It's Official

I'm OLD! Last night, I watched, (with much glee, I may add) the Kennedy Center Honors. I honestly remember sitting through this as a child at my grandmother's house thinking I wish she could get more than one channel on the tv. A few years ago, I glanced at it again, thinking I knew a couple of the people mentioned but didn't really have that big of thing for them.

Last night though... George Jones,Morgan Freeman, Twila Tharp, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and Barbara Streisand. All of them fabulous in my eyes.

It was a great, touching tribute to all of them but I think my favorite part of the whole night was when Rob Thomas was singing Teenage Wasteland and the NY Police Department and Fire Departments were singing backup. My second being when Idina Menzel sang for Barbara Streisand. It was just a great program.

The George Jones tribute was wonderful too, my mom and dad loved George Jones, they used to have all his 8-tracks and we would listen to them endlessly in the car. I thought it was interesting that they mentioned how his drinking ruined his marriage to Tammy Wynette. I felt a bit sorry for his present wife who was sitting with him, but this period was part of his history so it had to be told.

All of this while sitting on the couch, crocheting, yep, I think it's official.....

My Hero!!!

When I was asked what I wanted for Christmas, the two main things on my list were a little unusual. First, I wanted my garage door fixed, 2nd, I wanted my dishwasher fixed. My garage door opener has been broke for over a year now. I kept saying "if someone would get me the model number and tell me what parts to order, I will order them." To which Andrew replied that he had laid the model number on my desk, TWICE. Okay....I normally question anything that someone else lays on my desk but oh well. A couple of weeks ago, he gave me the model number and the parts he needed. Today, he fixed my garage door!!!! I know this is a petty little thing to most people but it is huge to me. Invariably, I would pull the van out of the garage and open the door and step straight in a puddle, or ice, or snow, to go close the door. Now, I don't have to be out in the weather at all until I get to work. I am so excited I can't hardly stand it. We are still waiting on the parts for the dishwasher, it has only been broke a couple of weeks, it won't take a year to fix it, because quite honestly, the piece that is broken, I know I can fix when it gets here. I am just so darned excited about my garage door though, Thank you again, Baby, ( for the millioneth time!)

Post Merry Christmas

Would you believe I have started to post today about 4 times. Each time I realized what I was saying was really not what I wanted people to read. I was just venting. I do not even know the Riedle family but I am heartsick for them. I don't understand why...I know we aren't supposed to question, but how can we not. Every time I started to post, it sounded like I was feeling sorry for myself and for my mom for going through life without my dad...and I was...so I would delete it and walk away.
Now, I am just praying for them and hoping they find the peace that I have finally found today.

Christmas was busy at our house, Robert spent his, I believe 4th Christmas in bed (we have had two in the ER, so at least we weren't there), he started throwing up about 10 Wednesday evening, shortly after my sis and bro-in-law got here. He spent the entire time anyone was here, in bed, asleep. He got up about a half an hour last night, long enough to take a shower and go back to bed. I had Sis call my niece and nephew and tell them he was sick in case they didn't want to walk into it but they came down for a little while yesterday afternoon anyway. He didn't come out so I'm pretty sure the germs were contained and I Lysoled so hopefully we are good. He was up and around this morning, much better--this is how he has always gotten a stomach bug, 24 hours of puking and sleeping then fit as a fiddle. He went to Tika's this evening so I hope he is really fine, he ate good today though so I think he is. Andrew is at work, would you believe they had to set Valentine's Day last night. Whatever.
I have been trying to figure out how far behind I am with scrapbooking and trying to get motivated to do some pages, I don't think it is happening tonight. Somehow, I am booking up my next week too, I really think vacation is going to go too quickly, now you can all laugh around Wednesday when I say I am ready to go back to work!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I think we all got a dose of remembering to be thankful for what we have and for those who are close to us- we never know what tomorrow holds, or the next 10 seconds for that matter. After my dad had his first heart attack, my mom didn't want him to leave the house. He kept telling her, "Honey, none of us know when we wake up in the morning if we will be alive to sit down to dinner that night." I try to live my life remembering that-don't miss any opportunities to let people know you love them. I love you guys and am really thankful for the technology that lets us know what is up in each other's lives. Take care, and may 2009 bring brighter days for all of us!

A few of my Favorite Things

Our Christmas tree has evolved over the years, from that first all white and silver tree to the memories of our life, recorded in little pieces of glass, plastic, a little bit of metal and a lot of sentiment.This was the ornament we got Robert to commemerate him getting Lizzy, 2005.

This was an ornament a coworker got me the year we got Chrissy, also 2005.

I LOVE the St. Louis Science Center, I LOVE St, Louis. The bow around the Science Center is a big tradition in St. Louis. It started out as a prank by some U of St. Louis students, but has turned into a holiday tradition. This also reminds me of the day my mom rode to St. Louis with me for one reason, and one reason only--to get this ornament.

One of many ornaments Robert made at school, he wasn't very happy that day, was he?

