Deck The Halls...

We had a great day yesterday, we did decide not to cook a huge meal though, so we went out to eat with Cory and had a great meal and a good time together... Then we decided to go see a movie, but I wasn't too interested in seeing High School Musical 3 or many of the other ones that were out, so we finally all decided to go see The Dark Knight. I think Chance likes the superhero movies, on the way home he asked if we could get Superman Returns, so we did and watched it when we got home...

Today we dragged all the Christmas decorations down from the attic and put on the music and got to town getting the place decorated for Christmas! Of course to the kids, it practically WAS Christmas... We have every toy they have ever had up in the attic, so they ran through the attic reminiscing and unfortunately dragging some of it down, I was kind of hoping we could put some more stuff up there instead!! :)

The kids are SO excited they can hardly stand it, I just LOVE this time of year! Taylor is wrapping some presents as I type even though it is way past bedtime, I may go to bed before they do they are so excited! Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the kids up here in the next day or so... I didn't even take any pictures tonight, Chance took some though, and I just borrowed his camera and took this one...

I suppose I need to go to bed because I have to throw that turkey in the oven first thing in the AM, well, I don't HAVE to, but it does sound pretty tasty, so I suppose I shall...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Got Tagged...

Well, not really, but I stole this from Petra's blog... :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial!! I had a real one once, never again…

3. When do you put up the tree? Sometime Thanksgiving weekend, perhaps tomorrow this year… :)

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year’s weekend.

5. Do you like eggnog? Not really…

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm… I don’t really recall, actually the only thing I can even remember off hand is those bricks, and I’m not even sure they were for me, I think they were for all of us…

7. Hardest person to buy for? Never really thought about it, my mentality has always been: “Don’t like it? Feel free to throw it away or regift it!” :)

8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids…

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, not on the front lawn or anything, but we have one…

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. I think e-cards are tacky…

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I think all gifts are great, at least whoever gave it thought of you, even if the thought was, “Jeez, we’ve gotten everyone something except Matt, do we have anything we can throw some wrapping paper around?” :)

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Not a huge fan of them actually…

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually January 1st, depends… :)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Oh yeah! :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham!

16. Lights on the tree? Tons and tons! Can’t have too many lights, and yeah, only white ones! I hate those multi-color lights...

17. Favorite Christmas song? Pretty Paper.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home! It’s the one holiday I think kids should wake up in their own home, although once they are older, let’s travel! If everyone wants to… :)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I suppose I might be able to if I started singing Rudolph… :)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Depends on which one isn’t broken… We have both, and whichever one of them ‘stays’ the best is what it is…

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Stressed out morons, the uppity type, and the type who would get offended if they found out that you actually *gasp* regifted! Relax people and just enjoy it!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Whatever is in the “ornament” boxes goes on the trees, quite varied actually…

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham, potato salad, and all the trimmings!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I could care less, I really care more about getting my wife and kids stuff… I always tell everyone not to even bother getting me anything, but if you must… I try to think of something they can get me, and in my kids case, that won’t dip into their “fund” too much…

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Who knows…

27. Who is least likely to respond to this? Hmm… Titus.

Finally...

Only about six years later... The office is done, well, ALMOST done, I still have a few pieces of trim to put around the windows, I suppose I'll attempt to get it up in the next few years... :) It's kind of hard to see the slate in some of the pictures, but it looks great!

You used to walk in and just see piles of crap that had accumulated over the past six years... Glad that's gone! We'll see how long it takes to accumulate more junk... :)

Yeah, I need to figure out what to do with the door that used to be there, I'm probably going to put a pocket door there, but yeah, it's NOT all that urgent of a project...

Carolyn was glad to get back in here as I had to cram her desk in the corner in the "school" room for the past two weeks or so... :)

I also am aware that my desk is a bit banged up, but hey, I got it at a garage sale for a dollar about ten years ago and it works just fine... :)

Yeah, I know my camera sucks, who knows, perhaps Santa will bring me a new one... :)

Uh, Yeah...

Has it been a week already?? I suppose it has, hard to believe that it is nearly Thanksgiving... The kids are getting excited about dragging down all the Christmas decorations though, I suppose we all are though, fun time of the year! We don't really plan on doing much this week though, the kids are out of school, I have to work and Carolyn has school (except Thursday and Friday). We were going to go down to Tonya's, then changed plans because Carolyn's family was coming down, then that changed, so now we might just go out to eat and see a movie... We did get a turkey though in case we change our minds again... :) Why do people only cook turkeys on Thanksgiving? Of course maybe some people cook them all the time, who knows...

