrigerator door.

It tastes yummy, too.

Sunday dinner

I had forgotten how nice it is to have people over for dinner. We haven't done any kind of entertaining in what seems like a million years...I'm not really sure why. It certainly isn't like my old days back in San Francisco, when on any given Sunday, at the drop of a phone call, I would suddenly have a crowd in my house. Each would supply some kind of side dish or beverage while I usually was in charge of the main dish. We would eat heartily, imbibe much alcohol and play games all night long.

We had Grant's colleague over tonight, along with her husband. Theoretically, we were wrapping up some business having to do with the election, but I suggested they come for dinner. She acquiesced, but only on the understanding that I would not make it a big deal. Well, I didn't exactly.

I made Chile Verde (aka Green Chile Stew). When I roasted the peppers, the dog fled the scene, undoubtedly convinced I was setting the house afire. I chopped and diced and then cooked it all for nearly 5 hours. Served it up with flour tortillas and green salad. It was gooooooood.

So was the company. I should really make a point of doing this more often.

Here is the recipe for those of you who are drooling just about now. It is from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American:

Ingredients:
3 pounds boneless pork, cubed(1/2-inch pieces)
3 tablespoons peanut oil
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, diced
7 green chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Chicken soup stock OR canned broth OR water to cover(not bouillon)
Salt to taste
Salsa to add at the table

Directions:
Brown the pork in the oil, doing so in 2 or 3 batches. Use a large black frying pan so that the meat will brown quickly.

Place the meat in a 3-or-4-quart covered oven casserole and add the next ingredients. Deglaze the frying pan with the chicken broth or water and add to the pot. Barely cover the ingredients with chicken broth or water. Chicken broth may make this too rich for you, so you might try just water or half of each.

Cover and simmer until the stew is thick and the meat very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Add salt to taste before serving.
Serves 6-8.

Next stop: Christmas

Stage two of our Fall clean-up is complete. We got up into the loft in the garage and showed it no mercy. Another carload went off to Goodwill and we swept and cleaned the garage thoroughly. The Christmas boxes are front and center: they will come down next weekend to deck the halls (sans boughs of holly, but including some fa la la las).

We got a touch of snow this morning; not quite enough to stick, but it finally feels like winter is coming. Grant and I are off to his Christmas party tonight, I have started putting the finishing touches on my Christmas list and I have actually started thinking about what presents I should buy this year. I guess the holiday season is officially upon me. Yes, this makes me happy.

I wanna be a rock and roll star

Well, not me. But apparently my young neighbour aspires to such a future. A year or so ago, he started playing bass. At first, we were treated to him practicing the same bass line over and over. And I do mean over and over. I haven't a clue what song it is, but I often find myself absently humming it as I putter around the house. In recent months, he has acquired a lead guitar and a drummer. My own music now has an interesting back beat that I doubt was intended by the original artist.

We could complain, but generally he is good about stopping before the hour gets too late. It gets a bit stressful on the weekends, because he seems to practice constantly during the day, but I can remember having an obsession, and I try to be tolerant.

And sometimes, I get a little treat. The other night, I was vaguely aware of a familiar tune emanating from the wall. It was several minutes before I identified the music: The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

On bass guitar.