Cousins Christmas!

The boys and I spent the last couple of days in southwest Kansas to see family. All the cousins were together and that means a lot of playing!

To get to my sister's house it is a five hour car ride. The boys impressed me on this trip. There was minimal bickering, lots of singing and pointing out fun things they saw. It reminded me of car trips when I was a kid. No electronics or movies. Just listening to my parents weird music and trying not to touch my siblings!

Wishing everyone a happy New Year! Next blog will be my yearly goals blog!

Cousins 2019! 

Can't wait to eat the treats in his stocking!

Cheese!

We got to stay at a hotel with an awesome pool! 

Holiday Home Improvement!

I had two days off of work and I the boys are with Dad until Saturday. That sounded like a fine time to do another house project! My living room and dining room have needed painting since I moved in October 2018. Well there is no time like the present.

Also, it may be hard to believe, but I have never painted a room. I've picked out a lot of colors to have rooms painted, but I've never done it on my own. This was a little scary at first, but I got confidence after I started. And now I'm a pro, and can paint all the things!

The rooms look 100x better. The pictures don't do justice to how good they look now. Merry Christmas to me!

Many thanks to Jefferson who helped after work yesterday and to Marty for finding me more paintbrushes on Christmas! She fed the painters twice too ;-)

The boys were home for a couple of hours today to open presents. Alex was happy with his Kindle, Scooter and remote control car. Daryl was happy with this George Straight tickets, Bow and Target. They are having a very good holiday!

Before

Before

Before

After! 

After, this picture makes me really happy! 

Snow Day and Sew Day!

On Sunday we had a very good snow here! I had gifts to wrap and Daryl had a project to work on, but fresh snow must be played in! I think we even lasted over half an hour outside. So that's not bad.

Yesterday, Lisa and I had our annual Sew Day! It is much better than a snow day because we get to stay inside, drink beer and sew. I actually spent the whole day cutting up T-Shirts for a quilt. Lisa got 85% done with the cutest jacket. Since she rarely finishes her Sew Day project I told her I want to see it on her next week. You can do it Lisa! I'm giving myself a year to finish my quilt. Last time I made my high school t-shirt quilt it took me ten years!

Ok, I seriously have to wrap some stuff now.

Brrrrrrr

Attack! 

This is not even all the shirts I cut up! 7 years of 4-H Agent
and I from my 4-H'er career. 

I don't know why I kept this shirt from
my last county fair, but I'm so happy I did! 

You can finish it Lisa! 

Winter Programs!

This week was crazy with activities, but it is Friday, so we made it through! On Monday, the boys had their 4-H Christmas party and it was so much fun. They even got to bring home a 2 liter of pop, so they have been talking about that all week. LOL

Tuesday was Daryl's holiday program and Thursday was Alex's. It was Daryl's first band concert along with the singing. That will probably be the funniest band concert of his career. It didn't look like Daryl was reading his music because his head was always turned. When I asked him about it he said he was just checking the other kids to make sure his fingers were right! He may need to start practicing more. ;-) 

I was so ready for Alex's because he has been singing his program songs for weeks. I wanted to hear the full versions. He did great, but didn't want to dance during the songs. He said that is embarrassing. He also didn't want to pull his hands out of his pockets. I told Kelly next year I will sew them shut! 

They both did great and I am glad those are done. Now I can finish some of the other things on my December list like wrapping presents, shopping for some last gifts and sewing some holiday stuff. For example, with my house looking all festive, I decided I needed holiday placemats for my table. I went and got the materials on Wednesday and as of now I have one of four placemats. Not too shabby! 

Now I'm thinking I will need placemats for every holiday! I'm going to be that lady!

Alex's biggest fan might be his 2nd grade teacher! 

Brothers picture!

Daryl in his first band concert! 

Daryl did a good job at his last grade school program! 

Alex was very excited to play an instrument for one of the songs! 

Placemat on the Santa Side

Placemat on the gingerbread side

Christmas Spirit is Contagious!

