Sorry for my disappearance... I've been enjoying my time with the girls and Josh and not having to work.
So sorry to hear it was tough and stressful getting your dad in and out of the car. I'm so glad to hear it wasn't too cold outside on Thursday when you went shopping with your dad.
2 lock-down shootings within the last 6 months at the Target store you visited doesn't sound good.
I'm glad to hear you had a great day and that your dad was in good spirits.
I'm so sorry to hear your phone crashed How great that you had backed up your pictures. I have Dropbox that takes backup of my pictures everytime I'm connected to WiFi which I am when ever I'm at home.
I can't believe you got an iPhone. I can totally understand Josh not wanting to give you support on it. LG G5 looks like a nice phone.
My plan is with the Christmas
Lego is to tear the whole thing down so I can rebuild it again next year, if Ulf doesn't convince me not to tear it down and put it a way as it is.
Merry Christmas to you and you family
Yes - all in all it was a great day with dad, logistically though, it was difficult. I need to keep that in mind for next time.
I am still quite bummed about my phone- I am adjusting - though there are many things I truly miss about my phone.
I really wanted the LG G5, since that would be the next logical upgrade from my G3... However - the reviews I found were not that great... There was another LG, which had decent reviews - however it was $750... By the time I paid for that, I might as well get the Iphone for the same price with excellent reviews. Gah!!! No matter which way a person slices it - I was NOT prepared to buy a new phone 2 days before Christmas - financially or otherwise.
I think they turned out great - I really like them... I am debating on just wrapping my tree and putting it away decorated. LOL That sure would make life so much easier next year - as I love this tree so much... I have not decided for sure yet or not though.
Thank you! I hope you had a Merry Christmas Lillian!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I've had an iPhone for several years now, and I love it (probably too much ) Hopefully, you will love yours, too.
Thank you - I hope you had a Merry Christmas as well!
I hope so... There are still a few nuisances that I don't like about it... Some of the navigational buttons... The keyboard... And the ability to switch from ringer to vibrate isn't as easy to figure out... Otherwise - It seems to work well and it's pretty intuitive.
Today we head to my sister's in Harris (40 miles). I think the weather will be ok. My brother-in-law has added more snowmobiles for a total of 7, so the grandkids are hoping to ride them today. Last year there was no snow. Tomorrow is just my kids and grandkids for dinner and opening gifts. I was so ready for everything this year which is unlike me, except for making some O'Henry bars for today. So I was able to just relax and watch some Christmas shows, including my favorite It's a Wonderful Life.
Sorry it was not fun shopping, but at least you saw your dad and got his shopping done. I don't think I would have known there were sizes of wheelchairs either. Next time I would just stop by the door and get him in his chair. I don't think people would mind going around you. My dad is 87 and still lives at home. He now uses a walker, but his friend does most of his grocery shopping for him and comes over and shovels. I've told her many times she is a godsend. He took her in when her husband died and she had no money and owed for hospital bills. She feels she owes him, but she's paid him back many times. Luckily she lives very close by.
Congrats on the new phone. I think you will love it. I think I told you my grandkids are getting them for Christmas. I was teasing them that I was getting one because the iphone 6 was getting cheaper now. I really have no plans to do this, and we joke we have dumb phones. Anyway the youngest told me I couldn't get them before they did, lol. I know they are going to be thrilled.
I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas!
It sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas! I am glad you were prepared and you were able to enjoy the time with your family!
Yes... It was definitely a learning curve for me... I am terrible with this sort of thing. LOL How nice that you have someone local to help with your dad... That is one thing that makes life difficult, is that I am solely responsible for everything for him, and I live so far away... It's getting to the point where I need to consider getting him closer to me, despite my brother living there. This is such a difficult position to be in.
Thanks - I sure hope I learn to love it... So far, I am tolerating it... There are definite things I love about it and definite things that are annoying to me. LOL I hope your Grands are enjoying their new Iphones??? I am sure they are - actually, LOL.
Thank you - same to you!
I'm glad you got to take your dad shopping. Sorry it was such an ordeal. At least he got it done.
I'm sorry your phone crashed. It's a good thing you had all your pictures backed up. That's one of the reason I still use my camera, I've
had too many problems with phones crashing. My first smart phone was an Iphone, then I switched to an android and have had androids ever since. My daughter and her husband just went back to Iphones and have been happy with them.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas
Liz
Yes - it's definitely an ordeal... I think, next year - we will stay away from the mall and just go to a few of the non-busier stores in the area, I think it will go much smoother then.
