Bowl Game Fever!

Well, the Beavers fell to the BYU Cougars at their "Maaco Bowl." (It's real, look it up!) Sorry Beavs.

Next up on the Bowl Docket: the "Humanitarian Bowl" (it's real, look it up! ;). Played just a few steps away from the office, and featuring the U of I Vandals versus the...Bowling Green State University Falcons. Excellent mid-day people watching.

Then Friday: the big Rose Bowl, my Ducks versus the.... Ohio State Buckeyes! Whoo-hoo!
A couple of Bronco fans (I imagine) trudged out early this a.m. and left this little bit of well-wishing... I'm sure an enemy of U of I is a Bronco friend.

Lastly, on Monday, the BSU Broncos versus the... Texas Christian University Horned Frogs.

Sorry. I don't really know what a Buckeye is, but Horned Frogs beats 'em all for most awesome mascot. That's up there with the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Movie Viewing Season!

It's that time of year again... MOVIE VIEWING SEASON! I kick it off with true viewing gusto on... my birthday!

The 67th Golden Globe awards are January 17th! My viewing checklist can be found here, if you are interested. I don't track every category, just the ones that interest me -- I am the director of my checklist. I use the Globes as a guideline, but I'm not quite as interested in the outcomes for this show. It gives the viewer a good running start as to what the academy might be thinking.

Then, the 82nd Oscars are March 7th! (Checklist forthcoming, after the nominee announcements on February 2.) This is the grand-daddy of award shows! The screenplays! The costume design! The best score! The fashion! Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as dual hosts!! The overpaid starlets fawning over each other as though they have cured cancer! No! Your work is fabulous! No! Your work is fabulous! I love every ridiculous minute of it.

Longview Christmas!

Our third Christmas: Longview! Such a fancy tree. The scales at bottom left were left by the nephews who were weighing the gifts prior to our arrival... genius!!


The whole family was present! The menfolk.
The womenfolk.

The nephewfolk. ;) Sportin' new Duck gear!! These two are not easy to shoot in low light... they move at lightning speed!

Later in the evening, friends arrived!

And the next day, a walk around the lake in the sunshine! Gorgeous!

Hope your holiday was fabulous!

Nehalem Christmas!

On to our second Christmas: Nehalem! Our stockings were hung on the island with care... girls to the right, boys to the left. Kids in the middle. :)

Merry Christmas dinner! And the whole family was present! The BEST scalloped potatoes you've ever had.

Sister made rice krispies treats - double layer! Plain on the bottom, cocoa krispies on the top!

My Dad gave me this recently discovered photo of my paternal grandmother (Josephine) as a teenager...I love it!

My mom gave me this gorgeous necklace. Sweet sister got a matching one!

Afore-mentioned Sweet Sister painstakingly crafted these hand-embroidered pillow cases! Such lovely handiwork!!

And a Christmas visit from an old friend...Sharky!!

Boise Christmas!

First on the docket: Christmas in Boise! Snow on the ground, our cozy living room, and the whole family was present!

Christmas dinner was venison, roasted baby taters with rosemary, and candied carrots...like the ones we used to get at Henry Ford's Restaurant, back in the day. It was delish!

Among other lovely gifts, I got this Pearls Before Swine calendar...my fave comic strip. I love the gators best.

My husband also gave me this -- one of two gorgeous sweaters I received. You could do a lot worse than having this man buy you clothes.

He received these awesome camo fleece jammies with matching "Dexter" henley... and this awesome new fishing vest with flip down fly panels... and the pirate glass at bottom right-- it says, "Name Your Poison." Hee hee!

And of course, a stunning new piece of jewelry! So sparkly!!

Christmas is Nigh!

We have been suuuuper busy, and are traveling for the weekend, so went with the smaller of our two "permanent" trees -- the one that's pre-lit and we just plug in. I LOVE this little tree. Especially in the front window.

We have our first real mantle upon which to hang our stockings!
This year I'd like to showcase an ornament that I got at a family ornament exchange years ago, and is among the strangest we have.

1. It's a wee deer.
2. Taking a festive bubble bath.
3. In a sassy little tea cup.
4. He has his own rubber duckie.
   
   I'll just leave it at that.

Snow 2009!

The weather has been awesome this month! It snowed and snowed and snowed. And then it was really really cold, so the snow stayed around around, something I'm not really used to, but I love love love!

Snow on the house!

Snow up the street!

Snow down the street!

Snow across the street!

Will this Project Never Go Away?

I've been MIA again. Stupid life-sucking project reared its stupid head again. Terrible management. Year-end goals. Attempting to deliver 1055 pages with too few people and not enough time. Sooooo stupid. Apologies.

Here's the "war room" I've been sitting in for 10-12 hours a day for the past 18 days. And will do so again this weekend.
Our ongoing list of to-do items. One of the ways I have chosen to amuse myself is to attempt to copy the handwriting of one of my comrades. I wrote two of the items to the left.

This is my part of the table.

Yesterday I was forced to invoke the Geneva Conventions. The third convention, Section three, Article 59:

Prisoners of war must be allowed, in the middle of the day's work, a rest of not less than one hour. This rest will be the same as that to which workers of the Detaining Power are entitled, if the latter is of longer duration. They shall be allowed in addition a rest of twenty-four consecutive hours every week, preferably on Sunday or the day of rest in their country of origin.

And the remainder of my roses stayed beautiful for quite a while, making the room a little more bearable.

The Ducks are Off to Rose Bowl!

OK, so this isn't the timeliest posting, but I did want to take a moment to observe the Ducks upcoming trip to the Rose Bowl! Whoo-hoo!!

I was pleased to have acquired a new "winged logo" t-shirt on a recent trip to Portland.

I generally don't engage in too much ribbing...after all, some of my closest friends are Beavers! ;) But there are a couple of Beavers at work who just can't take the high road, and have to start in with the snotty emails and the "Man, that's an ugly t-shirt!"

So Friday morning after the game I popped by Albertson's looking for yellow or green cupcakes or cookies... or...hey! Look! Yellow roses... PERFECT.

Each of the snotty Beavers found a yellow rose on their keyboards that morning. Hee hee! Go Ducks!

Eighteen Years!

Some folks don't celebrate their dating anniversary. We do! It may not be a big celebration, but we usually observe the event.

'Cause 18 years is a long time...to be so lucky.