This has been a bit of weird Christmas holiday for me. When we built our house in 1995 my mother-in-law told me I had to have every holiday for the next 20 years. I don't think my 20 years are up yet, but this year she told me everything would happen at her new (to her) house in town. Since I was gone for the first 18 days of the month that was really okay with me, but it meant that I didn't put up one decoration (I didn't have time even if I had wanted to), had no visitors at my house, and didn't even have to cook. I did make my famous broccoli casserole to contribute to Christmas day dinner and did make sugar cookies and gingerbread men at my mother-in-law's house so my great niece could help me (she lost interest pretty quickly as a 4-year-old will do). Add to that the beautiful weather we've been having with warm temperatures and no snow and it all compounded into a very odd Christmas. I didn't even have time to get close to my piano during the festive season. That NEVER happens.
M's sister and family and R were here for the week before Christmas so we were in town to see them every day. That was almost more exhausting than getting my house ready for company and cooking. Too much food, too much drink and irregular hours sure wiped me out. Maybe I will perk up by next year and have a more normal holiday.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Where Ya Been?
Wow, it's been a month since I've blogged. I did try a couple of times but couldn't do it on my husband's or my mom's laptops. I have to say, it's been a crazy month and I have been BUSY!
We went to Rapid City to spend Thanksgiving with R and M's sister and her family. My in-laws were also there. We even ventured out a little on Black Friday, and it wasn't so bad. I thought we were probably the only people shopping for livestock trailers on Black Friday. We came home on Saturday and arrived in Scobey just in time for the parade of lights. We were home for four days and then headed out for our vacation to the big island of Hawaii. We spent a week there and had a wonderful, relaxing time. M rented a Jeep and had way too much fun with it. He went quickly from wanting to buy me a Cadillac to wanting to buy me a Jeep. It would be an ideal cow-checking, run-to-the-field vehicle. He's been shopping for one since he's been home. We put 900 miles on our rental and saw just about the whole island. I think we only missed the southeast corner. We didn't do a few things we wanted to do like go up Mauna Kea and go parasailing. Maybe next time. I haven't had time to go through my photos yet. I didn't think I took very many but when I downloaded them to my computer I had 116!
We arrived back in Billings at about 11:30 pm on Dec. 10. M headed home on the 11th while I flew to Arizona to spend time with my mom during her recovery from hip replacement surgery. She didn't really need me except that she wasn't supposed to drive yet. We had to make sure she could drive before I left and she did and did just fine. She's on her own again now. She continues to amaze us with how well she recovers after surgery. I had some bonding time with my sister as well. We went out to finish her Christmas shopping, went to a movie and spent some time at her house singing Christmas carols and hymns at the piano. We have spent many hours singing together, one of our very favorite things to do. I can't believe her husband said he was glad he wasn't home. Mine said "I'm sorry I missed that." I'm sure he meant that very sincerely--haha!
I flew back into Billings on the 18th. I didn't want M to have to make another trip to Billings to pick me up and have that 5-hour drive (if the roads are good) home so I decided to take the flight from Billings to Glasgow. Bad idea! This was my 7th flight in two weeks so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be a problem. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:30 pm. We boarded, were informed the plane had a problem with a generator, deplaned and waited and waited and waited. That plane was a no go so they had to get a plane out of the hangar after they finished maintenance on it. By that time it had started to snow so we had to be de-iced before we left--at 10:30 pm. I called M as soon as I knew we weren't flying on schedule and told him I'd call him back when I knew more. He made the mistake of heading to Glasgow before I called him back. He went to get a pizza and have a few beers--I was really afraid he'd be sloshed by the time I got there. He was okay when I finally arrived at midnight. Fell into bed about 1:30 but was up at 7:00 to go to work Monday morning. We had a very busy day at work, but I have to say it was good to be back.
