A MONTH IN REVIEW

1. Sandyhook. The reason I haven't written a post in so long.  I just felt so wounded by that event that I couldn't bring myself to write something lighthearted or funny when so many people were suffering so deeply.
2. Christmas.  It was an absolutely great one marred only by the absence of Adam. I haven't written him out of the will...yet.  As I expected, the blow guns Santa put in the guys stockings were the biggest hit of all.
3. Road trips. Nothing beats spending hours in the car with members of your family.  Good laughs and new nicknames. More on that later.
4. Service.  I spent two days in Long Island New York helping clean up from Hurricane Sandy. It was hard physical work but it was just what my soul needed.  The people we helped were just so appreciative that it was worth sleeping in the back of the car (filled with luggage) and on a floor.
5. New friends.  My overnight stay on the hard floor of a church was made more bearable by making some new friends. Thanks to Brynne the floor was cushioned by a mat stolen borrowed from her brother and she set us all straight when Morgan tried to blame her toot on a fly.  I think we laughed about that for an hour.
6. Old friends.  Nathan's best friend in high school is now a tennis pro in South Carolina and we got a chance to visit him on our road trip.  It was so good to see him again even it was for just a half an hour.
7. Florida.  After all that hard work in New York I needed to recuperate in Orlando.  It was great to take a break from winter and enjoy a little warmth and sunshine made more enjoyable by some visitors who decided to make a last minute trip to join us.
8. Hogwarts.  Harry Potter world is all it's cracked up to be. I so enjoyed my very first day at Hogwarts, and got to try some butterbeer in Hogsmeade. 

The whole clan minus Adam.

Target shooting with the blow guns.

The road trip begins.

Nathan & Ramon.

 Sleeping in the back seat.

My bedroom the second night with Brynne & Natalie.

 My stint as part of a demolition crew.

 About to board the train to Hogwarts. 

SUNDAY SMILE

I have been doing a bit of online shopping this past week in preparation for Christmas.  These are some of the products I have passed on for various reasons.

1. My butt doesn't need a lawyer but when it does...

 2. I don't think I could ever be thirsty enough.

 3. I don't eat with this orifice.

 4. I find washing my clothes with barf doesn't get them as clean as I would like and I really don't care for the scent.

 5. I am not eating sugar right now but apparently the Aussies love this stuff.

6.  I hear these are very addictive.

 7.I think this goes with the crack sticks.

 8. I'm not even going to comment on this one.

A NOT SO GOOD DAY BUT...

My morning started at 5:00 am (isn't that technically still night?) when I heard a little girl coughing outside my bedroom door.  She climbed into bed with me and after a little while went back to sleep until 7:30.  I wish I could say the same for me.

After breakfast, Nathan came down the stairs to announce we were out of milk just at the same time that Lilah asked for some peanut butter toast (she'd already had two bowls of cereal).  I left Nathan to make her the toast while I ran to the corner store to get some milk and to the post office to pick up a parcel.  When I got back Lilah was sitting on a chair in front of the television with a plate of toast next to her.
"Aren't you going to eat your toast?" I asked her.
"No" was her reply.
"You don't want it?"
"No."
"Can I have it then?"  ( I hadn't eaten yet)
"Yep"
I took a few bites of the toast then asked "Did Uncle Nathan make you two pieces and you ate one already?"
"Nope just the one" she replied "I licked it."
Did I mention she's got a cold?

I opened the parcel that had come in the mail.  It was from Vista Print and it contained invitations to the Chili Cook Off being held at our church next month.  As I admired the invitations I noticed a major error (and here I had thought I had been so careful in my proofreading when ordering them).  I have the date listed as 2012 instead of 2013.

All this and it wasn't even 10:00 am.  I was feeling rather sorry for myself until I saw this a friend had posted on Facebook.