Our tree

I was going to take down the decorations today; however, my Sister-in-Law + Brother-in-Law will be visiting on Sunday & I think I'll leave them up a few more days. This is our artificial tree. My husband bought this for our first Christmas together - which must have been 1980. After I put the lights on & the boys added the ornaments, it didn't look too bad!

We usually have a small pine tree with root ball - which allows us to plant it in the backyard the day after Christmas. We have several nice trees growing!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. We are looking forward to the New Year feast. I'm planning to make paella & the boys will watch the football game on t.v. Need to make sure I have all the ingredients. ttfn

Merry day after

I started reading this on our way to the big family get together. When we arrived, I wanted to take the book in with me & keep on reading. But hey, it was Christmas, time to visit the inlaws and exchange gifts. My SIL went all out with the decorating and feast. Food for 30. Later in the day, when we were all back home, Alex & I worked on his new puzzle. It is a pretty Marjolein Bastin picture.

good book ***** (five stars)

Couldn't resist the fur babies sleeping in the chair. Sweetie pies.


At the end of the day, the family is tired & hits the sack. Not me, I've been up 'til one or 2am reading this book. What a fantastic author. More here Alice Hoffman web site

Favorites from the past / To Do List ...

Who can resist the pooh bear?


Awwww ....

To Do List
photos for Grammy
Photos after concert
Take in Film
Ironing & Laundry [again]
Buy silver polish / tidy up the eating utensils
Buy Secret Santa gifts for Alex
Use 15% off coupon at B&N by 12/10
Christmas Cards .... ewww, they will be late
downstairs-shelve
storage under stairwell
Organize TV cabinet
BR cabinet & shelf
organize paper photographs
Contact MIL re. David's quilt [lost the tag]

2006 Book List

Read this year:

William Brodrick: The Sixth Lamentation
Sara Gruen: Water for Elephants
Ian McEwan: Saturday
Ian McEwan: Amsterdam
Ian McEwan: Atonement
Ian McEwan: Cement Garden
Alice Hoffman: The Ice Queen
Alice Hoffman: The Blue Diary
Alice Hoffman: Here on Earth
Alice Hoffman: 7th Heaven
Brenda Rickman Vantrease: The Illuminator
Kate Mosse: Labyrinth
Harriet Scott Chessman: Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper
Lauren Willig: Secret history of the Pink Carnation
Sarah Dunant: In the Company of the Courtesan
Sarah Dunant: Fatlands [Hannah Wolfe]
Sarah Dunant: Birthmarks [H.Wolfe]
Sarah Dunant: Under My Skin [H Wolfe]
Michael Connelly: Closers
Isabel Allende: Portrait in Sepia
Gabriel Garcie Marquez: Memories of a Melancholy Whore
Marilynne Robinson: Housekeeping
Francine Prose: A Changed Man
Curtis Sittenfeld: Prep
Curtis Sittenfeld: Man of My Dreams
Annie Proulx: Shipping News
Annie Proulx: Close Range; Wyoming Stories
Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha
Michele Huneven: Round Rock
Kathryn Harrison: Envy
Martha McPhee: L'America
Dan Brown: Digital Fortress
Dan Brown: Deception Point
Carolyn Parkhurst: Dogs of Babel
Irene Nemirovsky: Suite Francaise
Lisa See: Snow Flower & the Secret Fan
Alexander McCall Smith: Full Cupboard of Life
Gaston Leroux: Mystery of the yellow Room
J.D.Salinger: The Catcher In The Rye
Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Graham Green: The End ofThe Affair
Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden
John Steinbeck: The Pearl
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
Jan Karon: At home in Mitford
Jan Karon: A Light in the Window
Jan Karon: These High Green Hills
Jan Karon: Out to Canaan
Jan Karon: A New Song
Jan Karon: A Common Life
Jan Karon: In this Mountain
Jan Karon: Shepherds Abiding
Jan Karon: Light from heaven
Emma Richler: Sister Crazy
Peter Carey: Theft; A Love Story
John Banville: The Sea
John Updike: Villages
Don DeLillo: Underworld
Don DeLillo: White noise
Danielle Steel: Echoes
Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood: Bluebeard's Egg
Janet Evanovich: Full Bloom
Janet Evanovich: Full Tilt
Janet Evanovich: Full House
Janet Evanovich: Full Speed
Janet Evanovich: 10 Big Ones
Janet Evanovich: 11 on Top
Ali Smith: The Accidental
Alice McDermott: Charming Billy
Josephine Cox: Lovers & Liars
Patricia MacDonald: The Girl Next Door
Sandra Brown: The Crush
Barbara Bradford Taylor: Unexpected Blessings
Christopher Tilghman: Roads of the Heart
Judy Blume: Forever
Hilma Wolitzer: The Doctor's Daughter
Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
Anne Tyler: Digging to America
Wanda Brunstetter: Storekeeper's Daughter
Wanda Brunstetter: Quilter's Daughter
Wanda Brunstetter: The Bishop's Daughter

