Weekend Joy

 Our son and his 4 kiddos spent the weekend with us and it was so much fun! (It was our daughter-in-law's weekend to work, so she didn't get to come.) The older boys (10 and 8 years old) had a blast playing with our local grandson (also 10 years old).  They had a sleep over Friday night and spent Saturday morning playing mini-golf. They are the "3 Musketeers"- best friends as well as first cousins. They also spent time having "deep discussions" about their Pokemon cards and playing video games, and got to sit together in church this morning. It's wonderful that they are so close-I hope it continues that way throughout their lives. Our 14 year old granddaughter and her close friend from church came over this afternoon after lunch with our daughter. They got a kick out of fixing our 3 year old granddaughter's hair and playing with our 17 month old grandson. Everyone went home this afternoon and the house sure is quiet. 

Looks like we are in for 3 days of freezing rain and ice, so we are planning on staying home. Very cold and windy right now. I've got a pork roast thawing out and think I'll stick it in the crockpot tomorrow morning. Green chile stew sounds like a good cold weather supper. Have a good week!

Still Not a Lot Going On...

 ...but I think I like it, except that it doesn't give me much to blog about. My sweet husband is refinishing all of the cabinets in our kitchen, which is wonderful! He has done all the lower cabinets and will start on the top cabinets soon. They and the kitchen were what sold me on this house, since they are custom oak cabinets. The bathrooms have them too. The bar and island have bead board stained to match. I know a lot of people prefer white cabinets and they are in style right now, but I love the natural wood look. Eventually we will get some new counter tops and back splashes. We also plan to replace the tile with wood-look tile. All in good time, though! I'm happy that we have started the process. The house is 20 years old now, so it's time.

Just a Few Funnies

 I don't have a lot going on, mostly attacking the "black holes" in the house that have piled up with stuff. But that's not very interesting blog fodder, so I'll put a few funnies out here. Have a great week!

Well, we got home Saturday night from our trip to Las Cruces, NM, where we held a Celebration of Life for my sweet Mother-in-Law on the 29th. She passed away back in August, but we waited until after Christmas to have her memorial, thinking that everyone would be able to attend since school was out. Well, of course, we couldn't have known that Southwest Airlines would end up cancelling half of the family's flights. It was so sad that they weren't able to be there, but we ended up being able to live stream it thanks to the wonderful audio/visual tech at the church there. She was amazing and made it so easy. My husband had prepared a slide show with music and after sharing a meal together, we played that and some of us got up and shared our memories. He also had prepared albums of photos with pages to write memories in. He did a great job and it was good to be with everyone who was able to be there. 

Sunday, we went to church, ate lunch with our daughter and family and came home to crash! It's a 11-12 hour drive and I think we may be getting a little old to do it many more times. May have to start flying.  Today we grocery shopped and got new tires for the car and tomorrow, I guess I'll start taking down the tree and decorations. Always a little bittersweet, but it's good to have a new year to start fresh. Someone asked me yesterday what my plans for 2023 were and I said "To get through the year the best I can and still be alive at the end of it!" The day after a 12 hour car trip may not be the best time to ask me that!