3 Days until Christmas!!!

Are ya all done?
Is your shopping completed?
Are the presents wrapped?
Are your cards in the mailbox?
Are the Christmas cookies baked?
Are ya tired? :-)

If you answered NO to any of above questions. Then....what are you doing reading my blog?! You better get busy! Christmas is just 3 days away!

I finished getting some stocking stuffers this morning. And, I have a batch of pinwheel dough in the fridge. I will bake those after I do dinner tonight. Then, I am officially done! I have to put John's stuff in his stocking, but it's all bought, and hid.

I am getting excited about Christmas. Are you?! I have to work the next 2 days, so that's a bummer. But, hopefully we'll be busy enough that time will fly right by, and Christmas will be here before I know it. One of our Orthopedic surgeons has about 7 surgeries posted for tomorrow! Can you believe it? WHO in their right mind would want to be in the hospital over Christmas?! Not me! I have to work, and I certainly don't want to be there! It's going to be crazy getting these people back from surgery, scheduling their follow-up appointments, and out-patient physical therapy before the offices close! Because, nothing will be open Christmas Eve to schedule these things. I think I feel an illness coming on....cough,....cough. I don't think I am well enough to go to work tomorrow. LOL!

I have some pictures of our Christmas tree. And no making fun of my tree. I've worked hard on the poor thing.
I'm really having a hard time getting good pictures of it! It's because it's back-lit in front of this window. I need the natural light, if I wait until it's dark outside, then it's too dark in the room to get the look I want. So, officially I give up. This is as good as it's going to get. So, here is my tree, and a few decorations.






I know, the candles are not straight! They are in real life. But, I had to use the tripod to get these shots, and it's very difficult to do a tripod shot with the camera vertical. YOU try it, and see how hard it is to get everything straight! End of venting. :-)





This is a table in the upstairs hallway leading to our bonus room.



I feel a Christmas story coming out.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.



The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.



End of story......ran out of appropriate pictures. :-) Aren't you glad about that?

So, instead I have to throw in another picture of "Meow"! Don't' you love his festive look?! Poor cat, I know. But hey...what else do I have to take pictures of? John? Oh yea, like he lets me do that!




Ok, I went over to the house next door, and took some pictures of the pink and green bedroom. What do you think?




Pretty wild colors, huh? You should see the pink and green in their other house! I would never be able to sleep in that room! You need sunglasses it's so bright! At least she chose softer shades. But, it's still quite bright! Oh well...it's what they wanted. Hope they appreciate that John did it for them!

Signing off for now. I hope everyone has a great evening. Kick back, and relax with someone you love. Don't let the holidays stress you out. ENJOY the holidays!

Love

The Search Is Over

I bit the bullet, and got an "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas" ornament thru EBay. I don't have it in my hand YET. But, the seller has 100% feedback rating, so I am not worried.

Update on the house next door. It's FINISHED! And RENTED out! Woo Hoo! We rented it to a single mom in her early 50's who has a son who's graduating high school in May, and a 12 year old daughter. Today John and William painted the little girl's bedroom. She had just painted her bedroom, so they wanted her bedroom here painted. After John saw her paint job in the house they are in, he decided to paint it himself! Oh my! LOL! Get this, the color of the room.........PINK AND GREEN! And we're not talking cotton candy pink and pastel green. They are pretty bright shades of color! John said he's still seeing pink in her head! LOL! I want to go get pictures tomorrow in natural light, before they move in any more stuff. Official move in date is January 1. The only thing left to do is replace the refrigerator! Can you believe it? The old fridge's ice maker started acting up. Then, the freezer's back vents were pumping out hot air! So, now we are in the market for a new fridge. THEN the house will be done!

4 Days Until Christmas!! Are you ready? Are you excited? I am! I want to know what's in all those boxes! It's been so long since I wrapped John's gifts, I forget what they are! Oooppppss! Guess I'll figure it out when he opens them, huh?

Anybody want to see a picture of my Christmas tree?
Yea.....so would I! LOL!
I took some pictures last night, but it was too dark out here, they didn't turn out well. I'll get some more pictures, and get them posted. I promise. I "think" I am done decorating it. Hey....I only put it up last weekend. I keep adding to it. I guess I'll be done decorating when it's time to take it down and put it away! LOL!

