Christmas 2009 and the 6 days of Christmas

At the last minute we were able to get tickets HOME for Christmas!!! We were so glad to be able to go home, but it was a short whirlwind trip to visit all the family and friends we could!

To the left is our little Charlie Brown tree, but if you put enough ornaments on it, it looks alright. And we were obviously packing for the upcoming trip to Michigan on the 21st when this was taken.

We woke up early on the 21st for our trip to take the dogs to Heather and Mary's houses and then drove to the airport to park. We actually made it to the airport early and had time to grab some breakfast before boarding the plane. Our flight was uneventful and we landed early in Detroit; we were not so lucky on the flight home.
We spent the remainder of the 21st and 22nd with Josh's family. We were so happy that some of our friends went out of their way to visit us at Peggy's house;Brian, Hosha and Erica. It was great to see everyone again, even thought we were just here in September for a visit.
Aleecia has grown even more and talks a lot more, she just turned 2. The rest of the nieces and nephews are getting big, some are teenagers, crazy! This makes us feel old. But Josh had a great time wrestling and playing with the kids, Josh is the biggest kid himself; we also went bowling at the persistence of Alex. That was a fun evening, it has been years since I last bowled, and I am just as bad as always. Josh beat all of us every game...argh the bragging he got to do.

The next morning we were up early to go to my parents house for the Maher Christmas. We arrived before 9am and helped my mom get things around (sort of) for the festivities later that evening. My good friend Robin and her two boys Gideon and Orien came to visit us, it has been over 2 years since I have seen her and I miss her so much!! My sister and Cody came around 3:30 and we sat around and talked with them until company started coming around 5. Laura didn't know we were staying until the 26th, and she thought this was the only day she was going to see us, tee hee!
The Maher Christmas was lots of fun, as always! My cousins get older and it's great to talk to them about their lives and accomplishments :) My cousin Amanda is talking about a backpacking trip through Europe and her brother Jim has a really awesome girlfriend Noc who I really enjoy talking to. Meghan, the closest cousin to me in age has two children Jenna and Kyson who are getting so big! Those two kiddos are hilarious; the last time we saw them was in 2007 when we were home and Kyson was an infant. And I am always impressed by my cousin Courtney who is a senior this year in high school considering going to school at WMU next year.

As always, the evening flew by and I barely got to talk to everyone for a few minutes. We said goodbye's and went to bed to get up and do it all over again on the 24th, Christmas Eve. The best part of the Maher Christmas was hanging with my sister, she gave me her gift to me that night because she didn't know that we were surprising her and staying through the 26th! So I was tickled the entire night we were going to surprise her.

We had breakfast at my parents house on the 24th and as always dad gave me a bunch of books to take with me, so I was stocked up for a few months. Mom made a great breakfast, we packed up and were on our way again.
Next we visited Steve's house, who is Josh's step-dad and his family Lori, DJ, and Kaylee. Kaylee had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and she had spent a lot of time in Bronson hospital in November. It was good to see her looking happy and healthy! I always enjoy going to their house; both Steve and Lori always make us feel at home and are so glad to see us.
We were able to spend a few hours at the Brenke house before we left to go to Peggy's for Christmas Eve, plus we wanted to stop at Josh's cousin, Gina's house on the way to Peg's... whew!

When we lived in Michigan, we spent a lot of time hanging out with Josh's cousin Gina and her husband Joe, but we haven't been very good at keeping in touch with them while living in Colorado. Mostly because Josh and I both don't often talk on the phone, and they didn't have email. Now they are on facebook and we were able to reconnect with them. I was really glad to see them both and their daughter Kailey, who we only saw once as an infant. They now live in Hillsdale, in a cute house they inherited from Joe's gramma. I think Kailey, Jenna and Aleecia would all be good friends, all three of those girls are very girlie and love princesses, dress up, shoes and all things girl :)

