More Christmas Pics

Just HAD to post a few more......................

Evan, Rayna holding Mckenzie, Kylan

HERE and GONE

It just goes too fast - one minute you're anticipating Christmas and the next minute it's the day after...........

Even though I had 4 1/2 days off, I believe I need another day at least to catch up! But work beckoned.....sigh.....and life continues.............

Christmas was pure joy -(and maybe a little LOUD at times)! But the best part was just being together with one another - lots of smiles, packages to open, great holiday goodies, fun games, and watching the antics of a 6 year old, a 19 month old, a 22 month old, and a newborn! It really doesn't get much better than that!

And AS USUAL, we didn't get to bring the frog home this year -in fact, Glenn and I did pretty lousy at the predictions and came in 3rd place!! The Smith's and the Savage's tied - but since there is only 1 frog, we always have a tie-breaker question and the Savage's WON!! So Jill and Robby, after carting the frog and all his clothes down to Jaime's, got to haul him back to their house!! I really hope we do a LITTLE better next year as the frog would sure look cute in our house!

Our fondue was EXCELLENT - we all love doing it - but decided since there is SO much work involved and so much cleanup, along with 2 little boys who didn't want to be in their high chairs over 10 minutes, that we will table the fondue for a couple of years at least! After all, next Christmas there will be 4 little ones to contend with!

Even though it hadn't snowed for a few days, it was still a white Christmas at our house - plenty of snow to play in! The little boys and Rayna loved being outside when they could and since Papa had been feeding the deer the last couple of weeks, we had plenty of wildlife to watch! Rayna specifically asked me if Malachi (the deer head that hangs over our fireplace) was one of the deer that had eaten the food that Papa put out - I assured her he wasn't!

Although I believe it is more fun to give than receive, I truly loved the gifts that were given to me! I can't wait to thumb through my book of "1000 Places To See Before You Die", start turning my day to day calendar of "Islands", drink my Caribou Coffee, use my "Scrabble Dictionary" in a game of Scrabble and wear my new comfy pants!! I have already listened to my Casting Crowns Christmas CD "Peace on Earth", worn my new crocs, watched my new DVD "The Lake House" and sat in my body massager - wow does it feel great!! Of course there are a couple of gifts that always stand out and this year was no different - the grandkids gave me a new mouse pad, printed with their pictures and the words,"We love you Nana" - I'll get to use that every day and think of them! And Glenn used his woodworking skills to make me a huge log sign that reads "Nana and Papa's, 876 Obsidian Dr." It will be posted at the bottom of the driveway for everyone to see!!

As you can tell by the pictures, we had a wonderful time together and have lots of memories to remember Christmas 2008!

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve, almost as much as Christmas Day! The anticipation, the short work day, everyone telling you "Merry Christmas", the last minute hustle to get everything done - it's all part of getting prepared!

Although the midwest and the east are getting pounded with snow, we didn't even get the couple of inches that was predicted for last night! The cold weather, yes - but no snow! We still have plenty of snow though at our house and more is predicted on Friday so our Saturday Christmas will still be a white one!

We didn't celebrate Christmas at our house last year since the lower level wasn't finished and there just wasn't enough room to sleep everyone! But this year I get my wish - to celebrate together in our new log house! I can't wait - may your Christmas celebration be as special as ours is going to be!

I Knew There Was A Reason.............

I had absolutely nothing planned for the weekend except for the usual cleaning, laundry and last minute stuff to get ready for Christmas! And now I know why............

Granddaughter Rayna (who is 6 years old) went in for an emergency appendectomy late Friday morning! She had been complaining off and on all week of a stomach ache and Jaime and Brad took her in about 3:00am to the emergency room - and yes, she needed her appendix removed!

I left work about 11:30 and raced up to Denver - of course she was in her room by then and looked so little in that hospital bed! But she was a real trooper and came through the surgery just fine!

Since mom and dad were exhausted (Jaime and Brad), I offered to spend the night in the hospital with her - she looked so cute sitting in bed eating her popsicles and whispering to me when she needed something as her throat was still raw from the tube. I would help her of bed to walk a little ways down the hallway to pick out movies, unhooking the finger monitor and dragging the IV pole with us!

Before we went to bed, I told her she would have to talk a little bit louder so I could hear her in the middle of the night and she whispered to me that if I couldn't hear her, she would clap her hands! (As if I had any problem waking up - how could I POSSIBLY forget the every 2 hour vitals check???)

Rayna got to come home around noon on Saturday and is doing just fine! Little kids sure do bounce back fast! You're a real trooper Rayna and I'm glad I was there to help you!

Holiday Traditions - #4

I believe this will be the last blog on our holiday traditions - I'm sad to say I'm running out of them!

One of my favorite things to bring out at Christmas is the nativity scene that my mom made at ceramics, many many years ago! It graced her buffet and was a real work of art - she was excellent at doing ceramics and I believe the nativity scene was her best! There are many pieces to the scene so it fills up the area on my hutch nicely - I love the huge camels and the many animals!

After my mom passed away, the nativity scene seemed to have disappeared for a few years - and one year I decided I was going to find it as it was one of the few things that I wanted to remember mom by - I called around and finally located it - my brother had it - and he graciously offered to let me have it! The navitity scene is extremely special to me and always will be!

On Christmas Eve, we not only read "Twas the Night Before Christmas", but also the Christmas story out of the bible. And it's always been tradition to go to Christmas Eve service at church.

I remember many years ago when I was growing up, the Christmas Eve service was always held at midnight! It was a candlelight service and I loved lighting my candle from the person next to me and singing Silent Night with the lights out, and only the flickering candles glowing.

