Twas the night before Christmas...

Heading east....

Catching up on internet world.  And buying a tshirt.  Should probably be sleeping...

Happy to be with the fam for the holidays!

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before,
"What if Christmas doesn't come from a store?
"What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?"
~ Dr. Seuss

Twas 2 days before Christmas...

Packing Atticus for the kennel...

On the way to the kennel.  Always makes me a little sad.

Its hard to come home to an empty house.

I miss my dog.

But I leave tomorrow morning!

"I carry your heart with me.  I carry it in my heart."
~ E.E. Cummings

Blessed

How amazing it is that an evening with a friend - pedicures, listening, talking, shopping, eating - can relieve so much stress.

How blessed am I!?!

Candy cane stripes!

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world." 
~ Mister Rogers

Christmas stress...???

I'm at one of those annoying crossroads - where I feel I have so much to do, but when I put it down on paper it looks manageable, but then when I go to actually accomplish said things, I can't seem to get anything done.

That's how my Christmas to-do list is going.  That's how my entire 4 day weekend went.

I apologize beforehand if everyone gets IOUs instead of presents.  Or mugs from my workplace.  Cause I'm determined that will be my last resort.  Even if the mugs are pretty cool.

I'm vacillating between doing a lot, or doing a little, saying "I'll get it done", and "I'll never get it all done!!!!"

It doesn't help that my next 3 days at work are 12 hour shifts, and I'm pretty sure I probably can't count on getting ANYTHING done during that time.  And since my 4 days off I just had I got very little done, I shouldn't count on my 3 days off before I leave to get anything done either, especially when that time includes packing, packing for my dog, cleaning, and making last minute calls and stops and plans.

Oi.

I came home from work today with the full intentions of falling right to sleep as I have to be up in 8 hours from the time I walked in the door, but here it is, 90 minutes later and I'm still on the computer.  My phone evilly tells me I have 6 hours and 37 minutes til my alarm goes off.  *sigh*

Here's a food picture round-up from recent days....

Pumpkin cream-cheese muffins.  Pretty sure I didn't show you these yet.  Fattening and delicious.

Ham sandwiches made from pumpkin cheddar scones.  Too delicious to even describe. 

Butternut squash donuts.  I unveganized the recipe and baked instead of fried.  Also skipped the glaze because they're that good by themselves.

Totally not food...a Christmas present.  I just think they look pretty.....

So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them.
~ Sylvia Plath

Today

Six days have passed since my last post.  Whoops.

I have a nice long 4 day weekend to get everything possible done, before working a 4 day workweek (with 3 overtime shifts) right before my vacation starts.

After a nice morning at the gym, I thought I'd not waste my efforts and have a delicious veggie lunch...

Butternut squash fries..... a little olive oil plus a little corn starch plus a little salt...equals a big yum....

Time to get stuff done!

Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
~ Margaret Lee Runbeck

Shots through my front window

My favorite.  I can't believe my phone captured it.

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat anytime.
~ Hermann Hesse

Undercover

Until one has loved an animal, a part of his soul remains unawakened.  
~ Anatole France

Mini photo-dump

Its kinda hard to see - but on the left side of the picture there's a rainbow.  Some day I'll tell you about my rainbow story and what they mean to me.

I was invited to an ugly Christmas sweater party.  We don't have our own, so we made them...

Here's mine.

My friend Michelle and I modeling our sweaters.

Oh yeah, and I  made pumpkin bagels.  What!?!?  Easy and delicious.

So, I'm just sitting here in the comfort of my living room, 4:26 am, drinking coffee and listening to the comforting sound of a rain storm against the side of the house.  It's threatening to put me to sleep.  I'm in no particular hurry to start my 2nd 12 hour shift for this week.

"...it seemed too presumptuous to imply I'd made it out of the darkness, because if we keep going, there are always more tunnels, more challenges, darker darks.  But today I realized I have made it somewhere - I've made it to here.  And here's pretty good."
~a post from this week's Postsecret