New Year's Funny

The New Year's Eve party had turned into a regular marathon with numerous guests coming and going.
At one point, a man knocked on the door, was greeted heartily although no one knew who he was, and was led to the bar in the basement.
He sat there happily for a couple of hours before a strange light dawned on his face. "You know," he confided to his host, "I wasn't even invited to this party. I just came over to tell you that some of your guests' cars are blocking my driveway."
The guest continued, "My wife's been sitting out in the car waiting for me to get them moved."

Our Christmas

We had everyone over for Christmas eve...

Where we finally met lil' Boston! (Who I tried to keep, Toby absolutely loved him!)

We all played bones and snacked while waiting for Cortney to show up.

Dad even got in on it, we had to take a picture of that!

And the dogs got all acquainted and played with each other (Abby was the loudest! My goodness can that girl bark.)Cortney arrived!



Then of course, Mom made us take a gazillion pictures in every pose and variation of family members. I know I know, years from now I will be glad that we did, so we all have pictures to look back on and remember. But at the time, all I was thinking was how much my face was starting to hurt from smiling non-stop for an hour of photos :-p

Love them all so much!


Boston was determined to play with Toby's bunny (after I hid the cat toys he was trying to play with earlier) despite the bunny being the same size as him. hehe
Then because we wouldn't see anyone for Christmas Day, it was time for presents!!!


Do we see a theme?

Kathy, Christmas Day 2007, unwrapping a gift from Cortney...

then cut to Christmas eve 2008,

Kathy unwrapping her stocking from Cortney...

She likes her ketchup :-)




Then things just got weird, hehehe, but we were laughing so hard our faces hurt!

Boston wondering what he got himself into, what crazy family adopted me?

Things eventually settled down....Dad relaxin' with Abby and her new lil' brother Boston.

Mike and I had a quiet Christmas day, we missed seeing family, but had a nice day together with Toby and our girls.
Hoping everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

Love you all!

and to Mom, Dad, Beepa, Kathy and Cortney, thank you!

No Peeking 'Til Christmas!

Mike and I were doing some last minute grocery shopping on Monday night. We are walking the aisles and we came upon a 'cute as can be' dog toy of a stuffed squirrel. Our dog Toby already has a small collection of realistic looking stuffed toys (he has his turkey, and a bunny) and knowing his love of chasing the squirrels in his yard we thought it would be a cute stocking stuffer for him (yes I have a stocking for our pets, doesn't everyone?)

We head home, wanting to just put everything away as quickly as possible so that we can relax with each other before going to work the next day.

We are both in the kitchen emptying the grocery bags when I hear a squeak. I never saw Toby even come near the bags that were sitting on the kitchen floor, so I hoped, but kinda had an inkling, that Toby hadn't found his xmas gift. I peeked around the corner into the dining room hoping that he had his bunny (he loves that thing!) Nope, I saw bunny laying all alone on the living room floor. I look in the other direction, and there is our dog with that squirrel in his mouth, still in its packaging and Toby is going crazy with it! Freakin' sneaking dog...we still don't know how he found it so quickly, or how we didn't see him steal it. But at that point we couldn't take it away, he was freaking out over it. So I just cut it free from its package and gave it back to him, he played with it for the next 2 hours until he tired himself out. Glad he liked it so much, but I wish he had waited until Christmas morning, that lil' Christmas peeper.

Toby, with his prized squirrel.

Hope Everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Babbling

Today is a pretty good day. I finally got all the Christmas presents wrapped, although not under the tree (Lily thinks it's fun to chew on them). Today I get to enjoy my day with my husband on his birthday, and we get to relax and watch some football . Honestly the only game I care to see though is of course my New England Patriots, who are currently playing quite well (so far 3 touchdowns and barely in the 2nd quarter!!). But I got a little home sick as soon as I turned on the game. I saw all the snow, and it seemed totally bizarre to me that here I am in nice warm weather. This is the first time that I have watched a Pats game while it snowed there and I didn't have snow out my own window. I felt like I was a million miles away. I love watching them play in the snow, and for the first time in awhile I miss having my own snow. Guess I am just gonna have to try and visit up north next year.

And I have to just say, Happy Birthday babe!!

More Christmas Funny

The Sunday before Christmas, a pastor told his congregation that the church needed some extra money. He asked the people to consider donating a little more than usual into the offering plate. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns. After the offering plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 bill in offering. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he'd like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate. A very quiet, elderly, saintly looking lady all the way in the back shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front. Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and in thanks asked her to pick out three hymns. Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three most handsome men in the building and said, "I'll take him and him and him."

