Merry Christmas Everyone

Doug and Jerry at our house ... Christmas Eve 2009.
Jessie & her mom, Mary.
Judy Lynn, John, Mayda, Jessie & Mary
My back yard chickens ... looking GOOD! {Notice the orb inside my chicken coop}. LOL
My kids, left-to-right: Christina, Joanna, daughter-in-law Skye & Gregory.
Artemis (Santa Pug) my forever shadow.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

2012 prophecy is dangerous & interesting at the same time. At any given moment Earth could spontaneously explode sending blood and guts splattering everywhere. Of course, it will never really happen. That's what makes life so boring. At times it's dull, repetitive, & tedious. Thus we imagine even more Armageddon scenarios and feel revived talking about it.

Worst Christmas Party Ever

I just got home from the absolutely DUMBEST holiday party ever. The host would read a riddle and guests were supposed to guess, from her clues, what was hidden inside a wrapped holiday box.

It might have been an alright game if the riddles had made any sense. Meanwhile, clues the game master provided for a pair of safety goggles included the hint that they were something "you played with as a child."

{{?Safety goggles?}} Yep!

Another ridiculous example for the horrid riddles (giving false info): "You can only use this item in ONE place. It is often used during road-side emergencies to warn other drivers of a hazard."

Answer: (if you're thinking emergency FLAIR -- you're WRONG) The only answer they allowed: helmet-flashlight!

I actually sat through more dreadful and irrelevant "riddles" like that. The evening became SO-o-o-o-o-o-o-o outrageously hysterical because of it. (Sadly, such was NOT the host's intent.)

OTHER PARTY TABOOS??? There weren't even enough chairs for everyone to sit down!!! Arrrrrrrghhhhhh.

Other people at our table kept allowing their unruly children to stand on the metal folding chairs. I kept worrying about the possibility that a chair could collapse and a child might get hurt. The parents also argued with each other about what one parent had told their daughter to do or not do. Bleh.

I'm laughing about it NOW-w-w-w-w but it's a while after I made Doug attend this party with me; and he was previously so tired from an extra long day at work.

{Very sorry Doug.}

Forks Washington Photos

My nephew Thaddeus took these photos of Forks, Washington. They look so peaceful to me. You can see why Stephenie Meyer would pick this typically overcast location for her vampire series the Twilight novels.

Just stare at the photos for a while and you'll begin to feel more peaceful; your heart rate will go down. Gotta love the Forks River shot that Thad took, bottom photo.

One Nation Under Friggin' Cold Weather!

It's so cold outside right now. 15* F here in the greater Seattle area (breaking records) but it's eerily DRY so it doesn't feel quite THAT cold (not like a wet-cold). Even still, I've been worried about Dougs and my outdoor pets so I added a SECOND heat lamp to the enclosed chicken coup. All animals were fed a hot baked potato this morning and given hot tap water to drink this blistery cold day (as usual when it's more than chilly).

Watching the weather station this morning I realize other states are snow-bound, flooded, and suffering ice storms. I'm so thankful I'm not living THERE right now.

Here's a fun exchange I had on FaceBook this morning . . . {{Gotta love my FaceBook friends}}

SunTiger Xo I rock. I may not BE a rock, emotionally, but I rock just the same. I may not sing rock music. I may not be handsome as was Rock Hudson. I'm not nearly funny as is Chris Rock. But I can certainly sway back and forth (you know: ROCK, with my arms cradled around myself). LOL

10 hours ago · Comment ·

Christine Harrelson

Some people don't find Chris Rock very funny. So, you might be as or more, depending on the opinion :) Hey, are you as gay as Rock Hudson?

10 hours ago · Delete

Diane Heidt

You rock, my friend! I knew it all along! :-)

10 hours ago · Delete

Gail Bixler-Lafavers

You DO Rrrrrrrrrock!

9 hours ago · Delete

Sue Hericz Hagan

I think you ROCK!

