How we spent our New Years Eve

Every New Years Eve for the past 4 years, Christi and I have not spent our New Years Eve like most people.  Many people are at homes gathered together with family and friends watching TV or playing games and eventually watching the ball drop in New York at Midnight.  We have spent our New Years Eve running sound and lights and slideshows for a New Years Eve Concert which was held at our church.  It was not put on by our church but our auditorium would be rented by a local quartet called “The Staffmen”, and they would have several other groups that would sing as well.  We always laughed as it was what we liked to call the “Grey Haired People’s Concert”, as the average age attending this concert seemed to by around 70 years old or more.  It was amazing every year they would pack it out with around 1,000 people in attendance.  We thought we would share some pictures as this may be our last year hosting it as the “Staffmen” may be retiring after 45 years of singing together.  The concert would start at 8:00pm and end at midnight and then we would spend a couple of hours cleaning up afterwards.  Christi has always been a big help to me on this evening as she would help with running lights or putting up songs on the big screens when the audience would sing.  This year we just made it a fun time for the two of us, and took these picture to share.

My wife is the ultimate multi-tasker and here you see her putting the picture on the blue computer screen up on the big screens, and checking her email and singing along with the song.

                                    

Here Christi is listening to the concert and working on her Stampin’ Up! project by cutting something out for a card she is creating.  She is even using two mouse’s at the same time, and two different keyboards.  We had a laugh at one time as she pushed the spacebar on the wrong keyboard and made a song come up on the screen at the wrong time.

            

What was I doing while she was doing ALL this work??

Running soundboard and lights.

And, of course, checking on my email!

             

We always get a laugh at around 10:00 to 10:30 it must be a lot of people’s bedtime as during an audience singing time we would watch a mass exit as we would lose about one half the audience so that at the end of the night, at midnight we would be down to only around 200 people.  If this is the last year of holding this concert we will have to start a new, New Years Eve tradition that we can enjoy together for years to come.  We wish all our friends and family a Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!

 

Dale

Time For Another Building Project

The laundry room/bathroom is complete so now it is time to start our next faze of finishing off the basement.  Christi helped me before going off to Texas on Tuesday for Stampin’UP! leaders meeting. We cleared out the side of the basement where we are going to install a second kitchen complete with sink, stove and refrigerator.  And then as Christi says, “Lots and Lots of cupboards”. 

This is what it looks like before I start.  I did just finish installing a new breaker box as our old one was out of breakers.  The picture on the right, is the hallway which will lead into the Kitchen, we will have another opening also which will come from the large project room Christi does her classes in.

First had to make a trip to my favorite store, “Lowes” to pick up some lumber.

That’s all I got done on Monday as I had Tyler and Gracie come over and spend some time with their Grandpa.  Gracie had fun playing on the computer while Tyler and I watched the Michigan vs.. Michigan State basketball game.  Tyler is a big State fan and of course Grandpa is a Michigan fan.  We enjoyed teasing each other back and forth while enjoying some popcorn.  They had to leave before the game got done so yesterday at 7:45am I get a phone call from Tyler, and he said “Grandpa, who won the game?”.  I got to tell him Michigan won by one point.  He was not to happy about that.

Tonight with my wife off in Texas enjoying 75 degree weather and it being 9 degrees here with the wind chill making it feel like 4 below (do I sound a little jealous?) it was time to see about putting the wall together.  It went quite well and I was able to get it up.

                                 

Now that the wall is up, I need to figure out where I need to put all the electrical outlets and plan for the cupboards.  This is the part I do not enjoy, the planning out how to build the cupboards.  I have been doing a lot of reading and “Google” searching on how I want to go about building them.  I have to do this all before I put the outlets in and put up any drywall.  So for now I think I will go and enjoy some Redwings hockey and find something to snack on.

Dale

Annual Picture Time With Grandkids

Every year Christi and I take the Grandkids which to this point is Gracie and Tyler to have our pictures taken together and then out to eat and then back to our home to decorate the Christmas tree.

Well here is a few pictures of us with our spiffy outfits on and ready to have fun at the photo studio.

                    

Here is the picture we chose.  We think it turned out very nice again this year.  We have been doing this since Tyler was about 2 years old.  They are growing up so fast.

                             

Next we were off to eat at our favorite spot we go every year with the Grandkids.  We go to “Steak & Shake”.  Tyler usually gets the same thing each year, Chili and fries.  Gracie usually gets some sort of chicken and of course we have to get  delicious shakes for everyone.

Now that we are back home it’s time to put on our play clothes and decorate the Christmas tree.  We purchased a new one this year so it was extra exciting to get it all put together and hang everything on it.  Here are some pictures we took having fun together.

As you can tell, Tyler is a Michigan State fan and Grandpa is a Michigan fan.

