A Very Merry Christmas

                                                          

  Merry Christmas to you and Season’s Good Cheer!

Glad Holiday Tidings and Happy New Year!

      Hope your gifts are all wrapped - Your yule log ignited.

That each Christmas carole – finds you simply delighted.

       This year just flew by as most of them do –

(The older we get- this is even more true).

       The theme for this greeting is to break from the stressing –

 and just take a moment to count a few blessings.

      Kayla moved twice and Kirk audibly groaned.

And now Prior Lake is where she’s calling home.

      That BS in Science, is serving her well.

What she does at her work - we can’t fathom (or spell).

      She plays hockey each week and frolics at night.

 She’s still weeding out wrongs - to find her Mr. Right.

      On Halloween, at a party for work, she thought,

“There’ll be tons of Mileys! I’m NOT gonna Twerk.”

      She packed up some clothes on a trip here back home,

and then won the contest - as a pretty good gnome.

      Kirstin graduated, from the college in May –

She’s an RN now and sees patients each day.

      Ben is in the health care field, too –

Working full-time on the ambulance crew.

      In February their family grew bigger by one -

when Audrey arrived (and oh! Is she fun!).

      A few teeth are coming and she’s standing a while.

She plays and she talks and she’s loaded with smiles.

      We just got the news that they’re having another –

In June Audrey will get a sister or brother.

      At the end of last year, they gave Kyle a hat –

with a tassel, and gown (We photographed that!).

      We had a party with cake, and had folks for some chow.

 He’s taking classes at BSU now.

      He’ll learn to balance the fun and the tests.

 It’s his first finals season - we hope for the best. :0) 

      After 16 years of watching hockey and such –

it feels pretty darned weird we’re not running so much.

      Kirk survived this year’s Thanksgiving sale. '

The crowd for the most part behaved pretty well.

      They bought gadgets, and toys and games and TVs.

The kids and I went (cuz it’s somethin’ to see).

      Besides without Kirk, we agreed, “Let’s feast later.”  

On the weekend we chowed on our turkey and taters. 

      He and a friend (who does the same job)  - 

will ice fish after Christmas to forget all those mobs.

      They’re already planning the trip-it’s locked in.   

 (And I think they’ll be packing a little Captain). 

      Lots of places still publish the things that I write.

 I do it from home – I write some days, some nights.

       I do stories and features, some columns, a blog.

This Christmas letter I do yearly, with nog.

     

 I spend time with Audrey when they need a hand. 

Kirk and I both love to see her, whenever we can.

      It’s a delight to see our crew grow a bit…

we have room for lots more and look forward to it.

      Our biggest blessing, this year we both know -

 Is we’re lucky to have our kids all pretty close.

      It looks like at Christmas we should all be together –

 Just crossing my fingers for no winter weather.   

      I’m so blessed to be a mom, grandma and wife;

I turned 50 this year, it’s a pretty great life.

     There are many blessings to count this time of year.

 I hope that you, too, have the ones you love near.

     I hope your fruit cake is fresh and your ham is delicious,

that you realize each one of your holiday wishes.

     That your ribbons and wrapping, match each other fine –

 And that Christmas is truly- a magical time.

      Love,    Sheila and  Kirk

Twists and turns

It has been an eventful summer and fall to say the least at our house.

In a twist...
Kirk was encouraged by his doctor to take eight weeks off of work and concentrate on getting his blood sugar back in check.
His Type 2 diabetes was pretty out of control about July and he just wasn't feeling well. His numbers were skyrocketing, even with medicine, and a newer diagnosis of high blood pressure was thrown into the mix and one medication leads to two, which leads to three and ....  they just decided to slam on the brakes and work on getting things back in check.
Well the eight weeks flew by just like we knew they would and he started back to work this past Monday. Things are still not where they should be but, of course, it's a marathon and not a sprint. He is also going to work on the sleep apnea they told him he had a while back. We've made a lot of changes and there will be more to come.

