Christmas randoms

In no particular order...

The boys playing Matt's 'The Office' version of Clue.

Abby was tired. :) I should have been sleeping too, since I had a fever the entire day. O well.

Uncle Randy recording hours of gift opening footage.


Our Christmas tree that took up half the living room.

Nativity.

Matt's madrigal.

The flowers Bob got me for my birthday, they were so pretty.

Jakey put soviet propaganda posters on his list...

We also got cool new t-shirts. Mine says I (heart) warders. It's from WOT. Woot.

Jakey was also modeling his sweet new 30 round banana clip...

So I was supposed to work this week, but yeah, I've had a little bit of a fever since Monday night. Too much Christmas I think. :)

Blessings, and Happy New Year!

one of the most amusing moments this christmas...

Yes, that is Grandpa in the middle. *grin* Uncle Roy is on the left, and Johnny S. on the far right. He didn't know the girls... they met them on vacation at Lake Geneva, "they needed a ride." So funny. Austin got the picture from one of Johnny's grandkids (he wouldn't tell who) and had it enlarged.

Merry Christmas

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;"

For hate is strong

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!

The wrong shall fail,

The right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men!"

God bless us everyone!

I turn my collar to the cold and damp...

ugh. I don't like wet. Although, it is kind of nice to not get shocked every time I take off my lab coat and touch my desk. And my computer. And the door handle.

static is worse than damp.

for it's one, two, oops wrong season

So Saturday Bob and I celebrated my birthday, part II. We were going to go tour the Pettingill-Morron house and then go out to eat. Except we got there and there was a sign that said "please call to schedule a tour." um... nowhere on the historical society website does it say that, it lists Saturday tour times and when they're closed. *sigh* So then we were in Peoria and it was way too early to eat, so we stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory. We passed Lakeview museum and decided to see if they were open... yeah, they close at 4 and we would have not had much time. *sigh* They did have a used book sale going on in the lobby. Which we love. And now we have more books. :)

We also stopped at Barnes and Noble and Best Buy since they are there, and we were there, and it was still early. Good times. We did go for supper eventually, at Seven on Prospect. It was really good and they gave us lots of food. And then we went home and played DK for a while. I'm so bad at it... o well, it's great fun.

Sunday we went to Gridley for Christmas. Jesse got a lego power pack so the boys played with that all evening.

Christina got a tea set, so she served tea and whatever food you wanted. So funny.

Bob loves taking pictures...

Last night I got to hang out with the W-ton girls at Katie's new house. So much fun... we laughed a lot and talked a lot.

And then when I got home and started packing our lunches I discovered that the turkey was slimy... ick... and we haven't eaten at home much so we didn't have any leftovers. *sigh* I'm a failure as a wife. :D O well, I'll just have to go to Jimmy John's for lunch... bummer. haha.

Blessings.

merry birthday to me

So Tuesday night I went down to Champaign just because. I haven't been there in ages! And I don't get to see the C-U girls nearly as much as I would like. And Bob was busy. It was great. I got to meet Natalie's two cute "foster" puppies. They came with Amber, Sarah, Natalie and I to Sonic... I had to order... it was scary. :P They had the rest of the UIYG over to decorate cookies and sing Christmas carols which was great fun. Jakey was busy studying so he didn't come... I stopped by on my way home to bug him. Lots of things are different since I graduated, but one thing never changes- the smell of the Saltshaker. :)

I didn't get home until midnight. Wednesday was a sleepy day. Totally worth it though.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm officially 25 and old now. *grin* Or something. When I got to work I found approximately 300 paperback books covering my desk, and balloons and streamers. My coworkers borrowed them from the bookshelves in the cafeteria (people bring all kinds of books they don't want any more and leave them for anyone to read)... so then we sorted them all by genre. It was interesting to note what science people read- half were sci-fi/fantasy (lots of TOR novels) and half were harlequin romance and chick lit (aka bodice rippers). Only three westerns, a handful of suspense/thrillers, and few non-fiction books.

