Time. It just seems to slip by. One moment your preparing for the onslaught of turkey day then your sitting amidst a pile of Christmas-morning colorful wrapping papers and the next thing you know it is mid January and you are almost finished with the first medical school rotation of the new year. The time is definitely whizzing by.
The holidays proved to be the essence of joy and gladness as we celebrated with friends and family in the usual fashion. We tried to drink in as much Christmas cheer as humanly possible. This usually meant an inordinate amount of sampling baked goods. It all started one fine Tuesday afternoon after a long day's work, I came home to the cornucopia of sugary delights. There was chocolate dipped pretzels, pumpkin bread, molases cookies dipped in white chocolate, mint brownies, sugar cookies, and fruit cake. My wondering eyes beheld and my mouth partook and all was right with the world as we launched into the holiday season.
Addyson took her first Christmas well, opting out of the holiday dinner rice cereal and going straight for the holiday dinner breast milk. She of course had no clue of the goings on but smiled just the same. I do think, though that her Christmas gift pile stretched much higher than the rest of ours.
Brynlee also enjoyed her holiday but we just couldn’t get her to understand the concept of Santa and then to top it off, mom and dad forgot to have her set out milk and cookies for the Jolly Elf. I’m surprised Santa didn’t leave switches in stocking for that act of defiance. In all we had a lovely time and I now have one more sport coat to add to my collection of one, Krista can peel, slice, and dice apples in fractions of a second with her new Apple peeler decorer, Brynlee pretends to make all manner of baked goodies in her play kitchen and Addy loves to drool on her new teething ring. Indeed Santa weighed and measured our goodness this year and found us up to code.
One of the more harrowing experiences of my life came in 2004 when vehicle malfunction encouraged us to seek after a more reliable and gas friendly alternative to our then current mode of transport. Harrowing in the sense that any man who takes on the likes of car salesmen knows it is not for the faint of heart. For hours and hours and days and days Krista and I test drove and negotiated and test drove and negotiated, many times barely escaping with our lives and our pocket books. But we finally purchased a nice economy vehicle that has proved to be the epitome of reliable. Well, with the burgeoning Dalley Family, in numbers, the “econo-car” though manageable was turning out to be somewhat cumbersome. So Krista and I strapped on our body armor, hid our wallets, and headed for the Dallas-area dealerships. So, in case you were wondering, “Salesmen” have not become endangered nor have they changed their. So Krista and I readied ourselves with all manner of research, spreadsheets, and price comparison charts so as to thwart the salesman from every angle possible. We ventured into the Metroplex, arsenal in hand, ready for what may come. After the first dealership, I knew we may have a work cut out for us as the salesman tried the ol “what kind of payments per month were you looking for” routine, but we blocked that shot and moved onto the next car lot. For days (three maybe) this went on. We walked on the scene, they try to sell us a car we didn’t want or need or they try to ricky doo us on the price. Needless to say, we were sad, depressed by the unfeeling and uncaring dealerships. Then Chris, my brother-in-law, walked onto the scene. Like the Lone Ranger of car buying, he rode into our situation, made one phone call and within minutes had us the best deal on any vehicle we had seen or test drove. I was amazed. He shared with me his secret to success and I was inspired. So Krista and I drove down to the dealership, pluncked down our money, and drove off in our Honda MiniVan, grateful we had family to swoop in and save the day and grateful that we opted to purchase that extra carpet and paint sealer/protectant/warranty. Man, we made off like bandits.
Brynlee also enjoyed her holiday but we just couldn’t get her to understand the concept of Santa and then to top it off, mom and dad forgot to have her set out milk and cookies for the Jolly Elf. I’m surprised Santa didn’t leave switches in stocking for that act of defiance. In all we had a lovely time and I now have one more sport coat to add to my collection of one, Krista can peel, slice, and dice apples in fractions of a second with her new Apple peeler decorer, Brynlee pretends to make all manner of baked goodies in her play kitchen and Addy loves to drool on her new teething ring. Indeed Santa weighed and measured our goodness this year and found us up to code.
One of the more harrowing experiences of my life came in 2004 when vehicle malfunction encouraged us to seek after a more reliable and gas friendly alternative to our then current mode of transport. Harrowing in the sense that any man who takes on the likes of car salesmen knows it is not for the faint of heart. For hours and hours and days and days Krista and I test drove and negotiated and test drove and negotiated, many times barely escaping with our lives and our pocket books. But we finally purchased a nice economy vehicle that has proved to be the epitome of reliable. Well, with the burgeoning Dalley Family, in numbers, the “econo-car” though manageable was turning out to be somewhat cumbersome. So Krista and I strapped on our body armor, hid our wallets, and headed for the Dallas-area dealerships. So, in case you were wondering, “Salesmen” have not become endangered nor have they changed their. So Krista and I readied ourselves with all manner of research, spreadsheets, and price comparison charts so as to thwart the salesman from every angle possible. We ventured into the Metroplex, arsenal in hand, ready for what may come. After the first dealership, I knew we may have a work cut out for us as the salesman tried the ol “what kind of payments per month were you looking for” routine, but we blocked that shot and moved onto the next car lot. For days (three maybe) this went on. We walked on the scene, they try to sell us a car we didn’t want or need or they try to ricky doo us on the price. Needless to say, we were sad, depressed by the unfeeling and uncaring dealerships. Then Chris, my brother-in-law, walked onto the scene. Like the Lone Ranger of car buying, he rode into our situation, made one phone call and within minutes had us the best deal on any vehicle we had seen or test drove. I was amazed. He shared with me his secret to success and I was inspired. So Krista and I drove down to the dealership, pluncked down our money, and drove off in our Honda MiniVan, grateful we had family to swoop in and save the day and grateful that we opted to purchase that extra carpet and paint sealer/protectant/warranty. Man, we made off like bandits.
