2007

Wow. I can look back on this year and be totally amazed. I continue to be in awe of how God has worked in our lives in such a very visible way. We would not have believed it a year ago if we'd known we'd be here now. This was a year of huge turmoil and change in many ways, and yet we were given an incredible peace about it every step of the way.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

I am so humbled by His ever-present grace surrounding us.

C'mon get happy

I have an easy way to get what I want for Christmas. It never fails--I buy that gift for someone else. It's only effective if I buy it for someone in my house.

Robert's tried this in the past. Many years ago, I bought him fancy little drink glasses that he wanted for Valentine's Day. I think they're called cordial glasses; however, we don't drink, and I am not sure if we ever used them. But he bought me a hot air popcorn popper. It took me awhile to realize he's the one that liked to eat popcorn all the time. I never used to eat it--until he bought me the popper, and then I felt guilty not eating it.

I wanted Third Day's Christmas CD this year. I could have bought it for myself, but I feel guilty spending money on me, especially at Christmas. So I bought the CD for Robert. I waited and waited until Christmas Day for him to open it. He likes Third Day just fine, but he has a lot of favorite Christmas CDs. I don't think he listened to it once. But I played it several times. :)

There were the couple of years that Holly and I bought each other the Brady Bunch DVDs. I've always wanted to be a Brady. She's also enjoyed the Little House and Full House DVDs. But I've been wanting her to want The Partridge Family. No such luck.

For whatever reason, the Partridges were way cooler than the Bradys. When my sister and I were little, we were big Partridge Family fans. Too young to care about David Cassidy, we would play "Partridge Family" with the neighbor girls. Our biggest problem was that there were four of us girls, but only three females on the show. One of us would get stuck being a boy. That was the only time it wasn't fun.

So I bought Holly Season 2 for Christmas. Only Seasons 1 and 2 are out, and Season 2 is definitely better. The new Chris is there to stay, Danny is quite witty; the family has come into its own by Season 2. Holly's enjoying it enough that she's planning to buy Season 1 with her own money. She couldn't believe that I am older than Shirley Jones was back then (just like I am older than Mike and Carol Brady). She made my day, my week, maybe my year. I think my favorite episode is balding Rob Reiner, already 35 in real life, playing (high schooler) Laurie's biker boyfriend.

The best part is that my sister bought me the Come On Get Happy CD several years ago. (I'm thinking she wanted it, but she bought it for me instead.) Even Trevor knows the songs, as I played it several times on the drive out here--Jeremy Camp, Daughtry, and the Partridge Family--that pretty much says it all about my trip. I love the Bradys, but they didn't make the musical cut.

Hmm. I wonder if Robert would like a colander or salad spinner for Valentine's Day . . .

Pardon me

...while I post a few more practice shots.

Friday

Yippee, my camera is up and running, and I even installed the software onto my computer! I was planning on a nice morning, getting out early to try out some pictures, taking advantage of the earlier light, but it rained here all day.

Instead, I dragged Robert to a nearby park and took several shot out my car window.



That was on the way to Walmart, where I picked up a card reader. I didn't get it to work tonight, but I think it might work tomorrow.

I later took Holly to her riding lesson. It wasn't raining there (yet) but the fog had settled into the valley. She rode for a short time before the rain came through, and then she hung out and cleaned tack.



I headed into Roanoke, intending to check out a library. I wasn't sure where it was and ended up at the mall instead. Usually I dislike clothes shopping, but I found a few things yesterday and again today, and at prices that didn't kill me. Robert will be happy, and that makes me happy. I prefer very comfortable and casual clothes, but I bought nicer items that he will appreciate. I shopped so long that I was rushing to pick up Holly on time.

We have considerably less main living space in the new house, and even without a lot of the Christmas decorations, we've been feeling overdone and claustrophobic. Everything has already been put away, the exceptions are the Christmas tree (I'll put the ornaments away tomorrow) and the Christmas dishes (easy to switch). I am so happy when everything is tidy and uncluttered!

Looking forward to tomorrow, which should be much warmer than today. Holly's instructor called, asking if she could come back tomorrow since she didn't get to ride much today. How nice is that?!

