Remembering

Henry Peter Antes
May 27, 1920-January 4, 1998

My DAD - This photo was taken a few years before he passed away but I really like it because he had that wonderful smile on his face and that "twinkle" in his eye and that is how I remember my dad best.

He loved life and always enjoyed a good joke.
Fishing was his passion and you could almost always bet that as soon as fishing season opened he would be at the lake or up fly fishing on one of the mountain streams.  He also hunted for many years.  He enjoyed bowling, model trains, stamp collecting and much more.  He loved the family cats, a good bowl of ice cream every night before bed, he loved his family and worked hard to provide for them.

It's been 13 years now since he's been gone but I still think of him often and miss him a lot (I was his "little girl" till the day he died).  I know he's in Heaven now with his Savior but sometimes it would just be nice to hear his voice again and just sit down and chat for awhile.

Love you always dad!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The "Gang" (Ida, Mike, Greta, Granny (aka my mom) and Coleen.

Fireworks - We bought a few this year and Coleen sure enjoyed them.  Maybe a few more next time.

Spent the evening eating a lot of food (Hot Wings, Meatballs, Potato Salad, Cheeses, Meats, Shrimp, Veggies, Nuts, Pigs in a Blanket and Ice Cream.

Watched Movies: (Shrek the Final Chapter and How to Train Your Dragon) - Both cute and fun.

Set off the Fireworks outside in the FREEZING cold. Had a Champagne & Ginger Ale Toast and then headed off to bed around 1:00 am.  - Not a bad start to the New Year.

New Years Day...Watched the Rose Parade, Ate left overs from the night before.  Helped take down the outside lights/decorations.  Watched another movie, (The Backup Plan) - Okay but not spectacularly entertaining either.

Day 2 or today...Went to church,  Fixed Nacho's (the last of the junk food) as we are planning on losing weight this year.  Took down the Christmas tree and put away the Nativity set. The rest of the decorations get put away this week.  Hubby shoved the couch into my big toe and bruised it pretty good. OUCH!!!

Watched Iron Chef and The Worst Cooks in America (Oh my gosh it's hard to believe that some people cook that badly.)

That's it for now.  I hope to post more regularly this year and sometimes it will be just general "chit chat" but it's a good way to keep track of what happens through out the year so I'll give it a good go and hopefully not "bore" you to death.

Meowy Christmas!

MEOWY CHRISTMAS! - May you have a purrfect Christmas that is pawsitively wonderful in every way.  Love:

Blackie

Callie-Jo

Captain Cuddles

Miss Dottie

Harley (He hated this)

Snickers

Scatterbrain tales

Yesterday was "One of those days"...Here I was busily working away at addressing Christmas cards when the phone rang.  It was hubby, we chatted for a few and then I went back to working on my card.  Shortly after the phone rings again and I'm thinking, "Geez, I'm never going to get anything done."  I answer the phone and it's the Dentist office calling wondering why I'm not at my appointment.  Seems I was suppose to be there at 9:40 but I wrote down 10:40 and here it was almost 10:00 and I'm 20 minutes late!  I dashed off to the Dentist without brushing my teeth and just after taking my medications without eating.  - More on that in later.

I get there and a car is trying to back out so I'm trying to be patient while they back out so I can pull in.  I wave at the driver as I drive past them and pull into the parking space.  The car then turns around and heads back towards me.  I'm wondering if I did something to upset them as the driver rolls down the window.  Then she speaks to me, "Hey aren't you even going to wave at me?" - Turns out the driver is my niece!!
I told her I was already 20 minutes late and she is laughing at me as I head off for my appointment.

Thankfully the procedure didn't take long and I didn't get sick from not eating before I left. It was close though as the meds had started to kick in just before I headed home and quickly fixed a sandwich to ward off the nausea that was starting.



The fun didn't stop there though as when I got back home I addressed a Christmas card, sealed it up and then realized that I'd sent a card to that same person the day before. I had to take it out, put a piece of card stock over the writing so I could use it for someone else.  Later at the Post Office I can't find my driver's license (they let it slide this time) and I went and sat on a bench while going through my entire purse before discovering that it had gotten stuck to the back of another card in my purse.

I get home and am tying to clean up some of the kitchen.  I'm emptying a bunch of old Chili into a garbage back when the bag shifts and PLOP onto the floor goes all the Chili.  One big mess to clean up.

Will the fun never end! - That's what some of my days are like lately.  Do you ever have those type of days.  Feel free to share.  It will make me feel better!

Rambling Thoughts

You know I was thinking today (yes, I sometimes actually put my brain to work) about how we often pass by the "little" things in life waiting for the BIG moments to happen before we comment on them.  What a shame as sometimes those little moments are often the ones we remember the most later in life. 

For example:  About a week ago one day for lunch I was eating a Mexican TV Dinner and it had gotten a bit cold since I eat and look at e-mails at the same time.  So I went in to re-heat it.  While I was in the kitchen I noticed the dish of cat food that I had brought in from outside so that it could thaw out.  - We feed neighborhood strays and basically any cat who wants to come out for a snack.  With the freezing temps the soft food had frozen so I brought it in to thaw it out and give it to our cats inside.
I chomped it up and put it out on plates for them to eat and then went and got my food out of the micro-wave.  I picked up my spoon and decided to lick it off before I stirred my food again. 

Now can you tell where this is leading yet....As soon as I licked the spoon off I realized what had happened. It was "icky" CAT FOOD on the spoon.  I was trying so hard not to gag and grabbed up a cup of water to quickly rinse my mouth out (several times) all the while still trying not to gag as that stuff tasted horrible.  I even had to go rinse with Listerine just to be able to finish eating my lunch.  To make matters worse I decided to call hubby and tell him about it.  He about died laughing.  So now since the story is out he and our daughter start "meowing" at me when they see me with a spoon or the cat food cans.  Lots of jokes come from dumb things like that.  I have to admit it was funny (and gross at the same time).  I'll be sure to check my spoon from now on before I lick it off!

So let's not forget to share even those "little" moments that make up our lives.