Merry Christmas!

Ed says, "Hope everyone had a very, Merry Christmas and was on Santa's nice list like I was this year."

Phantom says,"Just give me another slice of that honey baked ham and throw in some bacon and a sugar cookie.  I'll try harder to stay off the naughty list next year.  I promise!"

And Cadence....

Well, we haven't seen him most of the day since my brother got here bringing along his little purse dog/rodent who he calls Sassy.  He's a little attached to this particular canine, but my cats don't care for her that much.

Here's a picture of Cadence in his favorite spot during calmer times on Christmas Eve.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without pulling out the only ugly Christmas sweater I still have leftover from the mid-nineties when the Boy was small and I purchased such things.

Ugly or not, I would like it better if it had cats on it instead of dogs, but we had a dog back in those days.  A very super-hyper dalmatian named Spot.

More pictures of our Christmas day with family below.  I forgot to take pictures of not only the food, but also my mom.  I'm going to assign someone else to be in charge of the camera next year.  I don't do a very good job.

Look who got a new Coach bag for Christmas. My niece.  Lucky girl!

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Ed's beat!

This mess is still waiting for me in the kitchen.

Wish I could train Phantom to clean the kitchen and wash dishes.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  We are having a line of strong storms coming through Alabama right now.  I heard that a tornado touched down in downtown Mobile.  I am so glad the Boy is home and not down there right now.

Stay safe everyone!

Back To Normal After The Wedding

The house is back to normal with just the Murph, me and the cats.  We drove the Boy back to school yesterday and dropped him off.  It was eight hours round trip, but not too bad.  He seemed ready to get back to school.  It really has worked out great this semester as far as getting his meds refilled.  Since he's been in school, we have seen him about once a month in time to refill meds for the next month.  Now he's good until he comes home during Thanksgiving.

The Murph dropped his dad off at the airport Tuesday to fly back to Philadelphia and then drive on to New Jersey.  I know he was ready to get back to his usual routine.  He had to get dialysis twice while he was down here and not too thrilled about the new unfamiliar place he had to go to.   I don't blame him.  We were just so happy he and his companion made the trip to attend our wedding.

The Murph's brother and family drove the 15 hours here from New Jersey.  They left bright and early Monday morning setting the security alarm off in the process.  I was really kind of surprised that that was the only time the alarm was set off with the number of people in the house.  Most mornings the Murph and I were the last ones to go to bed and activate it and the first to wake up and disarm it in the morning.  Murph's brother (the other Murph) was one minute ahead of us Monday morning and set it off before we got up.

It was one of those times when just a few minutes before the alarm, we could hear footsteps walking around upstairs, they were getting ready to leave.  The Murph and I usually sleep sans clothing, but I stayed in my pj's the night before since we had a houseful of people and we were in the office on an air mattress with the door open.  The Murph realized I had pj's on and had just asked me why I had my clothes on.  I had just explained to him that I didn't think that under the circumstances that it would be a good idea to sleep nude.  

The Murph, of course, was nude and didn't care, when all at once the alarm starts blasting.  The Murph can't get up without running streaking naked through the house, so he tells me to RUN, go turn it off and HURRY!  Before it woke up up the entire neighborhood.  Murph's brother (the other Murph) was already heading toward us saying maybe we should have come up with a plan the night before.

Good thing I had my clothes on!  I turned the alarm off as The Murph struggled into his pants, just in time to answer the phone from our security company.

The Murph's dad and companion didn't budge.   They didn't hear anything.  

On the way down to Birmingham, Murph's brother (the other Murph) ran over a skunk, so the entire time they were here, their automobile smelled like skunk.   I didn't get near the car to notice, but The Murph did a few times.  I hope they were able to avoid skunks on the way back north.  I don't usually see very many of skunks down here.  Mostly just deer and raccoon with an occasional armadillo.  They a least make for cleaner smelling road kill.  Temporarily, at least.

The house is too quiet now!

Happy Mother's Day To My Mom

Mom holding me and that's my dad's arm

This is me and my mom when I was a baby.  I am very lucky to have her close by.  I don't know what I would have done without her when The Boy was younger.  She helped out a lot when I had to work and he was out of school for holidays or summer vacation.  I don't know what I would have done without her help.

My mom and me

Here's my mom when she was a baby.  She had a wonderful mom too - my grandmother who passed away about 9 years ago when The Boy was 10 years old.

My mom

My mom with her mom - my grandmother

And below is four generations of my family with me, my mom, my grandfather and my great-grandmother.

