Exceedingly Mundane

We got home a little while ago, from Don and Gail’s house. We had a really good trip and Don and Tim seemed to have a really good time going duck hunting. The guys got up at 3:30 this morning, so by the time they got back (about 1:30 or 2:00 PM), both of them were pretty worn out. Tim is asleep right now on the couch, although he’d never admit it 🙄

I think we’re going to have a very quiet, stay-at-home kind of New Years Eve. I don’t really like to get out anyway, too many people and too many crazies that might be out. So, we’ll stay in and watch football and movies, like an ole married couple

Guess what – Don shot his very first deer yesterday! As previously reported, Tim, Don, David and Fred went deer hunting at Tim’s parents house and Don shot a doe! Linda took some pictures, but we haven’t gotten them yet, so I don’t have any to post yet. I think the smearing blood ritual was observed, as is the custom over there. 😆

While the guys went hunting, Gail and I went shopping. Isn’t that what the women are supposed to do? 😀 We were gone all afternoon and hit a lot of stores and bought a lot of fun stuff. We picked up some after-Christmas things at Target, and I was very surprised at how much they had left of Christmas stock (I like to buy paper, bows, cards, etc and put them up for the next year). We also hit the mall and the Yankee Candle store, the calendar kiosk (Gail and I like to buy calendars after Christmas, when they are 50% off!), Bath and Body Works and Kirklands. We also went to Marshalls and TJ Maxx and we each bought a cute batter bowl in TJ Maxx.

Don, Gail and David spent the night last night and stayed up late watching a movie with Tim. I wimped out and went to bed early (still fighting this sore throat). The guys have gone this morning to the driving range to pound some golf balls. I think we’re going to head up to Gail’s house late this afternoon, Tim and I, and spend the night so that Tim can get up at 4 AM and go duck hunting with Don. Lots of hunting going on around here!

Isn’t that an old nursery rhyme or song, “hi ho the dairy-o, a hunting we will go” ??? 😀

Yesterday was a very productive day. I got all the Christmas decorations down, the Snow Village packed up, and the tree down (Tim did the lights and tree itself, I did all the decorations). Tim also got the outside lights down out front (we’ve left them on the deck for a few more days) and cleaned up in the garage and attic. Very productive. So, now he wants to go hunting!

He invited Don and David to go deer hunting with him today, so they are headed down around lunch. Gail is coming and we’re going to hang out while the guys all go hunting. Fred is going to drive up from Hattiesburg and meet them also, so they will all hopefully have a good time hunting and hanging out. Should be a busy day for everyone!

OK, I changed my imood indicator (over on the right, in the sidebar) to read “Industrious”. I’m hoping that helps rub off on me today! I am going to try very hard to be industrious today and get a lot done. I mostly did laundry and picked up junk around the house yesterday. Tim was very productive and got the oil changed in my Explorer yesterday, and then we took it for a ride to get it washed and vacuumed out. It seemed to have picked up a LOT of mud on Monday at his parents house!

Today… I’m hoping to start taking down Christmas stuff. I probably won’t get it all done, but at least make a good dent in it. The Snow Village and tree take a while, and I’ve already started on all the other misc junk all over the house. Tim is planning on going hunting tomorrow, and I will either head over with him, or stay here and de-Christmas the house more. Crossing my fingers that we get a lot done today!

Tim really outdid himself this year. First there was the mini-scavenger hunt to find my new digital camera (more on that later, if I can find time to sit down and write it all down!), then he gave me the Yankee Candles and the Godiva chocolates. He really knows what I love! Click on the extended entry to see more of my presents from Tim…

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Christmas night (yes, I’m backtracking here 🙂 ) was busy for us… after Daddy left, I cleaned up the kitchen and picked up the house. We both played with some of our presents for a little bit, and we watched a lot of the Green Bay Packers game on TV. After that, we settled in to watch a movie (“The Island”) and was interrupted by the possum. See the possum story in its entirety here. After the movie was over, I went outside to shoot some pictures with my new camera of our outside lights. I’m still learning and didn’t get the kind of shot I wanted, even though I tried several modes. When I came back inside the house, I found Tim doing this:

We played with this for a while! Tim also got a Nike golf glove and an outdoor pop-up driving net to use to practice his swing. It was a golfing and gadget-y kind of Christmas for us!

