Catching Up

Ok, several people have informed me that I haven't blogged in a couple days.
I hadn't realized it had been that long - you know, "Time flies when you are havin' fun". We've been so busy with holiday activies, plus the regular stuff that some of those days there just wasn't time to sit down and blog. SORRY!

Tuesday I had asked to be left off the schedule at work.
For Christmas, we gave Kayla and Jazmyn sewing machines (old ones) with a coupon for sewing lessons. I wanted to be sure and give each of them at least one lesson before they went back to school. That meant I had to do it this week, cos they go back on Monday.

Kayla and I had agreed to do her first lesson on Tuesday. I planned to be there around 10:00 a.m. I didn't actually arrive til more like 11:15, I think.

We got right to it though and had fun. She is a good student. She listens, follows directions and did really well. We went over the basics of her machine, made her thread it several times, then made a pillowcase.

Here are pictures of the lesson.

















Left their house, went home, then had to start getting ready for dinner guests.
We had invited a couple from church for dinner. Dan got most of the food ready, I got the house ready. That wasn't too difficult, we had just had the house ready Monday night for Brad and Marie, it was only 24 hours later, not much to clean up!
I just lit candles and called it good ;-)

Wednesday I worked. I was starting to feel a cold coming on, and by mid-morning Wed. I was blowing my nose every 15 minutes, sneezing, coughing.....not cool when you are facing people all day and cutting fabric for them! I'm sure some of them shuttered. But, I didn't want to ask to leave, 4 other people called in that day!
Made it through the day.

We had planned for the whole family to go bowling during the kids Christmas break. Wed. night was THE night. Well, we found out most places have leagues, or don't open til too late, or something. We ended up going to Gina's house and celebrating Levi's BD. His birthday is the 29th, but she had told us all to put Jan. 8th on the calendar for his party. Well, since we were all going to be together anyway, might as well celebrate it, right? She had gotten a cake and made homemade ice cream. After the pizza, gifts were opened and cake and ice cream eaten, they turned on the X-Box Kinect games. Did we have fun, and laugh our heads off at each other. We took turns playing so everyone got a turn, then the brave and energetic played over and over. That would be Daniel, Jazmyn and Dave!

It ended up being Dave and Daniel boxing! What a sight!

I scheduled to give Jazmyn her first sewing lesson Thursday (today).
She is eager to learn. She isn't as eager for instruction.....she just wants to DO it! She did really well catching on to threading her machine, then sewing a straight line. Mindi told us how her teacher back in high school had them sew on paper without thread to get the hang of the stitches and sewing a straight line, etc. So we tried that. Jaz loved that. In fact, after we made a pillowcase and ironed it, and put it on the pillow, she went back to using paper without thread - and loved it. That's what she was doing when I left!


Pictures from that lesson










Then Rayna got up from her nap (Nate napped the whole time I was there, never did see him!).






Backing up a bit, when I left today, Dan was upstairs in the back bedroom/office putting insulation up. He's putting pink sheets of insulation up (if you remember from this summer, we got it by Gina's house....funny story there).
He also cleaned up the back deck area. We had left odds and ends sitting out there and it looked horrendous. We are having our small group over this Sunday for a New Years party and neither one of us wanted that mess sitting there. It looks bad enough with that old deck and yard!

Here he is putting up pink 'sheets'.









Well, my eyes are burning, my nose is burning, I'm all stuffed up. I'm going to go get comfy.....today is our anniversary. We plan to go see a movie tonight....better get rested up for it ;-) You know how stressful going to a movie can be.

The rest of the week.....Dan wants to work on that room upstairs, possibly the bathroom up there too.

I'd like to play with my new sewing machine. Maybe make something....for myself.
I'll let you know what we actually end up doing!

The Mossner's Grace us with Their Presence

THIS IS POST #200....CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT?
You've been reading this crazy woman go on and on for over 200 days!

Wow, lots has happened in these 200 days.
But then, you already know all that.

Today I worked....no big news there. Another typical day at a fabric store.
I got home and Dan had dinner ready to put in the oven. We had invited Brad and Marie, good friends of ours, over for dinner and since I worked, he said he'd take care of the dinner.
He had ham covered in a brown sugar/pineapple glaze ready to put in the oven.
He had baked a carrot cake (from scratch) and was ready to frost it.

They got here around 7.
We had appetizers, showed them the house, talked, then sat down to eat.
After eating Dan showed them pictures of the house from the beginning. Brad had never seen it, tonight was the first time he's been here.

Here are some pictures of the night.






