Winter Wonderland

This is what I woke up to this morning!

This is at 7:00 a.m. and the sun was just coming up over the lake.  I'm standing at my back door.  I couldn't walk out any further because the snow was too deep and I only had my slippers on.
I was up at 7 because my little Fergie

as cute as he is, had just peed on my bedroom floor, which, by the way, is newly carpeted.  He's three years old, but just never potty trained well at all.  I was so mad at him and practically threw him out the front door and then saw the fresh, new, virgin snow that fell during the night.  It was still sort of dark out and with the sun coming up it was just so pretty.  Luckily for Fergie, my mood changed from mad to happy and content.
We already had about 7 inches on the ground, and now with the new layer it's up to about a foot.
I'm so glad I got my groceries yesterday and almost finished my Christmas shopping.  It was so cold yesterday, and I didn't get home until 5:00 in the dark and I wasn't looking forward to carrying all those bags in the house.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised by Hubby at the door ready to carry in all the bags.  As I walked in the front door, I saw that he had a blazing fire in the fireplace and all the Christmas lights on!  Oohh, that felt so good to my body and my soul.
This is what Christmas should look and feel like!  I wish I could wrap this up and give it as a present to all that don't get to experience Christmas and the Holidays like this.  I really do appreciate it and try not to take it for granted!

Beautiful Week of Indian Summer

Well, everything kind of caught up to me.  This seems to happen to me every year during this season.  I think a combination of change of weather and trying to do too much.  Now I have a cold or small bug of some sort.  Nothing major, just enough to not feel myself and have very little energy. I'm on the other side of it now, though, thank goodness.

After I got back from the kids' house last Friday I decided to take it easy over the weekend and on Sunday I just watched Lifetime Movies all day while I knit. That was such a luxury and something I really should do more often!  I haven't done anything like that for a long time.

This is where my little Fergie lays while I knit.

This is where I sit and knit.  Ellie Mae is usually laying on my lap.  You can see the purple baby sweater on the foot stool that I almost have finished for a friend's daughter's baby shower this Saturday.

Now on Wednesday, I'm starting to feel a little better.  This is a beautiful, warm and sunny Indian summer day here in Pennsylvania.

 Look at this beautiful view on this sunny day off my back deck.  I don't have the skills or the camera to capture how pretty it really is.  The sun is so bright that the lake water is just sparkling.  Can you see the ducks out there swimming?  There are a lot of geese out there in the early mornings.  They look pretty, but they come up into the back yard and make a real poopy mess.  The neighbor has staked up wire to try to keep them out.

So I think the rest and the sunshine is now encouraging me to get up off my butt, get a shower, and do something.  

Two weeks ago was the Grand Opening of the new Wal-Mart Superstore in our small town, which was a really big deal for us.  I was getting groceries there for the first time and came across this packaged soup.  It looked good so I thought I'd try it.  

It was delicious!  and 0g. Trans Fat to beat.  I didn't leave it at that, though. I wanted to doctor it up a bit so  I added my own potatoes and then topped off the bowls with sour cream, shredded cheese and bacon bits.  

It was really good! During this weekly Wal-Mart trip, I decided to get the Tortilla Soup.  That's what I'm making for dinner.  It's simmering on the stove right now and it smells like an Autumn Indian Summer day inside the house.  

I got out a few Thanksgiving decorations.  I do more Autumn than specific Thanksgiving decorating, but on my front foyer table I do set out these little ceramic Pilgrims and turkey that I believe my mother made years ago.  I also have to have a couple little bowls of candy corn sitting around or it just doesn't feel like Autumn.

Probably next week I'll be starting some of my winter and early Christmas decorating.  I do so much that if I don't start early it won't get done in time for me to sit back and enjoy it. My Spokane kids are coming home for Christmas and I want to have everything done before they get here.  

They just sent me this updated picture of my little two month old Heath.

