This Perfectly Imperfect Life

i've been thinking about my new year's goals (see prev post titled "the dreaded new year's resolutions" ~ or something to that affect!) and tied for number 1 on my list is exercising and writing, both every day! just found that my garden blog @ dig in dirt garden blogs has been deleated in the revamping of the site! ugh ~ that soooo hurts! (10 months of writing!!!) at least i found out tonight instead of tomorrow! (wouldn't bode well for the new year i don't think!) i don't know what's happened to other fellow garden bloggers i became friends with through the site & that saddens me a bit. i've emailed someone who used to be the contact for the site & i hope that answers my questions soon! anyway, be safe, be well and have a happy, healthy & prosperous new year!!!

i've been thinking about the dreaded "new year's resolutions" today. on 12/22/06, i not only wrote about having the totally disheartening thought that none of my dreams will ever come true because i am too old and i've wasted too much time, but, i wrote about how earlier in the day, i decided i'm not going to make "resolutions" for 2007, i'm going to make goals, from the simple to the not so simple and i'm going to achieve those goals, one by one. (a very contradictory day in my life apparently!!!) i think the terms "new year's resolutions" has such a stigma of being associated with things you meant well enought to do but never did that they are doomed from the start! actually, i think there have been more years i never even made any resolutions than years i did! nonetheless, i think getting rid of the "new year's resolutions" language could actually be a start in the right & positive direction! i have some th...

i've been searching "new yr's traditions" for a bit this afternoon and the one that keeps popping up is the eating of black eyed pea's on new year's day to bring good fortune in the new year. click on the following link for the best article and recipes i came upon during my search: http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/dining_at_home/stories/2006/12/31blackeyedpeas.html from what i've read, it's mainly a southern tradition which seems to come from 2 similiar civil war era legends. 1 of the North's soldiers raiding much of the South's food supplies on new year's eve but left black eyed peas, salted pork and rice. therefore, that was all there was left to eat on new year's day and sustain them through the winter and they were thankful not to starve. the second doesn't indicate the North's soldier's raiding the South's food supplies, but, of them burning all the crops across the South except for the black e...

bin laden organized the carnage that happened on september 11th, 2001. nearly 3,000 people died on US soil as a result. bin laden has been "sought after" since then but has not even been close to being captured or punished. he still lives. saddam hussein was hanged before sunrise this morning in iraq. this seems somewhat wrong to me even given the fact of what a horrible human being he was. it's become quite aparent that our government mislead us to justify their latest invasion of iraq. how many more of our troops have been injured and died since they took on iraq in addition to afghanistan? yet, bin laden still lives. and the focus seems to be on iraq.

after presents, Christmas morning. after presents, Christmas morning. oops! forgot to move this one around before uploading! this is the christmas tree in our kitchen, infront of the patio doors, taken christmas day eve. this is a silver bell ornament on the tree which is engraved with her name and the year 1999. another view of the Christmas tree, taken Christmas Eve, late afternoon.

view from our porch, taken Christmas Day eve. view of our patio, taken early December. view of the Christmas Tree from our couch, taken Christmas Day. that's precious under the tree ~ caught in mid lick & yawn! taken Christmas Day eve. (her favorite place to nap!) that's 5-oh on Christmas Eve. (get it, 5-oh, he's black & white like the old cop cars... never mind!)

according to norad.org (santa tracker!) santa's passed pa, nj & ny and he's heading out of boston as i type this! it's 10:58pm. my hubby's asleep. i'm not ready to sleep yet. i love christmas eve! the peacefulness and quite beauty of it. we stopped at my aunt's house this am to drop off a gift for her. then we went to the cemetary to put pointsettia's on my nana's & uncle bill's graves. we've had xmas dinner already with my mom & sister-in-law. we spent some time this evening with another sister-in-law, her husband & son and another nephew dropped by. then we stopped at my hubby's best friend's aunt's house. now we're home, alone and that's how it will be through tomorrow! our 3rd xmas together ~ our 1st alone!!! in a way, there's always a let down when things are over & that's how i felt when we got home. i was a little sad. i was so disappointed when i thought 24 hours of "a christmas story...

so my aunt and cousin came over this afternoon to visit a bit and drop off some toys for toys for tots (see previous posts). a few months ago i mentioned to my aunt that i'd been having trouble finding good fiction books to read. she reads the 'elm creek quilt' series (see my "links" section!) and gave me 4 of them to start with. about a week later, she gave me another 9! out of all those i've returned 5. today, my aunt brought me another bag of (5!) books! just before i shifting things on the book shelf in the living room where i keep her book, i looked through them. on the inside covers, she usually pencils in her intials (and my cousins if they're not mysteries!) after she's completed a book. her initials are the same as mine, jw. a few minutes ago, on the inside covers of the 5 books she brought today, my first initial is now penciled in along with hers (and my cousins)!!! i have no idea why, but, it made me so happy! i love my aunt so ...