Good night everyone. I know Aunt Jo reads this faithfully, so I need to come up with something special to wave to Aunt Jo. For now, I'll just say "HI AUNT JO! Thanks for reading!"

My Sister Is In Soooooo Much Trouble!

Lee Ann knows my favorite Christmas song is "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas." Remember the pink hippo my mother-in-law got me for Christmas last year?
Well....Lee Ann writes me an email asking if I have seen this ornament at Hallmark.



Of course I have not seen it.

But I WANT it!
I NEED it!
And I need it NOW!

I searched on-line, and supposedly it's extremely hard to find! Gee thanks!
I swear to God Lee Ann, if this thing isn't at my local Hallmark store, you are going to be in so much trouble for showing it to me! Then I will be requesting all my buddies to check their stores to see if they can find me one!

Have you tried shopping for any Christmas decorations lately? Good grief! If you've waited until now to get a tree, I'm afraid you're gonna end up with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree!
I decided this year I wanted a tree. I am allergic to pine, so my only option is an artificial one. Consider it my way of saving the environment, saving the life of one tree. :-) We went to Lowe's, and all they had were a hand full of white trees, or one 15 footer. Kmart had a bunch of Martha Stewart trees, but they were still too much $$$. Sorry, but I ain't paying $250 for an artificial tree, or an over priced tree just because it has Martha's name on it! Walmart's trees were pitiful this year, so I didn't bother with them. And Target had some nice ones, but they were not on sale
(30% off a week before Christmas is not a sale in my book). As a last resort I tried Home Depot, and actually left with a nice 6 1/2 foot tree. I would have preferred a 7 or 7 1/2 foot tree, but I figured I was pushing my luck trying to find anything bigger!
Then I started looking for ornaments, tree skirts, ect. Michael's is my favorite store for things like that. Our Michael's' has been picked clean! They have very little left over. Guess that's what happens when you pull out the Christmas stuff in August to sell! I need to make out my list now for the things I want for next year, and start buying them as I see them! People may not be buying a lot of Christmas gifts, but they obviously bought a bunch of trees and decorations!

Ok, I now have a lap full of kitty, so I guess it's time to wrap this up.

One week until Christmas!!!!

15 Days Till Christmas!!

Do you know what you're getting me yet? HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yesterday was a "me" day. My day off from work, and Judy went to Brunswick with John. So, I had the whole big ole house all by myself! Jingles and I listened to Christmas music, addressed our Christmas Cards, did some Christmas crafting, wrapped some gifts, and baked some yummy cookies.





I made M&M cookies, Italian nut balls, and chocolate chip cookies. Care for some?
They all went into the freezer, so you'll have to come over for Christmas, and I'll share some with you.



My most favorite Christmas CD is this one:



I just LOVE Josh! "Believe" is one of my favorite songs. That's the theme song to Polar Express. I have not seen the movie, but I LOVE that song! This guy gives me chills when he sings! Why didn't God give me a great singing voice? Am I not worthy enough? Do I have to wait until I get to heaven to be able to sing well? I can picture it now, I will make it to heaven, and they will laugh at me when I want to sing in the angels choir!

I've made pretty good progress this year. I have to finish the cards, fill stockings, bake more goodies, and maybe do some more crafting. And I'll be all done. The problem now is, everything is wrapped, and I want to open a gift so bad!!! They just sit there...mocking me! Begging me to come take a peek! They chant "come over here....shake me.....try to figure out what is inside of my pretty paper.....you'll never figure it out on your own.....and you have 2 more weeks to put up with this!"

And I read some of my new book.



I am a big sucker for these books. And they are about Vampires! If I had known, I never would have bought the first one. But, they truely sucked me in (sorry for the pun). Now i can't put them down! I want to see the movie, but unless I go alone, I'll have to wait until it comes out on DVD. John won't go see it with me. Brat! He's just jeolous of the hot, young vamps!

Who says we don't experience Autumn color in Savannah?