I'm not so sure about my great grandmother's mothering skills.  Out of four children, my grandfather was the only one to make it through childhood alive.  And she named him Harley, after the motorcycle.

A name he didn't like too much or keep as an adult.

Four generations.
My great grandmother, my mom holding me and my grandfather

I feel very blessed to have such a good mom.  I haven't been very good at calling or stopping by to see her on Mother's Day through the years, but that has changed as I have gotten older.  I appreciate her more and more.

The Murph lost his mom several years ago to diabetes.  For many years before that he didn't get to see her much because she lived in New Jersey and he had moved south.  He tells me all the time that he listens to her now more than he ever did when she was alive.

Her years of motherly advice and wisdom that he shrugged off when she was alive now is a very real part of him.  I don't think a day goes by when he doesn't say mom would have said this or mom would have done that.

It gives me hope that maybe The Boy is hearing what I say and storing it away somewhere to remember when I'm not there and he needs it.

Things he needs to remember such as - "Brush your teeth", "Wash your clothes" and "Always wear clean underwear!".

My mom is full of advice for me as all mom's are I guess.  I should probably listen to her more.   She has very good advice.  Anyway, even if I don't listen to her all the time, I still love her very much.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

2011 In Photos

 What a year!   Getting engaged to the Murph, moving into the Murph's house, getting my house on the market, visiting my bff since third grade in Charleston, S.C., then Atlanta and shopping, then the New York/New Jersey trip to visit family, my birthday, back to New Jersey, the Boy graduating from high school, the graduation pool party, the Hawaii trip and competing in Hawaii 70.3 (AWESOME!), house party, moving the Boy to college, spending the Fall living at the beach, Tampa/Clearwater trip, Clearwater Jazz Festival, visiting T and V in Sarasota, 2 sprint triathlons and Pensacola marathon, Thanksgiving back home and getting the house all decorated for Christmas, the Christmas parties and Christmas with the family.  Not to mention getting my house sold this month.  2011 has been the best year ever and I have been very blessed!  Looking forward to 2012.  Happy New Year Everyone!

Christmas With The Family and Phantom "Out of His Frame"

Christmas was fun and now I can recover.   I enjoyed spending time with the family and the food turned out pretty good especially for a beginner.   I am slowly coming out of my sugar induced coma from all the pies and cookies I've been eating.  I feel like I have gained 10 pounds, but I don't know for sure because I am avoiding the scales until I get in a long run.  My mom, brother, sister in law, nephew and niece came over and the Murph and the Boy were here, as well as all the Jazz cats.

The Jazz cats immediately ran and hid in their favorite hiding spots as soon as everybody got here.  Cadence downstairs in the boys closet, Ed and Boo upstairs under the couch in their "room".   Phantom has been hanging out and sleeping in my closet.  That's where my brother found him.  My brother wouldn't bring his little dog, a Chihuahua that resembles a squirrel, over here because I am sure he is afraid Phantom will eat her.  I found my brother and his entire family standing at my closet door looking down at my very large black and white, naughty cat.  They couldn't believe how big Phantom is.  My sister in law asked me if that was his regular size or if he was fat.  I said he's just really big boned and very muscular and sturdy.  My brother pipes in that Phantom might be big and muscular, but he's way fat too and definitely "out of his frame".   He also says I 'm killing Phantom by feeding him too much.   Poor Phantom!  He's been on diets before, but never lost any weight.  He needs to be put on a treadmill for an hour everyday.  That's his only hope.  Personally, I still don't think he's that fat.  He's just big and maybe just a little, teeny, tiny bit "out of his frame".

The Boy even behaved and hung out with everybody instead of hiding behind his computer monitor.  It looks like command central down in his "apartment".  His dad gave him a server for Christmas/Hanukkah and I gave him a security appliance for Christmas (whatever that is) and he's been busy streaming media and setting up firewalls and god knows what else down in his area.  He has about 3 or 4 computers ( or pieces of)  and old refurbished laptops he has doing different things down there.  He's barely been back two weeks and already I'm having to dodge around dirty clothes piles and wade through trash, empty water bottles and food wrapper just to get to this command central he has set up.  It's all way over my head anyway, and I don't mean just the trash and dirty clothes.

Overall, it has been a very, very good Christmas.  I am so looking forward to the new year.  Hope it will be as blessed as this past year has been.

Boo loves his christmas toys!

Phantom's been naughty so he got coal....

Jazz cats getting along

A stocking standoff between Boo and Phantom

Our favorite tree 

Ed on his favorite chair playing with his christmas toy

Dining room decorated

The too tall Christmas tree

Phantom "out of his frame"