DECEMBER?

Big Thanksgiving "Fry" is now History. Yum! 9 adults and 4 kids picked one of those birds clean! Lots of food and a whole lot to be thankful for, as always. We ran heaters all morning and finally got the temp up to about 62 in the garage--hardly balmy, but better than outside!

The night before, our son delivered our old fireplace insert stove and set it in front of the garage.... Better late than never! :) As of last nite, the stove has been relocated to what will become it's permanent place in the garage. Now it's time to polish it up, restoring it to it's former glory (it served us well for several years, when we were still raising our kids!), while Keith installs a chimney--and then begins cutting wood, of course! Guess I'll have to put up a Christmas tree in garage.... LOL!

Meanwhile, Keith is now a certified pipeline dozer operator--waiting for a dozer seat of his own! Plenty of jobs down in MS, AL, and LA, but there's a big one coming down into IL in a few months that could keep us here in the Midwest for a while... I'd kinda like to go to AZ for the rest of the Winter, but he's having "too much fun" being broke and close to the kids and grandkids....

Yesterday was gray, gloomy and in the 20s. Today is gray, gloomy and in the 50s. Just your typical winter, here in 'corn country'. Supposed to rain soon... I got part of the Christmas lites strung on the porch--if I wait for a sunny day, it could be January! Our front yard Christmas tree has grown too tall to light without a bucket truck, so I'm threatening to put all those lights on the front of the garage! Involves a ladder, which I'm not allowed to use, so I don't know if I'll pull that one off....

Our grandson discovered that the jar full of coins was empty and, since he knows that's our Christmas shopping money, went in search of hidden gifts. The joke is on him... his were in the plain brown box that was next to him on the couch! This year's shopping was 100% online--what fun! No crowds, no running through the rain, no fender-benders.... I got some great bargains on some cool stuff! Love the Discovery Channel Store! I'm signed up with BigCrumbs.com, which gets me some 'cash back' when I shop the stores that list with them, including eBay! And for the more cerebral giftees on my list--I found a store called ThinkGeek.com! :)

Meanwhile, Keith has been doing his version of sneaking around to get me the 'perfect' gift for our 40th anniversary on the 24th! Of course, I am the financial goddess here, and so I know he made a down-payment at a jewelry store! :)

No pics this week.... been busy with the little ones. I had to take our grandson to the dentist one day--for a root canal! At aged 10! Poor child was born with bad teeth. Today we're off to his first piano recital.... :) How quickly they grow up!