Cookies and more cookies!

Yesterday Lynda and I baked up some more yummy cookies... Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin and Cappuccino. I rolled out the Cappuccino dough instead of shaping it into logs and then I used fall-shaped cookie cutters instead of slicing. The technique needs some adjusting, but I rather like the shapes. It is just more important to keep the dough really, really cold while you're working with it. I'll have to practice more. :P

I only have a few days left on my vacation. :-(

*sniff*sniff*sniff*

Today is something completely New England-y! Rick, Lynda and I are taking a ride up to the North Shore! The "other" cape in Massachusetts... Cape Ann. We're heading up to Gloucester and Rockport!

I may even bring my Canon camera! ;-)

Let's bake some cookies!

Aria baked some sugar cookies with her Nana yesterday!

It was so much fun!




Today Lynda and I will be baking several kinds of cookies together! One of the cookies we'll be making is Cappuccino Cookies, only I want to experiment a little bit. Instead of slicing cookies from the logs I will be rolling it out and cutting shapes from cookie cutters.




It should work just fine... I'll let you know!

What day is it again?

This cutie pie is baby Ian. He's 2 months old now, and obviously thriving! He is such a little love... And a bit of a Chunky Monkey. Miss Aria absolutely loves her baby brother. And I do, too!



I ended up canceling the Jade mini-reunion that was scheduled for Monday night because most everyone who had confirmed they were coming... Cancelled.



But I had a 2nd separate evening at the Jade planned with these ladies; Donna, Carol, Rita and me. And none of us cancelled! My sister Lynda took this for us last night. A good time was had by all, but *this kid* got to bring home the leftovers! :-) We will be meeting at Carol's for a much longer visit next time!



The days are flying by! Miss Aria is coming over again today. And I shall enjoy her every moment!

Tiara Time!

My Midnight Confessions

Sunday was a most delightful morning. The 4 SisterDears slept in late. Well, late for us. We all languished over coffee and muffins and we stayed in our relaxing clothes until nearly noon. The last thing we wanted was an end to the weekend. Sadly, one by one 2 of the SisterDears and the CousinDears left, until it was just me and Lynda. Lynda and I continued to languish until we had to get ready for BWTB!




My niece Leann and my cousin Michelle's daughter Kaitlyn are both 13. To see them together this past weekend no one could ever have guessed it was the first time they had ever met! They became instant best friends! It will certainly NOT be their last weekend together!




I'm sorry, I did not take any photos of just the 2 of them with my iPhone - and I did not pack the adapter to download photos from my canon camera to my iPad - so you get a messed around with copy of one I posted the other day.

Do you like my my midnight snack? I broke off a chunk of a Hermit! Yum!



Today may be a spa day... A pedi rumored to be the most awesome pedi evah! And tonight is a mini-reunion at the Jade! Bring it on! :-)

Of CousinDears and Cupcakes

Yesterday was just the best day!


Family. Food. Fun.


Timeless.


Precious.

Fall fun!

Yesterday was the beginning of our first SisterDear weekend! Lynda and I loaded up the car and drove up to Tina's in NH. Janice had to to work Friday, so while we waited for her to arrive we decided to explore a craft store rather than the food fair that was originally planned. It was damp and threatening rain and we had to be back to pop that fat chicken in the oven fairly early. Once the chicken was safely in the oven we got comfy and curled up to re-watch the Ya-Ya Sisterhood movie!

Btw, that chicken was hand-raised by Tina's friends. And quite delicious!

Today we head back down to MA where CousinDear Michelle and her daughter Kaitlyn will be coming to Lynda's. My niece Leann (sister Tina's daughter) and Kaitlin are both 13 but have never met before. Michelle and her family live down by Cape Cod and the girl's school schedule and extra-curricular activity schedule never seemed to align before. We expect this is the day they will become bffs! While they both have brother(s), neither of them have a sister. They just may, after this weekend! And a CousinDear is very much like a SisterDear!

We're ordering in Chicken Parm for this relaxing clothes party! We'll have pasta, a few other yummies, some wine and laughs to go along with the Chicken Parm. And please, don't forget the Tiaras! That's the plan for the evening!

But first the SisterDears and the Traveling Tiaras will be going out for breakfast! It's still raining, but that won't dampen our spirits!

