Wrapping up Christmas

2008-12-Lindgren Xmas
Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

Or maybe we should call it the final unwrapping!

This past weekend we spent with my family and as usual it was a very entertaining weekend! With the snowstorm that was suppose to come through the area, we waited until around lunch on Friday to head out. With the car full and a quick run stop at Arby's for lunch, we were on our way!

Clear roads made for a quiet drive without delays. This was much better than we had anticipated as there was 4-6 inches of snow predicted for the area. We did get some snow, but not nearly as much as we thought we would

When we stopped at my mom's to drop off Darrin's stuff, we found that my Aunt changed her mind AGAIN and actually did drive down for the weekend! So, we did some last minute shopping and then met up with everyone else at my mom's for pizza and munchies. My Aunt's puppy Toby had fun trying to decided who was ok and who he was just going to bark at - John was one he decided he had to bark at. But he also had fun trying to figure out who was going to give him snacks!

Saturday everyone came over to my Uncles, where we were staying, for lunch and gifts. That is when the laughs really started. Granted everyone received many of the gifts that they had on their Christmas lists, but there was also many other special or gag gifts going around!

Socks and Underwear and always part of the gifts each year in our family. But this year there was also pig stuff, bottles of wine and more! There was definitely a theme with most of the gifts that Dessa received... Hanna Montana!

We decided that we need to get the entire family together for Christmas next year if possible! I think it has been 15+ years since we have done Christmas with the entire family - cousins included! Once all of us kids (the cousins) started getting older it was just too hard to get everyone together. Maybe next year we can plan far enough in advance that we can get everyone together in one place for at least one day!

The Holiday Village

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Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

As I sit here today trying to decide what to write about, I find myself browsing through holiday pictures and am drawn to the ones of my mom's holiday village that she sets up each year.

This village started about 15+ years ago with just a few houses set up on a small table in our living room. She said that she was going to add one house to the village each year. Each year she would add a building to the was reflective of events of the year, family activities or personalities. But very quickly we realized that adding just ONE house a year would never happen! Each year it was 2-3 houses or more.

Almost all of the houses were lit from the inside with small lights. Finding enough extension cords to plug everything in was always a task. Someone was ahead of the game thought - there were cord designed for just this type of set-up with 6 lights on one cord so it took less outlets and extension cords to light the town.

Her village quickly outgrew it's small table in the living room and she had to find a bigger table. Moving caused other dilemma's - the But she made it work - and still managed to add more to this every growing holiday spectacle!

The newest feature of these houses are "open" windows that feature the inside of the house! Many of the new houses have families sitting around the kitchen table or enjoying time in their own living rooms!

With one more move now complete, she has a bigger living room to work with again! Once again the large table that was home to the village was no longer big enough! The good news - the bay widow in the apartment provided extra "land" space for the growing city!

Yes, we have graduated from a small village to a full blown city. We have now added more trees, people, vehicles, a ski hill it shows no signs of slowing it's growth!

This year as she was working on setting up her city, her neighbor from across the hall had to stop over everyday to see the building progress. With all the buildings, people, trees and everything else that is part of this annual presentation, it usually takes her a few weeks to get everything set up! One of her other friends has already told her that she wants to be there for the town raising next year!

Maybe next year we will manage to actually get a picture of the entire thing - we forgot to do that this year when we were visiting! Might need to get John a good fish-eye lens for his camera!

Worlds Best Brownie Pan

New Brownie Pan
Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

Ok, Christmas is finally over! We just got home from Christmas with my family in Rhinelander. Of course the kids got even more stuff...

But I finally got my brownie pan that I have been waiting for! It's the "Edge Brownie Pan" Now middle brownies! They all have at least 2 crunchy edges of them!!! My mom bought me this pan and in the 6 hours that we have been home today, I have already made 2 pans of brownies.

Now, I have not eaten 2 pans of brownies... just baked 2. We actually brought 2/3 of one of the pans over to Nick for plowing our driveway again.

