Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, How lovely are.......

 the ones I have been passing by the highway.  Wow, could I be so anal that I now have tree envy?  Well, I pride myself on having a beautifully decorated tree with an annual theme.  So much so that I have been accused of ruining Christmas because I have to have the tree decorated by a mathematical standard, certain number of ornaments, combinations, locations and it must be a tall thin tree.  I change the location where the kids put the ornaments if they are off or not according to the plan.  I know I am horrible, but I came up with a solution many years back. HAVE TWO TREES! Yay, problem solved.  I call the kids tree the Accumulation Tree.  Every year, the kids each choose a new ornament ( no matching) and the decorations have increased in number over the years.  I try not to assist, choose light color or placement.  I am so proud of myself for not getting in on their tree.  Now, as I pass by the lots, I see the tree(s) I would have chosen.  Why is it, they all look extra beautiful this year?  I know, because I have tree envy and really dislike the tree we got.  All sorts of clandestine tree swapping scenarios have gone through my mind. Do you think anyone will notice if I swap out the prickly spruce with a nice soft frasier?

The Days AfterThe Turkey.....

While I love the leftovers more than the actual meal, I have now reached a turkey infinity.  There were the sandwiches, the soup, the "oh my gosh, is there really turkey in this?" Frankly, I am done for a while.  On Saturday, we went to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  We love doing this as a family.  This year, the farm we usually go to has become exhausted.  The trees that are there are not quite large enough yet.  So, off to the new location,with only spruce trees.(only like blue spruce outside).  These are so prickly, I am worried about the injuries when I go to decorate it.  I had to compromise this year, since the family tells me I always have the final say on the tree.  I stepped back and they chose the one they all agreed on.  It's not like I didn't try to get my way, but I don't want to be the GRINCH! We had a really nice day, and then went out for dinner at The Black Horse in Mendam.  The weekend went by so fast.  We did not do any Christmas shopping yet, we think it's crazy how the stores are open at all hours.

Thanksgiving Traditions

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving.  I always go to my sister's house for a delicious dinner.  We have a wonderful time, all of my siblings and their families are there too.  As our families grew, Christmas gift giving got to be extremely expensive.  We then decided to just give to the children.  That too got a little out of hand.  Since I come from a rather large family of five siblings, when we were younger we would put our names in a bowl and each pick one and only buy a gift for that person.  The first year was strange, but after we got used to it, we found it really fun to keep it a secret who we had and it allowed us to give something nice for that one person.  Now, we have passed that tradition on to our children.  

At Thanksgiving, the kids really look forward to picking the names, usually during dessert time.  They all love doing this every year.  It makes Christmas day at my house all the more special to watch the children pull out the gifts they have chosen and wrapped for their cousins or siblings and the delight of giving to one another.  It doesn't take a bunch of gifts or a whole lot of money to make special times and memories for families.  Actually, having to be creative usually means the outcome is much more special and memorable.  That is one of my favorite things to do on Thanksgiving.  

My most favorite thing to do the day after is make my famous hot turkey, sweet potato, stuffing and gravy sandwich with cranberry sauce.  I make an entire Thanksgiving dinner for leftovers at my house every year on Wednesday, the day before.  There are never enough leftovers from my sister's house to divide up, so this works well.  Can't wait!!

OK, I hadthe steaks ready to grill, no, just kidding.  These are pictures of my yard at 1:32 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.   It has been snowing about 2 hours now.  It's a whole different world in West Milford.  We always have more snow than any other area.  If this keeps up, I will make a snow ghost for a Halloween decoration.

Happy Halloween

Well, it doesn't seem to matter how old I get, I still get excited for Halloween.  My children are now old enough to go out with their friends without parents. This is now my opportunity to be home to answer the door for the other trick-or- treaters. Sometimes I dress up, but mostly, we decorate the house and turn off all the lights with only the orange lights on.  We get lots of compliments from the people who visit.  I was watching a news program that suggested that Halloween should always fall on a Saturday, closest to the 31st of October.
What do you think.  I would love to see that happen.  I don't want to have to go to bed early on Halloween.

Waywayanda State Park

                                                    Here's a lovely photograph of the lake.

The Beauty of Autumn

I could just sit here forever and admire the beauty.  Nature provides us with the most extraordinary places, some in our own back yard.  I don't mean that literally, but the location is close enough to be considered as such.

~Waywayanda State Park, NJ~

~Waywayanda State Park, NJ~

Where to find the time.... warning, it's a rant

I absolutely hate having day classes, for so many reasons.  First and foremost, I have come to the home stretch in my senior year, which by the way I have been for several years.  The classes needed are few, far between and sometimes offered all at the same time. 

This semester was one of those situations.  I had to choose which evening class to take when three of the ones I needed were all on the same night.  Ok, then, take them during the day.  Well, I never took day classes, for one, my husband and I are running a business, he in the field, I in the office, and occasionally in the field.(No one to cover)  On some of the slower days, I would substitute teach, do my hours and have my homework during the office hours.  Two days a week in class, and an early evening class is killing my homework time, business time and homework is now attempted when my children get home from school.  I leave here and make it just as the bus is pulling up at the stop.  This leaves no time for an occasional stop at the food store before.  It is important to me to be there for my children while they are doing their homework and be available to take them to their activities.  Parents must be on top of everything. 

With one computer for both home and business, it's pretty rough for everything to get finished.  So what does a mom do, she does hers last, with hopes and prayers it makes sense at 1:00 a.m in the morning.  Then, I pray I hear the 5:15 alarm to get everyone up and fed and out the door on time.  Just wish I was only going to evening classes.  Oh, well, hopefully this will all be over before it gets too rough.  I really miss subbing when things were slow, but having to cram one week into 2.5 days is virtually impossible.  I need a vacation!!!