Finally... Friday in New England

I had a few glitches in my flights yesterday. For the first flight, we were all buckled in with all of the pre-flight checks and paperwork done and NO GAS. Seems the fuel the plane guy over- slept. Good times. The only airline in town has just the one only fuel guy in town, too.. Of course! Then in Atlanta the completely full flight was held for 8 passengers connecting late from Hawaii... All First Class passengers. Of course, they were. But the pilots still managed to get us in 15 minutes early. Gotta love a man in a white uniform... And a great tail wind didn't hurt!

Today the 4 SisterDears all get together at SisterDear 4's house... aka Tina. First up is a food fair, while all the kids are still in school. Should be interesting, if it doesn't rain. Then a Tiara-wearing evening starting with a fabulous a Roast Chicken dinner and lots of laughs!

Pictures? Not YET!

Xoxo

Come fly with me!

By the time you read this I'll already have had at least one flight, possibly both. Assuming they don't cancel my flight again. We don't have a major airport here in Hicksville, which means my first flight is a little 50-seat jet to Atlanta.

I loathe Atlanta Airport, in case I've not mentioned that before.

Unfortunately, it's the necessary hub if I want to fly up to Massachusetts for a SisterDear Gathering, which I totally DO!

I could also drive 2-1/2 hours to Jacksonville to fly JetBlue.



I love JetBlue! Every set on JetBlue has those awesome little private TV's where you can watch TV, a movie or listen to music. It's just $2 for a headset, unless you saved your headset from the last trip, which I did! Alas, I really hate the 2-1/2 hour drive each way... not to mention the parking fees! So Hicksville to Hartsville it is!

I had to request a wheelchair for Atlanta. I did something to my knee a few days ago and it's still not quite right. Invariably, your arrival gate in Atlanta will be on the furthest away gate on Concourse A and your connecting flight - which you only have 57 minutes to make - will be on the opposing furthest away gate on Concourse E. Happens to me every time.



Every.Time.

But by lunchtime I'll be sitting in SisterDear Lynda's kitchen, so it's all worth it!

I don't know if I'll be posting everyday or not but I just might... because I will still be getting up at my normal time... in the wee hours while everyone else is still sawing logs. You're welcome to come along!

It's good to have a plan...

IMAGE CREDIT

And reservations. But stuff happens. Flights get cancelled. And one of mine was. Crap.

My airline called just as I was going to bed. My flight leaving here this morning was cancelled. No plane. Long story short, and believe me, it's much longer than it should be, I am leaving a day later. They tried to rebook me but the the only available flights had me in Atlanta for TOO long and arriving smack dab in the middle of rush hour traffic in Boston. Ummmm... No, thank you? So I will be leaving for New England tomorrow, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise!

And I'm still packed, so I've got that goin' for me! Who knows... Maybe today will be an AWESOME day at the office!

Gaining Perspective

Climb to the top of the boulder that blocks your way, and enjoy the view from a different perspective

-Author Unknown

Is there a certain something that you do that you especially dislike about yourself, yet you find yourself repeating the behavior...no matter how many times you kick your own butt, beat yourself up about it and promise yourself most sincerely that you will never, ever do it again?

Normally, I can handle myself quite well in conversations of all sorts - all sorts of topics with all sorts of people. In the course of these conversations a topic may come up where we vehemently disagree. I mean aside from the obvious Politics and Religion topic taboos. As a rule, I know when to agree to disagree, when to have a dialogue and how to phrase my remarks without making it personal, being disrespectful or hurtful in any way... and I almost never lose my self-control or composure. In fact, my dear departed father-in-law, who was one of the most intelligent intellectuals I have ever met, was a man with whom I always disagreed. For starters, he was one of those card-carrying, dyed-in-the-wool Camelot Democrats! I knew him almost all of my life until he passed away. I loved him with all my heart.  We always had the best conversations! We could talk about anything and everything under the sun. We almost never agreed and we still managed to do so without ever losing our tempers. I dearly miss talking with him.

But...  sometimes certain people can really "push my buttons" and before I even see it coming, I somehow step outside of that grown up, self-aware, caring, intelligent person and I just get all kinds of dumb.

And I always, always, always regret it.

I did that yesterday.

