Anderson/Hatgidakis/Nelson/Metcalf: Newsletter

Old news: December 2002

***EMILY***
12/31/2002
Hey Gary are you going to put up the new Christmas list??

Yes, I will -- I forgot it over at Grandma's. (I hope it's still there somewhere...!) I'll put it up soon -- say, early next year! :-) Hey, did you do a final list for the pets, too???? --Gary

Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
12/31/2002
Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Olivia N. Anderson
12/31/2002
We had a great Christmas and Teghan's Birthday! I'm SORRY that Sam, Anna, John Marsha and Zach wern't there. Thank you for the gifts.

Dear Sunny,
Thank you for the dog treats! I love them!!!
Your Friend,
~Ceaser!

Hatgidakis'
12/30/2002
Happy New Year, Everyone!!!

Marsha
12/30/2002
Lindsey, Zach asked me to thank you for his gift... how did you know his favorite candy? He really liked the gift card and plans to use it tomorrow. Thank you so much! Teghan, I just love my "moose mobile." It is so cool, thanks a bunch. John loved the hot sauces from Texas, absolutely perfect. He and Zach used the Texas Champagne on some wings last night, and I quote "MMM MMM GOOD!" Karen made a pretty blanket for Sam, I haven't seen it since Christmas, she keeps it upstairs and away from Sunny (he thinks all blankets and pillows are for him). Gary, thanks for the games, we haven't tried them but they look fun. Also, thanks a lot for the Tarot set. We saw Harry Potter yesterday, and have caught a few movies from cable. Does anyone follow the Sopranos? I have some great new books to read from Christmas, The Genji (oldest novel written, written by a Japanese woman about 1,000 years ago) and The Red Tent. We did inventory at work today, I left at 5 and they finished up by 7. Yeaa, I don't have to finish up tomorrow. Anybody have any wild and crazy plans for New Years Eve? I'm looking forward to the Friday night game between Ohio State and Miami. The Gophers beat Arkansas today. Wish I could say the same about some other team... alas, it's good football is over till next fall.

***EMILY***
12/30/2002
***HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE***
Hey everybody, we had lots of fun at Teghan's party!! Has she got to play with any of her new toys yet??

Grandma
12/30/2002
Happy New Year, Everyone!!!

Donna
12/30/2002
Happy New Year everybody!

***EMILY***
12/28/2002
***HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEGHAN***

Ryan, Amanda & Tristen
12/28/2002
Happy 1st Birthday Teghan!!

Hatgidakis'
12/27/2002
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEGHAN!

A m a n d a
12/26/2002
We also had a great Christmas. Still debating how to get it all home to Texas. Thinking maybe UPS, yuck. It was a nice time, always too rushed for us going in 20 different directions, but we manage. That's great you guys will come for Teghan's birthday! Can't wait to see you. It should be fun, crowded yes, but fun nonetheless! We bought stuff for punch tonight, so we are ready. Tristen is having a slumber party at Donna's tonight with Lindsey and Olivia. That should be fun. Have a few returns to make, but waiting til the stores die down. GO HUSKERS!!!!

E m i l y
12/26/2002
Hey everybody!! we are going to come to lincoln on saturday, for teghan's party!!! we will get there about 11 or 12, and we will leave about 4. We cant wait to see everybody!!! :)

Hey everybody!!~again~I forgot to thank everyone for all of my Christmas presents!!
*Grandma~thanx for the frame and picture holder they are really cute!! & i really like all the hair stuff.
*Sean~thanx for the gift card I am going to have to go shopping this weekend!!
Donna~I love the calendar you sent all of the pictures are soo cute!
Gary~thanx for all of the computer games, I haven't done the railroad one yet, but I've played with the other ones and they are really cool!!!
Thanx again everybody!!

A n n a
12/26/2002
Hi everybody! Thank you LIVI for the very cute sweatshirt! It fits me perfectly and I love it! Grandma, thank you for the picture frame and box, it goes great in my room and the necklace is great! Donna, thank you so much for the calendar, I really needed one for my room. We had a really fun Christmas. Happy New Year!

G a r y
12/25/2002
Hey, we had a great Christmas here in Lincoln. Grandma provided a "simple" little meal at mid-day (that's before mid-p.m. in case you didn't know), and after that we all gathered in the living room where Santa (Olivia) and Rudolph (Tristen) handed out the gifts. Everybody got lots of great presents. (Thanks, Nelsons, for the towel-thingies; Thanks, Hatgidakis's, for the soup and bread fixin's; and thanks, Anna, for the beautiful calendar, the medallions, the CD, and the bookmarks!) Olivia and Tristen kept Penny well-supplied with Snausages, and Teghan was showing off her new walking skills. We all had an excellent time!

K a r e n
12/25/2002
Merry Christmas!! Up and going very early this morning. Erika was wide awake at 5:00, couldn't stand it any longer and sent Cocoa in to Emily's room to wake her up. Starting to open presents at 6:00. Got lots of good things.
Thanks to Zach (Marsha) for the shelf/frame/rack -- I have been looking for one of those for a while, I think I'll put it up by the back door.
Mom, I love all the things in my bag, the cup and saucer are so pretty, I'll put the saucer on my rack. The socks look nice and warm, and I always like the bath things and cocoa.
Gary -- the girls were THRILLED with the computer games. Emily has already downloaded one of them, sure we will be spending a lot of time playing with those.
Donna -- I love the angel bell, it's so pretty, I put it on the mantel. THANKS TO EVERYONE.
Lori -- Erika loved the Harry Potter calendar and t-shirt (in fact the shirt is in the washer now so she can wear it today) it was perfect!! Thanks.
Ryan -- Brent likes the Bender -- you must have been reading the Who Am I -- Tristen - Green Jello?? funny - -
Nelson's are all coming about noon so I need to get cooking :) Merry Christmas and Thank YOU!!