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After her 90th Birthday, Marie found that shopping for Christmas gifts had become too difficult, so she decided to send checks to everyone instead. On each card she wrote, "Buy your own present," and she mailed them early. Marie enjoyed the usual flurry of family festivities. Only after Christmas did she get around to clearing off her cluttered desk. Under a stack of papers, she was horrified to find the gift checks, which she had forgotten to enclose.

One More Down

I was sitting at my desk, studying, and minding my own business. When from the corner of my eye, I saw a huge mass of color rush by the window (the window is located directly behind my computer monitor). I looked up at the tree outside, only to see the branch moving wildly. I stood up and looked in the direction that the object went...just in time to see a red-tailed hawk land in a tree with a squirrel in its talons. I was able to grab my camera and get one picture before he flew off with his meal.
I keep telling lil' Lily not to run outside, because he would love to eat her. And he is definitely sticking around our neighborhood.

But glad he is eating some of our squirrels! We have wayyyy to many of those lil' varments. Sorry squirrels.

I almost forgot, that was my 5th encounter with Mr. Hawk (for the heck of it, we will call him a he). Back in October, when my mom and Beepa were visiting, we came upon him, yet again. He was just standing on one of my neighbors front lawns with a small snake he had caught. Mom got some pictures (as I didn't have my camera at the time). I just now remembered that I have the photos. He was playing with his lunch. :-)

Christmas Funny

This made me giggle a little, just because it was so bad.

The Strange Christmas Scene

In a small southern town there was a "Nativity Scene" that showed great skill and talent had gone into creating it. One small feature bothered me. The three wise men were wearing firemen's helmets. Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left. At a "Quik Stop" on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, "You stupid Yankees never do read the Bible!" I assured her that I did, but simply couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible.She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my face she said "See, it says right here, 'The three wise man came from afar.'"

Old Age

This was just too silly not to tell. I was helping Mike this past weekend strip some floors where he works. Like I mentioned before, Mike is the manager at a rehabilitation and nursing center. Part of his job is to strip some of the floors (of their wax) once a month. There was no one to help him, so he asked me. By the way, he was quite impressed with my stripping skills, hehe. No one has ever seen a woman run a buffer as well as I. He was proud of his good stripper wife, hehehe. My mother would really appreciate that. Okay, getting my mind out of the gutter...

As we worked periodically a resident would come up to us to say hello and watch. (what else do they have for entertainment from 7pm-5am). This one lil ol woman caught my attention, she was wondering the halls, scooting herself along in her wheelchair. She came up to us and asked if we had a cigarette and a pepsi, an odd request. Mike said no, he didn't have either one. So she proceeded to ask me if I had a cigarette, I told her sorry, but I don't smoke. So she went along down the hall saying "I want a cigarette and a pepsi!" to anyone that would listen. Mike told me later that she asked people for that all the time. And one of the first things that popped into my head was my dad. As I told Mike, I can see it now, when my dad is old, and gray... he will be wondering around, asking everyone for a cigarette and a pepsi, hehehe. Everyone that knows my dad knows how right I am. I love my dad more then I can express, but he will be a crotchety ol' man when he's older, spitting out his teeth for laughs, and harassing others for a "cigarette and a pepsi". :-)

Seeing Double

Can you tell who is who??

(Lily)

(Cally)

Together they make a: "Calla Lily"hehehe

When Kathy moved down here, her kitty Cally tagged along. She looks and acts just like our Lily. If you didn't know any better you would swear they were related.

They both have a great fascination with plastic bags. (no kitties were harmed, we make sure they have no access to bags when we aren't around)

(Cally)


(Lily)

Of course, it would be our cat that would jump right into the empty toilet paper bag (of all things) the instant I set it down before tossing it away. Hee hee

Our Christmas Tree

Well, Thanksgiving is now over, so that means it's time. We get to gear up for my most favorite holiday, Christmas!! We got our tree and put it up this weekend. I already got the x-mas decorations all out on Friday, so now the house is looking all festive and full of holiday cheer!

Oh yah, Toby and Lilly were so busy watching what we were doing, and trying to play with everything while we decorated the tree. When we were done they zonked out, hehe, tuckered themselves right out :-)

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Some more news. Tomorrow I go to pick up my mom, so that I can drop her off at the airport on Tuesday morning. All so that she can fly up to NH and drive down with....Kathy!!! That's right....Kathy will finally be moving down here with us!!! Yeahhh!!! Can't wait to see her!

