new haircut, etc.

This is just me showing off my new hair cut. I have bangs again. They're supposed be side bangs, so I'll work on taming them. With the layers and the awkward slight wave my hair has, it might all look a bit untamed, but I like the thought that it's "free spirited". In the bottom picture I think I look like my mom :)

Ron and I are coming to terms with the fact that our Christmas vacation is almost over. I got him chess this year (which can also be checkers, and if you flip it over, chinese checkers!) and scrabble, so we've been playing games like mad lately. I love it. I'm a bit of a game freak, and would play games all the time if I had my druthers. Eventually the husband tires of games and thinks of doing other things like eating or reading... Another reason I love visiting the Burchells :) Always a little kid to play with me!

Ron and I have been taking walks, and Ron decided he would start picking up cans. So we did that today and collected half a garbage bag. They litter like mad down here, and no one ever picks up our country roads. I'll be interested to see the small fortune of cans we will have by summertime. 

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and will have a good New Year's. To my family, it was wonderful seeing you on Skype, i felt like I was really there when the little Burchells opened their stockings :) I'm going to really enjoy being "in". 

Love to all, Jo

just to update :)

I realized I haven't written anything on here in quite some time... So, just for an update, I'll let you all in on what Ron and I have been up to. 

This past weekend we took in a festival! It's called Homestead Fest, and takes place at an actual Quaker homestead. That is, I think they're Quakers. I looked through their beliefs book, but it was very long and didn't come right out and say "we're a cult" or "we're Quakers" or "we're harmless pleasant Amish"... But I tend to think toward the last two :) It was a fun experience, though Ron whined about accompanying me at first. We got there toward the evening and it was a bit chillier than we'd anticipated. We had missed some of the demonstrations during the day, so Ron begged to come back Sunday,  which we did! We learned a bit about beekeeping, admired the way a windmill works (several times) and got to watch how to make a batch of mozzarella at home. We also sampled some tasty food and looked at a lot of great crafts and gadgets. Who knew something this cool was so close to Waco, Texas. They are open year round, though it's not a festival all year, of course. However, we could take cheesemaking classes if we wanted to! For only $260, we, too, could have 4 pounds of homemade mozzarella or feta to stick in our freezer or ship to distant relatives. (Sorry, but hard cheese making has a prerequisite). I'm hoping they might cut us a deal. But we did pay attention at the demonstration, so we may just try our hand at it after all. 

All through that festival, though, we were thinking that it would be great to have those little Burchell kids along :) 

We also got our living room/entry way painted this past weekend. It took, as all projects do, much longer than anticipated. We were up one night till 3pm, and another night till 5:30 the next morning! We Goodmans just go all out, I guess. Really, I just wanted it done, but Ron did have to help me through a couple of zombie moments. We did get plenty of rest, though. Having the long weekend helped tremendously. And the living room looks great!! We'll post before/after photos one of these days. Sorry, I'm a bit slow about the photos...   

Not too much else. My birthday went well. Thanks for all who called and sang. Ron, though he's grumbled good-naturedly before about the Burchell tradition of singing all day long to the Birthday person, did so without even being asked. Aw, what a husband. At karate we always sing to the birthday person and then everyone has to say something nice about the person. I learned that I am "a good bus driver", "awesome", "a good instructor", and I "rock the world".