Christmas 2014

Our advent - we forgot to light one of the candles on week#3 so week#4 we lit the last two.

 



Christmas dinner at mom's (above is Hellen hiding, Lea, and Sarah - below is Jerry, Lea, Sonya, Sarah, tommy, Don, Les, Hellen, Mom))

The dogs had a secret santa and we opened some gift early and some Christmas morning

Christmas morning shot of the annual Swarovski crystal snowflake that Jerry gives me every year. 2014 is particularly beautiful.

Random shot of Eddie with Uncle Les

And, for the final, yes I did give my hubby pooper scooper service for Christmas!

Still Catcing Up

So, my Aunt Hellen and her husband Les flew in from Oregon to spend the holidays with family. Yea! We picked them up at the airport, had a nice dinner, and then said goodbye because they drove up north a bit to spend time with aunt Mary & Uncle Larry.

When they returned on the weekend we all went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse to celebrate both mom & Les's birthdays.

 

The next day I took Hellen & Les to temple.

 

The next weekend was my birthday and I choose Polish food, Yum yum. (had to borrow a photo online, mine did not turn out). We enjoyed all the items in this photo though (perogis, cabbage rolls, kielbasa).

The next day was my actual birthday and I had some tickets for the ballet (Moscow Ballet Nutcracker) and I invited Aunt Hellen to go with me. It was fabulous and quite different than the version Jerry and I saw last year.

 

Oh my! I skipped over Christmas Next time.



Way Back Wednesday

My wierd Aunt Hellen. Yes, that is how her named is spelled ;) She's my mom's baby sister & #11 out of 11.

She really was a cutie pie! Oh, and any family members reading this, you could be next ;)

More Aunts with a Couple Cousins Thrown In

This is one of the first sights I saw this morning - my wierd Aunt Hellen wearing rollers. Like that wasn't traumatic enough, she also wore them when we went to Denny's for breakfast!


I thought this was a lovely photo of Aunt Ola Fay in the lobby of the hotel where we stayed last night.

FINALLY Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bob arrived today. Now all the sisters are together. Whew. Joyce and Kunkel Bob closed their business to attend. Thank you.


Here is a photo of my mom and all her sisters arranged by age. You can figure out which direction that age thing goes as I am staying out of it if you guess wrong! LOL (L to R: Ola frim Arkansas, my mom Velear from Florida, Aunt Joyce from Arkansas, Aunt Mary from Florida, and Aunt Hellen from Washington/New Mexico)

Aunt Mary & Uncle Larry's daughter Elizabeth and her son Seth. They came down from Georgia for this special event.

Aunt Mary & Uncle Larry's oldest daughter Rhonda and her daughter Rachel. Rhonda came from Arkansas and Rachel from Tenessee.

Aunts

My mom, my cousin Leona (Lee) and I traveled to Beverly Hills today to see the Beverly Hillbillies, LOL. Actually it's Beverly Hills Florida and my Aunt Mary (mom's sister) and Uncle Larry will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Monday. Hard to believe because they look like kids in the photo below. In fact, I believe their daughters may be older than them, LOL.

Mary & Larry, Dec 2008

Aunt Ola Faye, another of mom's sisters, who I hadn't seen in 15 years. It was fun catching up with her.

My mom with Aunt Hellen in the background. All these photos were taken in Aunt Mary's kitchen. Her kitchen is always so clean and perfect. How does that happen? I want one like that.

Lee checking out Hellen's grey. Everyone is amaized that Hellen has very little grey and is in her 60's (but you didn't hear her age from me). Lee is my mom's deceased sister's daughter but they were raised almost as siblings.

Finally Aunt Hellen, mom's youngest sister.

Tomorrow we should see another of mom's sisters, Aunt Joyce and her husband Uncle Bob. Also Aunt Mary's daughter and granddaughter should arrive before we leave for home. Mom's mother had 11 children (9 females/2 males) and those mentioned here are the remaining surviving siblings.

A Day At The Dog Beach, Honeymoon Island State Park, Dunedin FL

First photo is waiting for the draw bridge to Honeymoon Island while a sailboat passed.

Second photo is the warning sign (good one too - last year Dad and I saw the biggest rattle snake I had ever seen in the wild near the parking area for the dog park)

Third photo is Eddie Ratbone Carmichael strolling near, but not in, the water.

Fourth photos is Miss Daisey Mae Carmichael, a.k.a. Princess Daisey, who got wet and sandy when we had to cross a little stream. Poor thing.

Fifth photo is Aunt Hellen on the left (white tee shirt, denim capris) and mom on right (has her shirt over her head to avoid the sun). Edward stopped due to burr in his foot.

