Parties & other December Happenings

Hello there Adventurous Friends, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing?  This is Sentence a Day where I join others & write a little something about each of my days, wrote in a long drawn out sentence or 2.  The month seemed to go by quickly now that it's all over, we had a white Christmas, let's see what other things happened.

Grand inducted to Beta Club.

* Celebrating the 1st - Daughter took some really good random pictures of each Grand for my thankful activity, got the Christmas decorations put up & all the presents mailed out, got to go camping & trail riding in some really nice weather for this time of the year, discovered several more caves to take the Grands exploring when they visit, thought the electric bill was less due to being away from the house a lot while camping, realized there was a year-end meter credit of $60 on the bill.

* Thurs 2nd - Power outage at work for a couple hours, did a little extra cleaning while waiting.

* Fri 3rd - Chatted with Daughter about my Happy Birthday Jesus Christmas party plans, picked up extra bulbs for the window candles at the hardware store & looked at Christmas stuff while waiting to go back into work.

Grand scored his 1st 2 points.

Week 49

* Weekend 4th & 5th - Went camping up at the pond, cooked pizza & brownies, watched Miracle on 34th St & Home Alone, too cold, windy & pelting snow to go trail riding, came home early, worked on laundry & broke down boxes didn't need for mailing.

* Mon 6th - Burrrr -0 & a dusting of snow on the ground.

* Tues 7th - Another Grand got a cell phone for his birthday, added his number to contacts to send random text about nothing & everything.

* Wed 8th - Helped do some Christmas decorating in the office, up & down the ladder putting up lights, made reindeer out of boxes.

Happy Birthday to Grand McClain.

* Thurs 9th - Visited the courthouse parade of trees, stopped by the park to see the town Christmas tree & the kid's hand-crafted ornaments, tree lighting was already over, drank hot chocolate while riding around town looking at Christmas lights.

Crosses made out of nails on
the 4-H tree at the courthouse.

Gnomes made out of a pinecones
on the town tree.

* Fri 10th - Memorial service of the women that died in a house fire next to the office, someone shared their bulletin for employees to read since the service was during business hours, she was a year older than me, had 2 adult children & a grandson.

Week 50

* Weekend 11th & 12th - Went camping up in the hills, watched Elf & Jingle All the Way, hotdogs & chili for supper & lunch, Daughter hosted our Happy Birthday Jesus Christmas party for the Grands.

I like to play hide & seek with
the Grands, think they would find
 me in here?

New additions to Daughter's 
family. Annie, Abbie & Roscoe.

Made table runners using
wrapping paper.

* Mon 13th - Helped decorate the Club's building for the Christmas party.

* Tues 14th - Decorated Club's building a little more, got ingredients to make punch.

Yummy punch.

* Wed 15th - Up early making a chocolate cake & mashed tators, Club's Christmas potluck was successful & fun, there was so much good food, lots of laughing & good conversations, snow falling throughout the day was festive.

* Thurs 16th - Took breakfast sandwiches & juice to share with coworkers, watched A Holiday in the Wild.

* Fri 17th - Coworker brought a meat, cheese & cracker tray to share, watched a couple more Christmas shows.

Sister sent this angel ornament
that is perfect for the mini tree.

Week 51

* Sat 18th - Visited with Daughter on facetime while she was in her car between Grand's basketball games & the rain, won 3 games of bingo, got the news that Friend Ed died, he gave Kevin a pair of horseshoes & get him involved pitching in tournaments, he also rang the office bell annoyingly doing it for fun & games, we'll miss Ed.

* Sun 19th - Pajama Day, relaxed wearing my new flannel snowflake pjs, drank the last of the leftover punch with an extra scoop of sherbert, worked on Christmas cards, watched Grand's church Christmas play live on Facebook, they all did so good. 

Rose don't mind that I
wear my pjs all day.

* Mon 20th - Wrote out some more Christmas cards & mailed them, laid out the Christmas ham in the fridge to thaw, started planning the camping menu, got a dusting of snow, did snow shoveling at the offices, elementary school carolers stopped by, such a blessing & beautiful voices. 

* Tues 21st - Did some more cards & shoveled more snow, went to memorial service for Ed, last day working the other office for a while, got someone hired, penciled in to take a month off in March.

* Wed 22nd - Set up a table in the office for Christmas goodies.

* Thurs 23rd - Heard on the radio it was Christmas Adam since the day before Christmas is Christmas Eve, coworker had her baby, schedule changed to working back at the other office while new hire goes to training, had the afternoon off, caught up on opening the mail, balancing check books & did a couple loads of laundry. 

Week 52

* Weekend 24th, 25th & 26th - Merry Christmas, went camping up at the pond, had Christmas at camp, watched both of the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacations.