We're all enjoying the break from school. I think this is the slowest year we've had (and that's not in a good way). We've typically bulked up the first half of the year, so we can relax when we hit that end of January slump--and stay more relaxed for the rest of the year. But we never seemed to really get going this year, at least not in the way that I would have liked. And it's not making the return to school anything to look forward to. Eeek!

Weekly menu

PW's Chex mix (but not for dinner)

Mount Evans Short Ribs, egg noodles

Christmas dinner: ham, cheesey mashed potatoes, spinach Madeline, orange jello salad, rolls, German chocolate cake

YOYO (You're On Your Own)

French dip, Caesar salad, orange jello salad

scalloped ham and potatoes, vegetable

tortilla soup

mango chipotle chicken sausage (don't ask yet; it was on sale)


Lunch (with or for):
smoothies
grilled PB&J
fish tacos

On the back burner:
beef stroganoff
reuben sandwiches, pasta salad, chips
grilled flank steak
fondue
taco salad
chicken
okra

Book Review - Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton

Well. I just looked at some of the amazon reviews of this book. What one thinks might depend on what one expects to find. If you're waiting to read that Clapton was a really awesome man with wonderful moral character, a musical genius who devoted his life to his career, you'd be hugely disappointed. He's an extremely shallow and boring guy--but it must be difficult to spend your entire life in the spotlight and maintain any semblance of "normalcy."

I was interested in reading what he had to say about his life. I wasn't expecting it to be pretty, but it was definitely an interesting book. It was certainly better written than Pattie Boyd's Wonderful Tonight, and it was fascinating to read their very different perspectives of identical events. Clapton tells the story of his life from his early childhood, the beginnings of his musical career, his personal life, and many details of his various addictions. (And I'm surprised he could remember as much as he did.) He was emotionless throughout the book, vaguely apologetic, passing all blame for his behavior onto drugs. Most of his life seemed to ride on his reputation. The last several chapters of the book portray him as a recovering alcoholic, devoted to his wife and children. That portion must have been written under a time deadline, or without the help of a ghostwriter, because they were noticeably different from the rest of the book, very hurried, flying through one vague topic after another, "I did this, I flew here, I met this person, I have so much money, blah, blah, blah."

Again, an interesting read. Not a happy life.

Update on the camera

...and answering a bunch of the comments from the last posts.

It's a Canon Power Shot S5 IS.

I'm not sure what Kathleen has; I'm sure she blogged about it way back when, but I can't find her post about it. She recommended I buy a clear filter to protect my lens, and a card reader. I am absolutely going to listen to her advice. They were on my shopping list today but I didn't make it to Walmart. I'd like to get a plug in thing too, because I stress too much about batteries when I should just be enjoying the camera at the kitchen table.

Robert is making fun of my "expensive hobby." But *I* haven't bought any of this stuff. And we won't talk about *his* hobbies (gardening and shooting). Debbie, if you put it off long enough, maybe Brian will get you a new one for Mother's Day and you won't feel guilty for buying it yourself.

In that same note, I replaced the little 12 card in the new camera with the 512 card from the old camera (whatever exactly those numbers mean), so I don't see myself using my little camera much anymore. But I don't have to buy another card either. DeEtta uses both of her cameras, but I can barely remember to wear both of my shoes, so that won't work for me. (D--I've been around too long--::snort::)

Dorothy, lol, I will come to grips lugging this thing around. (You're wickedly punny.) And I've already turned the camera on a few times and had the lens cover pop off. How in the world am I supposed to remember to take it off? And where am I going to stick this big thing in the car?

Cindy, if you take that $$$ online photography class, maybe you can teach it at co-op? Or on SHS? Or on your blog?

Thank you for your encouragement, all of you!

Cameras

I'm really not a camera person. I don't really like them. Sure, I enjoy taking photos, but I don't want to have to think about it. We bought our first digital camera in 1999. I know that because all of our photo albums stop there. Over the years, I've had my share of digital cameras.

The first one lasted for several years, until I accidentally broke the flash. I forgot the camera was in my lap, jumped out of the car, and watched the camera hit the pavement. It still took great pictures. Outside anyway.

Robert bought me a new camera a few months later for Christmas. I appreciated that it was another HP; there wasn't much for me to learn.

As I began to take more pictures, Rob quickly realized that I should probably have more pixels (or whatever it is that makes the camera take better shots). He bought me another one a year later. I liked it just fine too--it used two batteries instead of four, and it was a lot lighter.

