Saturday After Christmas

I slept fairly well. My back hurt part of the night and my left leg hurt enough that about 4:00 I got up and drank some eggnog and took a couple of Aleve.  My hands hurt a good deal of the time. I don't know if they will ever recover from the library job. Finally I just got up.

This morning Bob will come by and we will go to Sirloin Stockade for breakfast. It's become an every Saturday morning routine. I don't know what I will do after that since the Christmas decorations are already put away. I would like to go to Bartlesville and check out the sales but I really shouldn't spend any more money.  My Blue Cross/Blue Shield hasn't come out yet.

It's supposed to rain all weekend and perhaps even snow some. This is Kansas and the weather is extremely changeable.

Missy is patiently waiting for me to finish this so she can have her treats and some "fresh" smelling cat food. I will get back to this later...

Well, I got Missy fed and had a cup of coffee and tried to do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. I got most of it finished.

I am also doing a load of laundry.  I just got it into the dryer.  It feels good to have the apartment all clean and neat. I do need to clean off the top of the frig. I tend to just stick stuff there to get it out of sight. I have almost an hour before Bob comes to pick me up.  Maybe I can get that done. The storage in the dining room is all neat and organized with my decoration boxes all labeled. I'm glad I kept my Keurig boxes this past year. They were just the right size.

More later...

We had our chili at noon and also a piece of my pumpkin pie. I've read all afternoon. That makes me sleepy so I am now looking at my e-mail. Soon I will give Missy her treats and have some yogurt myself. 

I preach tomorrow at church so I'd better be looking at my sermon. 

Friday and Christmas Day

Well, Christmas is finally here and my little party last night was a success. The little girls were more interested in opening their gifts then eating so I have quite a bit left. I'll take it out to John and Leslie's when we go out for Christmas dinner at noon.

I woke up late..around 6:00 and got a late start on my pies. The second one is in the oven now. I made traditional pumpkin and a pecan pie too.

While I am waiting to take the shield off the pie crust, I will get some of my photos downloaded to this computer so I can get them here on my blog. I still have to make my Waldorf Salad but one project at a time. This was my table before we started eating last night. 

This is my grandson, Jeromy.

And this is the girls..opening their gifts.

The one nearest the camera is Cheyenne who is three going on four,and the dark haired on is Maia, who is five...going on six.

Here are some more of my photos.

This is my daughter and son-in-law enjoying some goodies.

This is my son-in-law, John, watching his granddaughters open gifts.

There are the girls busily opening gifts.

That's my daughter and her son, Jeromy cleaning up after the girls.

Jeromy still putting away wrapping paper and bows.

Jeromy figuring out one of his gifts...probably electronics. Notice his KSU hat. That's where he graduated. Kansas State University.

This is the little critter I bought for Cheyenne. She immediately hugged it.

This is my brother-in-law opening the gift I bought him. It's a hairdryer that attaches to the wall in the bathroom.

This is John, my son-in-law showing Maia how to work one of her gifts. John is a great grandpa. He loves those little girls and does anything for them.

This is my daughter, Leslie. I don't know what she is doing here but I finally got a photo of her so I am using it.

Anyhow, it was a really good Christmas Eve.

More later....it's time to take the last pie out of the oven.

The salad is ready now and in the frig.  Both pies are in the carriers. I couldn't find the sling for the Tupperware one. For some reason, it is lost. I hope we don't drop the pie taking it in. We are leaving at 11:00 for John and Leslie's home in rural Independence. We eat at noon.  There will be 11 of us.

More later...

We had a great dinner. Leslie really outdid herself with the help of Cyndi. Cyndi is a great cook too so between the two of them, They really fixed a great meal. My pies turned out well and most of the salad was finished off.  I left the rest for them.

I spent the after dinner time cleaning up and realized I had completely forgotten to take any photos. 

After I cleaned up we all went out to look at the puppies...all 11 of them.  I got Bob home about 2:30 and then came in and made room in my frig for the stuff I brought home. Bob was as tired as I was and he will probably take a nap this afternoon.  I don't know if he will be over this evening or not. He was awfully tired.

About 3:00 or so I decided to put away the Christmas decorations and tree. I was just finishing boxing everything up and labeling the boxes when Bob came in. It was close to 5:00. We watched TV and had some eggnog until 7:00 and then he went home and I took my bath.  I went to bed about 8:00.

Thursday and Christmas Eve

Tonight will be our gathering as a family to open gifts and have snacks. It will be held here at my apartment.  When I get everything ready, I will try to remember to take a photo. I cleaned yesterday so the place is ready. I am going to fix chili for our lunch today and we will have Freetos and cheese (and crackers) with it. We will have an unhealthy day. :) We will drink Coke with the chili.

