One More Thing.

2013 blog address:  www.sarahpictureaday2012.blogspot.com

Come on along for the ride!

December 31, 2012 Bedtime: 10:30

I had big plans to entertain this New Year's Eve; have friends over to meet an old pal from my Ottawa University days, drink, eat and bring in the new year in style.  As the day drew closer though, I became less and less enamoured with having to play nice for one more evening. 

Curt from Colorado drove to town on December 30 from his lovely mountain home in the Rockies outside of Denver.  He and Douggage were students at OU and we became close when I worked there during the mid-80s.  Curt from Colorado and Douggage loved Luke and helped him through those though pre-school and Kindergarten years.

Facebook helped us all reconnect and the guys have offered to put in a new hard wood floor for me next summer.  Curt from Colorado came to check out the current floor, help me pick a new floor, drink my vodka (that's not true, he brought a HUGE bottle from Colorado.  Organic vodka.  Who knew?), and catch up.

We toured Ward Hall at Kansas State where Luke works - saw the Clean Room and had a peak at the nuclear reactor.  Very heady stuff.

It snowed, too.  I have pictures of the winter landscape behind my house.  But it is likely you will never see it.  (I'll keep working to figure out what's wrong, but probably it's me.  Okay, okay, I KNOW it's me and I just keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.  Yep.  That's the definition of insanity.  Welcome to my world.)

I have another great bathroom photo for the blog.  But, you know....can't post it. 

Instead of telling you, I am going to save it until I can post it.  It's that good.  Seriously.  That good.

Thanks for hanging around another year.  Without fanfare, I am going to trudge ahead into 2013 and blog my way through it.  Hopefully, there will be some photos to go along with the whole "photo of the day" theme.  If not, then I'll just change the title!

Hope your new year is filled with surprises.  Life is best lived that way.  Don't you agree?

December 25, 2013 Addendum

For Curtismas I got a new camera.

It's wonderful.

My old one was worn out and wouldn't take pictures with any degree of reliability.

Unless I can figure out what I'm doing wrong as far as posting photos here, you all may never see what my new camera can do.  You'll just have to trust me.

And I know you love to trust me.

December 25, 2012 Happy Curtismas!

Still can't upload any pictures to this blog.  I think those in charge at blogger.com decided that I was posting too many crazy photos and pulled the plug.  Funny, though, you'd think they would have prevented me from posting all my written nonsense as well.

Today was Curtismas.  It's Curtis' birthday and over the years I've become weary of him having to share it with the guy who gets all the attention.  I've changed the name of the holiday and am hoping it catches on.  So far I've had very little luck with that, but there is always next year.

Brother is in town, as you know, and Momma's under the weather, that means I am doing all the cooking for the family for the holidays.

For your consideration:

Baking: oatmeal/raisin cookies, decorated sugar cookies, fudge, pretzel Rolo treats, Chex mix, almond bark pretzels, toffee, and peanut blossom cookies;

Saturday:  pulled pork sandwiches, apple fluff salad, chips

Sunday: homemade chicken and noodles and Baby brought the potatoes (can't have chicken and noodles without the potatoes)

Monday:  In memory of my wonderful step mother, I made her spaghetti sauce along with meatballs and ribs.  And spaghetti, salad and bread. 

Today - Curtismas:  turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, Brookville corn, stuffing, rolls, pecan pie, pumpkin pie were all toted from my house to Momma's.  My 2 Crockpots, Momma's Crockpot and my big roaster oven were all in use!  Baby brought the ham which completed the feast.

Funny story about the pumpkin pie.  I hate pumpkin pie.  That's the truth but that's not what's funny. 

I baked both pies on Curtismas Eve and was well on my way to being too pooped to pop.  I had never made a pumpkin pie before so I followed the recipe on the can and got down to business.

When it came out of the oven it looked like a pumpkin pie should look.  So, success!  Right?

Wrong.

Curtis told me later that it was awful.

I forgot to put in the sugar.

Oops.

Everyone in the family knew the pie was inedible, but no one wanted to tell me.  

Lesson learned:  always remember to add the sugar.  In life and in pies.

December 23, 2012 How Cold Was It?

