So this last day of 2013 was a productive one. After attending a meeting at the club re: the weight control program and fitness opportunity I drove to Ace hardware to spend my $5 coupon on free stuff. I got a couple $1 light bulbs and some clips that can keep food storage closed.
Then I set out for Oakland to see a house that I last inspected in 2007. The owner had died and the house was just sitting waiting for the next step. I was there to do a "end of reverse mortgage" appraisal. Once that was completed I checked my emails and found a new order. So I called the contact and got permission to see the 3900 sf home this afternoon. Using a Supra Key I gained entry, did the inspection, shot the comps and was home by dark.
Just now I've come back from Steve and Nikki's where a party with friends and neighbors in in full swing. They do a super job of entertaining and the kids are playing and a huge game of dominos is going on strong. Food is everywhere and some of it is amazingly good. What fun.
Now I'm home and soon I'll be in bed.
I'm not filled with warm and fuzzy memories of this year, 2013. I hope 2014 can be better. For one thing I'll start to get Social Security in August and I'm so ready to start getting something back after paying out for so long to the government. It should be over $1,600 which will help a lot and a couple of the long time credit cards that I'm paying off will be paid off soon, that will help too.
I'm thankful for so much, for a great house (without heat), for a good company that I enjoy running, for good health in spite of the way I've treated it and for an incredible family and some of the worlds best friends. I love my church family and its fine pastor and great people.
Love to all,
Tim
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
A Great Finish
Good evening,
So after last nights time with the Hobbit I found it difficult to wake this morning. But eventually responsibilities beckoned and I rolled out to a very cold house. The family room was 59 so breakfast was quick, steel cut oats, a banana, an egg and a slice of wheat toast.
Once in the office which tends to run warmer due to the computers being on I did research for today's appointments in San Jose and Mountain House. The I finished up other work on my desk and set to work on reconciling the business check book. I've not kept up so now while I have the time I'm working on getting the data up to date. I'm a long ways from being caught up but at least I got a couple more months checked off today, felt good.
At 11:45 I left for San Jose and took some munching food along in place of lunch. The home was nice and is located on a corner. I was surprised to locate a room with bathroom with no access to the interior of the home, only a door opening from the back patio. Once inside I found a young girl who was somewhat frightened, she was also very pregnant, in a conversation in broken English I learned that her due date for the little guy was 2 days ago. Never did really learn who she is related to, just one of those strange things one finds in the course of doing appraisals.
Once I was completed in San Jose I then set sail for Mountain House with the GPS saying I would arrive a couple minutes ahead of the 3:30 appointment. Traffic was slow in several places but I pulled up just 2 minutes late. I found a very beautiful Porsche parked outside and the agent was ready to show me through. The owner was home as well. It is a townhome located in Mountain House and built by Pulte. It is one of the toughest places to measure, I remembered once I started the last one I measured. Once again it challenged me and we'll see when I do the sketch tomorrow if I got the measurements right or not.
Then it was home for a few minutes. There was money waiting in the mail so I prepared the deposit and made the copies for the records. Then it was time to leave for my big date!! Janice was already there and we were quickly seated. BJs is such a beautiful place and nearly every table was filled with hungry people. We ordered and enjoyed a really good meal. We caught up on so much that has happened in her life, the loss of her mother and father in law over the past 8 months. Her life is never without challenges and during a walk she fell and broke her ankle which has now healed. She is a fine woman with lots of education. However she is easy to talk to and we share a lot of values. We both had spouses who died with great courage and never made our lives difficult through the process. We can talk about our former lives easily without it getting in the way of the now. I'm looking forward to seeing her again and I'm hoping she can meet you as well at some point.
So now its bed time, I can't wait. Tomorrow morning at 9 I meet my coach for the weight control program I've joined at the club. While I have mixed feelings about all this I simply must do something or prepare for a shorter life.
So good night one and all, love to each of you.
