Christmas Edition

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper but the gift bags come in handy for weird shaped items.

2. Real tree or artificial? REAL all the way! Sorry mom, It's just not the same.

3. When do you put up the tree? When my husband has a day off, like TODAY:)

4. When do you take the tree down? Again...when my husband has a day off. I usually start putting away the little things but he does the tree and lights.

5. Do you like eggnog? Nope, not a bit. Don't know why, maybe because I had fat free growing up. Ugh.

6. Favorite gift received as a child. My baby doll Cherie. She was the size of a real baby and Santa bought me a diaper bag and clothes. So exciting!

7. Hardest person to buy for? Brother Tim. There are only so many years that you can get away with buying Best Buy gift certificates.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Matthew. Can't go wrong with a toy truck or car.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I do. It is just like that one my mother has.

10. Mail or e-mail X-mas cards? Mail.

11. Worst x-mas gift you ever received. Maybe a Barbie. I think I was the only girl in the world that didn't like Barbie.

12. Favorite Christmas story. I don't know what it is called but it is the one with the candy canes that make you fly.

13. When do you start shopping for Xmas. In late November and December. I don't start too early.

14. Have you ever recycled a x-mas present? Of course

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? COOKIES. "Jenny cookies" to be exact.

16. Lights on the tree. colored

17. Favorite Christmas song. Anything Bing Crosby, I like the classics.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. We go to my dad's, then to mom's and Keena's house.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's. Oh yeah, and if you can't, you should be ashamed.

20. Angle on tree top of star. Angel

21. Presents on Christmas Eve on morning? Both. We have Swedish Christmas at my father's on the 24th then do Xmas day with the Corriveau's then to mom's.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year. Birthday presents wrapped in Xmas paper

23. Favorite ornament, theme or color. I love my Swedish Tomte (Santa). He sits under our tree and watches over us.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Anything is good for me. Not sausage!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To spend time with family. Oh, and a leather chair.

Sadie's Snow Day

It doesn't look like a lot from the pictures but we had some SNOW today; more snow than I had seen in three years. Sadie sat looking out the window this morning, eagerly, waiting for her walk. She was so excited about the snow that she tried to catch the flakes in her mouth. HILARIOUS to watch!



I can't believe that on my day off I get excited to see my dog play in the snow. What has happened to me?

Ten Years Ago I...

1. Was AlMOST 16 years old
2. Was living in Dover with my mom
3. I was driving a 1989 Toyota pick-up truck, extended cab with no power stearing. (I loved that truck)
4. Went to Dover High School
5. Ran Track and Field and played Field Hockey

5 THINGS ON TODAYS TO-DO LIST
1. Bring all of Sadie's toys back down to her room
2. Go to Borders and pick up some fine reading
3. Get a birthday present for a little girl in TN
4. Fold laundry
5. Take a nap

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A MILLIONAIRE
1. Pay off ALL loans, credit cards and house mortgage
2. Buy my husband a new truck
3. Remove large shed from back yard
4. Buy a big TV
5. I would not work, so that I could spend some more time with my grandfather

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. Dover, NH
2. Keene, NH
3. Winston-Salem, NC
4. Lebanon, NH
5. Does Nottingham, NH count?

JOBS THAT I HAVE HAD
1. Osco Drug
2. NADCO inc
3. Nanny
4. Phlebotomist
5. RN


That was fun. Thanks Keena.

SNOW???

Could it be winter already? What is this white stuff all over the place and why is it here in October?




Ryan and I took a little hike up Mt. Cardigan today and found that we couldn't make it to the top because it was to icy:( Sadie loved it and she slipped all the way down the mountain. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to slide all over the place and not hurt yourself?




I wonder what the temperature is in NC...?

No More Wood Paneling

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The day has come where the wood paneling has been removed from my home. It is such a satisfying accomplishment. We had some special helpers this weekend with the job. Jeff, Keena, Matthew and Luke were here to visit and, of course, we put them to work. Jeff put down a new floor in our mudroom while Ryan and Matthew tackled the wood panels. He was such a big helper; Ryan couldn't have done it without him.

Welcome Luna Cream Pie!

My brother and sister-in-law have a new addition to their family. Welcome little one. You are so cute and I can't wait to meet you.

A Special Birthday

Sunday was my mothers....39th (wink wink) birthday. YEA!!! We had a great time going out to lunch and then to my aunts for cake and ice cream. The weather was FANTASTIC and we were able to enjoy the outside before the deck furniture gets put away for the winter.




And you all wondered where my craziness for purses came from:).

Beach Fun

We spent a wonderful time at the beach this weekend. Even though Ryan and I had both just finished working all night we were determined to get to the beach and enjoy the beautiful weather while we had it. Saturday was FANTASTIC! Sunday was rainy and cold, but Ry and I made the best of it by going to Freeport and replenishing our collection of New England weather wear.

I had to drive back to Lebanon on Monday for class in the morning but headed right back to Maine for Monday afternoon and Tuesday.

THEN... on Tuesday we were the proud babysitters of a ONE Luke Couser Corriveau. So adorable and so good. He slept, ate and slept some more. We even took him shopping in Kittery and Portsmouth. (I knew he would take after his Aunt Jenn and be a good shopper:).

Overall, I give the weekend a 10!

I think that Matthew did too.



AND Luke.



AND Sadie too.

So Cute

I spoke to my good friend in NC today and she sent me some new pictures of her daughter, Aerin. I think that she is just so cute and I had to share this one picture. It made me smile so I thought that I should share the joy.

We miss you guys so much and hope to see you soon.

Oh, what a day

So... Ryan and I planned a little day trip to the big city of Salem today to pick up my much desired living room rug. I have been planning to get this rug for a long time and I actually received a coupon in the mail for new time home owners and I was planning on using the coupon for the rug. The only catch is, of course there is always a catch, that you have to use the coupon in the store. So, Salem here we come.

