YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Revised

ok what i meant to say is i need to know who is going to be able to head south and who isn't. this is gonna determine if i need to make arrangements to travel north for a couple days. let me know please.

Thanksgiving Day Preparations

I thought I would post a few pictures of Thanksgiving Day preparations. I couldn't resist a picture of Nana going at the turkey cleaning it inside and out. Jenn is preparing a new sweet potatoe recipe and Sam is making her famous salsa dip. And of course there was Jenns centerpiece she created for me out of my Oprah magazine. I thought we had a really good day and enjoyed the santa hat that Kathy brought. :) Oh, and I can't forget Sam and Nana licking the beaters for the chocolate cream pie I made!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! part 2

ok now for more info. i will be coming home the 4th of january and leaving on the 13th, who ever wants to see me, i will try to make it happen. to all the nutty cousins, if you want to hang out, let me know now so i can try to make it happen.

Jingle Bells on Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone! I just thought you all might enjoy seeing this lovely video of my Mother and her fabulous hat. Seeing as we didn't all wear it that day, I'd say it will make a return showing at Family Christmas. It was great to see everyone who was there and I missed all of you who weren't! I can't wait to see everyone at Family Christmas!

P.S. To Mom: I realize you can put a video up of me wearing this hat, but I'm not scared, it's all in good fun! :)

so i just figured i'd say...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i hope you all have a great day!

FRUITCAKES

Most people when they hear the word "fruitcake" think "YUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!", but not this bunch of 'nuts'. We LOVE the stuff!!! Made from my Grannie Southworth's recipe, brought with her from her home in Scotland when she came to the U.S. to live. Mammie used to make it by the ton, literally. Now I am the "Keeper of the FRiutcake Recipe". It's amazing to me that some cold coffee, dates, some sugar, flour, spices and a handful of raisins can taste sooooo YUMMY.

well, this is the time of year that my mind goes back to my childhood and my Gram's warm kitchen, smelling like Scotch shortbread baking and the spicy concoction being readied to go into the pan to become fruitcake. i loved my Grandma and loved spending time with her and doing things with her. She was not wealthy in the way the world views wealth but she passed on to me the love of doing the everyday things for the people you love.

that's it for tonight, my beloved 'NUTS". May you all, both near and far (Ilove you,Nate) have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!!

I"m mike D in the corner!

Yeah. beastie boys. I haven't blogged in a while. SO whats up family? Why is everything on the blog randomly enlarged!? Is it everyones, or just mine? I'm confused. WEll today was the first big snow storm and the hartford bus took about an hour to get to glen road in lebanon where we decided to turn around and come back home.....so total we were stuck in the snow on a bus for about two hours. and then I helpd mom unload wreaths that we picked up from a vietnamese wreath making farm. and yeah. So. I would type more, but I'm tired. and don't feel like it. So I'll se everyone on thursday for thanksgiving. IS ANYONE BRINGING SWEET POTATOES!? If not, mike is making them. because he loves and cares about me...and my sweet potato needs. and because he knows most of you will enjoy them as well! love

hi this is kyle. thank you christie for letting me be a part of this its great to be able to know and let everyone know what is going on. nothing new just work and hanging out. between working on race cars and hanging out with alyssa and work i dont do much else as of this moment hopefully we will see alot of snow so i can take my beutiful snowmobile out and enjoy some of the winter. maybe if we have snow at christmas christie can bring casey home to go 4 a ride. well thats it for now. im going to miss everyone as always on thanksgiving but there is also my dad and other family to see. i can see most of you whenever but that doesnt meen i dont miss you all regardless. have a safe and happy thanksgiving. love kyle

my issues

so to start off last weekend i went to burlington and while waiting for justin to get done with somethings he had to do i decided that i would go and visit my friends Jodie and Joanne. well when i got to their house Joanne answered the door and i asked for Jodie. her eyes started to tear as she told me that Jodie was dead. i didnt believe her so i smiled and said for real wheres Jodie. Joanne explained to me that Jodie (whos 38) had died from a heart attack last tuesday. i couldnt believe it. i just saw him not to long ago and hes gone. i have been having the worst time ever all weekend and today at work i had to come home because i couldnt handle it. tonight is the funeral so mom is going to take me up there. i mean Jodie was one of my best friends who lived there and now hes gone. he has 3 kids one is my age he is taking it alright but not to well. his daughter is 7 and she looked at Joanne and said "that means daddy is going to miss Christmas this year wont he" and then their youngest is 5 and when Joanne told him he is going to go stay with their grandparents he looked at her and said "you arent going to die too are you mommy" i mean just when she told me that it killed me. i havent been taking it to well. it made me realize that anything can happen at any moment and no one would see it comin. it hurts inside and i dont want to show how it is effecting me but i know that i at least need to talk about it so i figure who would know whats best for me more than you all do. i have been also hanging out with someone again and i just dont get why i get lectured and stuff by everyone because of him. i mean i know why i just dont see why no one will listen to my side. Nate is who i have been hanging out with and he has changed alot since last time i hung out with him. he doesnt do anything any more and when im around him all my problems disappear well anyway i dont know where i was going with the nate thing i just thought i would share the issues ive been having lately and i just wanted to say how mcuh i am really going to miss Jodie its hurting me bad. i can hardly sleep and when i eat and i think about him i get sick. well i love you guys and thanks for listening to me.