I haven't seen him since he was 1-1/2 weeks old so I can't wait to hold him again and his 18 month old sister, Riley.

I love this time of year, but I need to feel good and not be stressed, pressured or rushed so that I can enjoy the season and not just work at getting through it!

Vegas, Baby!

I’m on the return flight home right now, on this 31st anniversary of our wedding,  from Las Vegas to Cleveland.  We’ll arrive about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and then the three hour drive back home totally exhausted.  We’ve had three fun filled days in Vegas with my parents and another couple, but we are all worn out. 
Hubby and his working partner attorney were in seminars for two straight days so Mom, Dad, the attorney’s wife (and friend of mine), and I shopped till we dropped and had lunch one day at Planet Hollywood and the next day at the Bellagio.

Everything in Vegas is in excess.  We walked too much, ate too much and spent too much money.   I feel good, though, that we didn’t gamble or drink too much!  So I guess we did good and it was worth it.
As we walked the Strip during the day, dressed up characters are standing around available to get pictures with – for a tip!  Woody from Toy Story was almost kind of perverted and gave my girlfriend and me the creeps.

Elvis was OK.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo hotel on the Strip.  It’s very nice and since we were there for hubby’s seminar we got a pretty good discount on the room.  We’ve started to rate the hotels in order of beauty and luxury since we’ve stayed at a good many of them now through the years.  Our number one pick so far is Caesar's,

then Mandalay Bay,  Monte Carlo,  Bally’s and Stratosphere.  Didn’t care for the Stratosphere at all!  I would love to some day  to stay at Paris,

Bellagio and Wynn.  That will probably only happen if we get good seminar rates.

Our highlight was Sunday evening (Halloween)at Cher’s last show.  Wow!  Her voice was as good as ever, and even though she’s not skinny like she used to be, she looks great at 60 something.  And she had a change of costume for every song.

In between songs, to give time for the costume and scenery change, they played old clips on a huge screen of the old Sonny and Cher show, clips from her movie roles, etc.  The show was quite spectacular and we were on the First Mezzanine but direct center so the seats were good.  We just used binoculars to get some close up views.  Because of the binoculars we could tell that she had on a full flesh colored body stocking under all those skimpy tight outfits.  See, even the most beautiful stars with all their cosmetic surgery still have to resort to tricks and secrets to get that fake perfect look!  Makes you kind of feel a little better in a way.
Hubby had bought me a new outfit before we left home to wear to Cher.  It was very cute, and comfortable, velvet black leggings and a red and black ruffled velvet tunic.

  But the shoes were a different story.  They were black mesh with very, and I mean very, high heels with red roses clipped to the side.  I called them my cute hooker shoes.

Believe me, they were not made to walk in!  Even though we took a tram to the show from Monte Carlo to Caesar's, you still ended up walking quite a lot.  I had the worst blisters on my heels by the time we got to the show that I carried the shoes and walked barefoot after the show.  It was funny, though, that as I carried these cute shoes in my hand I had a lady come up to me to tell me how much she liked my shoes!
We had dinner before the show that first night at a Chinese restaurant inside Monte Carlo.  Very good food and an excellent black raspberry sake.  I’m going to be craving one of those about 10:00 tonight I think!  The second night we ate at Di’Ablo’s, the Mexican restaurant inside the hotel.  The show we saw that night was the ignorant group of girls at the table beside us screaming and hollering for the San Francisco Giants throughout the whole dinner as the World Series final game was playing.  The manager finally came over to them and asked them to leave, just as we were finishing.  We should have complained a lot sooner.  I know it’s Vegas and people get wild, but come on!!
Our final night there our friends really wanted to see “Phantom”.  The rest of us weren’t that interested and didn’t want to spend that kind of money on another show.  We ended up getting a cab and going downtown Las Vegas to Freemont Street and it was actually very nice and a lot of fun.  There is a light show that plays above Fremont Street like every hour.

