Christmas Holiday Wrap-up & a blogging milestone

We had my side of the family's Christmas gathering at Mom's yesterday. It's great that Jimmy is home on leave during this time after having finished his second tour in Iraq. With his wife Suzy, his mother (my sister) Kathy and daughter Lindsey; Dennis, Barbara and Sarah; David, Carolyn, Jen and Danny; Doreen, Harris and Deanna: Carol, Ian and I were all able to be here. Due to other happenings the ones who couldn't make it were Doreen's husband Marc, whose grandmother had just passed away; Kathy's partner Jay, who was under the weather; Dennis and Barb's son Eric who had to work and David and Carolyn's daughter Melissa who had a wrestling meet (and won her two matches - against guys!). We missed them as well as a shout out to sister Judi's household in Florida: daughter Samantha, Marie and Brian.

Gift opening consists of two sessions, first the cousins, as Grammy, aunts and uncles can watch our kids open their gifts. Once they're done and a little tidying up my siblings and Mom open ours. Lot of fun as the younger kids get pretty excited and some pleased looks and thank yous from the older nieces and nephews. Afterwards it was time to eat, everyone brought a dinner item, we had meatballs, mac & cheese, BBQ hotdogs bites, smothered chicken & rice, chili and there were plenty of munchies and desserts. Calories that I'm proud to wear, for a couple of days anyway.

Danny really enjoyed hanging with Jimmy.

Here are the guy cousins:
(top to bottom) Jimmy, Danny, Ian and Harris.

Here are the gal cousins:
(Top L/F, mid L/F) Jenny, Sarah, Lindsey,
Deanna and cuz-in-law Suzy.

Ian has his gift opening turf claimed.

Harris is on the move.

Kathy, Barbara, Dennis and Sarah.

Suzy, Jimmy and Carol.

Mom, Danny and Ian.

Carolyn and David.

Lindsey and Sarah watching a movie.

Jimmy and Suzy.

Mom, Kathy and Dennis.

Danny knows where the camera action is.

My Bud and I using the old
"hold the camera ourselves"
technique.

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Blogging Milestone

Today's blog is my 100th. I began "just a little is enough" in March not knowing if I'd keep my interest up to keep it current. Well it has turned out that I enjoy posting very much. From recent happening to the odd thoughts that need to be floated out of the gray matter. For the most part I've stayed away from politics here because seldom does a civil discourse come of it unless all parties agree. If I want to bring up that and other possible "heavy" topics I'll start another blog for those kind of subjects. I do have a couple of edgier subjects in mind for future blogging but I feel that they cut across political lines and need to be addressed from a "decent human behavior" stand point. I appreciate all the comments online and offline that I have received and am happy that family, friends and acquaintances return regularly, some of whom have their own blogs that I look forward to checking regularly for their latest news and thoughts. Keep up the good work and I'm sure they will join me to encourage others to start a blog themselves. The information age has arrived with the technology most of us have at our fingertips and with blogging any of us can choose to be a part of it. Here on New Years Eve count your blessings and align your internal compass to the future - I wish you a very Happy New Year!

The dreaded holiday hangover

Five days off, lots of food, one beer on Saturday and I get back in the office today and I feel like I've been on a week long bender, which I might add didn't feel that bad when I was younger. Things got a little better as the day wore on. The marketing manager took his marketing assistant and myself out to lunch in appreciation of our work in 2006. I've always loved somebody buying me lunch, who doesn't. He took us to the Great Lost Bear, gosh, I haven't been in there in over 20 years I'll bet. I had a cajun cheesesteak, we'll be talking about the upcoming diet in a future blog. It was a good time. After getting back to the office I made a run to Starbucks for the afternoon boost and all was good. I'll work tomorrow then take Friday off which with the New Year holiday will be four days off and another holiday hangover. I'll spare you the details, no thanks necessary.

