~ Playing with PhotoShop ~

This is me and my Sister, Mary. It was taken back in the summer.



G got me PhotoShop Elements 7 for Christmas and I am just now starting to play with it. This is my first effort ... I have a feeling I've got a lot of learning to do. This one little project took way too long! Once I start using my new camera more I am certain I will enjoy this program. When I told my son I had this program, he said get used to using the help option alot ... not a good sign huh!

~ Romance, silliness and feeling giddy ~

I hope we are never too old for romance,silliness and feeling giddy.

I am going out with my husband tonight and I am as excited as if I were single and had an exciting date to get ready for! Can you tell we don't go out much?? We do actually, but just not for a planned evening of dinner and a movie with another couple. A dress up (kinda) night. We go out ... this just feels different. I know I am probably being silly, I don't care.

I need to sign off now, I need to go do my nails and pick out my clothes ...

~ Holiday Memories ~

After reading Mrs. Goofy's blog about her favorite Christmas memories, I reflected on my own Christmas memories and while I didn't any one certain "favorite" memory, I did have some definite UP moments.

My son and his family were in town over the holidays, we all went to the Christmas Village and we had a good time ...









They came over to celebrate and exchange presents and G had fun getting my grandson Ian set up on his John Deere tractor ...



There were fond memories, family conflict, some let downs, some hurts, some healings, some happiness, some tender moments, some forgiving moments, some unexpected pleasures, and a few surprises.

All in all, it wasn't my worst holiday ever ... that one is a story for another day ...

` A family moment ~

My daughter and her sons ...





Her sister took these photos, she did a great job!

~ Trying to be a PollyAnna ~

I love the Disney movie PollyAnna. I own it and I have watched it over and over. It is my ultimate (or at least one of them ...) feel good movie. It is about a young orphan who goes to live with her spinster aunt and without going into too many details, she spends most of the movie changing people's lives by helping them to see the good in life, even when things might not be so good. I think she called it her "glad game." I haven't had a cold like this one for several years, in fact, I haven't had one since before I found out about my "severe airway stenosis" which has caused me to undergo 4 surgeries to correct things for me. I remember worrying about getting a cold when I could hardly breath at times, and thinking I would probably be hospitalized if I ever did get a cold just so they could do whatever they needed to do to help me be able to breath - that was probably a little extreme, but that was my worry.

So, I said all of that to say this ... if I were to be playing Pollyanna's glad game, I would say I am glad God has healed my body so that I can handle having this cold - yucky though it is, it has been a reminder to me of my thankfulness for God's mercies, blessings and gifts He has bestowed upon me.

Maybe I should play Pollyanna's glad game more often.

~ Home Sick ~

Yucky. That is how I feel. My head hurts, my ears hurt, my eyes hurt, my face hurts, my throat is sore, I am coughing, sneezing, can't breath out of my nose, my nose feels like someone has poured acid on it from blowing it so many times. Yucky.

HAPPY NEW YEARS! FROM YUCKY OLE ME!

~ The busy-ness of Christmas ~

Tree dressed
Groceries bought
Presents bought
Food prepared
Tables set
Present stress ...
Presents wrapped
Presents opened
Living room trashed
Living room cleaned
Travel here
Travel there
Visitors yesterday
Visitors today
Visistors tomorrow
Clean the house
Clean the house
Clean the house
Prepare more food
Another get-together
Grocercies bought
Food prepared .... and it's still going on


Enough!!!!

This sure was easier when I was a kid!


A Christmas Prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson

Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

~ Father Christmas ??? ~

My husband dressed up for his office Christmas party ...

Father Christmas ....

Sharing Christmas

I thought I would share a few of my favorite Christmas decorations and ornaments ...



















I would have shared more, but it was taking so long to upload the photos and I am so tired... going to bed now.

Happy Holidays!

Blogging Advantages

My husband has recently started reading my blog and I have found that having your husband read your blog can have good benefits ...
He started reading it about a week before Thanksgiving. I was in the kitchen and I heard the KennyG song which is the first to play on my play list, so I took a peak into the living room and sure enough there G was bent over his laptop breezing through my blog, old post and all. I thought, wow, he finally got curious and I was flattered. The next morning I am working about the house and Gary has been outside working and I finally go out looking for him and he has got his bush trimming tools out and has trimmed our wisteria waaayyy back. Suddenly it dawned on me, he had read my blog entry of October 4 where I showed our overgrown wisteria ... I had to laugh and when he asked what I was laughing about and I told him I guess you read my blog huh? He laughed too, he said I had to go get my camera so I could prove that my husband wasn't totally worthless ... we had a good laugh, but now I know how to get things done ... hmmmm this blogging has it advantages!


FROM OCTOBER:



AFTER G READ BLOG:

Buyers Remorse ...

