2010, where'd that come from???

I was writing bills yesterday, and kept stumbling over the date. I remember being so blown away by surviving to the millenium, and thinking how awesome it was to watch the change of a century and into a new millenium all at the same time. I keep telling myself I'm not old, I'm still in midlife- and here I am experiencing the most amazing time in history. At the turn of the last century, 55 was old age, now we have another 20 years to look forward to, easily. Most of my grandparents lived into their 80's, pretty unheard of in 1900 I think. Now we are 10 years into the century, and I'm wondering where the last 10 years went. We moved here just over 10 years ago, and I still feel like this is a new experience. Another 2 years and we will be here as long as we were on the Colorado farm. That's hard to believe~

I'm still working on a book, I hit a writing block a month ago though, and haven't been willing to sit down to write for weeks. Time to get back on the computer. I really want to finish this thing!~

New Years was a very fun evening, Nic and Gina came over, we watched movies and played games. I have to say, I actually won at Trivial Pursuit! I haven't played it in years, and I thought I'd be pretty lousy. Maybe the kids let me win.....

Great Day in the Winter

We had such a great Christmas! Most of my family was here; the kids,my Mom, both sisters, David's brother, even Dakota made it for dinner on Christmas day. Hap had sick family and couldn't come, but Allison and all of her family were here, along with Debbie and Kim. The weather was lovely, we had tons of food and everyone had a good time. I love my family! Gina and Nic made 6 pies- peanut butter pie, pecan, pumpkin. They also made cookies, pumpkin pie bars and a beautiful german chocolate cake. She also made orange fluff. Megan brought spiced cranberry sauce, ham, Allison made the best rolls ever, they brought salad and veggie tray. Deb and Kim brought more pecan pies- chocolate and regular. So even though I did a lot of cooking, everyone helped so much it was pretty darn easy.

Jared and Heather flew in last Wednesday, and Jared had to fly back on Sunday. We have Heather until this Wednesday. It's so fun to visit with them and hearing all their escapades.

I made gifts this year- fancy spa stuff. Men's Pine soap, Women's lavender soap, bath salts, bath fizzies, hand cream and even a few lip balms. They are made with almond oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter and/or olive oil, and essential oils. Everything turned out really good, if I do say so myself. I made the soaps the old fashioned way- lye, water, coconut oil, nice rich things. It was a lot of work, but fun, and everyone seemed to like them.

And so it is Christmas

Well, here we are!~ I'm so excited that all of our kids will be home for Christmas, Mom is here and all my sibs will be here either Friday or Saturday, how cool is that!!! David's brother Jon is also coming with his fiance and her boys for dinner on Christmas. We have the gifts wrapped, the decorations up, whatever I'm cooking is done- mostly... I still can't believe it's Christmas and the end of the year already.

David and I picked Heather up at the airport at 4:30 today, and Nic and Gina are picking Jared up around 11:00 tonight from the airport. When I talked to him earlier, his layover in Baltimore was dragging on- they told them the flight would be an hour late, or so. I sure hope he gets in ok, I wish we could have picked him up too, but their flights were too far apart, and Nic graciously volunteered to pick his brother up. I think he's as anxious to see him as I am!

So here's the true and kinda sad reason I haven't posted for a while- I'm hooked on Farm Town, it's a game on Facebook. I get to farm and actually make money at it, that's how you know it's a game! It's much easier than real farming, and I can sit in my easy chair- how cool is that! I feel a little guilty though, so I'll try to update more often.

Merry Christmas!!!

Woa! Christmas is coming!!!

Well, we had a good Thanksgiving-my sister-in-law Sandy and her family made Tday meal for us, Mom, and our cousins. Hap was busy outfitting a hunting trip for a group, but Sandy was home and willing to cook for everyone. Her daughter Franki loves to cook and helped, and I brought several pies. Marvin and Cathy came, they've just moved to Arizona from California, and it was fun to see them.

David and I went on to Benson Thursday night, stayed at the Best Western hotel there. It's a lovely hotel, and the staff was so friendly! The pool and spa were still open, so I jumped in that evening for a quick swim. Although it was a heated pool, to my old bones it was cold! A nice bracing swim, then on to the hot tub to warm up. We drove into Tombstone on Friday and took a carriage tour around town. I was sad to hear that the little shack used by Big Nose Kate and Doc Holliday had burned down in 1998, just a few years after we were there before. We wandered around town with Chica in tow- it's definitely a dog-friendly place. The Best Western there was so acomidating for dogs, and even many of the stores were fine with her coming in with us.

We wandered down to Bisbee Friday afternoon, what a cool place! It was so busy we didn't find a place to park, but enjoyed just driving around looking at the architecture and the mine there. We had lunch at a place called Bisbee Breakfast Club- what a great meal!!! It was the best hamburger I've ever had, and the cafe has a great atmosphere. I highly recommend it. There's a nice health food store next door too, and I was able to find some wheat-free snacks. Saturday we took the side road toward Safford, and stopped at the Chiracahua National Monument. It was so cool- literally, the wind was blowing and it was cold. But what a great place to hike and see some amazing country. We didn't hike, but there are lots of trails for the hardy folks. Saturday night we stayed with David's cousin Wayne and had dinner at a great little Mexican restaurant in Safford.

I missed spending the holiday with our kids, but since they are spreading out and setting up their own lives more, I have to accept that I won't get to have them every main holiday. At least I know they were enjoying the holiday with others and weren't alone.

Of course I got sick right after we got home, and I'm suffering through a nasty cold right now, which I got from David. For the past few days we have both been fighting it, trying to take care of each other. Luckily Nic and Gina are here, and they have been a big help too. I haven't been able to start Christmas decorating, hopefully I can start that this weekend. I can't believe it's already the Christmas season!

It's a beautiful Autumn day

Well the weather is clear, and this is a great week! We watched Dean, our niece's dog, all weekend. He loves to visit and play with our dogs, but he sure misses Megan while she's gone. The girls get so jealous of each other while he's here- it's pretty funny. Within a few minutes Cara will growl and attack Sunny, because Sunny and Dean get along really well. It's kinda like a 'cat' fight, but with dogs!

Tomorrow I plan to grind a bunch of flour from garbanzo beans, rice and whatever else I can find. That's what it takes to make bread, cookies and such for wheat-free baking, and it's so much cheaper to grind it myself than buy the flour, plus it's fresher and tastes better. I'm also going to make liquid laundry detergent. I haven't done that before, so it should be interesting. It calls for Zote soap, borax and washing soda, and costs pennies on the dollar compared to store-bought detergent. So, we'll see how it goes.