w00t w00t booyah

Merry Christmas - congratulations, we made it!

I'm in my comfy clothes, getting ready to have the traditional (starting this year) hot bath with new bath fizzies before hitting the sheets on Christmas night. (All the better to get up early tomorrow for the after-Christmas 50% off EVERYTHING at Stats tomorrow!)

Take your right arm and raise it to shoulder height. Bend the elbow to 45 degrees. Lower, and pat yourself on the back.

You're here. The rest is gravy. This is the time we celebrate the appearance of the agent of change for the better - God come to earth, our great teacher, the coming of Love unconditional - call it what you will.

Remember that great things may yet come with small steps and little other warning. It's also possibl;e that your greatest moments will come when you least expect them, from the least effort...and your greatest efforts may never amount to what your expections will demand of them. Yield, sit back and enjoy the ride.

And everything can become new again - just look to what you have at hand, and see it in a different way.

Sand and water can become concrete. Sand can also become glass - it's all in the way you look at it, and how you proceed.

There are yet wonders unknown, and beautiful things to look forward to - if only if you remember to look for the sunrises and sunsets, enjoying the sun when it shines and the rain when it falls.

Remember -

Always do your best.
Clean up your own messes.
Be aware of your impact on others.

And love is really all you need.

Thanks for reading - thus closes the advent posts for 2008. See you next year!

Merry Christmas - congratulations, we made it!

I'm in my comfy clothes, getting ready to have the traditional (starting this year) hot bath with new bath fizzies before hitting the sheets on Christmas night. (All the better to get up early tomorrow for the after-Christmas 50% off EVERYTHING at Stats tomorrow!)

Take your right arm and raise it to shoulder height. Bend the elbow to 45 degrees. Lower, and pat yourself on the back.

You're here. The rest is gravy. This is the time we celebrate the appearance of the agent of change for the better - God come to earth, our great teacher, the coming of Love unconditional - call it what you will.

Remember that great things may yet come with small steps and little other warning. It's also possibl;e that your greatest moments will come when you least expect them, from the least effort...and your greatest efforts may never amount to what your expections will demand of them. Yield, sit back and enjoy the ride.

And everything can become new again - just look to what you have at hand, and see it in a different way.

Sand and water can become concrete. Sand can also become glass - it's all in the way you look at it, and how you proceed.

There are yet wonders unknown, and beautiful things to look forward to - if only if you remember to look for the sunrises and sunsets, enjoying the sun when it shines and the rain when it falls.

Remember -

Always do your best.
Clean up your own messes.
Be aware of your impact on others.

And love is really all you need.

Thanks for reading - thus closes the advent posts for 2008. See you next year!

Merry Christmas!

Deep breath - the party is just about to begin, now.



(iconomicon. Go, peruse - and right click muchly. The filenames ARE the best part - *nods to vixyish*)

Got your plans made? Checking them twice? Ghad, I hope you're wherever you need to be for the holiday - traveling has been AWFUL this year for everyone and I'm glad I didn't have to. No, that's not something Skippy here wants to do for fun. That one Thanksgiving in Seattle, waiting to get to Spokane was bad enough. (Seven hours, most of it on the plane waiting to go - got a bottle of champagne out of it for having the most keys on a keyring - at the time, 26 - but no, don't need to do it again.)

Guys, if you smoke? Please quit. You cruise my friends list, you'll hear that a very beloved member of the callahanians group lost her fight with cancer last night - but even that isn't the biggest reason I ask people to quit smoking.

It's just near the top of a huge list in teensy print that could be used to paper a small room. Teensy - and none of them are dinner table conversation to describe.

Please quit.

It's isn't just lung cancer it causes.

I can't think of a more heartbreaking passing loved ones have to witness when the oxygen doesn't go to 11. They can't turn it up any higher.

Please quit.

If you really think you don't matter - you aren't paying attention. If you've got someone to bitch that at - there's your proof. (BTW - nobody likes to be told they don't care. You don't know anything about what's going on in someone else's head. Telling them you do is rude, presumptious - and well, sucktastic. Knock it off and pull your head out of your own ass before you end up with shit for brains permanently. Brought to you courtesty of some really incredible behavior in the neighborhood lately.)

Go have a talk with Leo and come back.

Take care of yourselves.

I have complete faith the best person to do the job is you, and it'll be fine.

Everything is going to be okay, no matter what. Trust me on this - it's three house fires, two burglaries, one parent dead before age 7, one spouse dead before age 37 speaking here.

It's all going to work out. You'll see.

Don't get in your own way, and I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night!

Sliiiiiding into home!

People actually have the brass to ask Jim and I why we do it. We get an absolute JOLT this time of year, because you know what? People let us do the shit we LOVE and would do every day. But if we did, they'd ruin it - because in March? People think you're up to something if you're nice. In December? It's Christmas! You're allowed!

AWESOME.

Make no mistake about it - being Good? Being Nice? Is work - but as they say, if you do what you love for a job? It stops being work. That's the catch.

Sis married an elf - I married Vash the Stampede, and in his heart of hearts, Jim would be Superman in a heartbeat if it were a job description.

Me, I just went without so often - when I finally got more than I needed? Gee - look over there. They've got nuthin' and I can't forget how much that sucks. And I got more than I can use - good grief. I'm not a dragon and I don't need to build a nest out of Stuff.

(The things I can't provide myself this year? Are in the scores of thousands - if I refused to spend the time and effort (and a few $$) this season, it wouldn't bridge that gap in the least, and I'd lose out on some experiences that have so much more lasting value than the $$ I'm putting into it. Thanks, Cliff. I won't forget.)

People don't seem to get it. They've heard about the 'spoiled poor' who never do a thing to help themselves and only take, take, take - SO MUCH - they don't know what really happens.

