November 29, 2010 11:02 a.m.

….. it is Christmas time again.  How did we get here again so quickly?
Wasn’t it just summer?
There are no flies lighting upon Chips and Sweet Girl when it comes to getting the house decorated for Christmas.  Only the lighting of hundreds of small multi-colored bulbs!
It all begins in the garage, where Self-Reliant Man lets down many boxes, bins, and bags.

Our Christmas tree, a plastic one (yes) is in its 16th Christmas this year.  It is large, nine feet tall, and to distribute its weight in the attic, we long ago began the habit of sorting its branches by alphabet letter in several trash bags that get reused year after year after year.

Then begins the process of decorating the tree (after Self-Reliant Man and I artfully place the lights). 

It is interesting how I remember exactly who gave me ornaments that we received 25-35 years ago, but I cannot seem to remember where we got ornaments within the last five years.  For example, this ornament was given to me 33 years ago by a frequent reader of this blog in New Hampshire.  Do you remember giving me this?  It still looks like new, by the way!





And of course, our sweet lab, Beau, is wondering to himself why we do this every year just when the weather starts getting cooler.

The job is mostly done inside the house, except for a few things.

And Chips is seeing to it that adequate outdoor lighting is being installed.  Pictures will be posted later.
If you are interested, I have written in this post tips for using your digital camera to take pictures of Christmas lights.   Have fun with this!

November 25, 2010 6:53 a.m.
Thanksgiving Day

Taken from today's New York Times.  This proclamation was given by the governor of Connecticut in 1936.  A lot of good things all contained in one sentence.  Happy Thanksgiving, friends.


State of Connecticut
By His Excellency WILBUR L. CROSS, Governor
Proclamation
Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising the Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year. In observance of this custom, I appoint Thursday, the twenty-sixth of November, as a day of
for the blessings that have been our common lot and have placed our beloved State with the favored regions of earth -- for all the creature comforts: the yield of the soil that has fed us and the richer yield from labor of every kind that has sustained our lives -- and for all those things, as dear as breath to the body, that quicken man's faith in his manhood, that nourish and strengthen his spirit to do the great work still before him: for the brotherly word and act; for honor held above price; for steadfast courage and zeal in the long, long search after truth; for liberty and for justice freely granted by each to his fellow and so as freely enjoyed; and for the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land; -- that we may humbly take heart of these blessings as we gather once again with solemn and festive rites to keep our Harvest Home.

Given under my hand and seal of the State at the Capitol, in Hartford, this twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty six and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and sixty-first.
Wilbur L. Cross
By His Excellency's Command:
C. John Satti Secretary

November 19, 2010 4:08 p.m.
The weather is glorious here in our state, and a local homeschool group to which I belong held their annual Thanksgiving Feast and Fellowship in a county park yesterday.  It was a beautiful day! 
We prepared for the day by bringing along a side dish, and cutting up vegetables for the group stew pot.  Both children got in the act or preparing carrots, onions, and celery to bring and add to the beef stew.


We also brought folding chairs, and pumpkins to decorate.  Once we arrived at the park, we happily added our veggies to the stew, which would need to cook for an additional 3 hours.  It was a huge pot!  Our group rented the pot from the county park.  What a neat idea!


The stew pot was monitored and tended to carefully.  It smelled terrific!

While we were waiting for the stew to cook, the children played organized games like Capture the Flag, a Three-Legged Race, and a Scavenger Hunt.

In addition, some of us toured the historical buildings on the park property, including a replica of a fort from the Seminole Indian War. 

Finally, it was time to dig in to that beautiful Beef Stew.  By this time, everybody had worked up a fine appetite.  We thanked our Lord for his numerous blessings on our group in 2010, and then formed a very long food line.  (after all, besides stew, there were numerous other dishes and desserts to be thankful for!)

We spent just about the entire “school day” on this field trip.  It was a wonderful time to build friendships.

January 3, 2010 9:58 p.m.

The party's over! Tomorrow we begin our routine lifestyles again. Homeschool lessons begin tomorrow. Little Son will start Fifth Grade, lesson one. Baby Girl will continue Second Grade from lesson eight (or just about the beginning of Second Grade).