well, i seem to have kicked some of that humbug last night. all of the sudden it hit me, that "christmas spirit" when i decided to hang up the christmas cards! i kept at it by hanging up some of my old ornaments in the living room. not that my husband cares in the least, but, i've decided to only hang up ornaments that we've gotten since being together and all of my old ones go on the garlands on the mantle or the et center or the 2 shelves in the living room. in the past others complained that all the ornaments were mine and since i feel as though my life really started once we met, the christmas tree is now reserved for just us! and since i just love a tree with christmas lights and don't feel the need for ornaments, it doesn't bother me that the ornaments on it are few & fare between! my aunt & cousin are on their way so i must be going!

12/19 & i just don't give a hoot. i mailed all the cards this morning. we're broke and of course my husband's totally last minute when it comes to xmas shopping for me. (couldn't have done it when we had a wee bit extra in the bank, right?!) i'm totally annoyed i can't afford to get him what i really wanted to. this warm freakin' florida weather we're having's just got to go! (as if i didn't already know i hate fl & couldn't live there, this just proves it!) more of the decorations are going back down stairs because i'm in no mood to figure out where to put them. the cats are driving me nuts. i don't feel like doing a damn thing. the upgrade for internet explorer (from 6.0 to 7.0) SUCKS! i'm probably getting my period with how moody i am. (merry xmas!) my sister-in-law's supposed to be here every other wkend and this coming wkend will make 3 wks in a row. doesn't sound like much to you? ...

the wizard of oz is on tnt right now. they show it way more frequently these days than when i was a child! it used to be once a year and on regular tv!!! oh, how i loved this movie! (still do!) it was always on a friday night. my mom would unplug the phone and lay out my favorite quilt and pillows on the living room floor. she said i'd barely stay awake through the entire movie, reciting word for word, line for line and within seconds of the ending, i'd be sound alseep, sucking my thumb. (mom's got the pictures to prove it too!)

my husband said something so sweet to me this morning just before he got out of bed: "happy birthday to your baby. don't be sad & don't cry. she loves you and she's with your nana. my mom too." i want her to be with her grandma helen too, but, i didn't say anything because i was so touched.

i can't believe it's nearly 3pm. since 8am, i've been working to get through all the xmas boxes & get out what i want out & repack what i don't. 5 boxes didn't look like much, but, they were crammed w/more than i even remember having! i've got so much xmas stuff, i can't possibly put it all out. it's funny, because the place we lived in before this was way, way smaller (studio size) and i think i had most of it out & i can't figure out where or how! i think i'm done decorating the living room ~ we'll get a tree late next week, maybe. it's onot the bedroom next (and last!). i've put a tree in the kitchen, as you can see above. i dragged it out of storage last year because i knew we were moving on 12/15, knew we were waiting until we moved to get a real tree but, didn't want to feel as though i'd missed out on the whole season (2nd time i've moved in december for the 15th! NOT recommended!!!) and it...

the marines are holding toys for tots drive this coming weekend with the help of american legions, vfw's, churches and other local organizations. please, bring a new, unopened, unwrapped toy to one of these drives for a boy or girl. you spend as much or as little as you like! DO NOT BRING RECYCLED GIFTS, OPENED TOYS or USED/OLD TOYS! if it's a piece of junk your kids are done playing with or won't play with, throw it away ~ save yourself the embarrassment and do not disrespect the children who will receive these gifts - if you need/needed help at this time of year, you wouldn't want that for your own child. my husband is a retired marine & a member of the american legion and we're helping with the toys for tots drive this coming saturday at a local church.

santa came to town last night thanks to the local first aid squad. it was great ~ they pulled an ambulance all the way into the center of the complex's parking lot, which was pulling a sleigh w/2 lighted, animated reindeer & santa. johnny mathis's "sleigh ride" was playing. all the kids came out w/their parents ~ they sat up in the sleigh w/santa & had their pictures taken! i've never lived anyplace that did more than drive santa around on a fire truck & sometimes he threw candy to anyone standing close enough & waved! i ran back inside & got my camera & took some pics. as i walked back to our porch, i started to cry. my daughter would've been 7 this coming thursday. the perfect age to enjoy all of this! she would've loved seeing santa like that! the other day in walgreens, i started looking at the toys. i wanted to get something for a little girl to bring with us to the toys for tots drive this coming saturday & all t...