It's always fun to spend time with him though and something I look forward to doing.
Yes - I was so lucky for that! I would have been so upset had I not had them backed up - and as it turns out - I also had them backed up on my micro-SD card (which I was unaware of) - thanks to Josh - he was able to get them transferred to our computer too.
There's a few things about the phone that I am not liking all that much... On my LG keyboard - it used to allow me to hold my letters down a bit longer and use the corresponding punctuation mark without switching the keyboard from letters to numbers all the time... Does that make sense? On the Iphone, I have not figured out if this is possible or not - I don't think it is, as I cannot find it anywhere in the settings... So, things like that are annoying to me. LOL Otherwise - the phone works as it should and I am slowly building my address book again.... Which reminds me - I need to do another post on FB to remind people to send me their #s.
Thanks Liz - I hope you had a Merry Christmas too!
Sorry about your phone. I would be lost without mine. I wish I didn't depend on it so much. I really appreciate your trip reports and life reports and I'm grateful that you keep us updated. I don't know you, but I appreciate your positive energy and comments. Merry Christmas, stay warm and stay safe with the winter driving.
Thanks - it sure was a bummer, especially 2 days before Christmas...
Awww... Thank you! I really appreciate that everyone continues to come back and read about my (mostly) boring life... LOL I sure hope you had a Merry Christmas and were able to spend it with those you love!
Hi D! It sounds like the shopping trip was quite an adventure! I am sure your Dad appreciated it and loved spending time with you. That sucks hard about your phone. I am in constant fear that I will lose all the pics in my phone! I will have to check out this google account- I never knew about it. I'll be hanging around anticipating more updates- pictures or not, Lol!
We had a good Christmas here. We were able to FaceTime with my parents so that they could watch the girls open the gifts they sent to them. Thank God for technology! I enjoyed the FB slideshow of your family- so many happy smiles. I hope you are enjoying your family this week.
It was definitely an adventure and one that it getting more difficult as time goes on... I think the hardest part, for me, is that dad doesn't realize that he doesn't have the stamina/ability to be out shopping all day long anymore... So, by the time we are almost done - I am fighting to keep him awake enough to get him back in the car and home again. LOL
Definitely check the Google photos thing - I am so relieved I had it - even though, I didn't know it at the time, all of my photos were also backed up on my mini-SD card in my phone... Josh was able to transfer them to our computer as well - so now that phone is double backed up - even though I still don't have all of my contacts. Oh well - it could be worse!
I am so happy that you were able to face time your parents!!! That is wonderful!!! We were able to Skype BMTL for quite a while on Christmas morning - which is always fun to see the kids enjoying their gifts from us (and everyone else too)... I agree - modern technology is a great thing in these instances! I know that I wouldn't have been able to survive last summer with Allison in Europe without it.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas Brandi!!!
Hi Dee - I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I'm sorry to hear that you lost your phone and all your contacts, etc. I agree that the iPhone has a huge learning curve and I don't blame Josh for not wanting to be involved in it. I had a lot of help from my daughter who had an iPhone and a coworker who bought the same phone that I did at about the same time. But it did take me a long time to learn to use it.
The most important thing you can do to protect your iPhone from data loss is to set up your iCloud account and make sure that your new phone backs up to it. The default setting is to back up automatically when you charge the phone but you might want to make sure. When you go into your iCloud account you will see all your contacts, your Notes, your photos (up to 5G's or something like that), etc. It is a lot easier to add contacts in the iCloud using your computer than to type them all in using the phone. I just went into my iCloud account to make sure that my most recent notes and photos were there, and they are. My husband switched to an iPhone after his Blackberry was stolen. He lost a lot of important data from his job. But now he has it all secured in his iCloud account.
Our kitchen and bathroom remodeling is supposed to be finished by the end of this week. It was a little crazy trying to have a Christmas party at our house without the full use of the kitchen. The appliances are there but nothing has been moved into it since they aren't finished yet. But we managed and had a great time. The one thing I was most happy to get back again was a kitchen sink. I hated washing dishes in the bathtub. I will be glad to move out of the "bedroom kitchen" and into the real kitchen again.
Thanks Sue! I am surprised that the learning curve between the Iphone and the androids is as seamless as it acutally is - it hasn't been as hard to get used to as I thought it would be. However - there are some aspects of my old phone that I truly miss...
I have my ICloud all synced with my phone - however, I still need to sync it with Allison's Ipad - so if I ever lose my phone, I have a way to track it easily.
