Day 269

It finally arrived overnight. And it caused all kinds of television news about black ice and crashes and a couple of school closings, but nothing affecting us. 
This is what was outside this morning. The tarp and trash (junk) in the center of the photo is on our neighbor's property. The shed in the center left is on our property. 

This is looking down the hill. Part of the bottom is covered in snow and the other part is flooded with water. We had pretty good rains before the snow came. 
Last night, at about 10 PM, I remembered that I was supposed to have a dental appointment the week after Thanksgiving and like a lightning bolt I discovered it had to be sometime this week!!! I searched and searched and finally found the appointment card and my appointment just happened to be this morning at 9:00 AM. How fortunate that I remembered and then was able to make it anyway. Before I found the card I was afraid I had already missed the appointment and should be expecting a bill for a 'no-show' in the mail. 

Tonight we had a different type of kids' class. We had all ages from 4 years old to 6th grade. The room was packed - and all those bodies were warm. We ended the evening with a birthday cake and a Christmas video. 

It went pretty smoothly, considering. 

They were all very quiet during the video. And then we fed them the sugar at the end of the time - so all these hyper-children went home to bounce off the walls at their own homes. Actually, there were so many kids, they didn't get a very big piece of cake anyway - and no seconds. 

Day 268

This will be a brief post today. I am still fighting this cold/flu/whatever that I have. I took a brief trip to Kroger - bought a few groceries and a different medicine to see if that would help. I have kids to watch tomorrow night so I need to be a little bit better by morning. Probably not back to normal, but at least functional. 
I got to skype with Wade today. We have one more skype planned (on Friday) before he leaves for Afghanistan. Then I don't know how long it will be before I see his smiling face again. 
Tonight we're having some snow falling down. I saw a little bit when I let the dogs out. I don't know how much will stick around or if we'll wake up to whiteness in the morning.
So not much going on today. Just tried to do a little bit but most of the time I'm resting in my recliner.  

Day 267

Say hello to my two new friends:

For the past few days I've had an idea something was coming. A little hoarseness, a twinge of a sore throat. Yesterday I made it through Sunday School and church. Then I pulled out my friends and we had a party. And we're still partying today. 
I've done hardly anything today. I washed a few dishes, washed some towels and bedding (easy to wash and put away) and I made my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And in-between I parked in my recliner and reclined. 
I had to call the school this morning to let my mentee know I wouldn't be there. Later I emailed my Handbell director to let her know I wasn't coming tonight. And I've already emailed the pastor in charge of Sonshine Club to say I'm not coming tomorrow afternoon. 

Now depending on how my cold wants to proceed we will make a decision tomorrow. Either I am improving or I will call and make a visit with my doctor to get something else to knock this out of me. I don't want to end up with something worse. But for tonight - at about 10 PM I will have another party with my friends. 

Day 266

It's Sunday, and although I didn't get a picture of it, Tiffany, Sam, & Shelby rolled out of the driveway at 4:00 this morning. I was awake - I woke up about 2:55 and laid there until it was time to get up and say goodbye. Then I caught another quick little nap before I had to get ready for church. 
This has been such a great holiday. We all had a good time and it was so much fun seeing everyone and spending time together. 
My class was good this morning too - I had fourteen 5th & 6th graders and they were amazing. They were quiet (shock!!), attentive, and cooperative. So nice and a great finale for November. I am not teaching during December, so I get to be an adult student instead. 

The Living Christmas Tree is in place and performances start this coming Saturday. I don't know if I will get to watch any of the seven shows this year because I am in charge of musicians'/choir members' children's childcare. 
I have been slowly coming down with something so today after church I fixed myself a cup of soup, half a tuna sandwich and just slept most of the afternoon. I've been taking Nyquil and Dayquil and it leaves me so groggy and disoriented. I hope it will pass quickly. But based on how I feel right now, I am not well enough to go see my mentee tomorrow. I'll have to see how I am tomorrow morning. 

