Rock House

There was no pecan harvesting yesterday because the orchard owners had a medical emergency. We will go in January. So instead we went to the ranch (saw the horses below and our son got to ride one) and then we ventured out to a place I've never been before called Rock House.

There's not much out there except the endless miles of the very striking Chihuahuan desert. You know, I thought we were in the Sonoran desert until I watched a ranger presentation a couple weeks ago and I found out I'm not in the Sonoran desert. I'm in the Chihuahuan desert. Hhmmph.

My friend said he wants to camp out there a couple nights when it warms up, but I tell ya, I'm a fraidy cat. Maybe if I'm with a ranger or someone who has a weapon for protection, but I don't know about staying out there alone. My friend the journalist, he's up for it though. He's got a wild side.

So can you see Rock House? It's that leetle, tiny, house made of, um, rocks, on the left, that blends in with the desert. It was hard for us to see and we were driving there. It's 17 miles off the interstate. No one knows who owned it. Even the historical society doesn't know who built it or who lived in it. That's a bit peculiar. The desert can be a peculiar place.

And here's a shot of the house. This is its best side. The inside was no great shakes. I can't imagine who could have lived out there.

Here's a silhouette of a pecan tree. It was a cloudy morning in the 40s. Shiver-me-burrrsky cold! I had on a big warm coat. My husband picks good coats. Although it was cold at Rock House too, at least it was mostly sunny.

Meow

Kitty cat face. I love kitty cat faces. She's the friendliest little thing.

The nerve

Is he sticking his tongue out? Well, I never!

Divot in my head

Ooooh, so I worked out yesterday and practiced with my scimitar. I didn't drop it. I haven't dropped it yet. I just move soooo slowly with it. I put a cork from a bottle of wine on the end of it so if, that is to say when, I drop it it should be a little safer. Logically speaking.

And I noticed after ten minutes I had a pretty big divot on the top of my head where the sword sat. Haha! That could be good, right? Long as it's not permanent!

Tomorrow I get to go with a journalist to see pecans being harvested. That should be pretty neat. I guess they use a machine that shakes the trees a lot.

Is anybody up

Well, I am. I'd like to go to sleep, but same old, same old.

I hit 40.5 this week. Not bad. It means I'm on track and that's good. I'm really content with the length. I've been wearing it in a French twist the last two days. I like that when I take it down I can smell the shampoo still and it has a nice fragrance. The new shampoo (Garnier Fructis) and V05 creme rinse are super slick. They even make the bathtub slick. Giovanni has cones but not that much! My hair was a dream to comb out. Practically effortless. Guess I'll just keep an eye on it and see how it fares. Maybe I'll go make up some nice hair dreams and put myself to sleep.

I haven't been working out for a week. Gotta get back on track with working out tomorrow.

Tags

I got another email about how popular the blankets were and how everybody enjoyed the tags! These were the tags.

I hope everyone had a loverly day today!

Merry Christmas to you!

That's what my husband just said to me and I pass it on. I was awake so I got out of bed. Went to the hiding place which must remain unnamed and got the two gifts from Santa. Son is dead asleep. A bomb could drop on the trailie and he'd sleep through it. He's been so excited today that he tired himself out. He did the dinner dishes for me tonight. He did the morning dishes too, and vacuumed. Crazy kid.

As I walked to the truck I looked up and what did I see - a constellation I'm always looking for and can never find - the Big Dipper. It is glorious. So clear out tonight. Saw Mars earlier too.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Dad called me. Everyone is over there. The mothers liked the blankies I made for their babies. My sister said they looked perfect. She exaggerates though. One baby is sick at home though so he wasn't there. He was home with his daddy. The hat fit the new baby girl. I feel happy that I did handmade gifts for them.

At this time of year and at Easter, these are the two times I feel a deep and abiding affection and connection with all the world. It's like a glow within and without.

Fifteen years ago the holiday was quite a big 'to do.' I don't want to say how much money we spent. Oh how I could have spent it better! How much of that stuff is at the dump now, returned to Mother Earth? The boxes, the bows, the tape, the tissue, the gift wrap, the shoes, the special outfits, the many mall purchased objects. I don't know. As a child, for me the celebration was strictly secular. Much is lost if you celebrate in a secular way. It's like an awesome shuffle of material goods with the most shuffling among the wealthy, a middle amount in the middle class, and a wee bit or none among the poor. These are things which do not satisfy. Makes the heart ache when people are alone after the celebrating. It's too much, too big, all wrong.

