Knock Knock!

The New Door

(which hasn't been painted yet)

The installation of our Christmas present on the coldest day of the year

My mom's present to herself...new windows and no more
cool breezes in the winter and hot air seeping thru in the summer!
The new door from the inside where the weirdos live

The new door was happier when they left to go see Avatar!

Sadly, I am at home nursing a migraine hangover. I was thinking about going and seeing Avatar showing in a different theatre not the Imax 3D running about 45 min behind the one everyone else was going to, but the migraine nixed that idea. 3D doesn't work for me - I see weird images overlayed and superimposed on each other. Not at all what YOU see!! Nothing jumps out at me or floats in the air. I keep shaking my head and squinting and closing one eye and then closing the other...to no avail. So this weirdo stayed home and looked at the new door.

Which also, did nothing in 3D...just so you know.

Christmas Installation

Today we are getting some Christmas presents installed. New windows for my mom - 4 along her living room wall and 2 in her bedroom. And a new front door for the house. I am excited for the new front door because the old one had cracks in it that you could actually see sunshine through. That can't be good. The new door will be basically the same only it's a 4 panel vs. the 6 panel Colonial. The constant in and out of the workers is letting alot of artic chilled air into the house but that offsets their ciggy smell so it's an even trade, and I have my heater cranking on me anyways. My feet are still frozen though.

Our new door will look funky for a week because my painter guy can't come out until the 4th. It'll all be pretty much the exact same color of super dark forest green because I love it. So almost the same door, almost the same color.... nicer door knob though! I'll take pictures!

I caught Chino trying to sneak into their truck so he is now sequestered with me. You'd think the sawing and smell and stuff would scare a cat away, but no.... Last week my neighbor had people working at her house and he did the same thing. I had to go collect him from the back of their equipment truck and lock him in the house. What a dufus. My mom's cat is hiding in my closet underneath Mike's new Dockers he got for Christmas. Typical, huh?! Not the old ones, not Chino's hiding spot I tried to put her in...but, she's been put in my closet before, so I guess she likes that spot and remembers it. Maybe Chino has some secret dibs on His Hiding Spot!

Christmas Photos

Christmas 2009

Dawn is breaking...

actually, the windows are on the east side of the house and

as you can see, dawn broke a few hours ago.

Mariah races everyone downstairs

She's so fast she's really just a blur

Gib sees chocolate and his new iPod and we

barely catch him on film as he takes off for his stocking

Everyone discovers the loot in their stocking

Mariah is happy with her new Flip video

I'm thinking Taryn can moonlight as a hand model for Apple

Does it get any better than this?!

Chino doesn't think so!

The traditional Christmas puzzle was started

But Mariah and Gib just wanted to open those presents!

"Let's get it started in here!"

The first gifts of Christmas went to Taryn and Indy

We heard it might start getting cold in Macon soon

Too bad the New Year's Eve dance is PJ theme!

Mike opening a classic gift for Dad

(yup...it was a tie! a pretty one too!)

Grammy got a gift certificate to her favorite store - Coldwater Creek

Indy just had to put the new ornament at the top of the tree

Chino just had to try out one of the new boxes

Yup - a perfect fit!

And they went back to their seats

Taryn's Big Present

One second it was wrapped and the next....

It's a bedroom/dorm room lounge chair!

Great for studying and laptop work from the comfort of your bed

Perfect for Taryn!

And now for Gib's big gift!

(oooh, and you can see the easy puzzle too!)

Another kid ripping into the paper faster than the eye can see

These two are so beyond that

And yet.... they play along too!

The presents have been unwrapped and the puzzle people return

Mariah lends a hand and a little extra sticking power if needed

For Kristin so she isn't left hanging!
The big box was this chair.

And that was the end of the camera battery for Christmas Day 2009!

Christmas Update

Another Christmas Update:

We've had a wonderful day so far! We did finally get to all those presents and had a great time unwrapping and watching each other discover what was under the tree this year. Our tradition is to have each person take a turn choosing 2 presents from under the tree for anyone other than themself and those 2 people open their gifts. Then the next person goes, and so on. It's fun to watch each other open presents especially when the number of gifts are limited. Otherwise, Christmas would be over in a few minutes of paper flying chaos. Chino continued to make himself at home in many places as you'll see from the photos when we upload them! It was his year to give the gift of his presence!

We just got done eating the scrumptious Alaskan King Crab (except poor Mariah who hates shellfish - she got chicken soup instead. awwww!). It was so easy to crack open after the stone crab fiasco and soooo delicious! Gib's face was priceless when he cracked open his first leg and had a 5" hunk of pure crab in his hand to show for it. Yum - I love it when that happens! We are so stuffed! Good thing I didn't make any desserts.

Mike and Taryn have been steadily working on the Christmas puzzle. We've got two puzzles this year - the hard one Mike chose AND one my mom and I saw that we thought we MIGHT get a chance at putting a few pieces in (because it will be sooo easy) before Mike and Taryn finish it! They are both 1000 pieces. It will be funny to see the time difference in getting them done. If I don't pocket a few pieces when they're not looking I won't get to contribute at all. Mike and Taryn are making fast progress on the harder one. They are uncanny puzzle do-ers.

