What a wonderful weekend

We got so much done this weekend. Friday morning we got up and went for our doctor appointments. I lost a bit of weight.. yea!! My cholesterol is way too high, but I did drop the triglycerides down a bit. Over all, we are both still doing well. We stopped at Katy Books on the way back because Charles had joined the book club there and was due a free book. We thought we might be able to find a book on building chicken coups. They didn't have anything like that so I checked to see if they had Todd McCaffrey's new Pern book. They did, so Charles got that for me. I am very pleasantly surprised with the book. Todd knows his mother's world well enough to write very convincingly in it. This really excites me because I now have reason to look forward to several more years of the Pern series..:)

Charles got the rest of the garden tilled up. I repotted some more of my plants and found a couple more really nice plants. Ben, who is a really good friend of ours, came down for the weekend from Austin. It had been quite a few years since we saw him. He brought us a really nice wine coaster with a matching cork, and a really cute little blackboard for the kitchen. We spent Friday evening chatting and catching up with him. Saturday, We got up around 9:00 and Charles fixed biscuits and gravy. He made the gravy really spicy, like cajun gravy. I didn't like it at all, but him and Bentley seemed to like it. Jan came over early to spend the day with us and brought some hotdogs and buns and a nice veggie tray to snack on. I made a cheese roll and some veggie dip, spinach dip with rye bread, and we had some summer sausage that I sliced up with chedder cheese and crackers to snack on for the day. Charles trimmed the tree between the house and the garage so that maybe we can get it to grow more up than out. I would like to keep it in the patio if we can. Charles and I went out and started cutting up this really huge tree that has fallen out by the gully. We got the hooks hung on the porch so I could hang my plants up. Ali called and said she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be able to make it out. I was so dissappointed. So was Jan and Ben. We had all really been looking forward to seeing her. We snacked all day and just spent a really relaxing afternoon visiting with Jan and Ben. Jack and Will joined us for supper. We just threw the hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill. Charles made the hamburgers with bacon and onion soup mix. They were really good. There is nothing better than hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. While we were eating, we decided to watch The Brothers Grimm since we had it on DVD and none of us had seen it yet. Dorothy came over about half way through the movie. She brought me some beautiful flowers and a bottle of wine. When the movie was over, Jack, Jan, and Will decided to head home since they were going all the way back to League City. We opened the bottle of wine and tried it out. It had a hint of blackberry taste to it. It had a bit of a bite to it though, and that isn't my taste. Charles liked it pretty much though. We decided to play a game of dominoes. We had so much fun. I haven't laughed like that in ages. My stomach was sore all day Sunday from all the laughing we did Saturday night. We played dominoes till around 3:00 in the morning I think, when Dorothy decided it was time for her to get going. She lives on the other side of Tomball, so it's not that far of a drive from here. Sunday morning we got up and ate some of the leftover hot dogs and burgers for brunch. Ben got his things together and took off to head back to Austin after a few other stops. Charles took the tractor and went and gathered up the wood we had cut the day before. He chopped that up and added it to the wood pile. We had put a big hole in the wood pile on Saturday since we kept a fire going all day and night. We then decided to attack the garage. Charles got the flooring put back up on the storage area above the garage. We had taken it down and used it to board up the windows when we thought Rita was heading our way. After the flooring was back in place, we started going through all the boxes that have been in storage for so long. We went through about half of them. Sorted out what would go upstairs in the garage to be stored, what is going to be sold in the garage sale and what came in the house. We ran out of daylight about half way through the boxes, so we stacked them all back up again and went to the store to get a few things. After supper we enjoyed our Sunday night shows; Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Crossing Jordan. I meant to tape Cold Case, but I forgot to hit the record button. After the news, we wound down and headed to bed. Charles was fighting a cold all weekend and got up this morning feeling like hell, so he called in for the day.

I enjoyed this weekend so much. It is always wonderful to spend time with good friends. We managed to still get so much done on the property too. For now, it is back to MegaSite to get caught up on what piled up over the weekend..:)

Monday 1/9/06

This last weekend was busy, but still fun. We still didn't get everything done that we wanted to, but did get a lot done still. Most of Saturday was spent shopping. We had to go into town to do most of it. Charles got a couple of games at Half Price Books with the gift certificate that Jack and Jan gave him for the holiday. We went to three different stores trying to find ink cartridges for my printer. Finally found them at good ol' Walmart. On Sunday, Charles mowed the yard and weed whacked it. We had some really good ribs that he cooked on the grill. I got some of the replanting done that I wanted to do. I got all but one of the aloe vera plants planted that Jan brought me, two of the spider plants transferred to bigger pots, one of the big plants from mom's funeral transferred also. Still have more work to do with the plants, but I need to get some more potting soil first. Charles worked with the compost pile, and it is starting to pay off... YAY!!

