WHAT THE...?

So, I glanced out the kitchen window yesterday, and noticed this...

Notice anything? (besides the dead leaf)

How about now? This grapefruit is still attached to the tree, yet it is totally hollow...scraped clean...while still on the tree!!  It's still a mystery, of which I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

MUST BE SANTA

We skyped with the kids in England on Christmas Eve before the little ones went to bed. Dana had a wonderful suprise for us, that they had been practicing. It was GREAT!! I got teary(as I am now) missing them, and missing being with family during Christmas. The Lindsay family tradition lives on in England!

The sound on the video is terrible because my camera is having issues. So just turn up your computer & the video volume and you can hear a little bit. Ellie's a show stealer!

BRIGHT & SUNSHINY

Since it's been so dark and dreary, I decided to finally paint my family room YELLOW!! I've been rattling this around in my head for 6 years, now.  This time I decided, and just went to the store and picked a color and bought paint...without stressing or caring.  It was a buttery, happy yellow.

   The night I got the paint was when we found the water problems. I decided to go ahead and destress by painting anyway. I needed the distraction and COLOR therapy. So working around all the stuff we had to remove from the dining room and put in the family room, I painted my little heart out.

     Luckily, it turned out GREAT!!  I love the color!  Now I need to paint another wall or two.  I also plan to paint the brick around the fireplace a soft white.  Someday, when the old tv dies, we'll get a flat screen.  I just had the wonderful idea to paint the big, ugly, black tv a happy color... mmwwwaaaaahhhhhhahahah!!!

SOMETHIN' JUST AIN'T RIGHT, HERE

Water seeping and puddling through the wood floor in the dining room.

It rained for about forty days & forty nights. Okay, maybe not that long, but many days in a row, anyway. At first I saw a wet spot in the seam of the wood floor and immediatly accused Eddie. Then I realized it wasn't a puddle, just a wet seam. Dan followed the wet spots to the outside wall. By the next day water would bubble out when we stepped on the floor!

Insurance adjuster came, plumber inspecter coming, restoration people coming to rip out walls and floor in dining/family room area.

MEEERRRRYY CHRISTMAS!!

RAINY DAYS 'N MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN

Edweirdo ain't too sure about all this rain.



I didn't notice he had climbed into the comforter as I was changing the sheets. Luckily, I saw him before I stepped on his little self!

We've been having day after day of rain. Today seems to be the rainiest so far. Eddie hates the rain, wind, cold and especially the part about NOT be able to play with his friends at the dog park! Anyone got a treadmill I can borrow?

KEEPING EDDIE WARM

Eddie keeps shivering, especially after he's been on the tile floor, or outside. So I found a scrap of fleece and made him a 'doggie warmer'. It's NOT a sweater, that would be clothing, and Dan does NOT want clothes on the dog!

You may notice the old beach towel under the tree that's protecting the carpet. There's one of Eddie's toys 'hidden' under the tree. It's his new favorite place to 'hide' his toys and rawhides. It hilarious to watch him push the towel up over it, like he's covering it with dirt!

BATH ENGLAND/STONEHENDGE

I had these in order and they got all mixed up when I moved them from Picasa.  I'll try to fix that later.  Dana, Dan & I took an overnight road trip to Stonehenge, Bath & Cardiff, Wales.  It kept getting dark too soon, so some of our pics are beautiful showing the lights.  Some of them just got dark...whatever.  Bath felt like it was a Storybook Land.  We tried to go to tea at a couple of places, but they had closed earlier than was advertised.  The pics of us with the fans are at the Jane Austen Centre.  The Pump Room was closed when we got there, or they saw us coming and we weren't Upper Crust enough so they closed the doors.  We took a pic through the window.  Next to it is the Roman Baths, and next to that is the Abbey with catacombs under it...creepy.  It was freezing cold, and we were running all over quickly.  Dan took the amazing pics of the Avon with the bridge and scene of the city. 

 



Dana & Dan were really good at figuring out where we were.




