BEEN TOO LONG!

Hello everyone, sooo sorry it has been so long since I have entered anything in my blog but I have been so busy with a new position at work and a brand new grand baby! As you can see above, she is a beauty!! Sylvia Michelle made her debut on July 19, 2008. We call her Izzy or Sylvie, depending on who you are talking to. Izzy weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. and she is such a good baby! We are really enjoying her.

I know I have been remiss in keeping everyone up to date but I will try a little harder to get everyone all caught up. Erin and Pho moved back into my home back in March and are still with me. Erica has moved and lives with her boyfriend, Brad, who is very nice and loves to fish.
Matt and Mo are doing great and still live in the West Seattle area and loving it. I will have pics and more later.

Hugs, Jimie

Thanksgiving Day

What a great day! My brined turkey tasted great - I will do it again next year. I had all the folks over for the feast and everyone contributed something. We had a great time talking and eating and, althought there were a lot of people in a small space, it wasn't that bad. Some folks were in the kitchen and others in the living room and it seems that we all just naturally rotatated and all was fine. The cats, of course, were not too happy with the situation because they don't like crowds of people so they hid as much as possible.

We all ate too much and of course then we had to sleep off the overdose of turkey but we had a great time visiting. JW, Mom, Erica, Erin, James, Toni, Larry, Olivea, and Vivian and, of course, myself were all in attendance for this holiday feast. Mathew and Mo were unable to attend as Mo's father was very ill and Mo was with him. Mo's father actually passed away later that Thanksgiving evening. My heart goes out to you Mo, my sweet son.

My sweet daughter, Erin Marie, aka: The Christmas Nazi, decorated my house for me the day after Thanksgiving! It was all I could do to keep her from putting up the decorations on Halloween! I finally relented and let her dig out the Christmas stuff from the shed and go to town. She had a lot of fun with Olivea as they put ornaments on the tree and sorted out Christmas stockings. It is strange to be passing the torch, so to speak, to the next generation for the Christmas morning festivities. All these years, my home has been the place that everyone has gathered at on Christmas Eve and stayed the night so we could all be together the next morning to watch the little one open her gifts. This year I am passing the tradition on to my daughter Erin and it is her home that everyone will gather at and party and then wake up the next morning to the laughing glee of the little ones. I am going to stay home and just go over in the morning but it does seem strange--however, it is the normal evolution of things as the children grow-up and establish their own families--it is a milestone.

This year my dad is coming for Christmas! He lives in Brunswick, Georgia and it has been a couple of years since I have seen him and it has been at least 10 years since he has been back to the Northwest for a visit. It will be fantastic to spend some quality time with him and introduce him to the great grandchildren he has never met!

It's Been A While

Hello! Boy, it's been a while since I have posted but I have been down ill with pnuemonia and then I came down with a bad ear infection so haven't been up to writing much lately. I am on the mend now and back to work and feel'n like doing some writing today.

I finally gave the cats their flea bath and I came out the winner! Not that it did much good. They are still scratching like crazy but I am not going to give them another bath! I value my skin too much for that! Elliott tried to crawl over my shoulder and down my back but he didn't succeed in getting away, he did, however, succeed in giving me a good scratch as I pulled him off my shoulder and back. Hermoine was much easier but still no walk in the park. I will have to find another way to eradicate the little beasties other than flea baths - they don't work -- and are hazardous to my health! You know they just didn't appreciate the fact that they had a nice bath (Not Relaxing), had their coats brushed, and their nails clipped--I'm asking you where's the love! They didn't speak to me for two days!!

I got a phone call today from my daughter Erin, who is mother to my granddaughters Olivea and Vivian, who informed me that she and James are going to have another baby in July! Wonderful for them and boy am I glad they have their own place cause she is no picnic to live with when she is preggers! They are hoping for a boy because this is the last baby that she is going to have -- she is going to have her tubes tied after this baby is born.

We are just about ready for Thanksgiving - I have a smoked turkey coming from one of our line reps at work who have demo models of professional smokers and are, as a special service to our company, smoking our holiday turkeys for us. I am also roasting a turkey and for the first time ever I am brining my turkey before I roast it. Brining is supposed to make your turkey juicy and flavorful so I'll let you know how it turns out. I am having all the fam over to my house this year, which after my move last year, is quite a bit smaller so we will have a real up close and personal time ( I hope everyone showers and uses deodorant!). The rest of the dinner is being supplied by everyone else so my part is really pretty easy. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Oh No!