After a short visit with Joe and Gina we headed over to Josh's mom's house for their family Christmas, which is always celebrated on Christmas Eve. All of the Shawn Mason family was there, Josh and I, Miranda and Aleecia. There was a lot of Wii bowling, I wish I was as good at regular bowling as I am at Wii bowling . We got Peg a wireless print server for Christmas that Josh couldn't get to work. Josh spent hours on it, and it never connected to the router. That was a bummer! She had to send it back.
The Shawn Mason family said their goodbye's and all left early on Christmas Eve; we spent the rest of the evening with Aleecia, Miranda and Peggy playing Wii bowling. I am starting to like the Wii a bit, maybe someday we can get one.
On Christmas morning we had to get up early to drive to Kalamazoo to my sister's house for the Bob Rainey family Christmas, then drive to Newaygo for the entire Rainey family Christmas. We said our tearful goodbye's to Josh's mom and got in the car for the drive.
My sister didn't know that we were going to be at her house for Christmas, so it was really fun to surprise her!!! I love surprises! She was in the bathroom when we came into the house and when she opened the bathroom door and walked out she spotted Josh! yay! fun! It was great to have the whole family together on Christmas morning! Dad had tagged all of his gifts to mom with funny things like; To: Ma From: sled Jockey. It was pretty comical! She got lots of gifts from Rite Aid, haha! (they got a computer as their gift to each other).

After eating a yummy breakfast cooked by dad on Laura's new griddle, we got back into the car for the 2 hour drive to Newaygo. We arrived first at the Doug Rainey family house and shortly after us everyone else came too!
My grandparents also didn't know we were going to be here for Christmas and just before we walked in the door my sister did her best "shocked gramma" impression and it was spot on when Gramma walked in the door and saw Josh and I. The Rainey family is blessed with such wonderful roots, my grandparents are some of the most interesting & amazing people that I know and I love them so much! After everyone arrived the festivities started! Each time we are home with our family everything picks up where we left off and it feels like we see each other all the time, rather than just once per year. Again, we had great food, wine and conversation. My cousins are getting so big, and now there are two family dogs, Fred and Ella who celebrated Christmas with us. I love having dogs around, they make everything more fun! One of my favorite things about the Rainey Christmas's is hanging out on the deck outside with my uncles and sister and talking. This is a great photo of Tim and Laura outside! ---->
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and packed up to head to the airport. Due to the festivities the night before, the next day was pretty brutal for me, then our flight was delayed and eventually after being de-iced during the blizzard, took off and landed just fine. We didn't get home until 9pm after picking up two very excited dogs who were very glad to see us. It was such a great trip and we were so glad we made it home. Happy New Year! Here are a few more photos from the trip.

Christmas 2009 and the 6 days of Christmas

At the last minute we were able to get tickets HOME for Christmas!!! We were so glad to be able to go home, but it was a short whirlwind trip to visit all the family and friends we could!

To the left is our little Charlie Brown tree, but if you put enough ornaments on it, it looks alright. And we were obviously packing for the upcoming trip to Michigan on the 21st when this was taken.

We woke up early on the 21st for our trip to take the dogs to Heather and Mary's houses and then drove to the airport to park. We actually made it to the airport early and had time to grab some breakfast before boarding the plane. Our flight was uneventful and we landed early in Detroit; we were not so lucky on the flight home.
We spent the remainder of the 21st and 22nd with Josh's family. We were so happy that some of our friends went out of their way to visit us at Peggy's house;Brian, Hosha and Erica. It was great to see everyone again, even thought we were just here in September for a visit.
Aleecia has grown even more and talks a lot more, she just turned 2. The rest of the nieces and nephews are getting big, some are teenagers, crazy! This makes us feel old. But Josh had a great time wrestling and playing with the kids, Josh is the biggest kid himself; we also went bowling at the persistence of Alex. That was a fun evening, it has been years since I last bowled, and I am just as bad as always. Josh beat all of us every game...argh the bragging he got to do.