I should try to do that today!
It's incredible how much of our lives are in our phones!
Yay!!! That is so exciting!!! It's gone quickly - at least for me as a spectator.... I am sure that living in it has been less than so?
I am so glad you were able to manage though and have a good Christmas holiday despite the lack of kitchen... Oh I agree - I also think the worst part about not having a functional kitchen (for me) was also not having a kitchen sink... That was the last item to come out and the first to go in... I think - in the end - we were only without a sink for 2 days... But it was TOUGH! I hope your share pictures of your finished kitchen - I cannot wait to see it!
Hi! I hope your Christmas was wonderful. So sorry about your phone! Love the gift Allison gave you -- so beautiful, well done, and just fabulous.
We enjoyed having my parents here (they left last night) and now it's just the four of us and we're in wedding planning and cleaning/dejunking mode. My husband gave me a one month subscription to the Real Plans menu planning subscription service so I can try that out for a month when we restart W30 -- I'm very excited about it. Have a wonderful day!
Thank you - same to you!
I know, my phone was a true bummer so close to Christmas - not something I was expecting to have to replace so quickly!
Thanks!!! That was actually a gift from Brian, Myrthe and the kids - Allison just did it all... So, I guess it was a collaborative effort.
Regardless - I truly love it! I've already planned another line to go on it... Significant people in our lives that were missed - I love that it's so easy to add to it! Such a FUN gift!
Eeeep - sounds so exciting! I am so happy for you that you were able to have so much family around this year for the holiday! I bet it was wonderful!
I've never heard of Real Plans before... I may have to go investigate! I know that I am working on de-cluttering and de-junking too - I have been for several months - however it isn't going well. LOL
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!!! Thanks for checking in!
That is awful about your phone. Hopefully, you are able to get the majority of your contacts back. iPhone, I am not sure I could do that. I might after this Samsung.
Hope you had a great Christmas.
Thanks Shannon - I've been able to get most of them - I think, I hope.
I am sure that more will trickle in as time goes on.
So far the Mac/Android interface has been going well - I am able to fumble around and figure things out... However, there are definite functions of my old phone that I truly miss... There's a learning curve for sure - but not as bad as I thought it would be.
I hope you had a great Christmas too!!! How did the kids do... Marissa??? Did her Christmas go OK?
I also hope your birthday was great!
Thats awful about your phone. Guess i should go back up my phone to the cloud before something happens. My family had a great Christmas hope your did to.
Yes - go back up your photos before you forget! My phone gave absolutely NO inkling that it was going to crash - it just did it... So it can happen without any warning.
I am so happy to hear that you had a great Christmas! Thanks for checking in!
I'm behind, but thankfully not too bad.
I love the new pics of the pups being lazy!
I have an iphone. I've never owned an android, and probably never will. My son switched over to an android and is anxious to get back to an apple product. Once you figure it out (it really isn't hard), I think you'll really like it. My husband's android phone is way over my head.
Hahaha... I am behind too. LOL
Hehehe.... They are having fun destroying all of their new Christmas toys... Some of them didn't survive an hour.
This year, though, I tried hard to get them hard rubber/plastic toys, vs. the "indestructible" sewn fabric toys - as those cannot survive Cooper. LOL
That is good to hear... We will see how it goes... There are things that I like about it and things that I don't. I am learning fast though and it isn't as hard as I thought it would be. My issue is going to come when something goes wrong with the phone and Josh won't be able to/won't want to help me fix it... I am sure - at that point, I will come to my senses and go back to Android.
We'll see though...
I hope you had a great Christmas!
Merry Christmas D hope you and your new phone are getting along!
Hope your Dad is doing well and had a great time with him too.
Merry Christmas to you too! Hahaha... We are trying! It's definitely different than my old phone, but I am managing... And thankfully, between the girls and I, we are able to figure things out quite easily.... As both of them have had Apple products all along - so they are pretty knowledgeable about the phones.
Thanks - he is doing as well as can be expected... We had a good time.
I am way behind on your trip report. I have been having issues with the DIS. Every time I try to post something it acts up. Seems to be working today so I figured I would quickly wish you Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
No worries! I am having issues on The Dis too when I try to post from my new phone - it definitely doesn't like when I try to type more then 3 sentences here... Which won't go well when I am traveling... Oh well - I totally understand... Thanks so much for checking in while you were able to!
I hope you had a Merry Christmas - wishing you a Happy New Year as well!
