Happy New Year!

My Wish for You in 2010
May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy
May the problems you had, forget your home address!
In simple words .............
May 2010 be the best year of your life!!!

My Favorite Brother-in-Law!

David Alan Von Duyke was my brother-in-law for over 44 years. In that time I don’t ever recall him calling me by another name than "Aunt Judy". He would greet me by saying "Hey Aunt Judy, how is my favorite sister-in-law"? He would also calls on the phone and identifies himself as "This is your favorite brother-in-law" ( I pretended I didn’t know that’s how he greeted all of his sister-in-laws the same way!)
I loved him because he was a rascal and sometimes irreverent. I enjoyed the verbal sparring we used to do. He loved to eat my cooking, so that put an extra star on his chart with me.
He was funny and bright with a teasing sense of humor. He would feign having his feelings hurt if his intentions were ever questioned. He would sometimes arrive in our driveway unexpectedly during the night of Christmas Eve. He’d sleep in his car in the driveway no matter if the weather was frigid and the temperature below zero, so that he could be there to watch watch Nathan and Sarah get up in the morning and open the presents that Santa had brought. He always told them that he had passed Santa on the way from Indianapolis to our house, and almost had a wreck-avoiding running into Santa’s sleigh.
And of course there were things I would never discuss with him.
Things like:
Politics, Religion, dog training, child rearing, horse training, cooking, fly fishing, boat rowing, auto mechanics, the weather, farming, gardening, fire lighting, Doctors, egg prices or the State of the Union.

There were two distinct opinions in this world. Uncle David’s…. And the wrong opinions.
He was charming to have at a party; he was congenial, comical, lovable and good looking.
I remember the day he arrived at our home in Valley City with the most exciting news he had ever told us.
"Hey Aunt Judy, I met a girl today"! "She locked her keys in her car at the nursing home where I work, and I gave her a ride home to Medina. I think I’m going to marry her"!
And he did!
God speed on your journey. We will see you later!

The day before the Birthday

Today is December 24th, 2009. I am in the process of baking a "Red Velvet" Cake. I will frost it with homemade Cream Cheese/Butter Frosting.

It should be cool in about an hour.

I will frost it on the "Good" glass cake stand and cover it with the glass lid.

It will be ready for dessert after tomorrow's Christmas Dinner.

It is a Birthday Cake. I make a Birthday Cake every year for dessert.

It is Jesus' Birthday.

There can never be too many sprinkles!

"So....what color should we use now"?

"All of them"!

The cutest thing was when I turned around and saw Daniel putting that handful of sprinkles into his mouth!

"Nana, don't you want to know if they taste good"?

"Yes I do Daniel"!

"Yum"!

Two days and counting!

Wow! I can't believe it is almost here.

Today will be spent wrapping, and delivering. I have a photo shoot at 9:00 for a TV Open House in January. The home owner almost had a heart attack when she learned the shoot was two days before Christmas! Then breakfast with two clients, delivering some gifts to clients who live out of the county and then back home to clean up this mess.

I got up at 4:30 this morning, but so far, the coffee pot is the only thing that I have laid my hands on and also took Toby for his morning walk. He looks so beautiful with his newly bathed and groomed coat. He thought the camera at this time of the morning was an intrusion on his beauty rest! Can't let Santa see a scruffy dog!

Tim is in Massachusetts, without his cell phone and that is a really big void in his trip. Hard to get directions etc., but hopefully he will be home tomorrow.

I have all the ingredients for tomorrow evening's meal and I am excited to have my family here to open their gifts. Somehow, Christmas would find me a little more prepared this year if it was at least one more week away. Well, it is in two days, so I best get hoppin'.

Merry "two days before" to you!

Friends and Family

Friday morning I met with six realtor friends for breakfast
at Bob Evans Restaurant. We sat down at 9:30 a.ml and
did not get up to leave until 11:30! Seven of us are left from
the original group that all started our careers at Realty One in Brunswick. Two of them are retired, one owns her own Brokerage now, one started a few years after the rest of us.