Somebody must have decided that midnight was just too late for services because then the time seemed to change right around the 10:00 time for the last service of the night - and that was OK too!

As I wrote before in a former blog, some of my most memorable Christmas Eve services were when I lived in Missouri Valley and my good friend Helen and I would do the late service on our guitars! That was back when I could play the guitar! I guess I still can but I haven't picked it up in years! Helen and I would spend hours practicing and perfecting each song and the service included at least 2 or 3 special songs that we would sing and play together in harmony! My, my those were the days....................... I miss you Helen and wish we were doing a service together this Christmas Eve!

After moving to Woodland Park, I spent many years singing in the choir for Christmas Eve services -and although I don't sing in the choir any more, I still love singing all the carols during the Christmas season!

Last year we were in Denver for Christmas and attended the girls' church on Christmas Eve - and this year we will be doing the same! It doesn't matter what church we attend - it's all about hearing the Christmas story of the blessed baby and praising our Lord for bringing that tiny baby to us at Christmas! May you all attend the church of your choice this Christmas Eve and remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas!

It's ARRIVED!

I have never paid much attention to the release of a DVD - that is until the movie Mamma Mia came out - after my 3rd time at seeing it in the theater, I searched my Netflex to see when it would be available to buy! December 16 was the magic date!!

Guess where I was December 16th at 7:30am??? Yup - Walmart - picking up my own personal copy of Mamma Mia!

Did I watch it last night?? ABSOLUTELY! And I loved watching it in the comfort of my home where I could laugh and sing and cry right along with the movie! Believe it or not, Glenn watched it with me and I think he even enjoyed it! Probably because he NOW knows all of the songs since I have relentlessly played the CD for the last 2 months!

The girls and I have decided that instead of watching our annual "The Sound of Music" over the Christmas holidays, we'll now watch Mamma Mia - and now you know ONE MORE of our holiday traditions - watching a movie together! I can hardly wait.................

Traditions - Part 3

Who doesn't like to play games? It has become a little harder to do this with little ones around but we make do the best we can!

In a former blog, I explained our "Predictions" game which is an annual one we do every Christmas Eve! Jill will be bringing the "frog" and his clothes this Christmas Eve to pass on to the next winner! I actually had to peek at the predictions to see if there was anything that needed to be counted before that day and yes there was - I have to remind Jaime and Jessi to weigh their boys AND I must look at the price of gasoline at the Western Store as we drive by on Christmas Eve - trust me, after looking at our answers, Glenn and I won't have a chance of bringing the frog home this year!! Boo - Hoo! We haven't had him at our house yet!

Another one of our games usually involves Christmas carols - remember all those fun sheets where there is a picture of something and you have to relate it to a Christmas carol?? Or a written phrase of weird put together words that actually mean a carol?? Those are always fun to do and are done as couples! Rayna gets mazes and coloring pages and fun sheets to do while we're playing the games! I have a little bit different game this year which does revolve around the Christmas carols but I don't dare tell you as I wouldn't want any of the girls to get a head start on this game!

2 years ago we played The Newlywed Game - I made up a list of 50 questions and oh my, did we have fun with that! The questions were not hard, but it's really amazing how much you really DON'T know about your spouse! Luckily there were no physical altercations during the game, just a lot of VERBAL communication between the couples! Since some of them didn't do so well 2 years ago, I decided this year we would play once again - only with a twist - the SAME questions we had 2 years ago!! I can't wait to see if we do any better this year! It SHOULD be interesting!

Rayna has learned to play Mexican Train so I'm sure we'll be playing a few games of that and usually the guys end up playing Glenn's favorite game, Hunting and Fishing Trivia - gee, I wonder why he's never asked me to play that one? (Actually, I think he did ask me one year to play, providing I wasn't on his team - ha ha!)

Christmas is next week and I'm looking forward to our "game night". And I'll let you know who gets to take the "frog" home this year!

Holiday Traditions - #2

FOOD - isn't it funny how a lot of traditions center around eating? I'm sure most people have several traditional items in this category and we're no exception!

First on the list is the holiday baking! Memories flood back to me as I remember distinctly what my mom made for the holidays! Her specialty item was divinity! It's a type of candy that is very sweet and I have to be honest, I have never made it as it was never one of my favorites! But I remember her making this and always bringing it to the different Christmas's that we attended! Divinity is one of those candies that can be difficult to make - especially if the conditons aren't quite right!! I remember mom saying several times that the divinity just didn't set up well because of the humidity! (Not that we EVER have a problem in that area here in Colorado!)

Another of mom's favorites was Norwegion Cookies - and yes, I have made PLENTY of them! I don't make them any more though, mainly because I was the ONLY one who ate them and the recipe makes a huge batch!

Mom ALWAYS made Peppermint Dessert to take up to my grandma's house on Christmas Day! This dessert is really yummy and yes, it's made out of peppermint!! Back when mom used to make it, they didn't have the blenders and choppers that we have today, so mom would buy the peppermint sticks and dad would put them in a clean gunny sack type thing and crush them with a hammer! I remember that I really didn't like it when I would bite into a large piece of peppermint that just didn't get crushed properly! And of course the recipe calls for real whipping cream - cool whip just doesn't make the grade!

Because of the high elevation that we live at, it's difficult to bake good cookies - they come out very flat and sometimes quite hard! So I now leave the cookie baking to the girls (our favorite is snickerdoodles rolled in red and green sugar!) and I am basically down to 3 items that I make for the holidays.

First is my Peanut Butter Balls - I really wish I could remember who I got this recipe from so I could give them credit but I can't - I only know I have been making them for years and years! They are fun to make and dip in the melted almond bark but are quite time consuming too!

