Never got around to displaying these. Back after moving Paul into his apartment, a bunch of his orchids bloomed. I got a couple good pictures but not many. These plants are a major pain in the but to take care of. Glad they belong to him.... 

More snow and sad looking Nazi's

Ok, I just checked my brothers blog - the Bad Fisherman. It seems he got on Toledo news last night. And of course, you can watch the Toledo news on the internet.
SO, go to the right of my screen - find his blog - go there and watch the video. He has the link to the video and then you click on the movie on the page.
My brother is in a lot of the shots.
He says his ugly mug made TV. HEY - what about those protesters and their friend. Did anyone teach them that they are supposed to be skin heads. WOW - they look really bad. Kind of hard to get people to pay attention to you when you really look like crap.

Yep, snowing again.
Ok, my outside lights picture and the basement. Taking my camera with me today to look for a few more impressive or just sickening displays in front of peoples houses.

And yes, the crockpot is full of food for dinner tonight. Hopefully it turns out.
later
Tam

Here is my basement. Look some ceiling is up and little santa hats on lights. Mom found them last year and I think they are very festive in the basement. I know what else I need to put down there, just have to find it... 

Ok, sorry been slow with the pictures. 

Narnia and Nazi's

That is a mouthful and a 1/2.

How did I get both of those together?
Well, it seems that the Nazi's (or white supremisits) came back to Toledo this weekend. The last time they were in town, (a month or so ago) a riot broke out.
My brother had to go work the rally this time. Luckily it was so cold that no one went.
There are pictures him in Riot gear.

Narnia - Rob, Naarah, Tom and myself went to see the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on Sunday afternoon. At dinner afterward we discussed the rather religious points that were a part of the story. Resurection of someone who died for someone else's sins- ok I give you that one. I never read the stories as a kid. I am rather disapointed over all.
The production value of the movie was great, although Tom and I both saw 2 horrible points of green screen. Someone messed that up. I'll agree with Matt and his assesment that as human characters they weren't very believable. Tom mentioned that they should have left in that the boy who deserts the others was actually addicted to the food the white witch gave him and was having major withdrawls. Much better reason for skipping on family than they seemed to give in the movie.
One does not need to read the book to enjoy the movie. Taken at face value, it wasn't bad. If you are looking for great acting, not going to find it here.

Happy Holidays and SNOW

Well, it finally arrived - and I know who to blame it on. Paul L's parent came down to visit and go to a show and they brought all that Traverse City snow with them.

What is new you would like to know??
Well, Paul's parents are in town and I have not seen his mother in years. I was frantically cleaning my house to let them come visit. It wasn't a long stay and there were lots of closed doors, but it was great to finally show them my house. Tom could have met her too if he would have answered his phone. He drove up about 5 minutes after they went back to Paul's to make dinner. They were off to see the TSO concert at the Palace. Needless to say, I was a little jealous.

So, the main point - my house is basically clean. I certainly have ceiling work and spare rooms to do, but I'm not afraid to let people in at this point.

Game night at Carrie's. I had the privilege to be invited to Carrie's for game night. They seem to play Cranium a lot and I knew I didn't have a chance. SO, I took Name Burst with me. This game has hundreds of names on little cards and you try to get the person you are partnered with at the moment to guess the name. Much like 25000 pyramid or whatever it was worth in the end. You will need to read Matt's Blog to get the real effect. He shall be quoting Carrie in all her frustrated glory. Carrie hates to lose, I know this, You know this and now the world at large with know this.

So, enjoy the pictures of the inside of my house; My tree and Fireplace. I have outside and basement pictures to put up next week and I am searching for more outdoor displays to take pictures off and to share. I love the holidays - the lights make all this darkness bearable. January and February are a whole other story for me.

FRAPPER - I couldn't help it, I made a map. I really want to see where everyone is from who looks at this blog. I know it's mostly family, but I know there are a few friends out there that keep track of what is going on. Please - this is safe, your not added to any email list.
http://www.frappr.com/ourfirstyear2 - just add your name, zip code and a SMALL picture if you want. LOL

My fireplace, unfortunetly we shall not be buring anything in the fireplace because they turned it into a gas fireplace long ago and no one can afford to run one of those now. Yes, those are snowmen on the stockings, and snowman holders holding up the stockings. I am pleased that I have managed to make my home feel cozy, even though it is not a finished showplace like my mothers. Ah well. 

Finally a decent picture of my Christmas tree. Ok, so the arm of the chair is the tripod, use whatever is at hand. Yes, it is a skinny Christmas tree as I do not have large rooms. There is lots of (Evil) silver beads and ribbon in blue and silver and many ornaments that blink and move. Very eclectic over all. Fits my style well. Thanks to mom for helping me get all the stuff on it. 

Hmm. Whose hand is that? Most of you will never see the cast. It comes off before the 17 - she hopes. LOL 

That unasuming tree hiding in the corner. Who is that tree illuminating? I'm sure you can guess. Tomorrow begins the gluttony of christmas decorations at MY house. Tom just puts up with it... 

Birthday presents - don't you love them. It works well too. Now, what to put in it.... 

Ok, I know it is blurry, but this is the brightest one. I don't want to have their electric bill. This is a house set BACK off the road down by my mom's house. I was driving home and had to pull over on the shoulder to take the picture. (This is why we always take a camera with us.) Impressive. 

Extras today, Naarah said that the original was way too dark. So here they are in the while and gold glory. 

For those of you who have not been to my mothers house yet, she has a loft and a flat space over the front door and a closet. We set up a village - SHE MADE - ceramics back in the 80's-90's. Well, she got all the pieces back from her sister and we set it up on that landing in the middle of the room. It is really impressive and a pain to set up. Enjoy 

This is the second half of the set. You'll just have to come see it on the 17th. 

Mom's House

Here is her fireplace. Yes, 4 Angels, stocking holders that spell Noel. Lights and candles. If you feel it is really too hard to see, post a note and I'll put up the flash one.

Ok, Today's pictures start at Mom's house. This is her Christmas tree. She has moved to the Gold and Silver coloring she started in Tenn. Nice (yes the tree is very tall.)

Ok, I have been bad. So I'm going to put up a couple pictures each day to keep you coming back for more. YES, this is Mike's Birthday that was a over a week ago. Look, people eating, that is all we ever do... 

Nice picture of Mike and Ashley. Before cake, you saw the cake on Mikes Blog, Go there to see it again. 

Computer support we all could use sometimes.

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3 , Football 5.0 , Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the
uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,
A Troubled User. (KEEP READING)
______________________________________

REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or
purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software
augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2.

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5 . Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 !

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3 . This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Best of luck,
Tech Support