I slept fairly well last night. I had left a couple of Tums beside my bed on the night table and before I went to sleep, I chewed them up. For some reason, if I eat anything heavy or have popcorn at bedtime, I get indigestion.  This just started  a couple of weeks ago.  The Tums seem to work though. I had had caramel corn last night while Bob was here.

It's raining today. I had hoped it would wait until after the Christmas weekend but it moved in early.  At least it's not forecast for Christmas Day. We are fortunate  not having tornadoes like Mississippi had last night.  I understand 6 people were killed. What a terrible Christmas it will be for those families.

My Christmas Cactus Leslie gave me some years back, is beginning to bloom.

Isn't that neat? Right at Christmas time too.

There's another view.I hope it finishes blooming this week. I re-potted it a few months ago and both plants have grown like weeds now that they are no longer root bound.

More later....

I am so pleased. One of my friends who struggles was given a Christmas gift of a free membership to Bart Ehrman's Blog.   Ehrman is one of the foremost Bible historians. He reads several ancient languages and is able to make some remarkable discoveries that way.

My chili is ready and I am just keeping it warm until Bob is ready for lunch.

My family is coming tonight at 5:00 this evening...which is probably a good thing since the deer are out in force and my son-in-law has a brand new truck. We will enjoy goodies and candy and open gifts. Bob is making his pumpkin bread. I have candy, cookies and eggnog to serve. I know the two little great grandchildren will be thrilled. I will try my best to take some photos. I even laid my camera out. They are the cutest little girls.

More later...

How about that! I did remember to take photos while the family was here. I will try to get them downloaded to the computer later this morning.

Meanwhile, I'm going to bed. It's 9:00 and I am very tired.

Wednesday and a Busy Day

I slept well last night although because I took a nap yesterday afternoon, I kept waking up thinking it was morning.

I started with my bedding laundry and towels this morning early. Then I cleaned both the bathroom floor and the kitchen floor.  After that I vacuumed. Then I remade the bed.  After the apartment was clean, I went to town and left my empty print cartridges at the library and then stopped at the health food store to get my whole pecans for my pie Friday morning. I will also bake a pumpkin pie. Then I will do my Waldorf Salad.

Today, I have decided to have tuna cakes, baked potatoes, veggies and applesauce.

Tomorrow I will fix chili with scoops and cheese.

Tomorrow night we will have gift opening here. I will serve eggnog and goodies. Bob is making his pumpkin bread and I have cookies and candy. That should be plenty. As far as I know, my grandson Jeromy and Marlene, his wife, and the little girls, Maia and Cheyenne, will be here too besides John and Leslie. Bob is coming, of course.

 Friday, of course, we will go to John and Leslie's for Christmas dinner. I will take the salad and pies.  I am all ready for Christmas. Bob's daughter, Denise and her daughter, Deanna, will be there besides Cyndi and Jeff. It will be a houseful. That will be 11 of us.

Then sometime right after Christmas, I will put away all my decorations. When it's over..it's over.

More later....

I am very tired this evening. I did a lot of work today  Tomorrow afternoon I will get everything ready for the Christmas Eve get together,  I will put my red tablecloth on and get out some of my crystal to serve.  I have Candlewick dishes for the pumpkin bread and cookies and the candy and some nice glasses for the eggnog.

Right now I am getting ready for bed. Missy and I have been watching Nature and Nova on PBS.  We are both tired.  

Tuesday and Hair Day

I go to Independence to get my hair done today. Bob will visit his 92 year old sister, Betty, while I balance Juanita's checkbook later this morning. Then we will eat at Great China or Big Cheese. Tomorrow I will clean house, change my bed and cook. I haven't decided yet what to have for lunch/dinner then. I need to go through my cookbook and decide.

I slept pretty well last night. I did get up at 4:00 AM. I was wide awake.  Missy got sick on the carpet last night and I found it this morning and cleaned it up. There were three different places. She must have overfilled her stomach. I was able to just pick it up with Kleenex. I will put some carpet cleaner on the area.

I am going to have Christmas Eve gift opening here at the apartment. I will bake some treats and also have eggnog. I have some cookies and even some peanut clusters ....although not many. I gave most away for gifts. I may make some more for Thursday evening and also for my Living the Questions group.  I'll see how the time goes. I will need a few more tins if I do that. I'll play it by ear.

More later...

By the way...want to buy a beautiful car? This is my son's car.  It's for sale. A 2013 Mustang...fully loaded! Sale $16,500.




I did go to Juanita's and didn't have a bit of trouble getting her bankbook balanced,  Afterward Bob and I went to great China for lunch. He brought some home. I nearly finished mine. Bob has decided to make the banana nut bread from Thursday night. He has the ingredients.

I bought a small poinsettia for Juanita for Christmas. She gave me a box of chocolates. I will enjoy them Thursday evening too. We have been friends since she was 80 and now she's 92.

More later....

