December 13, 2005 - 4:24 PM
I know it's been a while since I've written, but I guess things, although they've been busy, just didn't seem worthy enough of writing at the time. So this will be a hodge-podge of things. smile
On December 7, Amanda, my baby, turned 15. We took a few of her friends to Cold Stone for ice cream and then had cake here with just are family. She's growing into such a lovely young lady. She's been working to bring her grades up, which were a bit disappointing at the quarter, and today brought home all A's & B's on her Progress Report. Yea!
Amelia's hours have gone down substantially at Albertsons since Thanksgiving, but I'm sure they'll pick up the week of Christmas and then drop again. She still loves her job though and knows she needs to hang in there with it and the regular hours will come. She's got herself a boyfriend named Tanner who is in the Air Force. He'll be home just before Christmas and then will be stationed in Japan. They met the day before he left for the Air Force, so all of their courting thus far has been by letter and phone. He made some major points though a few weeks ago when he sent her a dozen red roses, celebrating their meeting 3 months previous.
The end of November and beginning of December was spent with promises of snow, but only one morning where it made an impact. School was on a 2 hour delay that Friday, but the snow disappeared too quickly for most of us. I did get to see Geneva in the snow and she was quite a kick. She loved rubbing her nose in it. I don't know if she was just digging down to sniff more or if she liked the cold. I also let her and Arabelle run in the yard and play. Arabelle loves the snow! Hopefully we'll get more of that white stuff this winter. We've got plenty of wood stacked in the garage, so we're ready for it!
Nearly 3 weeks ago, my friend Meka and I both qualified for a local Karaoke contest and will be competing this Saturday at Caesar's in the semi finals. The top 5 people will go to the finals at Cookie's on Sunday. So wish us luck. Either way, we're going to have a great time!
On December 3 we had our chapter Christmas party. Over 50 people were there, and it truly was a big success with delicious food, Christmas music and fellowship with friends from near and far who joined us. One of the funny things that happened was, there was a door prize drawing for all the guide dogs, and Geneva won. But I had them draw again for a winner since I brought the prize, a doggy treat filled candy cane. Geneva was already stepping out from under the table to redeem her prize and seemed a little disappointed to be sent back to her spot.
On December 6, Geneva and I went to the special shopping Day for Seniors and Disabled shoppers at Target. Amelia had planned to accompany me but was sick with a bad cold. So my sister pinched hit and did a fabulous job. We had so much fun! Geneva was so popular that she even was requested to be in another patron's picture with Santa. After the morning's festivities, we joined four others from our chapter for lunch at Red Robin. It was a great day all around!
A friend of mine, another person inspired to get a guide dog after being a part of my Spud journal, is in her final week of training at GDB. Gina has a Yellow Lab named Meadow and they will be graduating this Saturday in Boring. I'm so happy for them both. I wish I could be there but have a scheduled Rehab Council meeting to attend in Tacoma.
Today I stayed home from work with a bladder infection. It's really wiped me out. I'm on an antibiotic, but have been having a lot of back pain and discomfort. I hope I start to feel better quickly. There are so many things I want to do. One of them, the Rainbow Girls Christmas party tonight will have to be passed on. But hopefully tomorrow, I'll wake up anew.
Now it's time to set our focus on Christmas, just 12 days away. Usually by now, the tree is up and decorated and decorations adorn the house inside and out. That hasn't happened yet. But my sister came over yesterday and put lights up outside the house for us and brought all our Christmas decorations down from on high in the garage. So I think that the tree will go up this weekend, if not before. This year we will be using the artificial tree. I really do love a real tree, but our tree stands in the livingroom where are woodstove is located and so can be a challenge to keep from drying out too fast. We did have a real tree last year though. So maybe we'll do a real tree every other year. I know the girls would like that.
Well, although I've gotten quite a bit of shopping done, I do still have more to do, and a few packages to get mailed off to Lyle's sisters. I also still need to do Christmas cards. I wish those didn't feel like such a chore. I am going to do a Christmas letter and will probably email it out to my list and post it on my website, etc. I love receiving cards, so I feel guilty when I get them and didn't send them.
But I love this time of the year. I love helping others. So tomorrow we will go to the Fairgrounds and help wrap presents for Toys For Tots (my health permitting of course). I love Christmas music, the Christ centered Carols and the jolly fun songs too. I love the baked yummies, and am trying to enjoy them this year without over indulging. I love the spirit of giving to others; the buying and wrapping of presents and then giving them to family and friends.
It truly is a most wonderful time of the year.
Merry Christmas Hugs,
Cindy & Geneva