Love spreads. No, seriously. It does. The first thing I've seen, time in and out - is when you help someone...do what is needful, without intruding...the first thing that happens is they're the first ones in the line to do it for someone else.

It may be a batch of cookies, and nothing more. But those cookies are made, and given to someone else. (Cookies are OM NOM NOM, BTW. Even in March. Hint.)

I think the only downside to this is the surprise I have each time I see it. That's hardly rational, knowing what's true - the rhetoric about the winners having to carry the load of the losers in this society just doesn't register here - what I see is the people responsible to the public trust voting themselves the largesse, you want to know the truth. It's the losers having to carry the winners - and ain't that fs&#@!d up?

So when I saw this, cross-posted by bluesgirly this morning, I just sat, got the shit-eating grin on my face and nodded.

If you set the bar, people tend to rise to meet it. The key is not to insist - but just lead by example.

Trust me. You'll have the time of your life.

See you tomorrow!

Sliiiiiding into home!

People actually have the brass to ask Jim and I why we do it. We get an absolute JOLT this time of year, because you know what? People let us do the shit we LOVE and would do every day. But if we did, they'd ruin it - because in March? People think you're up to something if you're nice. In December? It's Christmas! You're allowed!

AWESOME.

Make no mistake about it - being Good? Being Nice? Is work - but as they say, if you do what you love for a job? It stops being work. That's the catch.

Sis married an elf - I married Vash the Stampede, and in his heart of hearts, Jim would be Superman in a heartbeat if it were a job description.

Me, I just went without so often - when I finally got more than I needed? Gee - look over there. They've got nuthin' and I can't forget how much that sucks. And I got more than I can use - good grief. I'm not a dragon and I don't need to build a nest out of Stuff.

(The things I can't provide myself this year? Are in the scores of thousands - if I refused to spend the time and effort (and a few $$) this season, it wouldn't bridge that gap in the least, and I'd lose out on some experiences that have so much more lasting value than the $$ I'm putting into it. Thanks, Cliff. I won't forget.)

People don't seem to get it. They've heard about the 'spoiled poor' who never do a thing to help themselves and only take, take, take - SO MUCH - they don't know what really happens.

Love spreads. No, seriously. It does. The first thing I've seen, time in and out - is when you help someone...do what is needful, without intruding...the first thing that happens is they're the first ones in the line to do it for someone else.

It may be a batch of cookies, and nothing more. But those cookies are made, and given to someone else. (Cookies are OM NOM NOM, BTW. Even in March. Hint.)

I think the only downside to this is the surprise I have each time I see it. That's hardly rational, knowing what's true - the rhetoric about the winners having to carry the load of the losers in this society just doesn't register here - what I see is the people responsible to the public trust voting themselves the largesse, you want to know the truth. It's the losers having to carry the winners - and ain't that fs&#@!d up?

So when I saw this, cross-posted by bluesgirly this morning, I just sat, got the shit-eating grin on my face and nodded.

If you set the bar, people tend to rise to meet it. The key is not to insist - but just lead by example.

Trust me. You'll have the time of your life.

See you tomorrow!

Saved by the FL!




Me, I personally love the stuff - I'll even poke out the citron (WHY) as long as it's less than nine months old. (Yes, you can age this stuff like cheese...except it's not cheese....)

This year, it was just too expensive to make. (When the candied fruits are $7 a container? No, Skippy can't justify making this stuff for nearly $50 a loaf. Can't.)

See you tomorrow!

I've spent the day putting things together - people, things, decorations on the tree, etc.

I'm thinking the theme for the day?

Drag out the old pictures. People coming by on Christmas Eve will know what I mean by this - drag out the old stuff, if you can stand to.

You want a reasonable period of time going WTF, there's your immediate source for it.

(I just finished reframing the photo collage I made from last year's Christmas card photos - yes, if you send me pictures as Christmas cards, I WILL keep them and put them on the wall.)

In some ways, this year went by in a flash - in others, what a long, arduous HAUL this has been.

Hang in there - and see you tomorrow!

I've spent the day putting things together - people, things, decorations on the tree, etc.

I'm thinking the theme for the day?

Drag out the old pictures. People coming by on Christmas Eve will know what I mean by this - drag out the old stuff, if you can stand to.

You want a reasonable period of time going WTF, there's your immediate source for it.

(I just finished reframing the photo collage I made from last year's Christmas card photos - yes, if you send me pictures as Christmas cards, I WILL keep them and put them on the wall.)

In some ways, this year went by in a flash - in others, what a long, arduous HAUL this has been.

Hang in there - and see you tomorrow!

Getting real close to the finish!

(Today has been BUSY. Tomorrow looks as bad or worse, and I'll be on my own then.)

Keep it simple.

Today, I had the opportunity to make someone's day, and in turn, help myself -

It's cold - hell, it's under SNOW in most places right now.

Today, at the Farmer's Market, they had a high school water polo team sitting a table selling candy bars. They were - in short - freezing. They were in the shade, in their California-weight sweatshirt hoodies...waaay underdressed for the 39-45 degrees it was this morning.

I bought them out. It was dead easy - and guess what? I've got goodies for Christmas Eve. Good goodies.

Keep it simple. Look for a way through. Make someone's life easier - not complicate your own or theirs.

(In other news, we've been bringing in carts to the stores from the parking lots like nobody's business. Guess what? I sense labor cuts. And people not able to get the carts from the parking lots to the stores where they need to be. You see some carts running loose in the parking lots, take them with you when you go in, okay?)

See you tomorrow!

Here you go, knitty people. Granted, you likely could make this out of anything handy - but the free pattern from Lion Brand is for recycled cotton.

Knit a reusable tote bag.



See you tomorrow!