Yes, it has been awhile…I do say that alot!! You may have noticed that I changed to header picture. I have been trying to go through my WordPress options and make a number of changes, but so far this is all that I have accomplished. 🙂 I think I need a WordPress 101 class.
Since my last post, we have had Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. But first before we talk about those celebrations let’s talk about the elephant in the room! How is my emotional well being? I do believe that it is improving each day. What have I done? Not sure anyone thing but am working on a number of things. When my sister, Marcia, knew I would be retiring she suggested that I have a plan or schedule for each day. I have not really gotten that good yet, but am working through trying to have some “plans” for each day rather than just vegging out. I am starting slowly by getting up every day at 6:30 and reading for at least an hour, while enjoying my coffee. Not really a schedule yet, but getting there…sometimes teaching an old dog new tricks takes a little more time than a new dog. I plan at least an hour every day to play on the keyboard and “make” myself get on my computer even if only to get rid of the spam in my inbox. So see…a work in progress. I work to add in new tasks as I go along, but also like to be spontaneous too!
Thanksgiving
We had a Thanksgiving meal at our house with some of the kids and ALL of the grandkids. Tried something new by putting a turkey breast in the crock pot. Really turned out pretty good. Mashed potatoes, brown sugar carrots, dressing, cranberry jell rounded out the meal. I always forget to take pictures!! But the funniest thing…Erin and her boyfriend, Lucas, came to our house after eating a dinner at her dad’s and then planned to go to Lucas’ family after our house. I really did not expect them to eat at all…just a joy being able to visit. But to my surprise Erin, Lucas and Emily all ate at our house too, even though we would be #2 of 3 of meals for the day. In fact Lucas had seconds of mashed potatoes and gravy. Guess my potatoes are not lumpy!! Some pictures…not really Thanksgiving but close.
Christmas
Always enjoy Christmas and everyone juggles their schedules to make sure we have some time that we are all together. The Eve we go to Jackie’s and have ruebens and grasshopper; the Day we go to Jackie’s again early for Santa and then later Jermar’s family comes over. At 11am on the Eve we went to Christmas service at Eagle Brook with Jason and Jen, Jen’s sister and mom and some of Jason’s friends.
The Eve went well with great ruebens, although we completely forgot about the grasshoppers! That seems to happen every year. I think we might have to plan to have those for appetizers in the future. We went back to Jackie’s on Christmas morning to watch the boys open their Santa gifts. It is fun to watch them get excited even if they get clothes. Later other family came over including Jermar’s parents and sister and kids. It was a CRAZY house once all the little cousins took over control!!
Some pictures from Jackie’s on Christmas Day. Also our tree decorated except for the very top, which we needed a tall person to help us complete. The tub storage you see in our garage is mainly to organize my Christmas stuff, which I did as I undecorated and label each container so I know exactly what is in each! 🙂
New Year’s Eve and Day went good. Not sure we made it to midnight, but it has been a long time since that has happened.
And let’s not even talk about the Vikings!! They are breaking my heart!!
Now we are starting on trip to Florida and plan to be there about 6 weeks. We will not stay in one place that whole time but actually go to about 10 different cities on our route. Most places we will just stay over night or 2 nights but will stay 5+ days in both the Orlando area and Cocoa Beach. And yes, I have a spreadsheet!! 🙂
Hope your new year is starting out in a positive direction. Keep those California wildfires in your thoughts and prayers!
Take care!
Dandy Ventures 