Best/Worse and What did I learn today-a visit with friends

Liz - Your snowman shovel is darling! Glad to hear that Judy and family got to FL safe and sound.

Helln- It is amazing that your friends brother survived! I hope he realizes how lucky he is and hope that it teaches him to wear his seatbelt.

well, folks.....lots of fun things happening today with all of you. Liz your shovel is great.

starzz, wonderful family, daughter looks like her Mama.

I do hope Judy gets to meet with Betty, I still wish I could have met her, but just could not happen this trip.

Rachie, I haven't heard you mention your friends who were flood victims in a while. are they doing OK.

dawn, so happy your friends are safe and much better.

I have my little guy with me tonight...just the two of us and the cats. Here is something for you, just taken this afternoon. He is as sweet as he looks.......

You all have a good end to 2007.
Hugs...

Shar- He is darling. Going to be a lady killer someday with those eyes and that smile!

Thanks for asking about our friends Pete and Cindy. They are doing the best that they can. Some friends are letting them use a singlewide mobile home that they own until we get the interior of the house rebuilt. They got to spend the holidays with thier kids and grandkids. We will start rewiring the house on the 2nd, then drywall, tape/texture, paint, flooring, lighting etc. So it gets better everyday. Hopefully they will be back in thier home by spring or early summer.

Liz..you have a knack for painting..your snowman on the shovel is so happy..great job.

Shar..love that close-up of Ethan..what a beautiful child.

Hellnzn..good news about your friends..wonderful..

Rachie..your friends have a big job ahead to rebuild..but with people like you, and others to help, it must be easier.
Reminds me of pioneer days (I watch movies LOL) when if someone's barn burned down all the neighbours gathered round and rebulit it together...

We had a nice clean blanket of snow overnight..just about an inch..looks pretty...more coming later tonight.
Well ....Have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve everyone.

Starzz- Send us a picture of your snow!

I'm not Starzz but will my snow do?

It's beautiful! Is there a bird on the feeder? Something has his attention! :-)

Oh yes he was watching the birds flying back and forth. The chick-a-dees were hitting it pretty hard!

Ty looks so cute in the snow! I love your greenery too!

It faces north so on windy days it blocks a bit of wind and the birds love to land on it!

HI everyone! Welcome Ruby! You're just down the road from me! I was up that way the past 3 days - in Luray.

Well, we survived the "cabin" and I do mean SURVIVED! So we found this little "cottage" on the internet - where we always find out cabins each year. All you have to go on is the pictures and the (embelished) comments. For the most part, we have have only 1 house that we didn't like (I didn't like it - DH would stay in a tent!) I look for cleanliness and modern conveniences. Well, the house was cute, kind of rustic but it smelled musty and the bottom floor smelled like something had died down there. Luckily, I found an air freshner and that helped a little.

The house had a hot tub and we were all looking forward to enjoying that. Only thing was, it looked gross. There were leaves in the filter and the water was kind of dingy looking. I made up my mind right there that none of my body parts would be getting in that! When we arrived at the cabin, the water wasn't working. Since we arrived about 45 mins before we should have, we waited thinking it's going to be turned on. Well at 3:45pm (check-in was 4pm), the owner shows up to clean. He's like 'You're early'. I was wondering if he thought he could get it cleaned in 15 mins. Anyway, the water situation is there is no "running" water to the house. The house is fed water from a reserve tank the owner fills up. Well, he fills it up with 350 gallons (he says) and we are finally able to flush the toilet!!! Uneventful first night.

The next day we decided to go to Luray Caverens and had one of the worst guides there ever! We heard all about the "cav-er-rens" (as he pronouced it) and got to listen to his one liners and all the "this stone looks like...." throughout the entire tour. UGH! We heard about his open heart surgery (on May 17th of this year!) and how people ask him how he knows God exists. I'm serious... this was on the tour of the caverns! Anyway, we were glad to be done there! Got back to the cabin and ah oh, no water! We called the guy back and he had to come back out and get the tank, go fill it up then bring it back and transfer the water. He said one of the toilets must have kept running. So because of this, we were quite paranoid to use the water for fear it would run out. We took 1 shower each and when we left there yesterday, the water was still running - just not into the toilet downstairs! $^#@*&%

On Saturday, we drove along Skyline drive from Front Royal down to Luray. The kids were bored stiff and I had a de je vu moment remembering when my parents took my sister and I riding along Skyline drive and how bored we were! And we didn't have iPods and PS2's!!! After the drive, went to the movies and saw the new National Treasure movie. Great movie BTW.

