Christmas & New Year & Home stuff!

Christmas eve was a quiet night, the kids opened the gifts to each other again and both got some thing they were asking for. Both were happy going to be that night.

Jo and Cole had to have a stocking for Artemis this year and were worried that he would not get a gift. So a stocking was hung and Santa did not miss the cat this year. Mom and Oma were in bed not quite sleeping when the Old Man showed up with gifts. He put the cat’s gift under the tree with all the others, as soon as he left , Oma and Mom had to get up to figure out what the noise was. Well, Artemis was in the middle of the packages trying to get at his! We opened his new scratching box and placed it on the floor for him and he loved on it and attacked it for at least the next hour! It took Oma and Mom a while to fall asleep, with the happy cat just down the hall.

Christmas morning Oma was able to warm her tooshie by the fire, thanks to our new tv (and a wall heater close by) we had a gianormous roaring fire just like all mornings should!
(we actually had a good laugh seeing two tv stations displaying hearths that morning)

After opening gifts we called Dale & Francis to see if they would join us for breakfast. Their daughter Kristy joined us as well, and as Dale would say it, we broke bread as a family that morning.

We then headed to the B side of the family for the afternoon, the drive was not bad and we all just had an enjoyable day all the way around. A couple days after the big day Oma drove the twins to the S side of the family for a few days and more presents. I hear they had a great time, I do know they all came home quite tuckered out. Momma stayed home to continue the remodel, or fixing of the house, and just trying to get as much done as possible before the family came back home.

Well you might agree with some of our neighbors that we like to remodel, and remodel often. Oma and I would have to disagree even though we are again knee deep in remodeling…again. We had a leaky roof that apparently had been going on for quite some time, so after we got our roof fixed we had to tear into our hallway wall and floor to fix a molding and rotting problem. Jo thought it was neat to take a hammer to a wall. Timid at first she really got into swinging the hammer after a hole or two were made by Shelia. (a friend and our contractor). This part started just before Christmas and well…it’s still going on. Hoohum

We will have to take more photos of the housework but here are a couple shots of the kids helping. Oh, and as most people know on a house fixes, one thing leads to another and another and another fix or update or…DANG…more work!

We cut an exploratory hole in the kids closet for mold; it butts up to the bathroom as well. All good to go there, whewh. Since the closet was completely empty, why not paint it and update it as well? Both kids took a hand at painting, Jo got a little upset that Oma would not let her try the roller, so she didn’t last too long.

We had to tear open the wall in the hallway. Hey, why not put in a pocket door for the bathroom? Here is Jo helping put the last coat of finish on the new solid wood door.

And hey, since we have to tear out the floor in the hallway why not remove all the linoleum in the hall and kitchen for an update as well? Oma said we can get carpet again in the living room so hey, lets move the wood floor from the living room onto the kitchen and hall? But hey, with carpet in our living room the front door wont open, that’s ok, we will just cut the door out and move it up. Is it winter? Have we touched every room yet with our leaky roof problem? Wait, nothing has happened yet in the laundry room or our bedroom. Hmmm…we must be missing some thing I guess, it will probably hit us later.

Happy New Year by the way!

p.s. My folks are snow birding finally again this year. If you want to see what they are up too or at least nice weather photos check out "Marie & Norman on the Road".
There is a link to your right under "Other Sites".