(You can see the old hotels and then that lit up dome above them is a dome roof above the street where the light show plays.)

Then we got tickets to a show inside the Golden Nugget.  A comedian by the name of Gordon Brown.  He sings and does impressions.  It was a great show.  We were pleasantly surprised by the show, Fremont Street and the Golden Nugget. 
Now we’re approaching re-entry into reality.  I’m O.K. with that because I don’t think I could go another day at that pace.  Tomorrow I would love to rest for a day, but that’s not on the schedule.  I’ll have to pick up my dogs in the morning from the dog sitter and then go pick up my three grandchildren for the weekend.  Their mother has to go to Virginia for a few days and their dad, my son, has to work Thursday and Friday.  I may have to stay down there unless they take the boys out of pre-school and kindergarten for one day. 
After Sunday things will settle down just a little bit and my thoughts will then turn to the Holidays. 

Baby Sitting Limits

The Sunday that Grandpa died I had my son here with his three kids and two dogs.  Keeping in mind that we still have my nephew Kyle here. (More later on the “Kyle Project”).  I  was tired, emotional and needed some time to myself.  As Austin put it, I kind of “lost it”.  In looking back, I think that was a good thing, because some changes needed to be made.  I had a talk with my son and told him I just could not have both of his dogs at my house for more than a few hours, along with the kids,  especially when they are not here with them.  I also made it clear that after the next three baby sitting commitments I already agreed to, it really had to slow down.  I love the grandchildren to death, and they are a huge part of my life, but I just need to have more time to take care of my own house, work and hobbies.  In writing this it’s even sounding selfish to me, but I just want to be Grandma, not a parent again.  There’s a reason why I only had two children and had them in my early 20’s! 
So at this point I have been to their house for almost two weeks in the past month.  Then we had a week of out of town family and funeral arrangements going on.  Two days after the funeral and the day after all the family left, I was back down to their house to  take care of the three grands and two dogs by myself for four days.  If this were an occurrence a few times a year, I would enjoy it.  Three times in a month is just too much for me. 
Now this weekend my son and DIL are off to a family wedding in Maryland.  They are taking the baby, so Bob and I are picking the boys up tomorrow and bringing them to our house until Sunday.  They told me they are making arrangements for the dogs, so I hope they did.
Things are slowing down a little bit, but it’s still something we’re all working on.  On Sunday, Bob is taking the boys back home, then he is continuing on to Cincinnati with Kyle to take him back home.  The Kyle Project didn’t work out as completely planned, but some progress was made. (Again, more on that in a later post).  Bob and I just know that we’ve done all we can and we’re done taking care of others so much.   My son and DIL also agree with us in slowing down their lives, which in turn will calm us all down.
Next Sunday is the start of some time for us.  It’s a Las Vegas trip that we’re really looking forward to.  Then one more prior babysitting commitment the day after we get back.  Four more days of me back to the kids while their parents go to a retirement party in Virginia. 
We’re all looking forward to the Holidays after that and son and DIL also agree that they need to stay home more, get rid of at least one dog, and slow down a little.  They have quite enough going on with three small children and their own jobs.  They need to stop taking on extra trips and activities.
Chaos and I just do not get along!  I HAVE to have order, plans and organization.  I’m not real sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it works for me and makes me happy.
That’s the new plan.  We’ll see how it works! 
Nina

Exciting Life and Times!

Finally, I'm back!  I've been reflecting back on the last month and so much has been going on.  Five weeks ago today (wow, I can't even believe it's been five weeks!) My Bob and I left for Spokane for our son Brandon's graduation from the U.S. Air Force S.E.R.E training.  (See my June 11 post)  We were also very excited to see their new cute little house on base ,that they had just moved into and Dee and Riley are still adorable.

