Homemade Hometown Christmas

Nothing like celebrating the season with all the best family and friends in your hometown!

First up! Our annual Ugly Sweater Party!  The nine of us girls get together every Christmas and dote our ugliest sweaters for a night of love and laughs.  This year will be especially fun, our challenge this year was that our gifts had to be homemade!  And let me tell you, Hubby and I went all out.  I can't post pics of the gifts on here (well because I haven't taken any) but I don't want to let the cat out of the bag...  Someone unexpectedly might read this today...  But I can't wait to see their faces when they open their gifts.  This year we drew names.  Boys drew a boy and girls drew a girl.  It's going to be a great night, I'm pretty sure my stomach will hurt from all the laughing!

Then the next two days will be with our family doing traditional Christmas things, eat a lot of great food, watch the kiddo open their gifts from Santa, watch football, laugh and be merry with family!

And then it we will be off to Florida to enjoy some hopefully 80 degree days.

To all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Or better yet Merry New Year!!!

Let me leave you with not the best picture, but a picture of my hometown lit with Christmas lights.  1) Wish I had a better camera and 2) I could take better pictures...

The Engagement

Has it really been 5 years!  When this happened!

It was five years ago this week when the man of my dreams took that step and ask me the words all us little girls dreamt of hearing! 

"Hey, you want to go to the jewelry store today and pick out that ring?"

What, that wasn't what you expected...  Well that is just the way he and I are.  We had dated 10 years before this moment.  And I'm so thankful that our friend capture it, even if it was on a camera phone from 1982, LOL.
I love that this picture capture us trying on the ring that we walked away with and so truly love!  It fits us, like the way we got officially engaged. I wouldn't change it for the world.
I remember planning our wedding through out that following year.  It was simple and perfect and everything just fell into to place.  From the date to the venue to all the details that evolved.
But one thing I treasure and remember the most about that year during planning was how much in love we were (and still are!).  It was like we were just dating again.  We were two love stuck birds. 
I will always cherish those feeling and go back there when things get tough for us.  Marriage isn't easy!  We've had our ups and down in our 5 years of marriage, but they have made us understand each other more.  I think the hardest learning curve I had was that sometimes it isn't just about me.  There is another person that is affected by the plans or actions that you take.  It's about the team that make you up and that you are trying to build.
We have come a long way, not only in the up coming 5 years of marriage, but also in the up coming being together through all the UPS AND DOWN of 15 years. 

Animal Hats

The craze! 
Yes they are cute.  See cute little girl below:

She is so cute with her puppy dog hat and gloves to match.  So sweet.

(Random little girl picture from Internet)

People!  Please refrain from this:

Not cute on an adult!  (Picture of a random guy off the Internet).

Why adults think wearing these are cute, fun, is beyond me...  Now, I'm the farthest thing from a fashion consultant, but please don't make this same mistake!

This is my public service announcement.  I won't make many of them.



Planning the Vacation

I love the giddiness you get when you're about to leave for a vacation!  But to feel that when planning it, well I haven't felt this giddy about planning a vacation in a long time (Honeymoon ;) maybe).  But for some reason I feel it this year.

Hubby's parents have a beautiful home in Florida.  And just about every year right after Christmas we load up the pups and drive the 18 plus hours to our little vacation home.  Now, do I feel giddy because we didn't go last year?  Or maybe because it's only a couple weeks away?  Or is it because we are doing a little side trip on the way down?  OK, it most likely is all three.  So, this is the first year we are not planning on driving straight though.  We are making plans on stopping in Atlanta, Georgia!  Atlanta is about the half way mark, so it make a perfect stopping point.  But what is there to see?  The Georgia Aquarium!  The worlds largest! It opened November 2005, and I believe that was the first year hubby and I started our trips going to Florida.  I remember wanting to go to it that year.  Well, we were young and just wanted to get to our final destination so we could bass in the warmth of Florida.  Well now that we are 6 years older.  Florida isn't as warm as one would like... Well, not in December.  And any true Floridian would never be caught at the beach that time of the year.  That is where you would find the tourists! 

