Christmastime

I had some  help getting ready for Christmas this year.  These are my two sweet Sister Missionaries, Sister Fullmer and Sister Cox:

Sis Fullmer and Sis  Cox and the tree they decorated

They helped me  hang the lights in the window, put up my tree, and decorate it.  It was great.  I wouldn't have gotten it all done with out them :) (they've both since been transferred, and we don't have any sister missionaries at the moment. sad!)

Kitty decided she liked her cat-tree again (it goes in cycles):

This was my profile pic on Facebook for December

Even Ani came out to investigate:

"what the heck is that?"

Both cats are really good about leaving the ornaments and things alone.  There were a couple things under the tree with ribbons that got attacked, and  Ani found some ribbons I didn't (he eats them, so I try not to have things with ribbons under the tree).  I have to say, having my tree up this year was really nice.  I don't always put it up, particularly if I go anywhere for the holidays, but this year I stayed put.

My Christmas wasn't too bad.  I caught a cold the week before, which ruined several of my plans (Helicon concert: skipped. Second viewing of The Hobbit: delayed.  Mailing of  Christmas Cards: delayed until Christmas Eve).  Not helpful spending the whole weekend plus a couple days on the couch.  I did go over to my friends' house Christmas Eve, though.  We had Chinese Food and watched The Count of Monte Christo.  I got to pick the movie :)  I'd brought a selection as well, and they had all but two of them.  I got to see their kids (I did hold the baby for a bit, but once I started coughing I didn't even suggest it again), and we had a good time.  It was really nice.  Christmas Day I slept in, opened presents, and then took a nap instead of going to another friends' house.  Seriously, this cold was no fun.  But in the afternoon I did feel enough better that I went to see The Hobbit again.  I love that movie.  And I don't mind the Kili/Tauriel thing as much as I thought I would.  Helps that in the EE of the first movie Kili does actually flirt with some of the elves in Rivendell.  He's just a big flirt, for the most part.  And she does save his life, three times.  Maybe four.  Plus I love Kili, so of course he can do no wrong.  But I digress.

All in all, it was a pleasant holiday.  Although I have to say, if it weren't for my friends I wouldn't have had any presents on Christmas morning at all.  Well, ok, I did buy one present for me and had them deliver it in a gift box, but does that really count?  I found I didn't mind as much this year as I have in the past.  Maybe it was the cold medication, but really, I'm getting used to the family having things delivered late. 

I did have to be careful of Facebook, though.  Too many Merry Christmases from all these families.  And a conversation with my friend the night before.  Do you realize that many of my friends that I knew in college or High School that are my age are beginning to be grandparents?  My life plan was so much different than this.  Don't get me wrong, I have a good life, and I do enjoy the majority of the things I do - and the things I don't enjoy I can either stop doing (drama club) or endure (cleaning the bathroom).  But I wanted to get married in my early 20's, have 6 kids, and be a very Molly Mormon.  I might have even agreed to live in Utah.  I know, right?  By this time I could have expected a grand-child of my own (my mom's first grandchild came when she was 44, two years younger than I am now).  Instead I have cats.  And am completely self-sufficient.  Like I said, not a bad life, but sometimes I just get sad for what-might-have-been.  And this family I might have had would have left me presents under the tree, cuz I would be the Mom.  And my greatest joy would be being together with all of them.  Just like my Mom, actually.  Miss you, Mommy.

My friend was quite shocked to learn I'm 46.  She thought I was 35.  This happens to me a lot :)

Snow the week before Christmas.  It melted by Christmas Day, though.

Kitty's new favorite hang-out, under the tree, behind the nativity.

Next year will be different.  Next year I'll have just returned from New Zealand and probably won't even know what day it is :D

An Update

greetings!

I hope you've enjoyed the last two posts about a couple trips I took.  So what else have I been up to? 

Work is going pretty well.  We had a Ground Software Load about a month ago that keeps causing us problems.  The vendor has been told, but there's not a whole lot we can do about it at this point.  If necessary we could go back to the previous release, but we're not to that point just yet.  Soon, though.  If they don't come through, it will be very soon.

Three holiday parties at work in the last two weeks.  Kind of a lot, but I was good for the most part. Mostly.  I did bring a salad to one of them.  Ran into some people from Drama Club at the Department Party.  It's good to see them, but also good for me to be unfettered at the moment.

Church - I got released from Librarian and now I'm - wait for it - in PRIMARY!!!!  I've been kind of lobbying for this for a while.  The whole Primary presidency knew of my desire, and I even talked to the Bishop about it acouple times.  Yes, I know we're not supposed to ask for callings, so I didn't ask, I just said things like, "Can I go back to Primary?" or "I heard you released the Primary Chorister, did you know that I've done that calling before??"  Apparently my name had been approved by my tithing settlement when I asked if I could go back to Primary.  Bless his heart, the Bishop didn't even give me a clue, just said he'd keep it in mind.  No, I don't have an official class  yet, but I am helping out with the CTR-5's until the end of the year.  Cuz there are like 10 kids and the teacher really needs another adult in the room.  They're all really good kids, though.  They can't split the class because there are no more available class rooms (who's bright idea was it to build a small, phase-3 building in an area where there are so many families transplanted from Utah--i.e. lots of kids).  I may get my own class in January or team-teach one.  Either way, I'm thrilled to be back with the kids.