Stop the dumb, I want to get off!

Mish Mash Monday

As you may have guessed, yesterday was BWTB. I won half of the jackpot game... or I half won. Which is a better than a bit better than MotherDear fared. She had to split her game 5 ways. Ah, well... A taste of honey 'tis better than no honey at all.

Miss Bee? Did I ever say THANK YOU! for turning me on to Windows Live Writer a few years back? I can not tell you what a godsend it has become to me. I use it all the time for my web site and it's getting quite a workout lately as I build the new web site. I also have been using it for stripping unnecessary code out of my current web site! I can't say that I ever use it for writing and posting to a blog, but it totally rocks just for the clean html alone! Truly! Thank you! And I love that it's still FREE!



Gracie has figured out that she can climb the ladder! Err... Cat condo. Remember, Gracie isn't able to leap in quite the way a cat without a Special Leg might do.

This was quite a BIG deal for little Miss Gracie. And she was feeling a bit full of herself.

Of course DOWN has never been a problem for Miss Gracie. In fact, Gracie can do DOWN faster than a iPhoneographer can say," Grac..

So it's Monday again! Just a few more sleeps and I'll be off for a SisterDear gathering! I've already got a leaf-peeping with the SisterDears planned, a CousinDear Pajama Party, a mini high school reunion, a trip to a local farm for some apple-picking with Aria and other fun stuff! But before all of that fun, today and tomorrow I have some pre-vacation laundry to do and as ever, I'm hoping for some lovely orders to process! I'll be taking my business with me once again; a working vacation.

I hope your day is lovely!

When turkeys mate they think of swans. -Johnny Carson

All things Oriental

Thanks to the wonder of Facebook, I am Facebook Friends with about 60 people from my graduating class. I set up an event for a little mini-reunion at The Jade while I'm up visiting at the end of the month. I did one last year and I had a blast. Linda even drove up from CT to join me.

RSVPs So far:

• 6 Attending


• 7 Maybe Attending


• 10 Not Attending


• 33 Awaiting Reply

Oh. And there are 3 who may attend but are not on Facebook.

Next year I am hoping for a much larger turnout for a Reunion. It will be my 40th High School Reunion.

Yikes! Can that be right?

My brain just can't process that. srsly.

So. I took a MotherDear to the RoadShow thingy yesterday with her Oriental Watercolor print. Complete waste of time. They only had people there who specialized in coins and jewelry. Bummer. He was polite and pretended to look at it and took a photo of it... blah, blah, blah.

Just as we were leaving I remembered that my sister Janice wanted me to ask about her Bacon and Day Silver Bell Banjo. It use to be our grandfather's. When he died my father got it because he was his only son, not to mention that he was the only one of my grandfather's children who played! My Dad prefers guitar so he gave it to my sister Janice, because she's the only one of us who played.

So I asked Mr. RoadShow Man, who wasn't interested in art of any kind, if they had anyone there who knew anything about instruments. He said they had someone but he wasn't there at the moment. Then he asked what we had. I told him that it was my grandfather's banjo - a Bacon & Day Silver Bell Banjo in pristine condition. Mother Mercy! The look on his face and the light in his eyes changed like someone had just thrown a switch! He literally jumped up and went to a desk behind him and grabbed his card, which says:

VIP PASS

Present this card to skip the line

He told us to call if we ever think about selling it.

I think that means that's good, right? :P

Then we ran to Penney's. I wanted to pick up a little prize for Aria and Ian. They were having 50% off all Carter's stuff, plus an additional 15% off everything at the register. So I got 2 for less than 1. Me likey! We were walking by the Ladies Undergarment Section and the nicest woman was working there and we started chatting. Have any of you ever been fitted for a bra by a Certified Bra Fitter? They say about 80% of all women are probably wearing the wrong size bra. I decided to take the Penney's Certified Bra Fitter up on her offer. So, was I one of the the 80% of women wearing the wrong size bra?

No!

I don't know why, but that little tid bit of information made me feel oddly happy. Dur.

Next up was Wally World for a few things and then we went to the Chinese Buffet for some Chinese Tea and some lunch.



It was lovely morning, all in all.

Senior Moment Saturday

Awww....what an idyllic, lazy moment, huh?

