it's over for another year

 I'm breathing a sigh of relief that Christmas is over for another year.

Just too much hoopla and too many expectations for me.

Though I enjoy the few weeks of sparkly decor and the generality of people

in a nicer mood, I'm always glad when it's over and we can all get back to

a semblance of "normalcy". I'm more of a quiet, stay-at-home kind of girl.

Though I must say that Christmas Eve at my own home with 

just the three of us was lovely. We had a fire going in the fireplace, snacked on

 hors d'oeurves, opened gifts, drank wine, and talked and laughed.

 My sweet man gifted me with four books from my amazon wish list.

Brian also loves to give me jewelry. His favorite jewelry place is

Blue Nile online. He wrote me a short romantic note about this necklace being

a token of our love for each other.

My poor husband looks so tired in this photo. He gets up at 4:15 a.m. for work

every day. Including Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

My sweet son gave me some of my favorite goodies ~ wine and chocolate. :-)

 The kitties got a couple of new toys, but just like little kids, their favorite

things to play with were the boxes and the wrapping paper.

Christmas day was spent at my aunt and uncle's house with my extended family.

I was so touched to receive an unexpected gift from my cousin's wife.

They live in Washington ~ and here I am in Illinois ~ so we don't see each other often. 

She said when they were in a little gift shop waiting to catch a ferry, she saw this book and

thought of me. She knows how much I love cats. Ironic thing is ~ 

this was another book on my amazon wish list!

 These three lovely ladies - my mom and her two sisters; my aunts - are three

of my favorite people in the world.

I hope all of you had a blessed holiday, in whatever way you chose to celebrate it.

 

the days are flying

 Today is Tim's 22nd birthday!

 Where does the time go?

Blink your eyes and your babies are grown.

Birthdays call for something more special than just cereal for breakfast.

Homemade breakfast sausages (ground pork mixed with pure maple syrup and spices)

 and biscuits filled the bill this morning.

I love my KitchenAid mixer. I use it all the time. It was a gift from my grandma

about 27 years ago. The only thing I've had to replace on it is the mixer paddle.

Made Tim a chocolate birthday cake ~ it's Hershey's deep, dark chocolate

cake recipe. My stand-by.

Ran out of cocoa powder after I made the cake, and I didn't want to run

out to the grocery store just for one item, so I waited until a friend got

home from work and she brought over some cocoa powder so that I could

make chocolate frosting.

Can it really be only six more days until Christmas? It sure doesn't seem like it.

I think the mild weather has something to do with it.

This morning while I was washing some pots and pans and staring out the kitchen 

window, I could've sworn I saw a dandelion in my neighbor's yard.

I had to do a double-take. I thought, "It can't be. Not in December in Illinois!"

I grabbed my camera and went outside.

Yep. A dandelion.

While I was walking around my house and past the living room window,

Monkey was watching me from inside the house.

He looks so contemplative, doesn't he?! 

Tim had some friends over this evening. (That's Tim on the left,

with the wavy hair and beard.)

We all sat around in the kitchen and talked and laughed while the

music blared from Tim's room. Yes, it was noisy and a bit crazy,

but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I want Tim's friends to feel welcome here

and like I said earlier - they grow up so fast.

I used to babysit that tall young man in the back row with the blue-striped

hoodie and the young man sitting down in front. *sigh*

Me, Brian, Tim, and my mom were supposed to go out to dinner

tonight to celebrate Tim's birthday, but Brian had to end up taking his

dad to the hospital and was gone all day and evening.

We'll go out another night.

Don't laugh, but this was my first hard cider ever. I never thought I'd

like it, but those young hooligans made me try it ~ and I liked it!

anxious on sunday night

It's 10 pm and my son just got in a car with two friends for a 12 hour road trip.

We live in northern Illinois and they are driving all the way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

I am excited for Tim, as the reason for this trip is that he's photographing

his friend's mother's wedding. Tim's passion in life is art - particularly photography - 

and that's what he's majoring in, too. This is his first "big" photography job.

But my mama heart is nervous with Tim traveling a long distance in a car, especially overnight.

He's my "baby" and since Phil passed away, my one and only. So I tend to be a

bit over-protective and extra-anxious, unfortunately knowing that life can end in a split second.

The cats have been anxious today, too ~ especially Clementine. Animals know their human

is leaving when the suitcases come out, and they don't like it. Clementine immediately

took up residence on Tim's suitcase.

You should've seen her face when he walked out the door. She was perched on

the ottoman in the living room with a very worried look on her face, just staring out the door.

The picture below wasn't taken tonight, but it's a recent one ~ and one of my faves of Clementine.

Well, my dear friends, I'm going to bed now and hoping to get some sleep.

I told Tim that when I wake up in the middle of the night (and that's inevitable, because I always wake up at least a couple of times, and now with him traveling, I'm sure I'll be up quite often), I will text him to see how he's doing.

And...

I have contractors coming very early tomorrow morning to start on remodeling the bathrooms.

Since I haven't been working outside the home for 9 weeks now, I'm not used to getting up

so early (6 a.m.). I'm naturally a night owl and don't go to bed until midnight - 12:30, but then

I sleep in until 8 - 8:30. So, this will be a big switch for me this coming week - and maybe

into next week, too.

Goodnight. Sleep tight.