No, I don't have the office back together yet, and it's getting on my nerves... I finally finished grouting it all today though, so I suppose I'll be able to move everything back in tomorrow, which will be nice, because the contents of the room have been scattered throughout the downstairs for the past several weeks... Perhaps I'll post some pics later, I have been awful about taking them lately though, probably because everyone keeps passing around a cold and I just haven't felt like it... Hope everyone has a great week though!!

Have I Mentioned...

How much I detest cold weather?? Ugh! It's here to stay though until March I suppose... I don't get a whole lot done outside when it is cold out, and keep in mind that "cold" is pretty much anything below 60 degrees... :) I did get the slate put down in the office though...

This is pretty much how I spent my weekend...

I DID get it done though, well, not done yet, as I still have to seal it and then grout it, a chore I hate nearly as much, if not more, than actually laying the slate... We'll see if that gets done in the next few days, although I'm sure it will because I can't not have my office back together... :)

Something else that has been killing me lately is hearing all these people comparing the current economic mess with the Great Depression...

I've not yet seen anyone living like this...

Or this...

Nor is it likely that we will see people living like that... Will it get worse than it is right now? Probably... Are we all going to be living in "Hoovervilles"? Doubtful... You hear some of these doom and gloom people talking about the end of times, stockpiling food, etc, etc... Reminds me of some of the kooks who sold all their shit before Y2K and moved to the hills. Idiots!

We did watch some movies this weekend as well, nothing like a roaring fire in the fireplace and a good movie to watch on a cold night! 'The Bank Heist' was pretty good, so was 'Street Kings'... I also liked 'Lions for Lambs'. Of course the places we get movies are running out of options, we got 'Color of Freedom' and 'He Was A Quiet Man' for tonight, I'm not getting my hopes up on those two though so we'll see how they are. :)

Before...

So I've spent the past three days emptying out the office so I can finally put the slate down that has been stacked in Cory's room for who knows how long... It's LONG overdue for it I might add, I think it's the only room in the house that hasn't gotten a new floor put down (well, except Cory's room, but he doesn't live here, so it hasn't ever seemed all that urgent... :) So anyway, here are the before shots, hopefully the after pics will be up within a few days! :)

Happy Veterans Day...

Note To Self...

When the temperature is only going to be in the low 60's and it is going to be windy, DON'T wear short sleeves and shorts! Yeah, I can't wait until Spring, and it isn't even Winter yet... We decided to take off to Red Top Mountain yesterday for some hiking and a picnic...

About to start off on the trail... Yeah, it's not exactly wilderness hiking or anything... :)

They always drain a lot of the lake this time of year, but enough is left to enjoy the scenery...

Tanner contemplating what to do with the 'crust'... He ended up removing it... :)

That rock would normally be under water, and it will be again come Spring!

Carolyn has more pics posted on Facebook if you are interested in seeing them... :)

The Right Wing Nutjobs...

Not that McCain was, but it's time to rework the GOP... Getting rid of the far right-wing wackos is, in my opinion, one of the FIRST steps that need to be taken... We'll see how that works out, now just need to get more people of like mind involved to rid the party of the morons who have allowed the current bunch of 'leaders' to stay in power so long...

Tick Tock...

Well, today is the day... Who will win?

The Chosen One?

Or these two clowns??

Yeah, I'm still undecided because I don't like either one of the choices... Although I have already voted... :) I honestly think that conservatives actually NEED a wakeup call, and I think this is a hell of a wakeup call: Democrat majority in the House, possible filibuster proof majority in the Senate and the White House... Not to mention the possibility of a few SCOTUS appointments... What were the Republicans thinking when they chose McCain?? Who knows, but we'll soon find out how that works out for them, and it's possible that he may even win...

The thing I find the most stunning is idiots like this:

Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!!!

Big Government will take care of us, go Obama!! Wow! This is PRECISELY the reason that our Founding Fathers DID NOT give everyone a Constitutional right to vote, even though you hear many morons spouting that nonsense over and over... If I was in charge, I would start restricting the "right to vote", only people who are self-sufficient would be allowed to vote, but alas, I'm not in charge... :)

I Did It...

Vote that is... Turns out it was a waste of time because Carolyn and my votes kind of negated each other, so we really could have both just stayed home and it would have had literally ZERO impact... for the rest of the votes, I just voted against the incumbent. I think more people should stop voting along party lines, and just start voting against the incumbent for a few years and maybe they will get the hint... Anyway, I'm just glad I got it over with today, even though I did have to wait in line for over an hour, of course 'poll workers' aren't the brightest lot in the world, if you get my drift... :)

Bo got a hair cut last week, Tanner looks like he needs one...

Taylor in her costume...

Everyone...

Ready to go... We really splurged on "costumes" this year as you can tell...

So everyone got a huge sack of candy and other treats and are all eating them now... :)

Mindless Online Activity...

Try it...