I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to download a photo onto this stupid page.  Damn it.  Either something is wrong with the website or there is a measure of operator error.

My vote is "operator error".  What do you think?

So, I decided to go ahead and write the entry and add the photos later. 

Way back in the summer, I bought Luke 2 tickets to two Kansas City Chiefs games for his birthday.  He has a buddy who always goes to the games with him and they have brilliant day cheering on the Chiefs.  As you may know, the Chiefs needed a great deal of cheering on this season what with being the worst team in the NFL and all.

The first game was probably the hottest of the year but Luke and his pal soldiered through it.

The second game was on the coldest day known to man.  I know this because Luke's friend called last night and told Luke that he had a sinus infection and was not going to be able to go.  Trying to find a replacement was tough for two reasons:  the Chiefs are the worst team in the universe and it's 2 days before Christmas.

Luke asked me to go with him - or maybe I volunteered, I am not quite sure, but however it happened I ended up at Arrowhead Stadium and spending the day with Luke.  IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

I have a big winter coat that would keep me warm on a tour of the Artic Circle so I was pretty comfortable.  I was a bit taken aback when we got to our seats and had to scrape the frost off of them before we sat down!  We didn't have to worry about paying $8 for a beer, that's for sure.

It was a great game and the Chiefs almost won.  I lasted through the 3rd quarter and had to go to the car.  Here's the big news about leaving the stadium:  we were on the 7th row and had to go up many, many stairs to get to the exit (and the bathroom).  I was able to go up the steps, foot over foot, like a regular person, without stopping!  Thanks to Heartland Physical Therapy. 

Spending the day with Luke doing something he loves was the best.  Even as our children grow older (Luke will never grow up, you heard it here first), we need to make time to spend with them, engaging in an activity that they love.  

The only way the day could have been better would have been if the Chiefs had won.

Thanks to planning ahead, I came home to homemade chicken and noodles!  Better than a Chiefs victory. 

December 14-18, 2012 Wamego City Hospital

Don't judge me.  Just don't.  Mistakes were made.  I made them.  Every thing's fine now. 

On Friday, December 14, Momma called me first thing in the morning.  I had not yet left for work so that was good.  She said that she didn't feel well and thought she was too weak to drive herself to the doctor and would I take her.  It's important to note that in Wamego, you can CRAWL to any point in town so saying that you are too weak to drive somewhere is either an exaggeration or a gigantic red flag.

Yes.  My first reaction was exaggeration.  This was also my first mistake.  Actually, my only mistake, but it was a really big one.

So, I picked Momma up and took her to the doctor.  The doctor took a few moments, literally, diagnosed her with pneumonia and admitted her to Wamego City Hospital.

Wasn't my face red when she turned out to be very sick and very weak?

For 3 days, Baby and I took turns managing Momma at the hospital, cleaning Mom's house and getting it ready for Christmas.

Side note:  if you are every just sort of sick and need medical care but not in a life threatening situation, ask to be admitted to Wamego City Hospital.  There were 3 patients, 3 RNs, various nurse's aides and support people.  It was awesome!  Momma got great care.  Unfortunately, she also got a bowl of beef stew, which she hates. 

On Tuesday, Momma was was dismissed, feeling much better.  Baby and I (and Emily, the Wonder Nurse) took turns staying with Momma at night. 

Oh, and in the midst of all this, I got bronchitis and was coughing like a fool.  There were times when Momma was in the hospital that the nurses weren't sure which one of us was the patient!

Bottom line, no one saw Momma from the time I dropped her off at home after the Dodge City trip until I took her to the doctor.  Had someone seen her, she would have been hauled to the doctor much, much sooner.  The lesson has been learned. 

December 12, 2012 Where Were You in '72?

I dare you to find a Nixon bumper sticker in a state other than Kansas. 

As a public service, I left a note under the windshield wiper of this car reminding the driver that Richard Nixon was a liar, a cheat, the second worst president of all time (of course Dubya Bush was the worst. Ever.) and resigned in disgrace. 

Maybe they either didn't know or had forgotten.  Since I work at a university I am first and foremost a teacher.

It was the least I could do.