Christmas Times

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.   ~Burton Hillis 

 I sent out my Christmas cards yesterday.

Our family card is a BIG deal in this family.
It's a tradition.
We are all involved in choosing a picture.


This year the theme was "Christmas plaid".
It was Kerry's idea that we all wear plaid flannel shirts.
I think it's the best picture to date.


But as I stuff the envelopes and put the stamps on, I always remember the past years, the past pictures.  

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004  (The year the Red Sox won the World Series)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

And this year - our Christmas plaid photo.  This is NOT the photo we chose for our card.  It's one of the out-takes.  It's a spoof on the Von Trapps in the Sound of Music when they sang "So long, Farewell" on stage at the festival and the kids popped out from behind the parents!

If you are on our list, your card is in the mail!

I Am FLORed

I'm all about color.
I'm all about clean.
I'm all about simplicity.

I'm CRAZY about FLOR tiles!

What are FLOR tiles?

They are carpeting sold in 20" x 20" square tiles. 
The tiles are sold in a multitude of colors, textures, and patterns.

You simply buy the tiles you want, then stick them together with the sticky dots that are sent with your tiles.

You stick the tiles together, and, voila! 
You have a unique carpet, runner, or area rug.

My top 8 reasons to buy FLOR tiles.

1.  They are reasonably priced.  Most are priced at only $10 - $12 per tile.
2.  They are pretty!
3.  They have a non-slip backing so they stay in place.
4.  They can be cut easily to make a rug of any size, shape, or pattern.
5.  If you get a stain on one square, you can replace it without replacing the whole rug.
6.  If you move or want to change the look of the rug, you can take the tiles apart and put them back together.
7.  They lay very flat so there are no edges to trip on.
8.  There are perfect for nearly any room.


I recently removed the carpeting from my stairs and had the hard wood floor refinished.  I love the look of the wood, but it is very noisy and slippery, especially when the dogs walk up or down the stairs. 

This was the perfect application for FLOR.

It looks great.  It is fun and colorful.  And it was not very expensive at all!  I carpeted the stairs with only 12 tiles!

I also made a rug for the spot in front of my sliding glass doors where the dogs come in all the time.

Check out the FLOR website at www.flor.com

Here are some pictures from the website.

Why Am I Angry?

I had an "AHA" moment this week.

Thanks to Oprah.

While she is not doing her show anymore, she is still on TV.  And she's still trying to make our lives better.

This fall she's been broadcasting Oprah's Lifeclass on her OWN network.

I watched the episode about "Letting Go of Anger" this week.

I just want to share a little of what I learned because I feel it is so helpful to anyone who has ever been angry with a loved one or has had a loved one's anger directed at them.

That would be all of us, don't you think?

In this broadcast, I learned that ANGER is a manifestation of FEAR.

FEAR of what?

1.  Fear of losing love or having your love rejected.
2.  Fear of being powerless or helpless, weak or vulnerable.
3.  Fear of losing control of yourself or others.
4.  Fear of not being seen as valuable or necessary.

YOU ARE SELDOM ANGRY FOR THE REASONS YOU THINK YOU ARE.
Anger is the easy way out so you don't have to deal with the real issue.
Beneath anger is a well of HURT.
Rather than face the underlying hurt and fear, it's easier to be angry.

Now, when you think about ANGER in your life,
whether in the present or in the past,
whether it was your anger or anger directed at you,
look deeper and try to understand what hurt or fear
might have caused the anger.

The next time your spouse, friend, sister, brother, father, or mother are angry at you for reasons that don't make sense to you, look for the underlying reason.

BENEATH  the ANGER is the HURT.
BENEATH  the HURT is the LOVE.

That's why it's hard to be truly angry with a stranger.

To learn more about anger and how/why to let go of anger in your life, please watch this episode of Oprah's Lifeclass.