I've Got Nothing...

To post that is... Oh, I've got plenty to say, don't get me wrong... :) Is it Saturday already?? I've GOT to go to the dump today, my trailer is piled high with crap that has been sitting there waiting for a trip to the dump for months now, and the kids are going to be wanting to go on a hay ride Friday, so I suppose I'll go get that chore over with sometime today... I've also not taken any pictures this month for some reason, or at least very few, I go through phases...

I'm also STILL undecided believe it or not, of course I'm sure everyone knows by now that I can't stand either one of the choices, I keep just trying to figure out which one is the lesser of the two evils... Everytime I think, okay, I'll vote for McCain, I come across articles like this:

Make-Believe Maverick...

Most of that I was already aware of, which is why I can't really stand either one of them... Yeah, I understand Obama is all about Socialism, and yeah, I really would rather see divided government than to see Obama, Pelosi and Reid have the majority they need to ram whatever they choose through Congress... I really don't want Obama to be able to appoint anyone to the Supreme Court either, because that is something that can have an impact for 30 or 40 years... I really don't want McCain to appoint anyone either though, therefore the dilemma... I also don't want McCain to attain his "prize" seeing as how he went about achieving it, I don't particularly like to award people like that with their ultimate 'reward'... I also don't like the fact that all these 'conservatives' who have been screaming about 'not voting at all', etc for months are now screaming about how bad Obama is going to be, and to 'vote for McCain'... Can you make up your mind already?? Idiots, what did they think their 'Just vote no' mentality would accomplish?? Someone IS going to win, and 'No' was never an option for actually choosing a President... Morons... So part of me thinks that whole crowd will get exactly what they deserve with the White House, the House of Representatives and a filibuster proof Senate in the hands of three of the most liberal, left leaning people in government... An Obama who may very well appoint one or two Supremes as well... I think they will get what they deserve and perhaps wake up and make some changes in 2010 after realizing that "Just vote no" doesn't quite work out for them all that well... So yeah, I'm still undecided...

Perhaps I'll take some photos for everyone's enjoyment this weekend, who knows... :)

The Difference...

"The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.” –Thomas Jefferson

I'm Freezing...

Well, not literally, but I'm cold! I don't much care for this time of year, when the transition is made from shorts to jeans and you don't know whether to turn the heat on or not... It's down to nearly freezing at night, but then gets up to the mid 70's to 80's during the day... It's like the weather can't make up it's mind or something... I do like the colors and such during fall, but I'm more of the type who if I had had a choice would hole up inside from now on until Spring... :) Ah, but that's not a choice... We did go get some pumpkins today to carve, one of the neighbor kids took Carolyn's, so we have to go get some more today, and of course the kids want to carve another one, so I suppose we'll be doing it again...

The kids with their pumpkins...

We all went out to the Etowah Indian Mounds on Saturday, Carolyn has posted the pics on Facebook... The kids want to build a mud hut out back, so we'll see how long that interest lasts... :) Other than that, pretty much just life in general around here, I can't believe that the year is nearly over though... I am looking forward to seeing what happens on November 4th, I just hope we know who won the next day rather than some long, drawn out legal thing... Tick tock, we'll soon find out... :)

The McCain-Palin Mob

Of course the far right is just as effing loony!! Jeez... If we could just eliminate the far right AND the far left everything would be just fine... Imo... :)

Howard Stern Exposes Clueless Obama Supporters

Wow! Yet another reason why some people should NOT be allowed to vote... Another thing that kills me is these clueless nitwits who keep screaming about the 'right to vote', there is NO constitutional right to vote, and SCOTUS reaffirmed that not long ago... Idiots...

Field Trip...

So yeah, same old thing going on around here... Yesterday I went with Taylor and her class to the Bartow History Center on a field trip, for some reason I only took about 3 pictures...

Off we go...

Inside the center learning about the Cherokee Indians that used to live around here before the Federal Government made them all go to Oklahoma... :)

After we got home, our neighbor took Carolyn and Taylor to a horse farm down the road...

They had a good time, now Taylor and the boys want to take horse riding lessons... So I suppose we'll sign them up, I always enjoyed being around horses myself...

Other than that, same old thing going on around here... The kids are off of school tomorrow, so we are going to take them out to the Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville for a family excursion/learning trip... :) I did finally get the rails around the deck, but for some reason I've not been taking many pictures lately, I go through phases where I'll take tons of them, then practically none...

The next few weeks should also be interesting, I'll be glad though when the election has come and gone myself, I'm rather tired of it all... Seems like this presidential election has been going on for nearly two years?!? I suppose it will all be over soon enough though, I'm sure half the country, if not a higher percentage, will be glued to the TV on November 4th along with me waiting to see the results... :)

Funny...