Brad and Marie with Dan in the background













Ok, it's late.
Dan has to get up at 5a.m.
I took the day off so I could spend some time with the girls while they are on their Christmas break.
I plan to give Kayla her first sewing lesson tomorrow.
Maybe I'll get to give Jazzy hers too, not sure on that. If not, maybe Thurs.
Then tomorrow night we have a couple from church for dinner.

Will let you know how it goes.

Our Family Christmas

Oh, My Goodness!
What a day.
I'm exhausted, but extremely fulfilled.
We just had our whole family together from about 2:00 this afternoon til about 8:00 p.m.
We had told them we would make the meat and potatoes and they were to bring the 'extras'. They didn't let us down, we ate like kings.
After we ate, we got the dirty dishes taken care of, the kids changed, and brought out the gifts. We had a lot of fun seeing what everyone got.
Then, when that died down, we told them we had thought about not wanting the gifts to be the central theme of Christmas....not what was remembered down the road 6 months. So we told them we wanted to bless each of them and (unknowingly for Dan) I started with him. I told them that when my sister passed away and we had her memorial service, things were said about her that I bet she didn't know and had never heard. I didn't want to wait until some sad occassion occured and then tell family members what I thought of them.
So, I started with Dan and told them what kind of father they had....from being a man of integrity to trustworthy, to unselfish. Then encouraged them to add any thoughts and feelings they had. They got into the spirit of it right away and said so many kind things to him. Some of it surprised him, all of it warmed his heart.
Then we went to Dave and Gina and focused our attention and comments on them.
Then we did the same to Seth and Mindi.
Then we did it for Daniel and Laina also.
When we got done with them they said, "Let's do Mom now." I tried to quick change the subject and get a game started but they weren't so easily deterred!

It was awesome. I loved hearing them tell each other what they admired and appreciated about each other!

Well, once that was over, we got snacks - grazed awhile, then started playing Buzz Word...a new game we got this year.
After that, we played Pictionary Man. The kids like playing that one cos they get to take a turn drawing too.

After we tired of games we grazed again.
Gina and Mindi both had done boatloads of baking and didn't disappoint. We had a huge spread of goodies.

When they all leave, we are tired, but oh so grateful, thankful, blessed.
We love having them all under one roof.
We've been abundantly blessed.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday.

Here are a few pictures of the day.


Jaz was photographer for awhile






Mindi and Nate, Rayna jumping on the chair in the background!






Jaz and Rayna - Jaz didn't mind being behind the camera, but boy she did NOT want to have her picture taken!






Seth and Nate playing with his new train






Not quite sure what caught Daniel and Laina's attention....






4/5th's of the Miller family






There they all are. Jaz looks a bit sad, doesn't she?
She wasn't feeling up to par today - had a sore throat.






No food on their plates, but they are still ready to go!






Levi and Gideon had fallen asleep on the way over, so took Levi awhile to get his speed up again.






Hmmmmm, what caption should I put on this one?






Handing presents out






He loves Toy Story!





Gina and Gideon both enjoying a gift.






Ok, time to get ready for the week.
Have a full week ahead:
Work Monday and Wednesday....company Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

We gave Kayla and Jazmyn sewing machines (older ones) for Christmas with coupons for sewing lessons. I start the first one on Tuesday, can't wait!

Wednesday, while the girls are off school, we are all going bowling. That should prove to be interesting. We haven't done that in several years. None of us are great, we have a lot of laughs. Will be a fun time "bonding" as Kayla would jest!


Merry Christmas!

I Love This Time of Year!

Sorry about yesterday's "No Blog" day.
I was tired after work, but determined to get a few things done before turning in.
I just picked the wrong thing to work on when tired - decorating the banister!
I got part way then stopped so I didn't kill Dan or myself!

Today I started by going to Mindi's to pick up some stuff to use on Daniel and Laina's gift. Had fun with the kids while there. They had made a "wall" out of pillows all around the bed and were playing inside of it. Their imaginations are so fun to watch!

On my way home, I stopped at WalMart and got a few things, then picked up burgers for lunch.

This afternoon I finished the sewing of Christmas gifts I had waiting for me. Dan, in the meantime, was putting up trim. He got that done in the kitchen and said he was going to run to Menards (no kidding!?). He told me to paint the trim on the island while he was gone. I said, "Ok." Knowing full well he was joking, I waited for him to drive away then ran and got the paint and brush and immediately set to work painting it. I got two coats on when he called explaining what he had encountered at Menards. Before he got home I had the third coat on and was back at my sewing.

It didn't take long and he noticed the whole thing was black! Man, it looks good without white boots.

Before (please excuse our mess):




Two coats on, waiting to dry for the third coat.






