Fun Busy Days

My sweet "Loves" have been in town since the day after Christmas and my days have been a fun filled busy. Together we have turned over every rock, stone and wood stepping stone in Nana and Papa's yard several times and discovered many cool bugs and salamanders. Many books have been read through while sitting on a comfy sofa, with both snuggled close to listen. The kids were the best for a family party I hosted yesterday, playing happily in the empty room down the hall with the bucket of kids toys I keep on hand. We even went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks (and the Chipette's, my niece would want to include). Today, we are going to try ice skating, hope my bum bum and knees survive. There is something special about a child reaching their tiny hand, or it feels tiny in my hand, up into your hand to be held. My heart melts when Trin Trin says, reverting back to when she was a wee little one like Joe Joe, "Shaw, Shaw" or when Joe Joe says, clear as a bell, "Shel". My response always, "Yes Love".

Loving these fun filled busy days.

I Agree with Joey

My Joe-Joe Love does not care for Santa too much, me either. O, I love my Loves!

Unto Us A Child Is Born! 2009 Christmas Letter

O HOLY NIGHT!

O Holy Night! Composed by Adolphe Adam 1847

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of Our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world In sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd And the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope The weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks A new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts By His cradle we stand.
So led by light of A star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men From Orient land.
The King of Kings Lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials Born to be our friend.
He knows our need, To our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us To love one another;
His law is love And His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break For the slave is our brother;
And in His name All oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy In grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us Praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory Evermore proclaim.
His power and glory Evermore proclaim.

O Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas Carols, the words so precisely explain why Christ was born. Listen here to Josh Groban singing O Holy Night!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to you and your family! Christ the Savior is born! The Isaiah 9:6 verse in the picture above foretells the true meaning of Christmas and why Christ came to earth. God came in human flesh, born as babe because He would one day die and rise from the dead to restore the relationship between man and God. God paid the penalty of our guiltiness. Because of what Christ has done, we can go to Him and repent of our guiltiness of sin and put our hope and trust in Him alone. My hope and prayer is that the true meaning of Christmas will come true to your heart. If you would like to know more specifically about a personal relationship with Christ you can click here .

BLOG CHRISTMAS LETTER

Thank you for stopping in and reading my Christmas letter on the world wide web. This year I am trying a virtual Christmas letter. Some of you received an email directing you to this blog post, some simply read my blog and other's received a post card because I don't have an email address for you. If I don't yet have your email address you can leave a comment at the end of this post and include in your comment your email address or you can email me at firstnameunderscoremylastname@yahoo.com (I try to keep my last name and email address hidden from this blog, but if you know me, you will know these details so it's shelly_. . .). If you would prefer not to have your email address posted in the comment, I can just not publish your comment.

My goal is to save a little money on postage, conserve on paper and to display better pictures than what my printer prints on paper. Doing a letter this way might also help me to get out my letter every year instead of every other year. Sorry, I just get so busy before Christmas that getting out my Christmas cards each year is just so hard.

My blog exists to share with my dear family and friends who are located across the globe some of the happenings of my life and how God is working in my life. Sometimes, I am able to post on a somewhat regular basis and other times my busy life takes over and there are no posts. If you want to check out past posts on my blog, you can click on the title of my blog Shells on the Seashore or go to http://www.shellsonline.blogspot.com/.

THE BRIEF LOW-DOWN ON ME

In the grand scheme of life, nothing significant has changed with me. I'm another year older and hopefully a little wiser. Two birthdays ago, I gracefully slipped into my 40's, oh my, I still can't believe it. Time just flies on by. This year is my 16th year of teaching, 11 years at my present school. What a joy and delight to teach our youth about physical activity and being outdoors breathing fresh air and watching the clouds roll on by.

Gardening, farmer's markets and home preserving all seem to go together for me. God has given me a palate for fresh and wholesome food. I absolutely love making meals out of my "goodies" and when a meal turns out really yummy, it's called "yumahah!" (if you say it is almost, "It's yummy huh?" and is said like the motorcycle). To give my excess fruit and vegetables away to my family, friends and neighbors allows the yum to be spread around. Here is a sampling of some of the yummies from my little garden. I am convinced that anyone can grow a garden with a simple plot of land or even pots and planter boxes.

