But this is what I came home with . . .

This is a man who loves to cook!

This is what the poor guy was driving. With the car in the garage the last four years,

he hasn't had a whole lot of driving.

My first gift of the New Year was that we were overstaffed at work
and so they offered me the night off!
So, I have some time to finally post Christmas Day at our house.

Dinner was spread out over 4 tables, the dining room and then the coffee table in
the living room, and we set up 2 additional tables there, too.
More wine at table 3!

We had our annual gift exchange, complete with three allowed "rip offs"
for each gift! We swapped mostly gift cards from Target and Starbucks! Some
gifts were disguised. One had a banana to weigh it down, another
had rocks in the box!

It was a Merry Christmas!

With all that was going on, I'm just getting around to Christmas posting!

So, I'm starting with the beginning. . . and I decorated from one end of the house

to the other end of the house.

And still the rain was pouring down, lightning, thunder, hail and more rain!

And so we baked! Some Yuletide Toffee here. . .

and a few cookies here!

Taylor was Santa's helper! The bowl of green apples on the table, soon to be a pie!

And before we knew it, Christmas Eve!
Pizza night!

Joseph adds a little surprise to the photo! Heads up!

And the pizzas just keep rolling out!

Our celebrity People's Choice Nominees!
Watch Jan. 5th!

Was it Christmas or St. Paddy's Day!??

The twins show off a few gifts . . . why there's Joseph again!

and the kids are getting wild!

Mom wins the Lotto! Linda's grand daughters help her count her winnings!
It comes to $375!

And Melanie seems a bit surprised by her Spa Day gift!

And the night winds down with a quiet moment. Happy Christmas to all!

With storm after storm after storm, we've had a year's worth of rain in a week or two!
I've been under the weather of late so Terry and Taylor went out to get a Christmas tree. I flipped on the TV and in no time, this interrupted the show. . .

We had a break in the hard rain, so the guys go out to inspect the situation.

Finding overflowing and broken rain gutters, the repair work began before the next onslaught of rain began.

The ladder didn't reach all the high places, so Taylor improvises with cement blocks. Mind you, there is a break in the heavy rain, but, these guys are soaked, it is still raining.

Once repairs are done, they inspect the runoff. Success! At least for now, reassessment will commence after the next onslaught! Wish us luck!

So, this is how my day started. My bed leaking out everywhere! First, I noticed a leak at the corner drip, drip, dripping onto the carpet. S@#*! That is not good. So, I had to take the whole bed apart and found the bad guy that caused all this. Seam leaking on one of the water tubes. Leaked about 5 gallons of water:(((
This is what is looked like under everything after I scooped out about 3 or 4 gallons into a bucket. I had 2 hair dryers going on and off for a few hours trying to dry out the wood.

Nearby, this was where I had all the bedding pieces. Luckily, the top cover was not wet!

And pretty soon, everything was moved outside to dry. Glad this wasn't in your neck of the woods. I don't think freezing temps. would have helped me out at all. Here, a gentle breeze and 70 degrees was just perfect.

Got on to Facebook to pass on some wait time, and promptly got a viral video that I mistakenly opened and it got sent some 3-4 times to every friend I had. I had to change my password and felt a little guilty, so went to each friend to remove the posts! If I missed one or two, sorry, don't open, just delete.

Once, done with that, I got into my car to run some errands. Noticing my tank was on empty, I stopped to get gas. There was a car wash there, so I drove over to get a wash. The attendant noticed a gas leak!!! I called Auto Club to get a tow to my repairman, only to find out I had renewed the boys membership and not mine! Called Sean to get his # and got the tow. Waiting for the tow to show, I called my repair shop to let him know I was coming, only to find that he was closed!
Towed the car home and here it sits in front of the house leaking my tank of gas at $3.47/gallon, thank you very much!
Thought we should warn passersbys when they come upon the stench, as if they could figure out where it was coming from, but at least keep them from all knocking on my door to let me know they smell gas coming from my car.

Thanksgiving weekend and this weekend I spent with the twins and they kept me busy! So much to do. First, Pat came along for the day of pampering at the salon. Here, Maggie, their hairdresser, cuts, colors, teases, curls, and styles all the ladies to perfection!



Mom shows off her new look. We've been trying to get her to cut her hair shorter for about a year now and "WoW" she looks incredible. Much younger and more "hip"!

Then, it was home to make dinner. Thank goodness there was so much left over from a scrumptious Thanksgiving feast for us to devour! We even made turkey soup from the carcass to store away in the freezer! (oops, out of sequence, that is the before pic of mom's hair)

This weekend, with Thanksgiving over, Christmas was the main event. We made 10 mini-pumpkin bread loaves and wrapped them up for little gifts for all the sweet "helpers" in their lives. Lucille and Peggy, that drive them to church every Sunday. Phyllis, who accompanies them to church and visits with them. Their two sweet housekeepers who come by every Monday to clean up the mess we make having fun on the weekends. Their neighbors, Linda, Gail and Gayle who watch over them, unlock doors, check in on them and take them out to breakfast or lunch. Well, they were still making a list (and checking it twice) for all those little helpers.

And then, we got right to decorating the tree, stringing the lights, setting out the Santas and poinsettia, ornaments and tinsel! I just love the hairband we found for Mom! Well, if we weren't feeling the season before this weekend, we certainly are in the spirit now! Happy Holiday Season from all of us to all of you!

I knew Taylor went in to do some extra credit for his speech class. Even he didn't know he was entering a Speech Competition. He almost didn't go because he was sick with a cold and was coughing with a sore throat and his voice was hoarse. When he arrived, there were 50 competitors. He gave his speech with the intent of getting disqualified so he wouldn't have to go on to the semi-finals and the finals. After all, his prof. said, give your speech and get extra credit. Just once? He said he messed up 3 times on purpose to make sure he wouldn't go on.
No luck. He advanced to the semi-finals. I think he must have stopped messing up, because he then found himself in the Finals with the last 4 contestants. He, being the only one not dressed in a suit. After all, he was giving an informative speech on "Longboarding" with a board prop. A suit? Couldn't be believable without the Element sweatshirt. Then, he crossed the line with the phrase "what the hell is a nanotube?" Fourth place.