Yes, I know it’s not even Christmas, so I shouldn’t be thinking about the beach. But my mom was able to reserve a beachfront house for us next year right next to them, and the deposit is due soon, so I thought I’d share.

It’s a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house right on the beach. At present, it’s us (Me, Dana, and Deuce) and Emily, but we have to call and ask Uncle Dan (unless of course he reads this and feels like calling us) if they want in on the deal.

That’s it, just a quick note that our beach plans are going smoothly.

The precursor to Christmas has come and gone, but I must say that our Thanksgiving this year was particularly nice.

All of the out-laws, I mean in-laws, got together at Grandma and Grandpa A’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. All told, we had 15 people in attendance. The food was great and everyone had a good time.

Then came the deluge. Dana went out with her mom on Friday (why, I don’t know, but she did) to get craft stuff to make glass blocks. I then went to Lowes and Home Depot to see if i could find said blocks for her to decorate. Unfortunately, all I could find was the huge 8″ x 8″ blocks, so I bought a few just in case. She really wanted the smaller blocks, so we visited Glass Block World in Irwin and picked up 12 of the 6″ x 6″ blocks. I went to Sears and bought a corded drill and a drill press stand (so I did get something out of the deal) and went to work trying to drill a hole in these things.

Let me tell you that was a pain in the but, and after all was said and done, I was only able to drill 5 (I ended up breaking 3, and a fourth isn’t broken, but if I continued to drill it would be. I don’t know if I just don’t have the power in the drill, or if I’m doing something wrong, or what. It would figure that my first drilling adventure isn’t wood or metal, but glass…

Other than that, our weekend was pretty relaxing. Now it’s back to work for me. Dana and Deuce are home today, Dana’s doing some paperwork since most of her schools are closed today… Everyone’s gotta hunt.

As of last week, both 3WS and Lite Rock 92.9 are playing Christmas songs, all day, everyday… I do love this season.

If you have a chance, visit a Claddagh Irish Pub in your area. I’m typically not really that excited about chains or franchises, but the food was excellent, the prices reasonable, and the service was great.

Needless to say, we went to Claddagh’s in the South Side on Friday with Missa and Kevin. We then explored the South Side Works for a while. Deuce was at Grandma A’s. Saturday Dana was going to take a tree decorating class at Lowes. Now typically, I have no problem with Lowes. However, Dana registered herself, her mom, and Pat for the class at 11 am. They were hanging out at 10:45 am in the aisle where the class was supposed to be taught, while Deuce and I went to drool, me over the power tools (mmmmmm table saw) and Deuce, well, he just likes to drool from time to time.

We had dinner over Grandma and Grandpa A’s and introduced Sammie, the 4.5 lb mini dachshund, to Lexi and Bear, the 120 and 135 lb german shepherds. The meeting, while tense for Grandma, went pretty well.

Sunday we traveled to Grandma and Grandpa G’s for the Steeler game and dinner. Overall, a pretty busy weekend. Luckily we’re already over halfway through the week

Well, sort of. Deuce had picture day at daycare a few weeks ago, and they finally got us the pictures back. As per usual, they are wonderful pictures of him, and so we are gonna drop about $50 on some pictures. They get you every time. But they are cute pictures, so I can’t complain too much.

Dana has been busy getting our Christmas cards ready to send out to everyone, while I have been busy on my side projects. Sometimes it’s hell being “in demand,” well, sort of in demand.