Merry Christmas!

We celebrated our Christmas last night. The Ohio grandkids and their parents are staying the nights at Amy's mom's house since Joe has shingles again. But last night was one of the most wonderful nights I have ever had.

We had everyone here except Ryan. Long story, don't want to get into it. I'll tell the tale with pictures. It's been a while since I have posted pictures here.





My precious!



Emmeline





Mia



Aubriella (Auby)



Leah









Of course, no visit to Trailboss' house would be complete without visiting Jones. Apparently Auby and Mia ask about her a lot.



Don't forget me Grandmother!







Helping the girls give Jones sugar cubes was a bit difficult. They don't understand to keep their hands flat and fingers where she can't get them by accident.







Abby is a pro at feeding Jones



How gorgeous is this young lady?







Have I ever missed this sweet thing!



Aunt Stephy, Mia and Auby



Looks like Santa left one of his reindeer in Kansas!



We had a white Christmas this year. My son in law made this wonderful snowman



I mean really, how cute is that?

The girls got some must needed riding in



In more ways than one!



Dinner time was great





Time for more riding and some sit n' spin action



Busy busy busy!



The time finally came to start opening presents. None too soon for my precious!



See Leah there? Her goal in life is to put as many bows as possible on her head and/or in a box.









I hate pictures of myself but here I am thanking my sweet daughter for her presents for me.







This was one of Steph's favorite presents. It has men in it. Good looking men. I might have to borrow it for a while.

Love this mess!



Kids are so funny. The girls loved the little school buses more than anything!



It was so much fun. They are coming out tomorrow too. I am looking forward to it and have my Cannon ready for more picture taking!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I have just spent the last several hours with my most favorite people in the world. Here is who was in attendance today:

Abby....my precious and first grandaughter
Her sister Leah...she is a redhead and I could just eat her up!
Mia.....my long legged grandaughter from Ohio
Aubriella (Auby) her twin who is only a few minutes younger than Mia
Emmeline....my sweet and growing way too fast for me grandaughter who is the sister of the Ohio girls

Oh, and their parents were here too...except for Abby and Leah's daddy who was hard at work. Actually, it was so good to see Amy and her husband Jeremy, not to mention Amy's sister Beth (mother of my precious Abby and Leah). Don't get me wrong. I love seeing all of my kids. It is just that I can not get enough of ALL of my grandkids. Anyone reading this that is a grandparent knows exactly what I mean.

They have left now for Amy's mom's house where they will be spending the nights while they are in town. My sweet Joe has shingles again. I have to give it to him to day though. I know he was hurting something awful, but no one would have ever known. He acted just like he was fine. We all had a good time.

All of the grandkids went with everyone up to see Jones. I didn't have as many sugar cubes as I would have liked but we made the best of what we had. Jones seemed to really enjoy it. Bless her heart, she loves any attention she gets. Stephanie took all the grandkids (plus my darling son-in-law Jeremy) on the golfcart around the yard. They screamed with delight!

Tomorrow we will gather together and have our Christmas. I can not wait to see all of the kids open their presents. There is nothing else on Earth to compare to watching these precious kids open their presents. It's gonna be a good time in Kansas.

Rainy days and Mondays

It is raining like crazy in my neck of the woods today. Rainy days don't get me down but Monday sure can do the trick. Unless I am off of work that day which rarely happens. But I am happy to be gainfully employed and also that I enjoy my job. I have a lot to be thankful for in that regard. The past 3 jobs I have had literally landed in my lap. Well, that isn't true. They didn't actually appear in my lap but I received a phone call offering me the jobs which really is the same thing right? I guess I have done a good enough job with my past jobs that when these employers needed someone I was recommended. I have to say I am quite proud of that item.

