"Pinging" in the New Year...

Earlier in the holiday season, Andy announced that the New Year Eve party woud be at his house this year...AND...the celebration would include a Ping Pong Tournament!  Everyone brought food.  I made pork and sauerkraut which must have been pretty good - I saw people eating it all night long!

By time I got there, the compeition was in full swing!

That's my daughter-in-law, Catherine, showing off her skills while Tony eats, Morgan, Brandy and TJ are obviously in awe!?!

Michael looks like he was studying the competition...

Wonder what Jamie was thinking?

There goes Andy...

Andy is such a good doggie dad, he bought Helga Jean a new bed just for the party...

Hey, that's not Helga!  Where is Helga? 

 There she is...guess we know who rules THAT roost,

don't we? 

In the mean time, the competition continues.  Tony had his brackets all figured out and they posted them on the chalk board...

We had two classes, women and men...

The finalists for the women were Vicky and Heather (Morgan's mom).

Heather won!  Vicky didn't jump over the net to congratulate her, but she was a good sport...

Tony presented Heather with her trophy...

Of course we had trophies...we are first class pongers!

Andy and Tony were the finalists for the men.  I know, they are always the finalists...

Tony managed to win, but we think it was because he looked so intimidating with his wrist bands...

I presented him with his trophy...

And of  course, Vicky had to congratulate him...

He was pretty excited..

The clock struck 12, there was a ton of huggin' and shoutin' going on, even Helga got her ears scratched!

everyone stopped to eat,

but the ping pong went on and on...long after I remembered I was an old woman and went home to get some rest!

~Sigh~

Although I'm not a party person, I always love New Year's Eve.  It just feels like a clean slate for me, time to change things, start over, even learn to write a new number when you write checks.  It's a good thing, even if it means letting go of old things....

But there are always memories....and those are precious.  This New Year, memories are very precious, and some are just darn funny....like New Years, 1964, when we dressed my darling baby brother as the New Year's Baby....

Love ya, bro!

Now it's a snowy Friday, go out and be a blessing to someone and come back soon.  I know you are curious about the

 Frigid Five Miler....

I'm so glad YOU stopped by to share my life.  God bless you!

Love,

Jan

A lot is well...

Here it is, after 7 AM and I'm back in bed.  Got my coffee and debated:  should I give in and  turn the furnace on?  Should I just take a cup of coffee upstairs,climb into my warm bed,  turn on the laptop, turn on the news and pretend all is well. Is it? 

 So many people ask, I thought you might like an answer.  There is not a morning that has gone by in the past two months that I did not go downstairs to make coffee and have been hit by the reality of it all.  Mark, who made my coffee every morning (and frequently brought me a cup before I got up), is gone.  That alone is enough to bring me to a grinding halt...BUT...

I am blessed.  I lost my partner in crime, my inspiration, my (fill in the blank) two months ago yesterday, but I never find it hard to come here and tell you about my blessings simply because there are many.  I am a grieving, sniveling mess who has the best friends, pets, kids and readers...I lost much but I had much to lose and I still have much left.  I have much because I AM BLESSED BEYOND ALL MEASURE and am always thanful for that.

God is good.  My prayers have been answered.  Not always the answer I had in mind, but my faith in HIM got me here and will certainly get me there, wherever that may be.

ALL is not well but MORE THAN ENOUGH is, and that keeps me on my toes.

So...

The dysfunctional family from House on the Hill is working on a top secret project.  Can't tell, can't even hint, but I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later.  Until then, want to see what is going on at Andy's house?

Please forgive the crappy photos.  I will soon learn not to trust my phone for those Kodak Moments in life. 

He got a new piece of furniture!  No, not a sofa or a dresser...not a fridge or a bed...are you ready for this?

A PING PONG TABLE!

Yes, because he is a 25 year old guy with a home of his own, he decided to move the living room into a spare room and furnish his living room with a ping pong table but before he got the furniture moved, they decided to set up the table...

I'm thinking we won't be seeing much of Tony at home, he loves this game!

I got tired of watching the ball bounce, so I went out to get the guys pizza.  Guess what they were doing when I got back? 

You bet...they were playing ping pong!

But now they had a spectator!  It's Pele!

But not for long, he's not named for a soccer player for nothing...he's a natural!

~sigh~

So, what's new in your world?

Time to run!  Busy weekend coming up.  I'll try to remember to take my camera so I can tell show you everything!

Go out and make someone smile?!?

Love,

Jan

 Giving thanks!

To be honest, I was dreading Thanksgiving this year.  Without Mark, holidays are hard even though I have enough good memories to last several lifetimes.  One of Mark's duties was to get to Mom's house early so he could help preparing the meal as well as his favorite duty:  carving the turkey.

We always celebrate Thanksgiving the Saturday after the holiday so everyone can spend the holidays with their 'other' families. 

This year...

Dinner was scheduled for 5:00.  I drove myself so I could have time to collect my thoughts and to pray. 

Yes, I am a one of those old women you see on your way to SOMEWHERE:   short, very short, so short that if she didn't have a little WV she wouldn't be able to see over the dash, grey hair, obviously alone in the car, but her mouth is moving, she's waving her free hand and nodding her head. 

I prayed that our family would enjoy being together, that we would count each other as blessings in our lives.  I prayed that all the members of my family would travel safely to Mom's and back home again. 

I did not pray for the turkey.

At 4:45 I walked into my mom's house and saw this:

Michael praying?

I stood there for a minute and saw this:

And this:

Hmmmmm....I was thinking this was the day we were having our Thanksgiving dinner.  I checked the dining room...

LOOKS like Thanksgiving...


Either by owner operator error, or equipment failure, the turkey was not done!


Andy and Tony amused themsves by playing coffee table ping pong:

As it got later and later, the desserts on the buffet started looking verrrrry good...

But before too many hours, no more than three and a half, Leslie anounced dinner was ready!

We no sooner swallowed the last morsel of food and the boys started clearing the table.  How wonderful!  They were being so helpful!  Then the truth came out...

It was time for dining room table ping pong!

First Andy played Tony:

And then Catherine played against Michael:

~sigh~

So many blessings, so many reasons to give thanks...so many prayers answered, so few ping pong balls!

I am blessed, now you (and you and you) go out there and be a blessing in someone's life!

Love ya,

Jan