Just back from a trip last week and popped by to see if you'd updated...I'm so glad you had backed up your pictures!! Losing my phone stuff like that is a huge fear of mine. I switched to an iphone last April, much to my own dismay. I was an android person, too, and I loved my samsung galaxy phones.
(here's a secret...i switched for more disney phone case options! Shh...don't tell, LOL!!)
I do like that our entire family has the phones linked, and when my 13 year old left his iphone on Haunted Mansion last week, we were able to track it easily with the "find my phone" feature.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I love all the puppy pictures!!
Yay!!! I hope your trip was great!
I agree - I do miss my Samsung - however, my Samsung - though it was by my side for so many years - it was definitely buggy... My LG, I LOVED - a LOT! I dunno - I may end up going back to the LG sooner rather than later... There are just some functions with their phones that I truly loved and were very intuitive to me... The Iphone isn't nearly as intuitive.
Hahaha... I admit - I have been looking at the Disney phone cases, I haven't splurged though... I'd love to get one from Photopass - however - my issue with that, is that I don't have any photos over the last 3 trips which has both girls and I together... Since all trips were done individually - I'd have to choose one girl over the other - or go with really old pictures...
We'll see... And as of now - there are no Donald cases for the Iphone 7plus...
Hopefully they will start to produce more...
That's really a nice feature! I need to do that with ours! I know that V is saving hard for an IPhone 7plus (rose gold flavor) - we'll see how long it takes her to save...
Then the 3 of us will all have Iphones and Josh will be off the hook for tech support. LOL
Thanks - I hope you had a wonderful trip and a wonderful Christmas!!!
Your puppies are adorable - makes me want another dog. You sure look better than I do when baking The cookies look good!
Awww... Thanks! I love them so much! The girls and I were laughing the other day... When V and I were in Disney - we discovered that MM's personality is JUST like Eeyore... And SC's personality is JUST like Tigger... So, we were telling Allison about this comparison - and we were all laughing, because it is sooooo true!
They are both nuts and we love them so!
LOL - thanks!!! I don't ever bake much anymore - firstly, the girls do it for me... And secondly - I can't keep my hands out of the goodies when they are done... So, I try not to bake.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Sorry to hear about the phone (saw it on FB too). That is the worst. It's amazing how much we have on those little devices! Good luck with IOS after android! We are an android family. DS needed a new phone so he was briefly thinking about an Iphone, but stayed android. The good thing (I hope) is that there were a lot of phone sales just before Christmas, so hopefully you got a deal. I know the phones we got on the 24th were discounted, and that sale disappeared on the 25th!
Yes - it was such a bummer! It is scary how much we keep on our phones... And then I think about backing up my photos - and I am SURE big brother monitors those - I hope he enjoys my endless Disney vacation photos. LOL
So far, it's going good - the IOS differences aren't that great... It's more getting used to where everything it located on the different phones - which I'd likely have to do regardless... There are other nuisances that I have to get used to though - and I am not sure I want to... So, I may end up going back to an Android as soon as possible... We will see...
So far - it isn't terrible tough.
That was my biggest fear - if I didn't get it before Christmas, that I would pay SO MUCH more after Christmas... So that's the main reason why I frantically purchased and almost did it blindly, as I wanted the best deal I could get.
I haven't had the nerve yet to see if prices are any different now than they were then...
Honestly, I am a bit afraid to look. LOL
I hope you had a Merry Christmas!
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Sorry for being so far behind here! We have been busy and just enjoying our time together.
Sadly - due to weather, we did not make it back to Dad's for Christmas... I am suffering terrible guilt from leaving him alone on Christmas... I think I would have been better off braving the weather and just going, regardless of the danger involved - as I feel like my Dad didn't understand. It's not easy sometimes... Weather was good here, though making my best educated guess as to what weather was like there, by watching the news and road conditions, talking with extended family in the area - it would have been a tough trip, at it's best. Many of my other family members cancelled their Christmas celebrations in that area as well - so that was really my deciding factor... I knew if others that lived there, didn't want their loved ones traveling into that area - then maybe it might be best to follow their lead. Sigh. I am trying to release myself from this guilt and it just isn't going well... It really put a damper on my holiday. We've rescheduled to celebrate Christmas this coming weekend... Weather and travel looks to be much better.
Anyways...
So, per our own tradition - we celebrated Christmas Eve here... It was definitely low key compared to Christmas' past... There weren't as many gifts under the tree and the meal wasn't as elaborate... However - I continued to remind myself - it wasn't about the gifts, it was about us being able to gather together - which is the most important... (and here comes the guilt again, about leaving my dad alone on Christmas...) It was a tough holiday.
