Saturday, 12/1/2018 – The big house renovation project for this winter, and the only really large house renovation project left, is the kitchen.  As much as we’ve been dreading it, we are ready to get it started and done!  Saturday morning, Josh decided to get it going.  We were greeted with two layers of linoleum with backer that needed ripped out.  Progress was slow, but steady, fueled by a near-constant barrage of cussing and cursing whoever decided it was a good idea to use so many damn staples!  We made significant progress but pushed pause on the project so that we could attend a pre-trip meeting for our upcoming trip to Bonaire with West Shore Scuba.  After the meeting, we headed to Home Depot and were successful in finding the slate tile that we want for the kitchen floor at a pretty reasonable price!  Oh, we also unveiled Small Living Big Life’s 2018 digital advent calendar, too!

Sunday, 12/2/2018 – Tearing out the floor in the kitchen, DONE!

Monday, 12/3/2018 – Josh spent the chilly Monday evening at West Shore Scuba earning his PADI Equipment Specialist certification.

Friday, 12/7/2018 – Sunday, 12/9/2018 – After a long week at work, we packed the truck and headed to Cambria County for the last weekend of rifle season.  We got in Friday evening and hit the woods first thing Saturday morning for a great day of hunting!  We came home on Sunday with plenty of venison to stock the freezer for a while – HURRAY!  (Thank you, Cambria County crew, for being such gracious hosts and friends!)

Wednesday, 12/12/2018 – Snuggles with the 65lb lap dog make a challenging day at work all better…

Friday, 12/14/2018 – Another long week at work was soothed by the first holiday get-together of the year!  Josh’s company rented range time at 717Armory and invited everyone for food and shooting guns for a few hours after work!  It was a perfect way to spend a rainy, cold, foggy night, getting to shoot some guns we’ve never shot before.  Our favorite was a suppressed AR-15 chambered for 300 Blackout rounds with a holographic sight.  SUPER COOL to shoot!

Saturday, 12/15/2018 – Our Christmas tree may not be decorated yet, but, Christmas shopping is nearly done, the fireplace was getting a workout and the first batch of Christmas cookies made it into the oven.  I’m beginning to think that the tree might just stay undecorated this year, with the decorations sitting next to it…It’s beginning to look a lot like half-assed Christmas!

Wednesday, 12/19/2018 – Quote of the day: “I’m offended you keep calling us responsible adults!”  Yep…this is my life.

Thursday, 12/20/2018 – Today was Alexis’ Christmas potluck and ugly Christmas sweater party at work.  Since I had to make a “professional” impression today, the ugly Christmas sweater was out.  But, I just couldn’t resist the Dollar Tree blinky Christmas light necklace.

Friday, 12/21/2018 – Weather report: Sunny and 67º, four days before Christmas.  We’ll take it!  It was also Christmas party number 2 of 2018, this time with Josh’s mom’s side of the family.  We walked away from the White Elephant gift exchange with a gift card for Home Depot which will come in extremely handy for our kitchen renovation!

Saturday, 12/22/2018 – APW Christmas party at Tattered Flag.

Sunday, 12/23/2018 – It was a busy Sunday around these parts!  Josh made more progress on the kitchen cabinet painting, which is coming along beautifully!  We couldn’t take it anymore and ended up opening our gifts to each other.  We also took our annual pilgrimage to Hershey Park’s Christmas Candylane, which was way more expensive than I remember it being!  Tickets were $27 a piece and they got us for $10 for parking, too!

Tuesday, 12/25/2018 – We spent Christmas Day surrounded by love and family.  Santa was awesome enough to bring us some things to get us ready for our Bonaire trip.  Thanks, Santa!  Somehow, the dog ended up on Santa’s nice list, too, though we’re really not sure how it happened.  He was pretty excited about his new stuffed beaver and frisbee.

Sunday, 12/30/2018 – More progress on the kitchen renovation!  LOVE IT!

Monday, 12/31/2018 – We spent the last few hours of 2018 at home, enjoying some much appreciated peace and quiet.  When the clock struck midnight, we were serenaded by the familiar “holiday” chorus of gun shots and explosions ringing out as our neighbors (and pretty much the entire county!) welcomed 2019.