Taking the New Year by Storm

    This past month has flown by. We had family for the first two weeks, and class sorting, book buying, application finishing, studying and exams for the last two weeks. We tackled a huge project this Saturday - we cleaned out and reorganized the nursery closet. Oh my! Two hours and Two boxes full of goodwill items later, the closet was cleaned, the broken toys thrown away, and everything labeled and organized. It feels great to step into that room now! And no more bracing ourselves against the possible attack of loose piles of items waiting from behind the closet door. If only a backyard that needs major TLC and reorganizing took about two hours. (I think ripping up the overgrown weeds, grass, shrubs, and other items alone took over six hours.) And did we mention that we're going to have below freezing weather for the next week. The backyard project is going to have to wait.

A Long Drive Does Something To A Person....

      We woke up at 4 a.m., were on the road at 4:30 a.m., and didn't stop driving (save for the usual pit stops) until 1 a.m. Don't worry; we went to bed early the night before. The end of our Christmas vacation. A straight drive home. Our brains were tired, and we were getting cabin fever....

One Quarter of a Century Gone By....

    This past Tuesday was my hubby's birthday. He's a quarter of a century. I'm not far behind - only five and a half months to go.
     It's difficult to know what to get for him, and he feels the same about getting presents for me. We try to wait and listen to each other; we want to hear if the other person wants something.... A few days before the exciting event, I overheard him telling his mom that he was just going to have to bake his own carrot cake for his birthday. I was so elated to find something I could do!
    After he left for school, I got to work on the secret cake. Grandma's oh-so-good recipe! When he came home, we said the usual "how are ya?" and then he went straight for the cook books. "You're not allowed to make a carrot cake," I frankly told him. "Why?" "You just aren't allowed to." He got a funny smile on his face. I kept the cake in the oven where I was certain he wouldn't look. His dad made an excellent point later, though, when he said it was lucky my hubby didn't pre-heat the oven. Yeah; that was lucky.
    Thanks to Skype we got to talk with the Hubby's side of the family while he opened presents from his parents. Visiting, carrot cake, a good shirt, and boggle. We just can't ask for more than that. It was a great night.

 

What's in a name?

    
    It was a bliss-filled day, from morning and onward ever after. Two friends became forever linked, which each of them felt was one of the best decisions he and she ever made. An old nick-name stuck too....
    Just pronounce it like the camera and there you have it - Nicon!

Aspiring Historians

   This is our first attempt at blogging, and, though the intent is excellent, it may fail miserably. Let us face facts: journal and scrapbook keeping are both hanging by a thread, and it's a thin one. But perseverance, we hope, is becoming a cherished family middle name. We won't further discourage it's growth and your attention with continued disclaimers on this point.

    Introduction! The Holbrook Duo perfectly describes this seedling of a family. Currently, the family has two halves making a whole or two peas in a pod. You take your pick of fun and catchy descriptors. Believe me when I say it has excellent plans for blossoming in the future. These two peas attend educational institutions in the hearty land of Texas. We're studying medicine - the hubby's at Medical school, and the wife is trying to figure out how simple applications to Nursing school became so complicated.

     With an excellent Christmas vacation behind us we have high hopes for the coming year. Only way to go is forward. Charge!