Sunday, December 28, 2008

Our new CD cover!!!

It's Finally Ready!!!(well sort of)

We now have the master copy of our new CD. The copyrights are all in order (best I can tell) and the cover is ready to go. Now we are ordering the copies this next week and we start selling.... God willing. We might even have to record a second one, if this one is successful, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. It's just been an interesting project and there are things we would do differently next time, but hey it all works out in God's timing.

Ice, sleet and snow storm last night here. I have not gone outside to look at the damage, but we still have power, so that's good. I raked lots of snow off of the roof (with help from Luke). Now I have to get some more work done outside. I get cabin fever. Who would have guessed I would when you consider my job, but I do. I need to be outside doing something. Strange I know.

Everyone is still sick, although Jake is the healthiest with Jessalyn not far behind. Will is still miserable. Poor thing. He tries to feel better, but it ain't happening. What a way to spend their vacations. Just as long as they DO NOT share it with me. I do not have time to be sick.

Well, hope you have a great day. I'm going to get busy around here. I have to "de-germify" the whole house.

God bless,
dea

Friday, December 26, 2008

It's all over but the coughing and sneezing and coughing...

Christmas has come and gone... but it left in it's wake, colds for the rest of the family. Will and both kids are sneezing, coughing, snorting and hacking to no end. Poor things. I feel so bad for them and I pray that they do not share it with me! The rest of them are off work and school until the 5th. I have to work, so I do not need it.

I would love to say that Christmas Eve went off without a hitch, but it would be a lie. The first kicker was the weather...what a pain!!!!!! I am so, so tired of snow. Will says a "White Christmas" is not all it's cracked up to be and he is right. Driving around in this mess is a pain in the butticus. My mail jeep is like driving a bar of soap around the bathtub. I spend half my time throwing it into neutral so that I can stop. It gets stuck at almost every box. That means that I am stuck over 400 times per day.....what a great time that is, let me tell you.

When I finally got done almost 2 hours late, I still had to stop at Wally World for a few last minute things and most of the shopping for the party. Since I was running so late, it was a year to cheat with the food. I bought ready made frozen wings etc. Usually I would make them myself, but you know it actually turned out cheaper to buy them premade. I might do that again next year, if only because my Mom said that she really enjoyed the "turkeyaki wings". She's such a hoot! Both my parents are great people to be around, but I digress. It took me ten minutes to get the food and almost an hour in line.

I finally got home after 4:00 and church started at 6:00. It was not a pretty picture. My husband was harried and frazzled. He had worked so hard and nothing was going right. We all pitched in and prayed....it was touch and go there on whether we would be ready or not, but we made it. We did not make it to church, but we did get the open house done and put together. Due to weather and people being out of town and a few other circumstances beyond our control we had a smaller crowd, only about 20 or so, but it was very nice. Each and every person here had a special time, I think and they all have told us so. Some of them it's pretty much a large part of their Christmas, so it's all worth it.

Christmas morning Will and I got up and wrapped presents. We had not wrapped any before that due to time etc. We got er done and then had a quiet Christmas with the kids. Wrapped some more and went in to my parents for a WONDERFUL meal. My Mom makes the best turkey around. We all sat and ate and enjoyed each other and then came home and took naps. Our friend Luke and I went out and raked snow off the roof (almost 18" worth) and Jake and Luke helped me shovel the driveway, because guess what happened last night again????

Yep, you guessed it. Snow and more snow. Ice too. I am thrilled beyond belief. Now they say in the next couple of days another 6-8 inches. This will leave us with almost 3 feet on the ground. Probably more in some places. I am sooooooooooooooo happy about that. If there were longer periods between the storms it would be ok, I think, but this driving in falling snow that has not been plowed every day on the route is wearing me out. Not to mention the injuries it causes carriers when they fall on the ice in a not shoveled drive or yard. We are all exhausted. I just keep telling myself that I have less than 80 days of delivering in snow left and that in 3 months or so the weather will be much better. I just have to hold on.

Well, time to get ready to go shovel my way out of the driveway. I pray the snowplow has gone through or life could be interesting on the way to work.

Have a great day!!
dea

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Today is the day...and boy am I in trouble!

Tonight is our open house. Boy do I have a lot of work to do. As soon as I get done blogging, I need to finalize the menu and figure out my shopping list. That sounds like a lot, but cooking for crowds is a joy for me and it's something that I'm kind of sort of good at, so that part will be fun.....but the house.

