December So Far (in pictures)

I went to Cincinnati the first week in Dec., and had a great time with the little girls.  They are so cute and so much fun.  We mostly hung out at the house, and one day we went out with Polly, their stand-in Cincinnati grandmother.  We did go to the mall on Saturday to visit Santa.  Here are a few pictures:

When I got home I spent the next week decorating.  I must admit, I do go a bit overboard with my Christmas decorations.  Being retired, I have more time to work on it so I got out just about everything; Patrick called yesterday to see if I had any left over decorations he could use for his apartment, but I didn't have much.  Here are a few pictures, though they didn't turn out very good:

We also watched the last season of Breaking Bad last week.  It was so good; I'm sorry we finished it.  Then last Thursday evening we went to the Botanical Garden for the "Garden Glow."  It was beautiful.  Again I took pictures which did not turn out too well--the best ones were inside Henry Shaw's house:

My pictures really do not it do it justice--it was gorgeous.  If you are in St. Louis and have a chance, you really should go see it.

On Sunday my sister Patty had the "Fancy Aunt Lunch" for two of my sisters, Lorie who's birthday was on the 14th and Nan's who's was on the 17th.  It was fun seeing everyone and the food was delicious.  Patty makes a chicken/crescent roll which is so good, and Stephanie made a tasty asparagus dish and there were wonderful desserts.  I wish I had some now.

Yesterday I had three friends from work over for lunch.  We had a great time, and we sat and talked for almost three hours.  I made quiche Lorraine and spinach quiche, Dillard's jello, salad and rolls, and for dessert I had Christmas cookies and banana bread, and I made this new type of cookie/candy.  It was made of pretzels, covered with a caramel sauce, then covered with melted chocolate chips and sprinkled with sea salt.  It was so delicious!  All this writing about food is making me hungry.  December will be continued...

December???

I can't believe it's already December.  We had a busy November, mostly because of watching Breaking Bad.  We finished the fifth season last night, and we're saving the sixth and final season for next week when I get back from Cincinnati.  I am going there tomorrow to help John with the girls because Chellie is going to a conference in San Diego.  I'm sure we'll have lots of fun.  Last week we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary, Thanksgiving and Wayne's birthday. 

On Tuesday a son of our friends, Mimi and Dave, owns a lot of buildings down on Cherokee and hosts a Thanksgiving dinner.  We went this year, mainly because Patrick was playing piano there.  Unfortunately, Dave ended up in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism and didn't make it, and Mimi didn't get there until late and we had already left.  But we did get to hear Patrick play, and see Jason and Jessica who I baby sat for years ago.

Then Wednesday was our anniversary, and we mainly celebrated by eating--a lot.  We had Imo's for lunch and went to Zia's for dinner.  Thursday was Thanksgiving, and we had a small crowd here, A,y and Dave and their three, Rob and his two, and Patrick.  I think that's the least amount of people we have had in years.  It turned out fine and we're still eating leftovers.

Saturday we celebrated Wayne's birthday.  Now we are the same age for three months, until my birthday in February when I'll be a year older.  Amy and Dave took us out to dinner to Citizen Kane's in Kirkwood, with Rob and Patrick.  They hired a sitter for their three and Rob's two, and we had a nice dinner and went back to their house for ice cream and cake.

Ten on Tuesday (On Wednesday)

1.  I can't believe it's been so long since I posted.  I really like to keep this like a journal, even though my life is pretty boring compared to some of the blogs I read.  My daughter told me about a new website, GOMI (get off my Internet) where people criticize blogs. It's  mostly the ones who  post everyday and have advertisers who pay them.  The criticism gets really vicious. I'm glad I'm not popular enough to be on GOMI!

2.  Busy, busy, busy.  Sometimes it doesn't seem like I retired.  Someone in the academic center left a couple of weeks ago, so now I am working on Mondays, as well as Wednesday evenings and Fridays.  With going to class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm at Meramec every day.  The academic center is not very busy on Mondays, so I'm going to ask my boss tomorrow if I can skip the Mondays.  And the ESL supervisor asked me to help with placement of new students on Wednesday mornings. We only have three weeks left, then we'll have a nice long break.