The down time between Christmas and this first day of school always provides an opportunity for me to gather up some of the loose ends in my life. This includes, but is not limited to:

• decluttering the house
• straightening and organizing shelves, closets, and cabinets
• filing away or purging loose papers
• clearing off the horizontal surfaces of the home (primary the kitchen counters!!)
• mailing off letters and packages that have been sitting around for a while
• removing old toys that the children no longer want or need, and setting up space for their new gifts
  
• setting up binders for filing the children's new school year papers
• thinking about my daily schedule and ways to improve it
• visiting friends I don't see often enough
  
• identifying books I want to read, Bible reading and devotional habits I want to improve, and goals I want to be mindful of for my family

I feel pretty good about my efforts on the above bullet list, and I am now fully ready to begin on the new school year. Over the past month, I was lulled into believing that I have time to accomplish certain things, but by the end of this coming week, reality will hit me again and I will realize how much time is running past me in my daily life. But that's okay, because now I can see it coming and will not be surprised when it does. When it happens, I will try this year to exercise more self-discipline and less screen time. I realize that it is the screen time I still allow in my daily life that prevents me from staying on top of other important family and home responsibilities. So, expect to hear from me only on odd days. Even days, I have the day off -- no email and no online (except for Calvert requirements or emergency needs).

And here is a Bible verse that I read this weekend that is my prayer for 2010 for myself and my family, as well as all the believers who I love and care about, including my bloggy friends. I pray that..

December 31, 2009 10:12 p.m.

December 31, 2009 7:51 p.m.

Remember the Y2K "crisis"? A lot of people made an awful lot of money over that fear- mongering. And that night came and went -- nearly without a hitch -- all over the world. The lights stayed on. Not just in places like the US where billions of dollars were spent to prevent a catastrophe, but even in countries on the other side of the world, countries that had no money to spend on the "issue". I shall never forget it. Y2K has forever changed the way I view the world, the mass media, and the "crisis of the day". It has taught me that, if you get old enough, and hold on to memories of times past, pretty soon you won't believe anything they tell you. Did you notice how, beginning with the very next day, nobody on television or in the papers had anything to say about it all? It was all simply forgotten and never talked about again.

Back in those days, Yours Truly (Breezy Point Mom) was a Senior Electrical Engineer with responsible charge over design projects throughout the high voltage transmission and distribution systems at the House of Mouse (remember that place we camped a few weeks ago?). The property containing the House of Mouse is approximately twice the size of Manh*ttan Island, and consumes electrical power equivalent to a medium-sized city.

For eighteen months, one of my responsibilities was to test equipment related to electrical power distribution across the property, all to reassure upper management that everything was "Y2K Compliant", that is, it would continue to function normally after crossing that momentous time threshold into the year 2000.


Of course, this task came in addition to all my other project responsibilities. It was a sort of... uh .... added blessing in my professional life.


Most of the work associated with testing all the equipment required me to work through the night. Company policy forbade us engineers from testing equipment during theme park opening hours, when a mistake could take down power for thousands of visitors. So Y2K required me to continue working regular days, interspersed with many nights, as needed, at various times, over the course of 18 months. I was never able to get into a routine of either days or nights. It was often two nights followed by two days, etc.


To top it all off, all of the salaried employees where I worked were required to spend the big Y2K night on the property "manning" all of the high voltage substations serving all of the visitor venues, including four theme parks, many hotels, and a shopping mecca. If the power system came crashing down over the crowds, we were supposed to come to the rescue and restore power manually.

Oh, and did I mention that over a million visitors were expected to be on the property that night?


For you see, even thought the world was waiting with bated breath to see if the world would come to a crashing anarchic end, the House of Mouse was not concerned. They were not planning to be "closed" that night due of concern for public safety. In fact, they were throwing a really big party to ring in the new year. They had such confidence in us ... in little old me... just imagine.


So as I was saying, we salaried folks manned the stations, not just engineers and electricians, but all professionals and the operations departments for all systems - solid waste, waste water, reclaimed water, mechanical systems, as well as electrical. Also, administrative assistants and all office and business support personnel who were salaried were required to be on site, driving around the property, supplying foodstuffs to all us more technically-oriented folks. This included two of my best friends, who were able to visit me briefly that night before moving on to another substation.


What about Self-Reliant Man, you may ask? Where was he throughout all this excitement? Unfortunately, he was not permitted, due to legal (and insurance) reasons, to share this wonderful night with me at the substation, and he stayed home (50 miles away) and went to bed.


So while the world was ringing in the new year (decade? century? millennium?) I was sitting in a swivel chair beside a Formica topped table with a two way radio sitting atop it, shooting the breeze with three electricians. Yup. I'll never forget it.


And when midnight struck, we heard all the fireworks outside, but had to stay inside and wait for orders in case the end of the world as we knew it happened.


And then we had to stay there until 7 a.m., per planned procedure, in case all the equipment took time to recognize that it was supposed to fail. Only it didn't. And at 2 a.m., I received a cell phone call from the manager of electrical operations. His voice over the phone sounded so relieved that I could almost envision tears in his eyes. He said since all was well, I was permitted to go home, and Happy New Year. Poor guy. He must have aged ten years during that last quarter of 1999. All for a hoax.

