Exceedingly Mundane

tidbits of random nothingness

Dec
26
Posted by Stace

Merry Christmas! (a little late!)

Merry Christmas!I hope everyone out there had a wonderful and joyous Christmas! We’ve been gone and I haven’t been able to blog. We went to see Tim’s family and then mine, and we also spent a little bit of time at home, just by ourselves, to celebrate the Christmas holiday. We had a great time everywhere we went, but I am pretty worn out now. I want to just rest for a day or so, and not even think about taking all of our Christmas stuff down! That will be quite a job, and I am going to put it off for a few days.

Tim and I had a good Christmas and got lots of wonderful things, both that we asked for and some surprises! I got a lot of books (3 cookbooks, 4 Beverly Lewis books I had requested, and the Nicholas Sparks book too). I also got a cute snowman, a DVD, some toys for Beau, two iTunes gift cards, a Starbucks gift card, and a cool silicone strainer that I think is a great gadget! Tim got a lot of golf stuff, which is all that he wanted πŸ™‚ Everything I got him was golf-related (except for some pj pants and slippers, but those came from Beau!). Beau got a set of travel bowls for water and food from Santa, and Santa also brought him a lot of Nylabones and chewies (Greenies). Beau has been a good dog, and Santa must have known it! Tim got me a surprise – a heart-shaped diamond and ruby pendant and matching earrings. I was so surprised! He also got me some of my favorites – Godiva chocolates, a Yankee Candle (spiced cinnamon) and some Bath and Body Works (Japanese Cherry Blossom). A good Christmas all-around πŸ˜€ Oh, and we can’t forget about the “Jetson’s” washer and dryer that we got a couple of days before Christmas… not really a gift, but very needed and very much appreciated πŸ™‚

Hope you all had a wonderful and joyous holiday, filled with family and friends, as we did. Merry Christmas, a day late, and Happy New Year!!!

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Dec
22
Posted by Stace

They’re Here!

I blogged the other day that my washing machine stopped working, so we went and ordered a new hE washer and dryer. They were delivered today – sort of. Sigh. Tim and I are not very happy with Sears right now.

We ordered an hE4/4t washer and dryer in graphite with matching pedestals. They only had to get the washer from a warehouse in another part of the state; the others were supposedly either in the warehouse here or floor models. When they arrived, the independent contractor who was delivering and installing them told Tim right away, you should look at the pedestals. They weren’t wrapped up in any way and they were all scratched up and banged up. Each of them had scratches on the side, one of them had a big scratch on the front of the drawer and the worst was that one of the drawers was all dented up, with a big dent in the front. Tim called and talked to the Sears people, who basically wouldn’t do anything, and he told the delivery guy to just put them back on the truck and not bring them in. We hate to pay full price for something new and get something all scratched and banged up. They got the washer and dryer installed and went on their merry way, while we tested it all out and started laundry. I’ve got several loads to do tonight, and I’m trying to learn the different modes and settings. We’re going to see how I like them without the pedestals, but right now, we’re both leaning toward just telling them to refund our money and we’ll do without them. There’s also the issue of how much clearance we need between the top of the appliances and the bottom of our cabinets. The saleslady didn’t mention anything, although we talked at length about height, how much space we had, and the different sizes of pedestals. Come to find out, when we were reading the book that came with the washer (the dryer showed up without a book!), the book says that they recommend at least 9″ of space in between the appliances and the cabinets. We won’t have that with the pedestals we ordered.

So, anyway, we’re going to give these a test drive, sans pedestals, for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. I just hope the washer and dryer are both ok, we really need those! I have laundry piled up in huge piles all over the house, waiting to be cleaned πŸ™‚

Here they are, I guess they’re a big Christmas present for both of us, LOL!
New Kenmore hE Washer and Dryer, graphite color

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Dec
21
Posted by Stace

Fall Reading Challenge

I had posted here, way back in November, that I had completed the Fall Reading Challenge sponsored by Katrina over at Callapidder Days. I really enjoyed this, and look forward to finding more challenges like this one next year. Katrina mentioned she might be doing a Spring one, so I’ll look forward to that.

