Happy Day After Christmas!

It was a beautiful day here yesterday and got into the 50's with the sun shining all day

I was going to fix a ham dinner but I'd been feeling really tired and drug out so I didn't but I did take a walk with the girls thinking the fresh air would do us all some good.  I felt really tired this morning and achy and wondered if I caught something when I went to Wal-Mart the other day? I went to make my second cup of coffee this morning (the first had done nothing to get me going) and looked down, only to realize I had been drinking decaf for the last few days!  OMG!!!!  No wonder I've felt so terrible!  I quickly made myself a cup of the full-strength variety and I am happy to report I am back to my old self and all the aches went away too!  Whew!  For a minute there I thought I was getting sick or old or both!  LOL!
I received some really cool things for Christmas...cool to me anyway.......I love anything cowgirl and this zippered bag is awesome!   I like the "boss lady" part too....lol!

I got this sign from Sam and Grayson...so cool......did I mention I love rustic signs too?

and what's not to love about Mary Engelbreit anything?
  I got tags, a journal, stationary and a pen!  I hope she does more of the animals dressed up in clothes...I have a thing for critters dressed up and living "human type" lives.

A hand carved wooden tray that benefits women all over the world.........

Some handmade Lemon Grass soap that smells SO good and 2 paper mache moons for me to decorate...did I tell you I love the moon too?

And Penzey's Hot Chocolate Mix...always a winner!  If you have not tried it you must...THE BEST!  There's a mint flavored one too.

The little blue can is magnetized on the bottom with a see-thru top which I have seen people put on the side of their frig with spices in.  I just need about a zillion more! LOL!  It's a start though.  How handy would that be?  And you can write on the lid with magic marker.  I think I might have seen it in Mary Jane's Farm magazine.
And last but not least, my new neighbor came over this morning (thankfully it was AFTER I had some real caffeine) and brought me a card and some cinnamon rolls for Christmas.  First time in 13 years of living here that a neighbor has done that even though I did it for the first 3 years I lived here.  She said she is so glad she has me for a neighbor and that goes "ditto" for me! 

Happy Trails!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my wonderful friends that visit here!

I hope all your Christmas wishes come true and that you have a day full of peace and love!
Happy Trails!

The magic of the Christmas season.............

I'm sure you're all busy with preparations for the coming holidays but I wanted to take the time to thank you all for visiting me here and for your sweet comments over the past year(s).  I can't express how much they mean to me and what good friends I consider you all.  I hope you are all enjoying every minute of this magical time of year!
As for me.....I've been wrestling with the USPS.  For some reason my packages make it to Des Moines, IA and then they turn around and send them from there to Memphis!  Really?  They must have a glitch in their software in DesMoines.  3 of the 5 made it to their destinations and one went to Memphis and then yesterday there was a package delivered to me and lo and behold it was the Christmas present I had sent to my little Uriah!  Evidently the address label fell off somewhere in transit so I quickly relabeled it and took off for the post office to re-mail it!  The poor man at the post office looked like he hadn't slept in days....those poor people.  It's on it's way again and I checked this morning and the one in Memphis  has been sent back to DesMoines. LOL!  Good thing I mailed them early is all I can say!    
Meanwhile back at the ranch.........I've been cooking and baking.........my fried potatoes cooked up great in my new cast iron skillet.......yummm....nice and brown and crispy just like my Aunt Bernice used to make them.  I'm pretty sure she was standing there ensuring they would turn out!

I also made a chocolate cream pie like my Aunt Alice used to make...she was the best baker!  It was very rich too.  I used the "old" recipe and I can barely take all the sugar we used to put in our recipes back in the day!  A little slice goes a long way.

The tree is up! LOL!  My Aunt Alice made this ceramic tree and although I used to get a real tree I don't now unless the family is coming.  It's just me so as long as I have lots of lights I'm good.

I put it on a milk crate so it would be in the window for all to enjoy and then I took fiberfill that I stuff things with and put it on the sides and took my little houses that I got at the thrift store for .50 each and a few bottle brush trees and there's my Christmas village.  Ha! Ha!
This village got "blanketed" in snow! :)

There was cleaning also as who can decorate when there's dust on every surface?  Plus....it was time!

Today I looked out and there was a package hanging from the mail box and I thought "Oh no, not again", thinking it was one of my packages being returned but as I got closer to the mailbox I could see it wasn't.  It was a real package for me this time!  From Diane at Lavender Dreams

A Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookbook!  I love Gooseberry Patch and I have a few of their books but not this one!  Thank you, Diane!  I will really enjoy snuggling up with this and reading it....what fun!  She also sent this so cute card from Florida where she lives...........I love the snowman made out of sand....precious!