The Royal Crescent. It was the first row of townhouses that formed an arc neighborhood. There was a park in front of them, and a cobblestone road.





We went to the Jane Austen Centre. It was a museum and information center. We learned language of saying things with your fan without words.





The Pultney Bridge over the river Avon.




This is an awesome shop window. It had all kinds of silver and jewelry. You can see the teapot windchimes with spoons hanging, at the top of the picture. Such a fun idea!





The back of the Abbey.




Street decorations, I think in Cardiff, Wales. Or it could be Bath, England...it's all a blur.




Definitely Bath. I had never seen such classy street decorations as chandeliers, before.





Inside the Pump Room. You can see the fountain pump thingy where you get water to drink that was believed to be good for you, back in the day. It smells & tastes like sulphur.




Only the Upper Class went into the Pump Room. Hence, we took pictures through the window.  Not really, we could have gone in if it hadn't closed before we got there.





The Abbey in Bath. It was right next to the Roman Bath & the Pump Room.





Inside the Abbey. Each window pane had a depiction of Christ's life. It was very dark and majestic.





We kept seeing tombstone dedications on the walls, benches and floor. They usually said something to the effect of someone being layed to rest nearby or here lies. We realized we were standing on catacombs...kind of creepy.





Stonehenge. We drove there on our way to Bath. It was out in the middle of nowhere. It was beautiful countryside with sheep and rolling green hills. The stones used to form a circle, and were place in such a way that the shadows fell certain ways at certain times of the year. They may have showed when the solstaces were. No one know exactly how they were moved to there or exactly why. There were also barrows nearyby, which were mass graves mounded up, now covered with grass.




On top of the tall stone you can see a bump. That's how they kept the crosswise stones on top...like a puzzle piece.



Okay, here's some England/Wales/Family pics

The Britishy Fam

So these are some of the pics of the Haymore clan. They are out of order, and I will try to caption them later.  This should satisfy you for awhile until I can figure out all the computery stuff.


More to come, of course!

Dana & Ellie met us at the airport

We picked up Toby & Brady from their britishy school.

They were pretty excited to see us.

Ellie's pretty cute, too.  



This is their awesomely, "posh" house. It even has a 2 car garage. (possibly 3 car, since James parks his car in a driveway next to it)  It even has a cool name.





Brady liked riding the train into London. He got to eat a peanut butter sandwich and wink at strangers. He also showed us his talent of crossing his eyes. Well done, my boy!

I found Dana this cool hat. I didn't realize that she's be wearing it in most of the pics so we can't see her face very well. Even in the pics in the house!

Toby really concentrated when he showed us his Guitar hero skills.  Ellie is just cute, so her pics will be sprinkled throughout the blog.





Dana was sooooo excited to get "real American Kraft Macaroni & Cheese"!!!





We gave Toby & Brady cool flying dragons with knights on them, for our early Christmas.




Ellie got a dancing tutu, and danced for us.





Ellie's morning was written all over her face...with marker, Nutella and yogurt.



We ate dinner at a little restaurant in Bath. We ate 'trench dinners', which turned out to be steak(or whatever the meat you chose was) served on a slice of bread or toast. Heck, mom used to give us that all the time! The dessert we chose was amazingly delicious, though. Treacle Tart with warm custard poured over the top. Treacle is used instead of corn syrup, like in a pecan pie, but it's rich & tasty like syrup or molasses. MMMMMmmmmm! I can't believe we didn't take a picture of the treacle tart, but I think we devoured it too fast.





Just hanging around the house.





Ellie's got some sweet moves when she plays guitar hero!





Riding the tube(subway). I had no idea Dan was taking this picture. I'm not sure about the lady, but if she did know she was using her britishy manners and not making a scene or even acting like she noticed.





Brady REALLY liked the giant Nutella & banana crepe he got on Portabello Road.





Ellie didn't remember being in snow before, so she was having fun.





Leeds Castle





Dana's looking very britishy.





James collects bottles of hot sauce.