So, I had decided I needed a new camera and after research, I had made the decision I wanted the Nikon D60 and I knew there would be specials offered during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Sure enough, Circuit City did not let me down. They had a great offer going, so off we went - just to look this time - just to play with the store model and to think about it again ... best laid plans and all of that! How did I wind up coming home with a Sony a350 plus the 75-300 mm zoom lens? I kept it in the bag and untouched until tonight (Wed) just letting it sit there and fester ... I could have taken it back, but I thought what the heck, I needed a new camera, I have now read the reviews for this camera; something I should have done prior to what I consider a major purchase ... but the reviews were good. So, I guess it's a keeper. So, why am I still feeling the buyers remorse??????

Speaking of major purchases, my husband finally let go of his Mitsubishi Eclipse and traded it in for a mid-size SUV - it looks and drives great. I always teased him that the Eclipse was his mid-life crises, however, he has finally gotten tired of having to hoist himself out of that low sitting vehicle and is now going to be sporting around in his new SUV. As far as mid-life crises goes, I did not mind the Eclipse at all, better a car than a woman ...

Hopefully, I will have some snappy shots to post from my new camera soon.

~ HAPPY THANKSGIVING ~

I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving Day. We all have so much to be grateful for and I will be sharing this day with some of my favorite people ... my wonderful family!

I will be spending "Black Friday" having a yard sale in Cullman. Anyone need a used sectional, romance novels, two skinny white dressers, gently used clothing ... etc etc etc ... Hoping there will be some people out looking for yard sale bargains ... Wish me luck!

~ Stressed ~

Anyone else feeling any of this. It seems like just yesterday that I was this organized person, with little to-do lists that I diligently worked on and checked off and felt so good about my organizational skills ....



This is a very accurate depiction of how I feel here lately ...




If I could even come close to looking this (below) held together with the crazy panicky feelings floating through my head, I would almost be happy ...



Seriously though, I need some prayer. I feel like I am so close to being overwhelmed - at work mostly. I am going to have to put in some late nights just to get my sanity back and I really hate working late, but I have realized that unless I do, my sanity will be at stake. The reason I don't like working late, is that no one in my building stays past 5 PM and it's a downtown 2 story building and it's just too eerie knowing you are alone in that big building and sometimes the timed auto locks are working and sometimes they are not and it gets dark so early now. Yeah, I know I am a whiny baby, scaredy cat, old woman (not in all situations though ...). I am afraid of the dark too. I have accepted all of this about myself.

Things probably aren't as bad as what I make it sound, I have just had four restless nights worrying about different things at work, and that has made me antsy - so I am stressing more than usual. I am wondering if my subconscious is trying to warn me of a possible catastrophe ... see still stressing. Laying it down to the Lord does make me feel better, but I am still only human and my weak human side fights to take control ... and then I can really screw things up!





Think this comes in chocolate?

Asparagus

Thanks to Mrs. Goofy, I made an excellent side dish for dinner for my parents. Yummy roasted asparagus. Drizzled it with olive oil and sea salt, baked it in foil for a while (20-30 mins) took it out sprinkled parmesan cheese on it and baked for a few more minutes, and wala! It was great. I will never go back to canned asparagus again.

(Photo from the internet ... just wanted y'all to have a visual aide ... )

~ Quote for the Day ~

A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.'

by Maya Angelou

~ Over the River and Through Woods ... ~

We came from all over for a gathering of cousins in the woods ...

We had a great time at David and Ellen's hunting cabin ...

(Photo is from last year's get-together - I forgot to take a new one this year!)




Below are just a few of the photos taken of our weekend. I had a great time and I think everyone else did also. We enjoyed the outdoors. One evening, all of the women gathered around the firepit and had our girl talk night, while the guys were watching the Alabama game .. go Bama! ... We even got in a little antiquing, a little boating, the guys did a little hunting (no luck), a little fishing, alot of eating and alot of catching up - it was just generally a great time. We missed those who could not be there this year.

~ Rainy Start ~

We left Friday morning for a weekend in the woods and drove through Mentone on our way to our final destination. It rained all the way to Atlanta, but driving through the mountainy area on the way there was just beautiful even through the rain! I had to snap off a couple of photos anyway! We had a great time.

For any cousins reading this, I will be posting the photos from the weekend soon.

~ Another year older ... ~

One year older, and I hope a little wiser too! I love birthdays, I get to hear from my friends and my family and I get GIFTS! Yeah, I really like getting gifts. My friends and family showered me with all kinds of goodies, movies, gloves, jewelry, gift cards, books, note cards, playing cards, an antique metronome, all fun stuff! I had a wonderful meal cooked for me by my parents, G took me out for a great meal and then today my boss surprised me with a birthday cake! and a very pretty antique cup & saucer. I was touched by his thoughtfulness. Usually his wife brings me a birthday present, which is always great, but he actually took care of it this year - I must be doing a good job! Or it could be that he drew the short straw! Either way, it was nice!






Oh, and my age, hmmmm, well lets just say, I am definitely still in my 40s, for now anyway!

~ Voting Day ~