See Christmas morning photos! --Gary

Marsha
12/24/2002
Merry Christmas Eve everyone. We're having Manhattan clam chowder, mini salmon cakes, mini crab cakes, meatballs, mini hot dogs (guess there is a mini thing happening), cheeses, crackers, custard for dessert. We had a fantastic peppered salami, but alas, it did not last till Christmas eve. Feel free to redraw names for next year, but we are all happy with the ones we already have, but if you need to rearrange, go ahead. It's a big task, and I appreciate all the effort by whoever does it!! We got the prettiest snow today...big fat flakes just in time for a snowy blanket.

Brent, Karen, Emily, Erika, Nicole, & Cocoa
12/24/2002
Merry Christmas Everybody!!!

Lindsey
12/23/2002
Hello everybody.
When did we all decide that Karen was doing the list again? I have been waiting to do it for a long time. But, I guess I can re-draw again.

Karen
12/23/2002
The weather report looks like Ryan and Amanda may be having a nasty drive today. I think if they wanted a "white christmas" they should have stayed in Texas!
Hey Lindz, I thought I was doing the christmas list this year (next year). I have Sam and Paul this year and I would rather have someone different next time, can we do it over??

***EMILY***
12/23/2002
Thanx Sean! We'll let you know when it comes!!

Sean
12/23/2002
I have terrible news. The envelope I sent to Emily for Christmas didn't get picked up by our mailman the other day. Apparently the flag wasn't up high enough. Emily, it's on its way!!

Marsha, John, Zachary, Samantha, Anna, Sunny & Helga
12/22/2002
A Merry Christmas to all!

***EMILY***
12/22/2002
Hey Everybody!! It sounds like Metcalfs are going to have lots of fun in Lincoln, I hope we can make it up there to see you guys!!
*Lindsey~I thought we all agreed that my mom was going to do the Christmas list this year. We have 2 of the same people we did last year and I think some other people might have some of the same people too. Maybe we should look at last years list and change some of the names.
Well I g2g!!

Ceasar
12/22/2002
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!
BARK
BOW WOW
WOOF
AND FOR ALL YOU "FOREIGNERS" MEOW

Lindsey
12/22/2002
Hello once again. I just finished up with some of the Christmas things I needed to do here. Yeah, I was wondering the same thing, should we set a time to come to Grandma's? It's just been kind of floating in the air. Hey Karens', do you guys know what day you are going to come down? Amanda~ I can come early to help decorate for Teghan's party at Grandma's. It sounds fun. Wow! Almost one year since Teghan has been born. It doesn't seem that long to me. Well, Merry Christmas everybody and have a Happy New Year.

Amanda
12/22/2002
What is going on at Rockefeller Center? It looks BUSY!

Amanda
12/22/2002
The waffle cookies don't taste like reindeer poop, they look a bit like I imagine it might look like. We had our Christmas today. Teghan was a bit bored by the whole thing. She couldn't believe we would let her rip something for weeks we had been telling her NO about. It was a good Christmas. After we played a little and vegged we got right to work (and still are working). We took down the tree, we had to, it was SOOO dry, it would have never lasted until we got home in January. We have been getting laundry done and the car ready. We are planning to leave EARLY tomorrow morning. Tristen & Teghan are still playing with toys and Ryan is sewing his socks. See you Lincolnites soon!! (And as for Christmas, I'm not sure, but it sounds like we might make it to grandma's earlier, but haven't heard any definite plans yet)

Lindsey
12/22/2002
Hello everybody! I'm at Grandma's today and I was bored so I decided to draw the names for next year's Christmas List. So, here they are. . .

Grandma buys for Olivia
Donna buys for Emily
Gary buys for Erika
Paul buys for Karen
Lori buys for Amanda
Lindsey buys for Donna
Olivia buys for Ryan
Sean buys for John
Brent buys for Grandma
Karen buys for Anna
Emily buys for Sam
Erika buys for Paul
John buys for Brent
Marsha buys for Sean
Zach buys for Gary
Sam buys for Tristen
Anna buys for Teghan
Ryan buys for Marsha
Amanda buys for Lindsey
Tristen buys for Lori
Teghan buys for Zach

If I forgot anybody (which I don't think I did) then tell me. Lauren~ I didn't know if you wanted to be in the drawing and if you do I can always add you in and I can redraw. Does anybody have any questions/comments?? Bye talk to you later!

Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
12/22/2002
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Grandma
12/22/2002
Merry Christmas, one and all!!

***EMILY***
12/22/2002
***MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY***

Donna
12/22/2002
Merry Christmas, everybody!

Donna
12/22/2002
The peanut butter bars are called Special K Peanut Butter Bars (I think). The reindeer poop cookies are waffle cookies--but they will now always be thought of as reindeer poop. :-) Both are very easy to make. I'll put the recipes up soon.
Uh, the spritz cookies made with a caulk gun sound delicious.
Ryan, there will be stuffed mushrooms for Christmas. But do we know what time yet?

Amanda
12/21/2002
Tristen had her Christmas recital this morning. She did great. She was excited to be "back on stage." After that we went to Chuck e Cheese. We had a free visit coupon from the manager (our next door neighbor works there) so we had a large pizza, drinks, and 30 tokens (which were plenty). Tristen has had a good day! Tomorrow is our Christmas.

