My grandma, who I have mentioned on occasion in my blog, passed away last week at the age of 103. She died peacefully in her sleep, after having been on hospice care now for several months. I still am in awe of the things that have happened, and what she had been through in her life time. She was alive for the first flight of a plane, saw the first man walk on the moon, and then saw the space shuttle and finally tourists paying to fly into space.

She was a young married woman at the depth of the Great Depression and traveled with my grandfather from Iowa to California with all their earthly belongings in their car, with their two older children, not even sure what work my grandfather would do once they arrived. In Iowa, he had been a shoe salesman in the family store.

She was born very premature, and if the stories are to be believed, she was only 2-1/2 pounds at birth. She was kept in a box which sat on the open oven door to keep her warm. She survived diptheria as a teenager, when her parents were dirt poor and could hardly find the money to have a doctor come and see her. He declared she could only be cured by drinking pineapple juice which was terribly exotic and expensive in America at that time. Her parents bought cases of canned pineapple and she drank the juice it was canned in and somehow survived. Was it the juice? Good luck? Who knows, but she recovered.

She saved money by sewing all the clothing for the family, including my mother’s underwear. I can’t tell you the number of times I heard the story about how Grandma didn’t take shrinkage into account when doing the elastic, so mom would die once her panties had been washed a few times and cut off the circulation in her legs. But they made do.

Grandma was an amazing baker.. She would lay out clean newspaper and pour unmeasured scoops of flour, sugar, etc. until it looked right. Mix it up and make the most wonderful angle food cake. No one could every figure out the recipe, despite many attempts, since there was no way to measure the quantities she was using.

Her last few months have been a bit hard, small strokes, hallucinations at times, weakness, not good quality of life. So I am glad she passed away gently and the pain and confusion was not long and drawn out.  Good bye Grandma, rest in peace.

So, where to start? Busy as always, but really settling well into my job and starting to feel like I am getting a rhythm.

Two weeks ago, I went to see my doctor for a check up and he decided he wanted to try switching my depression med to something newer. Little did either of us know, that was a very bad idea. It turns out the medication I have been on (Effexor) has really rough withdrawal, that is more intense, the longer you have been on the medication. You get this weird dizziness, that seems worse if you turn your head really fast. It also makes you bounce horribly mood-wise, for no apparent reason. Suddenly crying, then fine, then intense anger over nothing. It is like a electric system shorting out! After three days off my old medications, I was scared. I was mildly hallucinating or something. Sounds in a room would become a weird blur of sound, were I couldn’t make out any distinctive sound or words and I really freaked when I was sitting next to a window and suddenly had this strong urge to hit my head against the window over and over. Yikes!!!

So I called the emergency doctor and he told me to try to start taking it again, which I did, and like magic, in 3 hours, everything was fine and has been since then. So I have done research online and found this is something the drug maker has tried to sugar coat and play down, but it is well known. In one forum, an ex-smoker said it was easier to quit smoking than get off Effexor. God! So I have an appointment with a specialist to talk about the whole thing. It freaks me out to be taking a medication with such terrible withdrawal.

Okay, enough of that cheerful talk..LOL! On top of that, I came down with a cold last weekend and have been fighting it all this last week, and now poor Joe has it too. The only good part was, because I was sick, I was able to be home and watch the whole inauguration of President Obmana from bed. I found it really interesting, since I had not really watched the event in the past.

While going through all this rough stuff, I tried to do crafty things, because this tends to help me when I am in depression hell. I made a really cute stuffed bunny from a pattern I found online. I like how it turned out.

Then I found a site online that is doing a free block of the month this year, so you end up with a nice wall quilt by the end of December. So I did the January block:

That was fun and now I am finding I am impatient for the February block! LOL!

In family news, Megan is getting ready to start her annual Girl Scout cookie sale. She is also going to be starting a six-week after school program where she will be writing her own chapter book. She is really excited about that, because she loves to write. It will be interesting to see what she ends up writing. She definitely takes after her Auntie Beth in that area!

Becca is busy getting ready for the big Science Olympiad meeting on February 7th. She is on two teams. One is Disease Detectives, where she will be told symptoms of a disease that is spreading, and she then has to figure out with her teammates, what the disease is. Sorta a CSI of germs. The other team she is on is building a wooden vehicle that has to go in a straight line for a certain distance, but then stop as close to a wall, without hitting it as possible. A raw egg is on the bumper, so if you mess up, you get a squished egg, thus name Scrambler.