So now we do it small. I will miss Advent. It was fun this year. We tried to sing "Hark the Herald Angels" tonight but we can't hold the melody after the first stanza. I quit singing, but my husband went with it the whole way through. It was pretty bad. Haha!

Two thousand and seven years ago, well, thereabouts anyways, a baby boy was born... Even the people who have no faith agree He was here. It's been established and was written about by the historian, Josephus.

Next comes the New Year.

(P.S. - My sister emailed that the blankets were a SMASH, so now I'm even happier!)

It's Christmas Eve

Son has been antsy all day. He's excited about opening presents tomorrow. He completed almost ten pages of vocabulary independently before I even got out of bed. I was up late, so I slept till ten. Yesterday he peeled an orange for himself and at dinner he insisted on serving himself his own soup. He's sure growing up.

My sewing machine is in for repair, so I couldn't finish our son's blanket. I'm bummed, but happy that it will be fixed. I will just have to finish the blanket when it's back from the repair shop. It started skipping stitches. Maybe next year, if I sew much, I can get a computerized machine. They're supposed to have very even, consistent stitches, moreso than a mechanical machine. I loved my mom's Singer machine. But Singers of today are not the same as those of yesteryear. I learned to sew on it when I was in eighth grade. I sewed a really pretty halter dress and a gorgeous spring dress from my friend's wedding. My machine is a Brother and I'm not crazy about it. It's frustrating that little things go wrong and I have to fight with it a lot.

Guess I'll go get cleaned up and wash my hair so it'll be fresh for Christmas Day. It's 4:05pm. Shall I get out of my pajamas?

Calendar nearly done

I've spent the week-end at my computer...working on my 2008 calendar at Shutterfly. It should be pretty good if it turns out like it's supposed to.

dailycoyote.net

Are you needing some good pictures to look at today?

http://www.dailycoyote.net/

Parenting is good

Sometimes I want to throttle him - like right now - as he purposely drags in feet through vocabulary. But Wednesday was different. He received an award. We didn't know it was coming. Nobody told us!

We were at the Christmas potluck. The first award went to two men, a ranger and a volunteer, who saved seven people from drowning in the lake last summer. The superintendent read the official report which was rather dry. He then shared with us the details that weren't included in the report. The boat had overturned. One adult and a child were still in the boat though it was barely above water and sinking quickly. The rest were in the water. The winds were blowing the tiny vessel and the people onto dangerous rocks that are in that area. It was during a storm. The lake can be mean during a storm. Did I mention it was at night? It was dark. Dark night. Have you walked along the beach in the dark of night? Even though you're safe onshore it's scary when you can hear the water, but you can't see it. It strikes a chord of preternatural fear in the human heart.

By the grace of God, the boating officer on duty had only minutes before taken on a long time volunteer on board who offered to patrol the lake with him. Without this volunteer who was highly experienced on the water, a single man would have had great difficulty doing the rescue and maneuvering the boat at the same time. So the call came in, S.O.S, precise location, and they rode full speed to that place on the lake. The eight year old girl was screaming hysterically. The others, those in the water, this is not in the report, were giving each other last rites in the water. They thought they were checking out of this world.

Our New Mexico Boating Officer and the other a long time volunteer, saved all seven people one at a time. That's a story with an awesome ending and that's what their award was for. Sometimes the rangers pull dead people out of the water which as you can imagine is traumatic. The rangers have to deal with it in their mind and heart afterwards and it's not an easy thing. It happens in a lake this big. Last year a 15 year old boy drowned in the lake. The rangers save lives when they can. They're trained to do so. But when they can't save a life the repercussions are real.

The second award went to our ten year old son. The badge in the frame is an official one. Normally, men and women must graduate from the police academy and work in law enforcement to receive this badge. It is an true honor to have this badge! Our son is not allowed to wear it, it would be unlawful, but he can display it. The super went all the way to the top to get approval for this. As far as we know he is the youngest volunteer in New Mexico, and the only Honorary Ranger in the state. He was bustin' with pride. We were too.

Yesterday at the school where he takes a class he gave a presentation about his award. It's his first presentation in front of anyone other than family. He did pretty well! This I love about home education.

