Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Before & After

So I have the week off work and yesterday was my big project day. Up came the gold living room carpet that was installed in 1969 or '70 (see the first photo). It wasn't a bad color to start with, but it was getting grungy & the dog had already started ripping it up.



Besides, look at what I knew was underneath! Oak floors, original to the house, which was built in 1934. Much better.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Highlights

Some of my favorite photos from this Christmas, spent with my parents & sister's family on Saturday and my in-laws on Sunday.  :)

Thing 1 & Thing 2 with their first tree (that died a week before Christmas).  The second was . . . less well shaped, but they seemed just as happy with it.
Little Thing 2 underneath the tree.  When she was a little girl, his auntie used to love to lie on the floor & stare up at the lights, too.

Sadie's first Christmas with us!  Here, she's getting a Christmas morning pig ear.  Not my personal preference, but she loves them & it kept her quiet while I opened stockings with my folks.

My sister & brother-in-law, celebrating their 12th Christmas as a married couple.  :)

The boys loved their new Glow Doodles, as evidenced by Thing 2's face in this photo . . .

And Thing 1's face in this photo!  What a bunch of hams.  :)

Thing 2 helping his mama unwrap one of her gifts.
Thing 2 with the "big big yellow digger" he requested and Auntie & Uncle provided. 
Brother-in-law, modeling his Patriots hat from Justin & I.

Thing 2 checking out Sadie checking out the tree.

Littlest sister-in-law,  modeling her new coat from her brother & I

And snuggling with her puppy, Lacey, on the kitchen floor.  :)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Stepping into Christmas


Today, I video chatted with my husband on 3 separate occasions, which pretty much made my week. The first time, to open our presents to each other; the second, to just chat for a bit while I ate my oatmeal & before I ran to the grocery & liquor stores; and the third, when I was at his aunt's house, so he could see all 15 of his extended family members, and they him. :)

Tomorrow, I'll be spending the day with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephews & the two dogs at my sister's across town and video chatting with the husband again! :) This Christmas is definitely a blue one, but we're making the best of it. God willing, this will be the only Christmas we ever spend apart. Christmas 2010, bring it.

Hope you have a lovely, warm, and bright Christmas wherever you are tomorrow!

Monday, December 20, 2010

At Least I was Warm & Dry

Snowy conditions + Christmas shoppers + a few disabled vehicles on the side of the road = a 3 hour, 53 minute commute home. Normal commute time with fair weather conditions? 45 minutes.

Welcome back, Old Man Winter . . . you grinchy bastard.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Random Thoughts from this Week

  • The above saved me some change this morning while running work errands in Portsmouth. I miss living in that city, but thankful that I visit every Friday for work.
  • I took out the trash & recycling last night wearing my grandfather's wool flat cap & my grandmother's leather gloves. Given that this was their house for 46 years, there's a comfort in that.
  • You know you've had a long week when you get home from work & errands on Friday and promptly fall asleep for about 3½ hours. Luckily, I have a pretty low-key weekend ahead, so I can rest up & finish Christmas shopping and card-sending.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Tree!

Guess who had help decorating her tree tonight from two sweet boys? I can't seem to get really excited about this Christmas, being that Justin's gone (hence the short, fake, not at all what I normally get tree.) I may post about this Blue Christmas at some point. However, it certainly helped to have assistance from the monkeys (primarily the one on the right) for tree-trimming!

And yes, Thing 2 wore his Batman costume from Halloween to decorate the Christmas tree. Little kids are freaking awesome. They do what they want.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Blocked

So, somewhere along the line with this blogging thing, I got stuck. I've always been both a procrastinator and a perfectionist (symptoms of the good ol' ADD), so writing is never a stress-free activity for me. However, there's a difference between taking an extra ten minutes to refine & hone your post and worrying so much about achieving perfection that you don't post at all.

I'm really going to try to avoid the latter option in the future. I used to be able to do it - look at this short but sweet post from 2007. So, in a first valiant effort . . .

Hey - check out this pic of my adorable nephew, Thing #2. :) And scene.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Sadder than it means to be . . .

So, I have a pretty good life, you guys. I honestly can't complain much about how fate has treated me - a wonderful childhood, a loving family, a career I enjoy, and a husband who has made me smile pretty much every day of the 2+ years we've been together.

Still. This deployment thing is HARD. I can't give many details about what Justin does, but he leaves for a mission soon. My husband, the other half of my being, is about to be out of communication for awhile, doing something potentially quite dangerous. How could that fail to infuse my daily life with fear & worry?