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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Tomorrow

 

"Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it."

Anne of Green gables

 

Tomorrow can be a fresh start. Leave behind all the problems, worries, or distress that plagued you yesterday and go forward with a newer positive attitude and the desire to crept yourself and be the best person you can be. No one is perfect. I love Maya Angelo but was surprised to read a quote from her bout her feeling not so perfect. She urged us to move on and not dwell on the fact that we made. Mistake. Tomorrow is another day said Scarlett O'hara.

Happy new year. To all my friends and faithful readers. I love you all. I can't express how warm and welcoming your comments are. They delight me and validate me. Thank you all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The word for the year

 

Each year I try to choose a word for the year instead of making a New Year's resolution. This year the word is TRANSFORM.

Transform...to make a thorough or dramatic change in form, appearance or character

There is a major transformation coming Monday. The contractors are starting the remodel of my kitchen. It has been a dream of mine for many years. The old knotty pine and over sixty year old stove is in need of an update. I have been making decisions since last spring on what I exactly wanted. I belong to the ...I'll know it when I see it school. Since I live in a rural area it's hard to find exactly what I want. And I am fussy...I mean discriminating. But I finally decided on the cupboards. I still need to find the granite I want and that will be a hunt for next week. But it is an exciting time.


Another transformation will be in my health. I need to eat better as a lot of us do. My goal is to fight my food addiction...and by that I mean sweets and carbs...and eat to make me feel better. It's been a goal of mine for many years and I struggle with it.


 


 

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

On the road again

 

Yesterday we left Knoxville and went all the way to southern Pennsylvania to drop off Scott. His dad and girlfriend were at Ryan's and they will continue on down to Florida to visit her folks. Today we made the second part of the journey,,,five hours home.

It feels really good to be back once more. It only took me just a little time to unpack the suitcase, put things away, and sit down. Whew! It is a relief to be off the road.

 

We had a marvelous Christmas with both my boys and their families. It's all over for another year and I can be thankful that I had all my family in one place.

Big changes are coming next week. Stay tuned.

 

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Profile

All about me

Tea or coffee? Definitely herbal tea with lemons and honey served piping hot Ina small cast iron pot on my little french tray.

I collect....lichen on an old fallen tree branch to use in decorating while I'm walking

Favorite city? It's a toss up between Charleston and Savannah.

Spring or Fall. I love the colors of fall and the crispness in the air, the feel of sweaters against my skin and long warm walks with the changing leaves.

Bloom of choice. Hydrangeas locally but if I lived in California I'd love to call Agapanthus my favorite.

China pattern. I don't have a very favorite but tend to like stoneware and earth tone colors. Black and white too of course.

I'm lusting after...a really soft leather messenger purse.

Most prized possession.....my father's memoirs.

Boy crush? Robert Redford's natural cuteness has always turned me on. Who didn't love Hubble? And I loved the humor of Richard Dryffus. Think Goodbye Girl.

On weekends? Relaxing, reading, enjoying family.

Favorite quote? Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson.

 

I'd love to hear about you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A second Christmas

The hat dress up box was a big hit!

 

 
 
 
 

 

And so were the science experiment presents from Uncle Chris

 

Digging for gold. After they dug they found a pyrite nugget.

 

 

Then they watched the clouds made from dry ice. What fun they had.

Then they made snow. It's a rarity in Tennessee

 

Thursday, December 25, 2014

What parents do on Christmas

 

The presents have been opened and now there is the ritual of putting all the toys together. What a wonderfulChristmas. I hope yours was happy and filled with love.

 

 

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

On Christmas Eve

 

On Christmas Eve

I'm thinking of my blessings...

So blessed with a loving family...

And good friends...

My wish for you tonight is an evening filled with love. Enjoy this peaceful eve. Count your blessings.

 

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Merry Christmas from Sadie

 

 

Sadie wishes you all a happy and safe holiday. She knows she will follow the Christmas rules.



12 Christmas Rules to the dog (made by dogs)1 – At Christmas time, your owner will be particularly occupied and in stress. Try to pay him as much attention as he needs and try to cheer him up: jump at his legs and bark loudly words of comfort.

2 – You are your owner’s favorite pet, so it’s alright to assume that all the big bags are for you.

3 – To know which are and which aren’t your presents, observe the paper: if it has footprints on it, then they are yours. So, f you see presents without footprints, hurry up and print your paw in them.

4 – Be tolerant with humans when they put decorations on you. Wait patiently 5 seconds before destroying them. But don’t forget to let them know that you, and particularly you teeth, appreciate the present and chew vigorously while they are watching.



5- Show everyone that the cat isn’t the cleanest pet of the house. In this matter, your natural bathroom is very important. Use the branches to brush your teeth and use the water on the container of the tree to clean the mouth. Do this in front of guests to show how clean you are.

6- After you take care of your personal hygiene, it’s tike to put yourself looking good. Roll yourself in Christmas lights and run through the house to find a mirror. After checking that, bark as loud as you can to call your owners and show them how great you look.

7-As good host, receive the guest with special enthusiasm. Jump into their laps and lick their faces. Since they seem to have a special affection for little humans, concentrate your licking on them.

8-The Christmas meal is the highlight of the night. Put on your most tender face and parade through the guests at the table. Great treats await you! If your owner expresses disapproval of this, it’s because he is jealous. Go to him and do the same thing.

9-After dinner, everyone sits comfortably to talk. Run to your seat. If you owner says “Get out of there”, it’s because you are n the best stop. Hold on to it with your life.