Tim
So after last nights time with the Hobbit I found it difficult to wake this morning. But eventually responsibilities beckoned and I rolled out to a very cold house. The family room was 59 so breakfast was quick, steel cut oats, a banana, an egg and a slice of wheat toast.
Once in the office which tends to run warmer due to the computers being on I did research for today's appointments in San Jose and Mountain House. The I finished up other work on my desk and set to work on reconciling the business check book. I've not kept up so now while I have the time I'm working on getting the data up to date. I'm a long ways from being caught up but at least I got a couple more months checked off today, felt good.
At 11:45 I left for San Jose and took some munching food along in place of lunch. The home was nice and is located on a corner. I was surprised to locate a room with bathroom with no access to the interior of the home, only a door opening from the back patio. Once inside I found a young girl who was somewhat frightened, she was also very pregnant, in a conversation in broken English I learned that her due date for the little guy was 2 days ago. Never did really learn who she is related to, just one of those strange things one finds in the course of doing appraisals.
Once I was completed in San Jose I then set sail for Mountain House with the GPS saying I would arrive a couple minutes ahead of the 3:30 appointment. Traffic was slow in several places but I pulled up just 2 minutes late. I found a very beautiful Porsche parked outside and the agent was ready to show me through. The owner was home as well. It is a townhome located in Mountain House and built by Pulte. It is one of the toughest places to measure, I remembered once I started the last one I measured. Once again it challenged me and we'll see when I do the sketch tomorrow if I got the measurements right or not.
Then it was home for a few minutes. There was money waiting in the mail so I prepared the deposit and made the copies for the records. Then it was time to leave for my big date!! Janice was already there and we were quickly seated. BJs is such a beautiful place and nearly every table was filled with hungry people. We ordered and enjoyed a really good meal. We caught up on so much that has happened in her life, the loss of her mother and father in law over the past 8 months. Her life is never without challenges and during a walk she fell and broke her ankle which has now healed. She is a fine woman with lots of education. However she is easy to talk to and we share a lot of values. We both had spouses who died with great courage and never made our lives difficult through the process. We can talk about our former lives easily without it getting in the way of the now. I'm looking forward to seeing her again and I'm hoping she can meet you as well at some point.
So now its bed time, I can't wait. Tomorrow morning at 9 I meet my coach for the weight control program I've joined at the club. While I have mixed feelings about all this I simply must do something or prepare for a shorter life.
So good night one and all, love to each of you.
Tim
A day of accomplishment and enjoyment too
Dear Family and Friends,
Doors open and close in our lives and this afternoon I learned that a friend who I had met has found a new friend and I won't be needed anymore. It was a relief really but it's never fun to be rejected, oh well. So I thought it over and called my friend Janice who I've seen several times over the past year and a half. She has had to deal with so many tough losses this year, her mother died rather unexpectedly and then her spouses father died after gradually going downhill. She and her children had cared for him for years, it was not easy but they did all the right things. She is still really working through losing her own husband a few years ago. We've not talked much over the last few months, I felt she had so much on her plate to cope with and it turns out that is the way she has felt too, just almost an overload.
So we are having dinner tomorrow evening and I really look forward to seeing her again. She spent her life as head of the adult education portion of the Antioch School District. She has had an interesting life and is a deep and thoughtful lady.
This morning I set to work after breakfast. When I got up I guilt a fire, made a cup of coffee from freshly ground beans, it was so good. I boiled eggs and decided to make oatmeal in the microwave. It turned out so good, perfect at 3 minutes in the microwave. I also had one of the freshly boiled eggs over a slice of toast and a banana. It was just perfect.
I started writing appraisals and at first it was challenging but pretty soon I got into it and started really moving along. For lunch I found a Tupperware of salad left from when Jason and Jo had made dinner. It was still fresh and very good. I cut some avocado into the bowl and added some low calorie Italian dressing. I had another boiled egg with just salt, so good.
This evening I found a couple chocolate chip pancakes that Jason had whipped up. Because they were for Timothy they are vegan but you could never tell. Very good so I warmed them up a bit, buttered them with vegan butter and enjoyed them. So the left overs from Jason and Jo are still being enjoyed. Wish I had some of Nikki's mashed potatoes, talk about good!
