Merry Christmas and Happy New year from Karmann, Tom's new Employer. Yup, we are now the proud owner/leasers of a Town and Country MiniVan...... 

The guinea pig now has a play pen. hmm, still a little afraid of everything. Although he has worked on the carrot some. The poor ill treated, not spoiled guinea pig, what ever shall he do..... 

Tom at his parents' house. You can never say you don't have a light..... straps right on that big old noggin.. 

Michael getting the most annoying thing ever for christmas - a NOTE. "If you accept this mission you may find something that you want....." 

Mom's house for Christmas Morning - here she is opening the best present ever. Gift certificate to Hobby Lobby. Ashely and Mike's idea... 

Christmas Eve at Kathy Seguin's house. Kevin hogging the jello shots over there, it was a wild game of B-S. 

Blue and white to match my tree, they sing - walking in a winter wonderland.... 

Christmas Eve at Aunt Pat's house. TOO much food..... 

Year in Review 4

Well, there are 4 seasons, so I guess this works out just fine.



Fall is upon us and Low did we go see the sights. Paul dragged me out of the dungeon that is my home and we went walking in the nature area near my house. Tom and Paul took from natures bounty and made our little friend. You have to admit it is a little scarey. It was a fun afternoon and I got a couple of nice pictures out of the day.



Then Thanksgiving - it seems that Michael was determined to make Aunt Pat crazy this year. He pretty much succeeded. We all had a good time over at Aunt Pat's.


Here are two dogs at the Frederick's house. They happen to be hiding underneath the incredible wood chopping block that dad had fixed into the kitchen when they got it redone last year. We had all ate too much on Thanksgiving evening. Nap time was calling to everyone.


Back to December. What an excicitng weekend we had on the 17th. My mom threw a party in honor of my dad. On my way over to my mother's condo, I noticed Steph Dober out front of the house on Sibley. I stopped to say hi and ask how everyone was doing. SURPRISE - Eric Dober answered the door. I almost fell over. He is home for 2 weeks to see his dad. Eric has been overseas for most of the last 3 years. He came to the party and surprised everyone, including my mom. She was so happy to see Eric. Then Raymond Seguin and Simone walked in with Kathy. I have to say that was a great sight also. No one knew anyone was coming home.
The only thing left is Uncle Murphy and me.

I hope to see lots more friends over the holidays. Don't be surprised if I take your picture and you wind up on the blog. Being my friend means that you have given me rights to put you up here. LOL

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME

I got my Christmas Present last night. I know we are sad and can not wait for anything. Actually, I would have had to wait until after Christmas, because to get him on Christmas would not have worked.

SO, what did I get you ask?










I got Winslow the Christmas Whistle Pig. Guinea Pig for you regular people.
I was so worried about him. He didn't make any noise when we picked him up at the store and even when we got home. He seemed througly miserable last night until this afternoon when we dragged him out of the cage.
Tom held him on the couch, while I finished cleaning the cage; Added Alfalfa (instead of the yucky timothy they gave me,) and then I got a carrot for him. He was so much happier. He made little rodent noises and checked out the carrot and when we put him back in the cage he was 500 x's more active and happier.
He checked out the whole cage, moved stuff around and then proceded to try all the food out and even the water. I feel so much better now. I was afraid that he would be stressed out for days.
The funny thing is, you'd think he was two different pigs from either side pictures. He is very different colored on both sides.
I thought this was a cute picture.


So, now I have to carry pictures of my New Pet. Make sure to ask about him.

WINSLOW.

A year in Review 3

More, yes - always more pictures.

There are just too many to put up. I'm trying to be selective??
Here is the riverboat that we rode on at the Wisconsin Dells. I want to thank who ever told me to go to the Dells while on our way to visit Rich Grant and family. It might have been the travel agent at AAA, but whoever. Tom and I had a wonderful time in the Dells. This boat tour was nice, they had music and lot of nice people. We also got off and saw some really cool rock and water formations. I have picturs of those elsewhere.


Here is my crazy husband on a sculpture thing on the Mississippi river up in the Twin Cities. The really funny thing is that this is RIGHT next to the street, so people were driving by while we were taking the picture. This is a little park next to where Richard works, so we met him there after work one day and took in the sites and ATE big at the rib shack thing. WOW

The next day Tom and I went to the Minnisota zoo. We had a great time. They were giving Camel rides, but I passed on that. I thought this was one of the better pictures of the prairie dogs. I think there is a picture of the lion earlier in the year.

Of course we went to the Rennissanse Festival this year. We took Carrie again and Paul Thoma and Michele went also. We dressed Paul and Michele up for the trip. My mother went 2 x's this year. Once with Mike and Ashley and then again with Aunt Shirley. They went to the Feast and said it is totally worth all the money that you spend on it. I think she said to schedule yourself for the later one, so that you can see a few shows and then go to the dinner. We had a nice day, with a little brew and a little heat and everyone had a good time.

During all this fun we were having; Poor Paul Lautenschlager was being dragged across the state. It seems I talked him into coming to work at my school. Which if you didn't know is no longer my school.... But the good news is that Paul is still working and keeping out of the public eye. We found him a nice apartment near my house and have had lovely dinners and fun since September.

One more posting and I think that's it....

Year in Review 2

Takes a bit of work to do the picture blogging, and it really slows the computer down. LOL

Naarah's bachelorette party. We ate at Mongolian BBQ in Novi and then hit the new Dave and Buster's type place near my house. You would think I go there often. NOPE, Tom and I are just too tired after movies to hang out. We usually go home. LOL
We had a great time at Fountain Walk and got Naarah a lovely keepsake of the evening. You'll have to ask her what it was..