Two years ago, I'm not sure what he was thinking, but he bought me yet another camera. I didn't need another camera; I didn't want another camera, and I didn't even want to think about opening the box. So I didn't. It sat, unopened, for 13 months. For more reasons unknown to me, and despite my protestations, he found a deal he couldn't pass up and bought me a second new camera last January. That's the camera I've been using for the past year. It also came with a fancy little printer, but I don't know much about that. I've never opened that box.

(And I bought Photoshop at an incredible price last May, but I've been too chicken to open that up too. It's still in the original plastic wrapper.)

Meanwhile, Holly got the other boxed-for-a-year camera and used it in her spring semester photography class. She received many compliments from the teacher; I hope she catches the picture bug again.

I didn't think I needed a new camera for Christmas this year. But I consider how many photographs I've taken. My date stamp broke last August, no matter how many times I reset, all of my pictures are dated 8/2007. It drives me nuts to turn off my flash every time I turn on my camera. I've not been as happy with my photos lately. For months, I've looked longingly at Kathleen's, Dorothy's and Ginger's blog pics. I've read through DeEtta's comparisons between her fancy camera and her pocket camera.



I'm thrilled to get this new camera. But I'm a little intimidated too. For starters, it's too big to fit into my purse. It has a lens cap cover that *I* have to remember to take off and put on. (If you think that shouldn't be a problem, you'd be wrong.) It has 3,451 buttons on it, and I hope to figure out a dozen or so sometime soon. On the plus side, it has auto features, so I don't have to know much before shooting. Robert told me that I'd have to use some brain power. I don't have that much to spare. But I did put the strap on by myself yesterday and popped in the batteries. And I'm off to a great start, I've already opened the box.

Ghosts of Christmas Present (or something like that)

In the past 11 months, my little camera has taken over 3800 pictures. That's a lot of photos, and the math mom in me has it figured to average over ten pictures a day. (Which makes me really pity my family.)

It was a bit of a relief to have the video camera going yesterday morning. I felt like I was on vacation. At one point, I whipped out my digital, but it seemed to be on vacation too. None of these would be worthy of posting usually, but they're here to make my point.


I rarely use my flash. The pictures always look washed out, too white. Because my flash can't be turned off permanently, I have to turn it off manually every time I turn on my camera.



Obviously, it's not too bright in this room (uh, don't laugh!). I can hardly ask the kids to FREEZE for their picture. No flash gives them quite a Casper like quality, but that's not the effect I want.



A little blurry or too white (and this had additional color pumped into it from the computer).



Look at those hands fly!



Completing the family is the ghost cat.


With her ghost girl.



Here's a nice little present that Robert got me. It even glows in the dark. Woo-hoo! It will be a perfect nightshirt.



At the end of present opening, I stumbled upon this lovely new gift. It's not really a ghost camera, it just looks that way.



Goodbye, little old ghost camera!

Merry Christmas

A Christmas Creed

I believe in Jesus Christ and in the beauty of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.

I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world, in towns both large and small.

I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.

I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.

I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible.

I believe in the one whose cradle was a mother's arms, whose modest home in Nazareth had love for its only wealth, who looked at persons and made them see what God's love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.

I confess my ever-lasting need of God: The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.

I believe in God who gives us the best of himself. I believe in Jesus, the son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world.

Walter Russell Bowie

Christmas photo

More Christmas habits

I ended a recent post mentioning the sign in our Christmas tree indicating what year it it. It comes in handy when everyone's looking at pictures a few years later--no one can ever disagree what year it was when there's a paper sign in the photo!

We usually videotape our Christmases now, and after going a little batty holding the camera, Robert will set it on a chair and point it generally toward the middle of the room. Every year, we talk about how we'll make copies and send it to our families, but we've never actually done that.

Holly and Trevor are the only two grandkids on either side of the family. With lots of grandparents and aunts and uncles, the kids can get a little overloaded on Christmas and birthdays. Of course, they would never admit to that!

So the videos always show me in a bit of hysteria. I will repeatedly shout, "SLOW DOWN! Who's that from? WHAT was in it?" as I try desperately to keep up a list of what they open and who's sent it to them. "WAIT! Don't open anything else yet!!" I tend to get a little shrill. And hoarse. No one ever seems to listen, but I always manage to get my list done.