Unusual Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year for me was obviously different. Being down south, this year has been full of firsts. Our first Thanksgiving down here was great though. Cortney met up with Mike and I at our house, then we proceeded to my parents house. Where Aunt Jackie and Uncle Corey and their three youngest waited for us along with Beepa. Dinner was delicious, full of conversations and laughs. Then after a long walk around the neighborhood (with no coats, it was in the 60's!) we came back and all settled around an outdoor fire. I wish we hadn't had to leave. Don't get to see everyone as often as I would like, since we don't live as close as we used to. But I know one thing that I was definitely thankful for that day, my family. Hope everyone else had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Funny

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

Pilgrims! (buh-dum-bump-ching!)

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In the week before Thanksgiving Mary-Jo asked her class of 9 year-olds to write a paragraph entitled: 'What I am most thankful for on Thanksgiving Day'.

All Joe could write was: 'I am thankful that I'm not a turkey at Thanksgiving.'

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Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York the day before Thanksgiving and says,"I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.

"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the father says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her.

"Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this,"

She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at her father, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "they're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way."

The Internet Still Amazes Me

As some of you may know, my mother-in-law Mary moved back to NY a couple of weeks ago. After living here awhile she decided that she missed her friends and her church, so she found a job and a place to live up north and off she went.

She wasn't able to take all of her things with her, so she asked us just the other day to try and sell what was left behind. So yesterday afternoon I thought, I'll just pop the stuff up on craigslist.com (same place I found our dog Toby) with some pictures and see what happens. I thought, give it a couple weeks or so and we might get some people that want to buy the stuff.

I was in complete shock, within less then five minutes of posting the first thing for sale (a desktop computer, kinda old, but works good) I had an email from someone that already wanted to buy it. I got non stop emails all night, and still getting them this morning. Last night, a nice couple came and bought the computer desk and chair, loaded that up and they were gone! Not too long after that, a gentleman came and bought the computer. No haggle over price, within minutes cash was in our hand and that bedroom was getting more empty. We couldn't believe how quickly and how many responses we got, and are still getting. The most expensive thing was a beautiful bed she is selling, I have already gotten half a dozen people that want it. Just goes to show I guess, that craigslist can work! Alot better then I ever thought it would! Now I just gotta keep Mike away from it, before he keeps trying to sell stuff of ours, hehe.

Do You See, What I See?

I was reminded today that Christmas is just around the corner. This wasn't by the stores, which have had Christmas stuff out for weeks and are already playing Christmas music. It wasn't by all the commercials that are on now, reminding you to start shopping either.

While washing some dishes today, I looked up and out my kitchen window. I actually stopped what I was doing, and watched in aww. I saw snow drifting every which way in my backyard!! In North Carolina, in November?! I couldn't believe it. It didn't amount to anything, in fact if I hadn't witnessed it, I would of never known it snowed at all, since there isn't a speck outside now. But it gave me an instant feeling of warmth, family, and Christmas. I hope that we get some snow down here for the holidays!!

Speaking of holidays, I better get my kiester going and rummage through my recipes, so I can make something to bring for Thanksgiving!

Firsts

Our first fall in North Carolina...

When the sun is just right, it looks like our backyard is glowing! :-)

Our first fire in our fireplace! It was small, but toasty. :-)
Toby really enjoyed it!

Long Night In The ER

Well, we had a bit of a health scare this week. Mike has been having some chest pain off and on the last couple weeks, and being the man that he is, ignored it and went about his business. He, like most men, hates going to the doctor, and goes on a very rare occasion. But Tuesday he had all the typical signs of a heart attack (minus the cold sweats). He still refused to go to a doctor, until a nurse where he works checked his vitals and she detected an irregular heartbeat. So that set us off to the emergency room yesterday. We arrived at about 3:30, and it was a longgg night from there.

First they ditched me in the waiting room (since they are in the middle of constructing a new cancer ward, the ER is cramped). After more then two hours with no communication to me, I of course asked someone what the hell was going on! They immediately brought me back to a cramped little room where they were holding him, and several other people. While a doctor and several nurses sat around looking at one computer screen, oye! Then two hours after that, they call us, we thought, good..maybe we can see a doctor now, nope. They went to do a second EKG, until, they read the paperwork and discovered he already had one done, erg! I also pointed out to her that they already did an x-ray (as Mike had informed me earlier) so they didn't try and do that again also. Discovering that, they sent both of us back out to the main waiting room, again. Were we sat for 2 1/2 more hours. Being 3rd on the list, didn't mean much.

