family holiday highlights.....

Sarina treated us to an awesome Hanukkah meal of latkas, falafel, tzaziki & israeli salad. we had mass pita & assorted crackers with a selection of hummus, baba ganaush & taboulleh. I seriously can eat this way every day.... and usually do in the summer. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed learning a bit more about Hanukkah and watching her light the menorah the evening of December 24th......

The next morning Connor and his red & white coller adorned with bells announced Christmas morning.......

Merry Merry times with my kids.......

they say its over....

last night James, Connor, and I went out for some fun in the snow.....

this last one is taken early Monday. Compare it to yesterdays photo for snowfall reference. Note missing clay pots and buried rose & rosemary shrubs.....

I spoke with Mel last night, they are struggling to find chains for the new car and stopped in Redding CA last night. I haven't heard the report yet today.... gosh I hope they can get through but I am a bit concerned about the Portland area icy conditions.

Winter '08 - Take 3

it is again snowing in Kirkland. The news said it was over but it surely does not look like it here. I tried to go to work today, but slipped a few times and saw 3 wrecks. I could see they had a team of snow plows going I405 Northbound but southbound had not been done yet. it is just too slick out there. I love my new tires on the snow and am very happy I spent the extra $ on my recent purchase. But ice is different and this girl has her limits for the approx. $50 missed.

back to much more important things.... will you please look after the neighborhood wildlife during this freeze? When I let Connor out this morning I could see bird tracks all over the patio



The birds were so happy, dancing around our back yard so I put out some fresh food and water in the wheel barrow. I then threw out some apple chips for whatever vermit will find them. I love my birds -

James out front talking with neighbor Janice. He was so nice to unbury my car this morning. I am so glad I took these pictures of him. 20 minutes later there was a big ugly pathway shoveled through the snow to the side walk and mail boxes. Extremely nice of someone to do but still not quite as picturesque as below....

and it snows on....... at this point I really hope it lasts until Christmas and so the girls can see some white snow.

Happy Holidays to everyone..... I am off to start a fire, wrap the last of presents and watch a movie. I will take photos of the tree next....

Snowfall - Take 2

7am and snowing pretty good this morning.... The news shows I405 is a parking lot and parts of 520 are closed.... sorry for picture quality but it was still a little dark


9am front side of home.... no car tracks leaving this parking lot......

3pm feeding the birds and listening to the cars try to drive up 68th as fewer succeed in the ice that covers the eastside...

Ho Ho Holidays......

It isn't that I don't have anything to share right now......

It is more that I don't have the time to put my thoughts to blog.....

I am going to have my family home for the holidays and I am not ready. Not finished shopping & wrapping, and haven't even begun to do cleaning so panic is beginning to brew....


I did laugh the other night at my pharmacy, I mean my bedside table.....God I am getting old!

wowza.....

my last weeks have been filled with blisters and backaches, bandaids and ice packs. Being on a time clock and smiling when you don't want to....... aaahhh retail! Now I remember why I switched and took the office route for my career path. I find the drama that surrounds the department extremely exhausting and so far have avoided it well. I just work harder than most and keep too busy to participate...... I liken this temporary job as a 6 week furniture market (trade show). Same clothes, same exhaustion except I can't sit down on furniture to rest BUT I do get to sleep in my own bed and kiss my dog nightly (a big factor)

anyway I hope to catch up on some house cleaning (prep for Christmas visitors), holiday shopping & wrapping, pay some bills & return some long ago phone calls/emails over the next few days..... and I dream of some good old horizontal time to relieve the back/knees

Final thought/question for today.....
why do they store so many bras so close to the ground?
why do customers have the need to go up to a table just organized neatly & rummage through and mess up the piles I just spent an hour stacking?
why do mothers let their children run through racks and pull clothes off hangers?



ok - just can't end that way. I am grateful for the $200 deposit into my account from Macys Inc. that showed up Friday. I am grateful that I am learning the words to a few more christmas carols this season and that I can still find something to laugh about every day!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Hugs!

Tigger says Happy Holidays! I had such a great time in Oakland (way too short) for Thanksgiving holiday. Lots of updates from the kids down south….

Sarina picked me up Wednesday morning at SFO and I got a chance to really check out the new Toyota Highlander Hybrid they are breaking in (aka battling with the dealer over poor service stage). Sarina also recently got the new title Vice President of Product Development at Bare Escentials. A job that she was doing without a title for some time now (get used to it, that seems to be a trend with growing companies). Anyway, Atta girl, congratulations and enjoy that big office with a window & view of the Oakland Bridge. You deserve it!

I had a really good time meeting Sarina’s mom Helene and stepdad David. As time went on I could see similarities between Helene and myself and it was nice to spend time with her. And David is a riot (actually I think he is Cary’s brother, separated at birth) and can carve a mean turkey. I was very gracious when his Cowboys beat my Seahawks. I have had to be gracious a lot this year though. Here are a few photos from the trip…..

I got a seasonal job at Macy’s Bellevue on Monday and went through orientation yesterday. It was an interested bunch of new employees….. Definitely proving to be an equal opportunity environment. The pick of the litter was an 18ish year old kid that got called out for laughing 3 times (by 2 different mgrs) and disrupting the group. It is amazing to me that this kid comes to a place where people are going to pay him for a service & he can’t even sit through 4 hours training without acting like a kid in the back of history class making fun of the teacher. Like I told Mel, it's not really very hard to be a star new employee when you are compared to this one. Or to the girl that asked a second time about wearing hats to work…… as if they would say yes the second time…. So back to retail…full circle back to my first job at Monkey Wards!

I still don’t have my Christmas tree up yet. My To Do list is growing longer.