Christmas eve tradition

We made our traditional gingerbread cookies. Jman insists that each of us have our own type of each cookie, so there is always three of each kind, with a few extra for Santa.
Every year I seem to forget to get icing or cookie decorations, so we make due with what is in the cupboard - black sprinkles left over from Halloween, multicolored dots that were from some other project. Hey, we worked with what we've got and they turned out just fine.

Packages mailed

Whew, as of this morning all our holiday packages have been mailed (which is 90% of the gifts we give). All that is left to do is to get stocking stuffers and do some holiday baking (the fun stuff)...which is good since the creeping crud has crept into our house, infecting Jman and me.
The poor little guy is laying on the couch, all bundled up, mouth half open (stuffy nose), fevered eyes, and drool coming out of his mouth. If it had to hit, at least this was a semi-good time for it to happen. It struck Saturday afternoon, which is lucky, since his Arrow of Light ceremony was Friday night and popcorn delivery for scouts was Saturday morning. So he got most of everything he needed done done before the germs knocked him for a loop.
I'm fairing better, which a lower fever, sore throat and stuffy nose. It is not unexpected that we become sick this time of year. This is a busy time of year for me at work and I am literally in close personal contact and exposed to about 100 more people per day than normal. My immune system has built up some defense to it, but I think I may have brought it home to Jman. Poor baby. I'm just hoping it is not strep throat. I really don't want to go to the doctor's office.

Artist in residence

Jman's artwork was displayed at our local Barnes and Noble this past week. Out of the 1000+ students in his school, about 2 dozen students had their artwork chosen to show. We are so proud of him, especially since last year at this time we were getting notes home from the art teacher telling us that Jman was going to fail art because he was not doing the work. Now, he talks excitedly about it, discussing the medium he is using (watercolors for those who are interested), what each art project is attempting to demonstrate (ie. depth, dimensions, etc). His art teacher is passionate about his love for art and it is contagious.

(The theme for the picture was summer fun - Jman visited Washington, D.C. and this is his version of the Washington Monument. Notice the reflection pool in the foreground.)

Thanksgiving thanks

I'm thankful for...

the love of my family and friends,
that our health scare with J this past year was just that and that he is relatively healthy,
that even if I do get laid off at work, my family will survive,
that I can turn to my blog family to vent, to share, to have support.

Happy Thanksgiving folks. Eat, share, and take the time to reflect on all that you have, rather than what is missing from your life.

Lay-offs

Work has had some interesting news today, mainly that there will be large layoffs within my company, with hiring freezes across the board. They are waiting until after Thanksgiving to announce them, so for now we just have to guess who is getting the axe. I believe I am safe, although my hours will be cut, how much I do not know. I hope I don't get laid off - I'm not fully vested in my company until February. It'll probably be the middle management folks who get laid off first, since they are considered more "redundant" than other positions. The sad thing is that my company has made a profit this year; they are just cutting costs to cover themselves for the future.
Bit off the topic - while we were discussing the possible ramifications these cuts would have on our jobs, one of our employees asked "does this mean we don't get our bonuses this year?" I think it is a safe guess, that yes, we don't get bonuses this year.

Update: We are getting bonuses..if we're still around to receive them.

New recipe for dinner

In my house, we hate coming up with ideas for dinner. When we do come up with an idea, there is always someone who does not like that dish (not that they get anything else for dinner, they just suffer in silence). However, last night, hubby made a dish both easy and tasty. We had jalapeno cheese encrusted pollack. It had a creamy cheesy flavor with a kick of jalapeno and a bit of crunch to keep your mouth entertained.
Sounds complex doesn't it? Not if you use the secret ingredient he used...crushed jalapeno flavored Cheeze-its. It may sound odd, but it was good.
For 2 large fillets of white fish (ie. cod, scrod, pollack, etc.) you will need about 2 tbls melted margarine or butter and about 2 cups crushed jalapeno Cheeze-its. Drizzle the fish with the margarine, then coat it with the crushed Cheeze-its. Extra coating can be added on top of the fish to give it more crunch. Cook in a 35o F degree oven for 15 -20 minutes (we needed 2o min. because our fish was still frozen in the middle when it got put in the oven) until fish is tender and flaky. If you are smart, you will line your baking pan with aluminum foil first so there will be minimal clean-up when you are done. Everyone had seconds at our house, so you may want to double the recipe.

To continue or not to continue

Jman has reached the end of his cub scouting career and is considering going on to boy scouts. I say considering since two weeks ago he told us that he wants to quit scouting, wants to quit it now. This is after he has done all the work to qualify for the Arrow of Light ceremony (the highest privilege in cub scouts), and has done all the work for super achiever as well. Also, this is after he sold over 500 dollars worth of popcorn for which we are waiting on delivery.
Why does he want to quit? He will not say other than "the meeting stop me from doing things I want to do, like read". We told him he has to at least finish cub scouts, since he has done all the work and should at least get the awards that go with it. We want him to continue on since scouting has helped him grow as a person. He has already learned so many skills (first aid, how to change a tire, fishing, woodworking, etc.) and has developed into responsible individual (many, many community service projects have helped him do this).
I think he may be having a change of heart - last night at our den meeting, as he was decorating his arrow for the ceremony, the scout leader asked if he was considering going on to boy scouts. He said, "I'll give it a try". Yay!

The dress

I have something that is trivial to discuss. I should be discussing what I believe the ramifications of our new president-elect will have on our country; but I can't. I have to discuss it...Michelle Obama's dress. She looked very pregnant in it. One might say it looked like a left-over Halloween costume - the almost black widow hourglass design was very distracting to me.
As I was listening to Obama's speech my eyes and mind would wander over to Michelle's dress and all concentration would go out the window as I would start to think "what was she thinking, this is for the history books and she chose that..."
I am so superficial.

