The Trouble with Photo Shoots

OK, girls, I need to get a good photo for this year's Christmas card. It should only take a few minutes, so get along, smile nicely and sit up straight.
Not terrible, but it's too dark. Darn flash. Let's try again.
Yeah, yeah, cute. Stop goofing off and let me get a picture, would you?

No, REALLY, STOP goofing off and let me get a good picture.

Can you two stop picking at each other for five minutes and stop the goofing off long enough to just get a picture?

Let's move inside and try by the tree. Shona, did you get my memo about NO FUNNY FACES!? One picture. Just one picture. Is that too much to ask?!

You DO know I will keep at this all night, right? I'm not going anywhere until I get a decent shot.

Not bad. We might go with that one, let's keep trying.

For Pete's sake.... STOP ARGUING! This light isn't working for me. Let's try outside once more. Yes, I KNOW it's cold and it's going to be freezing and dark out soon, so if you don't want to be out there getting your toes frostbitten, I suggest you pretend to like each other for two minutes, smile nicely into the camera and let me get ONE good shot. I mean it, girls, I do have all night to do this!


Bingo. Thanks, ladies. Same time, same place next year. Just don't bring the attitude.

Decking the Halls

I finally feel like it's Christmas time. Before we got the house dressed, it felt like just another blah week, but the lights have put me in a holiday mood. I went a little crazy in the dining room because it had the most empty space to decorate. I've never had this much space to play with before, and that's sad since my house is not that big. I'm thrilled that I finally have somewhere to put the little "It's a Wonderful Life" houses my cousin has been sending me, too. That mirror we picked up at a garage sale this summer really enhances that end of the dining room. The only problem is that tall, dancing and singing Santa in the corner freaks out my dogs. It took two days for them not to bark at it standing still and I don't dare turn it on with them in the house.
I have a "new" Christmas item this year, but it's an antique. You light the candles, the heat from the flames rises and makes the top thing turn, which makes the angels spin around and when they go fast enough, they strike the bells. We tested it out the other night and it works great. I'll have to get a shot of it in action. That's about it in Anita world. I'm still plugging away at my classes, getting ready for finals in about a week. I can't wait to have a month off to do what I want...which is scrap!

Catching Up

So I've been pretty darn busy. Halloween came and went a little too quickly, then, before I could even blink, Thanksgiving was knocking on my door. How do days go by so slowly, yet years zip by with astonishing speed? I've never understood that. Maybe we're so focused on the day to day things, the big pictures slides on by when we aren't paying attention. In any case, this has been an unbelievably fast month.

My Mother-in-law came down and spent two nights with us over Thanksgiving. I can honestly say it was a wonderful visit, but that could be because I hardly spent any time outside my office. I had a monster of a term paper to write, one that required books and books of research, complete with citations, so it wasn't something I could try to blow off or fudge. It took many long hours at my computer, but I managed to finish that darn thing. Now the only thing standing between me and finishing this semester are about two weeks of classes and finals. I say bring it on. I'm ready to end the classes I'm in and move on to something else. I am carrying a 14 hour load next semester, plus I'm going to try my hand at substitute teaching a couple of days a week. Time to make a few dollars and get out of the house. Did I mention Katy went on her first date this month? The first official un-chaperoned, out with a boy evening. Of course, he had no car, so we picked them up and dropped them off at the theater, so it wasn't too stressful, but she was happy. Then the guy stood her up on Thanksgiving, so I suppose they have broken up. Such quick relationships these days. At least Katy doesn't pine over lost love. She goes through boyfriends like I go through socks.

The big excitement last weekend was the Christmas parade. Why they insist on having it before Thanksgiving, I'll never know, but it always is. This year, Katy and Shona both marched in it. Katy was in the band, as usual, and Shona carried a flag with the Girl Scouts. Both were very excited, but I must admit John and I were a little lonely without the girls on the sidewalk. It is harder to get into the spirit of the parade when there are no kids to scream and get excited with. The other problem was it was so incredibly hot outside, we kept getting overheated. Two days later, we hit the freezing mark. Gotta love Missouri weather.

This weekend we have been putting up our Christmas decorations. I'll update again if I ever get finished. Of course, tomorrow will probably be Valentine's Day if I blink.