Here is my current winter garden: broccoli, celery, kale, Swiss chard, various kinds of lettuce, flava beans, onions and carrots. Thus far I've been eating from my kale, Swiss chard and lettuce.

The summer of '08 I had a prolific crop of apricots and plums. A dear friend taught me how to fresh preserve and can my first jams . Since then I have learned to fresh preserve many other foods. The beneficial aspect of canning your own food is you know exactly what you are getting and precisely what is in each jar. There is a wonderful freshness to something that has been preserved. When you work with a friend while canning, you can have a delightful time of fellowship and get a smooth running assembly line going. If anyone would like to come over to learn how to fresh preserve, give me a call and I would love to teach you.

Fresh canned peaches in a light syrup.

Homemade "smooth" applesauce with no sugar added. Yummy!

The house has seen a couple of significant home improvements over the last year and half. The front yard was landscaped minus the grass. The Bay Area, the entire state of California too, has been in drought conditions for the last few years, so I have held off on putting in the grass. Last summer my pool went through a major project of re-surfacing the plaster. The pool looks outstanding now and my whole backyard is improved because of the project. If you want to see the process you can look back in past blog posts and see the entire day to day improvements.

MY FAMILY

Many of you may not know, since I did not get out a letter last year, we have had a wonderful blessing added to our family, Joseph Charles. One of my greatest joys in life is being an Auntie to my sweet niece Trinity (4 years) and my sweet nephew Joey (1 1/2 years). I fondly call them "Love" or Trin Trin and Joe Joe. I so love them and cherish any opportunity to spend time with them. Whenever we are together, Auntie is everything.

A huge praise to the Lord, each of my family members are doing well at the present time. I am so thankful to God for each of them, they are so very special to me and I love them dearly. There is a deep bond between all of us. Here are a few photos of my dear family.

My Mom and Dad last weekend for my birthday.

The entire clan for our annual Christmas family picture.


HOLIDAY EXERCISE ADVICE

The holidays bring on a huge amount of busyness and extra calories. If you are going to enjoy some of the yummy food around you, make sure you get out and get some exercise. Exercise in a way that raises your heart rate significantly for at least, at the bare minimum, 10 minutes. Even better would be to set aside 30-60 of exercise at least 5 days a week. Your exercise does not need to be anything big or grand, just a walk around your neighborhood will do.

The tip I am sharing with my students this year involves working the core of your body (studies are starting to show that along with regular cardiovascular workouts we need to work our core muscles- abs, lower back, gluts, quads and hams to get the best benefits of exercise that will have the most observable longterm results. The tip I shared with my students is to use idol time in front of the t.v. or in between X-Box games to do a round of curl ups, crunches, push ups, planks, lunges or stretches. The commercials last for 2 minutes at the hour or half hour times and is the perfect amount of time to get a set of core exercises in.

For example during my hour CSI show, at 9:00 when the show starts I can do 30 curl ups (takes about 1 minute to do 30) and a set of as many as I can do of crunches in one minute. At 9:30 I can do 3 sets of 10 modified push ups (on my knees, keeping my back perfectly flat, takes about 1 minute) and immediately transfer to 3 sets of 20 seconds each of planks. When the show is over and I am waiting to hear the brief news prior to the 10:00 news, I can do a set of lunges, 10 on each side and repeat 3 times. My basic core workout for the day is done and it only took 6 minutes of my time while I was already not doing much of anything.

HOLIDAY RECIPE

During the holidays there are always parties to go to and often times you need to bring some fun festive food. I found a great recipe from the 2009 December Sunset Magazine that has been a big hit both times I have brought it to a party. It is called Roasted Pears with Almonds, Cranberries and White Chocolate Drizzle by McCormick & Co., Inc. Here is the recipe taken from the McCormick web site. Enjoy!

Roasted Pears with Almonds, Cranberries and White Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons McCormick® Gourmet Collection Cinnamon, Saigon
1 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Nutmeg, Ground
1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Cloves, Ground
4 firm ripe pears, such as Bosc or Anjou, halved and cored
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in small bowl. Place pear halves, cut-side up, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with no stick cooking spray. Drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture.
2. Bake 30 minutes or until pears are tender, spooning brown sugar mixture over pears halfway through baking. Cool slightly.
3. Bring cream just to boil in small saucepan on medium heat. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate; stir until chocolate is melted and sauce is smooth.
4. To serve, place a pear half on each of 8 dessert plates. Stir brown sugar mixture in baking dish. Spoon over pear halves. Sprinkle with almonds and cranberries. Drizzle generously with white chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.
Tips
Test Kitchen Tip: Stir 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Saigon Cinnamon into the white chocolate sauce.This recipe was created by Cat Cora, Bon Appétit Executive Chef, for the McCormick® Gourmet Collection.

