Year's end

It's December 31, the last day of the last month of the year. Beth has been counting down on the calendar every day.

It's been snowy outside, and even Beth has helped with the shoveling. (Believe it or not! See the photo!)

It hasn't been bad enough to halt any activity, so we've been shopping and going to Curves and running errands and so on. On Sunday, we all went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. We thought it was really fun, and we saw it at the new theatre downtown, which may be the best in the country. I forgot to mention that earlier this month we also went to see Invictus -- Beth seemed to like that one alot. (Beth fell asleep during part of Sherlock Holmes.)

Beth has gotten very good about her regular chores, including setting the table. She's really enjoyed our dinners and she's good about eating lots of vegetables.

This week, Beth came with me to a lunch with our friend Heather. She loved that! And then on Wednesday, we all went to lunch with our friends Paul and Gail. They live downtown, so we met at a nice little restaurant and then went over to their house, where Beth got to coo over their Chihuahua and kitty.

Later, it was off to Curves! All the gals at Curves said goodbye to her, and "see you in the summer!" They all know her and enjoy working out with her.

Later today, we'll go for a visit at Max's house for New Year's Eve, but probably not much more than that. I think it'll be a quiet one this year.

Beth has been practicing for her travels on Saturday -- we review over and over, what airline? where does it go? what does she do? STAY ON THE PLANE! etc. Too soon!

A White Christmas!

Where to begin?

It's the day after Christmas, and all through house, not a creature is stirring, not even Pan. It's snowing, big fuzzy flakes scurrying every which way, exactly like when you shake a little snowglobe.

I'm just in from shoveling the driveway -- again. Beth is drawing and listening to music, wearing a new outfit -- a pretty lavender sweater, new black pants even new socks. She wanted a western omelet for breakfast, so it was green peppers, onions, cheese and guacamole!

The run-up to Christmas was really fun. On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon wrapping presents and getting ready. Beth did a great job wrapping her presents for Patsy and Erin.

Then we met up with several friends at Aixois where Santa (a skinny Bill Russell) was holding court. We chatted with friends and then had dinner there. Beth was completely happy, being out, talking to so many people, including Santa, sitting at the bar and then having dinner too!



The next day was Xmas eve. We had a lunch scheduled with Vince and Mary Lynn and Andrea, at a nice restaurant out south. Beth had angel hair pasta with chicken, and even brought some home for lunch another day. It was nice to see everyone. Vince, who also works in a library, is always telling his colleagues about Beth. He met the director of the Columbus Public Library and told him about her, too!

In the evening, we went over to Patsy's for her Christmas party. All the kids were there. She had a lovely table with lasagne, a seafood casserole, salads, vegetables and a giant plate of cookies. Yes, Beth had a good time! There was just the tiniest bit of snow in the air.

Then, all too soon, it's Christmas day!

We woke up to about eight inches of snow. Heavy, deep and beautiful. It took more than an hour to shovel out the driveway and our street had not yet been plowed at all. It was lovely and quiet, very few cars out.

We made it over to Erin's house easily, picking up Patsy on the way. We had a yummy casserole breakfast and then the kids were ripping open presents! Lots of laughs and squeals of happiness all around. Beth got to open a bunch of presents from Patsy, Erin and Drew and the kids, and then we went home and opened more presents!

She had several from us, and the kitty got to play with all the ribbon and papers!



Before long, it was time to go again -- this time to help Patsy shovel out. Beth got out of this task and sat inside the warm house. When we got done, we went in and had some wonderful hot chocolate. Then off to Erin and Drew's again, this time for the dinner.

That was really fun, too. Turkey, dressing, cheesy potatoes, rolls, cranberry, salad and warm apple cake at the end. Yummy.

At home, we just snuggled in. Beth and I played a game of Scrabble before it was bedtime.

Picasa Web Albums - Nancy - 2009 Thanksgiving & Xmas w/Beth

Picasa Web Albums - Nancy - 2009 Thanksgiving & Xmas w/Beth

Running up to Christmas!

I can't believe it's been two weeks!

We've been so busy! I'll try to summarize quickly.

On Saturday, we went to watch Graham play basketball, his first game. On Sunday, it was family dinner at our house, always fun -- we had chicken, roast potatoes, Caesar salad and tiramisu for dessert.