Christmas day trail ride.

 

Home baked goodies, smart photo
 frame & handcrafted Christmas tree
ornaments from Daughter's family.

Coffee, cookies & books from Moma.
A painting done by Sister.

Cold & snowy outside,
warm & cozy inside.

* Mon 27th - Got the new picture frame set up, got the Christmas decorations took down & stored away, got the camper cleaned out & Kevin parked it till spring, a day of shoveling snow off sidewalks at the office & cleaning the floors, soup beans & ham cooked in the crockpot for supper, started reading one of the new books from Moma.

* Tues 28th - More snow to be shoveled at the office & cleaning of the floors, a lazy afternoon of not being in the mood to do anything, watched several Christmas shows on the Hallmark channel, leftover beans for supper.

* Wed 29th - Cleaned floors at the office, ice melt & muk are yuck, had ethics meeting about how to answer the phone & how to greet & thank the customers.

* Thurs 30th - January is Uber Frugal Month, looked in the freezer to see what needs to be eaten up, made a crockpot of chili to have throughout the weekend.  

*Fri 31st - Kept busy in the office taking down Christmas decorations, cleaned the floors & shoveled snow, sent Happy New Year messages then went to bed.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?

Thankful & other November Happenings

Thankful that (Aunt) Sharon &
Granny love me, favorite 
Thanksgiving food was the turkey 
treats (scotcharoos).

Hello there Adventurous Friends, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing?  I intentionally thought about everyday things to be thankful for this month according to the activities going on for the day.  The Grands shared their thankful things & favorites of the Thanksgiving holiday.  They all looked so pretty & handsome dressed in their Sunday clothes on their way to church.  I texted with the older Grands most everyday about thankful things.  That was an enjoyable activity this month within itself.

This is Sentence a Day where I join others & write a little something about each of my days, wrote in a long drawn out sentence or 2.  This month's sentences includes a thing I was thankful for each day.

* Mon 1st - Lions club meeting, talked about the world series fundraiser board, Christmas dinner & having a gun show maybe in the spring, ate at #3, thankful for friends to laugh with.

* Tues 2nd - Thought it was Wed, changed the sheets on the bed, off work early, did a couple loads of laundry, wrapped some more of Grands Christmas presents & got a box ready to mail, thankful for soft comfy flannel sheets.

Not yet sure what Thanksgiving
is all about, but she sure is 
adorable wearing that big bow.

* Wed 3rd - Read, watched videos, emailed & calculated to set a date for minimum age retirement coming up sooner than later I'm hoping, thankful for a career that has provided decent wages & good benefits through the years.

* Thurs 4th - Gas, groceries, bill paying day, thankful for good tasting food & clean water. 

* Fri 5th - Ordered Christmas dresses for the Grandgirls & shirts for the Grandboys, thankful for Rose (a pet) to go on walks with on nice sunny days like today.

Watching the muskrats swim at sunset.

Week 45

* Weekend 6th & 7th - Kevin mulched leaves with the mower, the air smelled so good, fresh cut grass is one of my favorite smells, camped over in the buttes, did some trail riding & had a picnic, thankful for a handyman husband that could fix the camper rig when all the batteries were dead.

Exploring the area around camp.

Detours & gravel roads while 2
new bridges are being built.

* Mon 8th - Off work early, marked things off to-do list - vacuum, wrap baby gifts, cook spaghetti for supper; thankful for tax dollars at work as I drove over one of the new bridges.

* Tues 9th - Off work early 2 afternoons in a row, got gas & groceries since Thursday my day of doing those things is a holiday, made cheesy tators to go with leftover spaghetti for supper, gathered the years pictures in a folder to make a book, thankful for patience as I was stopped & waited for 3 semis to make their way through the 1 lane construction zone.

* Wed 10th - Full day of work getting everything caught up the day before a holiday, thankful for inspiring & motivational bloggers as I received an Awesome Prize from Far Side in the mail from her Snow Stick contest.

* Thurs 11th - Listened to the wind howl, set the timer for 30 minutes of blog reading in-between laundry & cleaning, thankful for veteran's public service.

* Fri 12th - Went to church pancake supper, thankful for being able to participate in local fundraisers to help aid the community.

Week 46

* Weekend 13th & 14th - Went camping up at the pond, watched a couple favorite Christmas movies - Christmas Card & A Holiday to Remember, wrapped & boxed the rest of the Christmas gifts on hand, thankful for supplies to wrap Christmas presents having joy & blessings thinking about the reason for the season.

Thankful for strawberry &
chocolate milk, favorite
Thanksgiving food was the
pumpkin cake that said 
Give Thanks.

* Mon 15th - Lions club meeting, meal at #3, next meeting is the Christmas potluck dinner, spoke up to bring mashed tators & gravy, thankful to have the opportunity to be a member of a service club that does activities to serve the community.

* Tues 16th - Finalized Friday's work baby shower preparations, boss mentioned the shower was also for one from another office, thankful for having another baby gift item on hand being the season for gift giving. 

Thankful for Nana sending us
presents each Christmas, favorite
Thanksgiving food was Aunt's
Mac & cheese.

* Wed 17th - Coworker on Covid quarantine leave, no more afternoons off early for a couple weeks, thankful for good health not having to miss work.

* Thurs 18th - Got gas & groceries, needed cookie mix for the baby shower & milk for my coffee, thankful for convenient shopping for everyday items in our small town with population 380.

* Fri 19th - Up early making cookies for the shower, everyone wrote down their predication when the baby would be born, I predicted December 15th, thankful to share a good time at work with coworkers setting aside drama & animosities. 

Setting up the baby shower area at work.  

Week 47

Happy Birthday to Grand Olivia

* Sat 20th - Facetimed with Daughter & Grands, got introduced to Rosie their new guinea pig, Grands talked about what they wanted for Christmas, bingo night, took container of leftover cookies for snack sharing, thankful for electronic gadgets to be able to keep in contact with family when they are far away.

* Sun 21st - Shopping in Rapid, chicken biscuit for breakfast, butterburger for lunch/supper, thankful for freedom to enjoy a beautiful morning ride & a day of life doing things we want to do.

Thankful for the fact that our
family is so successful, favorite
Thanksgiving food was Aunt's
Mac & cheese.

Thankful for my family, favorite
Thanksgiving food was the ham
or pumpkin pie.

* Mon 22nd - Long busy exhausting day at work, pregnant coworker having contractions, thankful for coworkers going above & beyond their regular duties to help out. 

* Tues 23rd - Mailed Moma's Christmas box, pregnant coworker in hospital to halt contractions, too soon for baby to be born, thankful for prayers & modern medicine.

Thankful to go to church on Sunday
& getting to play football during
the week, favorite Thanksgiving thing
was Granny's classic biscuits & jelly &
Thanksgiving practice listening to
Christmas music.

* Wed 24th - Got the rest of the Christmas gifts wrapped, boxed, labeled & ready to mail, thankful gift wrapping is done & thankful pregnant coworker came home from the hospital & probably on bedrest till baby is born closer to due date.

* Thurs 25th - Happy Thanksgiving, spent the day cooking with Kevin in between watching the Macy's parade & Hallmark Christmas movies, decorated for Christmas, thankful the Pilgrims & Indians became friends & had a celebration.

Thankful for good food &
clean water, favorite Thanksgiving
thing was definitely the sweet potato dessert.

* Fri 26th - Leftover Thanksgiving fixings for lunch & supper, thankful for Christmas music played on the radio while driving to work.

Week 48

* Weekend 27th & 28th - Beautiful weekend for camping & trail riding, leftover Thanksgiving fixings for supper, watched 2 more favorite Christmas movies on dvd - Christmas Lodge & The Holiday, found some caves to explore, thankful for nice weather to enjoy the last weekend of the month.

Original pass before the 
road was built.

Maneuvering though some
of the rocks was a tight squeeze.

 

* Mon 29th - Did inventory at work, thankful all the counts came out good.

*Tues 30th - Mailed the last box of Christmas presents, thankful & blessed that my holiday gift giving is complete.

Moma already opened her Christmas presents,
said she loved the shirt.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?

              

Snow & other October Happenings

 Hello there Adventurous Friends, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing?  October is over & I've not mailed any of my Christmas boxes yet.  I like to beat the Christmas time mailing rush & also be sure all the presents arrive to the Grands in plenty of time.  This is Sentence a Day where I join others & write a little something about each of my days, wrote in a long drawn out sentence or 2.  It seems October flew by for me & this here is how it went. 

* Fri 1st - Had the afternoon off, relaxed, watched Pitching Love & Catching Faith, started watching Maid series.

Week 40

* Weekend 2nd & 3rd -  Kevin got an antelope, going to can it, went camping up in the hills under the pine tree, discovered the camper has a DVD player & the toilet works. 

Looking in the top cabinets in
the camper, they all appeared to be empty.

Looking in the top cabinets in the
camper while standing on a step stool.  SUPRISE!

 

* Mon 4th - No Lions club meeting, decided to eat supper out at the #3, Daughter & Grands back to school & work after their quarantine. 

* Tues 5th - Had the afternoon off, folded laundry & put it away, prepped antelope meat for canning, watched episodes of Maid.

* Wed 6th - Changed the sheets on the bed, exhausting & aggravating day at work, Kevin cooked supper, I washed the dishes, watched the last episodes of Maid.