 The following morning we attended a breakfast with the Commander for parents and family.  It was very interesting to hear more details about the intense training that our sons, husbands, brothers all went through.  And now where they go from here.  They are now SERE instructors, but now with 6 more months of training as an apprentice they will then become certified and at that point will instruct on their own.  It's very intense and tough, and as a mother I just cringe. 

Friday was the big day and it was a beautiful day, although not real warm.  The graduates are now awarded their gray berets and their shiny black boots.  Their dress uniform is slightly different from others because of the Special Forces they are in.  Here we are, the proud family of Brandon.

Saturday included a family picnic and we were able to meet some of the other families.  These are all wonderful, bright, nice young men.  It was a pleasure meeting them all.

We came back home on Monday and the following Saturday Brandon, Dee and Riley came back to Pennsylvania for Brandon's one week of leave time.  On Sunday morning they had Riley baptized at our little home town church that was attended by my grandparents , as well as Dee's grandparents, and by both of our families on many occasions throughout the years.  In fact, Brandon and Dee and Dee's brothers attended Sunday school there as young children.  And now their baby was baptized there.  Riley acted and looked like the perfect angel.

 

What was also just as special that day is that both my sons were there together, both in their dress uniforms, and I could not have been more proud.

Aren't they handsome!!

Give me another moment to brag!

And here they are with their beautiful and pregnant wives.

As you can see here, Melissa, is VERY pregnant.  In fact, the next morning she went into the hospital and little Leanna  Rene was born at 3:41 p.m., weighing 7 lbs., 9 oz. and was 19" long.  Just perfect.  With the most head of hair I've ever seen on a newborn!

Mother, baby, dad and brothers are all doing very well.  It was so nice that Brandon and Dee were here to see the baby.  The timing couldn't have been better.  I had to split my time in many different directions for the week, and I have to admit that I was extremely tired by the end of that week, but I wouldn't have wanted anything to have happened differently.

Here they all are on the Fourth of July.  Again, the timing was perfect that I could have my whole family together for this weekend. 

So here are my two newest little Fourth of July firecrackers.

Guaranteed to be more exciting times ahead!

I'll Be Back

Hey all, did you miss me?  We've had a very busy life these past few weeks.  Here's a quick summary and I'll give details later:  June 16, went to  Spokane to see Brandon graduate from Survival School; Brandon, Dee and Riley came home four days later following us and Riley was baptized on Sunday, June 27; newest granddaughter born to Austin and Melissa on Monday, June 28;  I spent three days at Austin's house to help with the house and the boys; brought the boys home with me on Wednesday to spend the rest of the week; celebrated 4th of July here at home with whole family home for the long weekend; during the last week my computer was attacked by viruses and was in the computer hospital most of the week. 
I have plenty of pictures of it all, but now I'm so behind in everything that I'm so overwhelmed to get it all done.  And my house is a mess from all the activity and house full of kids.  It was very well worth it and a lot of fun, but now I have cleaning, laundry and my computer is still acting up.  Besides that, it's 100 degrees outside and my patience and tolerance is not good right now. 
Tomorrow we'll be going to a funeral of one of our good friends' father and Saturday is a wedding shower for the same friends. 
I'm up for about 3 days of solitude.  Don't see it happening any time soon.  Do you ever feel like locking the doors and not answering the phone?  Just for a few days!  Oh well, I'm just tired and will feel better tomorrow as long as nothing else happens before then.

Happy Memorial Weekend

Well, forget free time.  But the trade off is a busy, active and happy family.  I'll take that.  I had several topics to write about all week - no time.  Now here it is, Memorial Day Weekend and besides a small thunderstorm this afternoon, the weather has been hot and sunny; just the way I like it. 
Thursday morning my mother and I did our annual Decoration Day tradition of buying flowers, planting them at the cemetery on my maternal grandparent's and aunt's graves, then going to lunch.  It's really kind of a nice tradition that I enjoy with my mother each year.  This was a hot one, though, and I thought Mom was going to pass out.
Austin has a four day weekend off from work, so he and his gang came up Thursday afternoon and are staying until tomorrow.  Our long weekend has been action packed so far.  Starting with the boys being able to swim in the lake for the first time this season.  Of course, I don't allow them near the lake alone and without life jackets.  And for Landen, his idea of swimming is walking into the water only up to his knees. 