I have 2 Christmas lunches to attend this coming week and I admit that I am looking forward to both of them. The first one is on Monday. It will consist of some very good chili and all the fixings, cupcakes, brownies and we all get a neat little gift bag. Plus all I have to do is literally walk across the street from my office and I am there. It is something that I have enjoyed for the past 4 years. The next one is on Wednesday given by my place of employment. We will enjoy some good ole bbq and all the fixings from a local restaurant by the name of Backyard BBQ. Oh my! Their food is to die for. At least I think so. Plus doesn't it always taste better when it is free? Or when you don't have to prepare it yourself? I think so.

I can hardly believe that Christmas is so close. We haven't even put our tree up yet! Steph is out of town for a few days visiting her aunt in Illinois. When she gets back we will get the tree down from the attic and get to decorating it. I love the evenings when it is dark in our great room with only the fireplace burning and the tree lit. We really need to get a new tree. I have had the same one for 17 yrs. I remember when I bought it. Steph was a baby and we had waited way too long to buy a real tree so Ryan and I ended up going to Walmart and buying it. It was $80.00 and has paid for itself over and over again. But it is really time for a new one. It's ok and all, I just would like to have one of the newer ones that look so much more real than this one does. Every year I look at the after Christmas sales on them but my word they are expensive. So we just keep pulling out the same one every year. I just had an idea. When I had my oral surgery last month I should have asked to keep one of the teeth and put it under my pillow with a note to the Tooth Fairy to please forgo the $1.00 and bring me a new fake Christmas tree. Drats.....foiled again.

We will have a nice Christmas this year. Due to some recent mending of fences we should have the whole family together. Except for one person. I'm not sure that my son will be here. I haven't heard from him in a few weeks so I'm not sure what is going on with that. It scares me, a lot, but I put it in God's hands. I surely can't do anything about it. Only He can look over him. I pray that he is ok. But I am not going to concentrate on that. He is a grown man and is responsible for himself.....I have raised him as well as I knew how. The rest is up to him. That's all I have to say about that.

Amy and her family will be here for Christmas and I cannot wait to see the whole family. Oh who am I kidding? I can't wait to get my hands on those babies!!!! They are growing like weeds of course and talking up a storm. It's gonna be a good time. I am thankful to have a 4 day weekend so I can be here for all of the festivities.

I really need to post some pictures of my puppies on here. I haven't done that in a long time! I don't blog like I used to as many of my used to be fellow bloggers don't. Some of my favorites blogs are no more. I miss them but I also understand that blogging can take a lot of time. Maybe someday they'll start back again, if only for a while. I made a lot of blog friends and I wonder what is doing on in their lives.

Twlight Series

Steph and I watched Eclipse yesterday afternoon. I couldn't believe that it was at Redbox. I don't know what it is about this series of movies that intrigues me so much. She and I have seen the first 3 movies together at the theater and we both have truly enjoyed them. Joe not so much but I understand that. He isn't a "going to the movies" type of person, much less a movie about vampires.

I think what fascinates me the most is that the relationship between Edward and Bella seems so pure. I admit that parts of it are a bit on the odd side and Heavens knows I don't believe in vampires but these movies hold my interest. I have not read the books, unlike Stephanie, so I never know what is going to happen next. She always knows though. Like when we were watching New Moon at the theater and I whispered to her that I just HAD to go potty. She said, "no Mom, wait a minute because it is almost over." I was glad she told me that because I would have missed the ending or at least most of it. I have never been much of a reader although I am a bit tempted by these stories. Steph told me yesterday that the author actually dreamed one of the meadow scenes. From that dream she wrote the entire story.

After we watched Eclipse she made chicken alfredo which was delicious. I was actually about to eat everything except the broccoli. I hated wasting it as I love broccoli but it was just too hard for my still sore mouth. Speaking of that, I am healing up well, it just takes time. I have to tell you that I am so tired of this. I have eaten my weight in potatoes and pimento cheese! It's a good thing I love both. But it will all be worth it in the long run. I keep looking at the big picture.

The temperates in West Kentucky are starting to feel a lot like Christmas. We even had some spitting snow over the weekend. Steph and I were out yesterday when I stopped to get gas. Let me tell you that wind was so cold that I got it started pumping using the debit card etc. and made Steph finish it! Isn't that why we have children? To do the things we don't want to do? I am only kidding of course. I love all of my kids. But I have to admit, Miss Stephanie does come in handy from time to time.