Ceaser
12/21/2002
BARK BARK!! WOOF WOOF! BOW WOW!

Translation:
Thanks Sunny for the GREAT dog treats. I love them but I will have to keep the humans away from it. Bye

Amanda
12/20/2002
Well, we decided to do a LITTLE holiday baking tonight because we are going to some friends tomorrow night for a little Christmas get-together gift & cookie exchange. Baking was not in the cards for us this season. All we wanted to make was spritz, easy to do and makes lots. Well right at the beginning the cookie press broke! It took 2 hours to do one batch, and they don't look the greatest. Needless to say we threw the cookie press away at the end, it was that bad. For the last half we (no I mean RYAN) jerry rigged the press into a caulk gun. It sort of worked. We got enough cookies out for the exchange, and that's it, I give up!

Karen
12/20/2002
UPS man just delivered a box from Gary -- THANKS!!
What a nice surprise :)

Wow, and I gave it to UPS only yesterday at 1 pm! I've said it before, but UPS actually speeds up, instead of slows down the closer you get to Christmas. --Gary

Karen
12/20/2002
Tristen you are so lucky to go to your school!! What a fun week you have had.
I had a great morning. Party at the preschool today. Lots of fun, food and presents. The kids were VERY generous this year -- I love my job :)

Amanda
12/20/2002
Grandma & Donna~ What are the peanut butter with chocolate on top things?? They are my FAVORITE! And then what are the "reindeer poop" as Tristen called it? And Ryan has one little request, the stuffed mushroom things for Christmas Day food (if its not too much trouble). We are counting down the days til we leave, 2 days (if you don't count today as Tristen says, reminds me of the Seinfeld, "well you can't count today because it's almost over......")

Amanda
12/19/2002
Tristen has had a great last week of school before Christmas break. I don't think she will ever want to get out of kindergarten. Yesterday all the kindergarteners went on a bus into Wichita Falls to go to the mall to go to the theater to see Santa Clause 2. Then they went to the university to see the lights there (and the big display in the front lawn). Then they got to eat lunch outside when they got back to school. Today they got to eat lunch in their room, Mrs. Davidson ordered pizza for them, then they went to another room to watch a movie while the teachers and parents got the room ready for the Christmas party. That was at noon, lots of food and presents, then they got to go home early at 12:30. Tomorrow they get out early again, and I'm sure they won't do a thing all day, how can you get kindergarteners to focus right before Christmas vacation? And was LOTR2 better than the first????

I think Mrs. Davidson must own stock in Ken's Pizza... :-) As to LOTR2, here's my review! --Gary

Karen
12/19/2002
I was a little surprised that they could do a Christmas program too. It was pretty low-key though, just her class and they invited the Kindergarteners and a few parents showed up.

Donna
12/19/2002
So when did public schools start allowing Christmas programs?

Karen
12/19/2002
Mailman brought us two packages today. Thanks Lori!! Erika will be soooo happy to see it's here. We also got a box from Minneapolis -- the fudge is disappearing fast. Emily opened the kitty ornament -- cute thanks Sam and Anna. Thanks for everything!!
We did tape the news and will show it to you next time we see you.
Emily is doing a little better, took 3 naps and ate a little soup for dinner. Doubt that she will go to dance again tonight.
Erika did a great job with her program. Each student said a couple of lines of the poem and held up props (Erika's was -- the children were all nestled snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced through their heads). Then we all sang Christmas songs, fun time....

Donna
12/19/2002
Erika is on TV a lot! Be sure to save the tape (I assume you taped it) so we can see it. Nice job Erika! Emily, I hope you're feeling better.

Karen
12/19/2002
Emily is home sick today. Came home from school yesterday with a headache, fever, achy muscles and tired. Didn't go to dance class last night. So she is on the couch with about three blankets piled on top of her. Only 1/2 day of school tomorrow -- so she may be home then too. Just about to go to Erika's school. Her class is reciting "Twas the Night before Christmas." On Tuesday Erika and all the 4th graders went to Goodwill for a school project. The Target store donates 100's of pairs of tennis shoes to Goodwill each year, and the school has always sent some kids over to lace and tie the shoes before they give them away (weird thing to do, but apparently it helps). Erika said it was pretty easy this year because most of the shoes were velcro. The fun part was that all three newscrews were there to film it. So Erika was on the news! Had a nice shot of her on one of the newcasts. Bought all my Christmas groceries this morning, wrapped the last of the presents yesterday, shopping has been done for weeks, a few flakes of snow coming down now, so it's beginning to feel like Christmas!

Lindsey
12/18/2002
Yeah I was also wondering what time we were going over to Grandma's house. Yeah what is mid-p.m? Also, we too got our caramels, spritzes, fudge, etc. And we got it Sunday and it is practicaly all GONE!! I think I have eaten most of the caramels. Those are so good. We will have to make another batch or two Grandma. Those new webcams sound cool Gary, I will have to check them out. I just got home from school and I am tired but then I have to go to Dance for 2 hours still tonight. I can't wait until you guys come down-Metcalfs'. Teghan~ Dishwasher AND Dryer. Hey while you're in there I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind if you did some laundry while your in there! :) Ok, well I have 2 days left of school. Amanda~ So is Teghan's birthday at Grandma's house? Ok, well I gotta get ready for dance. Bye!

Amanda
12/18/2002
So, who is going to LOTR2 tonight??? Or this weekend?