I referenced the “Mr. Linky” at Katrina’s site to my original post, then later realized that she had asked these questions of the challenge participants… I thought I would answer as best I could! Remember, I only read fiction books for the challenge, not any non-fiction ones:

The best book you read this Fall – I’d have to say that the second and third book in the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber were my favorite. She’s a favorite author of mine, and I love the way she writes. It’s very simple, very heartwarming, very easy to read, and always leaves me feeling good. Typical “women’s fiction” for me, but it is my favorite genre to read.

The book you could have lived without – Easy Peasy. The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant. I loved her book “The Red Tent” and saw this one on the new release shelf at the library and picked it up without even reading the jacket cover. I did NOT like this book and struggled to finish it. If it hadn’t been for the challenge, I might not have finished it!

Whether or not you read more than you would have without the challenge – No, I read a lot, and I probably would have read the same amount of books. In fact, I picked books that I own and needed to read, as well as a couple of library books. All of mine were fiction, which *might* have been a bit of a cop-out 😳

The best thing about joining in the challenge – Easy – seeing what other people are reading, getting ideas for books and authors to check out, and even finding blogs of fellow readers that I like to read!

If you discovered (and enjoyed) a new book or author after reading someone else’s list – I have several new books and authors that I have added to my “check out at the library sometime” list, and I hope to get to them in 2007!

Any other insights, enjoyments, thoughts, or impressions! – I loved this, and so hope that there is a spring one, as Katrina indicated. I like having a goal and getting to meet it, and anything that relates to books or reading is always a ton of fun for me! I love reading, reading about books, finding new authors, getting good book recommendations, and finding blogs of other people who love to read πŸ˜€ Thanks again to Katrina for hosting this, and to all those who participated.

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Dec
21
Posted by Stace

Of Books and Movies…

Mindless ramblings on books and movies… πŸ™‚

I was out running errands the other day and I just couldn’t resist stopping at the library. I had been purposefully staying away, trying to read some books that I have here at home, but the lure of the library (and the bookstore) are sometimes just too strong for me to resist. I went with a purpose though, to try to find a short, light, Christmas type book to read here at the holidays. Last year I bought a paperback in Walmart by Debbie Macomber, one of my favorite “women’s” authors, and I enjoyed reading it during the holidays. I like having something Christmas-y to read this time of year. I looked under her name first at the library, and found two Christmas themed books, and grabbed both of them. I’ve already read one of them, a really short, small book called “Can This Be Christmas”, about a group of weary travelers stranded by a blizzard, stuck at a train depot in the Northeast on Christmas Eve. It was a really short book, but sweet and happy and had a good message about the real meaning of Christmas. I also picked up another one called “The Christmas Basket”, that I haven’t read yet. I’m still working on the second book in the Beverly Lewis Amish series, and I am really enjoying those books.

I also picked up a cookbook from the New books section at the front of my library. It’s called “Eating Well Serves Two” and I hope to get time to go through it and maybe copy out some recipes before it’s due back after the new year. Since I cook almost exclusively for two, and this one is a healthy type book, it seemed perfect for me. Can’t wait to go through it… I tend to read cookbooks like regular fiction books!

I went and got my hair cut yesterday and the girl that cuts my hair had a big bag of paperbacks that she was going to give away. All she asked was that if I read them, that I bring them back another time and leave for someone else to pick up and read. That kind of plan suits me just fine, and so I just quickly grabbed a couple of books from the bag. I saw Nora Roberts name and realized she had a trilogy, called the Circle Trilogy, and without reading the jacket, just said, I’ll take these and read them and get them back to you next year. Well. I have liked what few books I have read by Nora Roberts, but when I got home, I read the inside jacket and found out these are about vampires and witches and sorcerers, so not at all what I thought they were going to be! I’ll see after the holidays if I like them, they were free and I can give them a try. I sort of hate to take them back without reading them… I don’t want to appear ungracious, but I’m not sure these are the kinds of books I want to be reading! πŸ™„

