Take a Step Back in Time...

If you woke up in the morning from these comfortable quarters and stepped outside your lavish accommodations to this view....

...and walked across these grounds to the baking room...

....and prepared the morning loaves of bread....

...to bake in this outside brick oven...

...and then walked across the grounds to the general store to pick up some necessities....

....and then walked next door to the candle maker to pick a new tallow...

...and then walked back across the compound......to the kitchen to check on lunch preparations...

...and then went to your office to...

...review the applications for the recent job posting you have been advertising for...

....and then went to the weaver's manufacturing plant to check on the special order blanket you are having made.........and then walked across the compound to visit the hardened criminal you have in your basement jail cell..

....you may just be John Sutter, and you may live at...

...Sutter's Fort in Downtown Sacramento. Of course when this was your typical day this was not Downtown Sacramento and you weren't also surrounded by high rises. We stepped back in time today as we toured this historic fort. The day was cold and foggy, a perfect day to step back in time.

As much as I was tempted to leave Michael in the basement jail cell, I showed mercy on his tender soul and allowed him to come home with us.
The best part of the day was finding this little gem tucked behind the fort. Unfortunately they did not allow picture taking inside. This is now my favorite museum. I loved it and highly recommend it. It was chock full of art, history, photos, jewelry, weapons, baskets....I could have spent hours in there. I will definitely be back, it is an incredible place.

Before and After...and other ramblings

This is my sweet, darling daughter before she left the house this morning.



Here she is 2 hours later after she came home. What a difference!! She left the house a pimply, brace-faced kid and came home a gorgeous teenager....how does that happen? I think my life just got more complicated.



On another note...I hope everyone had a wonderful holidays. Ours was fantastic....and now they are over. Today I put away all the decorations and undecorated the tree and composted it. The Magic is over for another year. I always love getting ready for Christmas and when it is over, I love getting the house back together and normalizing everything.



Fortunately, I am still on vacation this week. I am thoroughly enjoying these days of leisure. Cassie and I saw Twilight last week. She loved it, I was ambivalent. I think the movie was poorly cast, although the girl who played Bella did a wonderful job. I loved the book though and I think the movie that plays in your head while reading a book never quite measures up to the movie that shows on the big screen.



Of course there are always exceptions and Marley and Me is just that exception. I loved the book, I laughed, I cried...I totally relived my dog raising years while reading the book. The movie was great, it was phenomenal. I was worried about Owen Wilson doing the movie justice...he did. I laughed, I cried, I relived my dog raising years while watching the movie. While I was sobbing at the end I looked over at Michael and he had tears coursing down his cheeks...it was very touching. I highly recommend the movie, but read the book first.



We are going on a field trip tomorrow....I will post about it when we get home.


Have a great day!!!

Merry Christmas

I wish you a peaceful and joyful Christmas. I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for. I hope your day is free of family drama and angst. I wish for health and happiness for you and your families.

Merry Christmas my dear bloggy friends, I hope your day is filled with magic.

This is my absolute favorite Christmas song.....Enjoy.

Annual Train Trip

Today we took our annual train ride to Old Sacramento. Our trip is the same every year, our children love tradition. If you are interested in seeing what we do every year, please refer to this post from last year. This year I decided to take you on tour of Old Sacramento and show you snippets of this beautiful, historic area that you might miss if you were visiting.



Sit back and enjoy your tour of Old Sacramento...

This frightened me a bit. Unfortunately, I don't think the general public's attitude has changed much.

This is for my good friend Slick. Is this how you say good bye to your lovely family when you go to work??

The Sacramento River.

I hope you enjoyed your tour...we definitely enjoyed our adventure!!

Another Good Laugh

More items to bring a smile to your face. These were also sent via email from my Mother in Law...Enjoy!

Have a great day!!

Award and a Meme

Weeks ago my dear friend Dysfunctional Mom gave me this adorable award. Can't you smell the puppy breath?? Thank you so much, you are very kind and sweet. If you have never visited Dysfunctional Mom do so now...you will not be disappointed.



Around the same time I was tagged by Storyteller....here it is:

"I’ve lost several friends through Breast Cancer. We can only hope that there will always be funds enough to keep the research going. Some illnesses can never be cured, but there’s been so much progress in Cancer Research that many people have been saved.One of the most important things is Early Detection. Read more about that here.

* One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.
* Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.
* Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.
* Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50.
* Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.
* Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.
* Early detection of breast cancer, through monthly breast self-exam and particularly yearly mammography after age 40, offers the best chance for survival."

Facts taken from Women’s Health

And now here is the tag and the rules:

1. Put the logo in your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who shared it with you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Add your link to the list of participants below
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

PINK Sisterhood

I like this meme and I have no problem passing this on to my fellow blogger friends...

Swampy

ChrisB

Heather

Karisma

Jennifer

Chrys

Melissa

1- Fara 2- Massy 3- N.O.Y 4- Mariuca 5- A Great Pleasure 6- LadyJava 7- Kim 8- Pink Thoughts 9- Turn-u-Off 10- Roxiticus Desperate Housewives 11- STAY AT HOME MOM 12- Fida Abbott 13- Also Mommy 14- Janice Ng 15- Juliana’s Site 16- The Painted Veil 17- Heart of Rachel 18- Mga Muni-muni 19-Picture Clusters 20- Scraps of Mind 21- Antoinette 22 - Hootin' Anni 23 - storyteller 24- RDHmom

PINK SISTERHOOD!!

My apologies in being so late posting this award and meme.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Here are a few things to make you smile today. All of them came to me in an email from my Mother in Law. She is doing much better now, thankfully. Enjoy!!

Have a great day!!

Our Annual Christmas Tradition

Today was the day....the Annual Get Our Christmas Tree Adventure. Our adventure is the same every year, see last year's adventure, yet it is different every year. We go to the same farm, traipse through the same forest, have lunch at the same place, ride the same hayride...yet every year it is different, and every year it is better.
This is the first tree that caught our eye today. All of our ornaments would clearly stand out with this tree. The only problem was that it was not quite green enough, so we moved on.


This tree really called to us. Micheal really liked this tree...he likes cute little things. Unfortunately we have way too many ornaments for a tree this size so we had to walk on by, again.

We finally located the perfect tree. Before we could cut it down, we had to perform our Family Ritual...dancing around the tree and singing the Christmas Tree Dance song. You are in luck this year....I videoed the dance. Oh Yeah......you can thank me later!!

We have been performing this ritual for many years...I think we even did it before we had children!! If you think that is bad....we sing this song every year on the drive up to the Christmas Tree Farm.

Just for you.....here is my family performing the above song last year on Christmas morning for their grandparents....again...you can thank me later!!

I never said we were normal!!!

We transported our carefully chosen and thoroughly christened tree home and decorated it. Our tree is beautiful, our house smells heavenly, and our family tradition has continued on for another year.

Merry Christmas!!! I hope I brought a smile to your face and a chuckle to your belly!!!