(Because we usually know ahead of time what most of their presents are from our relatives, Rob asked me this year if I just wanted to write it down ahead of time. Brilliant idea. But I was in the midst of my favorite thing--not--, wrapping, and I gave him one of those you-want-me-to-do-what-else? looks. He incorrectly of course interpreted it as my withering stare look, and he quickly decided this was a tradition we needed to again maintain this year. I haven't had to write anything down yet. But I'll be ready.)

I have always been responsible for wrapping the kids' gifts. Usually that includes gifts that others have sent but weren't able to wrap for various reasons. I don't mind wrapping; in fact, I like to use ribbon and bows and be creative. I like to make the presents look pretty. But I procrastinate with Christmas presents. Many years ago, I was once up until 2 a.m. on Christmas Day still wrapping. (Holly was probably 2; I doubt she would have noticed.) Since then, Robert has gently encouraged me to start early; he's even wrapped a few things. (Before you start thinking that HE could be doing a lot more to help, you have to know that he's been there, done that, and doesn't want to risk offending me. I don't take to this kind of help well. At all.)

The other night, he practically dragged me enticed me into our bedroom and locked the door. He had that look (whatever that is) in his eye and began pulling out boxes, wrapping paper, scissors, tape, ribbons, bows and tags. The two of us, together, spent what seemed like a few hours getting everything wrapped for the kids. It was great, it was fun, and it was not rushed. It was almost romantic. It was like another great date.

These aren't all from us.

Last year, while visiting friends on Christmas Eve, they shared one of their own Christmas, er, habits. They played us this this song. I will never forget their two year old, laughing and slapping his knees--imitating everyone else he'd seen as they listened.

You can see that these don't really fall under the category of "traditions." They are quirky little habits, the silly things we do year after year--the silly things that I joke about.

* * *

But of course the Truth is that all of this happens as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, who came to earth so that He could die for us--we prepare to celebrate the wonder of the gift we have received, His gift of everlasting life.

Outside decorations

Here are a few of the decorations outside.

Unfortunately, the (fake) tree keeps falling over, even when stake into the ground. We have a row of bushes lining our driveway that have colored lights. My pics didn't turn out, but you can see one in the background.


These reindeer have visited us for several years, another decoration that we got from Robert's parents.


Here's where the giant wreath ended up. It looks awesome! We also have the electric candles in the four downstairs windows, but they weren't on when I took this picture. (Oh, this was the night that was so warm, I can see Rob sitting on the porch in his shorts.)


Robert loves to decorate. This is pretty mild to what he's done in the past, lights all along the house, the front bushes, various decorations in both the front and back yards, and more. I used to worry that we'd end up with one of those houses in the newspaper. :) The worst for me was when he'd get up on our garage (in the old house). The roof was slanted, and then he'd put a big ladder up on that part of the roof, to reach the second story eaves to put the lights up. I never knew if I should watch so I could call 911 faster, or if I should just wait inside for the big thunk. (Eyes rolling.) Yep, I'm a little paranoid.

Robert's white Christmas

He's been waiting so long. I've been enjoying the 60s and sometimes 70s that we continue to see, but Robert has yearned for snow. As we considered moving to different areas, we knew we wanted some snow. It never seemed that it snowed that much in Colorado Springs, but we wanted to live in a place that was a little more mild. In one more way, southwestern Virginia was an answer to prayer.

I know he's enjoying this, this may be as good as it gets.



He had an appointment this morning, and he called me from his car. This is definitely what he wanted for Christmas.


:)

Christmas tree

I've already written that this is the first year that the kids have ever had a real tree. They were quite shocked at first, but I think they've gotten over it and don't notice it anymore. Although we've always put our tree up over Thanksgiving weekend, this year it wasn't done until two weeks later.

It usually doesn't look the same any two years. Sometimes there are white lights, sometimes colored. Sometimes we've used garland, sometimes not. Last year, we wound a gold mesh ribbon into the tree (loved that!). Robert usually puts tinsel on at the end, but not always.

But the ornaments are always the same. Most of them have a lot of meaning behind them--to me. Irreplaceable are the ones Holly and Trevor made when they were little.



