Day After

 We had a pretty low-key Christmas this year. We were supposed to go to my oldest brother's house for Christmas Eve but his wife woke up sick in the morning (not COVID, just a cold. People do still just get colds sometimes!)  so they cancelled the party.  Hopefully we can get together soon because I hardly ever see my brothers anymore! 

Yesterday we went to Shauna and Brad's because they were hosting Brad's family Christmas. We had fun. I like Brad's family a lot. The boys were so excited to show us what Santa brought them for Christmas! I was, as usual, in the moment and didn't take any pictures! 

Here's a picture of their visit to Santa this year. 

I went to the thrift store a few days ago. 

Remember those Santa Bears that were so popular in the 80's? Like Beany Babies and Cabbage Patch Dolls everyone had to have one!

Not me, though. See what happens to most of that kind of stuff anyway. 

What I can't seem to resist are Dollar Tree signs! 

These are the latest two I just got a few days ago! I think I'm done now. Well, maybe not! Depends on what they get in for the next holiday!

Chris is on a plane right now as I write this and Rich will be picking him up at the airport in less than 2 hours. 

Tomorrow is our little family Christmas. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures! 

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends! 

Christmas Plans and Flowers

Well, were in the final stretch to Christmas. So far, the plan includes Christmas Eve at my oldest brother's house, Christmas Day at Shauna and Brads and then our little family Christmas is going to be here on the 27th. 

Chris is coming into town on the 26th. His girlfriend will not be joining us so he's going to fly in and stay for 6 days. 

On the 29th my sister-in-law Judy is spending one night with us. She will be at her daughters for the previous week but her daughter lives pretty far from the airport so she's bringing her to our house the day before she leaves. We're going to take her to the casino for dinner, then she's going to spend the night, Rich will take her to the airport in the morning for her flight back to South Carolina. 

I got myself into a little conundrum as I offered to work on the 27th before I knew that day would be our family Christmas. It's just the way it worked out with everyone's schedule. I don't start until 12 so I can get some stuff done before I leave. Chris loves to cook so he said he'll be in charge of the food and Rich can clean the rest of the house. Then when I get off at 4 and everyone else gets there we'll have our Christmas! 

I received a very generous Christmas bonus from my employer which totally took me by surprise! I wasn't expecting anything at all, especially since I only worked there since September. One of the girls is leaving and another is cutting her hours way down. Kate is advertising for help but you know how that is going right now! She appreciates my willingness to be flexible! 

In other news, look at this!

The blooms are not fully opened yet but it's so pretty! 

The boys spent the night last Thursday and we made gingerbread houses! You can see they don't look anything like the pictures. They are Maxwell and Levi originals! The one on the right is Maxwell's and you can see it resembles a house, but Levi was only interested in putting frosting and candy on the individual pieces! I did manage to convince him to stick a few together though! 

That's it for the moment.  I'm going to Shauna's in a little while to bake some cookies. If I don't get a chance to visit you all before have a very Merry Christmas! 

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends!

Cat Sitting and Stuff

 As I mentioned in my previous post, I am watching my friend's daughter's cat for the week while they are all gone on a cruise. 

As I said, her house is fabulous! It's on a huge lot with a pond and woods in the back. 

Here's Minnie the cat. Shes about 2 years old and very cute and playful! She's a people cat so she pretty much meets me at the door whenever I come in. 

The house is all decorated for Christmas. This is the great room off of the kitchen.

This is the kitchen. I love the cabinets. 

This is the sunroom off of the kitchen and great room. They just celebrated their daughter's 6th birthday!

 

This is the front foyer looking at the staircase. 

This is the dining room looking toward the front door. 

I didn't take any pictures upstairs but there are 4 bedroom and 3 baths. The master had double doors, a fireplace and a huge closet with an island in the middle. 

Poor Minnie has been pretty lonely. They also have a small dog, but Marie's sister took him for the week. 

They are coming home on Sunday and Minnie decided to make them a sign! 

In other news, the boys have been taking swimming lessons. They were excited to tell me they went underwater for the first time! 

Lastly, here is my waxed Amarillys today. You can practically watch them grow! I can't wait for those beautiful blooms! 

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends!

Moving on Towards Christmas

Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was very nice!  We had 11 people and plenty of food to eat! Lots of leftovers too and I just threw the last of the turkey away today! 

I didn't take a single picture but that's ok. I was enjoying being in the moment! 

 Anyway, Friday I never left the house and finished all my Christmas decorating. I finished my Santa hat and hung it up. 

I had to cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the hat and glue the branches to it otherwise it was too floppy. I think it came out really cute! 

