Hope you and yours had safe and happy holiday season.
The Collier Clan had a wonderful Christmas Day ( check out Jessi's blog for pictures.) Everyone was there and we ate, laughed, and played through the day. ( The family got a Wii). Jessi's Alex made the most exquisite quiche for our breakfast(plus Sterling's traditional red and green pancakes) and the girls (Terra, Jessi, and Allison) did all the cooking for the Christmas dinner. (It was a Chicken Thursday!) That was one of my favorite gifts of all, not being exhausted at the end of the day. Josh even jumped in and did most of the cleaning up. I can truthfully say it was one of the most enjoyable and happy Christmases I've ever had.
The next day Terra, Jill, Sterling and I headed for Tennessee to visit my parents and sister in Murfreesboro. It was great to see them all but poor Jill got a double ear infection the next day and spent the rest of the time sick and feverish. The best part of the trip was that Sat. the temp. was 73.
At my parents ages (81 and 82) Christmas gifts tend to lean toward the need rather than the want so, we gave them a toilet. They are thrilled. The old one had been there since the 70's. My mom called yesterday so excited. The man had just left after installing it and she had to tell me how beautiful and shiny it was. AND how it flushed ...Whoosh.. quick and quiet. She told me that now, whenever she used it, she would think of me. AWWWWW
So, its back to the routine on Monday, Ughhh. another year and another diet. I'll need to clean off the coat rack, er that is the treadmill first, and finish off that cheesecake.. and the rest of the cookies, and the candy...........
the pics are fun. chris and i were just talking today about how much fun it was getting to spend time with you all, and perhaps we can make another trip up sometime, if you'll have us. (chris also saw the pics of sterling as braveheart for the first time, and got VERY excited.)
What a delightful holiday! I just finished off the last of our Andes mints... I think I have one other bag of candy to go and then I need to start behaving! Oh, holiday food.
Thanks for coming to my blog. This Pleonast is such a good thing for re-hooking people up, isn't it! I'm sure my sis told you that my daughter and grandchildren are making another generation of kids to go to camp in Wisconsin. Alyson and Sean loved it there at a younger age.
Your day DOES sound wonderful... We didn't have a big family gathering, but we went to Mother's house and my husband and son installed edge molding around her new floor. It IS nice to be able to do those practical things, isn't it!
Yesterday, in the -19 wind chill morning, as I was attempting to warm up my car and scrape ice, and not die from the cold, the neighbor's dog appeared out of nowhere - doberman mix, big and goofy- and jumped into my car, planted himself in the back seat and refused to get out. He had that, "where are we going?" look on his face. I had to climb into the back seat and literally shove him out the door. I got back in, and when I discovered that my wipers were frozen to the windshield opened the door to go back out.
Thunder (his name's Thunder) didn't even wait for me to get out, just lept right over me into the passenger front seat and once again waited for a ride.
Screaming and yelling does not seem to work on this dog. Just brute force.
I was late for work. I left the parking lot as Allison was attempting to climb into her car, and keep Thunder from climbing in too.
We did get snow, but it didn't collect on the ground or anything *rats* Maybe soon we'll atleast get a good snow that will cover the ground! Just once!
I hope everyone stays safe. We shucked the coats yesterdaysince it was in the 70's all day. We are supposed to have some more winter on Sunday night - 40's and 50's. It's a shame that I only get to use my winter wardrobe when I travel.
When I was a teenager we saved a black lab that was wondering around the highway. We brought him home and named him Straus. He was an outside dog but when allowed in the house he loved to climb (make that bound) into my mother's lap. My dad loved to let the dog in the house on his way out. Then us boys would stand back while Straus raced silently across the living room carpet, then his toenails would sound the alarm when he reached the linoleum floors in the dining room and kitchen as he skidded around the corner into the den where my mother would be wildly flailing her arms desperately trying to get up out of the platform rocker where she was only microseconds before had been enjoying her morning coffee. She never once made it up before Straus would be proudly perched in her lap. We all loved it - even Mom.
We are on the same system as Joliet Schools. If they are closed - we are closed. But since we have students on center 24/7, we are encouraged to come into work if we can. And to further encourage us to come into work, if we choose to stay home - that is 1 sick day or vacation day.
Looks like y'all had a good christmas from the pictures on Jessie's page. Also looks like Josh has not changed, just 'aged'. I hesitate to say grown up. :·)
They're relatively good dogs and live indoors with us. One thing I like about them is that they are not indoor barkers.
Outside is a whole different story.
Our Australian Shepherd "Lucy" is the worse. She hits the back step barking and then looks around for something to bark at. Why waste good barking time being silent even if you have nothing to actually sound off about? Something will surely come along soon and I'm already way ahead of the game.
Anyway...like I said, they are not indoor barkers and we have always said that if they do, especially during the night, it's probably for a very good reason. So...last night at 2:30 a.m. they started. Sterling and I woke up, looked at each other and...did nothing, just rolled over and ignored them. Why? Because just like your own child's cry we've learned to recognize their "trouble is afoot" from "I'm bored, annoyed or I hear another dog barking 2 streets over and thought I'd join in.