For several years, my mom would buy three identical ornaments. She'd keep one, and then send one to me, and one to my sister. I like hanging these up, knowing that they both have matching ones too. They were always very unique.



Robert's mom buys Holly and Trevor at least one ornament each year, and we buy something to commemorate the year also. Robert and I have exchanged ornaments way back since our first Christmas together.

Trevor gave me this last year. It can hang on the tree or sit on the table.




We also have a few dozen ornaments from when Robert was a boy. They are a little scratched, most showing their age, so I hang them way inside the tree where they hang all soft and shiny. He also managed to get the star that topped his family's tree for as long as he can remember, back to at least the early '70s.



We have other tree traditions, including putting certain Christmas cards into the branches. They are usually cards from parents/grandparents, saved for opening on Christmas Day. We will occasionally watch home movies from when Robert was very young. His family always hung a sign on the tree each Christmas morning with the year written on it. (That way, no one can every argue which year it was!) We try to hang a sign but don't always remember.

There are a few other silly "traditions," although maybe "habits" is the better word, which I'll post later.

Nativities

Over the past several years, I have casually collected a few nativity sets. This is my favorite; Robert bought it for me awhile back. I moved most of the figures to the center to take the photo, but there are a few more that are off to the sides. It's a lot larger than it looks here, and it usually takes some place of prominence in the house.



This is a little one that I Trevor? or Robert? gave me more recently. It has a candle holder in it, but I've never put one there.



I took a few more photos of one that was in our basement. When we unpacked it recently, we found that two of the figures had broken, probably during our move. Robert successfully glued them back together, and they've now been moved around the house several times. But I don't have any photos of it. I know there are a few more tucked away in boxes, but we didn't unpack all of the Christmas stuff this year.

Where in the world . . .

have YOU been?

create your own personalized map of the USA

I've been to 24 states; I wouldn't have guessed that many. I'll have to work on filling in Maryland, Delaware, Tennessee and South Carolina soon.

A busy day at the post office

We've played hooky the past few days of school to give me a chance to get my Christmas cards done and a few packages ready to mail. Everything was finally set to go today. In my old life, I would plan activities around my post office visits, trying to plot out which substation to go to and when. But I don't have many choices here in Stickville. I figured, at worst, I'd stand in line for a short time and find someone to talk to.

But this is what I found when I went to my post office. Can you believe this is the week before Christmas???


That's my van. The red car belongs to the postmaster. Sometimes I think I'm in love with him. But then I remember that it's his post office that I'm really in love with.

Uh-oh! The rush is on! Just when Larry began weighing my boxes, the telephone rang AND someone else came in!

These are my boxes on both counters.

Hey, no problem. When he hangs up, he leaves the phone off the hook so he can help his in store customers first.

I was there for 20 minutes or so. I had to buy stamps and put them on all my cards. When I was leaving, another customer came in the door. I think I hit it during the rush hour.

My day was totally made by this point. I practically floated home, a goofy grin plastered on my face.

As I drove down my street, I stopped everywhere that looked like a nice shot, blasting Chris Daughtry the whole way.

I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong.

I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don't regret this life You chose for me.

Oh, look. It's smoke. The fires are still burning.



"Hi, Rob! How are you, hon? Can I get you anything?!"

My husband is hot, hot, hot

(I think he may kill me if he sees that anytime soon.)

When the land was first cleared for this house a year ago, a bulldozer was brought in, a bunch of trees knocked down, and all was pushed into a clearing away from the house. In the course of negotiations to buy the house, the builder politely declined our request to remove the debris.

Once we moved in, the brush pile grew. We knocked down some trees. (That's the french "we," thank you very much.) Robert cleared more brush out from the trees near the house, and who knows what else was stuck in there. The pile was big to begin with and got a lot bigger.

We'd been under a burning ban for some time, but Robert was just itching to get rid of some of it. He's had a few small fires but he was tired of messing around. We had rain over the weekend, it's been quite cool, and we had no wind--today was the day. We have to call the sheriff's office (or someone) to let them know we'll be burning. I guess it's so they don't send the volunteer fire department out.



Figuring this would fall under Fire Science 101, I convinced Trevor to join in the fun. (Unfortunately, he soon convinced himself otherwise.)



I offered Robert moral support and water when it wasn't conflicting with taking pictures.

