Here's a new blog for you all to follow, if you wish....

http://girlsfishiikinkosprings.blogspot.com/

Those of you who read the comments will see several from a young lady named Suzanne. She's joined the fun of being a blogger and you can read all about Suzanne and her family at this site. Welcome, Suzanne, to the World of Blogging!!!!

Two of my favorite guys!

Here is Manny as a baby, when the family was all here for Justin's graduation. He looks a bit sad!

What a difference three years makes! I can't get over how much he looks like me! Must be the hair....Lisa just cut their hair, making for new looks for them both.This is Gabe when he still a baby. This fall he began attending pre-school, turning 5 in mid-November!
What a great smile that child has! He is just darling! Lisa is such a good mama to these two boys.

It's a blessed day!

Don't you always feel better after a good night's sleep?!? This is most certainly true for me. It was the oddest thing that woke me early, however----no one yelling for "help" from the next condo, no cat gagging on it's own hair. Nope, it was the furnace kicking in to warm my quarters! The thermostat is set at 74 degrees and there is no reason really for me to set it lower as normally my room stays fairly comfortable for sleeping. The little radiator thing I love so much is set at "low" all night long, the heating pad tucked into my bed warms my shoulders, and my comforter does just that. The morning sun, when it is there, warms the room nicely, which means that the rest of my home, outside my closed doors, is quite chilly! By the time it really was morning, I got up and dressed for the day, not one bit chilly at all right now.

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It's not cold enough in my house to freeze the Slush, though. When we lived in WI, we'd make big batches of a drink called Slush, for obvious reasons. In order to freeze these large containers of "liquids", we'd set them on the back deck and only visit them to give a stir. The alcohol addition to the mix did not allow the ingredients to freeze solidly, only turned the mixture to slush, hence the name. It would be a very sad day here in Orange Park if I could keep my Slush on the porch!! Hmmm, I think I should make a batch for when Lynn is here, a small one, of course. We can mix it up, add the soda, stick two straws in the ice cream pail used to freeze it, and slurp away! Talk about an Eskimo Pie migraine!!

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In speaking with my friend, Kristi, from church last night, I found out she had no more tickets available for the Clay County CHRISTmas Concert at Thrasher-Horne Saturday night. I got in touch this a.m. with the ticket office and secured two seats for Martie and me. Her CHRISTmas present from me is a date to the T-H for this show! Kristi is in the Chorale and will be performing as will my upstairs neighbor, Donna Wissinger, who is a renowned flutist. What a great way to begin our celebration month for the Savior's birth!

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Some of the others from church will be there at the concert as well and am wondering if there will be some before and/or after fun to be had....Speaking of fun, last night Martie was my date, or I was hers, I guess, at our Art Guild CHRISTmas party at the Lions' Club. Oh, my, what wonderful foods we had to eat! I was embarrassed because I only brought a 'pre-made' beef and noodle dish where another couple brought a whole roasted turkey, complete with mashed potatoes and gravy! In my defense, I'd say my donation matched my mood, which started out as a "whatever".....

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Spending time with my lady friends at Guild is great fun and good for my soul, as I shared a table with Dee, Martie, and two other ladies. I recently accepted a position, not really a Board position, to serve as Mentor for new members. When the one lady congratulated me, I said, "I thought the job was for "mental", so that's why I took it!" Her hubby thought that was so funny, but he didn't know I meant it! I won three ornaments in the drawing so came home with a gift bag with bulbs and ginger cookies tucked away for a midnight snack. Never saw midnight!

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When checking my e-mails this morning, I saw one from the insurance company from whom I buy my health and Rx policies. It is renewal time again, and I recently took care of that business. I did have a question regarding the Rx portion, bought separately, or so I thought, so wrote them an e-mail about it. Today's message was that last year's policy actually included the Rx package and I was paying extra all year long. No one caught that apparently and so now she is going to mail me a nice reimbursement check for the overages I paid! This check, while not all that substantial, is better than a sharp stick in the eye, and will pay for most of my CHRISTmas shopping. It is a blessed day!!!