                     

            

              

After we have the tree put up and decorated it’s time to play a board game.

                                                Once again Grandpa does not win the game.

 

This year Gracie was the winner.

We just had a great time together and we all came out winners.  We look forward to doing this for many years to come, with hopes of our grandchildren numbers growing in the future.  Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.

                                               Dale & Christi

Thanksgiving (Better Late Than Never)

I have finally found time to sit down behind my computer, to write and post pictures about Thanksgiving with Christmas less then two weeks away.

It was an exciting Thanksgiving this year as this was our first time in our new residence and everyone of our family was able to be here.  As has been the last few years a tradition that I started, and my wife wishes would continue for some more occasions.  On Thanksgiving I do all the cooking and cleanup afterwards and she gets a well deserved day off.  Well if I am going to get cooking I need to get serious about this and get my cooks apron on and get started.  This year we decided to try one of those organic turkeys from Harvest Health.  You order it a few weeks ahead and then pick it up the Monday of the week of Thanksgiving.  The bird is fresh.  I noticed it was much cleaner inside and out than the frozen ones we have purchased in the past.  It weighed in at just over 19 pounds so one of the bigger birds we have done also.  As you can see it overflowed the pan.

I love to try new recipes and so this year was no exception.  We get a magazine called “Taste Of Home” and so I like to try ones from there.  There was one for a turkey rub that you put on the inside and outside of the bird and then every 30 minutes you baste the bird with the juices in the pan.  It is ready to go into the oven.

                                 

This is the turkey looking good and almost ready to come out and be carved.

                                  

I also made some dinner rolls that were a new recipe also and were very easy to make and tasted delicious.

I also made homemade stuffing that had dark and white bread in it, and it also had sausage in it also.  It tasted very good, but was a lot of work so not sure will do that same recipe again. 

Christi did some work for the occasion.  She made very cute napkin holders and place setting cards for where were everyone would sit.

The next picture shows how you pull out a little piece of paper from your name tag and we each wrote 5 things we were thankful for and then went around the table reading your own things you wrote down.  Even Tyler and Gracie did it.

The table is set and just need to sit ourselves down and enjoy what the Lord has blessed us with this year.  Gracie even had a cute hair piece for the occasion.

A Refrigerator & Our Economy

For anyone who has been following our family blog you know by now we moved into Summergreen condomium on June 24, 2011.  So I suppose to most of you that makes us, “OLD FOLKS” now, but we prefer to think of it as not getting old, but giving us more time to do the things we enjoy more, and less doing yard work and house repairs.  So yes we purchased our condo and are redoing it to make it our last home, we hope.  We figure the next move will be when we no longer know who we are, or how to get back home, and our kids will be making all or most of our decisions for us.  So I guess that means we have to be nice to them now, so they will be nice to us when we really are old and senile.

  Well, okay then, on to the refrigerator story that turned out to be a “laugher” and makes you realize why our country is in the financial condition it is.  As I said in the first few lines we had moved in, and around August  we received our Brand New Stainless Steel appliances and our favorite one was the refrigerator.  We had gone to the store and the sales person who helped us is a friend we have known for many years and watched him grow up to become a fine young man.  While I had done all my research on-line using Consumers Reports and checking every rating system there is known to man.  So we went into the store knowing exactly the refrigerator we wanted, no salesman, no matter if we knew him or how much he thought he knew what we needed was going to deter our decision.  While we looked and drooled over the fridge WE were going to buy, which had French doors and a bottom freezer and ice and water in the door, the “NICE” salesman walked up and just happened to mention we might want to look at a new style that they had just started to carry.  It was made my Samsung.  Must be some nice guy named Sam who could sing.  Well our jaws must have almost hit the floor because the salesman said he almost did not dare show us that one in fear we would like it.  Well we did not like it, we fell in LOVE with it.  It not only had French doors and bottom freezer but had a extra drawer  I swear was made just for our grandkids.  It was made so you could put healthy snacks in it and they could open this drawer and get anything out without opening the rest of the refrigerator.  Then we opened it and I swear it called out our name, okay maybe that’s a stretch, but the lighting was all LED so no bulbs to replace.  Okay so maybe I will let him talk me into this one thing.

