anniversary giveaway

Hard to believe but tomorrow (Jan 1, 2013) will be my second anniversary of blogging.  It is amazing to me how fast the time has gone in some ways and then there were the days that dragged on forever.
Time to celebrate.  I'll think of a giveaway tonight and post tomorrow.

Meanwhile I have been catching up on laundry.  I had forgotten how much laundry we went thru as a family.  After everyone left, it took me 3 loads of towels, two loads of sheets, i of tabecloths, placemats, etc and I haven't even gotten to our personal clothes.  Each kids did at least one load for themselves/family while here too.

Today is a day to stay snug in my home.  Here it is mid-afternoon and it is snowing again!  Enough with the snow!  Our neighborhood is rapidly going thru it's snow fund.

I have two projects picked out, kitted up and ready to start on New Year's day.  Both are intended as surprises so there may not be many photos for awhile.  Meanwhile there are still plenty of other projects in progress and also those kitted and not started.  I'm debating about joining the Christmas ornament of the month and the Halloween ornament of the month.  Not sure I want the deadlines - there seems to be enough with teaching proposals.  I did mail off one set of proposals for 2014 today and there are more due in mid-January.

And then there is the 2013  WIPocalypse, as well as the 2013  TUSAL and best of all (because it is a reason to stitch), the IHSW  (International Hermit and Stitch Week-end).

The final book report of the year is 80 books - the same as 2011.  However in 2011 I only read 5 chunksters (450 plus pages) and in 2012, I read 13 of them.  In 2012, I started counting the pages as well as the books and by month.   march was the low month, only 1385 pages read.  September was the high month with 3542 pages read.  For the year, I read 28,120 pages.  It will be interesting to what I do in 2013.  I admit that the list has helped me from repeating some books.  My kindle has helped me read more while on vacations as well.

I have no idea how much genealogy that I have done over the past year.  Not sure how I would track that.  But I will find a way one of  these days.

Have a great New Years Eve and be safe!

Have a great 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The house is now quiet again.  Everyone has returned to their respective homes.  The cats can't begin to tell you how wonderful it is.  Max (the younger cat) hid most of the time - he is afraid of people however he really took to our son.  Samson would come out around dinner time - always looking for a handout but stayed far away from the two little ones.

Here he is waiting for dinner to be served.

Here are the two ornaments that I stitched for an exchange with my Wednesday stitching  group.

The red bulb was stitched in metallics and the yellow bulb in rayon.

And the tree and Max before everyone started arriving.

The day after Christmas, we had snow.  The weather folks called it a blizzard.  IF it was, then it is the mildest blizzard I've ever been in.  And after living in North Dakota, I know a real blizzard.  Anyhow we got arounf 9 inches dumped on us.  Then on the 28th, it snowed again.  Now add another 5-7 inches (depends on which weather station you listen to).  Now they are talking about getting more snow on New Years' eve. 

The scene from my back door.

The refrig and cupboards are restocked so if it snows more fine.  I don't need to be anywhere til wednesday.  Maybe I can get some more stitching done?!

Merry CHristmas !

This past week has been indicitive of the the swirling tree that has headed the blog for the last week.  Most of the choas is now done.  Though I still have lots of wrapping to do.  It was crazytrying to get gifts on the list and lots of food in the house.  All the kids, spouses and grandkids will be here for Christmas.  As I write, hubby has gone to pick up our son.  His initial flight was at 5 something this morning and then he has spent extra hours in the intermediate airport due to delays.  This storm has created lots of havoc all by itself.  But he is in the air, flying home!  Much betterthan last year when he was in Afghanistan.  Youngest daughter should just be starting their car trip around now.  Hopefully the roads are in good shape.  Oldest daughter is still at workfor another couple of hours before she can get here.

Yesterday we had the start of the storm early - lots of very LOUD thunder and lots of lightening, and of course the rain.  as the day went on, the winds increased, rain decreased as well as the temps.  And then last night the white stuff started!  I like a little snow, but not on frozen roads.  I hope everyone traveling  has arrived safely and everyone has power!

More later.

