My sister

My sister sent this email. I had to share it with you!

We did it! Todd and I hung our outdoor Christmas lights today! I just had to share our holiday spirit, so I wrote this message to the tune of,"The Twelve Days of Chrismas," just to share our joy! Here goes...During the first phase of decorating the outside of our house we made Twelve trips up the ladder, needed Eleven feet of extension cord, made ten trips to the attic, straightened nine tangled light strands, needed eight brand new fuses, replaced seven burnt out light bulbs, shouted six,"I don't knows!", endured five hours of swearing!!!! spent Four twenty dollar bills, gulped three Frapuccinos, made two trips to WalMart, and discussed one pending divorce! Ta! Da! We made it! Happy %$#@ Holidays! So what's your Christmas story?

I think she should blog...

Oooops!!!

I know, I blew it. That's what happens when my mind starts rambling. My thoughts go faster than my fingers and I Oooops! it... Yes, Ace's real name is John. So I guess I can forget having a real cool name for my husband. I really like Harley Stud and Briefcase. Ace's name came from the fact that my husband loves KISS! And especially Ace. So the gigs up. Oh well...

The Holidays

I love the holidays. When I think of Thanksgiving and Christmas I actually feel a warm glow inside. I'm not trying to be poet. I'm explaining a feeling. It's because I know I'm going home for the holidays. Don't get me wrong, I love Ace and the life we are growing together, but there is no place like home. Dad and Mom's or "DAM" for short. When I'm at my mom and dad's I can leave my troubles behind for awhile. I don't have to be a mom. I don't have to be an associate. I just get to be me. My family means everything to me. I remember in my previous job, I was offered an opportunity to move to Florida and manage one of our offices. 2 weeks before I was to leave, I decided I couldn't leave my family and I wasn't going. My boss wasn't happy, but he got over it. I live about 2 hours from DAM's. The trip there seems to go so fast and the drive home seems to go on forever. But back to my holiday memoirs... When I was young, every Christmas Eve, we would go to church for a candle light service, then drive over to Gma and Gpa' S. house and the whole family would be there to watch the "G's" open their presents. Now you have to imagine this... My mom and SMB's dad are brother and sister. There are 8 siblings all together and they're there with their families. Let's just say we always packed ourselves in like sardines. But that was the fun of it. When we left the "G's" house, we'd go home and always get to open one present. It was always pj's but it was still exciting. On Christmas morning my sister and I would be dying to go downstairs, but we had to wait until the "G's" got there. On Christmas day, the "G's" would go visit everyone of their kid's families that lived near enough. We always got first dibs... Then we'd have our Christmas and breakfast. The G's would leave and we'd get ready to go have Christmas was my dad's side of the family. They always drove us kids downstairs after the presents were opened, but we had always gotten some kind of gift that we could use to put a show on. (Like ventriloquist dolls or dress up clothes). So the kids would go downstairs and make up a skit or song or something. then we'd put on a show for the adults. We thought it was a blast. Our parents were so clever. They got us out of their hair for an hour or so and we didn't get it... So my memories of Christmas's are all about family. Our families are getting older and moving further apart. Take this Christmas, we are going to DAM's house the weekend before Christmas for our big family Christmas and then sometime over the weekend, we'll have our separate DAM Christmas. But on Christmas day, John, I and the boys will be staying home... I'm not real sure if I'm ready or old enough to make this transition, but it's being forced upon me. I really don't like it because right after Christmas, DAM go to Florida for 3 months. But I'll adjust. John and I have talked about our new family. I have 4 sons now. And when they get married, there will be 8 of them. And if they each have 2 kids, that will be 24 of them coming over for holidays. I'll need a bigger house... Family means everything to me. My oldest son, his girlfriend and her son come over almost every Sunday for dinner and just be together. I enjoy cooking and I especially enjoy having my family around. I hope you are all with your family for Thanksgiving, but if you aren't, be happy just being with your own family. Cherish the time. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanks for your support