The next morning we were up early to go to my parents house for the Maher Christmas. We arrived before 9am and helped my mom get things around (sort of) for the festivities later that evening. My good friend Robin and her two boys Gideon and Orien came to visit us, it has been over 2 years since I have seen her and I miss her so much!! My sister and Cody came around 3:30 and we sat around and talked with them until company started coming around 5. Laura didn't know we were staying until the 26th, and she thought this was the only day she was going to see us, tee hee!
The Maher Christmas was lots of fun, as always! My cousins get older and it's great to talk to them about their lives and accomplishments :) My cousin Amanda is talking about a backpacking trip through Europe and her brother Jim has a really awesome girlfriend Noc who I really enjoy talking to. Meghan, the closest cousin to me in age has two children Jenna and Kyson who are getting so big! Those two kiddos are hilarious; the last time we saw them was in 2007 when we were home and Kyson was an infant. And I am always impressed by my cousin Courtney who is a senior this year in high school considering going to school at WMU next year.

As always, the evening flew by and I barely got to talk to everyone for a few minutes. We said goodbye's and went to bed to get up and do it all over again on the 24th, Christmas Eve. The best part of the Maher Christmas was hanging with my sister, she gave me her gift to me that night because she didn't know that we were surprising her and staying through the 26th! So I was tickled the entire night we were going to surprise her.

We had breakfast at my parents house on the 24th and as always dad gave me a bunch of books to take with me, so I was stocked up for a few months. Mom made a great breakfast, we packed up and were on our way again.
Next we visited Steve's house, who is Josh's step-dad and his family Lori, DJ, and Kaylee. Kaylee had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and she had spent a lot of time in Bronson hospital in November. It was good to see her looking happy and healthy! I always enjoy going to their house; both Steve and Lori always make us feel at home and are so glad to see us.
We were able to spend a few hours at the Brenke house before we left to go to Peggy's for Christmas Eve, plus we wanted to stop at Josh's cousin, Gina's house on the way to Peg's... whew!

When we lived in Michigan, we spent a lot of time hanging out with Josh's cousin Gina and her husband Joe, but we haven't been very good at keeping in touch with them while living in Colorado. Mostly because Josh and I both don't often talk on the phone, and they didn't have email. Now they are on facebook and we were able to reconnect with them. I was really glad to see them both and their daughter Kailey, who we only saw once as an infant. They now live in Hillsdale, in a cute house they inherited from Joe's gramma. I think Kailey, Jenna and Aleecia would all be good friends, all three of those girls are very girlie and love princesses, dress up, shoes and all things girl :)

After a short visit with Joe and Gina we headed over to Josh's mom's house for their family Christmas, which is always celebrated on Christmas Eve. All of the Shawn Mason family was there, Josh and I, Miranda and Aleecia. There was a lot of Wii bowling, I wish I was as good at regular bowling as I am at Wii bowling . We got Peg a wireless print server for Christmas that Josh couldn't get to work. Josh spent hours on it, and it never connected to the router. That was a bummer! She had to send it back.
The Shawn Mason family said their goodbye's and all left early on Christmas Eve; we spent the rest of the evening with Aleecia, Miranda and Peggy playing Wii bowling. I am starting to like the Wii a bit, maybe someday we can get one.
On Christmas morning we had to get up early to drive to Kalamazoo to my sister's house for the Bob Rainey family Christmas, then drive to Newaygo for the entire Rainey family Christmas. We said our tearful goodbye's to Josh's mom and got in the car for the drive.
My sister didn't know that we were going to be at her house for Christmas, so it was really fun to surprise her!!! I love surprises! She was in the bathroom when we came into the house and when she opened the bathroom door and walked out she spotted Josh! yay! fun! It was great to have the whole family together on Christmas morning! Dad had tagged all of his gifts to mom with funny things like; To: Ma From: sled Jockey. It was pretty comical! She got lots of gifts from Rite Aid, haha! (they got a computer as their gift to each other).

