We say Merry Christmas!

I've had a wonderful December leading up to Christmas. Instead of exchanging gifts this year, we've adopted a family and bought for them. I've always done the usual small things for people each year, but I have to say that this was so much fun. If your family is like ours, we buy for ourselves everything we want. So when it comes time to buy gifts for each other, it's incredibly challenging to come up with ideas. The only hard part of buying for someone who has nothing, is knowing when to stop. We concentrated mostly on clothing and shoes, and a camera for the mom. The people who are delivering the items are also cooking a meal for them, so it sounds like the family will have a wonderful Christmas.

So if you're feeling like a Scrooge this year, find a way to pay it forward. It seems like the more I give, the more I get back.

wii are rockin' out!

Along with the wii fit, we bought Rock Band and my formerly unmusical husband is totally obsessed! We play for an hour or two almost every night. Originally, I was going to be the guitar to his drums, but roles were quickly reversed when he realized how challenging the drums would be. It's been a lot of fun and we're actually getting pretty good. I just wish there were other genres of music available. I had to laugh when I saw the wii commercial where the kids are sitting bored on the couch while dad rocks out. I'll bet there are a lot of grammas and grandpas who are playing Rock Band on the sly. After all, we did grow up in the sixties. The wierd thing is that Bailey seems to love rock music. She gets all excited when we get the instruments out, the promptly falls asleep in the middle of everything. Strange dog!

Busy November

November has come and gone, but not without some big changes. I finally got my transfer to a facility that's only 3.5 miles from home. Woo-hoo! It's brand new and the administrator is very customer service oriented. They run this place like a hotel, and don't tolerate anything that might come off as unprofessional. Which includes a total ban on employee cell phones withing the facility. Several people have already been fired for texting when they were in public areas. And although it's inconvenient, I have to admit that I totally approve. Nothing irritates me more that someone messing with their cell phone when they should be paying attention to the residents! So rude!

The kids were here for Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful time visiting with them. James and I bought ourselves a wii and wii fit for an early Christmas present, and we all played the entire weekend. It took the grownups a couple of days to beat Riley (age 5) in bowling. He is incredibly coordinated! While he was waiting on us to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner, he drew me a picture.



On the left is a turkey. On the right is turkey pie. What an artist!

Ike Update

Well, it's now been almost 3 months and we're just getting repairs done. The fence was finished on Friday, shingles delivered on Saturday, and the roofers will be here next Monday after Christmas. We've been waiting on getting the roof fixed before we do any of the sheetrock repairs just in case we get more water damage for any reason. And although it's taken a while, I'm just thankful to have a home (and a job). I've met so many people who lost everything. We were very lucky.