Vixen’s Den

Harlekwin pointed me to this awesome sight. Bless her heart, she helped me spend two hours doing fun stuff instead of what I was supposed to get accomplished. I don’t know why the results make me as happy as a tick on a fat dog, it must be my scientific/mathematical mind. I was always best at math in school. Well here is my first attempt…I am sure there will be more. The first is the picture I took a few months ago, the second the result after vectorization. Wheeee!!! (you can click to see the full view, I think)


Wanna try it?
Here is the link: VectorMagic

Over at my 365….I think one of my New Year resolutions will be to make sure I post daily over there…

Go peek if you are so inclined

The year is nearing its end, an new one waiting in the wings. It has been a year of good and bad, hard and easy, twists and turns. I shall recap the highlights for you with bullets:

• January: I turned 44. It didn’t feel much different than 43. We took Ladybug to Great Great Grama’s cabin and she saw snow and went sledding for the first time.
• February: Mr. Vixen, Bear, Fishboy and myself have a dream-like vacation in Hawaii.
• March: My grandmother is diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. I start this blog.
• April: My landlady of 10 years informs me there is a court order to sell our house. We need to find someplace else to live. My eldest turns 23!!! The doctors discover they misdiagnosed grama’s cancer and she begins chemo for her treatable cancer. The stress of not knowing where I am going to live is nearly unbearable. My beloved 16 year old puppy Duchess passes away.
• May: I find out I will have a place to live, but the decision (in the long run) to do business with family turns out to be a very bad idea. I have to move 10 years of stuff of a family of five into a 30 ft RV and two rooms.
• June: Summer at the property is wonderful. Ladybug loves having a place to run, swing, jump, dig and play outside. My beautiful baby Bear turns 16!!!!
• July: The latest Harry Potter book is released and I am the only person in the world who doesn’t read it. Mr. Vixen turns 46 (old man).
• August: My world was turned upside down when Ladybug developed epilepsy. I celebrated 25 years of marriage to my soul mate. The very lovely Butterball joined the world and our family. I lost the use of my toilet. I got a new digital camera (woot).
• September: My little baby boy MacDougal turned 21. We had a heatwave.
• October: Our very beloved puppy, Don Juan Ralphito (Boo Boo) suddenly passed despite my attempts to save him. There was a terrible fire and Nanny et al were evacuated, then we were all evacuated and had to stay for three days in a hotel. While we watched the news and watched live video of our old home and many neighbors homes burn down.
• November: Ladybug and Butterball have their first ever sleep over at my place. My mom comes for Thanksgiving and give me my Christmas present early! A very lovely heater (she gave it to me early, because we don’t have a furnace or heater in our place-that is something I did not know until after I signed the lease).
• December: The toilet in the barn stops working and so I have to walk miles to use a restroom. The holidays are spoiled by the fact that things are very unhappy and uncomfortable between us and our landlady/aunt who comes to visit Cousin It AND by the fact that my power cord dies again!

A year of changes for sure. Some trials and tribulations. What to do after a year like that?

I am going to DISNEYLAND!

(taking the g-babes for their first Disney visit on New Year’s Day)

I wish I had decent video when my kids were young. They did the silliest stuff that only we, as parents, could appreciate. In the ‘olden’ days (as the kids call it) there was no digital video. The only video we got of the kids was VHS and I mean FULL SIZE VHS TAPE RECORDERS, which meant that the recorder was the size of a professional movie camera. Up on my shoulder, a 35 pound monolith. There was no quick ‘grab a shot’ in those days.

Lloyd, my son in law, got a little, teeny, tiny digital video recorder for Xmas and caught the G-babes on tape yesterday. I find both recording enthralling, enlightening, fascinating and enjoyable! You may not. However, I also find it fascinating that both recordings were like deja-vu for me; as each of them reminded me of an exact moment with their mother or their uncle, that was so nearly identical I was 21/24 again.

See what happens when your computer is dead and you are on vacation (thus not at work, where you should be working not blogging-ok I’ll be honest, I am at work and blogging. I was yesterday also)?

