A different kind of project

Those of you who have been following my blog for a few years know that we’ve led construction outreach teams and typically head south right after Christmas to help with the Katrina rebuilding process in New Orleans, Louisiana.  If you’d like to read more about the work we’ve done while there, you can check it out here.

This year we’ve decided to stay local and work at Deer Ridge Ministries.   Deer Ridge provides a much needed Sabbath to pastors and their wives from all over the country at no cost to the pastors.  David & Louise have recently opened a new facility in Freeport, Illinois and were in need of a commercial kitchen so instead of going south, we’re staying local and helping our friends, the Deckers.  Our group will also be installing another full bathroom which will allow them to host another couple during each retreat week which means that many more pastors who can be refreshed and renewed.  How great is that? 

Another prong to this “trip” is it allows people who would like to serve but can’t be gone so far for a length of time, such as Phil (check out his story) to participate.

Today is Day One and this is the room where the new kitchen will be (hopefully) by the end of next week.

See where they’re cutting into the drywall?  The floor in this area will be raised as high as the cut high so the Deckers won’t need to carry food up a flight of steps.  They’ll be able to wheel their cart right on in.  The Deckers also host meetings and parties as well as cater to supplement the ministry’s income.  And that big hole in the wall will be a set of double doors that leads to/from the garage.  How handy will that be for unloading groceries as well as make the facility handicapped accessible.

Those legs you see there belong to my sweetie.  He was taking out a gas line at the time and Phil, who I referred to above was up in the crawl space.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress as we go along.

Better late than not at all

I’m a little behind in putting up pics of my Christmas decorations this year.  The decorations have been up since Thanksgiving but I’ve just not gotten around to posting anything about it.  I thought I better do it now before I take everything back down.

I went simple with the table this year. When I need to move it for dinner, just grab and go.

As much of a pain as the stairway garland is to put up, I’m always so glad I went to the effort when it’s all done.  It’s one of my favorite parts of my decorations. 

Santa is tucked back under the cupboards.

Mr. Snowman hangs out on the end of the island.  When we built the house, DH & I went round and round whether we should put in an island or not.  I’m so glad I WON!  I don’t ever want a house without one again.  I love it.

I ended up with this funky colored rooster after my niece’s wedding late this summer.  Every time I looked at him sitting on the counter I smiled.  He’s just plain fun and I couldn’t bear to put him away so I stuck him up on top of the cupboards with some greens for Christmas.  He seems to like it up there.

This was it for a tree for us this year.  We always had a real tree until a few years ago when I got the notion to get an artificial one.  I absolutely hated it.  Not that it was a bad tree but when you’ve had a real tree for 44 years of your life, it just wasn’t the same.  I sold it on Craigslist this year and went with only our smaller trees.  I kind of liked it.  I might get a real at some point again but for now this works well for us.

and a few other nooks….     Doesn’t everyone have a Christmas tree on the back of their toilet?  or am I just weird like that?   

I hope you enjoyed your tour!

 

Merry Christmas

He will be great,
      be called 'Son of the Highest.'
   The Lord God will give him
      the throne of his father David;
   He will rule Jacob's house forever—
      no end, ever, to his kingdom."

Light my world

A neighbor of ours goes all out every year with the Christmas light display on his farm.  He outlines each building with lights.  It’s just beautiful and very bright.  His lights can be seen from miles away.

It’s a ton of work but it brings enjoyment to so many.

Enjoy!

    

Catching up…

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since the 15th!  Well, actually, I can believe it and wow, can time get away before I even realize it.

I’m not even sure where to start but I’ll try and work my way through everything.

My work place has an annual Holiday Walk which usually takes place at the end of finals week.  Each building on campus puts on the ritz and sets out all kinds of scrumptious food and we wander from building to building and pretty much stuff ourselves sick.  It’s alot of fun, really it is!

Our building usually tries to have a theme.  This year we did “A Miser Christmas” and people dressed up like the heat miser, snow miser, Santa and Mrs. Claus and elves. We had a blast, as usual, putting on the show. 

Don’t they look great?

Mr. & Mrs. Claus

Me & my buddy Santa - complete with his conversational props.   There’s just a tad bit of warped-ness (is that a word?) in the area where I work.  Can you tell?

   I don’t think we’ll ever top the year we did “A Redneck Christmas” but we sure have fun trying.

HoDgePodGe

I’m finally getting around to participating in Joyce From the Other Side of the Pond’s Hodgepodge questions. I feel bad I haven’t joined in more as I encouraged her to start her own. L Enough of my personal guilt trip…


Here are the questions for this week's Hodgepodge....some are Christmas related and some are not.


1. What does it mean to have the 'holiday spirit'?
The holiday spirit is a giving spirit and an overall peace and excitement at the same time. DO I always have these things? I’d love to say “why of course, I do” but that would be lying and my momma taught that it’s wrong to lie.


2. What sits atop your tree (s)? Why?
Right now there isn’t anything on top of my tree because we didn’t put up a big tree this year. IN the past I’ve had everything from an angel to stars to bows and an old fashioned glass pointy thing (I have no idea the correct term for those things). I don’t have a lot of sentimentality to what sits on top but I definitely have some ornaments that make me smile every time I pull them out of the box.


