Old Photo Wednesday # 19....Christmas Gifts!!

I've never been a real big Christmas person. I love the music, lights, family and church. But the commercial part has never been my favorite. If it wasn't for Michael, no one in my family would ever get gifts. I'm getting better at the Christmas cards, but I hate shopping. On the other hand, I love getting gifts. I've never really grown up. But just to prove I'm not all bad I want to share my favorite Christmas gift/tradition.

My cousin Scott, started this a few years ago and bless his heart, he continues doing it every year. He goes through the box of OLD family photos and chooses one, makes copies and sends them in his Christmas card. Each year when I open the card it's like opening a door to the past. I LOVE it!!!!!

So, this year when the card arrived, I wasn't disappointed. Actually, this year he sent 4 photos. Can you say "Bonus"????

OK so here they are.

This is my Mom and Dad with my older sister Carol.

This is my dad and my Uncle Jim.

This is my Aunt Velma, my dad and my Aunt Joyce. On the back it says this was taken in 1936.

I think this last one is my favorite. It's my Grandpa Sam and cousin Scott. I don't have very many pictures of my grandpa, and this is a good one.

Hope you had a Happy Holiday Season!!!! :-)

Old Photo Wednesday # 18..........The girls!!!

If my girls are anything like me, and I think they are, they're probably gonna hate these pictures. Just a few shots of them together thru the years.

And my personal favorite.......................

Ok, so I hope they don't kill me.....

:-)

Don't All Kids Just Love Santa?????

I got an email today from a friend at work. You know the one, pictures of kids sitting on Santa's lap, bawling their heads off.

It got me to thinking, I have one of those.

So, here's my contribution to the "Santa Photos".

Jen, the oldest is ok with the whole thing, but Cindy didn't think too much of it. There are really some terrible things the we, as parents, put our kids through.

Sorry Cindy, I never meant to traumatize you.

Have a Merry Christmas!!!! :-)

Sunday Funnies # 15....The Ecomony is so bad!!

Subject: The economy is so bad......



That I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked,"Can you afford fries with that?"

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.

Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

The Mafia is laying off judges.

Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.

And finally, Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoffscandal. Oh Great! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigatedby the people who made Trillions $$$ disappear! .

:-)

This might keep you up nights!!!

What is the medium used???

Try to figure what the picture is made of !!!???

Give up????

Really??? No idea????



Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney, Australia. The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!!

Crazy!!!!!

(sorry you almost have to stand on your head to view pictures. They just wouldn't orient right):-)

Old Photo Wednesday # 17......Thanksgivings past

I have been transferring alot of old pictures over to my new external hard drive for safe keeping. I ran across these shots from Thanksgiving in St. Louis about 12 years ago. Brandon is just a little guy. The weather was beautiful so we went to the Botanical Gardens before dinner and hit Ted Drews for ice cream in the evening. I don't have any pictures of the ice cream, but here are a few from the Botanical Gardens.

It's a really beautiful place. If you're ever in St. Louis you should check it out.

:-)

Those Darn Hunters

Yesterday would have been a perfect day for a snowy walk in the woods except for one thing.

HUNTERS!!!!

They were everywhere. I don't think I've ever seen so many people wearing orange in one place before in my life.

I tried Hitchcock and they were there (along with the Hawkwatchers).

Then I tried Wilson Island and they were there.

So I tried DeSoto and they were there.

I'm beginning to hate hunters. Don't get me wrong, some of the people I love most are hunters, but really, can't we save just a little space for those of us who only "hunt" with a camera. I didn't even get out of the car for fear of being shot. I wasn't sure I was even safe in the car (and I drive a bright red Ford Focus)

Anyway, I ended up doing all of my "hiking" from inside my car. I did get a few good pictures.

I guess next time I'll try Fontenelle (not sure about that spelling)Nature Center. Maybe they don't let hunters in there.

Anyway, here's a few shots that I did manage to get.

Well, happy hunting, I guess. For now I'm staying in the car!!!!

:-)

Sunday Funnies # 14...................The Dam

An elderly man in Queensland had owned a large property for several years. He had a dam in one of the lower paddocks where he had planted mango and avocado trees. The dam had been fixed up for swimming when it was built and he also had some picnic tables placed there in the shade of the fruit trees.One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the dam to look it over, as he hadn't been there for a while. He grabbed a ten litre bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the dam, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his dam.He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, 'We're not coming out until you leave!' The old man frowned, 'I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the dam naked.' Holding the bucket up he said, 'I'm here to feed the crocodile.'



Moral: Older men may walk slow, but they can still think fast

:-)

The weather outside was frightful..............

And we don't have a fire to be delightful.

The first major snow of the season, beautiful coming down, but I hate to miss work.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. The story actually starts on Friday, so let's start at the beginning.

My company Christmas party was scheduled for Dec. 4th at the Holiday Inn Central in Omaha. I was excited about it, 'cause it's usually alot of fun.

So, I headed to work on Friday and Michael, having the day off, did some chores a home and then headed to the city. He got us a room at the hotel since, well let's face it, it's a long drive home late at night and we'd probably be drinking a bit. We were also taking the kids shopping on Saturday, so staying just made sense. Or so it seemed at the time.

Party................great. Lots of fun, good food, great band, dancing 'til midnight and a good night's sleep.

Up Saturday morning early, went down for breakfast and were ready to head out about 8:30.

Ok, so that's where staying started to seem like a not such a good idea. When I got to my car there was frost on the windowshield, so I turned on the wipers to clear it and....................nothing happened!!!!

That's weird.

An inspection showed...........................wait for it....................................................









No windshield wipers. I mean no wipers, at all!!! Arms and all had been stolen.

I was pissed!!!! Reported it to the hotel, filled out a report and headed to the dealership to get them replaced.

That's when I really got pissed. Couldn't get replacements before Tuesday. And snow was in the forecast.

We went on and spent the rest of the day with the grandkids, shopping, which will be another post, but I was really upset about the car situation.

Well, Monday Michael was still off work so he took me to work, but Tuesday was going to be a challange. I ended up working from home, because the predicted snow had arrived. I already was scheduled to have Wednesday off as our Women's dinner at church was scheduled. Of course, it got cancelled due to the weather.

Things worked out ok though. Michael picked up my new wipers on his way to work on Tuesday and installed them on Wednesday afternoon. I made it to work the rest of the week, so all's well that ends well.

We ended up with about a foot of snow, which was pretty cool. Pictures tell the rest of the story.







Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!!

:-)

Old Photo Wednesday # 16...First camper

Our first camper was an older model. We decided to buy used, try it out and see if camping was for us.





Guess what???? It was.





:-)

And the legend continues............

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the train set that Michael's dad had created in New Mexico was stolen this summer. We were going to bring everything home so Doug and Brandon (and Lauren, too) could recreate the layout and add to it.

Well, that wasn't to be, but Brandon was still determined to have a railroad layout and he was going to use the few things we were able to bring back for him.

This past Saturday Michael and I took Brandon and Lauren shopping and they got a started set and some track and got started on the project.

So, here is the humble beginning of the next generation of the legend...........................

This is one of the buildings that wasn't stolen.

Looking for treasures in the chest of stuff we brought back from New Mexico.

I'll keep you updated as things move along. Should be interesting to see what the next generation does.

:-)