The trees have been spectacular this fall. Especially the Bradford Pears, and the Japanese Maples. The colors are incredible! We must have had the perfect condition for folliage this year. Typically, our trees drop their leaves one week, stay bare a few weeks, then sprout out new leaves, and start all over again.
Every day I told myself I need to get pictures. I shot these Bradford Pears the other day at the hospital. Today, most of their leaves were on the ground. :-P

I've been a bad girl when it comes to updating the blog! I've been busy getting ready for christmas....yea, that's my excuse!
Anyways, last week Matthew (John's nephew) graduated from Savannah Technical College with a certificate in Broadcast Technology.
I know a lot of you are sitting there scratching your heads, quickly doing the math. LOL! He WAS the youngest person graduating that evening! So, that's a feather in his cap! At his high school, he had been taking this course along with his curriculum. Now, he'll be one step closer to a career in broadcast when he graduates in 2 years!
We were all very proud of Matt and his accomplishment!
Here are some pictures from his big evening.

Before Graduation. Doesn't look nervous at all!







Texting a girl after the ceremonies!!!



You can tell the person who made this cake was NOT a college graduate! Couldn't even spell congratulations correctly!! It has a T people, not a D! Good grief!!





Looking studious, as any college graduate should!



And his expression when we told him he still has to finish out his last 2 years at Bethesda! LOL!

26 Days Until Christmas

Thanksgiving is behind us. The turkey has been picked clean, the left-overs are about gone.
Now the rush of Christmas is upon us. Only 26 days until Christmas. Can you beleive it? It feels so unreal to me right now! Didn't we just celebrate Christmas about 6-7 months ago?!

I have writter's block right now, so I will just leave you with Jingle Bell's Christmas 2008 photo! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Lord, so often times, as any other day,
When we sit down to our meal and pray,

We hurry along and make fast the blessing.
Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing.

We're slaves to the olfactory overload,
We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold.

But Lord, I'd like to take a few minute more,
To really give thanks to what I'm thankful for.

For my family, my health, a nice soft bed,
My friends, my freedom, a roof over my head.

I'm thankful right now to be surrounded by those,
Whose lives touch me more than they'll ever possibly know.

Thankful Lord, that You've blessed me beyond measure.
Thankful that in my heart lives life's greatest treasure.

That You, dear Jesus, reside in that place,
And I'm ever so grateful for Your unending grace.

So please, heavenly Father, bless this food You've provided.
And bless each and every person invited.












This Thanksgiving, I give thanks for my health and well-being.
For my loving husband, and each and every member of my family.
I am thankful for living in the USA, where I am free to voice my thanks freely.
I thank every military man and woman who serve so that my family may be safe.
I'm thankful for the roof over my head, the clothes upon my back, and the bountiful food upon my table.
I am thankful for the ability to go out and work, and make an honest salary.

I pray today for those family members who are no longer with us. But, I know in my heart that they are each one looking down from heaven, and themselves enjoying a bountiful feast Our Lord has set in front of them.

I pray for our military who are out in the dessert, fighting for our freedom. And I pray for their safe return home.

I pray for family and friends who I could not spend the holiday with today. But I pray that the Lord above will watch over each and every one of them, and keep them all safe and sound.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. I hope your day was as wonderful as mine was.

Take care, and God Bless.

Can I Fuss For Just One Minute?

So, Judy and I went shopping today, like we do just about every Saturday. We made a trip to Oglethorpe Mall, because, let's face it, aside from the mall, there's not a whole lot of shopping going on here in Savannah.
I wanted to go down to Macy's to look for a new purse I had my eyes on. Outside of Macy's, what did we see?
SANTA CLAUS!
Excuse me, but since when does Santa come before Thanksgiving? In the Macy's parade, Santa makes his appearance at the end of the parade. Not 2 weeks before Thanksgiving! Give me a break. It's bad enough that the stores go from Halloween straight to Christmas. It's like Thanksgiving doesn't even exist! And now, we have Santa here in town ALREADY!
Next year, he'll probably be here in October!
I actually thought about having my picture taken with Santa, to give to John. But, come one....it's November! And I refuse to think about telling Santa what I want so soon!
ok.....fussing over. I return you to your normally scheduled programing.
Have a great weekend....well what's left of it!