Pictures From My Flights To Portland

I had the opportunity to take some pretty decent pictures from the airplane window on my way to visit Cathy. Not bad considering there is a thick plastic window between myself and the outside world. Check it out.....

Very near to Lake Tahoe, NV
The entire lake
Moving west over some mountainous terrain.
Getting close to Sacramento, CA along the way to Portland. Notice the row crops?
More row crops....closer to the ground.

Getting close to Sacramento, CA

It was a pretty good trip getting there....and I've never flown into Sacramento before. I'll add that city to my list......

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we all slept in and after having some coffee, everyone sat down and we opened gifts. There was quite a pile of paper when we were finished!

Cathy cuddling with the old-timer, Buddy

And just like a story book, I happened to look out the window and noticed that it was snowing! I said, "Merry Christmas, it's snowing!" Cathy and K were very excited. So we took pictures to have proof of the white stuff!

After having breakfast, Cathy asked if I would help her hook up the Atari 5200 that had been sent home with her from Dad and Beverly's. It was a Santa gift that we as children had received way back in...um....well, a long time ago! We got it hooked up and sat and played awhile. It was fun pulling games out that we had mastered as youngsters and try to remember just how we did it! Check out the TV screen below. Cathy is playing one of my favorites, Q-Bert.

Then Frank and Bea set to work to prepare our Christmas Day dinner. They made everything from scratch. A complete Mexican dinner of tacos, fried beans, enchiladas with beans and cheese, green chili, avocado dip, home made salsa (spicy!) and tortilla chips. I hope I didn't leave anything out. It was very tasty! Here are the Pacheco's hard at work.
Then after cleaning up our large kitchen mess, Cathy and I called our other family members to wish them Merry Christmas. We spoke with our brother, Kevin and his girls Suzanna, Abigail and Hillary. We heard the tales of their scavenger hunt and all the gifts they received. Then we called our Dad and Beverly. They had a quiet day at the resort they are camping at for the winter. There was a pot luck meal that everyone enjoyed and then it was back to the motor home for relaxation. It was nice to spend the holiday with family and friends.

Christmas Eve

After being sick for the first 1 1/2 days of my visit, I finally re-cooped enough to be up and around and help Cathy and Kathy with cooking and such.

Cathy's room mate Kathy and her parents Frank and Bea, whom were visiting for Christmas as well, spent the weekend at relatives in Astoria, WA. That happens to be one of the places that suffered from terrible mud slides. They returned home again on Sunday afternoon. Cathy and I had been preparing lasagna and garlic bread with tossed salad for supper that night. We also enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine from the vast selection at hand!

The next day Kathy had to work but Cathy made a big breakfast for the rest of us. It included sausage links and pancakes with coffee and orange juice. It hit the spot after being ill and not having much of an appetite. Cathy and I were also planning a meal for Christmas Eve to treat the Pacheco family. They in turn were going to cook on Christmas Day. So we planned and prepared ham, scalloped potatoes, scalloped corn, scalloped oysters....(notice the theme?), green bean casserole and wine. Earlier in the day we had made a recipe of Shortbread cookies from our Mom. Cathy had made Creme Brulee. It was very good! That would be our dessert that evening. Later, the phone rang and it was our Dad calling to wish us Merry Christmas and thank us for the gifts they received.

That night we were going to Christmas Eve services at a place up in Portland that both C and K had been to in the past. It is called The Grotto. It has a Festival of Lights this time each year. You can also go there to buy and light a candle in honor or memory of someone. Cathy has done this in memory of our Mom, Mary Ann. So we left in time for a 10:00 PM Catholic Service and also enjoyed beautiful Christmas lights on all the landscape as you enter the botanical gardens. There are no words to describe just how many lights there were or how lovely it looked. The decorations were unbelievable. And the traffic was a testament to how popular The Grotto is.

It was very late when we returned home again and everyone had a very hard time staying awake on the 45 minute drive.

The view from outside Cathy's living room

Cathy and I

Cathy's pets, Buddy and Spooky enjoying the tree

In Oregon at Last

I thought this week would never get here! I love Christmas and spending it with family is the best. And that's exactly what my plan was for the year 2007.

