Dear All,



Thought I would begin my blog while I have a quiet moment - am not sure when it will get finished.



Not a great deal of news since the last email, so this will probably be a bit shorter.



A lot of the snow birds have now left the area for warmer temperatures. Since writing last time, the women were once again invited to breakfast with the boys (mmmm well we did get our feet in the door). Linda, Tom, Carol, Jim, Maryanne (they had gone, but were back for Christmas), Charlie, Connie, another Tom and Paul and I, enjoyed a great breakfast at Parrieville Inn (Hooterville as Paul calls it). It was just a couple of days before Charlie and Connie headed off to Texas.



Whilst we were having breakfast, the snow started to fall! It was beautiful, but we had been warned that we could get anywhere between 6 and 12 inches, with blizzard conditions (i.e. wind, blowing snow, ice - the works). Everyone was hoping it wouldn't happen - except me!!! I said - bring it on!! I can't imagine anything more beautiful or exciting - nothing better than a great storm (well maybe somethings, but who cares?).



After we left the restaurant, Paul and I went to the supermarket to make sure we had plenty of 'fixins" (country talk for food! lol). We have a generator which powers the whole house if the power goes out (it is run by natural gas). So if we had 'fixins' we can be comfortable indefinitely.

I really wasn't sure what one should buy if they were going to be 'snowed in', so I grabbed some egg nog and bread and of course some cheese for Paul! We do have plenty of food in the freezer and pantry, so we were well covered.



Unfortunately, most of the storm passed us by - we probably got 6 inches, which was lovely, but alas, no blizzard, no ice storm - no drama.



Christmas week is also birthday week. Nate celebrated his birthday on the 17th December. Paul and I sent him a few things, one of which was a ticket to ride shotgun in a race car at the race track in Atlanta. He seemed to like the idea which is great.



Kelly had her birthday on the 22nd - and by all accounts she had a wonderful day. They were spending Christmas in Ohio with Nate's family. The other grandparents babysat Kyler for the night(poor them), so Nate took Kelly to Cincanitti for the night.



On the 21st of December, our friend John celebrated his birthday, so we joined John, Alex, Brandon and Emily at the Radison for a wonderful meal.



Lauren turned 25 on the 20th December. They held her work Christmas party that night and she celebrated with Damien and friends the next night. She said she too had a wonderful birthday.



All is quiet on the birthday front until January 10th when I will celebrate turning forty sixteen!!
Plenty of time for everyone to have a shopping break and still get gifts here on time!! lol



Chris and Erin arrived on the 21st to celebrate Christmas early with us. We had our Christmas on the 23rd with them as they left on Christmas Eve. We had a lovely time with them - none of the traditional Christmas fare, as we did intend to dine out, but changed our minds. We had garlic shrimp pasta, cheesecake and golden squash soup (pumpkin soup for the Aussies). It snowed again the night before they left, but not enough to keep them here (half answered prayers once again).



Once again, our plans for Christmas changed. We left it till only days before the book into a casino for Christmas Eve, as we wanted to be sure that the roads would be safe to travel. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, both casinos within a few hours drive were totally booked out. We decided to stay home, and John and Alex joined us for our Christmas meal. It was the quietest Christmas I have ever had, but we did have a lovely time. Great food and great company.

For Christmas, Paul managed to find my favourite perfume Lulu which one cannot buy in the States. He obviously found it via the internet, and as my supply was out and I was thinking I would have to hop on my broomstick and fly to Oz to pick up a bottle, it was a nice surprise. He also gave me a voucher, good for one trip to England. I did ask if it was a return trip, but he said, the jury is still out on that one!!! Needless to say, I hope to go in the next couple of months and my friend Alex is planning to come along if she can arrange it. Alex still has an apartment in England, and many friends she would like to catch up with.

Today has been slow and easy - Paul and I went out for lunch and have done very little. He is currently out hunting with a neighbor and Larry the neighbor shot a deer - so they will be back before too long. Deer hunting finishing on 31st of December - but it is possible, muzzle loading or bow and arrow will still be permitted.


While Paul and Larry were hunting at the back of our property, I was standing at the kitchen sink watching 4 deer feed at our deer feeder. I told them not to go home via his hunting blind, so I sure hope they didn't shoot my deer!!!

Okay, so I didn't get finished - had a few interruptions. It is now Thursday 27th and have spent the day, paying for my lazy day yesterday. I have managed to get fresh sheets etc. on beds for our guests who are arriving tomorrow - weather permitting. I had to get it done, as I am having a "girlie" day tomorrow - hairdressers, jewellry shops (just looking), and lunch. My friend is picking me up at 9am and as I expect to be home just before guests arrive, I don't expect to get photos on this blog, so will send another in a few days with just photos.


I was recently asked to make the pictures bigger - I am sure most of you realise, but in case you don't, you only have to click on them to view them bigger!!!!

We got a Christmas card this year from the guys who built our kitchen and they have a photo of our kitchen on their card! They did tell us they were going to use it in their advertising brochure, but to see they used it for their Christmas Card gave us a real buzz. I guess next year, they will probably want Paul and I on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

Before I go, I have several questions:-

Why are mattresses always on sale?
Why do Alpacca farmers want everyone else to do it? Corn farmers and dairy farms aren't always telling us how wonderful it is and telling us to do it to!!
Are my brothers and sisters going to send me photos of John's wedding soon, with all the details? I was thinking of you all.
The CD was great to get of the family reunion, made me cry, but made me happy as well. I miss you all so much. I do think at such occasions, there should be two empty chairs - symbolic of Paul and I...............................
The farmer sows his crops, his wife sews their clothes, together they both sow, sew, so????????
( guess I play too much scrabble eh?)

Heather - we got your letter - we are very excited to know you will be coming over this year. July is summer time here, and of course in Canada too.