Maybe you'll have an "AHA" moment too!

http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Oprahs-Lifeclass-Webcast-Day-Two-Anger-with-Iyanla-Vanzant-Video

Until

I had always considered myself a healthy person.
UNTIL.

There have been too many little "untils" over the years.

UNTIL I got mono my senior year of college.
UNTIL I had trouble having children.
UNTIL I miscarried.
UNTIL I had carpal tunnel in my wrists.
UNTIL I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.
UNTIL I had heart palpitations from Mitral Valve Prolapse.
UNTIL I couldn't run anymore because my feet hurt.
UNTIL I developed allergies to sulfites and couldn't drink any alcohol anymore.
UNTIL I developed allergies to red dye in food.
UNTIL the skin around my eyes got puffy and itchy and I didn't know why.
UNTIL I had frequent bladder infections and sinus infections.
UNTIL my fingernails were dry, brittle and full of ridges.
UNTIL I couldn't ride for an hour in the car without falling asleep.
UNTIL my eyes were so dry at night it hurt to open them in the morning.
UNTIL my legs were swelling, leaving sock line indentations and itching at night.
UNTIL my memory was so bad that my husband started leaving little to-do notes for me.

UNTIL.

These things didn't happen all at once.
They happened over the course of 25 - 30 years.
But they kept happening.
How could such a healthy person have so many little health issues?????

It's possible it was  all been related to one thing.
HYPOTHYROIDISM.

Did my doctor discover it? No.

Last year, my teen-age daughter got mono during her first year of college and it wasn't getting any better after 2 months.  She had so many strange symptoms.  And she was tired. So her pediatrician did blood work and threw in a thyroid test just in case.   BINGO.

After researching the condition for her, I realized I was reading about myself.

Thyroid hormone runs the body's metalbolism.
When your body doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone, you are HYPOthyroid.
Thyroid hormone plays a role in the functioning of every body organ.
When you don't have enough thyroid hormone, so many things can happen.

It is believed that millions of people are hypothyroid and don't know it.

I had to ask my doctor to check my thyroid function.
I'm glad I did.

I have been on thyroid medication for almost a year now.
I FEEL GREAT!

I can drive to Vermont without loading up on caffeine so I don't fall asleep at the wheel.
I can wear shoes without arch support now - my feet don't hurt.
My legs no longer swell and itch.
My eyes are no longer red and irritated - even if I spend long hours on the computer.
I have much less anxiety than I used to have.  I feel calm inside.
I haven't had a bladder or sinus infection.
I feel much more alert.
While my memory isn't perfect, it is MUCH better than it was.
I am much happier and FEEL GREAT!

I wrote this in hope that it might help someone else feel great too!

In addition to what I have already mentioned,
other possible symptoms are:

Fatigue, lack of motivation, sluggishness.
You feel like you have a bad internet connection!

Thinning hair and/or eyebrows.  The outer half of your eyebrows are thin or non-existent.

Weight gain.  This dog and cat are hypothyroid.

High cholesterol.


If you see yourself in at least some of these symptoms, talk to your doctor and get tested.
I wish I had done that years ago!

Did I mention that I feel GREAT?

Life's A Beach

 Where is the perfect place to go on a warm, sunny day in November?

THE BEACH!

Earlier this week, I spent 3 idyllic hours at the beach.
Just me and my dogs.

It was their first time at the beach.
It's too hot in the summer to take them.
Halle and Sami were VERY excited to be there.

As we walked along the shoreline, Halle kept tugging on the leash as she attempted to chase all of the seagulls perched in large groups on the sand.

The State Cross County Championship was being held at the park on the beach that day.
After each group of runners was finished, they came to the warm sand for a cool-down.

Inevitably, each of them ended up running at full speed into the cool water as they hooted and howled in delight!  It's hard to believe that only a week ago we were trudging through a foot of snow!

I even persuaded the dogs to walk into the ocean, but they wouldn't go any deeper than their bellies!

After walking for a few hours, it was time to head back onto the warm sand and lay down our blanket.

