A Vacation Reprieve

 This past October the Mr. and I strategized with great detail to GET OUT, GET AWAY, GET FREE from the tethers of home and the supervision of our special needs son.  Our get-a-way was planned a year in advance and took many caring people (care givers) to pull off such a fete.

Old Faithful Geyser

We met up with close friends for five nights at the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park two weeks before they closed for the winter season.

To say we had a grand time is an understatement!

A side trip to Grand Teton National Park and a gourmet picnic at this beautiful chapel .... LIFE IS GOOD!

Chapel of the Transfiguration, Jackson, Wyoming

Generating Power

The best laid plans are often set aside when times are easy going.  But when the doo-doo hits the fan, it's awful to be stuck and remorseful about not having taken steps to be prepared.

After our last great wind storm and losing our electric power, we got on the stick and purchased a generator.  We even had it sitting in our garage with an appointment scheduled for our electrician to come out to rewire our electric panel to switch to generator power throughout our home with the flip of a switch.

So close were we!  And then SNOWMEGADON arrived with HEAVY-WET-SNOW blanketing our area weighing down trees and power-lines alike.  Again, we were so close to having alternative power.  This time our power went out five times in a two day period.  We would just get it turned back on when another tree would topple over somewhere down the line and BAM!  During this weather event, we finally got the generator up and running and performed a practice run.  It worked beautifully.  This same day in the early evening the power went out for a sixth time.  I was never so excited to have the power go out!  I woke hubby up from a nap and he quickly switched the breaker panel and started up the generator.   Yippy-ki-yay & hot-dang!  We barely skipped a beat!

Table Time

For some reason the past year I've gotten lazy about setting a proper table for our meals.  There's been more 'grazing' (eating mindlessly), snacking, and family members eating in their own little places of preference.

The 'pop' news of late has been about setting purposeful goals.  Thinking on this, my purposeful goal is to get back in the habit of meals with the family AT the table.  Setting a proper table that includes real plates, metal forks, napkins (cloth or paper), etc.  This will be to our benefit, and if I eat at regular meal times, there will be no need to graze or snack (in theory).   So, not calling this a new year's resolution, I (ahem) plan to 'on purpose' eat only at the grown-up's table.

There.  I said it.  So now must live it!  Nothing like the typed word to hold a person accountable, especially when published on the WWW.

Happy New Year!