Ryan thought that while we were going south that we would stop in Manchester to look at cars at the AUTO FAIR. We are in desperate need of a new car since Ryan's car is considered out "reliable car" and it is now crapping out on us. We are looking at Ford Edge and Ford Escape. I wanted to drive them both to see which one I liked better. So...after a long afternoon with a VERY aggressive sales person and a deal we could not refuse and to make a really long story short we are now the proud owners of a brand new Ford Escape. I love it!

Plus, the rug fit so much better in the Escape than it would have in the Focus.

It's finally done...for now.

Yes, Oh yes. The nightmare of what was our little home renovation is finally over. One full, very exciting and crunched week of painters, and flooring people have come and gone leaving their mark on our not so 1970's home now. YEA!! We do not have any pictures yet because moving our stuff back in may take some time. I would like to put things in place and not just throw them in where they can fit. I have boxes of things that I haven't seen since NC and I don't even know if I should open them or just throw them away because I OBVIOUSLY haven't needed them.

We had out first visitor's this weekend and LOVED IT!! Thanks to Jeff for helping do a LOT of things to finish stuff up. It is true that not only is Jeff the grill master he may also be the saw master:) We loved seeing Keena, Matthew and Luke and hope that they come back soon!

Sadie's New Friends

Yesterday, Sadie went for a hike with her new buddies, Fin and Cody!

Some of my fellow nurses at DHMC wanted to get together and have a "puppy play date." Sadie, of course, was ALL over the place and WAY too excited. They actually played very well together but needed to be separated later in the night just for our own sanity. I am very happy that Sadie has made new friends because I was afraid that she was going to miss her dog park friends in NC.

Sadie says, "I love New Hampshire!"

Luke

Here is our new nephew, Luke. Isn't he just the cutest? His big brother, Matthew, is so happy to have him and loves him very much. We had a great weekend visiting and we look forward to having the Corriveau's over in August. Yea!!!

Now an update on the home renovations... We are slowly getting to an end point. After a few days of torturous trim painting my father relieved our pain by offering to help us out. We are very open to any help that we can get. Our paining, and new floors will be done by August 1st! So nice. Our new project until then is removing wallpaper. I don't know what is worse... trim painting or wallpaper removal. I would be a millionaire if I could figured out an easy way to remove wallpaper. Any ideas?

Happy Birthday Luke Couser Corriveau!

YEA!!!! He is finally here. I don't have any pictures yet, but I will post them as soon as I get some. Keena had her little boy this morning at 8:01am. He is a perfectly handsome little man. We won't mention his weight, but, lets just say he is "healthy." We are so happy for Jeff, Keena, Matthew and Captain. Their new addition will bring them much joy. Not to mention that I am going to go all... new aunt crazy love on him:)

painting

It sounds so fun...but it's NOT!! I have never felt so strongly about painting before. We have a LOT, and I mean, A LOT of dark wood stained trim in our 1977 split-level home. We have to put at least two coats of stain block over it before we can actually paint with the trim paint. At least it is rewarding to see the work pay off. It looks so much better white.

It Has Been A Busy Few Weeks

After the long, long drive from NC we spent a little time in Maine at the "The Couser Sand and Surf." The weather was mostly beautiful and Ryan, Heather and I actually did a little swimming.

We closed on our home on June 12th and started moving things in that night. We have been living around boxes ever since.

Ryan celebrated his 34th birthday on June 20th and I passed my nursing school boards on the 19th. It has been a busy few months but we are finally settled in and very excited to be in NH again.

We made it.

We finally arrived in New Hampshire around 9:30pm on Saturday the 31st. Lets just say, the trip was and experience. I am so glad that we had Jeff on-board as the official truck driver for our trip. It was quite a load to haul and on top of a full 24' truck we had the large trailer carrying the Jetta.

We are happy to be home in NH, but at the moment we miss the sunshine. I hear from friends in NC that it is beautiful there. I hate to tell you that here in Maine, it is in the 50's and rainy. Not a friendly welcome home for us. The following days are supposed to be nice in the 90's so we look forward to that. Got to love that New England weather.

Sorry that we do not have any pictures to post. My camera cord is somewhere in grampa's basement:-( We will keep you posted.

Happy Birthday Keena

We are sending a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ryan's sister, Keena, today!

We hope that you have a very happy birthday with a large birthday cake and we are excited to see you this weekend... maybe for some leftovers:)

Thank you for all of the nice things that you do for us. We love you.

Packing Days

We are steadily packing and we have boxes everywhere! We have found things that we don't remember owning or I have found things that I hope Ryan doesn't remember owning, (like gold couches). Sadie is very stressed out and we are sad that we have spent our last Memorial Day in NC.

Four more days in North Carolina!

After 4 years of hard work it all ended this weekend with 4 days of celebrations. Thank you to our friends and family for sharing in the joy of the weekend. We loved having you all here.
We were very excited that Heather could take some time off from classes to fly down from Elmira.
Dad and Sara thank you for making the 16 hour "short" drive from NH. It was very special having you here.
Keena, Jeff, Matthew and F, we always love having you here and we are sad that it was our last visit together in NC. Matthew, you look very good in the Regalia, we can see a future in medicine for you.
Mom and Aunt Ginger, thank you for making the quick trip to NC for my nursing school graduation. I know that it was a quick trip, but we loved having you here and spending time with you in sunny NC.
Now...time to pack. See y'all in the "cold country" in two weeks!

Medical School Graduation Weekend

Everybody is doing it!

Now that we are moving back home we thought it would be a good time for everyone to be able to keep in touch.

We are excited for our graduation weekend when our families come to visit. Now we will be able to share our pictures of the events.