Through the Holidays and into the Icebox!

Well, my goodness. Here it is, a frigid night in January, and it's been 1 month and 20 days since my last post. (Hey, but who's counting? LOL) Where DID the time go?

Let's see if I can include a short list (which would be a first for me as I tend to be Miss Gabby when I write) of what's gone on between now and then:

The virus I had over Thanksgiving started coming back in mid-December. No waiting on treatment this time! Went to see the doc. He said I had a sinus and ear infection. Put me on anti-biotics and that seemed to do the trick. At least I wasn't sick for Christmas, thank goodness!

We ended up buying a tree off a lot instead of cutting one down, which turned out just fine. Didn't have the time or gas money to drive up to the tree farm. Our tree only cost $40 and it was SO beautiful. Nothing huge...maybe 6', and it lasted until well after New Years. Heck, it's still in our tree stand on the back deck, and is STILL alive! Oh, and the cats totally ignored it, by the way, which was great!

Dante enjoyed his first Christmas. He got lots of goodies--clothes, toys a new car seat (since he's outgrown his baby car seat), etc. He loved watching all the lights on our tree, and he had a blast seeing so many family members over Christmas week (he's a social butterfly like his mommy and grandma).   :-)

Our Christmas was nice all the way around. We enjoyed time with both our families and the food was just delicious everywhere we went!

We decided to stay home for New Year's this year. That's not uncommon for us though. Tom never has liked being out on the road with all the crazies on that night. At midnight, we kissed each other, said, "Happy New Year!" and were in bed by 12:05 a.m.  LOL  We lead very exciting lives, don't we?

Dante turned 8 months old on January 10. He's getting SO big! He has 4 bottom teeth, and 2 coming in on the top. He can stand up if WE stand him up, but can't raise himself into a standing position yet. Once he's standing he can hold onto the couch and stay like that for a while. That kid has some strong legs. He hasn't shown any inclination to crawl yet. This week, he started waving "bye-bye" back to us, and he'll also raise his palm to you when you say, "Give me five!" so you can high-five him. He just LOVES his daddy, and when he sees Jason come into a room, he smiles and giggles with delight. Jason just eats that up. Dante also started saying, "Mama" today, but we don't know if he means Angela, or if that's just an easy word for him to babble with. Time will tell.

Tom has come down with a cold this week. Not unusual as so many folks this winter have been sick with colds and viruses, sometimes REPEATEDLY. I CANNOT wait until winter is over with and the warmer weather comes again. This cold weather and sickness can take a hike!

I got a Christmas card from a girlfriend/ex-coworker who had moved to California with her husband and kids in the late '80s, and it said she'd be in town last weekend. Wanted to know if we could get together. Once she arrived in Detroit, we talked on the phone a few times, but it had been 25 years since her family had seen her, so it only made sense that she spend her time in Detroit with them. She & I weren't able to get together, but it sure was nice talking to her and now we're hooked up on Facebook, so we'll be able to catch up that way.

On the other side of the Facebook coin, I sent a friend request to a gal who I thought was my next door neighbor when I was 8 or 9 hoping to get in touch with her. While waiting for her to accept my request, I checked out her Facebook page, photos, who she was friends with, etc. Turns out she WASN'T the "Karen" I was looking for, but was the ex-sister-in-law (also named Karen) of that Karen who used to get off at my bus stop after school instead of her own in order to bully the kids at my stop, push us down, hit us, etc. She was bigger than us (maybe a year older?) and I was terrified of her. I couldn't stand her because she was so mean, and I found out many years ago that she ended up marrying MY Karen's brother, Richie, who had anger issues, was mean and cruel, and who also used to pick on the neighborhood kids. I remember at the time thinking, "Well that marriage won't last long. I wonder which one of them is going to kick the other one's butt first?" LOL Sure enough, several years and 3 kids later they ended up getting divorced. Her Facebook page shows that she remarried in 2009 and is happy now. I wonder how many times she's punched her new husband since then?  LOLOL  OK, OK, that was bad, I know. Anyway, I told her in a FB message that I was looking for the other Karen, I apologized for bothering her, and undid my Friend Request. I seriously doubt she has any idea who I was because I only lived in that neighborhood 4 years before my family moved, but I'll certainly never forget her!

And on that note, I'll post this and get ready for bed. Stay warm, everyone, and have a wonderful rest of your week!  Hugs!