Unexpected Moments

With the hustle and bustle of a busy morning today, I tried to mentally collect the events of the day thus far, contemplate what's on the agenda for the rest of the day, and find my place all while driving here.  I decided to change the radio station, since the one that was on plays the same 4 songs over and over.  So it seems. Anyway, I began hearing the first few bars of an old favorite song.  Many of you may not have ever heard of it, but it's called "Head Over Heels" by an 80's band Tears for Fears.  I began the concert in my car as I call it where I belt out the words like a superstar, all the while hoping no one hears me at a traffic stop.  All of a sudden, I was overcome with emotion.  The song brought me to tears!! (no pun intended)  I was brought back to a place in time when my oldest son was a baby.  That time was the most incredible time in my life, as being a mother at the tender age of 22 was what I wanted most.  He smelled beautiful, his smile was breathtaking and his eyes were always fixed on mine.  His eyes always sparkled like stars in a night sky.  He was and is the love of my life,(as are my husband and two other children)  What a beautiful visit to a place I haven't been to in a very long time.  Life gets so hectic sometimes, we rarely get moments to reflect on and if it wasn't for the song bringing me back, I may have spent my day looking forward instead of back.  Today my son is 26 years old, living in Manhattan.  We do not get to see one another as much as we would like.  After class, I am going to call him and tell him how much I love and miss him.

My favorite time of the year

Sunday could not have been more perfect.   My family and I went on our annual apple picking trip in Warwick, NY..  We live close to many of the orchards, but still,  enjoy it like it's a trip to a far away place.  After we picked our Macintosh and some Red Delicious varieties, we visited the Farmer's Market.  There we chose our fresh root vegetables in anticipation of our traditional after apple picking dinner.  We make stuffed pork roast, gravy, roasted root vegetables, (all in the autumn colors) salad and homemade apple pie.  It is important to keep up with traditions, even if they are all your own.  My daughter is very interested in this, and she's always the one to remind us what tradition is coming next.  We are a very close family and it is important to me that my children have lots of happy memories to look back on and lots of ideas for traditions they may want to start or keep with their own families.  I once read that if you do something more than once with a child, they will tell others " We always do this"  We've added many new traditions to our family over the years.   If you follow the "do something at least twice" rule and you will create a tradition. 

With all our apples, we make applesauce, apple crisp, and apple dumplings and pie.

Sometimes there is just nothing to talk about, nothing to blog about.  Sometimes we just want silence. 
As I try to come up with ideas to put into a cohesive blog, I realize I have no shortage of ideas or things to talk about, rather  I just don't feel like talking or sharing my thoughts.  Remember when you got home from school and all you wanted was to just get inside and get a drink, a snack, or use the bathroom.  What usually happened?  Mom or Dad would say," How was school today?" or "What did you do in school today?"  Usually the response was "nothing."  No it never meant that you did nothing all day, rather you just wanted not to discuss it.  So today, if I may, I just want to say "Nothing."

Lorrainereflections said...

Well, due to the power, my post went into the save file until I could retrieve it and post it today. Well, it happened!!! Friday morning, I am in the shower at 5:15 when the power goes out. Oh, wait, it was just a surge, Oh, No it's for real, PITCH BLACK! I am full of soap and hoping there is enough water in the tank to be able to rinse. I am set to go to the middle school today at7:oo a.m. for my secondary content class. Thankfully, the coffee maker went off at 5:00 am and was still warm. So, I proceed with the hurricane lanterns, (I own four) and begin the make-up. Well, I have no idea if I look even or not. Now to wake the kids. The school ended up closing since a tree fell, knocking out power in half the town, and knocking out two transformers. The power was out for hours. We used our first snow day! We get 7 per year and often go over the allotted amount.

September 12, 2011 9:39 PM 

How is it, we were spared any damage or power outages stemming from Hurricane Irene, yet experienced a power outage overnight during an average rain storm.  We are used to "roughing it" where I live during storms when the power goes out.  When you live in the woods, any loss of power results in your well not functioning, your septic system not functioning and the overall sound of silence of the 20 or so other electrical items we rely on each day not working.  What made this particular power outage different from the rest was it happened during the night, the night before school starts.  It's hard enough to get back into the 5:15 alarm going off, the worry that the kids may not have everything they need for the first day, but the fear of oversleeping, not having running water, not hearing the alarm, trying to put on your mascara by candlelight or hurricane lamp, well lets just say that one side of the face will turn out better than the other.

Unable to open through Livetext.

Hello All,

I enjoyed reading the other students blogs.  I think that there is something about each blogger I can identify with.  I am learning how important new ways of learning, using information and communication technologies create new literacy.  Students today are learning at quicker rates, have different modes of gathering information and can increase their academic success and be better prepared individuals in life and in school.  Teachers must learn new technologies in order to help their students learn.  A task, I must admit scares me a little.  It seems that just as I understand something, something new, faster and better has replaced it.

The issues of technology for older students

No matter how much life experience I have acquired in my 40+ years, none of it can be applied to trying to figure out the latest technology.  Ask me how to raise children, make a fabulous meal, even fix a flat tire, and I'm your girl (woman).  I communicate the old fashioned way, via telephone, or face to face interaction.  I don't have a myspace page, a facebook, or even a twitter account.  Now, I am forced to swim or drown in uncharted territory.  To correct the mistakes I am making in this technological realm I now find myself in, requires technology to figure out as well as reading glasses.