I have to tell you...

I have  a program on my computer...I used to check it daily, but now I only check it once or twice a year...

If I ask it, it will give me a few stats...

Like this one...

I have been quit for 6 Years, 1 hour and 15 seconds (2,191 days). I have saved $32,865.61 by not smoking 131,462 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Year, 3 Months, 2 Days, 11 hours and 10 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 1/31/2006 12:55 AM!!!!!

You gotta see this!

I know, you want to know what happened at the Frigid 5 Miler, but before I show you, you have to see this...

Last spring, while we were at a benefit luncheon, the boys bought my nephew, Tyler, a unicycle.  Summer is such a busy time for our family, and the uni was pretty much forgotten until a few weeks ago.

I already told you that Butler is a bicycling town, but have I told you that it is a unicycle town as well?

Yes!  Butler has a Unicyle Club, Butler Wobble, who meets on Saturdays at the Y.  A great bunch of people and they have lots of fun, so if you are local and interested in learning to balance on one wheel, I encourage you to check out their blog! 

Come to think of it, there will be some pretty incredible unicycle activities coming up in May.  If you are interested in unicycle and even remotely local, check it out.

Getting back to the story...according to the experts, it takes about ten hours of wall hugging practice before you can take off across the gym on your unicycle.  Tyler was determined to beat that number. and worked hard!

By the end of the evening, he was doing very well.  In another week or two, I'm sure he'll be pedaling along with Andy and Tony!

Someone else was working just as hard, and doing just as well...

Yes, it's  Morgan!  She was doing a great job!  I know how hard it is, and was very proud of her!

Did I ever tell you how hard it is to get hurt on a unicycle?  Apparently, when you are on a bike and fall off, you fall OVER.  When you are on a unicycle and lose your banance, you fall forward and pretty much walk off of it.  Seems that statistically, you are safer on a uni than on a bicycle...

Unless your name is Tony...

who managed to break his scaphoid bone, which the orthapedic surgeon tells us, is very hard to break...but he's all healed now, which is good since he has to help...

Three torn ligaments...

~sigh~ 

Aren't they perfect for each other?

So, come back so I can tell you all about the Frigid 5 Miler!

Now I'm getting company today!  My friend, Janet, who I have not seen in forever and a week, is coming to visit, so I'm off to get my chores done before she gets here.

Go out and be a blessing in someone's life but don't forget to come back soon!

Thanks for stopping by...

Love,

Jan

Catherine

Stop the Presses!

Oh no...I believe I just became front runner in the

Bad Mother-in-law competition...

I am a day late posting this...

Happy Birthday, Catherine!

Yesterday was my daughter-in-law, Catherine's birthday.  I've been such a scatter brain lately, that I am a day late posting this.  I hope that she'll consider the source, forgive me and accept my biggest and brightest birthday wishes for her!

We're blessed to have her in our family...

She's a devoted wife...

A medal winning runner...

First class baker of pies, a champion ping pong player...

She's funny, beautiful and smart.  We're proud of her! 

Happy birthday, Catherine!

May God bless you with many more!

Love,

Jan

"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

Santa was here!

This year, Christmas had such a deeper meaning for me, less thought of gift wrap and stocking stuffers, more about the true meaning of Christmas and the gifts that could not be bought:  time with family and frieneds.  I've already shared our Christmas eve with you and I thought you'd like to see our Christmas morning.  Even though Tony, the baby, is 23. it still gets messy and is fun...so imagine you are dressed in your finest pajamas and join us in the living room...

Morgan got to spend the night with us on Christmas eve so she and Tony could open their gifts to each other here.

She spotted the pink thing in/on/by her stocking right away...

It was what every good housewife (or someday housewife) should have...a pink and zebra striped broom!

Tony opened his gift from Morgan first...

Some sort of golf clubs...I can never remember what is what, but he seemed pretty happy with whatever it is...

Next Morgan opened her gift from Tony...

An iPad?  Wow!  I think she loves it!

Then, suddenly...in comes Andy and the black cloud better known as Helga Jean!  He told her to 'find it' in the pile of gift wrap.  Not sure what 'it' was, but she tried her best to dig 'it' out!

Andy told me he wanted to give me one of his gifts for me, the one that I have come to anticipate most of all, the one he makes for me.  He told me to close my eyes.  I did, but kept shooting in  case I got a good photo of him and the gift...

I did!  Here's what it is...

A Baby Andrew original...to go along with the Bicycle Wheel Christmas Tree?  Isn't he a trip?  Later on Christmas, we strung the lights on it and added a bow.  I'll have to find photos of it and show you later.

Morgan got footie pajamas...

Helga Jean spread the love, ignoring the fact that Grandma told her no dogs on the couch...

Andy's gift was also an iPad and he quickly forgot that there were other people in the room...

Except for Helga, she won't let people forget about her!

He did come up for air...and to send a message...

It says, "Thank you muches."

About that time, the batteries in my camera died, but it really didn't matter.  It was Christmas, time for family and friends.  I had dinner with Vicky, Jamie and Jamie's parents.  Later Vicky and Jamie and my mother joined us for snacks and celebration.  I got no photos, but that's okay.  I was there, just like all the kids were in 1997...

And imagine this...all through the day, we remembered that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Thanks for stopping in to see our celebration...and here's the biggest Christmas miracle...my tree is down!  For those who haven't been here long, getting me to take the tree down is like pulling teeth.  I love Christmas lights, decorations, the tree, and will use any and all excuse to keep it up.  This year there was too much going on...the 2011 Christmas tree is history!

But  we're still making history.  Back soon with more going on.

But for now...go out and be a blessing to someone.  I know I'm going to try!

Love,

Jan