Me, as a kid I dreaded "Sharing Time" or "Current Events" at school. I still get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about Newsweek magazine because my mom had it delivered to our house so I could pick out news items for school sharing. Our son on the other hand informed me he was doing a presentation about his award the next day at school. Just like that. He practiced on us that evening and did it Thursday. Wow. And he showed off the plaque, a letter they wrote him last year selecting him as a volunteer, his official volunteer card, and he defined the word 'honorary' (that was his idea) and showed off the flyers and spreadsheets he created on his computer as part of his job.

I'm kind of proud of him.

Picked a gift

I was stressing out about what to get a little girl. Naturally, but naturally, I've left it to the last minute. We got her a coat that I absolutely loved last year, but found out later it was a size too big. It took me all of three minutes to select that coat. It's like from the '70s, a very cute coat. Anywho, this year I picked for her a ballerina jewelry box from Nordstrom. Why didn't I just go to Nordstrom's in the first place? Every little girl should have a ballerina jewelry box. My grama gave one each to my sister and me when I was ten and my sis was six. I really liked it. Here it is:

I searched high and low online for genie pajamas but genie pajamas could not be found. I got a a pair for Christmas when I was a kid and they were really pretty. I also had some fancy lacy pajamas that were a gift so I also just searched for feminine pj's. Man, there are a lot of flannel, cotton, utilitarian fugly plain pj's to be had, but not much on the luxurious side. There should be. Dora the Explorer and cartoon pajamas? I don't think so. A girl deserves some genuine wholesome girly loungewear.

My mom finished a genealogy book about my grandmother's life and sent me a copy. It's awesome. She must have spent a few hundred hours compiling information. My people are from Ireland. Came over during the potato famine. Pioneers they were. Real pioneers in the mid-west. Back then there was right and there was wrong and not much in between. You didn't get coddled for having anxiety attacks or wanting everyone to support your alternative lifestyle. Time was not allotted for things that don't matter. Life is so precious. Too precious to be frittered away on self. I must remind myself of that next time I can't sleep.

I miss my grama

GRAMA! I miss you tonight.

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. -Alexis de Tocqueville

It's been rumbling around in my mind. I think it's true.

My husband came to church today and remarked on how good the pastor is. This pastor should be in a metropolitan area. I can't believe I found him in a town of 7,000.

I don't know if he'll come to church again. I can't nag him. There's a line between nagging and asking. The pastor is so articulate I don't know how he can not want to go back. But I always get to church late (at least I'm consistent?) and my husband is a very timely person. He even wants to go to parties, well, actually nowadays I'd say "get-togethers" on time and I tell him it's very uncool to be right on time. So since he came today we were on time and the talking, it's called fellowship, is too much for me. Now I can't sleep. Guess I should go read something.

For evening study, this is the first time in awhile that I was completely lost. I didn't follow much of the teaching. It was about Jesus and David and the lineage. Quite confusing if you don't get it. And a guy whose name starts with M who was Jesus incarnate or something. I need my notes, but it's dark right now so I'm just blathering. I'm fascinated by what I didn't understand though. Can't wait to read through my notes.

My hair. My husband ran into one that was across the doorway somehow and he thought it was a spiderweb. Then he sat in the chair and pulled a long one off of the chair. I might need to vacuum this place. More frequently it's getting caught in a screw that is in the wall behind me in the bathroom. I'm needing more elbow room lately.

Which reminds me. Tonight I saw a group photo of my graduating class (1977) from the reunion in October. Talk about disillusioned. Thought I was going to have a heart attack. Does 48 look that old? It does. Sadly, it does. You can't stay young forever. And I recall that at the Luminaria a kid about 17 years old called me Ma'am. Brutal. I am so crying in my soup tonight. Not that I want to be 17. Far from it. But I wouldn't mind 27. Shoot, I wouldn't mind 37. I wouldn't mind 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, or 46. Sigh.

The other day I was looking for a word. I hate it when I need a word and I can't think of it. It's like I can feel the word but I can't find it. I have to settle for some one or two syllable word that's not as descriptive. Anyway, it was anecdotal. What was it I was writing that I needed it for now? Hmmmm. Can't remember. Ha! Small annoyances never end.

Ready to mail

Finished the tags (that only took three and a half hours due to printer challenges), attached them to blankets, gift wrapped three blankets, made chicken soup. That was my day. And it was a long day.

We fasted, but it wasn't difficult. Next time we're going to do water only fasting from sun up to sun down.

