Let The Fun Begin

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had a chance to spend time with friends and loved ones. Now that we have polished off the turkey and all of the leftovers, it is time to polish some of our special things that been ignored (obviously) for some time now.

I always look forward to bringing out all of my favorite Christmas decorations and after all of that cooking and dish washing, it is so much fun just feeling like a kid again!



I just love Santa and have started a collection, it is still small but how exciting to keep finding new ones to add to it. This one was from my sweet Mister last year, thanks again honey!

A recent thrift find of yards and yards of these mini glass garlands, I almost made a squealing sound in the shop when I found it..he he!

We have decided to put up a real tree this year in the Little House as the artificial one gave it up last year, its limbs no longer willing to hold the load that I put on them.

We will be off to a U-Cut place to try to find a skinny 7Ft. Noble to fit in the small corner by the window....Wish us luck!

December 1st is when we turn the outside lights on and the Christmas tree will be all done, fingers crossed! I will share some of that soon.

Have a great Monday! xo

Blessed Day

Wishing you all a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

xo

Photo - Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving

Another Monday and the beginning of Thanksgiving week, I hope you all had a pleasant weekend, many probably making preparation for the festivities to come. It will be a busy week for our family like most of yours. I am packing up this morning for a very stormy Interstate 5 drive to the city house, I can see my white knuckles already!

We have a winner for the Bon Appetit subscription and it is "Anonymous"...Congratulations and please email me with your info in the next 24 hrs. . . Thanks!

I must be off, have a nice Monday!

xo

Bon Appetit Thanksgiving Giveaway

The countdown has begun, the last weekend before Thanksgiving is here. These next few days will undoubtedly find us busy as little beavers, cleaning the guest room, making the list for the market and figuring a plan of action.- No matter what you will be doing to prepare, please take a moment to enter this giveaway that I am having to show you how thankful I am for you, my readers. One of you will get a year subscription to Bon Appetit. If you already subscribe then another year will be added on.

To enter, just leave a comment telling us a side dish that is always on your family's Thanksgiving table....that's it.

Deadline will be Sunday night and the winner will be announced Monday morning.

Have a wonderful weekend! xo

Back To Life

When I pulled in from the trip an hour ago, this is what I saw...Miss E's chimney with smoke coming out of the wood stove chimney, yippee, she's home from the Rehab center. No doubt she is happy to be home, even if she needs to be in a wheelchair for a little bit. Perhaps I will take you for a visit in the next few days!

I think I have finally found the perfect time period to travel from the city house to the Little House. I left Vancouver this morning at 10:50 and the drive was great, not counting the downpours for the first hour and a half. When I went through Seattle, the traffic was so light it was kind of spooky...like in the middle of the night. I won't even try to figure it out.

The dogs and I unpacked the car and started off for a walk when Jack sniffed out an escapee...The grass is always greener.....

We have Kami's chemo schedule and I will be going down every other week. Her first treatment is next Tuesday. I have put her blog on the top of my sidebar so that if you want to check there for updates it will be easy to get to. Thank you again for you thoughts, comments and prayers.

With the holidays just around the corner I will have to be very organized and if you know me you are laughing hard right now....Oh well, I can try.

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xo

A Short Break

The colors this Fall have been spectacular. I don't know if it is my imagination or the strange weather we have had this last year that really has made the colors more vibrant...whatever it is, I am loving it. Are you experiencing it in your area?

On the walk with the dogs this morning, I captured our neighbors barn and some of the colors that I mentioned are here too, with even the dried grasses around the old fence. Can't you just picture a pile of yarn in all these colors?

I am off to the city house and Portland, tomorrow Kami will be meeting with the Oncologist and will be getting the full report on the Hodgkin's Lymphoma and a plan of action. It will be so good to get going on this and hopefully she can get come relief from that insane itching.

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and loving comments, it is a comfort to us all. We will keeping our chins up through this journey and will update information as needed.

I will not be making a post until next week but will be checking in with all of you as I can...like as soon as I turn on the computer at the city house...you're not getting rid of me that easily, haha!

Have a great weekend! xo

Thanksgiving Plans

This Thanksgiving, our son and daughter in law will be hosting our feast. It will be their first and will include DIL's family also. Last year a surprise snow arrived and our plans to head to the city house fell through and we ended up having a quiet dinner alone. This year we will be making up for that, I'm sure, with all bringing their favorite dishes to add to the 'groaning table'...(I have always loved the sound of that!).

In years past, we have tried to help out so others might also have a good meal. Our favorite way of doing this is, to either take a turkey or give a donation to the Union Gospel Mission in Portland, where they not only feed the body but the soul too.

There have been reports that all of the programs that offer this meal are underfunded this year for obvious reasons. If you are interested in giving, here is the link www.ugm.org, when I type it in it brings up Seattle, when you do it I bet it will bring up your local one (hopefully). If you have another favorite charity, you can always find the nearest one through the Google or Bing help.

Where will you be celebrating your Thanksgiving, at home or maybe you will be traveling?

Have a great day! xo

Top photo - Country Living.

Bottom - UGM

Sunday Reflections

Thank you Lord that you are always caring for us. -

He will feed His flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs with His arm,

And carry them in His bosom,

And gently lead those who are with the young. Isaiah 40:11

Clock Reminder

Just a quick reminder to set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. - Hope you are having a splendid weekend.

xo

Miss E. Takes A Spill

It was 28 degrees at 8:00 am this morning. Normally, on a chilly day like today, I would look over across the road to Miss E's and see the comfort of a curl of smoke coming out of the chimney of her wood stove, but there is nothing. Sadly, she had a fall a little over a week ago. It was about 10:30 in the evening and she was preparing the guest room for company that would arrive the next day. Apparently she had a tug of war with a sheet and the sheet won and down she went. She reports that the pain was intense and believed that her hip was broken, but that didn't keep her from scooting slowly across the floor to the kitchen to get that tea kettle off of the burner. "Thankfully it was on the front burner" stated Miss E. Then makes a phone call to daughter and eventually the daughter who lives in town shows up and the paramedics are on the way.....But first, the curlers must be taken out and hair fixed before they arrive. - Can you just imagine the poor daughter worried sick but having to do her mothers hair?!

All this happened while we were asleep, she thought we were down at the city house. Anyway, she didn't break the hip but did fracture the top of the Femur and they had to put two pins in. She is now in a Rehab facility and doing very well and will be good as new in about 4 weeks. I am always amazed at the strength of this 83 year 'young' women. Taking care of herself, like walking everyday, doing yard work (weed eating, mowing, gardening etc...) eating right, always doing for others, really does pay off.

We love you Miss E. keep working hard on your therapy....Remember, you have all those Christmas cookies to bake!

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xo