She also included some book marks....she evidently knew I would need them to mark all those recipes I'll be wanting to make!  Diane you are a sweetie pie!

 Hope all is well in your corner of the world and say a little prayer for those who aren't doing as well this Christmas for all sorts of reasons. 
Happy Trails!

A little walk down Memory Lane...........

Many of the people who were the dearest to me are now gone but not the wonderful memories they gave me......this is a little post to honor them at this time of year........if you can hear me.....thank you all....I will always love you.............
My Mother is in the middle row 3rd from the left......my Aunt Alice is the first one on the left in the top row......... this was their graduation picture from High School 1933

 Below is my Aunt Alice and Uncle Ben who had this little restaurant called The Coffee Cup.......they lived upstairs and they owned the building and lived there all their life. 

 Below are my Uncle Homer and Aunt Bernice who I spent every summer with until I went to college.  My Uncle Homer was famous for his homemade bologna and rightly so!  They owned the meat market and grocery store in town.

 My Uncle Buck  is the tallest one in the picture below.  He had his own gas station and also drove a school bus for years.  He was a bachelor until he was 60 years old.....I still can't get over that one. 

 The man on the left is my Uncle Chuck with his business partner Mr. McCormick...they had the insurance business in town.

 I had the gentlest and kindest relatives and I learned so much from them.....the best role models a child could have.
Below are the only ones left alive today....me with the eyes looking up (probably in trouble for something lol!).  My cousin Allen is in the middle and my cousin Ellen Kay is on the right.  We have no idea where the "Creepy Santa Claus" came from but we're all glad he's not around anymore!

 And my wonderful hometown that I miss so much especially at this time of year.........

 

I better stop now or I'll be shedding tears all night..........Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Trails too............

Wrapping is all done!

Whew!  It was a marathon day today.  but I "got 'er done".  Tonight I will pack it all in the boxes and take it to the post office in the morning.  One day late according to the post office but I'll just have to take my chances now.

 A bed full of presents......lol!

I got some Pinterest presents made too...............
The 2014 ornament...........

and some potpourri...........

and the Christmas cactus was blooming all through my wrapping and carole singing.............

I still have Christmas baking to do and a tree to put up but the presents for the grands were the most
important. 
It was so funny that before Thanksgiving Sam, my grandson who's 7, kept asking my daughter if there was anything in the mail and she finally said why are you so interested in the mail every day?  Sam said "because I'm sure Grandma will be sending a box for Thanksgiving!"  LOL!  I've spoiled them I guess.  I sent one at  Halloween and so Sam thought for sure there would be one for Thanksgiving too and every holiday after that I guess! LOL!  I sort of felt bad but it really made me feel good that they really like Grandma's "boxes".  I was going to send a book and homemade cookies each month but I couldn't afford the shipping costs.
I hope your holidays are  coming together for you just as you wanted.  Happy Trails!

Santa's Workshop is in full swing!

Instead of an advent calendar I need a calendar with all the Christmas deadlines on it!  Yesterday was grocery and the last of the Christmas shopping and I took Nitty to get her allergy shot.  Then it was unload them all and put away.  There was supper and clean the litter box and then I plopped into bed with my crochet and watched Christmas Light Fight where they compete for the best outside decorations for Christmas.
I feel most days like I'm running from pillar to post and not getting very far but God whispered in my ear the other night while I was sleeping and now I have a plan.  There are areas that need to take precedence so each day I am trying to do something in that area first before just the regular chores.
So, today the plan is to label a plastic container (big one) for Fall and wrap and pack all the Fall and Thanksgiving decorations away in it.  I bought a big container yesterday.  I also need to make one for garage sale items for Spring, clean the bathrooms, make some cookies and crochet #1 of 10-12 bookmarks.
I did buy myself a cast iron skillet yesterday as I lost mine in the move here and I can't make my Aunt Bernice's fried potatoes without one.  It's been long enough.  What's nice is now they come pre-seasoned....Merry Christmas to me!

 

The last of the Christmas shopping.  Just some little items to tuck in...stocking stuffers without the stocking. LOL!

 There's some last minute crafting going on too......can you guess what this might be?

but wait...there's more.............

and then of course it all needs to be wrapped...........boxes and tissue paper for all those handmade gifts!  The ones that got finished that is....

 Before I blogged I told myself I had to get one of those "plan" items done and here it is.......