Ninth Annual Madrigal Dinner

Alex as Guard-at-Arms. There are four performances this week-end. When he came home last night, he said his feet were killing him!



Alex wanted to hurry up the photos -- the choir students were watching movies!

I went to K-mart earlier this afternoon. You know the place is busy when there are five grocery carts left. What a riot! Santa was on site taking photographs with the kids. Charming.

Button ... is "cute as a button"

The temperature is warmer at last. Button continues to either sleep on the floor vent [where the heat comes thru] or curl up next to the window. She was having such a hard time this a.m. Never mind she is 20 years old. We still love her.

This week, I got a good start on the household decorating -- I think I have the household in order [at last]. I have rearranged everything .... I mean everything. The last big job will be the photographs, and that cannot be hurried. I need to figure out a place for David's family photographs - his grandparents, etc. I'm thinking about some sort of acid free storage box. I don't think they should be in an album. They are already in nice paper folders [most of them].

My "To Do" List:
Buy silver polish / tidy up the eating utensils
Buy Secret Santa gifts for Alex
Buy David's gift
Use 15% off coupon at B&N by 12/10
Christmas Cards .... do I need another box???
downstairs-shelves
storage under stairwell
unwrap ornaments for tree
stockings on railing
holiday stuff on display
Ornament stitching & finishing
Organize TV cabinet
BR cabinet & shelf
ironing (again)
clean rest of the refrigerator
clean oven
organize paper photographs
Contact MIL re. David's quilt [lost the tag]
Clean Tori's room eta Saturday afternoon

Cat T.V. -- snow flurries

Woke up to the radio announcing "Nine Degrees" -- currently, we have snow flurries, wind, and wind chill temperature of "one degree above zero". Oh brrrrr ....

Prince Nikki

Mrs. Cat wants Nikki to wake up and play . . .
Nikki took about 1/2 second to think about it ...
and opted to return to cat napping ...

Saturday, I finished dusting books, placing them back on the shelves & found room for some misc kitchen items (large stock pot, roasting pan, etc) that I don't need upstairs. The boys visited my MIL & made cookies. After their visit, they viewed the new Superman DVD. I got the laundry caught up. Today, the boys plan to make cookies for 'us', I've got soup in the crock pot, and plan to tackle the ironing.

My To Do List:
basement shelves
tv cabinet
closet shelf
clean refrigerator
storage closet under the stairs
BR closet
cedar chest
corner in bedroom
clean oven
ironing

Book Sale Finds ...

Knowing we were expecting a storm, yesterday -- I left the house in the morning & ran errand after errand. Did some shopping for clothing & groceries. I found a nice blouse [the new crinkle style] and dress jeans for holidays (at Kohl's) -- Thank you Tori for the Kohl's Cash. Bought all sorts of boring stuff at Target. Poor Alex was locked out of the house (in the rain) for awhile.

Picked up the boys at home & went out again to the post office, drug store, and public library. Even when the forecast is threatening, I have a hard time passing up a library book sale. These were fifty cents each:


This is the 2nd book I own by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Web info here.


Link to the Alice Hoffman web site.


I know you can read this book on-line at this link or here; however, I wanted text-in-hand.


Book Information: Ellen Foster

Alex found the 2006 "Cat Who" book & a book about scientific puzzles. Nicholas wanted a jig saw puzzle of a leopard. We did well at the book sale - which continues thru Saturday at the South Haven public library.

I see the New York Times has their 'best of 2006' and '100 notable books of 2006' posted to their web site. See Lelia's Xanga.

After spending YESTERDAY running a ton of errands, TODAY I'm back to the basement for more cleaning & pitching. I have the books in order & they all fit on the shelves. It is the 'other' stuff - boxes, misc kitchen items, photo albums, that I am not sure where to store.

It continues to snow. I'm not sure how much we will have when this storm passes. With groceries & books ... I won't fret being snowed in.