Glencairn, spyderw1 loves Teavana, there's one in the mall here, too. It's a given that we stop in there for him to sample, then wish & hope (it's some pricey tea, but quality seems worth it) I'm more partial to their basics like straight green tea -- it's really, really good & actually has flavor versus what you get in a grocery store.
And Spyder's spot-on, it's been a fantastic year for us. Every year in this state just keeps getting immensely better, MI's been a bigger surprise than we gave it credit for each season. Not just an annual wait, it gets better by the season.
Queen of English Language Mangling, Master of the Edit button
Nyiah, spyderw1, I am so happy for you guys! That is awesome news. I hope that things just keep getting better for you into the new year, too.
I don't drink too much tea except for the mint one that I love, but this one sample I tried was so good. I didn't expect to love it when I got the sample, I was just trying them to find one for Quin because I know what she likes and she is a fan of their teas. They are definitely a bit pricey, though. I mentioned on facebook that I really liked that tea and to my mom (she commented on my post) that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Quin's boyfriend's mom (who she hopes will be her mother-in-law in the future) saw my post and went and got some for me for Christmas! She got a phenomenal little tea maker, too. It was incredibly thoughtful and I was blown away, we usually just get small things for each other.
The tea maker is so nice. You put your loose tea in it and then pour your hot water in and let it steep. Once it is ready, you set the tea maker over your mug and the tea goes through a little filter on the bottom and into your cup. It is so much nicer than having to use a tea ball - especially since mine needs to be replaced. I made some of the tea already tonight and it was every bit as good as I remembered. It sounds silly, but just saying thank you - even with a nice thank you card - doesn't seem like enough. It was more the thoughtfulness that really touched me.
A happy order screw up!! In effort to keep a gift literally out of sight since we couldn't stow the box anywhere (too big to shove in our weirdly shaped closets or under the bed) we left it in the shipping box in the bedroom. That meant we really didn't have the chance to open it & make sure it was ok, we kind of crossed our fingers & hoped for the best there. It's been driving the kids nuts since day one sitting there untouched, lol. It's a Monster High dollhouse, but it's not the one I ordered. It's a much bigger model! Holy crap, happy, happy order screw up! It took Spyder & me a while to assemble last night, but the box is accurate -- it really IS 4 feet by 5 feet. It's HUGE. The one I ordered was 4 by 3, lol.
There's an added perk -- our living room is very dark & spooky at night. This dollhouse looks very creepy sitting there in the dark, it's a hulking, dark, shadowy object. Little Kid woke up and went downstairs to use the bathroom. She came hurrying back upstairs, "There's something big and scary by the fireplace, I don't want to go back downstairs!" Lol, well, I don't have to worry about her waking everybody up too early now
Queen of English Language Mangling, Master of the Edit button
I'm grateful for the opportunity to wish you and all Hernandos a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
This took overcoming a great deal of fear and it's a good thing to overcome fear. This is just my way of sneaking in for a second, waving "Hello," and trying to catch a breath. Sort of like putting a toe in the water.
The best "Good thing?" Hernando's seems alive, well, and strong. Come to think of it, I don't know why it would be anything else.
It is so nice to have you come by and visit. If it is difficult, work your way to what is comfortable and best for you and go from there. You know what is best for you and that is most important. You have been missed, but even that is secondary to you doing what is in your own best interest as a first priority.
I hope that you and all the rest of our HH family had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was spread over two days with different sides of the family and both gatherings were so nice. I had such a great time just being with my family that everything else was gravy. Now for a day to unwind a little bit tomorrow and then most of the rest of this week will be more non-stop going it looks like, but having a day to relax first will help so much and I can't wait for a nice quiet day with just Russ, Quin, Wicket, and me to unwind.
And now my busy going resumes tomorrow. I am so glad that we had a quiet relaxing family day today to refresh a bit, though. It was really nice and we all needed it. Tomorrow's going is a good one, so I am happy to do it. My mother-in-law made a request for Christmas that she would like some jewelry made by me with some beads and gems she got back last February in Arizona at the gem and jewelry convention. I got my travel bin all loaded up and will be taking my tools and chains and jump rings and some of my own beads and stones over to her house to spend the afternoon making jewelry.
It makes me feel so good that she likes the jewelry that I make enough to want some for herself and I will enjoy the day spending time with her having a girl's day. To say nothing of the fact that she has beautiful taste and I know that whatever ideas she has for pieces will be fun to make and look good. I made some for her earlier in the year and she came up with some really wonderful design ideas that ended up turning into amazing pieces of jewelry. I'm just really looking forward to being out tomorrow and having a nice day with my mother-in-law and Quin.
What a blessing that you have the ability to make beautiful jewelry. Creating beauty for the sake of beauty may be one of the great distinguishing characteristics of humanity. I'm envious.
I, also, was able to spend Christmas with the family, or at least part of it. My mother, at age 95, had the celebration at her condo overlooking downtown Minneapolis and the Basilica. Every sunset is beautiful. My sister and her husband were there; he did almost all of the food preparation. My younger daughter and her boyfriend attended, but the elder daughter was celebrating with her husband's family. Total attendance, including some friends, twelve.
Visiting here? Well, my life has some circles. The outside circle encloses what I can do. For quite some time I couldn't force myself to do anything at all. I was even frightened of logging in here. Inside that is my circle of what I should do. Being on Hernando's is certainly there. I will do my very best to be here regularly. That circle includes what is "good" for me. As you might guess, not everything in the "should" or "good" circle gets done. Finally, there is the circle of what I want to do. I'm still working on that, currently there is very little or nothing there. But, Heigh ho, things will change, they always do.