My sewing machine isn't working very well and I have two rice bags to make. The stitch length regulator is messed up. Then after dinner I guess I was too tired and I forgot to turn the seams to the INside. Duh. Had to toss it and will try again tomorrow. Fresh.

I am hoping my husband will come to church tomorrow morning. Only our son can convince him to come. This week-end and next he's not working. Those are our two chances.

Girl's blanket done

It's sweet! Of the three I made I'm the least happy with how the binding came out on this one, but I'm packaging her up and sending tomorrow. I even got wild and made a little matching tie top cap to go with it. The satin feels wonnnnderful. I washed it because it's flannel backed for extra warmth and I expected the flannel might shrink. I ironed the satin to make it look brand new, but it came out of the wash nicely enough and I'm glad about that. I was a little worried it would wrinkle terribly, but it didn't.

I get an achy back from cutting on the floor, so my back hurts. I took a couple ibu but they don't work fast enough for me!

Have a good week-end my friend!

My dear ballet teacher

I asked her why she was so stressed. Being the Christmas season I fully expected she'd let loose with a litany of Christmas errands; shopping, wrapping, cooking, crafting, etcetera. But no. She said only a few people know...two weeks ago her husband called her on the phone at work and asked for a divorce. He left her, as in went away. She is a good woman I think. She's petite and blonde haired, blue-eyed. We talked for about 20 minutes. I almost cried full on twice and she didn't. She has too much to deal with to have time for tears. Her vehicle insurance lapsed because he didn't pay it. She didn't know how to open the top on the truck to put in the anti-freeze. She told me what happened to her water well and I didn't understand what she said (as I nodded my head) but she had to turn off the water. She has no water in her home. She's living my nightmare. Every woman's nightmare, yes? Life as we know it is tenuous.

I gave her my phone number. She works during the day and teaches dance at night. Some days she doesn't return home till 10:00pm. There but for the grace of God go I.

She apologized for sharing all her troubles and I told her, don't be, I have strong shoulders. It was a little bit of a lie, but I want it to be true. I pray the Lord will give me half a brain to be a good friend she can lean on if she needs.

Gotta git in gear

I want to mail off the baby gifts on the 15th. I still have the girl blanket to sew though. I have all the stuff out. Here it is right beside me; I just have to DO it. I did sew a fleece baby hat this evening that's cute to look at but I need a test baby to see if it will really stay on. I used the pattern from here. It's a tie top baby hat and I've always liked that style. The other online pattern I found that I'm going to attempt to go along with the horsie blankie is this fleece stocking hat.

All three of us got our flu shots for free today. They didn't even hurt.

Son and I are going to the eye doctor next Wednesday. He says his sight goes blurry in one eye sometimes so we need to see what that's about. As for me, I need a glaucoma check. My dad has it, his mom had it, and all five of his siblings have it so I need to be careful. Glaucoma kind of sneaks up on people because of the way it quietly takes your peripheral vision, but you don't notice it till it's too late. If you pray, please pray that I may have no signs of it. I also made an appointment for a rash that our son has on his hands. He has my super sensitive skin, plus the air is so dry, plus he plays with the dogs even though he's allergic. I know that's what the rash is. I hope a doctor can prescribe something to control it.

Husband read in the news that Mormons are healthy because they fast, so we're going to fast on Saturday. I'm doing the spiritual part, but he's not. We've never fasted before. I told him he better have lots of drinks in the fridge cause I'm gonna need alotta drinks. Ha! I asked him to buy some Gatorade too because it contains electrolytes. I need electrolytes.

It's the 12th. Where has the year gone?

I stopped cussin'

Once you delve into The Word, you'll never be the same.

I've ended a lifelong habit of using foul language. I'll have to check my blog to see when I decided to stop cussin' and cursin' but I know it's been over a year. At first I just wanted to challenge myself to exercise mindfulness on a daily basis. But after the first day I realized it was gonna be a leetle bit harder than I thought it would be.

Try not to use any foul language for 24 hours. Next, extend it to 48 hours, then go for seven days in a row. It'll fry your brain.

I set this goal for myself on a whim, but it changed me. I know it sounds like such a minor undertaking but it turned out to be so much more. I used to spew forth four letter words right and left right in front of my eldest son when he was a tot. I didn't give it a second thought and little did I realize how awful it sounded. But I sounded like everyone else I knew. My mother and father both use foul language. Everyone I knew used foul language. I never gave it a thought. It is an outer expression of an inward state of mind.