I flew to Portland, Oregon on Friday the 21st. My sister Cathy lives in Woodburn, OR, which is south of Portland. On the night before I left, I hadn't been feeling 100%. Sleep was scarce that night and I was blaming that lack of sleep for my not feeling very hot. But after I arrived in Oregon things just continued to get worse. I was coughing, had a stuffy nose and had occasional headaches. So after Cathy picked me up, we stopped at Walmart so that I could purchase some cold medicine. It's a good thing I did.

The next day, I was feeling worse! The aches were were running rampant through my whole body to the point that I could hardly rise from the couch. My head was full, and I barely had energy to brush my teeth. Cathy took my temperature and it was right at 102*. I just kept taking medicine and napped on and off the entire day. I managed to eat some toast and later some popcorn. Good for sick people, huh? By the end of the day, I was feeling alot better.

Today when I woke up I was feeling like a whole new person. I was able to scrounge up enough energy to shower and eat a decent meal. I've even been helping with some of the cooking! I was determined to be up and feeling well for the holiday that would soon be arriving....sickness be damned!

Cathy and Kathy, Frank and Bea and myself.....we'll have a nice Christmas after all. Bah Humbug on being sick!

Friendship, food and food!

Last night my friends and I all gathered for our annual Christmas party. This year we went to Dee and Chris' house. The girls always draw names and exchange an ornament. And we always have a different menu, potluck of course. This year we chose to have a Chinese buffet. None of us had really made Chinese food before. But we all somehow came up with a recipe for something different, pre-arranged of course. I happen to love Sweet and Sour Chicken so I did some research on line and found a few recipes that looked pretty good. I ended up combining two of them and I have to say, it was very good! Everyone's food was good. Let me see if I can remember everything we had. Sweet and Sour Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Cashew Chicken, Egg Rolls, Crab Rangoon, Fried Donuts, brown rice, fried rice, pot stickers,...I think that's it. Well, see for yourself...

Cookies I made and dessert that Tammy made.
We always take pictures of us girls too. Here they are.

Teresa, Dee, Lisa, Trisa, Me and Tammy

We couldn't leave out the guys....Steve, Jamie, Scott, Chris and Tim

Aren't we mature?

Later, we were all sitting around gabbing and a couple of the girls wanted to go out and make snow angels. Not me! Dee and Tammy actually did it, too! Without coats! And it was roughly 5*. Brr!!!

Oh, would you like to see my ornament?....Here it is...

There is music in between all the accordian-like folds. I had almost bought this for myself when we all met for brunch a week ago or so. How funny!

Parent Locator #2

If you recall the first "Locator", you'll realize it's been some time since Dad and Beverly have been on the move. After having an angiogram, Dad recovered from his heart issues and got out of the hospital. He had to stay in town (Dr.'s orders!) another week after that for a checkup with the cardiologist. Once he had the "all clear" and without blinking an eye, packed everything in and started the trek heading south! Reno was getting cold and the forecast was for snow. The very reason they got out of North Dakota when they did in the first place! Plus, a frozen water tank on an RV doesn't do much good when you live in said RV!
They were heading to their favorite spot from last year....Castle Rock Shores Resort south of Parker, AZ. The route included driving along I95 through Las Vegas, Laughlin, driving over Hoover Dam and through Lake Havasu. Sound familiar my dear siblings?
Since arriving there, both Dad and Beverly have been ill. Bad colds or flu. Sounds like the vacation is off to a booming start, doesn't it? Retirement sounds fun!
Stay tuned for future updates!

Make Your List (read on...)

Monday night I had a phone call from Cheryl, the lady that owns Gallery of Crafts, the store that I work at occasionally and also have a couple of booths. She was inviting me to join her and the other employees at a movie that she had received sneak peek passes for. It was for the movie "The Bucket List." (At the bottom of the picture you can click on various items..."about the film" tells you more.) It stars Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson with co-star Sean Hayes and is directed by Rob Reiner. For those of you who don't know Sean Hayes, he was Jack on the TV show Will and Grace. And for those of you who don't know Rob Reiner, he was Meat Head on the TV show All in the Family and has directed other movies such as these for which he won several awards, as you can see.
It's a very good movie! I highly recommend seeing it, which comes out in January. Cheryl was doing this for our annual holiday get-together. She also paid for all of our popcorn and drinks or whatever else we wanted to snack on.
I haven't been to the movies for quite some time so it was a fun night out for me. I also think I need to make my own list....hmm, where do I start?

