Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Best wishes from our Extended Family at Sophie's Cocoa and Crafts Party on December 23.
Bottom: Diane, Ben, Diane's mother, Ann, her friend, Eddy, me with my craft project, and Sophie.
Second row: Dennis, Terry Ann--my childhood friend, Kim--Diane's long time friend, Beau--Charlie's partner, and Charlie.
Third tier: Don and Gary.

You can tell by the smiles that we had a wonderful time at Sophie's celebration. She came up with the concept and we had all the fun.

Backtracking from earlier in December, I came down with a side effect from the Tarceva although at first I didn't realize that it was one because it didn't happen in the same place as usual. Usually it was on the roof of my mouth but this time it was on my gums. By the time I did I was unable to eat anything but soft foods starting just after my last post on December 7th. I stopped taking the Tarceva on the 19th and now I'm still eating soft foods but the pain in my gums and cheek are less. It's been a bother because Dennis arrived on the 18th and I wanted to do so many things while he was here. Charlie and Beau arrived on the 22nd and by then I had the cold that is going around here: hot and cold, lots of sneezing, free running mucus and a general malaise. Don who hasn't had a cold in many years gave me this one. He's over it now so I'm hoping I will be within a day or two. Or just about the time Dennis, Charlie and Beau leave.

My house is a wreck and I'm not concerned because this gives me the perfect chance to get rid of some clothes and closet items and give the whole place a total cleaning.

Obviously I wasn't able to do my Christmas cards this year so I thought you might excuse me and accept the good wishes and photo I sent you through the blog. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some cards out next year. I really love doing it but it helps if I feel well.

Thank you for all the lovely Christmas cards which I'll be reading over and over again and maybe get ideas for some of my cards. I enjoy them all and am grateful you keep me in your thoughts.

New Photo

I noticed last year that my profile photo was dated but didn't have any idea how to change it. Today I took a chance and went to the right place, changed the photo and saved it so it will be there for a while.

Our second Thanksgiving was as much fun as the first. Since I'd had a dress rehearsal nearly two weeks earlier I was able to walk through all the steps with ease. My 5 year old grandson, Ben, was the first to arrive. He came in and said, "Hi Grandma, what's for dinner". I answered, "Turkey" and he replied, "Turkey Again!" That was his second Thanksgiving too. I think he was hoping for Belgian Waffles.

My friend TerryAnn, her husband, John and mother-in-law also named Maria, arrived from Tucson after being stuck in traffic for quite a while for their Thanksgiving Dinner with us. Maria is 94, a year younger than my mother who just turned 95 and they have birthdays about the same time. She's still able to travel all the way from Canada to Arizona and will enjoy the sunshine for awhile.

Right now we're having a 2 day rain storm and I can hear the wind howling. I don't want to look outside because I'm afraid my landscaping may be in my neighbors' yards. We're happy to have rain and so are all our plants. Too bad it's so cold too. It sounds like we're having a hurricane. I can only hope our porch furniture will still be there when it's over.

I was supposed to golf this morning but when I saw the forecast: rain, wind, cold, I decided those were the three symbols of the apocalypse so I should stay home warm and snug instead. I did catch up on all my paperwork, took a long nap but didn't exercise today. Then I received an email from the person in charge of ladies league events that tomorrow's golf and lunch are canceled too because of the weather. I may be able to get my office clean with all this free time.

Don is having cataract surgery on Wednesday. The doctor will follow up with him the next day and the following week. Don is apprehensive as most people are when they have any kind of surgery. Hopefully he'll enjoy much better sight when he's recovered and I'll no longer have to yell, "Median!" to keep us off the curb.

Once Don is recovered we'll start getting our favorite houseguests and before we know it I'll be another year older and 2009 will be history. Hopefully I'll be able to post before then but it's very difficult to use my computer when the house if full.

Just in case: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year