Happy New Year, I hope!

Celebrate amongst yourselves. This has been H*ll Week at work...I am going home to collapse with whatever bottle of wine I can find in our basement wine cellar. I'll be raising a toast to all you bloggers at about 7:00 PM, right before I fall asleep.....

Whew!

Christmas is over; the rain is over; the sleet is over; the snow is over. I was a good girl for Christmas, and didn't whine too much, considering the weather.....

This was early Christmas day; it was raining.

This was later Christmas morning, when it was snowing and blowing.

It has just stopped snowing...a bit of blue sky is showing...I'm afraid to look at the weather forecast.....

God bless us, every one!

Bah Humbug!

Kill.Me.Now

and, ummm...happy holidays to you, too, Mother Nature.....

Just waiting for this day...

Yay! Today is the Winter Solstice!

Now my beloved sun will start to rise higher in the sky, and the days will get longer. Not really noticeable for another month...and there's plenty of cold and snow to come...but it's a start. Not that we've had any sun to even see for the past week...

I don't know my ancestral heritage, but I'm pretty sure some of my ancestors must lie here.

A Winter's Day.....

My favorite winter song, as an angst-ridden teenager in the Midwest.

It's been snowing off and on all weekend, and yes, the bare tree branches have a certain stark beauty with a fresh frosting of snow on them.

But look at my poor lavender.

And I am not, like in the song, "...hiding in my room, with  my books and poetry to protect me..." I wish! No, I am cleaning, and baking, and shopping, and wrapping, and spinning in a holiday tizzy like we all are right now. *Sigh*

Just a quick post because we are all too busy with the holidays

Due to last week's Iowa Death Storm, or Snowmaggedon2, I'm way behind at work and in holiday preparations.

I won't even mention the baking I did so that I could USPS priority ship some holiday cookies to our kids that have gourmet kitchens with Viking ranges, but eat out all the time and don't bake. Whatever. That's what moms do.

So quick pictures of things that I am enjoying today...as I beat my brains out on a !@#* work project.

Love the sandalwood scent of this hand lotion I found in a funky little shop downtown.

Hate snow, but love my little bunny snowglobe that I found on sale at a Hallmark shop.

And a shout out "Hi" to all my favorite bloggers whose blogs I have not had time to read - yet! 

The Iowa Death Storm '09

...and I was NOT in Iowa...I was trapped in Chicago's O'Hare airport!

I took a weekend flight to Dallas, TX, to dogsit our fur grandchild, Sugar, so Sugar Mommy and Sugar Daddy could go to San Antonio for a couple days to visit a relative. I was flying United because their fare was low, but that meant I had to fly from the Cedar Rapids, IA airport to Chicago's O'Hare airport, and then from Chicago to Dallas. Snow was predicted for Iowa, but who would have thought it would turn into the Iowa Storm of the Century? (and God help me - winter has just begun in Iowa!)

Round 1 - Monday: Go online to check in for the flight back to Iowa...and my Tuesday flight from Chicago to Iowa has been canceled...so I call United...wait on hold for 30 minutes...and rebook a flight on Wednesday.
Round 2 - Tuesday morning: During the night, my original flight from Chicago to Iowa was reinstated, so now I'm scheduled to fly on Tuesday and Wednesday. WTF? Call United...wait on hold again...reassured that the Wednesday flight is ok. Stay another night in Dallas. Sugar Mommy washes clothes for me, but I'm running low on favorite cosmetics and toiletries, which panics me as much as dirty underwear.
Round 3 - Wednesday morning: Check weather in Iowa. Weathermen are saying it's the worst storm in central and eastern Iowa(where I live)in 20 years...and we are all going to die.(but they say that every time we have a good snowstorm) Check United flight schedule. Every leg of flight is a go. WTF? Decide to fly from Dallas to Chicago and see what happens. WTF was I thinking?!
Round 4 - Wednesday afternoon: Arrive in Chicago O'Hare - in a snowstorm. My flight has been canceled. Maybe I can fly standby on the next flight. WTF was I thinking? Remaining flights to Cedar Rapids eventually all canceled. At least someone was thinking about the Death Storm not being good to fly in.
Round 4 - Wednesday night: Hard to sleep in cold, drafty airport because I am wearing Texas clothing, not Iowa clothing. WTF was I thinking?! Watch O'Hare airport staff do a great job of overnight cleaning. Bathrooms were really clean, which pleased me much, since I was living there.
Round 5 - Thursday morning: Getting to know O'Hare pretty well. I have always loved the walkway with the neon art. I walked through it at 4:00 AM because I couldn't sleep; I was the only person around. Really cool.
 
Had a great breakfast at the Berghoff Cafe in Concourse C. I usually hate egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches, but theirs was great. A guy working four omelet pans at once so your eggs are cooked fresh. Check it out the next time you are in O'Hare.
Round 6 - Thursday: Death Storm is over. Lined up with 42 other people for standby for the first flight out of Chicago back to Cedar Rapids. I'm never going to get back this way. Finally United adds a special flight to Cedar Rapids for all the stranded flyers. Surprise - Kudos to United for doing the right thing. (And thanks to Meester for keeping me updated on the storm and listening to me say repeatedly with irritation "Easy for you to say, sitting in front of the fireplace".)
This guy has a funny video on the storm. You get the idea of how much snow we got - without all the hysteria of most weather videos.

My current disclosure policy

Just so you know...I currently don't get any form of compensation for my opinions on products or services. Which is too bad...because I have so many opinions...on just about everything.

I have serendipitously stumbled across so many of my favorite things online. I just want to share my favorite things so that you all might discover some new foods, recipes, or products to delight you too. Sharing is always good, right?

I would consider compensation for product reviews, especially if it's a chocolate product. *DROOL* But I only give my honest opinion on products, good or bad. And I will always disclose if I am compensated to give my opinion.

Wheel-worthy Wednesday: Soaps

No, not TV soap operas; I gave those up a long time ago. The plots just didn't move fast enough for me - not when I can read a blogger's whole.life.story in just a few posts.

A few years ago we discovered the most absolutely fabulous handcrafted soaps. And I mean soap handmade by a real person - in a little shop - in the Midwest. How precious is that?

We were being touristy in the little town of Oregon, IL, and bought a few of these soaps in a gift shop. We fell in love with these pure, sweet soaps and now Meester will never use any other soap on his skin. (Yes, he has sensitive skin issues.) Naughty me, I've had a few flings with other soaps since then...and always end up tossing them out and going back to the Oregon Soap Shoppe soaps.

Lynnel Camling is the artist of these soaps. We love her too. She's as pure and sweet and honest as her soaps. Lynnel has had offers to mass-produce her soaps and make more money, but she is passionate about keeping the quality and safety of her products for all humankind - and pets too! She works in her own little shop outside Oregon, IL now. The most heavenly smelling place...filled with sunshine and the delightful colors of shelves of soap, bath accessories, candles, art, and herbal products.

This is only one of 3 bags of soap that we brought home on our last supply run.

 

These have become my favorite lip balms. I have them in my kitchen, my bathroom, my purse, and at the office. Love, love, love the Chai lipbalm. It has the most luscious, exotic scent...makes my lips feel all warm and sultry...the better to boss Meester with...

 

Lynnel loves to create new soaps. She always has more soaps in her shop than what you see online and she'd be happy to help you find just the right soap. And her lipbalms are not online but she always has new flavors. I love anything she makes with Honey or Lavender in the name...and the European Spa and French Market soaps. I didn't take a picture, but of course, I had a bag of soaps with chocolate in the name.