YAY

for all of you guys' info, i will becoming home this january. more info to follow when available

The weekend in Virginia

I had a great time last weekend in Virginia. Friday night began with a long bus ride from the airport to Christie and Casey's followed by watching UVM play George Mason at the Patriot Center. I didn't know which team to cheer for....Mason won.....Saturday morning I went with the new homeowners to see the model of the place they purchased and then to the design center to make some decisions on countertop and such. The condo is in a place called Mercer Park--which is part of a much larger planned community. The place was very nice! There's even a room for ME!

Saturday afternoon Christie and I went to Fredericksburg to spend some time with Karen and to see the play where her make-up designs were used. We spent some time shopping in "old town" where the entire place was fully decorated for Christmas and they were having an open house in all of the shops.

It's hard to tell but Karen has on the silliest looking little hat. Unless you count this one:

Isn't it funny that Christie is wearing this delightful headgear while shopping in the peas section??

The play was very funny and I really enjoyed it. Today Karen told me that she had to be a statue, complete with white makeup and toga to promote this week's performances of the play. I'd like to have seen that!

Meet the Lioness!

Yup, I went and did it! Now I am a member of the Enfield/Canaan Lioness Club. I hope to be more involved in the community and meet new people. Nana thinks I'm nuts because she knows that now they will be calling on me all the time to do stuff, but I guess that's what I signed up for, right?
We have our phone up again 603-632-1038. I had to make sure it was in service before 5:30 last night when Uncle Bill called!

Unity, Maine

was GREAT! i got home about an hour ago from a weekend in Maine. i left friday afternoon with my friend Will. we went Saturday Morning to visit Unity College's Open House and it was really great. all of the professors and students were very laid back and informative. there is not much actual book work according to many of the students and professors. it is mostly all hands-on. the courses all can complement each other so it would be very easy to double major if you wanted to. I am looking more into Wildlife care and rehabilitation, Conservation law, or fisheries and aquaculture. i have to write an essay about an environmental issue and how it affects me so i'm thinking i will write about the over-population of deer.

Sleeping Beauties

Here is a picture of Ruth E on her bed when she spent the night at our house. Isn't she SOO cute!?!

Then there is a picture of a man and his dog (LOL!) sleeping on the couch. I was going to get a movie so I could include snoring but missed my opporunity!

I wish a had a camera....

I drive the same road everyday to work. It is a back road from the Home front to work, and when I worked in Groton, Ruth and I used to see deer everyday. I haven't seen one since going to TVCCA, but I keep looking. I love that road, there are several large fields, lots of woods, and curves, and an area with a small pond. The trees overhang the road, and it is very heart soothing. Maybe because it reminds me of "home".
In any case, while driving to work yesterday, I noticed a few large blackbirds, whether crows or ravens, I don't know. They were flying ahead of me, no big deal. Then, I drove by this house, where I often slow down because there are apple trees in the yard, prime deer viewing in a past life. :) There were large black birds all over the yard! I could barely see the grass. The trees were covered, and even the roof of the house. It creeped me out so bad, I backed up for a second look. :) All I could envision was the end of the movie, "The Birds". I have never, ever, sen that in the past, and I have been driving that road, pretty much daily for 5+ years.
I'll keep driving it, too. :)

aww

The big tan dog in this picture is the dog that got hit by the truck a few weeks ago when I stayed with that woman. She sent me a thank you note to my school, because she never knew who I was. She sent me about 7 pictures of "Barkley" to show me his happy days. She also told me that Barkley had been rescued from the Humane Society because he was once an abused dog. The little dog above him is named Bitsy and that was his best friend for the summer before he died. I just thought it was pretty cool she sent me all this stuff...so thought I'd share it with the fam! love you guys!