We just got home early this morning (about 1 am) from a wonderful week in Mexico.  The sun as warm, the pool was great and the drinks even more so.  It was a week aimed towards de-stressing.  We've been busy with numerous things but my BIL and his wife have been stressed with the care for my husband and BIL's mom.  I think they really relaxed this past week.  

I changed my Christmas header and will now try to keep it changed every few days or so.   Hopefully tomorrow as I get back into the swing of things, I'll get photos posted. etc/

I thought I had finished the blogs on EGA seminar 2012.  But this morning I realized Iforgot the photos of the class.   What was I thinking?  Obviously I wasn't and was getting wrapped up in to many other committments.

I've been finishing up two ornaments for an exchange, have a Christmas luncheon to plan and cook (that's for wednesday) and things to bake for thursday's meeting.  I still have three major things to finish on the sewing machine - which I still haven't borrowed back my my daughter and then I still have to finish my Christmas shopping.  Oh, yes, the cards too.  And the snow fund, etc.

But let's finish up seminar while I remember.   Just a few of the class photos.

The speaker from the closing banquet and a few of my tablemates who are also members of my chapter.  Some even trying to hide from the camera!

Between Thanksgiving and a cold (thanks to my two grandson and youngest daughter), I've been delayed in finishing up EGA seminar and moving on to other subjects.  So it's time to finish up!

These are the views from my balcony.  Too bad the outdoor pool was closed for the season.  However I did take advantage of the indoor pool and hot tub.  Very nice!
THe hotel was a curved L shape.  In the first photo you can just see the actual curve portion.  In the night version you can see the start of the casino and convention area.  My wing was of the hotel was as long as the other one.  So you can see that it was a loooooooong walk to class every morning and whenever you headed over for an event.

On that long walk, these are some of the sight that I saw each day.  The hotel was filled with wonderful pieces of art everywhere you looked.

This sections shows one of the chairs in the lobby.   From the main entrance and front desk, the lobby is about 5 steps down (think of a sunken living room for those who remember them).   At the far end of the seating area are doors to the outside "patio" area.  In the middle of these doors is this stained glass piece - photos are of both sides.  It was so wonderful to look at every morning.  So inspiring!

And so concludes today's tour of the the Hilton at Buffalo Thunder.  Next up is the classooms.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few of my favorite pics.

Have a great Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out my new facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/J-H-Murawski/189576297840383

I found some other blogs talking about EGA 2012 Seminar aka Santa Fe Enchantment.

http://stitchpography.blogspot.com/2012/11/santa-fe-enchantment.html


http://majtravaux.blogspot.com/

As I find more I'll let you know.

Did I mention we found a lot of Icons?  They seemed to be everywhere!

Samples from three different shops.  I admit that I have never seen so many in one town before.

And now for some window shopping:

Now it's time for some photos from Santa Fe.  As I said before (I think), four of us went in a day early.  So on saturday we walked and walked around Santa Fe downtown.  There were great shops, a great church and lots of different things.  One of the priorities for the others was the Georgia O'Keefe museum.  So off we went.  They were strict about no photos so I have nothing to show you.  But I can direct you to a photo of the museum.  I tried to take a photo of the outside but that's when my batteries died.

Here are some buildings and a church that we went to.

 

Entrance to a parking garage.  The posts are the standard cement post, only decorated.

Absolutely beautiful.  Traditional Catholic elements yet with the flavor and traditions of the area.
I loved this sign, just before you enter the church.

We had lunch at La Fonda, which is just down the street from the church.  The main doors face the plaza but don't begin to show off the wonders of the hotel.  The food was excellent and there was lots of it.   Check out their website to get an idea of the beauty of the hotel.

As the day went on, we did quite a bit of shopping - actually buying things and window shopping.  Here's some glimpses into where we went.

 

The Leather shop.  Most of us did a little (or a lot) of buying here.

 

 

 

 

There were many pottery shops.  I indulged in one of them. 

A gallery of Polish folk art.  When we got inside, there was lots of Polish pottery, icons, etc.  A bit unusual to find in Mew Mexico but interesting to me since my hubby is of Polish descent.

More tomorrow!