Updated House Pictures

 The more I look at the house,

especially with all the white accents,

the more I like it!

Kyle thinks it look like a beach house.

I think it looks like a french cottage.

You can't really see the true color in this picture.

This is more representative.

Yup. 

I like it.

(And yes, they are going to climb up and paint the chimney... lol.)

Santa will be happy, I'm sure.

We have a VERY large front yard.

I'll miss our oak trees.

But I'll happily trade our 2.37 acre yard for 161.4.

Works for me!

(Bandit got a new VERY bright orange collar.)

A branch moved in front of the bananas and

now you can't see them very well.

But they are up there!

However, I just read on the internet that it takes

between FOUR and SIX MONTHS for 

them to be ready to harvest!

WHAT????

Sheesh.

I wanted them next week!

(hahahahahaha)

Fingers crossed the rest of the winter is mild.

They said if it looks like a freeze you have to

cut the whole thing and just let them ripen

inside the house.

They won't get any bigger, but they will get ripe.

So there is that....

Goodness! Times FLIES!

 I've been busy being NOT busy.

Well... that's not exactly true,

but I DID get the week off from the Town.

So there's that.

But there have been PLENTY of things

going on around here.

The guys PAINTED THE HOUSE!

BEFORE.

AFTER.

Well... kind of IN-PROGRESS.

I'll have to get another picture tomorrow.

Kyle painted the trim and the doors,

so it looks MUCH better now.

But I REALLY like it!

You can tell from the chimney that the sun was 

going down.

AND they forgot to paint the chimney!

Hahahahahaha.

I really like the new color.

It's weird. 

It's blue.

Then it's grey.

Then it's kind of a teal.

Depends on the light, I guess.

But either way, I really like it!

AND

We have BANANAS!!!!!

Teeny tiny bananas, but STILL!

Each of those layers is producing a hand.

Which means we might get about 10 hands!

LOTS of bananas.

If the weather holds.

And the creek don't rise.... lol.

AND PEACHES!!!

TEENY TINY peaches... but STILL!

Today I froze a bunch of "milk nog"

(a 50/50 mix of egg nog and milk so it's not

quite so thick) and we will put it in the

freeze dryer. Makes a fun little bite.

And you can put it in a glass, add water and

you don't have to wait until December 

for eggnog!!!!

Nifty!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

I just finished my last class for this week.

I'm teaching the evening classes next week,

but this week is DONE!

The guys are getting ready to paint the

exterior of the house.

We are going with a blue/grey.

And, of course, we are all on

puppy patrol.

Her favorite place to lay.

UNDER the foot rest of the lazyboy.

So inconvenient!

Especially when she is SOUND asleep.

She knows she is cute.

And growing.

Anyhow.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Early Christmas - Introducing LUNA!

 Kyle REALLY misses his dog, Shadow.

It took him a long time to decide

he was ready for a new dog.

A few months ago we tried Bear.

But she just couldn't integrate into our farm.

On Saturday, Kyle found a purebred Rottweiler

puppy down in West Palm Beach for a much

more reasonable price.

(They are generally in the THOUSANDS!)

(it's a DOG!!!)

Anyhow.

I was teaching.

But Rod and Kyle drove down and checked

out the litter of 8 puppies and 

Kyle fell in love with Little Luna.

She is only 8 weeks old.

And does sleep a lot.

But when she is awake, she is a full of fun!

Her Mom was fairly small. Her dad is HUGE!

So she will likely be on the petite side of large.

She likes everybody, including the other dogs.

But she has adopted Kyle as her person.

Which was the goal...

So far, on day 3, she is doing well.

Potty training is... well, she's a puppy.

But she does whimper when she wants to go out.

You better move FAST though.

Right now, she's in her crate in the garage.

Not happy about it,

but while teaching she can't be going in and out.

And she can't be in the yard alone.

We have a large hawk hanging around.

And she is small enough to get through the

holes in the fence.

Not for long... but for now? No un-supervised

yard romps.

Merry EARLY Christmas Kyle!

Sunday RS Update

 Sondra reminded me that I hadn't told

"the rest of the story"

about our Sunday RS lesson.

