Winter Concert

Brandi in Honors Choir















Casey in Concert Choir

After a retreat weekend

3 Dogs, 1 cat and me in my lazy boy recliner. I look so tired! Maybe because I just got back from a weekend retreat with 26 other woman and was a little lacking in the sleep department. My family missed me, so did the the animals!

Happy Thanksgiving

What did I do over thanksgiving weekend? I got some scrapbook pages done!
Some of the scrappery girls (and guys!) spent some time together scrapping in Reno, Nevada!

On the drive home Sunday, it snowed...



The kids enjoyed catching snowflakes as we travelled home.















The normal 4 hour drive was increased because of an earlier morning accident. We travelled 34 miles in 7 hours. (That is NOT a typo). We literally put the car in park and ate brownies and rice krispie treats that we had made earlier that morning for the trip. I just didn't realize it would be our dinner!


I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed. I am grateful all of my friends travelled safely during the holiday weekend!

Justin Fetherolf, Heather Smith, Curtis Smith, Casey Cook, Brenda Smith and Brandi Cook in front of the M-section house filmed for HGTV's special edition of "What's with that House," called, "What's with that Christmas House," set to air this December.

Rohnert Park house picked for reality TV special

By Nicolas Grizzle

Brenda and Curtis Smith's family has been putting up their Christmas decorations for about a month now, illuminating their M-section home in Rohnert Park three months before the actual holiday. What would cause the family to begin the late-December holiday celebration before Halloween? Television.

Cable network HGTV contacted the Smiths asking to film the family and their decorated house for the network's show, "What's with that House?" Only the Smith's house will be in a special episode called "What's with that Christmas House?" to air in December of this year.

Curtis said the house gets more elaborate each year. He said this year the addition of a 20-foot wire Christmas Tree strung with lights and a large, bright "Season's Greetings" sign on the roof of the garage pushed it to the most decorated it's ever been.

There are so many lights on the house that the Smiths have to borrow power from their neighbors. Though it wasn't on during the filming, the lights are programmed to run in cycles, something that Curtis said will be explored more in depth in the coming years. Giant gift boxes and lawn figures are just some of the sights in the lawn, and the entire front of the house is coated roof-to-ground in lights of many colors.

The reason behind all their efforts is simply to get the family together to celebrate a family tradition, said Curtis.

"It sounds kinda cornball," said the show's host, George Gray after being asked to rank the five or so houses he had seen thus far for the special episode, "But it's really about the spirit of the holiday."

Gray, dressed in a boisterous red, silky shirt, eyeglasses and sporting a head of bleached-blonde hair, said he was enjoying his stay in Rohnert Park. "New York, Paris, Milan, Rohnert Park, I've done 'em all," he said.

Though Curtis was a bit nervous about being filmed Tuesday, Oct. 24, he said he didn't hesitate to answer "yes" when asked if the family would like to be on the show. His and Brenda's daughters, Heather, Brandi and Casey along with family friend Justin Fetherolf worked on putting up lights and decorations early this year, including a stunning double arch over the driveway housing a Winnie the Pooh inflatable sled.

Normally the family begins decorating after Thanksgiving, but the chance to be on TV pushed up the schedule."It's a lot of work, but lots of people appreciate it," said Curtis. Neighbors were crowded across the street during the filming to watch and admire the display of holiday cheer.

Heather Smith has been helping with decorating the house since she was a toddler. "I didn't go on the roof for the first couple years," she said. Now 18, the Santa Rosa Junior College student still enjoys the process. "It's a family thing," she said.

Her favorite part of the process? Finally finishing.

Brenda said the decorations will be up probably until the end of December, and hopefully a Web site will be up with photos of the house and a link to view the clip of their house on the TV show. She said www.SmithChristmas.com will hopefully be up by December 25.

This is what I do for fun . . .

This is a two page vertical layout I did before adding any photos and journaling. I LOVE to SCRAPBOOK! This type of page can be hung on the wall and used as a decorative element.

HGTV

It was so awesome to have HGTV come and film our house for television. I think it's gonna be weird to see it air and to see what they use of the massive amount of footage they shot. The host, George Gray, is a total kick! He made it easy and helped us through the whole process. What a great guy!





You can't imagine how many compliments we got on our house! I figured we get harrassed for being too early. Lots of "great job" and "we love your house". That really makes me feel good.

braces

Three girls with braces on their teeth! It lasted just over a week, then Heather had hers removed. What an expensive adventure, but worth it!