We are all doing well. The pups are happy, everyone is healthy and we are all looking forward to the holidays. It's going to be a fun on this year. It had been way too long since we have had toddlers in the house on Christmas morning. I can't wait to see (and of course take pictures) of the entire event. It's gonna be a good one!

Hillbilly:The Real Story

Have you guys seen this documentary? Hillbilly:The Real Story is on the History Channel right now. It is narrated by Billy Ray Cyrus and it is worth watching. I found it very interesting the first time I watched it and every time since.

I love the History Channel. There are so many fascinating things that come on. It seems that just about every time this particular show is on I am glued to it. It's kind of like the movie Titanic or The Notebook. Every time I see either movie on TV I have to watch some of it, if not the entire thing. Why, just last weekend I watched Titanic again for about the 20th time (maybe more!).

I have enjoyed this long weekend more than you will ever know. I am wondering if this is what it's like to enjoy retirement. I guess I'll find out in about 14 years......UGH. I think I will be ready for it well before I reach retirement age. At least I have a job, and one that I enjoy. I am thankful for that.

My mouth is slowly but surely healing. I am going to the dentist tomorrow after work to have the stitches removed. I am anxious to see how they are healing. I can tell they are doing better. I am however still being careful of what I eat and always doing the warm salt water rinse every time after I eat.

A friend if Steph's is coming over again today to ride Jones. They got the bugs worked out of her a couple of weeks ago but another ride will do her well. I guess I'd best get out of my gown and robe and actually put some clothes on before he gets here. It's the hillbilly thing to do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have had extensive dental work in the past week and still have quite a long road ahead on that item. Let me just tell you it is not fun at all. There are very few things I have been able to eat due to the extraction of 7 teeth last Friday. I have very sensitive gums and they have really taken a beating this week. The pain medicine helps but just for a while. Since it was still hurting so much my new wonderful dentist (who reminds me of my precious son-in-law Jeremy) wanted to check everything out to make sure there were no problems. I am happy to report everything is healing up nicely, but in the meantime Trailboss is not having a good time.

We decided to not cook Thanksgiving this year. We were going to go to a local restaurant but I didn't feel like it. Turns out the place was so busy that Joe ended up getting plates to go for all of us so we were still able to enjoy our dinner together, as a family at the dinner table. Eating at the table has always been a very important thing to me. It is where we all come together at the end of the day as a family. We are able to eat and talk about our day. It is the way I was raised and something that I have tried to pass on to my kids.

After I ate a little bit I laid down for a nap. I am not normally a nap person but I was not feeling well at all as eating irritates my mouth so much. I ended up sleeping for over 4 hours! It did feel wonderful though.

I am grateful to have the long weekend to try and recuperate from the trauma my mouth has been through. It will be worth it in the long run, it is just a bit hard to deal with until then.

Sunday morning

We finally got our computer fixed. It needed yet another hard drive. Thank goodness the old one was still under warranty. It's amazing how much something can be missed by the entire family when it isn't working.

I haven't been doing much lately except working and sleeping, or that is what it feels like. I am so ready for retirement. I think. But, it isn't a possibility for a long time for me. That is probably a good thing, I just can't seem to convince myself that!

I haven't heard from my son in almost 2 weeks. All I know is that he doesn't have a job or a place to live. His 29th birthday was this past Friday and it was the first time in 29 years I have not talked to him on that day. It was a sad day for me. His Granny called me at work to ask if I had heard from him since no one else has. I was sad to tell her that I had not. I have no idea where he is but I do pray for him. It is all I can do.

Joe is out hunting as I type this. It is nice that he can just drive down the road to some of the best whitetail deer hunting in the entire county. Or at least that is what I'm told. He doesn't necessarily want to kill a deer, just the act of hunting itself is something that he has loved for a long time. We have 2 trophy bucks on our wall in the living room so he isn't still "looking for the big one" as so many other hunters are. We don't care for the gamy meat either (except deer sausage which is yummy) so there is no way he will come home with anything bloody.