The second thing I make is called "Clusters" and here again, there was no name for this recipe so the girls and I just dubbed it Clusters! It's VERY easy to make and I usually end up making a couple of batches of these!

3rd on the list is "Pecan Bars" and these I've only been making for probably 6 or 7 years! I found the recipe in a magazine and it sounded good so Jessi and I tried it! Oh my gosh, the bars are SO GOOD!! But something that good to eat of course takes some time and talent! Again, elevation plays a huge part in getting the caramel just at the right stage! We've had years where the caramel is so sticky, you have to eat the bar with a fork, and we've also had years where we cooked the caramel TOO long and the bars turned out hard as a rock - I think I cried those years! But they are well worth making!

When I was growing up, we always had a traditional meal on Christmas Eve - chile and oyster soup! I don't care for oyster soup as I don't like milk so never ate it, but I'm a chile fan! I remember at Christmas mom would buy the little oyster crackers to eat with the soups and we always thought that was a treat!

We did the chile for a while at our house but soon started a new tradition of fondue! And no, I hadn't kept the old fondue pot so had to go to Goodwill and purchase used ones!! We have it down to a science now and our menu is fondue grilled chicken, shrimp and elk meat, cheese fondue with french bread for dipping, vegetables, and a chocolate fondue for dessert!

Jaime and I both purchased table top grills that are heated by sterno candles and that's where we all grill the meat! Our cheese fondue is out of this world and of course I can't say enough about the chocolate fondue that we usually do later in the evening - we dip pound cake, brownies, marshmellows, bananas, pineapple and strawberries - YUM!!!

Christmas day breakfast has been traditional for many years too - we have cinnamon rolls and fruit with yogurt dip while we do our socks and then have an egg casserole with cinnamon toast and coffee for later!

Our Christmas day lunch is an easy one - baked ham, baked potatos and baked beans - all put in the oven during breakfast and by noon it's all ready - it's also pretty easy to clean up and I'm all about EASY these days!

Afternoons is when we bring out the dips and shrimp ring!! I have a new dip I tried last year, given to me by a friend and I will definitely be making it again this year - it's with fresh bacon bits, green onions and lots of cream cheese! Other favorites are shrimp dip, veggie dip, fruit dip and the lil smokies cooking in the crockpot all day in a sweet beer sauce! YUM!! I'm getting hungry just thinking about all the good food we eat over the holidays!

Guess I better get to the store and start stocking up on all the items I'll need this year!

Traditions - Part 1

I'm not sure if a lot of people have Christmas traditions or not - and I sometimes wonder if WE as a family have enough of them! Nevertheless, we have a few and those are the ones I want to write about!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care! Oh, those wonderful and delightful Christmas stockings that we hang on the fireplace! This tradition started when I was a little girl - mom and dad always had a sock for each of us and of course we would rush in to open our socks on Christmas morning before breakfast!

I fondly remember part of the contents of those socks - there was always an apple, orange, banana and some mixed nuts in the shell! Little did I realize at that time, that the purpose of putting fruit in the socks was to fill the space!! That way, you didn't have to put so many other things inside! I'm sure we also received a couple of small items in our socks, along with the fruit but the fruit is what I remember!

When I got married and had kids, the sock tradition continued! After moving to W. Park, a good friend of mine had her mom make us all socks on her knitting machine - they were red, green, and white with our names at the top and a neat pattern in the middle! We all LOVE those socks and of course continue to use them to this day!

Of course, once the girls married, I had to add 3 "manly" looking socks for the guys and as the grandkids are born, there are more added all the time!

As far as filling the socks, we change from year to year - I used to do all the filling but then it got to the point that the stocking stuffers were costing more than the gifts!! I also used to WRAP each stuffer - try wrapping 10 stocking stuffers per person times 7 adults plus kids - it was just TOO MUCH!!

I DO NOT wrap the stocking stuffers now - and the 4 of us girls now buy 3 items for each girls' sock and we fill our husband's socks ourselves - they're much harder to buy for! And we limit the stuffer to $1.00 per item! You'd be amazed how many things you can buy at the dollar store!

I'm sure our stocking tradition will continue throughout the years! And I sometimes believe that the socks are more fun than the gifts!

The TRAVEL Tree

I put our tree up over a week ago - in a different spot from last year since the TV is now in the lower level - and I like the location of the tree much better!

Decorating the tree is like a walk down memory lane! I call our Christmas tree the Travel Tree - because it's loaded with ornaments from our travels! Years ago I decided to start collecting an ornament from each vacation that we took - and now one of the most exciting parts of our trips is to buy a Christmas ornament! Not always an easy task I might add! Sometimes it takes a LOT of shopping (mainly looking) to find an ornament and many times I've had to improvise but I ALWAYS bring one home!

Our tree boasts ornaments from Paris, Venice, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Canada, Jamaica, the Riveria Maya, Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, Loreto, Lapaz, Isla Mujeres, Bahia Kino and many states in the US! Come February, I'll have one from Cabo!

And my favorite ornament? That's a tough one! I know 2 of my favorite ones from Europe are a velvet bell from Paris that opens up to a miniature nativity scene and a hand-blown glass ball from Venice - a couple of my favorite ones from the states are red jingle bells in the shape of Mickey Mouse from Disneyworld and a glass ball full of shells and sand from Sanibel Island!

I love decorating the tree and reminscing about all the trips we've taken - every time I look at the tree, I see one of the "special" ornaments and the memories take over!

Come on over and see my "Travel Tree" - just be prepared to listen to my memories!

