December ...... Where did you go?

Lola finally looking wintery

I know where December went- I spent a lot of it sleeping.  And coughing.  Good grief.  I have this amazingly uncanny way of knowing when I am going to pick up a virus these days....  Right at the end of Thanksgiving when certainly little adorable Granddaughters shoved their dirty little fingers in my mouth- I knew it: sick.  In mid-December, when I watched a child cough right towards me from 10 feet away, and saw a vision of those little germs incased in a lime green cloud of disgust- you got it.  I was right.  That one was a lot worse.  That one had me in bed by 8 some nights, destroyed my vocal abilities for 5 days, still has me coughing now 3 weeks later.  I only recently began walking outside, and my hardening back, chest and arm muscles are needing a tuneup again.  sigh.

Oh well.  I am encouraged by the fact that I am pretty sure I will not be affected by the bug that the MA has right now.  He stayed home from work yesterday for the first time in probably 15 years.  I was a bit surprised, he must have fielded all the calls from desperate tax payers that he was going to.  And no one called the house, so this is all good.  And don't worry people, he's fine.

Requisite blurry selfie from Christmas Eve

We had a pretty nice Christmas, it was stretched out over a few days, which is just fine with me.  The oldest Mad-son and his lovely Sarah could not come this year as the next little sweet baby is going to be born in mid January!!  YAY! AND it is much easier for the middle Mad-son and his lovely Sarah and family to be in their own house what with naps and stuff, so we went there for Christmas day!  I actually don't have a ton of photos from any of my Christmas celebrations, preferring to ooh and ah and smooch with the grand kiddos....  So Christmas Eve was spent with the elusive Mike, opening his gifts and having a nice supper and generally relaxing.

RUTHIE!!

Christmas was a hoot, as we arrived, much food in tow, at the Oswalds and immediately embraced the children.  Ruthie is SO cute, and is starting to coo and smile and interact.  Greggy likes everyone to see what toys are his favorites and in general holds wordless conversations with us.  When those words begin, that child will be filling us in on lots of things- he has amazing powers of communication and memory.  Goodness.  And then there are the dogs- Ruger, who insists on lots of attention because she is after all a lab, and Toby- who is a special snowflake, loves me and needs to try to sneak in when Ruger isn't looking.  Toby who loves me, yet gets all excited and spends a lot of time pretending to bite my hand when I pet him....  he's such a goof.

GREGGIE!

A little impromptu Christmas music!  :D

Anyway, the Mad-Accountant and I got a TV from the children for Christmas.  The thing about us is that if something is working, we are really fine with it.  We still had a MASSIVE TV (in square footage, not in screen square inches) from probably 8 years ago and it really had been chugging along quite fine.  But of course, it had been discussed in the past (by certain off-spring) that we should get a flat screen.  blah blah blah.  Anyway, apparently over Thanksgiving it was decided that a new TV was the way to go for us, so it was being planned.  A week later, when I got home from the Madrigal dinner said massive behemoth of a tv had blacked out.  Which is when my lovely self started doing some TV research..... well sort of.  I had help from a certain very smart tech savvy friend who was giving me TV advice.  Anyway, the next day I tried turning the TV on, fortunately, and it worked -otherwise I was TOTALLY heading to Minocqua or possibly Rhinelander to pick up a new set.  Of course I discuss things like this with all of my electronics experts (the boys seem to have picked up this expertise somewhere) and I am sure they were all having a minor heart failure over it.  Because they know that once I finally decide to be brave and do crap like that I do.  And besides, who'd ever think a TV would be under the proverbial Christmas tree.  Long story short(er), I discussed Tvs again right before Christmas day as I was going to be going online the day after Christmas!  AND THEN I got a text with a super deal at Sam's club---  so...... JON!!!  Will you go pickup that TV and I will get it when I come down?  The child lied to his mama....  Lol

Anyway, now I have to get a DISH upgrade which apparently will involve a new satellite; we've had the same receiver since we got the system (no judging, I told you, if it works, why mess with it??)  Sigh.  Oh well, it needs to happen.

Greggie had a blast!  

Did I mention that I will finally use that part of my Amazon Prime??  This should be fun.

Meanwhile, we have this MASSIVE  OLD TV in our front room, and it really needs to either go to a good home (doubtful) or get recycled.  And with the MA being under the weather, well, I am really hoping that he makes an astounding recovery so it can get the heck out of my house tomorrow.

At the Rotary Gardens

So, the Sunday after Christmas I drove myself down to Janesville, gifts in tow, and hung out with another Oswald family for a few days.  We went and saw the Rotary Gardens Holiday Light Show, which was AMAZING, had a little Mexican food and just generally had a  nice evening!  In spite of a ice/sleet/snow storm on Monday, I made it home Tuesday.  Which is when the festivities continued with the Mad-English teacher coming to visit, an amusing supper at the Mad-Science teacher's house, a trip to Bayfield on Wednesday, a wintery hike on Thursday..... whew!!!  I spent yesterday afternoon sort of putting my house together again.  Today or tomorrow will be Christmas removal.

SELFIE SPOT!

This is an amazing event!

Ella in her dressup clothes from Gramma

I also have at least one and probably 2 more blog posts to write.  They have been building up.  I am so far behind in lots of things.  SO MANY parts of my house need straightening up again after a couple months of crazy.  And btw, speaking of that, I am so ready for a little sunshine.  We have had a month of virtually no sun.  It has come out once or twice, but I was sick that day- or in one case, I was in Janesville for the sunny day up here.  sigh.  I am ready, man.  If that sun is out today I am OUT the door, camera in hand.

Good morning with Ella

Anyway, since this is my first post of the New Year, I would like to take a moment to wish you all a spectacular New Year- 2016??  Wow.  Enjoy your year, embrace your life, live for now....  you are all awesome the way you are!  That whole new year, new you stuff is such bull shit.  You people are spectacular, you don't need fixing, you don't need to change.  You can trust yourself, you know what is best for you.  You sure as hell don't need Oprah insinuating that you are not good enough.  You all ARE good enough and in fact you are perfect.  So, eat what you enjoy, move how you like, wear what you want and don't let the MEDIA dictate your life.  They portray an illusion and you are real.  Mute their asses!

WOO HOO

I hope that you have a lovely Jan. 1!  Find your joy and keep spreading it around all year.  Avoid those joy stealers and share  your smiles.  You never know when someone is going to need it.