A new favorite saying.

It's proven to be a stressful week already. My friends, Heather and Holly, lost their grandpa Monday. It is hard to see their hearts hurt, but is amazing to see the love that these two sisters and their brother have for each other. They are truly blessed to have such a family. 

We lost more business at work again this week. Big business. It's starting to get scary, I mean really, really scary. I'm a worrier by nature, and this is not helping. Tomorrow we have a team meeting with the President of our company. That can't be good. I would be willing to take a day or two unpaid if it meant saving my job. Seriously.

I needed a little smile and found this....thought we could all use a smile these days (can someone tell the media to add a little positive news in to their reports, geez.). 

Twilight Series -- Check.

I don't consider myself a reader. I probably haven't read a book from cover to cover since high school and even then I'm sure I skipped a page or chapter or two. I mean really, what do you think they make cliff notes for?!? Anyway, with a little (by little I mean A LOT) of encouragement from my friend, Heather, and with a little coaxing from Terry's Aunt Nancy I finally gave in....and by little coaxing from Nancy, I mean she handed me a book when we were visiting one weekend and said, "start reading." Anyway, it took until about half way through the the book and then I was hooked! Thanks to Heather's niece-in-law (is that a word?) for letting me borrow each of her books and bringing them to DeMo as soon as she could....I finished the last book tonight at 11:45 p.m. and of course now, I can't sleep. The books are well written (this from a person who doesn't read), but they kept my attention (miracle). I will undoubtedly marry Edwar...I mean buy the movie(s) when they come out on DVD and I think everyone should read the books of course (but don't wear the t-shirts if you are out of high school, it's just not right...even if you are a V.I.L.F......**clearing of throat** uh-um, Heather.)

Grandma Pete

I am wishing we had more pictures like these, because of this and because of this and this. I am wishing I had more pictures of my grandparents, more pictures of me with my grandmothers, more pictures of Damon with Grandma Stahl, more pictures of Damon with his grandparents. I just simply didn't take enough pictures back then and I regret it. Today we visited Grandma Pete and took her out to lunch. It's the first time she's been out of the house since she went to the hospital. It was a nice day and she very much enjoyed it. She said it felt like being freed from prison...which is funny since I'm pretty sure Grandma has no idea what that's like! She walks with a walker now and her knee gives her "fits" and sometimes she has to talk to it to make it go where she wants it to. It's fun to listen to her stories and for her to remember when Damon was little and they used to play cards a lot. She remembers everything, her body may be slowing down, but her mind is sharp. It was a good day.

Belated Christmas....

Terry and Damon each got a stocking cap for Christmas from my parents. They think it is hilarious that Damon is a Hawk fan and Terry a Cyclone. And yes, that is Damon throwing up a winner sign for him and a loser sign for his dad. 

Every Christmas since (Damon was old enough to take part) my dad has put together a scavenger hunt. One year it was the title to our car (clearly that was a long time ago), my parents had made the last 4 payments; for Damon, a small flat TV that he could use for his PS3; a the keyless remote for our car; as well as many others. Damon looks forward to it each year and I'm pretty sure my dad does too! I just wouldn't be Christmas with out it! It's a lot of fun and it's clear we MUST complete our assignment as a family (including the dog). It's the best tradition we've started and we love it, so I just have to share....sorry there are a lot of clues! But aren't you just a wee bit curious as to what we got this year?!?!

1. 'Tis the 25th of December,

And what can we say...

How 'bout a game of "hide-and-go-seek,"

Do you want to play?

The first clue is EASY

We think that you'll find.

If the day is real bright,

You may not go blind.

(The clue was by our sunglasses that we always put on the desk in the kitchen.)

2. Hey there you found it,

How easy was that?

Now look outside, 

Did you see that cat?

(There has been this cat by my parents' deck door...needless to say they aren't big fans.)

3. Not bad for some rookies,

of that we must say.

You're play in the game,

the "Netminder" way.

(My dad has an awesome framed picture of a goalie in his office, it was tucked behind it.)

4. Boy, you guys are good,

So far you've found three.

The next one is harder...

Way up in a tree.

(My mom has this fake tree/plant in the corner of the living room.)