Out trip back home today was not so fun... icy and snow covered roads from Wittenberg the rest of the way back to Green Bay - YUCK! Scary thing was all the other cars that were flying past us as if the roads were clear and dry. It was really nice though knowing that we were not going to have to shovel when we got home! Within a few hours after we got home, Nick was out with the kids clearing everyone's driveways!

Thanks Nick!!

Snowstorm Faith

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Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

More snow again! This is officially the 6th snowstorm already this winter! It seems like we will never get a break! I got an early start to work this morning as I had no idea how the roads were going to be. Boy was I glad that I did! Once again it was a half hour drive - no one was moving to fast! But everyone made it to the office today!

That was a good thing! Shortly after we all were at work, we heard that there was a 14 car pile-up on the highway just north of town! This was right where several of my co-workers had just traveled through just a few hours before! Thankfully there were no serious injuries, but the highway was closed for several hours while they cleaned up the mess.

Since John is off work until after the 1st of the year, he was home today and got some really great pictures of the snow and all that fun stuff. He snapped this really col picture of the kittens trying to figure out what all the white stuff was that was out on the back deck. They are strictly indoor cats and have only been tossed out in the snow once or twice - but they didn't stay out too long! Apparently they don't like the cold on their paws!! We have all been so busy in the last few weeks, so no one has had time to tackle shoveling back there! The snow is pretty much higher than the kitties heads! If we don't get it shoveled pretty soon, they are not going to be able to see the trees even!

Nick and Connor spent most of the morning out on the 4-wheeler clearing out all the driveway's in the neighborhood. Connor was loving this as he got to help dad drive the 4-wheeler! Usually the kids all take turns riding on the back while Nick plows, but since all the older kids were in school today, Connor got to spend some good quality time hanging with dad!

On the news tonight they said that our snowfall so far this month is 33.7 inches! The scary thing is that the all-time high record for December is 36.4 inches, set back in 1887! I have no doubt that we will shatter that record this year since they are forecasting 3-4 inches for tonight and tomorrow and then another 4-6 on Friday! I am curious as to what the season snow fall record is because at this rate, I am thinking that we will probably break that record too!

Frozen Adventures at Christmas

Remember, Soap Can Freeze!
Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

This past weekend we ventured up north for Christmas with John's family. We should have known that it was going to be an interesting weekend before we even left!

The night before we left, Snowstorm Dawn showed up and dumped 6 inches of snow on us! It took me over a half our to make the usual 10-15 minute drive to work in the morning, at at least the same on the way home! The roads themselves were "fun" most of the way up too.

We had some laundry to do when we got to the apartment and Darrin went out to start the load of jeans...

but he ran into a slight issue....

The laundry soap was frozen!

I guess that happens when the washer and dryer are in the back shed that really is not heated!

So after a quick warming under hot running water, we were back in business!

Between laughing with and at family members, dealing with snow and cold, it was definitely an interesting weekend. But then again, when this group gets together, it always is a fun time! This year we actually outgrew the dining room table and had to set up a separate table so everyone had a place to sit! But it was NOT the kids table - it was just the "other" table.

John and I were sitting at the other table with Darrin, Eric and Hunter so I got the privilege of being the one to feed Hunter. Now, sitting at the other table and offering to feed Hunter proved very beneficial for me - I found that I myself didn't over eat! I had to keep stopping from eating myself to shovel more food into Hunter - who patiently waiting with his mouth open like a little bird!

It was fun to have a young one in the house for Christmas this year - all of John's other Nephew's are in college, then there is Darrin. Having a baby around at the holiday's makes everything even more interesting, especially when Hunter is now at that age where he is trying to get into everything! We missed it but apparently he took a few steps when he was standing in front of Eric who was sitting on the couch. Jim and Jen were not there either so I don't think they believe that he actually did it.

The trip back home was just as interesting as the trip up. The roads from L'Anse to Crystal Falls with snow covered and the blowing snow made seeing a difficult feat at times We were very surprised when we got closer to home. I guess they had some REALLY nasty weather here on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The roads were glare ice Sunday morning which made roads dangerous. In the span of about 2 miles, we saw 9 cars in the ditches and median!

Guess I am glad we waiting until after lunch to start our drive home!

Next weekend also is looking like it will be an interesting drive to my parents!