I have a something I need to tell the world, I LOVE Christmas lights! When they start going up, it is my favorite. Last year I went pretty easy for two reasons, 1.) I didn't have a ladder and 2.) Christmas decorations are more expensive than they should be.

So, on Saturday Jefferson, John (his dad and owner of a truck) and myself went to Lowes and I bought a ladder! I was a woman with a plan, I told Jefferson I would hang all the lights, he just needed to be there in case I fell off the roof. So I climbed on the roof, and then I realized that was a bad idea. I thought we were going to have to call the fire department to get me down! But I summoned some courage and got back on the ladder from the roof. I was defeated, but then Jefferson started messing with the lights and the next thing I knew he was hanging them! I just started handing him clips and holding the ladder, you know keeping him safe. ;-)

When we were just about done he mentioned it would be much easier to hang lights on his house. So, today we went back to the store and got lights for his house! He caught the Christmas Spirit, and he really likes the way his lights look. He was also right, putting lights on his house is way easier.

When the boys got home tonight we decorated the inside of the house. It is so nice! Lights on everything sitting still. I'm going to be Evergy's customer of the month. :-)

I'm feeling the spirit, I just need that to make me want to wrap presents. ugh.

Jefferson hanging lights at my house. 

Jefferson hanging lights at his house!

I couldn't get them to the peak, but I'm happy! 

My new decoration this year, Pepe the penguin! 

Our tree from the outside.

Our tree from the inside, I think we need to upgrade next year. 

Last Goal Update of 2019!

I have good news for my November Goal update for my 2019 goals. They are done! A Month Early! The power of goals is real. So, happy day to me, I get December off! Which is good because I haven't decorated or wrapped a thing. I asked the boys this morning when they were dropped off for school if they wanted me to wait for them to decorate. They said, "Nah, surprise us!" So I will get to decorating while they are with their Dad this week. 

My Birthday last Saturday was good, it wasn't Hawaii, but I guess you can't do that every year. LOL!  I hung out with the boys all day and Alex had a friend over for lunch. The boys didn't fight with each other, too much, so I can't really ask for a better gift than that. I got a run in and there was leftover Thanksgiving wine to enjoy. Good Day! 

Yesterday, my coworkers spoiled me with birthday treats and they sang to me and got me the corniest card! :-) For real, it had corn on it, I loved it! Jefferson took me for a birthday dinner and got me a bottle of wine! Yay! That was a close call because I had just run out of my Thanksgiving Wine. It appears that 37 is going to be all right! 

2019 Goals 

Read 10 Books: 10 DONE

Book number 10 was She Said by the two reporters that broke the Harvey Weinstein case for the New York Times. It was actually a very good insight into the world of investigative journalism. There is a lot that goes into good reporting that include corroborating stories, fact checking and getting everything on the record. It was insightful and a good reminder that often people are afraid to stand up to power alone. 

Knit 4 Things (and no new yarn!): 4 DONE 

Goal completed! This was done in October but I am knitting one more hat out of my ball of sock yarn. I'm going to get three hats out of one skein!

Run 400 Miles: 486 Done 

I added 22 miles in November. I took the first half of the month off to let my foot feel better. It is good as new now. I have a goal of 40 miles in December and I am focusing in. That is just ten miles a week. Doable! 

Five House Projects:DONE! 
Replaced 4 Basement windows (10/11) 
Porch (Completed: 5/22/19 )
Dishwasher (Completed: 2/23 )
Water Heater (Completed: 2/15 )
Refinish Door (Completed: 6/22)

I've already decided on my goals for 2020 but I am shelving them till January 1st. For now I'm going to enjoy accomplishing a lot this year. 2019 I got some work done! 

With a five day weekend I did get to finish my 5th Wanderlust tee! 

I give you my best chicken pot pie yet, in my pretty new pie plate.
Daryl asked me, "Are you a baker now?"

My work birthday treats! I told Bessie I like apples and chocolate.
So she made me two desserts!