~~ A Celebration of Life-long friendship ~~ Sew Sweet 16 ~~ Now N' Thens 3/11

[DisneyTeacher01]

I'm still here!!! I just don't always comment. Please keep up the updates I'll make sure I comment more

I love your updates

 

[Terkina]

I'm back.

I had a nice trip. But it was cold in London. Luckily I had a lot of warm clothes with me. I also bought warming soles before I left home for my shoes because I'm always cold on my feet. The soles has some heating in them and you charge them and then they are heated for 5 hours. They worked very well except for one day when they didn't work at all. I don't know why they didn't work because the worked again the next day.

I did take a few pictures.

Every year Norway gives London a huge Christmas tree as thanks for having our royal family and government in London under the second world war. They decorate the tree with lights as we decorate our Christmas trees that is standing outside in our yeards and in town squares all over Norway.

We took a picture of the tree 3 days before the lightning ceremony



The tree doesn't look nice and we can't believe Norway gave London that tree.

3 days later the ceremony of lightning the tree was held. The mayor of Oslo and the mayor of London was there. We saw that someone now had fixed the tree so it looked very nice all of the sudden.



One day we saw this man and 2 birds at Trafalgar Square. We stopped and watched them for a while. The man told us that they had been filming something that day involving the birds. So that's why they were there.






It was cold in London. We got some people commenting that aren't we used to cold since we live way up in Norway. We tried to explain that because of the Golf stream it doesn't get that cold in Tromsø.

We came home last night. I took a taxi home and asked the driver how many degrees it was outside. It was 46.4ºF at 9PM. I said this is not normal. It's almost summer outside. The driver replied yes it's like a bad summer day.

Today it's snowing and windy so it's not nice weather outside and it's 32ºF.


It sounds like you had a nice Thanks giving. I can't believe you got up at 2PM to go shopping.

It sounds like you had a great day in Animal Kingdom. What a race to catch the EE FP. Glad you made it even if your BFF wasn't very happy.

 

[nowellsl]

Please don't stop your updates! Yours is the first one I check when I get on the DIS! I would miss them!

 

[Iamthequeen]

I'm here nearly every day too. Just don't post much.....

 

[solana131]

Not boring us at all.....I always read your updates in the morning while I have my coffee. I may not have time to comment, but I am here every day!

 

[solana131]

I read your posts every day. Love to see what's up with you while I drink my coffee and wake up I might not have much time to respond each and every day, but I am always here! But if it is too much for you, we know you have a ton going on.....if it is too much for you we totally understand.

 

[solana131]

Seriously.....darn iPad app....

 

[Clio]

I enjoy reading your daily updates. I just don't have a chance to reply everyone.
Liz

 

[DMGeurts]

I'm still here!!! I just don't always comment. Please keep up the updates I'll make sure I comment more

I love your updates

Hi Jennifer! It's great to see you! Glad to see you are still here and reading - thanks so much for stopping by!

I'm back.

I had a nice trip. But it was cold in London. Luckily I had a lot of warm clothes with me. I also bought warming soles before I left home for my shoes because I'm always cold on my feet. The soles has some heating in them and you charge them and then they are heated for 5 hours. They worked very well except for one day when they didn't work at all. I don't know why they didn't work because the worked again the next day.

I did take a few pictures.

Every year Norway gives London a huge Christmas tree as thanks for having our royal family and government in London under the second world war. They decorate the tree with lights as we decorate our Christmas trees that is standing outside in our yeards and in town squares all over Norway.

We took a picture of the tree 3 days before the lightning ceremony



The tree doesn't look nice and we can't believe Norway gave London that tree.

3 days later the ceremony of lightning the tree was held. The mayor of Oslo and the mayor of London was there. We saw that someone now had fixed the tree so it looked very nice all of the sudden.



One day we saw this man and 2 birds at Trafalgar Square. We stopped and watched them for a while. The man told us that they had been filming something that day involving the birds. So that's why they were there.






It was cold in London. We got some people commenting that aren't we used to cold since we live way up in Norway. We tried to explain that because of the Golf stream it doesn't get that cold in Tromsø.

We came home last night. I took a taxi home and asked the driver how many degrees it was outside. It was 46.4ºF at 9PM. I said this is not normal. It's almost summer outside. The driver replied yes it's like a bad summer day.

Today it's snowing and windy so it's not nice weather outside and it's 32ºF.


It sounds like you had a nice Thanks giving. I can't believe you got up at 2PM to go shopping.

It sounds like you had a great day in Animal Kingdom. What a race to catch the EE FP. Glad you made it even if your BFF wasn't very happy.

Welcome back Lillian!!! It sounds like you had a wonderful time, and a wonderful trip! Thanks so much for sharing the pictures - I really enjoyed them!

That's kind of nice that it was so warm when you got home - I am already tired of the cold... It's supposed to be warmer next week - we'll see. Warmer is a relative term, I am sure.