We knew it couldn't all burn today, but it was soon obvious that more had to be burning anyway, and pile number two was set.



Rob was out there most of the day. I dropped in occasionally, offering that moral support. "Good job, honey! Eew! It smells like smoke here! Eek, WHY does it keep following ME? I don't want to smell like SMOKE! Ash is getting on my clothes! Do you need anything, honey? Water to drink? Uh, okay, I'll bring you some in a little bit. Bye!"

I haven't been by the creek in several weeks. I walked around by myself in the woods. It was quite a different view now that all the leaves are down. I peeked through the trees and could see all the smoke. And flames.

"Hon? You doing okay up there? Just let me know if you need anything!"

Weekly menu

Encore Presentation

spaghetti, bread, salad

Robert's beef noodle soup

Italian wedding soup

Mount Evans Short Ribs

mango chipotle chicken sausage (don't ask yet; it was on sale)

???

Lunch (with or for):
smoothies
grilled PB&J

On the back burner:
reuben sandwiches, pasta salad, chips
grilled flank steak
fondue
taco salad

Life at my house

After searching for literally several months, we have found two riding instructors for Holly that both sound great. Both women are complete opposites, even teaching different disciplines; each has their definite strengths. Holly will likely take a few lessons from each to decide which one she'd like to work with. She had a BLAST at her first lesson on Friday.



WOO-HOO! This was such a relief--for me. I can't imagine what it was for her. It was one of the difficult things to leave in Colorado, and I know she's happy to be back on a horse after four months. (And she's been pretty sore this weekend too!)

Meanwhile, the cats have RAMPAGED through our Christmas village, stomping down several buildings and dragging away trees. (See Pumpkin back there on the right too.)


Along with bringing death and destruction to Dickens Village, ONE of the cats has been attacking Trevor's Model Magic animals that he made for science. It's a sad day when an Orca is killed by a cat. It's almost as sad as what ONE kitty will find tonight. We've set up a few lovely traps that I'm thinking ONE will fall for, complete with Model Magic bait that Trevor made just for the occasion. We shall see.

Trevor discovers that in addition to building with Lego waffles, he can also arrange them to spell words.



Casting aside any worries (lol), Robert and I left the kids at home to run a few errands together.



We don't get out much often on our own. Other than family, we never used babysitters when the kids were younger. It's not very often that we get a chance to spend time together, just the two of us. It was a GREAT DATE!!!!

As we headed toward Roanoke, I just KNEW he'd stop at the new Starbucks. He's letting me take pictures--plural--of him, you can tell he's in a good mood! Maybe he's just so thrilled with his company.



We browsed through several different stores before heading back. It seems that I/we most often come home just as the sun is getting ready to set. It is SUCH a beautiful time of day!

Recipe - Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I don't know what possessed me to make this. I bought frozen meatballs on sale last week and planned this for dinner, even though we've never had it before. It was easy to make and everyone liked it. We'll definitely have it again! I served it with white rice, and frozen egg rolls and cream cheese wontons.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1 lb. frozen meatballs, thawed (I thawed mine in the microwave)
20 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained with juice reserved
1/3 c. water
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3 T. cornstarch
3 T. vinegar
1 T. soy sauce (I substituted Worcestershire sauce and it was fine)
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. seasoned salt
1 carrot, cut into thin rounds
1 green pepper, cut into chunks

To make sauce, add enough extra water to the reserved pineapple juice to make 1 cup. In a large pot, combine juice mixture, 1/3 c. water, brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and seasoning salt until smooth.

Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened.

Stir in pineapple tidbits, carrot, green pepper, and meatballs into sauce. Cook on low until heated through, stirring occasionally.


**Sliced water chestnuts optional. Add with carrots and green pepper.
**Can also make ahead in crockpot on low.

The Christmas questions

Michele e-mailed this to me, and then I saw it popping up on other loopy blogs. Here goes:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Either!

2. Real tree or artificial?

We've had our artificial tree for years. This is the first time we've had a real tree since the early 90s. The only bad thing is remembering to water it.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Thanksgiving weekend (until this year, which was about two weeks later).

4. When do you take the tree down?

The first week of January.

