Bits and Pieces of This and That

Oh me, oh my. It's been 11 days since I wrote a word. And then it wasn't many words, but mostly pictures. I think of bits and pieces of things to share, but then they disappear into thin air, never to return to my brain. So I think I will start carrying around a pad and pen to write down snippets to remember when I get back to the computer. I don't know how long it will take me to publish, but I'll keep trying to get something going. There doesn't seem to be much newsworthy stuff going on around here these days.

We've had about six snowfalls so far, since October. I wouldn't really call most of them snow storms, but just nice moisture. The mountains are not receiving much this year so far, which is not good. When I see people on Facebook complaining about snow, I realize that I am not crazy about the white stuff, but it is so much better than drought in the summer. I hear most of the snow is stuck up there over Alaska and just keeps pouring down on them.

I am getting real here. I am just tired. This is part of the reason, but only part . . .



It has been almost 6 weeks since I got into the boot. I've been treated with physical therapy once or twice a week for the last month. The foot massages, exercises, and electrical impulses seem to be helping. I also do some of the exercises at home. I realize that this injury is minor compared to the physical trials of many, but I have to say I am really weary of lugging this thing up and down stairs all day every day, taking care of the girlies. I see the podiatrist a week from tomorrow (Friday) again, so hope for good news then. He says we must have 100% improvement or it will just go back to square one when I get out of the boot. And I do not want surgery. My back and knees are also tired of the uneven gait, though I've tried my best to wear equalizing shoe heights.

This was such a weird quirky accident - I computed that in my 33+ years in this house, I have gone to the bathroom in the dark at least 12,000 times. Add in the last few years of aging, and that number increases to more than once a night, and who knows how many times I made that little trip safely - I must have been more than half asleep that middle of the night when I crashed into the doorjamb and broke that ugly hammer toe, causing the tendon on the next toe to tear.

I have tried to get to the gym as much as possible, but the only cardio I can do is the recumbent bike. It takes so much time to change out of the boot and into the shoe, switching the orthotic from the boot to the exercise shoe, and then reversing after exercise. I tend to avoid going rather than deal with the hassle. which is NOT a good thing.

So - the other reasons I am tired include adding sugar and white flour back into my diet and losing all of the progress I made 2 years ago right now. I am not only back up where I started, which wears on me, but psychologically I am beyond disgusted with and disappointed in myself. I get up every morning vowing to get back on the wagon, and fail. I don't know what it will take to get my motivation going again. You'd think that feeling lousy and not having anything that fits (remember the purge of my closet last spring?) would do it, wouldn't you?

I keep avoiding going in for my annual physical (which is now six months overdue), because I don't want to weigh. The other reason for this situation is that it is so hard for me to plan ahead for anything with the crazy schedule of our lives - we never know much ahead of time what Kristen's schedule is going to be. I'm just tired.

On a positive note - I finally got to the basement and have most of the mess cleaned up and in totes. I bought 4 more, hoping that what I have left to organize will fit into them - but the more I think about it, the less likely it is that this will be the case. Someday I'll finish!

It's been 3 years since the twins have had a professional portrait made - we have hundreds of pictures, but none done by an expert since they were 1 year old.



There's a young woman I've known since before she was born who is now getting into her own photography business. She specializes in birth photography - getting up in the middle of the night (or she says she has insomnia, so she's usually still up) to photograph the coming of the new baby. She's been wanting to do our 4 beauties for a long time, and we finally got together last Saturday. She prefers outdoor settings, but we missed the prime time for that opportunity. However, it was a warm, balmy winter day Saturday, so she was able to do the more formal shots in our back yard on a blanket. She sent me a teaser, and we're so anxious to see the rest. She prefers doing action shots, so after she was finished with the dress-up shots, we came into the kitchen where the girls created some muffins while she caught the activity. They should be amusing. I'll be sure to share them as I get them.



Remember when I told you about the nativity set I was excited to get from my nephew and his family in Peru? My sister and BIL just returned from their amazing trip down there to visit and they brought back this wonderful set - the pieces are about 2 inches high.