Grandpa Bobby gave Kayak rides.

Logan loves to be thrown off the dock.

I sit and watch, with a glass of Riesling, and take pictures from my reclining lounge chair.  My lake and fire pit seating area has a pink and blue theme this year with only pink and blue flowers.  I worked on that some more yesterday afternoon.

In the meantime, Austin and Melissa met with a real estate agent to list their old house.  We've had this house sold once already, then turned down by the City zoning board, then back and forth with lawyers, and it's a long story.  Suffice it to say, they are now listing it with an agent because we're all sick of dealing with it on our own.  Then they went to look at new cars because they need a bigger vehicle that can handle 5 people and 2 baby seats and a toddler booster seat comfortably.  Baby #3 will be here end of June/first of July and this is now a necessity. 

This morning we awoke to a beautiful morning.  I made french toast and fruit salad and we had breakfast outside on the deck.  Ohhh, it was so nice!

Then to top off the afternoon, Big G.G.'s (Great Grandpa, my dad) boat was delivered to our dock today.  The boys get so excited every year when the boat comes back from winter storage. 

Austin and Melissa purchased the Chevy Tahoe they looked at last night and went to pick it up and bring home Chinese carry out for dinner.  I've been cooking almost non-stop and refuse to cook on a Friday night.

Tomorrow's plans include a bar-b-que and boat rides.  I just finished making the potato salad and it tastes really good, if I do say so myself.  Delish!!  It's called Steakhouse Potato Salad.  I'll post it shortly.  We're hoping my Grandpa will want to leave the nursing home for the afternoon to join us.  We think he'll feel comfortable being here at my house.  He just doesn't like having to get dressed up and going to a restaurant.  He gets very confused and disoriented.

I wish a Happy Memorial Weekend to all as we remember our loved ones that have passed on ( I think of them often) and enjoy the weekend with our loved ones still here. 

Go For the Green

If you ask me my favorite color, I don't think green would be my answer.  But it must be.  I can hardly do any type of re-decorating in my house without using green of any shade.  It just always seems to be what I gravitate toward.  Now My Bob's office is blue, and the guest bathroom/My Bob's office bathroom is blue, but I'm hardly every in those rooms.  I think every other room has green in it.  It may be pink and green, or gold and green, or possibly a teal green, but I can't seem to get away from it.  It feels comfortable and homey to me.

This is when it really became clear.  I've been wanting to take down the off-white scarves that have been at my kitchen windows for over five years.  As long as we've lived here.  I wanted a change.

Click to enlarge.

 I thought I would get some beige or tan valances instead.  That's what I went to Lowe's to buy.  And that's what I looked at.  But then I saw some green plaid.  I tried to ignore them.  I asked Bob's opinion and he didn't have one.  I picked up the tan ones.  I put them back.  I went back to the green ones and tried to walk away again.  I couldn't do it.  So I picked one up.  Then I buckled under.  They would be perfect.  The place mats are green, gold and dark red plaid.  These would match.  The living room curtains, right next to the kitchen, are also green, gold and dark red plaid.  That goes.  The kitchen wallpaper has green leaves in it.  Check.  I couldn't resist.  They were perfect.

So I picked up new rods and couldn't wait to get home as this was going to be a free Friday project.  As in "free" time, not "free" as in cost. Now go back to the 2nd kitchen picture above and notice the time on the clock.  11:45 am.  That's when I started.  Keep in mind, as with everything, I'm slow.  I clean as I go.  Had to take down the old scarves and put them in the wash.  They are now going on the downstairs windows.  Take down the old hardware, dust and clean above all the windows since I'm up on a ladder and can see the dirt, put up five sets of new hardware, iron five new valances (which, by the way, turned out to be very nice fabric and lined), hang the valances, arrange all the pleats and folds until I felt they were perfect.  I was down to the last one and had to take My Bob to pick up his car that was at the garage getting a check up.  Since I had no time to cook dinner we picked up Chinese to bring home.  I hung up the last curtain and then had to move the clock a little higher.