Condo update!

Say hello to the new homeowner in the family! WOO! Well, okay, so we've only signed the contract for the condo, we haven't actually closed on it yet, but still, the process is begun and it's going to be ours! I am so excited! It's a two bedroom, two bath, in a really beautiful community west of where we live now- which means it's a little longer commute to work, but so worth it! This is what the floor plan looks like for our unit, it's called the Cleremont. The only difference between our actual unit and this floor plan is that when you walk into our unit, the dining room and kitchen are on the right, not the left. We are going to the design center on Saturday morning to see what color our countertops are and stuff, so that will be cool because we will get to see how everything goes together and if we want to change anything. Then over the next few months we will be doing various inspections, like dry wall, because this place is in framing right now- with just the outside finished. Yep, that means it's a BRAND NEW place! Casey and I are both really excited and can't wait to move in!

Shopping Weekend

Well, we had our annual shopping trip this weekend. We went to Burlington this year. Even though we didn't close out the stores as we have in years past, I think we hit everything that was of interest to us. Everyone made fun of me because the only thing I bought was a book for myself and then I managed to lose it when we got back to Kathys. I made her search in the dark and cold and finally drive back down to Moms because I COULD NOT go to bed without reading it. Shopping has changed for me over the years. It used to be that this may be the only time we could get some stuff because the girls were small. Now i can shop for them and be sneaky any time so I find this weekend to be more about spending time with my mom and sisters than trying to fit all my Christmas shopping into one weekend.

enjoy the freshness

thought you all would enjoy this. it is a pic that was taken not that long ago on the flight deck before a small arms familiarization fire. i am holding a MK18. it is like the M16 but smaller and more compact than the 16. we use it only for VBSS boardings(Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure).

just to let you know how i'm doing

first off, i figured that i would thank you all for being supportive of me right now. but i also figured i'd let you know that i'm doing pretty good with the situation. i have decided to think of it as a good thing, and just move right on. we can now both fulfill our dreams with out having to worry about conflicts with the other's dreams. this is good because we have pretty much totally different idea's about our futures. but since i made this decision, it's gotten alot easier for me and i think things should be fine for me reletively soon.

to help clearify my last post.

yes lexi and i did break up today. she said she could'nt trust me any more because i had to think about htings since all we do is argue about things and she said she wasn't sure she could trust around one of my best friend just because she has feelings for me and i have some (not strong at all) feelings for her. so i was thinking about it all weekend, causing me to be not myself and anytime we spoke to each other, it ended in her saying either for me to just break up with her asking if i would rather be with my friend. she came over this morning and we talk some more and after she left i had decided i was done thinking and that i would try to talk to her about our arguements if she would come and talk to me before she left. i got a call at about 11:30. it was her saying that she could'nt trust me anymore and that she was breaking up with me so that i could figure things out and if i wanted to be back with her sometime to call her and she would consider it. Although this was said, she also said that she wasn't sure if she would come back to me if i did. this was really hurtful and so it changed my feelings very quickly so atleast for now, i don't plan on calling her about it. things may end up with us back together but not for a while. i don't think that i can forgive this now. and my trust was lost when it happened due to her not really trying to figure things out when i really needed her to help me.

i should've come up anyway...

well i hope everyone had a good weekend up there. i hope it was fun and everything. i just got off the phone with Lexi. Don't plan on see her for christmas. i guess i should've come up with my mom and found something to do there. that's about all i have to say. i'll talk to you all later.

real Estate isn't ALL that bad

Well, because if your like, a WICKED good real estate agent (like mom) then you must have a WICKED good assistant (like muah) so anyways.... I went today with mom to do some real estate business...you know handing out fliers and what not...so we go to burnt hill to the cabin and then mom has to go to a properety she's selling by grafton. So we start heading down this wicked muddy road....so, we HAD to do some mudding!! It was a blast.



Poor Mom got whip lash when she was driving through the mud, so on our way back, I decided I HAD to drive, and we flew through the mud again!! It was a good time. When I used to go mudding with the guys, you had to act all cool and not laugh, but I seriously almost peed going with mom. It's so funny how when she laughs really hard, she "weezes" like aunt kathy! It was awesome....





"There's nothing like going mudding with your 44 year old mother!"

Halloween on Maple Street

We had 50+ trick or treaters, alot different than the 1 or 2 we used to have on Goose Pond Rd.