I wasn't able to get tickets for the first showing tonight, as they sold out within minutes all over town. But I did wait in line to get tickets for the next night -- tomorrow. I got four tickets, so Lindsey is going with me, and Grandma... Donna hasn't made up her mind yet.... I've been reading reviews of it all day today as they come in, and they're all saying it's excellent. I know I for one will want to see it again, so when y'all get to Lincoln, Ryan shouldn't have any problem getting up a group excursion to Middle-earth. :-) --Gary

Gary
12/18/2002
I did a little weeding and re-planting in the webcam pages today. Many of the cams there had gone dead, so I pulled 'em and replaced 'em with some new ones. New cams include Chicago, Aspen (Colorado), two new San Francisco views, Venice Beach and Napa Valley (California), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Bonn and Tubingen (Germany), Majorca (Spain), Rome (Italy), Kyoto (Japan), and Hoenefoss (Norway). Take a look!

Amanda
12/18/2002
We just got a box from Lincoln, too!! Everything looks SOO good, and the caramels are in fact SOO good! Teghan will love the Spritz. I haven't made one batch of anything, but that made me want to get down the ol spritzer, we have to take a dozen cookies to a Christmas party this weekend, so that will be a good one, and good travel cookies too. Thanks SO much for the box. And I was thinking mid 60's for the thermostat but I wasn't sure. Sasha will be outside most the time, and I am putting out a blanket for Zoe (one of her forbidden pleasures is to sleep on one of our blankets).

Donna
12/18/2002
If it were me, I think I would keep it set at 65. It could be chilly when you get home and take a while to warm up. Besides you want Zoe and Sasha to be comfortable while you're gone, don't you?

Amanda
12/18/2002
Here's a goofy question. We have never left the house for this long in the "winter" and we are curious about a few things. How low can we keep our thermostat without freezing the house, and the cat inside it while also not running up a bill for a virtually empty house for 13 days? Our neighbors will be checking in on the cat and dog while we are gone, so it's not like it will be totally unattended. Any ideas would be helpful! Thanks!

Amanda
12/18/2002
To add to the front page saga... All the advents are working now for me. Sheesh, whatev, thanks for the Liquid Plumr tip Gary, it must have worked!

Glad I could help! --Gary

***EMILY***
12/17/2002
Hey everybody!! We just got a box from lincoln!! it all looks reallie good!! thanx everybody!!
Buh Bye!!

Amanda
12/17/2002
What is mid PM? I thought we would be busy that morning too, but apparently that has changed. I can't keep up...

Grandma
12/17/2002
Amanda, you must not be getting e-mail from me so I will tell you what I have been telling people here. I thought most people would be busy Christmas Morn, so I am planning a mid p.m. meal that we can eat before gifts or after, whatever works at the time. A kind of non traditional soup and sandwich and finger food thing with dessert. Hope that meets with your approval. HOWEVER, you can come whenever your schedule permits, I know you have lots of places to go. A rainy, misty, almost snowy afternoon. Chilly too, yesterday I was outside all p.m., raked up all my garbage cans full of leaves not that you can tell. Was a record breaker of 64. UPS hasn't left Teghan's box here yet but the day is young.

Amanda
12/17/2002
What time is everyone thinking for Christmas Day at Grandma's? We are trying to get our plans in a row here, so we were just curious. 11-ish? Since we won't have Christmas morning at our house like we have in years past we can get there a little earlier than before. Let me know, THANKS!!

Marsha
12/16/2002
I don't really blame Gore for not wanting to run again. Remember, W's daddy had 91% approval and lost the election 2 years later. I heard Grey Davis of Cal. is building a fund for the big race. Just keep hoping that Jesse doesn't want to run now that he is "unemployed." Karen, got the nuts and cookies yesterday, thank you so much! I will be mailing out a few little boxes as soon as I can get them ready. Hope it is before Dec. 25. It got plenty chilly here, no snow though and we all want to have a few inches for Christmas. Santa and the reindeer really love that! The show on LOTR 2 was awesome, can't wait to see it and we need to see Harry Potter. Haven't seen many movies lately, but John and I did make it to see Tom Petty last week (incredible!) and I saw Lori Line with my work buddies -- what a goofy show she puts on, geez. But, as we said as we were leaving, at least we didn't pay for the tickets. Wish she would have just played Christmas carols on her piano, because she does such a great job with those. Many churches in the neighborhood have signs out for lutefist and meatball dinners -- anyone interested? Livi, have fun with Cinnamon. That hamster is so lucky to come home with you!

Karen
12/16/2002
I was disappointed to hear that Gore wasn't running too. But I guess I looked at it a little different. I actually admire Gore for NOT running again. He already knows that he can beat Bush. It would also be a constant comparision of the 2000 election. I would bet that he would come back in 2008 though.....

Donna
12/16/2002
The weather has been so warm here, I actually saw a butterfly yesterday. I couldn't believe it.

Amanda
12/16/2002
I have been looking on the weather page for the 10 day forecasts, and saw something today that better change. On Sunday the 22nd, Lincoln is to get snow showers, and on Monday the 23rd (the day we will come in) they are calling for a "wintry mix" however with a high of 36. The closer we get the more it had better change.

For what it's worth, twice in the past week or so snow was predicted, and not a flake -- weather has been beautiful. --Gary

Gary
12/16/2002
No, I think Gore is out of it. I heard yesterday that it was more of a personal than a political decision -- "Who needs politics? It's nice to have the weekends and evenings free," etc. Though that may just be a face-saving cover story. Anyway, I say again that, while that squinty-eyed presidential impersonator* may look unbeatable now, two years is a very long time in politics and a lot can happen before November 2004. Remember that two years before Clinton won the election, the first Bush was hugely popular and looked unbeatable. Then it was "Read my lips" and all downhill from there. In the next two years, the little Texas moron** has a bad economy and an unpopular war ahead of him -- and that's just the things we know about. It's very possible that in 23 months lots of people will be looking for a change. From my mouth to God's ears!