I didn't see anything wrong with pornography either. I told my oldest son when he was 15 that I didn't want it in the house, but such a hypocrite I was. Question is, why did I figure it was okay for me but not for him? Seventy-five percent of Americans call themselves Christians and yet pornography is a 6.3 billion dollar industry. I considered myself a Christian when I got a survey from our internet service provider that asked what type of subjects we wanted more access to and I clicked several options, including pornography. Well! I was being an honest Christian consumer!

Doesn't look like I'll be running for office any time soon. They'd wipe up the floors with the Liliana. But a worldly Christian looks just like the world.

Now when I hear profanity it's ten times uglier than it used to be. When the human ear is constantly exposed to vulgar language the mind grows desensitized. The nose becomes accustom to the stink. Habitual cussers no longer smell the putrid stench and it flows out of them unabated.

At first I'd get by a couple days. Every time I let loose, I'd say "Okay, I'm starting over...starting...NOW!" I had lots of new starts and lots of prayer time. I admit, I still think bad words sometimes. Sometimes a good cursing just seems like the best thing to make a problem, an irritation, a hurt, smaller. I suppose it releases some energy, but is it what I want to release into my world. Words matter. Words are powerful. People, as Fox once said, remember words.

We have a neighbor who says that she and her husband are cussing a lot less because our son reminds them that they shouldn't. She was smiling when she told me about it and then she said our son is a good kid. I think she felt good about cussin' less. They were successful truck drivers before retirement. Sometimes my husband tries to cut back on his cussing. He's an ex-sailor.

For Bible study today I did a drama with my son. I acted like a truck driver spewing forth the Lord's name in vain (he got a hearty laugh from my acting) and I asked him, "What should you do when you hear someone use our Lord's name in vain?" We are so weary of hearing Christian and non-Christian alike say "Oh my God." It is the most worn out, overused, tired phrase, eveh. We discussed it and I told him this. Say, "Hey, I know God's son, Jesus! He lived. He died. He said in three days He would Rise. And He did." I'm going to do this too. We're sick of hearing the Lord's name used in vain. People need to get a life.

Anyway, I challenge you today to stop cussin'. Go for it. It's the road less traveled. It's a worthy endeavor.

Now if I can just be more thoughtful of others every day. That ought to revolutionize my life.

That's a big whoops

Last night I was feeling for the light switch but I hit the switch to pull in the slideouts. My husband came flying out of the bedroom. He'd gone to bed early and when he heard the room folding in he jumped up from a dead sleep quicker than lightning. The thing is, I only tapped the switch, but the automatic slideout wouldn't stop rolling in. It was pretty exciting all right. I was calling my son and was almost crying because I thought I messed up the trailie. I thought there were jacks under the slideout, but there aren't. It was okay. Now there's duct tape over the switch so no one inadvertently does that again. Yeah right, duct tape looks real nice on the wall. Great stuff, duct tape is.

My dispute with eBay is closed. My money order officially lost. My bad luck.

I might possibly dance in El Paso next week. We'll see. I don't have all the info yet. I told my teacher I'm interested if it's a family venue. My husband said it's okay if I go.

It might snow a bit tonight but there are no clouds right now. Snow would be neato!

I want to write about cussing and cursing. Should I do it here or make a separate post?

Kettletop Mountain today

Received my scimitar this afternoon. It balances! I'm thrilled to have it in my hands. It balances very well which I'm glad about because some people said not to buy one sight unseen, but what choice have I? It's not like I'm going to run into a balancing scimitar somewhere in the New Mexican desert. I'm going to use it for a few days then submit a good review to the web site where I bought it. It's so shiny! I will need a little padding for my noggin though. I'm not sure I can get used to it with no padding. I've read that some women got some broken hairs from where the scimitar sits on their head and I surely can't afford that. I walked around with it on my head for about ten minutes. My husband doesn't want me to use in in the trailer. I hope I can change his mind about that because sometimes it's cold outside. I want to get a piece of cork for the tip because, dang, it's sharp. Saroyan swords can take a long walk off a short pier as far as I'm concerned. I have a sword that balances, cost a lot less money, looks like a bad mojambo, and if I didn't like it I could have returned it. Saroyan doesn't take returns. Saroyan will never get my money either.

My hair is so dirty. I wanted to wash it Sunday morning but our hot water heater wasn't working very well. After my last chilly shower I was not too keen on taking a chance with another one. I wash my bangs and pull my hair back and it's passable. I figured I'm probably the only one looking at myself that much at church anyway.