Once it became clear that I was going to be able to get totally caught up today I started planning for the evening. On line I purchased a ticket to see the Hobbit in IMAX and 3D. I went at 8:45 and at 9:05 the movie finally started, the time wasted was for previews and warnings about cell phones and how to escape if the place was on fire. I totally loved the move, this one is perhaps even more exciting than the last one and it makes a story that we all read in younger years come alive vividly on the huge screen. It was a great experience but the little popcorn ran out way too soon, popcorn and a drink was $10!!
So now I'm home again and very ready for the new week. Tomorrow I have an appointment at 1 pm in San Jose to see a property, hope to maybe catch up with the kiddos depending on what they are doing or where they are going. Jason and family are back from being at camp wawona with Big Kev and his family which means the kids may have seen some snow.
Well I'm sleepy and ready for rest.
Love to all.
Tim
PS Sylvia Ahn is in Japan with Kevin and family and emailed some photos. I'll include a couple here. Very exciting for all.
Doors open and close in our lives and this afternoon I learned that a friend who I had met has found a new friend and I won't be needed anymore. It was a relief really but it's never fun to be rejected, oh well. So I thought it over and called my friend Janice who I've seen several times over the past year and a half. She has had to deal with so many tough losses this year, her mother died rather unexpectedly and then her spouses father died after gradually going downhill. She and her children had cared for him for years, it was not easy but they did all the right things. She is still really working through losing her own husband a few years ago. We've not talked much over the last few months, I felt she had so much on her plate to cope with and it turns out that is the way she has felt too, just almost an overload.
So we are having dinner tomorrow evening and I really look forward to seeing her again. She spent her life as head of the adult education portion of the Antioch School District. She has had an interesting life and is a deep and thoughtful lady.
This morning I set to work after breakfast. When I got up I guilt a fire, made a cup of coffee from freshly ground beans, it was so good. I boiled eggs and decided to make oatmeal in the microwave. It turned out so good, perfect at 3 minutes in the microwave. I also had one of the freshly boiled eggs over a slice of toast and a banana. It was just perfect.
I started writing appraisals and at first it was challenging but pretty soon I got into it and started really moving along. For lunch I found a Tupperware of salad left from when Jason and Jo had made dinner. It was still fresh and very good. I cut some avocado into the bowl and added some low calorie Italian dressing. I had another boiled egg with just salt, so good.
This evening I found a couple chocolate chip pancakes that Jason had whipped up. Because they were for Timothy they are vegan but you could never tell. Very good so I warmed them up a bit, buttered them with vegan butter and enjoyed them. So the left overs from Jason and Jo are still being enjoyed. Wish I had some of Nikki's mashed potatoes, talk about good!
Once it became clear that I was going to be able to get totally caught up today I started planning for the evening. On line I purchased a ticket to see the Hobbit in IMAX and 3D. I went at 8:45 and at 9:05 the movie finally started, the time wasted was for previews and warnings about cell phones and how to escape if the place was on fire. I totally loved the move, this one is perhaps even more exciting than the last one and it makes a story that we all read in younger years come alive vividly on the huge screen. It was a great experience but the little popcorn ran out way too soon, popcorn and a drink was $10!!
So now I'm home again and very ready for the new week. Tomorrow I have an appointment at 1 pm in San Jose to see a property, hope to maybe catch up with the kiddos depending on what they are doing or where they are going. Jason and family are back from being at camp wawona with Big Kev and his family which means the kids may have seen some snow.
Well I'm sleepy and ready for rest.
Love to all.
Tim
PS Sylvia Ahn is in Japan with Kevin and family and emailed some photos. I'll include a couple here. Very exciting for all.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
A Great Sabbath
Dear Family and Friends,
Except for it being nearly 70 degrees today, just too warm for comfort this time of year, this has been a really good day.
Rolled out at 6:45, hit the shower in a very cold room but the chill was gone due to the little heater doing its job once the shower was over.