In a turn... Kyle has left.
Oh, he's not far. Bemidji is only an hour and a half away but after 25 years of kids running around the house with noise and friends and piles of things hither and yon it just seems weird.

About the time Kirk started his leave - Kyle started to pack.
Before we knew what was really happening it was just the two of us and the silly dog. Two people. Just like it was 27 years ago. Except now we are two people with five bedrooms, four bathrooms, five televisions, an acre and a half of a yard to mow and ... oh the silence is so loud.
Since I do all of my work and writing from home we did, however, joke that we got a little taste of what it will be like someday when we win the lottery :0) or, probably more realistically, retire. We're both still here to tell about it so I'm going to declare it somewhat of a success by George.  

Besides,
In another turn ...While Kirk was filling out paperwork to take his leave and Kyle and was putting all of his sweat pants and ball caps in suitcases I turned 50 years old.  Just 50. Practically a baby.
I have all kinds of time before retirement.

Meeting Jen

It probably wasn't nearly as big a day for her.

But for me?

It kinda rocked.

 

My family, all of the members of my book club, most of my close circle of friends, a few people on the street and a handful of other acquaintances have all heard me mention over the past few years that Jen Lancaster is one of my favorite writers.

 And now I've met her.

 

 

 

 

She was just as excited to meet me. (Don't you think she looks excited?)

 

I read a lot of different things by a lot of different writers. Sometimes I read dark and heavy things and some of it is for fun. With Jen, it's for fun. I like her first person, non-fiction stuff about making lots of money, losing all of her money, and then making it big as a writer.

And I like her newer foray into fiction, too. 

She's got a good sense of humor and a lot of her stories are silly but she came to my attention when I needed some light reads. Both of my parents were ill and Jen's take on life was a great diversion while I sat in hospital waiting rooms and dialysis clinics. When I read her first book and found that it was a guilty, but easy way to pass the time I looked for another, then another, then another.

Now that I've read them all I continue to patiently wait for her next book to come out each year.

 

I've seen her appearances on several talk shows.

I've seen the videos of all of her pets on You Tube.

I guess I've read almost every word Jen Lancaster has ever written, too. (I'm kind of a stalker). I read her blog. I follow her on Twitter. (But I would never, ever, go to her house - because she hates that.)

Several times I have said if she ever came to the Twin Cities I was going to see her.  

That worked out a couple of weeks ago when she visited the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Edina.

 

The internet said we would have to get armbands to get in, which they started passing out at 9 a.m. Making the jaunt in the afternoon from Brainerd meant we wouldn't arrive in Edina until 5. I was a little bit nervous but a couple of calls to the bookstore during the day left us thinking we'd still make it in. (But it also meant skipping the decent sit-down dinner with a before book-signing toddy we'd been planning on too.) It also meant sitting in metal folding chairs for over an hour in front of a row of very loud, excitable, noisy Jen fans that lived close enough to the book-signing to have had a before book-signing toddy (possibly several).

 

The crowd was big for Jen's appearance. It was also 99.99999999999 percent female. (One faithful awesome young father bopped in a couple of times to talk to his wife, who was waiting with the rest of us for Jen, but he whispered to her briefly and then quickly disappeared.)  

 

Most of the women were enthusiastic followers. Some of the them wore pearls (which I expected because, well, Jen lovers know Jen loves her pearls.)

Most of the women also toted one or more of her books because Jen vowed to stay until every one was signed. I (might) have had seven. 

My daughters are awesome people and each took a couple of my books up for me to be signed. In fact they are so awesome one drove me down and the other missed her softball game so she could meet us there and I could have my big night. 

 

They have listened to me quote, refer, and comment on Jen Lancaster for years.

They might roll their eyes at me but they respect my respect for her.  (Besides there's a little something called 'Harry Potter' in their lives that I just know would warrant a visit to see J.K. Rowling if there were ever a possibility.)

 

 

                                           (See. See their support and respect?)

 

I gotta say, Jen's book reading was fun!

Even my mocking daughters enjoyed her. 