Puppies waiting around and napping on Christmas Eve...
Us... Minus Allison...
I made home made Cream of Potato soup - which will become a regular meal rotation - it was delicious! V found the recipe and pinned it on Pinterest (for those that follow me there, I pinned it too!)...
We gave from our hearts though, as did the rest of my family and we all enjoyed our time and traditions together... We opened only the gifts to us/from us on Christmas Eve - like we always do... Saving stockings, gifts from other family members and friends for Christmas morning... Now that we don't do "Santa" gifts anymore - this gives us something to open that morning too.
V gave me the most amazing cuddly blanket ever - I love it!
And also the cutest red plaid flannel PJ pants... Which I put on immediately...
Allison gave Josh and I a gift card to Outback Steakhouse - which we are super excited about - that is one of our favorite places to eat!
Josh gave me 2 Alex and Ani bracelets to add to my "stack" - a diamond birthstone for Allison and an emerald birthstone for Victoria... (also shown is my new Starbucks ornament from Bernadette - which I accidentally opened on Christmas Eve... Thanks Bernadette! I love it!)
The girls received a few other gifts that they asked for... But these were probably the most meaningful from Josh and I... The "Love" AnA wrap was from Josh (V's is silver and Allison's is gold), and the charm is from me - probably most meaningful this year over any other - it reads "A mother's love is true north, always leading the way home"... V received silver and Allison received gold. After having Allison gone this entire summer, missing home so much - I saw this bracelet and knew that it was the perfect gift for them!
On Christmas morning, we opened all of the other gifts under our tree... From family and friends...
I received a beautiful and thoughtful calendar from Lillian in Norway - the entire calendar is written in Norwegian, and she meticulously went through it and translated it for me - really an incredible gift!
I also received 2 new Starbucks "you are here" mugs from my Inlaws... They took 2 big trips this year - one to Washington state and one to Hawaii... Super excited to add these to my growing collection!
They also gave Josh and I matching Twins sweatshirts - with Josh's grandfather's logo on them... We love the Twins, and even more so - we love anything with this logo on it, as it's a very important part of Josh's family history.
And quite possibly the most meaningful gift came from BMTL - also involving a collaboration with Allison... Brian and Myrthe have these wonderful collages hanging on the walls in their home - I've always loved them, because they are just so candid and neat... Myrthe remembered how much I loved them, and asked Allison to go through all of our pictures to create a collage for me... So, Allison spent hours sitting here - digging through endless files of pictures - not only that, but she had to take each one and make it black and white... A super meaningful and quite honestly - emotional - gift... Highlighting decades of family memories, including the people and the animals who mean the most to us. As I opened it - I cried like a baby, flipping through these photos was just incredibly overwhelming... Immediately - we put the collage together to hang it in our upstairs hallway... It measures 6ft x 4ft... It's massive - and I think that is part of it's charm and meaning... It's indescribable!
Laying it out on the living room floor to assemble it...
Hanging it on the wall upstairs...
If you have any interest in ordering one of these for yourself - they are pretty cool - super easy to make & quite inexpensive considering the size... The name of the company is IXXI - you can google for the website - it's a European website, but they do take paypal and they do ship to the US.
I know this, because there were a few people that were missed on our collage - so I already have another line in the queue to add to the bottom of ours. I love that you can add to it - take away - the options are endless!
And the girls all ready for Christmas day - in their matching shawls from BMTL... This was before we decided not to make the trip to Dad's.
And for fun - I goofy picture of Cooper yesterday on V's lap... LOL He is such a nut!
Otherwise - I've been enjoying my time off with the girls...
Allison started to take her first clients this week - so she has been busy at school, and working after...
V has just been enjoying no school and no work. LOL
Josh had his yearly back procedure yesterday - where they go in and burn off the nerves down his spine, so he is able to live a normal life without pain... This is his 4th year doing this - and the relief it brings is worth the pain of having it done for him. Initially - when he started doing these, the Drs were hopeful that after a few times, the nerves would get the hint and stop growing back... This has yet to happen - so this may be something he has to do for his entire life. Yesterday's procedure was "the best one yet" according to Josh - if there is such a thing - as the pain of doing it was very minimal and he was home and moving around the entire day - which is a good sign. He is off of work the remainder of the week with me.
And that's about all. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you a Happy New year... After I do my heavy lifting this morning - I'll try to get back here to do a trip update.
Prayers and Pixie Dust to all!
D~