10– Under no circumstance you should let enter the house a suspicious men with a big bag and red and white garment. Do everything you can to stop him. His weak spots are the belly and the fake beard. If you manage to defeat, claim what’s rightfully yours: his bag!

11– At the end of the night, humans like to shred paper. Join them, chewing on everything you can find. Don’t forget that they really like shredding, so you have to make a big effort to participate.


Signed,

The dog

 

 

Friday, December 19, 2014

New gifts

 

Just a new gift from me to me...a new tee shirt. This isn't Sadie but looks exactly like her.

And today I got an early gift from Don...Bluetooth headphones. Now I can put Pandora on my ipad and walk around listening to music. Fantastic!

 

last minute

It’s getting closer each day. Christmas is coming. Isn’t it funny that one day takes so much preparation? We put all our energy into this one holiday much more than any other one all year long. There’s not much prep for the fourth of July.  Just haul out the picnic supplies and barbeque sauce. And for Easter there’s a big ham dinner.  Thanksgiving requires a big dinner but there isn’t the rush to buy a ton of presents and wrap them, make cookies, or attend festivities. All this gets one special day each year.
    By the time it gets here are you just plumb wore out? There were years that I felt like that.  Whew! Glad to have the 25th come so I could quit.
   But this year it has not been that way at all.  I call it the lackadaisical Christmas. I haven’t worried about shopping, just getting it done in my own good time. And cookie baking has taken a back seat. I’ve made a few but not mega dozens like before. Decorating has been pretty but not voluminous. I’m just stepping back. No particular reason…just taking it easy.
     I’ve had a project that I have been having so much fun with.  For my two little grandchildren, six and four, I am making a dress up hat box. Over the months I have been collecting all kinds of hat…sombreros, Easter bonnets, cowboy hat, nurses’ caps, chef’s, Blues brothers hat and sunglasses, boas, golfer’s hats, berets, purses, etc. It has been so much fun.  Today I went to a costume store and got mustaches and beards.  I think they are going to have so much fun with this.  I know I am going to have fun playing with the kids and pretending. won’t that be fun!
     I hope that your Christmas plans are well under way and you are not stressing out about it. It’s a time to enjoy.

     

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Christmas thoughts

This is a repeat of a post I did in 2007.




1. I remember exactly when I learned there was no Santa Claus. I was 12 and I had suspected for a few years and listened to the talk at school that the jolly old elf was just fictitious. When I confronted my mother she admitted to me that it was true. So I sat on the bottom stair and watched as my mother and dad put out the presents for my sleeping sisters. I still remember the disappointment I felt that my childhood illusion had been vanquished.


2. The first year that Don and I celebrated Christmas in our own house he decided to go and cut a tree for us. He brought back a long needled spruce and set it in the stand. This was not your typical Christmas tree. ..not the perfect conical shape that you see today. This tree had long spaces of trunk between the branches. I loved it! The ornaments that hung were clearly visible and the tinsel wrapped itself around the tree in long strands.


3. I still cherish the tin ornament and the crayoned ornament that my sons made for me. Each Christmas I put these two things out as part of my memories. Chris made the colored ornament once in art class in junior high. Ryan made the tin ornament with its punched out letters...BEST MOM.


4. Only my loving husband would climb up on the roof with an oar to make the tracings of Santa's sleigh in the snow and tap out reindeer footprints..


5. One Christmas eve it started snowing and never stopped until the next day. We awoke to knee deep snow that covered the roads, the sidewalks, and all the hills. Don had a plow on his jeep and spent the entire Christmas day going around to all his friends and family and plowing them out.


6. Don doesn't have a lot from his childhood. There are two toys that we put out every Christmas that belonged to him...an old leather football and a wooden flat car with wheels.


7. Don always tells the story of how he peeked at a present...it was a bb gun. When Christmas morning came he felt so guilty and had to pretend to be surprised. To this day he wouldn't look for a present even if it was out in plain sight.


8. My father and my husband had a special holiday gift tradition. They were both coin collectors and there was a special buffalo nickle that they gave back and forth to each other every Christmas. It was always a trick to see who could disguise the nickle so that the other didn't suspect. Once dad suspended it in a shirt box by attaching it in the middle of the box by strings. Once he put it in a long telescoping box.


9. We once made a Mission Impossible game for Ryan to find his present that year. He had clues and went all over the house reading the clues and chasing down the next clue. finally he was led outside and had to climb a tree to get down his present...a climbing rope for rappelling.


10. When Chris was young I took him to the local elementary school for a Christmas program. Joking with him on the way back I said, "Look I think I see Santa and his sleigh in the sky," to which he replied, " and I see Rudolph in the front!.


11. Ryan and Chris have always had a tradition of opening the presents from each other on Christmas eve.


12. Nothing is better than to have family around at Christmas.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Are you blue this Christmas?

 

My outside color scheme is a little different this year.

I found this turquoise mesh ribbon which I thought would look good on my blue front door. I made two wreaths with balks and snowflakes and put one on each door.

 

I always put the old sled our each year.

 

 

The holly came from Virginia. The nandina with its orange berries came from there too. I wish we could grow it in the north. It is so nice to see all that color in the wintertime.

Have you decorated outside?

 

 

 

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Some quotes about when you grow older

My sister sent me these quotes after our talk about aging and how we don’t get as upset about things anymore.


”As I grow older and older
and totter toward the tomb
I find that I care less and less
Who goes to bed with whom”
   dorothy Sayers


it is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary…to put all the play and learning into childhood,
all the work into middle age,
and all the regrets into old age.
   Margaret Mead

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