As for movies, we’re still watching a lot of movies on our new digital cable and free HBO. They are not having a lot of good movies available “On Demand” right now, although we’ve watched a couple of mediocre, older movies lately. Last night, we thought about going to rent one, then decided to be lazy and finally enter the 21st century. Yes, we had never done a Pay-Per-View movie until last night. We went through the list and found 2 or 3 that are on my rental list, and Tim was being very sweet and offered to let me pick one (aka, a “girl” movie). I picked “The Lake House” with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. I liked it, it was sweet and sappy and predictable, but more than that, it was clean and had a happy ending. My kind of movie. I really liked it and enjoyed it. Except, that our company came in about 3/4 of the way through it and proceeded to heckle and make fun of my movie. Because of the time sliding aspect of the movie and the overall sappiness of it. I told them to please not make fun of my movie, I wanted to enjoy it. Which I did, but they got Tim going and then he proceeded to make fun of it. Anyway, Tim gets the next choice and he indicated that he wants to watch… sigh….why do guys like things like this… his choice is — Larry the Cable guy, or Inspector something or whatever that movie is. Big Sigh. I’m sure I won’t like it nearly as much as Tim, but then again, I’m sure I enjoyed “The Lake House” a lot more than he did too! πŸ™‚

How about another Question of the Day: What was the last movie you rented that you really liked?

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Dec
20
Posted by Stace

Christmas Came Early

Well, it appears that Christmas has come early to our house!

We’ve had company for the last few days, and will for a few more days. Then, we’ll hit the road to visit both sides of our family over the 3 day Christmas weekend. We’ll open presents in three places, and visit with lots of family. We’re really looking forward to it.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I was going to wash the sheets on our guest bed, since Round 1 of our company was leaving, and Round 2 was headed in that evening. I tried 6 times to wash the sheets. Either the tub was full of sudsy water when it finished, or else when the cycle finished, the sheets were dirty. And I do mean dirty, with lint and gunk and grass and dirt. I’m not sure where all the gunk is coming from. Tim checked some stuff and opened up part of the washer trying to fix it. We decided it was time for a new set. After all, I bought this set after I got out of college and it is nineteen (yes, 19!) years old. I think that’s a decent life cycle, so we decided it was time to get a new set. Merry Christmas to me!:roll:

We went to Sears and got one of the new hE washer and dryer sets with the pedestals. They didn’t have them all in the warehouse locally, so they had to get them from another warehouse. So, I have to wait a couple of days for them to arrive. In the mean time, I already had 3 loads of clothes, sheets and towels waiting to be washed. By the time they get here on Friday, I’m sure that will double. And boy, I sure hope they get here on Friday like they promised. Otherwise, we’re going to run out of clean towels and underwear before Christmas is over! πŸ˜†

I’ll post a picture of them once they’re here… nothing more exciting that new appliances for Christmas! We’re also needing a dishwasher, and I actually thought I would get that for Christmas. I’ve been having trouble with our dishwasher for several months now. A couple of the tines have broken off, and the main problem is that the detergent doesn’t dispense half of the time. Ours has a little flip-open door on the door of the dishwasher and about half the time when it’s finished, that door has never popped open and the detergent is in there all gunked up. So, I have been thinking it’s time to get a new dishwasher. A quieter one is the main thing I’m after. Ours sounds like a jet engine taking off!

I told Tim the other day… 2007 is going to be the Year of the Appliance for us!

OK, how about a Question of the Day: Do you have a major appliance in your house that you want or need to buy, or replace? Something that is old and nearly worn out, or just something you’d like to get a newer version of? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Dec
19
Posted by Stace

Christmas Movies

Our out of town company (Round 1) is still here, and the guys went hunting yesterday. They didn’t get a deer, which doesn’t surprise me, since it’s so warm here. It’s not really hunting weather, not when it gets up to around 75º during the day πŸ™„ I think they had a good time though, and then we all watched Monday Night Football when they got back.

Before they got back, though, I had a chance to pop in a Christmas movie and have a little girl time. Believe it or not, I had never seen “White Christmas”. It’s my sister Gail‘s favorite Christmas movie, I think, so I thought I would buy it and watch it. Well. It was a good movie, but it really wasn’t very Christmas-y! I think that’s the case with a lot of the older Christmas movies that they might have come out at Christmas or maybe had one Christmas scene in them, but they aren’t really all that Christmas-y. Tim will never watch “White Christmas” with me, that’s for sure. Too much singing and dancing in it for him!