This particular set is very realistic, according to my sister, for the area where they were visiting. Chad and Amanda are working for two years in the city of Puno on a short term mission adventure. They live close to Lake Titicaca and the floating islands of northern Peru. The women wear their hair in these double braids, caught together in the back.

The boat where the baby Jesus is lying is a good likeness to the vessels the people use for transportation




The cap worn by the baby Jesus is like the ones worn by the children on the islands. Interestingly, the little tiny baby is anatomically correct.

I am so happy to add this beautiful set to my collection. In fact, I am going to display it all year rather than try to find a place to stash it, requiring me to drag out one of the Christmas totes.

One nice thing happened to me today - unbelievable, actually. I went to the grocery store sans kiddoes. The young man who was checking me out asked, as usual, if I found everything. I said yes, but it took me 3 trips back up and down aisles to get things I had forgotten. He said the same thing happened to him all the time, and I commented that I was glad to know it wasn't just my old age that caused it to happen. Which led him to tell me I wasn't old, which led me to telling him I was indeed. He said I didn't look a day over 40, which led me to ask if he wanted to see my driver's license. He did, and he continued to tell me that I couldn't possibly be as old as my license proves I am. It was so sweet, and I told him he's my new BFF. Even though my body and my mirror tell me the truth!

Well, I guess I came up with something to talk about after all. Thanks for bearing with me as I "bare" my soul a bit.

Have a great week-end!

Christmas at My House

Another week has flown by, and it has been one full of music. I calculated this afternoon that in the last 3 days, I have sung 86 songs in performances - 4 concerts with the Loveland Choral Society and 3 songs in each of the two services this morning at church. That number doesn't count singing along with the radio or the congregational singing this morning. Needless to say, I am weary. But it has been an amazing time - our director decided that it is time to really "bring Christmas back" and chose the music accordingly. He has always chosen wonderful, "real" Christmas music, along with the "fun" stuff. But this year he went an extra step and included narration of the Christmas story from Scripture, read by his pastor. I wish you could all have been there.

But - my visit to the podiatrist last Monday left me in this condition:



This is the next step in surgery prevention. But it made getting on and off the risers, and standing for hours at a time, challenging to say the least. My singing partner served as my crutch getting off and on the fairly steep risers. I start physical therapy tomorrow - I'll keep you posted!

Once again, decorating, baking, and card sending has taken a back seat to singing. I'm thinking of a New Year's letter, or even possibly a Valentine's one instead. But then I thought that last year also. I used to put up two trees, but my designer one has not made it upstairs - this makes the third year. Hayley wants me to still put it up, though it's only a week till Christmas now. We did manage to decorate the regular tree and have enjoyed it very much.

My growing collection of snowmen occupies this corner ...



... and the angels sit in the opposite corner ...




Remember my little broken snowman that I bought in Maine? Dwight did a great job of repairing him - finding a new right arm out in our back yard. (I love the pictures of Kristen and Kevin on the wall behind him).

For years I had this one nativity set, the only ceramics project I ever did.

When grandkids began arriving and spending lots of time at my house, I acquired this Little People one, which has been used with great imaginative playing for 7 years now - the figures spend a lot of time on the floor. When you push down on the angel on top of the stable, it plays "Away in a Manger."

This is another child-friendly one, which tells the story and plays "We Three Kings." When both it and the other one are put into action, it is wonderful cacophony.




This is the third one the kids play with - I got it at a fund raiser when Hayley was in preschool. Last year Baby Jesus disappeared, and has not been found. I placed one in there from a different set, which totally doesn't fit. But that's okay.




Back in the day when we used to do blogging Christmas Home Tours, I saw the Willow Tree sets for the first time and fell in love with them. I began getting a few pieces each year. This year I completed my set with the wise men. I know there are more things available, but I don't plan to spend any more on this project.




I have acquired several more sets, small ones that fit on the shelves of our new entertainment center. This one came from Miles Kimball catalog and it's called the "thimble collection."





This one is miniature, with the pieces only about 3 inches high.





... and these are about 6 inches




This came from Louise in Maine - I love it.





I love Hobby Lobby's 80% off sales after Christmas ---




Kristen works there now, and this one was 50% off, plus her 15% employee discount!