3. When was the last time you gave yourself a pat on the back?3
When I was able to check another gift I was making off my list of to-do’s. Of course, I added more onto that list as soon as I got that one done, but that’s a story for another day.


4. Which of your senses is most sensitive this time of year?
Definitely my sense of smell – everything baking, pine trees, wood smoke, winter in general.


5. What do you have too much of in your kitchen?
Crud in my oven! It really needs cleaning. Just bein’ real here.


6. What do you do for meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Big meal? Breakfast tradition? Open the cookie tins and have at it?
Christmas Eve usually involves a nice dessert of some sort when we get home from services but this year it’s just DH & I. I think we’re going out for a Prime Rib buffet after we’re done at church. In the past we’ve had a big Christmas morning breakfast but this year it’ll be dinner. The plan now is for pork loin and all the fixin’s but that could change on whatever whim I get when I’m grocery shopping next week.


7. What is the best thing about winter?
That unexpected snow day!  We haven't had one yet but I can always hope.


8. Insert your own random thought here. 
I'm really looking forward to all of the activities in the next couple of weeks with family and friends.  Oh, and being off of work for two weeks doesn’t hurt anything either!

and so it begins…

Winter has come to Northwest Illinois.  Snow and frigid temps are on tap.

The snow has already started with great big flakes.   So pretty but…..

sub zero temps and wild winds are due later tonight along with our first Blizzard Warning of the winter.

We have to go out tonight but once we get home,
we’re hunkerin’ down by the corn burner (& sewing machine) until Monday morning!

Tis the season…

We had our 2nd annual Miller cookie baking day over Thanksgiving weekend.  We didn’t have all the help we did last year but still had a good time. 

The grands enjoyed the process more than ever before.  Take a look at Mr. O’s shirt.  Check out the flour all over it!  He was getting in to the rolling and cutting for sure.

He didn’t back away from the frosting and sampling much either this year

nor did his sister, Miss A.   They both had so much fun!  Thanks Heidi for suggesting last year that we do this every year.

We also had our family Christmas last weekend.  It was so nice getting up early Sunday morning and seeing all the vehicles in the driveway representing who was home. 

We have the luxury of seeing Jon & Heidi quite a bit since they live close but the other two guys, we don’t see near enough of. 

Look who rode his motorcycle home!  DH & I are pretty die hard riders but I have my limitations and 25 degrees is definitely within those limitations!    It was 25 when he came home but his trip back was in the 40’s.  That must have felt like a heat wave!  and all to be home for “Christmas” at Thanksgiving. 

So from the Miller family to your family….have a joyous Christmas season!

First snow & Chi-town

We woke to our first snow of the winter yesterday, about 6 inches of the stuff in fact.

We had planned to take the train in to the city with a group of friends so did we let a little snow stop us?  No way, no how!  Should we have???  uh, maybe?

Ours friends, Ron & Jodee (from my Gilligan's Island post this summer) picked us up at 6:15 am so we could meet two other couples and head to the train station which is an hour and 15 minutes drive from our house.  Our goal was to catch the 8:25 train.  Most of the roads, even though they were state highways weren’t plowed yet so the 8:25 train we did not make but only by 15 minutes.  So to Mickey D’s we went to have a cup of coffee and wait for the next one.

As far as I’m concerned, the train is the only way to go in to the city.  It’s cheap on the weekend, no parking hassles, no making wrong turns, it just plain rocks!

First stop since we arrived later than planned was lunch at Millers Pub.  It’s always been one of our favorite places to go but this time I’m not so sure.  A reservation given away even though we were there minutes before the time we requested, bad sauerkraut and I mean really bad, no apology and they still charged them for their meals.  My pork chops were good and Dan’s chicken was outstanding but service also means alot so not sure how soon we’ll go back.

After lunch, we stopped in at the Palmer House Hotel to see their decorations and had to have our picture taken with a Nut.  Cracker that is.  Then some shopped and some wandered, we & R&J were the wanderers.

The trees were so pretty with the way the snow was hanging on the branches.  Chicago didn’t have as much snow as we did at home but it did snow most of the time we were there.

We watched them skate awhile at Millennium Park.  We considered renting skates but the line was long and we thought it could be a really looonnggg trip back to the train station with a broken bone so we passed on it.

We walked down the famous Michigan Avenue but only went in two stores.  The Harley Store expecting to look at bikes but all they had was Harley merchandise. A little disappointing. 

Then we went to Trader Joe’s.  No Christmas trip to Chicago is complete without a stop at Trader Joe’s to pick up a box of the Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s and a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck Wine.  Yeah, we’re big spenders like that!

Our last stop was the Christkindl Market, a German style open air Christmas market.  We walked down the first aisle at the market and it was so crowded that we decided one pass was more than enough. 

We took our obligatory picture by the Christmas tree in the Market and back to the train station we went.     What a fun day in the city with great friends!  You oughta try it sometime!

Dancin' in the Minefield

I just ran across this video tonight.  After being married to my best friend for over 30 years, I love the message in this song.