Life was simpler in this moment yesterday. The cats were snoozing in the window sill. I was just beginning to install the new QuickBooks Pro 2011 software I just bought on eBay. It was mere moments later that I would be told by Intuit that it was a PIRATED Licence and the rest of my day would start sucking!

I will get a refund...eventually. It's just the aggravation. And I only saved about $20.

:sigh:

Now I have bought a lot of software on eBay with absolutely NO problems... and it is entirely possible that the guy who sold me the software was also duped, because his ebay approval rating is 100% Positive. Doo Doo occurs. But I was fightin' mad yesterday afternoon.

I'll sort things out... But not today!

Today I am taking a MotherDear to RoadShow! Not Antiques RoadShow... just a reasonable facsimile. They're in town to buy gold and silver and appraise all kinds of crap people never throw out hoping that one of these days it will be worth BAZILLION$. My parents have an old framed Oriental print they got from my Dad's parents decades and decades and decades ago. Well, it's older than me. That's all I know! ;-) We'll be toting that sucker down to the convention center, just for the fun of it!

And I saw this on Facebook and wanted to share it with you. Because we're all awesome.

A self-important college freshman attending a recent basketball game took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation.

'You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one', the student said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear. 'The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. Our space probes have visited Mars... We have nuclear energy, ships and electric and hydrogen cars, cell phones , computers with light-speed processing...and more.'

After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded as follows:

'You're right, son. We didn't have those things when we were young...so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit, what are you doing for the next generation?'

The applause was amazing!!!

5 on Friday

Just a quick post to wish you all an absolutely lovely Friday. I've got lots of preparation work to be done prior to changing over to the new accounting software. All loose ends must be tied up pretty as you please!

With a nod to Linda, my 5 on Friday are not songs but Quotations.

Quote of the Day

I have no riches but my thoughts. Yet these are wealth enough for me. -Sara Teasdale

Love Quote of the Day

The crime of loving is forgetting. -Maurice Chevalier

Art Quote of the Day

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. -Aldous Huxley

Nature Quote of the Day

The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit. -Moliere

Funny Quote of the Day

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library? -Lily Tomlin

Cheaper is Gooder

After some due diligence, I decided that after using Peachtree Complete Accounting since 1987 - back in the Dark Computer Ages of floppy discs and DOS - it was time to switch to QuickBooks Pro.

I don't change easily.

Have I mentioned this before?

I already use Intuit (QBs) to process all my credit card transactions. They were cheaper than Sage (PT's parent company). They were WAY cheaper than the company I used for years and years.

IF I were using QBs I could actually be processing credit cards from within the invoicing program rather than going to their web site, logging in, blah blah blah, but when I switched to Intuit credit card processing I wasn't quite ready to leave PT yet.

I've just decided to start running Payroll from within the accounting program rather than paying my CPA one or two of his Land Rover payments. When I did some checking, QBs was about $100 a year cheaper than PT... but what tipped the scales was the lady at the GA Dept. of Labor! She highly recommended using QuickBooks and their Payroll service from her own personal experience doing the books for her husband's business. :P



So. I started price shopping the software. I found it cheaper at Sams.com, cheaper still at Walmart.com... Ultimately I decided to try eBay. Because I have time and who doesn't like an auction from time to time? Well, I do because you just never know HOW cheap you can get something. For instance, when I got my Photoshop CS4 software it had a price tag of about $800. I won an auction on eBay and I paid about $100 for it! My best eBay SCORE ever, I'd say. :P

So, back to QuickBooks... I started bidding in the first auction a few days ago but in the last 10 seconds I lost the auction by $2.50. I started bidding on another auction yesterday and I won this one! I was pleased as I ended up saving about $25, plus I got free shipping. It's on it's way and should be here Saturday. I am a happy gal!

Once I get QB installed and  import all of my files to it, I will be essentially fully automated. I'll be processing my credit cards while keying in the invoice and I will never have to leave the program. And I'll have all of my Payroll done within the program, including e-filing all of the quarterly and annual reports to the appropriate tax authorities... in other words, the guvmints.

At the end of the day I will save time and money. I like that. A lot.

Then this morning I found it for even cheaper on Amazon... about $25 cheaper than I paid in the auction... which wasn't that cheap on Amazon when I checked it just last week.