I'm a winner

Penokie Xmas
Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

Today, just before we were leaving for Michigan, the mail lady came by with our mail. In the mail was a small box, with no return address for me. Very weird. Everything that I had ordered for Christmas gifts was already here, with the exception of one, that I knew would not be this...

Hmmm....

So here I sit, in the car, with no sharp cutting instruments, trying to get the tape off this box! Not an easy feat while the car is moving down the snow covered roads

Once I finally get into the box I find all kinds of goodies! Apparently I was selected as once of the winners in the Northwoods Geocaching event that was held in Rhinelander, Minocqua and Boulder Junction over the summer! Included in my prize box was a Boulder Junction travel coffee mug (will come in handy over the weekend since I forgot mine at home!), a few travel bug tags and a really cool geocoin!

WooHoo!!

Knitting surprises!

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Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

One of the fun things about knitting is finding out just what a particular yarn looks like when it is knit. Sometime we like what we end up with, other times, we decided that particular yarn would have probably been better suited for a different project.

Darrin picked out this yarn on Sunday for me to do a scarf for a Christmas gift. Now I have one more knitting project to be done before Christmas. Ok, technically this one needs to be finished by this weekend.

I started working on this scarf last night and after a few trial starts I was rolling. (it took me a few tries to figure out how many stitches I needed to cast on to get the scarf the size that I wanted). Once I started seeing the pattern come through, I wanted to keep going to see it change as I went along! But the reality that the alarm goes off at 5am got me to put it down at a fairly decent time.

This is by far some of the coolest yarn that I have used in a while. The number of stitches cast of for this project resulted in a stripe of blue waving along the length of the scarf, through each of the other colors. Not to mention just how soft it is! Too Cool!! John asked me if I was going to end up keeping this one for myself. Nope... I bought more of this same yarn in shades of blue and shades of green that I will keep for myself. Maybe I will have to stop and see if they still have more of this same yarn so I can do even more.

Photo on the right is the finished product that went to my MIL for Christmas (I had to finish the ends after she opened it since I finished it last minute!)

Yarn Jackpot

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Originally uploaded by FuzzyKryton

This morning, as I was on my way to the grocery store, I decided to swing by Retail America to see if they were discounting their merchandise any cheaper yet. This store is closing and they are liquidating everything. I have been a regular shopper of their yarn department over the last 6 months and was hoping to get some more great deals.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was 90% off starting today! WooHoo!!! But it was not quite 10:30 yet, so I had to wait a few minutes before the store opened. I wandered through found a few things that I had to have, but didn't buy much since I had to get to the grocery store.

While I was grocery shopping, I talked to my mom and she told me that she wanted me to go pick up some yarn for her... so back I went. This time I took a little more time, picking up a few more things for myself too. Before the took off the discount, it was $316 worth of yarn! Of which I paid $32. Good deal in my book!

So I head home with my bags of goodies. When I told John that everything was 90% off, he asked me if there was still yarn left. I told him yes and he asked why I didn't buy it all! He told me that since it was that cheap I should go back and get more. Why pay regular price for later when you can get it so cheap now...

So back I went!

After all was said and done, here is what I ended up coming home with, (not including what I bought for my mom)...

4) Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair Coral Reef
(4) Loin Brand Moonlight Mohair Rainbow Falls
(4) Moda Dea ChiChi Color #9948 - shades of purple
(3) Moda Dea ChiChi Color #9928 (playa) shades of green and yellow
(3) Moda Dea ChiChi Color #9946 (flamingo) shades of pink and orange
(2) Moda Dea ChiChi Color #9112 black
(5) Lion Brand Incredible Copper Penny
(10) Lion Brand Incredible Rainbow
(1) Lion Brand Incredible Carnival
(9) Lion Brand Incredible Shades of Blue
(4) Fancy Fur Tropical Turquoise
(1) Moda Dea Cheerio Platinum
(6) Red Heart Foxy Sterling
(1) Red Heart Fozy Cherries
(3) Moda Dea Kickx Curious
(3) Moda Dea Kickx Lucky
(3) Moda Dea Zing Blue Ice
(3) Moda Dea Zing Misty
(2) Moda Dea Fur Sure Peri Whatever
(5) Lion Brand Festive Fur Black
(3) Lion Brand Festive Fur White
(12) Tickle Cream color
(3) Lion Brand Fun Fur Lavender
(3) Lion Brand Fun Fur Lime
(2) Lion Brand Fun Fur Rainbow
(4) Lion Brand Fun Fur Turquoise
(3) Lion Brand Fun Fur Sapphire
(3) Moda Dea Espree Pinks
(2) Moda Dea Tutu Raspberry
(2) Moda Dea Tutu Pear Green
(2) Moda Dea Tutu Cabana Blue
(2) Moda Dea Tutu Grape
(2) Bernat Galaxy Jupiter
(2) Moda Dea Lazy DaiseyPurple Rain
(2) Moda Dea Lazy Daisey Bubble Gum
(6) Moda Dea Lazy Daisey Wavy Navy

Over $1000 worth of yarn that I bought for 90% off!! I have no idea what I am going to do with all of it, but I know I am going to have fun with it!!

Winter Storm Carter plus Cat and Mouse... and cat

So I wake up this morning on this powdery white morning, wondering if Winter Storm Carter will cause closings or if the schools will actually be open and if I will be able to make it to work. By watching the news I find that there are several of the schools that are closed, but not us. Go figure. But it is still early, so there is still time.

As I head down to the basement to get in a morning workout, I find 2 of the cats sitting right next to the elliptical. Almost as if they were waiting to say hello to me right away this morning (even tho Fozzy had already jumped on me shortly after the alarm went off while I was still in bed to say good morning and make sure I was getting up). Ok, no big deal, as soon as I start using the elliptical, the start wandering away slowly.

But I should have realized they were up to something. a few minutes later, I see little miss Silver dart along the wall behind the rocking chair... hot on the tail of a mouse. Yup, they were not waiting to say good morning to me...they were on mouse patrol - aka toy hunting! As they disappear to the other side of the basement, with Fozzy right on their tail also, I am distracted by the weather/news on TV. Still no word on if there is school or not. More and more schools all around us are closing, but nothing for us... the workout continues...

A streak across the room catches my attention tho. Silver is on a mission to get across the room, with the mouse tucked strategically in her mouth, with Fozzy right on her tail. He looks pretty determined to get his hands on this fun little play toy. But Silver is not in the mood to share, so she darts behind the couch, heading to the stairs. Fozzy, not to be left behind, decides to take a short but OVER the couch, pouncing down right on Silver's tail as she heads upstairs.

Great. Now I have mouse upstairs in my house. I can deal with them if they are in the basement, but they need to stay out of the rest of the house - that is MY space! Ok, I will deal with that later. As I continue on my elliptical journey, I turn back to watching the news. Any news yet on schools? More schools around us are being added to the list, but still not Green Bay.... go figure! What are they waiting for? Apparently the roads mus not be slick enough and we didn't get enough snow - even though on the news they are telling people to stay off the roads since they are so icy and that we are gong to continue to get snow.

Oops, they are back. Silver, with Fozzy right on her tail, mouse still tucked in her jaws. She does not want to share... and she does not want to let go of that mouse! A few laps around the basement, around the rocking chair and back upstairs we go. Once again, Silver went around the back side of the couch be Fozzy had to go up and over to try and get in that good pounce... and there they go back upstairs.

Hey, schools are finally on the closing list. I think our school system was the last one in the area that decided to close! Some schools were closed before I even woke up, but they wait until 6am to close our schools. go figure. At least Darrin's Snow Day Dance last night appeared to work for him. But that does not mean that I get a day off... I still get to head out to work. Can I have a snow day too??

Ok, I think I need to get my cats some more mousing lessons... wander back to the basement, one right behind the other, with noses to the floor, trying to find their lost toy... the question remains... did they leave the mouse upstairs or is it hiding safely in the basement? I don't think I want to know! But I did get some great entertainment during my workout this morning!

Ok, I guess I have delayed long enough. Time to get ready for work and head out into the white abyss!