Well, we had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas – lots of family and fun. Christmas night and the days after that, well, that’s another story. Both Pete and I were hit with the stomach flu Christmas night and it carried over into the next day. Actually, my stomach didn’t get right until Sunday and Pete’s still isn’t right. Ugh. Merry Christmas to us. Here’s hoping the New Year is equally fun but less, um, eventful! 
Merry Christmas to us!
Things I’ve Done
I saw this on a couple other blogs I read and thought I’d do it to. (I’m such a follower!!) The things I’ve done are starred.
**1. Started your own blog
**2. Slept under the stars
**3. Played in a band (does jr. high band count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
**8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
**10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
**12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
**20. Slept on an overnight train
**21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
**23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
**26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
**29. Seen a total eclipse
**30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
**32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
**35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
**45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
**46. Been transported in an ambulance
**47. Had your portrait painted (well, sketched by my cousin… same idea)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
**50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
**51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
**52. Kissed in the rain
**53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
**56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
**60. Served at a soup kitchen
**61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
**62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
**64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
**67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
**69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
**70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
**72. Pieced a quilt
**73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
**77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
**79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
**84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
**86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
**88. Had chickenpox
**89. Saved someone’s life (I guess the kiddo that I helped to get a medical visa for counts here)
**90. Sat on a jury
**91. Met someone famous
**92. Joined a book club
**93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
**98. Owned a cell phone
**99. Been stung by a bee
**100. Read an entire book in one day.
Mexican creches!
The one thing I collect is creches (aka nativity scenes) from around the world. Not around the world like “Made in China.” These are made in other countries and reflect their culture. For example, the one I have from Kyrgzstan comes in a felt wool yurt. This year I have two new creches, both of which are from Mexico. One was a gift and one was purchased on our honeymoon. Here they are!
Christmas comes to Quakertown!
Pete and I have been making an effort to bring a little festivity to our family this year. There have been Christmas carols playing for a week or two now. I’m working on pulling out some small decorations around the house. But there’s been a nagging feeling that this place just needs a Christmas tree. Pete and I have an ongoing debate about Christmas trees – live vs. artificial. He doesn’t like the idea of killing a tree just for decoration and I don’t like the idea of a cheap artificial tree. I don’t really want to sink a lot of money into a good one right now so we compromised. Christmas houseplants!! Push a couple of snake plants and an aloe plant together, hang some lights and a few decorations and – voila! – instant holiday cheer!
Birds!
About a month ago our resident hunter/chief feline crankypants went to live with my mother-in-law. I’ve missed him on and off over the past month but I think I’m getting used to the balanced life in our apartment – 2 people, 2 cats. One of the nice side effects of his move is that we now have birds at our bird feeder again. It’s glorious!! When he was here only the bravest, fastest little birdy-souls would dare venture toward our feeders. Well, that’s not entirely true… there were some some stupider, slower ones too but let’s just say they didn’t come by often… flight was difficult after they ended up a carcass ceremoniously deposited by our door by Rodney.
Well, anyway, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying having the birds back. Last Sunday I actually stood at the kitchen window eating a snack and watching the birds for hours. We don’t get a wide variety of birds (yet) but we do get some interesting ones. At least interesting to me, anyway. Let’s see, what do we have come visit? Well, a tufted titmouse or two, nuthatches, house sparrows, and some other random grey birds I don’t know. Mourning doves will walk around the porch cleaning up fallen seed. My favorite, though, is the pair of cardinals that come by from time to time. They stopped by a few times last year but Rodney usually scared them off. However, I’ve seen them more now that the master hunter is no longer around. On Sunday they were flitting in and out and having a nice time for themselves. (I apologize for the quality of the photos. I took them through the kitchen windows – the ones that I had just covered with that shrinkwrap stuff to keep the drafts out.)
Random stuff
Not really sure what I want to say in this post but I felt like writing so here we are with random ramblings…
- Christmas – It’s hard to believe that it’s less than 20 days to Christmas. I’m actively trying to get into the holiday spirit. I was so focused on the wedding for the first 10 months of the year that my brain’s kind of saying… “Wait… there’s stuff AFTER the wedding?? Why didn’t anyone ever tell me??” So now I’m playing holiday music, noticing holiday lights, and thinking about gifts this year. One definite way to get into the spirit? Go to www.neverenoughlights.com and check out the videos. Very fun!
- Cats – The cats are still continuing their shenanigans. In fact, Fred has gotten a little more insisent on the leg climbing thing. I’m putting a kebash on that because her claws are dangerously close to drawing blood. Of course, she still has an abnormally high cuteness quotient. At the moment, she is curled up next to/on me keeping me cozy. I swear, now that Rodney has moved in with my in-laws she has an almost insatiable need for affection! Some days I get the feeling she’d crawl right up inside my skin if I let her. If I come home after work and don’t pick her up right away she gets downright frantic. Mmmm, cat anxiety.
- Money – I’ve been rattling around a post about money for a while. Pete and I have been doing a lot of work in the past year and a half on getting our finances under control. We still have a long way to go but I’m really proud of where we’ve gotten to so far. Seems like something worth sharing. Stay tuned for a future post on that.
- Work – Work’s been busy lately, very busy. That is kind of the MO at my job but this has been a little extra busy. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been out of the office for 4 of the past 8 weeks! LOL! I’m glad to have time in the office now to work through the backlog of things that need to get done.
Well, I guess that’s all for now. Back to catching up on my Grey’s Anatomy viewing…