This was one of the last ornaments my mom and dad bought before my dad died. We were in Terre Haute at Walgreens, in the mall. Mom bought them to hang on the chadelier in our living room.

This was one of the ornaments Andrew bought for our first tree.

This is an ornament that belonged to his mom and dad.

This ornament was given to me by Creative C, yes, there is a story behind it-ask either one of us, I am sure she remembers too, but I have redeemed myself because she loves my enchiladas.

I hang it on my tree each year, thankful that I know I have one friend who will tell me the truth even if I don't want to hear it.

My most prized ornament, my tree topper, she turned 51 this year. My mom gave it to us our second Christmas, Robert's first, she decided it was time it be passed on. She told us of the first year she and Dad were married, they didn't have much but they went to the woods and got a tree. They bought the angel and it was our family tree topper from that year on. Every year, I hold my breath as we plug her in to see if she lights; every year, she hesitates for just a second then she comes on. I am thankful that I know Andrew will rewire her the first year she doesn't but the fact that her little lights have burned faithfully for our family through my entire life just means something special.

A Very Welcome "Day off"

I had already decided last night that if there was no school today, I would take a personal day at work. I had 7 more hours coming before the end of the year, but considering I am taking vacation in a week, I had originally decided just to add it to the vacation time. I have to admit though, the number of things I wanted to get done around here was mounting up and Saturday is out of the question. So, I was up at my normal time, 4 a.m. to start my rebel day, please note, I can't tell you when I have EVER taken a day off just to take a day off, my last day off was the 6th of July and that was because I had a periodontist appointment in Terre Haute. Then, Susie from the office called and said the office was closed, so I don't even have to use any of my time!!
I have had THE BEST day! My house is cleaned, my craft projects for my coworkers are all done (which HAD to be done by Friday), my pantry is stocked, my laundry is done and it is 8:28 p.m. and I could actually go to bed guilt-free. I told Andrew I thought maybe I wanted to quit my job and stay home. He laughed, he thinks I will be a nutcase by the time my vacation is over because that is something else I have NEVER done- taken a vacation and just stayed at home. He is probably right, but I have a million plans, and if every day is like today, it is going to be great!

Cookies!!

When our high school kids had their "planning night" at the beginning of the year, one of the things they wanted to do was bake Christmas cookies for the younger AWANA kids. The date was set for the Sunday afternoon before the program which equals THIS afternoon.......

and the results........

After they were done with cookies, they have been having a rock band concert.....

If you drove by and thought it looked like my house was shaking, it probably was!!! They had a good time though, we had a good time. What an awesome bunch!!!

El Camino Update

Well, thoughts of the El Camino being legal by Christmas have been dashed. Last Monday night, the guys started working on the lights. They bought new bulbs for the tail lights and hoped and prayed that maybe that would be all it really needed besides a lens or two. Well.....when they went to put the bulbs in, there was nothing to put them into, the housing and sockets were all but gone. So, now Robert's Christmas is two new tail light housings, two lenses and 4 sockets, (thank goodness for elcaminoparts.com) totally over $250. Hopefully, the head lights are in better shape- I think they are afraid to look! One step at a time, one step at a time....

Our First Tree

I told you I would have a post on this before Christmas. I have always believed we had a fairy tale courtship, this was just one more thing that made me believe that.

The year we started dating Andrew had already worked for Walmart for 8 years. Due to the schedule Walmart management keeps, most of those Christmas's were spent alone, no time to get to his parents and back in the time he had. He had also experienced 8 Black Fridays and had come to the conclusion that most of the world no longer knew what Christmas was anyway. When we started dating, I nicknamed him "Scrooge" and he was fine with that.

On Saturday, November 30th, I was working until 6 at the Decatur Walmart, Andrew got off at 4 so he came up and we were going to spend the evening shopping and going out to dinner. We went to the mall and going up the escalator at Kohl's there was the most BEAUTIFUL tree, I had ever seen. It was a traditional green tree with all white, clear and silver decorations. It had three blue spotlights shining on it. It was gorgeous.

On Monday evening, Andrew called me at work, he asked if I would come by his apartment on the way home. I was working until 9 that night but told him, it would be late, but I would be there (of course this was the night we decided to elope). I walked in the door of his apartment and was greeted by this tree, identical to the tree at Kohl's. I just stood in amazement, it even had the blue spotlights shining on it. Monday, he had the day off, he had drove to Decatur took pictures of the tree, went back to Walmart, had one hour development develop them, and bought all the things, including the tree and the blue spotlights at Walmart (he's such a good Walmart associate). You must remember, he had time to go pick out our rings that day too!

Andrew still gets dragged down by the commercialism of Christmas, Walmart started playing Christmas music at 12:01 a.m, November 1, yes, the morning after Halloween. He also has family to come home to though, and a home and a community that he belongs to, that makes all the difference in the world.

