The street in front of our house still isn't plowed - my car keeps getting stuck and having to be dug out.  So I guess I'm staying indoors mostly for a while.

So everybody came.  Dan and Karen with Kristin & Tim on Dec. 22, Tuesday.  Anne and her family came over Wednesday and we had a big dinner and opened presents since she'd be on her way to Ithaca in the morning to visit other family.

Then Dan and Karen left Thursday morning to spend Thursday and Friday with her Dad, leaving Tom and me with an empty house and alone for Christmas Eve.  So we went out to eat.  Christmas Day Tom wanted to get groceries.  I couldn't convince him that Giant Eagle and most other stores would be closed on Christmas Day, so we visited 3 (closed) Giant Eagles, ending up at the one in Squirrel Hill.  He went across the street to the Kosher Mart, which, of course, was open, and got a few things.

Eric arrived with Lori and the boys (ages 6 & 8) in the early afternoon of that day, checked into their hotel and spent some time getting organized there - lunch and maybe naps and such.  Finally, they got over to the house around 4PM and chaos ensued.  We had to open presents almost immediately because the boys were so excited.  Then Max had to try to play with each item almost simultaneously.  And Eric cheerfully assembled a couple of car racing kinds of things, while Pax had to try every CD he got in his new CD player.  I fed everyone lasagna and they went back to their hotel shortly thereafter.

Saturday, Dan and family returned around 9:30AM and we quietly played "Ticket to Ride" for a couple hours.   I kept telling them that there'd be chaos once the boys arrived - and that's what happened. 

I keep saying to myself that I raised 3 boys and it must have been at least that chaotic some of the time - but that was 30 - 35 years ago.  I've gotten used to peace and quiet, I guess.  Although I totally enjoyed having them here, I'm just no longer accustomed to noise and needs of small boys. 

Sunday we went to Carnegie Museum to see the dinosaurs.  It's a different experience with youngsters.  No time to read the labels, got to see the next skeleton!  I'd not been to the Natural History Museum since they updated the dinosaur exhibit.  It's very impressive.  Natural looking settings, interactive computer explanations on many of the exhibits, explanations of how the museum acquired many of the items.  After thouroughly running through the dinosaurs, we went to the Discovery Room, where Max became engrossed in becoming a paleontologist and searching for dinosaur bones.  Pax was not interested, although he did page rapidly through almost every book he could find.  Eric and Max then explored the rest of the room together - a completely hands-on educational experience geared to the 10 and under crowd. 

Dan and family visited again with Karen's Dad and family on Monday, while Eric et.al. took care of getting gifts shipped back to their home before leaving for the airport.

Everyone was gone by about 7AM on Tuesday.  New Years Eve we ate at Amel's in the South Hills (early), came home and went to bed at our usual time. 

Now there's only the bills to pay and checkbooks to reconcile.  The aftermath, I guess.

Meanwhile, it's been snowing almost constantly.  Getting heavier even as I sit here at the computer.

I've not touched polymer clay since the last craft show on December 12.  I think I'm "clayed out" for the moment.  Sunday, friends came over and Carolyn was interested in getting some of the beads and necklaces my sister had accumulated before she passed away.  This is the first time I've gone through her beading materials since putting them away after I'd cleaned and sorted them when we brought them back from Philly.  Certain items make more sense to me now that I know what they're supposed to be used for since I've been doing some beading myself with my polymer clay beads.  Carolyn mostly is going to disassemble the necklaces she got and use the beads for other projects.  I'm thinking some of the ones I still have could be sold as 'supplies' on my ETSY site (www.marcympc.etsy.com).  But first I've got to take photos and figure out what prices to charge.  And I've become addicted to FaceBook games.  It's scary!

So we are a Jewish, Christian, Bhuddist, Mennonite, Wiccan and Unitarian family.  We exchange gifts at Christmas - it seems the 'thing to do' in American culture.  But we'd like to be together as we exchange them.  This was lots easier 25-30 years ago when Tom's 2 girls and my 3 boys were around high school age.  The girls lived with their mother and visited with us 2 or 3 times a week.  At Christmas time, we exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve as had been the tradition in my ex-husband's family.  (confused yet?)