It went on intermittedly for about an hour until finally, Sterling got up to find out why. In a few minutes he returned and mumbled as he settled back into bed,
"They were out of water."
first: I miss Bella. *sigh*
second: A lady at work told me a story of their beagle eating a very yeasty roll of unbaked bread dough. He ate the whole thing. And his stomach expanded...and his farts smelled like baking bread. And now I miss Hunner. :-)
Our Rhodesian Ridgeback was happily sitting at the back door covered in blood. First I freaked, thinking something was wrong with her, then realizing she was okay, I remembered she had gotten into it with the barn cat last night. I then freaked thinking about my favorite cat being torn to bits. I ran to the barn to find the cat, but instead found feathers everywhere. I then started thinking evil thoughts about all the ways I could beat the same dog that I had just previously been so worried about. I just tied her up and walked away. I think in her mind it was a great day. Aghhh. So not a very GOOD dog story, but a very current one.
Dog stories? Where do I begin? Our Golden Retriver was 9 weeks old when we brought her home to a 13 month old. As they grew up together and added a little brother to the mix, we moved to Texas. The house we bought had a fort in the back. Our daughter decided to put her ball in the fort which was about 7 feet off the ground. The way in was a rung ladder via a small door. The GR climed the ladder got her ball and jumped over the side which was about 4 feet over landing on the ground and running around. Later we went to see "Air Bud". When the GR climbed the ladder the people behind us said no dog can do that. All of us turned around and said "Yes they can" Ours did it. That is just one of many Goldie stories.
when i go see my cousin(sabrina), i'm not allowed to touch her dog for at least the first five minutes. im not even supposed to look at her. or she gets so excited she pees everywhere. but its only ME that seems to cause this problem.
Do you remember Bims? (or Bimbo?) He had to "poop" on something high...like a ledge...or a log...or the curb...it was too funny. Since then when our dogs go out for their "duties" Bob will ask if they did a "high" or a "low!" (I'm not sur why he asks, but at the times he does...there has to be a good reason, right?)
My dog gets thristy in the middle of the night too. She lives with my mom right now, though, so I get the angry eyes from mom a lot about the middle-of-the-night barking :)
I'm reading "Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Archenemy Betrayed the American Revolution and What It Means for Americans Today" by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, contrasting Hamiltonianism against Jeffersonianism, and their respective legacies. It's very interesting and deserves a wider audience. The same author wrote "The Real Lincoln" and "Lincoln Unmasked" which are also deserving of a wider audience. I recommend them all and am likely to soon read "How Capitalism Saved America", his other book.
Our Chocolate Lab, Hershey, who's 2 yrs. and is for all intents and purposes a lap dog trapped in a monsters body. In other words, someone needs to tell her how heavy she is when she wants to climb in my lap! She continuously tortures me when she has been inside for a while and someone opens the door, she runs out! she runs to the middle of the yard... looks at the fence she is about to hurdle like a thorughbred stallion... and then looks back at me almost as if to say "Peace Out"... jumps the fence and has no plan after! I've just gotten to the point that if she comes back she comes back, and if she doesn't, she doesn't~
I heard Do They Know It's Christmas? the other day on the radio. (OK I admit it, I have the all christmas station on in my car....before Thanksgiving) ANYWAY....It was written in Dec.'85 and it got me thinking about that time and the famine in Africa that prompted that song and the song that followed soon after, We Are The World. Those songs were part of a world wide effort to raise awareness and money to help feed the world.
In 1986 the USA attempted to do so by an event called
Hands Across America.
The goal was a continuous chain of people holding hands from New York to California. We were living in Amarillo at the time and the route came right through our town. So....at 3pm on Sun. May 25, 1986 my family joined hands with 7 million others for 15 minutes. The radio stations played We Are The World and we all sang along.
Do you remember this day?? Did I hold hands with you somewhere along the line?
Don't we still have the cartons of water they gave us? I remember it being REALLY important to you and I thought it was kinda cool. I am very proud that we participated now.
how did this miss ohio?
this makes me sad, because i missed it,
happy, because you did it,
confused, because noone in your fam has ever told me this story,
and really amused, because now i have steve martin's "one wish this christmas" skit from SNL in my head.
way to send me through the gauntlet.
Hi, nice to "meet" you. i did get my copy of Isacc's Storm from the library, but have not yet started on it. I was reading another book and wanted to finish it before starting a new one. Finished it this morning, so hopefully I'll be able to fine time to begin while I'm off from school this week!
Yes, I teach kindergarten. I was a teacher's aide with special needs (LIFE Skills, then Resource) for 7 years before finishing my degree and getting my certification.
I am in Houston, TX. I am in one of the lucky districts that closes for the ENTIRE week of Thanksgiving. :) It's a nice treat...not sure how much longer we'll get the whole week, but I'm enjoying it while I can!
Hi, Jo Ann. I know Josh & Terra, and Jill is one of my favorite people!! I live in Spring, TX a suburb of Houston. I'm currently in Craig, CO - Lauren's younger sister just had a baby last Saturday.
Hi there...sounds like we do have a lot in common. My name is Marie. Sounds like you are enjoying pleo. It's a nice diversion, good place to blog, and I can keep up a bit with the few friends and relatives I have here.
What a fun coincidence! I love reading on pleo about all the many connections between people. I have never lived anywhere but Texas, first in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, now in Houston. i can't imagine being anywhere else. i don't much like the humidity, but it's worth it with the rest of the weather. My kids all live in Texas, my youngest still at home, of course. My daughter and family are in College Station and my son and his wife are in Lufkin. I absolutely LOVE being a grandma to my precious grandsons, will post soon about jackson's birthday!
Hi there! Thanks for posting on my blog. I'm Robin, and as you can tell from my blog, I have 5 kids, with a grandbaby on the way. I am pretty busy trying to keep up with the teenagers, and a 5 year old. And adding a newborn to the mix in April....oh my! Glad to hear from you, and I will add you to my friends list!
