Christmas oh-nine

Christmas came to our house and it was very enjoyable and merry.

On Christmas Eve we had a big ham dinner. We had this on Christmas Eve because Cody had to work on Christmas afternoon. Or so we thought.

Here we are. And before the comments in your heads start, yes I do have the same sweatshirt on as I had on at Thanksgiving. It happens to be a favorite for fit and comfort reasons. And no, I have not been wearing it non stop since Thanksgiving, and yes, it has been washed, a couple of times since then. OK?

The boys were somewhat embarrassed that the Christmas picture should be exactly like the Thanksgiving picture (since when do they care?). They also think it’s funny that there are just the 4 of us (plus Trixie) as families around here tend to be big and live close together. I kinda like our cozy little Christmas, although it would be nice to have the graama’s around, or maybe a sister or two. But barring that, it was pretty nice and we had a great meal.

Dave cooked the ham, but I made mashed potatoes (both white and sweet mixed together), veggie and some cresent rolls (those are pretty easy really-open roll, put on sheet, cook). Delicious.

The dogs waited patiently for leftovers

 

They are a blur of gluttony.

Here’s a couple of miscellaneous pictures…

This one cracks me up-It’s like the little cat picture in the background is spying on Blane.

The next day looked like this

Rain and snow and ice, then some more snow with some rain. Back and forth. We did not shovel the driveway, that is for sure.

Cody, suffering from low grade fever and excruciating sore throat for the last two days called in sick to work.

Blane is still not into the pictures much

We ate delicious French toast and then opened our presents

Of course, I didn’t get pictures of the actual opening, nor do I have pictures of the presents, but they were all good.

I did get a picture of Trixie watching what was going on

And the cat hiding

Cody and Blane took off, in the snow, to Urgent Care to treat Cody’s sore throat, which turned out to be strep. Merry Christmas.

The rest of the morning was spent doing this

Yes, the 80 blocks are done and laid out. I started cutting the boarder blocks and may actually be done in a week or two. Trixie ran through the blocks dragging her blanket behind, so this is actually the second laying out of the blocks. I won’t repeat what I said when the unfortunate blanket incident occurred.

My iPod died and our cable downstairs is malfunctioning, by the way. Electronics did not have a Merry Christmas. But we still get the Packer game channel for Sunday.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas-on to the New Year.

He’s In!

Cody called me today while at was at work on my day off (that is so wrong on so many levels-but I digress). He told me he wasn’t going to take any more classes to try to get into medical school.

Disappointed, I figured that he had gotten the final rejection letter.

But NO! He said he wasn’t going to take more classes because-

Wait for it…..

He got accepted to Touro today. I about flipped. You’d have thunk I got accepted. He was so happy and I was so happy and we are still happy.

So I guess that handsome suit had some magic after all.

It seems only yesterday that Blane was trying to strangle him

Or that he was the happy baby on the couch…

…A gun totin’ little kid (back in the day when little kids could tote guns bigger than themselves)….

…..Sort of scary teenager…

….High school grad….

….College grad….

….Medical School Applicant….

….And now, medical school entrant

So again, I present to you, the future of medicine

Wait, that can’t be right.

Once again, I present the future of medicine

Congratulations Cody!

It’s the weekend before Christmas, and all through the house…..

What a busy weekend I have had.

Firstly, one of Dave’s coworkers asked if I could make a quilt for her mother for Christmas. She wanted a simple pattern so I picked a Turning Twenty. It’s pretty easy and sews up quickly. I took it to, where else, Pine Needles, where I also purchased all the fabric. They were having a deal in October and November that if you got your backing there the batting was free when they did the quilting. So I dropped it off on Nov 30th and got it back this week. Not a bad turnaround, eh?What a deal.

So yesterday, after I got home from shopping and getting my hair cut, I bound it  and it turned out quite nice, if I do say so myself.

I then wrote my Christmas letter and got all my cards done this AM. Will mail tomorrow and they might all arrive before Christmas. Now there’s a Christmas miracle. I also got Kate’s present ready to mail. Remember that?

Today I finished up the cards and then started working on the Cabin in the Stars. God that thing has more pieces than any quilt I have worked on in the past 10 years. The first quilt I ever made had a zillion little triangles too. This one is bringing back some memories.

Anyway, I have finished the log cabin blocks

A picture to remind you.

Today I got half of the 40 stars done

 

This is one of 20. You have to cut those triangle side blocks which makes the chopped star, but you have to be careful you don’t cut the background side, which is the light color. And I did 19 correctly. But guess what happened on #20? Yep, cut it on the wrong side and had to make up a new set to get the one I cut wrong. I decided that I should quit and do the other 20 tomorrow, if I get time. I thought I might have this done by Christmas, but think again. There is still more to cut AND a bunch of boarder blocks to sew. I am thinking mid Jan.

Meanwhile, Beta, who has a one eye and a bad Right Rear leg, now is limping on the Right Front leg. Pretty soon he’ll just be dragging himself on his stomach.

He’s on a little R&R here. We have him on bed rest, or should I say couch rest. That lump of blanket next to him is actually Trixie.

Yep, that’s her.

If you look closely….

I uncovered her head a little so you could see that she really is under there. She didn’t like it much so I covered her back up.

And Dave, well, he cleaned the floors yesterday so he could get a nap in today before that Packer Game. He wasn’t so hot on the picture thing.

Flattering, isn’t it?

I cleaned the bird cages so I did participate in the cleaning, don’t think I didn’t.

I baked some goodies for a few friends and tomorrow I get my car back and say good-bye to big pimpin’. WhooHoo! I plan to do some work in the AM (even though it is my day off), then get my car and do a little last minute shopping-not much, just a little.

For now, I think I’ll go watch the 2nd half of the game, and rest up from the weekend.

Oh, I almost forgot. Cora saw Santa a week or so ago and I don’t think she liked it all that much

Ok, it’s not so bad here but then things took a turn……

Angie says she really isn’t so keen on anyone with a big beard, just so you know. We still love our Cora.

Lindsey got some great family pictures with Morgan, but they are in the proof stage so I can’t steal copy them yet. She says she will update when she gets them ordered. Chase has been sick so I haven’t seen him nor Ali this past week. I guess that’s it for the baby update.

Now off to rest….

Blizzard 09

We had a big snow yesterday. We were between the 12 inches in Rochester and the 16 or so in Winona. I think it all depends on where you measure.

For example, in the dark of the morning we had about 2-3 feet in front of the garage

Yet none at the downstairs door

That is bare concrete ground. Now if that had been in front of the garage I might have gotten to work.

But then there was a blowing snow issue

Of course, it really isn’t appreciated in the dark, but in the light of day…

A bit blowey.

The dogs weren’t really sure what to think-except that going outside wasn’t looking like much fun.

The cat is unfazed. One pane only.

Cody was working in Rochester. I called him at 0h-eight-hundred to tell him he might want to rethink the coming home plan. No dice.

He made it home. 25 miles in an hour. Unfortunately the driveway remained impassable so as soon as he got home, he and Dave decided to shovel. Dave had been getting the itch for about an hour. Myself-Not so much.

This is how it went down.

Them

Me

Them

Me

Them

Beta

Them

Trixie

She looks a little concerned.

So, you get the picture. We, on the inside, felt intellectually and morally superior.

Because on the outside it was windy and cold.

 

And we were, well, inside.

I did finish up a few of these..

40 total.

And did I put up a few pictures of the tree?

This year we have added live decorations for an interactive effect.

It takes our mind off of this

Isn’t the beach background great behind the blizzard blog? Twisted!