Glory to God in the Highest!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!


With much love and care,

Shelly

Wonderful Start to My Vacation

My walking partner (and beloved sister in the Lord from my church), Suzanne, took me hiking just over a month ago to Briones Regional Park in the East Bay. That day, we made a pack that we would hike every trail in the park within a year's time. Beingtoday is my first day on Christmas Break from work, I decided there would be no better way to start off my vacation than with a good hike in the morning fog and to work on our trail goal.

This morning we parked off Briones Road, hiked a big loop on the Old Briones Road Trail to Briones Crest to Lagoon to Toyon Canyon to Tree and back to Old Briones Road.

On our travels we saw several newts along the way. A trail sign highlighted newts and stated "newts are traveling salamanders". I have not had the chance to look up what the difference is between a newt and a salamander (Tim Davis could give a good answer to this). When I felt the newt this morning he appeared to have firm and dry skin unlike a salamander who has loose and slimy skin.

The fog gave the landscape a mysterious feel. I decided to edit this shot and try black and white film.

The dew from the fog beaded so beautifully on the spider's web displaying her creativity.

The colors of fall/winter, the fog and the gloom, and the sunlight trying to burn through were incredible to the naked eye. The camera just can not capture the depth and hues of the true picture.

At some points, we were slogging through some mud and our boots were caked with mud making us a few inches taller.

Birthday Surprise

My sister Jen, is the queen of surprises and she pulled a great one on me this past weekend for my birthday. For the last several years, I have participated in a run/walk that my school promotes to the students. Usually the race takes place on the same weekend my birthday is celebrated. Just seconds before my 5K race started, I hear, "Auntie, Auntie!" I turn around and see my two sweet loves waving a sign and a hand wildly at me. What a surprise to see them at the race, I had no idea they were going to come and celebrate my birthday with me. Jen, my mom and Amy did a great job of not letting me in on the secret.

Knowing that I had two precious little one's waiting for me, helped me finish my race quickly. For this race, I had decided to walk the entire 5K and see if I could get my best walking time. My time at the finish line was 39:50, that's about 13:15 per mile. This was 6 minutes faster than my previous time. Next year my goal is to either run the 5K race or run/walk the 10K race.

Every year I am showered with love and kindness from my family and dear friends who want to celebrate my birthday with me. There are still a few more birthday celebrations to come with friends that I could not fit in during the busy weekend. Truly, the Lord has blessed me greatly.

40 at 40

Now that I am no longer 40, I can share a goal that came true the day before Thanksgiving, a goal I wanted to obtain before I moved to the next year of life. For the past 6 months, I have been working hard at trying to lose some weight and get a little healthier. The goal was to lose 40 pounds at the age of 40. All praise and honor goes to my Lord and Savior who allowed me to change my eating around, walk the tread off several pairs of running shoes and to keep me motivated. God has given me many "cheerleaders" and co-laborers along the way. Special thanks goes out to Suz for all the miles she walked with me on local trails. I think in October I walked 120 miles! There is more to go but it all takes time, hard work and God's enabling.

Snow Days

The mountain near my home and work gets snow on it a couple times a year but not the entire mountain nor the low lying hills. A cold front went through this morning and everything got a little dusting of beautiful snow.

The top two photos are from the top of the upper PE field at my school. Thankfully, my teaching station was not outside in the cold (the high today was in the low 40's) but in the comfort of the warm gymnasium. Tomorrow all the classes are outside for a run day, the highs are projected to be the same as today. Time to pull out the long underwear and layer it up.

The snow lasted the entire day and will most like last through tomorrow on the mountain. I took this shot driving down the highway of a different side of the same mountain above.

There is one time in my life that I remember it snowing at the house where I grew up. If my memory is correct I was in the 1st or 2nd grade. There was not much snow that was sticking to the ground, around 4". Mom and dad let my sister and I go out and play in it before school. We made a smaller snowman. That day, we went to school late to frolic in the snow. Still waiting for the day it snows again at my house, just not the hills and mountains close by.