Remember that horrible news we got about Butterball’s hearing back at the beginning of the month? Well, she went for her follow up with the specialist and they performed a more invasive test (which included putting something into her ear canal) and Abbracadabra: She has perfect hearing in both ears. Possibly it was fluid in her ear still from birth (which the first doc said was impossible, but hey we all make mistakes right?

So hip, hip hooray! Now Butterball can hear all the stuff her big sister is running around screaming all day!!!

(Gratitude to Harlekwin for the lovely banner)

Thirteen Things I have done since my power cord died:

1. Sewed the g-babes Christmas pajamas (pics below) and read them The Night Before Christmas.
2. Enjoyed a movie (I Am Legend) with Mr. Vixen and Sparkles yesterday. Great show.
3. Discovered the joy of Wii. I had no idea it was so fun. One night we all played bowling and boxing until 3am!!!!
4. Cooked the best standing rib roast and yorkshire pudding I have ever made and I have made 25 of them. Not sure why this one was so good, but yum, yum, yum.
5. Took 235 pictures Christmas morning. Yea, I know, overkill. But the new 2gig card was screaming to be filled.
6. Swept up more pine needles than I thought possible. This tree just keeps on giving.
7. Listened to 675 hours of holiday music.
8. Wrapped 30 presents.
9. Slept in on Christmas day for the first time in 23 years!
10. Laughed until my sides hurt.
11. Braved W*lmart and Costc* on Christmas Eve. Seriously stupid on my part.
12. Gorged myself on Honeybaked Ham and potatoes supreme.
13. Tried not to pick up my laptop more than 600 times a day, only to realize it’s battery is dead.

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I wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas. Just a quick entry here because God is Great and Jesus is the reason for the season:

As followers know, Ladybug had some issues at birth and some issues this past summer. For a beautiful little girl who is four months short of three, her language is significantly statistically behind her age group. She is scheduled to begin speech therapy in January. She talks to us non-stop, however, we only can get a few words here and there and they are mostly guesses which she corrects if we are wrong. Not many sentences. And never sentences strung together. But today she stopped in a room full of people and toys and excitement and said:

“Tank u Momma. Tank u Santa. Thi’s awesome!”

It was the most beautiful sound we have ever heard. God Bless you all and I hope your day was just as amazing!!!

PS: The “awesome” was said with such a distinct Jersey accent we were very confused, since she was born and raised in SoCal. It just made it all the more adorable.

I am that big of a sad, sad sack. I have written about how much you all have come to mean to me and really, truly friends do help the world go ’round. This ‘forced and unacceptable’ blogging break is nearly breaking me. I have family that I love, adore and would not trade for anything in the world, but I need adult friends and input and I get that from you. Ok, enough self pity….I want to wish each and every one of you a very special and blessed season and New Year. I love many of of you deeply and wonderfully. May God grant each of and every one of you a blessed holiday. Thanks be to God for all of my little blessings and gifts, including my friends here: AT, Mrs. Eaves, Bos, Wacky Mommy, Damama, JenWright, PigpenJuicebox, MastaG, Ladyfriend AKA, Allisone, Sumgirl, Marlee, Mimi, Mallory, Frigga, Nononsense Girl, Cindi, Mishelle, Lesley, Harlekwin, Christine, Nicholas, Damozel, Jeff, Shelly, Jessica and Xakara. I want each and every one of you to know that you helped me this year. To grow and live and enjoy. Know that you touched someone and helped someone grow because of what you say and what you do. You help shape the world. Now for some needed reasons to go on, no matter what…..more darn adorable gkid pics (PS Santa, please , please bring me a power cord for my laptop):

Because that is LOVE and LOVE is the season.

I love you all. God Bless.

Wordless Wednesday is just below

Please take a moment and pray for my dearly departed power cord.

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are a very spiritual time. You have as much holiday fun as everyone else – but you never forget what you’re celebrating.You celebrate the holidays in a natural style. Homemade gifts are your favorite, and you can’t stand imitation Christmas trees or wreaths. During the holidays, you like to feel cozy and comfortable. You’re happy to stay inside with a roaring fire and a warm drink.You think the holidays should be energetic and packed with activities. You’ll double up on caffeine and sugar if that’s what it takes to get you through them. Your favorite holiday memories strongly evoke your senses. You are vividly aware of all the tastes, smells, and sounds of the holidays.