Yet we still remain friends. We all had stories to tell about our "present" and our past. Funny transactions, good sales stories, horror stories as well.

Coincidentally, it was my birthday and so unexpectedly all the wait staff came to sign Happy Birthday and present me with a huge cake with my name on it. One of the girls brought the
cake complete with sprinkles of candy canes and gingerbread men.

We all promised to get together next month. We 'll see if that happens. The market is rough right now and sales are really down. In fact they are almost non existent. Our sales board at the office is touting "one" sale for the month of Dec.

Later in the day, my kids and their spouses took Tim and I out to dinner for my birthday. The restaurant was called "Steak on a Stone". Located on Lorain Road in North Olmsted it was a "dining" experience.

The entrees are brought to each diner on a platter that holds a square heated stone. (750 degrees of heat) The steak is placed on the stone in the kitchen, brought to the diner at the table, the meat is flipped over on it's other side, and the waitress proceeds to instruct you on how to eat it. Very, very interesting! It was a great experience, and the steak was so good! There are other entree items that come on the stone also, shrimp, scallops, lamb, pork chops etc. Very unique dining experience! The restaurant is primarily Greek with an extensive menu that does not include "stone" cooking.

So I guess you could say I had to cook my own birthday dinner!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

My true love gave to me..a pre-school Christmas Program. Daniel (on the left) was chosen to sing "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" and he was fabulous!

Some of the children were a little "shy" about singing their parts, but not Daniel.

Then the biggest smile of the night came after the song was completed and Daniel (above right photo) leaned out of line and said "we are supposed to bow", and he did!

With a little help from my friends!

Dear Santa:

I need to fill 120 stockings for the needy kids in Northern Medina County for the Salvation Army.

Can you send me some Angels to buy the stockings, buy the toys, bring the candy, coloring books and crayons.? Can you send me some Angels to ask for donations, and ask some more, and ask some more? Can you send me some Angels to do the work of assembling the stockings and setting up and cleaning up?

"Yes I can" said Santa!

And Santa did!

Thank you Tina and Tim, Gerdi, Mollie, Mark, Christie, Pat, Jo Ann, Barb, Connie, Frieda, Judi, Noreen, Pam, Lori, Shirley, Linda, Mary Ann, Women's Council, Howard Hanna Brunswick and Medina, and to all of those unsung hero angels who chose not to be recognized.

The need was great and you all stepped up to the plate!

God Bless and Merry Christmas!

Out of the mouths of babes!

Dear God:

For Christmas this year, please send clothes for all those naked ladies on Dad's computer!

Santa visits #1, 2 and 3

This is a tale of three Santa visits. Two more than the norm perhaps but a true tale none the less.

#1 Daniel and I went to the Candlelight Walk in Medina and stood in line to visit Santa. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and the daylight was just starting to fade. There were probably 10 families ahead of us waiting their turn to step into the little house from the North Pole where Santa was receiving visitors. The weather was dry but chilly. As Daniel sto0d holding my hand he was looking around and taking in the sights, but soon tired of the waiting process and started to fidget. "Nana, my legs hurt"said Daniel. "Okay, we can leave then" said I. "No, I want to see Santa". "Okay then, we will stand in line. You have to be patient Daniel". "I have no patience" said Daniel. "Well, we can leave"..."No I want to stay". This went on for what seemed like an hour.

Finally it was our turn to step up on the platform and be asked to come in and visit Santa. The space was very tiny and was filled with a Christmas Tree, Santa on his chair, a photographer dressed as an Elf, and a lady taking names and addresses of Santa visitors that wanted to purchase a photo. Daniel was very animated and when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas he quickly replied "I want a toy motorcycle and a Lightin' McQueen coloring book".
Santa asked if Daniel had been a good boy and he responded the proper answer. He continued to chat with Santa until I finally intervened and said "Daniel, we have to leave now, there are lots of children waiting in line to meet Santa". With that Daniel turned to look at me, paused and then immediately turned back to Santa and threw his arms around his neck and gave him the biggest hug ever! As I watched in wonder, my eyes misted up, not a lot, but just a little. I turned away so Daniel wouldn't see me and I noticed the eyes of the Elf and the Secratary were misty too. Was that a Christmas Miracle?