Most people who know me, know that I have a new obsession with Yankee Candles. Tim has been an absolute darling this year, in indulging me in my new passion. On my birthday, he went to the Yankee Candle store and hand picked a new one for me – Almond Toffee (divine!). This year for Christmas, he outdid himself again – he got me two of the largest jar candles!

Look what I got – Jack Frost and Farmhouse Apple!!!!!

Another one of my gifts from Tim… more to come! 🙂

For the last several years, I’ve been making sticky buns at Christmas. It’s a very easy recipe, but I “save” it for the holidays and usually only make it at Christmas. In years past, when we are always gone Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day, I make it a day or so early, whenever we are going to open our presents to each other and be home. This year was the first year ever that I have made them on Christmas Eve night and we’ve had them on Christmas morning. Daddy was here with us this year, and I think he enjoyed them too.

Tim pronounced that he could eat these 365 days a year. He said he loved them better than anything. I asked if that meant better than a ribeye or prime rib and he hesitated, but in keeping with the spirit of the moment, he said “yes, better than a steak”. 😀 We’ll see about that!

You can find the recipe here on Hambones.

Here’s what they look like before:

And after coming out of the oven the next morning:

We’re fairly weary today, after the long Christmas weekend. Lots going on, both here and at Tim’s parents house. Yesterday was really great, but a long day and we were really late getting in. We slept late this morning and are going to take it easy today. I have piles of laundry to do, and have started them, and am now having trouble with my washer. It’s not filling, spinning and emptying correctly. Argh. Not a good time right now to be budgeting for a new washer and dryer! We also have a lot of toys to play with, from Christmas, and things to do around here, so today is going to be pretty low-key.

Update: Whew – the washer is working right now. I had to re-run two loads through twice, but it’s working like it should now. I hope it stays like that for a while!

We’re headed out in a few minutes, to spend a belated Christmas Day with Tim’s family (plus my dad). Back really late, so hopefully tomorrow I will have a little time to blog and catch up a bit.

Merry Christmas!

OK, this is just too good to pass up. We went possum hunting tonight in our backyard 😆

Tim and I were watching a movie, and all of a sudden, we heard this huge crash sound, near the fireplace. I thought at first maybe it was a huge rat (had that problem before), and Tim was like, we’ll turn on the fireplace and burn it out! So, we turned up the fireplace on high, and after a minute, I go to the back door and see something skulking across the deck. When I first saw movement, I assumed it was a neighbor’s cat, but then I saw the nose on the thing and knew it wasn’t a cat. Tim got a flashlight and shined on it and said “that’s a possum!”. It crawled over to our tree and climbed up, then “played possum” on a branch. I grabbed my very new camera (that I have not read the book on yet) and tried to take pictures of it. Meanwhile, Tim went and got his pellet gun and took a shot or two at the poor creature. Yes, folks, on Christmas night, that’s what we do around here!

The picture is blurry, but you get the general idea… I have a lot to learn about my new camera, but this story was too good not to make the ole blog!

Here ya go:

Look what Santa Claus brought me for Christmas – I must have been very good this year!!! It’s a Kodak P850 digital camera, with a lot more features, a lot more megapixels, a lot more zoom, and tons of other cool things that my other digital camera didn’t have. Sweet!

We are spending our first ever Christmas Eve together, here at home. Normally, we go and spend Christmas Eve with Tim’s family, but we’re going to do that on Monday this year, instead. So, today, we had several family and friends over to our house (Fred, Terry, Tony, Ryan, Kirk and Nichole). I fixed food for everyone to nibble on while they were here hanging out with us. I made two kinds of homemade soup (crab soup and taco soup) and we had stuff for sandwiches, plus meatballs, Lil Smokies, shrimp dip and various and sundry other food to eat. We watched some football and visited and had a great time seeing everyone.

Merry Christmas everyone!

We had a really busy, but really fun day today. Tim took off from work and was going to go hunting, but I talked him out of it (plus the weather wasn’t great, it’s a little too warm to go deer hunting). So, we spent the day hanging out together. We went and ran some errands, then had lunch at Logan’s. After that we went to a matinee of “King Kong” (review soon on Hambones, after the holiday). Geesh, that’s one looooong movie! Then we came home and I worked on food and cleaning up for having everyone here tomorrow. 🙂