Front yard makeover

Through wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow the boy finished moving rock around the front yard yesterday and unveiled the finished product;

It's actually a lot easier to walk around on than I thought it'd be and obviously will be way less maintenance. Now to figure out how to fancy it up!

Of course we had ourselves glued to the TV today for the Super Bowl, but unfortunately the best part was the food;

Pretzel and beer cupcakes to help choke down the horrible spanking that the Broncos took. That's the last time I bet $5 on the game against my boss! He already texted to remind me to stop at the bank on my way in to work tomorrow. That's alright, I'll earn it back on our Daytona wager coming up in a few weeks!

Rockscaping

After a long deliberation Chris has decided to move forward with plans to replace a majority of the front yard grass with rock. Especially good timing considering we'll probably be on mandatory water rationing this summer. After some research Chris trimmed the grass really, really short and then covered it in filter fabric over which we'll have gravel delivered.

We work with a gentleman that owns a rock yard up in P-town that we'll get the rock from and hopefully we can get a delivery this week before the anticipated sprinkles come at the end of the week. After the rock is delivered and spread we'll think about how we want to jazz it up a bit. You know, gnomes or pink flamingos - we'll see.

Checking in

Apparently I've been on a blogging vacation for a couple of weeks while living my incredibly fascinating life. Here's a snapshot:

The biggest news for January is that it's my last month doing church accounting. I got a standing ovation and a cake at church as well as a very generous thank you gift. I've been training and training and training my replacement who just got her name on the bank account yesterday so the final passing of the baton will be next Monday night. So excited!

Our big plan for this weekend is to go mattress shopping. That's going to be our "splurge" with our tax refund - an upgrade to a CalKing bed. Apparently my body is coal fired and is too hot to be next to in a Queen bed. I love soft beds while Chris likes a firm mattress so this should be fun!

Starting the new year off right!

And by right, I mean with a raging head cold. "Somebody" who came over for Christmas, cough *mom* cough, brought her cooties as a Christmas gift to me. So, since last Thursday (day after Christmas) my life has been comprised of varying degrees of this;

I was sent home from work Thursday morning and stayed home Friday because I had no voice and had progressed to the uncontrollable coughing phase of my torment. Today has been my best day yet. The medicine is finally able to control my cough and I can actually talk again so I'll be heading back to the salt mines tomorrow.

Yesterday the boy and our neighbor, Doug, warmed up the chainsaws and went to town on our front yard.

Scraggly volunteer trees were removed and dead limbs trimmed. There's more work to be done, but he's pacing himself.

I've made sure to hit up Starbuck's everyday since the 1st for my free coffees;

Wednesday = Mocha
Thursday = Pumpkin Spice Latte
Friday = Cinnamon Dolce Latte
Saturday = Gingerbread Latte
Sunday = Pumpkin Spice Latte (my favorite)

And that's how you start the new year!

Feliz Navidad!

Just another sunny, 67 degree Christmas day here in California! After Wilson ran up the hill and picked up mom this morning we got started with our Christmas festivities so that we could get mom back to bed at a decent time.

And the Tour de Force gift....

A special Starbuck's tumbler that allows me a free grande espresso drink EVERY DAY in January. Don't think I'm not cashing in on that action!

We didn't make any special Christmas meals, though we did do a seafood Christmas Eve dinner full of scallops and shrimp. Instead we made Wilson take us to Ginger's for Chinese dinner.

We weren't the only family with that idea - the place was rockin'! The paper had printed repeated lists of the few restaurants open on Christmas, so they were one of the few gigs in town.

After filling our bellies with MSG, we headed back home for our on-going Scrabble rivalry.

Much to everyone's surprise, especially myself, I finally won a game (out of 3)! I mean, I only won because I used all my tiles first and after the other losers had to deduct the tiles on their racks I barely had the highest score, but I'll take it! It's hard to win when Wilson brings home all of her big city, made-up college words.

Now we're settled in on the couch, ignoring each other with our respective electronics - just like any other American family!

Blast from the past

Had a completely surprising and random phone call from my uncle today (mom's brother) talking about old family photos he had and wanting to know if I was interested in some digital copies of ones that I was in. How could I turn that offer down? Here's a few that he forwarded me today for grins and giggles;

My Aunt Dona, Uncle Bill, and Grandma in the back row, my Dad, cousin Reuben, and Mom holding me in the front row at my Grandma's house in Stirling City.

Me helping my Grandma cook.

My cousin Reuben and I (he's 2 yrs older than me).

Me sporting a sweet bohemian dress.

Realizing early on that a future in art was not in my cards.

In the kitchen and barefoot....

Mesmerized by all the sweet, sweet candy.

Some of the photos I already had, but some were new to me. He's going to keep going through his archives and hopefully find some more gems for me to share!

Trimming the tree

After Thanksgiving we drug our tree out of the closet to add a little festivity to the place. While in Germany I did pick up a new ornament for the tree that says Merry Christmas in German.

Now we just need some presents! Today we stopped at Big Lots and picked up some new outdoor lights - blue icicles for the outside of the courtyard fence. Who was excited to get to untangle them out of the box?!?

We didn't have any snow last night like was threatened. I even checked during my regularly scheduled 2 a.m. potty break, but P-town got all theirs and then some. I talked to some co-workers this morning who were out running the plows. Suckers, that what they get for living in town!

We already went out and ran our errands today so we have the rest of the day to relax, except for me - I have to finish the November reports for church tomorrow. Ugh. Thankfully, somebody else in church has volunteered to take my treasury job from me starting in January. Yay! Because if not, Chris was going to drive the laptop and printer to the church and throw it in the front yard come January 1st. Seriously. It's been sucking up all my weekends for 3 long years, enough is enough.

Looking forward to 2014, no more treasurer work for the church, Bunko has come to an end after 13 years, and the bookkeeping I do for my missionary friends will be over by June. If I give up singing too I'll really be footloose and fancy free....and probably bored out of my mind. We'll have to take up a couple's activity like karaoke or MMA fighting!