Christmas was a quick 3 day trip to California. Spent Christmas eve day with my daughter at her house (I hadn't seen where she lived yet). We made lasagne and raspberry pretzel dessrt, opened gifts and just hung out together. I didn't start blubbering like an infant when I left this time only because she will be here Wednesday... that would have just been silly...

Christmas day we went over (early!) to my sister's place in Pasadena. Watched the kids open Christmas gifts and my sister made tasty french toast and mmmmmbacon! We took a short hike in the Arroyo Seco which is about a block from my sister's house. It was an absolutely beautiful day. With the rain they have gotten, it looks like February out there with lots of unexpected green. It was a sight for sore eyes! I forget how bleak Wisconsin in winter really looks. I think I'm going to plant some pine trees in my yard so I have some year round green.

My Mom, other sister and her hubby plus her kids, their husband/girlfriend showed up, as did my brother, his wife and 3 kids. It was quite the houseload at 20 people. We were trying to figure out how long it's been since ALL of us got together like that for the holidays... somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years? Way, way too long.  If all it took was me moving out of the state to get everyone to come together, I would have done it a long time ago!

We had a great day of food, laughs and general family mayhem. I miss my family a lot. It's strange because we didn't see each other all that much before even though the furthest is like 45 miles away, but I guess it was just the knowing that if I needed to see them, the longest was less than an hour away. Now it's a strip search or two, 4 hours of screaming kids/obnoxious people all trapped in a metal tube hurtling thru space PLUS a 45 minute drive to see them. Oh well... at least that's all it is...

Saturday morning we were awoken at 4:40 by some jerkoff beating on the vending machine outside our room at the hotel. It scared me cause of the noise and I was like.. where am I??? lol. We laid around for a bit watching the news to see what kind of weather we were heading in to. We decided to get to LAX early because we were expecting security to be brutal (it wasn't) after that dickhead tried to blow up something on that flight to Detroit. Trip home was uneventful except for the 20 minutes of circling the plane had to do while the runways were snowplowed. We only got a few inches of snow on the ground while we were gone.

The river was frozen when we left and not when we came home. The level is much higher because they got a good bit of rain up north. It was probably a mini ice breakup due to the water level... would have been cool to see.

midwest snow - from 30,000 feet

the Colorado Rockies

The Grand Canyon

Christmas Day - bridges in the Arroyo - look at the beautiful blue sky!

mud nests under the edge of the bridge

stairway in the Arroyo

see waaaay off in the distance? the top of the mountains? California gets snow too!

Love you family   thanks for a great holiday!

3 days til Christmas.... I get a phone call this morning and after 4 interviews... I got the job. Start on January 4th

yay, me!

'Green' vibrators promise sustainable pleasure

DUBLIN (AFP) – When world leaders in Copenhagen argue for days in knife-edge talks to save the planet, what more fitting way to relieve the tension than an environmentally-friendly vibrator?

The global sex toy industry is worth an annual 15 billion dollars (22 billion euros), and uses up a mountain of batteries in the process, many of which end up as toxic waste.

But now one Irish company reckons they've got the solution to shake up the market: a vibrator they are calling the world's first-ever "green technology sex toy".

The Earth Angel, described as "eight inches (20 centimetres) with a sleek white finish", is a wind-up vibrator which comes with a handle built into the bottom.

um..... ok then  

God went to the Arabs and said, 'I have Commandments for you that will make your lives better.'
The Arabs asked, 'What are Commandments?'
And the Lord said, 'They are rules for living.'
'Can you give us an example?'
'Thou shall not kill.'
'Not kill?  We're not interested.'

So He went to the Blacks and said, 'I have Commandments.'
The Blacks wanted an example, and the Lord said, 
'Honour thy Father and Mother.'
'Father? We don't know who our fathers are.  We're not interested.'

Then He went to the Mexicans and said, 'I have Commandments.'
The Mexicans also wanted an example, and the Lord said 'Thou shall not steal.'
'Not steal?  We're not interested.'

Then He went to the French and said, 'I have Commandments.'

The French too wanted an example and the Lord said, 'Thou shall not commit adultery.'
'Not commit adultery?   We're not interested.' 

Finally, He went to the Jews and said, 'I have Commandments.'
'Commandments?' They said, 'How much are they?'
'They're free.'
'We'll take 10.'

There, that should offend just about everybody

Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup or brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup nuts

2 cups of dried fruit

1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

Sample the Cuervo to check quality.

Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one peastoon of sugar. Beat again.

At this point it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another cup just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy.

Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit off the floor.

Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters just pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who geeves a sheet.

Check the Jose Cuervo.

Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.

Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the wishdasher.

Cherry Mistmas !

so cute 

• The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned in London, in 1843, by Sir Henry Cole, with illustration by John Callcott Horsley. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first official White House card in 1953.

• "Rudolph" was actually created by Robert May for Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's as a holiday promotion. The song was written later by Johnny Marks, and recorded by Gene Autry in 1949; it promptly sold about 2 million copies.

• Christmas became an official national holiday in the USA on June 28, 1870.

• Poinsettias are the most popular Christmas plant and are the number one "flowering" potted plant in the United States.

• Franklin Pierce put the first Christmas tree in the White House (in 1856), for a group of Washington Sunday School children. Benjamin Harrison is credited with starting the tradition of the White House tree, being the first to have a decorated family Christmas tree in the White House in 1889, and Calvin Coolidge put the first National Christmas Tree on the White House lawn (not in the White House) in 1923.

• The first reported electrically lit Christmas tree was in December, 1882. The world's first practical light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, and a mere three years later, in 1882, an officer of Edison's electric company, one Edward Johnson, electrically lit a Christmas tree for the first time. In 1917, after a tragic fire in New York City that was caused by Christmas candles, Albert Sadacca (fifteen years old at the time) invented safety lights for Christmas trees. Decorating a live Christmas tree outdoors became popular, and eventually moved to indoor trees. The outdoor lights also moved onto houses, and decorating houses in lights became (and has remained) popular.

• Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.

• In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament. This was done because of the American hostages in Iran.

• According to the Guinness World Records , the world's tallest cut Christmas tree was a 221' Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington, USA, in December 1950.

• By the way, NORAD tracks Santa around the world every Christmas. If you'd like to find out how they do it, and how you can follow along, check out NORAD's website here .

  sad.... he looked so much like "Uncle Walt"