Indeed it was a wonderful time for us this past week or so, having our kids home and much family and friends in and out to visit! A very good way to end the year. The last of them left last night. On Christmas day I think there were 16 people here to eat, open gifts and most spent the night. The next day some of Don’s family came over to see my kids and their babies, so we had maybe close to 20 that day. We cooked, watched movies, went for pizza, played and had fun with the little ones. By Friday lots of us were starting to get sick with colds and sore throats! I didn’t intend to take this long of a break from blogging but I can’t seem to get around to it when we have kids at home. I took lots of pictures and think I’ll share some in the next day or so but for now I’ll show you something I got for Christmas!
I’m having a bit of a time trying to learn this new one and the keyboard. I think I need to go to sis Stacy’s house for a day or 2 and get some pointers and help from them, the computer gurus!
Happy New Year! I’m trying to catch back up with you today and tomorrow!
I’m a bit late doing my wrap up post for the reading challenge I was doing this fall! Katrina hosted the challenge and the other wrap up posts and info are here. There were lots of participants this time. I really enjoy being a part of this one; this time I had what I thought was a short enough list that I could finish all my books. Haven’t quite finished reading the last book yet! Hopefully I’ll get it done this week.
I did get through with the non-fiction book I included, Beyond Jabez…..we were reading that one for church for Wednesday nights. Non-fiction isn’t something I read a lot of so I was glad that I finished it. The fiction books I had on my list are: The Prodigal by Beverly Lewis…..part of the Abrams’ Daughters series and I enjoy reading about the Amish. Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani….first book I’ve read by Trigiani and I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this book so much! I think I’ll get the follow up to this one for future reading My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult….first Picoult book I’ve read too! This book grabbed me almost from the start & it held my interest well, but the subject matter was hard. Several things in it surprised me, especially toward the end. It took me several days to sort of “get over” this book and begin something else. A couple of people suggested I read Plain Truth by her so I think that’s one I might try. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks…..I’ve read quite a few of his and mostly enjoy them. This one was pretty good and when I first started it, I envisioned it going one way and it went a slightly different direction than what I first thought. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards……I enjoyed this book too, another that was a bit hard to read. I didn’t quite relate to part of it, like giving away a baby, but it’s fiction and I’ve never been in that situation before. It didn’t end like I thought it might and was a bit sad. Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon…..I just finished this one recently and I love the Father Tim books! A perfect one for this time of year. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger…..this is the one I haven’t finished yet. Started it recently and I’m sort of having trouble getting into it.
Just shy of reaching my goal but not too bad with everything else going on!
It’s been sort of a crazy week around here; lots of last minute things to do and some shopping to take care of! I still have a few things left to clean up around here and get out of the way. I might be even busier this upcoming week, whew. We have a neighbor who’s been really helpful to us this year….we’ve called them on many occasions at the last minute to feed the cat, pick up mail, etc. So I wanted to do something for them for Christmas. I found the cutest plate when I was shopping and should have taken a picture of it before I put food on it but alas, my mind just doesn’t always work right. Trust me, really cute and with a fun snowman on it. I decided to make them some Oreo truffles. My daughter told me how to do them after bringing them to my house last year. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to Boomama’s 2nd annual Christmas tour of homes. This was fun to do last year so I thought I’d jump in again. We love to celebrate the birth of Jesus here and have fun decorating. I think I’m mostly through with what I’m doing before all the family gets home. So come on in and visit for a while…. Read the rest of this entry »
Y’all are way too sweet to me about the red jumpers, I appreciate it! How could I send those to the girls and not do something for Grayson. I found a piece of flannel in my fabric pile and thought pajama pants might work for him. Read the rest of this entry »
The red jumpers are finished and mailed off to the little girls! I can’t wait for them to get them and I hope they love them as much as I do. 😆 Click through to the extended page to see the dresses, minus the girls. Read the rest of this entry »
This week will be busy for us so I probably shouldn’t try to do menus! We had at least one meal last week that I didn’t get to so if needed, it’ll be used this time.
Monday…..we have a Sunday school party, I’m taking chicken tenders and maybe hash brown potato casserole (there will be lots of other food I don’t have to cook!)
Tuesday….leftovers
Wednesday…church supper
Thursday….hubby’s birthday! I don’t know yet if I’ll cook or if we’re going out
Friday….Monterrey chicken, carryover meal from last week
I kind of like having short weeks of cooking, but the eating out isn’t so good for me. 😆
Be sure to visit Laura’s place because the other participants will have real menus with much better ideas!
I’ve seen this meme floating around so I thought I’d jump in and do it too. And today is better than yesterday! Please let me know if you play so I can come see your answers.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, I love it! 2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. We always had a real one until I found some things in the real tree one year that freaked me out! (maybe a blog post?) 3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend of Thanksgiving 4. When do you take the tree down? I usually leave it up until the first of the year 5. Do you like eggnog? NO, ick! 6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t know that I remember that many gifts from childhood, a bike maybe. 7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a Fontanini and I love it (I could covet the Willow Tree stuff in a heartbeat though) 8. Hardest person to buy for? Boys 9. Easiest person to buy for? the kids when they were little, now maybe any girl 10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? not sure I can think of one……did get an odd one once, it had everything to do with duck hunting! curious? 11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail 12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas, although I mostly love them all 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually December, but would like to be better! 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? maybe, but don’t really remember 15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything! For me it’s usually about the sweets 16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear….one year hubby wired the tree with both so you could have your choice of clear or colored! That was fun 17. Favorite Christmas song? I love all of it! O Holy Night, Little Drummer Boy, White Christmas…..I can’t pick just one. 18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Now we stay home but travelled when the kids were little 19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Absolutely 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel 21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning 22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Traffic and rude drivers 23. What I love most about Christmas? Spending time with my family
“Oh by golly, have a holly, jolly Christmas this year!”