Joe is sending in his application to change from his temporary 2 year residence card to his permanent 10 year green card. It will be nice to have that behind us. He is also very busy learning new video editing and music editing software for his Mac. He is hoping to maybe find work doing some video editing. He has also been working on getting the windows in our house replaced. Currently we have the old style that does nothing to insulate and so they are costing us a lot in heating and cooling costs each year. And I must say, I really don’t like the look of the style that was popular in the early 70s.. there is nothing attractive about them! So the new ones will be double paned, and we will be changing the big sliding glass door to the backyard to French doors.

Anyhow, I think that is about all the news for now! I will try to be better about updating my blog!

I totally love Craft magazine and I read their blog daily for ideas and inspiration. Today, *I*  actually made their site! I am so honored!!

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/01/more_examples_of_tiny_needlewo.html

Already 2009, and I missed my Xanga anniversary. Eight years now, and I have become so lazy at blogging, only a few times a month, when it used to be several times a week. Maybe I can do better this year.

I am definitely getting settled into my new job now, and it is very busy. I work in corporate compliance , which makes sure the company is following all the laws and regulations related to selling medical devices and equipment. Right now there are major changes to what sales reps can give (well, now, not give) to health care folks. For instance, as you have probably seen, sales people often bring in goodies for doctor’s offices and staff: cookies, pens with logos, mugs, jars of candy with the company name on it. Well this is all going away, and our sales force is NOT happy! My job is to review requests for funding for things like educational symposiums, medical research and medial fellowships, and then present them to a committee for review and possible approval. I also help regulate gift giving and expense reports that sales people submit.

I always feel behind on the weekends, because I don’t have nearly the time I used to, to keep up on cleaning, cooking and the like. So I run around like mad all weekend, trying to catch up and then spend the work week, going to bed early,trying to catch up on sleep! LOL!

Today I was determined to just do a bit of crafting to make myself relax for a bit. At work, when we go on a break or lunch, it is customary to hang a little sign outside that says “Break” or “Lunch” so people know. It is also handy if you want to stay at your desk for one of those, and not be bothered, while you surf the web or read a book. But the signs were so ugly, just photo copies that had been made way too many times. So I decided to make a little sign to hand on a push pin instead. This is what I came up with:

I made a little tutorial, if you are interested. You can find it on my crafty blog:

http://wyldhare.typepad.com/

Tomorrow, we may go to a Classic Car show in La Jolla, that Joe is interested in. If not, I am hoping to assemble the room box for the mini chocolate shop that I have been working on forever. I also need to finish getting down the Christmas decorations, but that should not take too long.

Today I knocked off a few nitpicking little projects that have been sitting around. One was to replace our HVAC thermostat,so that is done now. Another was to install a set up hooks to hang up things like purses and belts in my closet. Check! While the tools were out, I also hung up several pictures that have been patiently waiting since we moved in, back in August.

I am reading Dewy, the new book about the library cat. It is so sweet! I highly recommend it. I received it as a Christmas gift and I am really enjoying it. But reading is a lot slower lately. I generally manage only a few pages before I go to sleep. I also manage some during my lunch break at work.

In other news, my 103 year old grandma seems to be reaching the last few weeks, or at best, months of her life. Her congestive heart failure is getting very bad and she is needing oxygen all the time to breath. She is at home, with hospice care now. They have given her care giver morphine to administer when grandma’s breathing gets really bad, apparently it relaxes her muscles enough, in small doses, so she can breath easier. She has had a very long and full life, but I hate to see the quality of her life at this point.

So that is where things are now. Busy as always, but life is good. I have a job, it is a good job. We managed to sell the Carlsbad house and we have a house to live in. And we all have our health! Yeah!! As long as libraries stay free, we should do okay! *grin*

Wishing everyone a healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year!

We bought this today, so I can use it for commuting back and forth to work, rather than running up the miles and wear and tear on Joe’s Porsche. It is so cute and I am so excited about drving it!! 

Reach deep into your hearts and work to ask yourself, each hour, every day, what you can do, to make this a better world.

Merry Christmas to you, may the selflessness of Christ, fill your heart in the coming year.

The tree is decorated. Here are some of my favorite decorations..

Megan and I spent some time today building a cardboard village, much like the vintage ones popular in the 50′s and 60′s. This was from a Martha Steward kit I found at Michaels.

The next step will be to add little wreaths, snow and lots and lots of glitter.

Even Milkway has joined in the decorating fun.

I hope everyone is doing well and that you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Today I turn 45. Half way to 90. Guess there is no way to try to logic that I am not middle age anymore, cuz I sure don’t expect to make it to 100!

It has been a good day. For the first time since I can recall, virtually everyone sent me a card or gift on or before my birthday, so there was a happy little pile of goodies to open this morning. From Joe, there was a beautful necklace and matching earrings and a tartan purse I had been drooling over in a Celtic themed catalog we recieved. Megan found me a two disk CD collection of Celtic Christmas music and Becca got me the DVD of Golden Compass, a book and movie I dearly love.

