I said goodbye to my daughter early Thursday morning because by the time I returned home from work, she would be waiting to board her plane at KCI. She did send me a couple of photos of the sunset. She brought the warm Texas winter temperatures with her in late December, and now as she flies south for the rest of the winter, she seems to be taking those milder temperatures with her, at least for one day. When I got in the van this morning, the thermometer registered barely ten degrees.
I came home to an empty house. Roxy couldn’t be bothered to stir from the hideaway bed and Apollo wouldn’t budge for Roxy’s dog bed on the floor. My dad called me about the sunset, as he and Terry were returning from KCI through Platte City and Leavenworth. While I was on the phone with him, my daughter sent me the above photo text message. No sooner than I hung up with dad, than Rachelle called to ask if I’d received her photos. So, I got to speak with her one last time before she boarded the plane. I asked her to call me as soon as she landed at Love Field in Dallas.
Terry made it home safely (this was the first time he’d driven himself since before his surgery in late December). Roxy perked up as did Apollo but neither Terry nor I could be bothered with cooking dinner. We opted for a quick supper at Pizza Hut, which was deserted. Terry ordered honey barbecue boneless wings and I ordered a thin crust Hawaiian personal pan sized pizza (of which I only ate two slices). We were back home by 6:45, ten minutes before Rachelle’s flight was scheduled to take off.
While I did my Wii Fit fitness routine, Terry returned a call to a friend who had left him a voice-mail message while he was driving back from the airport. Terry retired to the band room while I beat his score on Advanced Step and improved my Island Cycling and tried Rhythm Boxing for the first time.
We sat down to watch the latest Bones episode and got about halfway through it when Rachelle called me. It was only 8:10 p.m. (her flight was scheduled to land at 8:35). Obviously, the north wind helped send her back to Texas. Terry and I finished watching Bones and then the Rotts and I retired for the night. They both wanted to be near me because they already missed Rachelle, just like Terry and I do.
May is so far away. That’s the next time I’ll see her, when she performs her senior recital and graduates from the University of North Texas.
I had trouble sleeping last night. I stayed up too late watching the latest installment of Restaurant Impossible and then couldn’t get to sleep. I think I finally dozed off after midnight, but that left me only five hours before the alarm woke me up. I snoozed for ten minutes, even though I couldn’t afford to lose ten minutes out of my morning routine since Thursdays are also trash and recycle days in Lansing. To top off a great start to my morning, I cut my finger on one of the cans in the recycle bin. So now I’ll be typing awkwardly all day thanks to a bandage on my left ring finger.
The work commute got shortened by ten minutes or so this morning due to a sick child of one of the riders. Before I hit the road and picked anyone up though, I made a stop at Baristas in Lansing to wake up with a mocha. It would not be good form for me to doze off while driving everyone else to work.
Chef Rachelle fought my favorite appliance today (my bread machine) and won the battle to create pita dough. Her menu for this evening included gyros (lamb) with home made taziki sauce. Simply divine. Don’t tell the Wii I had two!
Soon after dinner, Terry and I went to City Hall to attend the City Council meeting (I will post a complete report in a separate post tomorrow). Agenda item number seven directly affected us (search for my previous post on the no parking zone sign installed last month on our court). We sat through a report on the Kansas Sampler Festival and the presentation of the regional airport site selection study by Coffman Associates. Interestingly, the ‘prime’ site suggested for the airport is on 600 acres just a half mile or mile south of our house, between Gilman and McIntire Roads.
When we finally got tothe parking agenda item, I was relieved to see a good bit of discussion and debate among the council members. Obviously, the voice of the citizens raised in thier wards had been heard loud and clear. The ordinace (No. 900) passed with two dissenting votes. The meeting quickly adjourned soon after and I asked the secretary to provide me with a copy of the ordinance, which would have been helpful to review before the meeting. She agreed to email me a copy.
Second workday of the new year. Gearing up for all the projects slated for 2012. Busier (which makes the time go faster) and only one meeting (that went longer than scheduled, of course). Basically, I survived another day at the office.
