In our Christmas letter this year Stacy had made a point to mention this Blog page, so I have to get on it and get back to posting! So, with Stacy throwing down the Gauntlet that this Blog exists I'd better get some current stuff posted!
With today being the 19th of December, we are happy that all of our gifts to send are on their way or have arrived. DONE!
We did cards differently this year and used the Android/Apple application called Sincerely Ink to create and send out cards. I took some photos last Saturday and we picked the one we liked, then Stacy wrote the great poem and assembled on the iPad then it's just add recipients, billing info, and send! They do the rest including telling you when the cards are sent out and then again notification on the day they'll arrive at their destinations. A really great app, yes these are more post card style then card in envelope style, but completely customizable and for about $2.00 a card, including the postage, we think it is a bargain. DONE!
It was also a nice change this year, the last couple of years I've been the one for the last minute e-card and Stacy's been still wanting to send the usual Christmas cards. This was a great compromise though and I hope those that got them that are reading this will like getting them again! But some will still get e-cards as we don't have everyones mailing addresses.
Thanksgiving had Sandy, Erik and Justine up to visit from San Jose from Tuesday to Saturday. And as a visit a couple of years ago or so Sandy arrived not feeling too well, which has meant since they left both Stacy and I have been battling the imported virus from Sandy. Thanks?
It also was a bit colder than even normal for our area with the highs only mid 20s their entire stay. Sandy was NOT happy, but we did say it would be cold here in November! And anything would be cold to them living in a much warmer area.
Even with the illness it was nice seeing them all and Stacy loved being grandma to Justine again! She was walking so much better than when we were in Hawaii in September.
Stacy as she always does took on the Thanksgiving challenge, this year accommodating Justine's allergy to anything egg. It also was a great dinner with fantastic leftovers for several days.
Up in our area while we haven't had much snow yet it has been colder than usual for the most part. In our weekly newspaper they had a story that the weather service is actually predicting a snowier than usual January to March. The story said it's because there's no El Nino OR La Nina this year to make any changes to the oceans, which is the usual winter the last few years.
We'll see what happens but the big changes are the really short days this time of year and fact that for the next few months we don't get much sunlight. It's almost always overcast, day and night. Sun up isn't till around 8 am and sunset is around 3:30. It's sooooo hard getting up when it's still so dark!
Of course in 6 months when it's light at 3:30 in the morning and light till 10 pm then it's another problem with everything getting up too early!
I've been helping the area prosecutor get going in the world of Blogs. He has started several now about topics that he's interested in, two about Australia since he's been there twice and one about the Kennedy conspiracy because he's very into that. But he's up and running so he's happy. His actual goal in his travel Blogs is to get feedback and set up contacts for his next visit to Australia and have people he can visit with. It might work for him, I don't know but he's keeping close looks at all his 'hits' to his Blogs.
For me, one of the great things about this digital world is the ease of keeping track of our old area of Southern California. I can in many ways live there without being there with all the crowds, smog, traffic and expense. With applications I can listen to the local radio stations I listened to in those areas, I can even listen to Police Scanners and listen to all the old Sheriff and County channels I used to hear in that area at work. I liken it to if we lived in the Big Bear area, and we did contemplate it before we moved up to North Idaho, we'd be in the cold and snow and hear and see a lot of what we can hear and see over 1300 miles away. It's GREAT! BUT, I'm very glad we DON'T live in California any more! Sorry to those reading this that do. Lot's of memories of an entire life to the last 7+ years of living there but we don't miss it anymore.
I'll post again soon. I really will!
Tad
With today being the 19th of December, we are happy that all of our gifts to send are on their way or have arrived. DONE!
We did cards differently this year and used the Android/Apple application called Sincerely Ink to create and send out cards. I took some photos last Saturday and we picked the one we liked, then Stacy wrote the great poem and assembled on the iPad then it's just add recipients, billing info, and send! They do the rest including telling you when the cards are sent out and then again notification on the day they'll arrive at their destinations. A really great app, yes these are more post card style then card in envelope style, but completely customizable and for about $2.00 a card, including the postage, we think it is a bargain. DONE!
It was also a nice change this year, the last couple of years I've been the one for the last minute e-card and Stacy's been still wanting to send the usual Christmas cards. This was a great compromise though and I hope those that got them that are reading this will like getting them again! But some will still get e-cards as we don't have everyones mailing addresses.
Thanksgiving had Sandy, Erik and Justine up to visit from San Jose from Tuesday to Saturday. And as a visit a couple of years ago or so Sandy arrived not feeling too well, which has meant since they left both Stacy and I have been battling the imported virus from Sandy. Thanks?
It also was a bit colder than even normal for our area with the highs only mid 20s their entire stay. Sandy was NOT happy, but we did say it would be cold here in November! And anything would be cold to them living in a much warmer area.
Even with the illness it was nice seeing them all and Stacy loved being grandma to Justine again! She was walking so much better than when we were in Hawaii in September.
Stacy as she always does took on the Thanksgiving challenge, this year accommodating Justine's allergy to anything egg. It also was a great dinner with fantastic leftovers for several days.
Up in our area while we haven't had much snow yet it has been colder than usual for the most part. In our weekly newspaper they had a story that the weather service is actually predicting a snowier than usual January to March. The story said it's because there's no El Nino OR La Nina this year to make any changes to the oceans, which is the usual winter the last few years.
We'll see what happens but the big changes are the really short days this time of year and fact that for the next few months we don't get much sunlight. It's almost always overcast, day and night. Sun up isn't till around 8 am and sunset is around 3:30. It's sooooo hard getting up when it's still so dark!
Of course in 6 months when it's light at 3:30 in the morning and light till 10 pm then it's another problem with everything getting up too early!
I've been helping the area prosecutor get going in the world of Blogs. He has started several now about topics that he's interested in, two about Australia since he's been there twice and one about the Kennedy conspiracy because he's very into that. But he's up and running so he's happy. His actual goal in his travel Blogs is to get feedback and set up contacts for his next visit to Australia and have people he can visit with. It might work for him, I don't know but he's keeping close looks at all his 'hits' to his Blogs.
For me, one of the great things about this digital world is the ease of keeping track of our old area of Southern California. I can in many ways live there without being there with all the crowds, smog, traffic and expense. With applications I can listen to the local radio stations I listened to in those areas, I can even listen to Police Scanners and listen to all the old Sheriff and County channels I used to hear in that area at work. I liken it to if we lived in the Big Bear area, and we did contemplate it before we moved up to North Idaho, we'd be in the cold and snow and hear and see a lot of what we can hear and see over 1300 miles away. It's GREAT! BUT, I'm very glad we DON'T live in California any more! Sorry to those reading this that do. Lot's of memories of an entire life to the last 7+ years of living there but we don't miss it anymore.
I'll post again soon. I really will!
Tad
Comments
I enjoyed the Christmas card, since I cant see you in person the photo is great. Also thank you for the gift, what talent Stacy.
Robin