Ho, Ho, Ho...He Came to Sadieville...

Friday was the Sadieville Christmas Chili Cook-off and Bazaar. It was a wonderful evening with some of the fine people in Sadieville.

One of my responsibilities was to make a song sheet for the Christmas Sing-a-long. I collected some of my Christmas music like my hymn book for the Christmas carols, a fun book for the old fun Christmas songs and two pieces of sheet music (Silver Bells and White Christmas). I sat down to type.

I started with the book full of fun old Christmas songs. I'm typing away looking at the music and my fingers flying over the laptop keyboard. After a bit I paused to look up at the screen of my laptop to see how I was doing. This is what I read on my screen..."Here comes Santa Claude, Here comes Santa Claude, Right down Santa Claude lane." Can you find the error?  I just sat and chuckled at that lovely little error.

Friday morning found the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance at the Sadieville Christian Church setting up tables and chair. Then I went to City Hall and helped Cindy finish the decorations there. Then it was back home at 1pm to get some things done at home.

A little after 4pm Claude and I were headed to the Sadieville Christian Church. The evening was to begin at 4:30pm with the chili cook-off. My hubby was entering the Mayor's pot of chili. Here are a few pictures of the chili portion of the evening.

Now I must say that Claude had a truly 'finger lickin' good chili!!

We also had vendors with candy and homemade items from pine cones, to cloth to wood to help us do some of our Christmas shopping.

Cindy Foster and Loni Friddle made gift baskets and sold them for the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance. We also sold someo f the Sadieville items. Loni and Don manned the cash register for us.

After everyone had a good chance to fill up on great chili recipes, we had our sing-a-long. It was great fun to sing with our neighbors.

Then we were off to City Hall. This was where the chili cook-off awards would be presented, a donation from the Friends of Sadieville given to the City of Sadieville and Santa would come to see the kids of our community.

City Hall was full of kidlings waiting for Santa.

While waiting for Santa to arrive, the chili cook-off awards were given out. Claude won an award for the 'hottest' chili.

And Cindy gave Claude a check from the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance in the amount of $2,000 to help with renovations on the Rosenwald School.

Here are a few pictures of the kids waiting for Santa to arrive.

Santa arrives in Sadieville in a little parade of vehicles. First is our local police officer, Bobbie. Then comes the Scott County fire truck with Santa inside. The final vehicle is the Scott County ambulance. Sirens are blaring and lights are flashing. This was the signal for all the kidlings to head outside to watch Santa arrive.

Then started the process of each child having their turn at sitting on Santa's knee and sharing those deep desires for their personal Christmas. Here are a few of the kids.

The last girl to sit on Santa's knee actually brought her written list for Santa to review with her. Cracked me up!!

Then it was time for Santa to say good-bye.

It was a fun evening. Claude likes that each child gets plenty of time with Santa. Now it was time to head back to Sadieville Christian Church's basement to clean up there. Then home for the rest of our evening.

Life After Thanksgiving...

Sunday, Claude visited Owingsville Ward. I played the organ in our ward and sang with the choir.

Sunday evening I headed to Papa's to see about installing his new modem.

Papa has had a battle with viruses on his computer since first getting it. I cannot count the number of times it has been to the computer guy to clean off viruses. I cannot count the number of virus softwares we have tried. It has just been a losing battle.

I finally decided part of his problem was his phone company. He was using SouthEast Telephone. They have no facility to scan for viruses or junk eMail's before they send them to him. AT&T does have software to do this and we have not had that problem with our Internet service with AT&T. So we made the decision to change his phone and Internet service from SouthEast telephone to AT&T.

That decision and the process were started November 1st. Today is December 2nd and I'm still working on getting this service up and running. I'll just give this outline of what we have been through to date:

• We placed the initial order on November 1st.
• Papa got a letter about setting up paying his bill with his credit card or through automatic withdrawal from his checking account. Papa called to set up this automatic payment. In talking with AT&T, he was told the original order was not done correctly and they re-did the order with Papa and set the date for a Thursday instead of the Wednesday.
• Nothing happened on Thursday.
• By the 19th of November I'm back on the phone trying to find out where they are in their process. We finally determined to cancel all previous orders and start anew. Seemed like the right way to handle this. We were told a new modem would arrive the next Tuesday.
• The next Tuesday, Papa received a UPS package with a new modem. That being Thanksgiving week and my week full to the brim, we agreed he would wait until I could be there to get the modem connected and set up his Internet/DSL service.
• Sunday was my first day to have time to stop and work with him. Thinking this would be a 'quick' thing, I headed over after choir practice. Papa got everything plugged in correctly. I opened the Internet and it automatically started me on the process of set up. Then it gave me an error message. I tried again and again got the error message. I called AT&T and spoke to a young man in the tech support department. He eventually told me I had to talk with the sales department and they wouldn't be open until Monday.
• Monday I left my home at 2:30pm and didn't get back home until 8:30pm. After calling AT&T they eventually helped me get things started but said I would have to wait for a two hour stretch while they did some things at their office. Good Grief!!! I left Papa's apartment and ran some errands to make productive use of my time.
• Then I came back to his apartment and called AT&T again. This time I was told it couldn't be turned on until Tuesday. Livid is a good word to describe my mood. After cojoling this lady and trying some things we found that we did have Internet service. She talked me through setting up his new eMail address and passwords. She sent me two eMails which we received at the AT&T homepage eMail site. All seemed in working order.
• After she disconnected, I successfully got AT&T to work with Outlook Express for Papa for his eMails. I sent a couple of test eMails from my Blackberry to his computer and that worked fine.
• One of the eMails sent by AT&T was for McAfee to help with virus protection. While trying to download it to Papa's computer it detected a software that would interfere with McAfee's performance. I removed that software from Papa's computer. Then we had to turn off his computer to complete that process.
• When Papa's computer came back on we tried again and somewhere in that process inadvertently deleted the eMail with the link to get the free McAfee software to work with AT&T security.
• Today Claude and I spoke with AT&T to find ways to lower our personal home phone and Internet service. After we finished, very easily I might add, lowering our AT&T bill and improving our service, I asked Shawn if I could find a way to get the link again to get the McAfee Virus software on Papa's computer. "Sure, no problem" was his cheerful reply.
• I was transferred to someone else in tech support who said we still didn't have Internet service. I assured her we had an eMail printed out saying we did and Papa had received this eMail from them welcoming him to AT&T service.
• She eventually transferred me to someone in billing who should be able to fix this. I found my last nerve wearing very, very, very, very thin and I could sense someone was just about to step on it!!! Sure enough, she quoted me a rate for Papa that was $10 more per month than the November 1st quote. I assured her in a very Hayden'esk tone, "That is not the right number!!" I'm telling you, after hours of this I was going to get the price quoted on November 1st at minimum. By now I felt I deserved free service.
• The end result is they have everything set to take effect on December 8th, can you believe that. We will still use the same AT&T eMail address I sent to family from my Blackberry Sunday evening while getting things to try and download on Papa's computer. We don't have to do anything with the modem, that is supposed to all be set to go. We should just be able to get eMail for Papa on his computer and there will be an eMail in there with the link to download the McAfee virus software. Any bets on this going smoothly on the 8th of December???
• After finishing this, I called Papa and gave him the update.
• Then about 30 minutes later I got a call from Papa that he received a package through UPS just then. He opened it and found modem connectors from AT&T. We were both dumbfounded. I told him to just hold on to them until the 8th. We'll work everything then and see where we are.

That is my time-consuming, patience-consuming project with AT&T.

In addition to that on Tuesday I was able to:

• Make reservations for a trip to Las Vegas in January which we won in a Raffle at the GOP Picnic in October.
• Make more of the plans for the trip to Egypt in February through the travel agent
• Get some rebate stuff in the mail
• Deal with a very curt person at Radio Shack's phone lines about a battery I ordered and they sent me the wrong one for my cordless phone at my desk
• And go to the Marx home on Tuesday afternoon to babysit Hayden and Bailey so Andie and Michael could have a date.

That in itself was amusing as Hayden woke up sick, Andie had the beginnings of a cold, and Michael started to feel poorly during the day Tuesday. Such a date night for them.

Wednesday morning my Homemakers Club was having their December lunch at Claudia Sanders Restaurant in Shelbyville. This is Colonel Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame's, wife. This was the reason I went to the Marx home on Tuesday. I just figured I could spend the night and give them a date night and get up Wednesday and drive back to Shelbyville, have lunch with the ladies, then head back to Georgetown to sing with Papa. It all worked out fine but Andie and Michael had a very short date night with not feeling well. Oh, we also headed back in to Georgetown for an 8pm choir practice to get ready for Christmas music.

