Uplifting and Lively Messages. No holds barred..
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michelle, did you hear from your dentist?
I had a good day. Dropped my daughter off at school, did some Christmas shopping, got my steroid injection in my shoulder then chilled and did some light housework. Having the shot was weird but not bad.
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My dentist is trying to work me in for a 2 hour appt. Ugh. Today was a good day too. Dropped off presents, can't locate one present (think my 21 year old is messing with me.) Made a bunch of bows and soon will be going through my work area with a trash bag to pick up everything trashy looking....
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Claire, I hope that you are okay. Please give us an update. Worried about the train accident near you. How horrible and devastating. Hugs..Michelle
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Michelle, like the new picture, very chic.
Claire, yes, please do sign in...TT
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Ahhh Michelle, you gave me a great idea now what to do with the lanterns I have from my nieces wedding. (she had a rustic style wedding and the lanterns were a center piece) I can use some lights! Genius!!!
As much as I love the holidays, I'm frazzled between shopping, never seems to end. Always seem to need one other thing. Been so mild here, 53 today, we had some snow the other day but its gone. Just does not feel like Christmas.
I have such an ancient laptop I will have to upload a pic of my tree from my Iphone.
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Beach, another thing those lanterns with battery operated lights are good for: the night the lights go out in Georgia, New Jersey, New York, etc. I always have spare batteries, and this would allow us to have light for showering, reading, going to bed, etc. They really do illuminate the room.
Claire, could you please check in? I am worried about you, girlie!!! I really hope that you were not on that train.
So, so, sad.I added some kate spade-ish bows to my tree. Will post pics later.....
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caption: HOW MY SKINNY TREE GOT "FOOF AND UMPH"
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Sorry about not checking in. This week has been crazy busy, and yes, I am fine. It would be unusual to take Amtrak, and the site of the accident is about 60 miles from here. I had my nose to the grindstone with a research report when the accident occurred.
Yesterday started at 5:45a with a report that was due, potential new business call at 6:30, finished the report at 10:30. Hastily dressed and headed for the nonprofit for a noon meeting. Some odds and ends, and then prep for a 2:30 final share out of findings from a research project we finished about one month ago (consulting business). More odds and ends, and then home. Did my walk (which got rid of a lot of the tension from the day), and a bit more follow up on a couple of things I have going on. Got to cook dinner about 8 and then crashed at 9:30.
Slow start this am, as needed to regroup. I have one more report which should be easy, and then will get some down time this weekend. I can't wait. It's been snowing in the mountains, so should be able to get in some skiing over the next few days.
Which reminds me that I need to send a reminder email to my client for the materials for the last report. That is due next Tuesday.
I also need to make progress with a Case for Support for the nonprofit. Something different, and I don't quite have my brain wrapped around it yet. Wish me some inspiration!!!
Thanks so much for thinking of me. Fortunately, I am just fine. I am amazed that so few fatalities considering the speed of the train, and where the rail cars landed. My take is that the train driver was probably going too fast.....but that the designers of the new route should have anticipated that this could happen and planned accordingly. It derailed on a sharp curve.
2 more days of work this week, and then SKIING....... - Claire
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Whew, Claire, I am glad that you were okay. I was very worried about you. Alot on your work list, hopefully some time for things on your fun list!!
I have been tying up loose ends, including another bow and washing the dog. Tried to purchase a present for a Yankee gift swap, and Hobby Lobby was out of what I wanted.
Had fun with my husband's relative last night. I organized her jewelry into 1) wear this together, and 2) never be caught dead in that. The Chanel, Tiffany, silver and vintage rhinestone bracelets made the cut, and are always classics. This year, in jewelry design, was the year of the festival. If your outfit says, "hello, are you going to Coachella too," then you fit right in. Silver, turquoise, long layers chains, tassels. I find my myself gravitating towards the same pieces, depending upon the activity. Most women probably want fine jewelry. I don't. I want to wear my own designs. This limits what my husband can purchase for my for birthdays and holidays.
As far as decades that I think were the most influential in jewelry design, the 80's, definitely the 80's. Design houses cast their upscale, big and gold onto the runways. We are still replicating that time period in Chanel, St. John's, Louis Vuitton, but we are also seeing these design houses catering to the 20 year olds. I look forward to 2018 being a year of great design, new interests, friends, exercise, health, cooking and fun, lots and lots of fun.
Several of you girls have been with me on my journey of 2017: hysterectomy/oopherectomy in January, starting Tamoxifun (pun) in February, walking greater distances February/March, Vegas, purchasing a house with my niece for her to live in, scraping and staining floors, finding and cleaning my chandeliers, painting my outdoor furniture and finding cushions/umbrella, empty nest, cooking, colonoscopy fiasco, pink tober, learning how to be social again after so many "kid" years, mammogram with the "see you next year," finding the perfect skinny Christmas tree, learning to make bows, celebrating my birthday, thrift shopping and the daily grind. I always look forward to what each of us brings to the table, especially knowledge and encouragement that we can share. Hugs to all my girls......
