A Good Neighbor

Several years ago we had a tree rremoved from our backyard.  Unfortunately the people we paid to do the job didn't do a very good job with the stump and some of the outlying roots in the yard.  I've been complaining for some time about getting this taken care of but it pretty much fell on deaf ears.

Until one morning I was getting ready for work and thought I heard the sound of machinery somewhere in the vicinity of my back yard.  When I cam downstairs I went looking for the noise.  Low and behold, it was in my backyard where Loren Barish was grinding down the stump and roots.  What an awesome neighbor!

Wow!  A little raking to level things out now and some grass seed in the spring and it will be so much better.  Thanks neighbor!



Christina and Chad Palmer

In September we attended the wedding of my friend Chrissy Steele and Chad Palmer.  Chrissy looked beautiful and her daughter Jacinda was cute as a button.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful bride.  I'm just sorry my picture doesn't do her justice.

I wish you the very best of luck, my friend.

Back in Time - 2011 Thanksgiving

Ok, it is a little embarassing to be going back so far in time.  I'm such a slacker!  But, I want to clean up 2011 before I move on to 2012.

I like Thanksgiving.  Once Brent and I get da boid in the oven the rest of the day can be taken care of pretty casually.  My folks are always in attendance as are mine brither and Brent's Mom, so I always can pretty much count on those 6.  The last few years neighbors Loren and Deb Barisch have been available to join us.  Travis actually was kind enough to eat two Thanksgiving meals and I really do appreciate it.

I tend to be very traditional.  I love the table cloth that Jayne Zamzes bought for me many years ago.  It's perfect for the Fall and harvest themes.  Out come the gold chargers, the knife rests, the butter molds, and all the other stuff that I use only for the holidays.

Toasts are also a big thing for us.  We take turns and this year Dad was stuck....um I mean Dad was excited abou giving his toast! 



Brent always cleans up da boid and stuffs the sucker after I get the filling made.  Then he does an expert job of carving.  Unfortunately as you can tell from the picture, I forgot to properly finish the darn turkey by browning the skin.  Poopers.  It's not beautiful, but it's darn tasty.

On one hand, the bad thing about Thanksgiving is that you do a lot of work and 30 minutes later it's all over.  The good thing about Thanksgiving is all the leftovers!

An Evening with Friends

You know how difficult it is to find time to do anything these days.  We go from one thing to the next and the next with no time for anything it seems.  Brent was off between Christmas and New Years.  Ah, yes, I remember all those good years at AMP when we were both off during that time.  It was wonderful - even though it was furlough without pay.  Anyway, we took advantage of this time to have Neil and Terri Seis come up for dinner. 

I served a shrimp civeche with champagne as an appetizer.  It was good and pretty easy to make, although it took longer for the lime juice to "cook" the shrimp than I had anticipated.

The salad was our go-to salad these days (because it's easy, it's good and voignier from Pine Ridge is a fantastic match).  We picked up a lovely standing rib roast which Brent did on the grill.  We served that with a yummy new potato recipe I stumbled upon and asparagus wrapped in filo with parmesian.
Terri brought some wonderful Christmas cookies and candies she made - oh man they were yummy.

All in all, a good meal with good friends.

More Christmas Eve

I know it's February and I'm finally getting around to posting these pictures.  But, better late than never!

This Christmas was so wonderful.  Everyone got here in a timely manner.  The snacks were yummylicious.  We changed the way we did gifts this year, with everyone delivering their gifts to others, one at a time.  I loved it!  It took us 2 hours to unwrap everything, but the cool thing was we actually got to see what everyone got.  It was so leisurely, it was a great change.

The girls were beautiful in their Christmas finery.  They both love to dress up and look beautiful.

Some wear fancy clothes, others don their fancy head gear!

While we were waiting for Travis and Kylie to arrive, I suggested to Rick that we should ask Mom if we could do our stockings.  My Mom always does stockings for Rick and I.  It's one of the highlights of Christmas for me.  There are some things that we always expect to find:  Whitman's mini candy sampler, a small tiny bottle of Drambuie, odds and ends Mom has collected over the year.  Some things we have been getting since we were children and it's just another one of those traditions we look forward to reliving.  But, I digress....

Rick agreed we should do our stockings.  I came out into the living room and said, "Mom, Rick wants toknow if we can do our stockings!"  hehehe.  Yeah, some things never change no matter how old you are!