Then the workweek and Nancy was very busy. Beth got the schedule every morning and stayed with Tom when Nancy had to go. Some days she went with Tom to the shop or running errands. One day when Nancy had to work late, they even went to Aixois for a glass of wine. They wound up singing Christmas carols at the bar (well, Beth did anyway).

On Thursday, Dec. 10 Beth went to TWO parties. First, with Tom over to Andrea's where there was a band, dancing and a buffet. I heard they had a good time, while I was working! Later, we all went to our neighborhood party and that was really nice!
Beth had a good time, and talked to a bunch of people. She was really happy.

She went to Curves almost every day. She's made loads of friends there, Lisa the manager is always giving her something. The ladies there all like her.

On two nights at home, we made Christmas cutouts. Beth did most of the work, the mixing and cutting and then the decorating.

On Sunday, it was family dinner at Brian and Pam's house.

Monday started another crazy week for Nancy -- lots of meetings and hard work. Beth was keeping track of so many meetings. We had dinner at home Monday and Tuesday -- Nancy loves to cook and Beth has gotten very good at setting the table.

On Wednesday, after a Nancy got off from a late meeting, we all went to O'Dowd's Irish Pub to have dinner and see Eddie Delahunt again. He sang the Nancy song and of course, the clapping-along songs that Beth likes so much. She had one Guinness and of course, it made her giggly. That is, more giggly than usual!

Thursday we made cookies again. And Friday, Beth and Tom went to ANOTHER party at Andrea's. This time, they had professional dancers and a band, and a buffet. It sounded like fun!

Saturday was really busy again! We went to Graham's basketball game early, and then back home for breakfast, then off to Lily's basketball game. We did some shopping and gift wrapping in the afternoon, and then off to a party AGAIN.

It was at Patsy's house, and it was an early Christmas celebration with Brian, Pam and Simon, who are leaving for Canada the next day. There were loads of presents for everybody -- Beth got a lovely Cherry Blossom set of shower gel, lotion, soaps and perfume. She gave Brian and Pam one of her pictures with a photo of Simon in it. It was a big hit!

We had a great barbecue dinner, and then a chocolate fudge brownie with cream cheese frosting and peppermint ice cream. Yummy!

Now it's Sunday night, and Beth keeps checking the calendar -- this week is going to be Christmas!

Ccccold! Brrrrrrrr....

Today's adventure came with the frost. It was about 30 degrees when I got up this morning, and freezing cold inside, too! It was about 60 in the house, which is darn chilly.

Well, I fiddled around with the thermostats and Tom bled one of the radiators, but it just wasn't getting any warmer, so we called for help. We had to wait until afternoon for the repairman, shivering all the time. Even Pan was cold.

Beth was OK, she was wearing a turtleneck and then a wool sweater of mine, so she was pretty cozy. And we jumped around whenever we started getting too cool.

It turns out that the igniter had gotten dirty and couldn't ignite the flame for the boiler. The repairman gave everything a good cleaning and now we are back among the heated.

Yay!

Update for the first week of December

Wow, this week has just zoomed by!

Beth has settled into a nice rhythm here. She wakes up about 6:30 a.m. and is downstairs by about 8 usually. She's quite cheerful and chatty in the morning.

I fix breakfast (we've had omlets, waffles, french toast, pancakes, cereal & toast, yogurt and always fruit) and coffee. Beth takes her pill and vitamins and then generally admires breakfast, chatting away, for the next hour or more. She takes a break only to warm up her coffee.

I'm usually busy working on the computer by now. I've temporarily moved my office to the kitchen so we can spend time together. She's playing music and drawing, sometimes pestering the cat, sometimes singing. She also has a chore while here -- it's her job to sweep the kitchen floor. She's getting really good at it.

Sometimes, I have to leave for meetings and Beth either stays here or goes with Tom, if he goes in. Every afternoon, she's going to Curves at about 3 p.m. She gets a good workout there, and she's already started making friends there.

Then we come back home and she changes clothes for dinner. We've been working on the leftovers -- turkey jambalaya, turkey chili, ham & cheese, etc. Last night, we took Pam and Simon out to dinner with us -- no turkey!

In the evening, Beth goes up for her shower after dinner. She's usually ready for bed by 8:30 or so. She's giggling and laughing, usually making fun of my hair sticking up or laughing at me somehow.

All's well! More soon.