Bugger.

Snowflakes

Remember my Santa Earring Challenge for that great BEEd-maker, Miss Bee? Well, I know the triangle shape will be challenging to find. So I tried to help find them. I googled 'red triangle beads' and 'Christmas beaded earrings' yesterday and look what I found?! Aren't these just the prettiest little snowflakes?! Pretty silver snowflakes with 2 small different colored blue beads. I just love, Love, LOVE them... so I ordered them!

My mother loves snowflakes AND blue so she will wish she had pierced ears when she sees these!

They're coming from Hawaii. Snowflakes from Maui. How funny is that?

Looking forward to Fall, Planting for Spring

[caption id="attachment_1754" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="IMAGE CREDIT"][/caption]

I ordered a bunch o' bulbs from my nephew Kevin. A nice little assortment. My Dad will love planting them. When I lived alone I always planted my own garden but my Dad's nose gets broke if I even attempt think about sticking  something in the ground. He considers that his domain. No problem, Pa! Anyway... Kevin is selling them to help fund his school trip. I love bulbs in the Spring, so win-win!



Aria loves her older cousins! Second cousins? Cousins once removed? One sister's granddaughter and another sister's sons... I don't know... cousins! Kevin and his identical twin brother Tommy are almost 12. You know, I hardly ever say I'm almost 57! In fact, I never say that. But I wouldn't mind saying I was almost 40. :P

I am officially counting down the days to seeing Kevin, Tommy and Aria again! And Leann and Joey and Ian and... Oh, what the heck! Auntie Hugs for everyone!

BEEds Earring Challenge

Come on... These are totally cute! srsly.

But can the great BEEd-maker Bee actually make it happen for me? And I think Santa would also be totally cute hanging as a charm from a pretty chain, a key fob or purse charm.

Ho Ho Ho! ;-)

She had me at NFL Sunday Ticket

I am still feeling quite pleased with myself this morning.

*this kid* managed to convince a certain satellite company to give us the NFL Sunday Ticket for FREE this year. That's $323.94 I didn't have to spend. And we don't have to change companies. Yay!

Let me back up a little bit.

We love our Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots here! However, the only way we can watch our Boston teams is if we buy the sports packages every year. For years now I've been paying about $30 a month for baseball 6 months out of the year, followed immediately by about $30 a month for football the OTHER 6 months out of the year. And everybody's happy.

Then I got my bill for the football renewal and it went up to $54. I wasn't happy.

Long story, but essentially... Every 2 years, when you've fulfilled your 2 year commitment you have MAD BARGAINING SKILLZ. You're like the Most Eligible Bachelor on the planet! Fresh Meat! The very last Designer Bridal Gown at the Running of the Brides at Filene's Basement... Everybody wants your business. You must never, ever forget this!

I called to cancel our service. And she just KEPT kept giving me stuff... 24 mos of HD TV, another DVR receiver, 6 months of Starz and Encore, $10 off each bill every month for 12 months... $7 off something I don't even remember for 6 months...

but she totally had me at NFL Sunday Ticket. :)

Summer Smiles

While I happily look forward to the start of the fall season, children DO love their summers, don't they?

Summer smiles brought to you by these two cuties pies who I may not technically be related to but they are definitely my family by choice and happy happenstance. :P

Wars and rumors of wars

I took MotherDear to BWTB on the base yesterday. It's a twice a year higher stakes bingo. It was only supposed to be 15 games. Our normal little Bingo is 11 games and it takes 2 hours. From the time we left the house to returning back home it turned out to be eleventy three hours. OK, 7 actually. But still. It was just too dang long.

If that wasn't late enough or tiring enough, then I made the mistake of staying up to watch ALL of the Red Sox game which went into extra innings. And they still lost. Bugger. Anyway, I woke up this morning and it was light in my bedroom. What about that? I hate it when that happens. I know you most of you all like to sleep later and/or sleep in whenever you can, but I've been going to bed early and waking up before dawn for just over 30 years now. It's disconcerting for me to have my room filled with daylight when I wake up!

I've been hearing rumors about an elevated threat level, yet the Department of Homeland Security and the NTAS state otherwise. I actually didn't want to post anything on 9/11 but in the end I thought I would get my thoughts down if for no other reason than to be true to myself on my own blog.