* Bush
** Bush

Donna
12/16/2002
I don't get it. Why isn't Gore running? He was on SNL, that was supposed to mean he'd be running. I thought the Stuart Smalley bit was good. I wonder if Gore plans to wait another 4 years because he figures Bush will win no matter who he runs against. What a bummer.

Gary
12/16/2002
Yeah, apparently the Democratic leadership is a little peeved at Al for losing what they thought was a winnable election -- mostly because he distanced himself from Clinton. Well, that's debatable, I think... but even so, it may be that Gore is too "tainted" by the election fiasco to go head-to-head against Bush again. Maybe a fresh face is what we need. Sadly, when the Demos think "fresh face" they think for example "Dick Gephardt".... Then again, compared to Dub, Gephardt looks like King Arthur. I was hoping Bob Kerry would be in a position to run in 2004, but he sure seems uninterested. And now with John Kerry throwing his hat in the ring, Bob will stay out if for no other reason than to avoid confusion.

P.S.: New photo!

Amanda
12/15/2002
Well, I take the comment back about Gore's SNL appearance helping him in Campaign 2004. I did appreciate his comment about if him and Bush were to run against one another again it would be about the past and that should not be relevant (in so many words). This could get interesting.

Lindsey
12/15/2002
Hello everybody! Thank you for all the Happy Birthdays'.
Karen~I love my advent calender. It is so neat!
Metcalfs'~ I can't wait until you COME!!!
Well, I gotta go, bye I will try to write more. Bye

Sean
12/15/2002
Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Gary
12/15/2002
The last half hour of SNL always fizzles out, so you didn't miss much. But I thought Gore did very well. Best moments: The "West Wing" segment ("Well, he did win the popular vote..."), the Trent Lott bit you mentioned, and the "Daily Affirmation" with Stuart Smalley ("Hey, there is no way I would just arbitrarily bomb a country!"). And speaking of Stuart Smalley, we watched "Stuart Little 2" last night. Excellent movie, don't miss it! This should have gone on the review page I guess, but so be it.

Amanda
12/15/2002
I didn't stay up til the end of SNL, but what I did see wasn't too bad. He seemed a lot less stoic. I was actually kind of impressed. He was great as Trent Lott, I didn't know it was Gore until he talked. I bet he took acting lessons. This oughta help him for campaign 2004.

Hatgidakis'
12/14/2002
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Donna
12/14/2002
Happy Birthday, Lindsey!

Amanda
12/14/2002
Everyone see who is hosting SNL tonight? Al Gore, that oughta be interesting! We are going to drive around tonight and look at Christmas lights, but we for sure will be home by then! It is SOOOO nice today, Ryan is washing cars, rotating tires, getting us ready to leave in 9 days!!

Ryan, Amanda, Tristen & Teghan
12/14/2002
Happy Birthday Lindsey! What's the plans for the big 13?

Grandma
12/14/2002
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINZ
Another teenager in the clan!!

Gary
12/14/2002
To go along with today's "Christmas Software" cool site, here's the latest version of an old favorite. Yes, friends, it's Elf Bowling 3! Click to download (remember where you put it!), then double-click on it when the download is complete. The download will take 10-15 minutes or so, depending on your connection. This is the third incarnation of the game and it's not bowling this time but sort of a ...slingshot. Click here if you'd rather have Elf Bowling 2 "Shuffleboard" or the original Elf Bowling. Remember, these elves are naughty, so don't say I didn't warn you. Elf Elf Baby! :-)

***EMILY***
12/13/2002
***HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY***

Nelson's
12/13/2002
Happy Birthday Lindsey

Donna
12/13/2002
Cute pictures of Teghan! I can see why she likes it, it's just the right height.

Gary
12/13/2002
New photos!

Donna
12/13/2002
Tristen, thank you so much for the card and beautiful picture. I miss you too. I can't wait til you come visit. I have an idea for you and Olivia to wear on Christmas--and it would be great if you wore them while you pass out presents. But it will be a surprise til you both come over Christmas, okay? I can tell you two, if you want, but it will have to be a secret from everybody else. Okay?

Donna
12/13/2002
Olivia, your teacher sure picked a good person to take care of the class pet. But do you think Ceaser will try to eat Cinnamon?

Amanda
12/13/2002
The drain is finally working again. Apparently in addition to potato peels, do not put turkey down the disposal. I did it slowly and with water, but I guess the 2 inch drain didn't like it anyway. What a hassle. I love disposals, but what's the point if some things can't go down them. It took Ryan awhile to get it, and $25 for a bigger snake, but saved us at least $60 for a plumber I guess. And the front page still isn't working for us. I don't get it. Each day the new day gets blanked out with a background color, but that is it. I use MSN Explorer, but also checked it on Internet Explorer and neither work. Only 10 days til we come home, which means only 9 days til our Christmas. Any one biting for going with Ryan to LOTR2 when we get there??

Amanda
12/13/2002
Teghan took a few steps last night! There were 3 of them to me. She was very nonchalant. We figured it would be coming soon since she has been standing with no problems lately. I still don't know if she will take off walking just yet, she is a good crawler, and is too trusting, when she sees Ryan or I in front of her while she is standing she just kind of flings herself and knows that we will catch her. Either way, she took her first steps before a year, I think that is sooner than Tristen.