When I got home from work, Bob had gotten me flowers and beautifully wrapped presents. He's amazing. :D And I was maybe so excited about getting Donkey Kong and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that I forgot that I had bought cream on my way home and left it in the bag on the floor... and we went to Mom and Dad's for supper. oops. It's ultra pasteurized right??

Mom made steak and mushrooms and cake. It was great. I rescued the rest of my tree ornaments and looked at all their Christmas cards. And then Shelly dressed up like a Russian.

Bob and I both have work Christmas potlucks today, so I spent the rest of the evening making party potatoes and Bob made jello. Woot. And cupcakes because I forgot to take doughnuts to work for my birthday. (I thought that was over after grade school...) I even made buttercream frosting- so yummy.

It's kind of crazy to think how much has changed since last year. I love birthdays for looking back and remembering. Blessings.

Here we come a caroling...

So we were busy again last weekend. Hooray for December! :)

We went to the H.S. Madrigal Dinner last Thursday; Matt was in it. I was quite impressed... the food was good, the music was good, and the company was excellent. :) I always used to go to Morton's to see Katie, and since Tremont is waaay smaller I wasn't sure how it would compare.

I was pretty excited to go caroling on Friday. We were in a pretty small group, we all fit in one big van, but we sounded good. And the people we sang for were very appreciative and teary eyed. :) I always forget to eat something before we leave so I was starving by the time we got back to the fellowship hall. (and they don't serve sloppy joe's! happy day! sorry to all of the very hardworking w-ton food committee, I just don't like them, especially after Christmas caroling.)

Saturday I worked very hard all day to get ready for having Gab and Brian over for supper. Or something. :) I went simple and low stress and made chili. It was good to hang out with them... much interesting hypothetical conversation, nintendo, and scrabble.

My family was in church for the wedding on Sunday, along with half of the w-ton church. It was good to see everybody and eat cake.

Two days until my birthday... woot.

Blessings.

Christmas time is here...

Such a busy, Christmasy weekend!

We got a tree on Saturday. It's pretty, but somehow it looks a lot bigger in our house than it did on the lot. :) Now I just need to get my ornaments from home so it won't look so bare!

I made spritz and we frosted gingerbread and sugar cookies. I think I made way too many of everything, but they're just sooo good. :)

Shelly called me last night and read me "Davey and the First Christmas," which is pretty much the best! I don't have any Christmas books... it's very sad. I'll just have to go hang out at home sometime and read Davey, and the Grinch, and the Night Before Christmas.

Blessings.

sugar and spice

Our house smelled good last night.

I made chicken tikka masala for supper.... garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala.... heavenly.

Then I made springerli.... much sugar and the wonderful aroma of anise...

Blessings.

Thanksgiving

I love long weekends. :) Even when they're busy.

I also love being a government employee and getting off two hours early on Wednesday by executive decree. :)

We spent Thanksgiving with some of my family at the farm... it was a small group, but quite hilarious at times. And Grandma and Pearline did most of the cooking so the food was great, of course. We were there pretty late because I had to wait for Shelly to get home from work so we could sing thanksgiving songs... and Bob and Jakey were playing Age of Empires...

So I slept in Friday. And was kind of a bum. I did get the house cleaned though. We went to the Beutel thanksgiving for supper- more good food and singing. :) And I didn't have to bring any leftover jello home. woot woot.

Sharon, Rustin and Grace were here so we had Christmas with them on Saturday. I liked Grace's toys a lot... :P We had some really good kabobs for supper, and stayed up really late again. I was having a hard time staying awake in church on Sunday.

Tomorrow is December 1st.... which means it's time to start decorating for Christmas. I'm excited. It also means there are only 17 days until my birthday.

Blessings.