A Precious Baby Granddaughter!

Mackenzie has arrived! No, we DID NOT KNOW it was going to be a little girl - Jessi is one of those moms that likes surprises so she did not know the sex of the baby before she was born! And the other unique thing about this baby is that she was born at home! Yes, another home birth for Jessi and Gary!

I got the phone call at 2:00pm that it was time to come! 15 minutes later I was out the door from work and headed to Denver - and none too soon either - this little tyke didn't wait around! Gary had arrived home about 3:00 from work and Jaime was already there helping Jessi and taking care of Evan - I arrived by 4:00 and we were glad when Glenn arrived about an hour later to take Evan over to Jaime's house for a while - he just didn't understand why he couldn't be up with mom!

Soon the mid-wife arrived and before we knew it, Mackenzie was born! 6:06 to be precise on the 2nd of December - a chubby little girl at 8# 12 oz and 19 1/2 " long!

Jessi had a "water birth" and as soon as Mackenzie was delivered, she was immediately put on Jessi 's chest and we didn't know the sex - after a little bit, Jessi turned the baby around and looked down and said "it's another boy" - but then looked again and said, "no, it's a GIRL!" She had first seen the umbilical cord which was still attached at that point! We all had a chuckle out of that!

Mom and baby are doing just great! I took a couple of days off at work to help Jessi out so I've had lots of special times holding this new little baby! She is so precious! One more grandchild to love and spoil!

Turkey Day - 2

All the pictures just wouldn't fit in the first blog so here's some more!

PS - By the way, in the last set of pictures - that is NOT alcohol that Jessi and Jill are drinking out of the wine glasses - they were served sparkling cider!!

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving has already came and went - darn - why do the holidays fly by so fast?

I'm STILL enjoying this 4 day weekend - usually it's the only one of the year since we're always closed on the Friday after Thanksgiving - but because Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, we're going to be closed on Friday too so that means I'll have ANOTHER 4 1/2 day weekend! WOW!


Turkey Day was held at Jaime's house - we started this tradition a couple of years ago due to the following: 1) Jaime's house is centrally located for all of us to come to 2) Jaime and Brad's house is not only HUGE, but the kitchen is perfect for cooking up that big meal 3) Denver is a great place to shop the day after!

We have our usual big meal on Thursday and this year we thought we had to work around Gary's schedule but he actually made it to the house just in time to eat! Perfect timing! We do have two traditions on Thanksgiving: we all USUALLY wear bib overalls (this tradition started when we always used to spend T-giving with Cindy and Rene's family up in Longmont) and we always go shopping together the day after Thanksgiving! This year, not EVERYBODY wore bib overalls - of course it was MY fault for not reminding them a month in advance to go buy them as the little ones had outgrown them, as had a couple of the adults! The only one that had a good excuse was Jessi, being 9 months pregnant!

So we ate the day away, played many games of Mexican Train, did a LOT of shopping the day after, and spent a lot of quality time together! The guys watched game after game (at least it seemed like it!) of football and made deer jerky in Brad's smoker - it was great!

Our prayer before the meal included being thankful for all being together, all of us having jobs, nice homes with plenty of food to eat, and blessings on the two new babies that are arriving any day now and next spring!

Christmas Time's A Comin'

Gosh, the season is ALMOST upon us!! I know, I know, Thanksgiving comes FIRST!! And don't get me wrong - I LOVE Thanksgiving!! But since our BIG shopping day is the day after Turkey Day, one MUST get organized and get in the Christmas spirit early!

I feel like all I've done the past week is make lists - the Turkey Day menu and what I need to bring, the shopping list for the food, my Christmas list, a list of what I've ALREADY bought the kids and grandkids (which I would be SURE to forget if I didn't have it down on a list), a list of things to take to Jaime's for the Thanksgiving holiday, and the never-ending list of things to do at the house!

We knew it was going to be a work weekend once again - but this was one I really didn't mind! Saturday I stained the trim, door frames and doors in the lower level - one more major project to cross off that list! And then I cooked and froze 4 casseroles for Jessi and Gary to have when the new baby is born!

Friends Martin and Joleen came over late afternoon for dinner - they hadn't seen the completed basement yet and Martin really appreciated it as he had seen the basement at its' worst! We had a fun evening playing pool and eating manicotti for dinner - AND this yummy new recipe that I tried and loved! It's really easy to make - but beware - it's SUPER RICH!! Cut cheesecake type slices and have the coffee or milk handy!

Turtle Pumpkin Pie

1/4 cup plus 2 T. caramel ice cream topping, divided

1 Honey Maid graham cracker pie crust

1/2 cup plus 2 T. pecan pieces, divided

1 cup cold milk

2 pkg (3.4 oz) jello vanilla instant pudding

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. ground nutmeg

1 tub (8 oz) cool whip, thawed, divided

Pour 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans. Beat the milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with whisk until blended. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cools whip. Spread into crust. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Top with remaining cool whip, caramel topping and pecans just before serving!

And what exciting plans did I have for Sunday? I decorated the house for Christmas! Yes, it took me all day - yes, I loved every moment of it - yes, I had the Christmas music going on each level!

There was total joy in my eyes this year as I decorated! 1) The basement was finished so I could decorate the ENTIRE house, and 2) Getting to my 7 storage tubs of decorations was SO EASY!

In our old house, the only storage in the house was up in the attic with the pull-type down steps - there was NO WAY the huge tubs would fit up those steps easily. So all 8 tubs (I've downsized to 7 now - he he!) had to go under the house - way back in - and it's just a crawl space so you couldn't stand up - you literally had to be bent over and drag all 8 tubs across the gravel floor for quite a ways and then lift them out into the garage. It was a job that Glenn and I just hated!

