Our Black and White Tree

Yep, this is our Christmas Tree. I saw this white tree at the store, and fell in love with it. I was equally excited, when I saw the black ornaments, that hung off the branches. I kind of kept it to myself, then my husband said, "Hey, I kinda like that tree." I immediately said, "Me too!!" Of course, I didn't think we were going to end up getting it. I have told a few people about the tree, and have 10 times out of 10, gotten strange looks, or comments like, "Only you would put black ornaments on a tree." But hey, who cares, my family is happy with it, so that is all that matters. We let the kids put on all the decorations, they really enjoyed it. They are really happy with it. I should have taken pictures of the kids Menorahs. Ara and Tolkien celebrate Hanukkah, more so with their father side of the family. Some nights, they are with Jeremy and I, and they get to light their Menorahs, at home. I'll take some pictures Wednesday night, and post them for you to see. This year Hanukkah is the same week as Christmas.


I don't know if you can see it, but Emma has a band aid on her forehead, in the picture below. She used to be obsessed with band aids, and wore them constantly.

This is Emma's letter to Santa Claus, sitting in the mailbox. She still believes in Santa, so we will also be making cookies for him too!

This is Emma. She is really excited for Christmas this year. She can hardly stand it!

Like I said, Jeremy and I will get Ara and Tolkien back on Christmas Eve. They will be lighting their Menorahs, and I promise to take pictures.

The Winter Storm, Through The Eyes of Ara......

This is a short story that Ara wrote, about our "Winter Storm" adventure Wednesday night. Its kinda neat seeing it from her point of view. Hope you enjoy, as much as I did......

My sister cried in the backseat. "Mommy...!" she wailed. My mother began to allay her. I didn't say a word. My feet felt soaked and frozen as my sister squeezed out melancholy pleas. My stepfather is trying to get chains on the car--for where I live, they're required. We're in the extensive garage of the River Park Square Hall. Snow has been falling excessively since school. After going over stories in my Language Arts class with Mrs. Franklin, I worked away. I enjoyed the fictitious humor of that class. When the bell sounded, I skidded to my locker. School is out and it's 3:15. Getting my belongings together, I darted out of school. Flurries of snow slammed into my face as I tried to evade the bitter cold. A honk drowned out the wind. I spotted my stepfather's smoky gray car. When I got in, my stepfather somberly informed me: "Your mom's car was hit, but she wasn't in it."We raced to her work. The damage was done--her hood couldn't open and the front was smashed. After analyzing her car, we took off for home. My heart pounded. As I listened to various Iron Maiden songs, my anxiety grew. I hope my mom is driving safely It seemed for hours we stayed in the same place by a Dutch Bros. Coffee house. I heard from a couple people their coffee is really bad. Once roads cleared, we needed a place to eat. We headed to Red Robin. We waited for my mom there. Warm hot chocolate drizzled down my throat. After awhile my mom arrived. I was glad she seemed fine but she was shaken. We had to stay in Red Robin for a few hours. My step dad was purchasing chains for the cars.Listening constantly to Iron Maiden gave me some positivity, they have upbeat songs. I hope the chains will facilitate the cars. We finally met up with my step dad, Jeremy. "Sleigh Ride" faintly played in the garages as he equipped the cars with chains. Right now they're not helping, we're still in the garage. Will we ever get home tonight?Well, we're still trying to get these chains to work. "2 Minutes to Midnight" by Iron Maiden is blaring through my earphones. The chains continue to fall off our tires. My stepfather Jeremy is working on the chains on my mom's car. I'm alone, settle inside the fairly warm but almost cold car of my step father's. My brother, sister, and mom are sitting glumly inside the wrecked shell of my mother's car. At least she can still drive it, I tell myself silently. Darn, it's 7:40 PM. We're still in the parking garage! This is insane--the snow is getting on my nerves!"Okay, go ahead." Jeremy exclaims.We're going to try driving again. I'm listening to "The Clairvoyant" by Iron Maiden. So far, no chains have fallen off. "Should've checked mine." Jeremy mutters. I merely listen. "Right?" he asks, "Should've checked mine, huh?"I stiffen, "Yes..." I mumble. My spirits lift, I think we'll make it out now! We've stopped to pay the parking garage cashier. Jeremy's hands are covered in a dark substance, perhaps dirt. We've arrived in the snowy world. We're out, at least. Now, if we can just get home! Jeremy and I are following my mother. Song now is "The Trooper", and I'm a bit anxious, yet fatigued. It's almost 8:00, an hour before my bedtime. I can't shake the feeling we'll get stuck somewhere. I look to my left as Jeremy opens the door to check his chains.As we turn a corner, we pass the Fox Theatre. I really hope we get home. The snow is falling rapidly, Jeremy stops to get out. He darts up to my mom's car and quickly chats, and then runs back. he's wearing his Air Force uniform. He told us he's prohibited to wear it in public, or something Ike that. (New song, "Hallowed Be Thy Name", Iron Maiden) So, he had to ask for a table tucked into back of the restaurant Red Robin. We're by a McDonald's and Chevron. That means we're getting close and approaching a fairly steep hill, leading towards roads to home. We have to make this hill. It's 7:53 PM. Jeremy swore under his breath. That's a bad sign, I suppose. He just turned on the radio. We're slowly plowing our way under a bridge. I can spot red and blue lights. A police car is waiting stationary a some meters in front of us. A man is asking my mom something. He's uniformed, too. I'm scared, I don't know what to think.We're easing our way up this hill. It's not as bad as I thought. This crazy guitar solo in "Hallowed Be Thy Name" is amazing."That wasn't too bad," Jeremy remarks."Yeah," I reply.I see my brother poke his head from the window. We're almost home! I know I shouldn't, but I hope school is cancelled tomorrow!We're almost home!No--we're here!I never thought I'd come back! The nightmare is over!