The questions she took from the audience were answered with the humor I was hoping for. Not surprisingly the first question was from a lady there with some girlfriends who wanted to know if Jen would like to have a drink with them after the book signing. Because the thing about Jen and her books is ... you really do feel like you kind of know her.

She was polite when she declined looking at the crowd and predicting she might be there awhile.  

Everyone laughed through her presentation on trying to live for a year like Martha Stewart. Mostly because it was a crowd that could relate to the silly stories she shared about her life with her husband, her pets, and her everyday trials. (Not legal trials - her struggles with the aforementioned husband and pets).

 

Ah! Good ole' Jen.

She also left us thinking that she might come back to the cities again soon.

I hope so.

I forgot to get one of my books signed.  

 

 

 

 

  

 

   

 

 

 





Our Little Secret

I do not get in a car and drive to an office everyday.
I do not have a nifty phone connection for calls to get transferred to from a talented, efficient office assistant.
I don't get performance reviews.
I rarely get raises.
And I don't have co-workers to make small talk with or the opportunity to partake in water cooler conversation.

I generally send everyone else in the family off to start their day, then I close the door, throw in a load of laundry and move into the den, alone, to do what I do.
I know, I know, What DO I do all day?
I have heard that one before.

I check my e-mail repeatedly throughout the day. I make calls, I set up interviews. (I could kind of, sort of, use that talented, efficient assistant). I'm not gonna lie - sometimes I spend hours on the Internet, but not on Face book or online games. I'm usually backing up information, looking for sources, new topics to write about and doing research.
Some days I feel like I didn't accomplish much of anything. Some days I have several "Booya" moments when I make a dicey deadline or get positive feedback from sources, editors and readers.

These ladies know what I do all day.
Because they do it too.
Sigh! They are also wonderful writers. All different kinds of writers that write about all different kinds of things.
It's a wonderful little group of talented area women that I imagine get asked all the time what they do all day too. Mostly, it's our awesome little secret.

What's luck got to do with it?

It's a real thing.
People argue with me about that, but if you know us long enough, even you'll suspect I know what I'm talking about.  
It's The Curse of the Helmbergers.

No, Not life in general because we are extremely blessed.

But in lotteries, drawings, games of chance and even, sadly, your basic Bingo outting.
Kirk was one of TWO people left in a pool to win a pretty cool prize recently and, of course, the other guy went home with it.
Fifty-fifty are pretty good odd and we didn't even hold our breath. Powerball? Why bother.

As sure as I am that we'll never win anything of note I also suspect I have the power to rub my crummy luck off on others.
We're at the waning end of another hockey season and I got so wrapped up into the 'good luck,'  'bad luck' thing that my pre-game ritual became a little rediculous (even by my standards). Everyone knows hockey players/coaches/fans are a notoriously superstitious lot.
Shave/don't shave, dye their hair, don't dye their hair, etc. etc.

I got so out of control this season that the coat I wore, the nail polish I applied, my earrings and even my ever-present gray turtleneck (fellow parents - it's okay - I own three) were mainstays just to keep that tempo of a good season rolling. And once I hit on a routine that worked we went gangbusters... winning, winning, winning... even teams we usually don't we beat. 
Then we lost. It was bound to happen but it still stinks and I haven't said anything to many people but I know it's my fault.

I wore the gray turtleneck.
I wore the silver hoop earrings.
I had the Steady Reddy shade of nail polish on.
I even wore the old black coat even though I have a newer, nicer, warmer one in my closet.

But I've lost my bracelet.
And it had to be the bracelet.
It was a hockey themed charm bracelet my sister-in-law gave me at Christmas.
I tried to find it.
Desperately.
I went back and looked at the stores I shopped at that day.
I called the place I met parents at before the game.
I have all but ripped up the carpeting up in my car.
But it's gone.

And so I apologize to the boys on the Warrior hockey team. And their parents. And the other fans in the stands.
I probably jinxed you.

About that Helmberger jinx myth.....Now do you believe me?!