Things for which I am thankful:

Bob

family

good friends

weddings at which I get to see good friends (nic and amanda's was great)

apple pie

sunshine

church

cake

down comforters

spices

my job

Jesus

dr. pepper

flowers

Things that make me smile

and rotating potluck. :D

Blessings.

once upon a midnight dreary...

... name that poem...

So I'm ready for some sunshine again! I don't like wet very much. It's a good thing I don't live in Oregon or a rain forest or something. Damp and dreariness does nothing for my mood... it could have had something to do with reading Wuthering Heights also.... but getting Jakey's Christmas present in the mail yesterday didn't even really help. (It's awesome. I'm excited. He's pretty much the funnest person to find gifts for.) Maybe I can convince Bob that I need to go someplace with green growing things.... ha!

Tonight I have to come up with desert for potluck... I haven't decided what I'm going to make yet. I'll probably just make pie because it's easy and I don't think I'm brave enough to take something I've never made before.

It's going to be a busy few days.... but I'm really excited for Nic and Amanda to get married! It makes me smile a lot. :D

Blessings.

happenings

So I'm pretty done with Christmas shopping. Yay! It helps that I had last Wednesday off for veteran's day and spent the whole day shopping... :)

Bob went to Nic's bachelor supper Friday so I invited myself to supper with Mom and Dad. And finally got some papers signed to switch an account to my name.... which we really should have done when I turned 18 or something, because it's twice as complicated since my name changed and I'm adding Bob. Plus, it was necessary to drive my car through a field of cornstalks at least once this year.... I don't think I got any stuck underneath. :)

We went to walmart the other night to fill shoe boxes.... the toy selection stinks. No little dolls, or stuffed animals, or much of anything that would fit. There was plenty of uber violent stuff... It was still fun though and it was hard to fit it all in the boxes, so I'm sure they'll be happy.

Grandma and Grandpa and Pearl and Kary came for supper tonight. I cleaned extra good. And used my china for the first time. And was a little worried that my food would taste bad.... but it was ok.... they did say it was "different" though. Haha. I think they were a little surprised at how different our house looks now, they all came and helped when we were cleaning and painting, and how livable it really is. :P Good times.

I'm not excited to go to work tomorrow.... *sigh* hooray for Mondays...

Blessings.

Indian Summer

I love it. :D

Except those awful lady bug things also love the warm weather. And a random wasp that was flying around our back porch.

There's a lot of pork in our freezer.... it's amazing. :)

I helped out at the Haitian linens open house last Friday and didn't buy any Christmas presents.... buying decorating stuff for other people is hard, so I just don't. I did get some pretty Christmas things for me. :D

We raked leaves again on Saturday- so much easier with dry leaves! And I maybe jumped off the truck into the large community leaf pile. It was awesome.

I don't like the time change. (Although it is waaay easier to get out of bed when the sun is already up.) Last night I was attempting to grill in the dark by lantern light; not very easy, and I burned my knuckle on the lid. My Wyss Farms, Inc. pork chops still ended up tasting pretty good. :)

Blessings.

trick or treat

happy reformation day... a little bit late. :)

I spent the end of last week going to showers... woot... two in a row, Nic, you owe me. :P Or something.

Halloween was fun. We did not dress up; I kind of doubt I could get Bob to anyway. It was the first time I've ever lived in town (and not in a college neighborhood) so it was the first time I've ever had trick or treaters. My favorite costumes were the three little boys dressed up as a hot dog and ketchup and mustard.... and the bee keeper with two bees... and the little girl who told me "I'm a banana!" when I said she had a cool costume.

We were going to have people for supper that night, but they were unexpectedly and unavoidably detained... mur... so sad. So they didn't end up coming. I have a lot of leftover pumpkin bars, which is bad, because now I will eat them. :)

Blessings

Autumn

It's been busy again...

Last weekend was full. Sprout had some champaign girls over and I got to hang out with them on Friday. Fun times chilling and playing games.

