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Monday, December 29, 2008

HELLO 2009!




2008 ____________ 2009


A lot of people in my rather large circle of family and friends are fairly happy to see the backside of 2008, albeit there is nothing better for spiritual and emotional growth than some "ick" time! Still, my wish for this new year of 2009 (other than world peace which I always pray for) is that all of my loved ones and cherished friends find many, many blessings in the year ahead and a nice comfortable plateau to take a breather in. I truly hope that each of you finds enough joy to keep the tears and tearing of hair from the roots at bay.

If you are celebrating out of home, please stay safe and have a fun time! Here's to making many happy memories to look back on in years to come.

Take good care of each other please, we really ARE all that we have. Make sure that those you love really know it; do a good deed often; hand out smiles and hugs a lot; and above all take care of yourself so that you have more to give to others. Good advice for me to follow for 2009!

God bless you all.

PEACE!
Love Jude

Sunday, December 28, 2008

A HIPPIE CHICK CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve was spent out at sister Brenda's (and brother-in-law Rory) with almost the whole family ~ the only one missing was our older sister Linda who comes every year on Boxing Day (Dec.26th) for a couple of weeks.

As Brenda is recuperating from surgery we made her sit and relax while Rory got Christmas dinner cooked. Sister Pammie and I helped him finish up (once we got there) and to get it all on the table. It was a great turkey dinner right down to the last munch! Brenda had done all of her annual Christmas baking in November (before surgery) and froze it all so that it would be there for Christmas dinner. So we had all the usual sugar cookies etc. and my favourite ~ shortbread cookies. YUM!






As the turkey came out of the oven and Rory carved it up, the kitchen windows were steamy looking out onto the back deck which was all aglow with Christmas lights.

One of the things about Christmas I love so much is the "visual" delight of all the splarklies and pretty lights. Although my hubby likes the holiday he isn't "into" putting up outside lights so we enjoy all the ones in the neighbourhood. I put my tree in the living room window so that at least there is something colourful for our neighbours to see when they go by!

There is nothing prettier or more beguiling than going for an evening walk around the neighbourhood at this time of year. If the weather is applicable, that is. It was a little cold Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but it has warmed up since so that it is comfortable to walk around for awhile out there.






Brenda is doing SO much better since her mastectomy. And we had terrific news a couple of days before Christmas ~~ she got her pathology results back and there was no spreading; her lymph nodes were free and she was pronounced cancer free!! Talk about lots to celebrate this Christmas!

She's tired and sore and has some draining issues but she's in great spirits. Look at that smile, what a strong lady!

She had her drains out not quite 2 weeks ago but she's going back to the hospital a couple times a week to have the site drained as there is still a lot of bad fluid build up. Once that stops things will start to get a lot more comfortable for her, thankfully.






You may remember that in my house we just went through a furnace and hot water tank replacement which caused all kinds of "upset" as far as Christmas in here. As we had to have all of the stuff stored in the basement brought upstairs, it was all in my living room and dining room so I had not even one square inch up here to put up my Christmas tree. That bummed me out something fierce as it's my favourite time of year and annually I look forward to putting up my tree. :-(




However..... just before Christmas I went through some of the things being stored in my living room and found my little one-foot tree I sometimes put in my den, and a small string of lights. As I still had no living room to sit in, I took the little tree downstairs and VOILA! we had a Christmas tree for Christmas day!

So Christmas morning we sat downstairs at sister Pammie's house and opened presents, had Christmas breakfast and enjoyed coffee.

Pammie and I did our own Christmas dinner with turkey and all the trimmings for her, my hubby and myself. Hey, we have to have turkey leftovers too, right??!

And at least I got a tree of some sort! :-)


All in all it was a quiet but lovely time for us all. We'll be heading back out to Brenda and Rory's (they have the bigger house) out in the country for more visits while sister Linda is here. And Linda's birthday is December 30th. so we'll have a birthday bash for her coming up too. I talked to her on the phone last night and she's requested chocolate cake, so that's what I'll be making to take out. Brenda is having home-made perogies and cabbage rolls with creamed onions. *drooooool!!* Turkey dinner is my second favourite meal in the world, and Ukrainian food is my first. So how happy is MY tummy at this time of year!


I hope you all had a warm, safe and happy holiday season wherever you are. Most likely most of us are hoping for a less stressful New Year, but at least we've taken 2008 out with some good food and great company.

God bless you all, take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Saturday, December 20, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!









