Settling in for the Winter

We are settling in for the winter.  The tree is finally down and most of  Christmas is put away.... Artificial tress never fit back into the box the way they came out and each year it seems to be worse.  I would love to have a real tree but the fire hazard and the mess prevent me from getting one.  Here in the wild and wooly NW, we seem to have a huge number of house fires which start with the good ol' tree......  No thanks!

Santa was good to all of us.  Phil spoiled me as usual with a digital picture frame, jewelry and a Nintendo DS.  He also bought me a full-spectrum light to help with the SADD because of the decreased sunlight.  I bought Phil an autographed football and display case and other STEELERS stuff.  Dylan and Alexis rec'd lots of nice things from Santa.  No coal this year!

Today, Saturday, we launched ourselves into the insanity called the mall.  Even worse, we decided it would be a good day to go to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  NOT!!  Between stuffing, birth certificate and paying for it, Dylan and I were in line over an hour!  Everyone was polite and civilized so it wasn't too bad......  We are still trying to get Dylan to understand the concept of "your money is gone" and making choices.....  Asperger's prevents him from grasping these concepts.  He did pretty well and we didn't have any meltdowns......  The Shrek triplets will have to wait until February's allowance.  Oh well.......  Collecting sets of plush or stuffed animals remains an obsession, so much so that I had to buy a used port-a-crib to corral most of them upstairs in the playroom.  We have a playroom that looks like Toys R' Us or Build-A-Bear threw up all over it!  Oh well, it makes him happy and they are all his "friends".  He usually drags R.J. the raccoon from Over the Hedge and the plush d'jour with him everywhere we allow it.  Only R.J. goes to church......

We are heading into the hardest part of winter.....  Although the shortest day was 12/21/07, we are still dark before 4 pm.  Daybreak is around 7 am, so, you do the math.....  We did see some sun today.  We have been above freezing for the past week so a good portion of the snow has melted.  You can see the rooftops but that won't be for long.  More snow is on the way for next week.  January and February are our snowiest months.  this time of the year no one buys Algore's global warming theory......

Mandy is enjoying herself in Manzanillo.  She posts new pictures regularly on her MySpace page.   You can look her up by name.  She and Loren have some terrific underwater pictures.  Ignore the pictures of drunken debauchery......  Remember, she is an adult without any responsibility.  She will settle down someday......  I hope!   Anyway, she looks like she is having the time of her life!