I also own “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Bishop’s Wife” on DVD and I must say, I think I like those movies better as Christmas movies. Those still are my two favorites. I also really like Holiday Inn (but I don’t own that one on DVD, maybe next year!) and I like to catch “Christmas in Connecticut” on TV when it comes on. We also saw “The Polar Express” on TV a week or so ago and it was good.

So, that’s today’s Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? One that you watch every year? One that really says “Christmas” to you, for whatever reason. Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Dec
18
Posted by Stace

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Planning Monday

Well, this week is totally up in the air! I have no idea what we will be doing half the days and no idea if we will be here to eat, if others will be eating with us, or we’ll be out running around and will eat out. Sigh. A feeble stab in the dark is all I can make this week at a menu plan! Hopefully, we’ll be back on track soon, after the holidays!

Here’s what I have so far…

Sunday – we ordered pizza for the Survivor finale. Yeah Yul, I’m so glad he won!

Monday – the guys are going hunting, so a free night for me. I’ll eat some leftover pasta or leftover pizza

TuesdayItalian Sausage soup (that I didn’t get to last week!)

Wednesday – TBD or maybe breakfast for dinner – eggs, biscuits, bacon and grits or oatmeal

Thursday – TBD or Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken, homemade bread

Friday – TBD or Date Night or maybe Tacos

Saturday – Out of town for Christmas at my in-laws. I’m taking meatballs and some other finger foods

Sunday – Christmas Eve… not completely sure, but probably the ham I didn’t bake last week

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Dec
18
Posted by Stace

Monday Madness Meme

Monday Madness Meme

Quick and easy questions this week!!!

1. I get about 1-2 telemarketer phone calls on a daily basis.
2. I never call anyone after 10 PM at night.
3. I never call anyone before 9 AM in the morning.
4. I DO or DON’T screen my phone calls via caller ID.
5. I really should call my dad and Tim’s parents more often.

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Dec
17
Posted by Stace

No Room at the Inn

No VacancyThere’s no room at our Inn. We have an old friend from out of town who’s here for a visit. He and Tim are going to play golf and go hunting for the next couple of days, and we’ll all get to hang out and visit. We haven’t seen him in a while (he lives out of state), so we’re really looking forward to seeing him again. After he heads back home, our niece (who is also out of state, in graduate school) is going to come stay with us for a couple of days. Her boyfriend is here, and a bunch of friends, so we are glad to offer her a bed and a shower. We won’t see her much, but we’re still glad she’s coming to visit! After that, it will nearly be Christmas weekend.

This weekend has been busy. Yesterday morning (Saturday), Tim went shopping for a while. I thought that was very brave of him!!! He said it was “crazy out there” and the traffic was really bad. He usually puts off my Christmas shopping till really close to Christmas, so he was actually early this year, getting presents a full week before Christmas. πŸ™‚ I stayed home and finished my wrapping, so YEAH, I’m done! I still have some mixes and baking to do, but at least the presents are all bought and wrapped.

After Tim finished his shopping for me, he called and offered to take me out to lunch. We went to a new favorite place of ours that opened recently just a couple of miles from our house, a sports place that has a “bar-type” menu (lots of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and salads). It was really really good. We each got a burger (bacon cheeseburger for Tim, mushroom swiss for me, but at $9 a pop for the burger with fries… still, they really are good!) and had a nice lunch. We had put Beau out in the back yard (it’s fenced) for the whole 50 minutes that we were gone. When we got back, he had nearly dug out a huge hole under the fence, not to mention two other giant holes in two different flower beds. I think that I’ve lost a few shrubs and several of my perennial flowers now. He dug up a huge area where I have some purple verbena (perennial and I love it) and a big patch of my rudbeckias (sunflowers). Argh. I’m not happy about it. I hate to chain him since we have a fenced yard, but I guess we’re going to have to start doing that to protect what little is left of our backyard. Tim got a shovel and tried to scoop most of the dirt back in the holes and commented “he looked like he was digging all the way to China”, the holes were that deep! Like I told Tim, expect to help me at least one full day in the spring, going to buy new, BIGGER shrubs, and more perennials and reworking all of these flower beds he is tearing up. Argh.

