Happy Holidays

Alex, Candace, Lewis - on Christmas day at Cathy & Dennis's house

Dec 29, 2011 - Thursday
Alex got another acceptance letter. He was accepted to San Diego State University. As my goofy & wonderful nephew, Michael put it, “San Diego is not a state.” Alex is a screenplay writer. He has done some pretty good work, & he thinks Calif is the place to be for that type of vocation, but he also knows that competition is fierce so he is majoring in business & will continue his writing. Just like his mom.

We’re still hoping he stays with ASU. We will get to see more of him that way, even though he’ll be living on campus. I’ve already started making an Excel list of everything Alex will need for his dorm.

Well, the next generation of my family is in full swing. Nephew Brandon’s wife is having another little girl in April. The twins will be 3 at that time & they are looking forward to their new baby sister.

Tarah & Brandon with the twins, Ailani & Caleb

Cathy & Dennis’s son, Adam just had a baby girl on Dec 14. She was born just 5 days before Finn’s first birthday. Finn is Cath & Dennis’s first grandchild – Chad’s son. Unfortunately for us, they live in Texas & we don’t get to see much of them.

Adam holding his new baby girl, Allarie

Samantha & Michael’s little sweet princess, Riley is now 6 months old & cute as can be. This little girl smiles all the time. Mom holding Riley on Christmas day

So now Lewis & I have 8 nephews/nieces (miss you, Jonathan!) & 5 great-nieces/-nephews with 1 on the way. Holidays & birthdays are a lot of fun! Just wish dad & Jonathan could join us!

Lewis & Alex went over to Lewis’s parents’ house this past Sat to celebrate Hanukkah. I woke up with a killer migraine so I stayed home in bed all day. Lewis called at 5:30 pm & woke me up to tell me he & Alex were going to go see a movie & would be home around 10:30 pm. I got up then, had a bowl of cereal & hot tea, took a second Imitrex for my not-yet-cured migraine, then went back to sleep until they got home & woke me, a little after 10:00.

I was feeling better the next day, so we went to Cath & Dennis’s for Christmas. Lots of fun. I got my annual mom fudge – chocolate peanut butter…….the BEST in the world. Nothing like my mom’s fudge.

Well, our Adam just graduated from NAU with a degree in business. Is he planning on going to law school now.

Lewis just finished a major controversial case that has been going on for a long time. It is in the media all over the country & online. My sweetie is famous! Just glad we aren’t in the phone book. So he took a couple of well-deserved days off after Christmas.

The Tues after Christmas we all went over to Cath’s house to meet Adam’s new daughter. She was a surprise to all of us, but she is certainly welcome to the family. She was only 14 days old when we met her. What a tiny little thing. Her name is Allarie.

My ancient computer is dragging. I keep getting this little pop-up box telling me my computer might be at risk because I don’t have enough free hard drive space. Lewis did get me a new computer for my birthday – in July. He tried to get it set up for me but something happened to it & the set-up didn’t work, so now it’s sitting there in the box. I’m wondering what we’re going to do with it. We could return it to Best Buy but we didn’t open it until way after the return policy timeframe. So now I don’t know what’s happening. I just know this computer is terribly agonizing sometimes. Sooooooo Slow.

I put all of my pictures onto flash drives & deleted them from the hard drive. This didn’t seem to do anything. That surprised me, because I had about 4 years worth of pictures on my hard drive.

Took Sparky in to the vet today for her Dasaquin injection. This will help speed up the growth of her knee tendons. She is doing very well. Her surgery was 6 wks ago & she wants to run & play, but she isn’t allowed to run just yet. Healing ACL & knee, but try explaining that to her. She’s had 6 wks of Dasaquin injections, now she only has to have one once a month for a few months.

Does anyone know anything about poinsettias? I have one that I want to plant outside, but everything I’ve read online tells me it won’t live outside in Arizona. When we lived at our last house, I planted a poinsettia outside at our front door & it lived a couple of years. It grew very tall (about 4 ft), & then for some reason, one day, Lewis tore it out. I still don’t know why that happened, but I was not consulted beforehand. It was planted in an entryway area where it didn’t get any sun. It never turned red again, but it had beautiful huge dark green leaves. I can’t figure out anyplace outside at this house where it won’t get any sun. But what I’ve been reading says it NEEDS sun. I read something on 1 site, then something different on another site. I think I’ll just set it outside by our front door in the pot it’s in & see what happens. The sun hits there a little throughout the day, but not long, because that area is also sort of an enclosed entryway. Suggestions? I really would like to keep it alive.

Can anyone recommend an editor? My bar mitzvah book is finished & ready for editing. I can find one online, but if I could get a recommendation from someone, I’d prefer that. Then get ready to buy the book of the year: “Just Whose Bar Mitzvah is it, Anyway! – or How to be a Guest at Your own Party” By Candace L. Kowal
Yeah! Finally!!!

I'll leave you with this tip:
Coffee Grounds to Deodorize Refrigerator
Green LivingOctober 29, 2010
Odors in the fridge or freezer will be gone overnight if you place a dish of used coffee grounds in a bowl and place it in the center of the refrigerator/freezer. It works better then baking soda!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever your pleasure.

Hugs, Candace & family