Our Anniversary

Thank you everybody for the anniversary wishes. Our Saturday plans weren't as dull as I had originally thought. My sister got a new computer and need it programed and all of her old files taken off, so on Thursday, I found out we were going to get to make a trip to Lincoln. I was thrilled because I wanted to do something that day but wasn't finding a good reason--this was a good reason. Robert went shopping with Tika, her mom & sister and a friend of her sisters so they were going to be gone all day. We left as soon as Andrew got home from work, and of course, ran next door and had Hardee's biscuits, this year's version--Strawberry, they were good and a good start to our day. We made it to Sis' around noon, she served us a great lunch and then I worked on her computer, Andrew got a nap in while I was doing that, we left her house at a little after 7 and stopped at Hometown Buffet for dinner (we are going to Evansville next weekend and there is a Greek Restaurant there that we will officially call our "Anniversary meal because of the price). We made it home about 10:30, we had a great time just being together, we stayed up and waited on Robert who finally made it in about 11:30. All in all, it was just a really nice day.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

17 years ago today, Andrew and I left my house at 6:00 a.m headed for Kentucky, our mission- to get married, technically we eloped, though my mom knew we were doing it, as did just a few of my friends. See, we had been dating for 6 weeks, we realized we both had a three day weekend on the 6th, 7th & 8th of December. On Monday, the 2nd, Andrew asked me if I would like to go to St. Louis for the weekend--his plans were to ask me to marry him at the top of the Arch. I told him, I really thought he was the one and the thought of me going someplace alone with him overnight would make my mom never like him. So he says, "Then lets go get married Friday morning". I about fell over, and said, "What about rings" which he replies--I bought them today, they are being sized and I will have them Thursday. This was also the night he put up the Christmas tree for me--another post before Christmas, I promise. Of course, I said yes, and went home and asked Mom how serious she was about her suggestion we elope (we had started making wedding plan "unofficially" and it was getting out of hand so she had practically begged us just to do this).

On Thursday night, the rings were in, I had worked in Decatur all day and was coming to Effingham to go bowling with a league I was on there. I stopped by the store to see Andrew and he took me to the office, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him--YES, AT WALMART!! So, if you are getting all this, it was the anniversary of our offical engagement last night, we were engaged for about 15 hours.

We made it to Henderson KY, about 8:00 and was already third in line to get married. We had to sign papers that said we were no closer than 3rd cousins (all the things they say about KY--it's true). Anyway, we got to pick our ceremony, so we had the traditional Christian-"Do you take this man....thing" with the justice of the peace who looked like Colonel Sanders, and the door of the court room proped open to the secretary's office, so the two women typing away were our witnesses.

We went to Hardee's and had Cinnamon and Raisin biscuits, naming that our official wedding cake- so yes, we normally visit a Hardee's on our anniversary, and we will today.

I had known Andrew for 2 years, we had always been friends and I think it was around May of that year, that I realized I really, really liked him. I guess it started being aparent to everyone else that he liked me that summer but we worked in the same store and he was my boss so that was a no-no. When I transferred to Decatur to catch shoplifters, he asked me out. We still have people who work for Walmart that believe we were dating behind everyones backs, we weren't but I knew 20 minutes into my first date, I was going to marry him and obviously he did too.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

A Nice Quiet Week...How Interesting-NOT!!

Last night, Andrew commented that I hadn't updated my blog forever, it had only been since Friday but whatever..... Honestly, it has been quiet around here this week, which is a change. It's funny, my December looks more manageable than the last few months and there are a lot more nights at home. Last Saturday night, Tika came over and we all watched a movie together, last night was Awana, we are holding steady with 9 faithful teenagers, 3 of them were at my house after school, which I am also used to now, I just make crockpot suppers on Wednesday so there is plenty for whoever shows up.

Friday afternoon is our work Christmas party, it's at Richard's Farm, so that should be good. Friday night, I am playing my flute uptown from 6-6:45 for Holly Jolly Christmas, it just dawned on me this morning that I am probably going to need a flashlight, so that's on my to do list. Saturday will be mine and Andrew's 17th Anniversary. Robert is going with Tika and her family shopping, so we have the whole day alone. What do old married folks do when they have a day alone together? Probably decorate for Christmas, which I still haven't gotten done. Of course, Andrew has to work Friday night so Saturday morning he will want to get a few hours of sleep. The guys are neither one willing to put up the outside lights without the other one so I guess that is happening Sunday afternoon. See, how exciting is all of that?? Believe me, it's kinda nice but kinda strange all at the same time. I am so used to having to be 2 and 3 places at once that I feel like I am forgetting things I am supposed to be doing. Of course, I am looking very forward to the week of Christmas, I take vacation from the 23rd to the 5th. When I first planned it, we had thought about flying out to see Andrew's dad, then we found out he was coming to Andrew's Grandma's so that was out. Now, I just have some time at home, which is rare --I already have several projects planned though. Okay, now I am babbling, it's time to get on with this day...Happy Thursday!!