We went to Cruces today. I'm kind of getting to know one of the employees at Jo-Ann Fabrics. She's Chinese (I think) and I like her. I think she has a son in Europe. We chatted about weather and she asked me what I'm making and said I'm clever, which I'm not but she's awful nice to say so. I feel her personality and I like it. She's always helpful and nice even with people who ask inane questions like how much of this do I need. I think she gets that a lot!

My money order for my purple skirt and veil seems to be lost. I submitted a tracer request at the post office today and WE3Bellydance cancelled my order. I guess eBay has a time limit for orders. It's the skirt I really wanted after intense online shopping, so don't know what I'll do now.

The photo is my favorite landmark here - Kettletop Mountain. Ted Turner owns all that land over there. Guess he's buying up Nebraska too and peeps are upset about it. He's buying everything over the Ogallala aquifier which is the largest aquifer in the world. And it just happens to be smack dab under Nebraska. My family on my dad's side are there and that's how come I know how to fry chicken so well.

The day was rainy. All day. But there was a rainbow at the end of the loop here tonight and across the lake Kettletop was partially bathed in sunshine. The clouds above it are an unusual sight. This is the view from the front of our trailer. I wish we had a window pointing that direction, but we have to go outside to see it. I'm not complaining!

Chocolate mice treat

The day is done. The luminarias were not lit, the crowds were smaller due to the wind, but those hardcore people who out came had a good time. My chocolate mice were a big hit!

The ladies at The Friends site went on and on about how cute they were. They asked me how I made them and said they wanted to make them too. One lady said she had to take two to her daughters and that one of her daughters made these sort of things and she just had to show her one. I felt a little shy that they carried on so, but I was complimented too. I felt good. I never make things like this! After about 1/2 an hour of announcing to passersby that we had free posole soup I said I have to check my mice to see if anyone ate them, but I couldn't find the plate. One of the volunteers said, "Oh. We hid them. We're keeping them for us to eat." lol! So all the volunteers ate them. As I watched the fireworks I saw two men walk up to the table and the one said to the other, "Hey, do you like chocolate? You have to try one of these." I was bustin' with pride by then. Even men liked them?

They were a little stuck to the foil, so I bought wax paper for next time (like, um, the directions say to do). I let them cool for two hours before I put on the eyes and nose. Here are four that I caught. Haha! I made 23. Not all of the marachino cherries were worthy of being a food craft project. If they were too split up I didn't use them.

Windy wind

We're not lighting anything. Too windy. Maybe at 5:00pm they said, but the wind is not dying down. It's picking up. There are sandstorms on the beach and tumble weeds a-blowin' by.

I made the mice! My husband said they're cute. I'll see if they get eaten and if people like them tonight. I haven't tried one because they look too sweet for me, but the kidlets oughta like them. He had to take me to the market because I bought a big tube of gel for the eyes and you need a teeny tube.

Lunchtime

We put out bags till about noon. I mostly straightened candle wicks and pushed candles into the sand in each bag so that the candle lighters just have to bend down and light the candles without fussing with the candle itself. Now we're home in our trailie eating Coney dogs from Sonic Burger. Yum!

All are concerned about the winds. It's very windy right now. It wasn't like this last year. I don't know if we're going to be able to light the candles! All the bags have been set out but the wind is blowing so much that the bags are bent over. I think when we light them they'll either blow right out or burn up the bags. Either way, is not good.

...I just check the weather report. We've got winds of 30mph and gusts up to 45mph. Oh dear. It's going to be so sad it there are no luminarias. The luminarias add all the ambiance to the beach walk and the boat show. And it's too big an event to call off now.

The lake is pea green and has white caps. Everyone is worried!

I took ibuprofen for my lower back. I need to make chocolate mice or take a nap. Which shall I do? Lighting is scheduled for 3:00pm. I'm scheduled to help The Friends volunteers at 5:30 at their Luminaria site. Aside from the bad weather, shin splints and an achy back, I feel happy! I think our ranger is stressed out though.

Luminaria preparations

Here we go to set out bags! I'm wearing my ski pants to keep my legs warm. The day is blustery. Possibility of showers.

I don't think precipitation is good for Luminarias?