I created a nice BIG label for my plastic bin...........

and labeled it.......I used packing tape as regular tape just falls off after awhile.

It's down in the basement now waiting to be filled.  I figured it was better to fill it down there than upstairs and then try and carry it down. My Mother didn't raise any dummies...Ha! Ha!

I have the last "S" done in "JESUS" for the first bookmark and a total of 9 rows finished of bookmark #1.  There are 37 rows for each bookmark......it's not looking good.  Maybe Easter?

It's cotton thread and really stretches so they will have to be blocked for sure.  It doesn't look good but I've counted each stitch and if I pull it straight it looks fine....really, it does.  I hope you're enjoying the season however and whatever you celebrate.

Happy Trails!

Worrying makes you tired!

Not that I really worry much as most everything is out of my hands but I was tired this week.  The family was having a few troubles...2 were having car problems, 1 phone problems and Grayson my littlest grand baby was in the hospital.  He had stomach flu which triggered his bronchial/asthmatic/allergic reactions of not being able to get his breath.  How scary for a little one.  But he's home now and doing better and has today and the weekend to recover before he goes back to daycare.

 This is yesterday morning before he was released later that day.  They put him on steroids which was all this little guy needed! LOL!  My daughter thought they should give some to the Mom too as you don't require as much sleep and they give you all kinds of extra energy.  Just what a toddler does not need! LOL!   His Uncle Ben (my son) stopped by to see him and brought him a present from Grandma......a jeep with a soldier?  His Mother and I don't do guns or war toys.....Ben knows that but he loves to tease.  It was funny because Grayson said he got a farmer on a tractor! LOL!   Can you tell he's from Iowa?
So, things have settled down and all is good but the phone lines were humming between here and Iowa!  I did manage to get a little knitting in on Ben's scarf for Christmas.....61 inches long?   I'd better hurry it up!  This is the linen stitch if I remember correctly and is nice and close woven for a scarf for the North.

 

I spent some time on my little doll quilt and now the top is finally done.  There's no yellow it is just laying on a little yellow quilt.  This was all from scraps.  Next I need to find material for the back.  I wanted to get the top done so I could put my walking foot back on my machine to finish Uriah's quilt.  He'll be in college before I finish it if I don't get a move on! LOL!

 

 The pentagon is almost done...just need to close up the top there and I can start on another one.  EPP (English Paper Piecing) is great handwork for evenings watching t.v.

Connie suggested putting it into a teacup but I don't have one of those either! LOL!  I'll find something!  Although I really do like the idea of the little jello molds...so cute.

Have a great Friday, it's FNWF's tonight, it's 55 degrees F here but raining.  I'm going to make a pizza for tonight and some cookies after I finish sewing that quilt!

Outside decorations are up and another present finished.....

I'm so sorry I haven't been visiting but we had 2 days of 72 degrees and I had to get out and take advantage of it!  Mostly putting up Christmas decorations but also taking down some "harvest" decorations I had up from Thanksgiving.  I also got more windows washed!  My bedroom, my bathroom, front door and the kitchen!  YAY!  I didn't think I would even get to them at all this year.  Hallelujah!

 I have 2 of these little "fake" pines sitting on either side of my garage in the pots that held the tomatoes this summer.  Below is the front porch and I have lots of burned out bulbs and I went to the Dollar Store but nada so it is what it is!   But it still looked cozy the next day when the temperature dropped and it rained.....ahhhhhh.

This picture was taken when it was still 72 outside! LOL!

I finally finished the Hawkeye hat for my SIL but I'm afraid it won't fit him as I couldn't get it on my head although I did not try real hard.  But I will explain the "magic" behind the hat and Fibonacci sequence and promise to make him one that fits his head.  Am I really going to make another one?  This was the 13th try at this hat.....what's the "magic" in that?

But that's next year, meanwhile, I got this in the mail, from me, for me...........a tin pinkeep by Pam Buda who is the designer behind Heartspun Quilts.  Pam has a blog too and I was inspired by a post from Kindred Quilts not too long ago where she was making these pentagon balls and having too much fun!  I love sitting in the evening and doing these as they are relaxing and you can watch t.v. while doing it.  The vintage jello mold does not come with it; just the pattern and the cardboard templates to make the pentagons.  I did see lots of jello molds out on Ebay though so I don't think they're hard to find and of course you wouldn't have to use a vintage jello mold at all.

Here's one I almost finished last night.

I hope your holidays are coming together just like you want them too! Happy Trails!