violetismycolor

darn it...

Gosh darn it!  I am getting a cold AND Oregon State is really doing a lousy job at the Emerald Bowl tonight.  Can't something go right?

click and watch the doggie and the snow...

Cookie and the snow on Christmas Day. Wee....

more about snow...

To address Marilyn's comment:  In the Oregonian today, the headline was about yesterday's snow...something about "70 years in the making".  Apparently, there was a 'trace' of snow in 1990...but the last recorded actual snow (that stuck) was in 1937.

The National Weather Service puts Portland's chance of snow on Christmas Day at 1%. 

So, yesterday's snow was an awesome event for us.

I met someone at our local coffee shop this morning who said, "I'm from Oklahoma and I came here to get AWAY from snow..."

I guess it's all in your perspective.

a white Christmas?

How is it possible that we actually had snow on Christmas?  This is the first time EVER that we have had a white Christmas in Portland.

Let's just say it was magical, and made it an even better day than it would have been.

craziest Christmas stuff...

The BBC Online has a section called 'The Day in Pictures'.  They collect the most interesting images from around the world.

This is Thailand, I think.  Okay, so who thinks that Santa rides in on a BLUE elephant, dressed in red and white, to deliver presents to the kiddies? 

But the elephant is darned cute, isn't it?

Maybe the elephant could do my 'Santa' duties?  Like make the homemade carmelcorn, clean the house before our Christmas Eve Dinner, wrap the last of the presents, and do tonight's cooking?  Please?

zoolights...

Zoolights with my sister, Ann, and her family was awesome.  Adam, Bonnie, and Ross really love getting together with their cousins.  We got there early and so, found parking.  I had gotten the tickets yesterday, so we just walked right in.  AND we were smart enough to get in line for the train just when they opened that up. 

A very fine dinner after=a perfect evening...

which I topped off (like a cherry on whipped cream) with a viewing of White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye...can you say Christmas?

second cousins...

I got a Christmas letter from one of my (49) first cousins.  Reading along about how and what his kids were doing was interesting.  But then I read that his daughter was going to Gonzaga next year on a volleyball scholarship.  My niece Maria goes to Gonzaga on a basketball scholarship.  Now, these two girls don't know each other, but they ARE second cousins. 

So, I called Maria to tell her and she told me that one of her other team-mates (who is also of a Dutch background) ALSO had a second cousin coming on a volleyball scholarship.  Seems it is the SAME girl.  I'm still waiting to see how their relationships are different.  I am assuming that this other girl is related through my Uncle Jos, who is married to my mother's sister.  I think that they are both this girl's second cousins but from opposite sides of her family...small world!

hmmm...

Chemo day.  Exhausting, and I didn't even have to do anything but sit there...

My dad is doing great, though, and the doctors are very pleased with how he is coming along.

Yay.

arggghhh...

Christmas is stressing me out.  I am trying to make sure that everyone will have a wonderful Christmas morning, finding just the most perfect presents under the tree. 

Trouble is, I have to make sure that I am getting equal amounts of presents for everyone, so that no one feels like they have been left out.  And that is really hard.

All I want to do is to sit down with some homemade eggnog and veg out, watching some TV...

But then, I would have to make the eggnog myself and I just don't have the energy.

almost home...

Bonnie's flight is somewhere over South Dakota, and she will be home in about 2 hours.  Yay!

No problems whatsoever with weather.  She beat the storm.  Luckily, my ploy to get her home without passing through Chicago was a winner.  Chicago has had major backups all day long.  Her flight was on United, from Syracuse to Washington Dulles, then Dulles non-stop to Portland.  So glad that I did that!

toes, again...

Ross's run-in with the Podiatrist went fairly well...unless you count the 3 shots he had to get in his big toe.  Oh ya, and the cutting off of half his toenail.  And no promise that it won't happen again.  His toenail is too wide for the space on his toe...

He handled the whole shot-thing very bravely though, especially for a guy with a severe shot phobia.  He is doing well and doesn't even need all that ibuprofen they told him to take.

