REALLY! THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER ...

I’ve just finished sorting almost 300 pictures and resizing them so I can post a few of them (a total of 29 … so if that is more than you want to look at, close the blog after the text) on Backroad Chronicles. It has been a busy but wonderful past four days. Our daughter, Bobbie pulled out all the stops and insisted on hosting a really spectacular Christmas for Phil and I since we have not been in Shelton for the holidays for six years. She spent hours shopping and wrapping so many gifts and stuffing our stockings for us and the other members of our immediate family it looked like Santa dumped his whole load under her tree! We were blown away by her generosity and holiday spirit. Thank you my sweet and precious daughter! We enjoyed every minute! From Bobbie’s home we all moved on to niece, Tammy and her husband, Steve’s home for Christmas dinner and another round of opening gifts with my sister, Dixie’s family. Wow! What a wonderful day!

Our dear friend, Lester is in the hospital. He developed an infection in his foot that abscessed and consequently, he celebrated Christmas with his family in his hospital room. Hopefully, there will be no more complications and all the treatment he is receiving (antibiotics, etc.) will help him heal quickly so he will be good as new real soon. His wife. our precious Gloria has been spending as much time as she can at the hospital as well as holding down the fort at the store (Rocks ’n Rhinestones) by herself with moral support from her friends and family. I spent Thursday and Friday keeping her company and assisting her when I could. It has been a long time since I “worked” a full day and I was surprised when I got through it without too much trauma to this old body of mine. We all will continue to back her up and do what we can as long as Les is out on “sick leave.”

The rain is still coming down in buckets in waves interspersed with a ray of sunshine here and there along with a rainbow or two on occasion. My favorite gift from daughter, Bobbie is a set of silk long underwear. They will get some serious use this winter to keep me from catching pneumonia! I cannot get warm in this damp and cold climate. Come on spring!!!

I apologize for the tardiness of this blog and thank you all for stopping by!
Until next time ...

Our new Bulova clock we bought at the auction. It keeps perfect time.

The shabby-chic mirror (I have two of them purchased at a garage sale for 2/$5.00) we hung across from the front door. I just love it!

The lady in the mirror is yours truly.

Our curio cabinet in place and full of some newly acquired treasures.

Phil's animal prints purchased at the auction.

Our new light fixture that will illuminate the breakfast bar.

This is my $1.00 garage sale chandelier that will be retro-wired into the ceiling with a dimmer switch over the kitchen table.

Our new stove waiting to be installed after the microwave and fan combo is put into the upper cabinets (which we have not received as yet).

Our new dishwasher being checked to see if it will fit. It is tight but it will work.

My restore purchased sink for our new kitchen being dry fitted.

Great Granddaughter, Carly in her Santa hat, elf gloves and socks!

Daughter, Bobbie's stepdaughter April and her fiance', Justin.

My beautiful girls ... Bobbie and Sara.

L-R: Daughter, Bobbie's friend, Danny, Bobbie, granddaughter, Sara and Sara's partner, Jason.

"Little Sophie" is as cute as could be in her velvet and fur dress. However, she is less than impressed :)

This plush turtle is adorable! Bobbie knew I just had to have him for my collection.

Phil gets a new shirt from daughter, Bobbie! He loves it!

Daughter, Bobbie is happy with her new George Foreman Grill!

Grandson, Joe opening his gifts on Christmas morning.

Granddaughter, Sara and her partner, Jason on Christmas morning.

Bobbie's beautifully decorated tree on Christmas morning.

"Little Sophie" in her Christmas dress. A present from her big sister, Bobbie.

"Big Sophie" posing for grandma ...

Niece Tammy and her husband, Steve turn their home and grounds into a Christmas wonderland in the month of December.

Daughter, Bobbie and her friend, Danny enjoying the festivities at her cousin, Tammy's house at Christmas.

My sister, Dixie in deep conversation with her granddaughter, Jessica and our friend, Helga.

My beautiful great niece, Jessica showing our friend, Helga her Christmas necklace receivd from her grandmother, my sister Dixie.