Well I figured out how to post a picture. Yeah! So I'm starting off with some Smokey Mountain pictures. Thanks SMB for the help. I was reading some of comments on my second blog. I can't believe most of you don't crave homemade chicken and noodles. There is no other taste in the world that can come close to the homemade chicken and noodles. Don't even compare them to the noodles that are in the stores. It's so simple: For every egg you use, you use about a cup of flour and a dash of salt. In a normal meal, I fix between 4 or 5 eggs worth of noodles. Mix it all together. Keep adding flour so it won't be sticky. Roll out to about an 1/8th of inch thickness. Cut in strips then cut them noodle size and let them dry. You'll never go back to store bought noodles again.... I made a dozen eggs worth for Thanksgiving and I am counted upon at Christmas time to have at least one bag in every Christmas basket we give, so I figure I'll use about 4 dozen eggs for all of those... But it's worth it. Give it a try. TRY IT YOU MIGHT LIKE IT!!!! I guess I better get back to work (don't tell anyone that I wrote this during business hours). HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! BE SAFE IF YOU ARE DRIVING (SMB). I look forward to reading all your blogs! And thanks once again for your support! I'll get better! PROMISE!

What a wonderful Saturday. Cold outside. The temperatures hovering around 20 degrees. And the sky was the most beautiful blue (and please no one comment that the sky is not really blue, its just all the pollution in the air) Ace and I took our honeymoon mid October. We got married in August, but we both love the fall and I had never been to the Smokeys so that is where we went. God was surely with us. It was 80 degrees at the base of the mountain and about 60 degrees at the very top. And the most beautiful blue skies. Todays sky reminded me of those Smokey Mountain skies... Once someone tells me how to post a picture on this thing, I'll show you some of the most gorgeous views made for man. Anyway, back to my Saturday. Ace and I got up around 6:30 (now isn't that just down right wrong on a Saturday morning) Lowe's opens at 6:30 you know. In the morning... early morning...We're once again back to making our annual Christmas presents. I'm not going to give it away, but it is an original. It's going to be our Smokey Mountain baskets and that is all I have to say on that subject. So off to Lowe's we go... I LOVE THAT STORE! Makes me feel like I can tackle any project at home someone throws at me. I have to drag Ace away from all the power tools. We've spent a mini fortune just getting the garage ready for us to work in. Flourescent lights, heaters, work benches, multiple types of saws and drills. But its fun and we only get to splurge like this once a year. Ace and I don't exchange presents and we use the money we save to make even more special Christmas items. Then at tax time we reward ourselves with a little something Last year it was surround sound system for the living room. But as you can tell, I tend to get off my subject when I start rambling. So it's Saturday I'm going to be little miss susie homebaker today. I make noodles until I can't see straight. Do you realize how many noodles you get out of dozen eggs. A lot... So they're laying on the counter drying out for our Yummy Thanksgiving dinner up north with my parents. Z1 and his future fiance aren't coming with us this year. They're going to Illinois to L1's grandparents for Thanksgiving. I don't like not having all of my family with me at Thanksgiving, but I guess I have to learn to share my boys with other women.... So noodles made... I started on the made from scratch banana bread. It smelled heavenly in the house. Then, like I haven't made enough already, I had to make Ace his pecan pie. I believe that you need to train for Thanksgiving and Christmas like an Olympic game. You have to slowly stretch the stomach so it can hold all the sumptuous food that must be gorged upon. Around 6, I had to drop A1 off at the bowling alley. My ex-sister in law turned 50 yesterday and they surprised her with a birthday party and cosmic bowling. I'm the ex- in that family, but I still get hugs and kisses and I do love them all dearly. You can't spend almost 20 years with a family and then just forget them. Luckily, my ex and I don't have to see each other very much and we've been able to stay friends. I'll have to tell you the story about right after we filed for divorce and he was in a motor cycle accident... I was the most doting ex wife to be you have ever known. I'm like that, even if I don't like you, I can't stand to see anyone down and I'll do whatever is in my power to help them back up, if that is possible. Well, its getting late. Ace is asleep and I'm on my way upstairs to tell some boys to shut down the stereo or they can be wearing it tomorrow morning. I hate that screaming stuff they call music nowadays. So how was your saturday? Hopefully as productive as mine was. I'll try to stop back in and finish another post tomorrow, but now guarantees. I have a couple started, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to finish them yet. Well, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings for the day. I'm going to sneak upstairs now and have a piece of banana bread and then hit the hay! Good night y'all from Indiana Homegrown