Snow Day

What a day it was yesterday! As of today, Spokane has gotten between 15-20 inches of snow! It all started yesterday morning. I was getting the kids all ready for school, and looked out the window. It wasn't snowing to hard, my car was not covered (I didn't have to scrape windows) Luckily I decided to put Emma in her snowsuit! I also made Tolkien wear his snow boots. I took the kids to school, and told them that I would see them later that afternoon. I pick them up from school everyday. I went to work, and decided that I should park on 7th street. Sometimes I park on Cowley, but I didn't want to risk it. I didn't want someone to accidentally hit my car, plus Cowley is a somewhat steep hill, so anyway, I didn't park there. I went inside and logged onto my computer. I had a message from my boss waiting for me to read. She told me that she was running late, waiting for AAA to come and jump start her car. Later that morning, she called me and asked me how my drive was this morning. I told her I did fine, but that I was worried about this afternoon, as the snow was really coming down by that point. She told me that I didn't need to come back to work, after getting the kids from school. That was music to my ears!! I went to the news website, to check out the weather report. I got even more worried as I read people were having a really hard time getting up the South Hill. I live on the South Hill, and the kids go to school, even further up the South Hill! Cheryl and I went outside, and noticed that cars could not even make it up the hill. There was a city bus that had was turned sideways on the street. We were freaked out! We went back inside, and I was racking my brains trying to figure out how I was going to get my kids from school. I checked the new report again, and they were now saying that only people with 4-wheel-drive should be on the South Hill. I was getting panicky now, because I have a car. I don't even have snow tires. I emailed Jeremy and told him the situation. Initially he replied with, "Well you do have new tires, you should be fine." I didn't like that answer. I sat at work for another 1/2 an hour, debating on what I should do. My husband emailed me back, and said, "Lucky for you, I am getting off work, I will pick up the kids, and you, if you want me to." Again, music to my ears!

