He's Home

Matt arrived at 9:00 last night. He drove 8 hours on Monday afternoon and evening to get himself over the mountains and a little past Denver. That left 14 hours for yesterday. He managed to beat the bad weather and his trip was uneventful....just the way mommy likes it.

There were some nice big hugs, we introduced Luna and Maggie, Matt had a bowl of vegetarian chili and then off he went to see his brother. He stayed overnight at Michael and Bernadette's house and was heading out this morning to do some shopping.

Irv and I both took today off. My plan is to put on some Christmas music and do some baking. The weather is suppose to be nasty, so I'm happy to stay inside. Irv has some shopping to do. Rebecca's (Matt's girlfriend) flight comes in at 3:00 p. m. tomorrow. We are hoping the weather will be okay by then. That will also mean one more dog introduction.

Smile, be grateful for all that you have, hug someone you love, enjoy your day and I will chat with you soon.

Holiday Preparations

Yesterday was a wonderful day. I started cleaning the house and when it was time to take a little break, I made some hot chocolate and an English Muffin, put on some Christmas music and watched the snow fall. Then it was back to work.

In the afternoon, Irv and Bernadette met at the local park to introduce their Aussie Teagan to our little Maggie on "neutral " ground. It went well. Four dogs familiar with each other....now just two more to throw into the mix next week!

Bern wanted place mats for her dining room table. She found a tablecloth and napkins in the fabric she wanted, but no place mats. She didn't want a tablecloth, but the smart little girl bought it along with the napkins and decided to make her own. She brought the fabric over and we figured out what size she wanted and how many she could get out of the tablecloth. She left and headed over to the fabric store to get the fabric for the backs and the thread. She'll get it all washed and dried tonight and as soon as we can, we'll get together, get them cut and sewn. The fabric was awesome and they will look fantastic when she gets them done.

After that I sat and put the finishing touches on the menu for Friday's dinner. We will have eight people.....two are vegetarians and one is gluten free...so coming up with something yummy for everyone is fun and challenging.

I ended up with pork roast, roasted new potatoes, cheese and potato pirogi from a great deli, a broccoli cheese casserole if I can find gluten free cream of mushroom soup....if not, broccoli with toasted garlic and hazelnuts, roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans and a wonderful green salad. I am hungry just thinking about it.

We'll have lots of snacks, and I'm going to get some packages of gourmet hot chocolate in a variety of flavors and a great big jar of marshmallow fluff!!

Today we will be buying baby food and other baby things to add to the bags for our local food pantry. Haven't bought that kind of stuff in about 26 years!

Matti and Luna will be leaving Telluride early Tuesday morning. He will stop somewhere for the night and then finish the journey on Wednesday. I can't wait for him to get here. His girlfriend, Rebecca, is flying in on Christmas Eve. We are hoping for good weather so her flight gets in on time. We'll pop some pizzas in the oven and chat the evening away......

Is anything better than this time of year? I don't think so.

This Girl Just Wants to Have Fun

Irv and I were on our way home from the grocery store this weekend and I asked him so innocently, "Where do you want to go on vacation next year?"

He looked at me like I had a big extra eye on my forehead or something and yelled "Are you crazy? Can't we get through the craft shows first before we start worrying about vacation?"

"I just like to think about it," I answered in my cutest little girl voice.

"Well, I'm not ready to think about it yet!" he bellowed, rattling the windows in my little Prius.

Maybe that isn't exactly how the conversation went, but it was something like that. :)

I LOVE planning vacations. I love researching different areas on line and trying to find cool things to do. We only get to go on vacation if we get a tax refund, so I try not to get too excited about it until I know it's a go.

Our tax guy knows that is what we do, so when he finished our taxes last year and called us, he said, "Well, you are going on vacation." I asked, "In Illinois, Colorado or Hawaii?" He said, "Colorado." That was fine with me!

We have vacationed in Colorado a couple of times now, and I do love it there and I love seeing Matt, but I am thinking it's time for a little change next year. I'm thinking we should try the northeast! We've never been there.

I looked up a lot of stuff about it a few years ago and then we didn't go, but I remember wanting to venture into Canada, see Niagara Falls and go whale watching....but I think that was as far as I got.

Do you live out east? Have you vacationed out east? Any suggestions as to where we should go and what we should see? We would go in late June or early July. I don't eat fish and I don't lay on the beach....any other suggestions would be great!!