M's family and R from South Dakota arrived Sunday night as well. C and his wife were heading to Hawaii for Christmas with her family on Tuesday so we all had supper together Monday night so that was another late night. I spent Tuesday doing laundry, paying bills and balancing the checkbooks. It was dart night and R was going to fill in for C so I went along. Another late night. Then today we Bang's vaccinated and branded our heifer calves. We like to keep the family busy when they come to visit! We had some hot drinks and then I mixed up cookie dough so it will be ready for tomorrow when I plan to make cut-out cookies with my 4-year-old great niece. It's been a few years since I had a kid to help me make cookies.
Maybe one of these days life will get back to normal and I will get caught up, hopefully on my sleep at least! So, that's where I've been lately.
We went to Rapid City to spend Thanksgiving with R and M's sister and her family. My in-laws were also there. We even ventured out a little on Black Friday, and it wasn't so bad. I thought we were probably the only people shopping for livestock trailers on Black Friday. We came home on Saturday and arrived in Scobey just in time for the parade of lights. We were home for four days and then headed out for our vacation to the big island of Hawaii. We spent a week there and had a wonderful, relaxing time. M rented a Jeep and had way too much fun with it. He went quickly from wanting to buy me a Cadillac to wanting to buy me a Jeep. It would be an ideal cow-checking, run-to-the-field vehicle. He's been shopping for one since he's been home. We put 900 miles on our rental and saw just about the whole island. I think we only missed the southeast corner. We didn't do a few things we wanted to do like go up Mauna Kea and go parasailing. Maybe next time. I haven't had time to go through my photos yet. I didn't think I took very many but when I downloaded them to my computer I had 116!
We arrived back in Billings at about 11:30 pm on Dec. 10. M headed home on the 11th while I flew to Arizona to spend time with my mom during her recovery from hip replacement surgery. She didn't really need me except that she wasn't supposed to drive yet. We had to make sure she could drive before I left and she did and did just fine. She's on her own again now. She continues to amaze us with how well she recovers after surgery. I had some bonding time with my sister as well. We went out to finish her Christmas shopping, went to a movie and spent some time at her house singing Christmas carols and hymns at the piano. We have spent many hours singing together, one of our very favorite things to do. I can't believe her husband said he was glad he wasn't home. Mine said "I'm sorry I missed that." I'm sure he meant that very sincerely--haha!
I flew back into Billings on the 18th. I didn't want M to have to make another trip to Billings to pick me up and have that 5-hour drive (if the roads are good) home so I decided to take the flight from Billings to Glasgow. Bad idea! This was my 7th flight in two weeks so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be a problem. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:30 pm. We boarded, were informed the plane had a problem with a generator, deplaned and waited and waited and waited. That plane was a no go so they had to get a plane out of the hangar after they finished maintenance on it. By that time it had started to snow so we had to be de-iced before we left--at 10:30 pm. I called M as soon as I knew we weren't flying on schedule and told him I'd call him back when I knew more. He made the mistake of heading to Glasgow before I called him back. He went to get a pizza and have a few beers--I was really afraid he'd be sloshed by the time I got there. He was okay when I finally arrived at midnight. Fell into bed about 1:30 but was up at 7:00 to go to work Monday morning. We had a very busy day at work, but I have to say it was good to be back.
M's family and R from South Dakota arrived Sunday night as well. C and his wife were heading to Hawaii for Christmas with her family on Tuesday so we all had supper together Monday night so that was another late night. I spent Tuesday doing laundry, paying bills and balancing the checkbooks. It was dart night and R was going to fill in for C so I went along. Another late night. Then today we Bang's vaccinated and branded our heifer calves. We like to keep the family busy when they come to visit! We had some hot drinks and then I mixed up cookie dough so it will be ready for tomorrow when I plan to make cut-out cookies with my 4-year-old great niece. It's been a few years since I had a kid to help me make cookies.
Maybe one of these days life will get back to normal and I will get caught up, hopefully on my sleep at least! So, that's where I've been lately.
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