Well, there's no one who has hurt me recently (fingers crossed) that I wish to write an open blog letter too so here is my Christmas letter which I still working on (it's been passed to Jeff for his additions):
Season's Greetings Everyone!
We hope this letter finds you all happy and healthy. It's hard to believe we are almost to the end of 2010. Where did the year go? Well, we'll tell you where some of ours went:
In January Jeff finished up the semester and started teaching a new class about the environment. Maureen started a short-lived writing assignment with the Budget Fashionista. No worries, it was a good experience and she's happier working for herself anyway.
In February Jeff's back gave out unexpectedly and took a few weeks to get to normal. It's been a bit twitchy all year but seems to be holding up. The first real snow fall will be the test.
In March our new addition (JD, the feral kitten that moved in Sept 2009) had his first car ride; a toodle around town. He peed all over his kennel and his lovely fur coat and mewed the whole time -- fun had by all! Jeff had a better car ride with Shelby when he took her on a Duke camping trip for a weekend. This is one of Shelby's favourite things -- lots of kids to dote on her, fresh air and sleeping with dad.
In April we had a few minor renovations when Jeff added French doors to the kitchen entries (he's so handy). With the extra mouth to feed, feeding times were becoming challenging with all the food theft going on (JD likes both Suzie's and Shelby's food, and Shelby likes Suzie's and JD's food). Now we can close the doors and feed JD in the kitchen while Shelby and Suzie can relax eating in the living room.
In May Jeff signed up to help organize Nicholson's 50th Reunion. He put a lot of work into developing a website, maintaining a Facebook page and arranging for memorabilia.
In June our furnace fan died just in time for the hot weather. We were without air conditioning for one week because they were so busy.
In July Jeff decided all on his own without any help from Maureen that he wanted to remove the shower tiles from our main bathroom. We had talked about it for many years because many were looking cracked and the grout was diminishing. Once he started ripping out the tile he noticed the drywall underneath was spongy, so he ripped that out too, then he noticed the tub was rusted so with much effort and an additional hole in the wall the tub was taken out. So that was a planned weekend job quickly turned into a three week nightmare. The whole house was glad when it was over. It was a very hot and humid month, thank goodness for air conditioning. JD turned one this month. After looking through many photos and talking to a few experts we decided that JD was a least half Maine Coon (a very large breed of cat). He currently weighs 13 pounds. Maine Coons don't stop growing until their fourth year. In which case it's expected he'll weigh almost 20lbs.
In August Shelby turned ten. Hard to believe really, it seems like yesterday she was driving Maureen nuts. Oh yeah, she was. Some things never change. August was a special month because Jeff's parents Mavis and Gene came for their first visit since Gene's hospitalization last year. They terrorized us for a whole week -- the critters loved being spoiled.
In September Suzie turned fifteen which is also how long we've been living in Belleville.
October was a difficult month as we found some more strange lumps on Shelby and to be safe she had surgery to remove them. Luckily they turned out not to be cancerous but she suffered numerous skin infections in the incisions and ended up having three sessions of antibiotics. We got around to getting our passports this month. We have no travel plans but at least we have them should we win a trip to Hawaii. It could happen.
In November JD had his official one year check up and received a clean bill of health and a shot in the keister for good behaviour. Yes he peed in the kennel again. Jeff and Maureen are hoping he will grow out of it by the two year mark.
And here it is December again and we are writing all of you. Mavis and Gene are making the journey to visit us on the 27th for a week. All the crew is excited to have the company and to celebrate the New Year with them.
Thanks for making it through another Christmas letter / short-cut year in review which mostly centers on animals and what kind of mischief we get into ripping the house apart (that was Jeff).
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Jeff, Maureen, Suzie, Shelby, and JD too.
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