Gary
12/13/2002
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone. Hey, if you missed "Survivor" last night -- well, no great loss, it is pretty weak this time around. But what you did miss is the latest trailer for "The Two Towers," which was packed with treats (if you had a quick eye). There were shots of Gandalf's battle with the Balrog, the Black Riders (now flying!), the Ents on the march (and later flinging around stones the size of a house), Warg-riders, and more way-cool archery stunts by Legolas. Only five more days!

Olivia N. Anderson
12/12/2002
Karen
I really liked the avent calender. I am taking a present of each day. I am going to use the markers that you gave me and make a thank you letter to my teacher. Beacause she is letting me take home our class pet for the 2nd time. It is a hampster named Cinnamon. I am taking her home over Christmas break. 2 whole weeks. Every morning I open a present. They are so cool.

Gary
12/12/2002
I've got a couple of not-ready-for-prime-time cool sites to share with y'all (as Tristen might say). They're both funny, but both require a lot of computing power and up-to-date browsers -- so if your machine is memory-impaired or doesn't play sounds or if you're running an old version of Netscape or IE, your enjoyment of these sites may be minimal. The first one was passed along to me from Donna; it pokes fun at our so-called President, and I'm always in favor of that. The second one was given to me by someone I work with; if most of the messages in your mailbox begin with "FWD" you will enjoy it.

Karen
12/12/2002
Our front page is working, different picture and song each day.
Hi Tristen I'm glad you liked the card. Can't believe that Teghan liked that soup -- she must be a good eater!! Any signs of walking or talking yet? Hope to make it to Lincoln to see her -- waiting to see what the weather is doing.
Lindsey - Olivia how are the advent calendars? Are you still taking a present off for each day? What was today? Emily is home today -- taking a hooky day. She is on the honor roll and hadn't missed a day this year - so I thought she deserved a day off. Marsha - I mailed a box to you today -- the Girl Scout nuts....

Gary
12/12/2002
That's it!! Your drainage problems have obviously affected your computer. If snaking out the drain doesn't make the pictures come back, try pouring a little Liquid Plumr directly into your computer through the CD tray.

...Then again, I'm not a licensed plumber, so you might want to check with an expert first.

Donna
12/12/2002
My calendar is working.

Amanda, did you get your plumbing fixed?

Amanda
12/11/2002
Yup I saw the December, and I haven't noticed any other problems with other sites. And each day the calendar on the front page shows me a background color that is different, but no picture.. And as far as i know no settings have gotten changed.

Weird. I can't figure this one out. The "December" logo is exactly the same kind of image as the little pics on the Advent calendar. ...The rest of you are seeing them, right? Today is a Bible, last Sunday is a Christmas tree...? I check the page almost every day on three separate computers, one of them a Mac; and the page has been acting normally everywhere. Which means, I think, the problem is on your end, Amanda -- but what the problem is I don't know, yet. You use Internet Explorer, I believe? If so, try this: go to Tools, then Internet Options, then Advanced; then scroll down to Multimedia and make sure that the line which says "Play animations in web pages" is checked. --Gary

Amanda
12/11/2002
Nope, I already tried the refresh thing when it first happened, but tried it again just now for good measure, and still nothing. I dont get it, and I hate computers!

You haven't changed any settings in Netscape (or Explorer, whichever you use) in the past few days? And you can see other pictures/icons on other pages ok? Like if you go here you can see the "December" pic with the moving lights? --Gary

Amanda
12/11/2002
Is the front page of the website working for everyone? On mine the calendar days of days past are just blank, no pictures, and no links to whatever they go to. This just happened a day or two ago, might be my problem, thought Id check.

It's working fine on this end. Try holding down the shift key and clicking on Reload (or Refresh or whatever your browser has). The first time you visit a site, most browsers will store a copy of whatever pictures it has on your own computer; and when you go back to that site, in order to save time, the browser assumes the pics are the same and just pulls them from memory. But sometimes they're not the same! Holding down the shift key and reloading the page forces the browser to go back to the site and download everything fresh. So try that. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what the problem is.... --Gary

Amanda
12/11/2002
Now is the time I wish I had a landlord. We have drainage problems. Last night when I ran the dishwasher I noticed when it was done both the sinks were holding standing water. I turned on the disposal and it decided to spit out behind the washing machine. Ryan worked on it until midnight to no avail. As a fluke I went and got some Liquid Plumr today and that didn't work. So then all day before Ryan got home for lunch there was standing water AND Liquid Plumr chemicals. He got it drained atleast, but still no sink (or washing machine or dishwasher for that matter). I unfortunately stress a little more about it, since I'm not as gung ho about the all american dream of being a homeowner. I want to call someone to fix it now. Such is life. And I had a dream that we got to Lincoln and on Christmas Day I realized I forgot to send or bring Grandma's gift (the last one to wrap still here at my house) and then on that Saturday I realized I forgot Teghan's birthday presents. Guess I better wrap them tonight and ship them out soon, that dream freaked me out.

Amanda
12/11/2002
Hey Karen you have another fan of Layered Bean Soup. I made it on Monday and Teghan has been LOVING it ever since. We finished up the pot today, and she will miss it. I wasn't sure if she would like it (Tristen isn't a fan, but that doesn't mean much) but I'm glad Teghan does, its gotta be healthy for her! Thanks once again for the recipe we have enjoyed for a year now.

Donna
12/10/2002
Hi Tristen! I am so glad you're coming to Lincoln for Christmas. I can't wait to see you. Will you teach me how to talk like a Texan?