We had a surprise birthday party for Tim’s grandmother late yesterday, which was out of town, that we went to. She thought she was coming to a scrapbook party, and I think she was surprised! It was a lot of fun – lots of family there and lots of good food too. I think I’m going to gain several more pounds before the holidays are over! πŸ™‚

Hope everyone is having a great day!

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Dec
16
Posted by Stace

Holiday “This and That” Meme

Merry Christmas!Saw this over at Dawn‘s blog the other day and thought I would swipe it. Love these things, so much fun! Thanks Dawn :mrgreen:

Holiday: Christmas or New Years? Ooh, Christmas, definitely. I love it all – the tree, the decorations, the music, the movies, the food, etc. All but the stress of shopping, that is. New Years is not a big thing for us at all. We don’t even go out, just stay home and watch TV or a movie.

Cookies: Sugar or Gingerbread? Gingerbread! Love it!

Decorations: Santa or Snowmen? Snowmen, definitely. I even blogged about them earlier here and posted a couple of pictures of some of my snowmen. :mrgreen:

Decorations: Reindeer or Elves? I’d have to go with Reindeer on this one.

Colors: Red or Green? Wow, can’t pick, love both of those colors. But at Christmas, I do like a lot of red. My tree has a lot on it, and I try to find snowmen with red on them (most of them have blue).

Colors: Gold or Silver? Silver. I have a lot of red and silver on my tree.

Tree Topper: Star or Angel? An angel. I’ve had her a long time and love her. She’s not expensive, but she’s still special to me. She’s the only thing I’ve ever put on my own trees as an adult. Plus, Tim always insists on putting her on last. The very last thing, he won’t let me put her on till the very end πŸ˜€

Stocking Stuffer: Fruit or Candy? Hmm, well I think I got a little of both growing up, but these days, I’d definitely go for the candy. Chocolate, please. πŸ™‚

Tree: Real or Artificial? Ours is artificial. We got a new one this year and it’s prelit, which is really nice, a lot less work! I like the smell of a real one, but not the hassle of watering, needles, disposing of it, and the practical side of me doesn’t like paying for a new one every single year.

Cartoons: Charlie Brown or Rudolph? Rudolph

Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol? Definitely It’s a Wonderful Life. I owned it on VHS and now own it on DVD and try to watch it at least once every year.

Stocking Stuffer: Jewelry or Gift Card? Either would be nice! Tim doesn’t do stockings usually. Whatever I find in my stocking is something I have bought and put in there!

Christmas List: Naughty or Nice? Of course I’m nice! Not a naughty bone in my body πŸ˜†

Drink: Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate, hands down

Holiday Ghost: Past, Present, or Future? Past, I guess… not sure about this one!

Vacation Spot: North Pole or Winter Wonderland? Winter Wonderland. I love snow and cold weather as long as I don’t have to be out in it long or drive in it, hehehe. Love curling up by a big fire, with some hot cocoa.

Holiday Song: Jingle Bells or Silver Bells? I like them both, so this one is a bit hard to pick between. I’d have to go with Jingle Bells though, more upbeat and fun πŸ™‚

Holiday Song: Silent Night or O’ Holy Night? Love both of these too, but O’ Holy Night is definitely in my range more than Silent Night. I heard O Holy Night the other day on the radio and then was singing it all afternoon, even in stores. I probably scared a ton of shoppers πŸ™„

More Fun: Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Well, ours are different every year. It depends on when my brother-in-law has custody of his kids, and whether or not my family is out of town for the holidays. It changes from year to year, so I really can’t pick. My absolute favorite is any time I can be home for Christmas. We’re normally gone from sunup to midnight to other people’s houses, so any time at our own home is the best and most fun for me.

Lights: Clear or Multi-Colored? White lights everywhere, inside and out

Ornaments: Bulbs or Bows? Bulbs

Tree Decor: Ribbon, Popcorn, or Garland? I don’t have any of these on my tree!

Gifts: Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Some of both, but I end up wrapping the majority of mine. Only small things or really really large things usually go in gift bags.

