the end of november

 The big sister kept covering up the little sister more and more, telling me the tiny baby was cold.  The tiny baby didn't care. She finds her sister amusing.  She's also little and slouches quite a bit, so I tucked doll pillows  behind her back and on the sides.  She was cool with all this.

This plumber was just really tired out, plus Dinosaur Train is sooo boring.



And then an emergency call came in and he had to get up and act like he cares. He had to buy a whole roll of one inch copper, even though he actually needed less than 18 inches.  The response involved hanging upside down in a hole dug in the dirt to repair a water line that was accidentally pierced.

This is an ugly job, soldering pipes upside down in a six foot deep hole when it's cold out.

No wonder he gets tired.  And crabby. He gets so darn crabby.  But I am super crabby plenty of the time and have to attend to no problems involving dirt or upside down-ness or pipes or any of that.

I just get to type up the bills, and apply the pain-in-the-ass premium.

Not really.

We joke about that a lot, but our customers have not found it funny at all.

They find it alarming.

"Shit got on your cell phone??  And that's a biohazard surcharge of $2300??"

Calm down. It was a joke.

That rash on his face will heal.  Everything is fine.

 Apparently broccoli and carrots are delicious with peanut butter.

 And this! We ran across this and Maria and I sent it to Julia on Saturday, "Look what we can do with your HAIR!"  Julia was less impressed, but I totally think it would be possible.

And that is that.

In half an hour it'll be Wednesday.  I have to pay the orthodontist tomorrow at Julia's appointment, and dang, her teeth are looking good.  Plus we have only six more payments left, and that's going fast.

I really like Invisalign very much.

Plus Julia's hair!  I want to make a snowman out of it!

Okay, good night.

Love, Val

the christmas village, 2017

 Last night we left for Grace and Juan's housewarming party and left Maria and Kari in charge.

They set up the Christmas Village.   Back in the day I chose the Alps one--the Scandinavian village.  Most of it has been discontinued, and that's okay.

I love it, plus have no more space anyway.

 This huge, obnoxious palm tree is something my dad gave me in a dish garden many years ago.

Well, it's out of control now, should probably be donated to some ZOO.

It's a thriving plant, but has also become a struggle in terms of space.

Sweet Jesus, look at that thing!

 Today we put the candle lights in the windows, sweetly Christmas.

 And this old retro, vintage trinket my mother in law gave us years ago, very popular:

 Here are my lists and schedules and calendars, keeping this shit show from falling apart:

 Tim has his window candle lights and put a BLUE one right in the middle there, okay go on.

Merry Chistmas, and so much love, Val

christmas tree, 2017

The tree is up and looking fine.

Decorations are all in place.  The kids helped. They knew how they wanted things.

These guys are back:

We took her with us to pick out a tree. She was here picking up her big sister, and she was wild and kind of demanding.  It seemed like a good way to get her out of everyone's hair, plus she could be as unruly as she wants at Malmborg's.  Nobody's going to be bothered by a rowdy kid.

So we took her with. At first she didn't understand, screamed her head off like she was being kidnapped.

But before we were hardly out of the driveway, she was good with the adventure, helped us pick out a tree, looked at all the fancy trinkets and yard ornaments and rode back home again.

 Pam made these horses by hand, a long, long time ago:

 Julia jumped up onto the cabinet and helped put this old sleigh thing on the wall.  My mother in law gave it to us back in about 1982.  It works.

And that's the end of a very fine Friday.

So much love, Val

There's Little Santa, up on the flat roof:

thanksgiving, 2017

 Turkey Trot participants:

This is my sister with her grandson.  He's turning into a real guy at this point, little baby no more.

Nobody knows when Morgan was born, so her birthday is declared to be Thanksgiving.  She likes it.

This puppy was confused by why her kennel was moved (to make room for Thanksgiving tables) and a lot of other furniture. She slept with us part of the night. That was fun for us.

 It was a very lovely Thanksgiving, made possible by all the patient and gracious people who showed up, smiled, participated, and were kind to each other.

The food was delicious and the company easy-going.

That's a lot to be grateful for right there.

Plus there's this guy:

 At the end of the evening, we had this:

 Happy Thanksgiving, with so much gratitude and so much love, MOM, aka Grandma, aka VAL