#2 Visit was held at the Fairview Rec Center, "Breakfast with Santa" hosted by long time friend of Daniel's other grandparents John and Charlene Vas' , Josh Lorick, Financial Services. This is the 3rd year I have been invited to attend with Daniel. Daniel's parents both had to work this year, so Tim and I were able to see this Santa visit together.

Lots of children, lots of parents and grandparents, craft tables and a musician. Very lovely, but I did not get to hear Daniel's conversation with Santa. I was taking the photo below. He was a wonderful and regal Santa as you can see and Daniel seemed to enjoy the experience. He did seem a little reserved while sitting on Santa's lap however. Maybe the presence of his much older cousins Sam 10, Zack 7 and Thomas 5 were a bit intimidating but Santa sure was gorgeous!

#3 Valley City Chamber of Commerce hosted "Christmas in the Valley" the same day replete with a parade and loads of things to see and do at the Liverpool Community Center. One of the highlights was that Santa and Mrs. Claus paid a visit to the parade and rode in "Robin's Nest's little school bus". This is where Daniel goes to pre-school so he was excited to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus since they were riding in "Miss Robin's Bus".

We waited in line for just a few minutes and then it was Daniel's turn. Santa was very handsome but Mrs. Claus was especially beautiful. She sported a white beehive hairdo, white earmuffs with Christmas corsages attached, a lovely red and white faux fur trimmed cape (made by Terry Jones of Eileen's Cafe fame) and white boots trimmed with white fur. She was absolutly Elegant!
She peered at Daniel through her tiny wire rimmed spectacles and said "Well hello Daniel, how are you today?" (It happened to be that Mrs. Claus' day job was part time waitress at Eileen's Cafe, and familiar with Daniel since he was a tiny tot!). Tim and I have taken Daniel to dine at Eileen's for breakfast whenever Daniel gets to sleep over.

Daniel's eyes got as big as saucers as he climbed up on Santa's lap. As he was settling in for his third chat with the big buy, Santa asked the proverbial question "And what do you want for Christmas Daniel?".

Daniel looked up at Santa and said "I already told you once"!

Mrs. Claus whipped her head around to look at me (I was standing behind out of Daniel's line of vision and I hurredly mouthed the words "Toy Motorcycle". Mrs. Claus turned to Santa and said "Oh Santa, you were up so late last night making toys, don't you remember, Daniel wants a Toy Motorcycle".

Leave it to a woman to save the day!

So really, you had all better watch out, Mrs. Claus is watching!

(photo below is Santa #2) (Tim, Daniel and I in front of Santa #2's Tree)

The mouths of babes

She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under
the watchful eyes of her young grandson, as she'd
done many times before. After she applied her lipstick and
started to leave, the little one said, "But Nana you
forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!"

I will probably never
put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper
good-bye....

Holiday Humor!

Know what this is?
Frosty the Snowman's baby pictures!

In this life..

I'm a woman. In my next life I'd like to come back as a bear.
When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but
sleep for six months, conserving your energy.

I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself into a stupor.

I could deal with that too!

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs.

I could deal with that.

If you're mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too.

I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, gonna be a bear!

What's wrong with this picture?

...everything!

I just opened the mail from the "Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"This is a summary of claims processed from 8-28-09 through 11-06-09.

Radiology .etc referred by Dr. ----

Amount Charged $66

Medicare Approved $11.05

Medicare Paid Provider $8.84

You may be billed $2.21????

Dr So and So, Referred by Dr. --

Amount Charged $256.00

Medicare Approved $42.13

Medicare Paid Provider $34.50

You May be billed $8.63

It's just wrong, that's all, it's just wrong!

Who does the math for these things?