November, 2013

November was a month to keep looking for a house. We did find one that was really nice, but it was almost in Lincoln and seemed really far away. So we put in a low bid on a short sale and it went for over listing price. Somebody got a super nice home but we would only have taking it at a bargain price and bargain prices ended about 2 years ago. So we continue the hunt, riding around and looking, and scouring the internet.
Good news this month was that NBC now owns the rights to showing Formula One in the US. So Rog was able to watch the last 3 races live on TV. The season is done for the year now and we can look forward to watching Sochi in February. America’s Cup---Formula One---Olympics; that is the limit of sports on TV around our place.

We are having fun planning projects for our Monday afternoon visit with the grandkids. This month, we made an autumn wreath for the front door which turned out exceptionally well, and autumn paper bag trees. We even made some banana & peanut butter cookies. We look forward to their visits and hope that Max keeps getting 100% on his pre-test in spelling! Rog and I are continuing to head over on Thursday mornings to walk with all of them to Max’s school. It is getting nippy, but we just bundle up more. Afterwards, Rog and Michelle relax over a cup of coffee while Karissa and I play with her dollhouose.

We spent an evening at the Hawkinson’s home in Grass Valley and then had the Adamsons for dinner here at our place. Kalen came along as well, so we were able to catch up on his life as a senior in high school.
Our date with Max was a trip to the local Scandia to play miniature golf and arcade games. Max was a natural at golf and we played all 18 holes. Since we missed our date in October, we had a second date in November. We started with a trip to the Galleria Mall to walk around, get a ride on the carousel, then play on the playground outside with a treat of hot chocolate. Then on to the Eco Station here in Rocklin. They had 4 large rooms to explore. The main entry had tortoises and displays. Then the paid tour took you into a room with reptiles and snakes, a room with birds, and a final room with fish. It has been over a year since Max had been here and it was like his first visit. Of course, anything with animals is fun for him.

Not to be outdone, Karissa went on her first date with us. We went to the park on Willowynd, near Ryan’s house. It was cold and the slides were wet, but she was thrilled. To warm up, we went to Toys R Us where she played with Thomas the Train for almost an hour. We finished up with lunch at IHOP. She has been asking for a date for months now, so she was pretty excited.

We also had a few “dates” with Ryan, once at Chipotles and once for lunch at our place. He surprised me with a box of my old Christmas decorations that he has been holding for me for eight years. A lot of my old Santas. What a treat! It only took an hour to decorate this year which is a far cry from the old days when it took me the entire Thanksgiving weekend. But it is nice to have my old friends around.
Eric and Michelle hosted Thanksgiving this year and did a magnificent job. Both a honeyed ham and Cornish hens! Absolutely delicious.