Dreaming

I have a little dream. I would like to own a bit of land. On it would sit an old farm house, a small barn, a real vegetable garden, and one of these...


A chicken coop. A small one, with a few good "layers" that would supply fresh eggs to me and my friends. I have given up on a few of my dreams, but I seem to be hanging on to this one. It fits in well with my simple things philosophy and with the right location it actually seems possible.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in the baby carriage!

Today was such a special day. I attended Rebekah's baby shower. Rebekah is my sweet friend Karen's eldest daughter. She and her husband Cliff got married that year the Jim and I call the "year of weddings". I wrote an entry about it, but darned if I can figure out how to link you back to it. clickhere
Anyway, she and her husband Cliff are expecting their first baby in March. Karen gave her a beautiful shower/brunch at Junipers restaurant in Middlebury. It was quite a crowd..so needless to say she received so many thoughtful gifts and it seems that they are now ready for their little one to make their grand entrance.
What a great day!


yes they are!

Cliff and Rebekah chose not to find out what they are having...so this was a mountain of pinks, blues and yellows. So pretty!

Sisters. Sorry Kel...my battery died before I could get a pic of you and Bekah.

Happy Mom-to be.

The Grandma's

Karen cannot contain her joy! Everytime I looked her way she was either smiling or laughing. In just a few weeks she will be a Grandma for the first time! I am so happy and excited for her.

Not a Fan

My family loves to play games. Me not so much. I am posting these pictures to show you why. They are all super competitive. They can get nasty. It is not a fun experience for me, but they seem to really love it. We spent a couple of evenings last week playing Phase 10. It can take hours and hours to finish. Pure torture.

Things started out good. Zachy made us a nice warm fire.

This looks like fun. Colorful box... promising.

This is what it does to my family. Big YIKES!

No smiles here...

Ummm, does this look like anything that you would want to be a part of ?

My only friend in the room. Thankfully Tofu was unaffected by the rowdy playing. This is how we are spending the long winter evenings. So fun....NOT!

Random Saturday

The weekend is here and we are taking a much needed break from the weather. No snow removal was done today and we have not watched any weather reports. Their was alot of buzz on Friday about another huge storm coming our way for Tuesday and for the first time in my life the possibility of more snow is not that exciting. We have enough!
So what's new?
Zachary is back and school . He had a nice long break and I got used to him being around. I miss you Zachy doodle. He is now officially a junior.
Kate was offered a full time promotion/ position at the dental office and she has accepted it. She received a healthy raise to boot! She is taking this semester off from school and has plans to start up again this summer. She is wrapping it up at Tommy's Tanning, she will work there next weekend and that will be it.
Jim attempted to begin his cardiac rehab 2 weeks ago, but suffered a setback. During his orientation the nurse took his blood pressure and it was so high that they sent him right down to the ER. They monitored him for a few hours and then sent him home with a medication change. He went back to the cardiologist last week and it still had not come down, so they added a new medication to his regime. We are now monitoring it at home and it has come down on the new med. Not terrific, but lower just the same. He will report the new readings back to the doc this week. On the brighter side, he continues to lose weight. His clothes are literally falling off of him. He is extremely compliant to his nutrition plan. I am so proud of him, it is a huge change to eat this way. Also, he does not dwell long on any setback. He just picks himself up and continues on. He is positive and that goes a long way in reeling me back in when I feel like things are out of control. There are so many blessings to where we are right now that I could not even to begin to type them all. As impossible as it seems to me, Jim will be back to work full time beginning Monday. He will also be traveling to Cincinnati the week after next. So we are taking a big, deep, breath, trusting God in all things and going foward with very grateful hearts.

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage,And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! (Psalm 27:13-14 NKJV)

Have a great week and if you live anywhere near me...stay warm!

Finally the Christmas Pics

Christmas without John and Cassie and without the trek to Camp Spofford NH, is a quiet day. This was such a year. Just the 4 of us. It was wonderful in it's calmness, but something just doesn't seem quite right without John. I don't think I will ever get used to not seeing one of my kids on the actual holiday.

Christmas Eve dinner at the Redding Road House

All snuggly on Christmas Eve

Waiting for Santa

Christmas morning

Kate gave Jim the sweetest card. It really choked Jimmy up.

The aftermath

Zach's North Pole Village

New winter jackets

All tuckered out.

Random Thursday

It's Thursday already. Boy, how the days fly by lately.
I am working extra hours to try to catch up at work from all of the time that I was out in December. I feel like I am not making much progress and that is bothering me. I need the compartments in my life to be organized and right now they are all out of control. I am at work so much that I am not keeping up with home. No groceries, no nice dinners, dust, and my people and puppy are feeling the neglect. Too many hours at work are wreaking havoc with my back and neck...so I made my way back to my old workplace for some TLC in that area. I had a massage last night...and today I feel like a train ran me over...literally. Sometimes it hurts to try and feel good!
It all sounds pretty bad, but guess what? I woke up this morning! I will go to work and try and make some headway. My new friend (the elderly gentleman that I helped) may visit me today ( he called me a blessing last week). And tonight as I turn onto my street...I will see my house. The porch light will be on for me, and the light from the windows will be spilling out onto the lawn. Kate and Zachs cars will be parked in the driveway. Jim will be inside making us a healthy dinner. He will have my jammies downstairs and ready for me. I will walk in the door and tofu will bark at first until she knows it's just me. Then she will get up on her hind legs and do her happy dance. I will bend down to hug her and she will plant a wet kiss right on my nose. Simple things. Blessings.