Better To: Give or Receive? To Give

I won’t tag anyone specifically with this, but please feel free to play along if you’d like. I’d love to come read your answers, so leave me a comment that you’re going to play and I’ll be over to visit and check it out.

Merry Christmas!

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Dec
15
Posted by Stace

Christmas Tour of Homes

BooMama's Christmas Tour of HomesI decided this morning to go ahead and participate in BooMama‘s Christmas Tour of Homes. She very graciously sponsored a tour of homes earlier this year, in the fall, but I didn’t get a chance to play along.

I’ve been trying to take some pictures of a few things around here for the last week or so, and the pictures have not been turning out like I want. I have been trying to take pictures of our new tree and all of our outdoor lights at night, and even using a tripod, they are coming out blurry. It bugs me πŸ™‚ But, I thought I would play along anyway, and post a few pictures of our little home at Christmas. Welcome, and I hope you enjoy your stay!

Here’s our front door with garland, lights, our wreath, and you can even see the icicle lights that are on the roof peeking down (yep, sorry, this is one of those blurry ones!):
Front Door

I love snowmen and have them scattered around, even one at the front door, to greet everyone:
Frosty at the Front Door

We got a new tree this year, artificial but prelit:
New Tree

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care (on my snowflake holders from Crate and Barrel, I love these, they were a surprise a couple of years ago from my husband!):
stockings

I put out my Snow Village pieces, but broke them up into two areas this year. We got a new entertainment center when we got our new TV earlier this year, and it has a wide area at the top, so we decided to put a few of the houses up there:
Snow Village
Snow Village
Snow Village

We also put out garland with lights and red bows on our deck railing, out back. I can see the deck from the kitchen, and I love being in there in the evenings, cooking or washing dishes, and seeing my deck all lit up:
Deck with Garland

I had already blogged about my snowmen here, but here’s a couple of them that I love:
Some of my Snowmen

And just yesterday, I blogged about my nativity that I love, as it has very special meaning for us:
Our Nativity from Bethlehem

I didn’t take a picture of our kitchen table, which has a metal tree decoration with tea lights and a nice red and green plaid tablecloth on it right now. It’s full of bags and mail and I just didn’t take the time to clean it off! πŸ™„ I want to post some pictures of some of my favorite ornaments, but I’ll save that for another day.

Hope you enjoyed the visit, thanks for stopping by and … Merry Christmas! πŸ˜†

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Dec
14
Posted by Stace

Our Nativity Set

I’ve been trying to take a few pictures of our decorations and tree, and some of my favorite ornaments and things, to post here. I wanted to make a separate entry about our nativity set, since it has such special meaning for us.

Here it is, it’s not very big, but we love it:
Our Nativity Set

This nativity has a very special meaning for us – my husband’s mother brought it back for us from Bethlehem. She went on a tour of the Holy Land, which has always been her lifelong dream, several years ago. Thankfully, it was before 9/11 because I don’t think any of us would let her go now. πŸ™‚ She loved it, and brought back several nativities, including this one for us. It is all hand made, out of olive wood, and the designer even wrote Bethlehem on the side of the stable roof:
Bethlehem inscribed

We love nativities, and love what they represent. I would love to have this one by Willow Tree/Demdaco, but I don’t think I would ever want to spend that kind of money on it. πŸ™‚ I would also like to get a larger ceramic one, with some color, but I simply don’t have room to display anything else! I do love my little nativity though, and put it out every year.

Merry Christmas!

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Dec
14
Posted by Stace

Bath Time

Beau has had two baths already this week. He seems to be wanting to dig in the mud, run down into the ditch near our house, and worst of all – find dead things like birds behind our house and either eat them or maybe roll in them. πŸ˜₯ He was smelling really bad yesterday afternoon, so Tim gave him another bath. He got one on Monday because he was a bad dog and got down in the ditch to play in the mud. πŸ™

Beau does NOT like to get a bath. It’s nice weather here, in the upper 60’s and 70’s, so it’s not that he’s cold. He just doesn’t like to have the water from the water hose streaming down on him. I didn’t get any pictures of the bath this time. Instead, we dried him off as best we could with towels, and then brought him in the kitchen and wrapped him up in an old sheet, to finish drying off. He didn’t like it very much!