Now I have a nice, large storage room in the lower level with wonderful shelves that Glenn has built - the room is large enough so he can set the tubs on the floor and I can unpack in there and take a basket load out at a time! It worked PERFECT yesterday and was just a joy to decorate!

We will wait and put the tree up after Thanksgiving - but it's nice knowing the decorating of the house is done, just in case the new little one decides to arrive RIGHT after Turkey Day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I know I am TRULY BLESSED!

FRUSTRATION!

I consider myself healthy - I exericse 5 days a week, I eat pretty well, take my daily vitamin and calcium pills and my daily dose of Xango, and I don't usually stress a lot! So WHY oh WHY am I getting sick?

A month ago I had the cough, fever, etc. for almost 2 weeks - even missed a day of work because I couldn't talk! I FINALLY got past that and guess what, now it's the sore throat and cold that has found its' way into my body! Is this just a taste of what my entire winter is going to be like?

I'm sure no one else enjoys being sick either but I know a lot of people just don't take care of themselves - and that's NOT me! I STRIVE to stay healthy and well - I make it a point to get plenty of sleep and drink lots of water during the day and all those other things that one considers a "healthy lifestyle".

But I WILL get past this cold and sore throat - I'm determined to shake it as soon as possible because darn it, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I DO NOT WANT TO BE SICK for it! And the new baby is due to arrive in the next 2 1/2 weeks and I DO NOT WANT TO BE SICK for that!!! Maybe if I just can't chanting I DO NOT WANT TO BE SICK, my body will hear it and believe it and I'll be well!! It's worth a shot I guess!!

The Flying Frosting

Jaime, Rayna, and Kylan came down for a night's stay this last weekend - she always brings yummy stuff to eat and this time she brought those oh so wonderful cinnamon rolls in a can - not the kind that go in a round pan all together - these were individual ones that you put on a cookie sheet and bake and then frost.

By 10:00 am on Sat. morning I was ready for the rolls - so I get the can out of the refrigerator and set in on the island, and started unpeeling the paper!! That's when it happened - the loud gunshot sound, something flying out of the can, and the recoil of the can hitting my stomach - OH, I yelled as that thing plowed into my stomach - I seriously thought for a moment that I had been shot!! Of course as soon as that thought popped into my mind, I immediately realized what had happened and knew it was JUST the can that had hit me - JUST THE CAN - but it hit me hard enough to leave a huge red spot on my stomach and it hurt for a long time!

Jaime came flying up from the basement as soon as she heard the explosion of the can and me moaning - I told her what had happened (as if she couldn't tell by now since there are biscuits lying all over the granite every which way) and said something went flying so we started looking. Sure enough, the frosting had flown! The lid was under the dining room table - and the frosting had landed on the padded bar stool - of course - frosting side down! But luckily the frosting was hard enough it didn't all fall out!

We laughed and laughed about my encounter with the cinnamon rolls. I usually don't have this type of problem but I guess since she had come from Denver up to the higher altitude, the poor rolls just couldn't handle the elevation!

By the way, the cinnamon rolls were excellent!!

Waking Up Isn't So Bad!

Now that daylight savings time is here, this is what I get up to each morning! Granted, the sky doesn't look like this EVERY morning but this past week has just been amazing!

My typical routine in the morning is to throw on my old clothes and do floor exercises for about 10 minutes, clog for about 15 minutes and then hula-hoop for about 5 minutes -so I get to watch the amazing sunrises as I'm doing my morning exercises! Today I just had to grab the camera and start shooting - the colors change quickly and by the time I'm done with my routine, the sunrise is a thing of the past!

Waking up at 5:45 every morning may not be on my Top Ten List of things I enjoy doing, but the sunrises over Pikes Peak make getting out of bed a WHOLE lot easier!

November in North Carolina!

Staying in the states isn't the norm for our annual fall vacation - we're usually headed to Mexico! Change isn't always good as we all know - but THIS change was great!

We decided a while back (since the economy around here isn't all that great and our bank accounts have been put to the test), that our trip this fall would be to visit our good friends Cindy and Rene' out in NC! And since neither of us had been to this beautiful state, it was a great choice! Bear in mind that the thought of having a place to stay and eat and using air miles to get there made the choice an easy one!

Although we didn't have the window seat this flight, it didn't prevent us from leaning over our neighbor and simply gazing out the window at the variety of colors that met us as we were flying low over Charlotte! WOW - I had forgotten about the colors of the hardwood trees- the reds and golds and oranges! Simply gorgeous! And we were both extremely surprised at how many trees there are in North Carolina - it's just forest upon forest

Cindy and Rene', daughter Cheryl and her son Brenner made us feel right at home! We're not JUST friends to them, we're family! And the time spent with them was wonderful! I'm not sure I moved out of the kitchen chair the first day we were there! Cindy and I had LOTS to catch up on!

Highlights of the trip included all the great food that Cindy fixed, a trip to the flea market, singing Karaoke for hours (and not having a voice the next day), a trip up to the Blue Ridge Mountains which run into the Smoky Mountains, talking for hours and hours, Glenn taking Brenner "hunting" with the BB gun, relaxing in their beautiful backyard and admiring the scenery around the area!

Thanks Cindy and Rene' for a wonderful time! We'll be looking forward to that next trip together!

Pumpkin Carving At Its Best!!

Exciting news! Jill called early on Sunday morning just as we sat down to breakfast! She had tried and tried to call us on Saturday night but the phone lines were all messed up and all she got was a busy signal!