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love it!
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One More Day! I’m ready for the break as much as my kids are. Sorry parents, they are YOURS for about 2 weeks. I’m gonna catch my breath! Whew! It has been a heck of a few months and I’m ready for a little bit of peace and quiet away from a hallway full of 7th graders. One more day... I can make it
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One of the benefits of staying home today is that I finally have my Christmas Pudding steaming operation up and running. One batch to take out of the tins; the second is ready to go. On track with almost everything else, and figured out the Case for Support document that had been vexing me for over a week.
Will be making trout for dinner. Saw skate wings in the supermarket this evening, and can't wait to make those. Trying to remember how I poached them the last time, but I do remember that the results were amazing. Need to be eating more fish anyway.
Last report will be relatively easy. As in easy money. Love when that happens. Now to set up the structure of the final report prior to dinner.... - Claire
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Hey, girls, if anyone runs into some designer buttons, like YSL, Chanel, Dior, let me know. I use them in some of my designs. Thanks.
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I had a really great time tonight at our lake club. Three of the other women at my table and I were having a discussion about socializing. I told them that I had not been very social while my kids were in school, because I was so involved in my kids very active lives. Then I went on to tell them that I had a little setback last year with mammogram discovered early stage breast cancer. One by one, they all told me..they had breast cancer 2003, 2006, 1997/2002. Two had mastectomies, one had two lumpectomies. I have not met many other women, except at the doctor's office that have had breast cancer. We don't live near each other, are not related, have no family history and lead very active lifestyles. Together we concluded that the stats have to be more than 1 in 8 women get breast cancer in their lifetime. Here we were, 4 women with two men at our table, and four of us had breast cancer. If 48 random women got on a bus, I wonder how many would have experienced breast cancer?
I hope everyone is having a great holiday season.....hugs to all.
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my cousin sent me this. It made me laugh so I had to share.
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Just joined thread - bread loafers. First thought, edible slippers for dogs.
I enjoy auctions and flea markets. Gardening. Writing. Painting on mirrors and windows. Decorating my home. See a lot of that going on here.
Will appreciate reading all the posts. In my favourites now.
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Welcome, Bluebird. Consider this your "happy" place. This thread has helped me with decision making, encouragement of goals and living my life to its fullest. We have some terrific girls (everyone is a girl, regardless of age), and everyone is so appreciated. I will have taken Tamoxifen for one year coming the end of January.
So, what is everyone doing for Christmas?
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Good Christmas Eve Morning everyone!
My happiest times are being outdoors, especially skiing. Here are pictures as promised. Note the frost on my hair from the combination of working up a head of steam and the cold temperatures. You needed to keep moving, preferably in the sun. About 8 miles total, but got there too late to get in the full distance. Hope to get up skiing again on the 26th. This time, I will do the full distance. I was reflecting that 8 miles is what I normally do the first time out. Takes a bit of time to get used to the altitude, not to mention muscles I haven't used in nine months.
Wishing everyone the most wonderful Christmas ever! I still have some things to get for tomorrow's dinner, plus deliver puddings. The last of my gifts sent via post got there yesterday. Whew!!! - Claire
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Claire, Merry Christmas and thanks for the pictures. You give new meaning to the old hair color term, "frosted." Frosted = skiing 8 miles, while freezing your bum off, but enjoying every minute of it. Thank you for all that you did for me during 2017, the encouragement, laughs, cooking tips, and reminding us to live every day to the fullest.
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Claire what great pics!
Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays too. While I love it, I'm tired too. Wouldn't mind if we had just a little snowfall for Christmas here.
Pre-cooked for tomorrow so just have to re-heat the trays. I'm also dreaming of a Hallmark Christmas,,I've been watching too many of those movies while wrapping. Looking forward to watching one of my favs tonight, It's a Wonderful Life. Took me until my 30's to actually watch it all the way through. I love it.
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Merry Christmas!!! Amazingly, I have succeeded in getting my place ready for Christmas Dinner. Soup and ragu are made, and got all the stray detritus cleaned up and out the door. Will go pick up my friend who is coming by bus as we were treated to a real White Christmas last night. Loving it!!!
Was behind on everything as spent the past 2 evenings WORKING. Fortunately, where I need to be in getting in my last report. Had a wonderful phone call yesterday evening with my friend I had to sent wine to. I was sweating things, as the delivery kept going wrong, but it arrived on Saturday. Anyway, she served it for Christmas Eve Dinner, and her whole family thanked me. A very special moment....
