Holiday Traditions

I can’t even explain how excited I am for Christmas. I have always had such a deep love for the holidays, but mostly because I absolutely love the holiday traditions with my family. They seem pretty simple, but I know I am spoiled with it.

Ever year on Christmas Eve, we go out to my grandma’s house for supper and presents. My grandma usually makes a huge meal (for any event) and we eat, talk, and then slowly move in to the living room. It wasn’t a holiday until Michael and I fought over who was going to sit at the head of the table. Neither of us liked it, because your back is to the cabinets. Every year, it was always the kids who got to sort the presents and since Mike and I were the only kids, we would always sort the gifts. We would take turns opening and the kids would play with their toys, while everyone else continued to talk.

Holiday Season Challenge

Woah. Another crazy year almost coming to an end. The holidays bring up so many things that I am thankful for. So many things that I don’t know how some people live without.

First off, there is my family. To put this into perspective for my readers who don’t know me very well, my family is huge. I have 25 cousins (All between the ages of  3 and 26), 6 aunts and 5 uncles (not counting their spouses and all of them are married except one uncle), I have 5 sets of wonderful grandparents. I have been told that I am spoiled with family, and  maybe I am. While I don’t normally spend the holidays with one side of my family, I get to spend it with the other 2 sides of my family. I had a ton of fun today and two of my grandmothers did a wonderful job hosting an amazing Thanksgiving lunch/dinner today. I am so thankful for the craziness that is my family. We have strong opinions that we try to keep to ourselves, but for the most part today with them was a ton of fun.

All About Me

Hey everyone! I know most of you are regular readers, and most of you are probably family and friends, but for those of you who happened to stumble upon my blog, I thought I would give you a nice, warm welcoming!

10 Things To Do AFTER Moving to a New City

This is a blog in progress, but I am quickly working on a checklist of things to do after you have moved to a new city.

I am moving from Lincoln to Beatrice to Omaha all in a 2 month time span. I finished my college semester and I am planning on moving to Omaha shortly after returning to South Africa. Beginning of June, I will be packing up my belongings and moving to an apartment. I have been working on downsizing and packing my things, but there is a lot more to moving than your moving your stuff.

You are moving your life as well.

I am slowly creating a to-do list of things that need to be done after your move.

Why You Should Let Your Kids Pick Their Paint

Wow, has it been a crazy month or what. My laptop screen broke, I got back into the states (currently working on the blog posts to share my great experiences) and now I am in the process of completely cleaning out my room and getting rid of anything that I possibly can.
Now, maybe I am writing this blog to prove a point to my parents, but maybe I am just curious as to see what other people out there think.
I am trying to redo my room for my little brother who turns 7 in 2 weeks. I wanted to do it as a birthday present, but also as a bribe to get him to get rid of some of his toys and start keeping his room clean. (Yeah, right. A 7 year old boy keep his room clean, I know. I am crazy.)

If you have never met him then you wouldn’t know that he has lived and breathed John Deere and tractors since he was learning to talk. He actually learned his colors by the brands of tractors (John Deere Green, Allis Chalmers Orange, Case IH Red… So on..) It was adorable.
       I want to paint his room Green, With a yellow and a Black stripe. Like the picture to the side, without the yellow ceiling. I am hoping to get creative enough to put a little red barn and a dirt path on the wall, but first I have to get past my parents.

Why I Am Moving In, With No Ring In Sight.

I guess this isn’t really something that I need to broadcast, but I wanted to address it anyway. I am moving into an apartment with Matt this summer. We have no plans of marriage in the foreseeable future.
We have found a place in Omaha that we will be moving into. I am going to school. He got a full time job! I am going to continue with my military training.

Here is why I am addressing this. Many people have given me questionable, weird looks when I say that we are getting an apartment together. That I am switching from Lincoln to Omaha for school. I have gotten some “shame on you” finger pointing and some disapproving looks. I know that it doesn’t matter what other people think, but at the same time it does matter to me.

Family Matters

After nine hours on the clock today, I called Grandma asking how they were and what they are doing for the Superbowl tonight.  While I wasn’t really interested in such a superficial game, I knew this was one of those times that Sean was slightly regretting that we decided to cancel our cable in Mid-December because it was just too expensive. It was mostly because there was just nothing on.

Well Grandma invited us out for supper and to watch the game with her. When we got out to the farm, and every time we go out to the farm, it reminds me of all of those childhood memories from the summers spent with my grandma.

When pulling into the drive way, the garage is the first thing you see, then the bright robin egg blue house.  This house has been the gathering place for every holiday, family event, and big moment for as long as I can possibly remember.

Grandma’s kitchen might as well open up as a restaurant in Harbine. She always has three or four entrees for each meal. Christmases always include full counters and extremely full tummys. We always say that if you leave grandma’s hungry, it’s your own dang fault. Almost a hundred percent of the time, the first words out of Grandma’s mouth after you walk in the door include, “Are you hungry?” But you are required to say yes. Everyone knows that you don’t eat if you know you are going out to grandma’s.

It’s Just Me

Okay, first blog post and I am slightly unsure of what I am all going to write about and how much to write. So I am going to wing this and we’ll see.
First off, I am Elyse. I graduated from Beatrice High School a couple months ago, moved out of my parents house and I am now trying everything I can to save some money. My parents were really great when it came to getting me the things that I needed, so money was never really an object for me until I moved out. I got my first job when I was 15 waiting tables at the Kensington. Things didn’t really work out there, so I got a job at McDonald’s.
Yup.. I know what most are thinking YUCK.., but when you are young, a job is a job. I have worked there for over 2 years now and will continue to work there until I leave for college. I have moved up to “Crew Chief” at McDonald’s, which means I am in kind of in charge of making sure things get done the correct way around the store when I am there and the manager on the shift is not right there. Most of our managers are pretty great, but I enjoy being able to help out when they have other things to get done or they are in another area of the store.