We brought along our own SilvaSorb (this is an anti-microbial gel that is made by AcryMed, the company where my hubby works), and told the doctor to use it.  He said they usually used something else, something called Amerigel.  We looked up 'Amerigel' and it is made with 'Oakin' which is an oak extract.  Huh?  It claims to have some anti-bacterial properties.

He also confused SilvaSorb with Silvadene, which is a sulfa medication.  SilvaSorb is anti-microbial and even kills MRSA, which is so much in the news these days.  Anyhow, he asked for some samples and I will bring him some next week when we go back for his one-week-after check-up.

Also:  Storm Watch...Bonnie is flying home tomorrow and there is a BIG storm a-brewin' in her area...I just hope she misses the whole thing... 

toes and things...

Ross has had an infected ingrown toenail since (at least) Thanksgiving, when he showed me its' delightful grossness for the first time.  We did lots of soaking with epsom salts and it started to get better. 

Then he went back to school.

I sent a big bag of epsom salts with him, along with a big metal soaking bowl.  I didn't hear any more from him, so I assumed that he had taken care of it.  Until he showed it to me again last weekend.

OMG!

It is now a red, throbbing, overgrown mess.  So, off we go this afternoon to the podiatrist.  He will need anti-bioltics, at least.  He will probably need it to be cut open and drained and dressed.  I warned him that he would probably get a shot of some numbing agent.  And he is deathly averse to shots.  He's not so thrilled.

I told him that I hope this episode teaches him that taking care of himself is not an option.  If he doesn't, it leads to worse problems.  Like needing shots...

car trouble...

So...the dashboard lights in my car stay on 24/7.  This has been going on for about a week and I finally took it to the dealer to get it fixed.  They gave me a loaner, a honkin' huge Cadillac...yuck.  I feel like I'm driving a boat.  I hope they get it figured out soon...

I love my little red car...

home for the holidays...

I picked Ross up at OSU yesterday.   I had a good drive on the way down, listening to my iPod (through the car's radio), and singing at the top of my lungs.  I love to do that when no one else is in the car.  Then, helped Ross load up the trunk with all his stuff, and we went out to lunch.  He has a favorite place for burgers...a little pub across the street from campus.

When we walked back out to the car, there was my phone sitting on top of my car!  I had put it there when we had been packing the car in back of his dorm, and then we had driven about a mile.  I can't believe I didn't lose it.  Good thing Ross noticed it! 

We had a nice chat on the drive home and it is so nice to have him here.  Bonnie is coming home on the 15th and Adam on the 17th.  Can't wait...

gorgeous waterfront condos...

"The girls" and I went down to the South Waterfront tonight on a tour of beautiful new condos.  It was a benefit for Neighborhood House.  Wow, did that make me want to sell the big place and get a place down there with a view!

Now, where did I stash those extra millions???

seriously thinking about the New Year...

The Oregon/Washington coasts were absolutely clobbered by the big storm but we have been very lucky here.  Even the sun decided to grace us with her presence today.  And it's a good thing, too, because I actually want to go outside today.

This year, I am trying to re-start an old neighborhood tradition.  To do a New Year's Eve Progressive Dinner.  We used to team up, two families per course (one family provides their home, the other provides the food for the course), and spend the whole evening together.  It was a great way to build up relationships with your neighbors and a safe, fun way to spend New Year's Eve.  No driving, so no problem with partying... 

I must get started, though...have to send out a flyer today to get the word out and see how many are interested.  Put THAT on your holiday to-do list, sister!

silence lifted...

My hubby reminded me that he has not seen me blogging for awhile.  Frankly, I keep forgetting about it.  And maybe that's good...

We had a wind storm last night of historical (for Oregon) proportions.  On the coast, the gusts were measured over 125 an hour, though here in Portland they were only in the 40-60 mph range.  We didn't lose power or trees or anything. 

I did see a Douglas Fir, leaning at an alarming angle over Dosch Road this morning, and called the city.  They actually dispatched someone right away and they are taking the tree down, before it does any damage.  Dosch is a pretty busy road here, so if it were closed, it would cause a bit of fuss.  But the tree was also in danger of taking some power lines down with it, so I think that added to the city's sense of urgency.  It certainly added to mine...