Ian, Taylor and Patches went up to Stockholm today to visit Ian's grandmother. Tomorrow they'll visit his grandfather at the nursing home and continue to visit at Margaret's. They'll be back on Friday. It's the first time Ian has traveled somewhere and taken Patches with him. Ian gave us a call tonight and included in his report that after arriving at the house Patches went and rolled in a patch of burdocks. Yeah, I'm sorry I missed that?!? Now Patches has lost some patches of hair. He is just, oh so Patches.

It's the day after Christmas

Christmas was a nice sunny day. All said and done I didn't miss having snow on the ground. Taylor joined us for a breakfast of eggs, hash and turkey bacon then we took down our stockings and opened our gifts, had some fun doing that and of course the dogs wanted in on the action. Particularly neat were the canvas board signs Taylor made for Ian, way to go! Afterwards we talked, we played some music CDs that I got on the portable CD/Radio player that Carol received. Cleaned things up and took care of setting up and assembling anything that needed it. After a while Taylor and Ian left to visit Taylor's Dad for a Christmas get together at his place, Carol and I hung out puttering around had a lunch of some of the pumpkin bread that Taylor made. I put the finishing touches on the town's newsletter and sent that off for publishing. Late in the afternoon Taylor and Ian returned and we watched the Cowboys/Eagles game. It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas. I hope you have a had a good Christmas as well.

Twas the night before Christmas...

How many blogs do you think started out that way tonight? I'd ventured a couple anyway. I digress, where was I? ...and all through the house not a puppy was stirring - because they been out for playtime and have finished their suppers, so they've zonked out.

We went out to Carol's sister Elaine's last night to celebrate Christmas with her family and Lois and Jim. Taylor came with us. As usual, lots of good food and talking. Margaret called and talked with Mark, Ian, Carol and her sisters. A little later Greg called as well. Then we had our gift exchange, it was a real nice time. Carol had been doing a lot of baking during the day and made a couple of desserts to take over but she also made a cherry pie for Ian (don't tell Jim, he'll want one too). Ian got into making a Christmas design for the top of the pie crust.



I got an early start on the newsletter this morning. I did the calendar part then after taking a shower I started making breakfast, read some of the paper then got back to work and finished the final draft and e-mailed it about 5pm to the person who proofs it. I'll get it back sometime tomorrow afternoon, make the final edits so it's ready for the publisher Tuesday morning.

Ian has gone to Taylor's for her family's Christmas get together. Later tonight Carol and I are heading over to the village church for the candlelight service at 11pm. Before that we'll' watch this week's Netflix DVD, "Ice Age 2, the Meltdown."

...He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

A review of the past week

Real nice having Ian home for semester break. We went out to supper last Friday night to Thatchers at the Mall in Windham where we saw Ian's cousin Mark. Saturday Ian and I basically hung around the house, Carol and her sisters went to a Glogg party (if you're Swedish you'll know) at their Aunt Marie's in Massachusetts. Ian and I put up the Christmas tree and lights, earlier I had hung up some lights outside. That evening after Carol returned we watched a movie, "X-Men, the Final Stand". Better than I thought it would be. I liked it better than the first two. Sunday Ian and a friend boiled deer feet to remove the hooves for OA ceremony regalia. A scouter friend and his brother-in-law had both gotten their deers and gave Ian the feet. Weird things happen around here occasionally. Early in the afternoon Ian took off to pick up Taylor at her college and bring her home for break. Since then Ian and Taylor get together and Taylor has been over a couple of times, on Monday they decorated the Christmas Tree. Ian has been working out with the Nordic team at the high school and been to a Troop meeting. At work, Tuesday we had the office holiday luncheon with the employees bringing in the food and beverages. A lot of tasty stuff, chillies, meatballs, BBQ wieners, salads, casseroles, pies, cookies, cream puffs (deadly good) and a lot of talking and joking around. My department each year goes in on a sandwich platter from Subway which goes fast. Yesterday the manager of my department took us out for lunch at Ri Ra's, an Irish pub and restaurant. I had the Beef 'n Guinness Pie, oh, and a couple of the Guinness as well. Believe it or not I had a pretty good working afternoon after all that. I took today off, got vacation time I have to use. BTW, last Monday was my 18th year working there. About 7 years before that I had worked there for a couple of years as well.