It was coolBrent was psyched.  He had Chris screen print some shirts for the Team Bart clothing line.  Since he and Matt Miller are going to be running the Disney Marathon as a relay team in January, he decided to have some shirts made.  He had some regular shirts done and some good athletic gear made too and he had fun giving them to friends and family.  Of course he had shirts made for the girls too!

Gwen received a private climbing lesson from her Uncle Trav.  Gwen seems very tentative with it so Trav has promised her a special time with just the two of them.  I thought that was a great gift.

Mom gave me not one, but two coats.  One is a snuggly warm jacket and one is a great longer coat that I wanted for the cold blustery walk down the alleyway to work.  But the best part was that Mom knitted me a hat and a scarf.  I love that Mom took the time to make something so wonderful for me.

Mom and Trav enjoy watching the festivities while Kera clowns around with Brent and Dad.  And Kera is.....playing with Chris's ear?!!

Kylie is crazy about horses.  I think this large horse was a big hit! 





Kylie entertains us all by singing Christmas songs.  She's quite the entertainer and just oh so cute.



Brent got me a Panasonic FZ150 camera for Christmas.  I am so thrilled!  Even looking back over this post, you can easily tell which pictures were taken with my new camera and which with the old one.  I can't wait to learn how to use it.  Thanks honey!

Twelve more months until we get to do it all again!

Christmas Eve

Our family all gathers together on Christmas Eve for our celebration.  It's 1:00 in the afternoon and I am so excited.  Things are in pretty good shape for a change and I am not really frazzled....although there's still time for that I suppose! 

My dining room table is set and it looks just beautiful.  There's Christmas music playing and the new Mr. and Mrs. Claus are in front of the fireplace just waiting to be turned on.  Brent brought the singing Santa down and I can't wait for the girls to sing Christmas songs with him.  My tree is lit and is gorgeous.  I enjoyed having the whole family over to decorate it and have really loved turning it on each night.

The presents have all been wrapped for over a week, although I see that Brent has been a busy little elf and has placed some packages under the tree.  He is doing some crazy looking stretches and getting ready to go run.  I have a few food related things to do, but for the most part, I am in unusually good shape (and thus good spirits!).

Everyone has their traditions, and we are the same.  I love getting all the ornaments out each year.  I look forward to carefully unwrapping each of the heritage balls my Grandma Redlich made for me.  The last few years I've supplemented with some pine cones and birds I bought in Germany at Epcot.  The little angel my parents bought for their second Christmas still hangs on the tree, despite my Mom's best efforts to buy me a new tree topper. 

My brother always cooks Christmas Eve dinner.  The best crab cakes you have ever eaten and home made french fries.  This year we're having cole slaw and asparagus wrapped in filo dough and some rolls.  I look forward to this meal every year.

Since the girls have been old enough to tell their left from their right, we have read a "left/right" story where you pass wrapped packages to the left or right as the story tells you to.  The adults love this game even more than the kids.  This year, I wrote the story myself, incorporating everyone into the story.  It's pretty funny!

Someone always gives a toast at our family gatherings.  The last few years, my brother has been doing it.  They are always meaningful and wonderful.  The girls get plastic champagne flutes filled with ginger ale.  No one is left out!

It is so difficult to get everyone together during the holidays and we have two birthdays too.  Chris's is December 30 and Trav's is December 31.  To make it easy for everyone, we always celebrate them after dinner.  Kera, the family baker, always takes care of the cakes and they are as beautiful as they are delicious. 

Well, I do have a few things to finish up befoe everyone arrives around 4:30. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Zip It

Sometimes I feel like everything in the world is changing, changing, ever changing, and not always for the best.  From great incandescent light bulbs that work like a charm and provide good light to the new "green" bulbs that leave me practically in the dark for several minutes then give me a yellow light and don't even get me started on disposing of them.  Green my butt. 

But, I digress.

Let's talk zippers.

For women, the main zipper mechanism is on the right.  You feed to piece on the left into the mechanism on the right, yank the sucker up, and voila - a zipped closure.  Now men's zippers, like most everything else pertaining to men, are opposite.  The mechanism is on the left...yeah, you get it. 

Apparently not anymore.

I got 3 new zippered jackets/coats this fall/winter and guess what?  I have to learn how to operate a zipper all over again because suddently the mechanism is on the left.  Fifty-seven years of zipping one way, nothing is made in America, and the zipper mechanisms are suddenly on the wrong side.

Who knew.