I put out all of my snowmen/women (or maybe I should just say snow people!) in their usual spot on my built-ins in the family room. 

I've got 22 snowpeople now! I barely have room for them on the shelves but I like the way they look all clustered together like that!

And of course my miniature tree. 

The cardinal is new this year from Hobby Lobby. They always have all their Christmas decor on sale for 50% off and I can't resist getting at least one new something! 

I always get one new miniature ornament every year. This year it's a blue starfish. It wasn't my favorite but the pickings were slim this year! 

I love these little deer I got last year...

And this little deer ornament I got this year. I really need to not fall in love with small fuzzy deer because I don't need to collect anything else! 

We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday. 

I took this picture when I was leaving work. It's pretty but ugh, I am not ready for snow yet! 

Finally, of course I have to include the boys first school pictures. 

My best friend, Marie and her family left yesterday for a Disney cruise and I am watching her daughter's house and her cat all this week. She only lives about 6 miles from me. Her house is fabulous and I'll show some pictures the next time. 

Until then stay safe and well my friends! 

One More Before Thanksgiving

I just thought I would sneak in another post before I get busy with Thanksgiving stuff! 

My tree is completely decorated. Maxwell and Levi helped a little but they were only interested for a short time. 

They hung all the ornaments on the bottom 3 feet of the tree, with a little direction from Nonnie.  Otherwise, all the ornaments would have been hung on one branch!

I think the sun reflecting on the wall from this glass candle holder looks pretty. Kind of like Christmas tree lights! 

I bought myself an early Christmas present. I was going to wait and let Rich get it for me but my coffee brewer was biting the dust fast and also, K0hl's had it on sale for a fantastic price! I like having the option of brewing a pot or a single cup. I like a pot in the morning and sometimes I like a cup of decaf in the evening after dinner. 

I got this little reusable filter too because those pods are expensive! 

One of the customers at the CBD store gave me this waxed Amaryllis on Thursday. I have never had one before. Apparently, it blooms in 3-4 weeks, the blooms last 2-3 weeks and then it's done. I don't have a picture but between then and today it's definitely bigger! 

Lastly, this was Maxwell's school craft project from yesterday when the teacher asked him what he was thankful for. My heart......

We are having 9 people for Thanksgiving this year. I love a small gathering so it should be a lot of fun. 

Until the next time have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving. my friends.

More Random Stuff

 Look at me! Two posts in one week! 

I figured I would do another photo dump from my phone for your viewing pleasure! 

This is two of the pots I planted this summer. I always put a spike in the middle and flowers around them. Normally when I pull the dead flowers I pull the spikes too. 

This year I left them because they were still green and very much alive. Since then they have literally doubled in size! I'm going to leave them until they are totally dead. 

My little azalea is such a pretty shade of red right now! Reminds me of the burning bushes we had at our other house! 

I woke up this morning to snow on the ground and snow coming down! This was my view driving on my way to Shauna's today.  Ugh!  I am not ready for this yet! 

I put my Christmas tree up today also. I bought a gold bow yesterday for a tree topper and I really like it. 

It will match the gold garland I have. I'll post a picture of the completed tree when it's done some time later this week. Putting on ornaments is not my favorite thing to so it will be going slow! 

 

I made this little decoration from a child-sized Santa hat I bought last year for a tree topper that didn't work out! It came out cute, I think. Now I have to figure out how and where to hang it! 

OK that's it for my photo dump! I'm going to have dinner and chill in front of the TV for the rest of the night! 

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends! 

Random Stuff

Have you ever had one of those days where you can think of a million things to do and don't want to do any of them? That's me today! I did manage to work out this morning and ran to the grocery store. That's about it though. I have no ambition to do anything other than be on this computer and watch shows on TV! 

So I thought I would dump a couple of random pictures on you guys! 

 

I took this picture a few days ago. It just struck me as funny because I first read it as pizza and chicken flavored smoothies! 

 

Shauna and Brad took the boys bumper bowling yesterday. They really liked it and did pretty well! 

I've been seeing this picture around social media lately. I just love it! I can just hear the mama lion saying "Don't even think of messing with my baby!"

This mama used to say the same thing only I don't look quite as fierce! 

Chris is coming into town on Wednesday and Rich and him will be going up north to deer camp for a few days. 

I have to take my car into the dealer next Monday to have them check on a clunking noise that it's making and also to fix something that GM recalled a few months ago. 

When my lease is up in March and if I am forced to buy it because there are no affordable options I want to make sure it's in tip top shape while it's still covered under the bumper to bumper warranty. 

That's it for now. I'll be back when I have something more exciting to talk about! 

Until then stay safe and well my friends!