I finally got to talk with my boys last week and was able to catch up on what is going on in their lives. Unfortunately, they had their truck stolen a few weeks ago and, when I had talked with Matt, they hadn't got it back yet. We finally got to see each other at Vivian's birthday and he told me that they had found the truck but that it was a bit messed up. They are trying to decide wether to fix it or sell it as is. I think that they will decide to sell it - it will need a lot of work.

It was good to see the boys -- I don't get to see them much as we all have busy schedules but it is always nice when we do get together. Love you guys!! The guys are going to miss Thanksgiving this year as they have decided to take a road trip to Las Vegas! They are going with a group of friends to share the drive and have fun along the way. You guys better send me some pics from Las Vegas so I can share them with everyone here. Have a fun and safe trip!

One Year Old Today!

My little baby granddaughter, Vivian Fay, is one year old today! It doesn't seem possible that a whole year has gone by already. She started walking, on her big sister's birthday last month, by taking a couple of baby steps and now she is walking between the furniture and to the people she loves, soon there will be no stopping her and she will be running which is sort of what she is doing now but out of control. Vivian is adorable and full of energy and we affectionately call her destructo baby!! She is a whirlwind that leaves destruction in her wake. If she can reach it -- it's hers! Gosh, I love baby gates, need more!!
Vivvie has developed a taste for cat food--can't get enough of it! Every time it gets really quiet and we realize that she isn't in the same room with us all we have to do is go to the kitchen and there she is sitting by the cats dishes with her hands in the cats food, a mouth full of Special Kitty morsels and a smile on her little face. YUCK!!! I think the cats are getting a little peeved.

The other day Vivian and Olivea were at my house visiting and the girls were playing with some blocks and little containers, Olivea would stack them up and Vivian would knock them down and laugh so hard, it was so funny to watch, she was having such a great time just knocking down piles (I wonder if she is going to become a demolition expert-remember destructo baby!).

Time does not stand still and the years are flying by, it doesn't seem possible that Olivea is 10 and now Vivian is 1. I want to enjoy my grandchildren while I can, they grow up so fast. I love my grand babies!!

Well, Kinda!

I had the best of intentions! I planned to get all of these chores done and do some high quality, much needed, me time! Well, I sorta did . . . on Saturday I cleaned my computer/scrapbooking room and arranged things there, then I put back together all the pictures and their frames that I had taken apart so that I could make copies of the pictures, having procured the said copies I matched everything back up and put the pictures back in the places they belonged. I moved the living room clock and hung a picture then did some laundry . . . so far so good, right? That's where the chores stopped. I didn't make it the store to get the flea shampoo so I didn't have to do, and have yet to do, battle with the fleas and cats. This is still only Saturday, there is Sunday yet to come, right?.

Sunday, dawns another day! I get up early and get dressed and ready to go to the store to purchase that elusive fleas shampoo and some other odds and ends that I need and to make more copies of pictures I need for a project I am working on. I get to my favorite store (Walmart) and proceed to spend the next four hours there shopping and making prints of pictures. YES, I FINALLY PURCHASE THAT DARN FLEA SHAMPOO! I then leave Walmart and go to my Aunt's house to give her some old family pictures and then she invites me to go to dinner so, of course, I go! No, I never got the cats bathed and I didn't finish my chores. But, I did have fun and I guess that is what was important to me. It was my weekend to do what I wanted and that is what I did! I am sure the rest of the housework will still be there when I get home from work and I am totally sure the cats are not upset and will not be holding a grudge about not getting a bath --- like they care! Believe me they will probably be holding a grudge by the time I get through with them -- they probably won't look at it like a "Day of Beauty", getting a luxurious bath, having their coats brushed and dried, and their nails done too, how chic!! Yeah, right!!

Finally A Free Weekend

I know it is the weekend but I never sleep in -- it is a rare occassion when I actually sleep longer than 5 AM. Today was no different -- I just got an earlier start on my chores. This is the first weekend in about a month and a half that there hasn't been something going on where I had to leave my house or that allowed me to spend time on things that I needed to get done! I don't plan on leaving the house today except to go to the store to get flea shampoo for the cats -- I will, later today, be risking life and limb giving the cats that long overdue flea bath.

Today is my day to get caught up on my chores and to watch some old movies that I have been wanting to see. I also want to work on a birthday gift I am making so today will be a good day for all of this then tomorrow I can relax and read a book and do some scrapbooking. A Weekend All My Own!!