But we do have one little hiccup to stopping in the Big Peach, and that would be DOGS!  Yup, we have 2, and not little lap dogs, (even though one of them thinks she is...).  So, when reading about some of the hotel pet policys, dogs are WELCOME, fine print reads 40lbs or less.  What is a family of 4 (2 people and 2 dogs) to do?  Google - Dog friendly Hotels.  What pops up?  This very helpful website - dogfriendly.com 
I hope looks aren't deceiving, however after talking to the front desk staff, it made me even more excited to stay at this hotel; Hotel Indigo, Atlanta. It is located about 6 blocks from the Aquarium, and they have a package for doggies!  They donate a portion of our stay to the Atlanta Humane Society and our babies are welcome with their own dog bed and a bowl full of treats!  Oh, and the rate is cheap!  Well cheap to what I expected to stay at a hotel in downtown Atlanta!  I'm thinking our stay will be a little nicer than staying at a Motel 6!

So there you have it!  The front end of our little vacation getaway!  Not sure what the Florida part of our vacation will include, but I will be content sitting by the pool and not having an alarm waking me up for 14 whole days! 

Au revoir!

Cat Scratchin'

Nope, no Cat Scratch Fever here, even though Teddy is a native to Michigan!

I have 2 cats.  I'll introduce them more in a later post, but I have a male and female, brother and sister, Ziggy and Honey. They are mainly outdoor cats, and with that they have their claws.  Now, I'm not sure who's to blame for this:

Yup, they are using my trees as scratching posts.  I tend to blame Ziggy, but he is my trouble maker, boys will be boys!  But I have also witness him doing it. 

This doesn't look too bad, YET!  I just planted this guy in August (snagged him off the clearance rank at our local nursery).  I didn't take a picture of an older tree that I planted about 5-6 years ago, but he was(is) tattered.

Solution - Old drain tiles! We had some left over after we did some cement work around our walk out basement retaining walls. 

We cut it to about 2 to 3 foot lengths.  And then sliced it open, so it would easily wrap around the tree.   And that is it, problem solved!  And with this, there is another perk...  Weed-whacking!  Yup, with this hard plastic wrapped around the base of the tree, it protects the base of the truck from getting abused by the weed-whacker.  Now, that could be operator error on my part, but it sure beats having to be delicate around the trees!


Now the pros suggest using white over black drain tile.  Well, we had black tiles, so next time I think about it, I will pick up a can of white outdoor spray paint and have fun painting these white!

Now, Ziggy, use the scratching post in the garage, thanks!
Love your Momma


P.S.  This also works to protect your trees from deer, you just have to use a longer piece of drain tile.

Thankfully I haven't had this problem yet, just them nibble on my new growth... (I have a trick for that too...!)

Mitten Kittens

There are nine of us girls that have been friends for which feels like 5 life times.  Some of us grew up with each other, others moved to Manchester during our school years.  Some of us have moved away, while others have moved back. We have seen boys come and go, college days fly by, marriages, babies, divorce and death. 


In order of when I first met these kittens and my first memory of each of them. 


Leigh - We both went to the same babysitter when we were 4-5 years old (maybe earlier?)  If anything I only remember giggling during nap time and being told to go to sleep.  Otherwise most of my memories are a little hazy or I've block them (our baby sitter had some questionable practices... Needless to say Leigh and I weren't baby sat by her for long.)


The next 3, it's hard to know who I met first.  I just always remember these 3 being around, we were in school together, brownies together, these are the girls I just remember when I was 6!


Tracey - Camping in a tent in my yard. We got scared and good thing too, there was an awful storm that night.  I remember it being Tracey's young intuition that made us go in.  Later it would be funny how our intuition would get us out of trouble when we were in high school!


Jennifer - Going to see the movie "The American Trail" with Fievel (he was a mouse). It could have been my first movie with a friend, I think? I remember the car ride more than the movie...  But then again there were many car rides going to places, and this memory is more than 20 year ago.


and Sarah - We were only born a day apart, we always giggled how our mom's had us in the same room.  Which so isn't the case, we were born in different hospitals, but still we like to think our moms were birthing roomies!


The other three came into our lives later through out the school years.  Good thing they moved to Manchester!


Stefanie - She moved to Manchester from Germany in 3rd grade.  Everyone wanted to be friends with the new German girl.  I remember her having a brithday party at her house (with boys).  We were getting chased by the boys and one of the girls ran into a fence.  The boy that was our grades heart trob, picked that girl up and carried her to the house.  The rest of us girls at the party were in awe over that!