Let's just say this about the house. It's not a disaster by any means, but we are still in limbo on so many projects that nothing is where it should be. My office is in rubbermaids, the living room has a couch and a tv and that's about it, the new room is full of building materials, plumbing supplies and Christmas boxes filled with decorations that we will never have time for. Did I mention that Will had to replace about every part of the family bathroom toilet this last week and by the time that was done he was not a happy camper. Now this morning I get up and go to clean that bathroom and the toilet is plugged. I think I will deal with it before he gets up. No need to add to his stress.

So.......I have a plan. This morning before I go to work, I am going to spend 30 minutes in each room and then see what's left. Thank you God that the snow that was predicted never showed. That is a great big help.

I went to LaCrosse yesterday afternoon with my Mom. We powershopped. Well, let me just say that I powershopped. I don't think she bought a thing. Things are tight this year, so I had to consider every angle to get the most for our money. I think that I came up with something pretty cool for each of the kids and with the money that they are receiving from others for gifts, I think they will be having a great time shopping the after Christmas sales. It all works out in the end.

Today is a very heavy day for mail and then I have to get home. So I need to get busy on the house.

Everyone have a Blessed Christmas Eve and I wish you could be here. I'd cook for you!

dea
John 3:16-17

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

How completely negative did that sound?

I just reread my last blog entry.....note to self....do not write when you are tired. I know I needed a little crackers and cheese with my whine. I'll try to do better today.

Last night was our final Christmas concert of the season. It was Jake's holiday concert. They were wonderful. Jake can really concentrate on the director while he is singing and pays attention. As someone who has directed (badly) that's important and not common. For some strange reason, Jake's favorite song that they sang was "Mr. Grinch". I wonder why? It must have been the part about the stinky socks and all the gross stuff. What is it that makes that stuff facinating to a 16 year old? He did a very good job and really looked nice. I could tell that he was proud of his girl too. When she was singing he only had eyes for her. Of course she was wearing the necklace he gave her for Christmas too. She's a really, really nice girl and we like her a lot. Better yet, she likes him a lot for who he is and that's nice to see.

Jessalyn's concert was last week. She had one of the solo's and she sang it beautifully. We were really proud of her. If you knew how shy she really is, it's amazing that she can get up and sing solo's in front of huge crowds. She even sings in front of the Cranfest visitors and at any time there can be a couple of thousand people walking around her listening. She is a trooper. Her cousin just got into show choir with her and she has now found this new great friend in it too. I think that she will be in show choir for awhile if she gets to. For the first 3 months of the year, she was not so sure. Now everything's peachy and she seems to have found her niche in school. I'm glad.

Will is off to his last day of work for 13 days. Twerp. He usually gets this much time at Christmas time. My job is just the problem. There will still be presents flying back and forth for a week or two. In a couple of days we will be hit with millions of spring catalogs and I'm sure pretty soon the tax notices and books will come out. I am very glad though because it's job security and in these times that what most people are looking for.

Our annual Christmas Eve open house is tomorrow night and I do not even have the menu planned. Wow. I don't think I have ever been this "not prepared" for Christmas in my life. What a weird feeling. Wait kid crisis..be back.

The joys of motherhood. Jessa is going with show choir today to sing Christmas Carols at the local nursing homes and assisted living homes. She needed to be able to wear her special tshirt for show choir. Guess what is missing? 1 hour later and we still do not know where it is. Great. After all of this she tells me the teacher has extras....why didn't you tell me this BEFORE we tore through the house looking for it? Not what I needed to be doing this morning. I wonder if we should just cancel Christmas Eve, but then I remember all the people that count on this for their "Christmas event". I guess I need to just pray about it and have faith that God will provide a way.

Today is another trip to LaCrosse for me. I had to work last week very late on the day that Will and I were supposed to go and shop. Now I NEED to go and finish today. The only problem is ....snow. We now have 3 inches of new snow on the ground....another 2-4 due today and another 3-5 due tonight. You've heard the saying when it rains it pours...well when it snows........it SNOWS!!!!!!! I think that counting the snow that all melted a couple of weeks ago, we have had almost 3 feet of snow and still more is coming.

Well, time to get busy...again. Have a great day.
dea

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Santa must be our neighbor because...

it's cold enough here to be the "NORTH POLE"!!!!!!!!

Tonight it's a low of -12 with 30 mph winds. Tomorrow it's going to be pretty cold again on the route. Add into that the over 1 foot of snow we have on the ground that is now blowing around in the wind.....yuck. Tis the season I guess.

I'm having a terrible time trying to come up with some Christmas spirit...any Christmas spirit to be exact. Normally, I am the one brimming with ideas and plans for the season. As far as I can tell.....my body and mind think it is July. Or at least it must be longing for July...the cold is really zapping me this year for some strange reason. I guess it's mostly because it was warm for so long and now it's instant cold. No getting used to it.