Built a fire using wood that Steve cut up into small pieces. It quickly helped knock off the 58 degree chill in the family room. Had a delicious breakfast and then drove to the kids to pick up the girls. They had not eaten breakfast but were dressed and after some hair brushing they took food for the road.
Angel was the teacher today as Kim was vacationing somewhere. There were just two girls, her daughter and Kallie and both were wired but Angel did a really good job with them and used her IPOD to play music for the songs, very clever. Jackie arrived just as SS was over but caught some snacks.
Then we did a variety of things the girls wanted to do which included stops at WalMart, the Dollar store and Strings where we met Nikki for lunch. At that point I lost the girls as they had a party to attend later in the day. I drove home with a very quiet car.
Not wanting to just sleep the day away I watched some Christian dish programs and then using the wheel barrow loaded up all the wood that Steve had cut up for me to use to start fires. The back of Jason's Subaru was full. Two wheel barrow loads later it was all on the back porch in the wood holder and covered.
Since I was outside I decided to see how hard it was to install the new hatch struts for the back of the VW. I went online and found the cheat sheet, it was easy! So went and tried and 5 minutes later I had both new ones installed and the hatch works perfectly now. It even releases when the button on the door is pushed and opens easily. You would not believe how big the box they used for shipping, it was huge and filled with those silly little air pillows. Oh well its all in the blue recycle bin now.
As the sun was setting I noticed the rims on Jason's Subaru, they had not come clean when I had the car washed. In fact they looked terrible. I filled a bucked with soapy water, grabbed a brush and sponge and gave each wheel some attention. While its not perfect it is certainly much better now and the car actually looks respectable. Kind of fun to try to do little things to help your kids no matter how old they are.
This evening I went online and found lift struts for Jason's Odyssey, his struts have totally failed as well. So I ordered them and when they arrive I'll see if they install as easy on his van as my car was.
I found that failure of the struts to be really dangerous as it was hard to hold the hatch open and get my ladder out at the same time especially with a right arm that suffers from tennis elbow. So now I feel much better about the bug and the hatch.
This evening after having dinner at the local BJs at the Streets of Brentwood, our local fresh air mall I happened to come across great performances on KQED. It was a performance of Phantom of the Opera that was held recently in the Royal Theatre in London and it was incredible. Wonderfully staged with a top flight orchestra, beautiful costumes and outstanding singers it was a very enjoyable way to end the day. I turned on the receiver which gave me four more Bose speakers and the sound and picture were just perfect. How well I remember when we flew to LA and took Jason and Nikki to see the Phantom in the Dorothy Chandler, we all loved it, had great seats and have never forgotten it. In a very ordinary life there are spots of art, music, beauty that just make everything worth living through. Need more special times and less ordinary times.
I don't know about you but I really don't care much for 2013 but I have high hopes for 2014 for me personally and for my delightful family. Mine will involved more gym time, more careful selection of what to eat and when and a taking control of the way I live.
Sending love to all,
So good to see friends at church today, precious people every one.
Tim
Except for it being nearly 70 degrees today, just too warm for comfort this time of year, this has been a really good day.
Rolled out at 6:45, hit the shower in a very cold room but the chill was gone due to the little heater doing its job once the shower was over.
Built a fire using wood that Steve cut up into small pieces. It quickly helped knock off the 58 degree chill in the family room. Had a delicious breakfast and then drove to the kids to pick up the girls. They had not eaten breakfast but were dressed and after some hair brushing they took food for the road.
Angel was the teacher today as Kim was vacationing somewhere. There were just two girls, her daughter and Kallie and both were wired but Angel did a really good job with them and used her IPOD to play music for the songs, very clever. Jackie arrived just as SS was over but caught some snacks.
Then we did a variety of things the girls wanted to do which included stops at WalMart, the Dollar store and Strings where we met Nikki for lunch. At that point I lost the girls as they had a party to attend later in the day. I drove home with a very quiet car.