It was also Kendra's baptism... most of my cousins were here. We stayed up late with them Saturday night. Much telling of Jakey's "email story" and funny conversations. We were talking about how 'homemade' apple pie isn't Pillsbury pie crust and apple pie filling- "what does that say about your home life?," "Yeah, do you live in Walmart?" *grin*

Tuesday we went to Grandpa and Grandma Beutel's for supper. It was fun and we got to look at old pictures, which I love.

We have a lot of leaves in our yard that we need to rake sometime. My flowers are dying...I like spring a lot better than fall. But- I bought a bunch of bulbs the other day, so hopefully I'll have flowers sooner next spring!

Blessings.

excitement

So far this week the most exciting thing that's happened is that there's half a pig at the locker with my name on it. Yes, I realize how pathetic that is. :) I'm just excited to see familiar looking packages in my freezer.... I don't know what to do with all these newfangled store bought cuts of meat. (ok, not really. but I am excited for real, thick bacon!) :)

Hopefully I can spend less time in front of the meat case trying to decide what to get...

I miss Lindy's. But I don't really miss being a cashier- the other day I stopped at the grocery store for two things and went to the 15 items or less express lane. I was behind an older lady and a very patient guy. It would have been faster to get in the line behind the very full cart. Seriously, the lady in front of me spent close to 10 min trying to convince the cashier that her coupon for ice cream would work on any frozen item and that the cocoa she had was the brand that was on sale.... which she didn't want if it wasn't. She saved a total of 78 cents. Frugality and thrift are great; but, I hope we are never so poor that I'm worried about 78 cents.

Blessings.

on being a wimp

So last Friday night we'd been planning on going camping with Dale and Meg and some of Bob's second cousins.... but then it was cold and rainy all last week, and the forecast for Friday night and Saturday was the same. So we decided not to go. Instead, we took all of our camping food to Dale and Meg's and had supper there and played games inside where it was warm. And enjoyed intelligent conversation on a variety of topics, which I love. And then I don't think it rained much Friday night and it was beautiful Saturday... *sigh* o well. Maybe next year. :)

Rhonda got married on Sunday. It was good to see her and her veil with little hearts all over it. So very Rhonda. And we got to see a few other fun people.... hooray for weddings.

Blessings.

long weekend

Hooray for celebrating long dead explorers who didn't really discover anything! Kind of like Nobel peace prizes....

I'm not complaining about having a day off though- it was great!

We went to sing at Timber Ridge Friday night, it was interesting as always!

Saturday afternoon I went home for a few hours... it was necessary to see the new shed on Matt's farm layout and shoot Jakey's new gun that he bought quick before our revered president changes gun control laws. It's an AR-15. In mossy oak. We were carrying it out of the house just as the appliance repairman showed up. um... no worries, you'll be perfectly safe working here, we just have a semi-automatic weapon.... haha. Then Fred and boys drove up- their eyes were as big as saucers- so funny.

I went to my first and the "coldest ever" pork chop fry. woot woot. It was fun, although I think they're breaking truth in advertising laws since the pork chops are grilled, not fried. There's a big difference. :)

Sunday we went to Derek and Leanne's for supper and we got to play Lincoln logs with Wesley and Lexi. Good times.

Poor Bob had to get up and go to work on Monday... and I went shopping. I met mom in Peoria and we went to Olive garden for lunch. I mostly got wedding and shower gifts, which are not my favorite things to shop for. I can never find the exact thing they registered for, or they don't have it in stock so I spend forever looking for something that isn't there. *sigh* O well.

and for randomness- I love our down comforter. It's great. Pretty sure that who ever invented the feather bed/ feather comforter should have gotten a medal. There was some snickering when we got it at our church shower.... about how we 'won't need that! nudge nudge smirk'.... to which I rolled my eyes. You try living with old drafty windows and radiator heat and just a bedspread. It's cold. That and the ridiculous, 'you'll really only need a twin bed' comment... seriously, so not true. anyway. That's my list of dumb things you can say to newlyweds...... *grin*

Blessings.