We finally went and got our Christmas tree yesterday, in between snow storms. There was a window for about 45 minutes that it had slowed down snowing for a minute and I was finally home from delivering mail...we took the chance and ran over and picked out a tree and brought it home. I had every intention of getting just a small tree this year. Something simple...right..... I think this might be the biggest tree we have had in years. It's beautiful, no doubt about it, but boy is it BIG! Tomorrow we finish decorating it. Today was too filled with other things.

I sure have dropped the ball the last couple of weeks as far as Christmas. Of course it could be that we are 6 people short at work right now and I am delivering my route and about 1/2 of two others many days. It is mind numbing work in the cold. I am worn out. Then the guilt sets in because I am letting my family down by not being more "Christmas-ee". Pressure. Just what I need more of. Oh well, Christmas will happen whether I am ready or feeling holly jolly or not.

Well, 25 dozen cookies were baked today and some of the gift bags handed out, the tree is slightly decorated, the house is partially cleaned, the menu for the open house barely planned, the presents are naked (not wrapped) and I am running low on energy, so I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow's another day, and frankly Scarlett, I'm glad. I need another day to catch up to myself.

If I don't get the chance to post between now and then...... I pray that you ALL have a blessed Christmas this year and that Christ will be alive in your hearts and lives throughout 2009. Merry Happy Christmas....God Bless us everyone.

dea

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Okay, Okay...

...I admit the last couple of videos weren't exactly the Christmas Spirit we should be promoting. So here's a couple that should get you in the proper frame of mind...

Monday, December 15, 2008

It takes your breath away!

It's windy here in the great white north. For 2 days we had above average temperatures and yesterday it actually even got up to 45......then it turned nasty. Temps dropped to -1 with 30+ mph winds. Wind chill factor is about -30 right now. I am not thrilled....work will be cold today. Not only is it cold, but I end up having to chase mail over people's yard, because it blew out of my hands orout of the mail box. Not fun.. Thank you God that I am not a city carrier. I know that I am a wimp and would not be able to walk for miles in this trying to hang on to letters. I have great respect for them and the trials they endure with grace under pressure. A day like today and people will still call and complain because their mail is late. I feel sorry for them.

If you have little kids and are looking for a great easy, no bake cookie recipe for any age....check out Dea's corner (link to the right).

Yesterday was our Christmas musical at church and they did great! I was really, really proud of our youth group and choir. The youth group acted as narrators and the choir sang. It turned out really well for the few practises that we had. I'm am very thankful for the effort that everyone put in. It turned out great. Then we had potluck and let me tell you there are some good, good cooks at our church. It was too much!!! Of course that didn't keep any of us from eating way too much food and loving every minute of it.

I came home and spent another 2 hours (total 5) chopping an ice dam off of our bathroom roof. We got so much snow and then it turned warm. It created this huge dam which in turn created leaks.....I just love living in Wisconsin in the winter. Although I complain about this time of year, the truth is that snow is beautiful sometimes. When you have the time to stand there and enjoy the fresh snow on a calm sunny morning, when the world seems at peace, it's wonderful. Everything is so quiet that you can hear the trees groan and crack. The birds sing, but even they seem in awe. Then the world intrudes and life goes on and it isn't so pretty any more.

Still all in all it's worth it to have a white Christmas and mostly to enjoy spring like we can here. There is nothing quite like that first patch of ground showing itself in the sun light when spring first comes. You can smell the earth warming. You can actually watch life begin again. It is an awesome sight and my favorite time of the year. Guess what? It will be here in less than 4 months (God willing). We just have to hang on until then.

Enjoy this holiday season.
dea

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

There's no business like snow business

Well, it's official winter is here....so.....I'm counting down until spring! In 4 months it will be April and the weather will be much nicer. It's all in the way that you look at it. I need a silver lining so I'm going to find one. I'm pretty sure that I have less than 100 days left for this season of me driving in the snow. If I get my other route, it will be even less than that.

I ended up shoveling our driveway 5 times, 3 of those with 2 inches of snow, 1 with 4 inches and another with 4 inches. You do the math, I'm too tired. My shoulders hurt too much last night to take my sweatshirt off to get into pj's. I slept in my sweatshirt. I know I could have woke Will up and had him help me, but as I was thinking that he let out this great big "snore" . Scratch that idea. He was sleeping too soundly, I didn't have it in me to wake him.

The apple butter turned out wonderful. We have already broken into one of the jars and I think it's getting close to gone. My daughter is a toast and jam kind of gal. She is really enjoying the fruits of our summer.

