Happy Christmas Week

Hi everyone! I don't think any of us can be sick this week. Hannah was feeling miserable all last week and I kept her home Wed. and Thurs. I let her go in a little bit late on Friday. She literally slept the entire week away. When I sent her on Tuesday, she was on her last leg, came home, went to sleep and didn't get up until around noon Wed. I took her to the doctor on Thurs. and was told it was just a "virus". She said she was pretty awful as far as being stuffed up and gave me a prescription to clear up the congestion. Hannah slept the rest of that day away.

I started in with whatever she had on Thurs. and have spent a lot of my time sleeping as well. Tonight I'm trying to clean up, upstairs, vacuum, etc. We had a mellow day yesterday. Keith and Hannah went to the movies last night, I stayed home and read. I just wasn't feeling up to it. Today we just hung out around the house and then took C. with us to dinner.

We have been trying to come up with a solution to not having a spot for our coats. We only have one closet down here and it's tucked in a back corner. The pantry closet isn't a place we could put coats, so they just ended up hanging on the backs of chairs or on the couch. We have some spackle on the wall where the people prior to us had something hanging and I told Keith, why not get some letters like the one I bought for my scrapbooking room. I got the word "HOPE" in off white. Each letter has a nice big hook on the bottom. We swung by the store and I got "LOVE" in this broze-y/black. I really like it. I would have liked "FAMILY", but it only came in the same off white as hope, and that wouldn't have shown up on the wall.

Hannah has off starting this Thursday. We are planning on leaving for Lakeland on the 26th and staying until Friday or Saturday. I am thinking the traffic may be better on Saturday. We want to be home to celebrate New Year's with Keith. That will also give Hannah two days, at the least, to get back in the groove before school on the 2nd. Keith has off from work that Monday. Please, please, please, drop me an e-mail or give me a call on my cell phone (which is still a local, Lakeland number) so I can get together with you while I'm there. That means you, Carol :) I know that you will be getting out at FSC for a few days and won't have access to a computer. I will send you my # after I finish this entry...

We had some really nasty freezing rain on Thurs. Everything was literally coated in a sheet of ice. The poor orange & white kitty was wet. I brought him in and he freaked out, but I put him in the bathroom where he wouldn't hurt anything. I then took the leftover wood from siding the spa and made him a little lean to next to the back door. I propped the boards up and around a patio chair. He already had a cardboard box under the chair that he was hanging out in, but it didn't do him much good, especially when it was wet. He seems to be benefitting from his new shelter, no matter how tacky it may be. He doesn't feel threatened about going in and he spends his time out there when it's cold, or hanging out on one of the patio chairs sunning himself when the weather is nice.

No clue how things are going for Hannah at school. With the fiasco with our phone number changing, etc. her teacher tried to call Keith on his cell phone on Thurs. night. His phone cut out and he couldn't call her back. Hannah missed a significant amount of work last week, but didn't bring home anything substantial to seem to catch up over the weekend.

I am making progress on my house organizing. Like I said, with the last pick up of packing materials, then the vets' group picking up the donations on Monday, we have room to move around again. I just keep working at it. I told Keith I want this to feel like home, but it doesn't yet. I think at the rate I'm going, I will be unpacked and settled by next year. The good news is that I've lightened our load quite a deal in the process. If we were to pack up again, it would be a lot easier. Once I get the craft room in order, there should be little in the way of "junk".

Keith wants turkey and all of the "trimmings" again for Christmas day. I was leaning towards having something like fondue and munchies, but he said turkey. We won't cook another whole turkey. That's a little overboard for just the 3 of us again. I don't regret doing it for Thanksgiving, but I know that it is a little "much". He said we could purchase turkey or a ham already done. I'll see how adventurous I'm feeling by Tuesday.

Well, I need to corral Hannah. I hear her up.