Happy Boxing Day!
And belated Merry Christmas!!!
It was a lovely day yesterday.
We slept IN... which is nice.
I woke up about 6 and thought...
oh wow, no little kids clammering to
get up and see what Santa brought!
(Not that we've had that for a decade or more,
but still... lol)
We had a nice breakfast and then just
kind of relaxed and puttered around
(like we do...)
Then in mid afternoon we decided to open
gifts. It was fun! There were some lovely,
thoughtful gifts under the tree!
The theme this year was WARM.
Lots of yummy scarves, hats and socks
from Mom and Dad.
(I'm wearing new slippers and my feet
are toasty warm and stylish!)
Along with a beautiful necklace and earring set!
Thank you Mom!
Soni sent me a BIG FLUFFY hoody that
covers to below my knees!
It's perfect for snuggling in my chair!
(And it has POCKETS!)
And Rozie sent me Gumby and Pokey!!!
LOL!!!
They are so much fun!
I remember spending HOURS and HOURS
playing with them a thousand years ago!
Rod got us a fun picture to hang on our
TOTALLY bare walls.
We have a gazillion pictures in boxes, but I hadn't
hung anything, waiting for him to arrive so he could
help decorate and make it feel like OUR home.
But then I kind of liked just the big white walls.
Made it feel a little larger.
Putting the picture on the wall did stop the eye a little
and makes the room a little smaller, but I like it anyway.
He gave Kyle a cool picture of a buffaloe on a plain,
for him to put in his new house when its done.
And a power fence nailer, since "we" will be putting up
something like 2 miles of fence.
I got Rod a new tablet and keyboard since he kind of
hates his iPad he got when he was on the High Council
(since that was what all the cool guys were using... lol).
Now that he's the Elder's Quorum Secretary, he
needs something to take notes on, so we went with an
android tablet that will sync with his phone.
Jim and Sabrina sent us each a thoughtful gift,
I got a wooden cutting board with a map of
Kansas laser cut into it.
Would have been handy the day before....
(hint, hint.... story to follow...)
Anyhow.
Kyle left to go to the farm to unload insulation from
his trailer and put it in the shed,
while Rod and I made a traditional Christmas Dinner
with all the fixin's. (fruit salad being the MOST
important component of the meal... lol.)
Anyhow, when Kyle got home we had a yummy
dinner on our new TV trays (since there is no
kitchen table in this house... no room! lol.
There will be a large dining room table in the
new house though!)
|
In case you are wondering, the cranberry sauce is UNDER the roll... and the beans came from OUR garden! Sabrina, did you eat yours??? |
And we watched It's a Wonderful Life
and then some random shows for the rest of the evening.
So... it was a nice, quiet, relaxing day full
of love and good food, gifts, and Christmas music.
My favorite things.
Missed spending the day with Jim and Sabrina,
but next year.......
********************************************
And now, on, to the adventure!
Tuesday (Christmas Eve) I had an appointment
in Wichita at the USCIS office to do the biometrics
for my new green card.
I figured with it being Christmas Eve, everybody
would be
a) in a good mood
b) in a hurry to get done and go home early... lol.
So not a terrible day to get it done.
I thought the traffic might be a nightmare, what
with it being Christmas Eve, and it probably
was... in Florida.
But this is Kansas.
There's almost nobody on the highways here.
So it was a pleasant, sunny, scenic drive.
Kansas is a really beautiful place.
When we got there, the building was really easy
to find and the parking lot was LARGE and mostly
empty, so no trouble parking the big truck and trailer.
We got there about 25 minutes early so went in to
see if we could use a restroom.
And there was a sign on the door.
CLOSED for the HOLIDAY.
WHAT???????
Yup.
There was an executive order issued closing
all the immigration offices the 24th and 25th.
But they didn't think it was worth sending a
quick email to everybody who had appointments.
They will automatically reschedule for the next
available date.
(Watch it be New Year's Eve! HAHAHAHA...)
So... we looked up the address and drove by
the new Wichita Temple site.
Not much to see yet.
They broke ground in September...
The parking lot and the foundation are done.
It's tiny...
This is the artist's rendering.
Kyle noticed there is NO mention of the church
anywhere on the site.
I guess that's to avoid any problems prior to it getting done.
On the way back to Salina his odometer clicked over
to 432,000 miles!!!
We also saw a bunch of Canada Geese, but I
didn't get a picture.
We found a Taco Bell about 2 blocks from the temple.
The ladies room sign made me laugh!
Anyhow.
After a quick lunch we got back on the road
and headed back up to Salina where there is a
Sam's Club. We went in and bought
TOILET PAPER.
They have the BEST toilet paper!
So we got some.
And some other random stuff we like from there...
and then across the street to Menard's to pick up
the insulation for Kyle's house and shed.
(And some other random stuff, like a pooper picker-upper
for the dog's yard, some oatmeal soap to give Beau a
bath, he's not loving this dry climate and his skin
is itchy!!!)
And then it was back on the highway to head home.
While we were driving, listening to Harry Potter,
Jim called to tell us they went to Indialantic
to see Santa on the fire truck.
Glad they are keeping the tradition alive!
We got to chatting about the farm and the garden
and life in general. It was long dark by this time
and we pulled into a cute little town that was all
lit up for Christmas.
Kyle and I looked at each other and were like,
WHERE ARE WE????????
There are no cute little towns between Salina
and Russell and this was definitely NOT Russell.
(Russell has a gas station... that's it close to the highway.)
We had turned off the GPS because it was eating
Kyle's phone battery and it's a straight shot
from Salina to WaKeeney.
Yeah.
Actually, it's not.
47 miles ago we missed the exit to I-70.
Hahahahahahahahaha.
So... the map on the cutting board might
have come in handy!
Anyhow.
We turned around and hightailed it back to
the correct highway.
For reference, in case you care, we were in
Concordia, which is very near the Nebraska border!
Haha.
It was REALLY getting foggy up there, so we
were happy to go back south a little - the fog didn't
roll in until much later in our neck of the woods.
Anyhow.
It was a nice drive, just an hour longer than
we had anticipated, so we stopped at a truck stop
and got some snacks.
Once back into town, we drove down Main Street
to check out the beautiful lights, and then up
and down a couple of the streets to see people's
decorations on their homes.
And then home for some Pesto Pasta. YUM!
And BED.
So....
That was our adventure!
We got to see a little more of the state,
and some pretty lights,
and get some needed supplies.
And I'll drive back down to Wichita in a
few weeks and try again.
(But now that I HAVE a green card, I'm not
in a big ol' hurry...)
So.
Happy Boxing Day!
And thank you again for thinking of us!
I hope you all had a lovely day as well!