Since it's been more than a month since Kirstie set this up, thank you to the sweetest daughter ever, I thought I'd try to do a post and see how this works. It's been a long month without Kirstie's family here (especially my grandkids) but the new puppies have kept me very busy and it helps.
I thought I'd start with a little excitement and post about our December. Kirstie's family had moved in the end of October to save money for school. We had our good friend Ashley come visit for Thanksgiving and go through the temple. It was such a marvelous experience. She left for home December 1st and was stuck at the airport all day because of weather. I should have known that was the beginning of an exciting month.
As some of you know, Bob hosts a dinner for his clients every December. Bob and I do all the shopping for the food and I do most of the cooking for the dinner. It usually takes a good 2 weeks to get everything ready and usually do a 2 day set up but we only had the hall for one day this year and so had to fit it in all on a Monday. This was scheduled for Dec 15th so no problem, right? Well Bob decides to volunteer me to help with the ward party (they are doing a full turkey/ham dinner but have no clue how to put one on and since I have done it for Bob's clients for 10 yrs, Bob thinks that would be no problem for me to help them too) This is scheduled for Dec 12th. To make things run more smoothly I volunteer to make the potatoes, stuffing and gravy like I do for the office party if they would bring me the ingredients the day before.
While all of this is going on we have the usual Christmas stuff, getting a tree, decorations, etc. Monday the 8th, I find my washer leaking in the laundry room and it takes a couple days for the repairman out and of course no washer for a few days with 10 people....He does his fixing but there is still water in the laundry room only this time it's coming from the ceiling/wall! I run upstairs and the hose from the wall to the toilet is spraying everywhere and it's soaked the upstairs bathroom floor and wall and the laundry room downstairs and closet. This is the day before the ward party. Now I have all kinds of repair people and the insurance agent, machines to dry and now the toilet's ripped out and we are down to 2 bathrooms, 1 really because our shower is in our open room.
Friday the day of the ward party I'm waiting for food to show up while they are drying out and ripping out and of course although they were told to bring the food the night before...I'm waiting.
I do finally get the food made but get to the church an hour after I wanted to be there to do the set up for serving. Luckily one of the guys has done catering before and knew how to set up the warming pans. We planned for 200 and that's about what showed up I think. The party seems to go well and I think everyone got enough food and they liked it too!
Bob and I still have food to buy for his party and of course with not being about to shop on Sunday we are scrambling for last minute stuff all day Saturday. (Did I tell you I was fighting a head cold the whole time?) lol Monday shows up bright and rainy. The worst rain we've had all year actually. We don't know what will happen but I start cooking for the 150 we are usually get.
In the mean time, my right hand person Kirstie's babysitter fell through and she's scrambling to find a replacement which I have no idea, just wondering where wonder girl is. She is finally able to come and help. We actually have about 8-10 people to help serve the food and clean up. Kirstie and Becky (Bob's office girl friday) usually do the set up and decorating. I don't know if we can do the party without Kirstie this year.
We have a huge crowd. Around 150 plus the help. Chelsea and a few friends sing Christmas Carols and it's a big hit. Now it's back home to dealing with the flood and oh yeah...did I tell you our dog is expecting puppies any day?
It's the week before Christmas and things are still drying out and being ripped out. Plastic sheeting covers the entrance to our one available bathroom. The kids are freaked at first but then it becomes an adventure. Guess what? No laundry for at least a week and they are sitting in my dining room along with most of everything else from our closet and laundry room. :)
Kirstie and Bill head out to Idaho to close the deal on their rental and put some applications in for work. They will be back on Thursday and in the meantime I get to watch the grandkids with help from the David, Chelsea and Colin. Tuesday night our dog Bella starts acting crazy and burrows under David's box springs, behind the sofa and anywhere else she can hide. Yes she is having puppies Dec 16th. I have a box ready for her in my room that I've been trying to prepare her to have the puppies in...fat chance! But she is in our room and she starts having the puppies at about 10:00. She has no idea what going on and starts running around the room. I have Bob get David to help me and he holds the first boy (blenheim named Blitz) by the heater while I try to calm Bella down. The next puppy (female ruby-Gemma) comes soon and she does a little better but is still running around the room. Puppy #3 (female-black& tan- Special Agent Jack Bauer aka Jackie) is born next to the box after midnight and #4 (female blenheim- Tevi) soon after. What an amazing experience and even though Bella was having a hard time at first she really did a great job. It is so wonderful to watch the miracle of birth.
I don't know if anyone has had the experience of helping a new mom with puppies but it is exciting and exhausting. It was so cold and Bella was so new at this and one of the puppies wastn't feeding very well. I didn't sleep for most of the next two days but it was such a miracle to watch them.
Fast forward to Monday. We (Kirstie, grandkids and I) are trying to make candy for our annual take goodies to our neighbors etc. I'm working on English Toffee and one of the worker's asks me a question and I leave the kitchen for just a few seconds. I come back and it's past the crack stage I need it to be so rush and try to empty the pot into the cookie dish. Of course the candy thermometer falls out and I grab it to get it out of the way off pouring toffee. That end has been in 300 degree plus candy of course. I don't know if I've ever had anything hurt so badly in my life. In fact after an hour or so I have Kirstie take me to the urgent care for some stronger pain meds! OUCH! We are laughing even though it is painful. My thumb and index finger are totally blistered. I have these huge bandages on both. Kirstie wants pictures but while wrapping presents for Bob's office party the next morning they fall off somewhere and I put regular bandaids on. Have you tried wrapping presents with 1 and a half hands??? I never knew how much use you could get out of your ring and pinky fingers!
Did I tell you my niece came to visit for Christmas week? Brianne is 18 and her parents planned a cruise when she had other plans so she got to stay here for a week during construction, puppies and general chaos. Christmas was the usual chaos but wrapping took much longer than usual! We had a great day and they were able to at least move the washer/dryer back to the laundry room between tearing out and putting back together. The bathroom was usable the Saturday after Christmas.
Now we are in a mad dash to get Kirstie's family packed and ready to move on New Year's. After the truck was packed and on it's way, Kirstie had her bedroom here and the kids clothes to pack in her van. I'm the expert packer so looking at the 10 or so boxes bags and miscellanous other items even I am worried I can make it work. Then I opened the back of the van and guess what? There is already a dresser, TV and filing cabinet in the back! All I know is the Lord helped because EVERYTHING fit! It's the strangest tender mercies that mean so much. I told Kirstie the Lord really wanted her to go to Idaho because there was no way to make it work without His help!
So, January 2nd Kirstie, Bill, Rachel, Jared and Ellie are on their way to Idaho. The laundry room is torn up, the puppies are time consuming, life is busy but there is a great big hole in our lives. We miss them so much but know it is for the best.
Those are the highlights of our December. I hope you enjoy them!
