The GoodHales are READY

House is decorated.....



Studio is festive ....











gifts bought and wrapped and stowed beneath the trees......














time for popcorn and a movie with a cuddling friend ...






Time to rest !!!!!!

That is right, REST! The GoodHales are DONE, FINISHED, READY for the Holidays!! Gifts are bought, wrapped and under the trees. Candy is made and stockings are hung. And it is ONLY November 29th!!

White Trash

NO! the title is not referring to me and my Tshirt. White trash is a special candy concoction for the holidays.

It starts with breaking up 1 lb bricks of white chocolate. This year I use a knife to break up the chocolate. I tried one year with my hands and ended up at the ER! (long story don't ask)





The batch of dry ingredients are mixed up, and waiting in the pans for the chocolate melting in the microwave behind me.





Cait enjoys making our treats, or is she happy because she keeps sampling the goods!






The dry ingredients - M&M,s (plain, mint) mini pretzels, rice chex, corn chex, cinnimon toast crunch, and honey roasted peanuts









Add the melted chocolate ...








mix well ....








and Presto!! white trash!










and do it again...... waiting on the chocolate to melt.







I'm done ... six batches later and several sinks full of dishes...













The final product, packed and ready to be given away!

Time for the TREE!!

So here we are looking at the trees before they even have them on the racks. The first one I spot Brad had to cut the rope off so we could how BIG it really was.



You would think at 54 degrees that I could have looked at 50 trees, but nope the first one was the winner. REALLY, first one we looked at is the one we went home with. Now if it was 10 below I would have had to go to 5 places and still be unsure and have to call three more places to see if they have any 10 ft plus trees.









Some times Cait doesn't always get to be with us to PICK the tree and usually we need it to thaw out, so when she was visiting we could decorate. Again the warm weather allowed us to do it all on the same weekend.




I went in to pay and came back and Brad had the tree already on the Jeep!






Brad making sure we make it home the 1/2 mile without loosing the tree.






Cait helping pulling the ropes tight. You know it is a 1/2 MILE home.






Wait there is still more rope we can TIE around the Jeep.





Brad and Cait before we head home.







Brad offered to take a photo of Cait and I.









Anyone who gets their tree this early KNOWs you HAVE to cut the bottom off the tree so that it will drink water. How long is it going to take Brad using his pocket knife???







Ok, so maybe we need a real saw for this. Cait helping hold the tree and getting herself all pitch.







Mommy, look at this new toy I found!! The string from the tree.














Can we go play Frisbee now?? This tree stuff is BORING!!













The trunk was a little thicker then Brad thought. He was pleased to get the BIG BOY TOYS out to cut it!!












Call me NUTS but I insist on putting the stand on out side. Being our 4th tree together, Brad has figured out I know what I am doing!!











This gives you a good idea of how tall the tree is. I would say at least 14 foot. The AC you see in the background is on the second floor.












Tricky part getting the tree in-between the beams, up through to the loft.




Now this stand is VERY cool. The actual base does not sit on the floor. Yep, the weight is on the ring and not the middle.












Here is Sexy Lexie sitting in front of the tree. At 12 weeks she will sit and STAY while her Mommy takes a photo.















Here are her and La La Lola, sitting pretty for me again!!











Now the three girls!!









Does this tree look AWESOME or what????

















The whole family under the tree for 2009!!

Lola is not home!

This week Lola went for grooming and poor Lexie was LOST without her. As you can see here she is sleeping with the trash can under my desk.


She might just earn the nick name of Oscar the Grouch for how much she cuddled with the trash can that day!!

Holiday Tags

So I can't help myself but share these with you!! I know I should wait till you get your GoodHale gifts but then your gifts will only have one tag on them and there are so many cute ones!! After starting our holiday shopping early I saw these pet tags for gifts, and thought I WANT TO DO THAT! So we picked up some cute dog/cat hats and got out our holiday decorations. Bethany came over with Remy and Harper and boy did we have FUN! Can't wait to wrap our gifts and put the tags on!!

New Moon

Here is Cait and her friend Chris in the back of the jeep as we head to Saratoga to see New Moon.



OK, so I am not so good pointing the camera from the front to the back to get the three of them. These three had the giggles all the way there and all the way home!!




YES, this is the line for New Moon. Have no fear we bought our tickets the week before. The movie was AWESOME! We had a great time and was very THANKFUL that we had planned ahead and didn't make the trip over without having the tickets, all FIVE shows were sold out!!

Gifts from the Heart!!

Here are the Hale Boys getting the lumber!






Built 15 years ago by of my step-dad's relatives, this deck has seen better days. There were a few problems to start with, the stairs were directly under the eves, so ice build up was constant during the winter. And as you can see it has started to list towards the road sinking into the ground






One last shot before this deck is euthanize





All gone!!. Mom oversees the job from inside.






Level is a good place to be, and a 1/4 over 8 foot is eve better for water run off which will drain on the road side of the deck





Hank, watches or sleeps on the sideline!?!






Framing is complete and decking going down







Checking the plans in my head with what I have already built.







Lost the light if day round 5pm but I move ahead by head lights






Few odds and ends to complete but basically finished





Back in daylight a day later for handrails and some final touches. All complete and ready for the winter. Mom says she can go up and down the ramp with no hands!!

This was our gift to Mom and Hank for Mom's birthday and their Christmas Gift. We try to think of gifts from the heart and thought that this was something they really needed and would appreciate that I built it.