Tree Hunting

Yes, we went Christmas tree hunting this weekend.  It was a successful hunt.  We have a lovely tree that the boys had a fabulous time decorating last night.

Bundled up and ready to go

Can't wait to hit the snow

Bruiser loved the fluffy snow

Bagged a good one

Snow is so cold down the neck

Happy to be out with the family in the mountians

Decorating frenzy

Happy good start to the Christmas season!

Wonderful Holiday

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving?  I think ours was just about perfect. Lots of good food, good friends and family and just enough activity versus relaxing moments for everyone.

Then there was Friday shopping.  There were six of us shopping and two vehicles and shopping happened.

No, it's not all my stuff.  Some of it is and I will get all gushy about what was mine for Christmas. With this trip, I have 75-80% of my Christmas shopping done.  There is some stuff to get for the boys still and I have a couple thing still to get for my hubby, but the bulk is done.
We are still munching leftovers and all the other normal post-Thanksgiving activities.  We might be able to manage a Christmas tree this weekend.  I hope we can make it up to the mountains for a tree this year.  It's one of those small traditions that we love doing as a family.  Nick and I even came to a decision on the tree's location this year.
I really hope that everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving this year!

A Bit Random

So yesterday was a not so great day.  It was a Monday through and through.  So let's get random and see what we have:

• We had to put our 18 year old cat to sleep.  She was such a great cat, but she was old.  This is the first time in 23 years I have not had a cat.  We won't be without a cat for long, but there is the matter of choosing a cat to get.  We shall see what comes.

• I am ready for the thanksgiving break/vacation.  Looking forward to good food, good friends and good times.  Bring on the fun!
• Turbo was wonderful last night, he gave me many wonderful hugs and for a teenager, he's doing pretty well on the not complaining when we ask him to do stuff. 
• We have snow here today.  Almost 2 inches. Winter is definitely here.  Now how long will it stay?
• Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  We can all be happy we are not turkeys.

The Start of It All

Or at least the start of the holiday season. Thanksgiving is upon us.  Things start for us on Wednesday. 
Years ago, when I was pregnant with Brusier, we went to our cousin's house for the evening before thanksgiving.  I took a veggie platter and some summer sausage and various types of cheese.  I think I took dill havarti, smoked gouda and a cheddar.  Nice cheese to have with crackers and snack on. I was thinking that having a light snack type of dinner was nice before the heavy dinner the next day.  The cousins fell in love with the idea. 
Although, the kids were less than impressed with the free form dinner offered, they managed to snack along with the rest of us. Now this has become the start of the thanksgiving festivities.  We gather, snack on appetizers and play games.  The most popular game is Cards Against Humanity.  Such a horrible game, but so, so much fun at the same time.
Yesterday, N (cousin by marriage, friend by choice) and myself started the prep work by making a massive batch of cinnamon rolls. Since N had diabetes, we make a batch that has minimal sugar in it so she can enjoy them as well.  Splenda is a wonderful thing.  We made a list, discussed all that we have farmed out to other coming for the holiday and set up times for meeting up to set up.  The festivities commence at her house Wednesday afternoon when her family starts arriving.
Thanksgiving has been held at her house for the last three years.  Two turkeys are made to ensure leftovers and all the trimmings are parceled out so the work load is spread out among the attendees.  We have so much fun and and it family, friends and everyone.

The kiddos, 2014

The Ladies, 2014

One of the turkeys, 2014

A and myself, 2015

The kiddos, 2015

Card games, 2015

The ladies, 2015

 We are definitely looking forward to the fun of this year. Good time will be had.  Hope everyone's holiday is fun fulled, family filled, friends filled and stuffed with good food as well!

Wednesday Hodgepodge Again!

So here it is Wednesday.  Time for the Hodgepodge with From This Side of the Pond.

1. Let's all think happy thoughts...share one of yours here.  

We are greeted by a ridiculously excited dog when we go home.  Thullee is truly over the moon to see us and it makes me so happy to have that kind of unwavering devotion daily.

2. There's a Chinese proverb that says, "If you want happiness for an hour take a nap, if you want happiness for a day-go fishing...." What say you? If you want happiness for a day _____________.

Go camping, fourwheeling, find a nice spot to read.  There are so many things that would make me happy for a day.

