Happy Thanksgiving

It’s always awkward coming back to this blog after a long break. How will I ever atone for my absence? Because people have missed me… Right?

Thanksgiving seemed like an appropriate day to return to posting for two reasons. 1. I am at Ken’s aunt’s house awaiting Ken’s arisal from bed so we can get on with the day and she doesn’t want any help making rolls for dinner and I’ve already been on a run and showered, so what else is there to do? And 2. There is much to be thankful for in the last three months.

Oh, and nobody better read this today – you’re supposed to be out being thankful and gorging yourselves on food with your families.

Without further ado: Things which happened in the past three months (that I can remember right now) for which I am thankful.

Grandpa Justin came to stay with us while my aunt and uncle watched their grandson while their son and daughter-in-law searched for houses in Albuquerque. Confused? Point is, Grandpa stayed with us for about a week and we had a lovely time. 91 years old and he helped us process green chiles. I have a great picture, but not with me.

Other point – my cousins have moved to Albuquerque – they arrived a couple of days ago while we were on vacation… We were so helpful… We are excited to have them in town.

We got the living room ceiling sandblasted – by someone else! If you’re in ABQ, I highly recommend Fay’s painting. They did a great job, left the place quite clean, and were reasonably priced. We then proceeded to refinish the ceiling ourselves, which was a lot of work moving scaffolding around, but it looks amazing now. Again, no picture with me.

For Labor day we took an extra day off and went up to Colorado to visit my Grandpa and aunt and uncle. It was a great trip. My aunt and uncle took us hiking and mountain biking in the beautiful Rockies, and we were able to spend some quality time with Grandpa learning some woodworking tricks.

We then found out that the south wall of the living room – the one with the four brand-new expensive winows in it – moved when you pushed on it. Turns out there was 40 years worth of water damage down there and the wall was kind of hanging from the roof rather than supporting it. Water damage in the desert? All I can say is that when it rains, it rains HARD. I am thankful because Ken is capable to fix things like this and our brand-new expensive windows didn’t get damaged in the least. We spent several weekends tearing the house apart and putting it back together, and now we’re rebuilding the deck which had to come off in the process. The joys of home ownership, I guess.

Grandpa, whose heart had been causing him problems since June or July, died a few weeks ago, so we were glad to have visited over Labor Day. His funeral is tomorrow, so we get to fly to Denver for the day.

And that brings us to this week. We spent Saturday at Carlsbad Caverns, Sunday and Monday at Big Bend National Park, and the rest of the time near Austin with Ken’s extended family. Tomorrow we fly to Denver for less than 24 hours, then we commence the 13 hour drive home, back to our dogs and cats, our unfinished deck, and our jobs.

I believe that Ken is up, so it’s time to meet the rest of the Craymer family. Wish me luck! Happy Thanksgiving!