I received word from a relative that the estate of my Aunt's will has been settled. She died almost exactly two years ago (Maybe Canada is slower on these things.) I put it out of mind a long time ago, thinking that if I ever received any money (1/6 of the estate), it would probably be in the five to ten thousand dollar range as she had spent her last four years in a nursing home. My cousin told me that it may well be in the range of $40-50,000. I think that qualifies as a good thing. I might put it on the mortgage and try to get the monthly payments down.
But the best item I have from her is one I've been holding for the last two years. At her funeral I was one of two people honored to give eulogy remarks. At the end of the funeral, I was presented with the small metal cross which had been on her casket during the ceremony. Now, that is a very good thing, indeed.
It sounds like your Christmas gathering was about the same size as my first one. That one was with my side of the family and my parents and siblings and all of their children were there. It was loud and active and so much fun seeing everyone and playing with the kids. Even nicer is when someone else takes care of the majority of the cooking.
How nice that you might have the opportunity to pay down your mortgage from your aunt's estate, but I'm very sorry about the circumstances that led to that opportunity. It does sound like getting the cross that was on her casket during the ceremony is more personal and special and I'm very happy for you that you have something that means more to you as a physical memory.
I understand the idea of your circles. I have some mental health "issues" from my childhood and have a similar system for myself. It isn't the same as the circles, but the end result is the same goal. I'm happy that we are included in your circles and to have you able to be here when you can do so.
Making jewelry makes me happy and that people like my jewelry feels incredible. My mother-in-law was so thrilled with the pieces that I made for her today and that felt amazing. Not that I expected her to not like them, but she is someone who I aspire to emulate in many ways and have looked up to for years and seeing how happy she was made me just as happy. Another really neat thing was that Quin got involved in playing with the jewelry pieces and wanted to make a necklace for herself to go with one of the new sweaters that she got for Christmas. She made a beautiful necklace and I can't wait to see it on her with her new outfit. She has a very good eye for colors and how to put them together in attractive and flattering ways and used that to a beautiful end today.
Just a small little thing, but Quin got a couple of gift cards for Christmas that come with "cash coupons" that are only good for a small amount of time. For some reason, she thought that the cash things expired at the end of this week and I was dreading another trip to the mall so soon. I told her to double check and we found out that they don't expire until the 16th of January, so I have a couple of weeks to get her there now instead of just a couple of days.
Had a really nice afternoon just watching TV with Quin and hanging out together. We started watching Supernatural on Netflix and got a couple of episodes in today. Russ doesn't have a lot of interest in the show, though enjoys it enough if it is on, so we try to watch it when he isn't around so that we can watch something that he enjoys when he is around to watch something. But, it was nice to just hang out with Quin and have a vegetative afternoon with some mindless entertainment.
Quin and I had another really nice day out today. Or part of a day out. She had gift cards from Christmas that were burning a hole in her pocket. She asked if we could go to one of the clothes stores and the makeup store. I also got a gift card for the makeup store, so I was completely on board with her plan. We spent a while just doing our hair and makeup and being pretty princesses. She is developing more of an interest in wearing makeup, so wanted me to comment on colors and techniques that she was trying. We did that for a couple of hours and then went out to the stores and she tried on a bunch of things and picked what she liked and she got some things that she had been wanting to try from the makeup store that were a bit more expensive.
We were only a few blocks away from my parents house, so we also stopped by to visit for a little bit before we went to Starbucks so that Quin could get a vanilla steamed milk. She has developed a fondness for them recently and had also gotten a gift card for that store, so we sat and enjoyed vanilla milks before heading back home. It was a very "girly" type day, but I had such a nice time with Quin and am glad we got to go out and spend time together by ourselves.
Tomorrow is another trip to the mall. One of the ones that was in the news the other day for being shut down due to the mob of teens fighting. We are going to go and hope that things are under control and that all will be fine. It normally is, I've been going to that mall since I was a kid and it is generally pretty much fine, no noticeable problems, not usually gang activity (though I don't go as often as I did when we lived closer, so maybe there is and I just am unaware of it) and we usually have a nice enough time.
Quin wants to use more of her gift cards before school resumes from the Christmas break. We both got gift cards to a clothing store there that we like and she wants some new clothes. So, off to the mall we go. I need the exercise anyway. I am still working on rebuilding my abdominal muscles from the surgery and walking is the top one that my doctor advised me to do the most to help, and so I have been walking as much as I can find excuses to get out and do it (or, at least, somewhere inside that I can walk, it's too cold to do much outside walking lately). And maybe even find a new sweater or two.
So tired, but had a wonderful time with the kid at the mall. The cold is ridiculous, though. It is stupid cold here. I passed a handful of banks with the temperature displayed and from my house to the mall I saw a range of a high of 6F down to -5F, so somewhere in there and I am not sure what it was with the wind chill factored in.
I'm delighted to hear that only good things happened during your mall trip. But cold? Pshaw. Here in 1986, on this day, it was -25 (ignoring wind chill). Cold is -20 and below. (He's shivering.) I make that comment only to attempt to prove to myself that I am tough and that people in Minnesota have something to brag about. No sane person really likes it, but we have to put up a front for the outsiders.
By the way, I'm glad you had a girly type day. I'm frustrated to the point of screaming by boys who want a girly type day (facials, pedicures, and wine), and girls who want a boy type day. Nice work, your kid will be just fine.
The nicest part of the whole day was actually when we were getting ready to go out and I was getting ready to put some makeup on (I love my makeup) and Quin wanted to play around and try some of her new makeup and asked if she could do my makeup for me. She did a beautiful job and it felt nice spending the time with her and being her model to practice on.