Happy New Year!

Yes, I know this is the second day of 2007. I'm surprised I got started on this post this soon. This place has been crazy. Twelve days of Christmas? Hah, we do 30 days of Christmas. We had Christmas the Saturday after Thanksgiving so Laura could give Keith his presents. Then we had Christmas the next weekend so we could give Laura and the kids their presents. Then we had Christmas on Christmas with Jill, Jeff and Maddox and Keith (he came back into town for Christmas) and then on last Sunday my mom had Christmas at her house (which we didn't go to because, let's face it, when my sister and I get together we put the DIS in disfunctional.) Anyway, since we weren't going to my mom's we had Abby and D'Art bring Natasha and Ethan over and if I can ever get my son to answer his phone we'll figure out a time to get the presents over to those kids. So a few pictures to let you know what Christmas was like.

Ryan thanking his Nana for his present (and Nana hiding that cheesy, fake grin he does for all pictures.)










Ethan on the communal Big Wheel.














Kathy and Natasha reading "The Giving Tree", one of Natasha's presents (yes I still tear up when I hear it).


















Maddox perfecting his slam dunk (you know, OSU has a much better basketball team than OU).










Well, that is just a little of Christmas. It took even longer than it took Blogger to download the photos.

Other stuff that Kathy and I have been doing. We went to Target the other day and Kathy couldn't figure out why everybody had cart loads of Christmas stuff and then the Starbucks lady told me that everything was 75% off, so we ended up with a cartload of Christmas stuff. Next year I'll have pictures of the matching 6 1/2 foot trees we got for the porch for 10 bucks each, with match ing tree skirts. And several miles of garland. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Speaking of thinking. Have you noticed how bizarre home ownership is? Kathy and I have a "vintage" home. According to Susan, that's a nice way to say old. Anyway, we have a dehumidifier in our cellar (yes, we have a cellar. And cellars in Oklahoma are always damp, so everybody gets dehumidifiers so they don't get mold and mildew on everything they put in the cellar. It would be easier not to use the cellar but then we only have four cubit feet of closet space in the whole house. Apparently, people in 1908 didn't have any clothes.) Ok, so we have a dehumidifier in our cellar. But because it is winter and we are running the heat we have to have a humidifier in our bedroom so our sinuses don't dry out and start to bleed. Why isn't there a way to bring all that humidity up from the cellar to the second floor? Anyway, besides the humidity problems, we need to renovate out shower. We have a corner set-in shower in the second upstairs bathroom and it is starting to leak. So now we need to get a new one. And since the people that owned our house before us renovated with the set-in it is easier to just replace it rather than building a new one (and with me and plumbing, easier is definitely important). But they don't make them that size anymore (which is a good thing because we don't really fit in the bloody thing anyway), so we have to get one that is about three inches bigger on each side. And I want to get the one that comes out a little bit and is rounded so I feel like I have at least a little elbow room and am not knocking the door open every time I bend down to wash my feet. Oh, well, we'll do what we do. If there is anybody out there with loads of plumbing and building experience that wants to come over and help me install the stupid thing for free I'll supply pizza and beer (well, a couple of slices and a six-pack).

Hope everyone is having a wonderful New Year and that it just gets better and better,

God bless, Wayne