Hump day (also known as Wednesday) is also double-punch day at Planet Sub. Since one of my New Year’s resolutions is a healthier lifestyle, I reviewed the Nutritional Information on their website before calling in my order. While my second favorite sandwich (the Planet BBQ) had fewer calories than my first favorite sandwich (the Super Hero), it had gobs and gobs of sodium. So it was a toss-up between the Tuna (without mayo) and the Roast Beef (without mayo or cheese). The tuna won because it was the lowest in sodium. Beautiful walk to and from Planet Sub thanks to the unseasonably warm weather we’re enjoying during this first week of January.
Even though Terry’s right hand is in a splint, WolfGuard will meet tonight to practice with the new drummer. We decided to skip a home-cooked meal by Chef Rachelle in the interest of saving time. We ate a quick supper at Mr. Goodcents (yeah, I know, two sandwich places in the same day). I reviewed their Nutritional Information brochure and couldn’t find a single sandwich (besides the veggie one) that had less than 1,500 mg of sodium. Way, way too high for my diet. The lowest calorie and lowest sodium item that appealed to my appetite ended up being penne pasta with marinara.
On the way back home, we took a side-trip to Dillons to pickup a prescription for Terry and grab a few items. We made it back home with plenty of time to spare before the band members started arriving.
As the band started rehearsing, I left to take Rachelle to visit some friends. On the way home, I admired the constellation Orion, the waxing moon and enjoyed the unfrigid temperature.
Now that I’m back home, I can wrap up a couple of work projects while being serenaded (several times because practice makes perfect with a new percussionist) of vintage Rush (Finding My Way Home). I’ve still got to squeeze in some cardio before slipping upstairs to read myself to sleep again.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. If it was a Friday or a Saturday night, I might be tempted to host a Twelfth Night party. Instead, I’ll probably be attending the local city council meeting, since one of the agenda items tomorrow night deals with the recent appearance (and disappearance) of ‘no parking’ signs in several cul-de-sacs around Lansing (see my previous blog posts for further enlightenment). I can only hope an Epiphany of policy is forthcoming. (Feel free to chortle if you fathom my irony and/or sarcasm).
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post the fantastic dinner my daughter cooked for us last night. She whipped up a batch of spinach lasagna roll-ups from scratch, including four of them without any cheese just for me. Exceptionally delicious and spicy (thanks to a mishap with the red pepper flake dispenser). I can’t find the exact recipe she used online, but many of the ones I found sounded very similar to what she did from memory. My small contribution to dinner included my home-made sourdough re-purposed as garlic butter and Parmesan toast. I also helped create our pre-dinner salad course with organic baby spring mix, red peppers, green onions and a bit of my home-made raspberry vinaigrette dressing.
I wished everyone I met a very Happy New Year! 2012 has arrived, whether I was ready or not. I even forgot to photograph the first sunrise, but at least according to my dad (who arrived at my house just minutes before said sunrise), the photogenicity of the dawn was suspect (i.e. no clouds).
Dad had dropped by so early on New Year’s Day to say goodby to Derek and Royna, who planned to return to North Texas. I was the only one awake in the house (normal even on non-holiday days). I woke Derek up so he could say goodbye to his grandfather and soon after Dad returned north to his home in Leavenworth.
Very much later in the morning, everyone finally woke and began packing. At ten ’til noon, they boarded their rental and left Lansing. They had lunch with their friends and eventually headed south towards their home. I received Royna’s final Tweet a bit after ten o’clock while I was drifting off to sleep when they finally made it safely home.
I treated Terry to Planet Sub at a ‘new’ location I was previously unaware of on Johnson Drive. He often complains about my easy access to Planet Sub (only a block from where I work). After enjoying our Super Heroes, we drove back to the Legends (we passed it on the way to lunch) and enriched Nebraska Furniture Mart by purchasing a Wii (with Super Mario Kart for Terry) and the Wii Fit Plus bundle (and an extra controller) for me. We spent the rest of the afternoon setting up the Wii and fighting my Denon AV receiver (which doesn’t automatically convert Composite video to HDMI so I had to find an RCA cable in the black hole we call a basement storage room). I spent some time trying out the balance board only to discover, once Rachelle got home, that I had the board facing backwards (so no wonder all the balance activities kept failing for me).
We finally took a break from Wii Fit and sat down to relax and watch the latest episode of Leverage on TNT. I wondered off to bed soon after, forgetting to finish typing up this blog entry that I started at the crack of dawn on New Year’s Day. I will publish it before the crack of dawn today, no doubt.
My New Year’s Resolutions:
Increase my book reading goal. Last year I read 75 books. This year I have challenged myself to read 80 books.
Healthier eating habits: While I eat a good portion of vegetables routinely, I have a hard time consuming fresh fruit. So I am making a concerted effort to eat fruit daily.
Happy New Year!
I pray 2012 brings all of us peace and prosperity.
I got the best gift of all . . . my family. My daughter flew in from North Texas this morning. My son and his wife arrived on Christmas Eve, so today I had all of them together, as well as my father. We enjoyed dinner and then opened all of the presents. The dogs got a treat as well, since both Derek and Rachelle got down on the floor and played with them.
But tomorrow I return to work (for the rest of the week) so Terry will get to enjoy their company exclusively.
I read the book this movie was based on last year for Christmas. The author, Greg Kincaid, lives in Olathe, Kansas, just twenty or so miles south of my home via K-7. But for some reason, the movie was not re-aired last year (or I completely missed it in the avalanche of Hallmark Channel Christmas movies that start in late November and don’t stop until nearly New Year’s). This year, I caught the movie on my DVR when it aired on Saturday night. My husband and I spent a very pleasant Sunday evening with the McCrays and their on-again-off-again adoption of a dog named Christmas.
‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a Rottweiler was stirring, nor even a mouse
The stockings were packed in the basement with care,
Along with the tree and decorations to spare
This time last year, we were in Texas celebrating our son’s graduation from SMU. In fact, I mailed my Christmas cards out as soon as I returned from our second North Texas Thanksgiving and wrote my annual Moss Family Christmas letter very early in December 2010 (publishing it electronically via this blog). I sent out fewer cards this year and waited until now to finish writing this year’s letter. I also opted not to print and mail the letter. I’m sharing it here for family, friends, and anyone else who stops by.
Winter 2011
Ground Hog Day Shovel Fest
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. And boy did it ever! The first two months of this year dumped more snow, that I had to shovel without the assistance of my son (who fled south in 2009 to Texas to finish college and settle into a warmer climate). I spent most of Ground Hog day either shoveling the driveway or baking bread. At least I didn’t have to drive in it, since I had joined a vanpool in the Summer of 2010.
Rachelle visited us in January and grouted our entryway tile floor. Except for live streaming concerts broadcast by her college (UNT College of Music), I didn’t see her in person until Thanksgiving last month. She opted to endure more than one hundred days of one hundred degree heat in one of the driest and hottest Texas summers on record. But I’m jumping ahead.
Terry and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary at a flooded Table Rock Lake resort. No, we didn’t take in any shows in Branson. We did see evidence of flooding in the area, but nothing that interfered with our stay (since we didn’t plan to water ski or tour the lake by boat).
Summer 2011
We enjoyed surprise visits from my uncle Ron and son Derek and his wife Royna near the 4th of July weekend. We spent hours visiting and enjoying the cool air from my newly installed and updated central air unit (well, newly installed in December, but not tested until the heat arrived in June).
Home renovation began with the roof, followed by the driveway and then the fireplace. Our experience with the roofers left us euphoric, while the driveway contractor caused us ulcers. The first torrential rain waited weeks to arrive, and when it did, we still had a leak next to our fireplace. Every roofing contractor we had bid on our roof assured us the leak would be sealed by the new roof. Unfortunately, while the extra care taken by the roofers to seal around our fireplace did not fix the broken cap and mortar none of us had noticed. We found a highly recommend chimney repair contractor who replaced our cap, some firebrick and the mortar. We are happy to report that the recent rains (before and after Thanksgiving) did not result in any new fireplace leaks. We did discover our gutter draining into a basement window well, but we’ve solved that minor water mishap with some weaterproofing and gutter run-off upgrades.