The weather while we were there was "BLAH" rainy sometimes, cloudy others. No snow. We did see some wild sheep that run around the mountain. The owner said someone must have left them at one time, now they just roam around eating grass. There were in need of a good shear!!

Had planned on having friends over tonight for new year's but woke up this morning with the beginnings of a new cold - this one in my throat and head. So not feeling that great and don't know if I can make it till the ball drops.

Anyway, here are a few pics from our trip....

This is the view from our cabin...

Wild sheep......

The caverns....

Kids (DD, DS & DN) on Slyline Drive (BD - before boredom)

This message was edited Dec 31, 2007 4:09 PM

Last one - close up of a pretty farm taken from Skyline Drive

This message was edited Dec 31, 2007 4:08 PM

afternoon all,

dawn, thats great news on your friend such a relief when the people we care for are cured.

carol, i painted everything except the snowman it was just like the sleighs we made it is a cut out fabric peice

and thank you all for your compliments

shar, he is soooo cute getting bigger it looks like, will be school time for that little one pretty soon .

vicki what a wonderful picture love all that snow ty looks so comfy just sitting there
hope your feeling better

jeannine, you most certainly are very paitient i think i would of started crying at the water issue lol omg you poor thing all the comotion glad you made the best of it glad you got to get away secenery is beautiful , hope you feel better and welcome back
oh a little bad news opi went up .50 this week.
judy, hope your enjoying yourself.
betty, hope your headed back safe and sound

everyone have a wonderful new year hope it is filled with every wish come true

liz

GG that would be my vacation from He%$. Sorry for that. It looked beautiful there though. Not a good time of the year for surprises like that.

I have no plans, but we rented horid movies so we ate bad again and that is it. Happy New year though guys. Get drunk for me. I live with a sober alcoholic and could really use a drink or two as it has been a long time since I had one. Happy NY to me. No I don't care but it sounds like something nice to do so you guys do it for me OK?

Happy New Year to all of you, my friends. May this year bring you all you need, with days of happiness and good health. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all get together for one big Happy New Year!!
Hugs and blessings,
sharon

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone - Happyy New Year!!! I slept through the ball falling, but was up very early again today. I am enjoying reading about everyone's goings ons. Sorry to Wonder about the misunderstanding with your daughter. Yeah, the other folks should have stood behind their words. They put you in a bad position there. Hopefully it will soon be forgotten and someday even laughed about. I know that it really hurts for now though. You are in very good company with having family issues show up during the holidays. Seems that everyone goes in to the holidays with very high expectations and thinking that everyone will be on their best behavior, but the opposite is true. By the time the celebrations are here, everyone is overly tired and things that would normally blow over quickly, become major in some eyes.

Gardengirl, hi there. Yep, Richmond is just a hop, skip and jump from here. I used to spend more time in that area than I have recently. I had a niece who lived there for several years and I used to visit her from time to time. When growing up my mom and I used to go to Richmond a few times a year shopping. That was always lots of fun for me. I am looking forward to getting to know you better. Lovely family and pictures you shared by the way. Sorry that the get away was not more pleasant for you. Next time maybe I can scout out your accomedations before you arrive. ha-ha

Hi to everyone else. I will look forward to hearing how everyone spent their day. Take care everyone.

Ruby

Morning all,
Rachie....here is a photo of the snow early this morning ..and it is snowing lightly again right now.

I spent last evening with my eldest son, DIL and family. It was DIL birthday so we celebrated that too. BBQ steak and Scallops wrapped in bacon..excellent!..
I came home about 10:30..dozed off a bit but did wake up to see the midnight excitement on TV.

Tonight I am having dinner with my #2 son and his family...tradition to have ham and scalloped potatoes there on New Year's Day.

Have a great day everyone.

Hapy New year everyone. I actualy managed to stay up till midnight last night!!! We never do anything so it's just another night here. I started on a new paperback about 9:30 and had to make myself put it down about 12:15 to go to bed. Finished it up this morning.
Hope the new year is a good one for you all

WWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

In case you didn't recognize that....it is me letting out a big breath. My boys have gone now, my cats have calmed down, and maybe by nightfall I might be able to make my way down the hall to my bedroom.

I loved having them here, but the quiet is nice.

And Cat, my dear....maybe I can get back to all these books I have accumulated, plus a gift certificate to Books a Million, if I can remember how to read!

Hope you are all having a good start to this brand new year!

Hugs to all of you.
Sharon

Starzz- Thanks for the pic, I love it! Glad to hear that you are enjoying time with family.