In spite of the look on my face, I was enjoying myself immensely and I really wasn't eating lemons when Phil snapped this picture!

Our precocious great granddaughter, Carly showing off her Christmas outfit. I laughed when she complained that "Mama made me dress like a girl!"

Niece, Tammy and her little granddaughter, Jaycee going for a ride in her new little push car.

These beautiful rainbows appear regularly between rain storms.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

I decided to de-stress my Christmas this year and NOT write a holiday letter. Please to not take me off your list for next year because I really do LOVE getting them from those of you who write one. I do hope to send out a few cards to my non-computerized family and friends but I can’t even guarantee that as fast as time is getting away from me. New Year Cards anyone?

Well, I guess I lied (not intentionally of course). I just ‘thought” I had some pictures. The ones I really have are poor quality and I need to figure out why. In some instances, in order to get any picture at all, I have been using a setting called “high sensitivity” and although I get the shot, the pictures turn our grainy looking. My perspective in the past has been, “grainy pictures are better than no pictures at all” but I’m beginning to challenge that thinking. They really are poor quality and hardly worth publishing in the blog except there are no others … sorry about that. I will work on it.

Update on the kitchen cabinets: our cabinetmaker now has the flu. Says he will be back at it by mid-week. Our laminate man is back in town from the slope in Alaska and we will contact him tomorrow. Since we know nothing about the timing of this sort of remodeling, we have been told he can go ahead even though the drawers are not in and doors are not on yet. When Phil queried the cabinetmaker, he was told they would be “European style” cabinets with hidden hinges and no face frames. Okay, can’t wait to see that!! The cabinetmaker says he wants the countertop on BEFORE he puts the doors and drawers in place because all laminate men are sloppy and drip glue or scratch the cabinets when they work. I can’t wait to hear what our laminate man has to say about the cabinetmakers work. These independent contractors are brutal (and juvenile) with their opinions of each other and it would be funny if we were not in the middle of it.

My project now is to empty our bedroom at the trailer and get it ready for painting. After the painting, we have to clean and repair the windows and screens (one needs to be replaced) then install the storm windows. Once that is done, blinds can be installed. We will also paint the bedstead and built in dresser changing it from ugly brown to a shabby chic white. Phil put in some shelves at the end of the closet in front of the fuse box. The depth of the box uses up so much space the rod in front of it is useless. So, I decided removable shelves were the solution. Although they are less than beautiful (pics next week, I promise), they will be very functional.

We hung a mirror, a clock and some pictures in the living room. Phil also carried the curio cabinet in from the bedroom, I cleaned it and we set it up with some pretties I had been stashing all summer. It looks very nice (again, pics next week). I’m not done in the living room yet but that will have to do for now. It would be nice if I could put away the things I have boxed up in the bedroom for the kitchen but until that is done, we still have to just keep on doing the double (Triple? Quadruple?) shuffle until their forever home (permanent landing spot) is ready.

Sorry, no pics of Sophie this week. She is progressing nicely. Getting more and more trusting of us each day. Also, we are sorting out her potty habits and getting better at the timing of her outside “walks” so we are hoping eventually to eliminate the potty pads. Bless her heart, she is so cute and her favorite treat right now is dry cheerios. Who knew? Daughter, Bobbie bought her a Mrs. Santa Claus white fur trimmed red velvet dress for Christmas. Will definitely get a picture of that for you as well!

Thanks for stopping by (and coming back today)!

Until next time ...







Until next time …

Family dinner at the "Urban Onion" in the former Olympian Hotel in downtown Olympia.

L-R: Max (Sophia's brother); Arne (Sophia's Dad); Sophia (see next picture): Tammy (Sophia's cousin); Doug (Sophia's Uncle) and Julie (Doug's wife and Sophia's Aunt from California. They flew up for the performance); Julie Joy (Sophia's great Aunt) and Beth (Sophia's mother).

Phil was the photographer.

Our great niece, Sophia Rose (still in full makeup) on the left beside her cousin, Tammy. Sophia is a ballerina and is performing in the Nutcracker in Olympia all this week.

