THE SISTER'S PHOTOS

All these years whenever the sisters got together we had to have a "sister's photo". These are a couple of the better ones. Don't you love those glasses? Remember the matching nightgown photo? I will have to find that one! Yesterday I finally got around to scanning photos that Bev loaned to me for the Family Tree. If anyone has some photos they would like included you can email them to me. I am still experimenting on the best way to add them to the FT web page. Some of the old ones scan showing a lot of red color in them. All I have for a photo editing software now that I have Vista is Piccassa, which is okay but they recently changed it and I have not quite figured out the new way of doing things. Was that one taken at my house? I kinda remember those drapes and that funny lamp.....it seems so long ago. If it was not at my house I have to say the drapes are lovely and I LOVE the lamp.

 

 

Christmas is over

We had a nice Christmas Day talking to family on the phone and watching Christmas Movies on TV. Of course the big favorite is Christmas Story. Dept 56 came out with a Christmas Story line of lighted houses this year. Ralphie's House, Ralphie wearing pink bunny pajamas, a theatre and other buildings. Then Lenny got a bad thing on his computer called MS anti-spyware 2009....It is NOT anti-spyware!!! The spyware things I have on that laptop could find it but not remove it. It wasn't hard to find because it was in my face begging me to buy it in order to get rid of it??!!! Finally managed to download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware although the pesky ant-spyware kept popping up with no way to click out of it. I managed to run the malwarebytes thing and it did the job!!!! Found more than one trojan (it said) and seems to have removed the bad one. Now I am running it again (the deep cleaning scan that will probably take two hours)..so far it hasn't found anything bad. The Malwarebytes thing is free, although there is a version for $25. I may install the free one on my laptop too because it seems to be a good thing. Its raining again. Supposed to be in the 50's here tomorrow. Back to Cream of Wheat, or maybe oatmeal this morning. Those caramel rolls were so good but shouldn't eat anymore. We have great leftovers too...ham. Lenny wants pea soup. I can do that! We loved our video of Kass and Erin singing. The big slurpy kiss from the dog was almost like being there. I have the cutest grandchildren and Granddogs!

Christmas Eve

We had our Christmas Eve dinner of tomato soup and Italian bread. We ventured out in the pouring rain this morning and ended up at Panera Bread for lunch so we were not real hungry tonight. A lot of the streets were like lakes with the rain and melting snow. I made a pumpkin pie for tomorrow and a pan of caramel rolls for breakfast tomorrow morning. We will have ham, mashed potatoes and corn tomorrow too. My sweet little granddaughter "hates" mashed potatoes and corn so it has become kind of a family joke. We really like both. I got a very pretty silver necklace for my birthday. I took a picture of it for when it is stolen I will have it for insurance purposes. I sent my list of stolen items off to State Farm a couple days ago...so will see what I get out of that. Those caramel rolls smell great. I am really into baking bread. I was looking at the King Arthur catalog and decided to send off for some sourdough starter and try making sour dough bread. Can also make pancakes, waffles etc.with the sourdough. I make awful pancakes, which is okay because I beleive it is the only thing Lenny cooks (to my knowledge anyway). Oh yeah, he does french toast too. Having tomato soup for Christmas Eve dinner reminds me of when we had Christmas Eve dinner at the Flying J truck stop in Durham, North Carolina. Lenny had just gotten out of the hospital after being very sick with Ecoli and we needed propane for the motorhome so we wouldn't freeze so we just decided to eat there. It wasn't all that bad and there was a lot of people eating there. Another year we had Thanksgiving dinner at Shoney's in Charlotte, North Carolina. That was really good. Oh well!!! My wish is for everyone to have a wonderful time.

New York, we aren't coming!

We were up at 1:30 and got to Toledo. Got to the Train station on time, but the train didn't. The train was in Chicago and NOT coming. We sat around and got to know the rest of the "wanabe" travelers. Lenny went out and helped an old guy who was stuck in the snow/ice. A lot of people were laying around sleeping. They announced the train might leave Chicago at 5 a.m. and get to Toledo maybe around 10:30 a.m.. That would make our arrival in NY with luck about 11:30 p.m. The car rental place closes at 6 p.m. So we would have to sit in that train station until tomorrow morning when the snow, freezing rain was supposed to be under way. We decided to cash in the tickets and come home. We can fly there after the New Year. Lenny's mom had made me a cake and a blueberry pie for Lenny. They had made a big pan of Fleleshke, a Checkoslavakian dish that tastes really good. I know thats spelled wrong. They were wondering what they would do with it all. Now it is snowing here. We went to get groceries and cars were running in ditches etc. We will just stay home. I got a half ham for Christmas dinner. If the weather looks better we may go out for dinner tonight, but got a pizza. I am making a loaf of Italian bread. I should go unpack my bags. Now we know that trains are no better than planes.

New York, here we come!

I am half packed. We will be up around 2 a.m. tomorrow I suppose to go to Toledo. Our train leaves around 4 a.m. Our weather is good today and supposed to be okay tomorrow. Our last train ride was on the dinner train in Stillwater. That ride is about 3 hours long and you are served a wonderful 5 course meal. A group dressed in 1940's clothing including army uniforms stroll through the dining car and sing world war II songs. Very nice and entertaining. I heard that they went out of business but may have started up again. Anyway, I don't think we will be serenaded on this trip, but the food in the dining car may be very (expensive) good. There is a cafe car too with sandwiches etc served all day.We will decide tomorrow where we will dine. I am packing trail mix and granola bars for emmergency use. I think those trains can plow through a lot of snow, but you never know. I am just glad we are not driving. We still have an hour or so drive from Albany to Afton. Got extra batteries for my solitare game...my IPOD is charged..got my book and a spare in case I finish it so we are ready! May everyone have a Happy Christmas!