There's good and bad

The good news is UPS says my scimitar will be delivered on Monday! The bad news is my money order for my faux silk skirt and matching veil has not arrived to its destination. It appears to be lost. The eBay lady opened a dispute on the 5th and I think she's being patient, but I am not sure if she might decide to give me a bad mark. I'm not sure if she's nice or not. She seems a little short. When I had a problem with the Akai silks lady she was super nice. When it comes down to the wire, I could care less about a bad mark on my puny eBay history but having my money order lost - that hurts my feelings a lot. I think she should have just emailed with me and not opened a dispute. I do not feel good about a dispute. She asked me to put a tracer on it and on Monday I'll go to the USPS to see how to do that. I've never heard of putting a tracer on a piece of mail. I don't have a lot of faith in the post office. Either she'll get my letter or she won't. I'm not ordering anything from eBay any more.

And I'm at my wits end with doing parables for our devotional with my husband. He says they're all hard to understand - even after I explain them. He says why don't they just come out and say what they mean. I explained that parables were common in those times. I explained that the fact that they are parables is the reason why they survived through oral tradition long enough to be written down. I explained that Jesus wants to make you think and wants to make you ask questions. My pearls of wisdom fall on deaf ears.

I don't know. Maybe I should change my devotionals. He's smarter than I am. I think he's being stubborn and mule-headed. He's trying to make me mad.

First 40" pic

Tonight I came to log on and when I saw my post title I thought it looked like I wrote "dam" glasses and I thought How did I write that! But upon closer inspection I see the r and n in darn are just very close together.

This is my first hair pic since I hit the 40" point. This is 40.5". The bottom of my bottom still evades me. Maybe, hmmm, I'll hit that benchmark in two more months which should, if lucky, be one more inch which according to my scientific calculations will then equal 41.5".

Son is doing school right now. He wants tomorrow off so he can help the rangers with Luminaria preparations. He especially wants to go with them to pick up the hay for the hayride. I like evenings like this when he wants to do his studies and I can just let him go and he tells me what he wants to do - and he does pretty well I'll say. I'm developing him to be autodidactic individual. Nights like this give a sense that I'm doing something right.

I'm supposed to be at ballet, but I have shin splints and feminine aches and a bad mood on top of it all. My bad mood just flew right in at about 5:30pm. It is nice that my class is not a school class where I miss out on learning a combination and am graded. If don't feel like going it's no big. That's nice.

Here's a second one from today. Me fussing and swishing my hair outside. I had on a pretty hair bobble to do a picture of the plain, back-of-nape, pony tail. But alas, my hair is so slick that my bobble slipped right off my pony onto the ground. And this is day one post wash. That's lame.

These darn glasses

Reading glasses are a pain. I can't read without them anymore. I look all over the trailer for them. I search high and low and angrily accuse others of moving them. I throw the pillows and check the sofa creases and pull open every drawer in the kitchen. I sit down in my chair at my wits end. Can't read a thing without them. I put my head in my hands in utter despair. And then I realize I feel something. My reading glasses. There they are. Right where I put them.

They're were sitting on the top o' my punkin head the whole time.

Filling bags for the Luminaria

Saturday night is the Christmas Luminaria! Today our family helped fill 4,000, yes, four thousand, brown lunch bags with sand. Some people filled bags, some pulled up the wicks on the candles, some set candles in the bags, some carried bags from the picnic tables to the staging area, some arranged the bags in neat rows. Best of all, this year kids from the local Christian school came out and helped! The had such bright, shiny faces. Last year the job took us volunteers three hours. This year it took only two hours and we did a thousand more additional bags this year than last. Woohoo! We all clapped and hollered for the kids to thank them when they left.

It's my favorite activity here at the park. Saturday morning we shall help set all 4,000 bags out along the luminaria path. Saturday about 3:00pm we begin lighting the candles. My husband got me a bitchen propane torch for lighting the candles. It's a lot of bending down and if you have only a clicker for lighting them, it's killer. We found that out the first year. Now, it's torches for us!

40.5" today

Hair talk - Forty point five inches.

Second baby blanket finito! This is for a four year old nephew who likes horses and is crazy about the cowboy boots his mom bought him. It feels so soft. My stitches weren't as even as I'd like because my sewing foot didn't walk evenly all the time. Still, for a little boy it's okay. He'll never notice some of the stitching is uneven. The thickness made the sewing a little more challenging. I hope when he sees it that it makes his eyes happy. I'm going to make some kind of a gift card to go with the blankets that will explain that they're meant to be used - in the car, at home, dragged on the floors, and taken out of doors. Hmmm, got a little rhyme going there. I might use that. And they're sturdy, 100% polyester, 100% washable. I'm making the pink one next. Hot pink satin and kitty cats!