It was mild this afternoon so I took advantage of it to dump all my spent flowers off the carport into a large trash bag. Then I drug it over to the trash container and pulled the container over on it's side and pulled the bag into in and then tugged on it to get it upright again.  I swept off the carport and then went around to the flowerbed that John, my son-in-law made for me and cleaned it up too.  I'll take a photo of it tomorrow after I clean the house and do my laundry.

Bob is here now and we will watch TV this evening.

He left early and I took my bath and watched the rest of "Prohibition" on PBS, before going on to bed at 9:00PM..
   

Monday and Laundry Day

I slept like a log last night. We had our Living the Questions group meeting at Joyce's last night and stayed until almost 9:00 visiting following the DVD viewing and comment time.  When I got Gary and Bob delivered home, I came home and took my bath and sat with Missy for an hour in the recliner and watched TV.  Then we both went to bed. I had gone to the market and bought everything I needed for Christmas dinner and also my print cartridges. Keith had fixed my printer and computers and mail program and Leslie had printed off the class newsletters. My kids had fixed everything.

Bob just texted me to see if I am among the living.  I assured him I am and told him my plan for the day. I have the laundry in the washer now and will wait until tomorrow or Wednesday to strip my bed and do that laundry.   I may clean today as I usually do on Monday if I get all those letters in the mail early.

I decided to just eat out today and I treated Bob. I gave the meatloaf to Karan and Bobby. I had those letters to fold and insert in envelopes so that took some time..

Yesterday afternoon I took a tin of peanut clusters over to Marilyn and sent some home with Bob. I have just a bit left over. I may fix that for Wayne and Merrill, my ex landlords. Wayne is 95 and pretty frail.

Tomorrow I will go to Independence to get my hair done and Juanita has her bank statement, so I will balance her checkbook and then we will eat at Great China or Big Cheese before coming home.  Bob can visit with Betty, his sister.

More later....

I got it all finished before lunch and we ate lunch/dinner at Sirloin Stockade.  Now I have put away my one load of laundry and Bob is doing his one load.

While I was out at Leslie's this morning my great granddaughters were there too and they were looking at the puppies. They are three and five.  The Corgis are two weeks old and the mixes are one week old. They are all so cute! The Corgi's eyes are open now. John has fixed a place for each litter in the Garden House. He has built a screen wire area for each family and they will have a door in the front door for the moms to go in and out.  They have put a little radiator heater in there to keep them warm.

More later....

I talked to Leslie this evening and the family are all coming over Thursday evening to open gifts.  I have bought two half gallons of Braums eggnog today in anticipation of it and will make some banana nut bread and I still have some cookies and peanut clusters.  I will clean house on Wednesday and change my bedding too. The apartment will be nice and clean for the occasion. 

I watched Apollo 10 for the first time in years tonight after Bob and I watched The Christmas Carol.. We ate some popcorn and I had some Chia and my yogurt.  He had hot chocolate.  Then when he went home I took my bath and sat in the recliner as usual with Missy. She loves that.

Better get to bed. It's after 9:00 and I have my hair appointment in the morning and while Bob visits his sister, I will balance Juanita's checkbook.

Sunday and Church

I finally got to sleep last night about midnight. I had way too much on my mind. I will need to go to Walmart this afternoon and get more cartridges. I ran out of ink after about 7 letters. I will buy a double cartridge with two multi colors. I will have to do all the printing from the desktop since I was never able to get the laptop to print. Then I guess I will do about 10 a day until I get all 70 done. There are four pages in each letter printed on both sides.  Those that went out in e-mail appear to have opened all right. I've heard back from five or six recipients. I sent out 71. I will probably also have to get more stamps before all this is finished.

I will do the congregational letters first. Communication is very important to attendance.  People need to know they are missed and they need to be kept informed about what is going on in the congregation....whether they attend or not.

Scott called last night and I was too distressed over the computer/printer situation to even carry on a decent conversation with him. I hate that.

This morning I had my juice and coffee and the last cinnamon roll. Not too healthy, I know.

Last night I heard a mower going and thought that perhaps Betty, our landlady, had sent her nephew to mow all those terrible leaves. I went to the door and looked and what do you know! It was Kenny, the manager of the apartments next door. He had his large Dixon mower out there and was mowing over and over again to mulch the leaves in the front of the fourplex.  That was really nice of him...an early Christmas gift.  I will send him a Christmas card and thank him for that.

This photo is my older son, Keith and his wife Esther. They are so happy. I thank God they found one another.

 


More later...

My son, Keith (above with wife, Esther) is a genius with computers and hardware as well as software. He fixed my computer/printer problem with about 30 minutes...start to finish.  I am so blessed to have him! For many reasons...this is just one of them.

My daughter volunteered to print off my letters with her printer which collates everything. She has that finished. Now I just have to drive up there and pick them up tomorrow and then get them in the mail.

My kids are terrific! All of them!.