Christmas with our 5 Grandaughters

We are so blessed with these grandaughters. They had so much fun today opening presents and playing with each other. We went to Christmas mass this morning and they were very good.

We are missing Rena, Nathan and the boys but we know they are having a wonderful time in Germany.

I have to work tomorrow but Dennis is off. The jobs are going well and it is getting easier for each of us but I am finding the training fairly stressful.

I have a cold and my voice is almost completly gone so I am off to bed early tonight so will keep this short.
Love to all, Dana

Christmas Fun in the Snow

Katya and Charlie had an absolute blast in the snow. We went sleding and playing in the golf course. What a beautiful day with beautiful girls.

Jobs and the Holidays

Well, Dennis accepted a job with a company in Fort Collins that delivers packages and he started yesterday! It's kind of a bummer because Candace and the girls are arriving tonight. (Their plane has been delayed for 4 hours so far---poor girls!) Then on Wednesday Brenda, Craig, Katya, Reagan and Elsie will arrive. At least we will both have the weekends off while they are here but neither us get the day after Christmas of the day after New Years off.
Dennis will be doing residential and business package deliveries using our own van. The pay is pretty poor and it will be long days at first until he learns the area. I have had two days of training at my new job. So far I am not very excited about it but I am trying to keep a positive attitude and hope I can learn everything and pass the tests.
It continues to be very cold here and there is still snow on the ground and we might get more this week.
We had a wonderful "open house" last night with our new neighbors. We even invited our landlord and his wife. They are so nice and most of the neighbors know them so it was extra fun that everyone got to see them. Dennis made his famous chili and tamales and I made a nice vegetable soup and of course we had tons of snacks and corn bread and cookies. It was quite a success and we are blessed to have very nice neighbors.

Surprise Visit from Goofy Boys

While I was working hard at Target this past Saturday, Dennis got a surprise visit from the Kirkland's. He had gone shopping earlier and had plans to make cinnamon rolls in the shape of a Christmas tree. So the boys got to help make them and eat them! They had so much fun and of course posing for pictures was fun too. And I got some left-overs when I got home. They were very yummy!

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Dennis and I went to mass yesterday for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It's interesting that in Corona they hardly every had "holy days of obligation"; they just combined the Holy Day with the next Sunday's mass. But here we were told that December 8th was a Holy Day of Obligation which means we as Catholics should try and attend mass. So, we went to the 8:30am mass and it was packed! All the school kids were there and they even had a children's choir and kids doing the readings. It was such a joy filled celebration honoring our Mother Mary who bore the Christ child. We really felt blessed to attend and I wanted to share it with all of you.
Love, Dana

Longmont Quilt Guild

It is hard moving to a new place and hard trying to get to know new people. I always knew that the first thing I would do is join a quilt guild which I did. It is a nice group but not the same as the Raincross Quilt Guild I belonged to in Riverside CA. This guild is very active, has speakers every month and does a quilt show each year. I joined just one month before their show and was able to enter 3 of my quilts. It turned out to be a great way to get to know people. Several of the ladies commented on my quilts which was so nice. I was also invited to join a small "art quilt" group which meets once a month. I have not been able to join them yet but hopefully in the new year. In the mean time I was asked to be a member of the "program committee" which I have said yes to. This committee plans all the programs, speakers and classes for the year. I am very happy to be asked and the first committee meeting is next week. One of the present committee members lives very close to us and has even offered to pick me up and bring me home after the meeting. Also, I ran into one of the other guild members at Walmart a few weeks ago and we chatted up a storm. Such a great way to meet people!

Winter Wonderland

Everything is white and cold!!! It was 0 degrees on my way home from work tonight!!!! What are we doing here???

Role Reversals

It is strange that I am working and Dennis is not. I'm not sure if he likes it but he has been great about doing "house" stuff. He has been doing all the dishes and most of the house work and laundry while I go off to my job. Yesterday he went to Home Depot and bought sand bags to weight down the van for winter driving. He also came back with a cute Christmas rug for the front door and some Christmas lights which he hung on our patio. The lights look so great because you can see them as you drive down 17th which is the main drag behind our house and across the lake.
The job at Target is going well. It's amazing how fast 8 hours goes by now that I am more familiar with what I am doing. I mostly do "pulls" which involves pulling flats around the store and stocking the items on the shelves. I carry a PDA so I can scan things and find out exactly where they are located. I also have been cashiering more. The policy at Target is that there should only be one guest waiting while another is being rang up. So all the time they call for extra help at the registers. It is hard to stop what you are doing and go to the front especially since I am still nervous about cashiering. I do fairly well but sometimes I get stuck and have to ask for help. My hours have been mostly the "mid-shift" which is noon to 8:30pm and I have been getting 35-40 hours a week. I would like the job a lot more if it paid better but I guess beggars can't be choosers. I will be starting my new job on December 15th and the learning curve will begin all over again --oh Lord, give me wisdom to retain all this new information!
Dennis has not had any luck on the job front. He looked into a seasonal job with FedEx but you had to have driving experience in the last 3 years. Crazy to think he drove trucks all those years and now someone won't even consider him. He also called about a job driving for a medical supply company and they may call when they have an opening. In the mean time he is still doing research about a drug-testing franchise company. Neither one of us is too excited about it but are trying to keep open-minded about the idea as it could be a good opportunity.