The Fabulous B@ker Blog

Today, on the last day of 2012, I take my yearly stroll back through the year and reflect on ups, downs, highlights and themes. This was a year filled with many ups and downs in the US, and several terrible tragedies, combined with the effects of the faltering economy, give it a melancholy feel for me. But, let's get started... First of all, as you already know, the world didn't end. Next, I remember writing this reflection about 2011 and it seems last year's theme was "connection." Thinking about this year, I would say the theme that stands out is "music and entertainment," followed by a close second of "travel." Music and Entertainment It mostly started in May when Mary, Annalisse, Nic and I went to see "Wicked" in Raleigh, and was followed by Annalisse's Lady Antebellum concert in June, then Squeeze, then Train/Mat Kearney/Andy Grammer in July and August, "Nice Work if You Can Get It" on Broadway (my first ...

During the week I have off between Christmas and New Years I count on getting certain once-a-year things done. They are: File the backload of photos into an album (or albums) - thanks Mom Shiao for the two albums of 500 photos - they are filled already and I've got to pick up a couple more [I missed last year's photo-filing] File paperwork, projects, memorable items into the kids memory boxes or tax box in the attic Order the current year's photos (January - December) Buy a new calendar (50% off, of course) and fill in appointments, birthdays, trips, etc. Put away the Christmas decorations, dust, and get ready for another year I also need to find a way to download Annalisse's pictures from Germany, which are currently only on Facebook. They were on her MacBook but her hard drive crashed a couple of months ago and she lost all her pictures. I believe that 10 years from now she'll be pretty upset that she did not get prints from the trip so I'll (hopeful...

The tree aglow on Christmas morning We made it through another Christmas holiday. As I sit in the relative dark with just the lights of the Christmas tree, fireplace mantle, and candles to light the room, I think about how much I'll miss the soft lights and decorations a week from now. As much as I usually sort of dread Christmas with all its overblown hoopla, I have to admit that Christmas found me once again on Christmas eve at our church service. It's probably the singing of all the familiar hymns and the beautiful music of the service that got me, but I finally felt it. It's a daily challenge to try to live more in the present, and I felt so blessed to be there with my family, safe and sound, after the terrible events earlier in the day. I couldn't help but think of those families, suddenly without their loved ones, on what was supposed to be one of the happiest nights of the year. Our Christmas eve was very low key. After church the kids made popcorn and I...

Not for some after another senseless tragedy today that included not just the shooting death of two firefighters (one of which was also a policeman) and the wounding of two others, but also resulted in the loss through fire of seven homes -  right in our backyard this time, in Webster, which is about 10 miles from here. I'm sure if, as recommended by the spokesman of the NRA, those firefighters had been armed they could have defended themselves. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. When will it end? In spite of this, we will carry on with our Christmas celebrations, but I can't imagine what those families are going through. With tonight also comes a sad reminder that Aunt Mary, who, with Uncle Pete hosts the family party on Christmas Eve, has had her health challenges this year and they will continue into the new year. Our throughs are with her, Uncle Pete and Sarah during her battle against cancer. It adds to the already sort of sad nostalgia I'm having this year (and ...

Hello there! Well, we're still here. The world didn't end on 12/21/12. Carry on. Five other reasons to be super happy this morning. The kids are home. Mom Shiao is home. I'm finished with my Christmas shopping (except for stocking stuff) . We're off until January 2. We got a lot of snow overnight.  Who could ask for anything more? Happy day!

Another college acceptance yesterday, this time to Roanoke College in Salem, VA, where Sue and Ken live. Wouldn't that be awesome?! I can tell Annalisse is getting a little anxious about the decision she will have to make, but wasn't that the idea when she applied to seven colleges - to have some choices? I told her she will have a lot of time to decide since deposits are not due until May 1 and there will be accepted student programs, and a chance for one last look for her top choices, before then. Fun, fun times!!

In the mail today Annalisse received the second (out of seven possible notifications) acceptance to a college. So far she has been accepted to Mercyhurst University (her first choice!!) and Lycoming College (one that I really liked but was not high on her list). I expect we'll get official notification from Naz around January 15 (although a little birdie with inside info told me the decision already...), and I suppose it's also possible that we might hear from some of the other "rolling" application deadline colleges this week. The only one I really don't expect we'll hear from in the very near future is Alleghany College, which has a deadline of February 15 (and notification afterwards, I asume). When she received the packet from Mercyhurst on Thursday there was a piercing screech and lots of arm waving. I also think Mercyhurst would be a good fit for her with it's beautiful campus just three hours away (AND THEY HAVE A KRISPY KREME!). Very exciting t...