At least I got my walking done Thursday morning, that probably helped more than I’ll ever know! Had an eye doctor appointment right afterwards that actually went pretty good too, pressure was fine and everything else was good. But then hubby’s phone went completely blank and wouldn’t come on. He has maybe 500+ names, phone numbers, fax numbers, customer info in it…basically for work it’s his lifeline. He was confident we could take it in to get a new battery and he’d be good to go. His laptop had major problems too that we worked on before taking his mom out for a birthday lunch but we just couldn’t quite get it right; he even called sister Stacy I think while I was gone! She would have been much better help than me anyway. After lunch we ran by him mom’s house to drop off her new microwave for her birthday; it should have only taken a few minutes. But when we put it on the countertop it didn’t sit level, it was very wobbly. So we had to go back to the store and start over. We checked the bottom this time to make sure all the little leg tips were level and they seemed to be. But the second one we got still wobbled a bit! We ended up putting a piece of rubber under it to make it level & called it a day…..then we had to go get that phone charged so he could actually get calls. Alas that was not to be, as I had feared! The phone was deader than dead. They said it would be a miracle if they could get his info off of it but after working on it for over an hour they did transfer most of it. Now he’ll just have to learn how to use his new phone. What should have been maybe a 2-3 jaunt for lunch turned into a 6-7 hour day, time that I should have been here sewing and cleaning up. And there was still dinner and a laptop to deal with when I got home.
I’m sorry, I just had to whine a bit and get that out of my system! There I’m all better and now you can return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Tomorrow’s another day, one I’m hoping will go a bit better although it will be busy too I’m sure. 🙂
I’m still here, I think I’m alive and kicking but just knee deep into everything! I’m sewing the red jumpers and finding it harder to do long distance than I thought; I worry about getting it sized to fit the girls. But I finished one today and I’m so excited, it turned out sooo cute! Can’t decide whether to show it now or wait til I have the other one finished. 😆 The big girls want me to make some burps for them for gifts so I’ll have that to work on soon too. Plus my mother in law’s birthday is Thursday, hubby’s is next week, followed by K’s birthday; gotta love those December birthdays. I’ve had some new people come around and I hope to get by soon to see you, along with everyone else. Give me another day or two and I hope it’ll be better. (who am I kidding!) Right now I’m just in too deep!
My youngest son loves to make videos and short things for fun with his friends. Some are silly and funny, a few have been different. I like most everything he does! But I’m his mama so I might be just a wee bit prejudiced. Most recently he’s been doing them for a bible study group that he meets with weekly….not sure how they use them, maybe just to segue from one thing to another. The first one he did for this group is one I particularly liked…..I liked seeing the escalator from a distance and the feet shot from the floor. He and one of his roommates are seen from behind at the end, D is on the right. I’m being totally indulgent today showing this but here’s his promo video for the bible study. (only about 1 &1/2 min)
We got most of our meals done as planned last week so no carryovers for me this time. This week could be a bit hectic so things will very likely get shifted around as I go!
Monday….out to eat with friends
Tuesday….monterrey chicken, smashed potatoes, peas
Wednesday…church supper
Thursday…..baked fish, green beans
weekend….if I’ve cooked all the above things I might fix a batch of soup to go with sandwiches
Have a good Monday! Be sure to visit our lovely hostess Laura to see her menu, ideas and all the other participants.
Why do I get these urges to sew at Christmas time! I’ve done it for years and don’t seem to be able to stop. But here’s a peek at what’s going on and hopefully if they turn out cute, pictures later. Crazy I tell ya.
Red corduroy jumpers for little girls…..
We have a family party today and I’m still trying to get everything decorated but I hope to be back later this afternoon to catch up on all my blog reading and see what you’re up to!
10 pretend points if you know the song, the artist!
As I mentioned the other day, I received my Michael W. Smith Christmas cd in the mail and have been listening to it this week! It has some really nice songs on it and several of them are instrumental; when I heard them I thought what a nice cd to have playing in the background during a party or get together. Another of the songs features Mandisa, who I loved when she was on American Idol. If you’re looking for some christmas music you might check this one out to buy or you can get it from iTunes as well. If you click on the banner you’ll be able to hear some of the songs, a good cd for Christmas! I think a few others of you were able to get the deal on this one too!
I’m a bit late doing my wrap up post for the reading challenge I was doing this fall! 
I’m still here, I think I’m alive and kicking but just knee deep into everything! I’m sewing the red jumpers and finding it harder to do long distance than I thought; I worry about getting it sized to fit the girls. But I finished one today and I’m so excited, it turned out sooo cute! Can’t decide whether to show it now or wait til I have the other one finished. 😆 The big girls want me to make some burps for them for gifts so I’ll have that to work on soon too. Plus my mother in law’s birthday is Thursday, hubby’s is next week, followed by K’s birthday; gotta love those December birthdays. I’ve had some new people come around and I hope to get by soon to see you, along with everyone else. Give me another day or two and I hope it’ll be better. (who am I kidding!) Right now I’m just in too deep! 