5. Did I say it was harder,

What was I thinkin'?

It must have been something

I was eatin' or drinkin' (in '72)

(This was in the fridge.)

You're half way through the clues....

6. Hey there, what's that wonderful smell?

It is goat skin, calf skin or maybe a cow.

What ever it is,

It makes me go WOW!

(I honestly can't remember where this one was....)

7. If it's music you're playin'

A "stratocoster" it must be.

For without it you know,

A rockstar you won't be.

(Dad had pointed out something to Damon earlier in the night to set him up for this one, so he knew exactly where to go!)

8. Now just look at that grandma,

Do you like her new do...?

I'll bet if you ask her,

She'll give you a clue.

(Obviously my mom had our next clue)

9. Go ask the grandpa,

I think that you'll find...

He's much more than willing

To share what's on his mind.

(On to my dad....)

10. Okay now there Peterson's,

Just how hard can it be?

The last one is waitin'

Under "the" tree.

(We all run to the Christmas tree)

And to that we found........cash-o-la! We haven't decided as a family what we want to spend it on. I would love a new bedroom set, but doesn't really seem fair to Damon. Vacation sounds nice too, but probably isn't the practical side that my parents intended. I guess that means the rest of our Christmas story is "to be continued......"

Rockstar Party

I'm not under 10, but wouldn't it be fun to have a Rockstar Party?? Check out this post dated January 06, 2009. So cute! 

NYE 2008

We decided to stay home for NYE. We've had a lot of house guests lately and have been traveling quite a bit for the holidays, it was just time to spend a low key night at home. Damon invited a friend over and Terry cooked crab legs for everyone.....and by crab leg, I mean CRAB LEG. These things were HUGE! The boys devoured them! Happy New Year!

On another note, I finally saw TWILIGHT! It was amazing and did not disappoint, I can't wait for the rest of the movies (and to finally read the 4th book)! Heather and I finally got our schedules to match and met at the theatre....it was PACKED and we both had to park in the last row....this seemed a little weird because it was a Tuesday night and it was COLD. What the !?@#$ is going on!?! Certainly the rush of love-struck, vampire-wanna-be teens was well over??? I ask the lady in front of me and she responds, "It's BYOB night." My new favorite theatre...Bring Your Own BEER night?!? No such luck....Bring Your Own BUCKET night. Fifty cent popcorn in whatever size bucket you bring (for the record, so not worth the lines and the chaos). However, it was well worth the humor. Heather passed a lady, gasp (loudly) and said, "I'm pretty sure that's a feed bucket and Guthrey's dad uses them on the farm. Seriously, did you see that feed bucket?" Classic. 

I'm baaaaack!

Hmmm, where do I start?!?

Terry's mom : Surgery went great, the cancer has not spread to her lymph nodes and she'll find out early January if she has to have chemo. All great news considering the circumstances! Thanks for all your prayers!

One Christmas down, one to go. We opened our family presents the Eve of Christmas Eve. I got home from work one day with a few boxes marked on the outside with instructions (see photo). Terry did a great job taking hints this year and picking out gifts...my favorite was probably a silver ring, I love it. As for Damon, you could see Damon calculate in his head all the presents that were on his list that he hadn't gotten yet. He wasn't complaining, but I could see it in his face...there were some others that he REALLY wanted. I reminded him later that he still had 3 more Christmases to go to! His favorite presents from us were his Iowa sweatshirt and a bluetooth headset for his PS3. We were with Terry's mom's side of the family Christmas Eve and had a blast at his cousin's house. Great food, cold beer, lots of fun. Terry got the "iMAgiNiff" game that night and everyone had a great time playing it. It's pretty hilarious. Terry's sister's son, Kaden, is obsessed with super heros. He got a Batman costume on Christmas Eve and didn't take it off...he still had it on the next day! How cute to be that excited about a Christmas present and not care what anyone thinks about how you look!

Christmas Day was at Terry's mom's...yep, she just got home and had a house full, but I don't think she would have it any other way.

We missed Christmas Saturday with Terry's dad....the weather was horrible Saturday morning and it probably worked out fine because I felt horrible too.