* Thurs 7th - Got the homemakers friend 2022 planner I ordered, bought groceries, did a little side hustle cleaning job.

* Fri 8th - Planned camping menus & packed the camper, made a curtain for one of the camper windows, friends took us out to supper as payback for giving them stuff out of the garden.

Week 41

Happy Birthday to Grand Colton!

Tried her 1st bites 
of baby food.

            

The curtain worked perfect.

* Weekend 9th, 10th & 11th - Columbus Day/Native American Day holiday, went camping up at the pond, forgot the onion buns & pork & beans, tried out the camper oven & shower, snow clouds rolled in.

Probably the last of the leaf color for the season,
a lot of the leaves were already off the trees.

* Tues 12th - Wore long johns & long sleeves to work, temps in mid 50s, more snow clouds moved in, Kevin got the gas logs heat fired up.

Looking out the window during suppertime,
there is still mators out there.

Came out of work to this.

  

* Wed 13th - The snow had turned to rain, made a crockpot of chili for supper using leftover pinto beans.

I knew I would get stuck but needed to get
 off the road for when the snowplow came
 through, Kevin came to dig me out.

No snow at home, then this driving to work
24 miles away. Jesus took the wheel &
 got me to work & back home safely. 

Snow piles in the back parking area, electricity went out
for about 2 hours or so, did some extra cleaning & preparing
paperwork to be shredded since there was nothing else much to do,
10 to 14 inches of snow accumulations reported.

* Thurs 14th - Had the afternoon off work, caught up on opening the mail, paid bills & balanced the check books, did a couple loads of laundry, watched episodes of Major Dad & Seinfeld. 

* Fri 15th - 2 afternoons off work in a row, put gas in my car & bought groceries, worked on laundry some more, started watching You, another Bates Motel type show, creepy.

Having hotdogs for lunch with leftover homemade
 chili & the giant Hershey bar I won at bingo.

Week 42

* Sat 16th - Bingo night, made a jug of lemonade & a candy tray.

* Sun 17th - Went on a 4wheeler ride & had a picnic then put away things around in the house that had collected here & there that had started looking like a place of hoarding.

* Mon 18th - Lions club meeting, talked about having a potluck instead of a catered Christmas dinner & invite the bingo folks.

* Tues 19th - Washed up the dishes that seemed to be a couple days worth, made apple pie nachos.

Kevin was delighted I made a recipe using some of his
 chunky applesauce from the freezer, he mentioned it was one of
the weirdest best things I had ever made.

* Wed 20th - Planned camping menus, sandwiches, chips & pb crackers; foods that don't require washing dishes since the camper had been winterized.

* Thurs 21st - Got gas & groceries, sorted laundry & did a load, ran out of socks between washings, loaded the camper.

Looking for a little hand held mirror to
use in the camper.  Remember these?

Week 43

* Weekend 22nd, 23rd & 24th -  Camped on the fairgrounds at the gun show, shopped at the dollar store, washed the road grim off my car at the car wash, did some reading & relaxing, picked up trash around the camp area while out walking with Rose.

Enjoyed hanging out with Kevin
at the gun show all weekend.

* Mon 25th - Helped Kevin dig the tators, started wrapping Grand's Christmas gifts.

A tumbleweed blocking the walking trail
out in the trees.

Me washing the tators off with the hose
while Kevin gets them out of the ground.

The littlest Grands trick or treating at
Moma's house & went trunk or treating
with Sister. Sister painted the sign &
made the jack-o-lantern that made an
awesome fall/Halloween scene in their 
yard.

* Tues 26th - Windy, the needing gas light came on in my car, gas $3.94 per gallon, went over $50, gracious.

* Wed 27th - Attended a short work ethics meeting, off work early, cooked salisbury hamburger helper & baked tator for supper, made leftover bowls for work lunches, watched episodes of You & Mr Iglesias, chatted with Daughter.

Jason from Friday the 13th, Little Bo Peep lost 
her sheep & Rapunzel.

Ready for trick-or-treaters.

* Thurs 28th - Wiped in the fridge, emptied & washed containers, bought groceries, costume monster march after school & trick or treating businesses.

* Fri 29th -  Had another work ethics meeting, the new one has lots to learn, tired, went to bed early & fell asleep watching episodes of whatever it was I was watching.

Week 44

* Weekend 30th & 31st - Went camping over in the buttes, good thing we packed our cold weather gear for trail riding, forgot the dish rag & towel, made a pot of chili for Halloween, had 38 trick or treaters.

Christmas cactus blooming.

Getting warmed up with a tasty cup of hot spiced
 cider along one the riding trails.

       

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?

Precious Grand #8.