Mom sent a very cool book on retro aprons (I love all retro kitchen goodies), a needlework in blue and white for the kitchen and and a cool vintage decorative plate. From my sister Beth, a vintage style apron with embroidered teacups and from my other sister, a gift card or Kolh’s. And finally, at work, I was gifted with a gift card for the bookstore! Wow!

For dinner, Joe made his fantastic homemade spaghetti sauce. So it was a good day.

This weekend, after Thanksgiving, Joe and I went to Julian to just relax for a few days. The weather was picture perfect. Our room had a two-sided fireplace and I soaked in the whirlpool tub while enjoy the fire. We had wonderful meals by their cook, and enjoyed a crystal clear display of the moon, Venus and Jupiter, in their rare configuration.

And did I mention the sunsets were spectacular?

In town, we learned the little used book shop had a new shop kitty (as unfortunately,the previous one had recently passed on from old age.) They held a contest to name her, and she was dubbed “Page”. I had to take about 6 pictures before I got on that wasn’t a grey blur!

Her mother, lives at the nearby garden shop and have the good life. Mom is now neutered however.

I love her markings, not at all like Page. Doesn’t she have a wonderful face? Page does have one brown area, on the bottom of her back, left foot is a streak of her mother’s brown.

It was a very good weeknd. I read, did needlework, cuddled with Joe and slept in as late as I wanted!

Hope you are all well, and things are as good for you, as they are for me.

I feel way behind here. Sorry about that, life has just been going a bit faster than I can keep up. Immediately after going out to help Mom and Beth, I started my new job and since then, my life has been as sponge-girl, absorbing as much as possible.

In my third week, I went on a whirlwind two-day trip to Austin, TX and worked with folks in our offices there, to learn their systems. They have the most well oiled filing and tracking system for compliance. It is a much smaller office than the one I work in, but everyone is super nice and they kindly took me out Tuesday night for this wonderful place called the Eastside Cafe. It is in a lovely old house and in the back they have a garden where they grow many of their herbs and veggies. We had an appetizer of portebella mushrooms dumplings with a soy ginger dipping sauce. I could have had 10 of those, they were SO yummy. Then for dinner I had shrimp in a panko and almond breading, and an apricot butter dipping sauce. It tasted amazing, and I suspect it might be something I could recreate at home. 

The biggest problem of the trip was that I had to be up at 3 am to catch the shuttle to the airport for a 6:30 am flight! Then once I was in Austin, it was straight to work, then a phone conference with the California office at 6:30 pm and dinner at 7:30 pm. Dinner finished at 9:00 pm, so there was really no time to explore, just back to the hotel and collapsing in bed. Next morning I was up at 6 am (4 am CA time, which I was still really on) and back to work at 8:00. I worked till noon, then was back to the airport, dropping off my rental and back on flights home.

I was finally home by 7 pm the following night and it took me a full week of grabbing sleep when ever I could to catch up and be a human again.

This week the girls are off school for the whole week, due to Thanksgiving. They are of course very happy. We have been trying to find a Wii for them, primarily to get Megan to get more active with her computer game addiction, but they are hard to find, especially on sale. Today we scored though! Target had them on sale, starting at 8:00 am. We had been there just the day before and they didn’t have any, and the sale was for stock on hand with no rain checks. So I pulled Joe out of bed, figuring they must have put some out last night and they would be limited and we trucked over there. Yeah, we were successful! We not only got a Wii game console on sale, but we got the Wii Fit pack on sale as well (another item that has been very hard to find!)

So Joe is busy setting it up, and it will give the girls something new and fun to be doing this week, since I will still be working till Thursday.

I do have Thursday and Friday off, and I also get Monday off (due to my birthday! Yeah!), so I get a 5-day weekend! Woohoo! My employer gives you one day off the week of your birthday and this year I am luckily very close to Thanksgiving, so that all worked out very nicely. Technically my b-day is Tuesday, but I prefer a 5-day weekend to the alternative of 4 days off, one on, one off.

The girls will do Thanksgiving with us on Thursday, then Gene is going to take them for the remainder of the afternoon and Friday, as he normally has them. Joe and I are going up to the B&B in Julian that we stayed at last fall. We just loved it so much. Here are pictures of the cottage we will be staying in:

You should be able to click on it for a larger image.  They have the most amazing chef and do fantastic 4-star dinners. Last year we had rack of lamb that I can still taste when I think about it. We will also be there for the Christmas tree lighting and on Sunday we plan to go see the Wolf Reserve nearby.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and takes a moment to think about all the things we have to be grateful for. I am glad for my wonderful family, my health, a job with good benefits and a cozy home to live in. So many people these days can’t count on those things.