3.  I went to Boston for Halloween, and it was really fun to be there with the kids.  It was cold there, but I heard it was just as cold here in St. Louis.  I went out with Kate and the kids for a couple of hours, then went back to Kate's house while she and a couple of friends went for another hour.  Afterwards, Kate had people over to her house, and it was kind of wild.  Here are some pictures:

4.  Wayne and I have been walking most mornings.  We usually go to Powder Valley, which is about ten minutes from home, and is a preserved area right in the middle of the county.  There are lots of deer there; we often see a few while driving in or walking through the paths.  This past weekend they were closed for a deer hunt.  People could kill deer with bows and arrows to control the deer population.  We walked at Blackburn Park instead, which is just a couple of miles from home.  Here are a few deer we saw last week (that we'll probably never see again):

5.  It's hard to believe it is only six weeks until Christmas. As usual, I haven't done much shopping yet.  None of our out-of-town kids will be here for Thanksgiving, but they will be for Christmas.  If I had to chose, I would have them here for Christmas.  I'm going to Cincinnati the first week of December, so I probably won't start decorating until I get back. For our older grand kids I'll get gift cards, and for our own kids we will give checks, so I don't have a whole lot of shopping to do. And it will be fun shopping for the little ones.

6.  Our class has been really enjoyable, but it ends in three weeks.  It is looking at the cultural changes in 1960's America, and it is taught by a history teacher.  Next semester, a sociology teacher will teach the same class, so we are going to take it again.  My brother, Joe, wants to take the class, too.

7.  We are going to Florida the end of January.  Wayne's brother, Jeff, and his wife have rented a condo for six weeks in St. Petersburg and asked us to come spend some time with them  We'll fly into Tampa on a Saturday and come back Tuesday evening.  One of these years we'll probably rent a place for a month or two in Florida or Alabama.

8.  We have become addicted to "Breaking Bad."  I've heard people talking about it for years but never watched it.  Patrick kept telling me we had to watch it, so we borrowed the series from our son-in-law Dave and watch a couple episodes every night.  Television has improved so much since the early 2000's when there were so many reality shows.

9.  Jack has become quite the hockey player.  This past weekend he scored 26 goals in one game.  The game was against kids his own age, but this their first year playing.  He's been playing for five years, even thought he is only eight.

10. Things are beginning to heat up again in Ferguson.  The grand jury is supposed to make a decision any day now whether or not to indict Dennis Wilson. I have a feeling he's not going to be indicted, and the riots will really get bad.  I don't think we will ever know the truth about what happened that day.  Hopefully, this will open up talks in St. Louis about the racial problems and changes will happen.  St. Louis is one of the most segregated cities in the US.  It's time to change.

Our Cincinnati Trip

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I've posted.  Life seems to keep getting busier.  We went to Cincinnati two weeks ago and had a great time.  The girls are so much fun.  We ate a lot and went to the pumpkin patch, which the girls loved.  Then we came home and carved pumpkins, and made and decorated cookies.  On Sunday we went to the park; it was a beautiful fall day. Here are some pictures:

Five on Friday, on Saturday

1. The Cardinals are wonderful!  They had their first playoff game last night, and were losing 6 to 2, then came back and won 10 to 9.  I think they really shocked the announcers.  All they talked about was the Dodgers's pitcher, Clayton Kerchaw.  He's probably the best pitcher in the National League, but our Adam Wainwright is second best and they barely mentioned him.  What really bothered me was that the main announcer, Joe Buck, was from St. Louis and was totally favoring the Dodgers.  We've got three or four more games, so it will be interesting to see how the announcing goes.

2.  We're watching lots of football, especially college football on Saturdays.  Mizzou has gotten a lot better, but Wayne watches all of the teams.  He likes college football more than the pros.  The Rams haven't been to great the past few years, so they're not so fun to watch.

3.  We're going to Cincinnati next Friday.  I can hardly wait to see the babies.  I finished Stephanie's costume last night while watching the game.  Here are a couple of pictures:

I ordered a bonnet on-line, and it should come in time to take it with us next week.  I'm sure the costume will be a lot cuter on Stephanie!

4.  Fall finally seems to be coming.  We went to the Botanical Garden this past Monday, but the leaves were not starting to change yet.  We've been walking mornings, usually at Powder Valley, for about 45 minutes.  It feels good to get some exercise.  I'm sure we'll see lots of yellow, red and gold trees next week on the way to Cincinnati.

5.  Our oldest grand daughter, Katie, has been volunteering at Petco in Kirkwood on Saturdays.  She loves dogs but can't get one because her little brother is allergic.  So, she's decided she is going to talk Wayne and I in to getting one.  We went out there last Saturday afternoon, and of course found a dog we really liked.  It was a six year old German Shorthair Pointer, named Sadie.  She had the saddest eyes, and I really wanted to bring her home.  Wayne stopped me, since we had already decided that when Joe goes we'll try going dogless for awhile.  I don't know how long we will last.