Just before the snow hit yesterday afternoon, I was able to gather some branches and rose hips during my run. A new way to work in exercise....
Today, I will do a walk with my friend in the snow prior to sitting down to dinner. Merry Christmas to all!!! - Claire
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Claire, you are one busy girl. How fun and fulfilling your Christmas sounds!! My sister in law hosted the feast of the 7 fishes, which was nice. I don't eat shellfish, so was a bit limited. We proceeded with present opening, Yankee gift exchange (where you can steal other's presents), and then on to my sister's house. My sister has been married to my brother in law, from Pakistan, for 35 years. She is an amazing cook and made biryani. There are always so many little children at her house, who are very sweet, but they are 1.5 years old. We stayed for about 2 hours and came home. I go to support my sister who works so hard to prepare everything for the dinner.
I like getting ready for the Holidays, buying presents, wrapping, decorating, but something gets lost in translation on Christmas and I am not sure what it is. Maybe it is just too complicated and needs to be simplified. When I was working full time, going to Northwestern, and spending most of my money on education (so poor) in Chicago, I appreciated everything. I loved walking home to my apartment in Lincoln Park from the Loop (downtown). I liked the hustle and bustle, the hot coffee, the energy, the Christmas lights on Michigan Avenue. I think I am going to have to do some soul searching on this and figure out what happens in translation from preparation for Christmas to execution on Christmas day. Does anyone else feel like this?
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welcome bluebird! Merry Day after Christmas everyone else! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! My husband got an Alexa so we have been having fun with that. Here is our gingerbread nativity scene.
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Merry Christmas! Just going to leave this right here!♡
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Lovely pictures all. I have finally cleaned up from Christmas Dinner plus got the last report out the door a little over an hour ago. So glad to have survived the ordeal. We had the most glorious Christmas with snow, so I dragged my friend out for a walk prior to dinner. Today, I was able to get out on my skis for a bit between finishing up the report and giving it one final (and much needed) read.
Dinner was delish, but had a near mishap with the pudding. Too much flame and literally too hot to handle, with (fortunately cool) flames landing on the kitchen floor. I got the pud in the sink and doused the flames. Relit at the table, and didn't attempt to carry anywhere. Below are shots from today's ski plus the re-ignited pudding. Brandy butter is in the bowl on the right. What a feast!!! - Claire
And finally the Christmas Pudding in all its flaming glory....
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Forgot to mention that one of the bottles of wine I opened was seriously past its prime and basically undrinkable. So after opening an absolutely delicious bottle of Washington State Syrah, I poured the remains of what had been in the wine glasses back in the bottle. This was an extremely fine bottle of wine at one time, so what does a serious girl foodie do......she looks up Sauerbraten recipes.
Expect a report in the near future, but I am going with the Martha Stewart one. It should be just delish, and make good use of everything. I can't wait to taste the results
- Claire 0 -
Thank you everyone for sharing your Christmas Day with me!!! I thought of Varga and her grandchildren, Claire and her pudding, TaRenee and her classroom, Beach and her New Jersey flair. I did not do too much today, as it was in the single digits.
My daughter is probably going to Chicago with my hubby tomorrow to purchase a vehicle. She is 19, and has had an Escape, Explorer, Honda CRV, and now onto a Jeep Grand Cherokee. She is really into cars, like her dad, and maybe should consider an IT marketing career in the auto sector. She loves the hunt and this time she had to sell her very nice Honda outright, which she did and made most of her money back. It took three months to get the kind of money that she wanted for her 2009 CRV, but she got it. My son, who drives a vintage Chevy Silverado circa 2002, and me in my 2014 mobile, are just happy to have reliable vehicles. My husband gets great deals on trucks, and trades every 11 or so months. I just don't want to clean out my car that often. My SUV serves as a MSU (mobile storage unit), until I can properly bring things in and out. I have some wrapping paper and ribbon, just waiting for a spot to be placed.
My first vehicle was a blue 1971 Chevy Chevelle (cost $400), former police car. It was fast and amazing. My college car was a red VW 411 ($800), which almost gassed me to death with fumes. My second college car was a 1971 pea green caddy ($350), which was 22 ft long. It looked something like the following picture. Even after I had used them for several years, I passed them down in my family. We did not waste any years left on a vehicle. I appreciated each and every one of them, because they allowed me to travel back and forth to my university, and receive a great education. Even though they were older, and not in the best shape, they helped me achieve my dreams.
So what were your first cars?
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First car..1976 black mustang coup with red interior, sun roof , 4 in the floor and an audio vox sound system. ...loved that car!
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Had to share. This is all he asked Santa to bring him
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love the photos, everyone! We had Christmas at home and then drove up to our camp last night - 2 cars, 9 people
Here's the view from our window this morning
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