Fast forward to now. I sure am glad that I am now a stay at home homeschooling violin mom of two, spending my New Year's Eve playing Jenga and Pay Day and watching the movie "Scrooge". I wouldn't trade my new life for anything.

Happy New Year to all my dear bloggy friends! We made it ten years past the end of the world.

December 26, 2009 9:45 p.m.
Well I cannot remember when we have had a happier, more satisfying Christmas season (and day). In fact, all of us, particularly the children, fell into bed at the end of the day full of contentment and happiness.

Our Christmas Eve featured a candlelight service, "lessons and carols" at church, where the children sang "Gloria Christus Natus Est" like angels. I did not take any photos at church so you will have to take on faith that it was lovely.

Once home, we had eggnog and snacks.













Candy canes, cookies and letters were left out for Santa Claus. Little Son left a small light on for him, and advised him to turn it off when before leaving.








Then the children were nestled all snug in their beds.




Around 7:00 a.m. there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.




Impatient children were kneeling by the chimney, with care. Could it be that the stockings were bulging?













To our shock and amazement, Baby Girl discovered an elf hiding under the sofa.















After opening and spreading stocking stuffers all over the hearth,










a hearty breakfast was enjoyed, French toast for all.












At first the family room looked pretty good.
Neat enough to take a photo of the children in front of the tree.














But four hours later, the room looked....oh.... just a little bit different!













This was the year that Baby Girl and Little Son both did their own Christmas shopping, for their parents, and for each other. And they used their own hard earned cash to pay for the items (at least part of the cost). In this way, Self-Reliant Man received a special type of shaver and a hiking pole, I received a battery-operated foot massager and a violet shirt, Little Son received a water bottle and some Matchbox cars, and Baby Girl received a battery-operated hamster in a ball.

Thanks to the Eezy-Bake oven, we now have a baker in our home.












Also, thanks to Viv-tar, we have a new digital photographer. Watch out world!















During the mid-afternoon, we dressed up and got in the car for a one hour drive to the town of Celebration. A Spanish - Cuban restaurant, named Col*mbia, has a long standing tradition of serving up a great Christmas dinner.





The entire family enjoyed the traditional "American" Christmas dinner of Baked Virginia Ham, except myself -- I chose the traditional Cuban Christmas dinner of "Lechon Asado" (marinated roast pork) served with mojo (sauce), yuca (root) , moros y cristianos (rice and beans) and platanos moduros (plantains). Sooo good!!



After dinner, we decided to walk around the town of Celebration to see the sights.

Floridians are great braggers about not having any snow in the winter, but give some of them a chance to pretend, and they will seize it. Here is one form of Florida snow dished out on Mark*t Street in Celebration.




Sheesh.... pathetic!








Dusk arrived as we were walking the streets of Celebration. There are many beautiful and quaint style homes here, and many were decorated (although not as many as I expected). Here are just a few..




































All of the homes in Celebration are less than 10-15 years old. Celebration was developed by the Mouse House Company in the early 1990s. The homes are quite expensive for their size. Sadly, we noticed as we walked around that there were some homes that had been abandoned by their owners; others were already for sale. The recession has definitely affected this community.






After night arrived, we enjoyed another Florida "snowfall" on Market Street.










Christmas Day ended with us back home, having a relaxing evening, until the children finally announced that they were ready for sleep.

A good year, a happy Christmas, and a healthy, happy family.

God Blessed us, everyone!


UPDATE: Self-Reliant Man presented me with yet another present today... after a day's hard work, he demonstrated to me that he has repaired our garage door opener, at a cost of under $30. I am very happy about this, as our opener had been broken for so long that I forgot we ever had one. Way to go, Self-Reliant Man!

December 19, 2009 11:40 p.m.

Now I hinted at something in the last post that I will expand upon here. Those of you who visit the Mouse House and stay in a hotel are really missing something by not camping. The Mouse House Campground can be a vacation all by itself, even if you don't set foot inside the theme parks. This campground also attracts a very interesting subculture of people, especially around Christmastime, our favorite time to visit the Mouse House. There are many campers (especially RVers, as in "snowbird" types who head to our state for all the winter months) that go all out when it comes to decorating their campsites for Christmas and Hanukkah. just click on any picture to see it up close and in detail.

These folks reserve their sites months in advance, and stay for several weeks at a time.


They do have a lot of fun. It is a sort of .. retirement hobby of theirs.


I have never witnessed anything like this at any campground except this one.


You wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it for yourself.


That's why I am showing you here.


And it is a lot of fun just walking around, day or night, checking out their decorations.


Even their golf carts are decorated to the max.


How about that kind of camping?
What fun!!!