We are hoping to be able to visit via webcam with our Ohio grandkids today. We have really missed that since the computer has been broken. That is if I can figure out how to make the camera work!

It seems like forever!!!

Since I last posted. Our computer at home has died. I have tried everything I know myself to fix it. Thought I had it whopped but it crashed again. Where is my son in law when I need him? He's in Ohio. That's where he lives! I'm not sure if we are going to get this computer fixed here or send it to Ohio for Jeremy to work on. I, like everyone, has become so used to having online at my fingertips I miss it. I can get on here at work but not very often. They tend to frown on that item.

We are finally getting some winter type temperatures in West Kentucky the past few days. We even got a little rain yesterday. This has been the driest summer and fall since I can remember. It makes me think that the winter is going to make up for it. I just hope we don't have another ice storm like in 2009! That was horrible.

We have been doing fine. I am completely and utterly in love with my CPAP machine. I am ever so faithful to it every night which is resulting in a much happier and easier to be around Trailboss. At least that is what my family says. The night before last I didn't have the mask on properly and ended up yanking it off in my sleep. The result was horrible. I barely made it through the day I was so tired. Stephanie thought something was odd since she heard the loud snoring coming from my room. She told me that she thought to herself, "Mom isn't supposed to snore anymore?" I was sure to put it on exactly right last night and the results were amazing. I feel great today. I am so thankful to my doctor for being able to put two and two together and have this sleep apnea diagnosed.

We have had some sad news this week. The stepdad of my niece and nephews was involved in an accident in the woods which resulted in a severe head injury. He had to be life-flighted to Indiana but he didn't make it. He passed away last night. I never met him but knew of him. His name is Scott and he has overcome a lot. He had a drinking problem which he conquered. He had throat cancer which he beat and most recently he was in the hospital for a month with phenomena. Then this happened. It is a very sad situation. The family is in my prayers and would appreciate being in yours as well if you are so inclined. It is going to be rough for them.

Stephanie finally kicked her boyfriend to the curb. No need to get into the details, let's just say that Joe and I did a happy dance more than once. She has been cooking and cleaning her little fingers to the bone lately. She has planned almost all of the family dinners for the past 2 weeks or more. It is lovely to see her show an interest in something new. Pretty tasty too!

Sunday ride with my daughter

Steph and I ventured out on the new golf cart yesterday. She drove as I directed her when to stop and where so I could snap some pictures. I have really missed taking pictures lately. It was such a lovely day that we decided to take advantage of it.



I really liked this tree. I wish I had a better camera in order to take the type of picture I would have liked. Maybe I just need to get a new lens. Hummmmmm....now there's a thought!

The next stop was a neighbor's house. He is an older gentleman and from the looks of his backyard he used to do quite a bit out back.



Oh look! A horsie!



What's that? More horsies?





This one's name was Mr. Cocklebur!







Hello there!





Hey....got an apple for me?



Or a hug?



I'm pretty sure this one was no older than two.



It quickly became harder and harder to take this sweet thing's picture because he kept following me wanting to be loved on.







Such a gorgeous gelding!

We finally got on our way but not without a gracious goodbye.



The only thing keeping them from escaping is a cattle guard. I can't say that I blame them though. If I had hooves I wouldn't want to cross one either.



We went on down the road. Then we turned the golf cart around and look what we saw!



"Please don't leave us. We would love an apple."



We didn't have any apples yet. We had not been to the apple tree. It was down the other road. Sorry boys, maybe next time!

"Fine then. See if we are nice next time!"



I was reminded by Steph that we needed to get going since we were going to watch a movie that started at 2pm. But not without a stop at the apple tree and a quick visit with another baby.





I picked a few apples for Jones and gave this baby 2. He was so sweet after the first one (he nickered for another) that I couldn't resist!



"Come back soon!"



Back home Jones enjoyed her apples.











What a fun ride that was. I can't wait for the next one!