The Best of 2009

I looked through all my photos from this year (whew, that was a daunting task!) and picked some favorites. I could have made this collage a 20x20 but thought that might be a bit much. This has been one of the rockiest years to date for our family, and we've had some doosey's in years past! But, rocky is not always bad, and this year has also been FULL of blessings from the Lord by the dozens and dozens (and dozens!). This collage is full of sweet memories for us; family and friends, beautiful warm breezes and cold powdery snow.



(I've linked to A Familiar Path's post as well. Click over there to see some more fun 2009 collages!)

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to you ALL!!

Back from the Folks

We're back from the Midwest where I got to spend Christmas with my brother and his family and my parents. I forgot how grey the Midwest can be in winter!

Unfortunately, we had to leave a day earlier due to the oncoming winter storm to hit Kansas. I'm glad we did. After the heavy fog for the first half of the journey, we hit snow in east Colorado. 853 miles later, we all collapsed into bed for some much needed R&R. Praise God for safety and my husband who is an amazing driver!

I'll post pictures soon of our festivities.

The Banana-Fana Song--You know which one I mean

If I have to listen to one more rendition I just might flee the house shrieking at the top of my lungs.

The problem is that the kids do it with any word whatsoever. Any. Word.

Dog. Blanket. Shoe. Toothbrush. Sweater.

Momma. Me, they sing the crazy song to my name for Pete's sake!

I have now been serenaded as such: 'Momma momma bo bama, Banana fana fo foma, Me mi mo mo ma. Momma!' fifty-five thousand nine hundred and three times in the last week.

Oh my. And another problem is that it makes no sense. And it keeps going on and on and on and.....


And the other problem is that the 8 and 5 year old have now taught the 3 year old how to sing it so I even have to listen to it during school hours. I think he's trying to teach the dog to woof it, too. I really do. I heard him just this morning singing "Winnie winnie bo binnie...." directly into her floppy ear.

And the final and worst problem is that I find myself singing the stupid song to myself all. day. long.

A person can only take so much. I'm doomed.

Help me.

Gingerbread Houses

Originally posted last year around this time, but, unfortunately, we won't be doing these again this year. Too much else going one! Maybe next year.


I found this icing on a website, wrote it down, and now can't remember if is was Recipezaar.com or Allrecipes.com. Either one, this is the best icing hands down! It's super easy, way cheaper than buying cans and cans of icing, tastes great, and holds like glue when it's dry.

Make this! Make the houses! Have fun!

What you need

3 large egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar OR 1 tsp. baking powder
4 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Whip the egg whites and tartar or baking powder together in your mixer on medium high till mixed fairly well. Start adding your sugar a bit at a time. Once it's all in there, mix on high 4-5 minutes. It'll be really whipped looking and beautiful white.

Makes enough for 1 house and all the decorations on it. I made two batches for these guys.

Thoughts on Culture and Checkout Etiquette

Today, Addison and I went shopping at the Big Blue Store. You know which one I mean. What a mixed bag of feelings I get when I enter it's automatic doors! Toilet paper for less is always nice, but it's immensity and the ramifications of a disappearing culture that the big box store has on small local businesses is always sad to me when I think of the cute little grocers and markets I frequented in New York.

But I digress.....

I had just spent an hour dodging carts and harried shoppers on missions of feeding their families and finding just the right something to stuff under the tree when I entered the shortest line at checkout I could find. The cashier was a young man from Africa that I see frequently. He is always so nice and friendly. He calls Addison "Dude", which I think is cute. So does Addison. He actually gives this young man one of his rare smiles (rare because most strangers elicit the back of his head while his face is buried in my arm or leg).

The customer in front of me had just a few items. And he was on his cell phone. Talking loudly on his cell phone. This social faux pas is one that I just don't understand. How is it that it has become acceptable to totally ignore the person who is serving you by ringing up your stuff? The young man doing the ringing up....oh, I felt so sorry for him. He was trying to be so polite and not interrupt the man on the phone. Not interrupt him to tell him how much he owes for his stuff! He was trying to use hand motions to sort of show the guy, Hey! You owe this much, man! The cellphone guy finally realized he was actually in a store, at the checkout and he paid what he owed.

Please be kind to the people who work in this stores. It's not their dream job. It's probably not even where they want to be in one year, much less five, but it's a job, maybe even a good job. As a former cashier myself, I can personally say, it's a much harder job then you could possibly think!

Jumping down from my not-so-often-used-soapbox now.

Happy Holidays.

Keeping It Real

Note: Clearly, this was taken well before the snow dump of last week.

This new neighborhood we moved into is unlike nearly every other neighborhood in our valley. The main difference being that it's, well, it's a neighborhood. Filled with people who live here, get this, year-round. What a novel idea, to have one home, where you live, play and work, all in the same community. Where you know your neighbors, know their kids, know their dogs.
Novel.

You see, we live in what's considered a "resort town." There are ski slopes which, of course, bring tourists seven months out of the year. And then in the other five months, we have all the other outdoor adventures people seek in a vacation: zip-lines, camping, hiking, rafting, kayaking, and rock-climbing, just to name a few.

If one happens to not be the outdoorsy type, never fear! Salons, spas and shopping abound. Luxury hotels and businesses made purely to cater to any need one may or may not have known one even had are at a simple beck and call.

And, up until two weeks ago, we lived in the thick of that resort-type action. Now we live in an honest-to-goodness neighborhood. With people. People who walk their dogs. People who play in the backyard with their kids. Who talk to their neighbors over the fence because their neighbor is there and not currently living in their other home.

Did I mention we live in a neighborhood?

A neighborhood with street names like Robin's Egg Lane, Haystacker Court, Deep Eddy Cove, and Fourth of July Rd (seriously!). How much more quaint does it get?

And while I sit in my home, enjoying the feeling of "neighborhoodness," I know that someday, hopefully not in the near, near future, but someday the Wander Bug will come knocking on our lovely door. We will begin to feel stale, stagnant, restless. We will begin looking for the next thing. Interviews will be had, homes or apartments will be looked at, a moving truck will be reserved and all the boxes that we just finished putting away under the stairs will find their way back into our lives again.

That's surprisingly not depressing to me, I'm just trying to keep it real here. Keeping it real keeps me level headed.