Christmas Recap

I can't believe Christmas is over and it is almost 2011!!!! I remember my Granny telling me when I was young "the years will go by faster and faster as you get older". Man she was right because new years 2010 seems like just yesterday.

I had a pretty good Christmas though, eventful but still good. Our Christmas celebrations began at 3:30pm on Christmas eve. We ate and opened presents at my Granny Brown's house. This year we had my cousin and her six boys in attendance. That's right I said six. Plus all of the usual crowd.

We then had to be at Justin's Granny Mary Ruth's house at 6:00. There we ate dinner and exchanged gifts.

Next we went to his parents house for their gift exchange and some homemade hot chocolate. There Justin got every thing  else, I had put on the list of "He wants".

Justin and I returned home around midnight to open our presents from each other.(He never fails to impress and out do  me). Is it sad that Molli had more to open than the both of us combined?

Christmas morning we had to be at Jonell's for "Christmas breakfast" at 8:30. We headed home for a quick break only to be at Justin's uncle's house for lunch around 1:00. Oh and we were not done yet. We then went to my parent's house at 3:00 for a gift exchange and Christmas dinner.

At my parents house we decided to open presents first. (You know since we were floating on turkey and dressing). It was crazy. There is no order to our Christmas. Justin's parents stack everyone's gifts in piles and each take turns so every body can see what each person has received. At my family's Christmas you just better get out of the way and duck if something comes a flying. We took Molli this year, and even my little hiper dog had a look of despair as the kids ran and jumped around her.

So if you have been counting that was SIX Christmas events in 24 hours, 5 of which involved eating. No wonder mine and Justin's faces look like we're storing nuts for winter. I'd bet we gained 10 pounds in the those 24 hours.

Breaking Ground but Not Really

I have begun to figure out this whole house thing is going to be slow go (at least for now). There are so many things that have to be done before anything can actually get done, if that makes any sense at all.

For instance, we decided not to put any money into the land our house will sit on until after we had a perk test done.  Since this can not really be done in freezing temperatures or in the pouring rain we were just able to prepare for this, this past Saturday. This included us digging two holes, five feet deep, two feet wide and thirty feet apart. Then paying the health department to come and look at all of the work we had done. 

 

I look really short, other than being really short this is due to me wearing Justin's coveralls. They were really warm but not very attractive not to mention about two feet too long.

Hunter bug decided he wanted to help. He even brought his own shovel. Although he decided he'd rather play in the hole instead of actually digging it.

Can you tell it's deeper than he is tall? Oh, and don't you think Justin looks really good with a kid at his feet? I think it looks awful natural.....Just saying.

 The next step to this process is waiting by the mailbox for God knows how long to see weather the land "perked" or not. So as you may have guessed, this is the stage we are currently at. I figure it will be three weeks before we hear anything. You know with it being the holidays and all.

It was funny as Justin dug into the ground Dad began to say "Brandi aren't you excited"? "You're breaking ground"! My response would be "yeah but not really". I refuse to get excited until I step foot in the house and I have paid the first payment with ease. Call me a scenic but I call it cautious. He even named an album on his facebook "breaking ground" or something to that affect. I guess he can be exited for the both of us....lol

Blog Hooked

Okay it is official.... I am "blog hooked"!! It may be fairly obvious since I am posting at 10:20 on a Tuesday night. Normally my bed has been calling my name for about 20 minutes now. Well I guess it still is but my need to be "in the know" is much greater.

I love the fact I can keep up with all my favorite people.  I feel I know every move those cute little kiddos make. Not to mention the ones who have yet to enter the world. I guess living vicariously through these lovely little mommas and mommas to be is enough for me (for now).

Also, I am super siked. Another friend of mine has climbed onto the blogging band wagon. (it's about time). I love hearing from her. Although when we talk she ends up patiently waiting while I vent about something or someone. Ahh what a great friend to pretend to care about what some crazy person said about you today.

It's weird.....reading about some one's day to day activities in a blog can make you feel much more close to them. Even if they are complete strangers. So for this I say......thank you Elena for the band wagon....lol

Day One in Stone Mountain Georgia

When Justin finally decorated the outside of our house I noticed he neglected to put the wreaths on the windows. Last night, when we set up in the campground I found out why...........

Yes that is right. He has decorated our camper...hahaha. I find it humorous.

We also decorated Molli....

I know it's not a Christmas sweater but all they had was orange in her size. She looks like she is okay with it in the pic above but she wasn't at first......

It may be hard to tell but she is hanging her head. What's funny is she stood in the same spot for twenty minutes, just like this. Its like she thought the sweeter tied her to the bed and made her head weigh a thousand pounds. Justin pushed her and she just fell over lifeless. Kind of like "cow tipping", I guess...lol

We took her for a walk to prove to her she was still capable of moving her limbs but she was more interested in hunting squirrels.....

Later we went into Stone Mountain Park. It is amazing how many lights they have.

All of you with kids old enough to appreciate this (LaRae), you should definitely come here during Christmas time. They have Christmas lights everywhere, a Christmas parade every day, shows (some of them in 3d), snow, snow rides, hot chocolate, smores, a train ride with caroling, fireworks and a Christmas tree in every corner.