Tristen
12/9/2002
Brent, Karen, Emily & Erika. I miss you very very much too. I hope you could be here for Christmas, but after our Christmas I am going to Nebraska. We ARE going to Lincoln, my mom said yes. Thanks for the card, I liked the Daisy and I like the smiley face. I haven't got mail in a while, I was glad to get it. I had Daisy's today!! And I got the card with the Daisy today!! Hi Donna. Hi Gary. Hi Grandma Jo. Hi Livy. Hi Lindsey. Hi Grandpa. Hi Grandma. By Tristen.

Gary
12/9/2002
Hey Sean, I think Izzy might be hinting he wants a chew toy for Christmas. :-)

Erika
12/8/2002
Hi everybody Teghan's party sounds soooooooo fun! But I don't think we will be able to make it, but we might ;) We also realy like the picture of Big T & little T.

Ryan
12/7/2002
Hey everyone you have to try the almonds. They're awesome. I think Lori will definitely like them. They're just like the ones we had at the mall except home made and way cheaper. I'm almost done eating a whole pound of almonds and Amanda made them 2 days ago. I cant keep my hands out of them. We're watching the Big 12 playoffs. Unfortunately Nebraska was unable to make it because of some coaching problems but we're rooting for OU because I think that Colorado has poor sportsmanship. They're sore losers and even more sore winners. Punks!!! Anyway Im getting exited to come home for a while, I miss the snow and cold most of all. We're hoping for a white x-mas. (BUT NOT WHILE WE'RE DRIVING!!!!) See everyone soon.

Lindsey
12/7/2002
Emily, I do Jazz, Ballet, Lyrical, and Cheerleading.

Amanda
12/7/2002
We watched the Grinch last night, and it was just as good this season, as in the seasons past. Still made us laugh out loud and quote lines later. Tonight "It's a Wonderful Life" is on, and we may watch that, just for more of the Christmas spirit. Ryan has to work today again, another Saturday to make up for someone who can't schedule right. Ryan wants to know if anyone may want to see LOTR2 when we are in town. He has his free ticket from the movie, but doesn't want to go alone, which is what will happen if he goes here when it opens. Now he may get too excited and just go it alone if he has time here. We already have plans to go to HP2 (Linz & Liv and anyone else interested in going, come on!!) when we are there, and we may not have time for all of it, but he doesn't want to go alone. SO, think about it and let us know. And, jalapenos ARE dangerous, at Subway those jalapenos you enjoy are BRUTAL. They come in 3 pound bags I think, and are pickled of course. Well, you have to drain the juice, so the best thing to do it cut the top, hang it from the sink handle and puncture the bottom of the bag and run, while holding your breath. You breath that junk in and you will cough and gag, and same applies with touching eyes, mought and nose. Karen, I decided for Tristen's teacher to do the soup mix, brownie mix and a little baggie of the almonds I put on the recipe page in a basket. I think that will be enjoyed.

Gary
12/5/2002
Sheesh, that must be it. I would have sworn that Harry Potter 2 was still in the future. But no, I just checked and it's open everywhere (duh).

Hey, with all this salsa talk, I got hungry for it -- so I tried Ryan's recipe tonight. Excellent! Though I inadvertently used a whole jalapeno instead of a half. Oooh, baby, that's one man-sized hot! And for those of you who have never watched Food TV, here's an important tip: When handling the jalapenos/serranos, do NOT let your fingers get anywhere near your eyes! I was careful this time (once years ago I wasn't and ...that's another story), but I did just barely touch my lip: and I felt a tingling burn there for several minutes. Those peppers are not toys! :-)

Amanda
12/5/2002
Gary, what do you mean, I thought HP2 was out? Or are you so in the LOTR2 zone, you confused the two??

***EMILY***
12/5/2002
HEY Everybody!! we got to go to Harry Potter 2 on wednesday, it was pretty good im going to write a review as soon as i get done writing this!! we got out early that day too, so i didnt have any classes at all!!
*Hey Lindsey i have dance tonight 2!! ~lol~ i didnt know u were in dance. what kind do u do??
Well i gotta go!! Buh Bye!!

Lindsey
12/5/2002
Hey everybody!
I haven't been on for a while, sorry. Been busy with school, dance, birthday, and X-mas.
Karen and Erika~ Thank you so much for the Advent Calendar. It is really cute! I tried Ryan and Amanda's salsa. Ryan-yours is hot! I really like Amanda's too. The trip there was WONDERFUL! We had so much fun just seeing each other and Ryan's work and "South of the Border" actually On the Border is a restraunt but me and Amanda thought South sounded better :) Amandas'-you guys have a really nice house! Tristen I love your room! Teghan you are getting so big! I can't believe it. I also got to see Tristen's school. We played and Teghan loves the swings! Ok, well I better get to my homework. TTYL, Bye!

Karen
12/5/2002
The brownies and soup are both on the recipe page. I've been looking for jars too. I usually recycle an old mayonaise jar - but messed up this year.

Amanda
12/5/2002
Dumb question: Where can you get jars? (Jars for the gift mixes we earlier discussed.) Like a craft store, would that be my best bet? I don't want to buy a ton, just a few... Any suggestions would be great!

And I want to see pictures of Donnas house!!

Amanda
12/5/2002
Karen~ I thought about doing the layered bean soup mix for her teacher, and maybe the brownie thing too, since she has two girls (one named Teghan), you have that recipe on the recipe page, don't you? And I will send it the last day, I think it said on Tristens calendar they are having a Christmas party that day anyway. And the garage is one of those projector things, it was on sale after Thanksgiving at KMart for $14.99, it has 30 different pictures, some we won't hassle with using, like Happy Father's/Mother's Day, but it has a picture for every holiday, pretty cool!