Happy New Year all! I made it until 11:30 and fell asleep. The neighbors fireworks woke me up at 2:30 a.m. but was able to fall back asleep. Hugs, Rachel

Oh yes, the picture of the snow is beautiful. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the white stuff. It doesn't snow as much n Virginia as it did when I was a child. I miss it.

Ruby

:-) Another one is on the way Shar!!! :-)

evening all,

happy new year...

hope everyone had a safe one...
thinking of betty wonder if she got in today thought she may get in this afternoon hope all is well with her and she has a safe trip home.

judy must be having fun to havent heard from her.

carol, the snow is so lovely

hello rachel, cat, ruby
shar, i hope you are feeling better have a good evening relaxing

got so stir crazy today found out the good will stores were open whoo hoo so off we went. i kept passing thease red plastic things on a top shelf kenny finally said im surprised you passed this up it was the red thing i asked him what is that omg it is a snowman maker it makes 12inch round balls well i grabbed it dont know what im going to do but the idea just hit me since we dont have snow here, why cant i make a permanent snowman in the back yard with cement so i ran this by dh he has some nerve he told me to put it away everytime i said something he kept saying put it away so with that im going to get dinner out of the oven decided to make a ham some baked potatoes and some beer bread have a good one all
laura thinking of you hope your doing ok

Liz,
So did you end up getting anything at the Goodwill or did you put it all back? Dinner sounds yummy, my hubby just put Papa Murphys pizza in the oven. I worked in the yard all day so he took care of dinner.

Hope make is having a good trip home.

hi rachel i got this jacket it was brandnew looking from coldwater and i got the snowman mold lol

Happy New Year everyone. I'm a little late on the draw but this is the first chance I've had to get on the PC. I slept through the ball dropping last night. Took a Tylenol cold and just couldn't make it. DH stayed up with the kids and had sparkling grape juice with them. He was also a doll and let me sleep until 10:30 this morning. I felt horrible when I got up - thick throat and pounding head. Took a shower and 3 advils and felt much better a little later.

Took all of the Xmas stuff down inside and out. DH does the outside with the exception of my flags and the garland on the porch. It's really nice to have the house straightened again.

Went out to DICKS and bought a new eliptical machine. We have been looking at them and we decided we would be making a lifestyle change in our eating starting with 2008. We were lucky in that our neighbors across the street went out and bought one too and they had done a lot of research so we ended up getting a different one based on their findings. We all weighed ourselves this morning and I had only gained 3 lbs since our last "diet" attempt back in the spring. I'm shooting for 25 lbs and anything extra will be a benny!

Has anyone heard from Betty recently? When is she heading back up north?

Ruby, I do love it up in our mountains and DH and I hope to retired one day up at Smith Mtn Lake. Of course by the time we retired we won't be able to afford anything (not that we can now!). Have you been to the new Short Pump mall? I live 2 mins from it. You should let me know if you're ever heading this way!

Well, all back to work tomorrow. I've been gone 2 1/2 weeks so it will be hard to get going in the AM.

I'll chat w/ ya later!!
Jeannine

PS - Carol, can you send some of that snow down our way? It is so beautiful and as Ruby said, it just doesn't snow here like it used to!!!

Liz- I love the Goodwill! That jacket is beautiful! You could also make concrete mosiac balls with that mold. Very cool!

Jeannine- Hope you feel better soon! Betty should be back home today or tomorrow.

I sure hope we hear from Betty soon. I worry about her travels through uncertain weather conditions.

GG, an "interesting" cabin story. Glad you survived it! I hope you are feeling better.

Liz, great finds at the GW store. All kinds of things you could make with that mold.

rach, I can't believe you worked in the yard today. It is soooooo cooooold here, and the wind was really whistling.

I miss Judy, too....she said she is not stopping near here on her way home, so guess I won't see her again.

Wonder, Starzz. Dawn, Tropi, Ves, Cat, Ruby....hope you are great and all rested.
I know I missed somebody, but you all sent so many good pictures, everytime I go back to read what you wrote, I check out the pics again and lose my post. So please forgive.

One more time, my friends....Happy New Year!!

I am like Sharran and read all the posts and forget the comments that I would like to make by the time I get to the point of posting. I am also in agreement over Goodwill Stores. Some of my favorite things I have bought at second hand stores. I haven't done much in terms of second hand shopping for a while because my house is just about packed full. I really need to begin getting rid of some of the clutter. I have a first grandchild who will be walking before too much longer and all the knick knacks that I have setting every where are going to be terribly tempting to her. Seems like just yesterday I was baby proofing the house for her dad. Where did the time go?

