2016 is Almost Here!

It’s hard to believe New Year’s Eve is here and 2016 is ready to burst in!!  The holiday season is flying by and it’s hard to believe I’ll be turning 52 in January.  Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was 16?  25?  Even 40?

As always the Shepard Family Christmas party, held at younger sis Erin’s abode, was a blast.  It was Steve’s second year so he was much more relaxed and knew what to expect.  Jordan’s wife Candy was the newbie so it was her turn to take in the food, the family, the questions, and the noise.  She had a fantastic time and enjoyed being part of a big family gathering.  Sam actually attended the party this year and he wound up having a fantastic time, bonding with cousin Maressa’s boyfriend James and Erin’s boyfriend Josh.  The gift game continued to be fun and I ended up with an awesome bag filled to the brim with items to be used in a car emergency.  Steve wound up with LED candles and a “52 Things to Do While You Poop” book; he conveniently left both at my house and ended up giving them to me.  The candles – yay!  The poop book will definitely be regifted.

We also had the annual girl’s sharing of shoes, clothes, makeup, etc. during the Shepard party.  I off-loaded a ton of shoes and makeup and wound up taking home a cute pair of beige boots, some black thigh high boots, a Spritz cookie press, and a few other odds and ends.  In addition, sis Eilene made me a fabulous high heel shoe wreath that I immediately hung up on my porch.  Thankfully it is fake so I can use it every year!!!

There is definitely never enough time to get caught up with each family member during the annual party.  We need to have gatherings more often so we can spend time sharing our lives with each other.

I took December 23 off from work so I could finish my Christmas shopping.  I was gone from 8:30am to 3pm at the stores getting gifts and then getting groceries.  My feet were sore at the end of the day!!!  Next year I will plan better and get my shopping done early!!

Christmas Eve found me celebrating at Steve’s house with his family.  This year I was included in the gift drawing and it was my task to purchase for his sister-in-law Michelle.  Along with a long-sleeve tee and fleece vest, I also made her a beaded bracelet, including charms with pictures of her family.  She unwrapped the bracelet and immediately began crying she was so touched by it.  Made my heart warm.

Steve gifted me a beautiful diamond and garnet ring and necklace along with another funky set of earrings and necklace which are similar to the bracelet I received last year from him.  I surprised him with a Black Sabbath tee, a hotel night, and tickets to see Black Sabbath in Tacoma on February 6.  He was beyond happy with his gift and immediately began humming some Ozzy song and rocking out.  Of course I’m going with him – in no way for the music but for the experience.  Right now I’m trying to figure out what rock-n-roll outfit to wear for the heavy metal shindig.

Christmas morning I drove home and watched Sam open his gifts.  Later, I cruised to Jordan and Candy’s for dinner and watched them open their gifts.  We also watched the thirties version of A Christmas Carol, one of my favorites.

The rest of the holiday weekend flew by, including Sunday when I took down all the Christmas decorations and changed up some of the pictures on the living and family room walls.  Sam has been frequently gone to his buddy’s house so Casa Diva has been unusually quiet lately.  No plans other than work for New Year’s Eve, although I received an invite to my friend Jan’s house.  Still up in the air as to if I want to be out on the road in the cold with a bunch of drunkards.

Happy New Year’s everyone!!!  Here’s to a fabulous 2016!!!

 

Cranberries and Commodores

Thanksgiving was a success, spent with Sam, Jordan and Candy, her sons and granddaughter.  Yes, Jordan has become a grandparent before me, which is mind-bending.

Friday I drove to Vancouver to hit a few Black Friday sales.  Then Friday night I headed up to Lucky Eagle casino with my friends Stan and Susan to see the Commodores concert.  It was awesome!  At one point at the end I made my way to the front stage, jumping around in hopes of scoring a t-shirt or drumsticks.  Definitely a high energy event!!