I wanted to acknowledge the 10 year mark of 9/11 but with something that didn't show the towers collapsing or... well, just without the complete horror of it all. But I couldn't figure out how to talk about it or acknowledge it without horror. For me, those images are seared into my brain forever. I just about haven't been able to watch anything 9/11 since right after the first few hours. I have somehow made an emotional disconnect with it or an emotional distancing from it. I have to. It's just too sad, too horrific, too difficult to imagine that such evil actually exists.

The very first thoughts I had when the first plane hit the first tower...

I was in my office. One of my techs called and told me what had happened. I remember calling Al, who was on a service call about an hour away, and telling him that we were under attack and that I was closing the office and going home. I called my parents and sisters.

Like pretty much everyone else on the planet, at first I was glued to the TV. Then after seeing the video of the towers collapsing over and over and over I just remember thinking, "I just can't watch this anymore. I just can't." And I remember telling the 2 of my 3 sisters whose children were still small at the time to not allow their kids to keep watching. They should be watching Curious George and Sesame Street.

I remember thinking - the me inside who for years was so strongly drawn to read everything she could on End Times Prophesies and the me who struggled to wrap my mind around it all - THAT me was thinking that WE may actually be the generation the bible speaks of as the end times draw near. That 9/11 was so much more than just that horrible day.

And honestly? I still think that. But the end is not yet.

You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. Matthew 24:6 (NASB)

Support your local Police Department?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eSySq2KFU0]

9/11 Memorial

[caption id="attachment_1484" align="alignleft" width="604" caption="PHOTO CREDIT"][/caption]

10 Years after 9/11 the new 9/11 Memorial will open.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700" caption="2 reflecting pools located in the exact footprints of the Twin Towers surrounded by 400 trees"][/caption]

The reflecting pools will be fenced by a bronze parapet engraved with the names of the 2983 victims who died on that day. The cascading water beneath it represents the continuity of their memory.

How could we ever forget?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case you missed my Facebook update:



There is an awesome iPad app that is FREE through 09/11. Beginning 09/12 it will be $9.95. I've already got it and I promise you, you will be immersed in it. It's full of photos, videos, history and more... truly incredible.

“The 9/11 Memorial: Past, Present and Future” is a new iPad app that looks at the World Trade Center using scores of videos and photos. Since being released last week, it’s quickly risen to be the #11 downloaded app in the News category in the iTunes app store.  It’s by far the best 9/11 iPad app released so far this year, and begs the questions why haven’t others done this?

The app is free until Sept. 12 and will be $9.95 after that, so get it now. It’s worth the download not just for the material itself but to see how good an app can be created simply by curating content.

Speaking of Awesome Hats...

My Dad had to have a little Outpatient procedure yesterday and they gave him this hat in case his head got cold.


Apparently he musta liked it because he brought it home with him.

My Dad is a hoot and a half. And he cracks me up. I love him bunches, in case I haven't mentioned that lately.

The Awesome Cat Mat Hat

Do you remember The Awesome Hat I made last Christmas? To refresh your memory, I was asked to make a hat a few days before Christmas for my brother. In the interest of time constraints, I decided to try to whip up a warm winter hat for my brother out of what had started out as a cat mat. well, the hat turned out to be much too huge for your average winter hat... Except my brother-in-law Rick wore it while snow-blowing and discovered that despite it's comical hugeness, it is in fact incredibly warm. He actually threatened bodily harm if I dared think it was ever leaving his house.

Since then, we've taken photos of everybody wearing The Awesome Hat. Here are some of the most recent photos.

First up, dear old Dad... He cracks me up!



Next is sweet Aria and her equally awesome naturally curly hair. This isn't her silly shot, but it is so sweet I had to share.



And finally, baby Ian. This did indeed crack me up! I'm not sure who's idea it was, but FUNNY! and completely adorable!



My plan is to do a 2012 family calendar for everybody using The Awesome Hat photos.

Yeah. We're weird. You can say it. :P

PS. I did make a proper-sized hat for my brother, in case you were worried he went all winter with a nekkid, freezing head.

PSS. A very Happy Birthday to my sisterdear Lynda! And a very Happy Birthday to Linda Orlomoski, aka The Distracted Wanderer!