Today I worked all day and got...well...not very far. But I have been productive and that feels good. Claude and I checked some biggy items off our shared 'to do list'. Claude even got some Christmas lights up. The wash is done. Some presents are wrapped. Music has been practiced. Blog has been updated. Yep, it has been a full and good day. There is even a little snow on the ground here in Sadieville.

Time Is Flying By...

Well, today is December 2nd and I realize I haven't stopped to blog since November 22nd. I wish I could say I would do better but I honestly can't. So, rather than give up, I'll do the best I can to blog and be happy with that effort.

Thanksgiving Week:

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We truly missed having all our family for Thanksgiving dinner but we know they each had a great day doing their own thing.

On Tuesday, Nov 23rd, Claude and I headed to LaGrange in the morning to arrive at St. John's Pre-school by 10am. Bailey was having her very first performance in their Thanksgiving program and we were invited to attend. This was a big day for our littlest grandmonster. It was also a fun time for Hayden, watching his little sister and going back to his Alma Mater.

We arrived and Bailey was being left in her classroom and dressed in the Thanksgiving performance wardrobe.

Hayden, Michael and Andie joined us in the chapel. Michael was able to pass the time waiting for the program to start by teaching Hayden the fine art of Tic-Tac-Toe.

It wasn't too long before the little ones entered the chapel by classes.  Bailey's class was a couple of rows behind us. She was a bunch of wiggles and giggles seeing her family sitting in front of her. Andie had her hair done in pigtails and they seemed very appropriate for the day.

I have to say we were all very impressed with Miss Bailey the Entertainer. She was totally uninhibited. This little lady did the motions, swayed back and forth, grinned from ear-to-ear and sang her little heart out. Here are a few pictures of Bailey and her class.

After the program a light lunch was served. Michael headed to work and the rest of us stayed to eat and visit. Hayden was most excited to see Miss Amanda, his pre-school teacher last year. She had a baby the very last day of school last year and Hayden was sooooooo happy to see Claire. He took each of us over to meet Miss Amanda and Claire.

I was very impressed with how the pre-school handled this lunch. They had tables set up over the gym floor. Each table had a little fall centerpiece of some kind. Each parent was asked to provide a certain dish depending on which class their child was in. The parent was to bring two separate disposable containers with their dish divided between the two containers. Then each container could be placed on a table. When we sat down there was a plate with sliced ham, a container with fruit salad, a container with veggies and ranch dip, and a plate with rolls. The kids could eat from the containers on their table and not have to go through a buffet line. To clean up the containers could be tossed. There were dessert tables on either side of the gym so the kids could go pick a dessert after they ate their meal. Water was the beverage and some of the staff and moms were making sure water pitchers were full all the time on the tables. It was just a very efficient and easy way to do a meal for a gymnasium full of parents and lots of little kids.

After the meal, Claude and I took Hayden and Bailey while Andie stayed to help with clean-up. We drove Hayden back to his school first. Then Bailey thought she needed a run at the park before heading home. She loved pretending to be a monster on top of the playground equipment, making pretend food out of nuts and nut husks, and climbing on the playground equipment.

Tuesday evening, after a nice quiet time, Claude and I took Bailey home with us. This gave her a sleepover on her own and gave Hayden some Daddy and Mommy time without Bailey. Also, Hayden had a birthday party to attend in Wednesday.

Miss Bailey loved her car ride home. I sat in the back seat with her. She learned quickly there are lights above the passenger seats that turn off and on when you press the light. It was dark and Grampa had lots of fun driving with the psychedelic light show in the back seat.

After safely arriving in Sadieville, Bailey ran and played and watched a short show before we found her little bedroom in the basement storage room. She was quite happy to snuggle down in the Pac-'N-Play that is getting so much smaller each time she uses it. She still fills it with tons of lovies and blankets. The cutest thing about her arriving at the house was watching her roam through the upstairs looking for Tiny. That is Papa's little dog.

Thursday  we had all morning to eat and play before quiet time came. Lots of yogurt was consumed with lots of flax seed.  I purchased a bag of Cheetos for Bailey when we stopped for gas the night before. Bailey figured out the Cheetos were even delicious when dipped in her yogurt. Yum...???

 We spent a lot of time playing in the basement. We pulled out PlayDoh and  made tents. Claude even make corndogs for us for lunch and served us lunch in the basement.