Got an email that my sword should be in the UPS mail tomorrow. Hoo boy! I was kind of worried about that back order deal, but looks like it'll be a-okay. I hope it balances well.

Hanukkah starts today my husband said. Advent began last Sunday. I do love the Advent season, a time to prepare our hearts for Christmas - the celebration of the birth of Christ, the Messiah. I made our Advent wreath today. It's a little bit pretty. I like it. We're doing a devotional each night after dinner. My husband is sure warming up to Jesus. I feel he is. Everyone goes at their own speed and you can support and encourage, but no one should be forced or rushed. The waiting is killing me though. I impress myself because I can see that I've learned so much in the past few years. I can actually answer questions regarding the reading. It's important to learn and grow. Many Christians claim the Christianity, but they're like infants suckling still. It takes effort and persistence to grow in faith. After our scripture reading which was Matthew 21:12-22 tonight, we sang the Christmas carol "Do You Hear What I Hear?" We have awful voices, but we have fun singing. We sound so bad that we just laugh and laugh at ourselves!

Fleece

I found a horse pattern fleece. It's anti-pill and so soft. Tonight I pinned the binding on it and tomorrow I'll sew it. I bought cream colored fleece for the other side. It feels rather plush with the two together.

It was a pretty day. Sunny and cool. I still didn't get around to washing my hair though. I absolutely have to get it done tomorrow. We got home from Cruces about 3:00pm, so I had to put away groceries and I just don't know where the rest of the day went.

We stopped for Mexican for lunch and it was the best. Last week we got Mexican food that was barely edible. It was awful. One thing I can't stand are those taco shells preformed that you buy at the store. Awful. There should be a law. I'm appalled to be served those fake taco shells at a restaurant with hamburger inside. The place we found today was just a little hole in the wall place. When we walked in the girl behind the counter greeted us (that's unusual) and after we placed our order she asked if we wanted a bowl of "Welcome Soup." Man, that soup was some kind of good. It was a very small cup full, but what a nice idea. Welcome Soup. Very cool. I told my husband as we ate our lunches at the rest stop that the food we bought was as good as what we used to eat in El Centro when I was ten years old, minus the cucurachas!

Our favorite restaurant in El Centro in 1968 was El Sombrero...until one time during dinner my mom saw a huge, well fed cockroach in the kitchen area. I didn't see it. She never took us back to El Sombrero again. What I remember best are the buñuelos my sister and I ate for dessert. I never see them on the menus anywhere anymore. I think back on those buñuelos wistfully.

Cooper's Hawk

The week-end is over. But tomorrow we're going to Cruces so it's not a normal workaday day for us. I hope to buy some cowboy boot patterned fleece to make a blanket for my nephew. That's the last of the blanket notions and fabric I'll need for the year. And we have to get candles and styrofoam to make our Advent wreath on the cheap.

I didn't get anything done today except for a giant nap after church. I did a big, loud WAAAHOOO in church in support of my pastor's wife this morning. She did today's sermon in her husband's place because he's in the Philippines for the week. He spoke at a pastor's conference and helped feed kids who live at the dump and is visiting orphanages. The U.S.A. stinks in a lot of ways. It's far from perfect and wrought with social and financial problems, but there are no children living at the dumps eating garbage to survive a day at a time. We were hoping to go to Mexico this year, but stories about brutal attacks on tourists has quickly changed our mind. I wouldn't even go down with a group of campers now. Bummer. I think we'll go to Grand Canyon, the Tetons, and Wyoming this year. We think fuel's going to be high so we won't be venturing across the continent that's for sure. Can't afford long travel days at $4.00 per gallon fuel.

Got a pic of that raptor that likes to prey on my po' wittle quail. He's young. Very beautiful bird. I caught sight of him while I was sitting at the kitchen table. Went outside and walked a wide circle round him trying not to annoy him. I've never seen him on that pole before.

Wanted to get a hair pic, but it hasn't been washed for a few days and I kinda want to measure after it's washed and dried. I'm over 40" finally, I know that. Woo hoo! I'm still not classic length though. My bum is so low. Maybe if I squeeze my cheeks they'll go a little higher and I can say I'm classic. I'll try that.