Again, welcome home! It's great to have you back!

Please don't stop your updates! Yours is the first one I check when I get on the DIS! I would miss them!

Hi Stephanie! Thanks for checking in - so glad you are still here and reading!

I'm here nearly every day too. Just don't post much.....

Hi Tess!!! How are you? I've missed you! Did you see that Reese wore your dress to the granting of her wish??? That was soooo cute!!! I love how that dress turned out - and she loved it too!

Not boring us at all.....I always read your updates in the morning while I have my coffee. I may not have time to comment, but I am here every day!

Hi Suzi! I miss you!!! Thank God for Facebook!

I read your posts every day. Love to see what's up with you while I drink my coffee and wake up I might not have much time to respond each and every day, but I am always here! But if it is too much for you, we know you have a ton going on.....if it is too much for you we totally understand.

Seriously.....darn iPad app....

LOL - It's not too much... I just don't want people to be bored by what I write.

I enjoy reading your daily updates. I just don't have a chance to reply everyone.
Liz

LOL - Hi Liz!!! Well, you respond almost every day - and I love hearing what you've been up to too! Glad to see you are still here and reading though... Thank you!

**********************************************************

Oooh - now yesterday was a REALLY crazy day!!! And as soon as it gets light out - I will take pictures for you all...

Let's just say - I think we are a little nuts. LOL

That's all I will say about that for now...

So, last night was another of Matt's games... His parents are still here from Alaska... and Josh's aunt, her friend and Josh's uncle also came down for the game. We all went to dinner at the bar/restaurant down the street. It was a lot of fun to catch up with all of them!

Matt's game was awesome last night - they won 4-2, and it was an exciting game from start to finish! I am glad that some of the family were able to experience such a great game! <--- That just sounds like it was a bad grammar sentance?

After, we all went our separate ways...

Gus picked Alli up from work...

All 3 kids stayed up after we went to bed to play WII...

Today, it's my goal to get the Christmas tree decorated, since that didn't happen yesterday.

And I need to clean the office in a bad, BAD way... So, that's my agenda.

Alli works this afternoon.

Otherwise, that's about it.

Thank you everyone for continuing to stick around and read. It's a habit for me to do my daily updates, I am not sure what I would do if I didn't do them anymore?

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful remainder to your weekend.

I will be back later to post pictures from yesterday.

D~

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have officially finished our Christmas shopping and almost all the presents are wrapped. We are still waiting for a few to arrive from Amazon. I'm hoping that we can get the tree and indoor decorations up today. Next weekend we'll be busy with a wonderful celebration. Our daughter is graduating from nursing school. It was a one year, very intense program, and she managed to do it in spite of having two young kids. I think my son-in-law really did a great job stepping into the alpha parent role. We are very excited for her.

 

[Terkina]

Thank you for the warm welcome back greeting
I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures

Sounds like you had a nice day with family yesterday.

I want to add that I enjoy reading what you are up to and how you and your family are doing.

 

[Clio]

I'm planning to put our tree up today but I'm just not sure which one I'll use. I have a 6 foot and 4 foot.
Work has been crazier than usual because of call offs do to illness and one of my co workers left in tears on Friday. She wasn't feeling well and a customer started screaming at her because she asked for a copyright release for some pictures. She had to get someone from management to handle it. I talked to her yesterday and she is feeling better but she's afraid that she might be in trouble but I don't see how. She didn't feel she could do her job and had to leave. It should be just an incomplete shift and we've all left for some reason at some time.
I hope you have a good day.
Liz

 

[DMGeurts]

As promised, I am back for a partial update from yesterday...

Sort of a long story... Or a story long-coming anyways...

In our old house, we had a big beautiful wood open staircase... I loved decorating it for the holidays and the seasons. For Christmas, I would wrap it in lighted pine garland and hang our stockings form there... It was beautiful and festive. When we purchased this house... We didn't have a place like that at all, so ever since, I have been struggling with where to hang our stockings. It may not seem like a big deal to anyone but me, but it's always bothered me... Not to mention, we really never have had a great place to put our tree either...

About 2 years ago, a friend of BFF's had her house foreclosed on... So she was selling off all of her furniture/appliances and such... I wound up buying her fireplace mantle for $20. Well, we've been storing it all this time, because I couldn't figure out where to put it. Part of the problem is that it was much longer than I thought, and there was only one wall in our living room that it would fit on.

Well, yesterday, I began thinking outside the box, even though I really wanted this mantle in the living room - there is just no way it would work there... So I asked the family if they thought it would be OK in the dining area of our eat-in kitchen (since we don't really have a diningroom)... Everyone agreed this would be a better idea than what we had there.

So, finally, after all these years, I have a place to decorate and hang our stockings. It's not the best place for this - but it's the best I can do with what I have to work with, and I am happy with it.

