Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year!

2010, wow, I can hardly believe it! A new decade....I hope you have safe plans for the New Year festivities. It is raining here this morning and I hope everyone will be safe this year. We plan on being at home as usual....It will be the New Year whether or not I am up to see it or not. Ha. More than likely, I will be asleep, like always, and believe me there is nothing wrong with that. Old people need their sleep!

I know I am a couple of years behind but I started reading the twilight series yesterday and let me just say I couldn't put it down. I know this is supposed to be for the tweens, but I find I love the story line in the first book. My dear sister loaned me the first three books and yesterday, while I was sitting on my butt, I decided it would be a good day to read. I read about 1/2 of the book before I had to fix dinner. It is sitting here on my desk ready for me when I finish writing in my blog this morning. I can hardly wait to get back into it. Thanks Sis, I am totally enjoying this.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

BURR!

Good morning! It is a crisp 25 degrees here this morning and the temp will probably drop by day break. Wow its coooooold! Hope you are warm and toasty where you are. Yes I am off again today....loving that! (And I may shop today) Took down the tree yesterday and cleaned the house, now all I have to do is what I want. Yea! I hope to craft some after I get to moving a little today. I am working on a calendar for a friend's birthday gift. These things take forever, for me to finish...No pictures of anything yet, as I'm just coasting so far...I have a few things in the planning stages and will have pictures later. Have a great day!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

More Pictures


Rest, Rest, Rest.......



I am taking these two days after Christmas to REST! Monday, I will begin cleaning and taking down the tree. One day I plan to shop and then I want to craft some. Great week for doing just what I want to do before I have to go back to work! This is my quiet time and I love these days between Christmas and the New Year because I always try and take off work these days. Much needed time for me. Well I hope you are enjoying these days too and getting some rest of your own. More later and I want to post a picture or two of the kids at Christmas.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

The Day After....

Yes, we have survived another Christmas in the Brooks House. We had wonderful visits with our kids and grandchildren and shared lots of food and drink!

As you can see I am working on changing the way my blog looks so bear with me as I change and rechange the workings...I can't seem to make up my mind as to what I want...to many decisions available. So just hang in there as I go thru the process.

More later and pictures of our Holiday too!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve!!!

Yes, it is finally here! Today is also my husband's birthday...It is really hard to have a Holiday Birthday, so I try really hard to not have christmas paper or cards for this day. No Christmas birthday card for him! Well I am off to clean and spiff up the house in anticipation of my daughter and her family coming to celebrate with us tonight. We love seeing the boys and spending time with them. Merry Christmas to you and I will be back after the Holidays!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

MY PLAN OF ATTACK!


Yes, I am on schedule....all gifts wrapped, all cards finished and today is cleaning and cooking...candy, cookies, brittle, etc.etc...I'm really feeling kind of smug just now we even have a little snow; just enough to be pretty....with a small amount more predicted for today. Well if that doesn't get you in the mood for Christmas I just don't know what will. I am looking forward to spending time with my family and just pushing back and doing very little for a week after Christmas. My husband and I have been hauling things in to eat during the Holidays. It will be an old fashioned Christmas for us. I love having the kids come and eat and spend time with us. Budgets are tight for us as well as many other people and the true meaning of Christmas has come back to us again. Not so much commercial this year and I have to tell you I have really enjoyed not being part of the mad dash!

I don't know if I will get to post again before Christmas, but I want to wish you a Merry Christmas Holiday and may it be a blessed one!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

BUSY DAY!

This morning i got up with the idea that I would finish making envelopes for Christmas Cards.....Well I did that and got the one's ready to mail and made breakfast, then this afternoon I finished wrapping the presents. Only 4 more to go and I will get those this week. I'm on a roll....then I made Russian Tea Mix for gifts and jarred that....Now I'm just tired. But very satisfied! Now all I have to do is make candy and bake cookies. Yea! I can sit and enjoy the tree and do the things I want and participate in Christmas again. I have missed that the last few years as I was always in a mad dash to beat the time clock! Now if I can just get my shoulder to cooperate for a little while. I can't stir fudge while it is aching but I'm going to go to Chiropractor tomorrow and It will be better and I will really try and take care of myself this time.

No pictures today...I have to have some secrets for family and friends for the Holidays.