Oh yeah, remember when I overflowed the coffee pot? Well...... oops I did it again. Do NOT think about that Spears chick when I say that. It's too early to even bring her to mind. Besides me being on the floor mopping that mess up is more like watching a well..... I don't know but it sure ain't like watching her dance. Speaking of that have you noticed how the dancing now is not so much dancing and moves as it is "wiggling"? The more things they can get to jiggle the happier they are. Shoot, I got plenty of stuff that wiggles when I walk and I don't even have to dance.

That moves me on to another study I was reading the other day. They were talking about using stems cells out of fat and that it was working. Where do I sign up to be a "donor"? I could cure the world! Then after all the fats gone, I could donate extra skin to people who need it. Just think of the opportunities.......

Ok, so I'm silly. God put me on this planet for comic relief. I know this. I'm fine with it. I'd rather make someone smile than about anything except maybe feeding them, but that's another story.

Have a great day. Merry weeks before Christmas from snowy Wisconsin.
dea

Monday, December 08, 2008

Snow in the hills and every where else too.

We are scheduled to get 8"-12" of snow tonight and tomorrow. Guess what Will's working.....are you surprised? I've shoveled everything once to get a head start and will continue to shovel every two inches or so because it's easier.
The house smells wonderful. I have 20 lbs. of apples stewing into apple butter in the roaster and the aroma just fills the house. I need to start the spaghetti, but dread the mixture of the smells. Oh well, no way around it. The restless natives must eat.

It's been a really, really busy weekend, but very rewarding. Saturday the youth group (21 kids and 5 adults) met at church and baked cookies. Some of the ladies in the church had baked some sugar cookies before (about 250-300) cookies. The kids decorated those with the trimmings and then we made other kinds too. All in all we had about 800 cookies when we were done. I had made potato, cheese and ham soup as well as chili earlier in the day, so the rest of the church came for supper and cookies. We fed 45. The kids had decorated bags for cookies and we bagged up 400 to take around town.

Sunday 28 of us met and rode around on one of the Cranfest floats and sang Christmas carols. It was fun caroling as the snow fell. At each house we dropped off at least 20 cookies. It was good for the kids to see the fruits of their labor and also to learn about giving. Then we met at the retirement apartments on the hill for cookies and hot chocolate/coffee.

Today it was back to the mail route driving around on roads that are still not plowed very well and here we are getting more snow. Great googamooga. I am already tired of snow and it's not even Christmas. I just keep telling myself that in less than 4 months the weather will be better. Just hang on....

Will is due to head home in another half hour or so. That means, Deanna gets to get out there shoveling in another 30 minutes so that he can get into the driveway.

Have a great night. Think warm thoughts. I know I am..... dry socks, heating pads, hot showers, coffee, hot chocolate, soup......see warm thoughts....
dea

Sunday, December 07, 2008

They're in Cohoots I tell ya!

We live in an older building that was remodeled by the hands of an amateur with the direction of his expert Father in law and friends. I am surprised I still have friends and that my father in law still speaks to me. It couldn't have been easy. Still, with our very limited budget which consisted of "what can we scrounge?", to say it could still stand some improvement would be an understatement. One area is insulation. We have serious drafts. So besides the loss of heat and the expense, there is another equally disturbing problem. All the rodents in the surrounding area recognize a nice warm possible home. I have two cats. I have many mouse traps but now the rabbits and squirrels are getting into the act. One of my two cats is quite adept at catching all of the above, however neither cat could be called perfect at killing what they catch. I have had at least one squirrel living in my attic for some time. I just didn't realize that said squirrel is indeed the leader of the gang. He has the mice doing his bidding.
I have a furnace/hot water heater/ storage area. It shares a wall with my bedroom. I have heard the parties the rodents throw. Deciding that the squirrel must be the first to go (thereby confusing all of his underlings), My wife bought me a set of traps. Live traps. She's soft hearted, and hey, I'm not crazy about the mess, so okay; live traps it is. They came as a set with one large enough for a large cat for small lap dog, one that would be the right size for the squirrel and a larger one for say a family of four to live in when they give up their house to the rodents...

I followed the directions, (I'm secure enough in my manhood to read directions before I mess things up. It doesn't prevent me from messing up it just gives me a ready excuse.) I baited with peanuts and set the trigger.

The next day I check the trap to find the peanuts gone and the trap unsprung. No squirrel. No mice. No peanuts. I don't believe the trap is functioning properly. (I come to this conclusion because there is no squirrel in it. Clever aren't I?) So, I tinker. I reset the trap. Same results. Only now when I lay down to bed at night, I am sure I can hear tiny squirrel laughter somewhere.