A Saturday Time Out

In the midst of this busy holiday season, I called all my girlfriends the other day and asked them if they wanted to go out for brunch on Saturday. They were all game and surprisingly, available! It's hard to get us all together. More often than not, one of us has already got something going on. So we met at the Cracker Barrel. They have a very nifty gift shop too. I managed to find a couple items there. One being a new cook book for myself. It's from Gooseberry Patch and is strictly recipes for Christmas cookies, frosting and the like. I've always wanted a Gooseberry Patch cook book and never had one. They were on sale so I couldn't pass it up! ;)

After we finished there, I proceeded to drive to Kohl's. For those of you that know me well, you already know that it's my favorite store ever!! I probably own stock in it by now. I succeeded in finishing my Christmas gift shopping. I'm pretty sure that this is the earliest date in history before Christmas that I've been

done with my shopping.

Then I went home and made a batch of Sour Cream Cookies...my Mom's recipe. Another first, they turned out perfect!(if I do say so myself!) Normally they are too dry and the frosting is just chunky. They look and taste just like Mom's! It was a very good day!















1st photo: Madison, Logan and Mom Lisa
2nd photo: Dee and her son Dillon
3rd photo: Tammy, Me and Trisa

Next week is our annual Christmas gathering....with lots of food....stay tuned!

"It Happened To Us"....taken from the Omaha World Herald.

As you have all seen and heard on television, Omaha had a very sad event occur on Wednesday, December 5Th. A young 19 year old male, decided his life wasn't worth living and instead of getting more help, he decided to end his life and the lives of 8 other innocent victims. He drove to one of our busiest malls in town, the Westroads, and had an AK-47 assault rifle. He entered Von Maur, a large 3 story department store, and started shooting anyone that he saw. It started at 1:42 PM and 6 minutes later, he had killed 9 people including himself. By the time the police arrived, it was over. I am going to provide to you a link to hear more about the 911 calls. Please note: you can hear the gun shots so if you don't think it's something you can handle hearing, you may choose not to listen or watch. Here is just one of thousands of sites that you can read about the horror of events that took place on a day that will be remembered forever. (you will first have to listen to an ad but the video plays immediately following.) That story came from Good Morning America. Here is another site for you to read. These are just a sample of what is on our local programming every day, several times throughout the day. It didn't really hit home for me until I heard the 911 calls. It makes you realize that you just don't know what will happen from one day to the next, or where something like this will take place. This is the worst massacre in Nebraska history. My heart goes out to the victims and their families of this tragedy. God be with them.

A Rare Form Of Mother Nature's Art

December 1st, 2007. What kind of weather would you expect to see going on right now in Omaha, NE, on December 1st? Snow falling? Sub-zero temperatures? None of the above. Today, it started out with freezing rain and has switched over to just rain. This morning it was about 25* and raining. And freezing the rain to everything it touched. It was beautiful....if you didn't have to travel. No matter what direction you looked, there was about 1/4 inch of ice on the surface of trees, decks, fences, vehicles, even the grass! I couldn't resist this photographic moment and hence, I found a few things that looked so cool!

The tree in my front yard.

The bushes in front of my porch.
The bush at the west end of my porch.


My deck railing....

My deck.

We have strange weather sometimes......it's been raining all day long. But at least the temps have risen so that the ice from this morning has melted. So my pictures were taken at the right time. I fortunately had the day off from work. I decided to take advantage of being stuck inside and did all the decorating on the inside of my house in anticipation of Christmas. It's done now....and I'm exhausted. Maybe more from keeping my cats out of my tubs and boxes than from the decorating itself.
I hope you aren't having the freezing rain we did.....or at least if you are, hopefully you got to stay home like I did! ;)