Finally at about 10 pm they bring us back to a bed, out in the hallway. Then after 3 more hours of seeing the doctor, then the nurse, then the doctor, and then again the nurse (I don't know how the two of them kept missing each other, but they did, and obviously were not communicating). Since the doctor said the EKG was good, and the x-ray was good. It didn't point to a heart attack (thank goodness, BIG relief! even though the triage nurse also detected an irregular heartbeat when we arrived), so they wouldn't need to take blood. Then a minute later the nurse has him hooked up to a heart monitor, and sticks him with an IV and takes 6 vials of blood. What the hell?

The important thing is, that Mike is ok. They aren't really sure what happened, but glad we are sure that he is alright. The chest pain is slowly getting better. We didn't get home until 1 am, and the poor dog was elated to see us! I realized last night, I wish family was closer, I hated being in the hospital alone, and I am sure Toby would of appreciated someone stopping by to take him potty and maybe give him some dinner.

I did meet alot of interesting people last night though, hehe. Very thankful Mike is ok, that scared me half to death.

The Election

Wow, I don't have to mention what a historic election 2008 was. I was elated to see Obama win the presidency. One thing I found funny though with North Carolina's presidential popular votes. We came out with a tie!? 50% for Obama and 50% for McCain. To be technical, Obama won with 0.29% more votes, but geeze, talk about cutting it close! We were the only other "gray" state on the US map on the news this morning, us being "undecided" and all, hehe. Anyways, congrats to Senator Obama, now let's see what he can do! :-)

Colors

Just some more leaf peepin':

Our Halloween Down South

Our Halloween was pretty uneventful...although we got alot more trick or treaters then my mother. We got a grand total of...count 'em...one trick-or-treater!! She got none...hehe, so we were pretty proud of our 1. I guess trunk-or-treating won out. But we had alot of fun watching our scary movies! Next year we will throw our own Halloween party, since the little kiddies won't come out to play. :-)

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Off subject, but today we voted. Hurray for early-voting!! Not as much of a line. Glad that is over and done with!

Also glad the leaves are changing more and more everyday. That is something we were in fear of, loosing our "new england fall". But we aren't missing it a bit, the leaves are just as colorful down here, they just change later in the season. As you can see:

The berries on our holly bush are starting to get red!

Around our neigborhood:

I can't say it enough...Hurray for fall!!

Pecans Anyone?

One beautiful North Carolina day, Mom, Beepa, the doggies, and myself all went for a walk. While gathering pine cones, we came across a pecan tree. Something I've never seen before. And of course, being us, we explored. We came across every stage a lil' pecan has to go through to be edible!

From growing in their lil' pods:

To breaking free!
And showing their shells :-)

Then folks, like us, come along and break open the shell. Tada!

Pecans!! Yum! Just another perk of living in the south! Can't wait til some of my Mom's pecan pie at Thanksgiving!

What or Treat?

Trunk or Treating...has anyone else ever heard of this? I never did, until moving down here. I hope we still get some trick-or-treaters! What ever happened to good ol' put your feet to the pavement and knocking on the doors of perfect strangers around your neighborhood? hehe

Sad News

Yesterday, Toby (1) was put to sleep, he was a part of our family for 13 years. I don't really know what else to say. But he will be dearly missed, and I'm thankful that he isn't sick anymore. Love him very much, and I know he is in a better place now.

Halloween Funny

A guy goes into a costume shop. He says, "I'm going to a costume party and I want to go as Adam."

The girl brings out a fig leaf.

He says, "Not big enough."

She brings out a bigger one.

He says, "Still not big enough."

She brings out a huge fig leaf.

He says, "Still not big enough."

She says, "Listen, Ace, why don't you just throw it over your shoulder and go as a gasoline pump?"

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The Halloween Costume

There's this man with a bald head and a wooden leg who gets invited to a fancy dress party. He doesn't know what costume to wear to hide his head and his leg so he writes to a fancy dress company to explain the problem.

A few days later he receives a parcel with a note. "Dear Sir, please find enclosed a pirates outfit. The spotted handkerchief will cover your bald head and with your wooden leg you will be just right as a pirate.

"The man thinks this is terrible because they have just emphasized his wooden leg and so he writes a really rude letter of complaint.

