Thursday, December 29, 2011

A peek into our ~Christmas in Connecticut~

Howdee all,

Christmas Day 2011

We used to have our Christmas get togethers at Mom and Dads..

Last year, Sicksta Lori and hubby Attillio started to host the family gathering

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Here are a few photo highlights from our day………

~Christmas gathering at the Diloretos~

Afternoon potluck meal held in the three car garage and Attillio’s guy pad.

imageThe dessert hit of the day made by Nidya.

Carrot cake

imageSickstas..

Adele, Lori, Tammy and Me..

We are missing just one Sicksta..who didn’t make it here this year…Charlene from Montana.

imageMom and Dell, Tink and me..

imageBrother John with Dad and Jeff C.

imageOur devil of a host…Atillio

imageCoin head Colin with Piero, Ati and John

imageUpstairs for the Yankee swap..

imageSicksta Tink wants them all!

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Daughter Samarrah and Jeff C.

imageJulia gets her first phone…She was extremely excited and teary.

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Evening Bonfire

imageOnly niece Tara can pull off this plaid PJ and coat attire with glam style.

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Jeff and his aperitif of Grappa~Jeff and Sicksta Dell say no sipping…just let it hit your lips to taste.

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It was a wonderful day that passed much to quickly…

We ate too much, laughed allot..

PS~I didn’t take any of these photos..I stole them from my Sickstas and niece Tara..ssshhhhhh don’t tell.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Leaving Connecticut sunrise~

Howdee all,

On the road again.

This is the sunrise we saw this morning as we left Connecticut.

 image_thumb[1][1]Our week visit with the family zipped by so quickly..and here we are on to the next destination.

Pittsburgh, Pa

We are bringing Colin back for his follow up appointment with his surgeon and he will go back to his apartment. He needs to work again and is looking for a good bartending job in the area..If you happen to know of any..give me a shout.

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After our two day stint in PA, we return to NC and our Homey.

We will stay there to celebrate New Years and then head our wheels south.

Warm weather and sandy beaches await.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Wishing you Light and Love

Howdee all,

 

Wishing all of My family and friends who celebrate Christmas..

A Day filled with Light and Love.

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Family and Fun..

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Jeff and I will celebrate with my family today…

We are in Connecticut..

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We will all go to my Sickstas for a family get together..

Potluck..and Yankee swap

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What are you doing today?

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Whatever it is..I hope you have a Wonderful Day!

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Tis always the season…for kindness

Howdee all,

 

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I loved this video…I think you will too.

Wishing you all

A Peaceful Winter Solstice, Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas and

Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Winning!

 Howdee all,
 
Jeff, Sicksta Dell, Colin and I are giving Mom and Dad a two night break from having four extra people and five stuffed dogs in their two bedroom home.
We drove a few miles to
Foxwoods Resort and Casinos
The view from our room this morning.



I gambled last night..and left with this... :)

Ha!

I am not a gambler~I put five dollars in the penny slots..
At least I didn't loose it all.

WINNING!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas morning~2001

Howdee all,

More of my dusty cyber photos to go thru..

Here we are

Ten years ago..

Christmas morning

Our forth month in our Homey on wheels.

Sedona, Arizona

I am in the front of Homey speaking to my family in Connecticut via our old Nokia brick cell phone hooked to hands free speaker. Very high tech for the times.

Samarrah, our daughter was visiting with us for the holidays.

 xmas

Some of my favorite (small) decorations I brought with me from our home.

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Collection of Santa's and snowman and our Stockings…

Copy of xmas1

Our tree…

Copy of xmas6

Santa and SnowmanCopy of xmas7More Santas..xmas8

My Sweet Balliecat… :(

balliexmasWe spent the day hiking..some of Sedonas Vortex areas

sedonabellrockTrying to capture some earth energy..

sedonaOr feel the vibrations..

sedonadrivecastleIt may have been my imagination..I felt the energy

It certainly is a special place.

sedonadriveheartIt was also a little like New England..

The chilly and snowy part…:)

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It was a wonderful first Christmas in Homey..

Where were you 10 years ago December 25th?

Sunday, December 18, 2011

What do you think?

Howdee all,

I found this background today and added it to my template blog to test it out..

What do you think?

Click on the link to see it in full version..

Dawns Template Testing Blog

Let me know how it loads for you..seems to load oddly.

Doesn’t show on Ipod or iphones…you need to use the mobile version in order to see my blog.

This would be so very different than my current blog.

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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Wordpress.com vs Blogspot ~Help me decide

Howdee all,

A few days ago I had a blog scare. I went to log onto my blog and the browser said that Dawns bloggy blog does not exist. I had Jeff try to get to my blog and he had the same message..

Ugh…my heart started racing..My travelogue gone?

I quickly wrote an email to Blogspot and Google. I noticed Google has been going thru some changes lately and thought it could be related to that.

I tried signing into Google and got a message about suspicious activity. I then had to go thru a sign in process which included them calling my phone number and giving me a code in order to get back to Google. Long story short. My blog magically appeared again.

Lesson learned~Back up my blog weekly

How to Backup a Blogger Blog

Then I started toying with keeping another back-up of my blog at Wordpress.com

I imported my blog there and played around with templates.

I wanted to keep my birdie and the brown background..make it similar but a different look than what I have now.

I also played around with Blogspot templates on my Template testing blog to see what I could come up with.

I don’t know if I want to switch to Wordpress…

I know those who use it love it. In order to have better control over themes etc. you really need to have a Wordpress.org account. From what I understand that means having the blog hosted and other yearly fees…something I didn’t want to do for my little blog.

I am not sure about Wordpress.com, I think there is a limited amount of storage for photos etc. then you pay for extra storage. I am paying 5 dollars a year storage for my current blog.

I also think that there is advertising inserted in Wordpress.com accounts.

Any wordpress lovers out there please chime in.

Anyway..

I have come up with two other templates.

They are not finished.

I will have more in the sidebars~similar to what I have here at this blog.

Let me know what you like the best.

Click on the Links to get a better feel for each template and let me know what you think.

1-Current blog

I have started to add link pages up top to get rid of some of my sidebar clutter.

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2- New Blogspot blog

Not sure why I am getting a white square around the pictures on the sidebar and on the photos in the blog post.

I like the fonts..and you can change them for no cost at anytime.

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3-Wordpress blog

Kind of like that I can insert a photo..

Not sure if I like the text without a background color.

Cant change fonts at Wordpress.com unless you pay a fee.

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Ok..let me have it!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Its almost Christmas 2001

Howdee all,

Looking back into the dusty cyber archives…

Its near Christmas of the first year of full timing in our Homey.

We are far from our east coast families.

Where are we?

And who is the special Christmas guest sitting on the distant rock with me?

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 Sedona, Arizona

Boynton Canyon

sedonaboyntoncanyo1

Our daughter Samarrah came to spend some time with us.

sedonaboyntoncanyonIt was much colder in Sedona than in Phoenix..

IMG_0296We had some snow!

sedonaboyntoncanyo4A beautiful place to spend our first Christmas.

sedonaboyntoncanyo10

sedonaboyntoncanyo9We went into town to look at the Holiday lights..

IMG_0313IMG_0312Southwest style..

IMG_0314Stay tuned for more nostalgia..

sedonalights

Sedonalights