Today I get to celebrate Stan and Susan's 25th wedding anniversary.  I was one of their witnesses when they were married and I can't believe it's been 25 years!!  Those two were definitely made for each other!

Sending out good vibes to Steve, who has been fighting a cold all week.  Sore throat, no voice and he had to miss turkey day!!

From Studmuffin to Scruffin!

I was watching the movie "The Kidnapping of Heineken" with Anthony Hopkins.  Sam mentioned that one of the stars was Jim Sturgess, the guy who was in the movie "21".  I thought there was no way.  In 21 he was a good looking dark haired guy; in this movie, the guy was scruffy, blonde, and skinny.  Of course I had to Google the actor to see if it was indeed him.  You betcha....same actor.  What a difference!!   Look at the comparison below:

Way Too Early To Rise!

Woke up at 4:30am today and could not fall back asleep so gave in and got up.  Still can't believe it is November and we are inching our way to another Christmas.  This past weekend I actually stood in the garage and thought about dragging out the holiday decorations.  Came to my senses and decided it was just too darn early.

Here's to having a very long day today!!

Cough, Colonoscopy, and Candy!!

October has come to a close and November is upon us.  Next thing it will be Christmas! 

October was a month of medical episodes.  Battling a cough that refuses to go away, the doctor put me on prednisone – yes, the stuff that makes you cranky, hungry, unable to sleep, and is simply a pain in the rear.  Counting down the days when I’m done with that treatment!

October also included my first colonoscopy!  I heard stories of the prep being the worst and I pooh-poohed them. C’mon – I drink water all the time so guzzling a few liters will be no problem!  To all of those people I ridiculed, let me be the first to say I’m sorry!!!  It wasn’t the water – it was the medicine.  You go all day drinking clear liquids, then at 6pm you mix the liquid (which was clear so it fools you into thinking it will be no problem) into 16oz of water and drink it down.  Yuck!  Then followed with two more 16oz containers of water.  My gut was sloshing like a waterlogged basketball! 

An hour after the drinking the intestinal expulsion begins.  Yes, every 30 minutes or so I was in the bathroom.  Releasing every bit of substance that may have been left in my colon.  The only other time I’ve had this type of situation is when I’ve been down with the flu so this process tricks you into thinking you are sick.  But you aren’t – just preparing for the inevitable.

Thankfully I was only up twice that night before arising at 4:30am to once again drink the nasty substance followed by 32 more ounces of water.  Once again I was back in the bathroom but, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep that much liquid down so back up it went.  Ick.

Once the water treatment was done, son Sam dropped me off at the hospital where I changed into my gown, got the IV hooked up, and was ready to rumble (or be sucked dry.)  The doctor stopped by and let me know that, because I was on the steroids, I could reschedule the colonoscopy for another day.  WHAT ARE YOU HIGH MAN??  This procedure was going to happen come hell or high water!!! 

Soon I was wheeled into the procedure room, sedative pumped into my veins, and a nice little twilight took over my mind as the doctor began the anal probing.  Thankfully, my colon was in tip top shape and only one little polyp had to be removed. 

The best part of the procedure?  Eating chicken fried steak for breakfast with son Sam after he picked me up from the hospital!!

October also brought another Halloween, which meant a record 500 kids knocking on my door for candy.  Sam’s friend Aaron, dressed in a creepy clown costume, ended up handing out candy to the kiddies, several whom had to be scarred by Aaron’s appearance. 

 

Each year following Halloween brings a melancholy reminder that my mom is gone.  Her birthday is November 1 - Happy Birthday in heaven, Mom!!!  It's been 19 years since you've been gone and I still think of you and miss you every single day.

 

 

The Great Pumpkin, Pete Carroll!!

I was fairly productive this past weekend.  On Saturday I cruised to T-Mobile in Vancouver to replace Sam's phone, which he had accidentally set in a glass of water.  Picked him up a new phone (on his dime) then browsed around the mall before heading back home.  Saturday evening I simply relaxed, read, then hit the hay.