Anyway, she told me she wanted me to go into the computer room and look at my email which would show a pumpkin that her and Robby had carved -I relunctantly went in, signed onto my email and told her the pumpkin looked really cute but I didn't have my glasses on so couldn't see what was carved. "Mom, go get your glasses, PLEASE" she said!! So I walked into the kitchen, put on my glasses and went back in and looked and THAT'S when the screaming started!! It was so totally unexpected to see that writing in the pumpkin and of course the tears were streaming down my face!!

Congratulations Jill and Robby! Papa and I are SO EXCITED about your news and eagerly await this next grandchild!! The end of June is Jill's due date and I'll keep everyone posted the next few months!

A SISTER Weekend!

I love to have a day off - especially when you get to spend it with someone special!

My sister Patty from Iowa flew in Thursday night for a long weekend stay! We picked her up in Denver and spent 3 wonderful days together! And no, we didn't run out of things to talk about - talk, talk, talk!! We did PLENTY of that!!

She enjoyed seeing our new house and I enjoyed all the wonderful compliments she gave us! Makes that last "work weekend" feel worth it!! It was fun to just hang out together and catch up on all those little stories of our families!

Saturday we headed to Co. Springs and enjoyed having tea at the castle! The weather was beautiful that day - in fact, it was nice all 3 days she was here (quite unusual seeing as it was Halloween - usually we have lousy weather for that!) The castle grounds were gorgeous with the falling leaves! And the tea and goodies were great! After that, we headed to the other side of town and saw "Mamma Mia"! 3rd time for me - just as good as the first time! And dinner was ate at Wines of Colorado - always a favorite!
Patty and I share a great love of music so the stereo got quite a workout over the 3 day period! We may not always listen to the same type of music, but we both love great dance music!

The weekend went way too fast of course and before we knew it, it was time to put her back on the plane to Iowa! We loved having you here Patty and hopefully Leonard can come next time! See you in Cabo in Februray!

You Just Need To Know Where To Post It!

We've been trying to sell our big screen TV for about a month now - thought we had it sold once - didn't happen so it was back on Craigs List once again. No action - no place to store the TV - what's the next step?

Glenn had a great idea - since he needs some help pouring concrete for the concrete driveway outside of the new garage AND help with starting the construction of the next garage (a single car garage that will hook onto the big garage) he suggested the bartering section - our TV for your labor!

SO I ran a description of the TV and how many hours labor we wanted and posted it about 7:30 on Tuesday morning - by 10:00 we had 4 inquiries on the ad - by 12:00 Glenn already had a guy hired! It was easy as pie - the TV will be gone soon and we have help for 3 days!

Since everyone around seems to be short on money these days, the barter section on Craigs List is getting quite the workout! I think it's wonderful! Wonder what I could trade to get my house cleaned?

And The Work Never Ends!

My, has it really been an entire week since I've blogged? Just goes to show you how BUSY life gets!

I'm REALLY excited today! My sister Patty from Iowa is flying in tonight to stay for 4 days! She has wanted to come out and see our new place for a long time but somehow last summer, it just didn't happen! But Frontier was having one of their great sales and she got a great price from Omaha to Denver! Glenn and I will be heading up there after work today to pick her up!

We've known for a couple of weeks that she was coming and decided to work extra hard on the house to get some of those things done that just had NEVER gotten done! Last weekend was WORK WEEKEND!! We both worked at least 12 hours each day on things around the house - I concentrated on clear-coating the doors, trim and door frames on the main level of the house and also scraping paint off the lower level outside windows (which was there when we bought the place!) A lot of work - a lot of sore body parts!

Glenn has been working on cleaning up around the house, chopping wood for the winter, and tiling the backsplash in the kitchen! He finished up the tiling yesterday and oh my, it looks great! Today he will take a SUPER large trailer load to the dump! It won't hurt my feelings to NOT see that pile of junk anymore!

So I'm sure the question looming in your minds is this - are you DONE with the house yet? Of course not - is one EVER done???? But we're closer and that's all that counts!!

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes!

It started out as a typical evening - I was busy washing the windows (yes, it's fall, time to do the windows again!!) when it started snowing - not a lot, just a few flakes now and then.

We headed up to bed around 10:30, knowing that it might snow overnight and get a LOT colder! Around 1:30 am the smoke alarms started that horrible piercing sound - can you imagine being aroused from a dead sleep with every smoke alarm in the house going off?

Glenn and I jumped out of bed and he hit the light switch and we immediately could see (as we sleep in the loft) that the house was filled with smoke - not just a little bit, a whole lot! Glenn raced down 2 flights of stairs as somehow we both knew it wasn't a fire, but the new wood stove!

I threw on a robe and for some unknown reason, did NOT put slippers on (hence, the cold, cold feet an hour later) and raced down to the main floor and started opening windows and doors - the smoke started racing outside as soon as I opened the doors but alas, the raging blizzard outside, started coming in!

Glenn realized what had happened - the blizzard had created a downdraft and he had also put a huge log in the stove that he didn't realize was full of pitch and it was smoking like crazy! What a mess! The log was too big and hot to take out so just had to burn! He spent the next hour on the couch, watching the wood stove.

I ended up mopping the wood floor as about 1/2 hour after I had opened the deck door, we had about 1/4" of snow on it AND the couch AND the carpet! But I didn't mind the mopping and cleaning up, anything to get rid of that smoke smell!

I headed back up to bed but couldn't sleep as I had a raging headache and the smell in the loft was still bad - so I ended up sleeping with the window open all night!