More importantly is that my wife is getting tired of their late night parties. This was evidenced by my wife coming home the other day with bonafied rat traps. These are not mice traps. They just smash your finger if you set them wrong. No, these are spring loaded RAT traps. They will take your whole hand should you place it where you shouldn't. Evidently my wife had taken the proverbial gloves off. There was no more being humane. I have to say, I'm no longer concerned about the mess either.

I tinker more with the first trap and following the directions, I set the one of the two rat traps next to the live trap and the other rat trap I put just inside the attic access door in the pile of old nut shells I found there. I figure it must be their dining room table. This time I used peanut butter.

The next morning I check the furnace room traps and both traps look new. They cleaned the peanut butter from the trap sets so well I couldn't tell there was ever any peanut butter there. I took a broom handle and tripped the rat trap. It flew across the room!

All I can figure is the small mice must be clearing the traps and taking a share to the squirrel.

He probably made them an offer they couldn't refuse...

Numbers 6:24-26
Will

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

I've been telling him for years.....

Will laughs at me, but I have proof positive that it mainly snows the large amounts on the days that he works. For the last couple of years there has been this trend.....snow while Will is working. Result: Deanna gets to shovel. Today is no exception to the rule. Over 3 inches of snow last night and supposedly another 2 or 3 today. Great. I already had enough to do today and now I have to shovel. Oh joy....can you feel my excitement? To make matters worse, my favorite shovel broke.

Unless it gets lots warmer we will now have a white Christmas. Now if I can just get everything else done. Today is work, decorating the village Christmas tree for Cranfest, choir practise, youth group and whatever else falls into the mix.

Tomorrow is baking, decorating, cleaning and then playing piano for a benefit tomorrow night.

Friday, more cleaning, baking and work.

Saturday cookie baking with youth, soup supper for church and then old fashioned family night that night, including a "taffy pull".

Sunday: church, choir practise and then village wide caroling with cookie get together.

I think we are going to be very, very busy the next couple of days, BUT the great part is aside from the Christmas program at church on the 14th, I'm pretty much done with outside stuff for Christmas after the 14th. Pretty neat. There are a couple of concerts for the kid's choirs but other than that I can hunker down and enjoy this season, God willing. We are usually busy right up until Christmas Eve so this will be different. I think I might enjoy this.

Have a great day!
dea

Monday, December 01, 2008

Black and White And Christmas Lights!

Today is "Black Monday". This is the day that the Internet becomes loaded with shoppers. It's supposed to be the biggest Internet shopping day of the year. For those of us who are counting pennies and too smart (prideful) to "charge it", it just means we may have to deal with Internet slow downs, crashes and page reloads. As I am one of those counting pennies...okay, let's be honest..with no disposable income that I haven't already disposed of...It isn't as if I have anything really important to do on the net, except try to keep myself entertained cheaply. I was hoping for a video call with my mother and slow networks can mess that up royally. Anyway, if you experience these problems you can chalk it up to Black Monday.

How's this for timing? I just got pleasantly interrupted by my very good friend John Roman! I had a tab with my Facebook page open and he rang in with a chat line. We start to chat and my Internet explorer crashed! Can I call it or what?

Now for something completely different!

White: The snow on the ground and all over the cars. I just came in from helping Deanna get her car cleaned off. The poor girl has to drive around all day with her window open to deliver the mail. Brrr. Makes me cold just thinking about it. I may have to put another log on the fire that is all of three feet behind me as I type this! The forecasters must be stumped. They at first said less than half an inch. Then less than a inch. Then Ooops! winter advisory! I wake up to two to three inches of the stuff. It's pretty to look at from inside my nice warm house but otherwise...Yuck. Especially as there is stuff outside that I wanted to bring in before this happened and I wasn't able to get it done. Yeah, yuck.

Deanna and I (mostly Deanna) have really been getting into the Facebook website. There is this family of friends that we all kind of grew up together. I consider them as much a part of my family as if we were blood kin. Via Facebook I got to see some pictures from that family while they celebrated Thanksgiving and it made me really nostalgic. There was one pic of Bekah (who writes the blog Diagonally Parked in a Parallel Universe) and her brother Pete. Seeing the two of them together reminded me of years ago. There were two or three Christmas' in a row where the three of us would go looking at the Christmas lights in Tallahassee Florida. There were some great ones too. What made it so much fun and interesting is that I would just drive. Bekah and Pete would get to take turns telling me which street to take. If Pete wanted to get to one side of town while Bekah was aiming for a different point, well we certainly wound up in some interesting places! What a great time! Fun, Laughter and Christmas lights!

Definitely a memory to treasure.

Keep Christ in Christmas
Will