Not wanting to just sleep the day away I watched some Christian dish programs and then using the wheel barrow loaded up all the wood that Steve had cut up for me to use to start fires. The back of Jason's Subaru was full. Two wheel barrow loads later it was all on the back porch in the wood holder and covered.
Since I was outside I decided to see how hard it was to install the new hatch struts for the back of the VW. I went online and found the cheat sheet, it was easy! So went and tried and 5 minutes later I had both new ones installed and the hatch works perfectly now. It even releases when the button on the door is pushed and opens easily. You would not believe how big the box they used for shipping, it was huge and filled with those silly little air pillows. Oh well its all in the blue recycle bin now.
As the sun was setting I noticed the rims on Jason's Subaru, they had not come clean when I had the car washed. In fact they looked terrible. I filled a bucked with soapy water, grabbed a brush and sponge and gave each wheel some attention. While its not perfect it is certainly much better now and the car actually looks respectable. Kind of fun to try to do little things to help your kids no matter how old they are.
This evening I went online and found lift struts for Jason's Odyssey, his struts have totally failed as well. So I ordered them and when they arrive I'll see if they install as easy on his van as my car was.
I found that failure of the struts to be really dangerous as it was hard to hold the hatch open and get my ladder out at the same time especially with a right arm that suffers from tennis elbow. So now I feel much better about the bug and the hatch.
This evening after having dinner at the local BJs at the Streets of Brentwood, our local fresh air mall I happened to come across great performances on KQED. It was a performance of Phantom of the Opera that was held recently in the Royal Theatre in London and it was incredible. Wonderfully staged with a top flight orchestra, beautiful costumes and outstanding singers it was a very enjoyable way to end the day. I turned on the receiver which gave me four more Bose speakers and the sound and picture were just perfect. How well I remember when we flew to LA and took Jason and Nikki to see the Phantom in the Dorothy Chandler, we all loved it, had great seats and have never forgotten it. In a very ordinary life there are spots of art, music, beauty that just make everything worth living through. Need more special times and less ordinary times.
I don't know about you but I really don't care much for 2013 but I have high hopes for 2014 for me personally and for my delightful family. Mine will involved more gym time, more careful selection of what to eat and when and a taking control of the way I live.
Sending love to all,
So good to see friends at church today, precious people every one.
Tim
Friday, December 27, 2013
Slowly getting back into the work mode upon which I survive.
Good evening,
Up at 6 and it was very cold in the room, fortunately I have this wonderful heater given us years ago when the furnace would not work. I have it in the master bath dressing area and its just right, heats instantly and its great when I pop out of the shower. But when one leaves the heater things turn cold.
Downstairs it was about 60 degrees but I decided to not build a fire as I was going to be working in my office with its little heater and warmth from the computers running. I worked up until about 11:30 and then drove to Tracy to shoot comps for an appraisal I was finished with, then inspected a nice home located near the lake but not on it like the one the other day. The agent met me and she was very pleasant and helpful.
Then I drove to Antioch and using my Supra Key inspected a less ideal two story home, sort of junky but OK. Selling for a lot less than the Tracy one.
I had driven Jason's Subaru today as I wanted to let the bug rest until I can get the new timing belt installed. The Subaru was so dirty from when the transmission fluid leaked so I had it washed and it does look much better now. Steve had texted me that he had a stack of short boards cut up for me to use in the fire so I swung in and we loaded them in the back of the car, perfect place to carry the stack.
This evening I drove to Concord and had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and now I'm home ready to crash.
It is so quiet here without the little people, I miss my 4 sweet kiddos so much. In the morning I'll take the girls to Sabbath School and perhaps lunch. Its a nice routine.
Right I'm sending Christmas greetings to all,
Love
Tim
Up at 6 and it was very cold in the room, fortunately I have this wonderful heater given us years ago when the furnace would not work. I have it in the master bath dressing area and its just right, heats instantly and its great when I pop out of the shower. But when one leaves the heater things turn cold.