My amazing counselor (Indira) took that

ball and RAN with it.

They did Christmas Carol (hymn) requests

and then after the request whoever it was

had to tell WHY they chose it and what it means to them.

It was a very spiritual and uplifting hour.

AND, they released our Elder's Quorum President

and called a new one, and then after that, the

Stake President excused himself from EQ and

headed to Relief Society!

We also had the Stake RS 1st Counselor visit.

So I'm glad it all worked out well.

Our Stake Pres (my former Bishop) is from a 

VERY musically talented family, so any time

there is music, he is ALL over it.

I'm sure he was pleased.

Anyhow.

That's how THAT went.

Last night I met with the Bishop

(informal, and then the rest of his Bishopric

showed up and we ended up doing a meeting,

I just was invited to stay.... until 10:30!)

He said he wasn't joking when he said they 

forgot the food for the brunch!

Everybody thought the other guy was in charge.

So they dashed to the grocery store and within

24 minutes (hahahahaha such an engineer) they were

up and running and getting ready to serve pancakes.

Lots of pictures on Facebook of people enjoying

their breakfast AND destroying gingerbread 

houses by various means (flinging with a catapult,

beating with a golf club, etc.....)

Much fun was had by all.

So.

Now you know, "the rest of the story..."

Gratuitous photo of my advent calendar I made with

our Relief Society back when Kathy Salter was the President.

And my kids were LITTLE.

This thing has to be like 25+ years old!

But I still love it and Rod and I are taking turns

opening the pockets and adding to the nativity.

***********************************************

UPDATE!

UPS just delivered a box from Mom and Dad!

Thank you for the Christmas gifts!

We are already enjoying the wonderful dried fruit!

Tree Skirt

 Much as I hate to not put wrapped gifts

under the Christmas tree...

I'm afraid I'm going to need to hold off this year

for a little while.

SOMEBODY thinks that is HIS spot.

He likes to lay there where he can keep an

eye on me, mostly to see if I'm EATING

anything that I MIGHT be tempted to share 

with him.....

So,

no present for a little bit.

(Notice the rug is all bunched up... he has suddenly

decided that the fringe is FUN to play with

which is the real reason I'm afraid to put 

gifts under there - crinkly paper - TOO MUCH 

TEMPTATION!)

Meanwhile,

the garden is enjoying all the rain.

Kyle planted LOTS and LOTS of peas.

And a couple beds of carrots.

And a couple beds of onions.

And the squirrels dug up all the onions.

REALLY?

Sheesh.

He was a little annoyed.

But, MAYBE we will get a good pea harvest.

That would be awesome!

Tampa (again)

 Here I am.

Sitting in my empty classroom.

Waiting for my "to go" order to

be ready at the local Cheddars restaurant.

It's a nice facility,

in a nice area of town.

Meanwhile, the ward had their first ward activity today.

Brunch with a gingerbread contest

followed by a gingerbread DEMOLITION.

(obviously the guys are in charge of this one...)

I sent a text to the Bishop this morning

wishing them a great activity with a TON of turnout.

We did a huge blitz to find all the "resting members"

and invite them to join us this morning.

He texted me a bit later and said they were having

a little bit of a rocky start.

They forgot to bring the FOOD!

(I'm hoping he was joking...)

Later he texted and said it was a great party

with good turnout and everything went well.

And then I got a text from my RS teacher.

She is sick and won't be there.

So I reached out to my counselors and suggested they

1) watch the conference talk and then discuss it.

2) READ parts of the talk and then discuss it.

3) DITCH the talk and just take requests and sing

EVERY Christmas hymn in the book.

4) Share memories and experiences since becoming

a new ward, interspersed with Christmas hymns...

No idea what they will do.

But I know it will be fine.

Kyle got a paying job for this morning, so they

didn't go to the brunch, so I can't get a first-hand

report on how it went. But I'm sure it was fun.