More later....

Friday, December 11, 2009

CRUNCH TIME!

At this point, I'm getting a little frantic and to top it off my right shoulder is giving me fits! Not sure what is going on ... just a dull ache most of the time and other times it just throbs. I must take into account that I use a calculator most of the day and I am right handed. Looks like a trip to the Dr. is in store for me.

I am frantically trying to finish my Holiday cards and they are coming right along. I still have a few buckets to decorate, but that takes very little time. I still have over a week to go so I might just make it. Keep your fingers crossed.

The weather is so cold here....It is 18 this morning with high expected in the upper thirties..Brrrrrrr A little more snow would be nice and there is a chance of flurries this weekend. I would love a white Christmas just like everyone else.

No pictures today, as I spent all my time working on cards instead of photographing them. I'm off to the shower and will start my day...TGIF!

Monday, December 7, 2009

ROSES IN THE SNOW


Well my Knock-Out Roses were still trying to bloom and now they still have snow on them. I'm anxious to see what happens next with these roses. This is their first year and I know nothing about them except they bloom all summer long. I love that and you don't have to dead head either. Talk about low maintenance...they also don't get a lot of black spot.

Yes I got to come home for 1/2 day today....Yeah, however, I do have several chores to do before I can rest. A woman's work seems to never be done.

Snow in East Tennessee


This picture is MagPie and Abbey in the snow...Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. This is such a treat anymore to have snow...We haven't had much in this area the past several years. Now I am one of those people who loves the fluffy white stuff and loves to sit and watch it come down and blanket everything. MagPie and Abbey weren't too sure they were quite as happy as me, but they went outside anyway. My husband said we got 1 1/2 to 2" of snow. It was very cold and we still have a small amount of snow in areas where the sun doesn't shine. Warming temps for today will probably take the rest away...but I enjoyed it while it was here.

Well it is Monday, and I'm hoping for 1/2 day today at work. I'm really getting spoiled to this. I hope you have a great day!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Weather.....

As my Grandmother would say..."It is weathering outside". I'm not sure if it is freezing rain or just rain but there is something going on outside this morning. We are supposed to have accumulations of 1-2 inches of snow here in the valley, but some of us are begging for more. It is the weekend folks; what better way to spend it than snuggled up in front of a fire watching it snow. Have a great day out there and conditions get worse, please be careful out there!

Friday, December 4, 2009

One More Christmas Card....


I'm running late this morning...my computer has decided it has a mind of it's own and doesn't want to cooperate, therefore all my programs are crazy. I'm on the right track but it will take some time.

The card I made uses a Flourishes stamp embossed in silver and then I added glitter...Diamond Dust. I used a spellbinder die to cut out the oval and embossed that too in Navy cardstock. The white cardstock is run through my cuttlebug using one of the embossing folders to give it a pattern. The gold background card is SU. Easy peasy, but i still feel like it needs something....I have it still displayed on my desk so I can decide.

Well I'm off to the shower, have a good day. Snow on the way here for the weekend. Not much accumulation forecasted, but we will take what we can get.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Christmas tree picture..



I don't know if you can see them all or not, but there have to be at least a bizillion tiny ornaments on this tree! It took hours for an old lady like me to hang them. I'd do a few and sit and rest, do a few more, and rest some more...

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Afternoon off!

Well I just spent my afternoon off working in the house. I took down living room curtains and washed, replaced blinds and cleaned windows and rehung curtains. whew, then of course the whole room was upside down and I had to straighten it again. When will I ever quite this. I am one of the people who cannot rest when things are not clean and sorted and just right. You would never know that to look around, but I'm old and cannot keep up the pace anymore. I get too tired to pucker. Sometimes I feel like the husband and dogs are out to get me. One mess after another seems to happen around here. I swear they do it on purpose. Ha! Well I've been up since 2:30 and I have to admit that I am wearing down!!!! Now I need to clean out dishwasher and get ready to cook dinner. Then maybe I can sit for a short while before I go to bed....It is supposed to be rather windy here tonight and lots of rain moving in again. Then the temps are supposed to drop and winter is back again. Personally I'd like a little snow for a change. We haven't had snow for awhile.....Have a great evening and hopefully you already have your chores done and can relax!