Thursday, January 17, 2008

Where is everybody?

Hello!!!!! Anyone out there? Seems I am the only one to post on this blog. Where is everyone?

Well the week is almost over & the month is more than 1/2 gone. Time really does fly when you get older.

Did everyone get their Christmas decorations all put away? I finally got mine done last weekend. I have a few minor things I still need to deal with, but my biggest problem is finding room. I tend to buy new stuff every year, but I have a hard time getting rid of my old stuff. Does anyone else have this problem? I know my Mom does, that is probably where I got it from. I sort of envy Eric's family, they have no problem getting rid of stuff when they get new stuff. The problem is, I am usually the one who takes their old stuff. My favorite saying is: "Are you getting rid of that? I'll take it." My husband has the same problem as me. Except he thinks I am the one with all the stuff. He forgets that 2/3 of the garage is full of "his" stuff. I can at least admit I have a problem.

The reason I started selling on ebay was to get rid of some of my stuff. But I have a real hard time. So sometimes I just buy stuff on sale, clearance, thrift store & resale on ebay. That way I still get to shop, but I also get rid of it & make some money in the process. That is what I call a win/win situation.

I started selling again on ebay this past weekend after taking about 3 weeks off. I only got 2 items listed. I took photos of everything that I wanted to sell, but Mike made me some stained glass windows for our bedroom & when I looked at all the pictures I took, it was too dark. So I need to retake them in better light. So my goal for this weekend is to list at least 10 items on ebay. If you want to see what I am selling, you can click on the ebay link at the bottom of this page. It takes you to My World page & you can click on items selling to see what I have for sale.

I love selling on ebay but it takes alot of time & effort. I hate when people ask if I can sell something on ebay for them. I usually tell them no, I don't have enough time to list my own junk, let alone list for someone else & not make any money. The easiest way to sell on ebay is to sell new items that you have multiple of. Then you only have to take the photos once & make a listing once & just relist each time an item sells. I did alot of that this past year. My best item at Christmas was a glass Eiffel Towner ornament. I bought about 20 of them at Mervyn's on sale for about $4-5 a piece & sold them on ebay for $12 a piece. I stocked up after Christmas so I'll have them for next Christmas as well.

Well I better get back to work as my lunch hour is over. Hopefully someone else will take the time to blog as well. Otherwise you will be stuck with me.

Talk to you later!
Kim

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

January Blues

I don't know about you, but I get the January blues. Christmas is over, boo hoo. All the lights & decorations are coming down & it seems so dark and depressing when I come home from work.

Probably the biggest reason for the blues is being sick. Seems I always get sick around this time of year. I'm just getting over some sort of stomach bug. Everyone in my family had it. Took us about a week to get back to feeling somewhat normal.

Eric's family had it too. In fact, I think we got sick from Eric's family. We all spent New Years together & Jeannette was just getting over a stomach bug. A few days later, Jesse & Mike got sick, then me & finally Brandon. I was never so happier that we have 2 bathrooms. Even then, sometimes there was a line. I called Eric & he said that Cade, him & Taylor had all gotten sick too. Poor Cade, he was sick on his birthday. So far Jase & Danica are still well.

I just spoke to Andrea & no one in her family has come down with the sickness & her boys had been staying at Eric's house when all the sickness started.

I need a vacation!!!!!! But alas, no money to go anywhere.

I think I am doubly blue as this is the year I turn the Big 5 0!!!! I can't believe I am that old. Grandmas are that old. Oh yeah, I am a Grandma. But I don't feel almost 50. I still feel like I'm 25, OK maybe 35, but my body tells me another story. I also think that I am still thin, but my body tells me that is a lie as well. I'm always bumping into things because in my brain I am still thin & can fit through certain places when in reality I can't. Getting old can be a PAIN!!!! And I mean literally.

Did I say that I need a vacation? We were suppose to go back to Europe this year or to Australia. But alas, since we now own a home, we can't afford to go anywhere except maybe to Vegas. But I love Vegas. The hotels are nice, the food is good & plentiful & I even know where to find some deals. My pleasures in life all seem to involve food. Maybe that is why I am no longer thin. I need to go on a diet or at least eat less. But I love to eat.