Elsea - She moved here in the 6th grade. I remember flirting with the boys in the back of Mr. Boyce's science class and laughing a lot in that class! We would later flirt with our neighbor's in our college days.


Carmen - She came to Manchester in the 7th grade.  Her and I had some good times in High school.  She was the gym teacher's TA and I had independent study for Gym.  We didn't do much in that class except tease the kids that didn't dress for gym and try to avoid being "nubbed"!


Lisa - She was actually born and raised in Manchester, but she went to Saline for most of her school years.  It wasn't until 9th grade that she came to Manchester. When she came in the fall of our freshman year, she wanted to join the Basketball team.  Me, being the all star basketball player took her under my wing. Unfortunately, basketball wasn't her thing!  I think she only may have practice a time or 2... Did you play in a game?

These girls are the sisters I never had and the memories I will never forget. Love them all to pieces.

A Mid-fall Night's Dream

Well, not really, there are no fairies or a wedding involved in this.  Nope, just me disliking fall.  Yup, I said it.  I'm sure there are a lot of people that disagree with me.  But the only good thing about fall is that for about 2 weeks, the leaves look pretty.  And that is it.  Oh, and football. 
I do have a couple good reasons for not liking this time of the year.

Reason 1:  All the hard work I did in the late spring looks like this:

All that ugly brown...  It used to be pretty little flowers and a fountain full of flowing water.  What happen - FALL and Jack Frost!

Reason 2: Winter is next!  All the trees, full of leaves turn pretty colors, maybe, if your lucky, and then the trees are wind blown and barren.  And they look desolate for the next 6 months! 

Reason 3: Winter is next! Oh, did I say that already.  Well this time the reason is more about it being COLD!.  And the funny thing is I don't mind the snow, I actually like the snow, (it sure makes everything a lot prettier than my now desolate trees!)  But we again are looking at 6 months of cold weather.

Reason 4: The time change.  I was cleaning out my flower bed when I got out of work yesterday.  And in preparing for this post I took the above picture. Sunny and bright!  I get home from work at 5.  It only took me about an hour or so to clean out my flowers beds.  This is the picture I took when I was done.

Pitch black at 6pm!  Really!  Now is day light saving really Fall's fault, no, but they are associated, just another reason why I don't like this time a year!

Reason 5: The above picture.  All my hard work in the spring/summer is now a wheel borrow full of dead clippings.  OK, this reason could go with number 1..., but at the same time Jack Frost could have his own reason, (warming up the car anyone...)

I could go on a with a couple more, but I won't. 

However, do I appreciate Fall?   I do, I understand the life cycle that Fall takes.  Everything must die and go back into the earth so that new life can blossom come spring.  What will I be doing until then...  I'll be Dreaming of a Midsummer's night.

The Water Cooler

Yup, I'm that person in the office that changes the water cooler.  I do drink a lot of water, but enough that every time (it seems) it's empty when I need a refill.  I swear, no one else in this office knows either how to change it or perhaps they are just to lazy to change.  The funny thing is, every job I've had, that has had a water cooler, it seem like I'm the designated water cooler changer.  I think I will add it to my job duties.

Well I could have worse jobs here.  Talking with another lady, it seems her job is to change the toilet paper roll.  I will stick with the water cooler

Thanks for the vent!

Tree Hugger

Am I a true definition of a tree hugger, no.  However, have I been called a tree hugger from time to time, sure. And why yes I do work in the beautiful City of Ann Arbor, Michigan - Which is apart of the Tree City USA, Arbor Day Foundation.   One reason I'm teased and called a tree hugger. (The biggest reason -Ann Arbor's culture is a little on the hippie side) But what I don't do is protest, or tie myself to trees that logging companies are about to cut down.  Shit, I watch Ax man on the History Channel (Love the guys that do the river logging!)  But the one thing that I do love to do is plant trees!

 I remember when I was 8 or 9.  My grandpa had 40 or more acres of farm land that he wanted to afforest.  He would buy 500 to 1,000 saplings from the county every spring and fall and my family would help plant them.  My job was to place the saplings in the drilled hole.  I rode on something similar to this,



however I don't remember it looking that nice or that safe...  But then again I am a child of the 80s.