And now I'm heading to Cheddars to pick up my

delicious Monte Cristo sandwich with raspberry puree,

a slice of cheese cake, and some 

honey butter croissants. (it's a LARGE meal, so I'll

eat half and save the other half for dinner tomorrow night...

class doesn't end until 9 tomorrow night and I don't 

want to order dinner - just hit the hotel, eat, pack and

get to sleep so I can leave EARLY in the morning

and skip the traffic. Arriving on Friday was BRUTAL!

The traffic was horrendous! Took an extra 45+ minutes!)

Have a great evening!

I'm thinking about y'all at the Christmas party

at Mom & Dad's!!!

Boy I wish I could be there!

I Feel SO Accomplished

 This weekend I rented a car to go to Tampa.

I will be doing that every month.

Anyhow.

I drove over, nice and uneventfully.

And when I got up Saturday morning to drive

to my school, my car was blinking a dire warning.

My drivers-side front tire was low.

And the world would likely end shortly.

It said the air pressure was 27.

Sounds fine to me.

So I ignored it.

All day Saturday.

And Saturday evening.

And Sunday morning.

But at noon on Sunday I went around the corner

to the closest gas station (I only get a 30 min lunch)

and I PUT AIR IN THE TIRE ALL BY MYSELF!!!

Yes, I know.

I'm 63 years old.

And I'm fairly certain this is the first time.

I've watched others do it many many times.

But I am blessed with a house full of

willing men who take care of stuff like that

for me!

But I did it.

All by myself.

And I didn't die.

And the tire didn't explode.

And I didn't even get dirty!

Amazing.

Transformation is Complete

 Well. The transformation is complete.

I just finished teaching my morning zoom

and was sending emails to the students.

As I was typing in the email address I was

saying the letters out loud (well, to myself)

as I was typing because people have some

CRAZY email addresses!

And one of them was fazel.

And I said F. A. ZEE. E. L.

NOT ZED!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOO!

(hahahahahahaha)

I've probably been saying Zee

for years and years, but this morning

in my sleep deprived state, it HIT ME!

Sheesh.

And yes, I'm a bit sleep deprived.

I taught a 2-day class in Tampa this weekend.

Finished last night at 7.

Jumped on a Stake RS Zoom.

Then headed to my hotel and grabbed a sandwich

from the Arby's next door.

(I was going to grab a Monte Cristo sandwich

from the Cheddars up the street from the school

but they said it wouldn't be ready for nearly 45 minutes

and I just wasn't going to sit around that long...)

Anyhow. 

Ate my sandwich and headed to bed.

Set my alarm for 4.

But woke up at 3:22.

So I got up, I was already packed, so just

grabbed my stuff and headed out the door.

There's nearly NOBODY on the dreaded

Interstate-4 at 4:00 in the morning!

And I have to drive a whole 27 miles on it!

(It's agonizing on the trip over on Friday at 3:30p)

Anyhow.

There was LOTS of fog.

But luckily I was following a big truck with

lots of bright red lights, so I just followed him.

Got home right at 7:00.

Unloaded my car, then Kyle and I headed over

to Enterprise to return my rental.

(Nissan Versa - a nice little car...)

And then we headed home so he could go to work

and I could start my morning zoom class.

And now?

FOOD and a NAP!

 

Better!

 Thankfully my naturally minded son

brought me a little packet of freshly

ground clove in a coffee filter

to nestle in my mouth next to my

new crowns.

And SUCCESS!

They quit aching after an hour or so

and continue to be pain free this morning.

YEA!!!!

Meanwhile, my new (replacement)

overalls and coat came in last night.

I was too uncomfortable to try them on,

but this morning I tried them and they are

perfect! And WARM!

I'm all set for a Kansas winter!

Ouch!

 This morning I went to the eye glass

place and picked up my new distance glasses.

One of those "specials" 2 for 1.

So I got a pair of black frames for driving

(black is the color of the road...)

And a red pair for reading.

And then I headed over to the dentist to

get my two permanent crowns.

Nobody mentioned how painful it would be!

I don't take medicine.

I took 2 Ibuprofen about 45 minutes ago.

It felt good for 15 minutes.

That was it...

I'm thinking it will be an early night tonight.

(It's only 7pm)

Not really looking forward to teaching this weekend.

Unless they get better.