Thursday, January 30, 2014

It's New Year's Again!

Happy Chinese New Year!
The new year celebrations start on
January 31st and go on for 15 days!


It's the Year of the Horse!
Mr. Tennis wishes he was born during
the year of the horse 
since he loves his horse and horse-back riding!
But, alas, he was born during the
year of the . . . 
snake!


This year, Maddy made small treat bags to
take to school for her classmates.
And what a timely coincidence,
they are currently studying
China in social studies!

She put some traditional gold chocolate coins along with a red pencil 
and  Chinese bracelet in
the bags.

People born during the year of horse are energetic, bright,
warm-hearted, intelligent and able!
Wow -- that sounds a lot like me, doesn't it!
Happy New Year!



Monday, January 27, 2014

Counting Down!

Yes, we are counting down . . . 
til this LONG, cold, boring, 
did I say long?
 month of 
January is finally over!

We shopped on cold weekends!
But no, we did not buy  another  stuffed animal!
Just heard that it was the coldest month in 100 years!
I knew it!
Ok, I admit we had a couple warm days here and 
there and I was able to get the snow and crud
washed off my big red jeep!

Muffy enjoyed a warm day in the sun!
It was so cold that Connor decided to grow
his hair out!
People --- this is big!
He has shaved his head since he was in high school and
hasn't had a real haircut for 11 or 12 years!

May look short to you, but this
is really long hair for him!
He looks so different and
I had forgotten that his hair is so black!
Don't tell him, but he is kind of a 
Mr. Tennis look-alike! :)

Did you see the itty-bitty little sliver of moon
this morning?
Cutest little thing ever!!
Photo courtesy of EarthSky.org

I just did some research for you.
Evidently the moon is waning toward a new moon
 (the second new moon for January) on January 30!
Get up early to see the little waning crescent moon 
for the new couple days!
It will make your day to see that sweet little moon in the sky!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Guess This Jingle!

"Ohhhhh, I wish I was an . . ."
Oscar Mayer Wiener!


Guess what we saw the other day?
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

It was so cool!
We got to peak inside.  
It has a 
nice flat screen tv and lounge chairs.
The carpet has mustard stripes on it!

Lucky guy, the driver gets to enjoy the
perks of driving such a cool vehicle
AND
get hot dogs whenever he wants!  :)


Please try not to be jealous -- 
in addition to stickers, music sheets and postcards, 
both Maddy and I received
Wiener whistles!!!  
Watch for the Wienermoble visiting your town sooN!



Thursday, January 16, 2014

Who's Got Talent?

Oh hey, 
I forgot to
tell you about the talented members
of the family and their "talents"
shown off at our Christmas celebration.
Yes, I am still on Christmas --
it's never too late to blog about a big event, is it!? 

And no, I am not one of the talented ones.
But the others really outdid
themselves again this year.

Mr. Tennis pulled out his trusty harmonica.
[seriously, is he too much or what?]
The photo was too dark, but
doesn't he look so jaunty in his new hat?


Connor -- also quite musical
demonstrated his ability to manufacture
a tune by blowing into a beer bottle.
[Do you think he has had much practice with beer bottles?]


Philip is quite the juggler!
Should have known as he has excelled at juggling being Doctor Dad,
so not too big of a surprise there.


Miss Janie showed us how cute Walt's new
firefighter coat looked on her!
Walt was so busy with the fire extinguisher that
he escaped the camera.


Unfortunately, no one got photos of
Maddy, Catherine, me or Baby Harry
showing off our talents!

But, take my word for it -- we were fabulous!

Fun calendar! Crazy cats!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Weekend Update!

I seem to be falling a bit
behind in my blog updates lately.
January is not my favorite month and
it just puts me into a bit of funk --
Every. Single. Year.
:(
The month is too long, too cold, too everything.
But
we must forge ahead, right!

Photo courtesy of Huskers.com

So, we tried something different on Saturday night.

We went to a Husker Women's Gymnastics Meet.

Photo courtesy of Huskers.com

Actually, it was a combo -- Wrestling and Gymnastics together!

They called it "A Rumble and A Tumble"!
It was loads of fun -
those girls are seriously talented
and so are the wrestlers!
Both teams won their meets!
And even though it was two very popular sports,
it was not too crowded.
We saw the ever famous (and a little weird)
Lil Red!



Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Two Things - One Seriously Yummy!

Two things:


1 --The Polar Vortex!
Brrrrrrr!
Whoa -- we got hit with it this week
and that was wicked cold!
A heat wave of 20 will hit today!
Yesterday it was -10 with a wind chill of -30.
Luckily, it warmed up to a balmy 5 degrees!!





And
2 -- Nothing Bundt Cakes!
Have you tried
them yet?


Oh my word!

Run . . do not walk,
do not pass go . . .
Run to the nearest store!
These cakes are so delish!
Plus, the store has free samples.
If I lived closer, I would be there daily!
Maddy had a white chocolate raspberry cake
for her birthday.
It was so very good!



I probably would have eaten the whole thing
myself, but we shared it with our
neighbors at their Santa party!
I think it was almost more popular than Santa!
:)



Thursday, January 2, 2014

Goals for the New Year!

Happy 2014!
I just love an even-numbered year, don't you!
It's one of those odd things about me.  :)
 
While I don't generally write down resolutions,
I make them in my head and
my top 3 are:  exercise,
drink more water,
become a better and nicer version of myself
 
I saw this pinterest list on another blog and
decided to give it a try too.
 
 
So, here are my 2014 Goals
 
A bad habit I'm going to break:
Eating too much chocolate!
But really, is there such a thing as too much chocolate??
 
A new skill I'd like to learn:
Knitting.
 
A person I hope to be more like:
 My daughter-in-law who is super sweet and very organized!
 
A good deed I'm going to do:
Become a volunteer --
maybe a Meals on Wheels volunteer. 
 
A place I'd like to visit:
Orlando :)
 
A book I'd like to read:
Whatever Maddy is reading. 
We read her school assigned books together
so we can chat about them.
 
 A letter I'm going to write:
To my daughter - hoping to impart some life lessons
and humor!
 
A new food I'd like to try:
 Vegetables.  Really -- any vegetables!
 
I'm going to do better at:
Decluttering and not wasting time
watching too much HGTV!

How about you? 
Any goals you'd like to share?