Christmas At The Blankenship (A Very Late Post)

With no internet connection in the house for one week, I was not able to visit with you on this blog to greet you a wonderful Christmas! But I guess it is better late than never! Belated Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

If you read my other post, then you know our house was in a big mess when we arrived home. But now, it looks more liveable. Even though Christmas is over, our tree is still up and probably won't take it down until Spring Break of Summer. I always love to use the Christmas tree lights on at night and just let it light our living room, which creates that kind of cozy feeling for me. 

Our Christmas tree in all its fake glory. We used to buy real ones, but got tired of watering it to keep it from drying. Plus, they were expensive. I hope someday we will have a real pine tree as our Christmas tree. It would surely make the house smell so lovely.

Christmas Frustration/Nightmare

Well,  where do I begin on this one? I mean, we had no idea our Christmas Vacation back to Kansas would turn into a frustrating one. We began our travel on the day of the ice storm, which was scary having to travel with two precious kids in the back of the Jeep. We nearly had a wreck when some nut driver from Colorado all of a sudden showed up right in front of us and made a quick right turn without even a signal. And mind you, the roads were icy. Thank God we were safe. As expected, the roads were busy that day with other families who were also traveling during the season. 

(Our Little Troopers. Not a scream. Not a cry. Not a whine from these kids on a long journey back to Kansas. Thank you, our dearies!)

When we arrived at our house in Kansas, the house was a total mess! We left some beans and some flour in the kitchen cabinet and the mice took over. GROSS!!!!!!!! I can't even put into words how to explain the nightmare we encountered. We couldn't even sleep in our bedroom so I cleaned up our living room and our couch so that is where we slept for days until everything was cleaned up. We cleaned up the entire house, washed all the sheets and clothes and anything that needed to be washed and sanitized. It was horrible! We set up lots of traps all over the house and we might even live some poison for the mice when we go back to Wyoming. We are still in Kansas right now and there are tons of things to do before we leave and I am not even sure if we are ready. 

(A little sight of what part of the kitchen looked like. MAJOR GROSS! Good thing, we got everything cleaned up and disinfected.)

Then, not only the mice took over the house, there was also a water leak in the laundry room. I know! When it rains, it pours. The pipe broke and flooded the floor so now we might have to replace the laundry room floor this summer and maybe tile it. My husband had to turn the water off so we had no water for the entire night, which was not fun. Thank goodness, he was able to fix the pipe and the water was back on and we were able to do our laundry. 

Like I said, when it rains, it pours because the other day, we nearly burned our place down. Let's just say it was a mistake and it quickly spread the entire yard, which the grass was dry and the wind were blowing. When my husband told me to come outside to help him, I knew something was not right and saw the fire quickly spreading the yard. I grabbed an old blanket and started putting the fire out, but everything was just dry and the wind was blowing so the fire quickly took off. Thank goodness our neighbors came over to help us or it would have been a disaster. I tell you though, I inhaled some of the smoke and my chest was hurting so bad and couldn't stop coughing, which lasted for a few minutes. We are safe, which is the most important thing, but my husband was frustrated that it killed some of his really good blueberry plants that he worked so hard for. It was a lesson learned and we are thankful it didn't burn our house down. Thank you, Dear God! 

This vacation may have been a nightmare or a frustration, but according to my husband, at least those things are just frustrating and not devastating. We are thankful that we are alive and breathing, we have our kids, we have our good health and we are able to welcome another new year and we live to tell those nightmare stories. Last midnight as we welcomed the new year 2014 my family and I huddled up in our living room and we said our prayers thanking God for yet another year, another chapter of our lives. May this 2014 brings bountiful blessings for all of us. Cheers! Have a great one! 

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Life Lately.... According To My Camera

I have seen a few blogs posting photos about their life lately according to their iPhones or Instagram so I thought I should make a post of our life lately according to my cheap Canon camera. This is what's happening lately in the Blankenship's in Chetopa. Yes, we are back in our old place just for the Christmas break. It is good to be here. Today on Christmas day was a perfect day to be inside the house the whole day because of the nasty weather outside. All we did today was playing inside the house, eating, on the internet, watch old movies, had some hot cappuccino and in comfy clothes all day. The wind is blowing which makes for a freezing cold day. We were supposed to be expecting a little snow flurry, but it is already dark outside and we see no snow. Oh well! No white Christmas for us this year. We had a wonderful low key, relaxed Christmas eve meal with the family though and all of us really enjoyed our evening. Our celebration ended up with the kids opening their presents, which our little man was sure looking forward to it. He did a great job waiting for the night time to come before he could open his presents. He definitely passed the patience test on that one. Great job little man! Merry Christmas/Holiday, everyone!!! We hope your season is a wonderful one and may you have one prosperous New Year of 2013! I am still amazed that soon it will be another new year and a new chapter of our lives. Enjoy the rest of the year!

What a simple meal and table setting just for the four of us. One low-key and relaxed evening.

Yes you see it right. Our dog Spink girl sleeping with our two chickens in her dog house. The chickens are behind her while she sleeps in front of them guarding the house. It is all so cozy and warm inside the house.