I decided that I should just go home, and let Jeremy do the upper South Hill driving. As I was walking out the building, Jessie, our PBX operator asked me if I was leaving. I said, "Yes." She joked about using me as her "crutch" to get her across the parking lot. I told her that I was parked on the street. She said, "What kind of car do you have??" I sighed, "Oh its just a piece of crap car." She said, "No, what kind is it?" I gave her the description of my car and she said, "Didn't you hear my call over the loud speaker?" "Someone hit your car!" My heart sank....this was the last thing that I wanted to deal with. The snow was coming down so hard. I wanted to cry, right then and there....I walked out to my car, hoping that maybe it was someone else's car that was hit, and they had mistaken it for mine. I was wrong. I swept off the snow and notice that the entire front end of my car, was smashed in. Luckily, the person that hit my car, called the police, and left all their insurance information. I went back in side work and waited for Jeremy to call me. Jeremy called and told me that he didn't have much trouble getting the kids. I filled him in on the accident, and called our insurance company. Jeremy and the kids showed up at my work, and assessed the damage. We had a plan. We just needed to get home.

Jeremy and I decided to drive downtown first, then go up Maple. We sat on 2nd Avenue for over an hour. We didn't have far to go, but traffic was gridlocked! I decided to turn on the radio, and listen to the news. They were commenting on the streets that were closed. I also caught the part when they announced that were not letting ANYONE up the South Hill, unless they had CHAINS! Jeremy and I tried to call each other several times on our cellphones, but the calls kept dropping. After many broken phone calls we decided to head north, park in the parkade, and go eat at Red Robin. We sat and sat...they had the news on in the restaurant. Then it was confirmed. Chains required for the South Hill. We had to get home! Jeremy looked at me from across the table and said, "I will go to Wal-Mart, in Airway Heights, and get us some chains." So he left. The kids and I sat at Red Robin for another hour and a half. Jeremy finally made it back, and we met him in the parking garage.

We got to the garage and got to work, putting the chains on our tires. I had issues with my chains, it took us about 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot. My chains kept falling off and we had to keep stopping to obviously put them back on. Finally we made it out of the parkade. I drove cautiously, in front of Jeremy. We approached Maple, and it was blocked by two police cars. They were not letting anyone up the hill alright! I got closer and rolled down my window. I asked the officer, if Maple was closed. He said, "It is, but you have chains, so you can go on up." I was scared. Plain and simple...scared. The road was deserted, dark and deep with snow. I got all the courage that I had left and pressed on the gas. I was so amazed at how well my POS of a car did once it had chains on! It was kind of fun, driving up, with no other cars around. Jeremy followed at a safe distance behind me. We pulled up in front of our house, and had to shovel a walk way to the door. Reci was barking on the inside of the house, anxiously awaiting our arrival. Oh we were finally home!!!! We got home around 8 pm. Mind you...we left my office at 3:30pm. Crazy huh?

This brings us to today....I took some pictures, to show you how much snow we had this morning. These were taken at about 7am, this morning. Since then...it has continued to snow, we have another 3 inches on top of what we had this morning...More snow to come!!! Did I mention that I HATE the snow? Good for me, the kids didn't have school. It was cancelled.

This is a picture of a snow covered steel flower, that is sitting on our front porch.

One of our bushes outside of our house.

Can you see the back end of my car?? Its there!

A view from our porch. I tried to get a shot, showing the walk way that my husband shoveled.

Jeremy's car in the back ground. He had to go to work this morning. I was amazed that he got off the hill!

See how covered my car is? That is how much MORE snow we got overnight. So, I told you Jeremy had to go into work, well he was nearly half way there, and they told him to go back home. He did make it back up the hill to our house. He has chains too. He told me that he was getting looks of amazement, as he drove back up to our house. People in their 4-wheel drives, wondering how the heck a little car, could do so well in the snow. Pretty funny.

A view of our back yard.

All the snow, on our garbage can. Garbage day is tomorrow. I wonder if they will be able to make it.

My super snow covered car.

Jeremy's "cleaned off" car.

You can barely see my car.

And now the snow covered steel flower has been moved.

I don't know how long this is going to last. I hear that we are supposed to get more, and if we aren't getting more, we are getting Arctic cold weather, so...no sign of this snow going anywhere soon. I think what sucks the most, is that my car is wrecked...so trying to find time to get it
for an appraisal is a whole other project in itself. I will have to get a rental car, while its being repaired. Sigh....I'll keep ya posted.