No Jeannine, I haven't been to the new (fairly new) Short Pump Mall, but now that I know that I might get to meet you, I will find a time after the cold weather begins to disappear to plan a trip down. Sounds like fun and maybe we will be able to interest any others who may live within day trip distance.

I have several other forums to check. I hope that everyone will have a great day.

Ruby

morning all,

well the news says were going to get the the most rain in the next few days there talking about 5 inches of rain great! pray for 1inch lots of wind to follow guess im taking down my decorations after work in the frount yard it has been so nice and calm lately with the exceptiong of the cold ice in the morning i almost had forgotten it was winter..lol

thanks rachel,im thinking concreat mold to, this is where dh is rolling his eyes because i want a permanent concreat snowman in the yard lol it will get just as much talk as the bottle tree boy dare to be different yep thats me! lol
now thats the good kind of dinners no fuss or bother im glad i threw on a ham now there is dinner for a couple of nights or breakfast.

jeannine, hope your feeling better today , i talked to betty on sunday thought she would be in the afternoon of new years or maby the next day with weather permitting, i have one of those machines there great i have to fix the mile counter probably just a battery issue so i never know what im doing but i do enjoy it.

shar, do hope your feeling better to did you get in some reading oh the trouble im going to get into with that mold lol and theres a bag of cement in the garage just begging me to open it lol
ruby, i think we could run bets on who has the most stuff lol just yesterday dh started his speech on bringing home the escavator and leveling everything so then it was time to overstuff him and send him to the couch generally keeps him quiet for a few days lol

vicki how are you doing get your load put away we still have a lot to put out probably finish today i hope

judy hope your having fun and enjoying the warm weather

betty, did you arrive home yet? maby resting from the long trip, miss your posts
carol. hope your doing good
everyone have a great day

rachel, i keep meanning to ask you how is that puppy doing?

laura, hope your enjoying your vacation, i had a question the beaded bracelett, tiger tail..thats the brown color bead right?

HAPPY BELATED 'NEW YEAR' everyone...

Home late last night..fought snow storms most of the way so by the time I got in it was catch up with the animal sitter and to bed...glad I was busy driving yesterday, took the edge off of my DH Roger's death anniversary..called Greg to wish him Happy Birthday and of course it being the same day as his dad's death it brough a few tears between both of us..but today is another day..windows are frosted with winter designs from the bitter cold..much snow but warm and cozy here inside..friends brought me my car last night as it was stored in their garage so it's back to being normal (did I say normal?) lol

Just dropping in for a few secs. but do want to welcome Ruby..a more loving and compasionate and fun group you'll find nowhere else Ruby so feel welcome and part of the 'friends' here..join in the chatter..we're all happy to meet you!

Did read all your posts but must take the sitter home, come back and get myself organized..not going to work today but will tomorrow and Friday..must trek through 2 - 3' of snow to get to back storage shed to put all these decorations away and in between will drop in to say 'hi' to each and everyone of you...so glad to come home to you all!!!!!

Morning Liz...we must have crossed posted...will have to get the instructions for Laura's bracelet..might be something to do these wintery days...

Morning!

Liz our load won't be in until thur. So I got today off and my hours were divided between thur. and fri. Works for me. Our loads have been lots smaller so they get put out right away. Now it is just getting the end caps and cams set up. Moving merchndise around and making room for more. I do know they have had to price more discontinued stuff. All this extra stuff adds up to quite a bit. Waiting to see what you come up with the mold. Bottle boy?

Happy New year to all! Sounds like you had a good day yesterday. It is cold here and clear. I haven't checked the weather because I'm not sure I want to know how cold. At least it isn't snowing. Quiet day here yesterday. NO traditions. I did do laundry so I guess I've washed some friends out of my life! LOL

Wonder hope things are better with your DD soon. Sounds like she needs to do some growing up. When do you go back to work? How is your garden? Any pictures to show us. We like pictures.

Betty are you home? We are waiting to hear more about your trip and to see a few pictures.

I cannot believe it is 2008. I have yet to write a check. It's usually later in the month I goof up on it.

Ruby I got rid of some of my clutter a few years ago and have to do it again. It is a never ending battle. Right now I just try not to buy to many things!

You all have the day you need if I don't get back here.
Vicki

Morning Betty I cross posted with you! Welcome back!

WHOO HOO welcome back betty and happy new year to you

i bet you have some funny storys to tell lol well off to work so have a great day
betty the knitted bracelett is a peice of cake lol its this new one she's talking about that i need to see a picture of so i can figure it out.