Life on the High Plains

So I'm not usually the type to toot my own horn, but I won the fantasy football league!  Quite amazing for someone who didn't even want to play and only agreed to participate because another team was needed to complete the league. I have to toot my own horn because it's doubtful my league-mates will send me messages of congratulations or anything. Thank you Peyton Manning and the Kansas City defense for helping me kick everyone's butt this season! Congrats to Jillian aka The Dum-Dums on a great second place finish.  I love it when the ladies finish 1st and 2nd! See you all next year!  By the way, when will my Super Bowl ring be arriving??

We had a nice quiet day at home today.  I finally had a chance to "play" with some of my new Christmas toys. Dana and Adam gave us a "Petite Pizzeria".  On the way home from church I stopped and bought the makings for a turkey Alfredo pizza (good way to use up the last of the leftover turkey). Started by sprinkling a little olive oil on the crust.   Then added Alfredo sauce, turkey, and cheese. Baked it in the pizzeria for about 8 minutes and had a quick, easy, and delicious lunch!  After lunch we watched some of the Olympic trials while we waited for the Broncos and Chiefs games.  I also pulled out my new knitting needles and Knitting 101 book that Jillian and Brian gave me.  I decided to try my first "knitting in the round" project by making a hat with some leftover yarn. Here's what it started out looking like...  and here's the finished product.  Not too bad for a first try, but I'm going to...

My dad and brother came for a quick Christmas visit.  Seems sad that they're heading home already.  We waited so long for the holidays to get here then poof they're done. My dad is brilliant.  He knows something about everything, especially history. We took him to a couple museums while he was here.  He's a walking history lesson.    Mary and I soaked in the information Gramps gave up.   From old-time washing machines to coal powered irons.  One thing is for sure, it makes me glad I live now rather than back then.  I think women worked hard from dusk until dawn back then.  I would not have survived.   Mr. Beans kind of took off on is own and enjoyed some of the hands on activities.   Mary is a history nut too, in fact she's said her dream job would be to work in a museum.  She better hang out with Gramps as much as possible.   (My dad still wears the Farm Credit hat I gave him...

Another Christmas has come and gone.    It was a wonderful day with family including my favorite grandson, Mr. Beans.     Our tree had a long wait because my darlin' was working and we decided to wait for him to get home before we started our Christmas.  Mr. Beans had an especially tough day.  Can you imagine being a kid who has to wait until Christmas night to open his gifts?  Luckily Santa left him this really cool gaming chair that he got to sit in throughout the day.  He did a great job of being patient.     Our day started with homemade cinnamon rolls....very yummy! The stockings were filled.     The dogs tried their hardest to beg for treats all day.  Jillian seemed to be their main target.   A new generation got to learn how to cut the roast beast.     The table was set with my china and crystal.  Yes, I like to make things somewhat formal. ...

I love Christmas trees!  I love simple, old-fashioned, homemade ornaments.  We've collected a lot over the years and here's a few of my favorites. One of my best friends in Wisconsin, Vicki, always surprises me with wonderful, hand made glass items at Christmas.  This is an ornament from a couple years ago. Irv and I bought this one on our first trip to Alaska.     Vicki and I went on a girl's trip to New York a few years ago and she surprised me with an ornament of the Statue of Liberty torch.  Love it! When we lived in Germany we bought some straw ornaments that I love because they are so simple. This is also one of my favorites.  I don't remember where it came from--I think it might actually belong to Jillian.     Each of my girls has an ornament from when they were young.  This is Jillian when she was just a wee baby.  Seems like yesterday.   My boss at my previous job gave me...

I have just one question...how does a Christmas cactus know when it's time to bloom?   Santa comes tonight.  I think I've been pretty good this year.  I can't wait to see what he brings.   Merry Christmas! 

Wow!  What a weekend! We drove down to Albuquerque for the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.  CSU Rams vs. WSU Cougars. I have to say after the first five minutes of the game I was thinking this is going to be really bad--the Rams are going to be wiped out.   The game was at Lobo Field at the University of New Mexico.  This is a special place because my mother and both my brothers graduated from UNM.  I had been to this stadium a couple times as a kid.  When I was in about the 6th grade I was a Camp Fire Girl and we were asked to come hold one of those gigantic flags that covers the entire field during halftime.  It was fun.  Back then there were no press boxes so the stadium had changed tremendously since I was last there. Jillian got us fantastic seats in the 6th row on the 50 yard line.  It almost felt like we were sitting with the team. I wanted to count all the players.  It seemed like there must have been 100 or more on e...