I am just rambling now. I am at work & don't really want to be here, so that is why I am writing. I wish I was anywhere but here at work.

Hopefully someone else will write in this blog besides me. Does anyone else get the January blues? Let us know.

Bye for now,
Kim

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Christmas Photos-Kim's family








Here are my family photos from Christmas. The first picture is of Mike (my hubby). The next 3 are of our grandson Gunner Michael Chalfant. He was born on 08/16/07 (my daddy's birthday). Then there is a picture of my son Brandon (24) & my stepson Jesse (17). The last picture is of my stepson Brandan (25), his wife Crystal (25) and Gunner (4 months).

I did not include any photos of me as I was the one taking the photos.

Happy New Year

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. What did you all do for New Years? On New Years eve, Mike, Jesse & I went to the movies to see "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. It was a great movie. I jumped and screamed a few times during the movie. Brandon doesn't like going to the movies so he stayed home.

This is the first movie that Mike & I have actually seen in about 5 years. We tried going to the movies last winter, but once we were in the movie theatre they had a riot in the mall that spilled over into the movie theatre so they evacuated everyone. When we got outside there were cops everywhere & a helicopter. The cops had machine guns. It was kind of scary as we didn't know what was going on or if we'd be OK. We did laugh about it later as we never did get to see the movie.

Anyways, back to New Years Eve, we got home about 10pm & watched TV until midnight. We then toasted with Martinelli's (apple/grape is the best!!!), went outside to hear all the neighbors yelling "Happy New Year" and some lighting fire crackers.

On New Years Day we had Eric's family & Andrea's 4 boys over for tacos. We had a great time. I made 50 tacos & only had 4 left over. We had a total of 14 people for dinner. Eric & Jeannette brought brownies & ice cream for dessert. I love when Eric brings ice cream as he almost always brings Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I love it!!! My family doesn't really like it so I never buy it. I only get to have it when Eric brings it or we go to Eric's house and have it for dessert.

Eric & Jeannette have Andrea's 4 boys for about 4 days. Jeannette always invites them to stay a few days over Christmas vacation. So it is always nice to get to see them. Since we live more than an hour away from them, we don't get to see them that often.

The weather was nice, about 70 degrees. We didn't get any of the high winds at my house as we have mountains directly to the East of us so they block the wind. When the Santa Ana's come from the north east, then we get the high winds. But this time, we didn't get the winds. But about 5 miles north of us, they did. We are a little more protected where we live.

Tomorrow it is suppose to start raining & rain for 5 days. We will believe it when we see it. It seems every time the weather people say we are going to get a lot of rain, we hardly get anything. When we do get rain, usually nothing has been forecasted. So I have a hard time believing all this global warming crap when they can't even forecast the weather correctly for this next day.

So much for my political views. I hope everyone had a good "New Years" and that this coming year finds everyone in good health and happy. If not, let us know, we love good gossip.

Love,
Kim

How to post a message on this blog

It has been brought to my attention that some of our family members are having a hard time figuring out how to post of this blog.

When you go to manningfamilytree.blogspot.com click on the "sign in" in the upper right hand corner. When you click on "sign in" it takes you to a page that says "Blogger". On the right hand side it has a sign in section. This is where you put your email address & the password you picked for your google account. Type in your info & click sign in. This takes you to a Dashboard page that has under manage your blog: Manning Family Tree. To the right it has "view blog". Click there & it takes you back to the manning family tree blog. You will then notice that in the upper right hand section it now shows your email address, then right to the right it says "New Post". Click on New Post & it takes you to you create your post. You can make a title & then in the box you type your message. When you are done writing your message you will click "Publish Post". It is the orange box towards the bottom left. Your message should then post on the blog. On the page you type your message there is a spot where you can preview your message before posting. You can also click on the icons for special features for your blog including adding a photo.

I hope this helps you all out & happy posting!!!