December 30 - 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30. A quiet relaxing day, with Ben and Jill getting ready to head back home. We kind of lazed around the house, played with Charlotte, read, and just took it easy before taking them to the airport.
The house was just way too quiet when we got back. The normal no longer felt quite normal.
Their flights were on time and they made it home safely.
Monday, December 31. The last day of 2012 and I spent it at work. A very busy day, as we have 50-60 people due to arrive in the next few days.
New Year's Eve was a quiet one for us - we had planned to attend the party here in our community but staying home sounded much better to us, as I was feeling like I was coming down with some kind of crud - headache, sore throat, and a general blah feeling. I fixed a pork chop dinner, had a hot toddy and hit the sack. I did wake up for a few minutes when I heard lots of fireworks going off. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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December 10-29, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012. For all of you faithful readers, I'm sorry I haven't kept you aware of what's going on. We are all well, in fact, we're better than well and have just been too busy and involved with Christmas to write.
The week or so leading up to Christmas was busy with preparation, house cleaning, shopping, wrapping, baking, socializing - you know how it goes.
Ben, Jill, Charlotte, Lois, and Dennis all arrived on Sunday, the 23rd and we had a very happy evening together, sharing updates since our last time together in San Francisco for Charlotte's birthday. She sure has learned a lot since then - major improvements in walking and coordination, a large vocabulary, recognition of colors, animals, foods and activities.
Together, we have celebrated Christmas with gift exchanges, lots of great food and drinks, playing with Charlotte, going for walks, trips to Usery State Park for walks and runs (Ben), dinner at Tia Rosa and Organ Stop Pizza, lots of visitors, and we even went to see a movie (Django Unchained). Both sets of Grandparents have had one-on-one time with Charlotte and with our own son or daughter. It has been a week of good times and it is now coming to an end, as Lois and Dennis left this morning and Ben, Jill, and Charlotte take off tomorrow.
I am considering a change to this website; taking it offline and just using it as a personal journal. Since we are more stationary now and will probably not travel as much in the future, it really is no longer a travel journal. If you are one of my faithful readers, let me know and when the time comes, I will give you a password for access.
Right now, I am waiting for Ben and Jill to return from a night in Scottsdale, Mike and Charlotte are napping, and Nan, Dale, and Monica are coming by for a visit. They haven't met Charlotte yet and Monica and Ben haven't seen each other since our last family reunion in 2004. I think we are way overdue for another.
We had a great visit but as the night went on, Charlotte started getting fussy and cranky. She has been so adaptive to all of these strangers and new places throughout the last week, but I think it finally took its toll.
Sunday, December 30. It is 6 pm and we are sitting here in our comfy clothes in front of the tube and enjoying the quiet. Our family is on their way home. It was hard to say goodbye at the airport, and we just can't imagine how different Charlotte will be the next time we see her.
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December 3 - 9, 2012
Sunday, December 9. I guess it was a busy week, as this is the first time that I have taken a few minutes to sit down and write.
The work week was typical and we topped that off with a happy hour get-together at Jan and Jim's house on Wednesday night (our Friday) for a chat with friends.
Thursday was filled with a doctor and dentist appointment, some house cleaning, some yard work, and enjoying the outdoors.
On Friday morning, I made Granola Crunch to donate to our Community's Bake Sale and got food prepped for dinner with Craig and Diane tonight. While I was doing that, Mike went to the DMV to get our Honda tags renewed for another year.
Shortly after he got home, he started experiencing some severe stomach cramps and we ended up canceling our dinner date with friends. By the next morning, he was fine, must have been some bug going around.
On Saturday, we went with Pat and Roger to visit with Paul and Karen over in Sun City. Paul is our friend that had the brain aneurysm about a year ago. He is stable but there really isn't a lot of improvement in his condition, although Karen tells us that he is more active these days and is responding to various stimulus. On our visit, he seemed to be just sleeping, even when they got him up into a chair and brought him out to the living room.
When we got back home, we had a nice, long Facetime conversation with Ben and Charlotte. She can say "luv you" now and that really gives me the chills and brings tears to my eyes. I know, I'm a sap. She's quite the busy body. We sure look forward to those calls.
And today, not much happened at all. We had talked with the Hoovey's about going to the Mesa Art Center Art Fair but decided it was a good day to just hang around the house. We did take Frisco to the dog park for a while and that was fun until he got attacked by a pit bull. That damn dog was getting in the middle of several dog's play
and this time it was Frisco. Frisco wasn't hurt but he drew blood in a couple of spots on the pit. The people that witnessed the thing all agreed that it was the pit that started it but there was no way that Frisco would ever back down - and that is what scares me.
I also messed up my back during this whole thing as I was twisting and reaching to grab my dog. Ever since, I can feel a catch in my lower back whenever I move. Just great - thanks a lot, little buddy.
The only other news that I have to write about is that I have had to encounters with the Coyote that roams this area this week. On Saturday morning, when I was coming home from our walk, I was one house away from ours when it walked right in front of me, heading to the north. It stopped and watched us behind the house across the street. At 4:30 that evening, it came from the north, between the same houses and was going to cut through my yard but I tapped on the window and it went further down before cutting through the yards. As it walked away, I noticed that it's right hind leg is injured and it walks on only 3 legs. I've been hearing stories from neighbors that have seen it.
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December 1 - 2, 2012
Saturday, December 1. Our morning didn't start too nice when Mike received a text from his cousin Louie, letting us know that her brother Rick passed away. He lived only about 6 months since he learned that his cancer was back after being in remission for several years. I never knew him very well, he was a quiet and very laid-back guy. Rest in peace, Rick. His suffering is over.
We spent the day at home except for a trip to Apache Junction to a great consignment store for kids stuff, so I could get a couple of bigger toys to keep Charlotte entertained when she is here for Christmas. Pat went with me and we also made a stop at Sprouts for a few groceries.
Late in the afternoon, I heard lots of neighborhood dogs barking up a storm. A little later, when I took Frisco out, he pulled and tugged and was all concerned about getting to the back yard. Im thinking that it must have been a Coyote going through the yards. He sure doesn't behave like that when its a cat or rabbit.
Sunday, December 2. We got a lot of little projects done around the house today and I tried out the new convection oven that I recently bought. I shopped and shopped, hoping to replace the one that came with the house, but have been unable to find one that is that big. It worked well for the dog treats but not so well on the cookies that I tried - could be operator error.
Pat cooked lasagna for dinner for us tonight, at our house and it was very tasty.
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Created on 12/01/2012 09:12 PM by bridge
Updated on 01/01/2013 09:19 AM by bridge
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