Now there are also 4 spouses and a fiance.  And 3 grandchildren.  And 2 soon-to-be step-grandchildren, if there is such a thing.

Andy needs to stay home in Wisconsin and grade finals along with Bob, who has numerous essays to grade.

Eric can't get here until mid-day Christmas day because Lori's ex has their sons over Christmas Eve.

Anne will be visiting with Steven's brother in Ithaca, NY, for Christmas, leaving Pittsburgh on the morning of the 24th

Susan has pneumonia and won't be coming on Doctor's orders.  (She's doing fine, just can't travel, taking antibiotics and using an inhaler temporarily.)

Dan and Karen and Kristin and Tim will be arriving tomorrow midday.  They'll be staying with us tomorrow and Wednesday night, but then going over to Karen's Dad's for Thursday and Friday, coming back here Saturday and Sunday to visit with Eric and Lori and the boys, then going back to Karen's Dad's on Monday.  (confused yet?)

The above may be the simpler part of my holiday.  Then there are the gifts.  If nothing else, we are a computer-literate family.  Almost everything is purchased on-line and shipped here for all those who will be staying here.  So it's just a matter of reading mailing labels.  If it says "Karen, in care of Marcy, etc., it's something Karen purchased for some other family member and had shipped here.  It will either be pre-wrapped or she'll have to open the box and wrap the gift once she gets here.  So all I have to do is read the mailing label and sort according to whose name comes first.  Then I have to open all the ones that have my name first, and wrap the gifts inside if I was not able to order them pre-wrapped.  Sounds fairly simple, doesn't it.  NOT!

Kristin is in her first year of college.  So I open a box with some craft materials in it and try to remember who asked for this.  It's kind of feminine craft material, so it might have been Kristin.  But Lori or Karen might also have asked for these items.  Now I have to re-locate the 'Wish Lists' that I was ordering from so I can figure out whose name should go in the "TO:" space.  But I deleted all those emails after getting the presents.  So now I've got to email everyone again and ask them to re-send their wish lists - or the links to the on-line wish lists.  (It's amazing how many 'Tim Swanson's there are, for instance, and how few of them give any identifying information for their wish lists other than their name.  I finally realized that if I knew his email, I could probably get to the right one.)

And on the male side I have 4 people who could have possibly asked for a game for a playstation, a Wii, a nintendo, or similar such thing.  Or a book of comics or cartoons.  One is 6 years old, one is 8 years old, one is 17, and one is 41.  There have beeen about 6 items that have fallen into these categories already. 

I feel totally stressed out and we don't even have any company yet!

So I have to cook a nice meal for Wednesday night, when we'll do the major gift exchange.  Tom and I will be all alone on Christmas Eve.  Then I get to cook for people again Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Hopefully, we'll take everyone out to eat somewhere at least one of those times.

I love the holidays because we get to see everyone - but am also glad to see the season end.  Then things will be nice and dull.

Feeling overwhelmed. We just got back from a 3 day trip to Great Falls MT because my brother-in-law is in a nursing home and Tom wanted to see to settling things about his house, living will, power of attorney, and just to visit him. Well, we accomplished everything, all in below zero weather - it was -27 &deg when I started the rental car Tuesday morning to get to the airport to come home. Fortunately, the car started right away - something Tom was worried about - and we left it warming up while we had breakfast. We were staying at a bed-and-breakfast - Collins Mansion - that was the house Tom grew up in. He could coment on the changes - bathrooms in each bedroom - and on the things that were still the same. The room we were in had been his father's study, connected to the master bedroom through a powder room with a door on each side. That powder room is now the bathroom that went with the room we were in, and there is another in the formerly adjoining room.

Anyway, mostly feeling overwhelmed because the trip took 3 days out of ordering Christmas presents, preparing for Saturday's craft fair, clearing my desk and crafting work area before holiday guests come, reading my emails - well over 100 have accumulated - and opening mail. And the glass we ordered in Italy - Murano - just arrived this morning and has to be carefully unpacked. I haven't had time to make an appointment for a haircut and resemble Albert Einstein at his worst at times. Also haven't cashed out from the last craft fair last Friday and Saturday - yes, we left home on Sunday for Great Falls. Yikes!

