A not-so-fond farewell

. . . to 2009. It wasn't a very good year and I'm glad to see it go. There were family problems that were difficult, a hard move this past summer (we have too much "stuff"), a scorpion in the house, unexpected dissolutions of marriage, ill health in the extended family, and other yucky stuff.

That is not to say there was no good, because there was. We ended up in a house we love in a city we love. Our children are healthy as can be. Have I mentioned we have a swimming pool and dh has swum in it every month we've been here? Oh, only a dozen times you say? LOL I finished my first bed-sized quilt this year. I added another part-time job I do from home which involves my favorite commute--from the kitchen to the dining room office.

But as my friend Sara's mom said at the end of 1968, "Good riddance!"

I'm looking forward to a year with visits from old friends, the high school graduation of my youngest big kid, the baptism of my twins, a couple of sons' starting college, the continuation of dh's job that he loves, and watching my children grow. Bring on 2010!

Post-Christmas

We had a good Christmas this year. A little drama that I'll detail to anyone who doesn't know that *I* want to know (that is to say I'll tell any of my regular readers what it was, but I'm not mentioning it to anyone else), but other than that, a great holiday.

My brother and his wife visited us from southern California and my son Kevin was home as well. This was the most we've had in a few years and it was nice. We had lots of good food and good talk.

My big present was a Scooba and it works well. The only quibble is due to the arrangement of my sink and dishwasher and the shape of the bottom of the dishwasher door, it doesn't clean right in front of my sink/dishwasher very well. That's an important area that I want cleaned!

The weather has cooled off, but we are still enjoying highs in the 50s (10-14C). Dh called just a few minutes ago to tell me our old neighbors from Gallup may come for a visit this weekend. The high today there is 29 degrees. I'll bet they need a little vacation!

Peacocks, girls, and polar bears

Today was the first full week of Christmas vacation and I thought there was a little too much computer/television going on so I told everyone to get dressed and we'd go to the zoo. There were lots of decorations there, many of them "Sponsored by Girl Scout Troop XXX," etc. Here are my girls:

Our zoo has a number of peacocks running around the giraffe and savannah areas, including this beautiful albino peacock:

Kind of a contrast, huh?

The female lion was very interested in the girls. Of course there was glass there, but they were only about three feet apart:

Next is the polar bear part. No, not the polar bears at the zoo, the polar bears in my back yard! Dh said he is going to swim all twelve months this year and since the water is darned cold (that's 59F (15C)on my instant-read thermometer stuck into the pool water which doesn't sound that cold, but it IS), I told him he ought to wait until Kevin got here so they could egg each other on.

In this picture you can see the bare tree behind Kevin. He was getting ready to dive in.

Here he was already out and dh was screwing up his courage to jump in:

Does he look cold or what?

Kevin did a great dive here although it certainly looks like he was headed for a belly flop:

And the final glory shot (look at those rosy faces!):

As long as dh doesn't expect ME to go in with him in January, we are in good shape. :-)

Ds is coming today!

17 y/o ds called this morning from the airport in Spokane, Washington. He had left home at 2 am so his father could get back home in time for church meetings. I called him back at a little after 7 am his time and woke him up. I could just imagine his laying out on the airport floor, covered with his coat and using his backpack as a pillow. Anyway, he's in the Phoenix airport right now, cooling his heels as he waits for his final flight here. Can't wait!

A store theft

And no, I'm not talking about all the great deals I get! Last night Grama watched the girls so dh and I could go to the Church cannery for a service project to benefit the local food bank. Then we did a little Christmas shopping. Dh wanted something at Walgreen's so he was looking at the back of the store while I was getting some cereal near the front. I saw the assistant manager come up to a young black man in a hoodie and ask if she could help him. I knew from the way she was talking that she suspected him of something. I was down an aisle when I heard her shout. There was no gunshot or anything like that, just quiet. When we checked out she told me he had picked up a CD player, then a large package of batteries and just walked out with them! She said she tried to grab them out of his hands and he told her to leave him alone and ran out of the store. She said she had actually broken company policy by trying to take the items away from him and wasn't going to call the police or do anything other than let the manager know in the morning. She said it is a common occurance in that store.

