the really rich

Yesterday, as part of our Christmas holiday visit, Raine and I went with Ron's family to the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, NC. Oh My Goodness. The grounds surrounding the mansion are amazing, even before you get to the castle... uh, house. We walked through the restored rooms like the library, the dining room and the conservatory, up the grand staircase to some of the fimly and guest bedrooms (each with its own Christmas tree and fireplace) through the servant's rooms (pretty nice accomadations on their own, really) and down to the basement for the gym, bowling alley and swimming pool, then back up the the kitchens (and the kitchen servant's rooms) with about 5 pantries, and a walk in refridgerator. Then out front to the snowy front lawn area. The ground were beautiful. The views from the house were amazing. The conservatorship has been well done, and is admirable. The grounds must be lovely to walk/hike through although we took a pass on it yesterday through the snow. They had lost a number of trees to the weather, but clean-up had begun already. It was a good day. Interesting to see how some of the "other half" lived. It would be cool to have seen it in full operation, with staff and all, but not even the Vanderbilts can afford to keep the house up these days...

I wish you...

A Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed Yule... whichever sentiment matches your mood and/or beliefs.

I'm leaving tomorrow on a plane to North Carolina, and hopefully a little snow. I'm taking Raine to visit with her Grandparents for Christmas. We'll get to do some fun stuff, like visit the Biltmore House, which I'm really looking forward to, and maybe get some good bar-be-que while are there.

I'm not sure what the computer options will be, or how much opportunity I will have for blogging while I'm gone, so, don't miss me too much while you are waiting for Santa to arrive. I'll be keeping busy, and have pictures and thoughts to share on my return.

favorite card

I'm going to share my favorite Christmas card of the season with you all. It was hand made by Raine, and as you all know, I'm an annoyingly proud Mama. Oh well.

The first image is the cover of the card, and I bet I'm one of the few people who has a Christmas card complete with an evil laugh. The next is - of course - the interior.

Merry Christmas to you, too.

shopping talent

It may be a good thing for my budget, but I have limited talent and patience for shopping online. On the one hand there is so much out there! On the other hand, there is so much out there. Sometimes just thinking of something I might want to shop for, narrowing the possibilities, is overwhelming. I've been trying to think of a very cool gift for Raine this year, thinking I could shop online and... and.... and it just is too much. I don't even know where to start.

My other problem is that while you look at a picture of the item, and most often read a description, that really doesn't satisfy my shopping needs. I want to look at it up close. Pick it up and feel the heft, turn it around or upside down. Shopping should be visceral for me. All those pictures are more like looking at a long slide show of someone else's vacation. Even if they went somewhere you really want to go, their photos don't trigger the emotional/sensory memories for you that they do for them. Sigh.

Carl and Ron are wonderful online shoppers, Carl especially can find the coolest stuff to order. So I know it CAN be done. It can. Hmmm maybe when the 3-d comes? It will you know, but it still won't be tactile. Think they'll ever get that one done?

green chile enchiladas

Carl made some tonight. They were soooo yummy. You're gonna want these, Fran and Lillian (yeah, I know, like you didn't as soon as I mentioned them).

He's been working on his cheesy sauce, and man, were they good. We had our cousins over, and there were many plates scraped clean with a fork, and would have been licked had it not been for "company" manners. I bet you thought we might not have any...

Anyway, I'm not above teasing you with them. Anything to encourage you to make your way this direction sooner.

all about

...the end of the semester. I'm getting my ducks all lined up and ready to roll. Tomorrow is the first half-day of testing. The kids who would do it, wrote the essay part of their exam today. I have a few grades to enter into the computer, and about 10 pieces of make-up work (OK, maybe 15) to grade and enter... Scantrons for the tests tomorrow and Thursday. I should be able to have my grades in and complete by Thursday, which is good because that is what the administration would like. (oh, don't notice me rolling my eyes, here. Its a good thing you don't have visuals.)

Friday will be a short day of turning in stuff, and a (hopefully) quick meeting. OR jury duty, which-ever. Then, the stress will be over for the semester. Winter break will begin. Two weeks of shopping, traveling, visiting and no school.

Try not to hate me for my vacations. I have to work with 9th graders. I need all the sanity I can get. I like 'em, but they drive me bonkers, sometimes. (repeat after me.... better than 6th graders, better than 6th graders..... OK better now).

Christmas spirit

Fran wrote her post the other day on how she just wasn't feeling the holiday spirit this year. Fran, I'm with ya. I don't know what it is, really. We have a kid in the house, who is very excited about Christmas. She came home one afternoon with very important news, "Mama, do you know that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on tonight?" Of course we found it and watched it. We've been pulling out our assortment of holiday movies to watch, as well.

There have been many years that I have enjoyed planning for Christmas decorating, and creating some crafts for the season. This year, not so much. Oh, sure, I got fabric for rocking horses, and Roxanne and Tennie and I worked on them like crazy for the past couple of weeks... but usually I'm thinking and planning and creating in August, September, etc.While I was at Roxanne's, Landon pulled out the dragon I crocheted last year. I thought, wow, has it already been a year since I made those? What happened to me this year?

We did decorate this year, finally. The tree is up, and pretty. (picute included) We added a couple of strings of read lights to the white pre-lit stuff, and then pulled out a lot of red and white ornaments (along with whatever struck Raine's fancy of course. She did a lot of the decorating this year, and did a great job of it too. Ron hung lights along the eaves, for the first time in several years, and the house looks festive, now, too.

Raine and I will be traveling this year, for Christmas, and since Ron won't be able to go, I know I'll miss him. Christmas will be kind of spread all over the place this year, some here, some in North Carolina. I'm trying to get psyched up for it, I really am. Maybe once school gets out, and the end of the semester pressure is off, I'll feel more of the spirit. I hope so.