The smoke smell was STILL in the house this morning so Glenn will air the house out again today! We ended up getting 5" of snow so it was a treacherous drive to work this morning! But as always, the snow is beautiful and the blessing of the day is our house didn't burn down!

Girls Weekend

It was a girls' weekend up at Jaime's house - a scrapbooking weekend - with lots of good food, wonderful music and best of all, great company! Scrapbooking with your 3 daughters is so much fun - talking and laughing and sharing ideas and just being together!

The little ones were around part of the time and that's always entertaining - but it's always nice to just have that quality time with the girls too!

Thanks Jaime for hosting a great weekend -we'll all look forward to the next one!

It's JUST Like Being At The Movies........

A big thank-you goes out to Robby for hooking up our surround sound system on Sunday!! WOW - does it ever sound great! All the little speakers are up and the DVD player is now hooked up and can you imagine being down to ONE remote to control everything! All thanks to Robby - he's the BEST when it comes to electronics!

Even American Furniture Warehouse came through today - yes, our entertainment center is now completely together and ready for use!

On the downside, it was time to check out Craigs List again as the washing machine was on its last leg! Glenn tried taking it apart today and decided that after 19 years of service, it was time to haul it to the junkyard and get another one - and since the dryer is that old too, we'll replace it at the same time!

Wonder if anyone will trade a washer and dryer for a big screen TV????

Craigs List

What did we do before Craigs List? I had to stop and think about this for a while - I guess if we needed to advertise something to sell, we either had to call up our local newspaper and actually run an ad in the "For Sale" section or put up a sign at the local grocery store (which never worked anyway!) And if we were looking for something to buy???? Then it was scour the weekly paper or hit every garage sale in the area!

Now we're spoiled - with one click of the mouse, we can go to a specific category and scroll through hundreds and hundreds of items, find an item we want to look at (most of them have pictures posted), shoot a quick email to the person with any questions and then if we're still interested, set up a time to go see the item! And if we're not interested anymore, we haven't wasted any gas or a lot of time!

I've been checking Craigs List a LOT lately as there were several things we actually needed to buy and "used" was just fine with us! So in the last month we've acquired a huge,upright, almost new freezer, a wonderful wood stove for the basement, a large bookshelf to put in the storage room (for all the books that are STILL in boxes) and a desk for Glenn's office!

Now if someone would just buy the TV we have for sale on Craigs List, I would be VERY happy!

The Continuing Saga......

I really am still around! This darn cough/cold/congestion has really put a damper on my life but I think I'm almost healthy again!

I was excited yesterday as Glenn was going to ONCE AGAIN pick up our box of column shelves to complete our entertainment center! If you recall in a previous blog, I told you our story of picking up the 3 boxes and the one box was damaged - so another was ordered and this one had mold all over the side of it - so another one was ordered which I picked up last Friday night - there was NO damage on it, hooray, but they sent 2 left sides instead of a left and a right! By this time you can about imagine how we felt - believe me, I wasn't very nice when I called customer service last Saturday. I got the standard answer, yes, we will order you another shipment and you can pick it up on Tuesday and we're sorry but we'll give you a gas credit - this time I got them up to $20!

So Glenn gets down to the place and lo and behold, there was NO DAMAGE to the box as there wasn't EVEN A BOX!!! The guy forgot to have it delivered from Denver! All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't the customer service rep working! I don't think it probably was a very pretty sight!

Our new box is to be DELIVERED to our doorstep next Monday - anybody want to take bets?

Hiking in the Aspens

Just ONE more blog on the aspens and I promise I will stop!!

Jessi, Gary and Evan came down for part of the weekend and we hiked Mueller State Park on Sat. morning! The weather was perfect - cool - but great for hiking! And the aspens were gorgeous - it was peak weekend - and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed to hike!

Little Evan rode most of the way in Dad's backpack but loved playing in the leaves, once he got out! And 7 month pregnant Jessi did awesome on the hike except for the last bit - it was all uphill at that point and her and I opted to stay until the guys hiked back in and brought the car around to the highway. A great day in the mountains!

My Guys!

Officially, the basement was finished last week!! Inspection was on Thursday and went through without a hitch! HOORAY! Sure, there are a few odds and ends left to do and Hans will finish up this weekend, but we could actually put the furniture where it needed to be and unpack the new entertainment center and TV!
Lance and Hans

Our new entertainment center came in 3 boxes - and darn it if one of the boxes didn't have a broken shelf in it! So I called and they would have another box shipped from Denver and we could pick it up on Sunday - no problem. Sunday comes and we head to Co. Springs to pick it up, this time deciding to OPEN the box while we are there to make sure it's OK - that was a good choice - the box must have sat in some water at one point because the side of the shelf was all moldy - YUCK!!! Once again they called to have yet another box shipped down and we can pick it up anytime - except Glenn is too busy to pick it up right now! We complained about making a special trip down and they gave us a $10.00 gas credit - I'm not sure that would even cover the gas it took but I guess it was better than nothing!
Glenn has worked diligently to TRY and hook up the dish and the new TV and the new surround sound system - I guess 2 out of 3 isn't bad!! The dish and the TV are now hooked up and we're very happy with it all - now we need son-in-law Robby to come down and hook up the surround sound - it's just a little too technical for us old folks!

In the meantime, we're enjoying our new lower level - I can't wait to unpack the boxes that have some decorations and get something put on the walls! It's been a LONG wait but now I can FINALLY do the final organizing of the house with everything in place!

Singin' The Blues

I'm home sick today - I must have whatever is going around - the chest that feels like there's 100# of weight on it, the cough that hurts and the throat that keeps telling me "don't swallow as it's just too painful"! I actually don't feel THAT bad but I have no voice, and it's a little tough to be at work having to answer the phone! So I had to call in for a sick day!