He asked Lori to marry him at the Golden Gate Bridge vista point - and even arranged it so everyone in the family who was there for Thanksgiving were witnesses to the event.  And had Dan taking pictures!  A really neat proposal!  Oh, yes - and the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday also went very well.

I'm preparing for another craft fair, this one to run Friday and Saturday.  I'm incredibly behind on my record keeping and probably won't have time to create more product for the fair, so I'll just take what I have and head off for Bethel Park's St. Valentine School.  And it's time for Xmas shopping.  And I've got to get the house cleaned up so Paxton and Maxwell don't trash it any more than I already have.  (They're Lori's 2 boys - ages 6 and 8).  AND - Sunday through Tuesday we're going to Great Falls, MT, to visit with Tom's brother, Dean.  So I'm feeling a little frazzled.

I've geen doing craft shows every weekend this month so far - one more weekend to go and then off to Dan's for Thanksgiving get together with the entire family - and a chance to relax.  In between craft shows I've been scrambling to keep up with my stock - a real problem since what goes really well one weekend doesn't seem to sell at all the next.  Go figure.  Anyway, I've sold maybe 5 of my switchplates,  two or three clocks and a LOT of bookmarks at the Whitehall Public Library crafts fair.  "Critters" seem to go well.

  It's still too warm to sell many zipper pulls.  The better pen and pencil sets and letter openers haven't been selling at all, while the fancified BIC pens sell slowly (and I'm only charging $1.00 for them).  So I'm doing a lot of polymer clay fabricating and listing items on ETSY.  www.marcympc.etsy.com  The Polymer Clay Artists Guild of ETSY (PCAGOE) is going to have a "Black Friday - Cyber Monday" promotion during which I'll be offering 20% off everything on my site starting Thanksgiving Day and ending midnight Monday, November 29th, as will all other participating PCAGOE members.  For other artists' work, you'd search on "PCAGOE BFCM" in ETSY'S search engine.

Here are some future clocks:

The above are different views of the same clocks - I need more practice in making bugs for my frog to catch around his pond.

There are 2 other versions of the "clock faces" clock - all they need is clockworks.

And these are a couple of newly decorated and polished boxes.

As for the rest of my life recently, I'm taking 4 classes at Osher Carnegie-Mellon - "Jewish Holidays", "Landscape Design", "Art in Pittsburgh", and "How to Lose Weight".  Certainly a variety of subjects!  Fortunately, "Art in Pittsburgh" is only 2 sessions at City Theatre. 

Gardening season is about over for me - I finally got the last few arrivals into the ground in the cold, so, of course, the weather has been warm for the last couple of weeks.  But it's also been dry - I hope those plants survive.

This past weekend the Pittsburgh Polymer Clay Guild had its annual retreat at Lutherlyn, a campsite located just north of Pittsburgh.  2 1/2 days spent claying, learning from each other, having demos, making smores, eating chocolate.  I started 3 different clocks using wooden plates as templates, as well as made a number of zipper pulls and key chaings.  Also a frog.  And a silver ring from PMC - precious metal clay.  This requires a special kiln and tumbler for finishing.  In its clay form the PMC is very delicate and prone to breakage.  But thats where all the design and ornamentation is done, as well as some of the finishing.  Don't have photos of my stuff yet, but here are some of the claying room and one of the entire group:

Yesterday I planted 4 items that came from a mail-order nursery - they sent out an end-of-season sale email.  I'm a sucker for those kinds of things and they've got my number for sure.  So I got those plants into the ground, as well as pulling lots of weeds (otherwise, why did it take me 2 hours to plant 4 little potted perennials?).  And I got back into the house and there was the shipment from a different end-of-season nursery.  Those plants will have to wait for tomorrow (in the predicted rain?) to get planted.  Today is just too over-scheduled.  And why, I may ask, am I spending time blogging?

Saturday was a craft show at a local church - I made back my investment to rent the table plus $5.00.  It was fun, but financially not viable.  Good thing I don't have to do this for a living! 