I still have lots of decorating I need to add to it... I want to get some pine garland... 2 black iron sconces for on the side of the canvas... I also need to have that canvas re-done, because it's zoomed in too far. But, I am super excited.

Now, that was only part of what we did yesterday... Hopefully I can share the rest with you today or tomorrow morning.

D~

 

[Terkina]

The fireplace mantle looks great. The whole wall looks great. I really like the picture of all of you that is over the fireplace mantle. I can't wait to see the rest of your decorations.

 

[THiiNKTiiNKx0]

Joining in! I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying your report. Your girls (Olivia included) have so much personality and I love all the photopass pictures. Definitely some of the funnier ones I've seen. Looooooove your bags too!

 

[WDW2012]

The mantle looks great! We're purchasing a house and there is no fireplace so I've been wondering what I'm going to do with stockings. I think you've given me an idea Looking forward to seeing the finished product and please keep up the daily updates. I enjoy them and you really have been an inspiration for working out and eating right!

 

[jkfandel]

Hi D~

I may be silent but I am reading along and love to read your daily life updates.

PS: UM you may need one more stocking this year - NO? (Gus).

Have a great week.

Jane

 

[DMGeurts]

We have officially finished our Christmas shopping and almost all the presents are wrapped. We are still waiting for a few to arrive from Amazon. I'm hoping that we can get the tree and indoor decorations up today. Next weekend we'll be busy with a wonderful celebration. Our daughter is graduating from nursing school. It was a one year, very intense program, and she managed to do it in spite of having two young kids. I think my son-in-law really did a great job stepping into the alpha parent role. We are very excited for her.

Yay!!! That's awesome! I am nearly done - just a few more items for Josh. Oh and a bunch of stuff to embroider - which I should have done this weekend, because I won't have time next weekend.

Congratulations to your daughter - what a wonderful accomplishment - you should all be so proud!!

Thank you for the warm welcome back greeting
I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures

Sounds like you had a nice day with family yesterday.

I want to add that I enjoy reading what you are up to and how you and your family are doing.

I did - that bird was incredible!!

Yes - we did.

Awww... Thanks Lillian!

I'm planning to put our tree up today but I'm just not sure which one I'll use. I have a 6 foot and 4 foot.
Work has been crazier than usual because of call offs do to illness and one of my co workers left in tears on Friday. She wasn't feeling well and a customer started screaming at her because she asked for a copyright release for some pictures. She had to get someone from management to handle it. I talked to her yesterday and she is feeling better but she's afraid that she might be in trouble but I don't see how. She didn't feel she could do her job and had to leave. It should be just an incomplete shift and we've all left for some reason at some time.
I hope you have a good day.
Liz

Oooh - I hope you were able to get your tree up. Ours is up and decorated now. Phew! What a relief!

Oh that is horrible - customers can be so rude, and they don't even realize sometimes that we are human back there. to her. Hopefully she doesn't get into trouble for leaving early.

I did - I wish you the same.

The fireplace mantle looks great. The whole wall looks great. I really like the picture of all of you that is over the fireplace mantle. I can't wait to see the rest of your decorations.

Thanks! I am really excited about it!

Joining in! I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying your report. Your girls (Olivia included) have so much personality and I love all the photopass pictures. Definitely some of the funnier ones I've seen. Looooooove your bags too!

Welcome! I am super happy to have you here and following along!

Thanks! These girls are amazing! I love them! And I love spending time with them.

Thank you - I really enjoy making them, it's so much fun!

The mantle looks great! We're purchasing a house and there is no fireplace so I've been wondering what I'm going to do with stockings. I think you've given me an idea Looking forward to seeing the finished product and please keep up the daily updates. I enjoy them and you really have been an inspiration for working out and eating right!

There are TONS of ideas on pinterest! I know I pinned a bunch of stuff last year, but for some reason that board is missing? So, I've started pinning a bunch of stuff again... But there are even people on there who build fake fireplaces - they are really cool and quite realistic. I'd love to see pics of anything you do.

THank you - I will keep them coming, as long as I know people are reading.

Hi D~

I may be silent but I am reading along and love to read your daily life updates.

PS: UM you may need one more stocking this year - NO? (Gus).

Have a great week.

Jane

Hi Jane!!! How are you? I was just thinking of you the other day and wondering how you are doing?

Hahaha... I wish I could get Gus a stocking - but I am afraid Josh will think that a little premature. He will have a few gifts under the tree though. And he is welcome to spend some time here during the holiday.

**********************************************************

You know, how yesterday I posted that I think we are a wee bit nuts? Well - I am convinced, not only are we nuts but I think we are borderline insane.

After all the work we did on Saturday - which I haven't even told you about everything...