My New Camera!

I wanted to write about this yesterday, but was too tired. I got a new digital camera yesterday, from my husband. Its my early Christmas present. Jeremy thought it would be really nice, if I had the camera to use, and somewhat mastered, by Christmas. I can't wait to use it. I am really, really happy with it. I still have a lot to learn about it, but I am excited about learning all there is to know about this camera. This girl that I work with is actually the one that introduced me to this camera. I had a Kodak digital camera before hand. It took okay pictures during the day, but SUCKED at taking pictures in the dark. I was kind of let down, because I really did expect it to be better than it was. My co-worker got the Cannon SD880, for a birthday present, and brought it into work, to share with us. She let me play around with it, and quickly showed me some of the things it could do. I fell in love with it, and later told Jeremy all about it. I certainly didn't expect this as a gift, but I am really excited to have it! Thank you so much Jeremy!!! I have attached some random pictures that I have taken with it so far.

The picture below was taken very close up, obviously...This camera has a digital macros option. I love how incredibly clear this picture looks to me. Its exactly the way I wanted my camera to take pictures. Its really great that I can finally get the look that I have always wanted.

This picture, is of one of our aquarium tanks. The camera has an aquarium option. There is no annoying glare, off the glass. I love again, how clear it appears.

I still haven't gotten the hang of this next feature. It has an accent color option. Basically you point the camera at a specific color you want to "accent" and the camera identifies the color you are looking at, by using a small square screen that appears on your main screen. You can tell the camera how much you want the color accented and it will turn everything else, black and white. I "tried" to accent everything that was red....Jeremy sort of looks like he has a sunburn, but you get the general idea right?

This shot was taken using the indoor setting. My other camera would give me grainy pictures in this sort of setting. Its pretty bright.

See....I still can't get the color accent thing right! But I thought this was a cute picture of Jeremy and Reci.

Now here come all the cat (Kat) pictures. Again, the clarity, is my favorite! I had more fun taking pictures of the cat than anything else! As you can clearly see...she has several shots added to this blog!

Noticed her ears are pricked back? She doesn't enjoy that shutter sound.

I like this picture of Reci. She does NOT sit still for pictures. So I had to try and get one of her in a calm mood. She loves to sit with Jeremy.

And finally! I got the color accent down! I told the camera to accent Reci's pink color and turn the rest of the scene black and white. Viola! It worked. Jeremy and I plan to take a drive tomorrow, so I will test out how the camera works outdoors. I'll post those pictures on our other blog. We also have a Holiday party to attend tomorrow, so I am insisting we bring the camera with us. I really do love this camera. So far, it is meeting my expectations.

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Today was the first day back, from my 4 day vacation. It was really tough getting up this morning...but I made it. The kids were pretty grouchy this morning. The only one that was even somewhat cooperative, was Emma. She was so happy, thankfully....this is not always the case. After my morning interrogation, of Ara and Tolkien, I found out that they slept horrible last night. I felt their pain, as I too, did not sleep well. Jeremy was tossing and turning. When he wasn't tossing and turning, he was snoring. If he wasn't snoring, Reci, our dog was snoring. The fact that I had drank a large glass of water right before bed, didn't help me out either. I was up at least twice, emptying the bladder. I am so paranoid about bladder infections and kidney infections. I didn't blog about my last episode on this site, but did so on myspace. You see right before I got married, a week in fact, I developed a bladder infection, this quickly spread to my kidneys then before you knew it, I was diagnosed with kidney stones. It was horrible....and extremely painful. So...long story short, I don't hold my pee...EVER! Okay, so yada, yada, yada...everyone was tired this morning.

I am currently sitting in the bedroom of my five-year-old daughter, Emma. She just finished asking me, "Is it bedtime? I am tired." Music to a mother's ears right? So it appears as though we all managed to get through today. My husband didn't seem tired, but he is pretty adaptable to any situation.