Dan tried to stealthily take my picture.










He got wood for the kick plate while he was at Menards. Here it is installed under the cabinets.






Ok, I'll chronicle for you the fiasco with the banister....


I found a new product (thank you Marie!) at Flowerland. It is called Deco Mesh.
You purchase this green strand to attach it.
First I put lights on the banister (thanks Mindi, that was good advice).
Then the first step with the green strand.




Next I added the Deco Mesh. The stuff is 20 some inches wide.






Then I added silver ribbon and a few ornaments. (The Deco Mesh has silver stripes in it.)






This is not how I envisioned it!

I took some ornaments off....they seemed too close together, plus Marie said to.


Here's a close up





See that word I'm holding?






I have HOPE that it will be fine....I'm NOT going to obsess over it.
I am not going to obsess over it.
I am not going to obsess over it.


How many times do you need to say it to convince yourself?!




*************************************************************************************

I love this time of year.

With decorations up, the house seems cozier, warmer, smells nice (when we aren't painting).

I thoroughly enjoy thinking about each person I'm giving gifts to and appreciating what they mean to me as I make/wrap their present.

I have listened to Christmas music since Halloween (at work they started playing it randomly right after Halloween, then after Thanksgiving non-stop). When I'm at home, I usually have the TV set to "Sounds of the Season" which is Christmas music. Today Dan turned it to contemporary Christian and is was all Christmas only without the silly secular songs. Man, those songs are great. I haven't tired of them yet.

The reason we celebrate is most profound to me. It seems like each year it becomes more meaningful than it was the year before.

We really are blessed!

Banister Frustration

No blog tonight....trying to make this banister pretty.....it isn't cooperating.
I'm very frustrated.
I had this vision in my head, and it isn't happenin'!
Know anybody who can decorate????

Christmas Gift Exchange

Ok, it is already late and I have to get up early for work, but wanted to quick fill you in on the day.

Worked til 4:30.
Shopped for an album for....well, I can't tell you just yet.
Met Marie at Olive Garden for our Christmas and Christmas gift exchange.
It was awesome!
Remember I told you we took Jesus' name and used it as an acronym.
She gave me:
J - jewelry
The coolest necklace and earrings to match.
E - useful things for entertaining
A silver tray, butter knives with beautiful handles.
S - On the card for this gift were the words, "To strenghthen and encourage"
It was a chronological Bible (She has the same one, we are going to read it through the year and keep each other on track.) And a wall hanging with Joshua ???
It says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
U - on this gift card were the words, "a few of my favorite things"
In it were utensils. One was a bamboo tong and the other was a Pampered Chef spatula.
S- on this gift card it said, "Warm and Toasty"
In it was a pair of the softest slippers you'll ever slip your feet into. I'm wearing them as we speak. Ok, we aren't speaking, but I AM!


Here we are. We made our waiter take our picture. He kept asking if there was anything he could do for us....I think he wanted a present too!







Our waiter Drew






Us again





It was a great evening!

When I got home, the most amazing sight met my eyes.
My stairway was completely painted.
Can I just say, I'm married to the most amazing man that exists, or has possibly ever existed.
Here is the stairway done...










You have to see it to fully appreciate it.
It is lovely.
I will have decorations on that banister tomorrow!

Gotta run.
Several things to do before turning in.

Stairway Primed and Cut In

Monday is almost over...
I worked.
Dan finished prepping the stairway and then primed the whole thing, ceiling and all.
He then proceeded to paint the ceiling.
That was all completed by the time I got home.
After I got home, and even at this moment, he is cutting in (the wall color) up there.

Here are pictures.

The walls primed










Oh, yes, he also hung the new light fixture in the stairway that matches the one in the dining room.

Here is his 'scaffolding' he set up in order to hook up the light and paint, etc.





Better view of the scaffolding. Makes you want to climb right up there on it, doesn't it?!






Hooking up the light






Light all hooked up






WHAT IS THAT SOUND???






Doesn't that look great?!






WHAT'S that sound I hear???






Oh, yeah, that's Hilma cheering, the paint is going up and SHE doesn't have to do it!







See how happy she is?














It is the same color as the entryway downstairs - Pony Tail.


Checking on progress






YEAH???






After work I shopped a little bit, then after getting home did some more wrapping of gifts.
Tomorrow after work, Marie and I have our Christmas gift exchange. Our tradition has always been to go out for dinner and exchange gifts.
This year we decided to take Jesus name and use it as an acronym...each letter standing for whatever we decided. I won't tell you what I chose, as Marie will be reading this tonight or tomorrow, possibly before we meet!

I'll fill you in tomorrow after it's all over!