Christmas 2006

Here we are opening stockings on Christmas morning. Nothing like fresh coffee and more gifts to get the kids up and at 'em! Bob enjoyed his 20 Questions electronic game and shared with us...it even guessed my "orchid" in 20, and then insulted me with an "easy guess" comment.

Gayle found a single serving

skillet and small spatula for my fried eggs.

Emily found an ornament that fit me also - harks back to our Iowa farm house days. Yes, she's butchering a chicken.

Em tried out her toe spreaders. Bob read his Marvel comics graphic novel The Uncanny X-Men.

...and on the Christmas weather front, we are in the middle of severe thunderstorms. Lots of rain, dark skies, and a tornado touched down to the NW of Orlando. The TV weather boys are showing off their expensive radars and giving us a blow by blow of the storm. I don't think we'll be eating Christmas dinner out on the deck.

Merry Christmas

We are waiting to head to the airport to pick up Emily. Thankfully she's the Chicago daughter and not the Denver one - Beth would have been delayed big time after this week's storm and snow. As it is she ended up with many extra shifts, lots of snow to shovel and many hours of overtime.

We're enjoying a restful vacation with Bob. He's been sleeping in, requesting his favorite meals, and working on his applications for grad school. Rob's been puttering in the yard and garden and I've been working on quilting - real vacation time for both of us.

Our camellia bush decidied to bloom big time with all the warm temperatures and rain, and since it sits behind the orchid stand and can't be seen from the house I decided to bring it's beauty indoors. We are also having fun watching our tomotoes grow on the deck this year. There are several quarter-sized tomatoes on and many blossoms.

2 1/2 Days

Bob is home for Christmas, so we put him to work...and he was a good sport! We did the trim - a cream color - on Monday. It was a great day; we got all the trim done!

On Tuesday we did most of the wall color - a soft green. We got all but the east wall completed.

On Wednesday morning, after the dew burned off, we did the final wall and the accent color on the front of the house. The accent is a darker green.

Sure beats the old Florida pink!

We were glad we had a rather small house to paint. The stucco is hard to cover with a roller. No wonder paint spraying is popular with the painting crews! We were glad that Bob was home to help; he did most of the rolling, which was the hardest job. Now that we're done we have most of Christmas vacation to relax and do other, less strenuous stuff. And I think we did a pretty good job on the house!

More Thanksgiving

More Thanksgiving pictures...we had a great time!