Happy Birthday, SisterDear!
I am wishing you a wonderful 52nd Birthday, Janice! (I have to tell her because she forgets, poor thing!) I’m pretty sure a Goombay Smash is out of the question but do have a nice glass of wine with me tonight and I’ll toast to your good health and great times shared together, past and future!
An update on Gracie… My mother called me just before I left the office yesterday. It seems one of the neighbors reported Gracie’s owners to the Animal Rescue League. They were there talking to Gracie’s owner about the complaint and non-compliance of the local leash laws. All the owner did was put Gracie in the back yard and the Rescue folks went on their way. Their fence has a hole in it, which is how Gracie got out before so ???
I put an extra quilt on my porch in case Gracie got out last night, although thankfully last night was not below freezing like the last 2 nights. When I went out for the paper this morning Gracie was not there. I’m hoping for much better things for Gracie.
Today I’m doing paperwork mostly, while I listen to Feather purr on my desk. That’s one kitty who will NOT be happy when Gandalf, Grayson and Whitey move to the Swamp!
I hope you all have a stressless day! Big hugs xo
Cold, it is.
Baby, it’s cold outside!
My parents left New England about 18 years ago for the deep south… And can you believe my Dad still has windshield scrapers! Who’d of thought that would work out?
And I leave you with another photo of sweet Gracie. I can’t be sure her “owners” are bringing her in at night, but I sure hope they are. She certainly is WELL fed! But just in case, I fixed her a spot in the protected area of my porch.
Stay warm! Big hugs xo
UPDATE: Got up this morning and made coffee. My Dad went out to get the paper. I heard thumping on the wall and immediately knew that Gracie was on the makeshift bed/shelter I made for her last night, wagging her tail against the house when she saw my Dad. They left her outside again. I couldn’t let her stay out a minute longer. I put the cats in my bedroom so as not to upset the entire household and brought her in to warm up. She was in a few hours. Her little ears were like ice cubes at first, but by the time I let her out when I left for the Swamp they were all toasty warm.
This is the picture I had as I backed out of my driveway.
If it’s my Dad’s Birthday…
…And it IS! Happy 81st Birthday, Daddy! …It must also be the first day of Winter! And Old Man Winter took it seriously, based on all that snow all up and down the east coast! Yikes!
The blizzard meant that one of my sisters had to miss out on the SisterDear Christmas Gathering because her husband is a cop and all days off were cancelled because of the blizzard. Then the poor thing had her furnace up and quit on her and she spent the night in bed with her 10 year old twins trying to keep them warm. Fortunately it was something minor and the repair guy got it fixed the next day!
Even here in the deep south we had a hard freeze and another freeze is forecast for tonight! My boys, Gandalf, Grayson and Whitey, are all curling up into extra-tight nap piles to stay warm.
The weather has set back my painting – either too cold or too damp – but I still expect to be ready to move after the New Year. Holy smokes! Can you believe 2010 is upon us?!
Stay warm and enjoy today’s trip around the sun! Big hugs xo
One of the reasons I love the Pecan Orchard
One of the last magnificent sunsets I’ll get to see here in my orchard. They often take my breath away.
Unfortunately, picking up the tassels of pollen, the leaves, the broken limbs and the Pecans themselves is SO much work! Not that I do the work – My Dad does. And he’s definitely working too hard!
Today is mostly laundry, then Bingo with the Biddies. I can’t wait to get moved and back into my regular blogging – Not having my computers and Internet here at home sucks!
And another thing – Why are weekends so short and the To-Do list so long?
Big hugs <3 xo
One of the reasons I love the Swamp
This is the view that greeted me the other morning! I grabbed my camera and snapped this at 8:03am. I know the Swamp isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely LOVE it! It is like a secret hideaway, yet minutes away from everything. Most people from here don’t even know the Swamp exists. And I can’t believe I get to live here!
If I ever finish this painting! 