Since we bought this place, Jan has been threatening to buy chickens for us and bring them out here. I keep telling Charles that we really need to get the chicken coop built. On Christmas day Jan scared the crap out of us both by bringing this huge box in the back of her truck and announcing that she had brought the chickens. We had a good laugh at our relief to find that they were chicken statues. A momma and three chicks. I got the momma painted Sunday also, and discovered with little surprise that I am no artist. LOL. It's a funny looking momma chicken, but I had a blast trying to paint it.

I spent today catching up on TV MegaSite with articles and proofread stuff sent in over the weekend. Tomorrow I need to work with the Excel sheet and check in with some of the volunteers. I also need to make out a nag list for the forum.

Ben is coming to visit this weekend so we are going to try to get ahold of everyone and have a bit of a party..:) I need to see who all I can get in touch with. Anyone reading this is welcome to come, just let me know that you are coming..:)

For now, I am off to soak..:)

Well, Suzanne is going to have to help me learn my way around here. I am going to try to get the feed to work on 360 with this blog. I think I will just post in both places till I figure it out.

We have had such a wonderful week here. The Christmas meal was a huge success. We had 23 people over. Not quite as many as I had planned on, but some plans changed at the last minute. We got all the food preparred on time and had such a wonderful afternoon visiting with everyone. The kids all had a blast running and playing all over the property. Jack and Will cut up a couple of fallen trees we had on the property and gave us some really good wood for the fireplace. I got some awesome gifts this year, and I am pretty sure everyone else was happy with what they got also. It was a year of good coincidents as far as gifts go. We got Cherri a nice little fountain. She told us that she had a fountain that had just broken right before the holidays. We got Richard a nice pen set with a matching money clip. He told us that his money clip had broken also. Kayleigh was so happy to get the computer game we got her. Cherrie told us that she had the first version of the game and totally loves it. I had no idea there even was a 'first version' of the game. Edna made us a nice new kitchen towel to hang on the oven that was made out of a cute little kitchen towel with three littel kittens on it. Shawn and Theresa got me a whole set of towels, kitchen wash clothes and pot holders with the exact same little kittens on them.

I loved all my presents this year. Jan got us a journal that she put a cute picture of a dragon breaking free from its shell, and then put "Dragon Weyr - The Beginning" on the front of the picture. It was such an awesome idea, I decided to carry it on and am now making me a "Dragon Weyr - Gardens" book. I am going to put in it everything we plant and grow out here, how to take care of them and all the information needed.

We got a few things we wanted to get done accomplished. Charles put my new hard drive in and got me hooked up to the battery we had bought for my computer. I got my new games installed and have even found a few minutes to mess with them. Charles got half the garden tilled up and the tree stump that was in the middle of it burned and dug out. I have started weeding the garden now and am starting to get a bit anxious to get things planted. That will have to wait till March though. I am pretty sure that we will be able to supply Jack and Jan with veggies from it also. I am so looking forward to making our own tomatoe sauces and canning our own veggies, making our own fresh pickles and pickled okra and jalapenos and stuff. I just can't wait. Home grown food is so much better tasting.

I have decided that I am not going to let the candies kick my ass again. I am going to find me a good candy cookbook and start practicing making candy now.

New Years was just as wonderful as Christmas. Jack, Jan anad Will came out for a bit for New Years Eve. Jack and Will showed Charles a few tips on how to safely operate his new chain saw and Jan brought me some Aloe Vera plants and a spider plant. We fixed a nice little roast and fried potatoes for supper and just enjoyed the conversation. They had to go home early as Jack had to work on New Years day..:( Charles and I just watched a couple old movies and then watched the new year ring in in New York and then again in Chicago with Regis. New Year day, Jan and Will joined us again and brought a wonderfully rich pie for dessert. Charles makes the very best cabbage and blackeyed peas in the world, so I always get the day off from cooking for the holiday. We put a brisket on the charcoal to add to the traditional meal and had a wonderful time devouring all of Charles hard work. It just gets better and better each year. We gave Jan Charles old desk and he and Will loaded it up in the truck. We spent the afternoon visiting and just relaxing. Had the pie and sent home a plate for Jack to enjoy the meal too.

Today I have a hell of a bad headache. I haven't had a headache in a little over two years. I haven't had a migrain since I left Kansas over 15 years ago, but I suspect this one is going there. The last week has been so relaxing and I enjoyed it so much, I will not allow this headache to ruin that.

Here's hoping all have a wonderful year ahead.