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Hey Friends.

Are you still out there?? This inconsistency with my posting is killing me, I dunno about you guys! Some of it has been from holiday busy-ness, some is from a non-ideal internet connection, and some is from not corralling my thoughts enough to sit down and right.  I like to think that I DO have thoughts, that would be worth writing about more than I actually write. But I guess I will just have to prove it won't I?

Christmas rolled around and we did indeed have snow, that just makes it a little better don't you think?  Christmas eve we were at home with Brad's family - we had a super delicious meal of a wide variety of finger foods.  Those meals are so fun, and it seems to fill me up quickly! Then we gathered in the living room by the real live fire in the fireplace, and listening to a passage of the Christmas story.  None of us were in a hurry to open gifts....just kidding.  There are still 10 year olds among us. :) It's always fun to see who has who, and if your predictions were correct.  Me? I had no idea. I like the surprise!

We spent most of the day on Christmas at Brad's Dad's Dad's house. Are you following?  Aaron and Susie - known to most far and wide. :) There were some other cousins there, laughs, games, and of course - yummy food.  It was nice not having to go far for such a good time!

The day after Christmas Ruth and Lyndsi and I decided to go on a shopping trip, I don't think any of us had much in particular we were looking for, just wanted to be together and see what sales we would find.  Victor, NY is a wee bit of a drive but has a mall, a Target, and other nice shopping options. AND. it has a Moe's Southwest Grill.  Yummmmm!

Friday I was able to spend some much needed time with Katrina (my BFF who currently lives 12 hours away...at least for now...) while she was home visiting family.  Her, Lyndsi and I went to a couple of salvation armies (where else??) and then enjoyed some Panera Bread for dinner.

Saturday- we spent the day at Jim & Sarah Youngman's with Ruth's side of the family, from near and far! There were some local cousins, cousins that hadn't been seen since fleeing the country (much less dramatic than it sounds ;]), and met some cousins from all the way down in sunny Florida! It was a treat being together, more games were played and more yummy food to be eaten.  (Surprisingly I'm still wearing the same size close as I was pre-holidays!)

Sunday  my brother Matthew came to visit again for a day or so on his way back to Southern Pines, NC.

As New Years rolled around, I started to feel a little under the weather. Brad was still busy as ever with work, but we still wanted to do something to ring in the new year, even if it wasn't at  midnight.  We ended up going to an Indian restaurant with a group of about 13 or so,  including our long lost Williman fran & his lovely bride! It was a fun time with lots of chatter and yummy food. I enjoy different types of food - Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Mongolian, BUT if I go there and score a dish that I really like, I usually stick to that.  I guess I air on the side of caution usually. :)

New Years day was spent again in part at Aaron and Susie's with more family. It was good to visit with them, but I ended up going home part way through because my drippy nose and sneezing didn't make me feel very sociable. :/ And here we are (basically). I'm still kicking that cold I seemed to catch, yesterday was a very uneventful day for me, I spent a lot of time napping and reading, reading and napping.  I picked up a copy of the classic Jane Eyre, and it's actually quite engaging!  I'd love to see the movie sometime! My dear husband took over the dinner duties and made us a delicious cast iron skillet pan seared ribeye and sweet potato fries.  Maybe I should take sick more often?? No, bad idea.  I was really quite miserable.

You know, I tend to feel dissatisfied after posts like this.  I feel like its more journal entry type, then good blog post that is going to be enjoyable to anyone else besides me, because they didn't live those moments, or remember the inbetween laughs that the few words I wrote will trigger in my memory.  I've read different things written by bloggers like "kick starting your blog" or "5 must-dos in blogging" and most of them mention something along the lines of choosing who you want to read your blog/what you will write about.  I understand doing those things might make a start up blog more successful, and/or more often read, but I dunno.  I just can't pick what I want to write about at this point! While these type of entries aren't the feel I think I am "going for", I feel like at times they might be necessary just to have "on paper" or to help kick writers block.

I guess this is the part where I am suppose to look back over 2013, and say what will change in 2014.  I'm not gonna look back, or expound terribly on what I think will happen in 2014.  I feel like where we are in life (whether it was at the end of a year or not, it just so happened to be) will bring lots of new things either way.  Moving my dad in with us, working on enlarging our family, making our new house our home, finding ways to make money (me) from home...the list goes on.  I think I am going to concentrate on "following through" in the months to come.  I feel like my head swirls with ideas - from house projects, to blog posts, to ways to make an income, to becoming more routine with daily devotions, to cooking/baking more...so that's not where I lack.  I lack in just DOING.

SO.  Hopefully this little outlet I'm working on creating for myself will be a booster and encourage me to do those things, and document the successes.  And possible failures. We are all human after all, right?

FOLLOW THROUGH.  hold me to it, kay?