*You can click on the photos to enlarge them*

Back from Naples - no photos

Aunt Hellen took some photos but now sure how to download from her camera.

Yesterday was WONDERFUL! Mom and I had 3 hours of spa treatments. The facility was so nice - very tranquil, zen-like atmosphere. Nice amenities like shavers, toothbrushes, curling irons. Basically anything you need to get yourself back together before leaving.

First we had these exfoliating body scrubs where they rub you down then put warm water and brown sugar and wrap you up in plastic and towels as you lay on a heated bed. She then massages your head and face and infuses your skin with pettermint oil and sprays you with a tea. Sure opens up your breathing! The woman who did it was very interesting. She was from Tobago.

Next was the massage. I have a terrible time laying flat on my back or stomach without it creating discomfort in the small of my back so in the end she had me lay on my side and from there on it was a more enjoyable. The final treatment was a facial. I liked it alot and had fun talking to the woman who did it.

Supper was at a restaurant called Chops and I had Mahi & grilled asaparagus. Mom & H had filet mignon. Afterwards we walked around the quaint downtown of Naples and had ice cream while we window shopped. We met a lady walking her Rat Terrier which of course made me home sick.

vickie

Christmas nails

Aunt Hellen is back! I went to mom's last night to set up a wireless internet connetion so H could use her laptop and for Friday night girl's night out. Mom worked late and we were on the phone with Verizon so long that I ended up spending the night insted of driving home at 9:30 last night. What a slumber party!

With our bellies full of Mexican food from a quaint little restaurant in downtown Dunedin, we surfed the net looking for just the right resort offering just the right spa treatments for our upcoming weekend getaway. We really wanted Daytona Beach because H hasn't seen the Atlantic, and the drive looks very doable, but we couldn't find anything available due to some NASCAR event - who knew race cars were so captivating.

Today I met Mom & H at a nail salon to use the gift certificates Mom gave us for Christmas. I've never had a pedicure before and frankly was dreading it all week. I'm a little funny about my feet. In fact, when I was younger I used to say if Playboy ever asked me to pose naked (as if) and I did it (even less likely than Playboy asking) that I would have to wear socks in the photo because I wouldn't want everyone to see my feet! Oh gosh, it donned on me some foot wierdo could see this blog - oh well, whatcha gonna do?

Anyway, it was the longest 30 minutes of my life - I equate it to a visit to the gynacologist. For the first time in my 50 years my cuticles were manipulated in some manner (cut, scraped, something foreign). Blood was drawn and stinging occured. It was a squirm fest for me. That big chair with the whirlpool had a back massager but what it needed was a seat belt! Mom kept telling me to relax and Aunt H was saying "find your happy place". As uncomfortable as it was for me, I just can't imagine what the nail tech was thinking. Luckily she spoke Vietnamese so I will never have to know.

Once that trauma was over and the swelling was subsiding, I followed her to the table where they cut, grind, and color your fingernails. I am a purist and prefer naked nails but since everyone was getting fancied up today I went out on a limb and decided to get some clear polish (what a daredevil). The tech was hard at work improving perfectly good nails.

Vickie

Lazy Blogger

With a blog comes responsibility. Kinda like pet or plant care I guess. I have been remiss. Class is going full blast and our teacher is requiring two papers a week - one individual paper and another from our learning team. Jerry has been working alot so there is really nothing new. Massive orchid blooms going on right now and to walk in the screen porch at night is like walking in a perfumery - it's awesome.

Oh, the roofer guy came and left us with a sample board of roof materials. Who knew there was so many choices when installing a new roof! Little bit of matchmaking going on around here - don't wanna say much and ruin it. Work has been tough this week - don't wanna say much there either. Mom is planning a girl's weekend the 16th, 17th, and 18th - me, mom, and Aunt Hellen. Auntie will be leaving shortly after so this will be the big hooray. We haven't decided where yet but hopefully some place within 4 hours driving distance. Last time we went to Orlando/Disney. Any suggestions?

The photo: This is a photo of my family in front of the old house. The photo was taken Jan 11, 1911 in Lawrence Co. Arkansas. See the young couple standing on the left side? Those are my grandparents (my Dad's mom and Dad) Andrew Jackson Manning and Rose Cleo Truxler-Manning. The man in the chair in the front row with his leg crossed is Andrew's father James John Manning (known as "JJ") and his wife Sarah Marann Whittaker-Manning is the lady in the chair at the far left with a child in her lap. But it doesn't stop there....The oldest person, 3rd in from the left side, is JJ's mom Emily Elizabeth Kitchens-Manning. Emily is my great, great grandmother. All of these folks are buried in the Manning Cemetery where my Dad has generously purchased me a headstone as well :)