Home - I'm still in the midst of Christmas prep.  I had all my presents bought and then realized I need two more.  Argh!!!  That's ok.  I'll wrap and package the ones I have tonight, then tomorrow night I can get two more gift cards.  I'm thinking Barnes & Noble.  I have my Christmas letter all ready to send, and the majority of my Christmas address list printed out.  There are a few I'm going to have to hand-print, but that won't be bad.  I do need to get some stamps, though.  Probably when I mail the packages at some point tomorrow.

My personal training is going well.  I'm going to be continuing through all of next year, as well as starting Precision Nutrition - it's a program with lots of coaching that's going to help with the other aspects of my life, as well as providing home workouts for me.  Since this will be helping out my personal trainer (who did this in 2012), she's giving me a break on the cost of the PT.  And gives me a person to report to as well as the online coaches.  Let's see if I can finally change my lifestyle and behaviors in 2014.  Because at the end of 2014 I'm going to New Zealand.  I'm going to climb Mt Erebor for real.  And it's going to be AWESOME!!

Thanksgiving by the seaside (Nov 27-30)

Greetings!  As you may have noticed, I've decided to do some posts about my different activities, instead of just mentioning them in one catch-all post.  At least this way I make sure I have PICTURES!! :D  We love pictures, don't we, precious?

Anyway, for Thanksgiving I went back up to the beach house in NJ that my friends own.

Remember this view?

It was so nice.  I got a nice big room and bathroom all to my self (the one Glen had for those in the fam who read this).  I got to play with a 3-year old, a 1 1/2-year-old, and a 9-month old.  Even got to relate to the 5-year-old with CP who is doing so well!  His body is actually about the same development stage as the 9-month-old, so it's fun to see them rolling around on the floor together.  Mentally he's much closer to a 5-year old, though, so don't mess with him! :D

That Wednesday night we went out on the roof and watched the shadow of the earth rise in the east:

Earth's shadow

 And the sun set in the west:

Sunset

Cold, but beautiful.

Thanksgiving day was spent getting ready for the feast (ok, I kind of bailed and watched the baby, but as any good parent will tell you, that's a huge deal).  I did help with the beans, though, and I did make my family's traditional cherry cream pie.  Yum!  Didn't have to call Dustie this year either!

All their local family came, plus some who were visiting.  It was nice to see them again (I'd met them 2 years ago when I came here before).  After dinner Helen, Glen (not my brother, the guy married to Jim's sister Kathy--freaky how many of their names are the same as my family's names) and I walked up to the lighthouse.  On the way we saw that some people had already put up their Christmas lights

Christmastime begins after Thanksgiving dinner

Barnegat Light Lighthouse - a functioning lighthouse.

There's a jetty just beyond the light house that we walked out onto.  It was nice and dark, so many stars.  I forget sometimes, living where I do, just what stars can look like.  The Milky Way, Taurus and the Pleiades, Andromeda and Perseus.  Orion started to rise too just as we were leaving.  It was very nice.  Ok, so it was cold and about 3 miles round trip, but so worth it.

Friday I spent making ornaments (sorry, no pictures), and Saturday we came home.  Got home early enough for me to get several things done even.  It was a nice holiday.  Kelly kept apologizing for her (very loud) kids, so I finally said, "Why do you think I come?"  Just teasing, but I still believe holidays are better with small children.  So much more fun.

A trip to NYC - November 9, 2013

OK, so after going to NYC three times in one week last June I wasn't all that thrilled about going back, but when I found out Orlando Bloom was going to be on Broadway, I just had to get tickets.  Fortunately I had a friend who wanted to come with me (along with her 10-year-old daughter).  We went up separately - I took the train in the morning, they took the bus the night before.  I wandered a bit, checked out the theater.  Yes, he played Romeo in Romeo & Juliet

The Richard Rogers Theater

Me in front of the poster - see, I was there!

I also found the theater I'll be going to in January to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan

Coming here in January!

I sat in Times Square for a little while - it was chilly, but not too bad.  I saw someone making a movie there.

the guy in the blue shirt is the director.  I think.

Then it was time to meet up with Tess and her daughter, and go to the theater

In our seats - front row balcony

A very minimalist stage.  It worked great!

The production was the best production I've ever seen of Romeo and Juliet.  Romeo - I mean, Orlando - was fabulous, and so was his Juliet, Condola Rashad (yes, the daughter of Phallycia Rashad of Cosby Show fame).  She was perfect playing a 14-year-old.  So scattered and talking so fast!!  It was easy to believe that these two characters were just so caught up in each other that they couldn't see anything else, just like teenagers do.  And Orlando even took his shirt off for part of one scene!!  (I know, such a fangirl).  His first entrance was on a motercycle, and it was just fabulous.  I wanted to get his autograph, but I guess there were some issues with really crazy fangirls, and also the actors/stage crew wanted to raise funds for a Broadway charity, so I got this, signed by everyone:

My new poster!

I'm telling you, that thing is getting framed and put on my wall in a place of honor.  It is so totally worth it.  I got it from one of the supporting actors, Con (he showed me where he signed it).  It was so fabulous.

So of course afterwards I left Tess and her daughter to their hotel and took the train back home.  What a great day!!