So now what do you think?

Notice the time on the clock.  7:15.  Bob said he would never pay me by the hour.  Yea, but I do a good job.  Do you want quick or do you want good?

I love them.  They fit the feel and theme of my home much better.  They make my kitchen feel so much cozier, without blocking any of the view or light (on rare days that we have sun).

A few days ago I also got my St. Patrick's decorations out.  I don't have many at all, but again, since they are green I like to have them out.

My foyer entrance table.

Dining room with light green tablecloth topped with a shiny shamrock covered cloth and my shamrock doll.

Shamrock stained glass hanging by the front porch.  It was buried in snow, but we're getting a little bit of melt off right now. 

And that's all I have.  Besides exchanging out any pink candles from Valentine's to green candles. 

Oh, I also finished a new Spring/Easter egg cup pincushion.  It's up on my Etsy site.

I love when I have stay at home days all to myself.  Then I have fun doing these things I love to do.

Enjoy the Good, Deal With the Bad - That's Life

I wish I had the time to write slower, with more thought and insight and wisdom, but I don't have that time.  Events seem to be happening faster than I can write about them, so I'm summarizing in order not to miss anything.
My DIL, Dee, and granddaughter, Riley, are in Pennsylvania from Spokane for two weeks and part of that time they have been in Pittsburgh with Dee's family so we only see her every few days.  I'll take it.  They were just here for about three hours and I made lunch for Dee and her mother, Lori.
Lori and I have known each other for about 30 years, even before our children were born.  Lori's parents and my grandparents are members of the same church and they have known each other's families just about their whole lives.  So now to have Lori's daughter and my son married with this little beautiful baby girl that is our mutual granddaughter is so unbelievable when we think about it.

Me and Baby Riley

Grammy Nina and Grampy Bob

Yesterday my mom and I went to the other kids' new house in Indiana, PA, to help my other DIL with the continual cleaning and decorating.  I certainly don't get as much accomplished when I go there as I would like to.  The boys are now in their new pre-school, so it's a little easier to get things done while they're in school.  We made a trip to Lowe's, which happens to be right across the street from their house, and shopped for curtain rods and a few curtains.  I got one curtain rod and curtain up in the downstairs bathroom.  There are approximately 20 more windows to go.  Mom helped clear all of the remaining boxes out of the living room and Melissa worked on cleaning the boys' toy room.  There is still a lot to do.  I'll try to get down there one day next week again.

On Monday, I went with Mom and Dad to the funeral home to make funeral arrangments for Grandma.  She's still with us, but Mom and Dad are going to Florida for two weeks in February and I didn't want to be faced with any of these decisions on my own and I wouldn't want them to have to rush back from their trip to be faced with this difficult job at a difficult time.  To write an obituary, choose a casket, clothes, pictures, etc. is not a pleasant thing to do at all, but it is easier to do before a death rather than the day of or the day after.  Grandma is 93 years old and weighs 59 pounds and we just do not know how she is staying alive.  It's still not her time.

Last weekend I finally got ALL my Christmas decorations put away.  All in the appropriate box and plastic container and in the closet under the stairs.  There are only a couple of things still left outside because they are either buried under snow or it's just been way too cold for me to want to go out and take it down.   I always leave the tree up in the tea room and I have it re-decorated for Valentine's Day.  The lace ornaments are left on, the Christmas balls come off and hearts go on, velvet bows come off and roses go on, and Christmas ribbon is replaced with ribbon with hearts.

 

I still plug those white lights in every night.