I woke up yesterday morning, and told Josh I was fed up. I want new kitchen floors. You see, our kitchen floor was awful - AWFUL... So bad, I'd given up scrubbing it years ago, because it did no good (I still did it, but I hated that you couldn't even tell - such a big job for no reward). There were cracks in it everywhere - it was beyond clean-able. Horrid, just horrid. We kept putting it off, because when (if we ever) do our garage addition, our entire current kitchen will be demolished - floor included... We didn't want to waste $$ on a new floor. So, finally - yesterday I was fed up. Josh and I talked about it - decided on a very cheap budget - one that, if we rip it up in 2 years, we won't feel like this was a waste of $$. So, he went out and bought new flooring yesterday... Nothing great, but something to get us through. By dinner time, we had our entire kitchen/dining area floor completely ripped up... If we would have had glue - we probably would have had the new floor completely installed yesterday too. LOL Nah - kidding... we still have a bit of prep work to do, but we should have it in by the end of the week. I am super excited - super excited! Because when people come to our house, they come in through the kitchen door, and it's always so embarassing, because no matter how much I bleached my floors - they still looked disgusting... So, it will be awesome to not be embarassed about my floors any more.

So, that's all we did yesterday... Demolish.

A photo of MM "helping"... It's pretty sad (I think) - that the plywood floors with the old glue on them look better than my old flooring did.

Please forgive the mess - I promise you - it was clean when we started.

Today... I have to work out this morning. Sadly - most of the office cleaning I was able to accomplish yesterday is now non-existant, because many things from the kitchen/dining area are now in here. So, I will have to work out around that stuff.

I am at Target today, as well. We should be very busy.

My guess, tonight, we will be working on the floors some more. I can't wait to show you all!

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Prayers and good thoughts go out to all of you!

D~

 

[lovedonaldduck]

First off, if you ever decide to stop your daily updates, I will require a daily email in their place - I love reading what is going on with you. If anyone was interested in reading daily updates from me, I'd share mine - only with the way I DIS, they'd probably be every 3rd day or so

I love the mantle! And I love where you decided to put it and that you just decided to do it now! That's a good thing. Same with the floors. I am horrible for having ideas and supplies and never making the time to follow through with the home decor items. You may think it's nuts, but I think it's awesome. I need to tackle my to do list the same way!

So, on Saturday Peyton and I ran her 5K. We ran/walked the whole thing, but we didn't stop at all and we finished! They don't time it and I didn't want to have to worry about keeping up with anything so I didn't have my phone or watch on me, so I honestly have no idea how we did. I know there will be a next time, Peyton wants to sign up for the Spring program and they will have an end of the season 5K and there is also one sponsored by her running program in April that we may run together. I think I see a Disney run in our long distance future. I just hate that the kids Disney runs are at Wide World of Sports - not as fun as running through the parks. I'll have to cruise the runDisney site later this week to find out more about the events.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

I wasn't done posting but the DIS thought I was. Perhaps that is a sign that I am being too long winded, however I am going to ignore that sign and just go on rambling.

After the run, we grabbed lunch with my parents. Then DH went to the gym and ran some errands and I decided to squeeze in the afternoon yoga class, hoping that a good stretch would help me recover from the run. I'm not sure if it did or not, it was hard to get up and down yesterday but maybe it would have been worse if I hadn't gone to yoga. I'm still a little sore today but hopefully I'll be back to normal tomorrow. I am heading out to yoga tonight.

Yesterday we did an early Christmas with my dad since he will be out of the country for Christmas this year. It was nice to get together. My dad got all of us girls hand embroidered scarves from Afghanistan. They are beautiful and I am looking forward to wearing mine later this week, even though I'm usually not a scarf person. We also talked about our menu for Christmas dinner. I'm going to give the make ahead mashed potatoes a try, as well as a new warm green bean salad recipe I found.

So, we are quickly approaching the holidays. I've got to get my Christmas cards finsihed and out the door. I also need to get presents wrapped - ASAP apparently, since my mom said Peyton has been snooping around her house (in closets and such) for presents. DH's birthday is next Monday so I'm going to try to arrange babysitting and take him out for a nice dinner on Saturday. I'd like to take the girls to Big Hero 6, although I may save that until the after Christmas party of Christmas break. The Saturday before Christmas we are going to surprise the girls with an early Christmas present- we are taking them to the new American Girl store in Orlando so they can each pick out a doll. Not sure how I'm going to work the surprise yet. They think we are going down to Celebration for lunch and to walk around and pick something up from the doggy bakery for Cooper. If we can get out the door early enough, we may hit the AG store before lunch or we'll go on the way home. I'm not sure if I want to make it a scavenger type road trip or maybe just give them Christmas cards when they wake up or after lunch that say they get to pick out a new toy before Christmas or if I just want to stop at the store with no warning whatsoever. Suggestions are appreciated!

Hope you have a great day at Target! I have a busy day ahead of me here at the office!