Saturday, December 30, 2006

I have posted some pictures and if all goes well, the pictures should be below this post! If not, you'll see them just the same, but just not in the order I wanted to put them. This blogger program changed its format and I'm having trouble getting things to look just so on it. For instance, the text block is too narrow for my liking. I tried to widen that part and reduce the width of the archives section to the right, but it wouldn't let me. There are some new features available though, that I intend to make use of very shortly. I will be updating parts of my blog as time permits and adding more features to it when I can.

We had a very nice Christmas. It was small and quiet - my kind of Christmas. Santa was very good to the boys this year - he must have seen some good behavior that I wasn't aware of! They got a much sought-after Nintendo Wii system. And now we are all suffering Nintendo arm. I remember back in the 1980s when the very first Nintendo came out and Jerry and I got Nintendo thumb from working the controller and trying to make Mario go where he was supposed to. Our thumbs were sore for days! Now with the Wii, you use the controller to actually play the games. There is a motion sensor bar that sits on top of the TV and the controller picks up your movements. A sports disk came with the system and has tennis, bowling, boxing, golf and baseball on it. You actually hold the controller like you would whatever instrument you needed to play those games. For instance, in bowling you actually bend down and swing the controller as if you are throwing a bowling ball. (That's why my elbow is sore - I've been a bowling fool since Christmas!) For golf you hold the controller with two hands and stand in a golf stance, and swing the controller just like a golf club. I stink at that. Anyway, you get the picture. I highly recommend this system to anyone who wants a little fun and stress relief! Just make sure you have a tight grip on the controller, or use the wrist strap to attach it to your arm, or you WILL throw the thing across the room accidentally! I got a little overzealous during a tennis match the other day and whacked Andy in the shoulder with my controller/tennis racquet! I don't think I've ever sweated playing video games before! Andy looked like he had put in an hour at a gym the other day after several "virtual" boxing matches. You actually hold the controllers (there are two pieces for this) as if you have boxing gloves on your hands. You punch, jab, and guard yourself just as if you were really boxing. It gets intense sometimes! The boys also got a couple of games with the system, Zelda and Red Steel. In both of those games there is a storyline, but when it comes time to wield a weapon or a tool, you use the controller and do whatever's necessary to save the day.

Speaking of saving the day, I'd better get going and get some work done and put dinner on. Andy gave me a new crock pot for Christmas and I LOVE it. It is bigger than my old one and it is oval-shaped, so roasts fit in it much better than my old round one. I have had my old one since Tom was small and it finally became unreliable. Sometimes it would cook and sometimes it wouldn't. I thought for a while it was the cuts of meat I was cooking because they were the pork and beef that we had bought and had butchered ourselves, but then when spaghetti sauce remained cool after eight hours of cooking, I knew my crock pot had gone to the great beyond. Anyway, off to do stuff!
Santa found a Wii for the boys. Good thing, too. Dad and Mom sure couldn't find one ANYWHERE.
This is one of the azalea bushes with clear blinking lights, although in the picture you can't tell that they're clear or blinking. It's really very pretty at nighttime, though.
Here's the front of our house with the front posts wrapped with pine and lights and the aforementioned azalea bush (behind the lamppost). The bow on the lamppost was blown by the wind and is looking a little sad!
Here's another large azalea that we covered with big lights. Well, the bush was too big to cover, and we ran out of lights - but we did the best we could! It looks nice, anyway.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Back By Popular Demand













Or, relatives just need a good laugh, and material is hard to come by. In any case, I'll try to make more time for blogging.
It feels strange not having things that MUST get done. I can actually breathe for a little while! I know how awful this sounds on Christmas Eve, but I'm actually doing some work today, too. One of the transcription companies is offering a bonus for work done this weekend, and, well, I'm not doing anything else right at the moment. Normally I don't work on Sundays but since I haven't worked the last two days, I probably should! Gotta pay for Christmas, ya know!

We had a very nice time at Sherri's yesterday. It was fun talking about "the old times" (hushpuppies and such!). I miss the days of visiting Mom and Paul when they lived in the cabin in WV and we would go up for the weekend when Tom was small. They were fun weekends. In fact, I just plain miss WV! We still haven't given up on getting there, but now it will probably be after Tom graduates in two years. That's our plan, anyway. But as the country song goes, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans". Last year I was so set upon getting out of here and getting to the mountains that I just didn't have my heart into decorating this house for Christmas and didn't put a lot into it. This year was different. I actually made an effort! I'll take some pictures of our lights this evening and post them. I put a little more effort into the inside of the house too and didn't keep 80% of the decorations boxed up like I did last year!

A couple of weeks ago we (Jerry, Andy and I) went to Delaware. We spent five days there. While Jerry was doing some work, Andy and I hung out. We had a great time - and got more exercise than I have in a LONG time! We walked to the mini golf course which isn't too far, but it's not exactly right next door to the trailer, either! It's part of the Sea Shell Shop and so we went shopping there too. Then of course on the way back we have to go right past a KFC and A&W restaurant, a Subway, and a Chinese restaurant. Might as well stop and get something for lunch, right?! Then about the third day I was feeling brave and took Dad's van out and Andy and I drove around a bit. We went down to the boardwalk and then walked on the beach. Unfortunately, everything is closed for the season, but it was a nice day for a walk anyway. Then we drove to one of the outlets and did some shopping. There's also a Salvation Army thrift store in Rehoboth that we went to. I was kind of surprised, though, because their prices seemed a little high to me. Andy got a desk chair there, though! He didn't have one and was always swiping a dining room chair to use at his desk in his room, then we'd have to haul it back out at dinner time. Got to be a pain, but we have been doing it for the last year since he got his computer last Christmas! So, we got a good deal on a desk chair, and no more furniture moving at dinner time. We'll probably be going back in a couple of weeks. Wonder what we'll get into then, now that I'm feeling braver about getting out and driving around (albeit not far, but I at least I ventured out!)

Now I'm going to go post pictures from yesterday. One of these days I'm going to remember to post the pictures first, so the writing will be on top, but not today!

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