After eating a yummy breakfast cooked by dad on Laura's new griddle, we got back into the car for the 2 hour drive to Newaygo. We arrived first at the Doug Rainey family house and shortly after us everyone else came too!
My grandparents also didn't know we were going to be here for Christmas and just before we walked in the door my sister did her best "shocked gramma" impression and it was spot on when Gramma walked in the door and saw Josh and I. The Rainey family is blessed with such wonderful roots, my grandparents are some of the most interesting & amazing people that I know and I love them so much! After everyone arrived the festivities started! Each time we are home with our family everything picks up where we left off and it feels like we see each other all the time, rather than just once per year. Again, we had great food, wine and conversation. My cousins are getting so big, and now there are two family dogs, Fred and Ella who celebrated Christmas with us. I love having dogs around, they make everything more fun! One of my favorite things about the Rainey Christmas's is hanging out on the deck outside with my uncles and sister and talking. This is a great photo of Tim and Laura outside! ---->
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and packed up to head to the airport. Due to the festivities the night before, the next day was pretty brutal for me, then our flight was delayed and eventually after being de-iced during the blizzard, took off and landed just fine. We didn't get home until 9pm after picking up two very excited dogs who were very glad to see us. It was such a great trip and we were so glad we made it home. Happy New Year! Here are a few more photos from the trip.

Christmas Gifts I made 12/1/08

Here are some Christmas gifts I can post on here.  I am pretty sure the people they are for will not check out this blog :)

I made 2 reversible table runners.  One side has Christmas holly with shiny gold thread appliqueing holly berries and leaves in the center of the runner.  The opposite side has snowmen (my godmother collects non-christmasy snowmen or snowwomen for the wintertime). 
I added beads to each end instead of tassels.  The beads are attached on a button, and can come off the button to put the runner in the wash!  I think they turned out pretty good! 

Large Table Runner Snow-people side


Large Table Runner Holly


Small Table Runner

Applique, much better in person

Side 2, sorry for the sideways pics

 

Christmas Gifts I made 12/1/08

Here are some Christmas gifts I can post on here.  I am pretty sure the people they are for will not check out this blog :)

I made 2 reversible table runners.  One side has Christmas holly with shiny gold thread appliqueing holly berries and leaves in the center of the runner.  The opposite side has snowmen (my godmother collects non-christmasy snowmen or snowwomen for the wintertime). 
I added beads to each end instead of tassels.  The beads are attached on a button, and can come off the button to put the runner in the wash!  I think they turned out pretty good! 

Large Table Runner Snow-people side


Large Table Runner Holly


Small Table Runner

Applique, much better in person

Side 2, sorry for the sideways pics

 

What a week! (not in a good way)

This week has been a long, long week. Lately, it has seemed like nothing has been going right for Josh and I.

Right before my parents got here, our washing machine broke. And not only did it break, but it managed to spew motor oil all over our clothes. The seal on the drum broke, so the oil was leaking out the middle and onto everything. I managed to do 1 load extra before figuring this out. Then after 2 weeks Josh finally "fixed" it. Well, I told him it was not fixed, he didnt believe me and washed more clothes in it. More clothes are totally stained now with motor oil. We do not have 1 set of sheets for our bed that were saved. :( Since we just bought new sheets, we dont exactly have the money to go buy more, especially since after Josh spent money on parts for the machine and we had to buy a new washer anyway. gggrr! So we are sleeping on motor oil stained sheets, which really freaks me out actually. I wake up and see the stains and they are black and i think its a bug or something. It's really gross, but we dont have much of a choice right now.
We are also having major car issues, the lawnmower broke partially, just enough to make it fairly dangerous when you mow. Unfortunately, we have no money to fix these things since, we just paid tuition, our credit card for our basement is now due and we will have a chunk to pay off in October, I just had a bunch of DR bills for my staff infection (and i have insurance!!) it was pretty costly to get moderately sick, Christmas coming up and we probably cant afford tickets to go home, especially with the tix at 600$ each! Yikes! Lets see, and we need new truck tires for winter very badly, and our anniversary is coming up! I planned a trip for josh and I which will cost a bit, but I do think we need the time away. Badly! We need to get away from life for a few days :)
So money is tight for us...and like most Americans nowadays we dont have much extra. If something really bad happened, I dont know what we would do! I am thankful that we have what we do, and I am grateful josh can fix most things which helps us a lot. Being grateful makes me feel better after all that whining! Ah, but when It rains in life, it pours! And thats life, I have learned! So, it will eventually go away, and i hope it doesnt get any worse.

