Blogging

Hey Yall! I have been writing this blog for a couple of years now. I started it as a way to let all my family and friends down south know what we were doing up here in the frozen tundra. At the time, all of our children were also down south and it was just me and my man up here. And then I discovered other blogs and bloggers and established some friendships through these blogs. I have never met any of these people in person, but I'm sure I would just love them if I did! I have talked to one on the phone. I am not sure if she was prepared to hear my southern accent (I have a southern accent?) though. People here think that if you have a southern accent then you must be stupid. Thank you evening news. Whenever there is a disaster down south, who do they interview? Enough said.

A couple of days ago, I got an email from someone who wanted to know if I was Fran the RA from Georgia College. Wow. Was that a blast from the past! Susan lived on my floor in this wonderful old three story building that was a girls dorm. And I was the RA. I needed an RA! Susan roomed with Lynn and I would go and chit chat with them. They were so much fun. Our whole floor was great. Well of course it was! I loved everybody up there. I have such wonderful memories of college and the friendships that I made there. And you know what is even better than that? The opportunity to connect with them now that we are...um...cough....mature. Me? I am a 19 year old in an almost 50 year old body. Ugh. That sounds awful. Susan and I emailed back and forth a couple of times and she told me about Lynn and Marcia. I can't wait to talk to Marcia. We stayed in touch for a while but somehow stopped. I emailed Lynn and talked with her. She told me that she vacations not too far from where we live every summer. Guess who I'm going to see this summer?

In case you are wondering how Susan found Fran the RA, she was reading Rhoda's Southern Hospitality blog on how she met her husband. I guess I must have left a comment and that connected her to my blog. She read where I had gone to Georgia College and the rest is history! Thanks Susan! And thanks Rhoda! Blogging has been good to Frannycakes!

Cold?

Hey Yall! I hope you are all warm and cozy down there in the south. Cause it's cold in these here parts! Of course, I am warm and cozy in the house where I tend to spend most of my time. I keep hearing the furnace start up. We keep our thermostat on 68 which is very comfortable in this house. I would keep it on 75 in some of our other houses and never felt warm. We got a dusting of snow last night. Today the sky is nice and blue.

Yesterday, I went to Portland to take care of a few things. I decided to go check out the craft stores. Man, I could stay in there for hours. I want to do every craft available. Believe it or not, out of the two stores, I only came out with one item. I am collecting J's to group together on a wall. I found another one that I will either paint or cover with paper. I have about 5 of varying sizes ready to hang. But I want to have more.

I went by the Goodwill and found a couple of things.....surprise, surprise! Evidently, Talbots had brought in a load of clothes. I found a lime green long sleeve tee with the Talbots tag still on it.....$5. I got a great flag with a lobster on it....$2. There was a huge bundle of natural color raffia still in the original bag for $.99. A new linen pillow cover (Goodwill does sell new items also) that will be a gift for someone so I can't give too much away....$3.98. I will post a picture of it after I send it to the person.

Then I went to the Christmas Tree Shops. And no, to those of you who may not remember, it is not a Christmas shop. It has home decorating things and stuff like that. I found a new rug for the kitchen. And a few other things. I will take some pictures later and show you.....I think you will love it all!

Tomorrow I am going to see Julianne. I need to trade cars with her so we can have some things repaired on hers. I might swing by the GW while I am in Bangor and check out their stuff. I will keep you posted!

Talk to you later....

Looking for a Room?

Hey Yall! We currently have vacancies. Call for reservations. Or just show up.

Snowy Sunday

Hey Yall! I told you earlier it had snowed. Dick went out in the cold and took some pictures before he started shoveling! Wasn't he sweet?

A Little of This, A Little of That

Hey Yall! We woke up to snow this morning. Lots and lots of snow. I wish it would snow everyday. It is very calming and peaceful. And could we all use a little more of that in our lives.

Jamie left to fly back to Lexington Friday. His flight left at 6 AM. That means leaving here at 3:45. He got back on time and was happy to be back to his home with Lesley and his furry baby Grace Darling. He sent me this picture with her Christmas present from us. It is a stuffed monkey with long arms. They tied it around her neck and she chased it! Grace Darling is just the cutest, most energetic dog, so I know this helped her calm down! She also received some Dingos, also known as dog crack. Don't believe me? Just give your dog one! Weezie knows how to spell Dingo and will jump up from a deep, snoring sleep if she hears someone spell it in another room!

Yesterday, Dick and I went to see Doubt. It has some excellent actors doing some excellent acting. However, we left a little confused. A little. Maybe it is because we are not Catholic. But the acting was wonderful. That Meryl Streep....she is so talented.....

The house is quiet again. I miss everybody. Tootles.

Isn't He Precious?

Hey Yall! I just wanted to introduce you to the our newest nephew......Jackson! Isn't he just precious? And doesn't that finger look delicious?

Finally!

Hey Yall! Okay, okay, okay. Bad Frannycakes. Bad, bad Frannycakes. Frannycakes must be punished. And I agree.

But I have been very very busy. Immediately after my last post, I started cleaning my house. And my house was so dirty. We were hosting a Christmas party at our house on December 13. Then on December 17, my parentals and brother and sister-in-law and niece and nephew flew in for a visit. The parentals have been here before but my brother and his family have not. And his kids had never seen snow. Thankfully I was able to deliver on the snow. Chris also flew in about the same time so we had a full house. Julianne came on Friday and the fun grew even more! We had such a good time. We drove them around to show them the sights and fed them lobster one night. They loved playing in the snow even though they were completely frozen when they came in! The temps were pretty low while they were here. Then, on the day they were to fly out, we had a snow storm come in and their flights were cancelled! Thankfully they were able to get a flight out the next morning.....from Boston! So they really did get an adventure visiting us!

Christmas morning was quiet without Jamie here, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Santa still came! Jamie and Lesley arrived on the 26th and Linley arrived on the 27th. We definitely had a house full! Everyone has left now except for Jamie and Julianne. I think they will both leave going their separate ways on Friday. Then it will be very quiet here for a while.

So please forgive me for not posting. I been vacuuming, washing sheets, washing towels, cooking, loading the dishwasher, emptying the dishwasher, dusting, and repeating everything several times a day. This girl is tired. But Christmas only happens once a year. And it is worth it.

I'll be back tomorrow.....

How do you like what Santa brought me?


Julianne and Chris making gingerbread houses and excited about it!


Making gingerbread houses


My Parentals and nephew


Aren't they a beautiful family?


The girls thought their aprons were sexy!


All the "children" eating dinner.


Go Jackets!!!!!!

Santa Claus came to see us!!!!!