Gary
12/5/2002
New pictures today from Texas. Hey, how did you guys do that snowman on your garage? Looks cool!

Gary
12/5/2002
Lucky you, Emily! Going to the movies while the school clock is running... Hey, how about writing a review of Harry Potter 2? That would be the first review ever to appear on our webpage of a movie before it was released. :-)
I caught two things on TV last night that I wasn't aware of beforehand. (Otherwise I would have announced them here.) One was the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center. Actually, I didn't watch the whole show -- in past years that show has been pretty bad! -- but I did watch the last minute or so and saw the tree light up. The other show I caught last night was a special on "The Two Towers." Did anybody else see this? Wow. Lots of behind the scenes stuff, and surprising amount of footage from the movie; I saw stuff there I hadn't seen anywhere else yet. This movie is going to be fantastic, bigger and better than the first LOTR movie. It opens only 13 days from now. Woo-hoo!

Karen
12/5/2002
We have a cold morning - down to 0 this morning, got about an 1 1/2 of snow yesterday.
Emily had a fun day at school yesterday. The whole 8th grade got to go to the theater (before it was even officially open) to see Harry Potter II. That took from 8:30 to 11:30 and they all got out at 1:00, for a teachers meeting.
Amanda, I usually send (and receive) teacher gifts the last day of school before vacation. I've been making the jars of brownie mix for our teacher gifts -- they always seem to enjoy them :)

Paul
12/4/2002
Thanks for the recipes, I will be making the salsa. Marsh, coldest day of the year, but, how cold was it?? Have heard it is getting wintery up there. Speaking of recent weather, I made a trip to Ogallala Ne. this week to look at a job and traveled around lake McConaghay. It is down 65 feet. Which doesn't sound like much until you see it. I drove 5 miles around the tip of lake where people had bought lake front property and it was completly dry. You just can't imagine just how much water that is. Hope the rockies get snow!!

Amanda
12/4/2002
We got our tree done tonight, finally! It has been sitting empty for 2 days now. Funny thing, when we were getting out decorations for the tree I saw a box from Marsha's store & thought, oh, cool, this will be a good one, when I opened it, it was a good one, an ornament that she gave us last year for the baby's birth. It says "Taylor 2001." Oops! I forgot we changed names there at the end, well, we hung it up anyway, it will be good conversation someday.

Amanda
12/4/2002
Anyone know of a website of Christmas songs you can play that also have someone singing the words with them? Tristen would like to hear some songs but needs the words to help her out. Also, what is the teacher gift giving etiquette? When do I have Tristen take her teacher a gift?

Donna
12/4/2002
Marsha, that recipe sounds really good--and easy. I think I'll have to try it. Where did you get it?
Ryan, your salsa sounds way too hot for me. I think I'd prefer Amanda's. And did you wonder if maybe there was a reason besides onion breath that people may not want to talk to you? :-)
Emily, you are in big trouble. You told me you erased that picture. I'll be thinking of a way to pay you back.

Amanda
12/4/2002
Ryan's salsa recipe sounds like he is on a cooking show. Wierdo, but it is excellent!!

Gary
12/4/2002
There are some new pictures on the recent photos page. Karen sent them in after Thanksgiving, but I only just now got them up on the page. My apologies!

Marsha
12/3/2002
It sounds like everyone had great Thanksgiving trips. It is really cold here, but no snow! Sam's space heater upstairs went out on the coldest night of the year (of course!). She and Helga the rat both survived. Anna and Zach both had the flu today. Lots of the junk around. UPS brought us a box from Wichita Falls today with gifts from Tristen and Teghan. Thanks girls!

Ryan
12/3/2002
Paul, here is the famous salsa recipe. Enjoy!

Also check below that recipe for a new one from Marsha. --Gary

Gary
12/3/2002
By now I hope you've noticed that when you click on the little daily images on the advent calendar, you are treated to a Christmas carol. If you don't hear anything, then there's a problem somewhere -- let me know and we can try to fix it.

Speaking of problems, let's talk football! :-) Big headline in today's paper, for you out-of-towners: "Bohl, Barnes, Darlington fired." That's 75 percent of our defensive coaching staff. Plus, Solich said he would not be calling the plays any more, but will hire another coach to do that. You can read the full story, and other related articles, at the Daily Nebraskan website.

Paul, Lori, Lindsey, and Olivia
12/1/2002
Just got back home tonite (Sunday) around 7:00. The trip home always takes longer!! But we had a great weekend at Amanda and Ryan's. Amanda and Ryan prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, that we had Thursday nite when we got in. So much food that we actually forgot a dish of sweet potatoes in the oven, they were great the next time we ate... Dittos on Amanda's letter, plus Ryan should send in his salsa recipe, unless it is a secret?? Thanks again for taking us in and feeding us. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Amanda
12/1/2002
Well, we are officially in the Christmas mood here in Texas. We put up our outside lights and our inside decorations, minus the tree, which we are going to do tomorrow night. Outside we lined the entire roof, bushes, front door and two garage doors. With the door and garage doors we put garland and red bows at the tops with the lights. It looks GREAT! Pictures to come soon. And from now on we are splitting it up into two days, the tree in itself takes too much time to do all of it at once, this was much less stressful. I was afraid with all the decorations I have the already small house would look cluttered, but it doesn't, it makes it feel even more cozy, and cozy in a good way. Now, when the tree and presents get in here it may be a different story!! Wish you all could see it. Happy holidays!!! :):)