Neil and Deb....that's us

Do you ever get called the wrong name? I get called Deb, Debbie, or Deborah quite often. Ever since I was in college people have called me the wrong name. I have worked in many places that I've worn a name tag with my name on it and people have still called me the wrong name while looking at my name tag. My sister's best friend introduced me to her parents as Debbie one time--while I was wearing my name tag. I've learned to laugh it off and find it quite funny sometimes. When I worked for Service Merchandise in NC, I had an assistant manager who called me Debbie all the time. One day I borrowed a girl's name tag that said Debbie. The assistant manager took one look at it and told me that wasn't my name. I told him since he called me that all the time I thought I should have a name tag with that on it....LOL!

Neal just has the problem of people misspelling his name. He has one of those names that can be spelled several different ways. He was blessed with the less common spelling. At least he still gets called the right name.

Just this Christmas we received a sack of goodies from a neighbor and it said To: Neil and Deb. We had a good laugh over it and of course had to give the neighbor a hard time ;-)

ps. I should mention that Kinsey gets in on this all the time too. She gets called McKenzie quite often. I tell people it's just Kinsey...no Mc in front.

Christmas is over and we survived!

We had a very nice Christmas this year. We decided to open our gifts on Christmas Eve and let Santa come Christmas morning. Santa left Kinsey a scavenger hunt to find her gift. After following the clues she found 4 packages and 1 each for Mama and Daddy. Here is her reaction at opening her main gift

It's a Nintendo DS Lite--the thing she has been asking for more than anything else. She also got an accessory pack for itand a gameSanta also left her a gift card to buy another game. Mama received a new pair of tennie shoes and Daddy got a new gun case.

Today we are cleaning up the house and putting things back in order. We have company coming Tuesday and are very excited! My Mom is coming to visit for a few days and have Christmas with us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

Breathe, breathe, breathe...

I'm finally feeling like I can breathe again. I've gotten all the shopping done, the presents wrapped, and the meal planned. I have one project to finish and can call this year done! Oh sure there are little things to get done but all the major ones are finished.

I have loved our bigger house this year. It was so nice to have the room to set up the big Christmas tree and not have to move furniture. We have a mantel over the fireplace to display special items and to hang our stockings from. My kitchen has plenty of counter space for my baking and candy making. We have a guest bedroom for my Mom to come stay.

We are feeling quite blessed to have found this house. We have used the fireplace quite a bit this month. After getting our natural gas bill we decided that us cutting wood and building fires would be much less expensive than using the heater all the time. We can build a fire in the evening and it keeps the house warm until late into the evening. We are hoping to see a big difference on our next bill.

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Glitter glitter every where!

If you know me you know I am not a big fan of glitter. I loathe it. Working in a daycare/preschool I see my fair share of it and always seem to find something else to do when it comes out. Kinsey has been wanting to make some ornaments for our Christmas trees--the big one in the living room and the little one in her room. When I was getting the decorations out last week I came across a package of "stained glass" ornaments and told her she could do those. The first thing she did was say "Oh look there is glitter in here!!"....UGH...she saw it! I told her we could put some glitter on them but I would be holding the glitter at all times. The ornaments turned out really cute and will be for her little tree! Mine are the ones without glitter ;-)

Sunday Neal wanted to go gather wood for our fireplace. We went to one area and got some smaller logs and branches. I had planned to pick up pine cones but there weren't any where we were at so I convinced him to drive to a nearby lake where there are tons of pine trees. Kinsey and I picked up 4 grocery sacks full of pine cones! We are making ornaments out of some, taking some to the daycare to make ornaments there, and the rest will be used for fire starters. I took a few pictures of some we decorated.

These will be put on our bigger tree and shared with family. Now we can put the glitter up and be done with it for a very long time........

Old toys bring back memories

Early last week Kinsey and I were talking about her PE class and she said they used a thing you put around your ankle and jump over it. I asked if it was a Skip-It or something like that and she wasn't sure what it was called. When we got to my parents I went to the outside storage closet and pulled out my old Lemon Twist--it was similar what she used! My sister and I each had one and mine had a bee drawn on it since my name starts with a "B". We also found an old hula-hoop for her to play with. Everyone that went out into the backyard had to show her how to roll the hula-hoop forward and make it come back to you. Kinsey was finally able to do it a few times before we left. I'm so glad we were able to find some 30-something year old toys to entertain her. I have many fond memories of my sister and I playing with those toys for hours on end. The next thing I need to get Kinsey is roller skates to use there. My sister and I spend countless hours skating up and down the sidewalk.

Kinsey and my parent's dog Goldie (aka Red).

Sorry about the quality of these pictures. I'm still learning how to use all the setting on my camera. I need to work on taking pictures at dusk.

I didn't make it

Oh well, I didn't make it to the end of NaBloPoMo again. I will admit that I did post quite a bit this month and shared quite a few pictures. It was fun!

We had a great time at my parents for Thanksgiving. We ate to much, visited, and slept a lot...lol! My parents and I stayed up way to late one night playing Phase 10 Dice. Earlier my Mom and I were playing and Kinsey wanted to play. We decided that Go Fish would be easier and she had a blast playing. My Dad kept teasing me because I only won one game out of about 10. After putting Kinsey to bed I came back to play Phase 10 Dice again. I won the first game and my Mom won the other 2. My Dad didn't win any...HA! It was so nice to get to visit with them. My Dad has had some hearing loss since he was young. He has always resisted hearing aids until this year. This is the first time I have been home since he's had them and it was so nice to be able to talk to him without yelling. It took a little getting used to since he's been that way my whole life.

We had a very relaxing weekend and got to see several other relatives. My paternal Grandmother came over for Thanksgiving lunch and my aunt Reita came by and visited that afternoon. We also went to Reita's apartment the next day. I have not been to it since she moved in and it was lovely...just like she is. I want Kinsey to get to know my aunts and uncles as she grows up so she knows what great family I had growing up. I have fond memories of going to my Mom's aunt and uncles houses when we were young and I want the same memories for Kinsey.

Ok, on to December. We have a parade next weekend and a school program on the 11th. There are also several other things planned through out the month. Also, I'm hoping to get the Christmas tree up this weekend so check back for pictures!