I really don't like to miss work - I would rather be there doing my day to day routine instead of being home KNOWING I should be relaxing - but that's something I don't do too well when I know it's a work day!

So in between reading, relaxing and dousing myself with vicks, I'm doing a few things around the house that really couldn't be done until the basement was finished. I may even turn on the TV although I doubt it - I'm just not a TV watcher during the day!

Somehow I WILL make it through this day and I WILL be back at work tomorrow !

Aspen Colors

I headed to the hills after work today with my friend and we saw the most amazing aspen colors! True, a lot of the trees haven't even turned yet but what we did see was fantastic! I had a hard time just picking 3 pictures to post - what an amazing fall this has been!

Carpet DOES Make A Difference

The basement is getting closer and closer to getting finished! Glenn worked on the railing this weekend and it turned out really nice! I took a picture of it to post and then decided to wait and take a picture after the carpet was laid on Monday! I had forgotten how much difference the carpet actually makes!

Our basement doesn't look like a basement any longer - it now looks like a family room! Day by day more is getting done and one of these days I'll be posting pictures of the finished product! I can hardly wait!

The Aspens At Their Best!

This weekend will be peak weekend for the aspens! The traffic will be bumper to bumper - everyone will be out with their camera to capture this glorious sight! And I'll be right out there with them!



This is taken from the the top of our driveway -

Darn those electrical wires!



Jessi, Gary and Evan are coming down early Saturday morning and we'll take an aspen drive - I'm not sure where yet - any direction will work - and the weather is supposed to be sunny and dry! Perfect weather for a perfect weekend!

I grabbed my camera after work today and took a few shots right here at the house - just to give you a sampling. Tomorrow after work my friend Carrie is picking me up and we're heading up to Rampart Range Road to do some serious photography! More pictures to follow!

An orange aspen in our backyard

The Red Door

Sounds like the title to a good book, doesn't it? But actually it's the color that I painted our 2 doors this weekend!

When I say "weekend", I literally mean ALL WEEKEND!! It took me a day and a half to paint these 2 doors - they were white to start with and each one took 2 coats on each side - plus the door frame, plus all those tiny wood pieces between the window panes, plus ALL the taping! I actually didn't think I was EVER going to finish - but I did!

I was REALLY irritable by the time I finished late Sunday afternoon - I was very carefully pulling off the blue tape from around the window panes, the door knob, and the door lock and I'll be darned if some of the paint didn't come right off with the tape - so I had to redo some of it! I was NOT a happy camper by this time - but I retaped a few places and once again reapplied the red paint!

The results were fantastic! I love the color and it makes the house look a LOT more cozy! So all in all it was well worth it - except for my aching body!

I pampered myself the rest of the evening - relaxing in the hot tub, watching the premier of my favorite show "The Amazing Race", eating a huge bowl of vanilla bean ice cream drenched with chocolate and downloading a new CD from ITunes! Hey, I deserved it!

When You Wish Upon A Star

It's been hectic at work - Gary is on vacation this week so I'm holding the fort down by myself - and it never fails, when he's gone, all sorts of problems arise!

I was MORE than ready to hit the hot tub tonight - it had been almost 3 weeks since Glenn and I had soaked under the stars and as I crawled in, it dawned on me that no matter how tired and late it is, we needed to do this more often!

The stars were gorgeous - the Milky Way was brilliant - I stretched out on the lounger and just gazed at the sky for at least 1/2 hour - it was just amazing how many stars were out there!

It was a crisp, cool night so the hot water was relaxing - just what I needed at the end of a long, long day! I'll sleep good tonight..........................

Rayna's Weekend

For the last 2 summers, Rayna has spent a weekend at our house, doing all kinds of "special" things with us! This year, our weekend was later than usual but nonetheless, we still had a great time together!

I picked up Rayna in Colorado Springs (that way, Jaime and I just each had to drive an hour apiece one way!) and we met for coffee before doing a little shopping and ended up at McDonald's for lunch - I REALLY tried to persuade Rayna to choose Burger King instead of McDonald's but her mind was made up - oh well, it wasn't as bad as I expected! And she had a lot of fun playing in the playground area!
Our next stop was the Dinosaur Mueseum in Woodland Park - I had never been to it before but Rayna was excited about going and I have to say, I was impressed! They had a special section for kids with several activities for them to do and she really enjoyed it!

Making pumpkin bread at the house was next on the list - it's her favorite thing that I make so of course I sent home a loaf with her and I hear she has been rationing it out to her folks! We watched "Finding Nemo" that evening and she decided our couch was not all that comfortable for watching TV and would we please get the basement done ASAP so she could sit in a recliner!

After cinnamon rolls the next morning, the 3 of us headed to the North Pole - as we were watching Rayna go down the huge Candy Cane Slide for the 20th time, Glenn looked at me and said this was his LAST year to come! I reminded him that NEXT year we would have 2 little boys that would be ready to see the North Pole! And I also pointed out that in 4 more years he would be 60 and could get FREE admission - that really boosted his spirits!

3 hours at the North Pole is PLENTY long - we rode the rides, fed the goats, ate a pretty pathetic lunch and walked and walked and walked! I promised Rayna a sno cone after we were done riding the rides and of course the last ride was right by the exit (I had that all planned out!!) But little did I know that the ONLY place that sold sno cones was back where we had lunch, way at the other side of the park - groan - one MORE trek for that darn sno cone!

Glenn and I were both exhausted when we delivered Rayna back to her mom in Colorado Springs - but then again, so was she!