Welcome to the family!

This morning at about 9:30, my little sis, Misty, had her first baby! She and Clint named her Brookelin Capri. How fun! A new little girl for the Williams clan. (We need more of those!) ;-)

I am excited for her, but when she was little, she called me mom. For many, many years she called me that. I gotta say, I am a little bit disturbed by this. Does this make me a grandma?

Congratulations to the new parents, with LOTS of hugs and kisses!

My mistake.

I was just notified that I have been remiss in my duties as job foreman. I neglected to report on all construction jobs performed over the weekend. In order to make amends and prevent any further legal action on the part of my niece, Tammy, I shall now rectify my mistake. There were also 2 other Torgersen homes under construction on Saturday, so I shall now include pictures of those as well.



This is Tammy, on her way out the door. She labored intensely over the building of her home. Like her mother, she is also a very talented stone mason. Give the girl some Necco's and smarties, and she can decorate quite a house. She is my most talented, beautiful, graceful, sweet, loving, (let's not forget forgiving) niece. I am pretty sure I am now her favorite aunt again, right, Tam?

This is Mike's house. He had some construction delays, because he had to rush to another job. Although talented in construction in his own right, let's hope that his house is finished before demolition begins. I would hate for him to be homeless for the holidays. At least he had a sidewalk and door. Those Torgersen's and their talent with rocks...maybe too many trips to Topaz Mountain?


In an effort to disclose all Saturday activities, I shall tell about Doug's exciting day. While we were busy with our building, Doug was out spreading some Christmas cheer. He has a lawn tractor that he absolutely loves, with a snowplow blade that was anxiously attached months ago in anticipation of the first real snowfall. Usually, Doug is the last one to want snow, but this year he couldn't wait to use his toy. He was very unhappy when we woke up on Saturday to still have dry, yellow grass outside. When the snow finally started falling, we had a little party. All three of us had to run to the windows and watch. He spent most of the day plowing the sidewalks and driveways of the neighborhood. One woman even came knocking to thank him, almost in tears. Hmmm, maybe this will be a good tool for even more service in the future. He had a great time, and when it got dark, and all cars had left from the street in front of our house, he proceeded to clear the roads completely. (I think it was just so he could use the headlight on the tractor.) Looked like a lot of fun to me. Hey, good lookin'! Got room on your Hog for a really hot construction chick? ;-)

Grab your hard hat, it's construction day!

A few weeks ago, I was visiting with my sister-in-law, Sandy, and she said she had never made a gingerbread house. I couldn't believe it. How is it that I had never taken the time to do that with Doug's side of the family. (Ok, I admit, I've only done it once with my side of the family, but I have done many on my own.) I made the appropriate emails and phone calls, and it was scheduled for Saturday. I supplied the houses and royal icing, and they brought the candy. I think I was baking gingerbread for 2 days straight and my house smelled so yummy. Kinda gives me the warm fuzzies just thinking about it.

We heard on the news that it was supposed to snow on Saturday morning, so we were hoping that it would snow hard in the morning, and by afternoon it would be OK to drive in. Boy, were we wrong. I made 6 houses, and many gingerbread men, snowflakes, and trees. Only 2 families showed up to work. The weather was too bad, and those that came had a hard time getting there. We were so glad they were safe, especially after hearing about all the accidents they passed on the way. Doug and I threatened to keep them for the night. I wish it would have kept snowing, we could have had quite the party. Darn clouds.

We had such a great time, people had to leave before I was ready to have them go. This is Michaun's house. I found out that she is quite good with stone work. Just take a look at her masonry! Kent couldn't even wait to get home to start snacking!

This is the construction phase of Sandy's house. Who knew that she was such a good Roofer? She did a wonderful job.

This is the finished product. Very cute, and very yummy! An excellent job for an apprentice. ;-) We checked up on her Sunday night, and the house is still intact, but I am sure her son, Taylor, won't let it stand much longer. I hear he is quite good at demolition.


Miriam and her cousin, Celisa, had a great time working on a house together. They just added whatever they thought was the best candy to eat. (I wish all construction workers thought that way!) By the end of the day, Miriam was just squirting frosting wherever she could. I bet someday she could be great at stucco work. Hmmmm, maybe sometime, if we decide to update the exterior of our house.... She found her own easy way to make icicles, and she was brilliant at it. Not bad for her first solo house, either. She couldn't stand it, and started demolition on her house by Sunday afternoon. So did her parents.....

Here is my construction project. I got this piece of property for a steal! (It was a flap from one of our moving boxes. Thank you, Home Depot, for contributing to our building project.) This was a Habitat for Humanity project, although I didn't know it at the time. If I had, I would have done a better job on the construction of it. Our neighbor just had a baby last Wednesday, and we thought that their kids would enjoy it more than us. Besides, we already had a home with Miriam. The Holidays are no time to be greedy. If you have an extra home, you should share it with those who are not so fortunate. We have really enjoyed the smell eminating from the houses. Every few minutes, you can catch a whiff of gingerbread, and it tastes pretty good, too, if I do say so myself. I am thinking of inviting Hansel and Grettle over in the next couple of days......

Should you be interested in building your own house, I would be more than happy to give advice. Like any homeowner that has done work on their own home, I am more than happy to share the plethera of knowledge I have gained from doing my own work. Who needs to pay for labor when it is so fun to do yourself?