Update 11/28 - 12/4
Hi Friend!
End of November, and Dawne and I are still making it to the park
every morning. Although, one morning, Dawne's car got broken into for an old
rice cooker. Who knew Redmond could be so criminal. The pups are still adorable, but Casper and
Nala are not very good at taking pictures.
Sure, they have other tricks, but picture taking is not on the top. We tried to take pictures anyway because
Dawne and Jordan had some pretty amazeballs pictures taken on a cruise in
October where they look ten years younger, and I thought that deserved to be
sent out in a Holiday Card.
Zach came over one night to burn a bunch of stuff in my little
fire pit outside. It still seems like a sketchy pit, so I got the fire
extinguisher out just in case.
I also "made" dinner of soup and toast for Dawne and I
while we rewatched the Gilmore Girls - which is an ideal evening in my
book.
I went to brunch with Sharon and Vivian at Sweet Iron as Mike had
to go to Utah for a bit for work. For
some reason they didn't want to go to the drag show I had lined up for later,
but I did take Zach. It was called Boob
job for Christmas. We also went with
Kelly, her friend Daniel and Zach. It
was ab fab. Except for one guy in the
audience, or as Daniel said, "I don't like that guy. The little one."
Sunday was Brunch at Dr Rach and Dr Ander's which was a delight
from beginning to end, including some seriously yummy grub and being
entertained by Anderson. Love them!
T O'B
Update 12/5 - 12/11
Hi Friend!
We got a snow day, which never happens (although given that I can
see into the future, my mother's remark of "I think you're going to have
to stop saying it never snows" might not be so irritating right now.) But
in December, this was very very exciting.
I also threw my first fancy dinner party with fancy china, real
food, fellowship, games and presents! I
invited the Weisman crew over for a lovely Christmahkah. I didn't plan super well with the food, and
might have over cooked the chicken, but there was plenty of mac and cheese to
cover that mistake right up.
The following day, we all took a snow filled ride up to
Leavenworth (all while thinking, "Julia (from Germany who's never been)
would love this place!") We rented
Yukon Denali, only this Denali didn't come with 4-wheel drive. Given that we were only renting it for the
4WD, my first question is why would they even make a truck like that without
4WD? If you have an answer, I would love
to hear it.
Side note, Kevin turned 13.
I asked him if he felt like a teenager, which he said no, but then said
yes to feeling angst-y and annoying. So I told him he could only do that for a
day. I hope he listens!
We played games in the car, and sang Christmas carols. By the time we got up to Leavenworth, it was
so cold, I ended up having to keep Percy in his bag for warmth.
Lucas: Zach I just proclaimed my hangeryness.
Lucas shared his pretzel with Nicki and she was very excited so I
felt the need to point out, "That doesn't make him a better cousin."
I don't think she believed me though.
A lot of us got pickles, and I was the only one that didn't need
a steak knife to cut it. Yeah, that
probably doesn't mean anything to you, unless you really know me and then you
know that this is big freakin' deal.
We elected Lucas to give a toast in memory of Uncle Ray as it was
his birthday weekend. Reminding him to
be warm, and loving without causing Aunt Pat to cry. Easy Peasy! I had total confidence in him,
but still made some jokes to make sure no one else cried either. And it was a success!
And finally, Zach told us a story about him and his friends going
for a hike during boy scouts when one friend found an Oreo on the trail, ate it
and then said, "What? 3 week
rule."
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/mye43q6t8rj95zq/AACLeolQGuefAZd3aAOntNwoa
Much Love,
T O’B
Update 12/12 - 12/18
Hi Friend!
December, as always, is a bit of a mad dash to get presents,
finish up projects so you can take some time off, and get as much merry in as
you can. This year more so as I was
headed to NY on 12/16. I heard that
there was going to be a storm that was going to start at 6 am, the exact time
when I was arriving. Hoping that Sean
didn’t have plans at 5 am on a Saturday, I asked if he could maybe swing by and
pick me up. He decided which car he’d be
less upset about if we slid into a guard rail, and like a prince on a white
jeep, showed up bright and stormy to pick me up!
It was a long trip home, but I really appreciated the effort and
the extra quality time with Sean. As we
were nearing Sean’s house Momela called.
Momela: Are the roads good?
Me: No... I wouldn't say that
Sean: For sleigh riding.
That evening, we all invited ourselves to Kenny’s house for a
quick holiday gathering. It was like the
Christmas party but without the thought and planning ahead of time. Actually, it was a blast. Mo got a cake for Doreen and Kenny’s birthday,
but Kenny was upset that Sean’s name wasn’t on it (like it used to be for my
parent’s party) so Mo wrote Sean on a small piece of paper and stuck it to the
cake. I thought this was hilarious,
Kenny was pleased that it was fixed, and Sean was mortified.