Secondly, Olshan, the company who is "fixing" our wall problem, has been here probably 3-4 times in the last 2 months. (I have lost count as to how many times they have been here since 2005 when we bought this place). Each time they come we think it's the last time, it never is. Maybe this time, probably lucky number 32 or something, will make it stick? Blah! So the last time they came, since we have had SO many problems, they decided to rip out OUR DRYWALL that we hung, mudded, sanded, texturized, primed, painted ourselves. Then they put up a plastic shield and re-did their drainage system. Then they are paying for a drywaller to come back and fix it. We water tested it, and water poured in through their wall brace they put on initially in 2005. ARGH! So we call, and the Denver manager doesn't call Josh back, we are so mad at this guy. Josh said to the receptionist I will give him until the end of the day or I am calling the regional manager. He did not call, so Josh called the regional manager. Who was really nice, got back to us ASAP, and now there are workers here today, epoxying again and I am so sick of that smell! it takes a long time for it to go away (like a month then we become used to it, other people can smell it though). They are also extending the wall shield to the ceiling (which they were supposed to do last time, they were also supposed to extend the drain last time and did not do that either, WTF?!). Today one of the managers is here supervising. But not the manager guy who we are pretty annoyed with. Furthermore, that manager DAVE, said he would come out to supervise the lasts 3 times they came to "fix" it, and he never did!!!! I dont like Dave, you should fire him Olshan, if you ever read my blog. lol

The rush here is that Josh's mom comes to visit this Thursday and it HAS to be drywalled by then! Stress! B/c there is a HUGE mess to clean up down there already, and after the drywallers even more. The drywall is scheduled for Wed, which gives me very little time to clean up. And josh is sick, came down with a sore throat and congestion yesterday, woke up today WAY worse and is dealing with all this foundation stuff today, poor guy. I have to deal with it on Monday, they come back then and test and check it. I hope Josh gets better soon and I hope even more that I dont get sick too! I cant deal with getting sick again, that staff infection was bad enough, isn't that enough for now~!
Oh, and work hasn't been a picnic either.

Whew, that was a lot of complaining! I hope I have gotten it out of my system, lol.

On the UP side ~~~~` I have been thinking and thinking about Christmas gifts that I have been wanting to make for family this year. I am trying to make all gifts like I did last year, it was a lot of fun to make things for my mom, she really liked them last year! that made me really happy.
And i have a really, really, really good idea now for this year!!! I am so excited!! But I Cant tell :) i know you all read this.
The idea actually came from a little bird, seriously!

What a week! (not in a good way)

This week has been a long, long week. Lately, it has seemed like nothing has been going right for Josh and I.

