JOJO's Journey

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Celebration and break....

last Tuesday i was getting ready to head home to Mora for the week for Christmas and decided that i needed a hair dye and cut. Called Jenny, made an appointment, and spent almost four hour there. while there this crazy lady stopped bye to use the bathroom. (first of all, who stops by at a hair studio to use their bathroom?). anyways- this lady decided that i looked bored and plopped herself down in the chair next to me and began to tell Jenny and I all about her husbands bowel movements, or there lack of off. Jenny was trying to hold her chuckles in...but exploded with laughter. i sat in my chair and just starred at this crazy person and wonder at how she felt comfortable talking about her husbands pop. interesting to say the least. My hair turned out super....it's short, and i think i am digging it!
Got to ma and pa's late Tuesday night. From that moment on I promised myself i was going to enjoy the quiet and soak up as much sleep as i could. i slept most mornings til about 9. Dakota (mom's dog-we call her puffers) woke me up every couple hours cuz she wanted to play or was hogging the bed. yeah- when i come home to visit she gets to sleep in my bed. its the only time it is allowed. mom hates it- but i love it, and i think Puffers likes it too. My walking pneumonia is getting way better. and i think most of it is due to sleep....lots and lots of sleep.
Wednesday we hit Christmas Eve service at church. it was good. Mom just joined the praise and worship team so it was fun to see her up front on stage. she did good. the service was good. i sow my super good friend from high school, Lance. it always good to see him. He looks super good! headed home from there as the family was coming up for our traditional 'soup' Christmas Eve celebration. this celebration has gotten smaller as each family is starting up their own traditions. it use to be about 30+ peeps all smashed into mom house...but this time around there was 11 of us. and the amounts of food still could of feed the normal 30. we had Paulette famous chili, moms fantastic wild rice soup, and Bonnie's oyster stew (yuck). plus we had chicken wings, little smokies, dip and chips, crackers, beer, and a ton of cookies. we sat around and played some games and got all tuckered out around 10:00.
Christmas day brought the flu...yeah, it always seems to get someone. 4 years ago- Chris had it. 3 years ago- Chris and i both had it. last year i think we actually stayed healthy. and this year mom got hit hard. i am praying that i dont catch it...cuz i am so sick of being sick. anyways. Christmas was at Chris and Carey's house. lots of food was served, lots of laughter was had, and a ton of coffee was drank, games were played, and kids were everywhere. it was great- except that mom was at home alone vomiting. yikes!
That night she felt well enough that we had our own little family Christmas get together. We decided that the adults weren't going to exchange gifts, except with mom and dad. i scored a sowing machine...i guess mom want me to learn how to fix my own pants. its not the most excited gift, but very piratical. any one wanna teach me how to sow? the kids got a ton of gifts...and were excited. it was fun. since mom wasn't feeling the best the gang didn't hang out long. so it was very uneventful. but thats ok.
currently i am at home again...and it's nice to just spent more time chillin out. i have basketball practice tonight and leave for orange city Iowa on Monday for a tournament. so break as i know it is going to end...which is fine, i am ready to start up normal life again. break was good. Christmas was good. but i am ready to tackle the game of life again; and pray that i dont get the flu.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

christmas party

after the longest week, which seemed like a lifte-time, i had a christmas party at my house for some peeps. it was a small group of good friends. i feed them taco's and puppy chow (ya know - check mix with peanut butter and chocolate). everyone brought a $1.00 gift and we played the dice game, which was a hit. we laughed so hard at how crazy the boys got at stealing gifts from one another. at one point i think schmidty had about 5 gifts and everyone was stealing from him. it was super funny. it was a good time. paul was super excited that he got a princess marker board that i know he is gonna hang on the outside of his bedroom door. anna took the best gifts home, carbiou gifts cards! and brad got the foam shooting gun and continued to shoot everyone all night long. we played catch pharse and mad gap...and at one point i was laughing so hard that i almost peed my pants. i was happy to have people over to enjoy my home (and my new couches...us girls all fit on it), to feed them and enjoy each others company. oh, i got my bible study members a Northwestern College T-shirt for Christmas...but Aaron and Jason werent here to collect their gift, so the last picture is if jen, anna, and justin in their sporty nwc shirts. NICE! as the snow falls and i sit here still in my p.j's (and it's 3:00 p.m.) i am so thankful to have good friends to celebrate Jesus with. and i am even more thankful that i have a safe and warm place to live, cuz it's snowing like crazy outside! here are a couple of the fun captured moments of the evening.








Tuesday, December 09, 2008

scrooge?

i had it in my head about a week ago that i wasnt going to put up a tree this year and or decorate my house; just wasnt in the mood. mostly cuz i am never home to enjoy the smell of a tree and or the sight of my decorations, but also cuz i sold my fake tree on my garage sale last summer and i didnt want to buy a new one...and or get a real one. but- Sunday i got a itch to buy a tree and decorate. so i did!!!!!!
Jen came over Sunday evening and helped me figure out how to use the stupid tree stand. i had no idea how since Matt put my tree up last year. anyways- i called Matt two times to try and figure it out and finally my dad told me how to jimmy rig it. so the tree is up and looks great! here are a couple of my favorite tree ornaments. the snow man is from my niece Emma, she made it for me a couple years ago. and the other one is from a student of mine that i taught when i worked in Elk River about 10 years ago. I love it. That same student gave me an angel bulb that must have fell of the tree this morning and was broken when i got up....i was sad!
Monday i got more into the Christmas spirit by going to a 3-D Christmas play at my friend Anna's church. she and her parents were in it. it was cute and funny and got me more in the Christmas mood. good stuff!!!! here is Jay, Jen and i in our 3-D glasses. nice! otherwise, life has been pretty busy for me, thus the lack of blogging. coaching is going ok. we cant seem to win any games, so thats frustrating. teaching is fine. started Trimester 2 a week ago and am ready for new students; already. i have a class of 38 7th graders that are going to challenge my every single nerve for the next 12 weeks! grad school is almost over and i cant wait. i actually should be working on a 3 page paper right now, but choose to 'play' instead. i am so burnt out. church is good. friends are good. family is good. God is good. sweet.