Bugs Palace!

Happy New Year! 2004 is nothing more then memories and pictures at this point. On the whole 04 was a good year. A lot of good things happened to/for me this year. Shannon and I moved into our first (and hopefully last) new house.  Even though we ‘ordered it’ back in 2003, we didn’t actually get the house till 2004. New house, new cars (Shannons 04 Jetta TDI sport, and more recently my 03 GTI). 

We have been fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time with our families and friends this year. Lots of get-togethers and parties. These are things you simply can’t do enough of. I was reunited I guess you could say, with one of my best friends, Kevin. We have since mended our fences, and have got to be very close again. I’ve missed having him around for the past 2 or so years, but now that he’s back it is like he never left. As for my other brothers, I don’t see them as often as I used to.  With Alex, Adam and my schedules, its tough. Even though I don’t see them as often as I want, its nice knowing that they are always around if and when I need them. (and me for them!)

2005 promises to be a busy year. Jim_ and Alicia are getting married!; stuff to do around the house (basement, driveway, etc), and of course ongoing car projects. 

Speaking of car projects, the beetle is slowly but surely coming along. Weather has killed productivity over the last month or so. Over the next month or so, I plan on sanding down the inside foot area in the front and painting it flat black to match the trunk up front. It will eventually be covered by carpet, so this is just to have a nice all over covering so it looks nice under the carpet. 

The GTI has a long list of plans. Suspension, performance, body parts, the usual. This will be a project not unlike my Silverado. Allot of the same targets will be made with this car (low, loud, fast, sexy). Biggest difference will be time. Silverado was basically bought in the fall, and built over a summer. This project will be much slower. Money and other needs will slow it down. Also, I want to take the time to enjoy it. Last time I spent too much time trying to get ‘everything done now’, I missed out on the enjoyment I should have gotten from each mod. Mind you I was super happy when it was all together, I just felt like I rushed my time with it. That said, I have set myself to a monthly mod pace. For example, December, I bought a hatch spoiler, and January I bought a lower rear valance. February and March will likely be suspension and exhaust. Time will tell.

Shannon agrees this schedule is a good idea. However, She and I disagree about January. When I ordered something in December, and did not receive it till January, I consider the order/purchase date the actual date. She seems to think the date of receipt the date. Her logic finds me with 2 mods in January, where I see it as 1 in December and 1 In January.

 What do you think?

Here are some pictures from the holidays. Normally I would have them sorted by day, but given the amount of pictures taken, I have simply sorted them by Family. Unfortunately, since Shannon and I hosted the VanDalen side, apparently no one took any pictures. I had 2 on my camera, and both were very blurry. If you have some, burn them to a Cd and I will post them on my site

Without further ranting. Armstrongs Christmas; Berry Christmas ;Woodall Christmas and some random shots taken at our house in preparation. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Merry Day after Ho Ho everybody! Hope Santa was good to everyone. He was too good to me.  I won’t get into details, but I did good this year 🙂 Have had a wonderful holiday so far.  Christmas Eve started out with a visit to Shannons Moms/Step Dads house for a yummy turkey dinner.  around 8pm, I left to go to my traditional Christmas Eve party at Uncle Shoupie and Aunt Linda’s house. It was awesome as always. (this has always been one of my favorite parts of Christmas). MMM fruit dip. I ran and picked Shannon up at home mid party and brought her back to the Shoups. After that, home to bed to wait for Santa Clause.

Up first thing Christmas morning, and Shan and I were back on our way to the Shoups to open gifts with my moms side of the family. Words cant describe how much stuff was in that basement. With the presents done, Shannon and I hoped in the GTI, flew home for a shower and clean clothes. Then we were off to her Moms place again, this time for presents and stuff. From there we went over to her Dads house, again more presents. Yes, we clean up around the holiday time.  🙂  From Jeffs place, we headed BACK out to Hagersville to my parents place to drop off their gifts. (They were too big to lug out for the morning). From my parents place, back to the Shoups we went for Turkey dinner. After a fun filled day, back home to our comfy bed we went. Exhausted, I think so.

Today (Boxing day), we head back to Shannons Dads house for a roast dinner I believe. Should be good times.  And tomorrow, Shannon and I are hosting my Dads side of the family for Christmas dinner. Shannon and Mom will be running the show. I’m just here for the ride. (and to make the driveway as smooth as I can).

Thanks to EVERYBODY for EVERYTHING.  (there, that should cover everyone).

As some may know, I have two full weeks off this year from the school board.  Much over due. Me, being the sucker that I am for the all mighty dollar, offered to work at the computer store all week as Ian is away for the holidays.  As much as I wanted the holidays off from work, I actually enjoyed being at work. I used to quite like working at ALNC. Which is probably why I’m still there part time. Its weird, 8 hours Tuesday, ~12 hours Wednesday, ~12 Thursday and 8 hours Friday, and I was still in a good mood at the end of the week. Got to work with Randy and Lynda quite a bit over that time. The Chapple family has been like an extra family for me over the past 5-10 years. It was quite nice spending my ‘pre-christmas time’ with them.