Right before my parents got here, our washing machine broke. And not only did it break, but it managed to spew motor oil all over our clothes. The seal on the drum broke, so the oil was leaking out the middle and onto everything. I managed to do 1 load extra before figuring this out. Then after 2 weeks Josh finally "fixed" it. Well, I told him it was not fixed, he didnt believe me and washed more clothes in it. More clothes are totally stained now with motor oil. We do not have 1 set of sheets for our bed that were saved. :( Since we just bought new sheets, we dont exactly have the money to go buy more, especially since after Josh spent money on parts for the machine and we had to buy a new washer anyway. gggrr! So we are sleeping on motor oil stained sheets, which really freaks me out actually. I wake up and see the stains and they are black and i think its a bug or something. It's really gross, but we dont have much of a choice right now.
We are also having major car issues, the lawnmower broke partially, just enough to make it fairly dangerous when you mow. Unfortunately, we have no money to fix these things since, we just paid tuition, our credit card for our basement is now due and we will have a chunk to pay off in October, I just had a bunch of DR bills for my staff infection (and i have insurance!!) it was pretty costly to get moderately sick, Christmas coming up and we probably cant afford tickets to go home, especially with the tix at 600$ each! Yikes! Lets see, and we need new truck tires for winter very badly, and our anniversary is coming up! I planned a trip for josh and I which will cost a bit, but I do think we need the time away. Badly! We need to get away from life for a few days :)
So money is tight for us...and like most Americans nowadays we dont have much extra. If something really bad happened, I dont know what we would do! I am thankful that we have what we do, and I am grateful josh can fix most things which helps us a lot. Being grateful makes me feel better after all that whining! Ah, but when It rains in life, it pours! And thats life, I have learned! So, it will eventually go away, and i hope it doesnt get any worse.

Secondly, Olshan, the company who is "fixing" our wall problem, has been here probably 3-4 times in the last 2 months. (I have lost count as to how many times they have been here since 2005 when we bought this place). Each time they come we think it's the last time, it never is. Maybe this time, probably lucky number 32 or something, will make it stick? Blah! So the last time they came, since we have had SO many problems, they decided to rip out OUR DRYWALL that we hung, mudded, sanded, texturized, primed, painted ourselves. Then they put up a plastic shield and re-did their drainage system. Then they are paying for a drywaller to come back and fix it. We water tested it, and water poured in through their wall brace they put on initially in 2005. ARGH! So we call, and the Denver manager doesn't call Josh back, we are so mad at this guy. Josh said to the receptionist I will give him until the end of the day or I am calling the regional manager. He did not call, so Josh called the regional manager. Who was really nice, got back to us ASAP, and now there are workers here today, epoxying again and I am so sick of that smell! it takes a long time for it to go away (like a month then we become used to it, other people can smell it though). They are also extending the wall shield to the ceiling (which they were supposed to do last time, they were also supposed to extend the drain last time and did not do that either, WTF?!). Today one of the managers is here supervising. But not the manager guy who we are pretty annoyed with. Furthermore, that manager DAVE, said he would come out to supervise the lasts 3 times they came to "fix" it, and he never did!!!! I dont like Dave, you should fire him Olshan, if you ever read my blog. lol

The rush here is that Josh's mom comes to visit this Thursday and it HAS to be drywalled by then! Stress! B/c there is a HUGE mess to clean up down there already, and after the drywallers even more. The drywall is scheduled for Wed, which gives me very little time to clean up. And josh is sick, came down with a sore throat and congestion yesterday, woke up today WAY worse and is dealing with all this foundation stuff today, poor guy. I have to deal with it on Monday, they come back then and test and check it. I hope Josh gets better soon and I hope even more that I dont get sick too! I cant deal with getting sick again, that staff infection was bad enough, isn't that enough for now~!
Oh, and work hasn't been a picnic either.

Whew, that was a lot of complaining! I hope I have gotten it out of my system, lol.

On the UP side ~~~~` I have been thinking and thinking about Christmas gifts that I have been wanting to make for family this year. I am trying to make all gifts like I did last year, it was a lot of fun to make things for my mom, she really liked them last year! that made me really happy.
And i have a really, really, really good idea now for this year!!! I am so excited!! But I Cant tell :) i know you all read this.
The idea actually came from a little bird, seriously!