The HANDFUL

The house got awfully quiet on Tuesday around lunch time as daughter and family headed north. Now to get the year end chores wrapped up. UGH paying taxes was tops on my to do list this week. Then it was a quick spontaneous girls trip for an 80th birthday celebration that just brought me back home this afternoon. I'm ready for a quiet evening in to ring out 2021 and usher in 2022. Just know I am headed to bed in about an hour. I'm beat. It's been a year. Some days have been joyous, others sad, some good, most great, a few challenging. Ready for 2022 and new adventures and milestones. Our family is relatively healthy and we are very thankful for that. There are things we hope to do better but we continue to try and live to the fullest with purpose and being intentional in our choices. 

The blog will likely be a bit quiet in the coming weeks as I complete the year end tasks and wrap up projects that need to be completed. We will have a 6 year old granddaughter soon. I will try to decide what the posts will look like in 2022. Until then be safe and live well, you only get one life; choose wisely! 

The HANDFUL

What a week...shingles off when we returned and because we got in late they were not noticed until two days later! We were a plus one though and we will have her til her folks come for Christmas!

It looks like we might be good but we will be keeping on eye on things!

And Merry Christmas eve...we are winding down for the evening after a lovely full day of houseguests popping in and out. It's the season. We have had a revolving door today and now we have settled in after our traditional pizza dinner, Christmas book reading and donning new PJs. The anticipation of opening that snowman tomorrow was off the charts!

So from our house to yours MERRY CHRISTMAS! We wish you happiness and good health this season.

The HANDFUL

No Littles this week allowed us to go up North. However, there was a slight delay...when one needs to set their water heater on the patio at 10:30 p.m. chances are it's not your best day. After a load of laundry, I hopped in the shower and that is when there was quite a puddle in our laundry. Stepped in by MiRV. Water was quickly shut off and the assessment was made that the water heater has failed...

A quick phone call the next morning confirmed the unit was still under warranty. Armed with instructions of getting a replacement it's off to the local home improvement store we go. Mission accomplished, new unit installed and working. MiRV got a shower and off North we went. Quite a bold move considering we just installed the new unit. But, thankfully, we had checkers checking in to make sure we weren't leaking. All was/is good PTL. I'm just really thankful it happened before we left. Because finding 40 gallons of water on the floor would not be fun in anyone's book!

In Northern news much visible progress was made as the bathtub was set in place and the toilet was brought in along with the vanity to check spacing/placement. WooHoo this is exciting progress since it is so visible! Got smaller quick with all the hardware though! And some of the workers are nearly unable to move their bodies today. It's all MiRV can do to get out of bed the next morning after helping with this remodel. The drive home will leave him stiff and aching for days.

The plan is to head home tomorrow or Sunday and it appears we will be a plus one. The Bee has already ask if she can come back with us to the Meadow. Of course we said yes! Hard to believe Christmas is just a mere week away. Looking forward to our Christmas Eve tradition of pizza this year. Made possible since as our crew is gathering on Christmas Day for our family celebration this season.

The HANDFUL

Oh, my, since last week things have slid down a hill of drainage for everyone in MO. All the famdamily seems to be suffering a case of the crud from runny noses, coughs, drainage, goopy eyes and just overall not feeling up to doing much of anything. We still had the little girls this week and the younger one was just not feeling well at all and yet she didn't fuss and still smiled frequently though not as bright as when feels good. She hopefully will be over it soon. 

We spoke with the Northen crew and they seem to be doing well. Tooth has not yet been lost should you be wondering. It is extremely loose but not out. Stay tuned! We did not go up as planned this week to work on the bathroom reno; just not feeling recouperated enough yet. Hopefully, next week. In other news a few weeks ago we opened one of our favorite treats and they were NOT all our favorite treats, there were some surprises in the bag. Hot Tamales are supposed to taste of cinnamon NOT cherry. We had a bag that was not all cinnamon...someone most have spilled the cherry in with the cinnamon. They ARE both red! Bee did enjoy the cherry ones though. I called the company just to let them know and this week a box of treats arrived. Well done Just Born, well done!

I am nearly ALL DONE with the Christmas shopping. I am sooooo close but probably need a big City trip to completely finish and with the way we are feeling that just didn't happen this week. Maybe next week. We have layed low, not left the house except for one quick bread run I made on Tuesday until today and we ate a lot of noodle soup. It's the go to comfort food when you feel under the weather. As I said today we did get out of the house! We actually have just returned and I feel like I could go to bed for the night I'm worn out. Guess I'm not 100% yet but definitely feeling better and it was good to get some fresh air and have a little car ride.

The HANDFUL

It's been quite a week. We took in a movie, the first since this whole Covid debacle started. We also participated in a cookie decorating party the same day...

Her masterpieces!

Enjoying Clifford the Big Red Dog with cousins.

We've had little girls again this week. MiRV got our lights on the house despite a gnarly sinus infection. I was able to get our little tree up and we made a quite productive City run yesterday. All in all a decent week even with sinus setbacks.

Such a sweet, sweet girl!

Operation hang lights...we got new LED C9s this year. The jury is still out if I like them or not...and a big THANK YOU goes out to MiRV for making this happen (even if he will be sore for days)!

Our little tree!

Bee's tree...we chatted on the phone and she was working on Christmas decor so when we hung up we said we would share pictures of our trees before bedtime. This is the one in her room in which she was in charge of the decor!

In other updates we are on the "losing our first tooth journey". She had complained about her lower tooth hurting while she was with us and this past Monday she bit into a Subway sandwich and it was VERY evident the tooth was in fact loose. It was a bit emotional for her. Sooooo there is a pending lost tooth in the somewhat near future for our Bee and we are anxiously awaiting the phone call proclaiming the deed is done.