Here It Comes!

Watch out, everyone. 2011 is on its way here.  No ducking.  No hiding.  It's a New Year and it promises.....well, everything.  It's not the sure thing that 2010 is now.  It's an unknown, a variable, a new beginning and a chance to change.
I would like  a few changes in my life.  For one thing, I would like nobody I know to have cancer ever again.
I would like to find more ways to help children.   Did I ever tell you about the voice in church that said, "Save the Children" ?   Now may be the time.
I would like to live in peace...in every way. From my relationships to war in the world--I'd like it gone,gone,gone.
I would like to live the healthy life style that we started in 2010.  In spite of all my blogs about wine and wineries, we do live in a healthy way.
I hope my children will find happiness and fulfillment even more so than this year.
I hope DH and I get a chance to travel somewhere we haven't been before.
I would like to be more organized than I am and I would like to finish some projects that I started in 2010.

So that's a pretty tall order, 2011.  You better get started...let's say in about 16 hours and 23 minutes(if my math is correct)!

She's Gone

Yesterday I had to go to the vet's to say goodbye to my little cat, Moose.  She had exploratory surgery and they found a cancerous mass and it appeared to have gone into her lymph nodes.  I couldn't let her suffer through a surgery and a life on drugs with no promise that she would ever be well.  It seemed cruel.
I cried buckets for that little thing.  I sobbed over the phone to my best friend to make some arrangements for a party we had to attend the same day.  I sobbed as I asked the vet when we could come and say goodbye.  I cried uncontrollably when we were driving to the vet's.
The Doc brought her into us and she looked like her old self.  She was on pain meds and was wrapped in a blanket that kept her warm and protected the stitches from her surgery.  She lay pretty still while I petted her and my daughter took her picture.....then, dogs in the waiting room barked a little and she was ready to take off and jump down from the table.  I could restrain her but just only.  I cried through that too.
Then the vet came in with three syringes and I bawled and said I couldn't stay to watch her go.  I don't know how anyone does it.  Vet or owner.  But thank God they do so our little companions don't have to suffer.
She's gone now and I feel a little guilty that I didn't stay with her to the bitter end but I loved that kitty like crazy and she had a wonderful life.
She was crazy curious when she was little and ate a needle and thread once and pooped it out with no problems in a couple of days.  We didn't even know it happened until it, uh, exited.
She used to climb up on the bathtub rim and watch me take a bath.  When she came home from being spayed she bitched up a storm in almost English for two days but in the end she only remembered three words: yes, no and MomMom......really, ask anybody in my family.
She loved watching for DH to come home from work and settled herself in her special spot around 5:30 until he got home.  She sat in my lap for hours and she got brushed almost every morning of her life.  She loved her treats and her games.  She would tap your leg to get your attention or bat the newspaper if you were reading it when she wanted attention or more likely a treat.
She stayed hidden away from company but she was in our faces almost all the time.  We loved her dearly and miss her so much already.
Bye, Moose.  Hold a good spot in Heaven for us, won't you?

A Cat Named Moose

When I first saw her she was so tiny she fit in the palm of my hand.  She tiptoed from my hand up to my shoulder and tucked her little head into my neck and she's been mine ever since.
She grew fat(sort of) and complacent(most of the time) and she loved to sit on our laps and she  called me MomMom.....I swear.
She was afraid of everything.  In her whole life she was never outdoors for more than 5 minutes.She hid in our closet when company came over.  Some people didn't believe she even existed.
She love my DH and played with a plastic stick with him for hours.  She loved her treats and could call for me three rooms away at 7 am if she wanted one or two or three.
She has been my affectionate companion for more than eleven years.
My little girl is sick......really sick.  She isn't eating or using the litter box.  She won't hardly come out of the closet and her little backbone is sticking out.  It all happened in less than two weeks.
We are taking her to the vet today and we will probably be saying goodbye to our little Moose..whose name she grew into over time!
Oh my little friend, you will be sorely missed.

Merry Christmas to All!

Today is Christmas Eve and it is 9 am and I have already begun to make food for our Smorgasbord tonight.
I'm not complaining because Christmas Eve is my favorite night of the year....and not because of the presents!
Everybody is home.  We have a small family(only 7 of us) but it is still hard to get everyone together for every event.  We all have a ton of food from shrimp to Swedish meatballs and all kinds of appetizers.  We only have a little dessert because we are always to full for it!!
We start the evening with a toast with Bailey's(Mmmmmmm) and then we dive in to everything.  We open gifts one at a time.  Everybody watches you and the giver waits with anticipation and everybody oohs and aahs with you.  When the kids were little it probably killed them to wait but they learned and it has become our habit.  My dad did it when we were kids too.  We learned that it is just as much fun to watch someone else open a gift as opening your own.
My dad made a great Santa.  He could really drag it out and make it all the more fun.  Now my sis is usually the Santa and she is so good at it we gave her a children's book entitled Santa Auntie.
We are always at my sis' house and her house is warm and cozy and full of candle light and soft lights.  It smells like Christmas in there.
I hope your Christmas Eve is as happy as ours.
And tomorrow as well.
And all the days of your life.
Here's to the Swedes and the fine tradition of the Smorgasbord and Christmas on Christmas Eve!

Christmas-tized

There are so many hypnotic and beautiful things to see in Disneyworld at Christmas I just can't describe them.  We were at the Osborn Spectacular of Lights in Hollywood Studios and my nephew said it was the
best, most bad-ass place ever...he was right.
We travelled around the world and saw spectacular fireworks with fire on the water and photographs on the continents of the world in the center of the lake in Epcot.
We saw Cinderella's castle which looked like(as my brother in law said) a mix of diamonds and icicles...he was right.
We went Soaring and went to find Nemo.  We've done it before but we can't get enough of it.  Some of the more brave of us did Mission to Mars and Tower of Terror while my sis and I hit the shops.
It was CHRISTMAS everywhere including the snow on Main Street and at the light show.
We saw THREE parades. Yes, three.  One was at Universal but I have to mention it because it was a MACY'S Christmas parade just like in the movie, Miracle on 34th Street and every Thanksgiving day morning of my life.
It was wonderful and if you don't believe me, just check out these pics.

Food Cults

I read yesterday in the news that some foods have a cult following.  Among them were The McRib, the Shamrock Shake, and Sweet Potato Fries from a fast food place that I can't remember.  Lettuce does not have a cult following...no big surprise there, huh?
Reading that made me wonder if there was a food I was jonesing after so badly that I would join a cult for it.  Even watching my weight, I still eat a fun thing now and then.  I could not think of one thing that I crave so badly that I could join a cult about it.
Apparently there are websites to help cultists find the object of the culinary desire.  Some of them are not easily found I guess so they post the addresses of the restaurants(and I use that term loosely) so you could drive there and get one....or two.
Don't get me wrong.  There are lots of foods that aren't good for me that I love--like fries from our local sports bar and cheesecake--but I don't have to worry, they are available all the time.  There is a particular shake at holiday time that makes me drool but this year I've passed(so far ;D).
I was thinking of starting a lettuce cult but then I thought that nobody else would join and what fun is a cult of one??