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Happy End to 2009!

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Aaaaaaaaaaaah . . . . That's just me heaving a great big sigh of relief. Even though I know that that year-end blitz of too-much-to-do, too-little-time is coming, and try to downsize and minimize the stress factors, I still get caught up in it. Cards never got sent, packages didn't get mailed til after Christmas (it's in the mail, no really, you know how the Post Office is), and now I want to finish decorating, while everyone around me has all their assorted holiday crappage thrown out/packed away/put out on the curb. I guess I just move to a different (slower) beat. On a lighter note, after two months of eating like a sumo wrestler caught in a burning marijuana-field downdraft, I've lost three pounds since Sunday, after starting to eat more sensibly. No ice cream, no cookies. No white flour stuff, pasta, pizza. Just wanna lose another seven pounds. Time to get in shape for the annual migration to Brazil. Gotta dust off the old bikini. Figuratively speaking, of course...
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The Bear Pantry

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Some of you may know I have a daughter in her senior year at UC Berkeley. She and her two kids have been living at UC Village, a housing complex for student families. So she's been in a position to know firsthand how difficult it can be to have to juggle not only your classes and studying and working but also the needs of a family. And she knows what disasters can happen when things like paperwork and computer records get fouled up and a student loan payment or grant doesn't arrive when expected. Then if student fees, including rent, aren't current, you can't sign up for the classes you need to be a full time student to qualify you for your next loan disbursement, and - then what? So many problems to get through, so much frustration and stress, but especially so if children are in the picture. Sometimes all you needed was to make it through another week, but how? Until just recently there was no safety net for these little emergencies that happened too frequently. Many ...
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Christmas in Grass Valley

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This year the holidays were spent at my sister's home in Grass Valley, California in the Sierra foothills. Soft, fluffy snowflakes started falling right on cue. My sister got the best present ever - her son got a 24-hour home pass from the Judge. He has been a guest of the County since running afoul of The Law a year or so back. But that's a whole nother story. The watercolor sketch was done in a 5x7 Artist's Book by Savoir Faire. Cotton rag paper, made in India. It's very difficult for me, since the pages are thin and very rough. Not good for detail at all. All my nephew's friends came to visit him. This sketch is some of them, huddled outside. I guess 45 degrees is considered warm when you're from around here. But I'll stay inside, thank you very much.
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