75

Just squeaked this pick in today. School was cancelled due to the 4 inch sheet of ICE coating every surface outside. I found this out at 6 a.m. when I let the dog out to pee and promptly fell on my butt. Which was still in pajama pants. Stop laughing, dammit.

Anyway, I decided to make a huge batch of caramel corn and Ro and I had a movie afternoon. What good is staying home if you can't rot your teeth AND your brain at the same time?

Also, today is day 75 out of 365. It's too long. And not long enough.

I got yer Christmas cheer right here, pal!

I always thought she ate them on purpose.

Happy (slightly belated) Birthday to me!

OMG, YUM!

Would it be wrong to just pop the tops on these babies and pour 'em into my mouth at the same time?

Thanks, Chris!!

Sweets for my sweet.

I have a hard time with care packages. First of all, after nearly nine years at war, military infrastructure is such that R has better access to some American items down range than I do living on post in Germany! Also, I'm not a big fan of sending "stuff" for stuff's sake. After watching him pack and repack his rucksack to accommodate a command-issued list full of redundancies, it doesn't seem sporting to send boxes of items that he'll have to store. Or eat, and frankly, that just gets stored around his middle, right?

But it's Christmas. And maybe it's not about the "stuff" but when you're 2,500 miles away, it's pretty hard to whisper "Merry Christmas" into a cardboard box and hope that the holiday spirit makes it to the middle of the desert intact. Here's where tradition comes in to save the day, because homemade treats, brightly wrapped packages, colorful cards and shiny ornaments all sing out"Merry Christmas!" and will make it to the desert (mostly) intact.

I didn't think it was possible, but I'm finding that my inherent practicality and infrequent sentimentality intersect at Christmas.

Breadsticks

Cheating

This is actually cheating, since it's the same picture on that other blog, but hey, it's a picture. We're getting very close to the departure date, and squeezing in a lot of family time, so my photography focus is somewhat... blurry. I do have a whole list in progress of ideas for my 365, tho, so hopefully I'll have better luck when I start this for real.