Oh, and here is my newest tea set addition for my tea room.

This was a Christmas gift from my son, Austin, and DIL, Melissa.  They found this black rose tea set in a little shop in Germany during their visit there in November.

Now tomorrow Bob and I are leaving for Cincinnati again for the weekend.  We want to visit his mother who is very ill with pancreatic cancer.  We will probably be making this 6 1/2 hour one way trip every month or so until ---.  Another sad event slowly occuring for us. 

When we get back home around 6:00 on Sunday evening, our son, both DIL's and all three grandchildren will meet us here at home to visit each other.  Then Bob and I will babysit the three little ones while the three older ones go out to dinner for Austin and Melissa's 6th anniversary. 

My wish for this beginning of this new year is to actually be able to hibernate for 3 to 4 days.  As much as I am thrilled to have my grandchildren around me and to be needed and wanted by my children, DIL's, and husband, I would love to have just a few days all to myself.  No visits, no interuptions, no place to have to go.  Just 3 or 4 days, that's all.  I don't really see this happening in the near future, though.  How about one day?  I would settle for one day!  Oh well, I'm not complaining, just tired.   

Moving Into the New Year

This is going to be a hectic day.  This is moving day for Austin and his family.  They are only moving about an hour and 15 minutes away, but it's very cold out and a lot of snow.

Bob shoveling yesterday - there's a lot more this morning

 Austin is picking My Bob up at 8:30, in about an hour and a half, to go pick up the U-Haul.  The boys spent the night here last night so that Austin and Melissa  could get more packing done.  I'm going to gather up my cleaning supplies, some food for a few meals, a little bag for myself in case I decide to spend the night at the new house, then the boys and I will pick up Austin's brother-in-law that lives with them and we'll head off to the new house. 
The reason for the move is for Austin to be closer to his recruiting office.  It's a good move, but a hard one.  Austin is having to give up the house he's in now, which was his great-grandparent's home for 50 years.  It holds a lot of memories and was so convenient to us.  But these changes were in the best interest of their family, so life goes on.  This new house is not a "new" house.  Just new to them.  It's from around the 1960's and is a five bedroom, 3 bath with a unique layout.

 They'll just be renting it, so there are many things I would do to fix it up, but they won't want to do as a rental.  So I'll help clean it real good and offer my decorating advice.  Sometimes it's hard to draw the line between trying to be helpful and butting in.  I'll do my best to walk that tightrope.  It can be hard for me to not go overboard with the cleaning and the decorating because I enjoy doing it.  Why is it that I see dirt and problems where no one else does?  Just drives me crazy.  Anyway, so far they are asking for my help so I'll take advantage of the opportunity. 
The boys are still asleep, and as soon as they get up, which I expect to be any minute now, the "fun" will begin.  I sure wish I had slept better, but too much going on in my head.
Then last night my other son from Spokane called to say that they just got word that they got a three bedroom, 2 bath house that they had been on a waiting list for.  They are packing up their tiny apartment right now and moving on Monday.  This is a house on base (Air Force).  These on base houses are very nice.  They looked at houses off base to rent and there is nothing nice.  And they wouldn't be able to buy a home in Spokane that would be even close to being as nice as the base housing.  As soon as they get moved in, Brandon starts his six months of Survival Training and Diana will be coming home for a two week visit.  I wish I could go back with her and help clean and decorate their new home! That just won't be possible right now.  If they were closer I would certainly be there. 
I am hoping that I can get one whole day to myself pretty soon.  I think I'm going to be very tired after this weekend.
We did have our New Year's Dinner yesterday.

Table setting for New Year's dinner

 I cooked our traditional pork roast, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, applesauce, green beans with almonds, and chocolate peanut butter pie.  There were nine of us here. It was very good, if I do say so myself.  Austin and Melissa ate and then left shortly after to continue their packing.
Ohh - there they are!  They're up!!  Time to get this party started!!!