Week 2

Jan 11: The glorious afternoon sun shining into my currently bare living room.
Jan 12: Piece #1 - I put the new tv stand together.

Jan 13: My birthday. Gayle made me a cake and Jane made cookies which we ate at biblestudy.

The b-day card pile. Jan 14: Piece #2 - the first of the bookcases gets assembled.

Jan 15: My birthday party entailed rounding up a few friends and going dancing at Margarita's. It was a fun night with a great group of friends!

Jan 16: Piece # 3 - The new couch has arrived and I am loving it. Man, I have good taste!

Jan 17: Over a year ago, Heather Y and I took some gourmet cooking classes. We finally got around to putting together a dinner for a few friends and trying out those recipes. Pork Normandy - pork tenderloin with apple brandy sauce and apple chutney, salad, roast potatoes and carrots, bread and I made a tarte tatin for dessert. Good food & good friends. It was a good thing my living room was practically bare. We pulled the dining room table out there and added on a card table to have enough room for everyone.

Week 1 continued

Jan 4 - I decided to take down the popcorn ceiling in the living room. Good-bye, glitter, I will not miss you. Jan 5 - Remnants as the process continues.

Jan 6 - The paint clothes come out for priming & painting the ceiling.

Jan 7 - Mom requested chocolate chip cookies to bring home this weekend. Yes, there are some missing. It was quality control.

Jan 8 - In Lawrence, the Christmas snow has not melted and they've added a few inches. This is Mom & Dad's back deck.

Jan 9 - I'm thankful we didn't get snow like this in Wichita.

Dad is home from his hip replacement surgery. Barkley is happy because he's the only one who shares bits of his cookies.

Jan 11 - Mom made me a birthday dinner. JT helped blow out the candles on the cake.

Week 52/Week 1

It seems it was a busy week. Lots of pictures to share.
Dec 29: Treated myself to a pedicure for New Year's Eve. By chance I chose Janel's favorite shade, "I'm not just a waitress."
Dec 30: Declaring war on the popcorn ceilings. Bedroom #2 before.

Bedroom #2 after.

Dec 31: Our fantasitc new venue for Pathways' New Year's Eve Party - WaterWay Cafe in Exploration Place

Dancing the night away.

My fabulous friend & co-planner, Lindsay.

Jan 1: Saying good-bye to the hide-a-bed that the previous home owner left in the basement. Tanya & Chris got engaged on that couch. But Sara is giving it a good new home.

Jan 2: So, I might be a tad stuborn & independent. I moved the purple couch & loveseat to the basement by myself. My living room looks like a bachelor pad now. I'm awaiting the arrival of newly purchased furniture, and in the meantime will remove the popcorn ceiling while the room is cleared out.

Jan 3: JT's birthday and no major plans, so I braved these fine road conditions to drive 3 hours to Sharon & David's house to spend time with him on his b-day. Yes, that is the interstate.

The newly minted 5 year old who was very excited about his snuggie from Grandma & Grandpa.

Trying to get the goofball to hold still so I could get a good picture. His cousin Amber had spent the night. We had a good time playing together. Happy birthday, buddy. I love you very much.

Christmas edition of The Daily Grind

Dec 20: Pathways' Christmas candlelight service...only we weren't allowed to use real candles.
Dec 21: Santa Bear

Dec 22: I didn't pack so light for heading to my parents for Christmas. I headed up a day early due to the big storm that was forecast and was thankfully up there well before any bad weather developed.

Dec 23: Merry Christmas deer. Dad shot this buck (1982/83?) when we still lived in Canada and it's been a fixture in our home ever since. It now resides at the bottom of the stairwell to welcome you to the basement and gets dressed up for Christmas. A few years ago, David told JT (about 2 at the time) that a reindeer flew thru the wall and got stuck.

Dec 24: Barkley was caught in the act. This is his favorite spot in the house because he can look out the front windows, but he's not allowed to be up on the bed.

Dec 25: Lawrence received 8-10 inches of snow and winds up to 40 mph. This greeted us Christmas morning out the front door. That is about a 3 foot snow drift at the end of the walk that extended along the entire front of the garage.

The view out the back door.

JT & I got bundled up like Nanook of the North to go sledding. Mom & Dad's driveway is steep enough to make a perfect hill and there was a big plowed drift across the street that we would sled into. Eventually, Sharon, David, Mom & Dad joined us in the sledding. It was great.

Dec 26: Heather P & I braved the poorly plowed roads to meet for lunch. I had cabin fever after 3 days of barely leaving the house and it was great to catch up with my dear friend.

Dec 27: The Man Meal. Allen & Steve made us dinner a fabulous dinner. Life would be boring without these men as my friends.

Dec 28: hmmm, what color to choose...the living room & hallway will be getting a new coat of paint soon.

The week that was...

Dec 15: Another Nigella recipe - snow-capped spice cake. I made it for a snack day at work. It was yummy. Dec 16 - Yes, I did rake leaves in mid-Dec. It was finally not frigid today and the lingering leaves were driving me nuts, so I took care of them.

Dec 17 - An important part of each workday morning and now I'm prepared for 2010. Four of us have been doing the daily Jeopardy calendar for several years, keep track of scores on an Excel spreadsheet...yes, we're enginerds.

Dec 18 - Went to see "Road To Bethleham", a tour through the story of Jesus' birth. Here Mary is visiting her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1).

Dec 19 - Baking: chocolate mint cookies, nutella cookie sandwiches, and sugar cookies with covered with chocolate & peppermint.

Seattle & more

Dec 10 - I was quite proud of myself. This was all my luggage for my trip to see Grandma.
Dec 11 - I don't remember ever flying into Seattle on such a clear day. I had this amazing view of Mt. Rainier out my airplane window.

I can't help but share two pictures from this day. The view of downtown Seattle was fantastic as we flew around it. I love that I caught a ferry boat crossing the Puget Sound.

Dec 12 - Grandma has these enormous evergreens in her backyard which are a good 70-80 feet tall.

Dec 13 - Grandma and me. I had a very nice weeked spending time with her and seeing most of my aunts, uncles & cousins on that side of the family.

When I was at the airport on my way home, this corner of the airport sparked a memory. Here is where I received my 10 year service award from my manager on a very early Friday morning as a group of us were waiting to catch our flight back to Wichita a few years ago. He decided to do it then since we were all missing the crew meeting that day I was supposed to get it at.

Dec 14 - The only Christmas tree I bothered to get out at my house this year.