Last week we had a couple of days with fog and cold temperatures that left the trees covered with a beautiful frost. Everything was beautiful and hope these pictures will give you an idea of what our neighborhood looked like last week. I got the Christmas stuff taken down and put away yesterday and finished up today. Rose Ann says our Christmas tree will take on a new look next year. This year's tree was pretty much like our traditional tree with lots of lights and ornaments and some garland. I will see if I have a good picture of this year's tree for a future comparison.
We are going over to Grand Island tomorrow for the wedding of a young man who used to live next door to us. He was a little boy then. Kent Lutt is his name and we have not seen him in several years. We keep in touch with his parents annually with our Christmas letters. He was about 5 years old back when he lived next door and he was so cute and loved to tell jokes. He grew up.
For some reason, some of the pictures post sideways. I probably took them sideways, but rotated them in iPhoto, but, for some reason this Blog thing does not take the change I made. Oh well, look sideways. Ha. This is the best picture I could find of our Christmas tree. As you can see, it is loaded.
20 comments:
That's fun that you're going to Kent's wedding. Crazy that he's old enough to get married.
The temperatures are better here in Nashville and we're looking forward to even warmer next week in Florida. I think that it's supposed to be in the 70's. We still have our colds so we're praying everyone is better by the time we leave.
We will take the camera to Kent's wedding and get a picture of the happy couple. I would guess he is a very nice looking young man.
Didn't he have WHITER than WHITE hair? He was so cute. He really liked you, didn't he Dad? Was it knock knock jokes that he told?
It was WARM here today...35! WOW! Funny how warm 35 feels when it's been down to zero! In November, 35 felt awful!
CA is getting dumped on right now...the Sierra Nevada's are supposed to get 12 FEET of snow. Doug is supposed to travel through those mountains on the Amtrak. He leaves tomorrow night from Omaha and actually won't be in those mountains until Tuesday. But who knows where he'll meet the storm. Could be an interesting trip...in more ways than one.
What is going to be the look of your Christmas tree next year?
I'm so intrigued by the new Christmas tree look. I guess we'll have to wait a year to see what that means.
I think you will be surprised at how much different Rose Ann is planning next year's Christmas tree look.
You know we have talked about a Tennessee family vacation in 2009? Now we are thinking Disney World in Orlando. With Beth and Ben on their trip to Disney World this week, we have been doing some rethinking. What are your thoughts? Rose Ann and I have never been there.
I think that you should do Orlando. If you decide on Orlando, talk to Jason about getting a house to stay in while you are there. We stayed at a place outside of the park in a large house. It wasn't that expensive when you consider that you could all stay in the same house. The place we stayed had a screened in pool so the kids could swim and have a great time.
I like Roberta's suggestion about the house to rent instead of 4 different hotel rooms. It would be so much easier to eat with the kids...and to put them down for naps & bed if we were in a house. Then we could continue to talk & play Speed Scrabble! I think it would be amazing to go to Disney World...I just worried that it would be too expensive. But I certainly think its worth checking into. Especially since Mom & Dad have never been and they seem intrigued.
I know Doug & I are still interested in seeing the Great Smokey Mountains...but we could either do that with the Shive's some year or our entire family could meet there another year.
Roberta: What is Jason's email address? I'll see if he still has contact information on the house you rented. It sounds perfect!
Gertie is healthy again. WHEW! The cat is not. I'll tell you... Doug leaves town and this place goes to pot! I'm hoping we all stay healthy through the end of the week, because I'm really looking forward to a night in Norfolk on Friday.
I brought a friend to Weight Watchers tonight. She was very excited to get things going and to feel better! I'm her head cheerleader!
Beth & Ben: hope you're having a blast!
Sara, Jason's e mail address is shinebox2000@hotmail.com. He can probably give you more information about going as a family. The Strasburger's had a family reunion there 2 years ago. They were there for 1 week.
What happened to Gertie and the cat?
Orlando sounds like fun - I would definitely rent a house!
I just talked with mom - the flooding was not bad in Fowler, but Remington (where Tam's mom and dad live) had really bad flooding.
Gertie walked downstairs on Tuesday after sleeping until 9:15am (HOURS later than she usually awakens!) and said "I feel great!" So, we got her fed & dressed and brought her to daycare. She's great!
The cat...not so great. As I was celebrating our return to the real world, Elwood was throwing up on my bedroom floor. I'm actually pretty concerned. He eats the new soft cat food, then he throws it all up. I'm bringing him to the vet tomorrow. He's an old kitty (16 years old) and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if something major is wrong with him. I hate the idea of having to say we're not going to take extreme measures to treat him...but I just can't imagine spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a pet. So, we'll see what happens tomorrow. He's been unusually thirsty and hasn't been needing the litter box much. I wouldn't be surprised if his kidneys were failing. He's been a good cat...we have never had a live unwanted critter in our house. He even gets the bugs before I see them crawling! I hope I don't have to deal with that alone tomorrow. Why does stuff like this always happen when Doug is half way across the country?
Oh...I forgot to mention that I was up last night for over an hour sick to my stomach. And while I was getting sick...Gertie was crying because she wet the bed. Oh my. I felt good today and went to work, but now just feel wiped out. Gertie & I stayed home from church activities tonight.
I'm starting to think we may not go to Norfolk this weekend. Maggie has been invited to a good friend's birthday party, I don't have anybody to care for the animals, and now we may be passing around a stomach bug. We'll see.
Thanks for asking, Roberta! I guess I really needed to talk about all this! :)
How are you?! What are Brooke & Marc into now? How is Jason? And Chris? And Hayden? And YOU!?!?
you know...I saw in the paper that IN had flooding, but our paper didn't even say which part of IN had trouble. And then I forgot to follow up on it. I'm glad to hear Grandma is OK...but sorry to hear Tam's parents may be having trouble.
How are YOU Barb?
Sorry to hear about all the problems you are running into while Doug is on his dream vacation (working) to San Francisco. Sad about Ellwood. It does sound like he has some real scary issues with his health. At what point do you ask about the quality of his life? He has been a good cat and you will really miss him, like you missed Jake.
Doug's trip to San Francisco sounds wonderful. That Amtrak ride must have been unbelievable. I am sure the experiences he and his Honor Students are having are once in a lifetime experiences for most of them. It would be for me. We can hardly wait to see some of the pictures. Give Gertie and yourself a hug for us. Wish we could share some of your burdens this week. I think it would be wise to stay home and rest this weekend. DAD
Gertie has a double ear infection. We came home with medicine & motrin for the pain.
Elwood, the cat, is going to be OK, too. He has a nasty tooth infection. He's getting antibiotics for that and a better plan for eating soft food. So...it looks like I may actually keep everybody alive until Doug gets home.
The friend who came over to shovel this morning...invited us for dinner. That will be fun!
I baked a cake this afternoon and the recipe said to put a pan under the glass 9 x 13 glass pan is baked in. Good thing. It boiled over. It is a box yellow cake mix poured in and then you pour over a lemon pudding mix and bake @ 350 for 55 minutes to an hour. I will forward the recipe if it tastes really good. It does smell good, but made a mess of the drip pan.
Sure glad Gertie the kid and Elwood the cat are mending and feeling and eating better. Sara, you are the good parent and doing a great job as a single parent this week. Happy Birthday soon (13th)! DAD
I am glad to hear that Elwood only has a tooth infection - I know a really good dentist!
Sara - it sounds like you are having a great week (ha!) - when will Doug return. Hope you have a nice birthday!
Brian - let me know if your cake tastes good - I love new receipes!
I send this once and I don't think it got to you - so you might get this twice!
The cake is good. So here is the recipe: WARM WINTER LEMON CAKE. 1 pkg. yellow cake mix. 2 cups cold milk. 1-1/4 cups water. 2 pkg. (4-serving size) Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling. 1/3 cup. of granulated sugar. 2 tbsp. powdered sugar.
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cake mix as directed on box. Pour into greased 13x9 baking dish. Set aside.
Pour milk and water in large bowl. Add dry pudding mix and the sugar. Wisk for 2 minutes. Pour over batter. Place baking dish on baking sheet (I placed a flat pan on the rack below) to catch what might bubble over. Bake 55 minutes to an hour. Wooden toothpick should come out clean.
Cook 20 minutes. Spoon into serving dishes and enjoy warm. Refrigerate leftovers.
Jazz it up with 1 tbs. of lemon zest and 2 tbs. of lemon juice to the pudding mix. (I don't think it needs it.)
Jazz it up by serving with fresh raspberries.
Çhange it up by using vanilla pudding flavor (or choose your favorite flavor pudding).
Enjoy. BRIAN
Make that COOL 20 minutes. Yikes. Where is spell check when you need it. Ha. BRIAN
that cake sounds really good. Does not sound like a Weight Watchers recipe though! HA! Dad, you're so good at trying out new recipes!
You could make it more Weight Watcher friendly by using sugar-free pudding and using splenda for the sugar or half and half. I did use 1% milk. The drip pan did clean up pretty good after an overnight soak in soapy water. I made the mistake of letting it set in the oven and not taking it out with the cake. Live and learn.
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