All in all, I did have a good day. It went pretty fast. It was nice to go back to work, and hear about every one's Thanksgiving celebrations. Each and every one was different. People that went out of town, people that stayed in town, people that got angry with their families, people that surprisingly didn't get angry with their families :) That was me....I was fully prepared to break open the bottle of wine, once I found out that my mother and I would be cooking together. We get along, but we don't at the same time. My mom and I used to be really close, but it seems as though over the past few months, things have been somewhat strained. Maybe its because I got married? Maybe its because we are both really busy? Maybe its nothing, and I am just imagining it. I don't know. I know its unrealistic to expect a family get together to go as perfectly planned, but I was really hoping it would be close to this expectation. I guess with everything else that was involved, I was going to stay hopeful. This was mine and Jeremy's first Thanksgiving together. Last year, he was overseas. This year I was so thankful, that he was able to celebrate this time with us. I was really excited about the idea of starting new traditions. Although we didn't have Emma with us this year, we did have Ara and Tolkien with us. It was beyond wonderful. My mother wanted to come over and celebrate with us. She also wanted my brother to join us too. This was fine, but something to know...my mother would love nothing more, than for my brother and I to be close. I didn't grow up with him. He lived down in California for most of his life, and only recently moved up here to Spokane. We are so different from one another. I have made every attempt to "get to know" my brother. I feel as though I have gone above and beyond, to seek out a relationship with him. Its very one sided. My mother always feels the need to tell me when to call him, why to call him, and questions me when I don't call him enough. I finally snapped and asked, "Do you tell him to call me?" She said, "Well he figures if you don't call him, then why should he call you." So, my question is...at what point do I just give up? I am really tired of feeling guilty every time my brother isn't the first thing on my mind. Basically what it comes down to is this...I used to believe that you owed someone you were related to some type of relationship. Why? Because you were related to them. I just recently discovered that it is OK, if this isn't the case. Its about setting boundaries. Its okay to set them. Don't get me wrong, I am not a stuck up snob to my brother, but my mother has got to realize that we are more than likely not ever going to be close siblings. You can't force something that isn't there. I have even had to set boundaries with my mother and now that I say that, it hits me....duh, that is why the two of you are not as close as you used to be....you set the boundary. People always ask me how I ended up in Spokane. "Were you born here?" "Is your family from here." I think I have my response down to a science now. "No, I was born in California, but my mother and I moved up here when I was less than a year old." "Its always just been the two of us, for the most part, but my brother just recently moved up here about a year ago." Sometimes I throw in the fact that my mother has a fairly large side to her family. I am not close with any of them, and its hard not to feel like an alien, whenever I have gone down to visit my family. I don't speak Spanish, don't understand it, and not only have been teased about this by my family, but by pretty much anyone that thinks I should speak/understand the language. I have a hard time relating to that side of what is supposed to be within myself. Wow, how did I get into all of this??

So, there we are....back to Thanksgiving...My mother and I in the kitchen. My mom was there. I mean, she was physically there, cooking, talking, doing all the right motions, but I could tell that her mind was with my brother. She had invited him over, and he was supposed to arrive at my house later. He never showed. My mother tried several times to call him with no success. I felt bad for her. Her idea of the perfect holiday, was to have her son and daughter together, with her and her grandchildren....and it didn't happen. I felt myself getting upset by the fact that my brother didn't even call her to say, "Hey mom, I decided that I am not coming after all." Even that much would have eased her mind. I guess I felt like, if he really cared, and really wanted to make an attempt, he could and should have. My poor mother. She worries about him so much. I see how sad she gets, and I wish there was something I could do. I guess I could let down a little of my boundaries right?

My mom left our house Thanksgiving Day around 7 pm. Jeremy, the kids and I watched the rest of a movie, and stayed up late hanging out with one another. Our first Thanksgiving....it did go pretty well. I am so thankful for my little family. I have wanted each and every one of them for so long. I have always wanted a family of my own you know....I didn't grow up that way, and was never surrounded by family. It feels so good to have it all, under one roof. I love them all, and can't wait for our next holiday together!