Getting ready for Christmas

So I know it's a little early, but we are in the middle of getting everything ready for Christmas. The reason ... HGTV will be at our house filming on October 24th. The special is tenatively called, "What's with that Christmas House?" by George Gray. We have so many lights, it's a brillant display.
I am thrilled by the recognition, but more proud that my husband gets a chance to really feel the glory he provides holiday spectators every year.
Our whole family gets involved, it takes a few weekends, but it's well worth the effort.

Blazer Bunny

So we'll start with something recent, the potential fatal impact by a DUI 25 year old to my daughter's 2000 Chevrolet Blazer (her first car). Fortunately my daughter's car was parked and no one was injured. I have the insurace adjuster coming to look at the damage tomorrow morning. It's not looking too good. Seems like the cost to repair will exceed the actual current value to the vehicle.

This is the day of her 16th birthday, I delivered the car to her school. She was so excited. She loves her car and the freedom it gives her.

Now we have damage...

It got hit just hard enough, and in just the right spot to get the right about of damage. Tomorrow is the big day. If they can't fix it, they best offer a great price to replace it! She's only 16, has only had the car for 9 months!

Beginning

So, this will be the beginning of my attempt at online blogging. My Space is easy, (my kids do it), but this is something for me...

My priorities...

A friend mentioned something about getting priorities in order. Made me think a little bit about mine. I've discovered that there are levels of priorities. Is it my priority, or one my family puts on me? Is it a priority to do for someone else, not necessarily for me? I guess I feel like when I want to put something higher on the priority list that is solely for me, it always seems to conflict with what someone else thinks. I can't just spend today scrapping and blogging, although I enjoy it. Cause if I wasn't doing the dishes and getting the laundry done and keeping the house picked up, it's not a good priority.
Another thing, have you ever noticed how priorities are different for men and woman? Let's get some examples.
Like Debbi, she's a single mom, her priorities are for herself, her home and her daughter. (Work is part of home, can't pay the bills without the job!) So when she is figuring out what she needs to do, she sometimes has to sacrifice a personal priority for a home priority. Can't spend money on the scrapping stuff when you've got to buy food or pay the mortgage. Doesn't matter too much about any priorities when her daughter needs something, Debbi knows it's a mom's job to be there no matter what.
Now Nikki, she's a young married woman, has priorities for herself, her home and her husband. She seems to be a lot better than I at keeping her creativity priorities going, while still taking care of her home and her husband. (as long as she doesn't give blood!) She's not the best housekeeper when it comes to her clothes, but when she gets motivated, stay outta her way! She can get so energetic about things,I wonder if that's a problem for her, where I look at it as a quality. I wonder if I can bottle some of that for myself. She always stays on target with her job, I know she can have drama like everyone else, but when it comes to work, few people hold a candle to how well she performs.
Then there's me, I struggle with things, work is easy for me, I know my job, I don't have trouble doing it, just get SO FRUSTRATED because I am the bosses daughter and rather than that being a positive, it is such a hinderence for me. I found out friday, the other business partners son has a new vehicle that is paid for by the company. I saw the insurance documents. Want to know the worst part? I remember MY DAD taking him to get it. I thought he was just getting him a deal, guess it was a really good deal. I've been at the company for 5 1/2 years, longer that everyone but the other son (who also has a company car). I've been passed over for better positions cause I "know" my job and they "need" me there. The thought of quitting has entered my mind so many times I can't count. I'd like to be acknowledged for the job I do, get promoted, things regular employees get. Heaven forbid I get perks like a paid for car, because I'm the bosses daughter. I'd pass those things by if I'd just get acknowledged as a good employee and not looked upon as different cause of who my Dad is. Quitting is out of the question cause I feel obligated to protect the financial interest in the business. My house is collateral cause it's in my Dad's name, so I don't get tax relief either! My children's college education is invested in the business, my brother, parents, uncle and others have invested their life savings in the company. How could I walk away?
Home- making sure the kids are doing what they need to, having meals made, doing laundry, all those Mom jobs. Husband, makes about 3 times the amount I do, works 11 hour days. If it weren't for his job, the house would struggle. Because of that job, he doesn't help do other things like attend swim meets and transport kids. He does pay all the bills, but he also knows how much money he's making to know how much we can pay. (His job is commission only).
I guess I complain cause I am so needed that I don't feel like I have time for me very often without guilt accompanying it. So what if they didn't need me? How would I feel then? I guess I should be grateful for the things I have and appreciate the moments of personal freedom, just deal with the rest.