5. Do you like eggnog?

No!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

The one that stands out is my Baby Go Bye Bye. Looks like it came out in 1969, so I would have been six. :) And I bet this will surprise my mom and dad.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

Yes, I've casually collected them. I should do a blog post with some pics.

8. Hardest person to buy for?

My husband. This year, I was so busy pretending to ignore him when he was telling me that I quite forgot what he said.

And my dad, who already has anything he wants.

9. Easiest person to buy for?

Me? lol (Not really, as I was out Friday also trying to spend my birthday money on myself but not finding anything I wanted.)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Now that wouldn't be nice!

11. Mail or email Christmas Cards?

Oh, mail.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Christmas Vacation.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

In a good year, November. Otherwise, December.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

What the heck is this? Every single person said emphatically denied this, except Dorothy who qualified it by saying she was destitute.

YES, I've recycled. With plenty of thought. Generic things, like photo frames. Jewelry that I don't wear but that someone else would LOVE. (And I'm quite sure I told my mom when I gave it to her.) But I wouldn't recycle just anything, like those "worst Christmas gifts."

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

I'm supposed to pick just one? How about Baked Brie with Kahlua Pecan Sauce.

16. Clear lights or colored on the trees?

Colored. (And I seem to be alone in that opinion, based on what I've read so far!) We have the ones that twinkle slowly. Probably all the lead that they are covered in.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

Mmmm. Used to be Little Drummer Boy. I don't know right now. But I bought Third Day's Christmas Offerings CD for Robert this year, so maybe something off that. And Robert and I each grew up with and still love listening to Bing Crosby's White Christmas.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Stay home!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

YES! And last year, the kids memorized 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in its entirety. (But I've known the reindeer names for a looooong time.)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Star. Would you want to sit on a tree for a month?

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Morning!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?

I don't know if there's anything annoying . . .

23. What I love most about CHRISTmas?

That it's about JESUS. It's not just a holiday to give presents.

24. Most difficult thing about Christmas?

Yvonne had it right--it seems like 24/7 spiritual warfare. I'm grateful to her for posting that, I sometimes don't see things that way. And I should.

25. Favorite Christmas Tradition?

Oh, different things during different years, it seems. I used to love the Christmas tree lighting in Littleton, and the Denver parade. Watching the kids make their gingerbread house has been fun. I love reading the Jotham's Journey books. And I like opening the stockings when all the presents are gone. I couldn't pick just one tradition consistently!

Thursday Thirteen -- Places I went today

1. We've cut back on school for the next few weeks, but I still left the house today later than planned. My first stop was the post office.



2. On to the library.




3. I filled up my gas tank. (Gas seems quite a bit cheaper here than most places, and I'm thankful for that!)




4. Petsmart. I always get a little tense as I head into Petsmart, but one look at a happy dog, and I relaxed. The employees were really nice too, although they no longer carry what I wanted.



5. Next stop was Target. By this time, it was sprinkling. I didn't have much luck here either.




6. I went to the mall. Roanoke has two good sized malls, which still surprises me. There are some great stores, and it was my first time at this mall. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything on my list, so I left empty handed!

7. I ran a private little errand close by.

8. I went to a store that shall remain a secret, since I was doing some Christmas shopping!



9. I'm vaguely familiar with www.booksamillion.com, although I typically use other online booksellers. I've wanted to check out this store for months. It's in an odd location, pretty old, and the outside is not well maintained. It was DEAD inside too. It's too bad; there was a lot of floor space, books were nicely arranged.



10. I had a coupon for Hamricks and bought myself another pair of sweat pants. I've never heard of this store, I believe it's a decent sized, privately owned chain with several stores in the mid-Atlantic. Their prices are great, and the clothes quality is similar to what I buy at Kohl's.



11. By now, it's waaaay too late. I was planning to be home by now, am still an hour away, and I have no plans for dinner. I rush to Kroger. While this is one of my new "gem" stores (meaning it has a fancy deli, haha), they are out of french bread and have no chicken tenders in the deli. I really do NOT want to stop and buy KFC, blech!



12. It's 6:00, dark, and traffic is still messy. I head down the street to my favorite Kroger and have success. Everyone will eat late, but at least they WILL eat.



13. I didn't have time to stop at Walmart or the cleaners. So I just went home.



I didn't get ALL of my shopping done, but it helped. A lot!