Ken's turning 40 this spring..guess where we are going!!

Early gifts

(written by Annie)

A few days ago, I came home to Mom looking all excited. That was unusual. She said that she had something for me, so I sat by her. She took out a bag that had a cute little piece of ribbon on it. For a second, I struggled with with the ribbon, then resolved to just opening it through the side without the ribbon. Much easier. I pulled out a long, crocheted shawl. It was a dark, royal purple. I loved it and modeled it for Mom. (As shown at the bottom.) In my opinion, that shawl made me look really good in the picture, not me by myself. I love it soooooo much and I have it in my room. I even wore it to Dad's Vestas Christmas party. We got a printed picture of me wearing it too. Thank you so much Elisa! That was really kind of you. :-) @nnie






I also got a beautiful shawl in black. They are so pretty and light as air. Thank you so much Elisa!! We are going to enjoy them very much. ~Tanya

Building Lego Vestas wind turbine

Ken got a really cool Lego set of the

Vestas wind turbine blade.

So today Ken, Wyatt and Annie sat down to work on it.

Wyatt is the Lego master so it was done way

before I thought it would be.

Annie was the photo-journalist for the project.

First, they worked on the Vestas truck.

Then the house/cafe/living quarters...I'm

really not sure what this is.

Then the tower and blades

It took them about 3 1/2 hours. The blades will

actually turn, using battery power (ironic,no?).

Pretty cool...

Ken already moved it downstairs to

grace his office.

another swap

Yesterday I got home from shopping with Rachel to

find my secret santa soiree swap waiting for me!

Amy sent me some great stuff!

Anytime I get hotchocolate, tea and a mug

it is a good day.

I also got a total of 4 mini chocolate cakes to

make in the microwave. These are great for

me to take to work since they keep and whenever

I need a warm chocolately snack they are easy to whip up.

Homemade cards are AWESOME. I love having a stash on hand

and these will go to good use.

She also sent a cookbook with recipes from Georgia and southern

plantations. I enjoy cookbooks from different regions and I don't

have any southern ones so this will be really interesting to me.

And last, but not least, I got 4 lotions all different scents. I love

having this size to stick in my purse and the one I have is

on it's last legs so these couldnt' have came at a better time.

Thank you Amy! I really appreciate all the time and thought

you put into my gifts....I will enjoy everything very much!

Secret Santa package!!

Please excuse my Cruddy photo of my

AWESOME

secret santa gifts!!

I tried to take a picture of the cute

silver tinsel that greeted me when I opened the

box but my camera batteries were dead.

Trust me, it was cute :)

I love penguins and this little guy is going to work with me tonight so I can have some

yummy hot chocolate! I so need this today..last I checked it was 7 degrees out!

And peppermint bark..need I say more? How did you know how much I love love love peppermint? I can't wait to break into this!

And for even more comfyness (is that a word? it should be)

A pashmina shawl in deep purple.

I had to practically wrestle this away from Annie when she felt how soft and cozy it is.

I will put it to good use...I will be taking it with me on Sunday to the movies cause I always freeze and this is just right to keep me cozy.

THANK YOU

secret santa

for brightening and warming up my day!!!

rest in peace November 2008

I am so glad that November is over!!
While I am thankful that my job usually allows me to work overtime if I need extra money, sometimes I volunteer a little too much.
That was the case these past few weeks.

But now I am back among the living.
Just in time for today's new snowfall.





































Chili cooking away in the crock-pot will be appreciated later.



The bad thing is I called in sick to work today. Really bad pains in my back and abdominal area. I just feel like crud and cannot get comfortable.

But ---instead of focusing on that ..here are two GOOD things that happened in November.
1) We finally took Annie to see Twilight. She was soooo excited and loved the movie. I thought they did a good job, but it mostly made me want to move to Washington state.
2) We got to see family including Tami's clan for a little while, aunts Ginny and Janet, mom's cousin Jay from Montana.

I am happy December is here. It's good to be back