Downstairs it was about 60 degrees but I decided to not build a fire as I was going to be working in my office with its little heater and warmth from the computers running. I worked up until about 11:30 and then drove to Tracy to shoot comps for an appraisal I was finished with, then inspected a nice home located near the lake but not on it like the one the other day. The agent met me and she was very pleasant and helpful.
Then I drove to Antioch and using my Supra Key inspected a less ideal two story home, sort of junky but OK. Selling for a lot less than the Tracy one.
I had driven Jason's Subaru today as I wanted to let the bug rest until I can get the new timing belt installed. The Subaru was so dirty from when the transmission fluid leaked so I had it washed and it does look much better now. Steve had texted me that he had a stack of short boards cut up for me to use in the fire so I swung in and we loaded them in the back of the car, perfect place to carry the stack.
This evening I drove to Concord and had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and now I'm home ready to crash.
It is so quiet here without the little people, I miss my 4 sweet kiddos so much. In the morning I'll take the girls to Sabbath School and perhaps lunch. Its a nice routine.
Right I'm sending Christmas greetings to all,
Love
Tim
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Christmas 2013
So I'm sure you had a special day with your people, not that this is an easy season for many of us who grieve along with rejoice. For me there is someone missing who would have loved this Christmas with a mountain of presents, great food, warm family fellowship. How she would have loved seeing the kiddos enjoy their presents and the joy of what was inside. Yet we as a family have pulled together and everyone has done their best to make it a magic time. Our lives are so rich mainly due to the incredible adults but also due to the bright and happy children.
I jumped up this morning after 6 to make sure a fire was roaring, to lift the temperature. The heaters in each of the guest rooms have helped a great deal in keeping the chill away. We had fires burning in the living room fireplace this morning and in the trusty wood stove in the family room. The fires easily overcame the chilly air.
We had an incredible breakfast at Nikki and Steve's this morning. Nikki made Swedish pancakes and they were terrific, wow, what a feast.
The kids had no problem getting started opening their gifts and this year Mia knew just how to rip open a gift, she even came and helped me open some of mine. There were dolls, more dolls, games, puzzles, Lego's seemed to be a big hit and for us adults there were needed clothes, I have a new jacket, a really nice one and a new pair of dress shoes, a new giants hat, beautiful photos of the families all set in frames, some really cool little boxes of candy and host of other things that enhance a life. I even got a gift certificate for IHOP. Kallie bought a little pencil with a soccer ball on the top from her school store, I love it.
Sending love to all as the family has all settled in for the night.
Jason arranged for a birthday dinner at a local highly rated Asian food place, the food was really good. Then after the got the kiddos ready for bed I watched them so Jason and Jo could go to the movies. Unfortunately the one they wanted was sold out, that was an unexpected bummer so they selected another one. The kiddos were great and easy to persuade of their bed time. Nice!
Merry Christmas to all,
Tim
ps. It is sure special to have the family here at the house, what fun to see things used, enjoyed in the kitchen and thanks to Tanya everything sparkles, seems like the dishwasher is running a lot and that is great, there is a reason for it to run, life is happening and it is very special.
Thank the good Lord for our families.
I jumped up this morning after 6 to make sure a fire was roaring, to lift the temperature. The heaters in each of the guest rooms have helped a great deal in keeping the chill away. We had fires burning in the living room fireplace this morning and in the trusty wood stove in the family room. The fires easily overcame the chilly air.
We had an incredible breakfast at Nikki and Steve's this morning. Nikki made Swedish pancakes and they were terrific, wow, what a feast.
The kids had no problem getting started opening their gifts and this year Mia knew just how to rip open a gift, she even came and helped me open some of mine. There were dolls, more dolls, games, puzzles, Lego's seemed to be a big hit and for us adults there were needed clothes, I have a new jacket, a really nice one and a new pair of dress shoes, a new giants hat, beautiful photos of the families all set in frames, some really cool little boxes of candy and host of other things that enhance a life. I even got a gift certificate for IHOP. Kallie bought a little pencil with a soccer ball on the top from her school store, I love it.