A week passes and he receives another parcel and a note which says "Dear Sir, sorry about before, please find enclosed a monks habit. The long robe will cover your wooden leg and with your bald head you will really look the part."

Now the man is really annoyed since they have gone from emphasizing his wooden leg to emphasizing his bald head and he writes the company a REALLY rude letter of complaint.

The next day he receives a small parcel and a note which reads "Dear Sir, please find enclosed a jar of caramel. Pour the jar of caramel over your bald head, stick your wooden leg up your behind and go as a candied apple!"

Holy Leaf!

While out on a walk, I came across a leaf that is almost the size of Toby!

I know there is a longer growing season here, but my goodness!!

Feeling More Like Home

While driving down the road to go shopping the other day, Mike and I took the time to point out all the scenery to each other. North Carolina is beautiful! I wish I had brought my camera (not something I would of thought of when just going to the grocery store). The "girls" were out when we left, a sight that automatically makes me feel warm inside (there is a farm down the road from us...the cows were out, or what Cortney called them when she was little...moo-cows, which I still call them once in awhile). I still have some memories of living on the dairy farm when I was very little. Something most people won't say, yes, the smell of cow manure makes me feel at home, hehe.

As we traveled along the road, it gets much more country, the houses are sparse, and there is just open fields and trees everywhere. The trees are all starting to change, we constantly pointed out to each other the vibrant colors starting to peak through the leaves. Not to long afterwards we came across thousands of cosmos, in very bright colors of white, pink and purple, just lining the fields along the road. Cosmos brought back memories of when I worked at the greenhouse, oh, how those plagued my life then, hehe.

North Carolina feels much more like home now, with all the changing leaves. Some days it looks just like New Hampshire, and I have to remind myself of where I am. In about four months, we will of been here a year, hard to believe. Sometimes I hate it here, some days I love it. One thing is for sure, it is starting to grow on me.

Halloween Past

I don't remember when it came up, or even how, but the topic of Halloween's in the past did come up. And the year that my mother dressed up as the "psycho nurse" with her "skull saw" was brought up. I knew I had a picture of it, and I found it!! That would be my mother, in all her Halloween glory! Just one of many of her Halloween costumes, she tried to think up new ones every year.

Sadly, after many years of scary innocent children together, this year I think we will be apart. But at least we can see who has the most trick-or-treaters and decide what we want to do next year together!

My mom has always been into Halloween, as far back as I can remember. When we were younger, dad and the dog always took us girls trick or treating, and mom would stay home to scare and hand out candy. As I got older, and stopped trick or treating, I became mommy's lil scare helper. I usually played "safety". Thinking up different themes to decorate the yard every year. My best friend Amanda even starting coming every year, and it became a tradition. Mom scared, Amanda and I would help scare, but mainly were in charge if dispersing the candy.

(Part of Mom, Toby, and part of Amanda.)

For a couple years we had the "pick a box". You had two boxes, with a hole in the top, and the trick or treater had to pick a box, and put their hand in to feel what was inside....one box had a bowl of candy, the other usually had oily spaghetti or peeled grapes....not pleasant, especially when you weren't expecting it, and it was dark and scary, hehe. Freaked alot of kids out! Most little children would run away and cry, and some were even too terrified to come up the driveway...with all the scary moaning and music pouring out of the speakers, and scarily lit and decorated yard, then there were the "live props" aka, Mom and Mike. Not knowing if they were stuffed or real, and lurking in the shadows. There were some kids I had to go and meet at the end of the driveway so they could have their candy.

I will never forget the year we took my car, parked it on the lawn, and surrounded it with yellow police tape...had a "body" hanging out the open car door, and my grandfathers rotating red firefighter light on top of the car. That was alot of fun.

Mike is bummed this year we won't be doing anything like that. Hopefully we will get alot of trick or treaters in our neighborhood, and next year we can coax my mom down, and her and Mike can scare the wits out of some kids! My mom only thinks she is gonna get a few kids at her place, so we will see. I know no matter what, Mike wants to do it big next year. This year will be spent handing out candy while watching scary Halloween movies.

One positive about living down south and trick or treating, versus trick or treating up north, when I have kids, I won't have to make their Halloween costumes extra big to fit their winter coats underneath, cuz it was so cold, hehe!! It always disfigured our "scary" costumes, when we looked all puffy, so we wouldn't freeze! :-)

(Old picture of Kathy and I in our Halloween costumes, I think Kathy was an owl, and I was a fairy princess.)

Only a couple more weeks til Halloween!!