So today I started the day on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes, had breakfast then took off to run some errands which included doing my Christmas shopping. Ran into my brother Dennis at the mall. He was there buying a gift package of Godiva chocolates for one of his best customers so it was a surgical strike for him. If I remember correctly he doesn't like the mall at all. I don't go to the mall often but I like it there, people watching, good coffee, colorful, hard on my feet and back though. Made a couple of stops on the way home. Carol got out of work early, she has all next week off. I have Tuesday off and I may take at least one other day off. After I got home Ian took the truck and went to Taylor's. Before supper Carol made a mixed nut chocolate tart for our Christmas gathering at her sister's house tomorrow. Next Saturday we'll be at my mother's. Carol has worked on finishing the Christmas decorations in the house. Also this week I've been preparing to do the town's newsletter, trying to get some stuff done early so I don't have to work so hard during the Christmas weekend to get it done. Well, so far, not so good. I've gotten a lot done but it's all side issue stuff and a lot of articles and pictures have come in so I'll be hard pressed to get it done while still enjoying the holiday with the family. I have to have it to the publisher first thing Tuesday morning. So why am I spending so much time blogging? Cause I want to. I'm not writing as often as I'd like to so I had planned to do some on this day and a few other things that have now been sacrificed for the newsletter. Maybe things will go more smoothly than I anticipate and I'll post again no later than on Christmas day. There's a lot happening that I haven't covered here so check back.

Merry Christmas

One of those e-mail things

I'm a real nut about not passing around those "pass this on to "10 people you _____ (whatever)" e-mails. This is one Carol received that is fun to share but I'm blogging it rather that "following instructions" to sent it to 10 peo...., you get it.

Wishing you in your busy life.

Time for Relaxation

Good Sleep

Good Health with Exercise

Someone to Dance With

.. a Bit of Adventure

Good Looks

But Most of All ...
I Wish You Lots of Bear Hugs

And The Comforts of Real Love

Many Blessings...


May you always have love to share, health to spare, and friends that care.



But watch out for those darn penguins!

Do you ever feel like doing this to someone?

School Vacation

I picked up Ian Friday from college to begin his mid-term vacation. Patches and I arrived about 10am. Ian had to leave his room a certain way for facilities workers to come in and check things out so he basically piled things up on his bed and moved it to the center of the room. I brought the big rubbermaid bin which Ian filled with books and other stuff, there were two large bags of laundry and his TV. He travels light you know.

A whole month off, wow! Well after writing all the reports and studying for first semester final exams for his freshman year at college and being away from home I'm sure the Ian's brain could use a break. For the results he knows of he's done well. It's interesting to hear about his experiences as well as what's coming up and beyond. To me it seems this first semester has flown by. It's good to have him home for awhile.

Ian is going to pick up Taylor at her college this afternoon, she has final exams through the weekend. Something about having exams on a weekend that just doesn't seem right. Maybe that's more common that I'd think but I've never kept on this kind of thing before.

Handyman and Upholstery Lady...to the rescue!

Ah, the weekend projects. Mine was spending a few hours in the attic over the bathroom. Back in September I posted a blog "Home project weekend" about work in the bathroom. I have put off finishing what I described until spring but I left the insulation in the ceiling over the shower enclosure peeled back leaving the poly moisture barrier open to the attic air. Well, as the temperatures have gotten cooler the warm air from the shower between the ceiling drywall and the poly condensed with the cool air now in the attic which was exposed without the insulation in place so there was water between the poly and the ceiling drywall. What a mess, though it hadn't soaked in to the drywall. I had to cut away the poly from the attic side and with a small fan and a hairdryer I got rid of all the moisture I could get at, then I had to custom cut and place new poly the best I could in and around the ceiling joist and strapping, sealed up spaces around the ceiling fan, then I re-laid down the insulation. Half the time spent was just sitting there moving the hairdryer around. All in all it went well, just another case of shooting myself in the foot with the way I go about things.