Well folks, that will do for now.

Love to you all, Kathy

DECEMBER NEWS

Dear All,

Christmas is around the corner, as I am sitting here sipping on my Eggnog. I am restricting myself to just one at the moment, as although it sounds harmless, it does have brandy in it, and it tastes so good, I could just drink it all night!!!! They only make it around Christmas time, so I will have to buy hundreds of bottles to last until next Christmas! Well maybe not hundreds.... but some anyway.

The tree is up and the house is decorated, I have just finished my Christmas shopping and am ready to enjoy the season. This year will be the quietest I have ever had. Lauren and Damien are in England (sob, sob, sob), Kelly , Nate and Kyler are headed to the in-laws (lucky them) and Erin and Chris will be here prior to Christmas. I heard on the grapevine that the kids are concerned that I won't be able to handle it without a housefull!!! Well, I think that is why God gave us Eggnog! All jokes aside, we did have Kelly, Nate and Kyler for Thanksgiving and Erin and Chris were coming for Christmas, but at our insistence, they are coming to celebrate it early, so they can be with Chris's family for Christmas. I don't want them stressed at Christmas trying to please two families.

Paul and I were invited to share Christmas Day with some very special friends, but in view of the fact that their home is not handicapp accessible, we have opted to either have dinner at a lovely restaurant in Kalamazoo or depending on the weather, we may spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at a nearby Casino!!! My first choice of course, would be to have all my family together, but spending the time alone with Paul is a very appealing senario as well.

Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful!!! I flew to Atlanta, stayed a couple of days and flew back with Kelly and Kyler on the Sunday. He was an angel and slept through the entire flight. However, one little man sure has a lot of luggage and I don't see how Kelly could have managed without me! We flew into Detroit and Paul picked us up and when we arrived home Erin was waiting for us. We had a wonderful week together and it was so wonderful to have a baby in the house.

Erin's boyfriend Chris arrived on Tuesday night and Nate arrived Wednesday evening. Erin and Chris took the feed around 2am!!! Aren't they wonderful. We almost had to have a stop watch to ensure that everyone got equal time holding Kyler. The house was so quiet and empty when they left. One night we were all in bed by 9 p.m. - unheard of in this house, where we like to often stay up quiet late, but the little man wore us all out!!!

Thanksgiving is such a special time - it is Christmas without the gifts. I love it. We had our good friends Alex and John join us all for dinner. Chris bought the turkey, John picked it up and arrived in time for dinner with a beautifully cooked turkey. I made the side dishes and desserts and we had a magnificent meal with wonderful company!!!

Kelly is now back at work - silly girl went back after 8 weeks!!! She had always planned to go back then, little realising what was in store for her. She does work for a small company and has great loyalty to them, and felt she was needed. Her blood work is back to normal which is wonderful, but as is expected, Kyler is still not sleeping through the night, so she is still quite tired.

When I was writing last month's blog, Paul was out hunting, and he called to say he had shot (bow and arrow) two bucks within ten minutes of each other. For those of you who think he is a hardened killer, you are half right. He is indeed a killer, but he does only kill for the meat and any meat we don't use goes to feed hungry families in the area. The deer here need to culled otherwise many die of starvation during the winter months, and sadly they are often responsible for road deaths and many accidents. I did have a hard time with it once, but when listening to the nightly local news, I am often reminded of how necessary it is to keep the herds in check.

Paul had the opportunity to kill several does during gun season, but got more pleasure out of sitting and watching them. He even got to see a fawn still feeding from its mother - only 10 feet away!!! He constantly asks me to go and join him in his blind, but his pleas fall on deaf ears as there is no way I will give up the comfort of home to sit and watch deer than can be often viewed outside the kitchen window.

Rita and Tom were here for a weekend since I last wrote, and we had a really great time. Whenever they are here, we always enjoy their company and have lots of laughs. Srs. Sandi and Lucille were coming as well, but unfortunately, Sandi was unwell, so they had to take a raincheck.

We have had our first snow fall and everything outside is so beautiful - bloody cold, but beautiful. I am like a child when snow falls, if it is forcast for when we are sleeping, I can't sleep, I keep getting up to see if it is happening yet. To me, it is like waves breaking on the shore and I could watch it endlessly! As usual, we are planning on having another New Year's Eve party - John, Vickie, Lyn and the gang are coming as is Rochelle, perhaps Bobby and some of our local friends. That is the reason we even bothered to put up Christmas decorations. I decided to just put up a small tree this year as Christmas was going to be so quiet, but my maniac husband had other ideas! I have to admit, that he easily swept me up with his enthusiasm, but we still did not decorate to the extent we have in other years. Hey everybody, you are all invited - come on up, across, over, down or whatever. Remember, we have have six bedrooms, a big loft and a big basement - stacks of room - the more the merrier!

This morning we had breakfast with some neighbors and friends. Usually, it is just the men, but this morning, wives were invited into the boys' club breakfast! Not permanently, but it was a lot of fun. It was particularly good, as my friend whom I have mentioned in previous emails, has now completed her chemo. Unfortunately, it took a dreadful toll on her and she was very ill, and hospitalised and hence she does not have to have her final session. She is recovering just the same, slowly but surely, and although her appetite still isnt good (I made up for her), she was well enough to join us and we all had a lot of laughs.

I have put the pictures at the end of the blog this time. It is quicker than putting them in where appropriate and affords you the opportunity of not bothering if they hold no interest for you.

Well folks, thats all for now - not much news and it is even boring me! I have several emails to write so rather than do PS as usual, I will make the effort and write soon.

Love to all, Kathy

Kyler in the pjs from Carmel and James

Our Thanksgiving table (flowers from Nate)

Our little man in his camo - from Gramps

Sweet dreams baby!