Exceedingly Mundane

I know I haven’t updated the public portion of my blog in a long time. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years have come and gone. I was rather happy to see the end of 2015. I picked up a stomach virus courtesy of Tim’s side of the family the weekend before Christmas. I was over that but struggling with sinus issues at Christmas (since it was a blooming 80 degrees here!). Tim’s immediate family came here for our Christmas on December 26 and promptly brought me a bad case of bronchitis and chronic coughing. Today is January 8 and I still cough some, mostly at night when I lay flat in the bed, but I am feeling a lot better. I am ready to be healthy in 2016!

Let’s see, I’ve put a few pictures out on Facebook recently, but not very many. I try to stay off of Facebook, for the most part. I get worked up about a lot of things out there! I am, however, still updating my private blog daily. Sort of an online journal for me and it’s really working. I put all the boring mundane details out there for me.. things like what we ate, where we went, what tv shows or movies we watched, if I exercised at all, what book I’m reading, etc. Gives me a place to keep track of things and even vent a little, if something (or someONE) aggravates me!

I so enjoy reading a lot of other blogs though, that after a time, I feel bad for not having anything out here. So here’s a quick photo update:

We bought a couple of new outdoor lights this year. This house and yard are so much larger than our last one, that we are having to upsize so many things. We need more, but for me, my new angel and wreath worked out just great! The trees are very old, there used to be 3 in the set, but we’re down to 2. We’ll get new trees or something else soon:

Last year, the day after Christmas, I did my regular shopping. Some people get excited to Black Friday shop, but I never venture out then. When I do enjoy going is the morning after Christmas. I look for stuff to put up for next year. I get bows, cards, wrapping paper, bags, decorations, etc. usually at 50% off. I won’t buy anything if it’s still full price or discounted a measly 25% or 30%! LOL! Last year on 12/26, I found these pillows. I thought they were SO cute! They are not outdoor pillows, so they may not last long on my front porch, but I was diligent this year in bringing them in every time it threatened to rain! Maybe they’ll last a few years:

I still can’t believe this is our second Christmas in this house! It doesn’t seem like it. I thoroughly enjoyed, both last year and this year, getting all my stuff out and decorating. I still have to get more stuff, and bigger stuff, for the inside as well as the outside. We have two fireplaces now, and I love decorating both mantles. The one in the great room gets lighted garland and candles and a big snowman (sorry, didn’t take a good picture this year). The mantle in the keeping room is my favorite, but gets a hodgepodge of things that I love, but don’t really work well together! But I love all my stuff and can’t bear to part with most of it. So, I throw it up on my mantle (it’s a huge cypress beam, which I love) and against the brick fireplace, which I also love. The one in the great room is just a white mantle and plain tile. Anyway, last year Tim suggested we hang some twine up and hang some of our Christmas cards. I probably blogged about this last year, I honestly didn’t even go back and look. Here it is again, most of the Christmas cards hanging from the mantle:

Two quick photos of gifts we got each other – Tim got me a red bird feeder which I *so* wanted and am enjoying every single day and he got a surprise – a Zepp golf swing analyzer. He loves it and didn’t even know that much about it! Kudos to our friends and old neighbors for tipping me off about it and keeping the secret so he would be surprised at Christmas!

We went Christmas day to my sister Gail’s house. I posted a couple of pictures on Facebook, but this was my favorite (I rarely take a picture that I actually like of me!), me and Gail:

And the day after Christmas, we hosted Tim’s immediate family (we rotate and have it at our house every fourth year). We “borrowed” (aka, we STOLE), the idea of doing British crackers after the meal from my niece Elizabeth. She has been getting them for us, on my side of the family, for the last few years. Tim and I stole the idea and had them for everyone here this year. We had fun, popping them open, reading the jokes and wearing the crowns!

Tim is still surprising me regularly with new art on the chalkboard label on the front of his coffee bean jar. This one was discovered on New Years morning:

You may not can tell but the top of the label is full of fireworks! He worked on it quite a bit of time, apparently 🙂

We had a busy week between Christmas and New Years. I was mostly sick with the crud, but Tim’s dad had an episode and his brother Terry drove him to the VA hospital here to get checked out. They ended up admitting him, and he was here three days. So we spent all of our time at the hospital. Tim spent one night up there with him, the first night, and didn’t get one single wink of sleep he said. He was better by New Years Eve and Tim and I drove him home that evening. We had a quiet New Years Eve at home, we were just tired and happy to be home. I didn’t even stay up until midnight, I rarely if ever do! We had not been home to take down any of the Christmas decorations, so we spent half of New Years Day taking everything down, packing it up in the many totes I have, and hauling it all back up in the attic. I have decorated two trees the last two years, in this bigger house. I made the “executive decision” this year to give away our smaller tree and only do the one big one in the keeping room from now on. It’s just too much work to put up and decorate and then take down two trees!

Since we didn’t really do anything to celebrate New Years, the day after, Tim went to play golf and I goofed off! I ordered him an Apple Watch and went and picked it up at Best Buy, and then coaxed him into meeting me for lunch afterward. I was just going to pick a local deli, for a salad or sandwich, but he offered to take me to lunch at LongHorn Steakhouse, so we had a nice lunch out! Here’s my lunch – french onion soup and a grilled chicken and strawberry salad combo:

And one more picture. I talked Tim into a quick walk this past Sunday evening, through the new construction at the back of our subdivision. They have at least 7 or 8 houses going up, so it will be fun to walk back there for the next few months. I think when all is said and done, they’ll throw up 30 or more houses behind us. Anyway, we went late and got a good sunset photo on my phone:

This week has been good, but quiet. We have a few things going on this weekend, including Tim having a big project at work. I have a yearly doctor’s appointment and mammogram on Monday, which I’m dreading. As I do every year. I wish I could just not go, but I know better. I’m always really glad when it’s over! I have one more week before my weekly Bible Study group gets back together. I’m sort of missing it, and my little ladies in my small group, but also glad for the break. Maybe if I can get back on here and blog again before months go by, I’ll have some more updates.

Have a blessed day!