This one is WAY abstract, but it is special because Dwight's boss gave it to her staff, made by her husband.



This was a gift from my sister-in-law ...




... and this one is very special to me, carved from olive wood and brought to me from Israel by my brother, who is privileged to go there often.




The rest of these don't technically qualify as nativity sets, but do represent parts of the wonderful story.



This one I showed in my last post, but it fits here ---




My mother-in-law made these for us years ago. I haven't put them up for years and Kristen was so happy to see them. She said she always knew it was Christmas when she saw the wise men.




Kevin found this at the Cracker Barrel one year for my birthday, and it meant so much to me because it was at a time in his life when the fact that he bought me something so special gave me so much hope. The girls love watching it twirl in the candle heat.




This was a Christmas card years ago that was drawn by Joni Eareckson Tada. She draws with her mouth, since she became a quadriplegic at age 17. I decoupaged it back in the olden days when that was a popular craft. Remember that?

My sister is heading to Puno, Peru to visit her kids who are on a short-term mission down there - I'm going to ask her to bring me one of their very cute sets. If I get one, I'll be sure to share it with you.

Have a wonderful week leading up to the wonderful celebration of Christ's birth.

Show and Tell

I decided to take this Show and Tell opportunity to share some new things I've acquired in the last few days.

If you have followed my blog through any Christmas seasons, you know that I've recently begun collecting nativity sets. I can hardly wait to add this to the display next Christmas. But I love it so much I may just put it on display right now.

Here is the story behind this new acquisition: My second of three brothers lives in England, and has for his entire adult life. He received his Ph.D. in Intertestamental Studies from Manchester University over 30 years ago. He is a brilliant scholar and does a lot of traveling and teaching with his expertise. He often gets to present papers in Israel. I remember the day I realized just how highly revered he is in the field of study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A few years ago he brought my parents one of these beautiful olive wood carved pieces of the Holy Family. When he was home recently and we were having lunch at my folks' house, I asked him if, the next time he went to Israel, he'd get me one and I'd send him the money for it.




He was in Israel for several weeks recently and, even though I knew it and read all of his Facebook posts about his time there, I never thought of my request to him for some reason. Then - my SIL came for her annual visit a couple of weeks ago - just before she left, we went to lunch and she presented my sister and me each with one of these beautiful pieces - as gifts. I was so thrilled. It was carved by an elderly man in Bethlehem. What a treasure!




In an entirely different direction -- recently I shared with my regular readers that I'd be showing gifts that I ordered for myself.

Let me start with a little background. DC and I have been married almost 38 years. We have had our share of "stuff" in our years together, but that has not included marital discord, thankfully. About the only thing we've disagreed about in any significant way is some of the ways our money has been spent - as if that were something unusual, eh??

My sweet husband has quite a few hobbies and toys - and all of them are what I consider costly. He is not reckless in the least, but sometimes over the years I've complained a bit about his spending on these pasttimes. His response to me was always, "Well, get yourself something you want!" My hobbies, on the other hand, didn't cost much - yarn, fabric, embroidery floss, even patterns (in those days) didn't add up to much. I hate to shop, so he's never had to worry about me getting carried away in that way.

But again, if you know me at all, you know that books are my passion. If you look on my sidebar, you'll see that books have had a part in 12 of my posts over the years. So - all that to say this. I spent a considerable amount of money on books these last few days. And here's why --

I can't remember exactly when I discovered Anne of Green Gables, but I remember reading probably 3 of the series when I was in junior high, most likely. It wasn't until I was a mom that I decided I needed to read them again - and that was when I discovered that the series went far beyond her antics as a girl; that they went into her adulthood and motherhood. I was so thrilled to find that she finally did marry Gilbert and was a delightful and creative mother.

Recently one of my Facebook friends, who is a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya, was given the entire series by her mom and was enjoying them immensely, and commenting about them every day. That gave me an itch I had to scratch! I went to Amazon.com and found the set - and ordered it. It is sitting here, waiting to be devoured. (Side note - we might get to spend a day in Prince Edward Island when we go to Maine for Kev's graduation next month!)