Oh, I think maybe one of the trees fell down b/c someone said,
“Sounds like all of our Christmas hopes and dreams crashing to the ground.”
And before the party we went to 5:30 mass b/c Kyle was an alter
server but mass was pretty packed and so either Pat or Kyle said, “Looks like a
lot of people are getting it out of the way tonight.” And either way it was
funny.
Sunday night I had to head down to the city for work, but I took
a list of cool places to go with me from Sean so I’d look hip and cool if
anyone asked me to be a New Yorker. And
I totally went to a lot of the places (if not this trip a future one in Feb) so
thanks buddy! Maybe more importantly
though, I took a picture with tree in Rockefeller plaza. Woot!
Oh and I added some pictures of Percy and a WIP of the light
house!
Much Love,
T O’B
Update 12/19 - 12/25
Hi Friend!
Had to work for a couple of days
in NY. It was kind of awesome and made
me fall in love with my job all over again.
Also got to spend some time with my co-workers walking around the city
and listened to my boss complain about Cabbage that is used as flowers/decoration.
After the work part of the week
was over, Bailey and I took a road trip to PA to visit Julie and Nick. Bails had a bunch of questions about the PA
Dutch and PA in general to which I said, “That’s a great question, Julie will
know!” And she totally did. Like do they
really have 6 fingers, and what’s the difference between the Amish and the PA
dutch?
We took a lovely walk around the
neighborhood because it was a gorgeous day, and then we made Christmas
Cookies!
I also got to go to my nephews
Boy Scout badge ceremony thingy. It was
pretty cute, because I’ve never been to one before and also because my nephews
are cool.
On Sean’s birthday, Stacey made
some kind on schnitzel? And Bails made potato pancakes and they were so
delicious. At one point, someone was
complaining about exes and etiquette to which Sean said, “You invite your ex to
ever holiday!”
Earlier in the week, Jackie had
told her classmates and teachers that she had Angina and wouldn’t be in class
the following day because clearly her mom was going to have to take her to the
hospital. Under protest, Stacey brought
her to the doctor to find out that those pills she was taking daily that she
was supposed to drink a full glass of water with? Well she wasn’t and it was causing her
discomfort. Or Angina, definitely one of
those.
Sean for Jeep accessories, so I
got him a Hula girl! And a Penn State cover for his tire, but mostly a Hula
girl. Christmas was perfection. We had Christmas Eve at my parents’ house
where they proceeded to completely spoil us.
Like really, really spoil us with presents, food and so much love. Maureen broke the bench in living room and
felt really bad for it, only Morgan had broken it before and pretended like she
didn’t, and what neither of them knew was that Kevin had actually broken in a
year ago.
Christmas proper was spent at
Church and then Maureen’s house where we played some Balderdash and I actually
knew a couple of the words, so I thought it was great day. Oh, and here are some pictures, including the
infamous “Prune Men” that Sean made 25 years ago!
Much Love,
T O’B
Update 12/26 - 1/1
Hi Friend!
Sean took his fam to Cali for
the Rose Bowl game to see Penn State.
He's such a good alumnus! Jackie had been talking about how they were
going clubbing all week, but I don't think they quite got there. I got sick the day after Christmas with this
horrible hacking cough that made me think I was going to stop breathing and
die. Sadly, Frita had the same thing,
and we basically hacked for a week. At
one point, I took DayQuil so I could play some Canasta and after one game I
couldn't do it anymore and just fell asleep.
On DayQuil! One morning I woke up, took my comforter onto the living
room couch and asked for Maleficent because I had been dreaming about that
movie fondly all night. It was rough
week, to say the least.
Someone called something a Fixer
Downer, and even though I don't remember the reference, it's still a funny
thing to say.
Frita told me a story about Nana
saying, "Look at that old lady! If she's going that slow she shouldn't be
walking. Hit her!" I'm not sure if that's true entirely, but heh.
Finally, we rang in the New Year
at Sue and Dan's with games & friends.
Jim: Dylan what happened to all
the strawberries?
Dylen: Ate 'em.
Oh, and here's a text from Dr.
Rach that I thought was funny:
Sorry to hear your were sick,
but glad it was good anyway. My Christmas was also awesome. We're back in
Seattle now. We're not at a party per
se, but we are sitting on our couch doing a crossword and trying to stay up
until 9:00 to watch the ball drop on the east coast, so that's something.
Happy 2016 and 17!
Much love,
T O'B
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