I'll be spending the Christmas holidays hugging my sisters and the rest of my family. So much to be grateful for!

To each of you I wish you a happy holiday season whatever it is that you celebrate this time of year, and hope you are blessed with many joys in the coming New Year.

Stay safe especially if you are travelling, and I'll see you in 2009 if not sooner!






Love Jude

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The votes have been tallied over at Stardom Awaits! for the "Halloween" Theme Photo Contest, and the winners are.....




Somehow it's a little more fun and feels less "contrived" when it's someone else.... but what the hell it's fun! LOL

Congrats to sister Pammie for a terrific runnerup shot, and to all the entrants for some really great photo entries! (sorry I spelled "fullmoondolpHin" wrong!)

Next up at the end of this month is "Christmas" Theme, I'll announce it here.


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In other news, sister Brenda is healing from her mastectomy but obviously still has a lot of pain to deal with. The good news is that yesterday she finally got the last of the drains out, so that's a little less pain now. She's a trooper, let me tell you, and in good spirits. She and the rest of this family are looking forward to Christmas together and this year we have even more to be happy about as she's cancer free!

Thank you all for your support and prayers, you have NO idea what this has meant to Brenda, to my other sisters and to me. You all rock and I love you with all of my heart.

*******************************************************


And lastly, the furnace installation saga is almost over, FINALLY. What was supposed to be a 2 day installation turned into 4 visits to our house, disrupting our lives and keeping me from having a Christmas tree and decorations up. However, the good news is that it is now DONE as of Thursday and next Friday the government inspector is coming out to do the post-installation inspection. If it's all good we could get some money back on the new furnace and hot water heater.


*******************************************************



We are about to go into the toilet with our temperatures here. It's going to be COLD! But hey us Canuks this far north can handle it, it doesn't last that long anyway and is good for the soul! LOL

Today the HIGH is -25C (that's -13F) and on Monday with the wind chill it's going to feel like -39C (yep that's -38F folks!) So I'll be covering up "the girls" and all other body parts well when I head out!


Now to keep in my past close-to-Christmas posts what better way to get in the mood than to listen to these guys? TSO and Wizards In Winter! Enjoy!



Take good care of each other,

PEACE!
Love Jude

Sunday, December 07, 2008

QUIET IN BLOGLAND

The last few times I've visited my blog links only a few have been regularly posting; it must be the approaching holiday season busy-ness. And with everything going on here I haven't posted quite as often either although I try to get something up here at least weekly.

We went to my sister Brenda's last night for a visit and she's doing pretty good. She's still in a lot of pain and now has something going on in her tummy area where they took some tissue. She's seeing the doctor on Tuesday so we'll find out more then.

Just over a week ago (when Brenda had her surgery) we had scheduled 2 days in a row for our new furnace to be installed. Hmph! After the second day, they still weren't finished and had to come back again the next day (Saturday), but they left at noon so we could finally get to the hospital to see Brenda. They STILL weren't finished and said they'd come back the following Thursday (my first day off in the week) but they never showed! Hubby phoned the company late that afternoon to complain/inquire and the boss said they'd be out there the next day for sure (Friday) and they STILL didn't show!

Needless to say we're getting rather angry. They are scheduled to come out this Thursday again to finish, and they'd better be here!

The whole time this is going on, all of the tons of things we had in the storage area in our basement had to come upstairs so they had room to work down there. My living room and dining room are piled high with all of this stuff, and there isn't one square inch of floor space to put up my Christmas tree. :-(



And we can't put it all back downstairs until after the job is finished, cleaned up, AND the government inspector is scheduled back here. Who knows when that might happen, it may not be until after Christmas now. So I don't get a Christmas tree this year and I'm pretty bummed about that seeing as it's my favourite time of year.

Ah well.

I've never ever been behind for Christmas but this year with everything going on I don't have all my gifts made and/or bought yet. I must get done!

I hope you're all having a good weekend, stay warm and take good care of each other!



Oh and if you already haven't, go on over to Stardom Awaits! for the Halloween Theme Photo Contest! The voting is open for another week and then we'll announce the winner(s). Thanks!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Monday, December 01, 2008

"HALLOWEEN" THEME CONTEST!

Okay folks, it's time to go on over to Stardom Awaits! for the Halloween Theme Photo Contest! Cast your vote for your favourite picture (ONE vote only please) by clicking on the Vote Caster over there.

Beware though, there are some ghoulish images! Bua hahahaha!!

Enjoy!

PEACE
Love Jude