Then it was May, and Naarah and Rob's wedding on Mackinac Island. Tom took this picture. We were busy there, I took movies, Tom took pictures and so did like 10 other people. We had a good time. After the wedding and the hours they wandered the island doing pictures, We got together for dinner in the pub. Now that was nice.

The next day was great fun. We took the island tour ride on the carriages and saw the arch rock and the butterflys, They liked Tom. We thouht that was great fun.
The bridge looked nice in the late afternoon, when we should have left hours before...

We then talked Paul Thoma into helping us take the GIANT canoe out for a spin on the river. DANG, it's too big. I can't believe I am saying that, but it is too big. Actually it is too heavy. The canoe is great if you planned a long trip or three people and major lunch and stuff, but just to drag it down there for a little day trip - or couple hours for a work out, you have to be crazy. I guess I could use a little trailer to pull it along.....

Then in June, my cousin Michelle got married. Tom, Michael, Ashley and I were having a bit of fun at the table. I have rather unflattering pictures of my mother and my aunt, but I thought I would try to be a little nice. The wedding was nice and the reception hall was gorgeous..... I hear this was the year of fancy weddings all around.

One of Tom's long time friends from Arvin-Meritor was in town for a few days and we managed to get him to stop by the house. We made a major meal a day before or something and he missed it. I forget what we did for dinner that day. Anyway, it was nice to see Chris Federman. Hope he comes back this way again.


I'm not sure how one explains this picture. Other than it was a 50th birthday party for Kathy Seguin. Here you see, my mother, Kimmy and Linn testing out the new draggin bra. Gives you plenty of room for those now sagging ta-tas. It was a lovely day, we played baseball, volleyball and some crochet. Silliness ruled that day. (This would be July.) (But you knew that.)

A year in Review

Picture style.
I noticed on some of my friends blogs they are pulling up the first line of each month and making it up as a post for the year. Thats boring. I want to put up some of the best pictures of the year. Ok, some aren't the best, but they show what in the world we were doing...
This may take more than one post to get them all up. I think I have at least one per month...
Schwana and Mike were here last Christmas, here we are in Downtown Ann Arbor.
We saw them again over the summer right before Fair. There was a big party at the Thoma Farm, where Paul lives now. Seeing Schawna more than once a year is amazing. We have to go to Alaska now to visit.


Then Rich, Heidi and Alex Grant came to spend the day with us. We had a great time down town in Greek Town. We ate, walked around and took a bunch of pictures. I believe this picture is their x-mas card for this year..




Carrie (who is now a good friend of ours) threw a New Years party and it was a blast. I can't remember the last time we were that silly for New Years. She has pretty good taste in wine.


Mom and I went to visit Trina in her new digs. She now lives in her grandparents house in New Boston. I had visited there at least once before, but now it certainly has Trina's stamp on the place. I could not help it, this was a great picture of mom. (At least she is not eating.)


Here are a couple pictures of mom's condo, in the work stages of the painting. I can't really tell if it is finished or just the base coat. All I can say is that it took a long time, and lots of people helped.


I may have to do a post with more pictures tomorrow. Enjoy these for now. I think this takes us to March...

No room in the kitchen, you can see 10 people here and there are at least 2 more not in the picture. The kitchen is quite small, compared to our old house in Monroe. But everyone had a great time. 

I believe that Tom took this picture and it is really cute. They both wore ties that Dad had and Mike was wearing one of his jackets. 

Back row - Lisa (Martin) Stump, Mike, Trina Seguin. On Couch - Kimmy, Raymond (Spunky) Seguin, Eric Dober, Tammy, Tabatha O. 

What a weekend.

I should go get the camera and download pictures. I do have a lot to work with.
Saturday we had the Christmas party and Memorial for my dad. It was at my Mom's house and she made so much food it was amazing.
There were so many surprises that I am glad that no one had a heart attack.
First Surprise - I found ERIC DOBER. Yes, Eric who spent most of the last 3 years in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is home for a week or two because his dad just had triple by-pass surgery. (Eric rode horses with me, we have know eachother since we were 10.)
Second Surprise - Raymond (Spunky) Sequin was home for the holidays. Kathy picked him and Simone up from the Airport on Friday night. Neither Ray or my mother knew that they were going to make it home. Raymond has been in Germany and Iraq most of this year.
Third Surprise - Joyce and Bernie Pierce were found in town and came to the party. They are from our years in 4-H and they now live in North Carolina. (I think)

It was an interesting party. People from all three sides of our family made it. Many from my mom's side of the family. My dad's sister-in-law and her kids came. A very large group of 4-H people and family friends stopped by. Even our neighbors forever, the Tanners'.

We had at least 30 people squashed into my mother's condo. It was great. Most people stayed for several hours. Eric had the hardest time getting out the door, and he had other places to go. Mike's friends came later and were still there when I left around 10pm.

Paul L and I went to Lynn Deprez's house on the North East side. I told them to not really expect us because I knew I would be at mom's all day. It was nice to see everyone who was there. It was not a work party, it was more of invite the people you like, which was nice to see they invited Paul and I.

Sunday - SLEPT. I was coming down with a sore throat on Saturday night. Paul gave me the worst tasting stuff on the planet. But that with some Nyquil and I slept hard and long. Tom and I were major bums and finished off the Chicken Pot Pie I bought and cooked on Friday. Long Live COSTCO.
Today, I am cleaning some, cooking and about ready to go take a nap.
I have even been to the grocery store already.
I'll put up pictures during the week.
Tam

Yes, it looks like a huge bug. That really is all one flower. Most of them don't smell much. But they are cool to look at. I know, get out there and take pictures of over decorated houses. Only 1 week and 1/2 until the big day. UGH Don't ask what I'm working on today.