Beau wrapped up in a sheet, after his bath

Beau wrapped up in a sheet, after his bath

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Dec
13
Posted by Stace

Finished “The Covenant”

The Covenant by Beverly LewisI finished a really wonderful book last night, the first in a series of 5 books by Beverly Lewis, called the “Abram’s Daughters” series. The first one is entitled “The Covenant” and introduces us to the Ebersol family, an Amish family living in Lancaster PA during the 1940’s. Abram and Ida have 4 daughters – Sadie, Leah and twins Hannah and Mary Ruth. I believe each of the books will continue to focus on this family, the daughters, their extended family and the Amish community.

As I expected, I really enjoyed this book. I had not ever read a Beverly Lewis book, but from what I had heard and read, I wanted to like it, and I did. I enjoyed the slow, simple pace of this book, and the reflections into the Amish way of life and their beliefs. This book was a great choice for me to read this time of year, when everything else is so frenetic and hectic and fast-paced. This book helped me to relax, slow down, and remember the important things in life – faith, family and my beliefs. I am very much looking forward to finishing this series and also reading more books by Beverly Lewis. I think she will eventually become a favorite author of mine. πŸ™‚

For the record, that makes #68 this year, with a total of 23,603 pages read. Up next is the second book in this same series, called “The Betrayal”. I can’t wait to get started!

P.S. After I finish the second one, I will have to decide what to read next (I don’t own the remaining 3 in the series, but I’ve asked for them for Christmas… so I have to either wait or check my local library!). I got some books for my birthday that I want to start, but they are another series (by Christian author Leisha Kelly, has anyone read any of her books? I was attracted by the book jacket cover picture and the synopsis on the back!) and I’m not sure if I want to start another series before I finish the several I have in progress already. I’ve started books in the No 1. Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith, the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber, the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich and then there’s a ton of other books I want to read (either that I own or at the library). Decisions, decisions. Or as I love to say “So many books, so little time!” πŸ˜€

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Dec
12
Posted by Stace

Odds N Ends

I don’t have anything all that interesting to blog about, so I thought I would do some bullets of some of the random and mundane things going on with us:

  • I’ve done about 60% of my Christmas shopping and about half or less of my wrapping. I’m waiting on some items I ordered to be delivered, and I am going to go out today and try to pick up a few more things. I’ll be so glad when it’s all bought and wrapped and maybe I can enjoy some of this holiday season. I hate having the shopping “hanging” over me. I don’t enjoy it as much as I used to!
  • I made a new recipe for honey mustard chicken last night. I found the recipe at CookbookJunkie‘s blog, great site for recipes. Thanks Paula! This one was just for a honey mustard glaze for chicken, which we used as both a basting sauce for the chicken Tim grilled for us, and also as a sauce for the sandwiches we put the chicken on (wheat hoagie buns). We had the sandwiches with pasta salad and honey glazed carrots and Tim said two or three times how good it all was. I think he really enjoyed the change of having a big sandwich for dinner. πŸ™‚
  • We watched another movie last night, and popped some popcorn to eat while watching it. πŸ™‚ Tim likes the garden ranch seasoning and I’m liking the nacho cheese flavor. Anyway, I had taped a movie off of the Hallmark Channel last week, a corny, simple Christmas movie called “The Christmas Card”. It was light and predictable and I really liked it!
  • While watching this movie I taped, I saw a commercial for the next Love’s movie based on the books by Janette Oke. I want to read these books, but just haven’t gotten to them yet. We caught the three other movies that have been made by the Hallmark channel earlier in the year, I think in the summer. We really enjoyed them, so I’ll have to be sure to tape this one to watch. I think this one is called “Love’s Abiding Joy”.
  • Tim and I both made it into the playoffs in our Hambones Fantasy Football league. I’m really excited! I think I will get knocked out the first week of the playoffs, but hey, at least I made the playoffs! Half of our league didn’t make it, so at least I got in.
  • Ugh, Tim and I both have to go to the dentist in the next week. He goes this week and I go next week. But, I will not complain. Going to the dentist is about 1,000 times better to me than going to the gynecologist. I don’t mind nearly as much!
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