Wall of Insanity

(In Doctor office, shaking all over as I recline on the table.)
Doctor,"So, Mrs. Seaman what do you think caused you to have this condition?"
Mrs. Seaman, " It was either the clutter or the sugar, I'm not quite sure."

Several years ago Dave and Eileen gave me my first machine for Christmas. I was working at the time and enjoyed taking candy into the office and delighting my co-workers with a little treat. The collection grew as a new machine came out the following year. Twenty-two machines later this is the result. That doesn't count the other little doodads in the collection. Should they be buried with me or should I let the Smithsonian have them?

Word Follow-up

I think I did great with my word. Next year will be even better with the addititon of a new, larger refrigerator for the poolhouse. My word was ignore. It is hard but I am slowly getting better at not letting everyone else's issues become mine. I cut way baack on my M&m consumption. I ignored all the after Valentine, Easter and Fourth of July candy sales. I slipped after Halloween but only because I had to buy for my seminary students. I think I was able to ignore the confusion and disorder of the kitchen remodeling project.
The new year will bring many challenges I am sure. Isn't that what life is all about though in the end? Let's not call them challenges, let's think of them as opportunities. That is my word for 2010.

Christmas

The picture doesn't do justice to the tree though the topper is quite original.

Travis and Lindsea

Meghan (you got to loive bumbo chairs)

Wonder what Dallin was thinking?

Jed's tent so he wouldn't see Santa. He gave up his room in the inn and had to sleep in the solarium.

Tabi and Evan

Gretchen was being very territorial over the trash can. That is the back of Sammie's head.

We as usual had a wild and crazy time!

The Wedding

Matthew Ruberson married Alexa Millard of Albany Ward yesterday in the Orlando Temple. We all had a great time at the reception last night. The food was fabulous and dance music was provided by jason Goodman. The newlyweds will live in Tifton.

Parade is Over!!

We actually did it! We ended up being the first in line behind the city officials and a couple of city business floats. The weather was great, not to chilly, although I was wrapped in a blanket. Andrea took all these pics for me. Jen and James looked like the Beverly Hillbillies sitting in their chairs at the back of the truck. If Hayward didn't capture them on film last night, oh well, we tried. Did you know you can view the Fun Channel online? The parade should start airing soon if not already. Mom rode in the front of one of the trucks. She held Dallin, who fell asleep shortly after the parade started. We got permission to drive home with people on the trailer and golfcart and in the back of the truck so we had a mini parade down Old Ocilla Rd. I think we succeeded in making Granddads dream come true. Don't know how he invisioned it but it turned out better than I expected!

Start of the Holidays

We have the family float entered into the Tifton Christmas parade. The new holiday g-dad tee-shirts have been ordered. Best of all, Eileen with help from Grandaddy, Andrea and Randy, Andrea's brother got cutouts and lights put up.Once again the sled with Santa's list, Rudolf's jail,the little country church and most important of all, the manger scene grace the front lawn. I just hope our new neighbors can stand the lights for the next month.

Anyone have a homemade cookie?

As we enter week three progress is being made. These pictures were taken last week and don't show the tile on the counter top. At least we can run the dishwasher now. What amazes me is how I still manage to not lose any weight. We can't make homemade bread, cookies, pancakes, etc. without a whole lot of moving stuff around so it just isn't worth it. the first thing I will do in my new kitchen is make a huge pan of gooey cinnamon rolls. Did I mention I might have a problem kneading the dough? My new counter top is about three inches higher than the old one. I could go retro fifties and wear high heels with my apron.

Speaking of Pecans

Eileen and I both had the same dream the other night. We dreamed we were digging pecans out of the grass with our toes every time we closed our eyes. This is what happens when you spend all day looking down for the brown nuts in the brown leaf piles.
I have developed a new technique this year to accommodate my advancing years. I call it the "rake and scoot" method. I rake all the leaves/pecans into long rows. Then I sit on my bottom at the beginning of the row and with one hand rake through the leaves while picking out pecans with the other. When I finish the area in front of me I scoot on down the row until I reach the end. I have developed the twirl method for moving my bucket. I simply turn it up on the bottom rim and roll until it advances to where I want it to be. There are a couple of downfalls to my methods. First,is the occasional antpile I happen into. Then there are the bugs whose homes have been disturbed by my raking. There is also the unknown hard objects found while digging through the piles. The biggest problem this year has been Roxie, the compound dog of the moment. She takes my sitting on the ground as an open invitation to come nuzzle my face and sit in my lap. While she is not a very large dog, these actions make it impossible to sort out pecans. If I push her head away she takes that as a sign I want to play a little rougher. Thankfully, she is easily distracted if you throw a stick for her to fetch. She chases and picks up the stick like a pro but has not mastered the art of returning to the thrower. I try to keep sticks with me as I scoot along and hope she will find distraction as she runs happily away from me!

Here we go again!

Eileen asked the question the other day, "Why can't we have a simple remodling project"? The kitchen floor needed to be replaced so they tore up the old one. Lo and behold there was rotted, dampness that meant cabinets had to come out. So we have flu stricken kids and adults in a house where we are washing dishes in the bathroom sink. This was also the week David started his substitute teaching career. Throw in Jed on crutches for six weeks (thank heavens no surgery) and life truly becomes a comedy. Oh, did I mention I need to get a new battery for my camera. Anybody going to Walmart? They don't sell batteries at Lowe's or the hardware store. The ones benefitting from all the madness are the squirrels. They are glad we don't have time to pick up the pecans covering the ground.