Now that I have my own piece of property, I plant trees every year.  My husband's family gave him 5 acres of old farm land that they purchased when they moved to my small town when my husband was in the fifth grade. Since the house has been built, I plant anywhere from 5 - 50 saplings a year. 

Now hubby HATES pine trees, so I only plant those in the field in between our house and our neighbor's (which currently is owned by his parents). So that one day, if they ever sell that property, we won't be able to see the house, and that house won't be able to see into our kitchen! We do have a few in our immediate yard, however they are on the north side and help with that cold northern wind!   

I can't believe it, but it has been almost 10 years since I planted my first tree on our property.  Here is my tallest pine tree.

He's about 5'5 right now!  Very proud momma here!

Once a tree is established, which can take a few years, depending on soil, watering, nature, it will start doubling in height.  We have clay soil, which isn't the best for growing trees and I don't water these guys.  If they survive they were meant to be.  I'm excited to see this guy's growth in the next few years.  He will be taller than me next year! (Keep in mind, he was only about a foot tall when I planted him!)

I also plant hardwoods.  I have mostly maples planted.  However I have a few oaks planted and a few walnut trees.  I believe at one time I planted some wild cherry and chestnut.  I don't think the chestnuts took and the wild cherries... Well, lets say they are surviving...  The rabbits and other animals like to nibble on these guys in the cold winter months.  So they are just not taking off, and I'm not really helping them along.  They are planted along my driveway in the tall weeds, so they are hard to see and I don't water them due to there location.

But I want to show you an example of a sapling that has a lot of TLC and one that hasn't... 

Yes, this guy needs to be stake!  He is located in a flower bed, so he gets lots of water in the late summer months, he is spoiled!

This guy is only about 2 or 3 foot tall.  Pretty sure I planted them at the same time. It's amazing what a little watering can do!

So this fall I'm planting a few more.  My good friend's dad gave her some oak and maple trees from his own "forest"!  These saplings were planted by the hands of God.  And Farmer E wants to see them grow and thrive!  Hopefully they will!  But they have a long road ahead, time will tell!

Here is one of the four I planted

See that twig sticking out of the ground, yup, that's him!  I put a tomato cage around him, so I don't mow over him come spring. 

So from here I'm going to let nature take over!  Good Luck Little Ones, Godspeed!

Why I love'em

I remember when I first heard the term "blog".  One of my best friends lived states away and mention that she was going to start blogging.  I'm pretty sure the few that she told kind of laughed and was like "good for you, you'll never get us to start"!    However at that time I really didn't understand what a blog was.  I just thought it was for the stay at home moms, bragging about how their kid just shit in the toilet for the first time.  Really, why would anyone want to read about that, well, unless you're grandma and you lived states away. 

Then I started branching out and realized that you could blog about anything.  The price of gold and silver, to crafts and home improvements, to causes that you believe in, to it just being a diary about your life.  A place to keep your thoughts, feelings, and events that happened that you just don't want to forget.  The older I get, the more I understand that and don't want to take those life events for granted. 

Now, I've never been a writer, and if my English teachers are reading this, well I don't blame you for my grammar, punctuation, and even spelling errors.  I'm the type of person that will make up new words, but maybe only because I couldn't pronounce them right the first time.  If I had an accent I would blame it on that...  However, I don't...  So I will blame it on the quirky side of me.

So, why do I love reading blogs?  I love to read books, however I just can't find the time or the attention span to sit down and read 200 pages.  Blogs to me are short stories belonging to the same character.  However these characters are real people, and these stories are real to their hearts.  However, some blogs I read get more of my creative side a live.  Makes me look at old furniture lying around my house, go hmm, how can I turn that old dresser into a great modern looking T.V stand... (future blog post, perhaps...)  Let's find out!

Because of Her

Hello!  Well now I can no longer be called a lurker.  Yup, I have made the plunge into the blogger world.  Now don't get excited, I won't be blogging daily, shit, most likely not even weekly or monthly.  But only when you least expect it! 

How did I get here?  Well let me introduce the person who has made me be addicted to reading blogs.  The new Mrs. Novess

See you soon,

J