Vote

Go vote.
Even if it is just for one candidate, vote and skip the others.
Your vote does count - ask Al Gore.
Waiting for 2 hours in line is not a sacrifice; it is a privilege. Our men and women in uniform have already made the sacrifice for you.
Vote.

Stomach ache

Oooww...to many gummy Lifesavers, Starburst, Skittles, and Snickers...
...my tummy hurts.

$2.29

$2.29

That's how much gas was a gallon when we filled up the car today. A year ago it was close to the $4.00 a gallon mark. I was happy to see this.

Now if only milk would drop from $4.29 a gallon to $2.29. That would make me very happy.

Death and family

My family suffered a loss this past week, with my uncle passing away unexpectedly from lung cancer. While we took care off all the normal funeral arrangements, we observed several things.

1. Family can always make the time to come to a wake, but not to a celebration. We often think, "I visit later, or I see them around the holidays". Take the time today to tell your loved ones what they mean to you, resolve those differences, forgive those grudges. You may not have the time later on.

2. If a man's wealth can be assessed by the amount of folks who come to his wake, my uncle was a very rich man. The funeral home's parking lots were full, and street parking was at a max. The number of cars that went to the grave site was at least 1/2 mile long. I don't know if he knew how many lives he touched while he was alive, as my uncle lived a simple life as a carpenter, but I can only dream that I am able to touch that many people in my lifetime.

Allergies

Jman and I sat down to a nice dinner of pork tenderloin and Asian mixed vegetables with cashews. While Jman was eating his dinner, he started to complain that his stomach hurt. At first I thought he was just complaining that he did not like the dinner, which in our house, means nothing. It's your dinner, you eat it, no complaining allowed.
I was soon proven wrong. Jman started vomiting, not much, mouthfuls at a time. This would seem odd to most folks but it signifies something else to us. Hubby is severely allergic to certain nuts (cashews being one of them) and his reaction always starts with vomiting. Now we tested Jman for allergies when he was 5, since we did not want to have him go through an allergic reaction if possible. He has no reaction when he was a child to these tests, just to mold and dust.
Now I'm worried that Jman has developed an allergy to nuts. We'll have to schedule another appointment with the allergist to be sure, but for now we'll have to be more vigilant about what he eats; as if we weren't already cautious with his foods due to his cholesterol. Poor kid, his genetics are stacked against him.

Quote of the day

Be kinder than necessary because everyone

you meet is fighting some kind of battle

I truly believe in following this, although I may not succeed everyday in my attempts. It's how I rationalize when folks are rude or abrupt, insensitive or short-tempered with me.

Autumn leaves

I love the fall, the changing colors, the crisp bite to the air and the smell of burning leaves. Oh wait, I live in Texas now - there is only one season here - hot. At least I won't have to rake these.

Rant against insurance companys

One thing about Texas homes that is different than many home across the country is that our homes are required to have "weep holes" in the buildings, which are purposely made holes across the surface of your brick home that helps compensate for expansion of the building materials during extreme heat, which helps prevent cracking of the bricks. It is the law that builders build these into our homes, it is not a choice here in Texas...and we are being punished for it.
Many of us here Texas have had our insurance adjusters come out to look at the damage brought on by hurricane IKE. Many of us have had "windblown rain damage", which is normally covered in home owner's policies. Except in Texas, there is a sub-clause (not printed in any of my documents or any of my friend's insurance documents) that states that any windblown rain damage must come from a "created hole" and can not from rain being forced sideways into your home through these weepholes. So, unless you have a hole in your roof (lifted shingles don't count), you're screwed if suffered any water damage in your home. Which is the case for 90% of my friends. So the $30,000 + damage a friend suffered to her home, not covered. Why do we pay for insurance that is not there for us when we need it? We've already been punished for living in this area after Katrina/Rita and saw our deductible have a mandatory raise if a cyclone (i.e. hurricane) struck, now we can't even get paid for the coverage that we do have.
Look at your homeowner's insurance policy, see what it covers, then call your insurance company and ask what that really means - you may be sadly disappointed.

Calamaties

Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.

Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914)

With folks around here recovering from hurricane Ike, it is interesting to listen to folks who've had their homes damaged. Some are able to see positive. A friend of mine had flooding throughout her home, down the sheetrock, destroying the carpeting and the walls. Her response as she ripped out the sopping carpet, "Well, we planned on getting wood laminate flooring in the future, I guess the future has arrived."

16 years

It is officially the 16th anniversary of my first date with hubby. Yup, even after all this time, I still remember the day. We were young and silly, now we're older and still silly. Thinking about hubby, still makes me smile, every day.

Morning after Ike

Early morning light brought this to our attention. We've got an uprooted tree. The tree on the left used to be straight up and down too - the winds have encouraged it to lean a bit. Although you can't tell from the picture, the rain is still going sideways with strong winds. There are whitecaps on our little lake back there. We thought we might have lost part of the roof since I found a puddle on the floor this morning, but on second look it seems that it is just rain water forced through the roof vents (keeping fingers crossed).
We're also one of the lucky few who already have our power back. Most of our neighborhood is till dark, but our little section is lucky. We were last to be built in the neighborhood and we were tied into the local college's power grid which gets fixed quickly. The groceries did not defrost last night, so our food is still good. We're not sure about the water, we've been advised to drink our bottled water only. We've got our bathtub full of good water, plus our "ice" is all drinkable water as well. We should be good.

UPDATE: Now that the rain has slowed down, we can see the roof and there is some damage. Whether or not it is more than the deductible is not yet determined....

Between my windows and the wind

This little piece of metal is what holds the plywood onto our windows and protects them from 100+ winds.