After Hayden attended his birthday party and Michael got home from work, the Marx family loaded the van for their Thanksgiving trip to Sadieville. Hayden took appropriate care of his lovies. They would ride in style this trip in Bailey's car seat instead of packed in a suitcase.

Bailey was very happy to see her family again. As much fun as a little girl can have being spoiled by grandparents, there is still nothing like the love of your own family. Bailey was still working on that bag of Cheetos and she shared them with her family as they all snuggled in for a nice evening together.

Thanksgiving Day Andie had two great projects for the mini-Marx's to accomplish. They made turkeys out of PlayDoh for a centerpiece for our Thanksgiving table. They also made acorns for a snack for everyone. First the centerpiece. Andie's turkey is front left. Hayden's is center back with the entire can of green PlayDoh for the body. (Can you tell Hayden loves green!) Bailey's turkey is right front.

The acorns were so cute, so easy, and so much fun to make. Andie brought chocolate donut holes. Then she had a bowl of crushed up stuff that is all edible. I believe there were chocolate chips and crushed up chocolate candy and/or cookies. She also brought chocolate icing and pretzels. She gave each child a large spoon of chocolate icing. They held it is one hand and rolled one end of the chocolate donut hole in the icing. Then they pressed that iced end of the donut hole in the crushed up mixture. Then Andie gave them a broken piece of pretzel to put in the top of the crushed mixture for a stem. These things really looked like big acorns and they tasted yummy. Here is a picture of each of the kids with their acorn and a picture of Bailey serving the family. Poor Tiny really wanted one of them but you really aren't to give dogs chocolate. As you can tell by Hayden's face, there was a lot of tasting going on and these can be a bit of deliciously messy fun.

Papa joined us for Thanksgiving afternoon and early evening. We had a smoked turkey, rolls, mashed potatos and gravy, glazed carrots, stuffing and cranberry sauce, tossed salad and brocolli/bacon salad.

Andie also came armed with a Thanksgiving project for herself. She measured each of the mini-Marx's heads before bedtime on Thanksgiving night. Then, while they were nestled snug in their beds, Andie went to work creating two little masterpieces of head gear for Hayden and Bailey. Here they are in their reindeer stocking hats. The antlers are made out of mittens.

 Miss Bailey determined she 'was' a reindeer. I offered her reindeer food to eat (Cheerios in a bowl) and she proceeded to be a diligent and very hungry little Bambi.

Friday afternoon Andie and Michael took Miss Bailey home and left Master Hayden for his sleepover. Hayden spent a good deal of time checking out segments of the Star Wars movies, not necessarily in order. He really just wanted to learn the characters and what they looked like at different times in the process of the movies. We would watch a little bit of movie and then play other games.

One of Hayden's favorites was bringing all the train gear they have at our home up to the breakfast room area and building track systems.

We also played with the Lincoln Logs in my sewing room. They ended up being a track. Then Hayden needed an engine to ride on that track. Hmmmm...what to do.

I purchased a new box of little envelopes for when I make greeting cards. I had the old one sitting on my sewing machine to take back to storage. It was the perfect size. We were off on a project to make the perfect engine. Hayden would tell me what he needed to do on this engine next and we would brainstorm ideas to make that work for him. Eventually this project ended up at the card table in the family room and also included a coal car to pull behind the engine.

Here are pictures of Hayden holding the train and showing the side, then the bottom, then the top. He was very proud of that train and played with it the rest of the day. I took pictures of it with my cell phone and eMail them to Andie. She showed Bailey, who by this time was missing her older brother a lot. Bailey looked at Hayden holding his homemade train and said, "Oh, my Hayden Boy!!"

Saturday afternoon I drove Hayden to Shelbyville. Andie met us at the Taco Bell for dinner and then she took her little guy home.

On the ride over Hayden started to feel car sick. Just a little bit. I was very amused when in a most adult manner he said, "Ma, if you don't mind, could we find another road to ride on?"

It was great fun having a little sleepover with the mini-Marx's. We always enjoyed doing that with Nissa's kids when they were little and it is fun to have the Marxlings old enough to keep them over night.

Now, I would like to share with you "The Thanksgiving Miracle!!" 

Why is that "The Thanksgiving Miracle"? Usually I have to removed my decorating treasures off the coffee table when little ones are here. This Thanksgiving my decorations were left on the table and, other than the moving of the doily when bumped, it all stayed pretty much as I had placed it. It is just a Thanksgiving Miracle but also a sign that little ones are growing up a little more each visit.