Playing Catch-Up

I haven't been blogging much lately.  Don't know why.  Could be because I'm busy.  Could be because I'm in a funk. (holidays do that to me) Could be because I'm not taking too many photos and I don't like to post without photos.  Who knows.

Anyway, this post is an effort to catch-up a little.

My older daughter's birthday is Dec. 24.  So on Sat, Caleb and I went over there to give her her presents.  Out of the clear blue, someone suggested we go bowling.  So we did.

I hadn't been bowling in more years than I could remember, and believe me, it was totally obvious from my scores.  But it was great fun.

Caleb has a great hook and managed to get quite a few strikes...

My birthday girl and her family.  

Awesome son-in-law and grandkids!

Moving on.  Before Caleb came home I asked him if he'd put down a new floor in my bedroom.  This is the result.  It was painted plywood before.  The walls will have to wait to be painted until I return from Hawaii in the spring.

Moving on again. My husband and I usually drink about 1 cup of coffee each a day.  Even with a small 4-cup coffee brewer, I wound up throwing some of it away.  I like decaf sometimes, he doesn't.  He likes flavored sometimes, I don't.  I like bold brew all the time, he doesn't.

It was becoming quite a conundrum.  Enter the KEURIG coffee maker.  Exit all the problems. This gadget is awesome!  Makes one cup at a time--no waste.  Everyone can have their own coffee brew & flavor.  Or tea.  Or hot chocolate.  Or hot cider.  There is Half & Half (1/2 caf, 1/2 decaf) which is the way I often mixed my grounds.  There are all different kinds of tea.  There is Brew Over Ice for Iced coffee.  It's such a kick.  I even wound up giving two for Christmas presents.

Moving right along. Today we went to lunch at a local restaurant with some folks from church.  The pastor we had for 16 years, and who moved away to take another pastorate about 10 years ago, was in town.  They figured the best way for a group of people to visit with him and his wife was to meet at a restaurant.  It was a great time, and the food was yummy.

Dave and Janet and my good friend, Jean (middle).

So, you'd think that I never used a camera...  I never gave a thought to checking the ISO before I handed the camera to the waitress to take this photo.  Sure enough, it was on 1600 for goodness sake.  Kind of overkill for a flash picture.  The reason I even mention it is because the high ISO makes flash pictures grainy, and the image has been cropped, which tends to make grainy pics even granier.  Doesn't make any difference here on the blog, but for printing purposes it's less than ideal.  Will I ever learn????

And now for the finale.  Caleb was home for almost two weeks, after being gone for 2 1/2 years.  In that time I saw him for a week when I went to Alaska for a visit, and for 15 minutes when I flew with the dog and met him at the Fairbanks airport. 

On Thursday evening we drove him back to Syracuse to meet up with his good friend, James.  They left on Friday morning for their drive back to Florida so they could arrive in time for New Year's Eve services at their church.  Wonder how long it will be till next time?



13 days till I leave for Hawaii.  Woot, woot!