  Well delivery day came and we had all our new Stainless Steel appliances and could sit in our living room and look into the kitchen and enjoy the view of our new “toys” that surely would last us the rest of our life.  Well things are going along great for a couple of weeks when one evening while we were sitting in the living room together we hear a clunk.  I go and investigate and find the touch panel cover to the NEW, PERFECT refrigerator is laying on the floor staring up at me as if to say, “Help I have fallen and can’t get up”.  I pick it up and look at it and I just figured it must have not been pushed on properly at the factory so I put it back on and press it on as if I know what I am doing.  Well this lasted for a couple of days and then it fell off again, and a day later, again.  Okay, “it’s okay” I tell myself, that’s why they have warranty's.  I call the number in the manual.  Amazingly enough he speaks good English.  After all this refrigerator is made in Korea.  I explain what has happened and the nice man on the other end of the phone tells me they will send a new front panel out and I should receive it in about ten days.  Well, the new part arrives and I am about as happy as a kid in a candy store until I open the package.  The instructions say the New Panel is “New and Improved with a larger adhesive area.”  Well, guess what, it has NO adhesive at all on it.  My wife and I are both at a lost for words.  So back to the phone.  This time they schedule a repairman to come out and look at it.  A few days later a nice repairman comes out to look at our Wounded refrigerator.  He said he has never seen anything like this before, but he tells my wife he is going to order another touch panel and also the whole contraption behind it that the touch panel attaches to. He says when we receive both parts to call the store and he will come out and install them.  Well, a week or so goes by and I get a call from singing Sam asking me if I have received my two parts yet.  I tell them I have received one of the two.  He said to call him when the second part comes in.  The very next day I receive a call from my singing gentleman and he says the company that was to do the repair work just went out of business.  At this point I am thinking to myself, “I should have stuck to my original plan and not let that NICE salesman talk me into this now broken refrigerator.”  Well, the Samsung man asks me where we purchased it and when I tell him, he says they are going to send me a BRAND NEW refrigerator and take the old one back.  I agree almost laughing to myself thinking this expensive refrigerator is going to be shipped all the way back to Korea just because it can’t hold a small plastic cover.  Well in about 10 days we receive our second brand new refrigerator with no broken parts.  We did not even have the “old” fridge long enough to get it dirty, but who’s to argue with a new fridge.  Well, so far so good, no clunks in the night.  Yesterday I got a call from the store that is “supposed” to be out of business and telling me they have received the second part and if they can come out and install it.  I tell the nice lady that they can’t because they are “OUT of Business” according to Samsung.  She sounds stunned on the other end of the phone and said to me this is the second time they have had a customer tell them that.  I said “you might want to get that communication with Sam the singer figured out before they do go out of business.”  Now you know why I wonder how our country makes any money if they can’t do what started out to be maybe a $50.00 repair and ended up costing a couple of thousands of dollars.  Well this writing has made me sleepy so I better go lay in my recliner and watch some football or hockey.  Maybe I am getting old after all.

 

Dale

Almost A Century Ago Today

We have a gentleman a our church that is 97 years old and fell and broke his hip just like Dad did in 2005. He underwent surgery to put pins in his hip and survived his surgery just like Dad did. He is doing quite well to this point, just like Dad was. Well it got me thinking about Dad as I talked to this man’s daughter, and brought tears to my eyes. Christi mentioned that next year on this day Day would have turned 100 years old. I have one of my favorite pictures of Dad sitting on my desk in my office where I am writing this.

I thought I would share a few pictures of Dad and Mom over the years also that brings happy thoughts when I think about their life together and Dad’s great faithfulness to our great God.
This picture with Dad in the back row was taken at Hudsonville Baptist Church 50th
anniversary celebration. Dad was one of the charter members when the church started.

This picture of Mom & Dad we found as were going through Dad’s stuff after selling his condomium.

This picture of Dad’s favorite chair you would usually find him in when you came to visit him. He would either be reading the press,or a good book,or his favorite hobby toward the latter years,taking a nap.

And finally this picture of Mom and Dad’s grave stone with a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Phil and Sherry provide each year.

I thought you may find some interesting facts that I looked up that took place the year Dad was born and some interesting people born that same year. We miss you Mom and Dad and look forward to seeing you again someday in heaven.

Dale & Christi

A Little Breeze If You May, My Dear

Well with this post I can almost say we are 95% or more done with our main level.  I had added a light in my office, and just needed to hang the ceiling fan and light above our bed.  Still don’t understand why they made Condo’s without lights in the ceiling but back in 1982 who knows what they were thinking.  Well the hanging of this light went much easier then the one in my office, as far as trying to run the wire down from the attic to the light switch and to the fan.  That’s when the tough part came into play.  I can laugh now but at the time it was very frustrating to say the least.  I had planned on wiring it so you could turn the fan and the light on separately, but I could not for the life of me get it to work.  Both switches turned both the fan and the light on.  Well I gave up last night and then went on-line and “Googled” “wiring a ceiling fan and light”.  After reading that and thinking about how “I” had wired it, “MY” light finally went on.  I came home from work and it took me about 5 minutes to wire it correctly and now it works just like it was designed to work.

                               The Finished Look of our bedroom.

                                   

Don’t you just love the little Teddy that sits on our bed?  I gave that to Christi for Valentine’s Day this past year and he has found a permanent home snuggled in all our pillows.

Thanks for checking in with us

 

Dale and Christi