Sorry I haven’t been able to get around to visit as often as I’d like. But I am in the homestretch! We’ll be moving soon after the first of the year! And I can hardly wait!
Big Hugs ♥xo
Gracie Girl
This is Gracie. She’s been spending a lot of time in our yard lately. She’s such a love!
My mother is worried about her because all of a sudden her owners don’t let her in the house or keep her in the yard and it’s been very cold and rainy.
Gracie lays on our front porch on the Welcome rug when it rains. She also follows my Dad all over the yard, “helping” him pick up pecans. She and I had a lovely game of fetch with a cat ball after I took these photos. Then she decided she had to take the ball somewhere else and just trotted off! See you next time, Gracie!
Corner Shelves. Check.
So. Yesterday went much better than the day before! We got my corner shelves in. I’m thinking I may put my cookbooks on them but for now I just had to see SOMETHING on them. Aren’t they cute?
We also got the baseboards cut for the living room and most of the kitchen and dry-fitted. We’ll get the rest of them for the kitchen and the mud room tomorrow. These were much easier miter cuts, thank goodness! The ceiling mouldings gave us a fit and I still have some filling and spot painting to do on those. Once the baseboards are all cut, we’ll paint them and nail them in. It makes a huge difference just seeing them sitting there. It’s like the room has its pants on now!
I hope you all have a great Friday! I’m sure going to try! Big Hugs ♥xo
Ralph ROCKS
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yesterday was a crappy day – some blunders and absurdities definitely crept in. It seemed like everything I did was wrong somehow. But today is a brand new day!
We had a family meeting and decided not to try and move before Christmas. Much too stressful. My mother was really depressed about having to wait so long to put up her tree and then only having it up a few weeks. She’s a happy camper now because she has it all decorated with all her special ornaments. Except that Grayson keeps trying to get under it. I think he wants to sleep in the manger. Move over, baby Jesus – Here comes Grayson!
Well, I’m gonna just jump into the day and see what happens. It’s cold and rainy, but I may still do a little touch-up painting. And of course, I am praying for lots of orders!
Enjoy today’s trip around the sun! That is if you can find the sun today! Big Hugs ♥xo
Just another tied up Tuesday
I don’t know why, but the boys always find the sink fascinating whenever I am next to it. If only I could teach them to load the dishwasher!
So, I’ve been much too busy to blog much at all, and I miss it! We’ve had a few things that have caused us to reorder some projects. Painting and humidity do not mix well. We did get the ceiling moulding up, but our miter cuts? Yeah, not so good. It’s not perfect, but most likely no one but me (and any OCD person) will ever notice!
Tomorrow a little fun! I bought 3 glass corner shelves to hang at the end of the cabinets and they are going to be hung tomorrow. Hooray!
Al thinks he’s figured an easy way to hang the doors and power paint both sides at once! Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be stormy again tomorrow. We shall see.
I did steal some time today to load some of my Christmas CDs onto my iPod and into my CD-changer for the car! I ♥ Christmas music! It is some of my favorite music!
Tonight after dinner I’ll be helping my mother decorate the tree by the fireplace. My Dad may or may not watch! There will no doubt be a lovely fire, a bottle of wine and my newest Christmas CD will be playing. My mother bought the new Andrea Bocelli Christmas CD for me for Christmas – but she gave it to me last night so we can enjoy it now! Isn’t that lovely?
I also stopped by Walmart at lunchtime and bought the latest Harry Potter movie. I hope I can stay awake to watch it!
And now you are officially caught up! Have a lovely evening! Bug Hugs ♥xo
Bright Spot
Happy Birthday to my sweet brother Christopher. He’s 47 today! He’s older than I thought! hahaha! And a very Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Sarge Charlie! I hope you both have a perfect day! And cake!
I snapped this from the driver’s seat through the passenger window going through the drive-thru for coffee on the way to the office. Isn’t that a lovely tree? Bright Red and happy! A very cheery sight on such a wet, raw day!
I’m still painting! And wishing you a lovely day! Big Hugs ♥xo
