dankel farm life

Well my house is empty of guests.  The first few hours it felt nice to have everything back to normal, but today it is quiet and empty feeling again (funny to say with 14 kids in the house). 

Yesterday I had to take Isabel into Fort Worth a doctors appointment.  She had to see a Opthamologist to check to see if there has been any damage to her eyes because of the Graves Disease.  Praise God there isn't any damage.  We were so happy.  We shopped a little while in Fort Worth, but I was honestly just too tired after the wonderful week with family in town. 

It is cold out here.  We have been using the wood burner and the fireplace non stop it has been so cold.  The only problem is the heat from these two don't let the heat kick on and warm the bedrooms.  This isn't a problem during the day, but at night we can't get the heat to kick on until the fireplaces go out.  Maybe this is a great back up plan for when the fireplaces go out. So, as long as someone is taking care of the fire the living spaces are nice and warm.

One of my daughters got invited to a prom back in Las Vegas at a Christian school by a nice Christian young man in April.  We will be driving back there in April so she can go.  We don't allow dating or time alone with a boy so this will be a totally chaparoned outing.  She is excited to be going. 

Well, the day is waiting and I have tons to do.  Stay warm and make the best of the time you have.  Brenda

Ok, I managed to get out of bed. It's my upper body that's sore so I must've taken more of hte fall there than I thought. However I managed to mop and work out, which loosen things up. I had to help both boys w/math today, too!LOL I also paid *my* bills and got stamps ordered. Man, I love the post office sometimes....LOL Last week they sent out stamp order forms so I got my Christmas stamps ordered today and should get them tomorrow! All that's left on my list is to shower and compose the Christmas letter!;)

Ok, didn't get the letter done today. That's ok, as Clarice would say, "there's always tomorrow". But then it's not really a dream for me!LOL I'll get it done on MOnday.

 

We still do not have our tree up. We always get live trees and if we get them too early they dry out to fast so we will wait until maybe next Saturday to get it. Because the cold hit us I have yet to get my Christmas decorations out either. I hope to get to that either today or tomorrow. We need this house looking a lot more festive!  About the only thing we are doing regularly is playing Christmas music! I must say my favorite CD for this Christmas is Casting Crowns new Christmas CD. I keep switching between that and a couple of Kenny G holiday CD’s and Kenny Chesney’s Christmas CD (with my all time favorite song.. All I Want For Christmas is a Real Good Tan..  LOL) and others.. I am amazed at how many Christmas CD’s I have collected over the years. Hopefully by the weekend our home will not only sound like the Christmas season but look like it too!    

The countdown continues for my son.. less than 2 weeks now until he leaves Iraq. These last few weeks have really been tough for him.. you would think things would lighten up as they prepare to leave.. but he says, nope.. they are working the guys 16 hours a day except on Sunday, they only work 12..  I know he is exhausted both mentally and physically. I am so looking forward to him coming home and getting some relax time with us… and he is too! 

  Last night we went to our son Chaser's football banquet. He lettered for the first time as a varsity football player at the school we moved to last January after coming to Alabama from Arkansas.  This was quite the feat for him as he had never played football, was in a field of 600 trying out for 80 spots and only 35 or so of them lettered.  He was very proud and I am glad for him.

     Our tree is up and I am working on making the most out of the 17 days I will have the children in our home before they go to their other parents for the Christmas break.  We will enjoy family nights of Christmas videos, driving to see the city Christmas lights, and a couple of evenings of each of their frends coming over to have a homemade meal together and to allow us to share time with them enjoying Christmas activities together.  This turned out to be a huge hit with their friends, though we did simple things, popcorn balls, made ornaments, and had traditional food together.  The high schoolers actually asked last night if I could do it again this year.....boys!....I loved that they enjoyed what we did for Thanksgiving week together....I had made a homemade "manly" meal of chicken fried steak, potatoes and gravy and green beans and rolls and then had asked them to help put together some things we were taking elsewhere...they loved helping and eating with us and it was a good thing. Son had been so embarassed for me to ask them to come over, but 5 boys together had fun even with the chore part of it.

     I am thankful today for a beautiful day outside, the tree lights that glow and the smell of paper whites blooming in the den.

God is good.

Yes, today was quiet. I didn't feel good so that worked out well.;) I did manage to workout and dust. I even got a shower!LOL But about lunchtime, I started going downhill. NOt sure what it was, but I"m sick of these GI issues. I was pretty sure that vomiting was inevitable,b ut I didn't. Mat made me a grilled cheese and I drank a few ounces of Coke. I felt a bit better (I read a book) and figured that I should sort, wash, peel and dice the potatoes while I had the energy. I tossed in 2 carrots for good measure. I found the last package of green onion cheese and knew that there was a package of cooked bacon in the freezer. So if I could just deal w/the potatoes, I'd be good.  It was VERY good soup! DH was completely unenthused about the lack of meat, but he didn't say a word. He knows there is probably a very good reason why we're eating potatoes constantly!LOL

I also managed to print off December's calendar--which gives me a sense of knowing. And I entered Mat's school thru 1/7/09. That's a good feeling.

And now it's time for The Biggest Loser.;)

Yup, it's Monday adn we are HOME! I'm glad. I missed my bed. Alot. A really really lot!ROTFL!

I managed to wash both boys sheets, my new brown cords (THAT I LOVE!) and the darks before we had to get to town to meet an online friend! I hadn't met her before and what fun! She's such a nice person anyway. ;) I bought something for a friend for Christmas while at Cracker Barrel (where we simply met!;)) and out we went. I don't usually bribe my children, but we were all tired from the long weekend so I told them that I"d get them hot chocolate (Joey) nad pumpkin cappucino (Mat) if they BEHAVED! They were really good!LOL Then to Lowe's to check out a tip on some scrapbooking stuff and then to get some bread and gas. Joey managed to jostle his cup enuf to spill it down the front of his coat, shirt and jeans. I got teh cup cleaned up and realized that I did not see my Cracker Barrel purchase. I decided that I left it there and sent Mat in after it. Thankfully he came out w/it!LOL It's always humbling to do something stupid like leave your purchase at the counter and wonder out of the store!LOL

Then back home to finish up laundry and decide that fried potatoes would go well w/bacon and eggs. And a few rounds of Word Twist on Facebook tossed in there..........LOL