During that same era, I went through a rather lonely time in junior high. Dad had left the pastorate for a leave, due to health reasons. We lived out in an area of the Twin Cities that wasn't very populated. We rode the bus to a large school and didn't make a lot of friends. The library became my best friend - I would stop by there on my way to the bus almost every afternoon and grab a book off the shelf, check it out, and read it on the way home. That's when I became friends with Sue Barton. I enjoyed her life as a student nurse all the way through being in charge of a nursing program. It was good clean romance, with a bit of career education along the way. This began my love affair with series - when you finished a book, there was always another one about the new "friend" you'd made.

Recently I discovered a publishing house in California (Image Cascade Publishing) that has as its mission the republication of out of print books that we loved growing up. So now, on top of Anne with an "e" and her 8 books, I have 7 Sue Barton books to read.





As if that weren't enough! I think I was in 7th grade in Minnesota when I found Beany and the Beckoning Road on the library shelf one day - for some reason it struck my fancy, so I took it home. Then I realized it was the 4th in a series, so I began back at the beginning. There are 14 books in this series, and I believe I've read them all 4 times - I remember sitting on my front steps while Kristen took naps and enjoyed them again in the 70s. By this time, I realized that Lenora Mattingly Weber, the author, set these books 50 miles down the road from me in Denver - I had read them before in Minnesota and Nebraska and that piece didn't register with me when I moved to Colorado, until I re-read them.



I got so excited - I wanted to find out if she was still in Denver and if I could possibly meet her somehow. My research (not as easy as it is not with the internet) led me to the fact that she had died only a year or two earlier in 1971 at the age of 76. I was sad to think I'd been in Colorado when that happened, and wished I had started my quest sooner.

Beany Malone was a young girl whose mom had died. She was the youngest of a rambunctious family of 4 kids with a dad who was gone a lot for his newspaper job. She became the "mother" of the house, as she loved to cook and take care of her family. They were written beginning in 1943, with the last one finished in 1969. In the meantime, Lenora was writing another series about two young girls in a large Irish family, who actually babysat for Beany when she had children of her own - they were written from 1964 to the last one published in 1972, after Lenora's death. These books, though written so long ago, have timeless themes. They are so clean and wholesome. I hope I can get my grandgirls to read them and love them as I do.

I never could find anyone else who had ever heard of Beany - and I asked everyone I knew who loved to read as a girl. One day I found The Beany Malone Cookbook at the library - I was so excited, because the book contained recipes for all the things that Beany and her siblings cooked in the books. It had not been checked out for years before I found it, so I asked the library if I could possibly buy it from them. No dice. My SIL, Becky, who used to blog, knew of my passion for all things Beany, and had heard the recipe book story. She drew my name that Christmas and got me probably the most amazing gift I've ever received - she found the book somewhere in a used book store on the East Coast - I can't remember how she did that pre-Google! But she did and it is a treasured possession.




Imagine my excitement when, one day I was reading the Denver Post and found a little piece on the editorial page with Beany Malone's name in the headline. Oh, my word! The woman who was "Beany" to her grandma all those years ago was trying to find copies of the cookbook, which was out of print. I called the newspaper who got me in touch with "Beany" - I told her I wasn't interested in giving up my book, but I sure was interested in talking to her about her grandmother and the books.

That all led to a Beany week-end in Denver - there are fans all over the country who actually were keeping in touch by computer, discussing the books. I joined for awhile, but decided they took it way over the top seriously, trying to get themes out of the books that were way too intense instead of just enjoying them.

But I was excited to join them for the get-together. We met at Kathy's ("Beany") house for a meal - she still lived in the duplex where her grandmother wrote her books in the other half. One of the events was a trivia quiz - I had re-read every book, but the minute details they asked on this quiz were outrageous! I couldn't believe it.

We did a bus tour around Denver to all the places that were part of the books. What a fun time we had. I never kept in touch with them after that, but it was enough for me to know I wasn't the only person in the world who loved Beany Malone.

And now - I have the books for myself - and now I have to figure out where to put them! I hope someday to get the Katie Rose and Stacey series - they were the babysitters. It'll be awhile, though!

For other Show and Tell stories, please head over to Cindy's place at My Romantic Home.