3. Where do you go to decompress from the world around you? 

I love to slip into a hot bath with a glass of wine, a good book (or a good read on the kindle) and let the water soothe away the stress from the day.  In the summer a trip to the mountains will decompress us faster than we can hit the city limit sign.

4. What song never fails to make you happy? 

Kenny Chesney"s American Kids

 

5. Wednesday is National Fast Food Day. Should that be a thing? Apparently it is, so tell us what's the last 'fast food' you consumed? If you were putting together your own version of a 'happy meal' what would you include? 

The last "fast food" I had was with the boys from Wendy's.  I had a chicken sandwich.  It was OK.

My version of a happy meal would be a mushroom swiss burger, curly fries, a cherry coke and a lovely book to read while I eat.

6. In a few sentences tell us why you blog. 

Is tarted blogging to have an outlet because I was feeling a bit isolated.  I am an introvert and making friends is complicated.  I think blogging helped me feel more confident.  Now I blog for the connection.  I have been slacking, but am trying to find my blog mojo again and really just writing what comes to me.  I have found myself thinking about what I can blog again, so that is good.

7. List seven things you're feeling especially grateful for today. 

My family.

My friends.

My home.

My books.

My health.

My job.

My talents.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We have snow coming tomorrow.  2-4 inches.  Blowing snow and cold.  Winter rears it chilly head early around these parts. Thankfully, we get to be home, Nick doesn't have to travel for work.  We will have a fire in the wood stove and maybe I'll make soup tomorrow night.  Sounds good for a cold snowy evening.

Thankful Time of Year

Today I wanted to remind myself of the things I am thankful for.  It is that time of year after all.  SO here goes:

• My family.  I have a loving husband, two wonderful and talented sons, wonderful in-laws and a chosen extended family of friends (only some of which are actually related to me).

• I am thankful for the place we live.  Laramie Wyoming is the perfect size and close to all the places we love to go play.

• I am thankful for our little house that is big enough for us without being far more than I want to clean.

• Mostly I am thankful I am still here.  I have much to be thankful for and it's good to remember what I have and not worry about the things I don't have and things I can't change.

Have a thankful month everyone!!

Monday!

Hey all, at least those still checking my little blog spot out.  I know, there's lots of crickets sounding right now.  I have been less than dedicated in the posting around here.  Blogging was an outlet for this rather introverted person.  I really need to find that spark that let me blog so well for so long. 
It's November now and I have had this blog for 7 years now. I don't want to let it go, but I do need to find a blogging mojo for myself.  Something that makes me excited about blogging again. A project that is blog related rather than just a place to complain and moan about stuff.
My kiddos are growing up, they aren't little anymore and with a teenager there comes the  "oh, god, don't you dare post that!" phase. I can respect that.  I had a phase where I didn't want my mom telling the embarrassing stories about my childhood either.  Although we can stick him in a chair and tell him stories about us and he will sit for hours and ask for more, go figure.
I think another problem I have had is we aren't doing anything.  It's just the same old same old around here and we are really stuck in a rut.  We are working on getting us back, but getting out of the rut is hard.
So, I think it's time I got out in the blog world again and found some new stuff.  I like the old stuff, but things change on line in ten seconds flat.  So I'm gonna check stuff out and see what inspiration I can find.
Any suggestions?

Weekend with the Boys and MMMM

So Nick is off hunting this week.  He left last Thursday.  He was able to text me last night, no success yet, but they are working on it. Since he is gone, I got a weekend with my boys.  We went to the high school football game and then spent part of Saturday with cousins. 
Sunday was a day of cleaning for me.  The dust bunnies were morphing into rhinos and charging when my back was turned so it was definitely time to tackle them. I also cleaned bathrooms and washed throw rugs.  Yea me for being all domestic!
Costumes were also acquired for the upcoming Halloween. Bruiser will be a Black Knight, Turbo is going to be the creepy guy from Scream. Turbo will be handing out candy while Bruiser will be
Trick or Treating.  Too bad the holiday is on Monday.

Moving on to MMMM this week is Commercial tunes:
Meow Meow Meow: 

Stuck on Band Aid (written by Barry Manilow!)

Big Mac Jingle:

Now that I gave you a huge ear worm, have a good day!