  Speaking of the shows, I am sure my friends Ollie and LaRae would enjoy them. Some are just like Southern Union's but on a smaller scale. Kind of reminds me of Glee. I took a video of the best one but of course it was a horrible video. I did get a decent one of the reindeer they had. They were really neat they....glowed!

(FYI sound is awful so you may want to hit mute)

In light of these facts, I have decided Ollie and Larae should take December off, come up here and perform in one of these. (You know, rack up some Christmas cash).

Also Justin got to hear his favorite Christmas song. Wanna take a guess at what it is? Nope it's not jingle bells. No it's not white Christmas. What's that you say? That's right....It's Dominick the Italian Christmas donkey. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about here is a link......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXcx7_XaeEo

Oh my goodness I love this man but he is nutty!! Although you have to admit it's catchy.


Lastly, I leave you with a random picture I took of Molli, just because I thought it was freaky......

Takes after Justin I guess.....The devil comes out some times.

Word of Advise

As if the holidays aren't expensive enough. We received a power bill a few days ago that was twice what it normally is. I know your thinking we'll its colder but this one was for last month. It really wasn't that cold. So I sent Justin to investigate. The lady said our usage doubled last month and has doubled AGAIN so far for this month.  "What???? We haven't changed anything", I thought.

Thank God for my savvy husband. He immediately went home to investigate. Turns out the "programmable" thermostat everyone talks about (the one we just purchased) has broken and was stuck on emergency heat.

So let that be a lesson to anyone who cares. If your power bill jumps don't just pay it and forget it. INVESTIGATE!!! Justin talked to a friend of his who had the same thing happen except he waited until his bill suddenly jumped by $600.00 before checking things out.

I know you are thinking, "who blogs about bills" but I thought it may be helpful to someone who is or may be in the same situation.

On the bright side, I know what brand thermostat we aren't installing in our new house. :)

A Long Ride and Lots of Sticker Shock

Friday our contractor (Robby) called to tell us the consensus on the materials for our house. He has been taking our plans around to different places getting a total price on materials. I was nervous about this. I just knew it was going to be devastating to me. However it wasn't as bad as I expected. I understand it will be much more in reality. (You know once I  begin adding stuff I can't live without). However, I didn't expect to find Justin on the "Bose" website afterwards. That's right I said Bose. This is an occupational hazzard of being married to an electritian. I would rather spend our money furnishing our home or just save it and have a smaller payment. In contrast, Justin would rather have a killer surround sound throughout the entire house and a tv mounted in his bathroom(so he can see it from the shower).

This is going to be a long ride. I suffer from "sticker shock" on a regular basis and Justin's motto is "if you want it buy it". This is primarly due to the fact he has never had to pay a bill in his life. First his mom paid all of them for him and now I do. He never sees his check. I deposit it and distribute it acordingly. It must be nice to know "somebody" will take care of it. No worries. :)

 I guess this is why God put us together. He pushes me to "live a little" and I push him to "save a little". However I do not look foward to the inevitable agurments about what we want and what we chose not to tack on to the growing debt. I love that man and I hate telling him no because he works hard too. But as much as I love him I hate spending money more. So as I said this is going to be a long ride.

I will leave you with "rough draft" of our house plans. I say rough because they will change.

As I've mentioned we can't decide if want a formal dining room or an office so here it is both ways. (I need your input on this issue. See the poll to the side and vote.... )

Sorry they're backwards. We had to mirror them for our lot.

It's Christmas Time Already?

 Wow, I am having a hard time processing the fact it is Christmas time already. It really snuck up on me this year. I feel I haven't got one thing done but we did get the inside of our house decorated this past Saturday.

Justin and I are like a well oiled machine when it comes to decorating. He has his chores and I have mine. I take down the fall decorations, set the table and clean clean clean while he puts up the Christmas village.

He likes his little village. He so carefully places every house, light and person in just the right spot on the mantle above the fire place. I personally would prefer pre-lit garland, ribbon, candles and maybe a wreath or something. However Justin doesn't handle change well and his mom always had a Christmas village on her mantel when he was growing up. Maybe I can have the village moved to a different location in our new house but I am not holding my breath. Ya got to pick you battles I guess.

The outside of the house is Justin's area as well. I have my chores to help but he is the master mind. He usually goes all out with icicle lights, pre-lit reindeer, wreaths, garland and yes a music box the lights dance to. However we haven't completely gotten to that yet. My friend Allison came by the other day and expressed her disappointment in the "Griswold's" this year. Don't freight Alli, we'll get there.

Hopefully we'll make it to a christmas tree farm today to get this year's masterpiece. However "dam overtime" may be standing in our way. (Those who may not know I am not cussing, Justin really works at a dam and may have to work overtime).. lol

Anyway, the tree is my favorite part of christmas time. I love the smell, the lights and everything about it. I like to sip coffee in the mornings while I sit and stare at it. Crazy I know. I guess it makes me feel like a kid again.