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!!