We attended one of the largest SF conventions (the infamous Dragon*Con) in the country in Atlanta, Georgia (the last state of the lower 48 that I needed to visit). We won’t be returning to the venue, as the sheer number of people crowded into five huge hotels in downtown Atlanta blunted our enthusiasm for the events. I did get to meet three of my favorite artists: Don Maitz, Janny Wurts and Michael Whelan. We spent a pleasant evening with Don and Janny at a local steak restaurant.
A first for me (but probably not the last) attending a funeral on my birthday.
The Third Annual North Texas Thanksgiving gathered in Derek and Royna’s apartment in the Colony, Texas. A strange name for a community (or maybe not so strange) but a very nice place to live.
Advent 2011
December started with a ‘changing of the guard’ with respect to my vanpool. I became the sole driver. I managed to find three new willing riders, in addition to the remaining Hallmark rider. We finished our second full week together and we’re settling into a routine, just as we approach the holidays. I’m praying for good weather, not just because I’ll be the one that has to navigate the ice and snow, but also so my kids can travel safely home next week. Derek and Royna are driving up from North Texas on Christmas Eve and Rachelle is flying in on the Tuesday after Christmas.
While I’m looking forward to seeing Derek, Royna and Rachelle again, I’m also concerned about my husband’s health. As I mentioned last week in my request for prayers, something new has cropped up to dampen our festive moods. He did see a specialist last week and a biopsy is scheduled for three days before Christmas (so please keep those prayers flowing!).
No matter what the storms of life may bring, though, I will take time to ponder the wonder, the pure joy, of the greatest gift of love ever bestowed on such an unworthy world.
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and the government shall be upon His shoulder;
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. — Chorus, Handel’s Messiah
And so I’ve reached the penultimate day in my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ series. No, it’s not the final day, since this marks the twenty-fourth posting with six more to go, but it is the traditional holiday date to give thanks for all my countless blessings.
I’m extremely thankful that I didn’t actually have to roast a turkey. Thanks to a friend of my daughter’s, we had an exquisitely smoked turkey as well as a marvelous spiral cut ham to go with our many traditional side dishes. We did somehow manage to leave the cranberry sauce in Denton but no one is pointing fingers as to who rushed who out of the apartment. He did make an excellent gravy.
We’ve just cracked into the pies. The sticky buns batch I made this morning disappeared within a few minutes of coming out of the oven, so the pies are all that’s left to fill in whatever gaps might be left in our stomachs.
Rachelle and Terry seated at Derek's Transformer-like Table
We had some lively dinner discussion topics around my son’s interesting dining room table. Their apartment’s kitchen is a vast improvement over the one they had at the other apartment. The chairs are very comfortable and we enjoyed the food and the debates with equal relish. Some of us have drifted off into a food coma, others watched a movie, or played video games or, in my case, snuck off to write this quick blog post to recap the highlight of my November for the last three years. The long drive to North Texas from Northeastern Kansas is well worth the backaches and road hypnosis to spend a few precious days with my kids. No matter how connected we may think we are thanks to the Internet, or technology, or cell phones, or tex messages, it just can’t beat the up-close and personal reach-out-and-hug-your-loved one kind of experience.
This may be our final North Texas Thanksgiving gathering with both kids attending. It will all depend on Rachelle’s graduate school auditions and selection process. Next year, I may have to decide between a Colorado or Chicago Thanksgiving with Rachelle or returning to North Texas to visit Derek and Royna.
But I won’t dwell on a situation that doesn’t yet exist and may not be an issue as I just remembered that we will be in Texas next November no matter what for the inaugural Formula One race to be held at the Circuit of the Americas scheduled to occur just four days after my husband’s birthday.
Today, I’m just thankful to be here with my kids, their significant others and my husband, all together under one roof. If only Roxy and Apollo could be here as well, then my life would be complete.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends.
