Janet & Bob put on a great meal, and their home is always wonderfully warm and inviting. My sister, Janet, has a way with decorating. We call her our family Martha Stewart, and that's meant as a big compliment. (to Martha!) I love walking into their home and looking around to see what Janet's changed and added.
When we walked in yesterday, it smelled so good! Here's the cooking couple in the kitchen...
And Rogan and Austin happy with a couple of Christmas gifts...
Sure are a couple of cutie-pies, aren't they. Sammy was kinda bummed that he couldn't have fun with the 2 of them, as I put Sam under strict orders to not get too close to anyone. He was hardly coughing at all, and he and I were both careful even though we're better.
Janet made a tree this year from grapevines, and it looked so beautiful in the corner of their living room.
Here's a better close-up photo...
She's amazing. Janet is super talented... she'll see something in a magazine or on a TV show, and next thing you know, she's made it, built it or crafted it somehow. And it looks perfect.
Kev and I drove over separately from the kids, and then when Joyce, Mike & Sammy left, they drove straight over to Bay City. Mike had forgotten the keys to his pickup truck, which was at our house. They were both kinda frustrated about it, but I suggested they take Sammy over to the Hollister store near Mike's home so Sam could spend his gift card I gave him... and Sammy was Very Pleased. Made the trip worthwhile, that's for sure. Sammy got a couple of things there, and that's what he wanted... and, I didn't have to take him. (I absolutely detest going into a Hollister. Too loud and too smelly for old me.)
So when Kev and I arrived home together, we were surprised to see this visitor...
Sammy and Mike and made him quick after we left for Janet & Bob's... made me laugh, especially the little hair on top...
It had been a long day, and I was in bed kinda early. Good thing, because the wind started up and woke me around 3am. Kev got up at about 4am and decided to pull his truck into the garage in the pole barn - he had left it out so the rain could wash some of the salty residue off it. So I pulled my old La Sabre out of the garage and we put Mike's truck inside it. Lots of branches going down, and we lost one not so big oak near the house... Kev had to drive Mike's truck across the yard to get to the garage because the downed oak was blocking the driveway. Mike's truck is worth a lot more than my old car, and a bump from a big branch on my car wouldn't bother me a bit... Mike's truck getting banged up would bother Mike a lot.
The winds were incredibly loud, and the house felt like it was swaying. I think Kev said the predictions were for about 50 or 60 mph winds. Kev and I stayed up... couldn't go back to sleep with all that noise. So we made a pot of coffee and talked for hours. I had woke Joycie up when I had to go into her bedroom to find Mike's keys, and pretty soon, she came out and took a shower... Kev was surprised, and I said, nah... she was laying in there listening to that wind and decided to get her shower taken before the power went out. Ten minutes after she finished the power flickered off and on, but stayed on. We lit candles and got flashlights handy just in case. Drank our coffee and talked to candlelight and Christmas tree lights, with the wind occasionally roaring at the windows. Nice and unsettling at the same time.
This is a photo I took at almost 8am. It was still pretty dark outside. Only a fat stump ball left of the snowman, and you can see the downed oak to the right... that's the top of it, lots of branches...
And later this afternoon... still some stumpy snowman left, but Kev and Mike got the oak cut up and cleaned out of the way. The oak was part of a twin, and you can see the big scar from the felled one on the tree way to the right side of the photo. And you can see a lot of green, too... can't believe how much snow is gone in one day...
Joycie made 2 loaves of bread today in her new bread machine... this is the first one, plain white...
I used to have a bread machine years ago, but when it finally broke, I never got around to getting another one. I had forgotten how a loaf of bread baking in the bread machine makes the house smell so wonderful. She put in another loaf, this time oatmeal cinnamon raisin, and it baked while the 5 of us watched "Wall-E" this evening. Mmm... Great way to spend a Sunday evening.
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