Daughter, Bobbie's "Charlie Brown Tree." Her son, Joe went into the woods behind there house and this top of a larger tree was the best he could find. What a sweet guy!

Bobbie thanked him for his effort but gave him money to go buy a better tree. This one was stripped of its decorations and went into the wood pile.

Pics of the new one next week (honest)!

"Kitters" the cat decided that the tree skirt and lights were his to enjoy.

When he tried to eat the light, he got a squirt of water that chased him away and I don't think he has bothered them since.

Quick learner that cat!

IS IT SUNDAY ALREADY?????

Please check back a little later today. The week flew by so fast my blogging day snuck up on me and caught me unprepared. I do have some pictures and I will give you the latest news as soon as I collect my wits. I think this is only the second time in six years that I have "forgotten" to blog!

I suppose it's old age ... phooey!

Later ...

STILL HANGIN' IN THERE ...

We were very pleased to welcome, granddaughter Megan, her husband Joshua and their son, our great grandson, Sean-Michael last Sunday for an afternoon and evening dinner party for family and friends at daughter, Bobbie’s home. Megan and her family drove up from Longview with a complete dinner on board and fed us all an amazing home cooked meal. Her wonderful soup was hearty, heart healthy and full of flavor. I can’t remember exactly what she called it but she told us, “Once you eat a bowl of this soup, you’ll start speaking Spanish words you didn’t know you knew!” She was right … it was delicious! She also brought two kinds of cheesecakes for dessert. That was a big hit especially the lemon flavored one. Much to our pleasure, she left the leftovers at Bobbie’s and we had a wonderful second meal the next day. Thank you so much for suggesting this wonderful family day darling Megan. We must do it again real soon only next time, we’ll cook for you!

On Friday I went to Olympia with Bobbie for some more of her echo nuclear tests. She spent all morning doing first one then another from 8:30 AM and then she had another test at noon. She will get the results when we go back to her cardiologist on Tuesday. They are trying to figure out why she is still experiencing chest pain after being on medication for three weeks. Actually, her episodes have never stopped and she has had more than a half-dozen incidences since leaving the hospital. The pain stops with a nitro pill under her tongue but she is getting more worried every day.

Phil has been finishing up a lot of details and has only a couple more to take care of and the living room and kitchen will be finished except for the work we are waiting for others to do. Again, we put on our patience caps and try to stay positive. While we wait, I will clean and he will paint. There is still plenty of that to do!

The rain continues to come down in buckets with more of the same on the way for the next week. There is water over many of the roads and flood warnings for several of the rivers in Western WA so driving is no fun. We are still transporting granddaughter, Sara to and from work at the Casino and taking her home late at night has been up to Phil. I can actually drive at night with my new glasses but when it is raining this hard, it is still difficult for me to see.

Thank you so much for stopping by!
Until next time …

Our beautiful granddaughter, Megan and her handsome son, Sean-Michael at daughter, Bobbie's house.

Great grandpa Phil, "big" Sophie and our darling Sean-Michael playing. Papa was falling down and rolling on the floor when the Sean popped him with the plastic shooter.

Great fun!

Phil and "Little" Sophie patiently waiting for dinner.

Bobbie, Carly and "big" Sophie relaxing and watching the SeaHawks win their game! Yahoo!

Our fur baby "little" Sophie and Bobbie's fur baby, "big" Sophie napping on the couch.

Megan's chicken tortilla (taco?) soup. Homemade from scratch and absolutely delicious.

Our new little fur baby, Sophie stretched out on my lap. She actually "asked" to be lifted up for the first time on Saturday morning.

In our RV, Sophie found a pile of blankets near my recliner and decided this is her new bed.

Yahoo! The bottoms of our new cupboards are set in place. The fridge will go in the hole on the left. The corner will have the sink. The hole beside the sink is for the dishwasher and the next hole is for the 30" range. My purse and coffee cup are sitting on the breakfast bar.

The windows are all cleaned and the storm windows are in place. They are now ready for the new mini blinds.

Brand new smoke detector in the hallway. This hall will be painted eventually.

Newly painted living room ceiling with different, more subtle strips of molding to cover the seams.