Day 265

Thanksgiving is over - but the food goes on and on............

Jason and Peggy went out this morning and bought a gift for Tiffany.

So of course, it had to be tasted right away and Shelby is showing us how to do it:

These are the oatmeal/applesauce muffins I made for my Sunday School class tomorrow morning. I made Tiffany try one of these for me too - so I could make sure to not poison any children..........

While the oven was on, I decided to make a batch of cupcakes. Whatever is left on Sunday afternoon will be sent to the Afterschool Program with Peggy on Monday. 

This afternoon there was coloring:

Jenga:

The Princess Bride on TV:

And on the wii - we played "Let's Dance"

There were computer games:

And hair preparations:

And just hanging out with the family:

And relaxing:

Tonight we went to dinner at the Hibachi Grill/Sushi Bar. 

Jared showed off his new leather jacket that looks just like dad's. 

We're ready to go:

Let's get in the car, already........

The food at the Hibachi Grill is so good - 

So many wonderful choices - 

Jaide has been holding back on eating all day so she can REALLY enjoy her dinner - 

Jared got to eat Mongolian BBQ tonight with chopsticks - 

The best part - the part that everyone was anticipating was the chocolate fountain. It's either 4 or 5 layers tall and there was pineapple, marshmallows, and macaroons to dunk in the flowing deliciousness - 

Then I was sitting there and noticed that Jared is wearing a hat with sunglasses just like his dad is wearing a hat with sunglasses. 

After dinner we sat in the living room for a while. Then Jason, Peggy, Jaide, and Jared told Tiffany, Sam, and Shelby goodnight and goodbye. Tiffany will be leaving at around 4:00 in the morning so that she can make it home early tomorrow. 

It has been a great time and I'm so glad that we all got to spend time together. 

Day 264

Black Friday - well, Black Friday for those that are interested in saving money and waking up ridiculously early and fighting crowds to save five cents........... 

I slept until 7:00 and within a couple of hours I was skyping with Wade while the rest of my houseguests slept. I had a nice visit with him.

Sad to say, but the blue men cookies did not make it through the day. 

Actually there is one blue man left and I made some peanut butter with chocolate chunk for snacking this evening.

The women met this morning to discuss what to do.

We finally agreed to go out to lunch and walk around a

couple of stores. 

We agreed on Mexican food. The waiter, Pancho, approached the table and said there was no guacamole....

What??!?!?! I thought he was just joking, but he was serious - what respectable mexican restaurant has no guac???

The food was pretty good.

Jaide's huge plate of nachos.

Grilled chicken salad.

Jason was at home watching 'the boys' (and Shelby) so we brought a meal home for him too. 

The sidewalk artists are hard at work. 

They drew a large fish and wrote everybody's name inside it.

Jared was very proud of the cow he drew by himself.

Then Jason organized a football game with some energetic players:

And this morning, Sarge played the old, popular game of "Do You Want This Ear Any Longer?" Poor Angel got a good little cut on her ear and we had a hard time getting the bleeding to stop. And after it would stop, she would shake her head and it would start bleeding all over again. Surprising that the two meekest dogs would clash so much. 

After football, these three watched a few episodes of The Simpsons. 

Dinner tonight was from Fazolis.

After dinner we gathered to watch the movie "Super 8". It was kinda scary for the kids in parts. 

The kids all laid on the floor with pillows and the adults sat in chairs. Some of us fell asleep during the movie, although the kids all stayed awake and slightly terrorized by the creature.

Sam & Jared are sleeping downstairs tonight. Shelby & Jaide are upstairs with Tiffany and I. So I pulled out my birthday 

present:

We made cotton candy with sugar-free candies. First we tried peppermint and it was a little crunchy. The next batch was lemon and it turned out more like the real stuff. Pretty fun. 

Now we're all watching Gulliver's Travels before we head off to bed.