Flashing Fast Weekend and MMMM

Yep, this last weekend went by far too fast.  We got tons done though so there's that.  I now have a counter and some cabinets that will become a scrap booking area once the boxes of my mom's pictures and memorabilia has been sorted.  We also filled a trailer with stuff that is bound for the dump.  This cleaned out Nick's garage quite handily.
Now, if we could only get Bruiser to sleep in his bed again.  Turbo had a run with being scared of Zombies when he was about 7.  Now we are dealing with it with Bruiser.  The problem with Bruiser is he doesn't have a defined thing he is afraid of.  He is just scared and doesn't want to sleep in his bed.   So right now he is sleeping in the attic with Turbo. Better there than crawling in bed with us at odd hours of the night.

Well let's see what MMMM can come up with today.  The theme is Elvis tunes. 
My mother's favorite Elvis movie was Follow That Dream. Here is the theme song from that movie:

Elvis with Heartbreak Hotel:

Elvis with Hound Dog:

Have a great week!

Random Stuff

Well, here I am again after a bit of a step away.  Let's random!

• OK, so I have not been the most diligent of bloggers recently.  I need to find my mojo again, I think. This last year has been so off for me. I think I just kind of curled up and hid after my mother died.  Not really, but my blog dedication has suffered. Time to heave myself up and get on with life.
• In other news, Turbo has hit 8th grade and seems to be doing OK so far.  Bruiser is settling into 2nd grade well.  That's a relief.
• Last week I got to go to a get together where we made cards for Halloween.  It was the first time I ever used stamps.  It was fun and I got three cute cards out of it:

• It was nice to get my creative juices flowing again.  Now I am a bit more motivated to get my scrap book room up and organized so I have a space to do some scrapping again.
• I really need to get back on the exercise routine.  It will be a goal for October.  I'm thinking I need to start setting myself some mini goals for the month and see what I can do to acheive them.  Must think on this more.

That's a wrap.
Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Tuesday and Random

So, hello lovelies!  It's Tuesday masquerading as a Monday here.  Joy.  The long weekend was nice and relaxing for us.  We didn't do much.  We had grand plans that the weather and health crushed. None of us was dreadfully sick, but there were lots of stuffy noses and not well stomachs.
Anyway, on to the random:

• As the anniversary of my Mom's passing approaches, I find myself thinking of her at the oddest of times.  Little things remind me of her and bring it back that I will never do, see or experience those things with her again. It makes me sad and depressed.  But I still have my friends and family who will do what they can to keep me occupied and distracted.
• Into the second week of school.  Turbo should be dealing with homework and Bruiser is happy with his teacher and will also be bringing home work. The routine is falling into place again.
• In other good news we may have a bite from a buyer for my mom's house.  I really hope so as getting it sold would close out the last parts of my mom's estate and that would be one less hassle and some of the stress off our plate. 
• There's not much else rolling around my random brain today so there you go.

Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Back to School and MMMM

So, last week the boys had one and half days of school.  This week is the first full week of school.  I'm not totally sure I'm ready for the routine to start up again, but here we are.

Turbo, the 8th grader

Bruiser, the 2nd grader.

Here's to hoping this year is a great year for both of them.

Now for MMMM.  It's a freebie week so here's what I've been listening to recently:

Blake Shelton with She's Got a Way With Words:

Drake White with Livin' the Dream:

Kenny Chesney Featuring Pink with Setting the World on Fire:

Have a great week!

Random Time Tuesday

So here is my random for the week:

• We got to go four wheeling in a new to most of us place this weekend. There is an area called the Wick Bumee Wildlife Habitat area about 45 minutes from town.  Last year Nick went hunting there as it butts up to the national forest where his hunting area was.  The area is beautiful and we had a blast on the ATV trails.

• On the way to the hills we passed some barricade builders which looked very much like a favorite building material around our house:

 

GIANT LEGOS!!!

• So yeah, we did that this weekend.  I also accomplished all my laundry.  Yes, the towels need to be folded, but all the rest of it is folded and put away.  Go me!
• The boys go back to school in like 9 days. Where has this summer gone? Although the mornings around here are hitting the mid 40s and feeling rather fall like really.
• Bruiser has been riding his bike.  He was wobbly at first, but he's now much more confident.  Nick and he got to have skid mark lessons in the alley.  The important things in life, right!?

Well that covers my random, you got anything? 
Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.