Sunday I got ready to begin my new project - decorated pumpkin for the contest at work.  I originally was going to have Sam paint Batman on my pumpkin but then I decided to go for a Seahawks theme. This would obtain the guest votes from not only athletic kids but parents as well.

I stopped by Michael's to see what called to me in the craft aisles.  Not much so headed over to Walmart to pick up some craft supplies.  I must have wandered for two hours, digging through the craft, sports, and fabric aisles.  When done, I headed home with my bag of goodies to begin creating a masterpiece (in my mind anyway!)

I painted the pumpkin dark blue with glitter spray on top.  I had originally picked up a Seahawks painted face mask for humans that seemed to be easy to use on the pumpkin. Well, that didn't really happen. The face kind of blended in with the blue paint so it was carefully removed in order that the logo could still be used; unfortunately, some of the blue paint came off so I decided to slap some lime green on the front to cover the bits of orange pumpkin poking through.

Next, the Seahawks emblem were placed on the front of the pumpkin.  Digging into my favorite paint box - my nail polish - I painted around the emblem area with silver and glitter paint.  I then painted a 12 with green paint and dotted it with glitter polish before skewering it with a dowell.  My next step was to paint a silver and glitter 12 on top of the lime green mini-football from Walmart. 

Taking a break from painting, I then sewed a Seahawks flag and secured it to a dowell, inserting the 12 dowell next to it. 

Getting close to being done, a silver stadium wig was attached to my pumpkin before plunging the flag dowell into the skin and gluing the football to the top.

This whole pumpkin decorating contest took a few hours but it is looking pretty good - perhaps even contest winning.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

 

 



After finishing up Mr. Seahawks Pumpkin, I then moved on to my bedroom.  Arrggg....so many clean clothes that I had been ignoring, piled onto the loveseat in my room.  Watching a movie, I made my way through the clothes to put them away, hang them up, and be done with it!. 

That was the extent of my weekend! 

Experience in the Plains

Wednesday was a very long day but it was successful in bringing me to one of Steve's favorite places in the world -North Dakota.

We boarded the flight to Denver with his parents at 3pm.  Smooth flight; however, when we arrived we learned the connecting flight to Minot was cancelled.  The airline quickly said it was "not their fault"; we suspect it was due to such a small number of passengers.  We ended up detouring to Willingston, two hours from Minot.  Steve's uncle picked us up and we finally tumbled into bed around 1am.

Thursday I was invited to have lunch at the country club with the girls.  These gals were a close knit group of friends of Steve's mom Kathy (who goes by Kiki in ND) and her sister Ann.  All ten of us had lunch, where I learned that most everyone in the small community were related to one another.  One married one's brother, another's son had married one's daughter, and so on.  It was a lunch full of stories, remembrances, and laughs.

After lunch we rode over to Velva to watch second cousins Maddie and Libby play volleyball at the school.  Meaning the school where all kids, kindergarten to senior, take classes.  Following that, Steve took me on a tour of Velva, where his mom grew up and where he spent many summers as a child.  Our evening ended up meeting his parents, aunt, uncle, and cousin for dinner before heading to Aunt Ann's to stay for the night.

Friday we slept in then later in the day we cruised to Strawberry Lake, a community of cabins surrounding a lake that is a summertime getaway for Steve's relatives.  We stopped at Uncle Mike's cabin to relax and enjoy the sights before making our way to the Burns ranch for dinner.

Steve's second cousin is getting married at the Burns ranch so we were invited to the rehearsal dinner.  A big tent was up and the decorating was being fine-tuned when we arrived.  Today at 6pm the wedding will be held and we are looking forward to the big party to follow.

This morning Steve met up with another cousin and friends to go duck hunting.  They ended up getting 10 ducks and 10 geese and a barrel of laughs.

A few things I've learned so far on my trip - ND is very windy, there's always a patch of hay to be found, and everyone is friendly.