2 hours ago · Delete

Lenn Waters

I think you rock too!!!

about an hour ago · Delete

Michelle Corbett

Maybe you should put on "Jingle Bell Rock" and rock to it! Hope your day rocks!

59 minutes ago · Delete

SunTiger Xo

Christine ~ I'ml 100% gay about my love life. :-D

Diane ~ Ahhhhh. Thank you!

Gail ~ Wow. Two of you said that now. THANKS!!!

Sue ~ You make THREE people who think I rock (seriously rocking now).

Lenn ~ OMG. Really? FOUR people on this planet think I rock. I really MUST rock!

Michelle ~ All these awesome comments? My day totally DOES rock. Thank you!

Empowering Song: I Will Never Be Your Stepping Stone

Moving Onward & Upward {Like The Fool}

Life-time struggle. I finally just gave up. I'm going a different direction -- just to fully "Be" without being near someone I love who continually bosses. No longer am I swimming that up-stream battle-tide (when maintaining my ideal means consistently banging against the most incorrigible personalities). Making that decision to move on feels so much better. Finally. {{I was insane to keep such relationships going for so long. Stupid ideals. Expecting a different reaction by repeatedly loving (doing the same thing) is just crazy}}.

Funny how - regardless of how much self analysis I do -- I'm always finding aspects of myself that need to improve. "Letting go" of something that doesn't work is sometimes very difficult.

I'm sending distant Reiki ... asking the Universe to heal relationships without me needing to be present; in the muck.

Time to do as this Tarot Card suggests. Move ahead in faith, like The Fool, trusting to experience a better tomorrow.

Our Happy Yule Tree 2009

Our Yule Tree is nearly completely decorated (I still need to add my collection of red cardinal ornaments to it). I'm really sad how the photographs do not convey the true glowing ambiance of it. (This tree literally glows PINK in the most comforting and unique way, with its exclusively pink lights and pink or silver bulbs but the flash makes the tree look terribly ghetto red; sorry about that -- photos diminish the wonder of this work of art).

Beyond not being able to share the true beauty of this tree; I hope some sense of magic is able to emanate from photos. I've exerted quite a deal of effort collecting vintage elves and such for that goal.

I learned, from my daughter-in-law Skye, when she stayed with us last year, that having an artificial tree totally works in our household with two cats. I hadn't decorated a tree for more than ten years because the felines had always climbed our live trees, destroyed ornaments and risked their own well-being by getting tangled in the tinsel. [I also didn't want to do anything to support the whole Christmas materialism-consumerism idea but after years of processing the whole winter holiday phenomena I now feel I can have a Yule tree, honoring my own spiritual and environmental-responsible beliefs]. Putting a tree together is a very artsy thing to do {it's therapeutic even} as the decorator works with texture, color, and depth; arranging ornaments until they work well together, in balance.

The cats are absolutely NOT drawn to this artificial tree . . . so the Yule tree is BACK! {Hurrah!}
Richest wintry blessings and comfortable warmth to you now and always (from our home to yours).

Gotta Love Fremont {Thanksgiving 2009}

Doug and I decided to spend Thanksgiving down in Fremont today (Fremont, if you don't know, is located on the northern part of Seattle, WA). Imagine my surprise when I saw this temporary placement of a huge statue featuring Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Russian Communist. Note: Neither Doug nor I wanted to POSE with this statue. Meanwhile, it seems a resident of Issaquah, WA, saw this bronze art tipped over in Russia and he mortgaged his home to bring it to our state. It's now for sale by the family that survives him. . .

[Double-click any photo to see it up close.]

This next photo makes me want to say "eat your heart out New York." Instead of piling our garbage in the streets, we designate our real estate in alley ways for for collecting recyclable materials as well as trash.
I was thrilled when I saw this very personable work of art -- a plethera of vintage chairs tied to a tree.
If a tree in my yard should ever break -- I'm going to turn it into a mushroom just like this one (below)
Finally, as we were leaving Fremont and drove through Ballard, we saw THIS mushroom. See how large it is (use the street lamp for scale)