So sad.

Teacher gifts

Last night I put together gifts for the girls to take to their teachers on this, the last day of school before Christmas. I don't think gifts are a necessity, but considering how my girls wear their teachers out, I think it's a good idea.Each large bottle contains a small can of Nexxus mousse, a bottle of lotion, a Burt's Bees lip balm, a highly scented candle with a box of refills, and candy. I hope the teachers like them!

What happens when you don't take a sneak peek or you get tired

I wasted money today and I hate waste.

Walgreen's: I ordered Christmas cards from www.walgreens.com and they were $19.48. I got a nice discount on them and the double set included two free pens I wasn't expecting--gold and silver photo writing pens. The problem came when I decided to finish using some Register Rewards TODAY instead of waiting until tomorrow. I spent a hair over an additional $25 which, had I spent that tomorrow would have generated a $5 coupon to use like cash on a future purchase. I knew I should have waited, but after a somewhat negative experience at Walgreen's last week, I just didn't feel like coming back again. Dumb. Never let feelings get in the way of saving money your family can use for something else.

Fry's: I wanted the Sara Lee frozen pies in the ad. $3.49 each and buy three, get $3 off. $2.49 each is a fine price for a very good pie. Except I just saw the ad for *tomorrow* and Sara Lee frozen pies are $1.99, no tricks or shenanagins. I should have known better.

By going on the Internet it is usually possible to view the following week's ad. This site has the Walgreen's ads for a week or two in advance and that is how I know I could have gotten the extra $5 coupon by shopping Wednesday or Thursday. I think I could have viewed the Fry's ad as well.

I'm weary. It's hard work figuring out all these ways to get what I want without spending too much. I'm going to take it easy the rest of the week, then start next week refreshed.

For a little inspiration check out The Grocery Cart Challenge. The author's goal is to feed her family on $60 a week. I don't have any particular monetary goal, but I like to see what she gets compared to what I have purchased. I recognize the Hunt's spaghetti sauce this time but she got a better price than I did. Hers was 69 cents per can and mine was 88 cents. Of course we use it for spaghetti and lasagna, but most of ours goes on our Friday night pizzas.

So . . . I'm resolving to improve my research and get those bargains!

Where did the pictures go?

My camera is giving me fits again. I had some pictures from my recent Chinese Steamed Buns dinner as well as our Friday Night Pizza dinner. When I went through them I found they were very out of focus so I deleted them.

I'd like to say those are my buns, but I'd be lying. I honestly tried to get a pretty little crimp like that on the top of mine but in the end I just folded the round of dough in half and made them like half moons. Tasted just as good as the pretty way.

All it was was regular bread dough wrapped around a meat/onion/Asian seasonings mixture, then steamed in an improvised steamer for 10 minutes. Very tasty.

Friday's pizza was much like this:

That and a 2 liter bottle of soda did it for my family.

Today was clean up day for the girls' room. I honestly thought they would take all day to clean it but we were done in a little over an hour. Their room has a small ell and I was finally able to get all of the toys in that little area. It's about 4 x 6 feet and thanks to a large and a small book shelf, nearly everything is up off th floor. Now if I'd just get the gumption to empty the last four moving boxes piled in there, it'd be in good shape. I washed the sheets from all three of their beds, dried them in the sun, and the girls will slide in between fresh, crisp sheets tonight in a tidy room. Lucky girls.

Breakfast: from my tree

I'm so happy to have citrus trees because I've never had them before and I really like citrus. The grapefruit rind was still greenish but the fruit was good. I'm sure the longer they stay on the tree, the sweeter the fruit will be. There are a couple hundred on the tree so I'm glad they just continue to get better. When we moved in here in June there were still some delicious ones left on the tree.

Finished a Christmas project

My neighbor is always so nice to my girls and me that I wanted to make something for her 6 y/o ds with whom my girls love to play. I picked up the flannel fabric for this on the day after Thanksgiving and cut and sewed it over a week's time. I love how it turned out.