After watching the kids play a game of football...

Sami and Halle were ready for a little nap!

So we sat down to rest.  Ahhhh!  So peaceful and relaxing!

Sami rested his head on the warm sand.

As always, Halle chose to rest her head on me!

I will remember this day for a very long time!

Just me and my dogs!

Thoughts on Loss

We deal with loss nearly every day in one form or another.

Loss of pride
Loss of competition
Loss of hair
Loss of appetite
Loss of eyesight
Loss of keys
Loss of internet
Loss of youth

Luckily, not as often, we deal with other types of losses.

Loss of your home
Loss of a job
Loss of your health
Loss of a loved one
Loss of a pet

This week, our family is dealing with the loss of Tigger.

He's been missing since Saturday (November 5).
He has never been gone for more than one night before this.

This blog entry is not about losing Tigger, though.

It's about how I am FEELING about losing Tigger.

Surprisingly, I'm calm.
AND I DON'T KNOW WHY.
And it's bothering me.

One thought is that I must believe deep down that he will come back.

But what I have really been contemplating is that maybe...
after losing many pets over the years...
after losing both of my parents...
and all of the millions of other little losses in my 52 years...

maybe I am getting better at it.

Maybe I really understand that I am not in control of everything.
Maybe I have learned to be thankful for the time I have had with pets rather than mourn the times that will never be.

Just because I am calm, it doesn't mean I don't care.
Finding Tigger has been a full-time job this week.
Posting signs all over town.
Walking through the streets, calling his name.
Stuffing mailboxes with fliers.
Responding to possible sightings.
Staying up a little later at night and keeping the back porch light on "just in case".
Praying that the next time I walk by the slider, he will be pawing at the glass to come in.

I hope we will see him again.
He has been a really good cat.
He has been loved.

I'll keep you posted.


 

Snow Falling on Cedars, Oaks, Maples, Birch...

Snow falling on leaves is no laughing matter!

We have found out the hard way that there is a good reason why the trees drop their leaves before winter arrives.

It began snowing heavily around 4:00 PM last Saturday.

Less than a half hour later,  all you could hear was the sound of cracking tree limbs and the subsequent sounds as they crashed to the ground.

It was pretty easy to hear them because the house was very quiet.  We had already lost our electricity.

We slept downstairs that night just in case one of those tree limbs from the towering oak trees surrounding our house fell on our roof.  Luckily, this didn't happen.  But I didn't sleep very well that night as the trees kept groaning over the unbearable weight of the snow.

When we woke up the next morning, we were fortunate that our house, shed, and fence were unharmed.  But the poor trees hadn't fared so well.

The tops of these stately oaks were bending under a weight they may have never before carried in all of their years.

This oak in our front yard was bent like a candy cane.

The tops of many trees were broken from the weight of the snow clinging to the fall leaves.

Someone had been out early with a chainsaw to open a path for their car to get out to the main road.

Smaller birch trees bent gracefully to the ground.

 

As we stood outside surveying the damage, limbs continued to fall around us.

Six days later, the snow has melted.

But the devastation remains.  More than we could have imagined.

We still have no power.  No heat.  No internet.

We go to the mall to charge our phones. 

We go to the shelter at the high school to shower.

Here is just a small glimpse of our neighborhood.  And it is like this all over the state.

 Telephone poles broken in half.

 Electrical wires down over people's driveways.

 Storm shelters offer a warm place to sleep, eat, and shower.

 Cars drive under trees suspended over the road, resting on power lines.

Traffic lights are dark.

Most businesses are closed.
Gas stations can't pump gas without electricity, so there are long lines at the few stations that are open.
Cars need gas, but so do generators. 
Those restaurants that are lucky enough to have power have long waiting lines.

But just as it was in the wake of 9/11 and other disasters, people are talking more to each other.  Strangers are friendlier than usual, commiserating about the lack of power and showers.
People are helping each other survive.

While the lights are out, humanity has been shining!