Meanwhile, Carol was busy doing some upholstery alterations to our couch which turned out very well. It's quite a change, the seat and back cushions were 2 sections each and she converted them to 3. The 2 cushion arrangements would get out of sorts after awhile and get uncomfortable so she expects the 3 cushion way to work better. She also made a couple of new pillows to place on the couch. The results look terrific.

Tomorrow we'll start working on our Christmas cards. We're going to design our own this year, we've gotten away from that for a couple of years and had expected to buy them again this year but after looking at a picture I had taken a couple of years ago Carol thought it would make a nice card so a slight change in plans for the better.

Up to speed on the cellular highway, BEEP BEEP!

I got a new cell phone Saturday. Carol and I both have Cingular Go Phones, no monthly bills, just buy time as needed. Carol, Ian and I are all on our third phones, four of which are still laying around. I'll send them in soon for recycling. The phone technology has changed since I got my old phone two years ago, in the near future Cingular will stop supporting that one, hence Saturday's purchase. The new one doesn't have some of the features found on many of the cell phones today. It doesn't take pictures, I can't surf the web, no GPS (luckily I know where I am, most of the time), no Bluetooth technology, no LED screen with picture backgrounds. It's small, handles well, I spent almost the whole Patriot's game Sunday afternoon entering all the phone numbers I have in the old phone. The new one has a SIMs card that I think will allow me to transfer the phone list to my next phone. I can do text messaging. It has a flashlite mode (like for finding the keyhole on the car door in the dark or looking for toll money under the seat), and some of the other average stuff, couple of games, calculator, calendar, alarm clock, keeps pretty good time, cute ringtones (no hit tunes though), oh yeah, did I mention, I can make and receive phone calls, pretty much what I wanted it for.

Then I hit the dollar store and spent a whopping $5 on a case for it, the Cingular store was willing to let one go for $20. Go figure. All-in-all I'm pretty happy with it. Hey, I'll call ya.

Winter rant, early version

The first sign of snow showed itself yesterday, a "snow shower" as forecasted. Now I remember what I've been dreading, winter. Cold everyday, clearing snow, driving in snow, wearing winter jackets and gloves, long underwear...blah, blah, blah. I'll always lean towards the negative on this subject but now I'll comment a bit on the positive side, which falls into the "just a little is enough" category. Winter moments - watching the snow falling while sitting at the window, sunny weekend morning after an overnight snowfall, taking pictures of snow covered branches, seeing toddlers playing in fresh snow, driving on plowed snow packed roads with no one in front or back of me, watching Ian cross-country skiing, downhill skiing with Carol. These are a few of my fav...STOP, STOP!!! There is no singing on this blog. Whew, that was close. Maybe listing the things I like about winter might get me through some of it but I'll need a little more that enough to get to spring.

This photo is from several years ago behind our yard.

Thanksgiving Day

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving. We've had a terrific day and I hope you have also and been able to spent time with your families. Carol, Ian and I spent the early part of the day taking care of the final preparations before our guests arrived. Elaine and Steve arrived first. Lois and Jim picked up Margaret at the bus station around 1pm and came straight to our house from there.

Carol did a great job with dinner and several pies,
Elaine brought homemade rolls and Lois brought
the wine and a four layer cake.

Steve and Ian watching the football game.

A little pre-dinner socialization.

Buffet style serving and we were set to feast.

Lois is set to enjoy.

The view of dinner from a couple of angles.

We spent a long time at the table talking followed by desserts and coffee, then viewing on the laptop pictures Bev had taken during her summer stay in the county. After everyone left and we had things cleaned up Taylor came over after having had dinner with her family at her grandmother's. After a bit I caught an evening nap and we watched one of our DVDs "Sahara". It's been a real nice day.

Happy Thanksgiving

We'll be having Carol's side of the family over for Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

Here's the star attraction, foodwise.


Peoplewise here's the star attraction...The Cook!



This is the night before. Carol has done a lot of pre-cooking and prepared some ready to cook things. I'll update this blog after our guests have left.