Sam, Jenn, Mike Lianne and I all sat together on the front porch and took turns handing out candy. If anyone walked by because they didn't see us then Jenn made sure to holler out that "we have candy!". It was alot of fun and here are a few pictures to share of our evening.

Ah, Life

Well, as for Halloween reports, mine was pretty uneventful. I watched parts of the Halloween movies they were playing on AMC and a bunch of the tv show Ghost Hunters. Then last night Stone and I went to a concert downtown that a friend of ours was playing in. He's in a metal band called Grave Robbing Extravaganza and even though I'm not into that kind of music, their band is really freakin good. I didn't dress up or anything, I just couldn't get into the Halloween spirit this year for some reason. Anyway, it was fun.

As for my play last weekend, it went pretty well. I didn't mess up too many times, and when I did it wasn't too noticable I don't think. We didn't have very big audiences which was disappointing but we still gave it our best and I think it turned out well. I managed to learn a new part in about four days and did a pretty good job with it. Now I'm super stressed about this play coming up. We're are getting down to the wire and I have to teach everyone how to apply their makeup and people are seeming to have a lot of trouble getting to their appointment on time, and sometimes just getting there at all. So it's frustrating and I have to figure out how to get them all in makeup because some of them can't do it themselves and I have to make false beards for two actors, several of them for each. Plus all my class projects and work, it's a little crazy. But once this show opens (in a week, thank God) things will calm down. Hopefully, anyway. It's going to be a good show and I'm excited about it, but right now it's kicking everyone's butt. Anyway, speaking of which, I have to run off to a makeup appointment, hopefully the guy will show up. And on time. Love to all!

October 31.

So, Casey and I don't have Halloween like everyone else... at least not yet! No little ones to dress up, no teen ones to pick up, and no one else's kids to give candy to. So instead of all that, we looked at condos. Haha. Of course, the traffic was stupid because it was Halloween night- which we didn't think of when we made the appointment to meet the realtor- but we made it to see the two places we were planning to see. And we saw plenty of dressed up people along the way! Anyways, the main reason I'm telling this story is that even though we weren't planning to have a creepy Halloween experience, we did. We went to the first condo- and of course it's mostly dark by 6:30 now, so it was mostly dark when we got there. The realtor went to open the place up and switch the lights on and they didn't work- the property is bank owned and no one lives there, so what's the point in paying electric bills, right? Well, we start talking and trying to see what we can and all of a sudden this shadow appears in the hall- okay, not a shadow, a person! A shirtless person at that! The realtor tries to say something to him and guess what? Surprise-suprise, he doesn't speak a WORD of English. Can you read the sarcasm? So, she tries to get through to him with her VERY minimal Spanish, and next thing we know, he wanders down the hall and comes back with a candle on a plate. HAHAHA! So, he's trying to gesture to us to look around while he holds the candle. Needless to say, we made a quick pass through and then got the heck out of there! Then while we were chatting outside before moving to the next place, the guy comes down with a backback (and all his clothes) on and heads away from there. The realtor was pretty much mortified and probably got on the phone with the people in charge of the property as soon as she got in her SUV. That dude definitely wasn't supposed to be there... living in the dark. It's too bad the neighborhood is like that because the unit was great... from what we could see by candlelight! HAHA! :)

Ruth's Halloween

I did her makeup. I am still waiting to see Sparky's work. :)
Ruth helped me in making the costume.

Ruth went to a a Halloween Party, where she could have filled her bag, stuffed full, with treats of the candy nature. She said "No thank you. I am going trick or treating, and I don't need that much."

How sweet, right.

Wait, it gets better!

After we pick up Brian from his spot, we head over to Lexi's neighborhood. The first house we went to, of course, was Lexi's. Her mom was sitting on the porch, and sadly told us that John, her husband, was on a candy run. They had run out. Three kids came up behind us, and as she told them to come back and she would give them handfuls of candy,

Ruth reached into her bag, and gave out what was in there.

Proud Mama Moment!

Here she is "cleaning herself." :)

Ah, Halloween....

It's the most stressful of holidays, I think.

How crazy is it to be rushing around to get your costume on, face painted, run to one party, rush to the laundromat, rush to pick up kids in one place, in order to move them to another.

Get them home by 9:30, only to run out to get the third.

(Who is 30 minutes away.)

CRAZY!, But, they are worth it all!

So, what really stinks is the reality that they are all old enough to know what candy they hide, no sneaking!

This craziness was paid off, even a year or two ago. :)

I'll post Ruth's picture in a new post,

she deserves to be on her own, not in this mother's tirade. :)