This weekend is the Pittsburgh Polymer Clay Guild's annual retreat.  At Lutherlyn (hope I can find it).  So far I've got about half of my studio loaded into my car.  No clothes, bedding, towels, etc., but lots of polymer clay crafting items.  (At least it seems like half the studio.)  Don't know what Tom's going to do for the weekend - he doesn't seem real happy about me being gone that long.

This morning I prepared instructions for my demo on the "brain cane".  Guess I'll just have to wait til I'm there to actually starting to prepare clay for the demo.

Yesterday Tom and I and about 70 other older folks from Temple Sinai went on a bus trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art where there is a Paul Guaguin (sp?) exhibit.  Tom spent all his time in the Guaguin part whereas I went through that at what I thought a reasonable rate, then had time to see some of their Modern Art collection on the second floor.  It was an enjoyable day - I didn't hurt despite all the walking and standing (YAY!!!!).  And the leaves are still beautiful for the 2-1/2 hour drive.  Each way.

I keep saying I'm done gardening for the season, then finding myself out there pulling weeds.  At any rate, I think I'm through dividing perennials for the fall.  There's still weeding and cleanup to be done.

Just thought I'd finish with a group photo of the next set of switchplates I'm planning to list on Etsy.

Yesterday I finally made it back into the garden to divide up some coreopsis.  And of course got distracted by weeds to pull.  But the perennial did get divided - into 6 - and planted.  The first time I've been able to use a real shovel in several years without lasting pain!  Today it has turned cold and drizzley.   I'm glad I got it done.

Over the weekend, I finished 4 desk clocks and 2 wall clocks.  They have been around for weeks in various stages of being completed, but now they have clock mechanisms and hands, so they are officially clocks.  Once I've processed the photos, I'll have them available on my marcympc etsy site, but here's a preview:

First one is a wall clock that looks like antique copper:

Then a sort of rustic looking wall clock:

And a clock face: 

A nebula: 

These are another wild garden, and finally, one with dots and spirals:

At the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, I've been taking a class on 'Downsizing your space'.  This has led to cleaning out of many drawers and disposing of much clothing.  Unfortunately, there are still lots of drawers yet to be cleaned - I've barely started on the kitchen, for instance.  And there are closets in the basement that haven't been really LOOKED at in years.  In fact, while searching for a game stored somewhere in the house, I found a bunch of large old X-ray films stored there.  Now, I figure that if anyone really wants to see my insides they'll order new X-rays (or more likely, MRI's), so I pitched all them, too.  Do you suppose I have a privacy issue here?  After all, every time I go to the doctor's, I have to sign a form saying they've told me all about their privacy policies.

We just got back from Atlantic City where my high school class of 1957 celebrated our 70th birthdays.  Funny, when you're 18 and just graduating from high school you never think to say "Just think - in only 52 years we'll all be 70 years old."  Yet that's what happened.  So we didn't have a 52nd reunion, but instead it was a 70th birthday party complete with cake(s).  There were about 100 people at the event, around 80 of them graduates and the others were spouses.  Tom went off to a casino to play poker and I went with my girlfriend Vicki - we were staying at her house.  She and I had a good time.  Tom had less of a good time.

Besides the reunion we went birdwatching twice, both times at the Brigantine (excuse me - Edwin Forsythe) Nature Reserve.  We saw lots of egrets - Great, Snowy, and Cattle - Great Blue Herons, cormorants, Canada geese (of course), black ducks, gulls (mostly laughing and great black-backed), some sandpipers we couldn't identify, a couple night herons, some hawks (harriers, mostly), wood ducks (a surprise - haven't seen them there before - not that I get to go there very often), what seemed to be  thousands of tree swallows, and around a hundred red-winged blackbirds.  That I can remember.  Fewer varieties of ducks than I was expecting and far fewer Monarch butterflies.  We went for walks on the boardwalk in Ventnor and out to eat a couple times.  Got home last night.  I didn't take any photos but our friend Brenda did.  Here's one of me with Vicki.

Other than that, I've got lots of mail to go through, lots of emails to read and still have those clocks to finish.  I have the feeling I could spend days learning more about using Etsy effectively, but don't have that kind of time.  Actually I feel kind of overwhelmed right now.