Now the Titans game is about to begin and in a little while we will play another round of Killer Bunnies. And finish a puzzle.

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

We Can't Unwrap Presents!

Christmas morning began as usual... we found our stockings filled and Santa delivered exactly what the kids had wished for! A flip video camera for Mariah, new iPods for Gib and Taryn, and a Mall gift certificate for Indie! Mike served us breakfast and we turned our heads to the pile of gifts and found... CHINO!! We are waiting for him to finish his nap before we get to the good stuff. Somewhere in there is Pixie too - she's a little more hidden. Mischievous elves live here - there are 3 bean bags of catnip in the present pile instead of in the kitty stockings this year! While we are waiting for Chino to come out of his stupor and remove his furry self from the front of the present pile, everyone decided to get beautiful since apparently Mariah will now be filming everything. Hmmm, that probably is a good idea. Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

Just in case anyone's Christmas Eve wish was to read an update on the blog..... LOL

Thanksgiving dinner didn't quite cut it for me so we are revisiting the menu in a 2 part deal tonight and tomorrow! Christmas Eve dinner is ribeye steak. The BBQ is messed up so I don't know if we'll get them seared to perfection...bummer, but the weather is cooperating so maybe I can talk Mike into standing around outside and cooking them on the infrared element that is working. For Christmas dinner we are having Alaskan King Crab courtesy of our year end Costco rebate. I expect no whining about the difficulty level of lobster and stone crab claws, as everyone is accomplished with Alaskan Crab. Geez, Thanksgiving was a disaster. I ended up in the kitchen with a meat tenderizer whacking the heck out of the stone crab claws. It was rather scary how deadly I am with that thing. Hint: Alot of aggression can be taken care of with that thing though in case you ever need to release some!

Well, the call to spend some quality family time has been issued... We are looking forward to spending a great afternoon together, going to church with Grammy for the Christmas Eve service, then the wonderful dinner and some fun with Killer Bunnies and presents. We love you all and hope your Christmas is all you hope for!

Where in the world has Ringo been?

Well it looks like we have some catching up to do!

Thanksgiving was great. We had Indy home for a few days and Chrissie's Grandpa Gird came out for a week as well. We had another year of Surf n Turf for our TG meal instead of the traditional turkey.

Gib and I wrapped up the the wreath sale for the boy scouts on the Wednesday before TG. The boys sold 720 of the 850 we ordered. It was a good year, the rest are sold with the Christmas Trees. The Annual Troop 137 christmas tree sale began on the Friday after TG. Gib and I were on the morning radio that Friday morning promoting the tree sales. We were scheduled to work the tree lots from 9-3 on both Friday and Saturday, but Chrissie had to step in for me from 9-12 on Friday because I got called into work. I spent a significant amount time dealing with work on my scheduled time off that week!

The Monday after TG we turned our attention to the special board meeting that was being held to rezone the high school that Gib attends. The proposed change would send Gib and Mariah to a different high school. I was convinced that the deal was already done even though the official vote wasn't until this board meeting. Based on passed experience with the Williamson County School Board, these type of things are done often, and without too much concern for the disruption to the kids.

However, the sheer numbers of parents and children showing coordinated opposition to the proposal this time, I think, took the board members by surprise. The proposal was officially tabled until next year, to allow for a more thorough analysis of the growth issues county wide rather that just a school at a time. This works well for us, because Gib will be a sophmore when the rezoning is done and he will be grandfathered, as the rules currently allow, into his current high school regardless of the zone changes. Also, because Mariah will attend her first year of HS with Gib as a senior, she will be allowed to complete HS at our current HS as well.

Chrissie has been up to her eyeballs in preschool work. She teaches on Wednesdays and TA's the other two days. The teaching part has added a significant amount of prep time for her that she has to do on her own. That and keeping the house running smoothly has been hectic. Needless to say, this has impacted the attention to the blog that she usually keeps up with. She would say that it is my blog so I should be more involved any way - it does say Ringo's World! She is currently investigating the possibility of opening a small business sometime in the near to far future. We are taking a six week seminar on Tuesday nights on how to start a business. It is really an informal discussion with all the participants and moderated by a gentlemen that has his own business.

My birthday has come and gone and was just the way I like it, low key and with the family. We went to see the movie "The Blind Side". Now its down to picking up those last few items to finish off the Christmas lists.

Indy has her last final tomorrow, and Chrissie will be heading down to get her and bring her home. She has a three week break between semesters. It will be fun to have her back home. That reminds me, we were all sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start on my birthday and I just had to text Indy to let her know that I missed having her there with us all. She has done very well this semester and I am proud of her ability to manage the stress and difficulties that are part of ones freshman year. Next semester will not be any easier. She will have an additional class and research work to do for the project she agreed to be part of. She will do just fine tho. She knows what it takes and is ready to tackle it head on.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving...