My Husband is Amazing!

Tonight we were out wandering the streets of Stoughton. We went into our favorite antique shop, Catfish Antiques, and there has been this awesome Schwinn bicycle in their basement area that I have wanted for a long time. Well tonight Mike bought it for me! I can't wait to get it ready for spring time so I can go for rides. It has this really cool old bell. All I need is a basket! He even carried it all the way from the store home. Good thing we don't live far from downtown. :) I am very happy with my Christmas gift.

Project Complete

As you can see the end result is beautiful! The Blinds went into place wonderfully and they're just what we wanted. As you can see Maddy was a Huge Help... she told Mike exactly where to put things. We had to make sure that the Walter's Curse was fulfilled, so on the last bracket to go up, wouldn't you know, but that the skrew would not go in! We drilled pilot holes and everything... it wouldn't go in the last 1/4 in! We messed around with it and finally got it in and now we have privacy! Wouldn't you know... Mike promptly striped and ran around naked, just because he could.

Christmas will come...

For many families this holiday season, they are not blessed with jobs or money to give their children gifts this season. The Community Center partnered with our local bank this year to make sure that at least some kids will have something under the tree. A lot of items were donated, but there sure was a big difference from last year to this year on the amount of items extra we had as back up. I think we got down to 1 tub of barbie dolls left to pick from. What joy it has brought me though to work in this community and to see countless times people show up with what ever it is in need. This year a team of moms and daughters showed up to pack up all the food for over 60 families! They had a great time doing it and I appreciated them helping us out! We hope this helps some families make it through the next few weeks.

More Christmas Gifts!

A few weeks ago when my mom and Carl were here, we ventured out in the snow to order blinds for our house. We received the packages yesterday and dug right in to get them up! They look amazing! They really make the rooms look more complete. We'll finish hanging them today when Mike gets back from work. It ended up not being as hard as we thought. The concern was the old windows and their unusual trim pieces. But Mike figured it out. We really really like them! Too bad they make our wood work look so terrible :) But they help keep out this blistery cold air we're having today!

Saturday Fun..... aka Work!

Yesterday was lots of fun and very very long. I started the day picking up our personal Share order along with about 60 other Stoughton families. A lot of people ordered food for their Thanksgiving holiday dinners. After that I buzzed off to Deerfield to start my work day. We bagged up lots of food and as you can see literally TONS of potatoes for our families. I am amazed at the number of people that turn out every year to help our local families. After we got the families taken care of, another team of people showed up at the Center to help me and Phil load up prizes for our 14th Annual Family Bingo Night. This fundraiser helps pay for our holiday baskets for our families. There was a phenomenal turn out this year. We had to put people out in the 2nd section of the commons area. This was such a boost for me as I have been struggling with being happy with where I'm at and knowing if what I do even reaches people in the community... this night showed me the power of networking and involving others in the community. This was truely a team work effort! This was the first time this has happened since I started and I really liked it.... I think I'll try asking people to help more often. :) It's not that I haven't asked people to help with stuff, it's just that this is the first time that it's actually worked. It was a great success and I'm glad that I work in Deerfield!

Apples

Tonight we had a new and wonderful experience with a new gadget in our household. New to us anyways. A friend of ours wasn't using their apple peeler/slicer/corer contraption, so they gave it to us. Much to my delight it was easy to put together and SO much fun to use. It made making apple crisp tonight so much better!!! I had started chopping apples by hand and Mike reminded me that we had this little tool. I'm so glad he did.

Bathtime!

We are so fortunate to have such a huge tub and spray nozzle to do this wonderful and joyous and very wet task. Maddy can't rub her head enough when the job is all done to get all that water off her head. Mike decided on this day to give E-Dog a cool hairdo. They are so tolerant of us. I feel for our future children, should we be so blessed.

Side Window

Tonight I snapped a picture that is a regular occurrence in our household. Maddy spends many a mornings and evenings staring out our stairway window, people watching. Most often she has her head resting on the sill... earlier when I caught her, she had her front paws on the sill and she was growling and barking... at the snow perhaps? Who knows... she's strange like that!

Cozy Sunday

Yesterday the dogs and I, as you can see, were enjoying the chilly Sunday afternoon snuggling on the couch. They are wonderful foot and body warmers now with the cold weather! Mike and I had spent the day looking for curtains and blinds for all of our beautiful windows. Little to no success. Those items are so expensive. I suppose we pay now or later with the heating bills. Also, I don't like that others can see in our windows.

Christmas came early!

Yesterday when we got home we had a HUGE box on our front stoop! I couldn't lift it so Mike hauled it in. Much to our surprise it was a beautiful chopping block from Kevin and Shann! It is so beautiful. We can't wait to remodel the kitchen so it matches. It's so cool because the legs are attached just by placing them in there and using wedges if they are loose. I think the dogs even love it as they were right there the whole time helping us. This made for a fun Friday family night project.

Impatient

Mike and I received this impatient plant as a shower gift from Karen and Warren Scholten in EG. During the summer it was on it's last leg and at one point had blown off the porch and lived in the bushes for 3 weeks or so. As you can see after some tender loving care and water, it is alive and kicking. It started blooming yesterday so I thought I'd take some photos. It has such beautiful colors.

Voting

I had to post how powerful yesterday's process was for me. So many conversations and discussions I have had with friends and family about multiple issues that were brought up through out this political season. I was very excited to be able to stand in that long line yesterday and vote because those before me suffered through lines, picket lines. What a right, what a privilege. I know that there is still a lot of oppression and hatred in our country but yesterday's outcome inspires me to keep pressing forward.

Killer Klowns

So in light of the Halloween season, Mike made me watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space. it was so ridiculous it was actually funny. It helped that I was pretty tired too, I'm sure. I would recommend you watch it if you haven't. I don't know about Killer Klowns 2, but it might be worth it. :)

Teeth

I know some of you have been wondering how my tooth extraction has gone. Well, last Friday after I went in and the right wisdom tooth cam out in pieces, it ended up getting infected. I put up with it for a few days and then decided that since I wasn't able to swallow I should probably go in and get it checked out. I'm so glad I did. I didn't like the clove oil stuffing they put in the whole, but it sure made things feel better. I ended up having to go back everyday last week to get it replaced with new stuffing. Tomorrow should be the last day I have to do that and today is the last day of antibiotics! There is just one small lump left to go away. It feels so good to be able to eat normal foods again and rotate my head. I have to say I have enjoyed learning to eat slower and enjoy my food instead of being in a constant rush. :)

Cleaning Day

Today while Mike is at work and the dogs rest on their pillow and chair, I've been busy... I was able to get things written in our wedding album, cleaned off my piles from the dining room table, and vacuumed the house! It feels so good to get so much done. Just wish it was outside. I'll head out after a while I'm sure. It's amazing how much I get done with Mike not home :) Just kidding, honey, you help me out a lot when your around. I have 4 buckets of apples that are looking to be taken care of. Sounds like I have more to do. :)

And so it's begun

I noticed tonight as I was clicking through the favorites that my husband had made me a blog... and so I started developing it. We shall see how I do. :)