Dust Bunnies and Feely Goop

It's been nearly a month since I posted an item here, but that's only one indication that the pages of my calendar seem to be turning themselves. Just yesterday I remarked to Glenn, "You know, it's been a year since we cleaned the dust bunnies under the refrigerator!" How can that be? This is a brand new house!

Ah, yes. We have lived here over a year officially on November 29!

When Glenn left on October 26 for his trip to the midwest and hunting, it felt like the four weeks until I saw him again would be forever. Like all other days, though, they zoomed by. My time was spent caring for Miles (we got along superbly, by most counts), catching up on some projects --remounting the first two of my photo albums, (created oh, so long ago or yesterday, if you catch the theme of time flying!) when we first married and before the advent of acid-free paper. I did a good bit of cleaning, although not under the refrigerator, addressed and stamped the holiday cards, did a bit of shopping and first thing I knew it. . . Josh was driving me off to McCammon to catch the shuttle to the Salt Lake Airport!
My travel into Detroit Metro was of the best ilk . . . uneventful. No weather or mechanical delays, no creepy seat partners and I actually found 'real food' at the Midway Airport!

Despite having a 10-day vacation, I felt more like one of the tumbleweeds that roll across our driveway. . . almost always on the move, sometimes stopped up for a short respite, then on again. I was only in Michigan from late Friday night until Tuesday morning, but took in the UM vs OSU game, visited with Glenn's mom and his sister Vicki and brother-in-law Neil, took a brief tour through Reese with stops at the library to see friend Carole Brown and then to see my cousin Rose Stedry. A look-see at mom and dad's graves to place some holiday flowers, a drop-in at Uno's in Birch Run for a bite with friends Deanna and Jenni and a quick pop-in at the JC Penney in Saginaw and then back to our cabin.

We left early Tuesday, November 24 headed to Illinois and the Hillesland's for Thanksgiving, with a stop near Kalamazoo for breakfast with my friend Mary Jo, whom I met in kindergarten! She's planning a visit here in 2010 and we're excited to have her!

Three and a half days and four nights in Plainfield meant I did get to see my sister and her family, but again a blur of activity. Three basketball games for Seth whose team was in a tournament, preparing and serving Thanksgiving Dinner for 15 folks, and a number of board games with Layne. Suddenly, it was 4:50 a.m. on Saturday, November 29 -- the anniversary of our having moved into this house -- and we were rolling out of Plainfield driving west yet again.

Fortunately, the drive was similar to the flight, uneventful save for a brief bit of fog in Wyoming. Generally, clear, dry roads and sunny, blue skies canopying us all the way back to Inkom.

During Glenn's absence, I ordered a few books about activities for toddlers. In the pictures above, Miles is playing in a pan of 'feely goop' -- basically cornstarch, water and food coloring. He and I undertook this tactile experience on Wednesday, December 2 while Glenn was off playing racquetball with friend, Barry. Miles and I laughed and laughed during this messy business, with repeated refrains of "We'd better clean this up before Grandpa gets home!" Miles particularly enjoyed 'splashing' the feely-goop. It sprayed on the floor, the counter, the walls. However, it led us to another experience that he fell in love with . . . mopping! For whatever reason, he's become fascinated with the mop and has discovered anew the broom closet. Every time we turn around, he's at the closet and bringing us the mop or vacuum hose or dusters. I hope he enjoys that stuff as much when he's about 12 and can really help out!

Thursday was exciting here; for nearly an hour we watched a group of 16 mule deer grazing in our backyard.

Yesterday we managed to put up the Christmas tree, our first artificial one in over 30 years. It's all decorated. It was fun rediscovering the various ornaments and trimmings; we hadn't put up a tree in several years. A wee bit of shopping needs to be done yet, but the Jurgens and we aren't exchanging gifts. Instead, we are giving each other the gift of time and hopefully good fun.

I cashed in a timeshare week certificate purchased months ago, so the five of us will be spending December 18-25 at the Pend Oreille Resort on the lake of the same name near Hope, Idaho in the northern panhandle of the state. We're looking forward to a relaxing time in the two-bedroom unit, seeing a part of the state with which we're not too familiar and perhaps getting in a bit of downhill skiing at Schweitzer as well.

Onward with our holiday preparations. We're planning a trip into Pocatello for a bit of shopping today, although as I type this it is blustery, cold, and we're getting some snow showers. Not really seducing us into going outside. We'll see. There's always tomorrow . . . unless it zips by and turns into next week!