Monday, December 30, 2019

December Update!

Well, I've had quite a little bloggy break, haven't I!
I had planned (in my  head) to post a lot during 
December, but obviously that did not happen.
So, before the new year starts,
here's a quick update for December!

Maddie turned 18!
She is seriously the sweetest girl ever!
We love her so!
She's working very hard at school this year and
very hard at training Frannie to 
be a good little Doodle-dog.

Maddie and her uke! Look at that big bug on her top!
Maddie and I worked again this year at a lovely store 
(Von Maur) as seasonal gift wrappers!
I also work in the Rickster's office, but can
leave early to get to this other job! :)
It's a fun little job and gets very busy as you might
guess since gift wrap is free - totally free -- and they have very
nice wrapping paper, ribbon and tags.
We really enjoy working with the other gift wrappers!
Plus, working 3-4 hours at a time is generally manageable.
Of course, standing for that long on my poor
old feet got a little tiring.
But it was fun, even though it did put us behind in
our own gift wrapping.
I was slapping post-its on our gifts before our celebrations!

Rickster had surgery.  Yes, again he had a holiday surgery!  
This time, it was due to arthritis in his
hands.  I can't recall the technical procedure name,
but it involved scraping out all the bad arthritis around his thumb 
and putting in a piece of tendon.
He said the doc told him it would be a piece of cake
and not painful.
He LIED!
It's been extremely painful and since it was his
right hand (he's right-handed), it has impacted
everything as he has a large cast/split on
that he finally has removed tomorrow.
He had planned to have the other hand done in a month or two,
but is now re-thinking that plan.

Growing fast (November 2019)
Miss Frannie Doodle continues to grow and be a delight . . . 
most of the time!
Really, she's a great pup and we are enjoying  having her 
in the family.
If you have Instagram and want to 
follow her page, it's @little.frannie.doodle

New Red Sweater for December!
We had a fun Christmas celebration with the family on
Christmas Eve and Christmas.
(Is it bad I have a million photos of Frannie, but none of the family???)

Looking forward to 2020 -- yay for an even-numbered year!

Hey 2020 -- we're looking for good stuff from you!
Happy New Year!!


Thursday, December 5, 2019

Stock Market Challenge

A couple weeks ago, Maddie and her classmates
from The Career Academy (TCA) 
participated in The Stock Market Challenge
where they try to make a bunch of money
on the stock market -- definitely
sounds like a challenge!
Maddie attends the dual high school/college credit classes (known as TCA)
 in the afternoons
after spending her mornings in classes at Pius.
She said it was a wild time just like on the real stock market exchange!


Maddie's group from TCA came in 5th Place out of
60 teams!  
Add to that,  they came in 1st Place as Best Dressed!
What an outstanding performance!