Sending love to all as the family has all settled in for the night.
Jason arranged for a birthday dinner at a local highly rated Asian food place, the food was really good. Then after the got the kiddos ready for bed I watched them so Jason and Jo could go to the movies. Unfortunately the one they wanted was sold out, that was an unexpected bummer so they selected another one. The kiddos were great and easy to persuade of their bed time. Nice!
Merry Christmas to all,
Tim
ps. It is sure special to have the family here at the house, what fun to see things used, enjoyed in the kitchen and thanks to Tanya everything sparkles, seems like the dishwasher is running a lot and that is great, there is a reason for it to run, life is happening and it is very special.
Thank the good Lord for our families.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Family comes together for Christmas
What a huge blessing it is to have a great family.
Jason and Jo arrived with Mia and Timothy around noon. They had already started planning with Nikki for our dinner together this evening. So a few trips to Safeway later we finally managed to create a really terrific meal. I did nothing. Jason and Jo made salad, cottage cheese loaf, Nikki made mashed potatoes and the desert, Lima Beans, pasta for Keanna and I supplied the sparkling apple drink I can't spell but it sure tasted good. Jason and Jo also cooked green beans from raw to perfect.
Safeway supplied some turkey and chicken.
We had a fire going all day and kept the place warm and toasty and we have a small space heater in each guest room tonight. We've had Christmas music playing in the background all day from Direct TV. We tried to use the old CD player, the one that holds 300 CDs and it won't work, one more thing to fix or replace. Of course who plays CDs anymore, now its all electronic stuff.
The kiddos are so excited about Christmas and were allowed to open one gift when we drove over to see Steve's Christmas lights and have some excellent desert that Nikki whipped up. So good. They just can't wait for Christmas to arrive so they can open their presents. They have been tracking Santa's journey all day today on the computer.
Well it is once again bedtime and I'm thinking Jason is falling asleep in the family room in front of the fire.
Life is full of ups and downs, hard times, easy times but the best time for me is with family, I love every one of them from Mia and her rapidly expanding vocabulary to Keanna with her 10 year old wisdom and dramatic flair. Then there is Timothy with his serious yet total fun loving nature and Kallie who just is so full of energy and ideas. Wow, what a bunch.
Had a chance to talk to sister Sibyl in Ohio and Jerry in Weed. They are enjoying their Christmas time very much.
So sending love to all,
Tim
Jason and Jo arrived with Mia and Timothy around noon. They had already started planning with Nikki for our dinner together this evening. So a few trips to Safeway later we finally managed to create a really terrific meal. I did nothing. Jason and Jo made salad, cottage cheese loaf, Nikki made mashed potatoes and the desert, Lima Beans, pasta for Keanna and I supplied the sparkling apple drink I can't spell but it sure tasted good. Jason and Jo also cooked green beans from raw to perfect.
Safeway supplied some turkey and chicken.
We had a fire going all day and kept the place warm and toasty and we have a small space heater in each guest room tonight. We've had Christmas music playing in the background all day from Direct TV. We tried to use the old CD player, the one that holds 300 CDs and it won't work, one more thing to fix or replace. Of course who plays CDs anymore, now its all electronic stuff.
The kiddos are so excited about Christmas and were allowed to open one gift when we drove over to see Steve's Christmas lights and have some excellent desert that Nikki whipped up. So good. They just can't wait for Christmas to arrive so they can open their presents. They have been tracking Santa's journey all day today on the computer.
Well it is once again bedtime and I'm thinking Jason is falling asleep in the family room in front of the fire.
Life is full of ups and downs, hard times, easy times but the best time for me is with family, I love every one of them from Mia and her rapidly expanding vocabulary to Keanna with her 10 year old wisdom and dramatic flair. Then there is Timothy with his serious yet total fun loving nature and Kallie who just is so full of energy and ideas. Wow, what a bunch.
Had a chance to talk to sister Sibyl in Ohio and Jerry in Weed. They are enjoying their Christmas time very much.
So sending love to all,
Tim
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